Recaps

Rei and Grimmjow traveled from Hueco Mundo to the World of the Living to restock their seasonings, with Yanis warning that the world held dangers beyond Hollows. After arriving, Rei sent Grimmjow to intercept two approaching Quincy while he went to find a seasoning shop.

• Rei and Grimmjow spent their time hunting and training, and their repeated ambushes turned their sparring into a dangerous contest.
• After Grimmjow complained that his Cero-roasted Hollow tasted awful without pepper salt, Yanis suggested going to the World of the Living to get more seasonings.
• Rei realized Grimmjow and Yanis could open Garganta accurately, and the group traveled through one to the World of the Living.
• Grimmjow and Rei fell from the sky, drawing the attention of two Quincy who sensed their powerful Hollow Reiatsu.
• Rei concealed his identity with Yanis's Reiatsu and ordered Grimmjow to keep the Quincy occupied while he searched Taro City for seasonings.
• Grimmjow confronted the two Quincy and attacked them, intending to devour them.

Rei entered Taro City seeking seasonings and killed the Quincy who attacked him, while Grimmjow fought Mode, who unleashed Quincy: Letzt Stil. Cairo confronted Rei as the battle continued, and Rei claimed he had only stolen sacks of spices.

• Rei sensed Grimmjow and two Quincy nearby, then killed the Quincy who shot at him when the man ignored his question about where to buy seasonings.
• Rei learned from a boy’s soul where seasonings were sold, looted the shop, and killed the four remaining Quincy foot soldiers.
• Grimmjow fought Mode and Cairo, while Mode used Ransōtengai to keep fighting despite his injuries and sent Cairo toward Taro City to stop Rei.
• Mode removed his glove, transformed his power with Quincy: Letzt Stil, and continued battling Grimmjow with greatly increased Reiatsu.
• Cairo stopped Rei with Reishi arrows, and Rei explained that the three sacks on his back held seasonings he had stolen.

Rei fought Cairo after he removed his Sanrei Glove and unleashed the Quincy's Final Form, while Grimmjow battled Mode nearby. After Rei and Grimmjow killed the Quincy and escaped, Yanis absorbed their souls and learned that the Quincy included at least twenty Final Form fighters and stronger Sternritter.

• Cairo removed his Sanrei Glove, unleashed the Quincy's Final Form, and fired a powerful arrow at Rei.
• Rei tested Cairo's strength, then released Blood Drink and killed him after the battle drew other Quincy toward them.
• Mode used Sklaverei against Grimmjow, but Rei struck Mode down and Grimmjow crushed his head.
• Yanis devoured Cairo and Mode before they fully became souls, absorbing their Reiryoku and Reishi.
• Rei and Grimmjow retrieved their items and escaped through a Garganta as stronger Quincy approached.
• Yanis learned from Cairo's memories that at least twenty Quincy could use the Final Form and that the stronger Quincy were called the Sternritter.

Rei, Grimmjow, and Dordoni tracked down a powerful, enormous Adjuchas that might be a Vasto Lorde. Rei sent Grimmjow and Dordoni to deal with its followers while he went ahead to challenge the giant alone.

• Quincy mourned two experts killed by a Menos Grande and considered strengthening their Letzt Stil while waiting for their Emperor to awaken.
• Grimmjow defeated the humanoid Adjuchas Dordoni and nearly killed him with his new Slacking-Off Missile before Rei intervened.
• Rei persuaded Dordoni to guide them to a powerful Hollow in exchange for letting him join their search for a Vasto Lorde.
• Dordoni explained that their target had immense Reiatsu despite being much larger than a Gillian and was fed Hollows by more than a dozen subordinates.
• Rei sent Grimmjow and Dordoni to hunt the subordinates and went to challenge the giant Adjuchas by himself.

Rei fought the giant Adjuchas Yammy Llargo in Death Canyon, gaining the upper hand with his speed and Blood-Coagulating Slash. As Yammy’s injuries drove him into a new transformation, his Reiatsu surged and he grew into a roughly three-hundred-meter behemoth, leaving the fight unresolved.

• Rei and Yanis reached Death Canyon and identified a gigantic, sleeping Adjuchas whose Reiatsu rivaled a Vasto Lorde’s.
• Yammy woke and attacked Rei with a Cero, but Rei survived behind Dankū and counterattacked with his Blood Drink sword.
• Yammy pinned Rei with Bala and a punch, but Rei’s blood gauge filled, boosting his power enough to sever three of Yammy’s fingers.
• Rei used Shunpo to slash Yammy repeatedly, then opened a deep wound across his left side with Blood-Coagulating Slash.
• As Rei called Grimmjow and Dordoni to help finish Yammy, Yammy’s Reiatsu erupted and transformed him into a towering behemoth.

Rei fought Yammy, whose power grew with his anger, while Abirama arrived to scout the battle for Baraggan. After Kukkapuro died and Yammy’s Reiatsu surged, Rei released Bankai and charged back into the fight, intending to finish it within ten minutes.

• Yammy explained that his anger continually increased his power, and he and Rei released immense Reiatsu as they began fighting seriously.
• Abirama was knocked from the sky by the clashing Reiatsu, then approached the battlefield and saw Rei battling a Hollow hundreds of meters tall.
• Yammy disrupted the Reishi in the air and struck Rei with his tail, but stopped when he sensed Kukkapuro had died from his Reiatsu.
• Yammy blamed Rei for Kukkapuro’s death, and his Reiatsu rose further as Grimmjow and Dordoni retreated.
• Rei released Bankai: Blood Blade: Peerless, transforming his body and raising his Reiatsu to 11 despite the strain it placed on him.
• Rei charged Yammy with his greatsword and said he would cut him down in ten minutes, while Yammy’s punch tore through the desert beneath them.

Rei defeated Yammy with his Bankai, then began evolving in seclusion after the group devoured Yammy’s mask. Meanwhile, Baraggan led a search for the powerful Hollows, and Grimmjow hunted Adjuchas to fuel his own evolution.

• Rei used his Bankai’s abilities to overcome Yammy’s Cero and inflict wounds that would not stop bleeding, eventually exhausting himself before Yammy finally fell.
• Yammy briefly raised his hand but died without rising again, and Rei realized that Kukkapuro’s death had driven Yammy to give up fighting.
• Seven days later, Yanis began evolving after eating most of Yammy’s mask, while Rei left to evolve alone and Grimmjow went hunting.
• Rei hid in the Menos Grande Forest, concealed his Reiatsu, and entered seclusion as Yanis’s markings spread across his body and Yanis’s mask changed.
• Abirama reported the battle to Baraggan, who believed powerful Vasto Lorde had fought there and led more than seventy Adjuchas to investigate.
• Baraggan’s Adjuchas spread out to search the area, giving Grimmjow an opportunity to hunt them.

Grimmjow hunted Baraggan’s Adjuchas forces until Baraggan cornered him and tried to recruit him. After Baraggan’s Respira decayed Grimmjow’s limbs, Grimmjow severed them and replaced them with Ceros, preparing to attack again.

• Baraggan ordered his Adjuchas to regroup and form a detection net after fourteen of them were killed, while Grimmjow continued hunting his subordinates.
• Grimmjow warned Dordoni to flee with their seasonings, then escaped as Baraggan’s forces pursued them for days.
• Baraggan’s forces trapped Grimmjow with a hundred Adjuchas, and Baraggan offered him a position as a general, which Grimmjow refused.
• Grimmjow fought Baraggan, but Respira dispersed his Cero and Slacking-Off Missiles and slowed his movements.
• Grimmjow risked a close-range attack, but Baraggan dodged and Respira began decaying Grimmjow’s limbs.
• Grimmjow bit off his front paws, blasted away his hind paws, and formed Ceros in their place as he vowed to bite through Baraggan’s neck.

Rei rescued Grimmjow from Baraggan and Wonderweiss, then spent several years in Hueco Mundo as Yanis's evolution transformed Blood Drink and helped Grimmjow grow stronger. After Grimmjow began evolving, Rei prepared to return to Soul Society, leaving Dordoni with a message that he wanted Grimmjow to become Hueco Mundo's king as Pantera.

• Rei attacked Baraggan but retreated with Grimmjow after learning Wonderweiss could seal his Zanpakuto abilities.
• Rei and Yanis evaded Baraggan and Wonderweiss with Bakudō, and Yanis explained why fighting them had been too dangerous.
• Yanis evolved and merged with Blood Drink, granting Rei the Power of Plunder and Homologous Reconstruction in exchange for the sword's Reiatsu burst and ordinary sealed state.
• Over the following years, Rei, Grimmjow, and Dordoni hunted Hollows, and Grimmjow devoured Yammy and half a Vasto Lorde.
• Grimmjow began evolving, and Rei told Dordoni to tell him to become Hueco Mundo's king as Pantera before Rei left for Soul Society.

Rei returned to Soul Society after leaving Grimmjow and Dordoni behind, only to discover that he had been presumed dead, the Nangong Family had declined, and Kuruyashiki had been killed by Azashiro Sōya. Kyōraku explained that the Gotei 13 had been preserving Captain-level strength because the Quincy threat was growing, leaving Rei to consider Azashiro’s victory and his own hundred-year ban.

• Dordoni told Grimmjow that Rei had left, and Grimmjow refused to unite Hueco Mundo as Rei had urged him to do.
• Grimmjow completed his transformation after seven days, and he and Dordoni planned to recruit companions.
• Rei returned to North Rukongai, learned that the Nangong Family had fallen into decline, and reunited with Kuzō and the remaining Vassals.
• Kuzō told Rei that Kuruyashiki had been killed by Azashiro Sōya, who had also removed Rei from his position as Vice-Captain.
• Rei visited Kyōraku, who explained that Azashiro had defeated Kuruyashiki before he could use Shikai and that the Gotei 13 had been stockpiling Captain-level strength against the rising Quincy threat.

Rei returned to the 11th Division, met Kenpachi Azashiro, and challenged him for the title, but first had to win Yama-jii’s approval. Yama-jii agreed to lift the restriction only if Rei could remain standing after ten punches, and Rei was already injured by the first.

• Rei learned from Kyōraku that political opposition made it unlikely he could become the Ninth Division’s captain, and that Yama-jii’s approval was needed before he could challenge Azashiro.
• Rei returned to the 11th Division and told Azashiro he wanted to become captain; Azashiro accepted the challenge and asked him to arrange witnesses.
• Rei went to the First Division with Kyōraku and asked Yama-jii to lift the restriction on challenging captains so he could claim the title of Kenpachi.
• Yama-jii agreed on the condition that Rei take ten of his punches and remain standing, and Kyōraku arranged for Captain Unohana to provide emergency treatment.
• Rei released the seals on his wrists and attacked Yama-jii, but Yama-jii dodged and struck him hard enough to break his right forearm; Rei prepared to evade the remaining punches.

Rei was crushed by Yama-jii in a sparring match and recovered under the Fourth Division’s care. Determined to earn the right to challenge Azashiro, he asked Unohana to teach him Kaido and began a routine of fighting Yama-jii and healing afterward.

• Rei struck Yama-jii repeatedly, but Yama-jii overwhelmed him with five punches and left him unconscious with numerous broken bones.
• Unohana ordered Kiyōnosuke Yamada to treat Rei, and Rei woke the next day after most of his injuries had healed.
• Rei asked Unohana why she had left combat for the Fourth Division, then decided he needed to learn Kaido to survive another fight with Yama-jii.
• Rei told Unohana that he wanted to challenge Azashiro to keep a promise to Kuruyashiki, and explained how Kuruyashiki had helped him master Bankai.
• Unohana agreed to teach Rei Kaido, and he began challenging Yama-jii each morning before returning to the Fourth Division to heal.

Rei returned to training and clashed with Azashiro, whose plan to transform Rukongai residents into Hollow-fighting warriors alarmed the Central 46. After the Central 46 tried to seize Azashiro’s modification method and sentence him, he vanished into blue Reishi during his trial.

• Maki returned from his mission, changed his surname back to Ichinose, and told Rei that people had left after trouble hit the family business; Rei proposed opening a shoe factory.
• Rei rejected rumors that he was pursuing Unohana, then learned that Yama-jii would limit their sparring to once a month.
• Azashiro presented the Central 46 with four successful test subjects from his plan, revealing that he had modified a thousand Rukongai residents in two years.
• Azashiro overheard the Central 46 plotting to force him to surrender his modification method, which he could not separate from his Bankai, Urozakuro.
• The Central 46 summoned Azashiro, accused him of exceeding the approved limits, and ordered him to hand over the method for destruction.
• Azashiro refused and dispersed into blue Reishi during the trial, leaving the Central 46 terrified and ordering the Gotei 13 to capture him.

Rei pursued Azashiro after Central 46 branded him a sinner, while the captains hunted the modified people and prepared for the two men to clash. Azashiro invited Rei to avenge Kuruyashiki, then defeated him with invisible blades, leaving Rei gravely wounded and unable to understand how his defenses failed.

• Central 46 ordered the captains to capture Azashiro, and Rei set out to track him so he could fight for the 11th Division captaincy.
• Azashiro appeared at the Captains' Meeting, refused to submit to punishment, and vanished by dispersing into Reishi; Yama-jii sent Kyōraku and Ukitake after him and considered Rei as a possible successor.
• Azashiro used his Bankai to spread his Reiatsu throughout Seireitei, then appeared before Rei and told him to head west for a chance to avenge Kuruyashiki.
• The captains attacked Azashiro's modified people in West Rukongai, while Rei pursued Azashiro and Kyōraku and Ukitake followed behind.
• Rei caught up with Azashiro in West Rukongai, District 22, and attacked him, but Azashiro's invisible blades pierced Rei's body and left him on the ground.

Rei defeated Sōya Azashiro in a battle for the Kenpachi title, using his Bankai and Yanis’s ability to absorb Reiryoku. Seven days later, Central 46 questioned Rei about his powers, Azashiro’s death, and his motives.

• Azashiro questioned Rei about his reasons for coming and asked him to help exterminate Hollows, but Rei refused and released his Bankai.
• Rei’s Bankai overwhelmed Azashiro’s Reishi and Kidō attacks, while Yanis’s Power of Plunder absorbed Reiryoku and healed Rei’s wounds.
• Azashiro gathered his remaining Reiatsu into a sword and fought Rei, but Rei’s strength and close-combat skill defeated him.
• Kyōraku and Ukitake arrived after Azashiro had died, and Ukitake told Rei to cooperate with an investigation and surrender his Zanpakuto temporarily.
• Rei recalled Azashiro’s final request and proposed restraining Hollows in Hueco Mundo while continuing to deal with those in the World of the Living.
• Seven days later, Central 46 questioned Rei about his Shikai and Bankai, whether he had killed Sōya Azashiro, and why he sought the Kenpachi title.

Rei answered Central 46’s questions and was appointed the Ninth Kenpachi, Nangong Kenpachi, and captain of the 11th Division. After meeting the other captains and issuing orders to his new division, he defeated Kensei Muguruma in a bare-knuckle challenge.

• Rei explained his Zanpakuto abilities, invited Central 46 to test his strength, and said he sought the Kenpachi title for Captain Kuruyashiki’s sake and its privileges.
• Central 46 approved Rei’s succession as Kenpachi, and Yama-jii formally appointed him captain of the 11th Division as Nangong Kenpachi.
• Rei met the other captains and assessed their strength while visiting their division barracks.
• Rei ordered his division members to report strong enemies, appointed Gosuke vice-captain and Kensei Muguruma Third Seat, and accepted Kensei’s challenge.
• Rei defeated Kensei with a single punch after they agreed to fight without Zanpakuto.

Rei hunted criminals in East Rukongai while Grimmjow’s Blood Panther Legion searched Hueco Mundo for a Vasto Lorde. Three hundred years earlier, Ulquiorra became an Arrancar after centuries of isolation, and Grimmjow’s pursuit left him poised to find Ulquiorra before Aizen could.

• Rei defeated a bandit chief in East Rukongai’s thirty-seventh district and grew stronger by absorbing Reiryoku.
• Grimmjow led the thirteen-member Blood Panther Legion and ordered its Hollows to search for a Vasto Lorde.
• Arafi reported that a winged humanoid Hollow had defeated an Adjuchas gathering, prompting Grimmjow to investigate.
• Ulquiorra awoke in the Forest of Menos unable to hear, speak, or eat, and killed the Adjuchas who attacked him.
• After centuries of meaningless battles, Ulquiorra crossed the boundary among the Quartz Trees and became an Arrancar.
• Grimmjow followed Ulquiorra’s trail, giving him a chance to discover Ulquiorra before Aizen did.

After Rei uncovered masked men testing a Reiryoku-draining Bakōtō on a volunteer in South Rukongai, the suspects poisoned themselves before he could question them. Central 46 halted Yama-jii’s investigation after Kumoi Gyokaku complained, and Yama-jii confronted Kasumioji Yakumo with the evidence he had gathered.

• Yama-jii sent Rei to investigate strange swords and human experiments in South Rukongai, while Kyōraku and Ukitake pursued separate inquiries.
• Rei’s team found masked men giving a tentacled sword called a Bakōtō to a volunteer, who killed four Ragged Hollows before the weapon drove him berserk.
• Rei restrained the ten masked men, but they poisoned themselves; he recovered the Bakōtō and destroyed the test site.
• Kumoi Gyokaku learned of the investigation, complained to Central 46, and persuaded them to order Yama-jii to stop it.
• Rei received the recall order and returned with the Bakōtō but no conclusive proof linking it to the Kasumioji Clan.
• Kasumioji Yakumo confronted Yama-jii, who explained the weapons and experiments and urged her to investigate her clan herself.

Yama-jii and Kyōraku investigated the Kasumioji Clan’s Bakōtō while Kisaragi Shingō secretly followed Kumoi and discovered the weapons’ hidden workshop. Rei fought off an ambush, learned that Shingō had been forced to attack him, and brought Shingō’s body to his son, leaving Shūsuke grieving and seeking someone to blame.

• Kasumioji Yakumo questioned Genki and Kumoi about the Bakōtō, and Kumoi blamed the long-exiled Ryūtōji Clan while directing suspicion toward false leads.
• Kisaragi Shingō followed Kumoi to a minor noble’s residence where the Bakōtō were manufactured, but Kumoi’s men captured him and forced a specially made Bakōtō onto him.
• Rei was ambushed in South Rukongai by masked men seeking to destroy the Bakōtō, and he killed them after Kisaragi Shingō attacked him under the weapon’s influence.
• Kisaragi Shingō told Rei that Kumoi had ordered him to kill Rei and destroy the Bakōtō, then asked Rei to take his body home before dying.
• Rei brought Kisaragi Shingō’s body to Qingliu Town, where Kisaragi Shūsuke saw his father dead and vowed to find the person responsible.

Rei recounted Kisaragi Shingō’s death to Yama-jii, but the investigation into Kumoi’s schemes found no evidence. In Hueco Mundo, Ulquiorra joined Grimmjow and Dordoni as a companion, while Rei prepared to complete precise Reiatsu classification in the 11th Division.

• Rei told Yama-jii how Kisaragi Shingō had lost his mind and died, and Yama-jii ordered Kyōraku to investigate the minor noble’s estate.
• Kyōraku found the estate emptied, and Kasumioji Yakumo’s trail went cold as Kumoi’s scheme continued to evade the Gotei 13.
• Grimmjow and Dordoni met Ulquiorra in Hueco Mundo and invited him to join their group as a companion.
• Ulquiorra accepted the invitation, and the Blood Panther Group set its sights on growing stronger and eventually replacing Baraggan’s rule.
• Rei entered the 11th Division barracks with Seigen Kyōshiba as he prepared to finish classifying and detecting Reiatsu levels.

Rei introduced a Reiatsu measuring device and a ranking system that exposed hidden strength across the Gotei 13, while Yamamoto ordered Kyōraku to investigate the Quincy Holy City. After repeatedly delaying his promise to teach Kensei Bankai, Rei finally agreed to begin training him on a trip to Rukongai.

• Rei had Third Seat Kensei Muguruma serve as the unit of measurement and used the device to classify Soul Reapers by Reiatsu.
• Hirako learned that Rei had promised to teach Kensei Bankai and said he might master it first.
• The Reiatsu measurements revealed many Soul Reapers who had concealed their strength, and Yamamoto ordered Kyōraku to locate the Holy City because the Quincy were disrupting the balance.
• Kensei confronted Rei after another criminal report interrupted his promised lesson, and Rei agreed to teach him Bankai while they dealt with the criminals.
• Two hundred and forty years before Aizen was sealed, Rei began teaching Kensei Muguruma Bankai.

Rei trained Kensei, then spent a year forcibly recruiting fighters into the 11th Division until it grew to over 3,100 combatants. After Yama-jii ordered him to stop and return, Rei found many of his recruits imprisoned and went looking for help, only to learn that the captains had gathered at the Shiba Clan because the Zero Division had arrived.

• Rei overwhelmed Kensei in training and explained how fighting at high Reiatsu would help Kensei grow stronger and gain his Zanpakuto's recognition.
• After returning from hunting gangs in Rukongai, Rei persuaded Yama-jii that the gangs' armed leaders posed a threat, and Yama-jii ordered him to recruit awakened fighters into the 11th Division.
• Rei assigned Gosuke and Maki to train and oversee recruits, then spent the next year absorbing gangs and expanding the division to more than 3,100 combatants.
• Yama-jii ordered Rei to stop recruiting and return, where Gosuke and Maki told him that over two hundred squad members were imprisoned for offenses.
• Rei went to Yama-jii for help securing the prisoners' release, but learned that the captains had gone to the Shiba Clan to meet the visiting Zero Division.
• Rei reached the gathering at the Shiba Clan, where the other captains had assembled on a platform.

Rei met the arriving Zero Division members and learned they had come to help the Gotei 13 confront the Quincy threat. The captains assembled for a meeting, where Yama-jii ordered them to expand their Squads and prepare for battle.

• Shiba Kūsei apologized for failing to notify Rei about the Zero Division’s arrival, and Rei explained that Kyōraku had been holding back during their sparring matches.
• The Tenchūren landed, and three Zero Division members emerged; Tenjirō Kirinji teased Unohana before Yama-jii led them away to discuss serious business.
• Unohana warned Rei not to speak rashly about the Soul King, then questioned him about calling her “Sister Retsu.”
• At the Captains’ Meeting, Ōetsu Nimaiya teased Rei and complained that the expanded 11th Division had left him making more Asauchi.
• Yama-jii ordered the captains to keep expanding their Squads, enter the highest state of alert, and unite against the Quincy.

After Rei trained the 11th Division and received word of a Captains’ Meeting, the chapter revealed how Haschwalth had kept the Wandenreich operating while Yhwach slept. Rei then located the Holy City and brought it down with two powerful Kidō blasts, leading the 11th Division into an attack as Haschwalth and Bazz-B rallied the Quincy defenders.

• Rei disciplined the 11th Division troublemakers with harsh training before a messenger summoned him to a Captains’ Meeting.
• The chapter explained that Yhwach had hidden the Wandenreich in the Shadow World and remained unconscious while Haschwalth led the Quincy and gathered souls to restore him.
• Haschwalth and Bazz-B watched Quincy compete to become Holy Soldiers, then organized the defenders after tremors struck the Holy City.
• Rei used a fully incanted Hadō #88 to reveal the Holy City, then struck it again with lightning and sent it sinking toward the ground.
• Rei led the 11th Division toward the falling city while Maki used Tenteikūra to summon nearby Squads.

Nangong Ling, the 11th Division Captain, fought the Quincy in the fallen Holy City and killed Terrence Toppe before he could use his Schrift. He began battling Billson Jackaston, who activated his Schrift and gathered Reishi as four Quincy reinforcements arrived.

• Nangong Ling charged into the Holy City ruins and confronted Terrence Toppe, a Sternritter who used Blut Vene to withstand his attacks.
• Terrence absorbed the Holy City's Reishi and prepared to reveal his Schrift, but Nangong Ling used Hollowfication and killed him with a single strike.
• Nangong Ling impaled two Holy Soldiers with Blood Drink and carried their bodies toward the approaching Quincy.
• Nangong Ling clashed with Billson Jackaston, whose Schrift represented overwhelming power, and fractured his hand by trading punches.
• Billson used Ransōtengai and Quincy: Letzt Stil to absorb Reishi and form a Reishi Bow as four Quincy reinforcements arrived.