Dead White Invasion

In the Seireitei, Ukitake shares tea and a rare moment of calm with Hisagi as they watch Rukia and Orihime train hard on the division grounds, and he reflects that the friendship has finally drawn the guarded Rukia out of her shell. Hisagi, delivering the latest Seireitei Communication, grumbles about how heavily the Gotei 13 now leans on its captains with so many officers scattered or idle. Ukitake quietly wishes the fragile peace could last longer than the four months they have been granted.

That peace ends as a Garganta tears open above Karakura Town and disgorges Yammy, Luppi, Grimmjow, and the vacant Wonderweiss, far ahead of when the Shinigami expected them. Grimmjow immediately breaks away to hunt Ichigo, ignored by the others now that his Espada rank is gone, while Yammy declares he means to kill everyone who wronged him. Hitsugaya opens with a burst of ice and names himself to Yammy, Luppi bares his number-six tattoo to Ikkaku and Yumichika, and Rangiku hesitates over the childlike Wonderweiss.

Beneath the Visored warehouse, Love and Kensei pin Ichigo down as he strains to answer the invasion, until Shinji overrules them and frees him to go. Ichigo races into the sky, where Grimmjow is already waiting, and the two square off, Ichigo drawing Zangetsu and reaching for his mask to show how far he has come. This chapter was adapted into episode 138.