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After Mera Hiuchigashima alerts him to their arrival, Ōetsu Nimaiya greets Ichigo and Renji at the Hōōden with a bombastic show, a microphone stuck to his cheek, spotlights, and a self-introduction as the world's number one sword maker. He parades them through a glittering hall lined with beautiful women who fawn over their looks, though Ichigo suspects the crowd is not what it seems and fights to restrain an overjoyed Kon.

Nimaiya toys with the pair, forcing them into a humiliating balancing pose he passes off as a formal apology and photographing them for the women's amusement. Mera finally kicks him and leads everyone to the true Hōōden, a shabby wooden hut on the city's edge, revealing that the lavish version exists only because Nimaiya refuses to admit he lives in a shack. When Ichigo and Renji step inside, the floor gives way and drops them into a deep pit.

From above, Nimaiya discloses that every woman they passed was in fact a Zanpakutō rather than a Shinigami, and that the two visitors cannot even tell the difference. Holding up their broken blades, he blames their careless treatment before smashing what remains, noting that an unloved sword breaks with ease. As glowing eyes gather in the dark around them, he promises to consider repairs only if they climb out alive, insisting he does not forge weapons for losers.

Nimaiya stages an over-the-top welcome, then reveals the surrounding "women" are all Zanpakutō. He exposes and shatters Ichigo and Renji's neglected blades to make his point about respecting a sword. The floor of the real Hōōden drops the pair into a pit surrounded by furious Zanpakutō. Nimaiya makes repairing their weapons conditional on their survival.

The chapter introduces Ōetsu Nimaiya, the eccentric creator of the Zanpakutō, and his attendant Mera Hiuchigashima during the Royal Guard sequence of the Thousand-Year Blood War arc. Its events were adapted in Episode 376, "The Battle."