Chapter Summaries

Dōsan Hanyū fought a monstrous enemy whose mixed Spiritual Pressure and powerful Cero challenged his defenses. He recognized the creature as possibly Inorei Hikaru, who charged him while proclaiming himself the strongest Soul King.

• Dōsan tested the monster with Sōren Sōkatsui, but the creature used Mirror Reversal to nullify the attack and prepared a powerful Cero.
• Ikkaku and Yumichika sensed the battle from a distance, and Ikkaku urged Yumichika to trust that Dōsan would survive until meeting Zaraki.
• Honrō Useki followed Dōsan toward the fight and silently moved closer while worrying about the monster and Dōsan's chances.
• Dōsan evaded the monster's Cero, then blocked a second blast with Enkōsen after the creature appeared beside him using an unfamiliar movement technique.
• The monster declared himself the strongest Soul King, and Dōsan identified him as possibly Inorei Hikaru just before the creature charged.

Inorei Hikaru fought Dōsan Hanyū, determined to defeat the man he had once admired and prove that he could shine. Hikaru gained confidence after unleashing powerful attacks, while Gin watched and wondered how he would explain Hikaru’s defeat to the Tsunayashiro.

• Hikaru recalled his former talent, his despair after Dōsan rose to prominence, and his decision to accept Ichimonji Tsunayashiro’s offer.
• Hikaru attacked Dōsan with Shunpo, Mirror Reversal, Ceros, and poison, while Dōsan countered and treated the poison with Kaidō.
• Hikaru told Dōsan that he envied his talent, then fired a Gran Rey Cero that destroyed a hill and forced Dōsan to defend himself with Enkōsen and Mirror Reversal.
• Hikaru laughed and claimed he had used only a fraction of his power as Gin watched, expecting Dōsan to defeat him and worrying about reporting back to the Tsunayashiro.

Inorei Hikaru revealed his Bankai while fighting Dōsan Hanyū in South Rukongai District 78, unsettling the Soul Reapers and observers tracking the battle. Hikaru activated Clear-Sky Gaze: Overcast Sky, leaving Dōsan to face its effect.

• Mayuri Kurotsuchi monitored Dōsan Hanyū's battle and decided he would collect the loser for study.
• Ichimonji Tsunayashiro learned that Inorei Hikaru had been found in South District 78 and praised Gin Ichimaru's work.
• Inorei Hikaru taunted Dōsan Hanyū and drew his Zanpakuto as Dōsan prepared to fight back.
• Dōsan Hanyū released Bankai, surprising the Soul Reapers watching and prompting Mayuri Kurotsuchi to summon more equipment.
• Inorei Hikaru released his own Bankai, returned to his normal appearance, and activated Clear-Sky Gaze: Overcast Sky.

Dōsan Hanyū battled Inorei Hikaru, whose commands over rain and weather hindered his movements and attacks. After Dōsan struck back with powerful Kidō, Hikaru’s Sunny Day caused Dōsan’s body to burst, but Dōsan touched No Cause and whispered “Law of Causality.”

• Hikaru summoned dark clouds that sealed Kidō, then formed them into a whip to attack Dōsan.
• Dōsan struck Hikaru with No Cause, but Hikaru used Rainy Day to prevent Dōsan from moving and sent him flying with cloud dragons.
• Dōsan cast Hadō number seventy-three, Sōren Sōkatsui, and left half of Hikaru’s body charred.
• Hikaru invoked Sunny Day, and a beam of light caused Dōsan’s body to burst and his consciousness to fade.
• Dōsan touched No Cause and whispered, “Law of Causality.”

Dōsan Hanyū defeated Inorei Hikaru, while Gin Ichimaru and Kurotsuchi struggled with a growing sense that something was wrong. As Dōsan prepared to leave, he found a finger bone whose three intertwined kinds of Spiritual Pressure matched Hikaru’s, but were more harmonious.

• Gin Ichimaru found Hikaru badly damaged after Dōsan defeated him, then fought off his hazy thoughts and stole Hikaru’s head to keep him alive for Aizen.
• Honrō Useki missed the crucial moment of the fight but chose to follow Gin instead of staying to watch Dōsan.
• Kurotsuchi questioned Nemu and Akon about an unusual feeling, then dissolved into sludge and summoned Experimental equipment 006 to study himself.
• Dōsan felt the watchers around him disappear and, after his fight eased his urge to kill, started back home.
• Dōsan found a pale finger bone and sensed that its Soul Reaper, Hollow, and third Spiritual Pressure matched Hikaru’s, though the three forces were more harmonious.

Dōsan Hanyū returned from defeating Inorei Hikaru, carrying away the Soul King Fragment, while Ōmaeda and Isane’s support team arrived at the ruined battlefield. Ichimonji Tsunayashiro realized the fragment was missing and blamed Dōsan, who ended the chapter waiting to report to Yamamoto.

• Ōmaeda and the Punishment Force arrived, and Dōsan told them to clean up the battlefield.
• Isane and a group of female Fourth Division Soul Reapers crowded around Dōsan, but Ōmaeda drove them back with Gegetsuburi.
• Dōsan left to report to Captain-Commander Yamamoto while Ichimonji examined the fading Inorei Hikaru and asked Tokinada about the missing Soul King Fragment.
• Tokinada reported that the fragment had left no trace, and Ichimonji decided to target Dōsan and blamed Gin Ichimaru for derailing his earlier plan.
• Dōsan waited outside the First Division Barracks for an audience with Yamamoto.

Dōsan Hanyū reported that Inorei Hikaru’s Hollowfication incident implicated Shin'ō Noble Guard captain Ichimonji Tsunayashiro, but Yamamoto dismissed the matter and assigned Dōsan to preside over the Kidō Exchange Meeting. Dōsan accepted the task and learned that Nanao Ise would assist him, while the other assistant, Matsumoto, was unavailable.

• Dōsan told Yamamoto that Inorei Hikaru, a former classmate and Shin'ō Noble Guard member, had become a monster with Soul Reaper, Hollow, and Quincy Spiritual Pressure.
• Dōsan recommended arresting Ichimonji Tsunayashiro under the regulations, but Yamamoto ordered the matter to end there.
• Yamamoto gave Dōsan a crimson invitation and appointed him to preside over the Kidō Exchange Meeting, which Sasakibe explained was organized with the noble clans every ten years.
• Sasakibe revealed that the Tsunayashiro and Shiba Clans were involved in organizing the meeting, and Dōsan agreed to take charge.
• Yamamoto introduced Nanao Ise as one of Dōsan’s assistants, while a First Division messenger reported that Matsumoto had drunk herself unconscious.

Dōsan Hanyū learned that the Kidō Exchange Meeting would involve a brutal contest and asked to meet the participants. In Rukongai, Aizen decided to test Dōsan at the meeting a month later, uncertain whether fate was weakening him or steering events.

• Dōsan asked Nanao Ise about the previous Kidō Exchange Meeting, and she explained that its ten-versus-ten Kidō battle left Lisa Yadōmaru as the sole survivor.
• Nanao told Dōsan that Jin'ya Tsunayashiro would represent the nobles at the upcoming meeting.
• Dōsan asked to meet the comrades who would take part in the Kidō Exchange Meeting.
• Gin told Aizen and Tachikawa Magaki about recent events, while Aizen speculated that Dōsan had paid a terrible price to defeat Inorei Hikaru.
• Aizen decided to test Dōsan at the Grand Kidō Exchange Meeting a month later.

Jin'ya Tsunayashiro agreed to help kill Dōsan Hanyū after learning the Shiba Clan planned to adopt him, while Dōsan learned the Kidō Exchange Meeting was a deadly spectacle serving the Five Great Noble Clans. The chapter ended with Dōsan discovering that all twelve Soul Reaper participants were women who had paid for their places, leaving him horrified at their chances of survival.

• Ichimonji asked Jin'ya Tsunayashiro to help kill Dōsan Hanyū and find the missing Soul King Fragment, but Jin'ya demanded a reason to break the precedent against killing Captain-level fighters at the exchange.
• Ichimonji told Jin'ya that the Shiba Clan intended to adopt Dōsan Hanyū, and Jin'ya crushed his cup before agreeing to do the clan this favor.
• Dōsan read the Second Division's intelligence and learned that the Kidō Exchange Meeting was a bloody performance in a power struggle between the Soul Reapers and the nobles.
• Nanao Ise brought Dōsan to inspect the participants, and he discovered that all twelve were women, including six from the Fourth Division.
• Nanao told Dōsan that each participant had paid twenty thousand kan for a spot, and Dōsan realized he could not count on them to survive the meeting.

Dōsan discovered that Ōmaeda had chosen unqualified Soul Reapers for the Kidō Exchange Meeting, then forced Ōmaeda to join the team after submitting his name. Meanwhile, Kyōraku warned Ukitake that Yamamoto might move against the Tsunayashiro Clan at the meeting, leading Ukitake to ask whether Dōsan Hanyū was being sacrificed.

• Dōsan learned that several of the twelve selected Soul Reapers could not use Kidō, and Nanao Ise explained that the Second Division had approved the list.
• Dōsan blamed Ōmaeda for the selections and told him he had submitted his name for the exchange meeting, despite Ōmaeda's protests.
• Ōmaeda read the scroll and realized he was expected to participate, but Dōsan told him the roster could not be changed.
• Kyōraku visited Ukitake and warned him that Yamamoto might act against the Tsunayashiro Clan during the Kidō Exchange Meeting.
• Ukitake asked whether Yamamoto planned to sacrifice Dōsan Hanyū.

During Kidō training, Dōsan discovered that the strange force that had let him cast Kidō without incantations was gone. His chanted Shakkahō then became unstable and exploded in his palm, leaving his condition uncertain.

• Ōmaeda demonstrated Shakkahō while the female trainees paid more attention to Dōsan than to their training.
• Dōsan warned Rangiku about the danger of the Kidō Exchange Meeting, and she reacted by drinking more.
• At the trainees’ request, Dōsan tried to demonstrate Byakurai but found that he could no longer feel the force that had helped him cast Kidō without an incantation.
• Dōsan chanted Shakkahō, gathering immense Spiritual Pressure as Rangiku, Nanao, and Ōmaeda watched warily.
• The Shakkahō exploded in Dōsan’s palm, distorting and spreading Spiritual Pressure.

After Dōsan Hanyū lost his ability to use Kidō, Unohana found no physical cause and advised him to rest, while a mysterious bone carving melted into his palm and restored his missing sensation. As Isane led the San Fan Club in a dispute with Ōmaeda, news of Dōsan’s condition had already attracted attention from multiple parties.

• Unohana examined Dōsan Hanyū and found no unusual physical cause for his inability to use Kidō, then recommended that he rest in the Fourth Division.
• Dōsan agreed to stay under Unohana’s care but remained concerned about attending the Kidō Exchange Meeting.
• The bone carving Dōsan had obtained after killing Inorei Hikaru melted into his palm, and the mysterious feeling he had lost returned.
• Dōsan’s female fans demanded refunds from Ōmaeda after learning Dōsan would need to rest, but Ōmaeda refused to give them their money back.
• Isane revealed herself as president of the San Fan Club and vowed to defend its members’ rights.
• News of Dōsan’s lost Kidō ability reached multiple parties while he was traveling to the Fourth Division.

While recovering in the Fourth Division barracks, Dōsan Hanyū felt his Kidō talent returning but was overcome by an instinctive warning about the Kidō Exchange Meeting. He refused Captain-Commander Yamamoto’s request to serve as captain for the meeting, disrupting the plan Yamamoto had spent fifteen years preparing.

• In the Twelfth Division laboratory, Kurotsuchi examined a fragment of his extracted memories until Akon brought intelligence that Dōsan Hanyū had been hospitalized, which overturned Kurotsuchi’s assumptions and excited him.
• Jin'ya Tsunayashiro learned that Dōsan had lost his Kidō but remained certain he would attend the Kidō Exchange Meeting, where Jin'ya intended to kill him.
• At the Fourth Division barracks, Dōsan told Chōjirō Sasakibe that his Kidō talent was returning, though an instinctive voice urged him to avoid the meeting.
• Sasakibe reflected on Yamamoto’s fifteen-year plan to weaken the noble clans and empower Dōsan, whom Yamamoto believed suited the role he needed.
• Dōsan told Sasakibe his Kidō had not recovered and asked to resign as captain for the Kidō Exchange Meeting with Captain-Commander Yamamoto.

Sasakibe persuaded Dōsan Hanyū to remain in the Kidō Exchange Meeting by reminding him that withdrawing could damage the Shiba Clan’s standing. Meanwhile, Kūkaku confronted Kaien about their father’s death and the Shiba Clan’s cursed Zanpakuto, as attention across Soul Society gathered on the upcoming meeting.

• Sasakibe told Dōsan Hanyū that withdrawing after his name had been submitted could shame the Shiba Clan, and Dōsan slowly agreed to stay.
• Kūkaku visited Kaien with Miyako and demanded to know how their father had really died.
• Kūkaku accused Yamamoto of killing their father and asked Kaien whether he had the Shiba Clan’s inherited Zanpakuto, Miroku.
• Kaien denied having Miroku and reminded Kūkaku that their father had called the sword cursed, but he let her leave without stopping her.
• The Kidō Exchange Meeting drew widespread attention as Seireitei Communication covered it and nobles and Soul Reapers prepared to attend.

On the eve of the Kidō Exchange Meeting, betting on the noble team surged, while Ōmaeda secretly placed a huge wager against his own side. News then broke that Kenpachi Zaraki had returned to Soul Society gravely injured, and Yamamoto’s refusal to send reinforcements left the coming match entangled in factional conflict.

• A young nobleman and his girlfriend bet on the noble team, while the bookmaker struggled to manage the flood of wagers and unfavorable odds.
• Ōmaeda disguised himself and bet two million on the noble team’s defeat, naming his sister as the beneficiary.
• The Seireitei Communication reported that Kenpachi Zaraki had returned with severe injuries after a fight that ended in a draw.
• Tenzō Tenjō was also reported gravely injured and rescued by a mysterious person, while Soi Fon and Isshin Shiba pursued the attacker.
• Several captains and Central 46 urged Yamamoto to send reinforcements, but he refused as the Kidō Exchange Meeting approached.

At the Kidō Exchange Meeting, Tsunayashiro Tokinada revealed his cruelty by killing a teammate and launching a devastating attack against the Soul Reapers. Rangiku faced him as he drove back Nanao and Ōmaeda, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Kūkaku Shiba and Kaname Tōsen watched as Rangiku Matsumoto and Tsunayashiro Tokinada entered the arena as representatives of their sides.
• Tokinada glared at Dōsan Hanyū and Rangiku, intent on bringing Dōsan misfortune and expressing his hatred through the fight.
• Tokinada killed a noble teammate who addressed him, shocking the spectators but drawing no penalty under the match rules.
• Tokinada cast Hadō No. 73: Sōren Sōkatsui, and Rangiku, Nanao, Ōmaeda, and their allies barely blocked the flames while the noble team was badly injured.
• Tokinada charged down and forced Nanao and Ōmaeda back, while Rangiku watched him warily.

Tsunayashiro Tokinada attacked the Soul Reapers with Captain-level Kidō, injuring Nanao Ise and forcing Rangiku Matsumoto and Ōmaeda to defend the crowd. Dōsan Hanyū intervened, severed Tokinada’s arm with an apparent space-type Kidō, and left him facing Dōsan’s own killing intent.

• Tsunayashiro Tokinada unleashed Hadō #58: Tenran, overwhelming the defenders and injuring Nanao Ise while Rangiku Matsumoto and Ōmaeda struggled to protect the spectators.
• Tsunayashiro Tokinada appeared behind Rangiku and attacked, but Dōsan Hanyū stepped in and stopped him.
• Dōsan asked Kaname Tōsen whether entering the fight violated the rules, and Tōsen told him it did not.
• Tsunayashiro Tokinada lunged at Dōsan, but Dōsan severed his arm with an apparent space-type Kidō and burned it to ash with Hadō #54: Haien.
• Tsunayashiro Tokinada clutched his injury and confronted Dōsan, sensing the youth’s overwhelming killing intent.

Tsunayashiro Tokinada cast Hadō #90: Black Coffin at Dōsan Hanyū, but Dōsan emerged unharmed because the jade bone fused with his body granted him Kidō immunity. The chapter ended as Dōsan casually struck Tokinada, tearing open his chest.

• Jin'ya considered Tokinada's loss of an arm and remembered that his sister Kyōko had mentioned Dōsan Hanyū.
• Tokinada began chanting Hadō #90: Black Coffin, and Nanao warned the spectators about the spell.
• Tokinada completed the incantation and enclosed Dōsan in a towering black spiritual coffin.
• Rangiku tried to rush to Dōsan, but Ōmaeda restrained her, while Jin'ya used his spiritual pressure to stop Kūkaku from intervening.
• The Black Coffin faded, revealing Dōsan standing unharmed, and the spectators realized he had survived the attack.
• Dōsan swept his hand casually, tearing open Tokinada's chest.

Dōsan Hanyū gravely wounded Tokinada, but Jin'ya Tsunayashiro intervened and blocked the spatial rift with Dankū. As the spectators awaited a clash between Jin'ya and Dōsan, Jin'ya instead proposed that they talk, surprising Ichimonji and the departing Tokinada.

• Dōsan Hanyū froze Tokinada in place and tore open his chest, leaving him mortally wounded and afraid of death.
• Jin'ya Tsunayashiro entered the arena and blocked the rift with Dankū, while the crowd cheered him and Tokinada seethed at being rescued.
• The spectators mocked Tokinada, who hoped Jin'ya and Dōsan would fight to the death.
• Jin'ya recalled how he had defended Kyōko's chosen name by killing the elders who imprisoned her.
• After facing Dōsan under the crowd's expectant gaze, Jin'ya suggested they talk, shocking Ichimonji and Tokinada.

Jin'ya offered Dōsan Hanyū a chance to marry into the Tsunayashiro Clan, stunning the audience, but Dōsan politely refused. Jin'ya answered by unleashing Spiritual Pressure that shattered the arena barriers and threatened the nobles, leaving the confrontation on the verge of violence.

• Jin'ya entered the arena and surprised Dōsan Hanyū by showing goodwill instead of attacking him.
• Jin'ya offered Dōsan the opportunity to marry into the Tsunayashiro Clan, and the audience imagined the power and influence the match could bring.
• Dōsan hesitated, then politely said he had no plans to marry.
• Jin'ya released overwhelming Spiritual Pressure, shattering the barriers and causing some nobles' spiritual bodies to collapse.
• Jin'ya demanded to know whether Dōsan understood what he was saying.