Chapter Summaries

Nemu Kurotsuchi warned Shiraishi and Kūkaku Shiba that Munemasa Tsunayashiro planned to kidnap Ganju Shiba and use him to reach the Soul King Palace. Kūkaku chose to face the enemy rather than flee, and she and Shiraishi set out for the twenty-sixth district.

• Nemu Kurotsuchi met Shiraishi and warned him that Munemasa Tsunayashiro might abduct Ganju Shiba.
• Kūkaku Shiba explained that Munemasa had nearly wiped out her clan two thousand years earlier and had been subdued only after a brutal battle.
• Nemu Kurotsuchi revealed that Munemasa wanted the Shiba Clan's ancestral spiritual tool to reach the Soul King Palace, and that Kyōraku expected him to use Ganju to threaten Kūkaku.
• Nemu Kurotsuchi warned that Munemasa's Zanpakuto nullified other Zanpakuto abilities and advised Kūkaku and Shiraishi to flee.
• Kūkaku Shiba refused to run, and Shiraishi agreed to help her confront Munemasa.
• Nemu Kurotsuchi returned to Rangiku, while Kūkaku Shiba and Shiraishi immediately left for the twenty-sixth district.

Kūkaku Shiba returned to her home with Shiraishi and reunited with Kin, Gin, and her younger brother Ganju. After Ganju fell asleep from exhaustion, Kūkaku and Shiraishi noticed that he was being watched, and she prepared to set up a Kidō barrier.

• Kūkaku Shiba and Shiraishi hurried back to the Shiba Clan headquarters, where Kin and Gin tearfully welcomed her home.
• Kūkaku Shiba learned that Ganju was training hard with the Sekihō Technique and went to see him.
• Ganju Shiba recognized his sister, clung to her, and cried until he fell asleep from exhaustion.
• Kūkaku Shiba handed Ganju to Koganehiko and told Shiroganehiko to prepare dinner.
• Kūkaku Shiba and Shiraishi sensed a watchful gaze connected to Ganju, and Kūkaku went to set up a Kidō barrier.

Kūkaku Shiba and Shiraishi waited for Munemasa to appear, and Munemasa arrived carried on the backs of beaten captives. After revealing his hatred of the Soul King and his desire to kill Kūkaku, he faced her as she struck first.

• Shiraishi noticed that the Shinigami's watchful gaze had disappeared, and Kūkaku Shiba sent Ganju and the others indoors while they waited for Munemasa.
• Munemasa approached seated on a group of naked captives, introduced himself to Kūkaku, and admitted he had killed the Shinigami watching her.
• Munemasa described his time in Muken and said he could not allow anyone with a nobler bloodline than his to live.
• Munemasa decided to kill Kūkaku, and she attacked first.

Kūkaku Shiba and Shiraishi fought Mad King Munemasa in West District Twenty-Six, where his overwhelming strength and Bankai threatened them both. As Shiraishi gained the upper hand with his strange swordsmanship and wind techniques, Munemasa was caught in the tornado just as Shiraishi launched his ultimate attack.

• Yamamoto sent Kenpachi Zaraki and Byakuya Kuchiki to West District Twenty-Six and ordered Shunsui Kyōraku, Sōsuke Aizen, and Gin Ichimaru to prepare as backup.
• Munemasa crushed Kūkaku's body and attacked her, but she escaped with Shunpo and struck back with Kidō.
• Kūkaku lured Munemasa into a valley and fired Raikōhō, but he blocked it with Dankū and pursued her.
• Shiraishi arrived and attacked Munemasa with his golden blade, breaking through Dankū and dodging Munemasa's powerful punch with an unexplained ability.
• Shiraishi trapped Munemasa in a tornado with Infinity and charged in using Last Breath.

Munemasa revealed that Fox Nightmare could hypnotize Zanpakuto and materialize them as weapons, then used Infinity and Senbonzakura to overwhelm Shiraishi and Kūkaku Shiba. As blades swallowed Shiraishi, he hurled Kūkaku to safety, leaving his fate uncertain.

• A masked figure wielding Senbonzakura rescued Munemasa from Shiraishi, and Munemasa explained how Fox Nightmare let him control and materialize other Zanpakuto.
• Munemasa’s power changed Shiraishi’s blade, and Infinity appeared as a female version of Yasuo to attack him.
• Shiraishi evaded Infinity and tried to reach Munemasa, while Senbonzakura and Infinity forced him to retreat with Kūkaku Shiba.
• Munemasa trapped Kūkaku with Rikujōkōrō, but Shiraishi broke the binding and saved her from the rising blades.
• Kūkaku pulled Shiraishi from Infinity’s strike and fired Byakurai, while Shiraishi hurled her upward as countless blades swallowed him.

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.