Once he activated the curtain, Gojo shrugged, turned around, and began to look at the laboratory.

*Whistle*

“Pretty badass. Really fits the whole mad scientist thing.”

The atmosphere and equipment present in the room seemed so high-tech that Gojo felt like he was in the future. Once again he had to give his respect to the weird sense of technology those Shinigamis had.

“Satoru Gojo! How long do you plan to ignore me?”

Mayuri, who stood with his back to a bunch of large screens that had become black growled while holding his sword.

He could feel that all the connections he had with the exterior of this room had been severed.

“Hum… Well, you are just so ugly. I fear that I will have nightmares if I look at your face too much. I have a fragile heart, you know?”

“Bastard!”

“Still, I guess you aren’t a captain for nothing. Even your acting is top-notch. How strong is the poison you have been filling this room with?”

Mayuri’s eyes widened, before all the fear and anger on his face vanished.

Placing his finger on his temple, he murmured, 

“So your eyes really allow you to observe both Reishi and Reiryoku at the level of particles. Interesting, very interesting indeed. What’s more, you seem to not be affected by my poison despite breathing enough to kill many Shinigamis. How intriguing.”

The change of demeanor would have surprised anyone else, but not Gojo.

All the captains had different personalities. But Gojo knew one thing.

None of them were cowards.

Shaking his head, he ignored the mumbling Mayuri and took a seat on a stool.

“Heh, Mayuri. I have a deal for you.”

Mayuri did not seem bothered by the lack of respect in Gojo’s voice. Even though he wasn’t really a warrior, he still recognized Gojo as someone equal to him.

“What do you want?”

“Work for me.”

“...What?”

“Mayuri Kurotsuchi, former prisoner in the maggots nest. The only prisoner who was placed in a separate cell, because you were judged as too dangerous.”

The maggots nest in the 2nd division was, in a way, a jail and at the same time, it wasn’t.

The reason for this was simple.

A jail was a place for criminals. But people imprisoned in the maggots nest were not criminals.

They were ‘potential’ criminals. 

People whose personalities were judged problematic by the central 46 and could ‘potentially’ hurt the interests of the Seireitei.

Since Gojo had been working with the secret force from time to time, he had managed to glean some secrets here and there while training his seduction techniques against some kunoichis of the secret forces.

Learning about the maggots’ nest had been a surprise. This prison was simply sickening.

“When I learned about the Maggots nest, do you know what I thought?”

“...”

“I thought. Hah, in the end, be it heaven or the mortal world, there is no difference. Higher-ups are always trash.”

Those words were said with complete indifference, but Mayuri, who had seen many things in his life, could detect the deep killing intent in his words.

‘It seems like he had some altercations with people in high positions when he was alive.’

“So you find it unjust? Do you want to save them?”

Gojo put his little finger in his right ear and chuckled

“I am no ally of justice. Why should I care about people who have nothing to do with me?”

‘He isn’t lying.’

The more Mayuri looked at the man, the more interesting he found him.

Initially, he was about to flat out reject the proposal, but now, he wanted to listen a little and study his psychological state.

“See. In the Seireitei, we have potential criminals in jail, meanwhile, we have actual criminals, acting as captains. One of them is even the commandant. Isn’t it funny?”

Gojo laughed while saying so. 

“Those powerful enough can be used. No matter how dangerous they are.”

“Bingo. So much contradiction. Just shows how helpless and hypocritical the members of the Central 46 are. Suppress people who are dangerous but weak. Shackle people who are dangerous but too strong. At the end of the day, all their beautiful talks about justice and protecting the balance are nothing more than beautiful bullshit they spout to cover their own cowardice.”

“So you will betray the Soul Society?”

Gojo waved his fingers, “Tch tch. Firstly, really? Hidden camera and tape recordings? Stop underestimating me, okay? Secondly, who is talking about betrayal? As long as they don’t fuck with me, I am willing to play the good soldier. But… the moment they try something shady… Hehe.”

The rest of the sentence did not need to be said.

“Will you kill me if I refuse?”

“Nah. You make me seem like I am the bad guy. I have my ways to make sure you never reveal anything. Only, it might cripple you permanently and change you into a retard.”

Mayuri’s eyes flashed, “You used that technique on Ikkaku Madarame 5 years ago.”

This time it was Gojo’s turn to be surprised.

“I have records about Madarame staying in the 4th division after his fight against you. He suffered from a headache and short memory loss for about a week. I guess you can make this permanent?”

“You are pretty well informed.”

“I see.”

Giving his back

“60 years ago, a man made the same proposal to me.”

“...Kisuke Urahara, was it?”

“Indeed. He asked me to work for him and he promised that should anything happen to him, I would take control of everything he had built. This is why I have left the maggots nest with him. What about you? What can you give me?”

Gojo smiled, “What if I told you that I could help you realize your greatest dream?”

“My dream?”

Mayuri seemed to be stunned before he began to laugh loudly. It was as if he had heard the funniest joke.

Once he stopped, he spoke while shaking his head,

“I have humored you because I thought you had something interesting to say, but I am quite disappointed. I guess I shouldn’t have expected much from the beginning. Now then...”

“The creation of a natural body.”

“...What did you say?”

“Heh, Seems like I got your interest now, didn’t I?”

Mayuri ignored the sarcasm in Gojo’s words as his mind began to churn at lightning speed.

‘Is he lying?’

‘Is he telling the truth?’

‘If he is telling the truth, how could I use him?’

‘Should I try to kill him now?’

‘Activate my Bankai to call for help and capture him?’

He kept thinking and thinking about the pros and cons of the situation from all possible sides.

No matter how he looked at it, this was something disadvantageous to him.

But,

‘I want to know.’

It was like a blazing fire was being lit in his chest. Like a scratch on the back that could not be reached.

Watching him like this, Gojo smirked.

Mayuri Kutsochi was a man without any sort of morals, whose sole objective was knowledge.

In order to obtain the knowledge, this man would stop at nothing.

When a shinigami killed a hollow, they, in reality, purified it and allowed it to enter the cycle, thereby maintaining equilibrium. [1]

Even when a hollow eats a soul, that soul would become part of its very being or transformed into another hollow. Once again maintaining the cycle.

But Quincys are different. 

When a Quincy kills a hollow, that hollow was well and truly exterminated. At the same time, Hollows were poison for Quincy and a Quincy killed by a hollow would have his soul destroyed with no chance of reincarnation.

One could even say that the two races were natural enemies.

This wasn’t all, after the war against the Quincys, the man experimented on Quincies souls in thousands of different ways, each more gruesome than the other.

In fact, most of the information Gojo had on Quincys came from Mayuri’s research. 

People who would think that this man was crazy were extremely wrong. 

Mayuri wasn’t crazy. He was an overly rational man who saw the world and all living beings as test subjects — Even himself.

That was why Gojo wanted him.

In order to learn Limitless, he had to enter the Dangai, which was under the supervision of the 12th division.

In order to understand his Shikai skills better, he needed someone who understood Quincys extremely well.

This wasn’t all, the 12th division had access to many types of technologies. Some of them could even allow something as crazy as space freezing.

Having this man under his control would be incredibly useful.

But, 

"I refuse."

“I knew you would say that.”

Gojo smiled and stood up.

Mayuri narrowed his eyes while tightening his grip on the sword.

He was ready to blow up the entire building to smithereens then activate his Bankai.

But, rather than walking toward him, Gojo walked away, 

“You are not going to silence me or force me?”

“Hahaha. How could I kill my future scientist?”

“I refused.”

“Do not worry. I know you will change your mind once you think about it.”

Saying so, he swiped his right hand and broke the barrier he had erected, 

“Initially I wanted to beat you up, but this would have to wait for later. Now though, I am taking Nemu with me.”

“Are you threatening me?”

“A threat?”

Gojo stopped.

All it took was a snap.

By the time Mayuri even understood what was happening, he could feel an arm coil around his shoulder.

“Mayuri, Mayuri. My dear friend. I don't need to threaten you.”

Patting his back, Gojo laughed, “If I wished to kill you. Nothing. Absolutely nothing could stop me from doing so. If your loyalty to the soul society is so high, then you are free to sell me out if you wish. But...”

Murmuring in his ears, he continued, “We know very well that you won’t, right? How could you sacrifice your life for something as flimsy as loyalty?”

Gojo’s laugh as he vanished from the room was the last thing he heard.

Now alone, he did not even try to verify if Nemu was still present in the hallway. He knew it was futile.

Clenching his fists, his eyes bloodshot, Mayuri murmured the name of Gojo hoarsely,

“Gojo Satoru…”

Today was the most humiliating day in his life.

At the same time, the cold part of his mind kept repeating the words Gojo uttered.

The creation of a true natural body. Something that he was simply unable to accomplish no matter what.

---

Back in his cavern, Gojo couldn’t help but laugh while rolling in the air.

Watching him like this, while doing her best to ignore the fact that Gojo was floating using Reishi, something that should be impossible in the soul society, she couldn’t help but ask,

“What makes you so happy?”

Wiping a tear from the corner of his eyes, Gojo stopped laughing, “Nothing much. I just discovered that playing the evil boss was quite entertaining.”

Waving his hand, he continued with a serious expression, “Now then, let’s talk about an important thing, shall we? It’s something I have always wondered about.”

Nemu could not help but straighten her back.

She understood very well that she was now being kidnapped.

She couldn’t help but wonder what her future would be like.

From the serious expression on his face, it seemed that it would be a really important problem.

That’s why, when he finally spoke, 

“Tell me, why do you fight in a skirt that barely covers your butt? Do you have an exhibitionism fetish?”

Nemu could only stare speechlessly.

[1]: Still hesitating if I should introduce Hell or not. Perhaps I will rewatch the movie. (I wrote this note back when the new bleach chapter wasn't out. Lol, now I have no choice.)

(AN: Anyway this is all for this little arc. There was no way Mayuri would have accepted such a proposal so fast. Gojo made it while knowing that the chances of Mayuri snitching were super low, and even if he did snitch, all Gojo had to do was flee. Now, time for some hollow hunt. By the way, about power. I believe personally that Mayuri is the 'weakest' captain. He isn't a fighter. Even against Ichida, he only managed to wound him by using Nemu. But–a prepared Mayuri is downright scary. Sadly, he simply lacks too much information about Gojo to make an adequate response.)