07x17 - Ashido, The Shinigami Who Came from the Past

[bunniefuu]

Orihime has been abductedby the Arrancars.

In order to save her,Ichigo, Ishida, and Sado

have marched into Hueco Mundo,the world of the Hollows.

They crush the Arrancarsstanding in their way

and make their waythrough the desert.

Along the way,

they meet up with Rukia and Renji,who have followed after them.

Ichigo and his friends headfor Las Noches once more.

But the Guardian of the White Sand,Runuganga, appears before them

and blocks their way.

They are sucked deep beneathHueco Mundo into the Forest of Menos.

While falling, Ichigo and his friendsare separated from Rukia.

They dodge Hollows as they look forRukia and head deeper into the forest.

Ichigo!

We've been caught!

They're going to eat us!

Nel?!

Meanwhile,Rukia is with Ashido,

a mysterious Soul Reaperwearing a Hollow mask.

Is that a light made of Kido?

You really are a Soul Reaper.

Where are you assigned?What's your squad?

Did you leave your squad?

Hey!Say something¦

My name is Ashido.

Ashido?

What are you doing?!

What™s the meaning of this?

I was just testing your strength.

Testing?

This forest is harsh¦

It's not easy to survive here.

Ashido!

Someone's fighting.

This Spiritual Pressure¦It's Ichigo and the others.

What a way to fight!

They're only drawingMenos towards them!

Wait!

You stay here!

They're the friends I came with!

I'm going too!

What's your name?

Your name.

Oh¦ Yeah¦I'm Rukia Kuchiki.

Thirteen Court”

Getsugatensho!

What is this?!

The more I b*at, the moreMenos keep springing up!

Ichigo!

Kurosaki, we should run away!

Yeah! We'll never finish offthis many of them!

All right!

Ichigo, what should we doabout Nel and the others?

Save them!

What about Kuchiki?

We™ll find her!

But it's worse if Nel andthe others get lost!

Bawabawa!

It sounds like he's sayingwe should follow him.

Do you know where they are?

All right! I'm counting on you!

The forest is really noisy.

Is it the work of the intruders?

It seems what Las Nochessaid is true.

No. That's not all¦

It's Ashido again!

That bastard¦When is he going to die?!

Damn it!

Hey! There's something interesting.

Oh? Some of the intruder's friends?

Looks like we've gotsomething good.

What do you plan to do with us?

You'll find out.

Hey, someone go lookfor the intruders!

Oh no!

“ Let us out!“ Yes, let us out!

They're around this area.

There's no mistake.It's Ichigo and the others.

Where did they go?

Are you the intruder?

I found you!

What is this guy?

He's that size and has a largerSpiritual Pressure than a Menos?!

Could it be?

So this is an Adjuchas!

Rukia, stand back!

Ashido¦

You're here too, huh?

Come, Gillians!

What?!

He can control the Menos?!

Gillians, fire your Cero!

At this rate¦

Don't bother with the Menos!

What?

You stay here!

H-Hey!

Now! Fire!

Ashido!

What?!

He hasn't even used a bankai¦

He's strong!

Who was that just now?

An Adjuchas¦

They're superior to the Gillians.

They're the second-highestranking Menos.

Was that the first timeyou saw one?

Yeah. That was my first.

An Adjuchas controlsthe Gillians, huh?

They only appeared recently.

What happened in Soul Society?

The power of the Hollows herehas changed.

And Soul Reapers¦you appeared.

What happened?

Soul Society isn't monolithic¦A lot of troublesome things happened.

I see¦

Your friends weren't here.

Let's look elsewhere.

Yeah¦ Thanks.

It looks like he was defeated.

What?!

Was it Ashido again?!

Well¦ No¦

There's another Spiritual Pressure.

Is it the intruder?

Yeah¦

It looks like this one™sa Soul Reaper too.

Oh?

The intruder is a friendof Ashido's, huh?

We can use them.

This is more like a nestrather than a forest.

Yes¦ It's a nest of Hollows.

Let's move on.

Yeah¦

It looks like I underestimatedyour strength.

You're more than strong enoughto fight the Adjuchas.

There's something I've beenwondering about.

What is it?

That mask¦

Why?

No, if you don'twant to answer that¦

I came here from Soul Societyseveral hundreds of years ago.

That long ago?

Yeah¦

I chased a Hollow disappearinginto Hueco Mundo and,

before I realized it,I was here.

Ever since,

I've just been fighting Hollows herefor a mind-numbingly long time.

Isn't there any way out of here?

Yes¦ There is.

Well, why don't you try to get out?

Because I'm a Soul Reaper.

What?

All of the Hollows that appear inthe World of the Living

probably head there from here.

If I reduce their numbersas much as possible

then the World of the Livingwill suffer less damage.

That's why I continueto fight Hollows here.

Have there been fewer Hollowappearances in the World of the Living?

Well¦

I can tell from your expression,there haven't.

I can't lie about that.

Sorry¦

There's no need to.Don't apologize.

It kind of feels like a celebration.

Are they going to enjoy eating us?!

Which means¦

“ We don't want that!“ We don't want that!

Oh!

OS,, , , ,,TOOTH

Nel, have you been wearingyour hood ever since we arrived?

Y-Yeah¦

I've got it!

Settle down, settle down!

Do you know whoour sister here is?

She has been transformed intoan Arrancar by Lord Aizen.

She is Lord Nel Tu!

Oh!

Don't you seethis wonderfully cracked mask?!

“ Yeah! Yeah!“ Yeah! Yeah!

Lord Nel is looking for an exit!

Does anyone know where it is?!

You can go above through the holein the rock ledge over there!

All right, then!

By the way,mine is a little cracked here, too!

Farewell then!

Our plan was a great success!

Oh? That's good for you.

Now it's time for my plan.

N-N-Nel isan A-Arrancar, you know.

That is that. This is this.

“ Oh¦ Is that so?“ Oh¦ Is that so?

What is this place?

This is the placewhere we first arrived.

You weren't alone, were you?

No¦ I had friends.

We discoveredwhere we were

and began to fight as Soul Reapersunder the same belief.

But¦

The Hollows were great in number andMenos prowl during the day and night.

One by one, my friends who werewith me became worn out by the battle.

Then they were defeated.

In order to uphold the vowI made with my friends

to defend human soulsby fighting here as a Soul Reaper¦

I have been fighting here ever since.

I asked you whether the numberof Hollows had dropped¦

I wasn't asking you aboutthe results of my work.

I wanted to report itto my friends.

Sorry¦

I told you,there's no need to apologize.

Rukia.

When you meet upwith your friends,

you should go back toSoul Society immediately.

If the number of Hollows hasn't dropped,there's no need for reinforcements here.

No, I'm going to Las Noches.

What?!

One of my friends isbeing held in Las Noches.

There are Vasto Lordes there¦

You can't defeat themwith average skills.

I know¦ But I must go.

She's an important friend of ours.

There's no need to worry,I'm not alone.

We'll all help to save her.

Ashido¦ Why did youbring me here?

If I talked, you'd respond,ask questions, and speak.

I wanted to let my friends hear that.

The voice of a Soul Reaper,something they haven™t heard since¦

What's this?

It's Ichigo and the others!

Follow me!

Where are we?

That's odd¦

I faintly sensed your friends'Spiritual Pressure earlier.

Yeah¦ Right now, there aren't evenany remains of their Spiritual Pressures.

I wiped out those remains!

If I don't wipe them out,I can't ambush you, right?

Come out Gillians!

Th-There're so many of them!

Don't panic.

If we defeat him,the Menos will get slower.

Yeah¦

Fire your Cero!

Aim there, Gillians!

Rukia!

Ashido!

Our plan to make themlay face down before us

by showing themNel's cracked mask was a failure.

Our vice-shogun was no good.

Hey, hey, don't tell me that youdon't remember this cracked mask!

That's it!

Let's try again!

Will that plan really work?

ARRANCAR ENCYCLOPEDIA

The Arrancar Encyclopedia!

Today, I shall discussthe Forest of Menos.

The Gillians who liveunder Hueco Mundo

can be tamed andmade to follow orders.

Hollows, follow my orders!

Oh yeah! The only oneswho can order them around

are Captain Aizen andthe guys in charge of the forest.

What?! You should havetold me that earlier!

I'm going to kick you!

Also, if you att*ck a Hollow,his friends will come, so be careful.

You should havetold me that earlier!