chimaera chord

Watching the surrounding battles, Kyōraku suggests he and Starrk put on a show of their own, but Starrk declines on the grounds that Kyōraku has yet to draw his second blade. Starrk lays out his reasoning: throughout their exchange Kyōraku has wielded a single katana with both hands, and the speed of those swings gives him away as a natural two-sword fighter who has been bluffing. Kyōraku praises the deduction and begins swinging in earnest, prompting Starrk to note the corrected form. Asked whether he will get serious once both swords come out, Starrk claims he is already strong enough, and Kyōraku unsheathes his second blade so the two can truly clash.

Lilynette asks whether Ukitake means to join in, and he refuses, calling two against one unfair. She insists Starrk will kill Kyōraku, yet Ukitake stays unconcerned, which annoys her into challenging him directly. Alarmed, he says he cannot raise a hand against a child and tells her she should not be somewhere so dangerous; when she protests that Arrancar have no age, he will not budge, since to his eyes she remains a child, and warns that he will drive her off by force. Stung, Lilynette produces a blade tucked inside one of her horns. Nearby, Matsumoto checks on Hinamori, who explains she has never layered multiple Kidō together before and is amazed at how far Hinamori has come since her injury and Aizen's betrayal. Then the three Fracción emerge from the smoke, release their weapons, and, deciding to settle everything, each rips off an arm and hurls it into the pile, spawning a monstrous Hollow.

Set inside volume 39, EL VERDUGO, this chapter escalates the Starrk and Ukitake confrontations and births the beast Ayon. Its events were carried into episode 224 of the anime.