During self exile, I headcanon that Nnoitra was found by a colony of hollows. They’re vulnerable enough on alone so they turn to strength in numbers. It’s ironic that his life would be saved by these hollows, and that they’d accept him as one of their own, considering how many he’d wiped out back in the day. And trust me, the memory is fresh in his mind. For the moment, he was more preoccupied with existing and recovering.
During his stay with them, he took on a new name. Seeing as they were COMPLETELY unaware of who he was and all he had done. He didn’t like lying to them, especially after they had just saved his life. But it wasn’t the first time he’d lied to save his own life, at some point he probably started to view it as a chance to start over as a different person. Someone without the baggage of his old self, but the past has a habit of coming fight back and biting you in the ass. No matter how much he tried to start over, the ghosts of the past kept haunting him. All the people he hurt, all the people he betrayed and all the people he lost and left behind. And Nnoitra has fucked over a lot of people, he had no issue with it in the past. They were just stepping stones to get him out of that shithole.
But now, things were different. He’d burnt all his bridges, burnt all the homes he had lived in, and had nothing left to warm him. Nothing but ashes anyway. He was doing it now too, with those who saved his life.
He swore this time things would be different. He’d turn himself right around, he had a promise to keep after all. But he just couldn’t stop fucking up, could he?
