251. Baron's Lecture 1st Period

As parallel duels ignite across Las Noches, with Uryū squaring off against Cirucci Sanderwicci and Sado facing Gantenbainne Mosqueda, Dordoni turns his full speed on Ichigo. A downward kick shatters the floor, and a flurry of blows tears through the arches and hurls Ichigo through a wall into the next chamber. Dordoni mocks his sluggish reactions, leaky guard, and poor read on his surroundings, then pins him against a cratered pillar and insists that only Bankai can save him.

Ichigo flatly refuses. Since the Privaron Espada are no longer true Espada, he argues, spending his trump card here would be a waste when the real Espada still await him throughout Hueco Mundo. Dordoni claims to respect the logic even as he catches Ichigo's blade against his bare leg, seizes Zangetsu by the edge, and warns him not to underestimate a former Espada.

Without even unsheathing his sword, Dordoni triggers his Resurrección, Giralda, whipping up a whirlwind that drives Ichigo back. When the gale clears, the Arrancar has gained horned shoulders and coiling leg armor whose ankle vents spew twin Cyclones, each spawning a beaked bird of living wind. A single command sends one of the wind-birds smashing Ichigo down from above into a bloody heap. Watching helplessly through the broken wall, a weeping Nel fears he will die, and the left eye of her mask begins to shine with a strange light.

The chapter frames Ichigo's pride as a liability, as his refusal to use Bankai on a 'lesser' opponent leaves him badly outmatched. Dordoni's release of Giralda reveals the wind-based, kick-focused fighting style that defines the Privaron Espada's danger. The closing glow in Nel's mask plants the first hint of her hidden true nature, a mystery the following volume develops.

This chapter closes the volume BARON'S LECTURE FULL-COURSE and was adapted, together with the preceding chapter, into Episode 151. The schoolroom framing of the title, a 'lecture,' plays on Dordoni's habit of lecturing Ichigo on combat basics in the middle of their fight.