Zangetsu!
Are you Zangetsu?!
No, I am...
Wh-What the hell is this?!
Wait! Ichigo!
What?! Weren't we in a hurry?!
Something's odd.
There's no sign of the Cleaner.
Cleaner?
You mean that Spiritual Pressure train-like thing?
Yeah...
Ordinarily, a Soul Reaper can't do anything about the Cleaner.
From the traces of Spiritual Pressure, it appears Aizen did something.
What are you afraid of, Gin?
Reason exists for those who must rely on it to survive.
Well, shall we get going?
Towards the end of all reason.
Is it bad if that thing is gone?
If we leave things like this, it's not good.
But...
Right now, it's to our advantage.
What?
This Precipice World, as the name suggests,
is a place isolated temporally and spatially from
both the World of the Living and the Soul Society.
The Cleaner existed to keep those who entered
here from staying a long time.
But right now, it's gone.
I'll be able to teach you in this place.
Teach me? What?
The Final Getsugatensho!
The Final...
Getsugatensho?
Why was I sleeping here?
The Final...Getsugatensho?
That's correct.
And this is where you could teach me? Why's that?
The Precipice World
is a rupture in space surrounded
by multiple layers of temporal torrents.
I see...
You don't have to know what it means.
Put simply,
time flows at a much faster rate than in the outside world.
Expressed in numbers, it's 2000 times as fast.
In the time that a year passes on the outside,
2000 years will have passed here in the Precipice World.
What?!
Long ago, besides being the pathway to
the World of the Living, this Precipice World was also used as an exile for criminals.
That's why the Restrictive Current and the Cleaner exist.
If the Restrictive Current captures you,
then you would be unable to escape the Precipice World and die.
If the Cleaner pursues you,
then you would be hurled to a time greatly different
than the temporal coordinates at which you entered the Precipice World.
That is why there was a variance of several days
when you first entered the Soul Society after being pursued by the Cleaner.
Anyway, you have Urahara's technical skills
to thank for getting off with only a few days
variance after the Cleaner pursued you.
Ordinarily, you would've been hurled about a century
and died from your body being unable to keep
up with the sudden passage of time.
But right now, that Cleaner is not here.
This is a good opportunity to gain some time.
The flow of time within the Precipice World is
2000 times that of the outside.
In other words, even if you trained 2000 hours here,
only one hour will have gone by on the outside.
There is no means of sealing the Cleaner in the Soul Society,
but there is a way to stop the Restrictive Current.
We call it Realm Fixation.
Normally,
it's done by having a group of low-ranking Soul Reapers
pool their Spiritual Pressure to fixate the Restrictive Current.
But I can perform it by myself.
I will hold down the Restrictive Current
until my Spiritual Pressure is exhausted.
By my rough estimate, that'll be 2000 hours.
Or about 3 months.
Use that time to get an answer.
Answer?
That's right.
You need to find out.
Get your sword, Zangetsu,
to tell you about the Final Getsugatensho!
What...What happened?
What's going on?
Everybody's asleep on the streets.
All the cars and traffic lights have stopped.
This is not cool!
Why does it look like the world has come to an end?!
This isn't a dream.
And it isn't a movie, either.
Come on!
Isn't anybody awake?!
Hey! Everybody!
Mizuiro!
Ichigo!
Sis!
Don't leave me here alone!
That hurt!
What's the big...
Huh?
Arisawa!
Oh, thank goodness!
I'm so glad to see someone, even if it's you!
I mean... Did you take a look around?
Everyone's all sound asleep!
I was getting lonely, thinking maybe
I was the only one still awake in the world!
I mean, no one's waking up.
It feels so real and creepy, you know?
I would've been able to handle all this if it was just me here,
but this is way too freaky.
But I sure am glad you're alive!
Not that I was worried about you!
In fact, I'd rather you worried about me!
By the way, have you seen Mizuiro?
I haven't yet!
Hey, come to think of it...
Why'd you lariat me, huh?!
Shut up.
Right... Sorry.
Why'd you dodge?
Are you crazy?!
If I don't dodge, it's gonna hurt!
The fact that you dodged my fist
means you aren't putting your soul into your sword!
Concentrate!
Don't you even know how to talk with your own Zanpakuto?!
I get it, ok?
But I've never turned to Old Man Zangetsu outside of battle like this.
Place your sword on your lap and meditate!
Concentrate your soul on only your sword!
That's all there is to it!
I get that, but...
That form is called Jinzen.
It is a form for carrying on a dialogue with one's Zanpakuto
that was devised over the course
of thousands of years since the beginning of the Soul Society.
Ichigo, up until now, all your techniques
were acquired through brute force.
Do you understand?
For you to progress further,
you must venture into realms of millennia
you never touched on before.
Go...Ichigo!
I'm really sorry.
How should I put it?
I'm by myself, and everyone's asleep,
and I was lonely, and it was so quiet, and no one's awake, and...
And then I got hyper, you know?
Will you stop with the noisy excuses?
Enough already!
Come over here!
No, I'm serious. I'm really sorry.
Honsho! Ogawa!
I found them.
For now, I'm taking them to the school.
Can you carry Chizuru?
Right!
Up you go!
You better not touch her butt!
I know that!
Say, Arisawa...
What?
Honsho's got bigger boobs than I thought.
Here's what I know so far.
I went to take a look around earlier,
but the town was cut off right at the outskirts.
There were only mountains past that.
It's hard to believe, but the entire town has been moved.
Do you think Ichigo has something to do with this?
Isn't it obvious? Who else is there?!
But...
If it was Ichigo's fault, then Ichigo is going to fix it.
That's the kind of guy he is.
Indeed...
A sight unfitting for the Soul Society.
This is the last we'll see of it.
Calm down.
How unsightly of you.
You should be able to breathe.
Well?
Who are you?
Old Man Zangetsu is the only one who should be here.
Is that any way to talk to the person who taught you how to breathe?
Tensa Zangetsu?!
I can't blame you for not recognizing me.
This is the first time you've come here in a Bankai state.
What?!
Zangetsu!
Are you Zangetsu?!
Wrong.
What do you call your Bankai?
I am Tensa Zangetsu.
You've entered.
Be careful, now.
This time, Zangetsu will not go easy on you.
It was the same with my Engetsu.
Our Zanpakutos don't want to teach us this technique.
You'll learn why soon enough.
W-Wait, Old Man... I mean, you're not old right now, but...
Wait, Zangetsu!
This time I'm not here to fight!
I just need an answer!
Answer? You mean about the Final Getsugatensho?
That's... Wait a second...
So you can hear what's said outside?
What are you doing?!
I can't teach you such a thing.
Oh, is that so?
Unfortunately, I need you to teach me.
So what?
The fate of what you want to protect is none of my concern.
What?
Don't misunderstand, Ichigo.
What you want to protect is not what I want to protect.
My head hurts.
What is going on?
The trains aren't running.
I can't get to the office, or even go home.
Hey, you there!
I'm glad someone is awake.
Do you have any idea of what is going on here?
Don't come near me.
A human with no awareness of Spiritual Pressure
is unable to sense my power.
But their body can't withstand it.
Oh? Those kids over there seem to be awake.
Yes. I recall seeing them through Ulquiorra's eyes.
They are Ichigo Kurosaki's friends.
What do you mean?
About what?
You said earlier...
"The fate of what you want to protect is none of my concern."
I'm asking what you meant by that!
I thought you lent me your power to help me.
Was I wrong?
Then why did you lend me your power all this time?
What were you planning?
Answer me, Zangetsu!
It's exactly as I said.
What?!
Look at this world!
This world of yours used to be filled with skyscrapers, full of hope!
Now it has sunken low to look like the small town that's dear to you!
The rain that continued to fall on this world has subsided,
but in its place, everything has sunk into this ocean!
This all happened, Ichigo, because you lost hope and stopped moving forward!
Ichigo.
I cannot leave you like this.
I will drag out the root of your despair right here and now!
What's up?
It's been a long time, Ichigo.
What's with that look?
Don't you recognize me?
Come to think of it...
Huh?
Aren't you going to look for Kojima?
Well...
I did try looking for him.
But ever since Ichigo disappeared, he's been going to school on his own.
And he hasn't answered his cell phone either.
So he's probably still asleep somewhere.
You two have been hanging out since middle school,
so I thought you were best friends.
I guess it's not like that, huh?
We have our personal spaces. People need that, right?
You think so?
Ichigo was the first person Mizuiro ever opened up to.
He tends to put up a wall very quickly,
so it makes me happy just to see him walk up to people on his own.
Let's stop this. What am I saying, anyway?
You were telling cheesy stories.
Why you...
Anyway, after we drop off Chizuru and Michiru at the school,
go and find Kojima.
What about Kunieda and Natsui?
Those two can manage by themselves.
I'll go look for Yuzu and Karin.
Isn't their Dad with them?
That guy's probably unconscious with the rest of them.
W-What the hell is this?!
A-Arisawa...
Are you all right?!
Shut up.
I don't need you to worry about me.
Who are those guys?
Arisawa!
Impressive.
You're this close to me, yet you are still able to maintain your existence.
Who...are you?
Ichigo Kurosaki will show up here for sure.
With new powers, no doubt.
I want to bring those powers closer to perfection.
Your deaths will help that cause.
Run, Asano!
Huh?
Get going!
Or is there something you can do here?!
Don't bother chasing after him.
I'll start with this one first.
What'll I do? What'll I do?
My body won't move. What'll I do?
What should I do?!
Arisawa, ever heard of a misattribution of arousal?
What are you babbling about at a time like this?
When you're in an agitating situation with someone for some reason,
your brain misattributes it as love.
Oh really? So you're in love with that freak in white.
Sorry I told you to run.
How did you come to that conclusion?!
Illustrated Guide to Soul Reapers!
Hey!
Hurry up and return this place to the way it used to be!
It doesn't appear all that inconvenient.
Why not leave it like this?
No, it is!
Everything mechanical has become unusable.
Once you fall asleep,
there's no telling where you'll end up.
I've tried equipping myself with all sorts of things,
but it's really a hassle!
You look like you're having fun!
He sure looks like he's having fun.