Chapter Summaries

Yoriichi fought Zaraki in Muken, killing him repeatedly while Unohana revived him and his strength grew. After Unohana activated Bankai to speed Zaraki’s healing, his gains began to slow, until a faint voice called to him and made him pause.

• Zaraki charged Yoriichi, who killed him with a single thrust before Unohana healed him and Zaraki demanded another fight.
• Yoriichi repeatedly killed Zaraki with precise strikes, while Unohana revived him and Zaraki’s Reiatsu increased after each death.
• Unohana activated Bankai, Minazuki, filling the Barrier with blood and accelerating Zaraki’s recovery.
• Zaraki’s power surged, but his improvement slowed as Yoriichi continued to block his attacks without being hit.
• Zaraki paused after hearing a faint voice calling to him and asked who it was.

Yoriichi ended Zaraki and Unohana’s battle in Muken after Zaraki’s growth stalled, telling Zaraki he no longer needed to suppress his strength and promising to fight him later. Yoriichi discovered that more of Zaraki’s power lay outside Muken, then left with Unohana to join Zero Division at the Soul King Palace.

• Unohana sensed that Zaraki’s power had stopped growing, and Yoriichi ended the fight despite Zaraki’s demand to continue.
• Yoriichi told Zaraki to stop suppressing his strength and promised to fight him after the crisis, keeping Zaraki’s interest with the prospect of being consistently overpowered.
• Unohana reflected that Zaraki’s forgotten power would return through battle, while Yoriichi reassured her and noticed a Reiatsu outside Muken that shared Zaraki’s origin.
• Yoriichi told Unohana that another portion of Zaraki’s power had been forgotten outside Muken and warned her that Zero Division might question his unusual power.
• Yoriichi and Unohana left Muken, where Ichibe waited, and Yoriichi confirmed that he would proceed to Zero Division.

Ichigo and the others prepared to travel to the Soul King Palace in the Shiba Clan’s Tenchūren, learning that Ichigo was related to the clan. Kūkaku launched the Tenchūren with Rukia, Renji, Byakuya, Yoriichi, and the others aboard.

• Senjumaru brought Rukia, Renji, and Byakuya to the Shiba Clan residence, where Tenjirō warned that they needed treatment at the Soul King Palace to survive another invasion.
• Ichibē explained that the group had to use the Shiba Clan’s Tenchūren because an ordinary Senkaimon could not reach the Soul King Palace.
• Kūkaku greeted Ichigo and revealed that his father, Isshin, had been a Shiba Clan branch family head, making her Ichigo’s older cousin.
• Ganju joined the expedition after Kūkaku agreed to take him, while he challenged Ichigo to settle their differences at the Soul King Palace.
• Kūkaku powered up the Tenchūren, and Senjumaru’s puppets carried Rukia, Renji, and Byakuya aboard as Yoriichi exchanged a farewell glance with Unohana.
• Kūkaku launched the Tenchūren toward the Soul King Palace.

Yoriichi arrived at the Soul King Palace with Ichigo and the wounded Rukia, Renji, and Byakuya, then followed Ichibē Hyōsube to the central palace. Ichibē explained the Soul King’s role in sustaining the Three Realms and revealed that the Soul King had specifically asked to meet Yoriichi.

• Yoriichi and Ichigo stepped onto the Soul King Palace platform, where Tenjirō Kirinji took Rukia, Renji, and Byakuya for treatment.
• Ōetsu Nimaiya dragged Ichigo away to inspect his damaged Zanpakuto, while Kirio Hikifune and Senjumaru Shutara returned to their palaces.
• Ichibē Hyōsube led Yoriichi to the central palace and explained that the Soul King had separated the Three Realms and now served as their supporting pillar.
• Ichibē told Yoriichi that the Soul King had specifically asked to meet him.

Yoriichi entered the darkness at Ichibē Hyōsube’s direction and witnessed the Soul King’s birth in a chaotic void. After a Hollow attacked and corrupted him, the Soul King escaped, eventually sealed the invading power within himself, and resumed drifting through the chaos.

• Ichibē Hyōsube told Yoriichi that the Soul King had asked to meet him because his power was special and he came from another world.
• Yoriichi entered the palace’s darkness and lost control of his body as an ancient power drew him into a gray void.
• Yoriichi watched Reishi gather and form the Soul King, who awoke and drifted through the void for ages.
• The Soul King approached the first Hollow he encountered, but it tore his shoulder and infected him with its corrupting power before firing a Cero.
• The Soul King fled the Hollow and hid while the foreign power ravaged him, then learned to suppress it and seal it near his heart.
• After containing the corruption, the Soul King began drifting through the chaos again.

The Soul King returned to fight the enormous Hollow and killed it, but devouring its remains caused his body to collapse under clashing Hollow power and Reishi. While he drifted unconscious, a new Soul Reaper power balanced the two forces, healed his wounds, and brought him back to consciousness.

• The Soul King followed the gray airflow back to the enormous Hollow and attacked it with a concentrated blast of Reishi.
• The Soul King charged into the Hollow's Cero and tore its head and neck apart, winning the fight but suffering catastrophic injuries and Hollow contamination.
• As he neared death, the Soul King absorbed the Hollow's remains, triggering a violent struggle between black Hollow power and his pure Reishi.
• The Soul King fell into a coma as the two powers began destroying his body, but a new Soul Reaper power emerged at his heart and separated them.
• The three energies formed a stable balance, healed the Soul King's injuries, restored his heartbeat, and eventually allowed him to open his eyes.

After recovering from his injuries, the Soul King drifted through the gray currents and met a peaceful, rock-skinned primordial being. They became traveling companions and set out to find others, while the Soul King continued to suffer violent clashes among the powers inside his body.

• The Soul King resumed his journey through the gray currents after his body healed.
• The Soul King cautiously approached a tall, rock-skinned creature, and they exchanged simple gestures instead of fighting.
• The Soul King learned that the creature was another primordial life and the first being he had encountered; they became companions.
• The Soul King noticed that his companion absorbed the gray currents into his rocky skin and grew curious about his mild power.
• The Soul King and his companion picked up their pace to search for another creature, while the Soul King's three internal powers repeatedly erupted into painful conflict.

Black removed the Hollow and Soul Reaper powers from White, restoring him to health. When the two powers developed consciousness, White and Black agreed to nurture one each and went their separate ways.

• Black extracted the Hollow and Soul Reaper powers from White, leaving him free of their harmful effects.
• After many years, both Reishi orbs began pulsing and developed independent consciousnesses.
• The newly conscious Hollow Reishi attacked White, but Black stopped him from destroying it and urged him to guide the new life instead.
• White agreed to spare the Hollow Reishi and assigned it to Black, while taking responsibility for the Soul Reaper Reishi.
• White and Black parted in opposite directions to nurture their respective charges.

White continued through the chaotic world with six children born from White’s Reishi, including a young Ichibē Hyōsube and the ancestors of the Five Great Noble Clans. The children called White “Mommy,” but White told them to use the name White.

• White’s Reishi divided into six orbs, which gradually formed into human children.
• Yoriichi recognized the largest, bald boy as the young Ichibē Hyōsube and identified the other five as the ancestors of the Shihoin, Kuchiki, Tsunayashiro, Shiba, and an unnamed noble family.
• White gathered the children inside a curtain of Reishi and carried them through the chaotic world.
• The six children woke, stood, and approached White at the edge of the light curtain.
• The children called White “Mommy,” and White pointed to themself and said, “Call me White.”

Bai drifted through the gray expanse with six children who called him “Mama,” while his power grew after Hei removed the Hollow power from his body. His growing reishi awakened the ability to see and alter the future, and he eventually glimpsed timelines beyond the empty world and began to understand his task there.

• Bai introduced himself, but the six children called him “Mama,” and he eventually gave up trying to correct them.
• After Hei separated the Hollow power from him, Bai’s reishi grew rapidly and a halo appeared around him.
• Bai discovered that he could see several seconds into the future when he foresaw the dark-skinned girl grabbing his hair.
• Bai learned to change futures he had seen, diverting a chaotic storm so it passed the children without harming them.
• Bai’s future sight expanded across distant timelines, where he began to see the purpose of his arrival in the world.

White saw a future in which he and Black fought to the death, then created the Three Realms and sacrificed himself to stabilize them. In the far future, his power failed, the Three Realms collapsed back into chaos, and only Hell remained.

• White foresaw himself and Black becoming enemies, with Black accompanied by the matured Hollow power.
• White defeated Black after a long battle, and Black used his final strength to transform a fragment of chaos into the embryonic Hell.
• Near death, White used his remaining power to create Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and the World of the Living, distributing power among the six children and Hollow.
• White ordered the grown children to dismember him, then used his limbs and organs to stabilize the Three Realms while sealing his head and torso in darkness.
• Far in the future, White’s power in the realms’ foundations faded, the Three Realms collapsed into chaos, and Hell remained.

Bai used The Almighty to examine possible futures and found that every path he first considered ended in the destruction of the Three Realms or an unchanging world without life. He finally discovered a different timeline that offered the best ending, though reaching it would require a cruel gamble.

• Bai saw a future in which he became the Three Realms’ Physical Support Formation Core, only for the worlds and the six children he had raised to perish after his power ran out.
• Bai projected a future where he refused to sacrifice himself, and the Three Realms rapidly collapsed into chaos.
• Bai examined another future where he supported the Three Realms with his reiatsu, but the barriers failed and the worlds disintegrated.
• Bai saw a future where he and Black sealed away conflict and change, leaving the worlds frozen and lifeless.
• Bai searched countless timelines, found a faint branch leading to the best ending, and laughed as he accepted the desperate measures it would demand.

White and Black divided Chaos and created Hell, Hueco Mundo, the Soul Society, and the World of the Living. White sacrificed his limbs and organs to stabilize the Three Realms, leaving his head and torso as their eternal formation core.

• White shared his vision of the victorious future with Black, who accepted the plan despite its cost.
• White and Black split Chaos into two enormous fragments, with Black supporting the severed halves.
• Black shaped Hell from hollow power and a smaller mass of Chaos, while White formed Hueco Mundo, the Soul Society, and the World of the Living from the larger fragment.
• White ordered the Soul Reaper children to sever his limbs and remove his organs, turning them into barriers and foundations that stabilized the Three Realms.
• White's remaining head and torso sank into the gaps between the Three Realms, becoming the formation core that maintained their balance.

After witnessing the Soul King's sacrifice and learning why Yhwach sought to destroy the Three Realms, Yoriichi resolved to stop him regardless of the Soul King's wishes. He left the white chamber without learning where his Sun Reiatsu came from, and found Ichibē Hyōsube waiting outside.

• Yoriichi returned to the present and saw the mutilated Soul King sealed inside a crystal.
• Yoriichi understood that Yhwach was the Soul King's son and wanted to destroy the world built from his father's remains, but he still judged Yhwach's violence unforgivable.
• Yoriichi asked the Soul King where his Sun Reiatsu came from, but received no answer.
• Yoriichi declared that he would protect the Three Realms and defeat anyone who threatened them, whether or not the Soul King had shown him the truth.
• Yoriichi left through the white door and found Ichibē Hyōsube waiting outside.

Yoriichi learned that Ichibē Hyōsube had secretly monitored his power because it defied the Soul Society’s laws of naming. When Yoriichi asked how to stop Yhwach, Ichibē revealed that the Zero Division planned to let him carry out his goal.

• Yoriichi emerged from the Soul King’s chamber and told Ichibē Hyōsube that he had more or less understood what he had seen.
• Ichibē explained that his Ichimonji could erase names and powers, but had no effect on Yoriichi’s Zanpakuto or Sun Reiatsu.
• Yoriichi asked whether Ichibē had been watching him since his arrival in the world.
• Ichibē admitted that the Zero Division had investigated Yoriichi because his power threatened the balance of the Three Realms.
• Yoriichi asked how they could stop Yhwach, and Ichibē said they should let him carry things through.

Ichibē Hyōsube explained that the Soul King was failing and the Three Realms needed a new wedge, proposing Yhwach, Ichigo Kurosaki, or Yoriichi Tsugikuni for the role. Yoriichi rejected sacrificing his friends but was left facing the dilemma of how to stop Yhwach without risking the collapse of the Three Realms.

• Ichibē Hyōsube told Yoriichi Tsugikuni to let Yhwach kill the Soul King and take his place.
• Ichibē explained that the Soul King's power was fading and that a new wedge was needed to keep the Three Realms from collapsing.
• Ichibē named Ichigo Kurosaki as another possible candidate, and Yoriichi angrily refused to let Ichigo be sacrificed.
• Ichibē proposed that Yoriichi himself could become the new Soul King, but Yoriichi rejected the idea of sacrificing his friends.
• Ichibē told Yoriichi to find a way to put Yhwach on the throne, leaving him to confront an impossible choice.

Yoriichi struggled with the choice between killing Yhwach and allowing the Three Realms to collapse, or sparing him and risking the Soul King’s torment and Ichigo’s sacrifice. Ichibē explained Yhwach’s origin and the Zero Division’s failed efforts to free the Soul King, leaving Yoriichi to face the hopeless choice and Ichibē alone with his grief over a million years of solitude.

• Yoriichi remained stunned after Ichibē said that someone had to replace the Soul King as the Wedge, seeing ruin in either choice involving Yhwach.
• Ichibē explained that Yhwach had formed from the scattered remnants of the Soul King’s power when the Soul King was dismembered.
• Ichibē said Yhwach had grown amid suffering and hatred, and that his attempt to destroy the world made sense from his perspective.
• Ichibē revealed that the Zero Division had failed to free the Soul King because disturbing the crystal would tear the Three Realms apart, leaving them only the options of preserving the status quo or finding a new Wedge.
• Ichibē told Yoriichi that he was the last of the Soul King’s earliest companions and the only one who still remembered the Three Realms’ birth.
• Ichibē’s usual cheer faded as he described his million years beside the imprisoned Soul King, weighed down by loneliness and sorrow.

Ichibē Hyōsube revealed that the Zero Division needed Yoriichi to defeat Yhwach and make him the new Soul King. Yoriichi understood that he was the unseen variable in Yhwach’s vision of victory and resolved to cut him down before going to see his friends.

• Ichibē Hyōsube explained that without Yoriichi, Ichigo Kurosaki and Yhwach would have fought to determine who became the new wedge for the Three Realms.
• Ichibē Hyōsube told Yoriichi that he had to defeat Yhwach at full power and make him the new wedge.
• Ichibē Hyōsube recalled sealing Yhwach’s power a thousand years earlier and said Yhwach might now have foreseen his own ending.
• Yoriichi guessed that Yhwach had found a future in which he could win, and Ichibē Hyōsube confirmed that Yoriichi did not exist in that timeline.
• Yoriichi accepted his role and resolved to cut Yhwach down, while Ichibē Hyōsube told him to visit his friends, who were training for the battle.

Yoriichi checked on Byakuya and Rukia, joined Ichigo and Renji for a meal, and had Hekyō appraised by Ōetsu Nimaiya at the Phoenix Palace. Nimaiya could not awaken Yoriichi’s power, but he set Ichigo against unformed Asauchi as training while Yoriichi left for the Weaver Palace.

• Yoriichi visited the hot spring at Kirinden and confirmed that Byakuya and Rukia were recovering.
• Yoriichi joined Ichigo and Renji at Wotton Palace for Kirio Hikifune’s Reishi cuisine.
• At the Phoenix Palace, Ōetsu Nimaiya examined Zangetsu and Hekyō and said Yoriichi’s power did not belong to the Three Realms, so he could not awaken it.
• Ōetsu Nimaiya sent Ichigo to fight a swarm of unformed Asauchi as training.
• Yoriichi left the Phoenix Palace and headed toward the Weaver Palace.

Yoriichi visited Senjumaru at Weaver Palace and received a specially made Shihakushō that could resist enemy Reiatsu and help control his Sun Reiatsu. Back at Phoenix Palace, he asked Ōetsu Nimaiya to bring Hekyō’s sword spirit out of the blade.

• Yoriichi arrived at Weaver Palace, where Senjumaru measured him and began making new clothes.
• Yoriichi asked whether Mayuri Kurotsuchi had learned his unusual style from Senjumaru, and she revealed that he had once worked as her errand boy and borrowed fabric to make a wig after an experiment burned off his hair and eyebrows.
• Senjumaru finished Yoriichi’s new Shihakushō and white haori, whose Ōken-infused fabric offered protection and tempered his Reiatsu.
• Yoriichi returned to Phoenix Palace and found Ichigo Kurosaki still enduring the Asauchi’s assault while Ōetsu Nimaiya recorded data.
• Yoriichi showed Nimaiya Hekyō and asked him to bring his Zanpakuto’s soul out of the blade.