Board Thread:Questions and Answers/@comment-10797017-20130622101437/@comment-3245042-20131004171409

perhaps Ichigo's new Zanpakuto is a combination of both his Shinigami and Quincy powers. the smaller blade (Which represents the "old man" who is the manifestation of his Quincy powers) absorbs reishi similar to how Quincies do as well as being used for defense/blocking. The large Zanpakuto (which represent his Shinigami/Hollow powers) could be for offense due to its size and to store the gathered reishi from the smaller blade to use for attacks and increase their powers. On a side note I feel like Ichigo's Zanpakuto might actually be a Darkness-Type for some reason