At the end of episode 13 of the Bleach Thousand year blood war arc, we get to see Ichigo with two Zanpakutōs (swords). Although it’s going to be a while till we get the next episodes of Bleach, the series ended at a perfect place in the story.
In the previous episodes(10-11), we had seen Ichigo shaken and confused about his true identity. Yhwach hinted to him that he knew his mother and that he had Quincy’s powers. Ichigo was also left severely injured after fighting with Yhwach. On top of that, Yhawch’s second-in-command Haschwalth had broken Ichigo’s Zanpakuto.
Since he cannot fight with his broken sword and injured body, Ichigo and Renji had to go with Squad Zero to get their bodies and Zanpakuto fixed. When they met up with Nimaiya, the creator of the Zanpakuto technology, he made them fight Asauchi. The Asauchi are nameless zanpakuto that haven’t been bonded to a soul reaper yet. Ichigo couldn’t get a sword at first because he was still ignorant and confused about his own identity. So he was sent back home.
When he goes back home, Ichigo confronts his father and asks him to tell the truth about his mother. And to his disbelief, Isshin, his father confirms that his mother Masaki Kurosaki was a Quincy. Masaki was a pure-blooded Quincy and the only reason she met with Isshin was to save him from Hollow White that Aizen created. Unfortunately, while saving Isshin Masaki got bitten by the Hollow. Now, Quincies do not have any antibodies against Hollow attacks. So that bite from the hollow would have been the end for her and in a few days she would become one herself. To save her, Isshin had to become a human, surrendering his soul-reaper powers and bonding his soul with Masaki’s.
In other words, Ichigo got his soul reaper powers from his father and his mother gave him her Quincy powers and Hollow essence that she got after being bitten. And that’s how he became a hybrid of three different beings: Shinigami, Hollow, and Quincy. With his newfound knowledge when he went to battle the Asauchi again, they bowed down to him. There Ichigo found the Asauchi that looked like “Hollow white Ichigo”.
When Ichigo accepted his true identity he also realized that “Old Man Zangetsu” was not his true zanpakuto but Yhwach pretending to his Shinigami powers. However, Zangetsu was not his enemy but only his Quincy powers. He was only holding Ichigo back to protect him from fighting against Yhwach. That’s when Ichigo saw the truth within the truth. Both the hollow and Quincy part of his zanpakuto was real and valid parts of his identity. As Ichigo realized the duality in his own identity he understood that they were both Zangetsu.
Ichigo’s Zanpakutō has two swords because it represents the two different versions of Zangetsu that he knows. The shorter sword represents the old Zangetsu that was actually the manifestation of his Quincy powers. Meanwhile, the larger sword represents his Hollow Shinigami side.
And that was why in the end Ichigo has two swords as his Zanpakuto.
