User blog comment:Xilinoc/Ch. 554 - Desperate Lights/@comment-1268838-20131023150027

It's already been mentioned, but I'm fairly certain that both BG9 and Cang Du are still alive. Which I am glad about, since both of them were fairly interesting. I agree that it's interesting to hear that they couldn't use their Volstandigs while they had a stolen Bankai; in a way, they had to tie their hands behind their back just to cripple the Shinigami. It seems that the Wandenreich did not fear Bankai - they just needed a way to get in a cheap shot the first time around.

This also brought what Quilge thought about when he was fighting Ichigo. He was already aware that he couldn't medalize his Bankai, but was confident that he could beat him anyway with Volstandig; Ichigo of course, being the special snowflake that he is, was too much for him anyway. However, Quilge's expectancy of his Volstandig's power kind of hinted at this all along.