#[ the fact that Aizen never tried to use Hōgyoku as a weapon ]

[midnightactual]

I want one thing to be supremely clear to you, oh reader mine. All Aizen had to do to win in Bleach was intercept Yoruichi during TBTP.

If he had done that, Kisuke would be depowered, Tessai would be imprisoned, the Vizard would all be dead, and probably Kaien would still die and Isshin would still desert but Masaki would die and Ichigo would never be born. Aizen's plans probably would have succeeded at least until he encountered Zero Division (who absolutely knew everything he was up to and were unperturbed). At any rate, Bleach would not have happened.

All he had to do was stop Yoruichi. Not even beat her or kill her. Just stop her.

He didn't. He didn't even try. He didn't even try with Gin and Kaname and all the other forces at his disposal.

He didn't even try because he had no confidence in his ability to stop her even with all that. He deemed it superior to allow loose ends to develop, which ultimately resulted in his defeat, than even attempt to engage her at that time.

That means he assessed that fighting her with everything he had would essentially guarantee his defeat one way or another, whereas having loose ends only presented a "minimal" risk of eventually being defeated.

I don't care what anyone thinks about this. That is the only way to read the risk-reward structure presented in TBTP. It perfectly explains Aizen stammering in FKT when she appears as well. And it fits in with Aizen explaining in SAFWY that he feared fighting Kenpachi in a mortal body. He knew he did not have good odds of winning in a fight against Yamamoto, Kenpachi, or Yoruichi without Hōgyoku. These are simply the facts of the text of Bleach as it actually exists.

You can imagine whatever you like, but this is what Kubo (and Narita) wrote. It's canon.

#Out Of Character #Bleach #Meta #Yoruichi Shihouin #[ oh yeah and btw ] #[ the fact that Aizen never tried to use Hōgyoku as a weapon ] #[ unto itself ] #[ to like shred Yamamoto's soul? ] #[ yeah that's because it couldn't do that ] #[ if it could have he would have used it that way ] #[ so that inherently places a limit on its powers too ] #[ it was not by itself effective against any threat which ] #[ Aizen himself couldn't easily beat either ] #[ hence why he had to absorb it ]