From the Wandenreich's escape to One Piece

Chapter 141 Rukia Awakens Bankai; Harald the Devil

On the way back, Shiki and Beltz flew together in the air.

"You're getting stronger and stronger."

With a hint of regret, Shiki said, "It seems you're not suited to be my first mate either."

Beltz chuckled upon hearing this, then said, "You can make Kozuki Oden your first mate, or wait until Enel and Alberl grow up. Trust me, they will be great helpers to you in the future."

"Yes, from now on, we're equals!"

Although Shiki was a bit arrogant, he had known Beltz for several years, so there was no need for him to use that arrogance on others.

Previously, Beltz's strength was indeed inferior to Shiki's, so he became Shiki's captain because of his superior status.

But now Beltz's strength has grown stronger and his reputation has grown, and he has even surpassed himself in terms of bounty.

Under these circumstances, Shiki was also embarrassed to continue being Captain Beltz.

Even if Beltz didn't really care about this kind of thing, he still had the nerve to say it.

After all, whose captain's bounty is less than that of his crew?

He doesn't have that kind of face.

Furthermore, in Elbaf, Beltz even thwarted the World Government's plan once again, which made Shiki feel that Beltz was even more unfathomable.

So he simply laid it all out in the open.

Beltz didn't care at all; in fact, he never really took the role of vice-captain of the Flying Pirates seriously from the beginning.

"I guess if the World Government doesn't attack immediately, then there will be a considerable period of calm between us."

He told Shiki, "So the next few years, or even the next decade or so, will be a rare period of development."

"I hope so," Shiki scoffed.

They saw the outline of Wano Country come into view, so they quickened their pace.

After entering Wano Country, the two parted ways again. Shiki went to Beehive Island, while Beltz returned to Onigashima Island.

He saw Rukia, who looked like an ice fairy, on a frozen lake.

At this moment, Rukia was dressed in pure white, her clothes seemingly made of ice crystals, with a butterfly-shaped white ribbon appearing on her back, and her hair was the most eye-catching feature.

Her hair, which was originally black, had now turned as white as snow.

Centered on her, she exuded an extremely cold aura, so much so that even Beltz felt a chill run down his spine when he arrived.

"Swastika?"

Beltz landed with some surprise and said to Rukia, "You've already mastered Bankai?"

Rukia only reacted after hearing Beltz's voice. The ice crystals on her body shattered inch by inch, turning into snowflakes that fell to the ground, revealing her original clothes.

The extreme chill quickly dissipated, and Rukia said with a smile, "Yes, thanks to the Snow-Snow Fruit you gave me, I've now mastered Bankai!"

Since obtaining the Snow-Snow Fruit from Litoto, Beltz has given it to Rukia.

Rukia wasn't a complete novice; she naturally knew that abilities called Devil Fruits existed in this world.

She was very grateful to Beltz for giving her Devil Fruits, especially the extremely precious Logia-type Devil Fruits, so she trained even harder.

She had already grasped the essence of Sode no Shirayuki before, and now she is completely proficient in using Shikai, and can even use Bankai.

"good."

Beltz sincerely praised, "I told you you had a lot of potential, didn't I?"

"I owe this all to you," Rukia said with a smile. "Without you, I might still be just an ordinary Grim Reaper."

"No, gold will shine sooner or later." After saying that, Beltz thought of Harald and said, "I have something else to ask you. I'll need you to come with me to Hueco Mundo again."

"Hueco Mundo—" Rukia was taken aback and asked, "What happened?"

"I have two friends who have just died in the human world, and I would like to ask you to transfer them to the Soul Society."

"Oh—I thought it was something serious. Shall we set off now?"

"Um.

"Belts walked over and pressed Rukia's head down. The next moment, the two of them were back in Hueco Mundo."

"I should go back too."

Feeling the familiar spiritual environment, Rukia's eyes revealed a trace of nostalgia, and she said softly, "Beltz, it's been a while since I left the Soul Society."

"Yes." Beltz didn't object to Rukia going back, but it wasn't quite the right time yet. He said, "At most, you can return to the Soul Society in another six months."

Rukia was actually quite reluctant to leave. The environment of the Soul Society and the Gotei 13 had indeed been too oppressive for her.

In the world of One Piece, although she is mostly alone, she has Beltz who takes care of her, and she also has a rare freedom and a goal to strive for.

But she couldn't stay away forever, after all, she had friends and people who cared about her in the Soul Society.

Moreover, this was something she had agreed upon with Beltz beforehand; she would return sooner or later.

Beltz told her to wait another six months, mainly because his clone project would be finished in six months at most, at which point he would have Vegapunk try to extract the Hogyoku from Rukia's body.

Once the Hogyoku is retrieved, Rukia's mission will be complete.

This isn't a case of discarding someone after they've served their purpose; he did take the Hogyoku, but Rukia did indeed become much stronger during the time she was by his side.

She is now no less capable than she was during the Thousand-Year Blood War.

"Six months—" Rukia murmured, "That's fine. When I get back to Wano Country, I plan to go out to sea and explore for half a year."

"Are you going out to sea too?"

"Yes, after all, we spend most of our time in Wano Country. Once we return to the Soul Society, we probably won't have a chance to see the outside world anymore."

"In these last six months, I always make sure to go out and explore, to have some fun."

Beltz nodded in agreement: "Alright, with your current strength, there aren't many people who can rival you."

He was talking to Rukia when he sensed Harald's location.

Before he left, he told Harald to stay in the neighborhood and not to go too far.

Therefore, he is not far from this place.

Beltz arrived with Lucia, only to find that Harald was not quite right in the head.

The chain of cause and effect on Harald's chest had burned more than half of itself and had turned black.

"You're back?" Harald didn't know what was going on or whether this was normal, so he didn't feel anything.

Both Kebeltz and Lucia's expressions changed upon seeing this.

This feeling is clearly a sign of impending doom!

"Could it be because of the spiritual particle environment of Hueco Mundo?" Rukia couldn't help but say, "Come to think of it, this is the first time I've ever seen someone's soul arrive in Hueco Mundo before it was divided into Hollow and Hollow."

"It was my oversight; I didn't consider that." Beltz frowned. "But—is this really just the influence of Hueco Mundo's spiritual particles?"

He truly hadn't expected that a person's soul would be corrupted by the environment in Hueco Mundo. But the soul itself is composed of spiritual particles, and Harald had been absorbing spiritual particles containing the aura of the void in Hueco Mundo, so it was possible that he would be contaminated.

But apart from that —

He flew upwards, standing in the air in front of Harald's chest, observing the silent, dark chains of cause and effect up close.

Harald felt a little nervous under his gaze and couldn't help but ask, "Has something happened?"

"It's understandable," Beltz said in a deep voice. "I should have realized long ago that since Im's power can erode a person's spirit, it's not just a simple matter of the body."

Harald's expression changed upon hearing this, and he couldn't help but ask, "You mean, Im's deep-sea mark is still eroding me?"

He didn't understand other things like the Void and the Chain of Cause and Effect, but he understood Im and the Deep Sea Mark very well.

Does Beltz mean that even though he's dead, and his body is gone, leaving only his soul, he still hasn't escaped Im's mark?!

"It has some impact," Beltz said. "The so-called Deep Sea Mark is essentially a kind of demonic contract, and Im possesses terrifying demonic power."

"He once demonized Rocks and said that demons are the essence of life, so it's perfectly understandable that he left demonic power in your body."

"However, most of this demonic power is used to erode the physical body. Originally, your soul wouldn't have been in trouble, but in a place like Hueco Mundo, influenced by the power of the Hollows, the demonic power that was dormant in your soul has been activated again."

At this point, it was Rukia's turn to be confused. What was Im, what was the mark of the deep sea, what was the power of the demon? But none of that mattered. What mattered was that Harald's soul nature was now very close to that of a Hollow!

So Rukia said, "You two can catch up later, let me help him attain Buddhahood first."

The so-called attainment of Buddhahood is simply being guided into the Soul Society.

Beltz said, "Well, Harald, don't resist anymore."

Harald's expression was solemn at this moment; he did not want to be controlled by Im even when he was only left with his soul.

He saw the black-haired girl in front of him draw her knife, then jump up like Beltz and press the hilt of the knife against his forehead.

It felt as if something was imprinted on it, making him feel that his body had undergone some kind of change.

He felt the causal chain on his chest disappear rapidly, but he was not taken to Soul Society; instead, he remained in Hueco Mundo!

Instead, he began to exude a powerful and evil aura, making it seem as if something was about to grow out of his back!

But Harald realized that the power did not come from him, so he tried his best to suppress the growth of demonic power.

Rukia, slightly shocked, said, "How is this possible—I clearly performed Soul Burial, so why didn't you enter Soul Society?"

The soul that has been subjected to Soul Burial by the Grim Reaper will enter the Soul Society and become a whole, but even though she successfully performed Soul Burial on Harald, the big guy did not disappear!

Beltz, who had been watching intently from the side, said in a deep voice, "It's probably because Harald's power is too great, so even Soul Burial couldn't forcibly transfer him."

"And he's not in a normal state now, though it can't be called fake either; if you have to say, he's a demon."

Upon hearing the word "demon," Harald was filled with regret: "So I failed after all? From the moment I signed the contract, this was my fate. Beltz, just kill me!"

Beltz shook his head and said, "No, don't rush. Although you are a demon, you are not controlled by Im. See, your thoughts are quite normal right now, aren't they?"

"After all, your physical body is gone. Even without Rukia, the activation of the demonic power would only turn you into a demonic Hollow, not make you Im's puppet."

"And now, with Rukia's soul burial, you haven't even become a Hollow, but rather a strange entity, like a werewolf fallen into the animal realm. You could say you're a demon."

It's a large category, and not all of them are humanoid. For example, Komamura Sajin is a werewolf.

Werewolves, on the other hand, are souls that have fallen into the animal realm.

Although there were no demons in the Soul Society in the past, it can now be said that a demon race has been born because of Harald's existence.

"A demon? —" Harald smiled bitterly. "It seems I'm destined to live with Im's mark. Even if I break free from control, I can't escape the demon's entanglement."

He could sense that he could enter a demonic state, in which he would become stronger and even gain the ability to regenerate, but he would also become incredibly violent.

"Actually, not going to Soul Society might not be a bad thing. Compared to Soul Society and Soul Society, Hueco Mundo is actually safer."

Beltz reassured him, "The only problem is that Hueco Mundo is full of monsters."

Harald nodded; he had already witnessed the horrors of this world before Beltz returned.

But it didn't bother him much.

After all, there is also a Netherworld in Elbaf, and the Netherworld is full of ferocious beasts.

Just think of Hueco Mundo as the underworld.

Beltz's statement that Hueco Mundo was safer than the Soul Society wasn't just to comfort Harald; he genuinely believed it.

After all, Soul Society has the Gotei 13 and the Wandenreich eyeing it covetously, while Hueco Mundo doesn't have nearly as many spies.

Harald was, after all, a being appearing in the Three Realms for the first time, so he was bound to attract the attention of those people. In Hueco Mundo, on the contrary, he was much more likely to attract attention.

After all, his enormous size, along with the raised but not fully grown demon wings on his back, did indeed resemble a phantom.

Moreover, with Harald's strength, he would not be afraid even if he faced Vastod.

After Harald lost his physical body, his strength decreased significantly. Even with the addition of this portion of demonic power, he was still far from his peak strength in life.

After all, as a giant, his powerful physique was very important in battle.

Even so, he still possesses power at the level of Vastod or even higher!