223: Chapter 223 Show us your sword-drawing skills, and be quick!!

In Mia's villa, the gravity from the [Thousand-Weight Curse] on each resident had already risen to fifty times.

In the beginning, troublemakers like Renji had many complaints, but Ichigo pulled him into a corner and told him that even Tuaner could adapt to a hundred times gravity. Renji went silent immediately. While he did compete and compare himself with Ichigo in his spare time, he believed Ichigo would never lie to him about this.

Mia still had to appear in the form of Inoue Orihime, but she wasn't exactly like Orihime. It was a bit like the [Fusion] effect from an old manga where two warriors bump heads and merge into one; the current her possessed the characteristics of both.

During breaks in his training, Ichigo would unconsciously steal glances at "Orihime." The "Orihime" standing before him now seemed both familiar and strange.

The long orange hair was still as soft as ever, but her face had become narrower and more refined—her cheekbones were higher, the bridge of her nose straighter, and even the line of her jaw carried that almost arrogant contour characteristic of Mia. The originally rounded and soft temperament had vanished completely, replaced by an almost dangerous exotic flair, like a Nordic queen stepping out of a snowy night.

Her eyes still retained Orihime's gentle color, yet they shimmered with a cold light. When she tilted her head slightly and her lips curled into a smile, Ichigo suddenly realized—the person living in this body was no longer that silly girl who used to shout "Ichigo."

In the evening, everyone gathered as usual in the villa's dining room to devour the dinner Mia had cooked.

While they were eating, the large screen hanging on the side of the hall, which had never been lit before, flickered a few times and actually turned on.

Captain-Commander Yamamoto's figure appeared on the screen. He first scrutinized "Orihime," then nodded to her. "Captain Mia, the Soul Society does not care much for appearances. There is no need to worry."

Mia, wearing "Orihime's" skin, bowed to Captain-Commander Yamamoto without saying a word.

The scientific power of the 12th Division was quite impressive, even capable of cross-dimensional communication. Mia admired it somewhat.

The meeting was convened on short notice to recruit people willing to go to Hueco Mundo to support Kenpachi Zaraki and Byakuya Kuchiki in their raid on Las Noches.

Mia directly seized the right to speak for several people and successfully signed them all up. Her goal was to prevent them from encountering Aizen in the Living World and to reduce their mortality rate.

Afterward, she firmly tied Xiaoya's special item, the [substitute doll], to Kurosaki Ichigo's belt, telling him seriously that he must keep it on him at all times and that the doll must never leave his side.

"Otherwise, I'll scar this face." Mia lightly ran her finger across her current cheek with a look of disgust. Her warning gaze made Ichigo quickly agree and repeatedly promise to keep his word.

Having finished tricking the boy, Mia began holding a meeting for the rest. She told them, "Fight if you can, run if you can't. You must stay in a group. If you see an Arrancar, attack together. Don't talk to them about samurai spirit or codes of honor. If you encounter Arrancar No. 7, Zommari Rureaux, run as far as you can and stay away from him. Only Byakuya can handle that guy!"

"If you meet Ulquiorra, run immediately. Don't ask if three people can beat him; there's hope only if you all attack together!"

The defiant Toshiro was lectured by Mia on the spot. Finally, she brought out her trump card: if he didn't listen, she would make him drink a cup of Mia's secret bathwater, and he would obey everything after drinking it.

The group fell silent as cicadas in winter and behaved themselves. They all promised Mia they would put in the effort without overexerting themselves.

With everyone's heads buzzing from Mia's lecturing, she set the departure time and informed them that they could only proceed to Las Noches when they encountered an ambush.

...The wind and sand of Hueco Mundo were a bit annoying, but compared to the nagging from Mia in Orihime's form, it was barely acceptable.

Gin Ichimaru, Matsumoto Rangiku, Toshiro, Kurosaki Ichigo, Chatot, Uryu Ishida, Rukia Kuchiki, Renji, Ryan, Tuaner, Loran, and Xiaoya were all sent to Hueco Mundo by Mia.

Everyone sat in a circle. Mia had said they weren't allowed to move right after arriving...

After a while, a Hell Butterfly brought news: Hueco Mundo had been sealed off using special technology by Szayelaporro, a subordinate of Sosuke Aizen.

"This is probably the ambush Sister Mia was talking about, right?" Xiaoya asked, a bit dazed.

"Then what about the Living World? She's the only one left. Aizen should be on his way to Karakura Town." Kurosaki Ichigo was very agitated. "She won't be captured and brainwashed by Aizen again, will she?"

"Brainwashing my foot. The one captured last time was Inoue Orihime. Mia won't be; her strength is right there. Could all of you together even beat her?" Tuaner gave Kurosaki Ichigo a flick on the head, punishing him for disturbing the troops' morale.

"Let's find Byakuya and Kenpachi first. Try to regroup, and then leave Arrancar No. 7 Zommari Rureaux to Captain Byakuya." Ryan could now say such scheming things so smoothly that Tuaner secretly gave him a thumbs-up.

"Then we'll gather together and see if we can beat Ulquiorra..." Before Ryan could finish, the thumbs-up turned into two punches that landed right on his eye sockets...

"You just love coming up with bad ideas, don't you? Is Ulquiorra that easy to deal with?" Tuaner said angrily. "He's the one who killed Ichigo... Otherwise, why would Mia, influenced by 'Orihime,' tie Xiaoya's [substitute doll] to his waist?" Tuaner argued with Ryan in a low voice, forgetting that everyone present had excellent hearing.

Those who knew the truth thought Mia was influenced by "Orihime" and was performing a divination for Kurosaki Ichigo. They clicked their tongues in envy because not everyone has the luck to have Mia, one of the two great beauties of the Soul Society, risk divine retribution to read their fortune...

Kurosaki Ichigo went from not understanding at first to hearing Renji's blunt explanation that Mia's divination would surely be struck by lightning. He realized he owed Mia a huge favor.

As expected, the group ran into an unexpected situation.

On their way to Las Noches, they encountered the Arrancars jezebel, Menis, and Aldegor, who were dissatisfied with Aizen. These nobodies weren't the problem; the problem was that they were holding the genuine Hogyoku.

Tuaner used her cute little brain, wondering how to pretend she hadn't seen these idiots.

The battle-hungry Renji charged straight at them. Rangiku engaged an enemy for a while before being aided by Gin, who had also engaged one and stabbed him to death with Shinso in two moves. With another stab, jezebel's two companions were both finished.

Gin-ko was a bit speechless. Recently, she had been squeezed to death by Sister Mia (though her appearance had changed, it didn't matter) and Sister Tuaner. Under a hundredfold [Thousand-Weight Curse], if she needed more than two stabs to kill an Arrancar whose number she couldn't even see clearly, she would be scolded to death by Tuaner.

Gin-ko wiped the non-existent sweat from her forehead and stole a glance at Tuaner. She found that not just her, but everyone was looking at jezebel with awkward expressions, listening to his passionate introduction of his—Battojutsu.

Gin-ko was just as awkward as the rest. Battojutsu—she was very familiar with that. When she was a child, Sister Mia used Battojutsu to chase and slash her. Now, her [Setsuna] should be able to slice through space, right?

Furthermore, after obtaining "Orihime's" body, Sister Mia seemed to have also acquired Inoue Orihime's Arrancar-exclusive zanpakuto. That sword's characteristic seemed to be "multi-bladed." She wondered if space would collapse when it slashed...

Renji patiently listened to jezebel's speech, then picked his ear and said seriously to jezebel, "Please show us a level ten speed Battojutsu strike, and make it quick!! We're not in a rush, but we're all quite curious about your Battojutsu..."