After being reborn as some unknown creature, with no grim reaper coming for him, Nobita decided to run. Run... run endlessly... until he didn't even realize that 78 years had passed...
His body had grown to about 185 centimeters tall, his dorsal fins had grown much larger, expanding from a single row to three rows. His Hollow skin changed from pure white to having red patterns across his body... And unlike all other Hollows, he had no black hole in his body...
He had wandered to the farthest reaches of Hueco Mundo, where he encountered no one. Well, no lower-level Hollow dared to face him... making his running incredibly lonely.
Actually, there were some who wanted to meet him, but Nobita's instincts told him to stay away from those presences. Though he was constantly being watched, he seemed to possess an ability that could disrupt the vision of anyone observing him...
And those who were watching him...
"Is he still running?" asks a man - Kaname Tosen. Being blind, he cannot see what Aizen is doing
"He knows we're watching him," says Aizen, sitting before a monitor showing only static from lost signals. "Every time my insects try to observe him, he doesn't even need to look at the camera."
Aizen replays the previous footage... It shows an aerial view of Nobita running at high speed, but after just three seconds, a flash of light emanates from his dorsal fins and the image immediately goes dark.
"I've tried observing from increasing distances with the same result... The furthest we can monitor is 20 kilometers."
"But that means..."
"Yes, Kaname. In the end, we know nothing about this Vasto Lorde[1]. He's constantly moving, making his path unpredictable... Fascinating."
"What will you do next, Lord Aizen?"
"He's far from Las Noches now. We should focus on building our Arrancar army first."
"Understood, Lord Aizen..."
After Tosen leaves, Aizen replays the footage again, showing only blurred images of Nobita.
"Truly fascinating."
Nobita kept running and running, hoping to meet someone... and finally, he did...
At last...
He saw someone's figure, who like him wasn't human... After running for many years, his instincts had taught him that he was a creature called a Hollow, that this place was Hueco Mundo, and that he was a highest-level Menos. Now he had encountered another Menos who seemed to be like him...
But this one had no mouth. They stared at each other. Nobita, disliking the awkward atmosphere, waved in greeting...
"Yo!!!" Nobita's teenage-like voice completely mismatched his terrifying appearance. "Hey... finally met someone else!"
The Menos just stared without saying anything...
"Can you... speak?" Nobita asked, noticing the lack of a mouth.
The being shook its head.
"Oh... that's too bad. I'm Nobi Nobita, nice to meet you!" Nobita used Sonido, the high-speed movement technique of Arrancars and high-level Menos, appearing close to the mute Menos and extending his hand in greeting... "you seem friendly, let's be friends!"
The mute Menos was stunned. Friends? What was that? Throughout its existence, it had been alone, with no Hollow daring to approach, or if they did, they only wanted to devour it. But this dinosaur-faced Menos approached with such friendliness, which intrigued it...
"Hey... you know, I'm exploring this place, looking for interesting stuff. It's boring running alone... want to come along?" Nobita invited the Menos.
The mute Menos thought this would be better than staying alone in this land, so it nodded...
"Great... you look strong too. I'm going to keep running, try to keep up!!!"
And Nobita dashed away.
The Menos known as Ulquiorra Cifer thought that at least he wouldn't be alone anymore, so he followed Nobita. The two adventured together through the wasteland, with Nobita constantly chatting, often telling stories about his life. Although he had spent most of it bedridden, at least his hospital room had a TV where he could watch movies.
He would often talk about the movies he had watched, which helped Ulquiorra begin to understand human nature, even though he thought most of what Nobita said was nonsense. Until... they saw an enormous castle in the far distance. Despite being far away, the castle was incredibly huge...
"Whoa... how big is that castle... I'd like to go there, but the presence of those inside doesn't feel friendly at all."
Then Nobita spotted something moving in the distance. He rushed to look and saw a group of Menos, specifically Adjuchas, which are high-level Menos second only to the Vasto Lorde that Nobita was. They were hunting two other Adjuchas that looked like a centipede and a scorpion. Nobita had learned that some Hollows eat other Hollows to gain power, but there was no proof, and while he understood that Hollows needed to consume souls, he didn't like seeing this sort of thing. Perhaps it was due to his human memories...
"I'm going to help those two... you can stay here," Nobita told Ulquiorra before using Sonido to warp to their aid.
The two Adjuchas, weakened from fighting against 12 other Adjuchas, couldn't move easily... They thought they wouldn't survive until...
A small figure stood between them and the Adjuchas horde...
"A... Vasto Lorde," a rhinoceros-shaped Adjuchas gasped in surprise...
"I understand you need to eat souls, but I won't let you do that in front of me," Nobita said.
"Even if you're a Vasto Lorde, you dare challenge Lord Barragan's soldiers?" one Adjuchas spoke.
"Barragan?... Who's that?" Nobita wondered...
"What? You're a Vasto Lorde like our lord, but you don't know the King of Hueco Mundo?"
"There's a king here?" Nobita remained puzzled...
"Whatever, stand aside!!!"
"No... you guys go back to your Barragan or whatever king," Nobita dismissively waved them away, which naturally made the Adjuchas very angry. They immediately attacked Nobita...
Nobita sighed. He didn't want to help others by killing their opponents, but these ones seemed impossible to reason with...
"Can't be helped..."
In a flash, Nobita disappeared and reappeared behind the Adjuchas, who instantly dissolved into nothing...
"So this is how it feels to kill..." This was Nobita's first kill, and he felt neither good nor bad about it. Perhaps it was because he had become a Hollow...
Nobita turned to the two injured insect Adjuchas...
"Are you two alright?"
"Ah... um... yeah..." The scorpion Adjuchas stammered, still shocked at being saved by a Vasto Lorde. Her voice revealed she was female.
"What do you want?" The giant centipede Adjuchas asked Nobita, also female. Despite her brave tone, there was kindness behind it.
"Nothing really, I just happened to see you being chased and came to help," Nobita shrugged.
"Just that?" She remained skeptical.
"Yeah. I know it's your nature to hunt and eat each other and stuff, but I don't know, maybe because I used to be human and still have human feelings, I just wanted to help. That's all..."
"W-well... thanks," the scorpion Adjuchas thanked him.
"No problem. I'm Nobi Nobita," Nobita greeted.
"I'm Menoly Mallia," Menoly politely introduced herself.
"Loly Aivirrne," Loly said with a sarcastic tone.
"So... about why they were hunting you..."
"Those idiots thought we were weak and attacked us. I could fight one-on-one, but they ganged up on us," Loly complained.
"We were chased until you saved us," Menoly added.
"I see... that's how this world is, huh... Hey, want to get stronger without having to eat others?" Nobita offered.
"What?" Loly asked.
"Even though I was born as a Vasto Lorde, I wasn't this strong from the start. I exercised and ran until I became like this. I think if you train with me, you might become strong enough that no one would dare try to eat you..."
"And what's the catch?" Loly remained suspicious.
"Nothing really, just traveling companions. Hueco Mundo is vast, and I never had friends when I was alive. I want to make friends... Right now it's just me and that mute Vasto Lorde over there."
Nobita pointed to the side of the two, who were startled to find another Vasto Lorde had been behind them without their knowledge...
"W-who is this!!!" Loly exclaimed in shock.
"Sorry, sorry, he's always like this... So, interested? Besides training, you'll get protection from two Vasto Lordes. Such double luck doesn't come often... Call now at... oh... sorry, thinking about TV shows I used to watch," Nobita apologized while scratching his head.
Though they didn't understand Nobita's last reference, the initial offer was intriguing... They could become stronger, and this Vasto Lorde before them was no ordinary being...
The two finally agreed, making Nobita very happy to have made friends, even though they didn't fully trust him yet, and even though Ulquiorra still didn't understand the meaning of friendship. For Nobita, his journey through the Hollow realm was starting to look much more interesting.
To Be Continued
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