The Theatre Suicide SCENE 6

Holding up Shinken Hakkyoken, the Zanpakuto of her bloodline, Nanao Ise faces Lille Barro, who dismisses the weapon as gaudy and so bright he cannot even make out its edge. She explains that the sword mirrors the power of gods, so its glare toward him is merely his own emitted light thrown back. Unbothered at being called a god, Lille invites her attack as she springs upward at him.

Memories fill the gap. Long ago, Shunsui Kyoraku refused to accept so precious an heirloom, but Isuzu Ise assured him it harms only Ise members and would bring him no misfortune, pleading that he was the one person she trusted while a young Nanao listened from behind a wall. Years later, Nanao entered the Shin'o Academy and spotted Shunsui, by then captain of the Eighth Division, strolling in a flowery kimono with two hairpins that matched her mother's exactly. When assignment results were posted, Nanao was baffled to land in the Eighth Division and brought the letter home to the distant Ise relatives who had raised her. Unable to imprint on her issued Asauchi yet gifted in Kido, she had tested early and asked for the Kido Corps, expecting no Zanpakuto at all. Standing before her new captain, who joked that he was kind to women but awkward with men, she noticed he now wore a different kimono and no pins, and understood he was the man her mother had entrusted with something.

Back in the present, Lille narrows his eyes at the last instant and blocks Nanao's downward cut with his wrist, only for the blade to shear his hand off in a burst of light that flings her backward. Studying the stump, he grasps how dangerous the sword must be and declares Nanao finished, gathering golden Reishi above his finger. Below, hidden in Kageoni, Shunsui recalls the guilt he has carried: Jushiro Ukitake's news that Central 46 executed Isuzu for losing a sacred treasure, and the deathbed of Shunzan Kyoraku, who pressed a hairpin on him. Weary of being handed people's treasures only to watch them die, Shunsui rises through Nanao's shadow, closes his hand over hers on the hilt, and asks to protect her and finish this together.

Nanao's swing severs Lille's hand, proving Shinken Hakkyoken can wound a being who believes himself beyond harm. Flashbacks reveal the Ise Curse that kills men who marry into the matrilineal clan, Isuzu entrusting the ritual sword to Shunsui, and Isuzu's execution over the blade. Shunsui emerges from Nanao's shadow to join his lieutenant for the finishing blow.

The final beat of the Theatre Suicide sequence in Volume 71, this chapter closes out much of Nanao's backstory and her bond with Shunsui. Its material was adapted into episode 403 of the anime, Shadows Gone. Shinken Hakkyoken, described as a bladeless ceremonial sword that reflects and scatters a god's power, is central to the encounter.