Ichigo, Ganju and Hanatarou make their way through the underground water tunnels that only the 4th Division know their way about. Hanatarou tells Ichigo what Rukia had told him about him when he had been assigned to clean her cell, and Ichigo is spurred on to hurry out of the tunnels, emerging at the closest exit to the Shrine of Penitence, where they are met by Abarai Renji, who had left the lieutenants’ conference to confront Ichigo. Renji is supposedly 5 times stronger than the last time, and the fight between the two start good and proper as Renji releases Zabimaru in an attempt to fulfil the promise that he would kill the man who took Rukia’s powers.