The vast expanse of yellow sand stretched endlessly into the sky.
On the desolate ground of Hueco Mundo, three figures moved swiftly, carrying a corpse between them.
Since leaving the Forest of Menos, the number of Hollows they encountered had dropped sharply. Yoruichi, oddly enough, wasn't used to the quiet. Earlier, she had relied on the endless Menos to hone her combat skills. While their stay in Hueco Mundo hadn't been overly long, she could clearly feel her own improvement.
She could have continued her training there, but she decided against it. Tsunayashiro Tokinada had been executed—mission complete. Now, the priority was returning his corpse to the Soul Society. But before that, they needed to find her grandfather, Shihōin Kōngchan, as well as Gosuke Shigure's vice-captain, Zaraki Jūshirō.
Finding them, however, was tedious. Hueco Mundo's endless desert meant there was no telling where they'd landed after being separated. They could stumble into them by sheer chance—or spend days wandering, finding one only to start the search for the other all over again.
"Grandpa… honestly. A grown man like him getting lost? Can't he just find us himself?" Yoruichi grumbled for what felt like the hundredth time.
Gosuke Shigure only gave a small smile and didn't comment.
Asido, carrying Tokinada's corpse on his back, now understood much more about the mission. After joining Gosuke's team, he learned that the man he bore was the criminal they had come to execute. The Tsunayashiro and Shihōin clans were distant from his own affairs, but even in his years of isolation he knew their names—noble families of great standing.
Hearing the Shiba clan had fallen from grace had already been sobering for him. And the thought of Captain Shihōin, the long-standing Second Division leader, wandering Hueco Mundo alongside someone like Zaraki was… unexpected.
⸻
Meanwhile, far across the sands, two figures—one tall, one short—walked side by side.
Zaraki and Shihōin Kōngchan.
When they had crossed into Hueco Mundo, an unforeseen disturbance scattered their group. Kōngchan found Zaraki soon after, and his plan had been simple: find the others, regroup, then hunt down Tokinada. But as days passed, that plan fell apart.
The truth was, he was lost.
Hueco Mundo's vastness mocked his every attempt. Days of searching turned up neither their allies nor their target. Hollows came and went, and though Kōngchan dispatched them easily, their appearance here meant little—it was Hueco Mundo, after all.
"What now?" Zaraki asked, his voice impatient but not hostile. His sense of direction was nonexistent, and his ability to detect reiatsu even worse, so he had simply followed Kōngchan's lead without question.
Kōngchan hesitated. At first, he'd spoken with certainty, but after so many wrong turns, even he doubted himself. "…That way," he finally said, pointing.
Zaraki didn't question him. Though short-tempered in battle and prone to charging headlong at enemies, in matters outside of combat he had no problem letting others decide the course. Even repeated wrong turns didn't bother him—only prompting him to ask for a new direction each time.
Kōngchan, however, felt the sting. For a captain who prided himself on precision, repeated failure was humbling.
Finally, he tried a different approach. "Zaraki… if it were you, which way would you go?"
Zaraki blinked, then casually pointed toward the horizon. "That way."
"Then that's where we're going." Kōngchan nodded.
⸻
Perhaps it was fate—or maybe just the strange, infuriating luck of Zaraki Kenpachi. Despite his nonexistent navigation skills, before long the two figures crested a dune… and there, ahead of them, were three familiar shapes.
Gosuke Shigure. Yoruichi. Asido.
The separated team was whole again.