With the "Bleach" manga drawing to a close, fans expected a lot of surprises. And in that sense, chapter 685 delivered.

The penultimate chapter of the long-running manga series takes readers 10 years into the future, where they are able to see a new Soul Society as well as plenty of other changes.

Chief among these notable changes is one that affects Rukia.

As it turns out, Rukia has been hard at work over the past decade, and her efforts have paid off as she has now been named as the captain of the 13th guard.

Numerous other new captains and vice captains have also been named after the 10-year time skip.

Interestingly enough, there appears to be one character missing from the penultimate chapter of the "Bleach" manga.

Ichigo was not the focus of chapter 685, so fans have thus far been left to wonder about what exactly happened to him now that 10 years have passed.

Over on the "Bleach" Subreddit, some fans have predicted that the curiously absent Ichigo will make a not-so surprising appearance in chapter 686 when he shows up to witness Rukia's promotion in person.

In all likelihood, chapter 686 of the manga will give the characters and the fans of the series some form of closure, though it's anyone's guess as to how that will be done.

Fans can expect that there will be a lot to unpack in the final chapter of the manga with regards to the story and all the characters, and on top of that, an "important announcement" will also apparently arrive together with the finale, Anime News Network reported.

There's no word yet on what this "important announcement" is and what it could mean for "Bleach," so fans will just have to stay tuned for the arrival of the final chapter.

The final chapter of the "Bleach" manga" is set to be released on Aug. 22.