Chapter Summaries

Zaraki Kenpachi endured Gerard’s overwhelming Sacred Sword and awakened a new form with his Zanpakuto, then fought Gerard on equal terms. Chiba Makoto watched the battle and reflected that Zaraki’s modified Zanpakuto had an unusual ability.

• Gerard pressed down with the Sacred Sword, but Zaraki Kenpachi lifted it while Chiba Makoto rapidly healed his collapsing body.
• Kusajishi Yachiru raised her Zanpakuto toward Zaraki Kenpachi, and it dissolved into spirit particles as he sensed a new rhythm.
• Zaraki Kenpachi declared that Beast's Claws needed no name, transformed, and cleaved Gerard’s Sacred Sword in two.
• Zaraki Kenpachi wounded Gerard and stopped his restored Sacred Sword with his Zanpakuto, then charged in to attack again.
• Gerard invoked the Miracle and fought Zaraki Kenpachi fiercely while Chiba Makoto watched and considered the strange ability of Zaraki’s modified Zanpakuto.

Zaraki Kenpachi’s newly awakened Zanpakuto made him fight in an undying state as his battle with Gerard intensified. Chiba Makoto surveyed the other fights before Yoruichi Shihoin’s failing body left her vulnerable to Pernida.

• Zaraki Kenpachi’s Zanpakuto released when his injuries and fighting spirit reached a threshold, keeping his spiritual body in an enhanced state as long as his will to fight remained.
• Chiba Makoto observed Kurotsuchi Mayuri battling Gillespie and chose not to interfere, noting Mayuri still had resources to spare.
• Chiba Makoto saw Haschwalth stall against Kurosaki Ichigo, whose dual Zangetsu in Shikai gave him overwhelming strength, and wondered whether Haschwalth’s motives differed from his expectations.
• Pernida’s speed caught up with Yoruichi Shihoin’s, and it seized control of Reishi used by Sōya Azashiro, forcing both allies onto the defensive.
• Yoruichi Shihoin abandoned her left arm to escape Pernida’s nerves, but her left ankle gave way as she retreated, causing her to lose balance.

Chiba Makoto rescued Yoruichi Shihoin from Pernida and learned that the enemy was the Soul King's Left Arm, capable of evolving, regenerating, and controlling anything its nerves touched. After Chiba Makoto's first attack failed to finish Pernida, the creature seized control of his wooden hands and turned them against him.

• Chiba Makoto caught Yoruichi Shihoin and used a forest of giant trees to bury Pernida.
• Chiba Makoto noticed Yoruichi Shihoin's missing left arm, and she complained that Pernida had torn it off.
• Sōya Azashiro explained that Pernida was the Soul King's Left Arm and described its nerves, evolution, and regeneration.
• Yoruichi Shihoin transformed into a black cat and taunted Pernida from Chiba Makoto's shoulder.
• Chiba Makoto crushed Pernida between enormous wooden hands, but Pernida regenerated and took control of them.
• Pernida hurled Chiba Makoto's wooden hands toward him and threatened to kill him.

Chiba Makoto crushed Pernida with enormous wooden palms, while Yoruichi and Sōya Azashiro witnessed his overwhelming power. Pernida continued evolving its nerves and attacking, and Makoto answered with a final strike that also smashed the palace below it.

• Chiba Makoto’s giant wooden palms clapped Pernida and its nerve-controlled palms, creating a storm that swept Black Cat Yoruichi backward.
• Sōya Azashiro recognized that Makoto’s spirit-particle manipulation far surpassed anything he could reproduce.
• Makoto opened the palms to reveal Pernida mangled but rapidly growing nerves to control more matter.
• Yoruichi Shihoin realized Pernida was acting through rigid instinct rather than adapting intelligently.
• Pernida seized control of the wooden palms and tried to close them on Makoto, who set Yoruichi down and summoned even larger palms.
• Makoto crushed Pernida and Shutara Senjumaru’s palace section, and the impact sounded faintly in Soul Society.

Chiba Makoto killed Pernida by forcing its uncontrolled evolution to end in self-destruction, while Yhwach faced the deaths of two members of his God-Favored Guard. Yhwach then used Auswählen to reclaim power from Gerard and Gillespie, but Haschwalth and Ishida Uryū were left untouched.

• Chiba Makoto restored Black Cat Yoruichi's arm and explained that Pernida's endless evolution would eventually destroy it.
• Pernida grew into a mass of nerves and exploded between Chiba Makoto's wooden palms, killing the Soul King's Left Arm.
• Yhwach realized Lille Barro and Pernida had died and decided to use Auswählen while fighting Hyōsube Ichibē.
• Yhwach used Auswählen on the Divine Punishment Guard, draining Gerard and Gillespie of their powers.
• Gillespie collapsed from Kurotsuchi Mayuri's poison, and Gerard became a giant white skeleton, while Haschwalth laughed and Ishida Uryū remained unaffected.

Haschwalth revealed that Yhwach’s early awakening and use of Auswählen had temporarily freed him and Ishida Uryū from Yhwach’s control, and he declared his intent to rebel against him. Chiba Makoto accepted Haschwalth and Ishida as allies, then led the group toward the Soul King’s Inner Palace to stop Yhwach.

• Haschwalth explained that Yhwach’s early use of All Things in Nature and Auswählen had temporarily freed him and Ishida Uryū from Yhwach’s control.
• Chiba Makoto arrived with Black Cat Yoruichi and Sōya Azashiro, trusted Haschwalth, and argued that the Thirteen Divisions’ enemy was Yhwach, not the Quincy.
• Haschwalth said he wanted to cast off his mask of obedience and avenge the Quincy who had died serving Yhwach.
• Ishida Uryū revealed that he had joined the Wandenreich with ulterior motives, and Haschwalth explained that Yhwach had granted him Schrift 'A' because he could adapt to it.
• Chiba Makoto accepted Haschwalth and Ishida as allies and led everyone into the Soul King’s Inner Palace to support Hyōsube Ichibē and stop Yhwach.
• The blackness shrouding the passage disappeared as Chiba Makoto stepped onto it.

Chiba Makoto and the reinforcements reached the Soul King's Inner Palace and found Hyōsube Ichibē apparently wounded, with Yhwach heading toward the Soul King. When Hyōsube urged Kurosaki Ichigo to face Yhwach alone, Chiba accused him of being a traitor or impostor, and Hyōsube revealed he was unharmed and challenged Chiba about refusing to use his true name.

• Unohana Retsu and the others followed Chiba Makoto into the Soul King's Inner Palace, where they found a seemingly gravely wounded Hyōsube Ichibē and learned Yhwach had gone deeper toward the Soul King.
• Chiba Makoto stayed behind to heal Hyōsube Ichibē and asked Unohana Retsu to lead the others after Yhwach.
• Hyōsube Ichibē asked Unohana Retsu and everyone except Kurosaki Ichigo to remain behind, directing Kurosaki Ichigo to stop Yhwach alone.
• Chiba Makoto stopped Kurosaki Ichigo and accused Hyōsube Ichibē of conspiring with Yhwach or being an impostor.
• Hyōsube Ichibē stood up with a smile despite his apparent fatal wound and asked Chiba Makoto why he would not call him by his true name.

Chiba Makoto baited Hyōsube Ichibē into admitting that he had betrayed the Soul King, then revealed that their conversation had been broadcast throughout Seireitei. Hyōsube Ichibē realized the secret of the Soul King and Zero Division had been exposed to all of Soul Society.

• Hyōsube Ichibē recognized Makoto as the hidden wielder of the power of names and accused him of seeking the Soul King's throne.
• Makoto denied the accusation and claimed Hyōsube Ichibē had betrayed Soul Society, the world, and the Soul King.
• Hyōsube Ichibē admitted that he had betrayed the Soul King tens of millions of years earlier, and Makoto and the others denounced him.
• Makoto revealed that a transmission system had broadcast everything in the Soul King's Inner Palace to screens across Seireitei.
• Hyōsube Ichibē realized that the secret of the Soul King and Zero Division had become public throughout Soul Society.

After Hyōsube Ichibē’s betrayal was exposed across Soul Society, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni chose to support Chiba Makoto and prepare the Captains to fight at the Soul King Palace. Hyōsube Ichibē sensed the Seireitei’s hostile reactions and realized Chiba Makoto had told the truth.

• Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni told Ukitake Jūshirō that Chiba Makoto had deliberately exposed Hyōsube Ichibē’s betrayal.
• Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni ordered Chōjirō Sasakibe to find Inoue Orihime so they could prepare for battle.
• Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni declared that the Thirteen Divisions had to help Chiba Makoto defeat Hyōsube Ichibē.
• Chōjirō Sasakibe went to find Inoue Orihime while Ukitake Jūshirō gathered the Captains in Seireitei for the journey to the Soul King Palace.
• Hyōsube Ichibē sensed the Seireitei’s hostile greetings and realized Chiba Makoto had not been lying.

Hyōsube Ichibē revealed that he had spent millennia manipulating events so he could replace the Soul King and control the world, and threatened to purge the Soul Society after Chiba Makoto ruined his plan. As Chiba confronted him, Kirinji Tenshiro, Hikifune Kirio, and Nimaiya Ōetsu appeared behind Ichibē, and Kirinji and Hikifune learned that he had deceived them about the Soul King’s condition.

• Hyōsube Ichibē explained that he had arranged the founding of the Thirteen Divisions and planned to use Yhwach to replace the Soul King and legitimize his control of the world.
• Hyōsube Ichibē blamed Chiba Makoto for ruining his plan and threatened to purge millions of souls and erase the Thirteen Divisions and Soul Reaper system.
• Haschwalth and the other Soul Reapers and Quincy realized that Ichibē had manipulated the Wandenreich and possibly Yhwach’s origins, and turned against him in anger.
• Chiba Makoto told Hyōsube Ichibē that his ambition and crimes would end that day, while Ichibē dismissed him and called him a rat.
• Hyōsube Ichibē summoned Kirinji Tenshiro, Hikifune Kirio, and Nimaiya Ōetsu, who appeared unharmed behind him.
• Kirinji Tenshiro and Hikifune Kirio confronted Hyōsube Ichibē after realizing his claims about the Soul King needing a replacement had been lies.

Hyōsube Ichibē revealed that he could control the bodies of the Zero Division and ordered Nimaiya Ōetsu to stop the rebels. As Nimaiya summoned more than a thousand replicated Zanpakuto, Chiba Makoto challenged Ichibē, and Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni arrived with a host of Soul Reapers.

• Kirinji Tenshiro tried to attack Hyōsube Ichibē, but Ichibē immobilized him and forced him to lower his Zanpakuto.
• Hikifune Kirio denied intending to rebel, and Ichibē ordered her to fight properly.
• Hyōsube Ichibē sent Nimaiya Ōetsu to keep the rebellious Soul Reapers from disturbing Yhwach.
• Nimaiya Ōetsu summoned more than a thousand manifested Zanpakuto spirits and explained that he had forged them based on known Bankai.
• Chiba Makoto accused Hyōsube Ichibē of fearing the rebels and vowed to defeat him.
• Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni arrived at the Soul King's Inner Palace with Ukitake Jūshirō, Ichimaru Gin, Kuchiki Byakuya, Hitsugaya Tōshirō, and other Soul Reapers.

Seireitei’s remaining forces and noble clans joined Chiba Makoto to oppose Hyōsube Ichibē, and the conflict erupted into a massive battle in the Soul King’s Inner Palace. Chiba Makoto and Hyōsube Ichibē moved their duel beyond the palace and into the highest reaches of Soul Society, while the fighting below remained desperate.

• Shihoin Yushiro and Kuchiki Byakuya brought their clans to stand with Chiba Makoto and Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni against Hyōsube Ichibē.
• Chiba Makoto accused Hyōsube Ichibē of crimes and declared that Seireitei would punish him on Heaven’s behalf.
• Chiba Makoto and Hyōsube Ichibē charged at each other as Zero Division, the manifested Asauchi, and Seireitei’s Soul Reapers began fighting.
• Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, Unohana Retsu, and Kurotsuchi Mayuri faced Nimaiya Ōetsu, Kirinji Tenshiro, and Hikifune Kirio, while the other Soul Reapers struggled against the Asauchi’s numbers.
• Shihoin Yushiro, Tsukabishi Tessai, Hachigen, Kotetsu Isane, Aoki Risa, and Inoue Orihime helped protect and heal Seireitei’s fighters.
• Chiba Makoto and Hyōsube Ichibē took their duel beyond the Soul King’s Palace and halted their probing exchanges high in Soul Society’s sky.

Chiba Makoto unleashed his Bankai and fought Hyōsube Ichibē in a clash between the Name of Spirit Particles and the Name of Black, while their armies battled across the Soul King Palace. Yhwach reached the Soul King but realized Aizen Sōsuke was supposed to be with him, and Aizen spoke from behind him.

• Hyōsube Ichibē engulfed Chiba Makoto and the Wooden Giant Buddha in the Name of Black.
• Chiba Makoto released Bankai: Imperial Decree of All Things and drove back the black waves with spirit particles.
• Chiba Makoto and Hyōsube Ichibē fought as their Names clashed, while the war spread across the Soul King Palace.
• Yhwach entered the Soul King's Inner Palace and approached the sealed Soul King, calling him Father.
• Yhwach remembered that Aizen Sōsuke had been beside him in his dream, and Aizen spoke from behind him.

Aizen Sōsuke used Kyōka Suigetsu to trick Yhwach into cutting the Soul King, triggering the collapse of the worlds. He immobilized Yhwach with Silver of Stillness and revealed that Chiba Makoto had planned for him to kill Yhwach and seize control of the Soul King.

• Aizen Sōsuke stabbed Yhwach and revealed that Yhwach had been under Kyōka Suigetsu.
• Yhwach repaired his wound and struck at Aizen Sōsuke, but the illusion made him cut the Soul King instead.
• The Soul King's death began collapsing the worlds, and Chiba Makoto continued fighting Hyōsube Ichibē while suspecting his ally had other intentions.
• Aizen Sōsuke used Silver of Stillness to suppress Yhwach's powers and immobilize him.
• Aizen Sōsuke told Yhwach that Chiba Makoto had intended for him to kill Yhwach and take control of the Soul King.

Aizen Sōsuke killed Yhwach after proving that Kyōka Suigetsu could fool even All Things in Nature, then prepared to replace the Soul King as the world’s keystone. He used the Hogyoku to absorb the Soul King’s power, and the Hogyoku began to distort as its balance broke.

• Aizen Sōsuke told Yhwach that he and Chiba Makoto had been close friends from the beginning and that Makoto needed Yhwach to drive the world’s changes.
• Aizen Sōsuke tested Yhwach’s perception with a false Kyōka Suigetsu, then struck him with a real attack and sealed his power with Silver of Stillness.
• Aizen Sōsuke divided Yhwach into a hundred portions and placed Kidō seals on each, making his condition equivalent to the Soul King’s.
• Aizen Sōsuke declared that the dead Soul King should yield the throne and transformed Kyōka Suigetsu back into the Hogyoku.
• The Hogyoku absorbed the Soul King’s power, causing its internal balance to collapse and its form to begin distorting.
• Aizen Sōsuke spoke to the Hogyoku about its desire to evolve beyond its current limits.

Chiba Makoto confronted Hyōsube Ichibē after Yhwach died and the Hogyoku absorbed the Soul King's shell, exposing Ichibē's stolen authority and hidden tampering with Yhwach. Ichibē warned that only Yhwach or Kurosaki Ichigo could replace the Soul King, then attacked Makoto with his Zanpakuto.

• Hyōsube Ichibē questioned Chiba Makoto about Yhwach's death and the Soul King's absorption while the Thirteen Divisions fought the Zero Division and Asauchi.
• Chiba Makoto realized Aizen Sōsuke had been missing from the battle and suggested that Aizen was the one who had stopped Yhwach.
• Chiba Makoto accused Hyōsube Ichibē of stealing the Soul King's creator authority and using the resulting Black Name power.
• Hyōsube Ichibē admitted he had tampered with Yhwach from birth, explaining that he had named the Quincy and that only Yhwach or Kurosaki Ichigo could absorb the Soul King.
• Hyōsube Ichibē raised his brush-like Zanpakuto and wrote "Turn!" in the air.

Hyōsube Ichibē used the Soul King's power to forcibly bring Aizen Sōsuke before him, only to discover that the Hogyoku had devoured the Soul King and absorbed his power. Enraged, Hyōsube Ichibē transported Aizen Sōsuke and Chiba Makoto to the spirit-particle-poor World of the Living and launched an attack against them.

• Hyōsube Ichibē used a “Turn” character to forcibly transfer Aizen Sōsuke from the Soul King's Inner Palace, but Aizen blocked his strike and retreated beside Chiba Makoto.
• Aizen Sōsuke told Chiba Makoto where he had been, and they realized Hyōsube Ichibē had used power taken from the Soul King to move him.
• Hyōsube Ichibē recognized the Soul King's spiritual pressure in the unstable Hogyoku and learned that Aizen Sōsuke had let it devour the Soul King.
• Hyōsube Ichibē grew furious because he could not be sure he could recover the Soul King's power from the Hogyoku or control a replacement Soul King.
• Hyōsube Ichibē used “Transfer” to send Chiba Makoto and Aizen Sōsuke to the spirit-particle-poor World of the Living, weakening Makoto's power over spirit particles.
• Hyōsube Ichibē sent a massive torrent of “Black” toward Chiba Makoto and Aizen Sōsuke.

Chiba Makoto and Aizen Sōsuke fought Hyōsube Ichibē while trying to buy time for Aizen to stabilize the Hogyoku. Chiba gave Aizen his left arm and held off Hyōsube Ichibē, but the fight left him badly wounded.

• Aizen Sōsuke used successive Dankū barriers to give Chiba Makoto time to gather reishi and split Hyōsube Ichibē’s black tide with a massive blade.
• Hyōsube Ichibē cut down what he believed was Chiba Makoto, but the body proved to be an illusion, and Chiba’s counterattack struck Hyōsube Ichibē.
• Chiba Makoto and Aizen Sōsuke realized they each needed time, and Chiba insisted on holding Hyōsube Ichibē off while Aizen worked on the Hogyoku.
• At Aizen Sōsuke’s request, Chiba Makoto detached his left arm and gave it to him to help create a new balance within the Hogyoku.
• Hyōsube Ichibē tried to reach Aizen Sōsuke, while Chiba Makoto blocked him and was blasted away, with half his body swallowed by the black tide.

Chiba Makoto fought to survive Hyōsube Ichibē’s attacks after being named “Black Ant,” while Nel and the other Arrancar opened Gargantas to supply him with spirit particles. The chapter ended with Chiba revealing that the Soul King had already been replaced, stripping Hyōsube Ichibē of the stolen power behind his abilities.

• Hyōsube Ichibē named Chiba Makoto “Black Ant” and charged to kill him.
• Chiba Makoto used Gargantas, four Vasto Lorde-level King's False Flashes, and torrents of spirit particles to blast Hyōsube Ichibē away.
• Nel, Grimmjow, Tier Harribel, and Ulquiorra arrived through the Gargantas, but Chiba Makoto told them to stay inside and maintain the passages.
• Hyōsube Ichibē cut through the Arrancar’s Inverse Membrane and used “Seal” to close the Gargantas and trap Chiba Makoto.
• Chiba Makoto blocked Hyōsube Ichibē’s strike with a Reishi Blade and revealed that the name “Black Ant” had vanished.
• Chiba Makoto told Hyōsube Ichibē that the Soul King had been replaced, causing Hyōsube Ichibē’s stolen power and the “Seal” to disappear as four Gargantas reopened.

Unohana Retsu, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, and Zaraki Kenpachi sensed the path beyond Bankai as the barrier around the World of Names vanished, turning the battle in the Soul King Palace. Aizen Sōsuke entered the World of Names and helped Chiba Makoto strike down Hyōsube Ichibē, but Ichibē survived and could only be stopped by sealing him permanently.

• As Hyōsube Ichibē lost control of the World of Names, Unohana Retsu, Yamamoto Genryusai Shigekuni, and Zaraki Kenpachi sensed the path beyond Bankai and broke through the limits of Soul Reapers.
• Sōya Azashiro began destroying the other three palaces, leaving Nimaiya Ōetsu and Hikifune Kirio facing a deadly crisis.
• Aizen Sōsuke entered the World of Names, took a star into himself, and returned to find Chiba Makoto battling a frenzied Hyōsube Ichibē.
• Aizen Sōsuke stabbed Hyōsube Ichibē from behind as Chiba Makoto slashed his neck, and the two began forming a Kidō seal.
• Hyōsube Ichibē's black power drove Chiba Makoto and Aizen Sōsuke back, and Chiba Makoto explained that Ichibē could only be stopped by permanently sealing his spirit body.