Heat In Trust

Racing toward Kyoraku with his last blast gathering, Sado silently vows to Ichigo that he will win even if it kills him, and to renew their old pledge should he live. The chapter then returns to the past. After Ichigo once saved him, Sado explained that he had promised his grandfather, Oscar Joaquin de la Rosa, never to throw a punch on his own behalf. Born in Okinawa and orphaned young, Sado had moved to Mexico at eight and grown into a bully until Oscar taught him to be kind. His coin, a keepsake from Mexico, he called more precious than his own life.

Later, thugs led by Yokochini ambush Sado, bind him to a chair beneath a bridge, and beat him, unmoved by his refusal to break. When Yokochini tears off the coin and threatens to destroy it with pliers, Ichigo bursts in, kicks the boss into the river, and reclaims the coin. Counting the fallen men, Ichigo phones for the ambulances they will need, then thrashes the rest. Lying on his back afterward, he proposes that the two of them each defend the other and whatever the other holds dear, so that Sado need never break his rule; Sado agrees.

In the present, Sado holds that promise in mind and prepares to release his energy blast. Before it can land, Kyoraku cuts him down with a single horizontal slash across the chest, apologizing as blood erupts from the wound.

The origin of Sado's pacifism, his grandfather Oscar, and the meaning of his coin are revealed, along with the childhood pact by which he and Ichigo fight for each other. In the present, Kyoraku defeats Sado with one decisive strike.

The chapter belongs to the twelfth volume and was adapted into Episode 37, Motive of the Fist. Its flashback introduces Sado's grandfather Oscar Joaquin de la Rosa and the delinquent Yokochini.