8-1 Shades of the Bond

Hm...

Is Ichigo still inside?

............

Brother, what are we doing out here? We should destroy that thing and go help Ichigo.

I can't undo that dimension, and there's no way you can damage it from the outside. Read between the lines, will you?

(But that can't be.)

(With this many captain-class Soul Reapers present, destroying that dimension should be easy.)

(I don't believe it. As far as I can tell, that ability was nowhere near invincible.)

(Is there a reason for this? There must be something preventing them from going in. So what is it they're waiting for?)

Hey... What? What's going on? Impossible! There's no way they can break that!

............

"Shut up?" About what, exactly? Do I pain you so terribly that you'd use Bankai to silence me forever?

And what good would that do you? Would it hide your eyes from the harsh reality?

Shut the hell up.

That one was for you, Ginjo. But when I said it the first time, it wasn't. It was to Uryu.

You expect me to ignore him? You kidding?! For once in your life, mind your own business!

Ichigo...

Truth is, it sounded strange to me too. Everything that Jushiro told me that day.

Jushiro is a lot smarter than I am. He knew what he was doing.

If he had genuinely intended to deceive me, he could've kept me in the dark and that would've been that.

But when he gave me the Combat Pass, he said all that I needed to know. Wasn't long before I realized the pass didn't seem to mean anything at all.

I figure Jushiro knew I'd put two and two together. He wanted me to realize it, so I could make my own choice.

And what would that be? Your little epiphany amounted to nothing. You haven't any choice at all.

You're wrong. I chose the path of protecting others.

I wanted power, the power to protect everyone I could, wherever and whenever I could.

And losing my abilities reminded me how all this started.

I had been seeking the power to protect people, and Rukia gave it to me.

And when I eventually lost it, everyone helped me to get it back.

I made my choice. And that means kicking your ass to protect everyone else.

Hmph. So much for negotiations.

You leave me no choice. I really wanted to avoid killing you if I could.

Bankai.

............

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. You were a Substitute Soul Reaper yourself.

That's right. But you're forgetting something else.

As I told you, us Fullbringers, we were attacked by Hollows when we were born. Don't you remember? I have the power of a Hollow within me.

Is that so?

It's time for you to make your move. Let's get this over with, Ginjo.

Big talk, kid. That's why I like ya! Hahaha!