Gathering at the Place of Fortune! The Man Who Makes His Move

'''Gathering at the Place of Fortune! The Man Who Makes His Move''' is the seventy-third episode of the Bleach anime.

The fight with Hō and Ban continues as Ganju Shiba and Hanatarō Yamada show up.

Summary
Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends reach the ground floor of the hospital only to find that it is raining outside. Given the Bounts' water controlling powers, this makes everyone apprehensive. Kon begins to joke around before Hō and Ban appear with their Dolls, merging them into one massive torrent. Ichigo tells Yasutora Sado and Orihime Inoue to take Uryū Ishida and run. Along with Rukia Kuchiki and Lieutenant Renji Abarai, Ichigo moves to attack the merged Dolls, which proceed to shoot projectile water blasts, which he avoids. Both Ichigo and Renji slash at the torrent of water, but neither attacks are effective as the torrent merely reforms itself after. Rukia uses '''Hadō #31. Shakkahō''' and the resulting explosion scatters water over them all.

Exasperated, Rukia acknowledges that her attack didn't work. The scattered torrents of water then engulf the three of them, causing Orihime and Sado to stop in shock and call back to them. Ichigo manages to get his head to the surface of the water and tells them to escape. Orihime moves towards them, but Sado insists they will be alright and that they have to protect a reluctant Uryū, whom Sado is carrying. Orihime frowns sadly, and the three of them run away from the dangerous area.

Elsewhere, Yoshino Sōma is standing outside an antiques store when she is approached by Ryō Utagawa who tells her that Jin Kariya is worried about her. He asks her shouldn't she return to his side. When she insists that she does not take orders, Ryō reminds her that the order was given by the man she loves, so she advises him that her love has worn out and that she knows Kariya was only manipulating her. Ryō maintains that he doesn't know why Kariya is so good to her, since to him she only appears to be ill-tempered. Yoshino counters that to her, Ryō is like a little boy and that his suspicious nature will be his own downfall. Ryō smirks and refuses to comment on that observation before disappearing.

At the shop they both work at, Ganju and Hanatarō prepare to depart until the morning having finished their shifts. They both discuss their reasons for being in the World of the Living with Ganju claiming that Kūkaku Shiba sent him here to investigate the strange reiatsu they were sensing. Hanatarō states that his captain sent him there for exactly the same reason before Ganju slaps his back, asserting that they both have a tough time of it. Suddenly, they both freeze as they sense an unusual reiatsu nearby.

Back at the hospital, Hō and Ban still have the three Shinigami trapped within their Dolls, ensuring they hinder every chance they try to use to escape. Both of the Bounts soon tire of playing with them and decide they must pursue the Quincy before he escapes. In response, their Dolls follow them and release their captors as they do so. Released, Ichigo and his friends realize that their enemies have left and are heading in the direction that Sado and Orihime have taken Uryū and immediately follow.

Sado decides to head to their usual construction site to get out of the rain so Ichigo will be able to find them easily. However, the Dolls, Guhl and Günther soon intercept them and begin throwing projectiles at them, forcing them to evade their attacks. Some water trips Sado, forcing him to drop Uryū so Orihime uses her shield to try and protect him, but the attacks soon cause it to shatter and knocks her back. Sado then tries to attack the Dolls, but his attack has little effect, so Hō and Ban send them in to attack. However, Sado soon attacks the two Bounts themselves causing them to separate to evade the attack. Hō panics and tells Ban not to leave his side, but Sado attacks him, knocking him over. Orihime notices one of the Dolls shaking as he falls. The friends take the chance to escape.

While hurrying towards their friends, Ichigo discusses how their enemies never attack as one, constantly combining their powers, and never leaving the other's side.

At Kariya's mansion, a lone Shinigami is seated in a dark room, reading a book before being approached by a large, soaked man. He reminds the Shinigami it is dark, but he merely replies that the dim light is perfect to read in. He tells the man to go put on dry clothes before he makes tea and lets him know that nobody else has arrived yet of their expected company.

At the construction site, Kurōdo complains that there is still water around and Sado insists he still had to get them out of the rain. Uryū tries to coax them into leaving him behind and making a run for it, which they all disagree with. Suddenly, Guhl and Günther attack again, drenching them all and capturing Uryū as he is wrapped in water. Hō and Ban threaten to have Uryū killed if Sado attacks them, causing him to hesitate as Ichigo and the others arrive. The Dolls have water enter their bodies through their mouths and nostrils with the Bount twins explaining they can attack using any water, even the water in the human body. They tell their Dolls to rip their bodies from the inside out.

As Ichigo and his friends struggle to survive the attack, Noba decides to use his abilities to help them. He teleports Ban away from Hō's side, sending the two of them into panic. He continues to teleport them away from one another in various directions as they try to reunite with each other. Ban is eventually teleported over a dip in the ground and falls down, unconscious when he hits the ground. The lack of their double team causes the attack to weaken as water spills out of Ichigo's mouth along with the others. Distraught, Hō decides to continue the battle when Ichigo releases Uryū. Rukia struggles to attack the Dolls and Ichigo insists her Kidō doesn't have enough fire power.

Suddenly, using his Seppa ability, Ganju breaks through the wall with Hanatarō by his side, stunning Ichigo in the process. Dodging Ichigo's questioning, Ganju insists that the Shiba specialty in fireworks should be enough fire power to defeat their enemies. Ganju throws a fire work into the torrent of water created by Guhl and Günther, and the explosion causing many fire works to explode, heating the water so that it won't gather easily and setting the Dolls on fire. As the Dolls die, both of the Bount twins begin to dry up and turn to dust, dead. The group concludes that when a Doll dies, so does its Bount owner. Orihime suddenly realizes that Uryū has gone missing.

Injured and tired, still dressed in his bed clothes, Uryū limps through the night, near a road, his destination unclear.

Back at his mansion, Kariya enters the large seating room to see a large group of people gathered there. He commends the Shinigami for doing a good job in gathering the targets. He then esquires of Ryō on whether Hō and Ban have succeeded on their mission. However, Ryō informs his leader that the reiatsu of the twin Bounts has disappeared, so they have more than likely been defeated and died. Kariya receives this news calmly before a malicious smile appears on his face.

Fights

 * Battle against Hō & Ban (concluded)

Powers and Techniques Used
Kidō used:
 * Hadō #31 Shakkahō (赤火砲, Red Fire Cannon)

Techniques used:
 * Seppa (石波, Stone Wave)