The Scarmask

Panting, Ichigo charges Nnoitra, who calls him slow and thrusts his weapon forward. Ichigo slips the vertical blade and stabs at Nnoitra's head, but the Espada catches Tensa Zangetsu barehanded and lets it slide harmlessly along his palm, then mocks the sword for only looking sharp before headbutting Ichigo into a building.

Nearby, Tesra warns Orihime against resisting, explaining that he could easily destroy her Shun Shun Rikka hairpins and has only spared them because Aizen claims that power and forbids its destruction unless she attacks with it. When Orihime realizes Nel has vanished, Tesra notices the same and detects her hiding behind a slab of wall, which he obliterates with Cero Cornea. Sent tumbling across the sand, Nel watches a battered Ichigo hurled overhead and freezes as Nnoitra nears. The Espada halts, addresses Nel by name, and points out the estigma across her nose, wondering aloud whether her cracked mask is aching, while a stunned Ichigo asks how he knows her.

Inside the palace, Dondochakka lunges at Uryu, who dodges as the Arrancar and several of his Carbon-Copy clones crash down around him. Uryu lands a punch to prove the real Dondochakka is attacking him, then nurses his bruised knuckles. Dondochakka frantically insists they must find Nel at once, before she wanders any deeper into Las Noches. Back outside, Nnoitra realizes Ichigo has no idea who his small companion truly is and, grinning, identifies her as Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, a former Espada.

Nnoitra continues to dominate Ichigo, shrugging off his blade entirely. Tesra flushes Nel out with Cero Cornea, and Nnoitra recognizes the scar on her mask. The chapter delivers its major twist by revealing that the childlike Nel is in fact Nelliel Tu Odelschwanck, a onetime member of the Espada.

The chapter was adapted in Episode 191, The Frightening Banquet, Szayelaporro Theater. Its reveal of Nel's true identity reframes her earlier comic-relief role and sets up the flashbacks that follow later in the volume.