First off, I
fully agree with the OP. At most, I could see it being 85km or it being a bit higher if u really wanna push it but people are rejecting the idea of the distance is that short by, in my opinion, going out of their way to ignore literally
half of the OP's issues.
Issue 3, Issue 4, and Issue 5 would still exist even with the new "solution".
Issue 3: It is still near clouds. The highest clouds on Earth
only reach around 85 km above sea level. If the Palace were over 11,000 km above the clouds, they would not be visibly right beneath it at all.
For comparison, this is how Earth looks when you are only around 100 km above the surface at the Kármán line.
The new proposed distance is still
putting it almost the same as the Earth's diameter. You would basically need to stack another Earth on top of Earth just to reach the Palace, yet clouds are portrayed directly below it. That makes no sense regardless of how you wanna look at this.
Issue 4: Shinigami still cannot survive, nor breathe, in space. The absolute furthest you could even argue breathable atmosphere extends is around 100 km, and even that is extremely generous.
Beyond that point only around 0.00007% of the earth's atmosphere exists. That is already outer space and would kill them almost immediately.
We see how fast they affected by space conditions, they would need to perform some absurd instantaneous dash downwards just to be able to breath.
Issue 5: Even with an 11000 km interpretation via the "9.5 hours = sound speed" that someone proposed,
the walls falling from the Palace to Seireitei would still
need to move at ridiculous and unrealistic speeds (FTL or higher) despite simply falling downward. And likewise, if Ichigo takes 9.25 hours while throwing himself downwards at sound speed toward where gravity is already pulling him, then
Gerard falling would still take multiple days to reach Seireitei. Toshiro would be worried for no reason.
--
But I already know that still will not be enough, so I also want to address that
Issue 6 still stands: Ichigo did
not take 9.25 hours to travel.
The current basis for the "9.25 hours" is
not a direct statement or fixed timeframe. It comes from looking at a background clock at the beginning and when Ichigo lands, then combining that with the earlier statement that the invasion began three hours before Ichigo started traveling.
(Keep in mind, the clock images are separated by 39 chapters)
Treating that as some absolute, canonically stated timeframe is
ridiculous, especially in a series where
statements exist about the creator not taking visuals and backgrounds strictly alongside saying they "don't matter much", and aren't even made by him.
A background clock visual is
not more reliable than blatant, repeated visuals showing the Palace is not that absurdly high up. It is literally a minor object, in separate chapters, in the background, that is never mentioned or even referenced/supported ever again. I feel like if there's conflict between a literal tiny background detail being used as a statement and the consistency of the palace not being high up, I think we should go with the clearly more consistent and supported one.
Realistically, it is
way more likely Kubo was not thinking,
specially with all his statements about visuals and backgrounds, "This background clock's pointers from 39 chapters apart will show the time he took". Treating this clock like a direct statement is stupid in my opinion, specially when....
We have a much better timeframe immediately after.
Ichigo’s robe allowed him to break through the 72 layers of the barrier between Seireitei and the Palace. However, due to the Soul Shield Membrane's regeneration rate, it takes
6000 seconds for the hole Ichigo made to fully heal, creating the path Yhwach later uses to reach the Palace.
That means from passing through the 72nd layer to reaching Seireitei, Ichigo had to take
less than 6000 seconds, otherwise the hole would have already closed before Yhwach used it, which makes it even worse, Yhwach is able to make
the same trip upward and still reach the Palace before the opening/road in the layers regenerates.
6000 seconds is only
1.66 hours, which is nowhere near the “9.25 hours” currently being used. (And he'd take way less than that, likely at least 2x less considering the fact that Yhwach does the same travel upwards as I said before it closes)
"But Ichigo said he'd take half a day if he hurries"
That statement was in reference to him
using the stairs, and he was initially in a calmed down state because he thought half a day would still be enough to arrive before the attack began.
After Ichibe tells him they had already attacked three hours earlier, Ichigo immediately throws himself off instead of taking the stairs, traveling at far greater speed than he would if he had used them. So that line does not apply to the feat anyway.