The Raging Storm! Encounter with the Dancing Arrancar

Running through a long hall of arches, Ichigo is trailed by Dordoni Alessandro Del Socaccio, then interrupted when a tearful Nel Tu catches up and tackles him with Chōkasoku. Nel admits she left Bawabawa outside and lost track of Pesche and Dondochakka, and the reunion is cut short when Dordoni makes a grand, theatrical entrance, only to slip off an arch and crash to the ground. He announces himself as Arrancar #103, which Ichigo mishears as boiled celery, and both Ichigo and a distracted Nel remain thoroughly unimpressed. Ichigo, noting the unusually high three-digit number, bluntly calls him weak.

The duel begins with Dordoni pirouetting and sidestepping every slash of Zangetsu, until he trips on rubble, cracks a wall, and inadvertently drops a chunk of rock onto Ichigo's face. Nel fakes an injury and reveals only her mask was hit, exasperating Ichigo. Elsewhere, Gin finds Kaname Tōsen watching the intruders through hidden cameras, and after Wonderweiss Margela blocks his path, Tōsen muses that the pure are drawn together before observing the group splitting up inside the lair of the Tres Cifras.

When Dordoni suddenly slashes Ichigo's shoulder, Tōsen explains that a three-digit number marks a demoted former Espada, a Privaron Espada. Dordoni splits Ichigo's Getsuga Tenshō with a back kick, Barón Puntapiés Alto, while Uryū is set upon by Cirucci Sanderwicci and Sado by Gantenbainne Mosqueda. Claiming skills on par with the Espada, Dordoni presses Ichigo with brutal kicks and urges him to use his Bankai, insisting he cannot win otherwise. Ichigo refuses to waste it on someone who is not a true Espada, so Dordoni grabs Zangetsu and activates his Resurrección, Giralda, sprouting wind-driven bird protrusions. He batters Ichigo with El Uno Picotear, smashing him into the ground as a tearful Nel watches and the left eye of her mask begins to glow.

Ichigo begins his fight against Dordoni, introducing the concept of the Privaron Espada, Arrancar demoted from the Espada and marked with three-digit numbers, as explained by Tōsen. Uryū and Sado are separately confronted by Cirucci Sanderwicci and Gantenbainne Mosqueda. Dordoni reveals his Resurrección, Giralda, and overwhelms Ichigo, who stubbornly refuses to use his Bankai against a non-Espada. The episode ends with Ichigo battered and Nel's masked eye glowing mysteriously, hinting at hidden power. The Arrancar Encyclopedia segment has Gin tell Dordoni he was demoted for weakness and disliked facial expressions.

A canon episode of the Hueco Mundo arc, it adapts Chapters 250 and 251. It aired in Japan on December 5, 2007, and in English on September 26, 2009, using the opening After Dark and the ending Tane wo Maku Hibi. The adaptation adds comedic beats such as Ichigo mistaking Dordoni's Spanish number for boiled celery and tones down several bloody moments, while also reordering the sequence in which El Uno Picotear finally connects.