User blog comment:Godisme/Shades of the Bond/@comment-44061-20111130194255/@comment-44061-20111201035810

I think your confused Rukia giving her power to him resulted in a sword that was barely a zanpakuto and not his power, there was no shikai or bankai. The second time around was his powers entirely. This time around they used the spiritual energy of many to jump start his dorment powers that he lost using the Final getsuga tensho.