Noblesse Oblige.

As expected, Aizen merged from the smoke unharmed. It also seems he has completed his transformation: the whole body of Aizen is covered by a white Hougyoku armor. Aizen instantly shunpos in between Urahara and Isshin and says Urahara's powerful attack combo was not enough to defeat his new Hougyoku conquered self. Aizen proceeds to rip out the reiatsu seals from his wrists and mocks Urahara's attempt. Both Urahara and Isshin rush at Aizen but Aizen displays a surprisingly dextrous combination of movement that repels both attackers with ease. However, Urahara and Isshin had hid chains in their attack and now release the trap which binds Aizens limbs. Aizen calls this a mockery but is suddenly smacked into the ground with an attack from above. The attacker turns out to be Yoroichi; it seems she has finally decided to appear. Yoroichi is wearing armor-like equipment on her arms and legs. It is revealed that the equipment is anti-hierro weapon designed by Urahara. Yoroichi does not stop after one attack and punches the prone Aizen again, which had enough power to blow up the surrounding. Yoroichi relaxes but Urahara warns her to get out of the way. Suddenly a huge attack emerges from below and Yoroichi attempts to dodge. She is quick enough to escape without injury, but the equipment attached to her right leg got destroyed. Aizen emerges from the smoke created by his attack saying he will crush them into tiny remnants one by one. Aizen's chest is cracked deeply from Yoroichi's attack but he is unphased.

As the Hougyoku start to healing Aizen's injury, Aizen tells our heroes of Karakura town that their combined effort towards defeating him symbolizes their hope and spirit. Aizen intends to smash their spirit by proving nothing they do will work and then proceed to kill them. When he finishes talking, Aizen shunpos to Yoroichi and deals a damaging attack which blows up the area around them. As they resume their fighting, Ichigo watches on. Gin catches Ichigo's attention by suggesting they both sit down and enjoy the fight from the sidelines. Gin admits he didn't know of Aizen's plan to merge with the Hougyoku and that he did it while Gin wasn't looking. Nevertheless, now that Aizen has merged, Gin claims that Urahara and them are all going to die. Ichigo responds by questioning how Gin can be sure of his own safety from Aizen. Gin says he didn't expect a response like this because it makes like sound like Ichigo has already accepted defeat. Gin rebukes Ichigo for being weak and suddenly begins to attack him. Ichigo dodges the first attack but Gin immediately follows with an even stronger attack. In order to block it Ichigo is forced to finally don his Hollow mask. Gin's attack slices through the town, destroying all the buildings on the way. The commotion wakes up Kira and he notices that Matsumoto is gone. She is seen from afar running towards the battle to where Gin is.


Kira tries to chase after her but he collapses from fatigue. Apparently Kira managed to close up Matsumoto's severe wound above her hip to keep her from dying but Matsumoto is still in critical condition. The scene switches back to Ichigo and Gin and it appears Ichigo has already been defeated. Gin derides him for having such a brittle mask and no Hollowfication power. Gin tells Ichigo to run. Meanwhile,  the smoke clears from Aizen's attack and it is revealed Yoroichi managed to escape without injury once again but at the cost of the equipment on her right arm being destroyed. Urahara and Yoroichi banter some more and Aizen says this is all a ploy to distract him. He recognizes Urahara's intellect as the only one in Soul Society that is higher than his own. But despite this, it doesn't matter anymore because Aizen holds power many times greater than them meaning he cannot be defeated. Urahara responds by sending a Hadou flying at Aizen's face. This is meant as a distraction so Yoroichi can get in close and land another hit. However, Aizen saw through this immediately and effortlessly blocks Yoroichi's attack. Yoroichi sends another punch powered with Senkou and the attack smashes through Aizen's defense and proceeds to crack his outer shell again. Yoroichi tries to followup with another attack but Aizen blocks her while reiterating how they cannot defeat him. Urahara comes from behind and ensnares Aizen with his zanpakutou Behime's ability. Aizen states he cannot be binder with such a skill and Urahara stabs his zanpakutou into the web his ability created. This lights a fuse which engulfs Aizen in a enormous fiery explosion. Aizen emerges barely wounded and he calls their efforts comical. Before he can finish speaking, Isshin appears behind him and deals a point blank Getsuga Tenshou reminiscent of Ichigo's attack on Aizen a while ago.

Thoughts:
1. Why is Ichigo so weak? I don't even know how to explain this anymore.

2. Isshin was able to do Getsuga Tenshou, which means his zanpakutou is Tensa Zangetsu? I don't know how two people can have the same zanpakutou because in the Bleach movie Diamond Dust Rebellion, Hitsugaya's friend was persecuted for also having Hyourinmaru. I guess this can be explained by saying either the movie is non canon (independent of manga) or by the fact Isshin isn't part of Soul Society so he isn't under their jurisdiction. I guess another explanation would be that Ichigo got his zanpakutou way after Isshin did so in Soul Society's eyes there was no overlap. Either way, I wasn't happy with this revelation at first because Tensa Zangetsu is a pretty boring zanpakutou. But then I realized maybe Ichigo just sucks and Isshin can show us how it is really used. Also, Isshin actually has control over Zangetsu as he is shown to be able to keep it in it's sealed form.  Not only that, he managed to release a Getsuga Tenshou without releasing his zanpakutou.

3. Finally, I really enjoy the Karakura heroes' attack combos because they are actually smart and well thought out. I haven't seen strategy in a long time probably because Ichigo doesn't have a concept of what it is. All we see is strong people pwning weak people until the weak people get a power up and become the strong person thus proceeding to pwn the strong person that is now deemed as weak. Here, Urahara and them are clearly the underdogs, yet they are using strategy to fight on par with Aizen.

*this whole post was typed with an iPad =p

Labels: Bleach, Manga