Bleach Grass Hammer...the Sequel

[warai_kitsune]

I recently got a PM from BlackKyuubi; essentially, he wanted to ask for MOAR without resorting to a necro.

Among other things, this has inspired me to consider investing in a tin-foil helmet, as literally two days ago, I started thinking about what to do next. Mostly, trying to think what would be interesting for various characters' bankia, or more in-depth look at what their shikai does.

Anyway, I thought I'd open the forum to requests, suggestions, and speculation. Though with a few caveats.

ONE: I am NOT going to give Kenpachi a bankai, so give up any idea of that RIGHT NOW. I like Kenpachi, I have a good idea of what I'd give him as bankai if I ever decide to write it, but he just got something good, and giving him bankai will just trigger the Dragonball Z Effect, and force an endless escalation of bad guys. So.

NO. KENPACHI'S. BANKAI.

TWO: If you suggest something that makes sense, I'll try to treat it reasonably fairly if I decide to use it. If you suggest something silly, stupid or pointless, I'll likely treat it as such. If you suggest something interesting that has little (if anything) to do with the character 'just because' or 'cause it's cool,' I likely won't develop it. This is crack, yes, but what makes it good crack is that it's still within the realm of possibility.

For example: Kenpachi having a shikai that makes people inclined to fight him in close-in, gory hand-to-hand combat? Makes sense, was well-developed. Yachiru having a shikai that turns her into an over-sized Rabbit of Caer Bannog? Not entirely without sense, mostly funny, one-shot gag.

THREE: Keep the arguing down to a minimum, if possible. And while you're at it, keep on topic; this is about what should be in the story, not about some random bit of Bleach science that has no canon component. If you want to argue about who'd win in a fight, go make your own thread.

Lastly, keep in mind this probably isn't going to be serious, and it won't be updated all that often; most of you who've read my stuff before know that I don't update very regularly.

 

[Lord Raine]

Given the different 'types' of Zanpakuto, we can see patterns to follow.

One potential for Kenpachi's Shikai is to expand on Kenpachi's ability to instinctually "sharpen" his spiritual energy by "grinding it down to a point". This could allow him to sheathe his weapon and perhaps even parts of his body with "sharp energy", exponentially increasing the damage he can deal. Even a simple punch or sword swing becomes deadly dangerous.

What's more, he might be able to project this out to a limited range around himself, which could allow for all sorts of potential attacks, techniques, and tactics.

And perhaps most compelling, this fits with what we see in canon. Kenpachi canonically already has Shikai, he just doesn't know his blade's name. Because he's the only person to speak of spiritual energy in terms of sharpening and grinding to a point, it's possible that that is his Shikai power, which he's accessing by brute force and strength of will. After all, if Kenpachi was never trained or taught spiritual energy manipulation, then he can't really be expected to differentiate between something everyone can do, and something only he can. From his perspective, he likely assumes that's how it works for everyone.

Thus, learning his blade's name and awakening it's true power could give that ability of his a massive upgrade, allowing him to do it with a much greater degree of power and control, and increasing the different ways he can use it.

I have a mental image of Kenpachi, with his blade in it's transformed Shikai state, with power rolling off of him, and a concentrated aura of 'sharp' energy ghosting an outline against his Zanpakuto.


And perhaps funniest of all. . . this means Kenpachi's Zanpakuto could technically be classified as a Kido-Type, because it's primary ability is controlling, channeling, and augmenting spiritual energy in a specific way.

 

[grant]

Hanatarou's a good one, but a lot of shikai ideas have him already. Maybe Isane's or Yachiru's.

 

[zeebee1]

I really don't care what it can do as long as it's a kido type. We need something to slow his progress so he doesn't rush towards bankai. Well, that and it's funny.

 

[nick012000]

And perhaps funniest of all. . . this means Kenpachi's Zanpakuto could technically be classified as a Kido-Type, because it's primary ability is controlling, channeling, and augmenting spiritual energy in a specific way.

I could easily see him refusing to use its sharpness aura for anything other than augmenting physical attacks until he's been pushed past the point where he has to use both hands on his sword.

 

[nuclear death frog]

I honestly don't think Kenpachi's shikai can get any more win than what you already had. As is, it fits him just wonderfully and he's going to have a lot of fun if/when he gets to charge into Hueco Mundo.

Also, the story is just such an awesome one-shot that I am worried that it would suffer if extended. I do not know that it would, but it worries me anyway. Uncertainty and all that.

 

[warai_kitsune]

I'm not really planning any kind of serious extension; mostly, I was thinking of turning it into a series of vaguely-connected one-shots regarding what various characters' shikai and bankai would be.

Just for example, look at Ikkaku's shikai form; a bladed sansekkon. Frankly, it seems kind of broken, at least in comparison to what most of the other shinigami get to do.

Look at the captain-class shinigami; we get pyromania to the nth degree, a two-shot paper-cut-o-death, the cloud of pink razor blades, the giant-body-parts-with-a-sword...the list goes on. Look at the vice-captains; Hinamori has her exploding pink puff-balls of DOOM, Rangiku has what's essentially her own version of Senbonzakura, Kira has the ability to make people crush themselves under their own weight...

And Ikkaku gets something that turns into three pieces. A potentially captain-class shinigami, and that's it.

So, what might else might be there? Ikkaku's bankai slowly grows more powerful as the fight goes on; why not Hozukimaru? One of the benefits of a spinning, flailing weapon is that once you get it going, it takes little if any effort to keep it going. What if Hozukimaru siphons and stores more energy the longer its sections are spun, allowing him to hit a LOT harder the longer he spins? Given his risk-taking personality, a sort of roulette effect if you wanted.

Stuff like that; what might other characters get for bankai? What might other characters' shikai do? I'm curious.

 

[Garlak]

If I recall correctly, the explanation Ikakku gave was that, because he never uses Bankai, his sword is somewhat "sleepy" and that he needed to get damaged in combat, or spin it around to wake it up.

It seemed to imply that he's just out of touch or rusty with Bankai... But other than that, the explanation of what his Bankai did... seemed a lot like Ichigos... Because I believe that what it did was collecting all the energy into it's giant form to "increase its attack strength." In short, rather than a Kido or Elemental one, it's compressed for pure, brute-force strength... kind of like Ichigo's compresses the energy into him, increasing his speed. Except Ikakku's is about increasing the hitting power.

 

[Ura Mamoru]

If I recall correctly, the explanation Ikakku gave was that, because he never uses Bankai, his sword is somewhat "sleepy" and that he needed to get damaged in combat, or spin it around to wake it up.

It seemed to imply that he's just out of touch or rusty with Bankai... But other than that, the explanation of what his Bankai did... seemed a lot like Ichigos... Because I believe that what it did was collecting all the energy into it's giant form to "increase its attack strength." In short, rather than a Kido or Elemental one, it's compressed for pure, brute-force strength... kind of like Ichigo's compresses the energy into him, increasing his speed. Except Ikakku's is about increasing the hitting power.

From what I'd understood, it had nothing to do with how often he went into Bankai, and a lot to do with Hozukimaru's personality.

We know that zanpakuto have their own personalities (Zangetsu is sort of a calm, composed mentor-figure [with a noted dislike of the rain that comes when Ichigo's sad], Rangiku mentioned that Haineko is lazy [though Rangiku isn't much better], and Yumichika mentioned that Ruri'iro Kujaku gets moody whenever he refers to it as Fuji Kujaku). I'm pretty sure that Ikkaku had said that Hozukimaru is just lazy, and takes a long time to fully wake up when it's forced to (at least, when going into Bankai, anyways). So, as Ryumon Hozukimaru cuts or is cut during the fight, it becomes more alert and focuses more of its power behind each cut. Apparently the 'cuts' also count if it cuts through thin air (as seen where Ikkaku finished waking Ryumon Hozukimaru up by spinning him so that the blades would cut rapidly through the air).

As for the comment about Ryumon Hozukimaru being similar to Tensa Zangetsu... I wouldn't quite say so. Tensa Zangetsu compresses Ichigo's energy, resulting in him moving much faster than he can otherwise. Ryumon Hozukimaru, as far as we've seen, is more about just diverting all of its power to its offense, by almost completely sacrificing its resilience (which is why Ryumon Hozukimaru can be damaged so easily).

 

[Greengun]

Your post plus the one above has me wondering about whether Ikkaku could pass the captains exam. While he has bankai it's implied that his bankai and shikai are underwhelming in terms of Bleach norms, add that with his lack of kido skills and I'm wondering if his promotion is as certain as he thinks it is.

Now as for zanpakto's powers and personalities I'm wondering about the old man's myself. Fire is usually associated with impulsiveness, passion, fury and destruction yet the calm and in control general who loves laws has a zanpakto that releases with the phrase " burn the world to ash". I honestly can't think of a cool bankai for the old man. Something like the first stage of Byakuya's bankai would work and make sense but it just seems to predictable. Actually I just had an idea I'll probably hate in a minute or two. If your familiar with the Hellsing manga you might know that Allucard's final release power is the ability to summon up an army made from the souls of his victims. A bankai that creates a small army of fire elementals while maintaining his shikai would make sense for the commanding general of Soul Society.

 

[The Sandman]

I'd actually like the idea that Yachiru's shikai allows for some degree of localized reality-warping/shapeshifting. It makes it a bit cooler than a one-off joke, and it actually makes a lot of sense when you try to figure out something: why does Yachiru still look like she's six or seven when canonically she's probably at least as old as Byakuya? The ability to alter shape would help explain why she's tooling around in a little kid's body.

Either that, or she can dick with space and time.

Aizen's bankai, as I just posted in another thread, is probably related to MythBusters just like his shikai is. His shikai lets him reject your reality and substitute his own, and his bankai would therefore allow him to explode things. Lots of things. And really big explosions.

Chad's bankai, given his combat record to date, would probably just be a giant "KICK ME" sign on his back.

Yamamoto's bankai probably turns him into a phoenix. Think like Daiguren Hyourinmaru, except made from fire. And not sucktastic. And it resurrects him every time you kill him, so the only way to kill him if he releases his bankai is to force him to expend so much reiatsu that he can't maintain it.

Soi Fon's bankai summons Muhammad Ali to beat the shit out of her opponent. "Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee", you know? And it fits her hand-to-hand ethos.

Nobody knows what Unohana's bankai looks like, because everyone who's seen it is either horribly dead or blocked out those memories in self-defense.

 

[~NGD OMEGA~]

Actually, I had an idea for Ikkaku's that's simple in nature and could plausibly work for his bankai if he ever expands his ability with it.

When he first went bankai, his weapon was shattered, and yet he stuck the pieces back together and it kind of 'repaired' itself before he activated the thing. While the explaination for that should be pretty obvious, why not capitalize on it with a twist.

Every time it's broken and subsequently repaired in a fight it gets 'stronger', in such a way that likely depends on just how it was broken. If the blade was shattered, perhaps the edge is sharper or even longer, the chain gets an extension allowing it to stretch more, if the peices themselves perhaps its speed increases, responding less to his movements and more to his will, perhaps even becoming more durable in the process till the point where it becomes a force to be reconned with.

Hell, with each subsequent time it breaks, perhapse even the repair process itself begins to improve, to the point where it does so without having to be 'placed' back together, or even happens neigh instantly the very moment it breaks.

For an additional twist, he doesn't even notice this himself, so caught up in the fight as he is by that point, the line between him and his weapon blurring to the point where it seems as though they are one and the same. The more they fight, the more joy they gleam from it, the harder they come at their opponent until they are simply overwhelmed.

You could even tie it in to the whole waking up thing, and it certainly offers a rather deadly way for him to improve his bankai, though obviously that one would take a lot 'more' to repair and would probably be insanely draining on him.

 

[Preventer Squall]

That's actually a very fascinating idea. The only drawback I could see in it is that by the second time his weapon repairs itself, a competent opponent would pretty much say 'screw this' and just stab him in the face.

I know competent enemies come at a premium in any shonen manga, but the point stands.

As for a shikai for Kenpachi, the only one that I can think of is one whose power increases the more he's injured. Let's face it, the guy barely pays attention if you can't even scratch him. The more bloodied he gets, the more excited he seems to be. I'm of the opinion his blade would be the same, growing stronger and stronger the closer to death he is.

 

[zerohour]

It could just be a constant thing, where any time it breaks, it gets stronger, and the additional strength is permanent.

 

[Belgarion213]

Sorry for necroing this but reading about Ikkaku's Shikai and its limitations compared to the abilities of other potential captain class shinigami, I had a sort of idea.

The power that Ikkaku's shikai has, other than being a tri-staff that is...is the ability to 'extend' the chain with his spirit power. Effectively making a elastic connection whose length is precisely controlled by his power. Effectivley this works as a range extender in that while it can be used as a tristaff if he wants to Ikkaku can well swing his spear tip and have that cut a hollow/opponent down at range then come speeding back aka how the blade turned in his fight with Ichigo.

This power would be extended in his Bankai form in that his 'cutting the air' as he does to wake it up with extended range effectively, if his control was great enough, allowing him to cut MUCH more than his seeming couple meter range. That is he stands there spinning his blade around while everything in a fair distance is just shredded by the constantly revolving blades whose sheer destructive power (if not resilience) lets them cut through most things.

This plays of on the 'disharmony' that seems curiously unified with Ikkaku compared to other Zanpaktou. In that Ikkaku likes to fight up close and personal but his Zanpaktou and Bankai seems to be more designed for mid ranged combat.