Warning: Spoilers for Bleach: The Thousand-Year Blood War episode 6The villains of Bleach are often impossibly tough and prone to grandiose proclamations, but does that mean it's impossible for them to work together? The new Quincy leader Yhwach is hoping to find out, as he shows up with an offer for one Sosuke Aizen.
While Soul Reaper Head Captain Yamamoto battled it out with what he thought was Yhwach, it was eventually revealed that Yamamoto was merely battling a double. The real Yhwach had taken the cover provided by the double as an opportunity to descend to the prison beneath the Squad 1 barracks, where the Soul Society's worst prisoners are kept. One of these prisoners happens to be Sosuke Aizen, the mastermind behind the Arrancar and the one who framed Rukia in order to gain access to the Hogyoku, a device of incredible power.
Back during the Aizen saga, Aizen stole the Hogyoku and used it to create Arrancar. Eventually, Aizen was able to seize the Hogyoku's power for himself and fused the object into his body. While it did give him a tremendous power-up, the fusion was essentially impossible to undo, leaving Aizen immortal and Soul Reaper Captain simply laughs off the offer, finding the idea of Quincy and Soul Reaper working together to be absurd. Aizen is then left in the prison, still restrained.
Could Aizen and Yhwach Work Together?
Despite the violence he's shown to his own subordinates, Yhwach seems to be a pragmatist when it comes to the enemy of his enemies; after all, he'd already welcomed at least one Arrancar (Ebern) into the Wandenreich, and the Quincy's whole deal is destroying Hollows. Bringing in Aizen wouldn't be that much of a stretch, especially since Aizen doesn't seem to have been one of the founding of the 13 Court Guard Squads, unlike, say, Ukitake or Kyoraku. Aizen has always been out for himself, and getting out of this highly restrictive prison should be motivation enough to work with them. It's certainly interesting that Aizen refused, but he absolutely wouldn't have done so without some kind of plan. He may well be anticipating that the Soul Reapers will turn to him for help, and is instead planning to escape that way. With Yamamoto now dead, one of Aizen's biggest threats is already out of the picture, so this has the potential to turn into a three-way battle.
Regardless of who manages to earn Aizen's allegiance, it'll be important for them to that Aizen isn't someone to be trusted, no matter how well their goals seem to align. And, as Bleach's biggest villain, it's only fitting that Aizen be a part of this final arc, the only question is where his piece of the puzzle will ultimately fit.
Bleach: The Thousand-Year Blood War is streaming on Hulu, with new episodes currently releasing on Mondays.
