Kaio-ken was drawn inconsistent as fuck in that whole sequence. The only difference him using it to start with or using it later makes is if you want to make power levels make sense.
Which they don't make sense even before bringing Kaio-ken into it. There's simply not enough space between...
No one on this forum likes super popular series that didn't end 10 years old so I doubt you'll get any good answers.
I'd recommend the One Piece and Naruto manga. The anime is just so bogged down and drawn out with pointless filler all over the place. Bleach was pretty good until the end of...