Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War is nearing the end of its run for Part 3 of the anime this Fall, and the newest episode of the series has ended one of the wildest fights yet with Nanao Ise finally getting to unleash her secret Zanpakuto that has been hidden away from here all this time. Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Part 3 – The Conflict has been pitting the final surviving Soul Reapers against Yhwach’s strongest Sternritter, and each of the fights has been wilder than you would expect. That has been especially true for the fight between Shunsui Kyoraku and Lillie Barro as Barro has been morphing to a powerful new form.
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Kyoraku has been holding his own against this powerful threat, and even seemed to bring the fight against Barro to an end with the full unleashing of his Bankai for the first real time in the anime. But with Barro quickly breaking out of the Bankai and recovering from the damage he had taken, it was up to Nanao to pick up the slack and bring the fight to an end herself using a Zanpakuto, Shinken Hakkyoken, that Kyoraku had secretly hidden away from the Ise clan at the request of Nanao’s mother.
Nanao Unleashes Her Zanpakuto At Last
Bleach: Thousand-Year Blood War Episode 37 picks up from when Kyoraku traps Barro within his Bankai, and it’s assumed that the Quincy has been defeated and will be washed away by the ocean now surrounding the both of them. But it’s immediately clear that not only is Barro fine, but he has since morphed into an even more monstrous and powerful form that quickly puts a hole through Kyoraku’s stomach. This limits the Captain’s options as for what to do next, but thankfully Nanao has come to the scene to help him. So Kyoraku reveals that he’s been hiding Nanao’s Zanpakuto from her this entire time.
It’s explained that Nanao had thought she was born without a Zanpakuto, and had since been mastering Kido in order to join the Court Guard Squads. But when she became a Soul Reaper, she ended up with Kyoraku’s squad. He had made a promise to Nanao’s mother to hide away Nanao’s Zanpakuto as she believed it was basically part of the curse for the women in the Ise clan. A family of powerful priestesses, Kyoraku ended up wrapped up with them after his older brother had married Nanao’s mother and died shortly after.
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How Strong Is Nanao’s Zanpakuto?
It’s revealed that part of this promise was to hide Nanao’s Zanpakuto from her along with protecting her, and it’s actually been right under Nanao’s nose the entire time. It turned out that Kyoraku had hidden this blade within his own Kyokotsu. In passing on this blade, Shinken Hakkyoken, Kyoraku warns that it means that Nanao will be taking on her family curse as well. But Nanao herself is determined to use it anyway, and it’s the perfect weapon to use against Barro’s attacks.
Shinken Hakkyoken is a bladeless Zanpakuto that instead is covered in many mirrors. It itself has the power to reflect anything thrown at it, and it’s strong enough to hit Barro with his own attack to defeat the Quincy once and for all. Though both Kyoraku and Nanao had taken severe injuries through this fight, the two of them were able to support one another to deal the final blow with the help of Nanao getting to use a Zanpakuto for the first real time in the anime.
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