Szayelaporro Laughs, The Net Trapping Renji is Complete

 is the one hundred and sixty-second episode of the Bleach anime.

As Ichigo Kurosaki battles Ulquiorra Cifer, 6th Division Lieutenant Renji Abarai struggles in his fight against Szayelaporro Granz.

Summary
With Ichigo Kurosaki activating his Bankai, Tensa Zangetsu, and leaping out of the resulting surge of Reiatsu as its shockwave washes over the hallway, an initially unfazed Ulquiorra Cifer is startled to see Ichigo wearing his Hollow mask just before the latter unleashes a powerful burst of Reiatsu that slams into Ulquiorra just before Ichigo travels through it and comes down on Ulquiorra with a Reiatsu-infused strike of his sword, forcing an unnerved Ulquiorra to block this with his hand.

Ichigo slashes his sword forward, sending Ulquiorra flying back and crashing through several pillars. Upon landing on the side of a pillar with his feet, leaping off of it with enough force to shatter the pillar, and questioning why Ichigo is so akin to the Arrancar with his mask and Reiatsu, Ulquiorra sees Ichigo firing a massive Getsuga Tenshō at him and attempts to stop it by grabbing the blast with his right hand. However, the Getsuga Tenshō continues pushing him back even after he grabs it with his other hand, and a nonplussed Ulquiorra is engulfed in an enormous blast as the energy overwhelms him.

In the aftermath of this, an exhausted Ichigo stands in the clearing dust as his mask shatters and falls off his face in pieces. When Nel Tu calls out to him, Ichigo turns around in relief, only for Nel to slam headlong into his face with enough force to slam him against a pillar several meters away and lament that she thought Ichigo was going to be killed, with Ichigo confirming that he believed Nel would do this. Nel admonishes Ichigo for using so much of his power when already injured and tells him to never do this again before crying into his chest, leading Ichigo to apologize to her for making her worry like this.

Suddenly, a startled Ichigo panics upon seeing a large globule of mucus hanging from Nel's nose and smeared onto his coat, which Nel sucks back into her nose and proclaims that she swallowed. After Ichigo sets Nel down and gets up to assure her that he is fine and they just have to hurry, Ulquiorra emerges from the cloud of dust behind him with only a few light scratches, to Ichigo's astonishment, and admits to being surprised since he could not stop that attack even with both hands. Questioning if this was the best that Ichigo had, Ulquiorra infers from Ichigo's stunned gaze that it was and holds up his right index finger as he calls this unfortunate.

With Ichigo realizing what he is about to do, Ulquiorra fires a Cero that engulfs Ichigo and Nel, sending the former crashing through the far wall onto the sands outside with burns and blood covering the left side of his body while carrying an unconscious and injured Nel. When Ichigo attempts to move back inside to tend to Nel, Ulquiorra appears next to him with Sonído and delivers a powerful kick to Ichigo's side, resulting in him smashing into the upper portion of one of the nearby leaning towers. As Ichigo struggles to catch his breath, Ulquiorra joins him in the tower and notes Ichigo summoned his Hollow mask again when blocking the Cero.

Despite being impressed by Ichigo's reflexes, Ulquiorra recalls that the mask shattered immediately and concludes Ichigo will not be able to generate it again before telling Ichigo to give up. In response, Ichigo stabs his sword into Ulquiorra's left shoulder and refuses to ever give up as he declares that defeating Ulquiorra will effectively end the war since the latter is obviously the most powerful Espada. However, Ulquiorra simply calls this unfortunate and grabs Ichigo's sword by the blade to pull the left half of his coat to the side, exposing his tattoo of the number 4 on his left pectoral and clarifying to an aghast Ichigo that he is only Espada #4.

Ulquiorra shoves his left hand into a stunned Ichigo's chest and bluntly states that the latter cannot defeat him. Noting that there are three Espada stronger than he is even if Ichigo could do so, Ulquiorra pulls his hand out of Ichigo's chest, leaving the latter to collapse, and concludes that there can be no victory for him here. Standing before an unmoving Ichigo, Ulquiorra observes that he overestimated Ichigo's strength, and after asserting that this is the end for Ichigo, who remains unresponsive, Ulquiorra orders him to leave Hueco Mundo immediately if he can still move and to die if he cannot because his quest is at an end while exiting the tower.

On the tower floor, Ichigo continues lying motionless as Tensa Zangetsu automatically dissipates and returns to its Shikai state. Simultaneously, in her chamber, Orihime Inoue senses the plummet of Ichigo's Reiatsu, which she refuses to believe, and turns to her door when it begins to open in expectation of Ulquiorra entering, only to be unnerved when Loly Aivirrne looks through the ajar door with Menoly Mallia and confirms Orihime is alone prior to eerily asking the latter if she can come out to play. Meanwhile, in Szayelaporro Granz's palace, a yelling 6th Division Lieutenant Renji Abarai attacks with his Shikai, Zabimaru.

Upon seeing this, Szayelaporro claims that this is as expected easily sidesteps the extending blade with Sonído while smirking, only to be startled when Zabimaru curves back down in midair to hurtle toward him from behind, forcing Szayelaporro to leap away before it smashes into the area where he was standing. Though Szayelaporro calls this simple, Renji points out how he made Szayelaporro move, to the latter's surprise, and brings up Szayelaporro's assertion that he expected the attack as he proclaims that it does not matter if his Bankai is sealed or if Szayelaporro has data on him because Zabimaru is his arms and legs.

After taking off his cloak and concluding that it is too early to call the battle finished just because Szayelaporro can read his movements, Renji extends Zabimaru outward with another swing and has it rebound off the walls, ceiling, and floor multiple times to surround a smirking Szayelaporro with extended blade segments. However, when Renji retracts the segments all at once, condensing Zabimaru into a rapidly rotating sphere of slashing and grinding blades, he is shocked to see Szayelaporro has disappeared from within its radius just before the latter appears in front of him unharmed, causing Renji to step back, and mocks Renji's incompetence.

Reminding Renji that he received all of his combat information, Szayelaporro asserts that Renji's attack speed is very basic data and proceeds to effortlessly evade all of a screaming Renji's subsequent attacks with Zabimaru. When Zabimaru rebounds off the floor beside him while he easily sidesteps it, Szayelaporro stomps down on it to break off one of its fang-like protrusions and dismissively toss this away after catching and examining it because Renji still has no means of victory or escape and has already used his trump card, with Lumina and Verona fighting and arguing over the broken blade piece behind him.

Szayelaporro states that a panting Renji is boring him and responds to the latter's indignation by elaborating that Zabimaru is a power-type Zanpakutō with no unique properties and an extremely simple shape variation theory, which means there is nothing more for Szayelaporro to observe here. Deciding to end this, Szayelaporro presses a trigger to summon several of his Fracción, which burst through the walls and ceiling behind him, and explains to a shocked Renji that the Espada are allowed to select Arrancar below the rank of 11th as their minions, with some choosing one and other choosing many.

After Szayelaporro notes his Fracción are unique because they consist of Hollows whom he modified and had turned into Arrancar by Sōsuke Aizen, Renji demands to know why this matters and steps forward, only to be interrupted when Medazeppi bursts out of the ground in front of him. Deciding this has been enough conversation, Szayelaporro concludes he will not be killing Renji himself because the latter is not worthy prior to announcing that this is the finale. Sent flying away by a swipe of Medazeppi's hand, Renji is picked up by a chuckling Medazeppi and is thrown back down to the ground as Szayelaporro orders his Fracción to not interfere.

With Szayelaporro promising not to interfere either and encouraging Renji to make this an entertaining finale, Medazeppi reaches out to grab Renji once more. Simultaneously, in Orihime's chamber, Loly and Menoly approach an unnerved Orihime and comment on how nice the room she gets to live in is. As she lies down on Orihime's couch, Loly brings up how much Aizen values Orihime and claims that everyone is infatuated with her. When Loly mentions that five people have come here to save her, Orihime recalls the defeat of Rukia Kuchiki, Yasutora Sado and Ichigo, as well as Uryū Ishida, and Renji's struggles in their respective battles.

While Orihime looks down in sorrow, Loly gets up and approaches Orihime as she wonders if Orihime thinks highly of herself or believes that this is only natural, prompting Orihime to back up and deny thinking this. Backing Orihime up against a wall and claiming to not have heard what she said, which leads Orihime to loudly repeat herself, Loly sarcastically relays this to Menoly and offers advice to Orihime prior to violently grabbing her by the hair and throwing her to the ground at Menoly's feet, where Loly warns her to not get cocky and to not remain at Aizen's side since she is a Human and does not belong among the Arrancar.

Loly steps on a cringing Orihime's head and asks Menoly if they should beat her up since she is so annoying, and once Menoly agrees to stop when Orihime begins crying, a laughing Loly demands Orihime show them her ugly crying face and begins repeatedly stomping on her. Back in Szayelaporro's chamber, Medazeppi pauses in confusion while reaching for Renji, who has stabbed his sealed Zanpakutō into Medazeppi's hand and slashes it across his palm, causing Medazeppi to rear back in pain and begin thrashing around. Behind Medazeppi, an amused Szayelaporro decides to update Renji's statistics since he has held out for so long.

With Medazeppi falling on the ground next to Renji and continuing to writhe in agony, Szayelaporro observes that this is troublesome since it is not easy to calm him down once he reaches this state just before Medazeppi begins rapidly punching the ground around him, which forces Renji to leap back while large portions of the ground are cratered and broken apart. Hopping around to dodge chunks falling from the ceiling when Medazeppi drags his fist through the wall, Renji inadvertently steps on a pit filled with broken pieces of the floor and sinks into it, leaving him helpless as Medazeppi prepares to throw a powerful punch at him.

However, following Szayelaporro noting that he may no longer be able to collect Renji's body while it is completely intact, a Heilig Pfeil flies down, hits Medazeppi in the side, and pierces through his torso after building pressure for several seconds, causing him to collapse. As a startled Szayelaporro turns to a newly-created hole in the wall above, Uryū notes that it is unfortunate for the Arrancar that the walls of Las Noches are not made of Sekkiseki since he could hear their Reiatsu echoing through three walls before telling a stunned Renji that it looks like someone beat him up.

Shinigami Illustrated Picture Book
Having finished trimming a bonsai tree, 13th Division Captain Jūshirō Ukitake decides to have some tea before several kunai fly down from the sky and pin a startled Ukitake by his haori to a nearby tree, prompting him to wonder what is going on. After stepping out before Ukitake alongside 13th Division 3rd Seat Kiyone Kotetsu, 2nd Division Captain Suì-Fēng apologetically states that she has to do this even though she bears no grudge against Ukitake and draws her Zanpakutō to rapidly slice off the upper part of his clothes, leaving his chest exposed while Kiyone rapidly takes photos with a camera and Suì-Fēng offers to remove his pants as well, which Ukitake begs her not to as he wails in distress.

Fights & Events

 * Ichigo Kurosaki vs. Ulquiorra Cifer (concluded)
 * Renji Abarai & Uryū Ishida vs. Szayelaporro Granz
 * Orihime's Confrontation

Power and Techniques Used
Zanpakutō Techniques:

Arrancar Techniques:
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)

Zanpakutō released:

Shikai:
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)

Bankai:
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)

Spirit Weapons:
 * (flashback)

Quincy Techniques:

Fullbring:
 * (flashback)
 * (flashback)

Resurrección released:
 * (flashback)

Other Powers:

Anime Notes
Added/Expanded Content= Censorship= Changes=
 * Ichigo Kurosaki forming a spinning, tendrilled disc of Reiatsu around his sword that he fires down at Ulquiorra Cifer prior to directly clashing with him.
 * Nel Tu inadvertently covering Ichigo's chest in mucus and sucking it back into her nose when he notices.
 * Ichigo promising to find Nel somewhere to rest so she can recover from her injuries.
 * Ichigo struggling to push a large chunk of stone off himself after Ulquiorra kicks him into the tower.
 * Orihime Inoue sensing Ichigo's defeat in the form of his Reiatsu gathering in a puddle on the ceiling above her.
 * Orihime refusing to believe that both Ichigo and Rukia Kuchiki have been defeated.
 * Renji Abarai continually attacking Szayelaporro Granz, whom he believes can be struck by Zabimaru, and ripping off his cloak before creating a sphere of rotating blade segments until Szayelaporro reveals that he already knows of Renji's low attack speed, causing the latter to repeatedly slash at him in a rage.
 * Lumina and Verona fighting and arguing over the piece of Zabimaru broken off and tossed away by Szayelaporro.
 * Renji demanding to know why Szayelaporro's Fracción consisting of modified Hollows turned into Arrancar by Sōsuke Aizen at his request matter, only for Medazeppi to emerge from the ground beneath him and loom over Renji.
 * Medazeppi attacking Renji with a powerful stripe, then grabbing him and throwing him to the ground as Szayelaporro promises that he and the other Fracción will not interfere.
 * Loly Aivirrne and Menoly Mallia questioning Orihime's feelings about her friends coming to save her, causing Orihime to recall her friends' recent battles in Las Noches, and beginning their torment of her under the premise that they will stop once she begins crying.
 * Renji slashing his Zanpakutō through Medazeppi's hand to repel him, only for an enraged Medazeppi to begin thrashing about and striking the ground at random, resulting in Renji sinking into a pit of broken floor pieces that Medazeppi moves to attack him in.
 * Uryū Ishida's Heilig Pfeil building pressure against Medazeppi's side for several seconds before finally piercing through him.
 * The left side of Ichigo's head and torso are covered with scratches instead of blood and burns after being hit by Ulquiorra's Cero.
 * When Ulquiorra pulls his hand out of Ichigo's chest, the blood gushing from Ichigo's wound is obscured by the scene being depicted in silhouette and the hand itself is not covered in blood; there is also no blood spattered on the ground around Ichigo when he collapses.
 * Uryū is not bloodied and scuffed upon reaching Szayelaporro's palace and saving Renji.
 * In the manga, Ichigo's Getsuga Tenshō completely envelops the pillars behind Ulquiorra upon overwhelming the latter; here, it instead only engulfs the bottom portion of the pillars, leaving the rest visible.
 * In the manga, after catching and throwing away a piece of Zabimaru, Szayelaporro asserts that Renji is boring him; here, he instead reiterates that Renji has no way to win or escape and declares that he has already used up his trump card, then asserts that Renji is boring him after Lumina and Verona begin fighting over the broken piece.
 * In the manga, Medazeppi appears behind Szayelaporro while the latter is explaining how his Fracción are unique; here, he instead emerges from the ground below Renji after this.
 * In the manga, when Medazeppi is shot by Uryū, he collapses behind Szayelaporro; here, he instead collapses in front of Renji.