040. Grow?

The blast that tore off Bulbous G's arm leaves Sado standing with his transformed limb, his mind again on his grandfather's wish that he protect rather than wound. The Hollow drags itself upright for another round, so Sado charges and lands a rising punch fueled by the armor on his shoulder, demolishing its head and hurling the body down the slope. To his surprise he lands the hit without Karin calling it, since the armor has also cleared his sight. He flashes her a grinning thumbs-up before dropping from exhaustion, and after she scolds him for brushing off his wounds she dashes away to fetch her father, grumbling that he acts exactly like Ichigo.

At school, Tatsuki and Chizuru reluctantly sweep up shattered glass while the judo club swears their arms had moved on their own. Chizuru soon storms off, leaving a frozen, faraway Orihime behind. Snapping to, Orihime invents a story about a television program she must catch and shoves both friends away from the building, never noticing the Hollow Numb Chandelier draping a tentacle over the rooftop as it studies the trio.

Sado destroys Bulbous G with one uppercut from his new arm, then collapses. The transformation also grants him a clear view of the Hollow. Karin runs off to bring Isshin Kurosaki, likening Sado to Ichigo. Numb Chandelier begins stalking Orihime, Tatsuki, and Chizuru.

Adapted within Episode 12, A Gentle Right Arm, the chapter belongs to Volume 5's Agent of the Shinigami arc. Its title carries a question mark in the original, and the judo students whose arms moved by themselves quietly foreshadow Numb Chandelier's control ability.