Fierce Fighting Conclusion! Who's the Strongest?

Nnoitra conjures still more weapons from his additional arms, delighting Kenpachi even as Yachiru warns Ichigo to stay clear of the captain's fight. Nnoitra cannot fathom why his opponent keeps rising after so much punishment. When a cut to the neck convinces Kenpachi he could actually die at this rate, he admits he does not want to, and recalls how the Captain-Commander once forced him to learn proper swordsmanship. Though the disciplined style runs against his nature, he accepts that a blade swung with both hands strikes harder, and he brings Nnoitra down with a single two-handed stroke that kicks up a wall of sand.

Kenpachi refuses to finish a foe who can no longer stand and turns to leave, but Nnoitra insists the fight is not over and demands another exchange. As he lunges, his memories surface: slaughtering a Hollow colony while searching for elite candidates for Aizen, and clashing repeatedly with Nelliel over his contempt for the weak. She once saved his life and told him plainly that he trails her only because he is weaker, feeding the resentment that hardened into his creed of killing everyone in a single blow. The two collide one final time, and Nnoitra is defeated. As he collapses, Nel stirs awake to watch him fall.

Nnoitra multiplies his weapons, but Kenpachi embraces the two-handed swordsmanship Yamamoto once made him learn. A single heavy stroke cuts the Espada down. Kenpachi tries to spare him, yet Nnoitra demands another round. Flashbacks show Nnoitra massacring a Hollow colony and his contentious history with Nelliel, who saved him and named him the weaker of the two. Their final clash ends in Nnoitra's defeat as the reverted Nel awakens to witness it.

The episode adapts Chapters 311 and 312 during the second half of the Hueco Mundo invasion, concluding the fight between Kenpachi and Nnoitra. Its flashbacks establish the roots of Nnoitra's inferiority complex and his bond and rivalry with Nelliel before her fall. The closing Arrancar Encyclopedia segment has Gin needling Nnoitra about his blades, joking about whether he can also produce hedge clippers or a can opener, which the Espada does not appreciate.