A Gentle Right Arm

 is the twelfth episode of the Bleach anime.

As Ichigo Kurosaki begins his duel with Uryū Ishida, Yasutora Sado gains a new power.

Summary
Staring down Uryū Ishida in an alleyway in Karakura Town with Kon kneeling behind him in his body, Ichigo Kurosaki tells Uryū to explain the rules of this duel to him. However, Uryū merely takes a piece of Hollow Bait out of his shirt pocket and reveals that they will be using this, prompting a confused Ichigo to ask him what it is. Uryū explains that it is bait for Hollows which will attract them if crushed and scattered, shocking Ichigo.

As Uryū states that the winner of their duel will be whoever kills the most Hollows in the next 24 hours and notes that it is a very simple goal, Ichigo berates him for being willing to endanger the innocent citizens of Karakura Town for their duel and demands to know who he thinks he is. However, Uryū merely tells him to not make such a fuss and asserts that he will kill every single Hollow that appears before taunting Ichigo to prove that he can protect others as he crushes the bait.

A rumbling and distorted sound begins resonating throughout Karakura Town, and Ichigo watches in shock as a Hollow emerges from a tear in the sky and roars, only to be immediately destroyed by a Heilig Pfeil from Uryū, who notes that this makes one for him. When an angered Ichigo grabs him by the collar and pins him to the ground, Uryū calmly asks him what kind of face he is making. Ichigo demands that Uryū undo his action and chase away the Hollows he is summoning, but Uryū explains that the town will soon be overflowing with Hollows attracted by the bait and flatly states that the die has been cast before telling Ichigo that there is something else he should be doing right now.

As Ichigo slowly lets go of him, Uryū pushes him aside and asserts that he should get moving if he wants to protect as many people as possible from the Hollows. Though Ichigo is still angry at him, Uryū calmly walks past him before reminding Ichigo that Hollows tend to attack those with considerable Reiryoku, causing Ichigo to recall Grand Fisher attacking Karin Kurosaki and Yuzu Kurosaki a month prior as he realizes that they are in danger again before running off to find them as Kon follows him. Watching this, Uryū notes that Ichigo really has not realized that there are others around him with spiritual powers besides the members of his family.

Declaring that Ichigo does not need to worry because he will kill every single Hollow, Uryū tells Ichigo that he will realize how weak his own power is on the far side of their rubicon. As he looks up, Uryū sees Sōken Ishida in the sky above and clenches his fist before summoning his Heilig Bogen, Kojaku, as he proclaims that he detests Shinigami. Meanwhile, at Karakura High School, Tatsuki Arisawa rests outside the gymnasium in her karate gi and watches the Souls of two lovers flirt with each other as she criticizes them for being in love in public as spirits. When her instructor yells that her break is over, Tatsuki affirms this and begins to head back.

Suddenly, Orihime Inoue calls out to Tatsuki and asks her if she has a moment. Seeing this, Tatsuki reflects on how she barely remembers the day she went over to Orihime's house, only that she felt a lot of pain and saw someone who vaguely looked like Rukia Kuchiki walking around, and thought she had dreamed it up until she learned that Orihime had the exact same experience when the two talked about it the following day, leading to her seeing spirits ever since. While Orihime tries to get Tatsuki's attention, another Soul taunts and mocks Tatsuki, leading her to angrily shoo him away while declaring how annoying this power is, to Orihime's visible confusion.

Apologizing, Tatsuki asks Orihime what she wants to talk about, prompting Orihime to begin explaining that it is not very important before being interrupted by the sound of glass breaking. As other people shout out that all the windows on the first floor of a nearby building have been shattered, Tatsuki wonders what happened and tells Orihime to come look with her before running off. However, as Orihime begins to follow her, she stops in her tracks and looks up to see a strange distortion in the sky. Elsewhere, in an empty field, Karin plays soccer with her friends, but pauses and nervously looks up at the sky while Heita Toujoin yells at her to kick the ball.

While Kisuke Urahara silently ruminates in the Urahara Shop, another Hollow emerges in the sky above Karakura Town and dives toward Ichigo, who cuts it in half vertically through its mask with his Zanpakutō, causing it to disintegrate. Counting this as his third Hollow purified, Ichigo notices the time on a nearby clock and notes that Karin has probably gone somewhere to play by now and wonders where she could be as he runs off. Elsewhere in Karakura Town, Uryū fires multiple Heilig Pfeil in rapid succession, destroying five Hollows, and counts a total of eleven kills before staring up in surprise at the large black distortion in the sky above.

Back in the Urahara Shop, Urahara looks up as well, prompting Rukia to ask him what is wrong. When her Denreishinki starts beeping with a Hollow order, Rukia is irritated by a Hollow appearing at a time like this and apologizes to Urahara as she takes it out and prepares to run off, only for the beeping to suddenly terminate, to her confusion. As Urahara solemnly looks away, Rukia cheerfully states that Ichigo is doing pretty well today and begins to sit back down, but is interrupted when her Denreishinki begins beeping with another order. As soon as Rukia looks at the screen, the beeping terminates once more, leading her to wonder what is happening and question if it really is broken.

However, as the Denreishinki begins beeping again with multiple orders coming in, a confused Rukia asserts that this many Hollows showing up at once is not possible before staring in shock as the radar screen fills up with Hollow indicators. Slowly backing up, Rukia hears a Hollow roar and runs outside, where she sees the large black distortion in the sky above. As Urahara continues to sit silently behind her, Rukia fearfully wonders what this heavy and agitated Reiatsu means. Meanwhile, Ichigo runs along a street before being confronted by three large Hollows, who laugh as a caterpillar-like one attacks Ichigo, forcing him to block with his Zanpakutō.

Forcing the Hollow back, Ichigo cuts off one of its limbs and demands that they all move before cutting it in half horizontally, vertically bifurcating the Hollow behind it from the bottom up, and slashing into the head of the third Hollow before leaping down to the ground below as all three disintegrate behind him. After sheathing his Zanpakutō, Ichigo resumes running down the street while wondering where Karin is. At the bridge, Uryū hears another Hollow roar and pulls back a Heilig Pfeil before calmly firing it. In downtown Karakura Town, Yasutora Sado silently stares at the sky, prompting an irritated Gitano Shigeo to tell him to hurry up.

When Gitano points out that the lunch discount will be over by the time they get there if Sado keeps stalling and threatens to make him pay the extra amount, Sado notes with shock that this will not do, which Gitano agrees with before telling him to get moving. Sado begins to walk along, but stops once again and stares at the large black distortion in the sky as he notes that he has experienced this terrible feeling once before. Suddenly, Gitano dropkicks Sado, sending him flying back while Sado is relatively unfazed, and angrily berates Sado for not realizing that Gitano is living a precarious life on the wages from his part-time job and does not get to eat just for living like students do.

Grabbing Sado by the collar, Gitano declares that he risks his life for a bowl of rice and tells Sado to repeat this, which he does, before resuming their walk to the market while asserting that they do not buy meat until it is on sale and that the expiration date is just an approximation. However, the group is interrupted when Bulbous G falls from the sky above and crashes into the ground behind Sado, knocking down Gitano and Harutoki Ide. As a bystander wonders if this was a gas explosion, Sado stares in shock as Bulbous G stands up, though he can only see a distortion where the Hollow is standing. While Gitano asks him if he is alright and Ide advises leaving, Sado pushes them away.

Sado leaps away as Bulbous G punches the area where he was standing and rolls on the grounds before telling Gitano and Ide to run away. Upon realizing that Bulbous G is looking at him, Sado dodges another punch from him, resulting in several nearby windows shattering from the force of the blow, and realizes that the Hollow is targeting him, prompting him to begin running down the street away from Gitano, who asks him where he is going. As he runs, Sado notes that he does not know what Bulbous G is before observing that all he needs to do if the Hollow is targeting him is simply run to a location where no one else is around. Meanwhile, in the field, Heita tells Karin to run.

While preparing to receive the soccer ball, Heita is instead hit in the face by it, giving him a bloody nose, as Karin halfheartedly apologizes. Seeing this, Kazuya Usaka demands to know what is wrong with Karin and her kicking the ball anywhere while being distracted as Ryohei Toba inquires if she is serious about playing and Kei Uehara glares at her. However, when Karin glances at them, all four boys back up several feet away and timidly ask her if she wants to fight, only for Karin to apologize and state that she is going home, to their surprise, as she walks away. As Kei calls out after her, Karin notes that she cannot concentrate due to the strange air and decides to go to bed early.

Suddenly, Karin encounters Sado, who is panting heavily, and identifies him as Ichigo's friend with the parakeet as a shocked Sado realizes she is Ichigo's sister. Karin begins to ask him what an adult is doing here all by himself, only for Sado to suddenly grab her and push her back as Bulbous G crashes into the area behind them. While a terrified Karin wonders what Bulbous G is upon seeing him, the field shakes as Bulbous G approaches, drawing the attention of Karin's friends. Shielding Karin, Sado sees that Bulbous G has stopped moving and wonders if he is watching their moves before cursing his inability to see the Hollow clearly, only to be surprised when Karin asserts that it is coming.

As Karin fearfully wonders what Bulbous G is, Sado asks her if she can see him, leading her to reveal that she can see Bulbous G very clearly. Approaching the two, Bulbous G prepares to attack them, only for Karin to warn Sado of this at the last moment, allowing him to pick her up and leap away as Bulbous G punches the area where they were standing. After skidding to a halt, Sado looks at the area where Bulbous G was standing, only to see that he is gone and wonder where he is. Karin directs his attention to the right, where Bulbous G throws another punch at them, forcing Sado to dodge and begin running away as Karin asks him if he really cannot see Bulbous G.

Sado clarifies that he can only somewhat see him, prompting Karin to tell him to hold her tight while she sees Bulbous G for him. Though Sado protests this, Karin asserts that she can do this and that this is not the first time she has seen a monster like Bulbous G before explaining that she has been wondering what Ichigo's association with them is. Upon seeing Bulbous G running up on their left side, Karin tells Sado to dodge, and as he leaps back, Sado sees Bulbous G's arm in front of him and punches downward onto it. However, Bulbous G only roars in response and swipes at Sado and Karin with the same hand, resulting in Sado being unable to dodge in time and getting sent flying back.

As Karin calls out to a bloodied and unresponsive Sado, her friends run up to her and wonder who Sado is while asking her if she beat him up. Karin tries to warn them to run away, but her friends interpret this as her being moody and berate her for always being so mean even when they are just concerned for her. Upon seeing Bulbous G looming behind behind her friends, Karin yells and leaps forward to push them down. Watching this, Sado recalls being a child in Mexico and his grandfather, Oscar Joaquín de la Rosa, asking him if he hit someone for hurting him again. Putting his hands on Sado's shoulders, Oscar praises him as being physically gifted by God.

Oscar explains to Sado that people who are different are suppressed in their part of the world before asserting that Sado must be kind and learn why he has such big and strong fists. In the present, as Bulbous G prepares to attack Karin and her friends, Sado mentally notes that he now knows that his body is big so he can protect rather than hurt others as he gets to his feet, prompting Karin's friend to run away. Turning to face Bulbous G, Sado asks Oscar to lend him his strength as he throws a punch at Bulbous G while the latter attacks him in turn, resulting in a powerful clash that releases a torrent of energy which blows off Bulbous G's arm, sending him flying back.

As Bulbous G lands flat on his back, Karin stares in shock at Sado, who emerges from the dust cloud with his right arm transformed into Brazo Derecha de Gigante. While Karin wonders what Sado's arm has become, Bulbous G gets to his feet and angrily roars, prompting Sado to clench his fist before running toward Bulbous G, who attempts to attack him once more. Bringing his fist up towards Bulbous G from the ground in an uppercut, releasing another torrent of energy that vertically bifurcates Bulbous G, who is sent flying into the air as he disintegrates. When Karin runs up and asks him if his arm is alright, Sado merely smiles and gives her a thumbs-up.

With Karin visibly embarrassed by this and wondering why Sado would do something so cheesy, Sado collapses, further shocking her, and mentally admits that he does not understand why this armor suddenly appeared on this arm, why he was able to release such a powerful attack with it, and why he was suddenly able to see Bulbous G clearly. As Karin runs to his side, Sado asks her if she is okay, prompting Karin to tearfully state that he is the only one who is hurt. Sado asserts that this is good, but Karin kicks him in the head and demands to know what is good about getting hurt before proclaiming that even one person getting hurt means it is not good.

Declaring that this is just the logic of men who want to be heroic, Karin tells Sado that he is just like Ichigo in this sense and claims that she cannot stand it as she explains that she is going to go get Isshin Kurosaki so he can treat Sado. After telling Sado to not move from that spot, Karin runs off, leaving Sado to note that she kicks just like Ichigo. Back at Karakura High School, while Tatsuki and Chizuru Honshō crouch on the ground and clean up the broken glass from the windows, Orihime stands nearby and stares in fright at the roof of a building in the distance as Numb Chandelier peers over the top at them.

Next Episode Preview
Orihime details a story about her, the fighter of hope, driving evil out of the somber Karakura Town with six henchmen. When Ichigo asks her what she is talking about, Orihime reveals this is the next episode preview, which Ichigo notes is too convenient.

Fights

 * Yasutora Sado vs. Bulbous G (concluded)

Powers and Techniques Used
Quincy Techniques:

Spirit Weapons:

Fullbring: