Deicide 2

Rangiku Matsumoto observes the clash between Gin and Ichigo from afar and softly voices his name a single time. Gin repeats his verdict that the teenager unsettles him and warns himself that letting the fight run long could turn dangerous.

Ichigo suddenly registers that the blade has already shrunk back to its ordinary size, baffled that he missed the retraction despite never taking his eyes off it. Gin switches to plain, relentless swordplay, driving a rapid barrage that opens a gash on Ichigo's left shoulder. Even so, Ichigo pushes in close, locks the weapon, and lays out his conclusion: the frightening quality of the Bankai is neither its enormous reach nor its power to level buildings, but the tremendous velocity at which it snaps shut.

Impressed that his opponent read all of that from only a pair of strikes, Gin claps and stops hiding the truth. He states the blade closes at five hundred times the speed on display, revealing that Kamishini no Yari is built around ultimate quickness rather than ultimate length, and insists Ichigo still cannot prevail. Nearby, Isshin Kurosaki notes that Aizen's motions have grown sluggish and asks whether he has hit his limit. Aizen agrees, but clarifies that the limit belongs only to his Shinigami form, adding that the Hogyoku's will has finally begun to understand what he truly craves.

Ichigo deduces that the true terror of Kamishini no Yari lies in its contraction speed, prompting Gin to confirm the blade retracts at five hundred times its visible pace. Gin reframes the weapon as one defined by speed instead of range. Meanwhile, Aizen acknowledges that his current body has been pushed to its edge and signals that the Hogyoku is beginning to align itself with his desire.

Numbered 400 in the manga, this installment belongs to the Deicide stretch of the Fake Karakura Town conflict, collected in the forty-sixth volume, BACK FROM BLIND. Its events were carried into the anime through Episode 297, The Extending Blade?! Ichigo vs. Gin!