Yasutora Sado dies! Orihime's Tears

 is the one hundred and fifty-ninth episode of the Bleach anime.

Yasutora Sado is defeated by Nnoitra Gilga as 6th Division Lieutenant Renji Abarai is confronted by Szayelaporro Granz.

Summary
In a dark laboratory room, Szayelaporro Granz watches surveillance footage of the battle between 6th Division Lieutenant Renji Abarai and Yylfordt Granz in Karakura Town, where he smiles as he notices the flaws in Renji's Bankai, Hihiō Zabimaru, and is alerted by an alarm going off to Renji and Dondochakka Birstanne running through a corridor in Las Noches. Meanwhile, on the sands outside, a stunned Yasutora Sado is slashed across the chest by Nnoitra Gilga and collapses while his Fullbring, Brazo Derecha de Gigante, dissipates.

In response, a disappointed Nnoitra confirms that he was weak after all. Around Las Noches, Ichigo Kurosaki, 6th Division Lieutenant Renji Abarai, and Uryū Ishida are startled upon sensing the plummet in Sado's Reiatsu. As Nel Tu wonders what is happening while under his arm, Ichigo resumes running down the hall they are in, causing a bewildered Nel to complain about how fast he is going, and refuses to accept Sado being killed because of the promise he and his friends made with each other, though he realizes that all he can do right now is believe that they will all come back alive.

Simultaneously, Orihime Inoue stares up at the moon from within her room prior to Ulquiorra Cifer announcing that he is entering. With Orihime solemnly turning to face him, Ulquiorra deduces that she has sensed it and criticizes Nnoitra for getting impatient instead of waiting in his palace as ordered. When Orihime insists that Sado is not dead, Ulquiorra has an Arrancar attendant wheel in a cart with food on it and tells Orihime to eat it, only for her to claim that she is not hungry. In turn, as the attendant leaves, Ulquiorra asserts that it is Orihime's duty to maintain her health until Sōsuke Aizen calls upon her to use her powers again.

Though Ulquiorra threatens to shove the food down her throat or strap her down and feed her intravenously if she does not comply with this, Orihime merely reiterates that Sado is not dead, but Ulquiorra dismisses this as irrelevant and questions if Orihime wants him to assure her that Sado is still alive, which he considers nonsense since he is not here to comfort her. After a moment's pause, Ulquiorra admits that he does not understand why it matters if Sado is dead since all of Orihime's friends will die soon and one of them simply happened to die before the others did in this case, prompting Orihime to look at him in shock.

Ignoring Orihime's request for him to stop, Ulquiorra states that she should have known this was coming and calls her friends idiots whom she should be disgusted with for rushing into Hueco Mundo to be slaughtered so easily, which leads Orihime to sprint over to him and slap Ulquiorra hard in the face. Staring silently at a panting Orihime for several seconds, Ulquiorra departs and promises to be back in an hour, where he will tie down and force-feed Orihime if she has not eaten by then. Once Ulquiorra leaves, Orihime stands in place with tears streaming down her cheeks and begins sobbing quietly in the empty room.

Back outside, Nnoitra sits on a bent tree as he uses Indice Radar, where he is greeted by his Fracción, Tesra Lindocruz. Approaching Nnoitra from behind, Tesra notices Sado lying face-down in the sand nearby and observes that Nnoitra has not finished him off yet, prompting Nnoitra to confirm this and question who would be impressed by him killing a thousand pests like Sado since there is no profit in squashing bugs. Suddenly, Nnoitra senses Aaroniero Arruruerie having released his Zanpakutō against Rukia Kuchiki and gets up to seek out the source of an enormous Reiatsu he has just detected so he can crush it.

Before Nnoitra can walk more than a few meters away, Sado gets up behind him with his left arm's Fullbring, Brazo Izquierda del Diablo, activated and refuses to let Nnoitra do so. Though Nnoitra grins and prepares to battle as Sado rushes toward him to attack, Tesra moves between them at the last second and blocks Sado's punch with Plato Colmillo as he disparages Sado for daring to attack Nnoitra in his condition, leaving the latter to curse as he collapses once more. While Tesra sheathes his Zanpakutō and asks Nnoitra if they should go now, Nnoitra holds the edge of his own Zanpakutō diagonally across Tesra's upper body.

Nnoitra questions why Tesra believed Nnoitra needed his help, prompting a sweating Tesra to explain that all of Sado's remaining power was in that blow. However, Nnoitra denies the possibility of it having ever reached or injured him regardless, pushes his blade up further against an intimidated Tesra's throat, and warns Tesra to never forget that no one can break Nnoitra's body because he is the Espada's best. Simultaneously, Renji comes to a halt in the hallway he was running through, and when Dondochakka catches up to him and wonders what is wrong, Renji points out that the path ahead branches off in two directions for the first time.

With Renji wondering which path he should take, Dondochakka admonishes him for being so ominous since it does not matter which of the foreboding paths he takes before stepping back into a square hole in the ground that has suddenly appeared, causing him to fall down with a scream of confusion. Frantically wondering what just happened, Renji proceeds to fall down a second hole that opens up directly underneath him as well with a loud yell. Elsewhere, upon noticing Uryū running ahead of him in a hallway, Pesche urgently runs faster to catch up to him and reminds Uryū that their seniority hierarchy means that the latter should not run in front of him.

When Uryū demands to know how old he is, Pesche claims that this is obvious, only to be forced to count up the years on his fingers while Uryū ruminates on Sado's Reiatsu weakening and Rukia's Reiatsu being overwhelmed, which means that he has to go faster. Snapped out of his counting by Uryū passing him once again, Pesche insists that they uphold the seniority hierarchy and tells Uryū to assume that he is six years old, but does not receive a response and complains about this defeating the point of him playing the fool and proclaims that they share the same fate as a team before begging Uryū to wait up while they continue running.

Meanwhile, Renji continues falling through a tunnel and questions how long it goes on for prior to emerging from a hole at the end and landing in a large chamber, where he wonders why there was such a long pitfall and where he is. Before Renji can leave and continue his journey as he intends to, Szayelaporro laughs over an intercom and admits that he did not expect anyone to fall for the simplest of the many traps he set along the way. Emerging from a nearby doorway, Szayelaporro tells Renji to remember his sole introduction as best he can and pulls out the microphone embedded in his ear while identifying himself as Espada #8.

Renji realizes that Szayelaporro is one of the ten commanders of the Arrancar prior to hearing the wail of Dondochakka, which alarms and confuses him since the latter fell into the trap before he did. Upon realizing Dondochakka's voice is emanating from the passage he came out of, Renji quickly moves out of the way and expresses relief at Dondochakka not falling on top of him, but a second hole opens up in the wall behind Renji just before Dondochakka flies out of it and lands on top of Renji. Complaining about how much that hurt and how scary it was in the shaft while Renji expresses frustration, Dondochakka sees an unamused Szayelaporro standing before him.

After recognizing Szayelaporro as Hueco Mundo's top scientist and spiritual weapons expert, Dondochakka continues outlining Szayelaporro's position and history as an aggravated Renji demands Dondochakka get off of him so he can react properly, and when Dondochakka wonders why Renji is underneath him, Renji angrily kicks him in the eye to force him back and threatens to do so again while noting how hard Dondochakka's face is. In turn, Dondochakka laments this outcome since he is against violence and responds to Renji telling him to stop his pathetic crying by explaining that he cannot do so because his heart hurts more than his body does.

As he sighs in exasperation, Renji admits that he may have gone a bit too far and apologizes prior to confirming how sorry he is when Dondochakka repeatedly asks him about it. However, with Dondochakka deciding that the only fair reprisal is for him to kick Renji in the face as well, Renji kicks Dondochakka in his other eye and berates him for getting too cocky. Stepping forward and asking Renji if he is done with his comedy routine, Szayelaporro sees the former glaring at him and assures Renji that he is not much of a fighter despite being an Espada before affirming Dondochakka's description of him as a scientist focusing on spiritual patterns.

Szayelaporro elaborates that doing so is the thing that pleases him most in the world and offers to give Renji a special welcome since his is a pattern that Szayelaporro has not studied yet. Suddenly, Renji cuts off Szayelaporro and draws his Zanpakutō while asserting that he came here to crush the Espada rather than talk, though he does not mind if Szayelaporro keeps talking while being cut down where he stands, before activating his Bankai, Hihiō Zabimaru, and attacking Szayelaporro with it, only for it to smash into an orange barrier in front of Szayelaporro and immediately burst apart into hundreds of small pieces around a stunned Renji.

Simultaneously, in his palace, Aaroniero Arruruerie reveals that he consumed Metastacia and activates his Resurrección, Glotonería, creating a massive, blob-like mass beneath his main body. As Rukia stares in shock at this, Aaroniero calls the terror on her face beautiful and proclaims that it will be multiplied by the physical manifestation of all the Hollows he has ever consumed while warning Rukia that the release of an Espada's power is far above that of a normal Arrancar because Glotonería can employ the powers of all his victims simultaneously, which leads him to proclaim that he has consumed 33,650 Hollows and that fighting against him is akin to battling over 30,000 Hollows at once, to Rukia's astonishment.

Arrancar Encyclopedia
Gin Ichimaru announces that he will be talking about the high-speed movement technique of the Arrancar and identifies it as Sonído, similar to the Shunpo of the Shinigami and Hirenkyaku of the Quincy. When Gin admits that the three techniques are all pretty much the same, Gantenbainne Mosqueda appears next to him with Sonído and declares that it is superior, prompting Gin to wonder if his hair gets in the way while he is using it. Though Gantenbainne claims that he always watches his head and dashes back and forth with Sonído to demonstrate, Gin holds out his sheathed Zanpakutō to trip him and snidely admonishes Gantenbainne for not watching his feet as well after the latter falls face-first onto the floor.

Fights

 * Renji Abarai & Uryū Ishida vs. Szayelaporro Granz
 * Rukia Kuchiki vs. Aaroniero Arruruerie

Powers and Techniques Used
Arrancar Techniques:

Fullbring:

Zanpakutō released:

Bankai:
 * (flashback)

Resurrección released:

Anime Notes
Removed Content= Added/Expanded Content= Censorship= Changes=
 * Rukia Kuchiki noticing Yasutora Sado and hoping that it was not him.
 * Pesche Guatiche asking Uryū Ishida what is wrong when the latter senses Sado's defeat.
 * Szayelaporro Granz reviewing footage of Renji Abarai's battle with Yylfordt Granz before being alerted to Renji and Dondochakka Birstanne entering his palace.
 * A flashback to Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends vowing to return alive from their excursion into Las Noches.
 * Nnoitra Gilga pushing his Zanpakutō further up against Tesra Lindocruz's neck to intimidate him.
 * Uryū bickering with Pesche about their seniority hierarchy and expressing concern for both Sado and Rukia.
 * Renji wondering how long the shaft goes on for as he continues to fall through it.
 * Renji noting that he should leave immediately after exiting the shaft into Szayelaporro's palace.
 * Dondochakka Birstanne guilting Renji into apologizing for kicking him in the face and suggesting that he do the same to Renji, who simply kicks him in his other eye for getting too cocky.
 * Renji declaring that he has no intention of holding back as he draws his Zanpakutō.
 * Sado does not have a large chunk of Brazo Derecha de Gigante severed by Nnoitra's slash across his chest.
 * In the manga, the attendant who brings in Orihime Inoue's food stirs the contents of a pot while Ulquiorra Cifer is talking to her; here, they instead leave after bringing the cart to a stop.
 * In the manga, after Ulquiorra leaves, Orihime huddles against the wall and cries into her hands; here, she instead remains standing in the middle of the room and cries without holding her hands to her face.
 * In the manga, Nnoitra using Indice Radar is implied; here, it is instead explicitly shown.
 * In the manga, Tesra is smiling when greeting Nnoitra; here, he instead wears a neutral expression.
 * In the manga, Nnoitra notices Aaroniero Arruruerie confronting Rukia; here, he instead notices Aaroniero releasing his Zanpakutō against Rukia and is unimpressed by the latter's Reiatsu.
 * In the manga, Renji and Dondochakka falling into Szayelaporro's traps is preceded by Renji noticing Rukia releasing her Shikai and Dondochakka Birstanne being unnerved by his reaction before they both step on sections of the floor that trigger the trap holes to appear; here, Renji instead realizes that they have come to a fork in the road, with Dondochakka pointing out that it does not matter which of the two routes he chooses to take, before the holes open up underneath them automatically.
 * In the manga, Szayelaporro begins explaining the properties of the room he is standing in before Renji cuts him off by asserting that he did not come here to talk; here, he instead talks about his interest in studying spiritual patterns and offers to give Renji a special welcome as someone he has not studied before, with Renji waiting until he is finished before asserting that he did not come here to talk.
 * In the manga, Hihiō Zabimaru bursts into hundreds of pieces immediately after Renji activates it; here, it instead remains intact long enough to lunge toward Szayelaporro, where it smashes into an orange energy barrier that causes it to burst apart around Renji.