Chapter Summaries

Aizen Sōsuke interpreted Chiba Makoto’s request to capture Adjuchas as evidence that Makoto had anticipated his plans, then organized the Expeditionary Force to search for a suspected Hollow horde. Chiba Makoto suspected Aizen was using the threat to disperse the force and weaken Las Noches, and the chapter ended with Iba Tetsuzaemon and Shiba Kaien hoping to team up with him.

• Aizen Sōsuke wondered why Chiba Makoto had asked him to capture Adjuchas, then laughed as he concluded Makoto had anticipated his plans for Hollow Soul Reaperfication experiments.
• Aizen Sōsuke convened an emergency meeting after the Expeditionary Force found far fewer Adjuchas than expected and proposed searching Hueco Mundo for a large Hollow horde.
• Chōjirō Sasakibe questioned who would defend the camp, while Tōsen Kaname supported Aizen’s plan and urged the Soul Reapers to put the Seireitei’s safety first.
• Chiba Makoto suspected Aizen had invented or exaggerated the Hollow threat to disperse the Expeditionary Force and wear down Las Noches.
• The meeting assigned Chōjirō Sasakibe and most elite Soul Reapers to remain at camp while Captains searched separately and Vice-Captains searched in pairs.
• Iba Tetsuzaemon and Shiba Kaien eagerly looked to team up with Chiba Makoto because they believed he had Captain-class strength.

Chiba Makoto stayed behind to guard the expedition camp while Aizen Sōsuke and the other captains went to search for the Adjuchas Hollows. He secretly trained All Things in Nature to imitate him using a spirit body, but she struggled to copy his mannerisms.

• Chiba Makoto volunteered to switch places with Vice-Captain Sasakibe and remain at camp, claiming his Bankai was better suited to defending a fixed location.
• Chōjirō Sasakibe agreed that Chiba Makoto should guard the camp, and Aizen Sōsuke assigned him to lead the Soul Reapers left behind.
• Aizen Sōsuke, Tōsen Kaname, Ichimaru Gin, and the four Vice-Captains departed in pairs to search for the Adjuchas Hollow group.
• Chiba Makoto managed the nearly thousand Soul Reapers at camp and kept his conduct and schedule orderly.
• In his tent, Chiba Makoto coached All Things in Nature to imitate his movements and expressions in a spirit body created through Reishi Control.
• All Things in Nature complained that she could not learn, then pleaded with Chiba Makoto not to confiscate her body because she would lose access to her sweets and trips to Rukongai.

Chiba Makoto arranged for All Things in Nature to impersonate him in the camp while he went into hiding to sabotage Aizen Sōsuke’s plan to take control of Hueco Mundo. He left All Things in Nature with his duties and a mountain of paperwork before disappearing.

• Chiba Makoto reasoned that Aizen Sōsuke was using the expedition to seize control of Hueco Mundo and planned to use his spirit-body double as bait while he acted from the shadows.
• All Things in Nature changed its demeanor and walked convincingly as Chiba Makoto, convincing him that its disguise had no visible flaws.
• Chiba Makoto left All Things in Nature in charge of the camp and told it not to use Zanpakuto abilities he had never used publicly.
• Chiba Makoto assigned All Things in Nature the piled-up division paperwork, then vanished before it could protest.

Chiba Makoto left the camp to track Aizen Sōsuke through the Reishi in Kyōka Suigetsu, but encountered a wounded Tier Harribel and three Adjuchas while traveling across Hueco Mundo. He hid in a dead tree as the group approached, realizing they appeared to be fleeing a pursuer.

• Chiba Makoto slipped through the camp’s Kidō barrier and set out toward the Reishi embedded in Kyōka Suigetsu to find Aizen Sōsuke.
• Chiba Makoto traveled across Hueco Mundo for two days, following Kyōka Suigetsu’s movement and wondering whether Aizen Sōsuke was searching for something.
• Chiba Makoto sensed a Vasto Lorde and a large group of Adjuchas approaching, then concealed himself inside a dead tree using Reishi Control.
• Chiba Makoto recognized the Vasto Lorde as Tier Harribel and identified the three Adjuchas with her as Emilou Apacci, Lilynette, and Sung-Sun.
• Chiba Makoto noticed Harribel and her companions were wounded and bedraggled, and suspected that they were being hunted.

Chiba Makoto witnessed Barragan Louisenbairn and his army of Adjuchas corner Tier Harribel and her injured companions. Harribel refused Barragan’s demand to join him and charged into battle, leaving her fate unresolved.

• Chiba Makoto saw Barragan Louisenbairn arrive with more than fifty Adjuchas to confront Tier Harribel and her injured companions.
• Lilynette collapsed from her wounds, but Harribel refused to abandon her and prepared to fight alongside her subordinates.
• Barragan offered to spare Harribel if she became his subordinate, but she rejected him and condemned his group’s reliance on killing others.
• Barragan rose from his throne and vowed to make Harribel his nutrient, while Harribel charged at him through the surrounding Adjuchas.
• Barragan and Harribel clashed, their spiritual pressures surging into the sky as Chiba Makoto and the Adjuchas watched.

Tier Harribel fought Barragan while refusing to devour her companions, whose willingness to sacrifice themselves strengthened her resolve. As Barragan ordered his Adjuchas to attack them, Tier Harribel unleashed a scorching torrent, but Barragan brought his decay-wreathed axe down on her.

• Barragan and Tier Harribel clashed, and Barragan used black mist representing decay to attack her.
• Tier Harribel blasted Barragan back with Azure Sword Cannon, but he emerged unharmed and challenged her refusal to devour Hollows.
• Lilynette, Sung-Sun, and Emilou Apacci offered to let Tier Harribel devour them, but she refused and said their willingness to sacrifice had proved her ideals mattered.
• Barragan called Tier Harribel’s beliefs foolish and ordered the Adjuchas to devour her three companions.
• Tier Harribel attacked the Adjuchas with Scorching Sea Current, but Barragan swung his axe, wrapped in black mist, down toward her.

Tier Harribel was badly wounded by Barragan’s decay ability, but a mysterious figure named Chiba Makoto appeared and removed the decay without harm. Barragan was left stunned when Chiba Makoto blew the deadly aura away.

• Barragan struck Tier Harribel with his decay ability, sending her into a dead tree and causing her wound and greatsword to decay.
• Barragan ordered the Adjuchas Hollows to tear Sung-Sun, Emilou Apacci, and Lilynette apart as Harribel watched.
• Chiba Makoto emerged from the dead tree and stopped Harribel from moving, then pressed a hand to her decaying wound.
• Chiba Makoto pinched the decay from Harribel’s chest without being harmed and examined the black mist.
• Chiba Makoto blew the decay away, leaving Barragan so shocked that he dropped his axe.

Chiba Makoto protected Tier Harribel’s wounded subordinates by trapping Barragan’s Adjuchas forces in a forest of reishi-made withered trees. When Barragan asked who he was, Chiba Makoto claimed he was a Hollow born from Hueco Mundo’s withered trees, leaving Barragan stunned.

• Barragan’s Adjuchas pack overwhelmed the wounded Sung-Sun, Emilou Apacci, and Lilynette while Tier Harribel tried to rise and save them.
• Chiba Makoto grew a forest of hardened withered trees from the sand, shielded the three subordinates, and placed them beside Tier Harribel.
• Chiba Makoto considered killing the trapped Adjuchas pack and wiping out Barragan’s forces, confident that his control of reishi favored him in a prolonged fight.
• Barragan retrieved his giant axe and asked Chiba Makoto who he was.
• Chiba Makoto said he was a being born from Hueco Mundo’s withered trees and could be called a Hollow, shocking Barragan.

Chiba Makoto maintained his fabricated identity as a Vasto Lorde while Barragan tried to recruit him into Las Noches by portraying Soul Reapers as a threat to Hueco Mundo. Tier Harribel exposed Barragan’s self-serving motives, and Barragan withdrew, wary of Makoto’s ability to resist decay.

• Barragan concealed his alarm at Chiba Makoto’s resistance to decay and invited him to join Las Noches against the Soul Reaper Expeditionary Force.
• Chiba Makoto pretended not to know about Soul Society and questioned whether Soul Reapers were crueler than Hollows that preyed on one another.
• Barragan claimed he wanted to protect Hueco Mundo and said he had sought an alliance with Tier Harribel.
• Tier Harribel warned Chiba Makoto that Barragan only wanted to preserve his rule and use her against another rising king.
• Barragan, unnerved by Chiba Makoto’s ability, left the Forest of Withered Trees with the Adjuchas Hollows following him.

Chiba Makoto treated Tier Harribel and her injured subordinates after Barragan left, while viewing Harribel as both a potential ally and a subject for study. As he treated her, his words stirred an unfamiliar feeling in Harribel, and he secretly placed his Seed of the Forest inside her.

• Chiba Makoto decided against attacking Barragan’s departing Adjuchas because the risks and effort outweighed the benefits.
• Chiba Makoto found Tier Harribel and her three Adjuchas subordinates injured in a nearby cave and treated the three subordinates first.
• Chiba Makoto insisted on treating Tier Harribel despite her saying she was already healing.
• Chiba Makoto told Tier Harribel that treatment showed her someone cared about her, stirring an unfamiliar feeling in her.
• Chiba Makoto continued treating Tier Harribel and placed his Seed of the Forest inside her.

Chiba Makoto treated Tia Harribel’s wound and learned more about the unusual spiritual structure of Vasto Lordes. After exchanging names and discussing friendship, Harribel revealed that Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck had become an Arrancar on her own.

• Chiba Makoto examined Harribel’s wound and noticed that her spiritual body contained a structure resembling one associated with Soul Reapers’ Zanpakuto.
• Chiba Makoto treated Harribel’s chest wound, and Harribel thanked him and offered to repay her debt.
• Harribel introduced herself as Tia Harribel, and Chiba Makoto gave his assumed name, Asura Yan Cheng.
• Chiba Makoto suggested they could become friends, and Harribel compared their relationship to her bond with Sung-Sun, Emilou Apacci, and Lilynette.
• Chiba Makoto asked about Arrancar, and Harribel said she had met Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, a Vasto Lorde who had become one on her own.

Chiba Makoto offered to help Tier Harribel become an Arrancar, and she asked whether that could fill her Hollow Hole. After an awkward encounter, Tier Harribel detected a Soul Reaper's scent beneath his cloak, leaving Chiba Makoto's identity at risk of being exposed.

• Chiba Makoto asked Tier Harribel whether she wanted to become an Arrancar and described the benefits.
• Tier Harribel revealed that her Hollow Hole was in her lower abdomen and asked if Chiba Makoto could fill it, but he said he could not.
• Tier Harribel moved close to inspect Chiba Makoto's embarrassment, then fell into his arms and grabbed his Zanpakuto beneath his cloak.
• Chiba Makoto explained that an Arrancar's power was sealed in a Zanpakuto and mentioned that Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck also carried one.
• Tier Harribel caught a Soul Reaper's scent from inside Chiba Makoto's cloak and identified it aloud.

Chiba Makoto concealed his Soul Reaper identity from Harribel and offered to help her Hollowfy, while weighing whether to pursue Barragan first. Elsewhere, Aizen Sōsuke found a powerful middle-aged man and a masked girl in Hueco Mundo and began speaking with them.

• Harribel smelled a Soul Reaper's scent on Chiba Makoto, but he blamed it on clothes he had found in Hueco Mundo and dispelled her suspicion.
• Harribel explained that befriending a Soul Reaper could force her to sacrifice her life, then agreed to let Chiba Makoto help her Hollowfy.
• Chiba Makoto planned to push Harribel's natural potential further, but hesitated between helping her and catching up to Barragan.
• Aizen Sōsuke sensed immense spiritual pressure in a remote Hueco Mundo desert and used Shunpo to approach it.
• Aizen Sōsuke identified a middle-aged man and a masked little girl as Arrancar, while the man recognized him as a captain-class Soul Reaper.
• The middle-aged man warned Aizen Sōsuke against fighting, and Aizen said he had come without a sword and had no intention of battling.

Aizen Sōsuke found Coyote Starrk and invited him to join an organization of Arrancars, promising that it could provide companions to ease his loneliness. Starrk accepted for the time being, and Aizen Sōsuke set out with Starrk and Lilynette to find Barragan.

• Aizen Sōsuke identified Starrk as a Vasto Lorde who had become an Arrancar on his own and noticed Lilynette, the independent consciousness of his power.
• Aizen Sōsuke told Starrk that he understood his loneliness and explained that he had found someone who could walk beside him.
• Aizen Sōsuke invited Starrk to join his planned organization of Arrancars, and Starrk accepted because he might find interesting companions there.
• Starrk questioned Aizen Sōsuke’s status and learned that he intended to make Barragan, the King of Hueco Mundo, their colleague.
• Aizen Sōsuke led Starrk and Lilynette away, saying they would go find Barragan.

The Seireitei refused to send reinforcements to the Expeditionary Force or allow it to withdraw, leaving Aoki Risa and Kotetsu Isane worried about Chiba Makoto. Unohana Retsu reassured them that the force was not in immediate danger and trusted Makoto to return, while privately feeling his absence; Makoto laughed happily in a hidden cave in Hueco Mundo.

• The captains' meeting put the Seireitei on emergency alert, but Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni and the Central 46 Chambers rejected rescue reinforcements and a withdrawal for the Expeditionary Force.
• Aoki Risa and Kotetsu Isane brought the orders to Unohana Retsu and asked about Makoto's safety.
• Unohana Retsu teased them for focusing on Makoto, then reassured them that the Expeditionary Force was not in immediate danger and the Twelfth Division could open Gargantas at its camp.
• Unohana Retsu reflected on Makoto's promise to return and felt the unfamiliar slowness of time without him nearby.
• Chiba Makoto laughed heartily inside a hidden cave in Hueco Mundo.

Chiba Makoto began pursuing a shortcut to Hollowfy Vasto Lordes, sending Tier Harribel to find Snopas while he searched for Nel. After waking from a dream in which she called Asura Yan Cheng's name, Tier Harribel urged her companions onward toward Snopas's location.

• Chiba Makoto studied Tier Harribel's spiritual body with her cooperation but concluded that fully understanding Hollowfication would take too long.
• Chiba Makoto chose to imitate the Hollowfication of Coyote Starrk and Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, and decided to seek Nelliel rather than risk tracking Barragan.
• Chiba Makoto sent Tier Harribel to find Snopas while he went alone to search for Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck.
• Tier Harribel woke after calling Asura Yan Cheng's name, and Sung-Sun, Emilou Apacci, and Lilynette checked on her.
• Tier Harribel asked how far they were from Snopas and told her companions not to delay the plan; Emilou Apacci revealed that Harribel had called Asura's name in her sleep.
• Lilynette gripped her previously injured knee in pain while the others spoke.

Tier Harribel left Lilynette behind to rest with Emilou Apacci and continued toward Asura Yan Cheng with Sung-Sun. After Lilynette’s hidden injury worsened, Szayelaporro Granz appeared and revealed that he had implanted tracking devices in Harribel’s group.

• Tier Harribel noticed Lilynette’s knee hurt and ordered her to rest with Emilou Apacci while Sung-Sun accompanied her onward.
• Lilynette’s pain intensified, and she told Emilou Apacci that it felt as though something was burrowing inside her knee.
• Szayelaporro Granz appeared and introduced himself, alarming Emilou Apacci and Lilynette with his reputation as a powerful Vasto Lorde.
• Szayelaporro snapped his fingers, causing a pink tentacle to burst from Lilynette’s knee before he drew it into his body.
• Szayelaporro explained that he had planted tracking devices on the three Adjuchas and had overheard remarkable things about Asura Yan Cheng.

Szayelaporro ambushed Lilynette and Emilou Apacci to use them as bait for Tier Harribel, while Chiba Makoto searched Hueco Mundo for Nel. The chapter left Makoto heading toward two battling Adjuchas after finding no trace of Nel.

• Szayelaporro revealed that he had overheard Lilynette and Emilou Apacci discussing their plans and questioned whether Tier Harribel would surrender to save them.
• Lilynette hurled Apacci to safety and attacked Szayelaporro, telling her to warn Tier Harribel, but Szayelaporro captured Lilynette and let Apacci escape.
• Szayelaporro planned to use Lilynette as a captive to lure Tier Harribel out of the Forest of Menos.
• Chiba Makoto sensed that Tier Harribel and Snopas were moving toward each other, though he remained lonely and frustrated as he traveled alone.
• Chiba Makoto found no trace of Nel near the place Tier Harribel had mentioned and headed toward two battling Adjuchas.

Chiba Makoto interrupted a battle between a Mantis Great Hollow and a White Panther Great Hollow while searching for Nel, then demanded information from them. After the Mantis Great Hollow attacked and failed to harm him, Chiba Makoto drew his Zanpakuto and warned it to survive his retaliation.

• Chiba Makoto found the Mantis Great Hollow and White Panther Great Hollow fighting and ordered them to stop.
• Chiba Makoto asked the two Hollows a question, but they insulted him and refused to cooperate.
• The Mantis Great Hollow attacked Chiba Makoto's neck, but he remained unharmed and seized its forelimbs.
• The Mantis Great Hollow broke free with a Cero, but Chiba Makoto emerged unharmed and drew his Zanpakuto.
• Chiba Makoto told the Mantis Great Hollow to be careful not to die because he still needed it to answer his question.

Chiba Makoto drew his sword in Hueco Mundo and entered a state of calm, instinctive bloodlust as the Mantis Great Hollow attacked. He remained standing after its four scythe-like forelimbs were severed, leaving the Hollow’s fate unresolved.

• Chiba Makoto slowly drew his sword, and the Mantis Great Hollow sensed an overwhelming aura of despair.
• Unohana Retsu recalled how Makoto’s battle instincts had grown terrifying over decades of fighting her, and anticipated that he would release them again.
• In Hueco Mundo, Chiba Makoto followed his instinct to cut down the Mantis Great Hollow without fully losing his reason.
• The Mantis Great Hollow charged at Makoto, its spiritual pressure rising as it unleashed four slashing attacks.
• Chiba Makoto stood amid the flying sand as the Mantis Great Hollow’s four forelimbs fell from their roots.