Nobody Beats

The chapter opens in the past, in an alley in Karakura Town, where a battered Ichigo meets a hulking transfer student and misreads his badge as Chad. The two turn out to be the same age and class, and they trade banter over the nickname and various musicians while walking off together.

In the present, Sado wakes atop stacked crates inside a warehouse and manifests his Fullbring arm as Shinigami begin forcing the door. In the canals, Hanataro offers a skull-marked nutrition pill, swallows it to no visible effect, and insists he feels fine, to Ichigo and Ganju's disbelief. The trio then emerges near the stairs to Senzaikyu and finds the area strangely unguarded. Ichigo assures Ganju that Uryu and Orihime are too clever to pick hopeless fights and that Sado is fine, since he can still feel his spiritual pressure.

Outside the warehouse, Sado has already downed a squad; he forces a terrified Shinigami to point him toward the white tower of Senzaikyu, then spares a treacherous attacker by simply bending his sword mid-swing. In his office, Kyoraku hears from Nanao that Sado is approaching. After a round of rebuffed flirting, he sets out on Yamamoto's orders, unwilling to let the captains' reputations suffer. Meanwhile Ichigo, Ganju, and Hanataro climb the long stairway to the top of Senzaikyu, only to halt in fear as a monstrous reiatsu bears down on them and Kenpachi Zaraki grins nearby.

Ichigo and Sado's first meeting is shown in flashback. In the present, Sado closes on Senzaikyu and spares an enemy, Kyoraku is dispatched to intercept him, and Ichigo's group reaches the tower before Kenpachi Zaraki appears to hunt Ichigo.

The chapter belongs to the twelfth volume and was adapted into Episode 35, Aizen Assassinated! The Darkness which Approaches. The opening flashback marks the earliest depicted meeting between Ichigo and Sado.