Recaps

Yan Si became entangled in a noble faction’s attempt to frame Kuchiki Kyōka, but Ginrei Kuchiki and Kensei protected them through proper procedure. After Yan Si returned to the Ninth Division barracks, Urahara Kisuke arrived to take him to the Maggot's Nest for a few days.

• Kuchiki Kyōka accused the attackers of rebellion, but a noble councillor claimed Kyōka had murdered them to falsely seek merit.
• Ginrei Kuchiki arrived, ordered Kyōka to remain silent, and arranged for the Ninth Division to take Yan Si into custody pending Captain-General Yamamoto’s decision.
• The Nobles councillors and Inspection Unit withdrew, and Kensei told Yan Si to return to the barracks before he explained the matter to the Captain-General.
• Kensei praised Yan Si for defending his patrol district but said he should have brought the suspects directly to the Ninth Division.
• Urahara Kisuke arrived at Yan Si’s room with two Shinigami and told him he would stay in the Maggot's Nest for the next few days.

Yan Si entered the Maggot's Nest and negotiated with Urahara Kisuke to improve his cell and fund a tool for Bankai training. Urahara left to fetch the money and supplies, while Yan Si suspected he had been secretly monitoring him.

• Urahara Kisuke led Yan Si into the Maggot's Nest and left him in a bare, dimly lit cell.
• Yan Si told Urahara Kisuke where to find his hidden money and offered funds for cell renovations and Urahara's research.
• Urahara Kisuke proposed building an auxiliary tool to help Yan Si communicate with his Zanpakutō and comprehend Bankai.
• Urahara Kisuke lit the cell and agreed to develop the tool for two hundred thousand, then left to collect money, materials, and alcohol.
• Yan Si suspected Urahara Kisuke knew how his writing made him stronger and reflected on his arrest and his investment in Kuchiki Kyōka.

While Yan Si stayed imprisoned amid the Nobles conflict, Urahara Kisuke suggested the Thirteen Court Guard Squads were involved in a deeper effort to weaken Noble influence and restore Central 46 Chambers’ original purpose. Yan Si suspected Captain-General Yamamoto was behind the maneuver, but Urahara left the theory unconfirmed.

• Urahara Kisuke furnished Yan Si’s cell and brought him Aoba liquor.
• Yan Si pressed Urahara to explain the Nobles incident, and Urahara said Yan Si would likely remain imprisoned until the conflict settled.
• Urahara told Yan Si that the Thirteen Court Guard Squads had left traces in the incident despite Yamamoto’s order against involvement.
• Urahara explained that Central 46 Chambers had been established to let Rukongai commoners help govern Soul Society but had become dominated by Nobles.
• Yan Si connected the conflict, the Guard Squads’ involvement, and Central 46 Chambers, then suspected Yamamoto was secretly engineering the Nobles’ weakening.
• Urahara smiled and declined to confirm or deny Yan Si’s suspicion.

Yan Si suspected Captain-General Yamamoto had deliberately used Kuchiki Kyōka to weaken the Nobles, while Kyōka received a sentence of one hundred years and the sealing of Muramasa. After Ginrei Kuchiki left the prison, Muramasa called out to Kyōka from nearby.

• Yan Si reasoned that Yamamoto might have chosen and later sealed Kuchiki Kyōka as part of a plan to weaken the Nobles.
• Ginrei Kuchiki told Kuchiki Kyōka he would lose his Seat Officer position for one hundred years and that Muramasa would be completely sealed.
• Ginrei said Yan Si would also receive one hundred years in the Maggot's Nest and explained that Kyōka's reliance on Muramasa and excessive confidence had caused the outcome.
• Kuchiki Kyōka demanded to know why his father would not acknowledge him, but Ginrei left to seek Yoruichi Shihōin's help in shortening Yan Si's sentence.
• Muramasa spoke to Kuchiki Kyōka from somewhere near his cell.

Muramasa freed Kuchiki Kyōka from prison, and Kyōka escaped after leaving four Ninth Division members alive. He killed the three Noble Council conspirators and then set out for the Maggot's Nest to find a friend.

• Muramasa appeared in Kyōka's cell, cut through his restraints and the bars, and wounded the Ninth Division members who tried to stop them.
• Kyōka took Muramasa's hilt, regained his freedom, and left the injured guards alive as Kensei Muguruma and Kyunnan Shiro arrived.
• Kensei ordered a search for Kyōka while the three Noble Council members celebrated their scheme to ruin him and seize a great noble position.
• Kyōka confronted the three conspirators at their estate and killed them with a single slash.
• Kyōka escaped into the Nobles District with Muramasa and said they were going to the Maggot's Nest to visit a friend.

Yan Si arranged a birthday celebration for Urahara Kisuke in prison, then gave Yoruichi a scarf for her birthday. The three of them shared drinks and food together.

• Yan Si asked Urahara Kisuke to fetch Spiritual Intoxication, dango, snacks, and a scarf from the fabric shop.
• Yan Si invited Urahara to sit and celebrate his birthday with him, and Urahara said no one had celebrated it with him before.
• Yan Si asked Urahara to message Yoruichi, and Urahara realized his birthday had just passed at midnight.
• Yoruichi arrived, and Yan Si gave her a water-blue scarf for her birthday.
• Urahara rushed to the lab for a gift for Yoruichi, then returned with a small metal object.
• Yan Si, Urahara, and Yoruichi raised their bottles and toasted together.

Kuchiki Kyōka broke into the Maggot's Nest and claimed he had come to save Yan Si, defeating Urahara Kisuke and dragging Yan Si away. Yan Si left with him, suspecting Urahara had only pretended to be incapacitated.

• Yoruichi received a Hell Butterfly message and left, while Urahara agreed to ask about Kuchiki Kyōka the next day.
• Kuchiki Kyōka appeared in the corridor and told Yan Si to come with him.
• Urahara refused to surrender Yan Si, but Kuchiki Kyōka used his power to make Benihime rebel against its wielder.
• Urahara snapped Benihime and attacked with Sōkatsui, but Kuchiki Kyōka countered with ice and blasted Urahara into the darkness.
• Kuchiki Kyōka opened Yan Si's cell, grabbed his wrist, and escaped with him through a hidden path behind the Second Division barracks.

At the cliff outside Rukongai District Three, Yan Si urged Kuchiki Kyōka to consider what kind of person he wanted to become apart from his duties to the Kuchiki family and Yamamoto. Ginrei Kuchiki then confronted them, revealing that more than half the Noble Council had been killed and blamed on Kyōka, whose anger flared at his father’s criticism.

• Yan Si asked Kuchiki Kyōka what he wanted to become, prompting Kyōka to recall that he once protected people in Rukongai before devoting himself to being a worthy Kuchiki.
• Ginrei Kuchiki arrived and demanded to know why Kyōka had acted as he did.
• Kuchiki Kyōka admitted killing three conspirators but denied attacking anyone else.
• Ginrei said more than half the Noble Council was dead and that the killings had been blamed on Kyōka.
• Ginrei said he believed Kyōka but faulted him for fleeing and making mistakes that left him unable to prove his innocence.
• Kuchiki Kyōka erupted with anger at Ginrei’s demand that he reflect on his conduct.

Yan Si defended Kuchiki Kyōka against Ginrei Kuchiki’s criticism, but Ginrei said Kyōka’s killing could earn him the death penalty. Convinced his father was against him, Kyōka summoned Muramasa to attack Ginrei, whose sealed inner world blocked the Zanpakutō’s power.

• Yan Si confronted Ginrei Kuchiki, arguing that Kyōka was the victim of a frame-up and deserved his father’s support.
• Kuchiki Kyōka agreed that he had been wronged, but Ginrei said his killing of unarmed men could still merit the death penalty.
• Kuchiki Kyōka laughed bitterly and accused Ginrei of conspiring with those who feared his power.
• Kuchiki Kyōka released his Zanpakutō and summoned Muramasa, who tried to invade Ginrei’s inner world.
• Muramasa’s threads passed through Ginrei, whose green spiritual barrier showed that he had sealed off his inner world.

After Ginrei Kuchiki resisted Muramasa’s control, Kuchiki Kyōka cut off his hair and Star-Tugging Pin and declared that he would attack Seireitei. Yan Si stopped him and warned that an unseen enemy was using him to kill the Nobles, leaving Kuchiki Kyōka to consider the danger of charging into Seireitei.

• Ginrei Kuchiki shut off his heart and maintained a barrier that Kuchiki Kyōka could not break, despite repeated attacks.
• Kuchiki Kyōka cut off his hair and Star-Tugging Pin, threw them at Ginrei Kuchiki’s feet, and declared his hatred for the Nobles.
• Kuchiki Kyōka told Yan Si and Muramasa to go attack Seireitei, while Yan Si objected and urged him not to target ordinary Shinigami.
• Kuchiki Kyōka agreed to spare Runlin An and ordinary Shinigami unless they interfered, but Yan Si stopped him again.
• Yan Si warned Kuchiki Kyōka that someone was exploiting his escape to purge the Nobles and that the Stealth Force and the Thirteen Court Guard Squads could kill him.

Siwei Yan tried to persuade Kuchiki Kyōka to postpone his revenge until a future upheaval in Soul Society, but Muramasa exposed Siwei Yan’s Zanpakutō as something other than the Scroll of Wind and Snow. Left alone, Siwei Yan awakened Tsuzurimono Bansho and began to recognize clues to his own forgotten past.

• Siwei Yan told Kuchiki Kyōka that Soul Society would face turmoil more than a hundred years later, giving them a chance to strike at the Nobles.
• Muramasa pulled a sleeping figure from Siwei Yan and revealed that Siwei Yan’s Zanpakutō was not the Scroll of Wind and Snow.
• Kuchiki Kyōka lost trust in Siwei Yan, declared that he and Muramasa would go to Seireitei, and left without attacking him.
• Siwei Yan examined the figure, who awakened as Tsuzurimono Bansho and called Siwei Yan a traitor.
• Tsuzurimono Bansho pointed out his red book and oddly tied scarf, and Siwei Yan recognized the scarf as a Young Pioneer scarf from his childhood.

Kuchiki Kyōka’s rampage through the Nobles' district pushed his Spiritual Pressure Level into Second-Class, and he vowed to wipe out the Nobles. Yoruichi Shihōin confronted him and learned he believed Yan Si was dead beside Ginrei Kuchiki, then faced Muramasa’s attack.

• Kuchiki Kyōka’s purple Reiatsu spread through the Nobles' district as his Zanpakutō turned against its wielders, killing guards and Shinigami.
• Kuchiki Kyōka broke through to Second-Class Spiritual Pressure and declared that he would eliminate every Noble.
• Yoruichi Shihōin confronted Kuchiki Kyōka and asked where he had taken Yan Si.
• Kuchiki Kyōka claimed Yan Si was probably dead beside Ginrei Kuchiki, then activated Bankai, Gokujō Tsumakiyori Muramasa.
• Yoruichi kicked Muramasa away, but Muramasa believed their physical contact had let him target her Zanpakutō.

Yoruichi Shihōin resisted Muramasa’s power and fought Kuchiki Kyōka using Shunko despite not having trained her Zanpakutō. The battle paused when the Zanpakutō of fallen Shinigami formed a barrier to protect Kyōka from her attack.

• Muramasa’s ability failed to draw out Yoruichi’s Zanpakutō, and she revealed that she had only an Asauchi and had become captain without training it.
• Kuchiki Kyōka attacked Yoruichi with Adamant Blast, but her Shunko’s lightning destroyed the fireball.
• Yoruichi outpaced Kyōka and struck him with an Axe Kick, driving him into a crater.
• Yoruichi followed with a Rider Kick, but dozens of Zanpakutō flew in and formed a net that blocked her attack.
• Yoruichi confronted the blades of fallen Shinigami for continuing to obey Muramasa, and they hummed in response.

Yoruichi fought off the Zanpakutō controlled by Muramasa as Kuchiki Kyōka and Muramasa decided to target Ryūjin Jakka. Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto arrived, and his question about why he had made Kyōka commander left Kyōka doubting the story that had fueled his hatred.

• Yoruichi blasted Muramasa’s swords with a barrage of lightning, breaking many of them and opening gaps in their formation.
• Kuchiki Kyōka feared that other captains would arrive, but Muramasa proposed controlling Ryūjin Jakka to defeat Soul Society and take revenge.
• Kyōka agreed to go after Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, who appeared nearby and asked whether they had been looking for him.
• Kyōka accused Yamamoto of appointing him commander to exploit his power, but Yamamoto asked whether that was truly why he had given Kyōka the position.
• Kyōka recalled that Ginrei Kuchiki had claimed Yamamoto wanted to control him, but he could not explain why Yamamoto had granted him so much authority if that were true.

Kuchiki Kōga refused Captain-General Yamamoto’s offer to return and serve his sentence, insisting that the Soul Society had wronged him. Yamamoto and Yoruichi subdued and sealed him, but Kōga tried to warn Yamamoto about a future threat before he fell asleep.

• Muramasa urged Kuchiki Kōga to flee, but Kōga demanded justice from Captain-General Yamamoto for his framing and sentence.
• Captain-General Yamamoto offered to reinstate Kōga as commander-in-chief after he served his sentence, but Muramasa reminded Kōga of Siwei Yan’s deception, and Kōga refused.
• Kuchiki Kōga planned to escape through a portal at the Kuchiki Estate, but Captain-General Yamamoto struck him with One Bone and sent him crashing through several houses.
• Yoruichi bound Kōga with the Spirit-Binding Coffin, which stopped his Reishi from flowing, and Muramasa vanished back into his Zanpakutō form.
• As the seal made him drowsy, Kōga tried to warn Captain-General Yamamoto that Siwei Yan had predicted a future threat to the Soul Society, but Yoruichi sealed his mouth and he fell asleep.

Yan Si fought Tsuzurimono Bansho, his Zanpakutō manifested as a child who accused him of abandoning his dreams of changing Soul Society. Yan Si forced Tsuzurimono Bansho back into pen form, then lay injured on the cliff as reinforcements approached and admitted he understood what his Zanpakutō had said.

• Yan Si denied that he had betrayed Tsuzurimono Bansho and argued that he lacked the power to change Soul Society.
• Tsuzurimono Bansho attacked Yan Si with written Kidō, but Yan Si countered with Ice Bind and Crimson Flame Gauntlets.
• Tsuzurimono Bansho used Tremor to blast Yan Si away, then pierced him with three black lances.
• Yan Si escaped the lances with a Puppet Doll and grabbed Tsuzurimono Bansho from behind, detonating his Scarlet Flame War Arm.
• Tsuzurimono Bansho returned to pen form, and the wounded Yan Si lay on the cliff as reinforcements approached and quietly said he knew those things.

After surviving Kuchiki Kyōka’s attack, Yan Si returned to the Maggot’s Nest and was summoned before Captain-General Yamamoto. Instead of serving his prison sentence, he was ordered to join the Hueco Mundo subjugation force, leaving him wishing he could go back to prison.

• Unohana Retsu healed Yan Si’s burns, and he explained that he had used Kidō to destroy himself and Kuchiki Kyōka before Kyōka could use Scroll of Wind and Snow.
• Unohana kept the Fourth Division away from the Nobles District until Yamamoto Genryūsai Shigekuni’s Reiatsu ended the fighting, then led her members to treat the wounded while Yan Si returned to the Maggot’s Nest.
• Urahara Kisuke revealed his plan for a Zanpakutō materialization training device, and Yan Si suggested naming it Tenshintai.
• Kensei Muguruma escorted Yan Si to the First Division and promised to support him as he faced Captain-General Yamamoto.
• Yan Si denied killing his comrades, and Ginrei Kuchiki testified that Yan Si had not rebelled and had tried to stop Kuchiki Kyōka.
• Captain-General Yamamoto sentenced Yan Si to serve in the Hueco Mundo subjugation force instead of prison, and ordered Kurayashiki Kenpachi to assemble the expedition.

Yan Si joined Kurayashiki Kenpachi and Ashido’s expedition to Hueco Mundo, where he helped establish a camp and concealed it with a modified Bakudō. After the team adjusted to the realm’s dense Reishi, Ashido prepared the Shinigami to begin hunting Hollows.

• Yan Si learned that the Hueco Mundo expedition included Eleventh Division fighters and Fourth Division medics, while Ashido told him that battlefield merits could earn someone the vacant Tenth Division captaincy.
• Yan Si said goodbye to Hiyori, and the expedition used a transmission device to reach Hueco Mundo.
• Ashido’s team set up camp beside the remains of a giant dead tree, and Yan Si warned that the exposed location was risky.
• Yan Si cast a modified Bakudō, Eternal Veil, Kyokkō: Silent Canvas, to hide the camp from outside view.
• After the squad adjusted to Hueco Mundo’s dense Reishi, Ashido paired Eleventh Division members with Fourth Division medics and ordered them to rest before spreading out to hunt Hollows.

Baraggan Louisenbarn sent the Picaro and a subordinate to hunt Shinigami after learning they had returned to Hueco Mundo. On patrol, Yan Si sensed a coordinated Hollow horde and rushed his squad toward camp, but the Picaro’s voices sounded above them as the pursuers closed in.

• Baraggan Louisenbarn awoke, let his black haze destroy several Picaro, and learned that Shinigami were hunting Hollows in Hueco Mundo.
• Baraggan ordered the Picaro to play with the Shinigami and sent a kneeling Hollow to ensure the Shinigami stayed in Hueco Mundo.
• Yan Si led his exhausted squad back toward camp and sensed hundreds of Hollows moving together toward them.
• Yan Si used Modified Kidō #37: Meteor Attraction to speed up his squad and help them flee the Hollow horde.
• As Yan Si’s squad neared camp, the Picaro’s voices rang out above them, announcing that the pursuers were close.

Yan Si faced hundreds of Picaro Hollows and used Tsuzurimono Bansho to escape their Ceros while drawing them away from camp. After Ashido found Yan Si’s message and prepared to search for him, Cronos Elibird appeared among the squad and attacked.

• Yan Si ordered his teammates to flee for help, then stayed behind as hundreds of childlike Picaro Hollows surrounded him and charged Ceros.
• Tsuzurimono Bansho showed Yan Si the Picaro’s tragic past and told him not to attack them, then allowed him to draw his Zanpakuto.
• Yan Si opened a door through space to escape the Picaro’s barrage, left Ashido a message, and led the Hollows away from camp by challenging them to tag.
• Ashido found Yan Si’s message near the crater, reassured the squad, and said Captain Kurayashiki Kenpachi would return to help search for him.
• Cronos Elibird appeared among Ashido’s squad, killed a Shinigami without warning, and announced that he served Baraggan as commander of the Third Legion.

Cronos overwhelmed Ashido and the Eleventh Division squad, but Kurayashiki Kenpachi arrived and challenged him. As Kurayashiki unleashed his Zanpakuto, Ashido and the survivors tried to retreat, only for the camp and nearly a hundred people to vanish into the sand.

• Cronos's immense Reiatsu crushed the squad, and he caught Ashido's sword between two fingers while demanding that Ashido summon his captain.
• Cronos tortured a squad member to provoke the captain, and Ashido attacked him in desperation without causing any damage.
• Kurayashiki Kenpachi seized Cronos's wrist, hurled him away, and ordered Ashido to lead the survivors back and contact Soul Society.
• Kurayashiki released Gakurai Corridor and confronted Cronos in the air as Ashido searched the camp for a communicator.
• The camp's sand formed a vast quicksand vortex and swallowed its tents, supplies, wounded, and nearly a hundred squad members before settling flat.

Kurayashiki Kenpachi survived Chronos's Cero and unleashed his Bankai, Gakurai Corridor, which erased Chronos and part of the surrounding desert. He hurried toward the camp to find the Shinigami swallowed by Szayelaporro.

• Chronos trapped Kurayashiki Kenpachi's white spheres in amber cubes and blasted him with a Cero, believing he had killed him.
• Chronos saw Szayelaporro swallow the last Shinigami at the camp, then prepared to take Kurayashiki Kenpachi's corpse to Baraggan.
• Kurayashiki Kenpachi revealed he was unharmed, asked about Szayelaporro, and recognized Chronos's time-slowing ability.
• Chronos amplified Time Erosion, but Kurayashiki Kenpachi's Reiatsu stopped his wooden gear phantom.
• Kurayashiki Kenpachi activated Bankai, and Gakurai Corridor swallowed Chronos along with his spiritual power and part of the desert.
• Kurayashiki Kenpachi's chest wound healed, and he raced toward the camp.

Yan Si used Tsuzurimono Bansho to make candy from Hueco Mundo’s sand, calming the Picaroes who had been chasing him. He returned to the vanished camp and found Kurayashiki Kenpachi poisoned, then removed the strange Reishi from his body; Kenpachi recovered and was stunned to see Yan Si surrounded by candy-loving Hollows.

• Yan Si made chocolate malt balls and other sweets by imprinting flavors onto compressed Reishi, distracting the Picaroes from their chase.
• The Picaroes gathered around Yan Si for more candy, and he spent nearly half an hour making treats for them.
• After sensing no further Reiatsu from the camp, Yan Si headed back with the Picaroes following him.
• Yan Si found the camp gone and Kurayashiki Kenpachi sitting motionless with green-tinged skin.
• Yan Si used his ability to remove the strange Reishi from Kenpachi, who gasped awake and said Ashido and the others had been buried in the sand.
• Kenpachi saw the Picaroes behind Yan Si and asked if he was going after Hollows too, and Yan Si threatened to poison him again.

Yan Si rescued Ashido and the remaining squad members from the Forest of Menos by using the Picaros to defeat nearby Gillians and guiding everyone to the Senkaimon. As the last of them escaped, Szayelaporro revealed he had been studying the Picaros, freezing Yan Si before he could follow.

• Yan Si learned that Kurayashiki Kenpachi could not use Shikai after his Bankai, so he persuaded the Picaros to dig through the sand into the Forest of Menos.
• Yan Si led the Picaros to Ashido and the exhausted squad members, then directed them to attack Gillians and absorb their Reishi.
• Ashido told Yan Si that Soul Society would open a Senkaimon in about ten minutes, and Yan Si ordered Kenpachi to protect the wounded squad members.
• When the Senkaimon opened, Yan Si used Kidō chains to guide the group through, then kicked Kenpachi into the gate when he stopped to confront Szayelaporro.
• After the last squad member entered the Senkaimon, Szayelaporro said he had been recording data on the Picaros’ group-devouring behavior, and Yan Si froze before following them.

Yan Si returned to Soul Society after Ashido stayed behind to save him, but learned that no one could reopen a gate to Hueco Mundo soon enough to rescue him. His Zanpakuto’s poems revealed that Ashido and the Picaro were not in immediate danger, and Yan Si resolved to return with Captain Kenpachi after two months.

• Szayelaporro targeted Yan Si for his unusual Reishi abilities, and Ashido knocked him through the closing Senkaimon before being captured in his place.
• Yan Si demanded that the Twelfth Division reopen the gate, but Hiyori said the required materials were exhausted and would take at least three months to replace.
• Yan Si sought help from Yoruichi and Urahara, but neither could provide a direct route to Hueco Mundo; Urahara estimated that an uncertain gate through the Human World would take about two months to prepare.
• Yan Si used Tsuzurimono Bansho to write poems that showed Ashido was hiding in the Forest of Menos and the Picaro had not been captured.
• Yan Si decided to return to Hueco Mundo with Captain Kenpachi after two months.