here's what I think:

1) Uloquiorra is not going down that easily, he can probably regenerate his arm (like his eye probably).

2) A vicious battle ensues, then one of the following occurs

a) Ichigo wins, but suddenly loses his new-found power just as he is about to deliver the final blow, and Uloquiorra catches this opportunity to come back for 2nd round or

b) Ichigo wins, but goes on a rampage, and after that somehow manages to control himself and return to his normal form, but then it turns out Uloquiorra still has a bit of strength left, and comes back for a 2nd round or

c) A vicious battle takes place, but Ichigo somehow ends up losing in the end, and when Uloquiorra is about to deliver the final blow (again), some unidentified friend comes and saves Ichigo, and together they win the battle.

I like point number two, even though I really would have liked Ulquiorra to last longer, cus I really like his character..but is just me, or did Ichigo completely lose control? Im asking cus he heard Orihime and was having an internal monologue, so it made no sense that he's lose control..oh but whatever...i hope ichigo either loses or goes on a rampage, but my biggest complain, where are everyone's reactions!
I want to see Rukia's reaction, first to him dying, and then to him gaining this insane amount of power!

I'd like to note something that jumped out at me as I was rereading the chapter. Ulquiorra asks two things when he sees the new Ichigo: What are you and who are you. The second one points to this Ichigo not being Ichigo conciously which supports the possiblity that Hichigo stepped in and is controlling Ichigo's body. Of course, this could be like Naruto when he goes 4-tails+ and he just loses his sense of self and becomes a creature that runs on emotion which Ichigo pretty much is right now. I'd like to see how Tite explains this and where he goes from this. I also wonder how this is going to effect Ichigo in the long-run, like if he is going to become more like a hollow now than a shinigami. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

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I think it's one of those things where he's inside looking out and is trying to break the hollow's control.

And timlin737, you need to post here more because that post was a really well thought out opinion. Those 3 options for #2 are all very likely to happen, but I think a combination of b) and c) will happen.

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This has been mentioned on other forums around the web but back in Chapter 289 there was a hint of a transformation coming:

http://www.onemanga.com/Bleach/289/02-03/

I'm actually excited to see next weeks chapter.

I don't know if I can ever be positively surprised by Bleach again... For some time it has been really going downhill for me, and now a new unexplainable powerup... I think it's too focused on Ichigo and his unlimited strength that seems to come out of nowhere. It's just like woo! let's draw more awesome stuff.

I'm sorry if I come across as a negative or cynical person, but seriously, I was gagging on the second page. I cannot grasp how this series is more popular than let's say FMA, which besides humor has thorough plot development. But hey, it sells.



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right to arm bears

He's gotta be if he was forced into that form by the will to protect, i can see him just up and leaving after the fight tho...

its not really new or unexplained... go back to the vizard chapters where he is trying to contol the hollow, it was shown a 3/4 transformation then. that was 100+ chapters ago. Even back then you knew that the full transformation was gonna come.

Ichigo already had a hollow hole in his chest, from the earlier books, when he turned into a hollow while undergoing vizard training, his hollow hole was clearly there

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What a tangled web we weave, when we practice to deceive
:=EXITUS ACTA PROBAT=:

yea that hollow ichigo looks nothing like this one so it is unexplained seeing as how they appear to be different.

@spectrearc although true that he had a hole on his chest during the vizard training that hole was black this one seems to be see threw.

@syne i agree 100% during soul society all i could think about was who killed aizen and then bam aizens alive now its just pointless battles with no conflict at all, there isnt even any emotion to this manga whats so ever i mean every1 knows no ones gona die only way this manga is gona suprise me now is if tite kills some one off.

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Shmoke!!!!!!

It looks to be demon like, if you ask me...

Not that anyone did.



But seriously, it doesn't seem to be the inner hollow with that point you just made, they look...quite different.

In response to the point that we have already seen Ichigo's full hollow form... we really haven't, because in the battle Hollow Ichigo made mention of the fact that he was still growing in strength and that Ichigo would have to continue to get stronger in order to continually hold his hollow back.

About the use of cero, I think the other vaizards could use cero because they had actually trained to use it, and if Ichigo had the time/ability to train, he would probably be able to use it (kinda like the fact that I'm quite certain that Zangetsu has more abilities than just Getsuga Tenshou, but Ichigo hasn't bothered to learn them). The fact that he used it makes me even more sure that Hollow Ichigo has taken over, rather than this being simply another power-up.

Ichigo tends not to allow the hollow to take over very long, so I doubt this is the death of Ulquiorra though. I predict he'll take back control like in the Byakuya fight. It'll be a waste really, in my opinion.

SPOILERS!!!









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Um...why did Ichigo just stand there for the first attack if he could move in very close to Ulquiorra and easily block the attack like he did with the second one? And why is Kubo ending the chapter like that? We all know that Ulquiorra's gonna come back up and everyone's gonna be shocked and say, "How did he survive that?" And if Ulquiorra actually did lose, then all of that screentime and focus on him (Especially being shown as Ichigo's most powerful and dangerous rival in Hueco Mundo) would just be a huge waste if he was beaten in his most powerful form that quickly.

And I've noticed something. It seems that Kubo will give us one satisfying chapter for every 7-9 mundane chapters.

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i think ichigo will make short work of ulquiorra and then get pawned by hollow aizen, who also has two hollow forms and then royal ichigo will pawn hollow aizen and the arrancar and the shinigami will become buddy buddy.

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lets skip school