84 Harribel and Aizen

***Author Note***

You can read 5 chapters ahead in my One Piece fic by becoming a Pat reon or boosting my discord server.

***Author Note***

The war between Shinigami and Arrancar continued escalating even further, as by now, the Visored had joined the fray, supporting the Shinigami side despite being reluctant to do so.

After all, it was the Gotei 13 that expelled them from Soul Society all those years ago for a crime they didn't commit. However, considering that the Shinigami side was still the lesser evil compared to Aizen and their friendship with Kisuke, they decided to help the Shinigami side.

Simultaneously, the sky split apart, revealing a colossal Hollow with a single eye that quickly extinguished the flames, trapping Aizen, Gin, and Tousen with a single deep exhale.

While most of the freshly arrived Visored were warily eyeing Aizen, a single one of them looked at someone else. Obviously, that one was Lisa, whose gaze was wandering everywhere, looking for Yuna. Currently, she had to put a lot of effort into not acting like a fan girl despite not even seeing her around. After all, she was certain was somewhere around. She could feel it.

Just like that, the fights against the Arrancar more or less took place as they did in canon, with only small differences due to how Yuna had influenced the different combatants.

For example, Shunsui might or might now be slightly drunk while fighting Starrk, the fact that he was occasionally taking a sip from an unlabeled bottle not exactly helping his case.

Soi Fon and Hachigen Ushoda's battle against Baraggan was pretty much identical as well, with the sole difference being that Soi Fon's price for using her taxing Bankai a second time was, that Hachigen would not only trap Kisuke inside a barrier for a month, but Yuna as well.

Although he agreed with her condition, he had some serious doubts about whether he even was capable of doing something like that. As for grudges due to getting trapped? He would just direct those towards Soi Fon.

Anyway, Baraggan was the first Arrancar of the remaining ones who fell, getting killed due to Hachigen sacrificing his hand to teleport Baraggan's own power into himself, killing him in the process as not even he could survive the power of aging.

Following Baraggan death, Starrk was the next to go, getting defeated by Shunsui's unique Zanpakuto ability that based its power on children's games.

Seeing Arrancar after Arrancar being defeated, Aizen could only shake his head.

"What a disappontement. I guess I should end this farce?"

The moment he stopped speaking, he vanished from his position and appeared next to Harribel, who was currently fighting Toshiro, Lisa, and Hiyori.

"Aizen?"

"You served your purpose."

*Cling*

Aizen slashed at Harriblen, intending to cut her down, but to his surprise, she actually blocked his blade.

"Hoo~ You can block my blade?"

Hearing Aizen's taunting question, Harribel scoffed in disdain and counterattacked, cutting Aizen's head off with a single swing of her own.

However, she wasn't naive enough to believe that Aizen actually died so easily, and as she expected, another attack came from behind, which she dodged by moving to the side.

'Mhh? Due to being under my Zanpakuto's total hypnosis ability, she shouldn't be able to see me coming, so how is she dodging and blocking me?'

"As expected of Yuna-sama, she perfectly predicted that you would discard me."

"Oh? 'Sama'? Since when have you betrayed me, Harribel?"

Hearing Aizen's words, Harribel scoffed in disdain as she returned to her basic form.

"Betrayed you? I've never betrayed you. Despite your abilities to make me stronger, being far inferior to Yuna-sama's, I would have dedicated myself to your goal as long as you didn't backstab me."

Naturally, Aizen wasn't happy that he was called inferior to Yuna by Harribel, but he shelved that matter for now, as there were more important things to talk about.

"Why did you return to your base form? Are you giving up? And what do you mean by Yuna making you stronger? What did she do?"

"Mmph, she showed me what it means to truly wield the power from both worlds. [Mizu de Afureru, Hojirozame]"

Spiritual Power erupted out of Harribel like water, and moments later, her Zanpakuto had changed and now looked like a giant shark, fine, seriously dumbfounding Aizen.

'Was that a Shinigami's Shikai!? Impossible! It's impossible for a normal Arrancar to use a Shinigami's Shikai, as they shouldn't have a Zanpakuto Spirit!'

Seeing the mild shock on Aizen's face, Harribel couldn't help but smile lightly as she raised the hand, not holding the sword, and covered her face with it.

"Witness the power Yuna-sama granted me! [Devora, Gran Tiburon Blanco]"

Even more power flooded out of Harribel's body as a shark-like Hollow mask formed on her face, while a shark tail and fin grew on her back, confusing Aizen even further.

'A Shikai, followed by a Resurrection!? Impossible! That is not how an Arrancar's power is supposed to work. Arrancar can't house a Zanpakuto Spirit in their swords because their Hollow powers are sealed in it. It's impossible to have two contrasting powers like Shinigami and Hollow sealed inside the same object harmoniously except... When they don't fight each other!?

However, that's impossible. Hollow and Shinigami are mortal enemies. How could they possibly coexist in harmony!?'

Of course, the mistake in Aizen's thought process was that he assumed that Shinigami and Hollow powers could only be forcefully fused, which is untrue. The reason Shinigami and Hollow were fighting so fiercely wasn't because it was in their nature but because that was the job Seireitei had assigned themselves to do. Obviously, the fact that more mindless Hollow instinctively sought out to eat stronger souls didn't exactly help the conflict either.

Anyway, if it were something like Hollow and Quincy, Aizen's assumptions would have been certainly correct, as the power of Hollows is like poison to the Quincy. Hollow and Shinigami, on the other hand, were simply two beings on different sides of the same coin.

"This is the perfect fusion of Hollow and Shinigami you have always chased after, Aizen. Frankly, it's a pity I only managed to reach this level a few days ago, leaving me not enough time to reach Bankai."

Those words seemed to echo over the whole battlefield, causing everyone who heard them to shiver at the implications of it. Harribel, in her base form, was already incredibly powerful, making it impossible for a normal Captain to defeat her without Bankai. In her previous Resurrection form, she was capable of fighting a Captain and two Visored to a standstill, and now, in her current form, she felt even more powerful than she previously did.

If she were to master Bankai on top of that... Solemn expression appeared on the face of all the Captain's present. They more or less managed to squeeze out a victory against the Arrancar they fought, and it turned out that they only won against incredibly inferior versions of them.

Feeling the weird mood in the air, while making sure that Aizen, who had a rather constipated expression on his face, wouldn't sneak attack her, her gaze landed on Shinji, who she assumed to be the leader of the Visored.

"Hey, since we are in a rather similar situation, let me join your little group."

"""""WHAT!?"""""

Multiple shocked exclamations were issued as Harribel looked at Shinji in indifference. Meanwhile, Aizen pondered whether she should quickly intervene or just let everything play out. However, he quickly decided to be just a spectator for now, as his curiosity about Harribel's current state was far from satisfied. For now, he would just see where the conversation went.

"Haa? Join us? Why would you want to join us?"

"Frankly, I don't. However, Yuna is currently not here, so I can't join her fraction, so your little group is the best choice for me to be treated as an ally."

Hearing Harribel's words, Shinji frowned as he pondered his next set. Obviously, he had never interacted with Yuna, but he knew her brother, at least to some degree. Although Naruto was rather annoying in a lot of cases, Shinji at least considered him to be trustworthy. That being said, he really wanted to talk about this with Naruto, but since he wasn't here, there was nothing that could be done, forcing him to make a quick decision.

"Fine, you can temporarily join us."

Nodding her head in understanding, Harribel quickly put her focus back on Aizen, who had put on his slight smirk that usually adorned his face a while ago.

"Mhh, so you have allied with the Visored, huh? Oh well, one ant more joining the fight won't do much. However, I have to admit, I'm rather curious how you managed to fuse your two powers so flawlessly, Harribel?"

Hearing Aizen's question, an eerily familiar smirk appeared on Harribel's face that instantly caused Aizen to be annoyed.

"Hehe, it's frustrating, isn't it? All those decades of research you went through, and in the end, all of that gets perfected by a young human woman under the age of twenty within a few measly weeks."

For the first time since arriving here, Aizen's expression genuinely slipped as his face twisted in anger due to the mocking words he had just heard. The greatest problem was that he couldn't even refute them, as Yuna had indeed managed to do what he, even with the help of additional inventions, could not do: creating a perfect Shinigami Hollow hybrid.

Harribel, who could clearly see Aizen's twisted expression, couldn't help but lament internally due to how her personality had changed.

'*Sigh* I spent such a short time with Yuna-sama, but her personality is already rubbing off on me.'

[Hahaha, that was a good one! Go, insult that damn bastard some more!]

Hearing the excited yells of her Zanpakuto Spirit, Harribel could only smile wryly as she prepared herself for combat. No matter how she looked at it, Aizen would certainly target her.

*Clang*

Indeed, the moment that thoughts passed through Harribel's mind, she raised her Zanpakuto, blocking one of Aizen's swings.

Although Aizen was surprised that Harribel yet again blocked his strike, he quickly used his Zanpakuto's ability to hide himself while making a copy of himself appear behind her.

Seeing Aizen appear behind Harribel, Toshiro, who was close, decided to intervene, sending his ice to freeze Aizen. Although Harribel could appreciate the gesture of Toshiro apparently having accepted her as an ally, in the end, it didn't mean much.

So, unbothered by the illusion of Aizen standing behind her, she slashed her sword at the one still in front of her, causing his eyes to widen in surprise.

Since he didn't expect a counterattack, thinking that his hypnosis ability was absolute resulted in him being forced to hastily retreat. However, as he was retreating, water erupted out of Harribel's weapon, forming a flying slash of highly pressurized water, resulting in a gash appearing on Aizen's cheek.

In the first cases when Harribel managed to block his attacks, things weren't entirely clear yet, but after this confrontation with Harribel, there was no longer even a sliver of doubt in Aizen's heart.

"Somehow, you are able to see through the ability of my Kyoka Suigetsu."

"Correct."

Grinning smugly, Harribel leisurely twirled around her blade before pointing it at Aizen... the real one, not the one that he manifested with his ability around five meters away from the original.

"Gran Tiburon Blanco, the great white shark. My Resurrection turns me into a relentless hunter. The moment I took notice of you, it was impossible for me to ever lose your position ever again. Your Shikai confuses the five senses, but I'm not using them. I'm using my sixth sense as a predator to find and hunt you."

Obviously, that was a lie. Harribel wasn't stupid enough to reveal what actually was happening to someone as intelligent and cunning as Aizen. Who knew what he would come up with if she did?

In truth, after Yuna had entered her mindscape to help Harribel get to know her Zanpakuto Spirit, she had visited a few more times to make sure that everything was alright.

So, while doing that, Yuna noticed that there were some minuscule fragments of Aizen's Spiritual power hidden away in Harribel's mindscape. Knowing about Aizen's power, Yuna quickly sealed them away without erasing them, making sure that Aizen still felt like he could control Harribel without letting him know that that wasn't the case.

Hearing Harribel's explanation, Aizen frowned deeply, not expecting an ability to pop up that could counter his own.

'How troublesome. I was not expecting this kind of situation to happen. Did Yuna predict this and cultivate Harribel for the sole purpose of defeating me... No, that is impossible. After all, when I showed her my Kyoka Suigetsu, she was easily trapped within my illusion. Right now, she should not even be aware of my Zanpakuto's ability.'

Thinking some more about the current situation, Aizen only shook his head, no longer seeing the situation as a threat. He looked around, briefly watching most of the Shinigami and Visored present fighting enemies only they could see, and chuckled in amusement.

"Oh well, you can see through my Kyoka Suigetsu, so what? Everyone here is firmly trapped within my illusions; what can you do by yourself? If you think I'm only strong because of my Zanpakuto's ability, then you are in for a rude awakening."

Naturally, there was not only his own strength but the strength of the Hogyoku he had embedded in his chest as well. The more time passed, the more he could feel the wall between Shinigami and Hollow crumbling, allowing him to ascend to a level of power never seen before. Ultimately, he would win.

Meanwhile, Harribel looked around her and could only shake her head at what she was witnessing. All the Shinigami and Visored around her were currently having an all-out brawl, thinking the one they were fighting was the real Aizen.

Harribel briefly wondered why Aizen wasn't simply overlapping her own position with his image, forcing everyone around her to attack her, but she quickly came to the conclusion that it probably wasn't that easy.

Currently, the only one Aizen couldn't control was Harribel, so it would be hard to perfectly mimic her movements when he couldn't control them.

Additionally, Harribel's water-based power was completely different from Aizen's, which would make the people around her either realize that the person they were attacking wasn't actually Aizen or, if Aizen concealed the way she attacked, would allow her to easily cut everyone done.

That was not what Aizen wanted.

That... was not what Aizen wanted. He wanted to be the mastermind, the grand manipulator. He wanted to douse people in despair as he removed his illusions, making them realize that they had just cut down the person they wanted to protect.

He wanted to show just how superior he was, and having Harribel simply cut down everyone was far from enough for him. He wanted to taste the despair of the ones he manipulated.

And just like that, Aizen's greatest weakness was yet again displayed: His rampant arrogance, his god complex.