Recaps

Kūkaku Shiba and Shiraishi tried to escape Senbonzakura’s attack by launching the Kūkaku Cannon, but its blast separated them. Munemasa cornered Kūkaku and revealed that he could reach the Soul King Palace using her ancestor’s Zanpakuto.

• Shiraishi rescued Kūkaku Shiba from the collapsing mountain, and they returned to the Shiba Clan home as Senbonzakura’s blades closed in.
• Kūkaku prepared the Kūkaku Cannon and sent Koganehiko, Shiroganehiko, and Ganju Shiba inside while Shiraishi stayed behind to fight.
• Kūkaku fired the cannon, shattering the barrier, while Shiraishi cut a path through the blades and Kūkaku escaped through it.
• Senkei: Senbonzakura Kageyoshi trapped Kūkaku in darkness, where Munemasa appeared and declared he would kill her before dealing with Shiraishi.
• Munemasa claimed Kūkaku’s ancestor’s Zanpakuto gave him what he needed to reach the Soul King Palace, then prepared to strike her.

Munemasa nearly killed Kūkaku Shiba before Byakuya Kuchiki and Kenpachi Zaraki arrived to confront him. As Munemasa fought both captains while maintaining his Bankai, someone stabbed him from behind.

• Munemasa wounded Kūkaku Shiba and moved to finish her, but a blue-white beam broke through his barrier.
• Byakuya Kuchiki arrived and challenged Munemasa over his use of Senbonzakura.
• Kenpachi Zaraki rushed into the fight, battling Munemasa while Byakuya attacked him.
• Kūkaku Shiba was thrown two kilometers by the force of the clash and lost consciousness.
• Munemasa gained a slight advantage in a Shunpo duel with Byakuya while holding Kenpachi and Shiraishi at bay.
• As Munemasa raised his sword to kill Byakuya, an unseen attacker pierced him from behind.

Shiraishi killed Munemasa with a sneak attack, but Infinity attacked him after breaking free of Munemasa’s control and rejected him as her wielder. Byakuya Kuchiki arranged treatment for the critically injured Kūkaku Shiba, while Kenpachi Zaraki went searching for Shiraishi.

• Shiraishi stabbed Munemasa through the heart with Steel Tempest, and Munemasa died as his control over Infinity ended.
• Infinity attacked Shiraishi, blaming him for never communicating with her or learning her Shikai release command, then returned to her Zanpakuto form.
• Byakuya Kuchiki found the critically wounded Kūkaku Shiba and called for the Fourth Division to treat her.
• Kenpachi Zaraki left to search for Shiraishi, while Isane Kotetsu began treating Kūkaku with Kaidō.
• After two hours, Isane ordered Kūkaku moved to the General Infirmary, and Byakuya escorted the medical squad back toward Seireitei.

Kūkaku Shiba was transferred from the Underground Relief Prison but escaped with Sōya Azashiro’s help. After reuniting with her family, she planned to go to West District Ten to meet Shiraishi.

• Isane Kotetsu told Kūkaku Shiba she would be transferred to the fourth level, Howling, and led her out of the prison with four Kidō Corps members.
• Sōya Azashiro incapacitated the escorts, removed Kūkaku’s restraints, and said he was helping because she was Shiraishi’s friend.
• Sōya led Kūkaku through the Seireiheki, and she passed through the wall and escaped Seireitei.
• Kūkaku returned to the Shiba Clan home in Junrinan and reassured Koganehiko, Shiroganehiko, and Ganju that she was safe.
• Kūkaku said she would leave soon for West District Ten to keep her promise to Shiraishi.

Kūkaku visited Shiraishi and found him exhausted from training his Bankai, then helped him clean his cave. She confessed that she had thought of him 368 times while imprisoned and wanted to keep their promise, and Shiraishi declared they would spend ten days and ten nights together.

• Kūkaku found Shiraishi exhausted and surrounded by garbage after days of Bankai training.
• Kūkaku scolded Shiraishi into cleaning the cave, and they burned the garbage with her Shakkahō.
• Shiraishi told Kūkaku that he had bought a cold lamp from the Kawakami Clan for one hundred thousand kan.
• Kūkaku confessed that she had thought of Shiraishi 368 times in prison and wanted to keep their promise.
• Shiraishi proposed spending ten days and ten nights together.

Kūkaku Shiba woke after three days with Shiraishi, bought food and sake for them, and admitted she had fallen in love with him. She told him she planned to leave rather than risk marriage, children, and abandoning her dream of becoming Rukongai’s greatest fireworks maker, then asked whether he would ask her to stay.

• Kūkaku Shiba woke from a dream of erupting magma and found Shiraishi still asleep beside her.
• Kūkaku Shiba went to Beginning of Spring Town and bought twenty portions of eel rice, sake, and drinking snacks.
• Kūkaku Shiba returned to the cave and woke Shiraishi, who ate hungrily and drank sake.
• Kūkaku Shiba told Shiraishi she was leaving because she had fallen in love with him but could not imagine marriage or giving up her fireworks-making dream.
• Kūkaku Shiba asked Shiraishi whether he would ask her to stay.

Shiraishi began intensive Bankai training in his inner world while Mayuri Kurotsuchi tested a modified Bowel-Hunting Dog intended to help locate Shiraishi. The dog proved exceptionally fast at scent tracking and resistant to Kenpachi Zaraki’s Reiatsu, but Zaraki threatened to attack it.

• Shiraishi entered his inner world and continued practicing wingsuit flights to find Infinity and make her submit.
• Mayuri Kurotsuchi tested the Bowel-Hunting Dog, which identified nearly a hundred scents in about one millisecond each.
• Nemu Kurotsuchi recommended using a captain with stronger Reiatsu for the dog’s resistance test, and Mayuri summoned Kenpachi Zaraki.
• Kenpachi Zaraki entered the laboratory and released his Reiatsu, but the Bowel-Hunting Dog remained unfazed and circled him.
• Zaraki gripped his sword, and Mayuri warned him that the dog was their hope of finding Shiraishi.

Sōya Azashiro confronted Aizen, hoping to remove him as a threat, but learned that Aizen would not interfere with his plans. Azashiro left without fighting, while Aizen watched the storm gather over the Seireitei.

• Yamamoto ordered Kenpachi Zaraki, Shunsui Kyōraku, and Gin Ichimaru to prioritize tracking Oniyasha, while Azashiro listened in through his fusion with the Seireitei.
• Urozakuro teased Azashiro about spying on the Seireitei’s inhabitants, and he said he would deal with Aizen on July first.
• Azashiro visited Aizen, who confirmed that Kyōka Suigetsu could not affect him because the surrounding Reishi was part of his body.
• Azashiro threatened Aizen with mouths and arms emerging throughout the Fifth Division barracks, but Aizen said he would not stand in his way.
• Azashiro chose not to fight and disappeared, while Aizen sipped his tea beneath the darkening sky.

Sōya Azashiro gathered two hundred Modified Souls in Rukongai to serve as a vanguard for purifying Hueco Mundo. After meeting Shiraishi in West District Ten, he prepared to lead the group through a Garganta.

• Sōya Azashiro encroached beyond Hakutōmon, while Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto chose to monitor him rather than intervene.
• Sōya Azashiro blocked the Research and Development Institute’s dispatch signal, subdued a Hollow in West District Two, and used it to gather souls for modification.
• Sōya Azashiro selected and modified two hundred Rukongai residents with strong Spiritual Power, then led them toward West District Ten.
• Sōya Azashiro explained to Shiraishi that the Modified Souls would be the vanguard for his attack on Hueco Mundo and a test of their endurance there.
• After the Modified Souls ate, the sheep-headed Hollow opened a Garganta, and Sōya Azashiro told the group to go.

Shiraishi hunted a group of six Adjuchas in Hueco Mundo and killed them, reaching level eleven. Sōya Azashiro caught up and reacted to the Adjuchas corpse.

• Shiraishi sensed six Adjuchas nearby and headed northwest while Sōya Azashiro asked him to leave one alive.
• Shiraishi launched a surprise attack and killed three Adjuchas with Steel Tempest and his other abilities.
• The remaining Adjuchas scattered, but Shiraishi pursued and killed each of them despite one using a piercing scream to stun him.
• Shiraishi reached level eleven, gained experience and Reiatsu, and found that his ultimate had risen to level two.
• Sōya Azashiro caught up and identified the corpse as an Adjuchas-level Menos Grande.

Sōya Azashiro and Shiraishi hunted Adjuchas in Hueco Mundo after sending the Modified Souls back to Soul Society. Shiraishi killed a strange Adjuchas that split into two, then retreated when a powerful Reiatsu approached.

• Sōya Azashiro admitted that the Modified Souls could not fight Adjuchas, so he returned them to Soul Society through a Garganta.
• Shiraishi sensed a lone Adjuchas and killed it, driven by the rush of gaining experience from battle.
• Shiraishi struck Charlie Took, whose body split into two identical Adjuchas, then destroyed both with a powerful slash.
• Sōya Azashiro warned Shiraishi to control his emotions and conserve his Reiatsu.
• Sōya Azashiro sensed a powerful Reiatsu approaching, and Shiraishi chose to flee and hunt weaker Adjuchas instead.

Nelliel investigated a massive disturbance in Hueco Mundo and followed a faint Shinigami Reiatsu trail that vanished near a Garganta. Suspecting the Second Espada of conspiring against Aizen, she checked Las Noches surveillance and learned he had left with Szayelaporro; then another Garganta appeared nearby with no detected Reiatsu.

• Nelliel found no trace of the victor’s Reiatsu at the scene, but detected faint Shinigami Reiatsu and pursued it westward.
• Nelliel followed the trail north until it vanished beside a Garganta, where she found six footprints and wondered whether a traitor among the Espada had allied with Shinigami.
• Nelliel went to Las Noches and ordered Rudbornn to show her surveillance footage of the Second Espada’s palace.
• Rudbornn’s footage showed Szayelaporro meeting the Second Espada on June 24 and leaving with him and his Fracción.
• Rudbornn reported that a Garganta had opened from Soul Society without any detected Reiatsu, and Nelliel asked where it was.

Shiraishi and Sōya Azashiro returned to Hueco Mundo, hunted Adjuchas, and discovered the Forest of Menos beneath the white sands. There they encountered Findorr Calius, a subordinate of Baraggan, who asked them to die quietly.

• Shiraishi and Sōya Azashiro returned to Hueco Mundo and saw the white palace of Las Noches, while Azashiro revealed that he had fused with the goat-headed Hollow.
• Shiraishi killed four Adjuchas, and Azashiro found a hidden pit that led beneath the white sands.
• Shiraishi and Azashiro descended into the Forest of Menos, where giant trees filled the darkness and Hollows gathered below.
• Azashiro sensed a hidden Mid-level Menos Grande, and Findorr Calius emerged, introduced himself as Baraggan’s subordinate, and asked them to die.

Shiraishi killed Findorr and prepared an ambush for an approaching Espada, but Nelliel arrived first and uncovered a threat controlling the nearby Hollows. The chapter ended with Nelliel releasing her Zanpakuto to fight them.

• Findorr attacked Shiraishi with a high-pressure jet, but Shiraishi blocked it and killed Findorr with a swift strike.
• Shiraishi checked his system panel and gained 300 experience points from Findorr.
• Shiraishi and Sōya Azashiro decided to stop retreating and set an ambush for the Espada approaching through the Forest of Menos.
• Nelliel found Findorr's corpse, sensed a concealed Shinigami nearby, and noticed the forest's unusual quiet.
• Several giant Hollows attacked Nelliel, and she realized they were being controlled before calling, "Sing, Gamuza."

Nelliel fought Sōya Azashiro in the Forest of Menos, unleashing her Resurrección against his overwhelming Kidō. Both were left badly injured, and Nelliel faced an unknown approaching presence.

• Nelliel released her Resurrección and confronted Sōya Azashiro, who said he had come to purify all Hollows.
• Nelliel hurled her lance through Sōya Azashiro, but his body dispersed into Reishi as he concealed himself and began chanting Kidō.
• Sōya Azashiro restrained Nelliel with his sleeves and unleashed hundreds of Kidō at once.
• Nelliel countered with Gran Rey Cero, and the clash devastated a vast area of the Forest of Menos.
• The blast destroyed the space Sōya Azashiro had fused with, sending him back to Seireitei unconscious, while Nelliel was injured and reverted to her original form.
• As Nelliel sensed someone approaching and demanded to know who was there, an unknown speaker urged her to die without learning anything.

Shiraishi rescued the wounded Nelliel by killing Ggio, then carried her out of the Forest of Menos. As Nelliel recovered from her injuries, she accepted Shiraishi’s strange claim that she should call him “husband” and fell asleep on his lap.

• Ggio attacked Nelliel while she was too exhausted to defend herself.
• Shiraishi ambushed and killed Ggio, saving Nelliel.
• Shiraishi carried Nelliel out of the Forest of Menos, and she asked who he was and why he had saved her.
• Shiraishi explained that he was allied with a Shinigami but had no desire to wipe out all Hollows, and Nelliel asked him to help heal her.
• Shiraishi applied Nelliel’s healing saliva to her wounds, and she fell asleep on his lap while he watched the cave entrance.

Szayelaporro and Baraggan dealt with Nelliel’s departure and the aftermath of the experiment, while Szayelaporro carried the embryo through a Garganta. In Soul Society, Sōya Azashiro woke from his injuries and prepared to return to Hueco Mundo, leaving the Menos Grande threat to other Shinigami.

• Szayelaporro told Baraggan that Nelliel had left the Forest of Menos, and they decided to return to Las Noches through a different route.
• Szayelaporro said he would plant a Reiatsu Recording Bug on the man involved in the experiment and send him to Soul Society.
• Szayelaporro recalled that Baraggan had helped capture Aaroniero so Genjirō could attempt to fuse with him, then took the blood-red embryo into a Garganta.
• An alarm reported Menos Grande Reiatsu in North Rukongai, and Sōya Azashiro woke with a head injury caused by the destruction of the space fused with his Bankai.
• Sōya Azashiro decided to return to Hueco Mundo and left the Menos Grande for the other Shinigami to handle.

Fifteen-year-old Ichigo Kurosaki traveled through the wilderness in search of Silbern, hoping to restore his mother’s stolen Quincy power and find Uryū Ishida. After meeting a Shinigami who knew where Silbern was, he explained his reasons, and she asked if he knew Miss Kūkaku Shiba.

• Ichigo Kurosaki traveled in a mobile house and lamented that he still had not found a Steel Shell City or reached Silbern.
• Kon spotted a woman riding a motorcycle, and Ichigo recognized her as a Shinigami and ran after her.
• The woman confronted Ichigo, who introduced himself and asked for directions to Silbern.
• The Shinigami warned Ichigo that Silbern was sacred to the Quincy and that a weak Shinigami would die trying to enter.
• Ichigo explained that he wanted to restore his mother’s power and stop Uryū Ishida from confronting Yhwach alone.
• The Shinigami asked Ichigo whether he knew Miss Kūkaku Shiba.

Rukia Kuchiki met Ichigo Kurosaki and told him she was searching for Kisuke Urahara’s Garganta Device to bring Captain Shiraishi and Captain-Commander Yamamoto back from Hueco Mundo. Ichigo joined her, and they set off in the Mobile Spiritual Power-Driven House toward Zuellni.

• Rukia recognized Ichigo’s resemblance to Lord Kaien and learned that he was Isshin Kurosaki’s son.
• Rukia explained that she was tracking down the Garganta Device, and Ichigo offered to help her.
• Ichigo brought the Mobile Spiritual Power-Driven House, which Kisuke Urahara had left behind, to Rukia.
• Rukia boarded the house, kicked Kon after he insulted her, and learned how to operate the vehicle from Ichigo.
• Rukia consulted her map and planned a route toward Zuellni, where Sora Inoue collected Kisuke Urahara’s inventions.

Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia reached Steel Shell City, Zuellni, seeking the Garganta Device so they could bring Captain Shiraishi and Captain-Commander Yamamoto back. Tatsuki Arisawa agreed to let them enter if they wore Spiritual Power-restricting handcuffs, and Ichigo prepared to go in alone despite Rukia's objections.

• Ichigo Kurosaki and Rukia spotted Steel Shell City and approached while Ichigo insisted they should try talking before resorting to force.
• Tatsuki Arisawa saw the approaching Shinigami on Zuellni's surveillance screens and ordered warning shots fired around them.
• Ichigo held up a written request to meet, and Tatsuki replied that Zuellni welcomed outsiders but not Shinigami.
• Ichigo explained that they wanted the Garganta Device in Mr. Sora Inoue's possession to bring Captain Shiraishi and Captain-Commander Yamamoto back.
• Tatsuki offered to let them enter if they wore Spiritual Power-restricting handcuffs, and Ichigo volunteered to go inside while Rukia and Kon warned him against it.

Ichigo Kurosaki entered Zuellni in handcuffs and told Mayor Sora Inoue that the Garganta Device could bring Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto and Shiraishi back. The councilors questioned his claim, and the chapter ended with an alarm announcing an approaching Hollow horde.

• Rukia let Ichigo enter Zuellni in handcuffs after he insisted on helping, while Tatsuki Arisawa sent him across with a cable.
• A Zuellni Guard vice captain met Ichigo and arranged for someone to take him to Mayor Inoue.
• Orihime Inoue greeted Ichigo and brought him to her brother, Sora Inoue.
• Ichigo told Sora and the councilors that Kisuke Urahara had made the Garganta Device to bring Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto and Shiraishi back.
• The councilors questioned whether Zuellni should give Ichigo the device, and an alarm warned Sora that a horde of Hollows was approaching.

Sora Inoue freed Ichigo Kurosaki and authorized him to activate the Garganta Device, while Rukia and Zuellni’s fighters battled a pack of Hollows outside the city. As the Hollows began to fall, Rukia sensed an abnormal reiatsu from above and saw that the sky had split open.

• Orihime Inoue agreed to help defend Zuellni from a pack of Hollows, and Ichigo Kurosaki asked to join the fight.
• Mie accused Ichigo of being a Hollow Cult member, but Sora Inoue judged him trustworthy and ordered his handcuffs removed so he could activate the Garganta Device.
• Rukia spotted around a hundred giant Hollows approaching Zuellni and attacked them with Sode no Shirayuki.
• Tatsuki Arisawa and Zuellni’s fighters joined the battle, killing Hollows as Rukia withdrew from the fighting.
• Rukia sensed abnormal reiatsu from the sky, looked up, and saw that it had split open.

Shiraishi emerged from Hueco Mundo and effortlessly destroyed the Menos Grande Shabotas before it could destroy Zuellni. After reuniting with Rukia, he learned little about what had changed and went to bathe while she prepared to explain.

• Shabotas emerged from a Garganta above Zuellni and threatened to destroy the city, while Tatsuki Arisawa and Rukia could not stop him.
• Shiraishi appeared and erased Shabotas with Hadō #90, Kurohitsugi, saving Zuellni from its Cero.
• Shiraishi greeted Rukia, asked about Ichigo Kurosaki and Unohana, and learned that he had been missing for years.
• Rukia directed Shiraishi to a bathroom, where he bathed, changed his appearance, and shaved off his beard.
• Shiraishi noticed that the bathroom had a razor and wondered why Rukia's house had one.

After returning from Hueco Mundo, Shiraishi reunited with Rukia and Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto and learned that the Soul Society had been devastated. Ichigo Kurosaki arrived seeking to fight Yhwach, but Shiraishi offered to train him after he led them to Kūkaku—and Ichigo admitted he had forgotten the way back.

• Shiraishi left the bathroom and rushed to the hall for food, where he argued with Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto about his discarded Captain's Haori.
• Rukia told Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto that the Seireitei had been destroyed, the Gotei 13 scattered, and the captains' whereabouts were unknown.
• Rukia said someone knew where Kūkaku was, and Shiraishi asked her to bring that person to him.
• Ichigo Kurosaki arrived and said he planned to go to Silbern to find Yhwach.
• Shiraishi demonstrated how easily he could reach Ichigo and offered to train him if Ichigo took him to Kūkaku.
• Ichigo told Shiraishi he had forgotten the way back to the village and could not return without finding Ishida.

Ichigo Kurosaki set out with Shiraishi, Rukia, and Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto to find Ishida and travel to Silbern, while Shiraishi planned to train Ichigo for the fight ahead. They recruited Orihime Inoue as their healer and left Sora Inoue behind, ending with the group joking around before setting off.

• Ichigo Kurosaki explained that he had left the village to find Ishida but had no plan for tracking him down.
• Rukia estimated that Silbern was at least a month's journey away, and Shiraishi decided they should leave at once.
• Sora Inoue asked the group to take Orihime Inoue with them, and Shiraishi agreed because her healing ability would help them.
• The group returned to Tatsuki Arisawa and Kon, and Ichigo Kurosaki promised to protect Orihime Inoue as Shiraishi urged him to grow stronger.
• Shiraishi, Orihime Inoue, Rukia, Ichigo Kurosaki, and Kon made a silly group introduction before Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto ushered them inside.