Starting with Kengan beating up the Pirate King

Chapter 233 Time Crossing Imperial Court, Corridor of Cause and Effect

"Ichigo didn't go out yesterday."

An hour later, at Urahara Store, Kurosaki Isshin's surprised voice came through the speakerphone: "I asked Karin and Yuuko, and at least when Rukia saw Ichigo yesterday, Ichigo was in the clinic and didn't go out!"

What happened? Should I ask Ichigo myself? Maybe Karin and Yuzu didn't see him leave yesterday?

“No, no need, Mr. Isshin, we already know the answer,” Kisuke Urahara said.

After hanging up the phone, Kisuke Urahara looked at Rukia Kuchiki, who was dumbfounded and even doubted herself, saying, "Could it be that he used some special method to make me remember what happened a week ago only yesterday?!"

“No.” Kisuke Urahara took out the communication device used by Shinigami to communicate and said, “I remember Rukia said that she met Ichigo yesterday after killing a Hollow. Your information is still here. The time was indeed yesterday afternoon.”

"Then why..."

"This is troublesome. Could it be a time-related ability?" Kyoraku Shunsui said, rubbing his chin.

"Time?" Kuchiki Byakuya seemed thoughtful, while Hitsugaya Toshiro asked, puzzled, "Power related to time? What exactly do you mean?"

Kisuke Urahara explained: "In the Kido, there are some special forbidden techniques that require a lot of spiritual power to activate and are very easy to damage oneself. Ordinary Shinigami have almost no chance to come into contact with them. Only great Kido masters like Tessai can come into contact with and master them."

Among forbidden techniques, there are several special ones that involve time and space. In terms of time, some can even achieve localized time freeze, time acceleration, or time reversal.

"Time stops, speeds up, and rewinds?" Renji looked like he was questioning the existence of reality: "Kido can do such exaggerated things?"

“Ah.” Kisuke Urahara nodded: “I’ve been wondering for a long time why we haven’t noticed that Guan Yi has been by Ichigo’s side for a whole year. If he’s using time-related powers, then it’s not surprising.”

He may never have appeared directly in front of Ichigo, only in Ichigo's 'past'. It's impossible for us, existing in the present, to discover him from the past.

He pulled out a blackboard from somewhere, drew two parallel lines of the same length on it, and labeled it: "The top line is Ichigo, and the bottom line is us. Normally, time is a straight line that keeps moving forward, and everyone is at the very front of these two lines, so we can see each other and interact."

“But when a Kido-like technique that freezes time is activated, this line will move downwards.” He pulled the line representing Ichigo vertically downwards by 10 centimeters, and then pulled everyone else's lines forward by 10 centimeters. “In this way, our time is no longer parallel to Ichigo's time. Ichigo's time has been left in our past by some force, but then…”

He then pulled the line representing Ichigo diagonally until it returned to its original parallel position, at a certain point, rejoining the timeline that had been moving forward normally with his group.

"Time possesses a powerful self-restoring force. When the duration of the forbidden technique ends, it will smooth out the gap and return to the same level as quickly as possible."

“In other words…” Matsumoto Rangiku stepped forward and pointed to the vertical timeline representing Ichigo: “This represents a week ago. Ichigo’s time was left at that time, and Kaneki also came into contact with Ichigo on this downward line, so it was impossible for us to notice him.”

"After the time freeze ended, Ichigo's time was brought back in the fastest way possible..." Kyoraku Shunsui said with a headache, "That's why we're in this situation today. It's a really troublesome ability. Is it the power of Kido or the power of Zanpakuto?"

"It's hard to say, even the power of a Quincy wouldn't be surprising." Kisuke Urahara sighed, "Kan Yi-san just occasionally comes up with some unprecedented abilities, making it too difficult to find him. But this time, at least we have some clues to follow, which is a major breakthrough."

Are there any clues to be found?

Everyone was slightly taken aback. Byakuya Kuchiki glanced at Rukia and asked, "Why Rukia? What does that guy want to do to Rukia?"

"That's right! Since Rukia saw him interacting with Ichigo Kurosaki yesterday, it means that at that time, Rukia's time was also moving downwards! Or rather, it was also stopped by him!"

Rangiku realized what was happening and said, "He couldn't have just used Rukia to play us for a fool, could he? He must have some other purpose!"

“That’s right… the fact that only Rukia saw him interact with Ichigo means that Seki also used a similar ability on Rukia!” Kisuke Urahara affirmed. “Rukia, think carefully, has Seki ever done anything special to you?”

Rukia realized what was happening and straightened her face as she recalled, "Something special? No... Yesterday, he acted like an ordinary person who couldn't see spirits in front of Ichigo, without any interaction with me whatsoever, not even eye contact or gestures..."

I hadn't noticed him before... Oh, except for that time in Seireitei, the time he fought Captain Urahara and Captain Yoruichi. He seemed to use some kind of power to heal me from the aftershocks of the battle, which I've always found very strange..."

"What?" Yoruichi frowned and interrupted, "He treated you that day? When?"

"That day... after he used Kido and Cero, he healed me..."

Yoruichi and Kisuke Urahara exchanged glances, their eyes gradually showing shock. "No way? Yes, that definitely didn't happen back then. Seki clearly left behind a fake body and disappeared right in front of us after the smoke and dust from the explosion!"
"Guan Yi-sang altered some of Rukia's memories?" Kisuke Urahara said solemnly, "Please don't let it be what I imagine, that even the past can be modified to some extent."

Even as he said this, a strong sixth sense arose in his heart—it was probably the latter. Guan Yi's power could even alter history to some extent? Could it be that he had really succeeded in obtaining a piece of the Spirit King's power? Wait, it just so happens to be the past, the war with the Unseen Empire a year ago… Urahara Kisuke pondered and guessed Guan Yi's purpose.

……

Yesterday was a marker.

The Void Circle, deep within the desolate desert.

Guan Yi drew his Zanpakuto, rubbed the small amount of spiritual pressure he had extracted from Rukia with his fingertips, and evenly spread it onto the Zanpakuto.

"The stored spiritual pressure of three thousand Hollows should be enough to complete this time journey."

boom--

The next moment, the violent spiritual pressure, like a tornado, propelled the barren sand in all directions, making the night sky of Hueco Mundo even darker! A dozen miles away, a newly born Hollow screamed as it was crushed into dust!
As his spiritual pressure reached its peak, Guan Yi softly uttered two words: "Bankai!"

hum-

Golden light radiated outwards, and Guan Yi's single sword split into two swords. The blades expanded and intertwined, transforming into a sun and moon wheel that floated behind Guan Yi, illuminating the void in front of him and reflecting a gate that resembled a portal between realms.

"Time flies through the imperial courtyard, and the corridor of cause and effect winds through the streets."

click -

The door slowly opened, and Guan Yi stepped inside. It was a long corridor like a museum exhibition hall, with dynamic 'murals' on both sides, depicting Rukia in various poses.

Eating, sleeping, and practicing meditation.

Communicating with teammates and handling daily patrol duties.

This is Rukia's past!

Guan Yi didn't have the morbid interest to watch more of Rukia's daily life; he simply delved deeper and deeper, and as he went deeper, the things he 'screened' became even more distant.

Two minutes later, Guan Yi arrived in front of a mural that was projecting a faint golden light—this golden light represented that Rukia's past had some overlap with Guan Yi's.

Guan Yi reached out to touch it, and a large door naturally opened, allowing Guan Yi to walk in.

wow——

A scorching heatwave rolled in, and when Guan Yi landed, he had returned to Seireitei a year earlier, back to the time when he escaped from the siege of Urahara Kisuke and Yoruichi.

Like a ghost of time and space, Guan Yi was shrouded in a thin layer of white mist, making him completely invisible to Kisuke Urahara and Yoruichi, who could only stare at the spot where Guan Yi had left his dummy. Guan Yi was also unable to affect them, except for his target for activating his Bankai, Rukia Kuchiki.

The severely injured Rukia watched helplessly as Guan Yi stepped forward, waved his hand, and injected some spiritual particles into her body, pulling her back from the brink of losing consciousness. Then, he vanished without a trace in a flash.

Rukia must not be allowed to fall into a coma, otherwise maintaining this past will become even more difficult.

Next, Guan Yi, as a ghost of time, witnessed the entire battle between the Captain-Commander and Yhwach that he hadn't dared to watch a year ago, and followed Yhwach to Hueco Mundo, where he witnessed Aizen's siege of Yhwach.

He followed Yhwach into the present world.

"Go find purebloods in the mortal world? No, there's no need to be in such a hurry. Although it won't hinder our plans, I don't want to see Soul Society gloating like this again."

Next, we're going to a place that the Soul Society could never even imagine.

Guan Yi stood next to Yhwach, listening intently to Yhwach's instructions.

Oh, so that's where it was.

(End of this chapter)