I AM THE EDGE

At the Fourth Division's aid station, Yachiru Kusajishi is struck by an unseen foe. The culprit is Guenael Lee, Sternritter "V", whose Vanishing Point power has three modes: invisibility, intangibility, and erasing himself from others' minds. Yachiru punches at him purely on instinct, insisting a chill told her he is an enemy, and although Guenael turns intangible, her copycat blade Sanpo Kenjū wounds him regardless because it strikes with phantom edges before and behind the sword. Just as Guenael tries to vanish again, Gremmy Thoumeaux, the real Sternritter "V", tears a chunk from his shoulder, reveals Guenael was merely a figment of his imagination, and erases him entirely.

Gremmy turns Yachiru's arm bones into cookies and snaps them, boasting that whatever he imagines becomes reality. Kenpachi Zaraki crashes through the ceiling, having sensed his lieutenant's failing reiatsu, and bluntly tells a grieving Isane Kotetsu that he killed Retsu Unohana and now holds the Kenpachi title. Gremmy raises a massive stone fort as his stage, introduces himself as the strongest Sternritter, and hardens his body beyond steel, only for Zaraki to cut clean through him anyway. Gremmy heals by imagining the wound never happened, then hurls lava, water prisons, stone pillars, rifles, and missiles, all of which Zaraki shrugs off or slices apart.

Pressed to admit he wants to crush the strongest opponent, Gremmy embraces the desire and escalates. He imagines away his own doubt, clones himself, and finally summons a colossal meteor to obliterate both Zaraki and the Seireitei. Zaraki simply releases his Shikai, Nozarashi, and splits the meteor in two. Gremmy conjures more clones and a pocket of outer space, but Zaraki drags himself free and cuts them down. When Gremmy tries to physically surpass Zaraki by swelling his muscles, his body fractures under a standard of strength he himself imagined as impossible to beat. Dying, he ejects his true form, a brain in a glass case, and admits he was killed not by his imagination but by wanting so badly to win, fulfilling his vow to defeat Zaraki without lifting a finger as he fades away.

Yachiru defeats Guenael Lee with the phantom strikes of Sanpo Kenjū before Gremmy erases him as his own creation. Gremmy transforms Yachiru's bones and cripples her, prompting Kenpachi's arrival. Kenpachi confirms to Isane that he killed and succeeded Unohana. Gremmy builds the Stone Fort and reveals The Visionary, making everything he imagines real. Zaraki cuts through every construct, including a summoned meteor split by the released Nozarashi. Gremmy's escalating imagination and final attempt to surpass Zaraki destroy his own body, ending the battle with his death.

This is the twentieth episode of Thousand-Year Blood War and the three hundred eighty-sixth of the overall anime, adapting chapters 571 through 579. The opening theme is STARS and the ending is Endroll. The adaptation trimmed extensive dialogue, including Guenael's explanation of Vanishing Point's second version, and expanded visuals such as naming the arena the Stone Fort and depicting a young Zaraki cutting the meteor. Some gore was softened in the aftermath of the clones' explosions. Featured releases are the Shikai Sanpo Kenjū and Nozarashi, plus the Schrifts Vanishing Point and The Visionary.