The Approaching Danger

Keigo's hallway antics run headlong into Ikkaku's temper until Rangiku steps in, and at the Kurosaki Clinic Rukia stomps a delighted Kon flat before settling into Ichigo's room, where Isshin and Yuzu press cups to the door to listen in. Brushing past the family circus, Ichigo demands to know what the Arrancar are and why they are after him.

Renji and the others drop through the ceiling from the attic and lay it out: Arrancar are Hollows that shed their masks to gain Shinigami power, long rare and stalled in development until Aizen's Hogyoku produced complete specimens like Ulquiorra and Yammy. Down three captains, Soul Society had meant only to observe Aizen, but the Arrancar's early attack forced it to send a strike team, chosen by acting commander Yamamoto and built by Renji around Rukia, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Rangiku, and a reluctant Hitsugaya.

Hitsugaya warns that Aizen is fixed on Ichigo, then details the Menos hierarchy. Gillians, the mindless giants shown in textbooks, are what Ichigo once mistook for the ultimate Hollow; Adjuchas are smaller, sharper, and command them; and the human-sized Vasto Lorde, vanishingly few, outmatch captain-class Shinigami. Should Aizen turn ten or more Vasto Lorde into Arrancar, Soul Society would be doomed. Meanwhile, in Las Noches, Ulquiorra and Yammy return before Aizen, who invites Ulquiorra to share his findings with his twenty fellow Arrancar.

The strike team explains the origin and former rarity of Arrancar. Renji recounts how and why the team was assembled under Yamamoto's authority. Hitsugaya reveals the three classes of Menos and the danger of the Vasto Lorde. Ulquiorra returns to Las Noches to report to Aizen.

Viz titles the chapter The Approaching Danger. It is adapted in Episode 115 and delivers the arc's core exposition on the classes of Menos.