Dark Side of Universe

After running his sword clean through Ichigo's chest, Kenpachi withdraws the weapon and watches the young man's blade split apart where the strike passed through it. Convinced the duel is finished, the captain voices his letdown at losing the rare opponent who could both wound him and pick out the sound of his bells, then turns to leave. Sprawled and gasping, Ichigo coughs up blood and silently orders his body to keep moving, refusing to die before he frees Rukia.

The moment freezes. The elderly spirit of his Zanpakuto steps into view beside the departing captain and asks whether Ichigo means to fight, to win, or simply to survive. Ichigo grips what remains of his shattered sword and answers that he wants to win, insisting that battle and mere survival carry no meaning on their own. Satisfied, the spirit sweeps his cloak around the boy and carries him off into darkness.

Ichigo comes to on the vertical face of a skyscraper, the same sideways world he once tumbled through, and clings to a window in a panic. The spirit explains that the earlier fall came from the imbalance of Ichigo turning into a Hollow, and that the realm now holds steady even after the brutal clash with Kenpachi. He tosses over a plain blade, calling it an Asauchi, the nameless weapon handed to Shinigami unfit for the Gotei 13. When Ichigo objects that his sword is already named Zangetsu, the spirit produces the true blade and hurls it off the tower. A white-robed figure identical to Ichigo streaks past, snatches it midair, and lands with a roll, greeting the stunned Ichigo as his partner. The spirit reveals that Ichigo must earn the right to wield him by battling this double and taking Zangetsu back.

Kenpachi's thrust breaks Ichigo's Shikai in two and drops him, seemingly ending their fight. Time halts, and Ichigo, offered the choice between fighting, winning, and living, declares his will to win. Drawn into his inner world, he receives a nameless Asauchi, watches the real Zangetsu thrown away, and comes face to face for the first time with the white manifestation of his Hollow powers, who claims the sword and is set as the opponent he must defeat.

This chapter appears in the thirteenth collected volume, which is titled after its fifth installment and carries Kenpachi Zaraki on the cover. Its events fed into the anime episodes Desperation! The Broken Zangetsu and The Immortal Man. Viz Media released the installment in English under the title The Dark Side of the Universe. The story belongs to the wider Soul Society arc.