"In three days, please become a Shinigami and climb out of that hole. Otherwise..." From Urahara's spot at the top of the deep hole Ichigo was in, he gave Ichigo a look and his smile became a little more malicious. "...We will have to put an end to you."

Ichigo glared at Urahara fiercely in defiance, his arms ties behind his back by Tessai's kido. 'Just watch hat n'clogs. No matter the cost, I'll save definitely save Rukia. Even if I have to become the world's greatest Shinigami to do it!'

Unknown Location

Just watch hat n'clogs. No matter the cost, I'll save definitely save Rukia. Even if I have to become the world's greatest Shinigami to do it!

The words echoed everywhere within the strange, sideways, underwater world filled with blue buildings, and skyscraper.

Somewhere within this world however, the words reached anothers ears.

The lone figure stood in the middle one of the buildings, an amused glint shining in his fierce eyes.

"The world's greatest Shinigami huh?"

A smirk was brought to his pale face. "Interesting."

Timeskip to Ichigo

Ichigo could be seen lying face first on the ground, exhausted and in pain. He wondered how much time he had left to exit this damn hold hat n'clogs pretty much threw him in. He tried as hard as he could to run up the wall. He couldn't think of anything else he could do. His hands were tied behind his damn back!

He heard something land on the ground and looked up to see the red haired kid Jinta there with a plate of food in his hands and a smirk on his face.

"Hi!" He greeted casually as if the man in front of him wasn's at risk of becoming a soul eating monster. "I brought you some food. I figure you might be hungry." He said with a taunting smirk while Ichigo hid his surprise and slight panic.

'You mean he wasn't kidding when he said hunger meant you were a step closer to becoming a hollow!?' Ichigo screamed in his mind. Outside his mind however, he smirked back at the kid with defiance.

"I don't need it. I still have plenty of time. See?" He raised his chest a bit to show Jinta the chain of fate. The action however, wiped the kid's smirk off his face with a little bit more of a serious look.

"You really don't know how much time has past do you? It's been 70 hours already ya know. A faster person would've become a hollow already." He informed Ichigo while walking away.

He stopped mid way to the wall as he just remembered something, and turned his head to look at Ichigo. "Oh yeah, when the last erosion...is nothing like the others." He said seriously.

As if on cue, every single chain grew a mouth and started chomping each other much to Ichigo's horror.

In no time at all, what was left of the chain of fate fell and shattered into pieces. All that was left was a lone, hollow hole in the middle of Ichigo's chest.

Suddenly, some sort of white goop started to come out of Ichigo's eyes and he screamed -more goop coming out of his mouth- as he felt some kind of soul splitting pain flow in him. All he could do was scream in agony as the white goop started to form something around half his face.

To Ichigo, it felt like it was becoming apart of him, in the most painful way possible.

Then, Ichigo was pulled out of the real world.

Within Ichigo's mind

"Weak one. Can you hear me?" Ichigo heard a smooth voice ask.

Slowly opening his eyes, light entered his vision as he sat up and took a look at his surroundings.

'What is this place?' He wondered as he stared at the many blue buildings. It was as if he was underwater, but he could still see his own color as if he was out of water.

"Weak one..." He heard the same voice call out again.

He turned his head around to face the voice and widened his eyes when he saw who the voice belonged to.

The man Ichigo was looking at was a tall, lean man with black hair, a short beard, mustache and sideburns that point upwards. He wears black and red ornate clothing His attire consists of a wide-brimmed black hat decorated with a large plume, and a long, open black coat with no shirt underneath, with red, flower-patterned sleeves and collar. He wears light purple pants held up by a decorated belt and tucked inside overly large boots in comparison to his leg size. He had a giant cross shaped black sword on his back, it's crossguard decorated in jewels and blade as black as the night.

The man posed himself as a warrior just by the way he stood, the aura he emitted, and the hawk-like gaze in his eyes. Even Ichigo was able to tell that this man, was no less then a monster.

"Who are you?" Ichigo asked in confusion.

The man only sighed at him. "It matters not. You aren't even worthy enough to hear my name yet weak one." He said as Ichigo felt his eye twitch.

"...You desire power do you not? Why would a weak one such as yourself desire strength meant only for the strong?" The man asked in curiosity. He called Ichigo weak as if he was stating a fact instead of meaning to insult him. Which in this case, it pretty much was a fact.

"Shut up about all this 'weak one' bullshit!" Ichigo snapped with a twitching eyebrow before calming himself down.

"As for why I want power? Well I want power so that I can protect what's important to me when the time comes. This is one of those times. I need to hurry up and get my Shinigami powers so I can save Rukia." He said determinedly.

The man smirked at him before he walked up to the boy, before lightly pushing the boy with his palm.

All of the sudden, it's like gravity suddenly switched directions as Ichigo started to fall towards the ground. At this moment, Ichigo realized he had been sitting side ways in a building and started screaming. He looked to the side to see the man falling beside him, staring at him and startling the teen.

"In that case, find your own power weak one. That power which you've been wielding up until your fight with Byakuya... it has been within you all this time." The man explained vaugely, confusing Ichigo

"Wha-"

"The girl's power which you took only awakened your own. You've always had power of your own. They merely needed to awaken." He said causing Ichigo's eyes to widen.

Ichigo started looking around as he saw the buildings crumbling into white boxes and started falling down.

"Now go." The man said, suddenly turning upright and standing on the air as if he was standing on a platform. "Find your Shinigami powers within one of these boxes...grow stronger weak one before this world crumbles."

With that, Ichigo fell through the hole that magically appeared im the ground. This time, it really was as if he was underwater.

'Find my power in one of these boxes? How am I gonna do that? There are too many and I never really was good at sensing Reiryoku.' Ichigo thought before he remembered something. Something Uryu mentioned aboud sensing Reiryoku.

'That's it!' Ichigo finally realized as he remembered Uryu mentioning that Shinigami's Reiryoku was always red.

He focused his senses on trying to find a red ribbon, and after a while, he got found what he was looking for.

"It's this one!" He yelled as he spun around and grabbed the red ribbin behind him, before pulling it with all his might and opening the boxes lid to reveal the hilt of the blade he fought with back when he was a Shinigami. "A...Zanpakuto's hilt?"

"Looks like you found me."

Ichigo turned around to see the man from earlier.

"I believe now you are able to hear my name."

Ichigo stared at the man long and hard, contemplating what to say. "You...Could you be..."

"There's no time! Pull me out!" The man yelled, and the whole world shook, reminding Ichigo of his current situation.

He turned back to the hilt, and pulled it out.

Outside of Ichigo's mind

Ichigo was still screaming in pain as the white goop has now almost fully formed a mask around his face. As the mask became more and more complete, Ichigo's screams only became more and more inhumane.

"It's over. I'll have to eliminate him before he becomes a hollow." Tessai said, slamming both of his fists into the ground. "Bakudou no Tsukumo Dai ni ban: Bankin!"

"Shokyoku: Shiryū! (First song: Halting Warp)" He yelled as white bandage like objects wrapped themselves around Ichigo's body.

"Niyoku: Hyakurensan (Second song: Hundred serial bolts)" He yelled once again. This time, spring shaped needles pierced Ichigo through the wrapping.

"Oi You might really kill him of you keep on going!" Jinta yelled down at Tessai.

"There is no other choice. I'm beyond supressing him at this point. We must eliminate him before he becomes a hollow." Tessai yelled back without taking his eyes off Ichigo.

"Shūkyoku: Bankin Taihou! (Final Song: Full ban great mount)" Tessai exclaimed as he slapped his hands together, and a huge metal box appeared the hole. Letting gravity do it's thing, the metal box fell down the hole, and crahsed, creating a huge explosion which Urahara had to shield both Jinta and Ururu from.

However, Jinta managed to see something come out of the explosion, and landing a few feet in front of them. Dust clouding the crash, Jinta squinted his eyes and was just barely able to make out a humanoid silhouette. "Orange boy? Is that you?" He called out.

Twin red eyes glowed through the dust, and when it finally cleared, it showed Ichigo standing there in a Shinigami outfit and a Hollow mask remains of the white bandaged was on his right shoulder with some needles pierced into the cloth.

"A Shinigami uniform and... a mask? Is he a Hollow or Shinigami now? Which one?"

After a few moments of silence, Ichigo grabbed the hilt of his sword on his back to reveal it to be just a hilt with a broken blade. The action however, alarmed the two kids and they immediately went into a defensive stance.

It was unnecessary however, as Ichigo used the hilt to smash the mask to pieces and peel what was left of the mask off his face.

He held his hand out in front of his face and stared at it for a while.

"Congratulations!" Urahara cheered while clapping happily, interrupting Ichigo's thoughts. "You've become a Shinigami! You passed the second test!" He announced.

Ticked, Ichigo walked up to the man and smashed his lower jaw with the butt of his sword. "Shut up." He said harshly as the shopkeeper was on the ground holding his face, sobbing comically.

"Now that I'm back, I'm gonna kill you. I already decided while I was down there that I would find a way to survive and beat you're ass!" Ichigo yelled as he pointed at Urahara with a pissed off smile on his face.

The shopkeeper stared at Ichigo for a few minutes, before standing up.

"Alright. With spirit like that we can move straight to the third test." He said as he stood up. "There's no time limit, and if you can knock down my hat, you win." He said before he Ichigo quickly moved and took an upwards slice at Urahara's hat, which said man only dodged. The slice did however tear the hat a bit.

"Pretty good. Even with a broken sword you have such power." He praised, which went ignored as Ichigo watched him draw a sword out of his cane, wondering whether or not it was a Zanpakuto.

Urahara didn't give him much time to think as he charged the teen. Ichigo managed to dodge the strikes, but Urahara's speed was starting to overwhelm him.

Eventually, Ichigo was forced to just dodge and run away. That is, until he had a sudden thought. 'Wait. Zanpakuto are the only thing that can hurt a Shinigami and Hollow. That sword was something he pulled out of his cane a minute ago. If that's the case...'

He stopped running turned around to finally face the shop keeper, then Urahara's blade whizzed by his face and cut off the remainder of his mask off.

"You lost your guard Ichigo." The shopkeeper said.

"'He isn't a Shinigami so that sword isn't a Zanpakuto so he shouldn't be able to hurt me' right?" He asked before looking at Ichigo dead in the eye. "How naive. Awaken, Benihime."

Ichigo stared in shock as Urahara's sword suddenly glowed red changing, and showed it's true form as a Zanpakuto to Ichigo.

"She is a 100% real Zanpakuto." Urahara said. Ichigo's thoughts drifted to when Urahara and Renji called their Zanpakuto's names. He remembered Renji taunting him about not even being able to hear his Zanapakuto's name.

"A Zanapakuto's...name." he muttered.

"That's right. All Zanpakuto have a name. This is her name..." Urahara lifted his sword to slash at Ichigo once again. "...Let's go Benihime."

He swung his sword at Ichigo which the teen managed to duck, however, Urahara struck the rock behind Ichigo and destroyed it. The explosion caused Ichigo to get launched back before he managed to land in a crouch.

He looked up and blinked as his eyes registered the form of the shopkeeper in front of him, preparing to swing at Ichigo again.

Ichigo managed to raise his sword up to block Urahara with his broken blade.

"I'll praise you for blocking my sword with that broken blade. You've got guts. Unfortunately for you, Benihime isn't kind enough to let her block you completely with a broken blade." Benihime sliced off a layer of the blade of Ichigo's sword, before Ichigo pulled back his arm to dodge becuase if he hadn't, his arm wouldn't been gone

Panicking, Ichigo turned the other way and ran as fast as his legs could carry him. 'You've gotta he kidding me! He sliced through my frigging Zanpakuto!'

"You're Zanpakuto is just big." He heard Urahara from behind him as if he just read his thoughts. Quickly, he slashed at the man's hat hoping to end this lesson, only for the man to dodge easily by moving his head back.

"There's no Reishi in it. It's just a big, fluffy object in the shape of a sword. That's why..." He swung his sword, this time at Ichigo's Zanpakuto and sliced half the guard off. The other half just fell, leaving only his hilt left. "...It's so easily breakable."

Ichigo could only stare at the hilt in shock, his body frozen. "Now then, you're sword is gone. Will you still come at me? It's only knocking off my hat which is still possible with only a hilt. However..." Urahara suddenly glowed red as he stared seriously at Ichigo. Ichigo could feel the killer intent coming at him and he knew what would happen if he charged in recklessly.

"...If you come at me with that toy, I'll kill you." Urahara promised.

For the first time in a long time, Ichigo felt fear. Once again, he turned the other way and ran as fast as his legs could carry him from what he knew would he the death of him. 'Pathetic. This is all my resolve amounts too?'

It didn't matter how much he ran, each time he tried to get away, Urahara would catch up to him and try and kill him. It was only through his reflexes that he was barely able to dodge the attacks.

'Pathetic. I'm an incurable coward!' Ichigo screamed to himself in disdain.

"What are you doing weak one?"

Ichigo's eyes widened as time seem to freeze for him, the area in front of him disappearing and becoming just some gray void. There in front of Ichigo, was the man from before.

"Was it not you who wanted power?" He asked Ichigo.

"Then why do you run? You have yet to call out my name. You should he able to hear it now. The thing that has stopped you from hearing me is fear."

Outside his mind, Ichigo stopped. Urahara followed suit. 'Is he done running? Or Perhaps his Zanpakuto has reached out to him.' He wondered.

"Cut your fears into pieces. You have no need for something so useless."

Suddenly, Ichigo brought his hilt to the giant scabbard on his back which used to hold the blade he used back when he first got his Shinigami powers.

So much Reiryoku poured out of Ichigo, that dust and debris started swirling around him violently.

"I am your blade, and you are my wielder. Do not flee when you encounter a strong opponent, but use me to cut down what stands in your way!

Green Reiatsu started swirling around Ichigo.

"Strong one, you no longer have any need to flee! For I am your power! Grow strong, and aim for the top if you wish to protect what is dear to you! Shout out my name with pride Ichigo!"

"YORU!" Ichigo screamed from within the pillar as he swung his hilt at Urahara, the green reiatsu covering it and Urahara had to move his body to the side as green reiatsu shot by him, mowing down the ground behind him.

Dust covered the spot where Ichigo stood, before it blew away and Ichigo was revealed with a new blade.

The blade Ichigo was holding was stunning.

The sword was shaped like a cross and was as black as the night sky. The crossguard was decorated with jewels and it looked to be a head taller then Ichigo's full height.

"Great! Now that you're Zanpakuto has come out, let's start lesson three for real this time!" Urahara suggested cheerfully with a smile on his face as Ichigo remained silent.

"...Sorry Urahara-san. Make sure you dodge this..." Ichigo suddenly said as he slowly raised his blade.

Urahara blinked in confusion as he tilted his head slightly in question. "Excuse me?" He asked.

"...I probably..." Ichigo's right shoulder suddenly bulged a bit. It didnt bulge that much but it caused the needles to pop out and the cloth to come off. "...Can't hold back!" He yelled as he brought Yoru over his head.

Urahara noticed Ichigo's shoulder bulge and his eyes widened in alarm. Quickly, he brought Bemihime in front of him with the blade facing the ground. "Cry, Benihime!"

Ichigo swung his sword down with all his might, and a green light covered the basement as green reiatsu shot towards Urahara.

An explosion occured and dust covered the area, and a green and white striped hat flew out of the dust, a good portion of it missing before the dust cleared and it landed back down on the ground right in front of Urahara.

"My hat's ruined. This was my favorite hat too." Urahara whined a bit before putting it back on. A blood red mirror could be seen in front of the man. It was cracked and broken in many places.

"If I hadn't brought out this bloodmist mirror, you've might've taken off an arm." He said as he stared at Ichigo, who was on the ground napping.

"But I didn't expect this much power from one swing. You're a frightening child Ichigo. Lesson three, clear."

Within Ichigo's Mind

Yoru could be seen standing peacefully by the edge of one of the buildings. "Oi Hawk eye!" A voice with a double edged tone greeted.

Yoru sighed as he turned around, unsheathing his blade from his back and stopping another. The blade he stopped didn't have a cross nor a hilt, and it seemed more like a giant khyber knife.

The wielder of the blade was a carbon copy of Ichigo, except he was white. Literally. He wore the standard Shinigami clothes except white instead of black, and his skin and hair were snow white. His sclera were black and he had yellow eyes.

A psychotic grin could he seen on his face as he jumped back and pointed at Yoru.

"I'm bored so fight me! I'l rip you to shreds this time!" The Ichigo wannabe yelled while Yoru gained an annoyed look on his face.

"You're always bored, Hollow."

The clone only laughed like a maniac and charged at Yoru again. "That always gives me the perfect excuse to fight you!"

Yoru shook his head as he prepared for yet again, another fight.

A.N. Finished! So how'd you guys think? This is an idea I've been wondering about for awhile and I finally couldn't take it and wrote it down.

I have a few idea's for Zangetsu (Hollow Ichigo) to fit in. Although I don't know whether i wanna add anymore elements of One Piece or not. I kinda feel like Ichigo will grow to be too strong when you have the world's strongest swordsman as your Zanpakuto.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or One Piece

Ciao ciao!