Grimmjow Revived

Outside the Urahara Shop, Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizuiro trail Ichigo, uneasy after glimpsing his Shinigami form. Below ground, Urahara opens a Garganta with Keikaigi and warns Ichigo, Sado, and Uryu that they must forge their own path through the chaotic Reishi to reach Hueco Mundo. The three leap in, and Urahara, who knew the trio were watching all along, reflects that Ichigo cannot so easily sever his ties to his friends.

In Las Noches, Aizen welcomes the captive Orihime and asks her to prove her powers by restoring Grimmjow's severed arm. She quietly succeeds, and Aizen explains her gift is not mere healing but a rejection of events themselves, trespassing on divine territory. Grimmjow then has her mend his lost Espada tattoo as well, before repaying Luppi with a fist through the chest and a point-blank Cero, reclaiming his rank.

Crossing the Garganta, Ichigo and Sado stumble over their crumbling Reishi footing while Uryu glides ahead on a stable platform, needling them for their poor control. Sado reveals he learned of the bargain Uryu struck with his father, Ryuken, to regain his Quincy powers in exchange for avoiding Shinigami. Uryu admits it but argues that a Substitute Shinigami defying Soul Society counts as neither Shinigami nor ally, a loophole that frees him to help.

In the training chamber, Ryuken finds Uryu's note and lets him go, coldly telling Isshin, now restored to his Shinigami form, that he no longer cares what becomes of his son. Alone in Las Noches, Orihime resolves to feign usefulness to the Arrancar until her friends are ready, then senses a powerful reiatsu as Aizen notes the intruders have arrived.

The episode adapts the group's departure for Hueco Mundo and Grimmjow's return to power, expanding the roles of Tatsuki, Keigo, and Mizuiro and softening the on-screen violence of Luppi's death. A closing skit has Isshin scold Ryuken for smoking beneath a hospital's no-smoking sign.