Chapter Summaries

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.

Rei fought Haschwalth and four Sternritter, killing Tywin despite being caught in his lightning array. Haschwalth then used The Balance to break Rei’s sword, prevent his Bankai, and turn a small scratch into a near-fatal wound.

• Haschwalth arrived with Bazz-B, Cang Du, and Tywin, and ordered them to attack Rei, who was racing to finish the fight before Seigen Kyōshiba and Kensei arrived.
• Rei battled the Sternritter, trading injuries with Cang Du and cutting through his defenses while Haschwalth watched and assessed the Soul Reapers’ strength.
• Tywin trapped Rei in the Thunder Star Cross Array, but Rei survived the lightning and pierced Tywin’s chest with Blood-Coagulating Piercer.
• Haschwalth used The Balance to take away Tywin’s and Bilsen’s misfortune, then faced Rei and made his sword break and his chest wound become life-threatening.
• Rei realized Haschwalth’s Schrift had transferred misfortune to him, leaving him unable to use Bankai or call Blood Drink.

Rei learned how Haschwalth’s Balance and Scapegoat Shield worked, then used Homologous Reconstruction to create a copy of Haschwalth and restore his Bankai. Haschwalth escaped into the Shadow Domain, while Rei entered the battle between Kensei, Seigen, and the Quincy and began killing their opponents.

• Haschwalth returned the damage Rei had dealt through the Scapegoat Shield, leaving Rei badly wounded as their unequal exchange continued.
• Rei activated Homologous Reconstruction, and Yanis emerged in a body identical to Haschwalth’s; Rei then restored his wounds and released Bankai: Blood Blade: Peerless.
• Rei’s immense Bankai Reiatsu spread across the Holy City and beyond, and Haschwalth escaped through the Shadow Domain when he realized the fight had turned against him.
• Yanis entered the Shadow Domain, while Rei flew toward Kensei and Seigen’s fight against four Quincy.
• Rei killed Taiwen and Bilsen with rapid strikes, then attacked Cang Du as he tried to escape into a Shadow Domain.

Rei and the Soul Reapers overwhelmed the Quincy forces, while Yanis’s findings revealed that powerful enemies remained hidden in the Shadow Space. After Hirako’s Bankai turned twelve Holy Soldiers against one another, Rei captured a survivor for interrogation and warned Hirako that victory would not fulfill their objective unless they found a way into the hidden space.

• Bazz-B treated Cang Du’s severed arm wound, and the Schutzstaffel confronted Haschwalth after Lille Barro shot a copy of him; Haschwalth explained that he had lured Rei’s copy toward them to protect Yhwach and prevent information from leaking.
• Rei swept through the battlefield with his Bankai, killing more than twenty Holy Soldiers and chaining their bodies together while Shusuke Ihana watched in fear.
• Yanis returned from the Shadow Space with word of stronger fighters inside, and Rei released his Bankai and searched the corpses for a way to enter.
• Hirako used his Bankai to make twelve Holy Soldiers mistake one another for enemies, leaving one survivor until Rei stopped him from delivering the final blow.
• Rei brought three injured 11th Division members, including Kazuo, to interrogate the survivor, then explained to Hirako that three Captain-level Quincy had escaped into the Shadow Space and that their objective remained unfinished.

Rei learned that the surviving Quincy had retreated to the Wandenreich, a hidden realm holding tens of thousands of people and Yhwach, who was believed to be asleep. After the captains found they could not locate or reach it, the Soul Reapers began raiding Pure-Blood Quincy families in the World of the Living to capture leaders for interrogation.

• Trump told Rei that the Wandenreich contained over thirty thousand Holy Soldiers and roughly twenty powerful Quincy, but he did not know its location or how to enter it.
• Rei reported the Wandenreich and Yhwach's survival to the captains, provoking Yama-jii before explaining that the realm could not yet be reached.
• The captains decided to target Pure-Blood Quincy families and capture their high-ranking members after less than three days of rest.
• Komamura Tarō threatened a Quincy man with the lives of his family to force him to reveal a way into the Wandenreich.
• The man refused to betray the Quincy, and Komamura ordered his squad to kill the family.

After a decade of war against the Quincy, Yama-jii sent Rei to accompany Kōga Kuchiki on a mission to capture 11th Division deserters and evaluate Kōga’s suitability for captaincy. Kōga led the operation, but Rei remained unconvinced by his judgment and attitude.

• The Soul Reapers continued their campaign against the Quincy, while the surviving Sternritter sealed the Wandenreich and worked to develop a new power against the Soul Reapers.
• Yama-jii summoned Kōga and Rei to deal with sixty-two 11th Division members who had deserted, assigning Rei to observe Kōga as a captain candidate.
• Kōga asked to command the mission, and Rei agreed to watch without interfering.
• The deserters resisted or surrendered when Kōga and Rei arrived; Kōga let Rei decide how to handle the surrendered members.
• Rei drained the captives’ Reiryoku, disarmed them, and let them live, while Kōga questioned the decision and Rei cited his authority as Kenpachi.
• After the mission, Rei judged Kōga arrogant and lacking emotional intelligence, though he followed the rules and considered others’ feelings.