Seems like less we can't win, then you humans can't win.

Didn't say I was attracted to him. I thought it was like a 12 year old or something.

 

Pretty sad how Fairy Tail's latest wordless chapter had more content than the last 2 chapters of Bleach.

Yachiru still missing, Nanao actually talked some sense into Zaraki, and Ichigo and co have come across Juhabach. Guarantee we won't be seeing Ichigo/Juhabach next chapter.

 

Yachiru is sword.

Reposting Milareppa's insightful post on chapter 610 from one manga forum.

Black & White

Spoiler

When Yhwach stands revealed, his sword is pure white. Given the shape of the sword, this can't go unmentioned. It's so stark a comparison to Ichigo. Yhwach began with a black blade that eventually transforms into a white blade. Ichigo's weapon has always transformed into a black blade. Since the reforging of his weapon, he now has a white sword that transforms into a black weapon. Despite there being a quincy basis for his power, despite him possessing an inner Yhwach, he remains, symbolically, the opposite of a quincy.


It's interesting because, as Ichigo left the Royal Realm, the Royal Guard discussed the possibility of him being a true shinigami now. We've debated that ever since because there's an obvious problem with what they said - Ichigo's success in the Royal Realm was completely dependent on him learning the truth about, and accepting, his quincy heritage. Aside from the acknowledgement that led to him having dual weapons, representing that acceptance of his dual heritage, any exploration of his quincy heritage has been, at best, minimal, and completely at odds with previous arcs where he received training at the hands of people that represented the power he was seeking to develop (Rukia for his borrowed shinigami power, Urahara and Yoruichi for his own shinigami power, the Visoreds for his hollowfication, the fullbringers for his Fullbring).


At the moment, Ichigo's more obvious symbolism is therefore still shinigami dominant, with only muted acknowledgement of everything else and what is yet to come. So, right now, Yhwach's stands in opposition to shinigami symbolism. More importantly, he is now extraordinarily akin to Old Man Zangetsu when the Old Man finally acknowledge the truth of his identity and gave Ichigo his true shinigami sword (also white). The similarity makes the differences of the two scenes all the more stark - the Old Man's revelation was a gesture of self-sacrifice to empower the hero. Here, Yhwach's revelation is a gesture of self-indulgence to empower himself.


In Buddhism, all beings possess both good and evil within themselves. Karma comes from the actions of the individual and becomes that which the individual answers to. In other words, any individual is responsible for their own actions and the consequences of their actions. I've mentioned in the past that, in Buddhism, it can be said that there is no heaven or hell other than that which exists within a being's own heart. The heart is therefore the seat of all spirituality - both ignorance and enlightenment, both darkness and light.


I am not going to comment on Yhwach's sword being pure white as akin to Rukia's pure white sword until I know whether his sword is solid of a weapon of light. The reason for that is that while Rukia is the only person with a solid white zanpakutou, Byakuya can also fight with a pure white sword - but they are swords of light, the swords of his different bankai forms.

Sight Beyond Sight

Spoiler

Yhwach mentions that, from this instance (I interpret that as the moment of time in which he is currently standing) all the way into the distant future, he can see everything - and that seeing equates to understanding.


The key here is that Yhwach is still placing an emphasis on needing to understand a power before he can defeat it. It's just that now he equates understanding with seeing. That raises the question of what Yamamoto said in Chapter 509.


Yamamoto's mentions that stealing Bankai requires first analysing and understanding the Bankai power before it can be stolen. He concludes the quincy wariness of Ichigo is because of the newness of the bankai - with room to evolve*, the power cannot yet be fully known. Without full knowledge, it cannot be truly comprehended and therefore stolen. Yamamoto goes so far as to conclude the same for his Bankai which he had hidden the true extent of a thousand years ago.


So, there is some implication that Yamamoto has at least a rudimentary instinct of Yhwach's ability - not just in Chapter 509, but a thousand years ago (why else hide the true extent of his bankai). It also makes sense of Daten, collecting as much information on the enemy as possible makes it easier for Yhwach to reach certain conclusions in a situation where he cannot actively use the full power of his Schrift. Certainly we now have an indication that Yhwach has not had the ability (not without things going horribly wrong) to use his Schrift prior to the battle with Ichibei. While that does raise the issue of exactly when the beginning is of the final nine days before reclamation of his world, it also raises questions over what the War Powers are. Are they, for example, powers that he cannot comprehend simply by 'seeing', or powers that are not opposable even if he 'sees' them?


Kenpachi
I've mentioned in the past that Gremmy looked like a way for Yhwach to test Kenpachi's power, as Gremmy was essentially tailor-made to showcase the concept of a weapon that cuts 'anything'. However, Gremmy does indicate, at the very end, that Kenpachi's power is genuinely comprehensible. What is not comprehensible, is how Kenpachi's body can contain that kind of power.


So, in other words, something about Kenpachi is a paradox: his power is simple enough to understand - by itself, that is - but not the idea that a shinigami's body can contain such a power in any survivable format.


In Buddhism, there is a quality of being 'simple'. One of the key points of simplicity is to never, ever forget the true purpose of something. Where Kenpachi is concerned, there's something I've been banging on about for years - the true purpose of a sword is to cut. Kenpachi is explicitly that. He dismisses philosophy, he has no time for finesse and he objects to tricks. His approach to battle is very simple - cut or be cut. There are no bells or whistles here, Kenpachi gets to the heart of battle and there he remains. Even now his shikai has been revealed, this core has not so much changed as been emphasised - his power is to cut. It does not get any simpler than that.


However, the very idea of simplicity is one of the hardest things in Buddhism to grasp. We view the world through a matrix our own minds and personalities have created - feelings, experiences, ideas, prejudices, the education and conclusions we draw, and so on. The concept of no-mind, the empty mind, mindfulness, is to strip all this way and simply know the truth of things.


It takes a very simple mind to manage that - and a simple mind should not be equated to lack of intelligence, although there is a reason that Shounen stories have been inclined to toy with this, making a simple-minded hero also the most capable of touching (if not achieving) the 'simple' mind of Buddhism - the empty mind. One more recent example of having fun with this idea occurs in the manga Inu Yasha, where the Buddhist monk Miroku has lamp-shaded more than once that the simple-minded Inuyasha is sometimes so simple-minded, he achieves such moments by accident.


By contrast, Ichigo, who has the empty mind themes, and whose instinct has been lamp-shaded many times, is naturally intelligent as well. The lamp-shading that goes on in the story tends to be to affirm that he's not achieving such moments by accident, but by instinct. Instinct (or, rather, intuition) is the key to simplicity. Like Ichigo, Kenpachi seems set up, designed as it were, for this simplicity, it also instinct (rather than accident) that brings him to these moments.


The sheer simplicity of Kenpachi's power should therefore prove to be quite difficult for a warrior to genuinely comprehend. Gremmy struggled to comprehend it right to the very end and was, in fact, destroyed by his inability to comprehend. It was only at the moment of death that he realised it wasn't Kenpachi's power he couldn't comprehend but Kenpachi himself.


That does make a certain sense because the nature of a being that achieves 'simplicity' is the very opposite of Kenpachi - achieving 'simplicity' is a form of grace and gentleness that Kenpachi does not appear to be although appearances are, obviously, deceptive, especially where Kenpachi is concerned.


Aizen
Aizen, on the other hand, is the very opposite of simplicity, he is complexity, which is another Buddhist concept. Complexity is the layers - the perspective - of the world that people adhere to. All those personalities, opinions, feelings, ideas, conclusions, prejudices. The very act of having a perspective on something. All this is subjectivity, which is illusion. Aizen hides what's really going on with illusions and shifts in perspectives, but he makes people see the perspective he wants to see. The catch is, that even if his illusions are seen through, the 'reality' is still just (philosophically speaking) subjective and illusion in its own right. The 'true' reality is the Absolute, which equates to the void of enlightenment, which is Ichigo's theme (and, yes, that means the void of enlightenment is - in English, at least, represented by a word that begins with the letter 'A').


So, what exactly is there to grasp about Aizen's power that can be truly comprehended? Even if the knowledge is there that Aizen's power is illusion, where does the subjectivity end and the true reality begin? At what point does someone grasp - 'see', in Yhwach's case - what makes a power comprehensible.


Really, the problem is, just as with Kenpachi, the person rather than the power. But this might be why we had to learn about things like the Royal Guard, or Nimaiya and zanpakutou or asauchi before we get around to learning what the War Powers are - where does the power end and the shinigami begin? We're already facing that question with Aizen given his apparent loss of his zanpakutou yet his apparent retention of his core ability to confuse Yhwach.

Ichigo
Ichigo himself, as well as overlapping Kenpachi and as well as having the power evolution issues that Yamamoto mentioned, is the very symbol of 'empty mind' in this particular story. Unless Yhwach is capable of achieving enlightenment, he is incapable of comprehending Ichigo. but, again, this is the person, not the power. That said, in Ichigo's case, there is going to be an issue with his power directly. We've already been given the hints - Old Man Zangetsu is basically implied that he will not turn against Ichigo when the time comes... an implication that, should Yhwach ever try to take Ichigo's power in any way, he won't be able to. Since he would view it as his own power, I doubt he'd be able to comprehend why his own 'self' could turn against him in favour of Ichigo. Yet that is exactly what Old Man Zangetsu has all but stated will happen.


Besides, in Japanese folklore, the moon is deity and in Buddhist belief, the moon is liberation from suffering (i.e., enlightenment). Artwork of the Buddha pointing to the moon basically means that liberation from suffering is achievable. If there is no moon, there is no deity (Japanese) or no change for enlightenment/liberation from samsara (Buddhism). Ichigo has already used a technique called Mugetsu. I've mentioned before that Mugetsu is the name given to the lack of a moon in the sky during the Moon-Viewing festival (the festival that celebrates the most beautiful moon of the year). I've also said before that I believe it's no coincidence that the loss and regaining of Ichigo's power after using Mugetsu was book-ended by the disappearance and reappearance of Rukia into the storyline, who represents the moon.


The short of it is, that the three known War Powers are characters of whom the story has, at various points, lamp-shaded the incomprehensibility. The question is therefore how Yhwach's Schrift could function in relation to them, if indeed it can. It also needs to be remembered that Yhwach himself has indicated there is something about Uryuu's power that he struggles to comprehend and therefore there is also a question of how his Schrift can function where Uryuu is concerned.

Avīci

Spoiler

The idea of Mugetsu is therefore the removal of deity or the removal of the ability to achieve enlightenment (escape from the cycle of death and rebirth). There is one method of being removed (sort of) from the cycle of death and rebirth, in a general sense, that is not achieved through enlightenment, and that is by being consigned to Avīci.


Avīci, the last, deepest, most painful and hottest of the eight hot hells. It is the realm of ceaseless pain and suffering. To the place, the truly hopeless cases are assigned, so it's not a hell that is lightly invoked, or to which just anyone goes. A Buddhist monk will rarely seek to send a transgressor to such a hell, not even one who closely heeds the Lotus Sutra (which confronts the issue of sending beings to Avīci).


Nothing in Buddhism is genuinely eternal, so Avīci is not truly a place of eternal suffering, although the length of time spent consigned to this hell is so long it might seem like eternity. The point of being consigned to Avīci is that a being will suffer here until they die and then they will be instantly (as in, no intermission) reborn into this realm to suffer anew. This means there is a cycle of death and rebirth going on here, but it's not the cycle people usually talk about. It's confined to the state of Avīci, and will continue on and on and on for many, many aeons, until the being eventually, finally, burns up all their bad karma.
The kind of sins that can cause a being to end up in Avīci are as follows:


- The deliberate murder of your own father or mother.
- The killing of an Arhat (a being that has achieved enlightenment, although not quite as perfectly as a Buddha)
- Shedding the blood of a Buddha (a being that has achieved perfect enlightenment)
- Creating a schism within the Sangha (a community of Buddhist practitioners)


For the record, I've previously equated the Soul King to a Boddhisattva (a being that has achieved enlightenment but returned to the cycle of death/rebirth to guide others into achieving enlightenment, when people compare Buddhism to other religions, Boddhisattvas very often get incorrectly called 'gods' or compared to them). I've also stated several times the theory that the shinigami and quincies were originally a single court that were separated into what we now think of as shinigami and quincies. The split may be what the conflict between Yamamoto and Yhwach boil down to and, if the Soul King is equatable to something like a Boddhisattva, then the court might be equatable to a religious community, akin to a sangha. If so, then if Yhwach was (at least in part) responsible for the split then he has broken a law that can consign him to Avīci.


Avīci also carries the name 'the non-stop way' as a result of the never-ending suffering until all the bad karma has been used up. It is not, however, a realm of punishment so much as a place of purification. Although I earlier said Buddhist monks will 'rarely' send transgressors to Avīci, that's a bit misleading. No-one truly 'sends' another to Avīci. Because an individual is responsible for their own actions, and the consequences of those actions, the only person that can 'send' someone to Avīci is themselves. Avīci is the inevitable consequence of a person's most evil deeds.

The Black Mausoleum

Spoiler

The reason I mention Avīci at all is because of Ichibei's black chant that led to the appearance of the mausoleum. His chant almost seems like a kidou spell, but the focus and use of blackness is the power of his zanpakutou that we've seen all along. I'm more inclined to view it as a power of his zanpakutou than a kidou spell, although I wouldn't be surprised to learn he had found a way to use kidou to enhance his zanpakutou abilities - after all, both Yoruichi and Soifon found a way to use kidou to enhance their hakuda abilities.


Not only does he summon forth the darkness from the future no less. All joking aside about Kubo doing a spin-off about a future story set in a time when Soul Society experiences a period of 100 nightless days, I am going to observe that in those regions of the Arctic where the sun is either present or absent for long periods, when the sun doesn't set for a period of time, the concept of the 'midnight sun' exists. One thing I do know about Japanese is that the midnight sun is called 'Byakuya'. Still, I can't help noticing that Soul Society seems to be having significant moments every century:


- 200 years before present, the quincy massacre.
- 100 years before present, Turn Back the Pendulum.
- Current period - 'nuff said.
- 100 years in the future, a period of 100 nightless days.


Anyway, the entire concept of the mausoleum, as Ichibei describes it, is reminiscent of Avīci. Although Ichibei was talking about destruction so complete Yhwach wouldn't even reincarnate, this could be viewed as hyperbole for the process of trapping a soul within Avīci. The Buddhist monk can be an authority on the fate of soul, and while a reincarnation of cycle is effectively happen to the soul that is trapped in Avīci, it's is a reincarnation cycle designed to keep the soul suffering for as long as their bad karma exists. That soul therefore cannot move on, no matter how many times it reincarnates. It's trapped within Avīci until such time as its bad karma has been completely wiped out.


That would mean that Ichibei regards Yhwach's transgressions on a level with the sins that send a soul to Avīci which is why I've speculated on Yhwach being responsible for a possible split between quincies and shinigami in the distant past. In the story, the meaning of 'quincy' is 'monk of destruction' and, in the first appearance of quincies in the story, Ichigo observed Uryuu's uniform made him look like a priest. The Kinghtly orders the quincies are based on were religious orders; it's not like there isn't a religious basis for the quincy group.


Haschwalth tells Uryuu that the quincies have been praying for a thousand years and that their prayers are now about to be answered; Yhwach has set himself up as a god, after all, and the reality is that what Haschwalth truly means is probably that Yhwach is about to answer his own prayers. The Soul King meanwhile is viewed (as Yamamoto, Hitsugaya and Matsumoto explained to Orihime) as a figurehead, far removed from daily life and political matters. Ikkaku also admits to Poww that the shinigami have no gods that they pray to. Despite the unfortunate use of 'kami' in the shinigami name, the shinigami are themselves not gods, and Barragan mocks this when he observes Soifon is afraid of death. Despite this, the shinigami have a pantheistic* world view that permeates into their daily lives, and especially their relationship with their zanpakutou. It is not religious in the same way that Japan is essentially a secular society, not a shinto or a buddhist society, even though the influence of shinto and buddhism permeates daily life.


So, if Yhwach did split a single community into two, one religious, one secular, but perhaps which had originally been a balance of the two, there could be a variation of the splitting of a sangha at work; a crime for which Avīci is a suitable fate.




* For the record, the issue with the Soul King seems to be more panentheistic than pantheistic, but let's see where Kubo's going with the pantheistic references.

The Heart

Spoiler

On the doors of the mausoleum is the upside-down lotus bud. While it's not as common a decoration on real-life mausoleums or Buddhist artwork in Japan, it's not exactly rare. As a general rule, the upside-down lotus doesn't have different symbolism to the a lotus bud shown the right way up. However, the upside-down lotus bud does carry extra symbolism, namely that of the heart.


I need to go into the importance of 'the heart' to this particular manga; it's everywhere. From the repeated idea of the heart existing between two people who share the same experience, or being passed from someone who dying to someone who is with that person to death, to Ulquiorra's infamous death and beyond.


The heart is the abode of the universe. Near the heart (sometimes within it) is a narrow space. This is the location of the all-knowing fire. In the centre of the fire is a golden tongue of flame that permeates the entire body, warming it. This is the location of the Paramatman, the four-faced creator: Shiva, Vishnu, the material cause of the universe and the supreme self-luminous pre-consciousness.


In this manga, it essentially corresponds to two things we've seen - the place that, if stabbed, causes a shinigami to forever lose their power, and the place that Ryuuken stabbed to restore Uryuu's power.


In terms of spirituality, the unenlightened heart is a lotus bud. As the heart spiritually develops towards enlightenment, the bud begins to open. When enlightenment is achieved, the heart achieves a fully blossomed state. As a result, by representing the heart, the lotus represents the universe itself.


Sending Yhwach into Avīci is basically saying that there is no hope for Yhwach's spirituality. His bad karma is so excessive, so awful, that he needs the most extreme form of purification possible before he stands a chance of returning to the more normal wheel of reincarnation to begin a more normal cycle of suffering that ordinary people go through. He is, in other words, about as far from enlightenment as it's possible for a sentient being to be.


There is, as a result, a very stark contrast in this manga between Yhwach and Ichibei's perspective (yes, I'm still banging on about perspective) towards Yhwach's spiritual state. As Yhwach achieves what he sells as his greatest enlightened state, Ichibei confronts him with an accusation of the most awful unenlightenment possible.


However, given Ichibei's behaviour to date, culminating in his theft of the darkness from a century in the future, Ichibei's own perspective is questionable, even if Yhwach's perspective is highly so. Unsurprisingly, Ichibei is not the answer to the problem and is dealt with accordingly - a fate he himself predicted for Yhwach. As if defeated by his own power, as if Yhwach turned Ichibei's power against him. And, given the lift of his fingers, there is yet another parallel to Yamamoto's earlier death.

Quincy Matters

Spoiler

The above is, perhaps, a poetical interpretation of what happened, mostly based on the imagery Ichibei's chant evoke and the appearance of the mausoleum, but also based on the fact that Avīci does exist in this story, at least a more mundane version, in the form of Muken, the ultimate place of punishment at the Central 46's disposal (at least without using the Spear of Soukyoku), the location of Aizen's banishment, and also the place that Kenpachi observed both he and Unohana at least spiritually belong to since they were both too strong to be physically forced there.


A much more straight-forward interpretation, one directly related to things we've seen in the story to date is, quite simply this: taking Ichibei literally, he's talking about destroying the soul of Yhwach. This is yet another example of the lines between quincy and shinigami being blurred in this fight. Destruction of the soul so that it is removed forever from the reincarnation of souls (the Balance of Souls that protects the worlds) is supposed to be something only quincies can do. Yet, here is a shinigami who appears to have the ability - and the desire - to do exactly that.


The question of whether or not Uryuu shares the same power as Yhwach isn't going to be answered soon, especially as it would now come with the question of what Uryuu would do if he tried to use it with imperfect control, and especially as Uryuu is the Prince of Light yet Yhwach appears to be getting blacker and more shadowy as the story goes on - and especially since activating his Schrift. However, it's very clear Uryuu's paying extremely close attention to Haschwalth's words, and that he realises something significant about Haschwalth's words - especially as it coincides with the manifestation of Yhwach's full power. Of course, one of the significant things I did notice about Haschwalth's words is that he mentions the general Kaiser Gesang, but not the final stanza - he misses out the nine days to reclaiming the world.


There is also the question of how Yhwach can be defeated if he can understand everything he can see from the present moment into the future. However, there is one very obvious omission from Yhwach's description of his power (at least we hear about his power from him this week, as well as Haschwalth). Yhwach, quite significantly, does not say he can see the past.


Going back to what I said earlier about the need for a second TBTP to the events of a thousand years ago, this is one reason why I think it's becoming very likely we'll get one. It's also why I think Kubo has been holding off from revealing too much. Haschwalth and Yhwach between them have indicated that Yhwach is merely regaining his Schrift power, which means he had it, or a form of it, in the past which brings me back to what I said earlier - Yamamoto and Yhwach have apparently both held back their power thousand years ago.


On top of this, Yhwach has all but admitted that he is completely blind to the past, and it's becoming more obvious that the future of the story lies in the knowledge and understanding of the past. More than that, all three named War Powers have power that's heavily connected to significant historic events. Kenpachi's path to power was both hindered and eventually released by his past with Unohana; Aizen's path to power is very obviously based on something that's happened in both his past (as speculated by Ichigo) and the wider past (judging by his reaction to White's interest in a quincy), and Ichigo couldn't begin to touch his true power until he had confronted events that had occurred five years before he was even born.


I still think unification of power in some format is going to be involved, especially if there was a separation of unity in the past - Ichigo and Uryuu have been destined for some kind of unity ever since their battle with the story's first Menos Grande.


Meanwhile, Haschwalth comments that over the past nine years (at least, it could have been relevant a thousand years ago as well), Yhwach hasn't been able to use his Schrift in a controlled fashion until, it's implied, this fight with Ichibei (which certainly would explain why he used such an elaborate trick to get Yamamoto to reveal his Bankai). He goes further to suggest Yhwach has been trying to protect the Stern Ritter and that when out of control he takes their lives by accident. I have speculated several times in the past that we have to ask the question of whether or not the other quincies could survive the death of Yhwach. This doesn't answer that question but definitely makes the question more pertinent. Of course, this does beg the question of why Yhwach really didn't want his Stern Ritter dying by accident, although we've clues on that front.


Also, Yhwach talks about what he can see. That doesn't mean he can see everything that exists. We have had that lesson drummed into us by the Ulquiorra experience. Ulquiorra's entire journey was about learning to 'see' what he previously could not see. He was another example of the link between sight and comprehension. Only when he could comprehend the heart could he see it between himself and Orihime as he died, something other characters (Kaien, for example) have had a deep understanding of from the beginning. There should be much more than people may think that Yhwach therefore cannot see even when it's right in front of him. Loyalty and self-sacrifice might be one of them. It's why I mentioned Ichigo's inner Yhwach: Old Man Zangetsu, with his willingness to sacrifice himself for Ichigo despite being the essence of the Yhwach from a thousand years ago, should now be beyond Yhwach's comprehension - at least, that's if everything we've been told about how horrible Yhwach is even to those closest to him.


One final thing - eyes. There's always been a thing with eyes in this story; hollowfication changes the eyes, eye-patches seem to cover the same eyes, Aizen's transformations did interesting things to his eyes, Final Getsuga Tenshou did interesting things to Ichigo's eyes (not to mention Tensa Hollow combination), Kirge's Vollstandig changed his eyes, Ginjou's eyes changed when he entered bankai, and so on.


Then we have the Soul King with his saltire cross eyes.... except they aren't saltire cross eyes, are they? Now we've seen how Yhwach's eyes transform, it's almost certain that the Soul King has four pupils. That suggests to me that the reason for the Royal Guard's symbol to be shaped the way it is has something to do with the Soul King's eyes - four winter daphnes taking a diamond formation certainly don't represent a five-strong Royal Guard very well, but do bear another look when considering the fact that the Soul King appears to have four pupils in each eye. One for each of the four races, it could even be said. That still leaves room for a spiritual eye - the central eye, with its ninth pupil.

 

No way in hell i'm reading all that, but Yachiru being Kenpachi's sword doesn't make any sense. Kenpachi is not so special to be the only person in all of the soul society to constantly have his zanpakutou spirit manifested for all to see and able to be in areas so far away from where he is currently.

Likewise, Yachiru would have been missing the very moment Kenpachi finished his training with the the healing lady Kenpachi since he obtained his shikai then. Yet she wasn't.

 

You know, I just really, really want to know wha the deal with the Soul King is.

And what Bach would have done had Aizen won.

 

Kubo is the master of making chapters with as little content as possible.

 

I just had a thought. Who do you think would win in this fight? Yamamoto or Ichibei?
Personally I think Ichibei would loose because he couldn't survive the heat of Yama's reitsu.

 

It's not even that hot. Ukitake and that other captain were fighting him before and while he probably wasn't going full out, he wasn't going super easy on them either.

Ichibei would have ate Yamamoto up for breakfast. He wasn't strong at all (compared to the Zero division). You can tell by how they acted when they first arrived and were almost trash talking Yamamoto for dying in the first place to lowly quincy.

 

Ichibei wins.
While Yamamoto probably has more raw strength, Ichibei has the bullshit OP ability to take away powers and names and all.
Yamamoto has no real way to counter that and so, loses.
Assuming they're both serious and fully released, anyway.

 

Wow, Ywach's eyes are super creepy now.

 

Still a whole lot of nothing, really.

 

Yeah. A lot of nothing, mixed in with some stuff that's clearly supposed to be something, but it so weird and poorly explained that it makes absolutely no sense and might as well be nothing.

 

I'm just waiting for Aizen to pop out of nowhere and claim everything is going according to his plan, because that would honestly make more sense at this point.

 

Pretty sure thats the only reason anyone is still reading Bleach at this point. Aside from the whole train wreck angle.

 

Either that, or the fullbringer/quincy war arcs have all been a dream of Ichigo's, as he works in that shop he did for a while, and soon he's gonna wake up and go back to his 9-5 boring life

 

I would actually forgive Kubo of all the horrible turns his plots have taken over the past 3-4 years if he did this.

 

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It would have been complete bullshit, but I would have forgiven Kubo everything anyway.

 

Didn't think anyone saw this coming.

EDIT: Also, could his other limbs have become Ulquiorra and Yhwach? Ulq was "formed by Hueco Mundo", right?
And Yhwach being formed out of another limb also explains quite a bit. Now to see who else could be one.

 

Ukitake was one of three people who had a duel zanpakutō from what I remember. The other two being Kyōraku and Ichigo. Perhaps it's related?

 

Umm...what? Ulquiorra was a hollow like all other hollow in Hueco Mundo(albeit an incredibly strong one, whom i personally believe was a Vasto Lorde even before Aizen approached the strongest hollows in Hueco Mundo with the hogyouku to form the espada), he wasn't "formed by Hueco Mundo".

Also Juhabach was already confirmed to be the Soul King's son. By his own proclamation which could turn out to later be bs, but i doubt it given how familiar he was with Ichibei.