Recaps

Haruto learned that the Tsunayashiro Clan had blocked his promotion to nobility by influencing the Noble Assembly, but he accepted the loss as less costly than what the clan had spent. He then asked Kaien how the Thirteenth Division had changed since Haruto joined, and Kaien credited him with helping it through difficult years.

• Ayaka complained about rumors targeting Haruto and urged him to care about his promotion, but Haruto said he was not ready to become a captain or noble.
• Kaien visited Haruto and confirmed that the Noble Assembly had rejected his promotion after the Tsunayashiro Clan worked against it.
• Haruto said the Tsunayashiro Clan had paid a heavy price to block the proposal, while he had lost only some reputation.
• Ayaka proposed that Haruto punish the Tsunayashiro Clan, but Haruto admitted he was not strong enough to challenge its Captain-level fighters.
• Haruto asked Kaien how the Thirteenth Division had changed since he joined, and Kaien said Haruto had helped Captain Ukitake and Miyako keep the division functioning and had reduced mission casualties.

Haruto decided to leave the Thirteenth Division and seek a place in the Second Division’s Stealth Force, hoping to confront the nobles who had bullied him. After the transfer received First Division approval, he arrived at the Second Division barracks, where Yoruichi was waiting.

• Haruto told Kaien he wanted to leave the Thirteenth Division and join the Second Division rather than return to the Sixth Division, and Kaien supported his decision.
• Haruto asked Shinichiraku Ōmaeda to contact Marechiyo, who could help arrange the transfer.
• Genshirō Okikiba approved Haruto’s transfer and gave him a sealed document, recognizing that Haruto was also avoiding a captain appointment and quietly protecting him from the Captain-Commander’s displeasure.
• Haruto and Ōmaeda went to the Second Division barracks, where Yoruichi presided over a meeting of the division’s Seated Officers.

Haruto argued that the Stealth Force should come under the Shihoin Clan’s control, and Yoruichi appointed him to lead its Patrol Corps and serve as deputy commander. He prepared to use his new authority to remove Tsunayashiro-aligned nobles from the force and purge troublesome members of its other branches.

• Haruto told Yoruichi that the Central 46 Chambers’ control of the Stealth Force showed disrespect for the Shihoin Clan, and offered to help restore the clan’s authority.
• Yoruichi made Haruto the Second Division’s lieutenant and captain’s aide, and appointed him captain of the Stealth Force’s Patrol Corps.
• Haruto planned to use a list supplied by the Kuchiki Clan to purge nobles allied with the Tsunayashiro Clan from the Punishment Force.
• Yoruichi appointed Haruto deputy commander of the Stealth Force, giving him authority over its other branches beneath her own.
• Yoruichi backed Haruto’s plan to clean out pests throughout the Stealth Force, and Haruto agreed.

Yoruichi offered Haruto the Shihoin surname, explaining that the clan could grant it without the Golden Seal Noble Assembly’s approval. Haruto agreed to meet her grandmother and was told that the journey to the family residence had also tested him.

• Yoruichi proposed that Haruto take the Shihoin Clan surname, and Haruto agreed after learning the clan had special legal authority to grant it without Assembly approval.
• Yoruichi invited Haruto to meet her grandmother, and Haruto followed her, planning to bring Isane a souvenir from the Shihoin Clan.
• Yoruichi and Haruto reached the Shihoin Clan’s main residence side hall at high speed.
• Yoruichi confirmed that the trip was the second test of Haruto, while the first had been a check of his skin color.

Yoruichi brought Haruto before Senya Shihoin, who agreed to add him to the clan’s external register if he passed an assessment. Senya then urged Haruto to pursue Yoruichi before sending him to the training ground for the test.

• Haruto agreed that taking the Shihoin name was unnecessary and said he did not care whether his future children could inherit it.
• Senya Shihoin agreed to add Haruto to the family’s external register if he passed an assessment, then sent Yoruichi and Haruto to prepare for it.
• Senya told Haruto to make an effort to win Yoruichi over and dismissed Kisuke Urahara as a poor romantic candidate.
• Haruto entered the Shihoin Clan’s back-courtyard training ground and noted the strength of its barrier and defenses.

Yoruichi tested Haruto’s Hakuda by requiring him to grasp Shunkō before she defeated him in a spar. After Yoruichi demonstrated the technique, Haruto immediately developed a water-based defensive Shunkō, leaving her to praise his talent.

• Yoruichi told Haruto that his Hakuda test was to learn the basic form of Shunkō during a spar before she defeated him.
• Yoruichi explained that she had invented Shunkō by combining her family’s Hakuda techniques with Kidō, then demonstrated her lightning-based form.
• Haruto understood how Shunkō circulated Reiatsu and adapted the technique without needing its opening stance.
• Haruto activated a water-based Shunkō that drove Yoruichi’s lightning back across the training ground.
• Yoruichi, bewildered that Haruto had mastered the technique before their spar began, praised his talent.

Yoruichi pushed herself to create and briefly maintain the Thunder God Battle Form, then watched Haruto reproduce Shunkō as a water-themed form using Quincy techniques. Haruto argued that Shunkō’s complete form would compress Reiatsu over the body, leaving Yoruichi to consider his idea.

• Yoruichi controlled her unstable Reiatsu and formed the Thunder God Battle Form, but it lasted only a few seconds before dissolving.
• Yoruichi admitted she could not yet maintain the new Shunkō in battle and went to find food.
• Haruto said he had understood Yoruichi’s form and combined Shunkō with Quincy: Letzt Stil to create the Water God Battle Form.
• Yoruichi laughed at Haruto’s feather-robe-like appearance, then asked what he meant when he said the form was incomplete.
• Haruto suggested that Shunkō’s complete form would compress Reiatsu and cover the body, and Yoruichi seriously considered his idea.

Haruto demonstrated Shunkō: Ultimate Hollow God Form, a powerful but short-lived transformation that fused Soul Reaper, Quincy, and Hollow powers. After discussing its extreme cost with Yoruichi, he rejected her apparent suggestion that he become head of the Shihoin Clan.

• Haruto combined his Reiatsu with the Reishi drawn in by Quincy: Letzt Stil and transformed into a humanoid Hollow-like form.
• Yoruichi confirmed that Haruto remained conscious and asked about his transformation, which he named Shunkō: Ultimate Hollow God Form.
• Haruto explained that the form gave him roughly a tenfold boost but consumed power at a hundred times his normal rate.
• Haruto said he could maintain the form for only fifteen seconds at full effort and would be bedridden for half a year afterward.
• Yoruichi began suggesting something, but Haruto refused before she finished, assuming she meant for him to become head of the Shihoin Clan.

Haruto accepted Yoruichi’s gift of the Shihoin Clan’s Cloud-Rending Silk Brocade and warned her that hidden betrayal threatened the clan. He then went to Naa Ichihara in East Rukongai to recruit a reliable helper for work in the Seireitei.

• Yoruichi told Haruto that mastering Shunkō completed the trials for receiving the Shihoin Clan name, then gave him the Cloud-Rending Silk Brocade.
• Yoruichi explained that the scarf could seal a Zanpakuto’s release and transport things through space, and Haruto decided not to announce his clan name yet.
• Haruto warned Yoruichi that nobles served their own interests and that unseen betrayal was the most dangerous.
• Haruto visited Naa Ichihara at Elegy and asked her to help him find someone reliable for work in the Seireitei.
• Naa Ichihara asked whether Haruto had transferred divisions after he said he was not suited to Second Division work.

Haruto recruited Naa Ichihara as adjutant of the Second Unit and arranged support for her gang in Rukongai. A month later, the nobles learned that a Shihoin retainer they had bribed had been executed, with Haruto connected to the punishment.

• Naa Ichihara accepted Haruto's offer to become adjutant of the Second Unit, the Patrol Corps.
• Naa asked about leaving Jōsuke in charge of her gang, and Haruto offered help through Kaien and the Shiba Clan.
• Haruto took Naa to the Eighth Division to consolidate intelligence before she joined the Stealth Force.
• Over the following month, the nobles grew frightened as insiders in the Stealth Force were killed and their past wrongdoings exposed.
• After the Noble Assembly, clan heads received news that the Fifth Seat of the Second Division and commander of the Executive Militia had been executed at Sōkyoku Hill on Central 46's decision.

After the nobles paid Haruto Shihoin substantial compensation, he prepared to leave for Hueco Mundo to reinforce the expeditionary force. He reached the Kidō Corps headquarters to meet Kirio Hikifune before departing.

• Yoruichi surveyed the nobles’ offerings and learned that most of the remaining wealth would fund the Second Division.
• Yoruichi suggested Haruto hide in Hueco Mundo after his actions stirred up trouble, and Haruto agreed to join the expeditionary force.
• Haruto planned to publicly pressure the Tsunayashiro Clan for leaving the expedition without support.
• At the Seireitei Research Institute, Hikifune Sae told Haruto that Kirio Hikifune was at the Kidō Corps headquarters and requested more five-color daifuku.
• Haruto gave Sae a new Ōmaekagura Clan product and went to the Kidō Corps headquarters, where he found Tessai Tsukabishi and Kirio Hikifune.

Haruto tested the Black Gate and arrived in Hueco Mundo, where more than twenty Gillian immediately surrounded him. After he destroyed them with Zanka no Tachi, he observed how Menos Grande died differently there.

• Haruto learned that Kirio Hikifune and Tessai Tsukabishi had built the experimental Black Gate and intended him to test it on his way to Hueco Mundo.
• Isane arrived to say goodbye and gave Haruto a handmade hairpin, while delivering a second hairpin from Byakuya.
• Haruto entered the Black Gate and reached Hueco Mundo in less than five minutes.
• More than twenty Gillian surrounded Haruto and began charging Cero.
• Haruto killed the Gillian with Zanka no Tachi and noticed that their remains became bizarre skeletons and gray-white powder.

Haruto found a slaughtered Soul Reaper detachment in the Forest of Menos, learned from the dying Genya Sakurai that Kanmuri Yasu was leading a breakout, and hurried after him. Kanmuri was trapped in the desert with only a handful of survivors, facing several Adjuchas.

• Haruto sensed a gathering of Gillians and found the remains of a Hueco Mundo Expeditionary Force detachment among them.
• Haruto burned the Gillians and examined the fallen Soul Reapers, then used his power to revive Genya Sakurai briefly.
• Genya told Haruto that Captain Kanmuri Yasu had led the survivors in a breakout, and Haruto cremated the dead before pursuing them.
• Kanmuri used Bankai to cut down one Adjuchas, but the remaining Adjuchas kept attacking as fewer than ten Soul Reapers survived around him.
• Kanmuri judged that he could kill at most one more Adjuchas before he and the remaining Soul Reapers were overwhelmed.

Haruto arrived in Hueco Mundo and rescued Kanmuri Yasu and the 11th Division expeditionary force from four winged Adjuchas. After learning the Adjuchas had been tasked with killing the Soul Reapers, Haruto fought them as they coordinated their attacks, and the battle continued with them diving at him past his Kidō barrier.

• Haruto killed one Adjuchas with a modified Kurohitsugi and used Bakudō #99: Bankin to release Kanmuri Yasu's Bankai and restore his Reiatsu.
• Haruto confronted the remaining four Adjuchas, who said they had been assigned to kill every Soul Reaper in the 11th Division.
• Haruto decided not to let the Adjuchas escape and clashed with their combined Ceros using Byakurai.
• The Adjuchas attacked Haruto from four directions with Lanza del Relámpago, and he blocked them with Bakudō #81, Eight-Direction Dankū.
• The Adjuchas climbed above the Kidō wall and plunged toward Haruto from overhead.

Haruto captured several Adjuchas with Kidō and began negotiating for information, but an unseen attacker killed them and the expedition members with a sudden beam attack. A powerful, humanoid Menos Grande appeared and regarded Haruto as potential experimental material.

• Haruto trapped and captured three Adjuchas with Bakudō, including Shiryū and Supernal Jail.
• Haruto offered to release the Adjuchas if their leader gave him truthful information, and the leader agreed to talk.
• A pinkish-purple beam killed the Adjuchas leader and scattered into attacks aimed at Haruto and those nearby.
• Haruto raised a combined Kidō barrier, but the attacks curved around it and destroyed the Adjuchas, Kanmuri Yasu, and the expedition members.
• A humanoid Menos Grande with a small bone-white mask fragment appeared before Haruto and called him good experimental material.

Haruto faced the Vasto Lorde Szayelaporro Granz, who had killed Kanmuri Yasu and an Adjuchas, and learned why Szayelaporro hated the 11th Division. Haruto unleashed his combined Soul Reaper and Quincy powers, then trapped Szayelaporro inside a wall of fire, but Szayelaporro challenged him to find a way through it.

• Haruto recognized Szayelaporro as a powerful Vasto Lorde and recalled how Kuruyashiki Kenpachi had driven him from Soul Society decades earlier.
• Szayelaporro admitted he wanted valuable experimental materials, especially Soul Reapers, after killing Kanmuri Yasu and an Adjuchas.
• Haruto released Seisen and combined several powers to fire a massive Sankt Bogen arrow at Szayelaporro, but Szayelaporro dodged it with Sonído.
• Haruto revealed that the blast had been intended to create a sea of fire, then used Bakudō #96, Jōkaku Enjō, to surround Szayelaporro with a blazing enclosure.
• Szayelaporro praised the Bakudō and asked Haruto whether he had an attack capable of penetrating the wall of fire.

Haruto and Szayelaporro traded devastating attacks while each tried to recover, and Haruto used his knowledge of Szayelaporro’s abilities to gain the upper hand. The chapter ended with Haruto binding Szayelaporro and the summoned Gillians with Bakudō #99.

• Haruto sacrificed his charred left arm and combined Sankt Bogen, Jōkaku Enjō, and Ittō Kasō to badly wound Szayelaporro.
• Haruto and Szayelaporro paused to recover, with Haruto regenerating his arm while Szayelaporro healed from the burns.
• Szayelaporro attacked Haruto with the Flower of Domination, but Haruto destroyed the flower forest with Holy Chant: Sanctuary Praise.
• Szayelaporro summoned modified Gillians and absorbed their Reishi to restore his strength.
• Haruto dismissed Sanctuary Praise, regenerated his arm with its Reishi, and used Bankin: Second Song: Hyakurensan to restrain Szayelaporro and the Gillians.

Haruto Shihoin severely wounded Szayelaporro with Five Dragon Destruction, but Ashido warned him that another Vasto Lorde was approaching. Haruto learned that two Vasto Lorde remained in Hueco Mundo and considered how killing one could advance Soul King Hakusui.

• Haruto used Two Dragon Destruction to further injure Szayelaporro, who absorbed sand and Reishi to recover and vowed to remember Haruto's Reiatsu.
• Haruto met Ashido in the Forest of Menos and learned that the former Tenth Division captain had stayed in Hueco Mundo to hunt Hollows and protect Soul Reaper expeditions.
• Ashido explained that he had sent Haruto a danger signal because a second Vasto Lorde was approaching from Las Noches.
• Ashido said he tracked the two Vasto Lorde to warn incoming expeditionary forces, but even four Captain-level fighters could not defeat them.
• Haruto considered killing Szayelaporro or the other Vasto Lorde to raise Soul King Hakusui's activation level and potentially reach Second-Class Spiritual Pressure.

Haruto received Ashido’s detailed map of Hueco Mundo and headed for the expeditionary force’s headquarters. On the way, he found Haru Kusaka’s detachment facing the wounded Tier Harribel and killed a noble who demanded his help, leaving the standoff tense.

• Ashido gave Haruto a marked map of Hueco Mundo and explained that he secretly provided copies to expeditionary forces.
• Haruto set off for the expeditionary force’s headquarters, using his map to travel through the Forest of Menos.
• Haruto sensed a Captain-level Soul Reaper and a Menos Grande surrounded by other fighters, then hurried to investigate.
• Haruto arrived and recognized the Soul Reaper as Haru Kusaka and the wounded Vasto Lorde as Tier Harribel, with her three injured Fracción behind her.
• A noble ordered Haruto to help defeat Tier Harribel, and Haruto killed him instantly with a Reiatsu attack, intensifying the standoff.

Haruto negotiated with Haru Kusaka to secure the retreat of his followers in exchange for sending En to the Maggot’s Nest. He then approached Harribel, revealed that he had wounded Szayelaporro, and proposed joining forces against Las Noches, but Harribel doubted they could defeat Baraggan’s seemingly endless army without losing her companions.

• Haruto rejected the noble’s demand that he fight a Vasto Lorde and learned that Haru Kusaka wanted him to cover their retreat.
• Haru offered to inherit the Kusaka Clan leadership and send En to the Maggot’s Nest, and Haruto accepted the terms.
• Haru led his followers toward their headquarters while Haruto remained behind to speak with Harribel.
• Haruto identified Harribel as a Vasto Lorde being pursued by Las Noches and proposed that they defeat their pursuer together.
• Haruto said he had wounded Szayelaporro, but Harribel refused to cooperate because Baraggan’s forces were too numerous and her companions could not bear the cost.

Haruto persuaded Harribel to cooperate against a Vasto Lorde, pushing Apache, Sun-Sun, and Mila to confront their stagnation. At the expeditionary force headquarters, Haru Kusaka returned with his squad and confirmed that Haruto had already met the captain sent to replace the recalled officers.

• Haruto offered to help Harribel kill a Vasto Lorde, and she agreed after making him promise to protect her companions.
• Haruto pressured Apache, Sun-Sun, and Mila with his Reiatsu and challenged them to improve themselves instead of relying on Harribel.
• Haru Kusaka returned to headquarters with his squad after killing seventeen Gillians and more than a hundred other Hollows, though five of his members had died.
• Miyano Fujimaru told Haru that the Third Division Captain and Kōga Kuchiki's elites had returned to Soul Society, leaving the expeditionary force short of top fighters.
• Haru told Miyano Fujimaru that he had met the replacement captain, then hesitated as he began to explain.

Haruto returned to the expeditionary force with Tier Harribel and hundreds of Gillian masks, then claimed command and proposed attacking the Vasto Lorde from Las Noches. Miyano Fujimaru and his sister agreed to help him, using Kanmuri Yasu’s death as a justification for the operation.

• Haruto appeared beside Haru Kusaka and revealed that Tier Harribel, a miniature Vasto Lorde, had followed him.
• Haruto produced hundreds of Gillian masks, and Miyano Matsuri confirmed they were genuine.
• Haruto asserted that the expeditionary force should follow his orders because he was its strongest and highest-ranking noble.
• Haruto announced that he planned to kill a Vasto Lorde from Las Noches and said only the Captain-level fighters would go.
• Miyano Fujimaru accepted Haruto’s justification based on Kanmuri Yasu’s death and agreed that he and Miyano Matsuri would help.

Haruto gathered Captain-level fighters and enlisted Ashido for a hunt against a Vasto Lorde in Las Noches. Ashido agreed but judged their force insufficient and offered to find another fighter.

• Miyano Fujimaru questioned whether Haruto had come alone, and Haruto said he had another helper whose identity would be revealed later.
• Haru Kusaka explained that Haruto’s threat had made the nobles behind him his direct followers, and he said the Kusaka Clan’s future depended on Lord Shihoin.
• Haruto asked Tier Harribel whether she objected to calling the plan a hunt, and she accepted that Soul Reapers intended to kill one of her kind.
• Haruto gathered the expeditionary force’s Captain-level fighters and asked Ashido to join the attack on the Vasto Lorde in Las Noches.
• Ashido agreed to help but warned that their five Captain-level fighters and one Vasto Lorde might not be enough, then offered to find someone else.

Haruto planned to lure out a Vasto Lorde by releasing an aura like one, while Ashido summoned nearby Soul Reapers and Shusuke Amagai arrived to help. The chapter then shifted to Las Noches, where Hammerhead sensed the aura and went to hunt the apparent newcomer, hoping to kill a rival Vasto Lorde.

• Ashido fired a burning spine into the sky to summon his companions, and Haruto said Harribel would serve as their secret weapon.
• Haruto offered to lure out the Vasto Lorde by making it seem a new Vasto Lorde had appeared in Las Noches' territory.
• A scruffy Soul Reaper arrived after chasing an Adjuchas, and Ashido introduced him as former Third Division Soul Reaper Shusuke Amagai.
• Baraggan remained away from Las Noches while Hammerhead sat on his throne and feasted on an Adjuchas.
• Hammerhead sensed the new Vasto Lorde's aura and set off alone, intending to kill it rather than share his power.

Hammerhead tracked down a newly born Vasto Lorde, unaware that it was Haruto in his Ultimate Hollow God Form. Haruto immobilized and sealed Hammerhead, then the Miyano siblings unleashed their resonant Bankai attacks on him.

• Hammerhead left Las Noches to find the newborn Vasto Lorde and discovered a crowned skeleton in a vast sand pit.
• Hammerhead prepared a Black Cero and cautiously approached the skeleton, noticing the Zanpakuto at its waist.
• Haruto revealed himself and used Stillness from Seisen to freeze Hammerhead before sealing him with Bankin Taihō.
• With Hammerhead unable to resist, the Miyano siblings activated their Bankai and attacked together with Dragon-Tiger Severing Thrust.