CH 95: ANOTHER GENIUS
AN: Now if a shinigami speaks with his zanpakuto.
{}=Shinigami speaking inwardly
[]=Zanpakuto speaking inwardly.
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[Garganta]
‘Now, what?’
Looking at the dark void with a sullen expression, Soi Fon wondered inwardly what they should do.
The presence of Yoruichi already put her on edge. There was so much she wanted to ask.
What really happened that day?
Why did she abandon her?
What had happened during those decades?
[*Argh!!* Yoruichi! Yoruichi! Yoruichi! Your biased perception is clouding your judgment, just as in your relationship with Yoruichi! You resent her when she's not around, but will do anything for her when she is! There's no middle ground with you! Yoruichi's the one holding you back! She's the real problem here!]
The frustrated cry of Suzumebachi sounded in her heart.
{What do you mean?}
[For god’s sake. Soi Fon, you have a bomb in your heart, you are being threatened by a powerful shinigami, you are most likely considered dead in the Gotei 13, and all you think about is Yoruichi!? Come on! Is your brain flooded? Stop being such a simp!]
In her inner space, Suzumebachi was literally screaming. The current situation, while not the worst one, was pretty bleak. But, rather than thinking about a solution to the problem at hand, her partner was busy playing the fangirl.
If she had a heart, she was sure that she would have had an attack by now. This was how infuriated she was.
Soi Fon had the decency to look a little abashed. She knew that she had lost herself a little. Even so, she was too proud to offer apologies.
[Humph. No need to say thanks. I know you wouldn’t even if it killed you. Anyways, the situation isn’t too bad currently. At least, Mister handsome over there doesn’t seem interested in your body, which is pretty normal because your style is lame, so there is no danger to your virtue...Huh, I guess being lame has its advantages.]
Soi Fon gritted her teeth. She knew that Suzumebachi never kept her tongue in check and loved to hurl abuses at her. At the same time, she felt a little wistful. After all, more often than not, the zanpakuto spirit shared the same personality as their user, or at least close enough.
{He might be a rogue, but I don’t believe that he will use me for such an endeavor. If he wanted to, he could have done it when I was unconscious.}
Soi Fon did not particularly care if Gojo tried to sexually abuse her. Despite her lack of experience, as a female assassin, she had received all the relevant knowledge about how to use her charms if necessary and was also prepared for the eventual case where she would fall into the hands of the enemies and was unable to kill herself.
[Then here is the question. Why did he keep you? Back then, he could have just convinced you to leave with the rest of the shinigamis and let him deal with the hollows. He wouldn’t even need to expose his Bankai to you that way. It means he needed you to stay specifically.]
{That’s right...I guess the next question is, what will happen to me once he doesn’t need me anymore?}
[Indeed. If he kills you now, aside from that vice-captain, no one will know what has happened to you. He can even create a beautiful story about you sacrificing yourself or something like that. No matter how I see it, killing you is better than keeping you alive.]
{So…?}
[Hum? What are you asking?]
{I mean. If you made all those deductions, it means you have a plan… You do have a plan, right?}
[Nop. Not at all. Just wanted to show you how fucked you are. You are going to die. No cap. It was great knowing you.]
Reaching there, Suzumebachi immediately cut the connection between them, leaving a bewildered Soi Fon.
-----
If Gojo could hear the discussion between Soi Fon and Suzumebachi, he would have laughed his ass off. But currently, he was more focused on finding a node that would facilitate the entry in Dangai.
Since Gojo had decided to enter Dangai, he had prepared many plans. The easiest one was of course to open a Senkaimon from Sol Society or earth and to enter without a hell butterfly.
But doing so was extremely dangerous and stupid. The chances to appear in the time currents of Dangai or next to the sweeper were so high it could basically be seen as suicide.
This was why it was necessary to go from Garganta to Dangai and finally the valley of screams.
‘Should I still explore the valley of screams?’
That had been the mission given. But finding the specific valley that housed the targets would be a huge endeavor with just the three of them. They would need to be incredibly lucky to find them.
He would rather focus on Dangai if necessary.
‘Hum, but Valleys of Souls are created by the coalitions of Blanks. Observing it could be interesting.’
He decided that he would give it a try and visit valleys of scream once he was finished with his business. If after three times he did not find it, he would simply go back.
It wasn’t as if he cared about some exiled nobles.
‘Now that I think about it, should I find a way to warn Nanao that I am alive?’
He suddenly grimaced at the thought. Nanao already had a trauma because of the curse of her clan. If she learned that he ‘died’ just a few days after having sex with her, he was sure that she would be devastated.
He could of course go back immediately, but if he entered the Seireitei, he had a high chance of being caught. The most important was,
‘I need someone at the level of captain to be with me.’
Pondering for a few moments, he decided to not stay longer than one week in Dangai. Normally, he would only be declared missing in action after a period of two weeks. This means that he could use one week for Dangai, three to five days for the valleys of screams, then he would go back.
After all, once he obtained fixed coordinates, he could come back any time he wished.
He continued to mull as he advanced until,
"We are here."
Both Nemu and Soi Fon looked around at his words but saw nothing aside from the same endless void.
Of course, the world in their eyes and that of Gojo was completely different.
Where all they could see was nothingness, when Gojo concentrated, he could see strings of energy all linked to each other.
But some of those strings aggregated to form nodes. Those were what Gojo targeted.
Since he didn't know the coordinates, he couldn't teleport to Dangai using Shadow, but using this alternative method was possible.
Gojo heightened his focus, feeling the nodes with all his senses.
Slowly, the world around him began to slow down and all color slowly vanished, until all that was left was a monochromatic world where everything seemed to stop.
In his mind, thousands of calculations began to take place.
For anyone else, the amount of information would have been too overwhelming to make sense of. But, one of the reasons the Six Eyes were required to master Limitless was exactly because of the boost in calculation power.
He didn't know how long it took, perhaps a few minutes or few hours, but his back was drenched in sweat when he finished.
"How long have I been out?"
"I doubt more than a couple of hours."
Nemu answered calmly while Soi Fon stood on the side.
He was surprised that she didn't try anything. In fact, he had some nasty surprises in reserve had she tried anything. It was really a shame.
"Are you really about to open a gate to your destination in Dangai?"
Soi Fon frowned, even the members of the scientific research department would need to work in medium-sized teams for many days before succeeding.
In fact, even Kisuke Urahara would need some preparation for a few days before he created a fully functional gate. Even though she hated that man, she had to admit that he was the most talented person she had ever seen.
Gojo ignored Soi Fon’s question and took a deep breath, before waving his hand. Instantly, the reishi in the surroundings began to gravitate around and condensed at a specific point.
Finally, an oval-shaped gate appeared in front of the eyes of an astonished Soi Fon and a grinning Gojo.
Until now, there had only been officially one shinigami that could open gates to and from Garganta without having to rely on more companions or machines. Now, there were two.
(AN: Well, well well. What will Gojo discover in Dangai? We will see… Also, officially, only Kisuke can. But most of us know that Aizen can do the same.)