You Don't Hurt Anymore

Having taken all five Garra de la Pantera on his own body, Ichigo lands winded before Grimmjow, who ridicules his instinct to shield Orihime and shows off the projectiles' force by shearing the top off a nearby tower. The Espada spots fractures spreading across the left side of Ichigo's Hollow mask and calls him finished, yet Ichigo smooths the cracks away with a pass of his hand and refuses the claim. The two hurl themselves back together, tearing across the ruined dunes in a blur of exchanged strikes.

Above them, Orihime fights to steady her nerve. The blackened eyes behind the mask unsettle her, leaving her unable to find her own reflection in them and dragging her mind back to the monstrous Acidwire. As she falters, Grimmjow lands a punishing kick and a spinning drop that flattens another tower around Ichigo. Nel refuses to look away, insisting that Ichigo remains the same kind person who lost his temper the instant he heard Orihime's name, and she demands to know who will cheer for him if the two of them will not.

When Ichigo crashes into the base of her tower with half his mask gone and Grimmjow closing in for the kill, Orihime finally breaks her silence. She begs him not to die, tells him he does not have to win or push so hard, and pleads with him to stop getting hurt. Steadied by her voice, Ichigo casually catches Grimmjow's incoming jab and, apologizing that he can no longer afford another wound, opens a deep gash down the Espada's chest.

Ichigo repairs his cracking Hollow mask by hand, proving he can hold the transformation far longer than in their previous clash. Orihime conquers her dread of his changed appearance and voices her support aloud for the first time in the fight, a turning point that steadies him. Encouraged by her plea, Ichigo intercepts Grimmjow's strike and lands a decisive slash across his torso, drawing a heavy spray of blood.

The chapter belongs to the extended Ichigo versus Grimmjow duel during the Hueco Mundo arc and was adapted in Episode 166. Its title was originally rendered as You Don't Hurt Anymore. Orihime's flashback to Acidwire links her fear here back to her earliest brush with a Hollow.