Rukia's Battle Commences! The Freezing White Blade

'''Rukia's Battle Commences! The Freezing White Blade''' is the one-hundred-seventeenth episode of the Bleach anime.

Statistics

 * Original Airdate: February 28, 2007
 * English Airdate: May 16, 2009
 * Opening Song: Rolling Star
 * Ending Song: Sakura Biyori
 * Manga Chapters: Chapter 199, Chapter 200, Chapter 201, Chapter 202.
 * Kanji: ルキア戦闘開始！凍りつく白い刃
 * Romaji: "Rukia sentō kaishi! Kōritsuku shiroi yaiba"
 * Arc: The Arrancar arc

Summary
With the Arrancar on the move, Ichigo Kurosaki and company immediately sense the incoming spiritual pressures. Rukia Kuchiki counts six of them all headed for different targets with spiritual powers around the city. She thinks that Orihime Inoue will be safe with Rangiku Matsumoto and Tōshirō Hitsugaya, but she notices that Sado Yasutora is alone and that there is an Arrancar headed his way. By now, Rangiku and Hitsugaya have both come out in their Shinigami forms and are soon confronted by a pair of enemies. One of the Arrancar immediately attacks Hitsugaya and introduces himself as No. 11 Shawlong. He feels that he has hit the jackpot by getting a captain, but Hitsugaya disagrees. Meanwhile, Sado has almost finished getting healed, so he runs out of the building, but is immediately met by the Arrancar Di Roy Linker, who is about to plunge his hand into Sado’s chest. Ichigo arrives in time to stop Di Roy and tells Sado to step back. Since Ichigo insists on handling this, Sado retreats as he wonders if he’s not strong enough to fight by Ichigo’s side anymore. When Rukia learns that Ichigo told Sado to step back, she proceeds to say the same thing to Ichigo.

Rukia then surprises Ichigo by bringing out her own Shinigami self. She has her own powers back, and her Gigai is now being occupied by the Soul Candy she ingested. While her Gigai restrains Ichigo, Rukia’s battle starts when Di Roy attempts to make a first strike. At first, Rukia is able to block his hand, and when she counter-attacks, he is able to block her Zanpakutō. Although Di Roy introduces himself as Arrancar No. 16, he has no interest in knowing who Rukia is because he plans to kill her immediately. Hearing this, Rukia suggests that he then learn the name of her Zanpakutō as she brings out and releases Sode no Shirayuki. Di Roy is caught off-guard by the white Zanpakutō, allowing Rukia to freeze him to the ground. Nevertheless, he quickly breaks free and flies up because he thinks that her Zanpakutō’s power is useless in the air. A column of light then rises up through the sky and envelopes him in ice, soon shattering him into oblivion.

Since Ichigo is shocked at the sight of Rukia’s white Zanpakutō, her Soul Candied-body explains that it is an ice element type renowned in Soul Society as the most beautiful. Furthermore, Rukia has always had officer level strength, but a certain someone kept her from becoming an officer because the missions would have been a lot more dangerous. That person is of course Byakuya Kuchiki. This conversation is interrupted when Ichigo and Rukia suddenly feel an enormous spiritual pressure and find Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez hovering above them. The other Arrancar have also sensed Di Roy’s death, though they all also think that he was the weakest of them.

Around this time, Keigo Asano is going out to buy some drinks when a wall nearby explodes and a bloody Ikkaku Madarame emerges from the smoke. Ikkaku recognizes Keigo from earlier, but while his face is turned, the Arrancar that he is fighting smacks him. Getting back up, Ikkaku makes a deal with Keigo where he saves Keigo from the Arrancar in exchange for Keigo providing a place to stay for the night. After coercing Keigo to agree, Ikkaku tries to get the Arrancar to reveal his name, but the Arrancar only gets as far as proclaiming that he’s No. 13 before he stops himself and decides that it is pointless to give his name if he is going to kill Ikkaku anyway.

Ikkaku feels different about revealing his own name since he and the other Shinigami have a rule about letting the other side know who they are before they kill them. He then introduces himself as the third seat of the Zaraki Division, Madarame Ikkaku, and asks that the Arrancar to remember it because it’s the name of the man who’s going to kill him.