As Apacci and Mila Rose finished eating a Gillian Hollow—not because they necessarily needed to eat in order to avoid regression—the fear of regression had long since left them. Their hunger was practically the same as an average human's.
They could feel an emotion that no Hollow could fill. They could feel full.
Like they ate enough.
Yes, and as they were enjoying this privilege given to them due to a certain Hollow trying to marry their leader, something felt off.
Sun-Sun, the most perceptive among them, subtly turned her head, the faintest flicker of her serpentine tongue tasting the air for abnormalities. Her narrow, calculating eyes locked onto two approaching figures in the distance—humanoid, yet unmistakably Hollow.
Her eyes widened a bit. They felt Hollow, yet they looked nothing like Hollows.
As the figures stepped closer, their details became unmistakable. Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio, a man with a flamboyant demeanor and a distinct accent.
And the other was a bitch... oh, my bad, I mean a gothic bitch.
Cirucci Sanderwicci, her presence exuding a sadistic playfulness that made the air feel charged with danger.
Dordoni was the first to speak, his tone deceptively jovial. He was probably the strongest out of the two of them.
"We are looking for Harribel. Tell us where she is, and we can make this easy."
"And if we don't?" Apacci truly had balls of steel... hm, she was a female deer, so maybe just steel.
Cirucci's lips curled into a cruel smirk. Her violet eyes gleamed with delight as she tilted her head, her feathered headdress shifting slightly.
"Then I'll make your screams call her for me."
"You bitch—" Once again, they seemed to have forgotten that they were not that high on the food chain.
Dordoni sighed loudly, shaking his head in frustration. "Cirucci, we don't need to do this. If Harribel is here, we can just—"
But the sadistic woman was already moving. With a snap of her arm, her whip-like weapons, the Gamuza, lashed forward, their razor edges slicing through the air toward the three Adjuchas.
Just like I described—she was a bitch. Probably some people's type, though.
Before they could even react—
BZZZT—BOOM!
In an instant, Gabriel and Harribel appeared.
The whip never reached the girls, as Gabriel had caught it before it even touched them. His version of Hierro was tough enough that this attack left little damage to his skin.
He was practically unfazed by attacks of this caliber.
He was a bit angry. Like, he was having the time of his life flirting—she was cracking, he could tell. That motherly-esque view was slowly breaking, and here they were ruining his fun.
His gaze locked onto Cirucci, daggers of unspoken fury aimed at her.
Cirucci's eyes widened slightly before her smirk returned, intrigued rather than intimidated. "Oh? And who's this?"
"Niños, this does not concern you. His Majesty only requests for Harribel."
Gabriel ignored her, his mind processing something far more important. Dordoni's voice—that Mexican accent—triggered something deep in his memories. A familiar tone. A familiar presence.
His father.
"Tch. So that's how it is. That old skeleton is really trying to take her by force? What is he, a walking corpse with no game?"
Fuck the skeleton.
Dordoni straightened, frowning. "Watch your tongue, niño. You don't understand the King's power."
Gabriel did not care. Though that accent the man had... it had a weird effect on him. He was almost brought to tears, dammit.
Not in front of Harribel, goddammit.
Cirucci yanked her whip back, pulling free of Gabriel's grip. "Harribel, I didn't know you had a boy toy. Is that why you're defying Lord Barragan? Because of this little pet?"
For once, he felt grateful for this woman—who was probably the type to whip her partners. Some people would really be into that... he wasn't.
Wait... Harribel's power was water. Did that mean nothing could get wetter...
And as if sensing his thoughts, he felt her glare at him. He acted like his thoughts weren't about the wetness of her nonexistent (as of now) sharkussy.
"Is there truly no other way to resolve this without bloodshed?"
She was so cool-headed, he might be melting.
Dordoni sighed, disappointment flickering in his eyes. "If there was, we wouldn't be here. Orders are orders. We bring you back... or we bring back your corpses."
There was a plural in there. Well, guess calling the king a skeleton with no game does that.
Gabriel exhaled sharply before rolling his shoulders. "Then there's nothing more to say."
Harribel turned to him, already preparing to order him to take the others and escape while she held them back. But before she could speak, Gabriel took a step forward, his voice firm.
"Hell no. What kind of man would I be if I ran away and let you fight alone?"
Plus, he was trying to prove himself here. Prove himself to be reliable and all that stuff.
Reliable and strong—someone she could rely on.
And not a goddamn son... being mother-zoned sucked ass.
Harribel studied him for a moment. She didn't argue further. That was good.
Cirucci wasted no time, her Gamuza whips lashing out in a flurry of unpredictable movements, slashing toward Harribel at breakneck speed. And Harribel met each of her blows with powerful strikes of her own.
And if she couldn't avoid a blow, then—
BZZZT—BOOM!
"You're fast," Cirucci admitted, twisting her wrist and sending the whips in an erratic spiral, aiming to encircle and bind her opponent. "But I wonder how long you can keep up?"
Harribel's answer was swift.
BZZZT—BOOM!
Appearing behind Cirucci, she aimed to cut off the woman's head to end this fight quickly and not drag out the suffering.
Cirucci, however, was quick on her feet, managing to twist mid-air, narrowly dodging. But the force of the missed strike still sent a deep shockwave through the surrounding dunes, carving a trench in the sand.
The two locked eyes—one filled with mocking amusement, the other cold and calculating.
"Tch." Cirucci licked her lips. "This is getting fun."
Once again... this was some people's type.
She suddenly swung her whips downward, embedding them into the sand. Harribel, knowing what Cirucci was trying to do, simply—
BZZZT—BOOM!
She used Sonido to get away as the whip came from behind her, trying to hit her blind spot.
The Espada laughed as she flipped mid-air, landing gracefully.
"You really thought I was just swinging them around like an idiot?"
Harribel didn't respond. Instead, she rushed forward, her speed increasing. Cirucci met her, their strikes becoming a rapid blur of silver and gold, shockwaves rippling through Hueco Mundo as their battle escalated.
The two women clashed in the air.
BZZZT—BOOM!
BZZZT—BOOM!
BZZZT—BOOM!
Maybe, just maybe, a few Sonido were used.
Meanwhile, with Gabriel—
In a split second—BZZZT—BOOM!—Dordoni had closed the distance. The man's foot slammed into Gabriel's gut with the force of a wrecking ball.
Gabriel's eyes widened as he was sent flying, crashing through two dunes before flipping mid-air to catch himself.
His Hierro was still sturdy, seeming to have barely taken any damage from that blow. This was good.
Yet, even if Gabriel felt like he was higher up in terms of evolution—he was a Vasto Lorde—this man seemed to be one step up on the evolutionary scale.
But Gabriel was willing to bet this man was like Ifrit. He had awakened this power as an Adjucha and thus wouldn't be as strong as, say, if Gabriel unlocked this form.
The boost the form seem to give to them seems massive, he wasn't speaking like a 5x time boost, he was speaking of shit far, far beyond just a tiny 5x boost.
Boost so immense that an Adjucha seems to have a fair chance against a vastolorde of Gabriel Caliber. (he is suppressed rn)
If he was being attacked by this man, it meant Harribel must not be doing very well.
If his wife gets hurt, he would not hesitate to consume them.
"Damn," he muttered, wiping sand off his face. "So the old man's got some serious moves."
"You've got potential, niño. But potential means nothing if you don't know how to use it." The man admitted that he had noticed Gabriel's quick reaction, as he enhanced his Hierro just milliseconds before the kick landed.
BZZZT—BOOM!
Gabriel was no pushover, using Sonido he was right behind the man, he threw a powerful kick, that the man blocked.
Gabriel blocked the sword slash aimed at him...barely.
Using Dordoni's chest as a support, he jumped away from Dordoni, while flipping through the air, he launched a Cero at the man.
Dordoni reacted by meeting Gabriel Cero on his own.
This was what Gabriel wanted while Dordonie was busy countering his Cero.
BZZZT—BOOM!
Gabriel had appeared behind the man.
Spinning in the air, Gabriel launched a spinning kick toward the man.
Dordoni barely managed to block, but the sheer force of the kick sent him skidding backward, his feet digging into the sand.
This boy's potential was quite scary.
A/N. Anyway, as to how I am basing the scaling, I will say an adjuchar{An Adjucha who became an arrancar} is stronger than a baseline vastolorde, Vastocar{Vastolorde who became arrancar} Are way stronger.
I am using this analysis because, in canon, the top 4 Espada were confirmed vastolorde, and the rest, probably just Adjucha.
I am using Peroxide analysis, I will not use type soul as an example, got called Quigger with the hard R.
Goddam max level Shinigami, popping bankai on a grade 4 Quincy.
Anyway, all of this to say... Dordonie and Circucci are strong, stronger than baseline vastolorde, stronger than current Harribel, for those saying how... she lost to a no-name shark arrancar....a bum.
And ain't no way the Priviron Espada were as sorry as that shark arrancar, that bum.