The Buckbeard

With the five-day threat still hanging, Yamamoto flashes to Chojiro using Shunpo, breaks the Heilig Pfeil pinning him, and cradles his lieutenant while fixing Luders with a glare. Reading the unspoken demand for their identity, Luders declines to answer, insisting Yamamoto should already know, as Shadows rise to swallow him and his six companions. Enraged, Yamamoto looses a firestorm from his Shikai Ryujin Jakka that floods the chamber and erupts across the balcony, yet the intruders are gone. He concludes they slipped through the Shakonmaku unseen, having left no trace of Reiatsu in the Seireitei. Then a gravely hurt Chojiro forces out a warning that the foe has found a way to undo their Bankai.

In Karakura, a scorched Ebern staggers from the smoke of the Getsuga Tensho, demanding an explanation for why Ichigo's Tensa Zangetsu never vanished. Ichigo sets his blade to the man's throat, seizing on the remark and realizing he now has plenty to ask about the past few minutes. But when he declares Ebern will be coming along, the Quincy curses, throws up a Shadow, and, promising it carries only the chosen, scatters on the wind, leaving him to puzzle over a portal that was clearly no Garganta.

Soon after, at Silbern, Luders strides into the great hall with his six fellows and spots Ebern kneeling, offering mock leniency for the failed, injured agent. Ebern snaps that he would never kneel to Luders. Before Luders can react, Yhwach severs his right arm, sending him screaming to the floor, and calmly reminds them that he will not tolerate quarreling in his presence, asking instead that they deliver their report in peace.

The invaders escape Yamamoto through Shadow travel, revealing they leave no Reiatsu behind, and Chojiro warns that the enemy can tamper with a Shinigami's Bankai. Ebern flees Ichigo the same way, hinting his Bankai-sealing scheme failed for reasons unknown. At Silbern, Yhwach makes his entrance by maiming Luders, establishing himself as the Wandenreich's fearsome ruler.

The fifth chapter of Volume 55, THE BLOOD WARFARE, it was adapted into Episode 367 of the anime, "THE BLOOD WARFARE," and brings the Wandenreich's leader, Yhwach, into the story.