CROSSING SWORDS

Harribel unsheathes her weapon and locks blades with Hitsugaya. Apacci protests the captain assaulting her Espada, but Mila Rose brushes the complaint aside, certain Hitsugaya stands no chance now that Harribel has drawn steel, and urges a quick finish of Matsumoto so they can back their leader. Matsumoto goads Apacci and Mila Rose until Sung-Sun chides the pair for losing their tempers so easily, leaving all three bunched together. Seizing the moment, Matsumoto points out that their numbers meant something only while they had her encircled, not while they stand shoulder to shoulder.

Matsumoto releases her Zanpakutō and buries the trio in its drifting ash. A brush of the cloud draws blood from Apacci as she reveals Haineko's cutting property, then seals the gaps so the ash spirals in tight about the trio, and the three of them answer by firing a Cero straight through the cloud, tearing it open and grazing Matsumoto, who barely twists clear. Meanwhile, Ōmaeda is hammered down onto a rooftop by his own opponent. Suì-Fēng's foe asks whether she minds her subordinate taking such a beating; she replies that the hardship will do him good, since she has no use for a squad that grows too cozy and finds a little friction sharpens her troops. When the Arrancar aims a kick at her head, she slips it, boots him in the face, cracks part of his mask, then pins him to a wall with Kidō, remarking that she never got his name before releasing her sword.

Set within volume 38, FEAR FOR FIGHT, this chapter runs three of the false Karakura Town duels side by side. Its events were adapted into episode 221 of the anime.