Bang The Bore

Learning that Szayelaporro Granz ranks among the ten Espada, Renji has barely braced himself before Dondochakka comes crashing out of a second trap door onto him. Once the flailing Hollow finishes reciting the scientist's reputation and Renji kicks him off, the lieutenant refuses further talk, draws his blade, and calls up his Bankai, Hihiō Zabimaru, only for it to burst into hundreds of fragments the moment it forms. Szayelaporro explains that he has tuned the room to seal that specific Bankai, having mapped its shape, Reiatsu, and Reishi from his late brother Yylfordt, whose body he had seeded with Rokureichu purely to harvest data. Untroubled by any insult in calling Yylfordt a mere container, he assures Renji that escape and victory are both impossible and asks him not to thrash so his corpse stays whole.

In the palace, Rukia's wave of ice sails past a leaping Kaien, who taunts her from below. He names Some no mai, Tsukishiro and Tsugi no mai, Hakuren, reminding her that he helped invent and drill those very forms. When she answers only by raising Sode no Shirayuki, he spins his sword into his own Shikai, Nejibana, its trident loosing a surge of water as he warns that the duel is already decided.

Szayelaporro seals Renji's Bankai using data gathered from his brother Yylfordt Granz and reveals he regards the fight as an experiment. Renji is left with only his Shikai against a foe who has already dissected his power. In Aaroniero's palace, Kaien counters Rukia's attacks with intimate knowledge of her techniques and releases Nejibana, taking the upper hand.

Bang The Bore is the 265th chapter of volume 30, THERE IS NO HEART WITHOUT YOU, set during the Hueco Mundo invasion. It was adapted across episodes 155 and 159, Yasutora Sado dies! Orihime's Tears.