Gai Nagareboshi

""Ooh, look at your big fancy sword! You know, I've never had something like that. Everyone has things that I don't. So what if you're a Captain? I've gotten this far by myself, and I won't let anyone take my home away from me! Stand back!"

- Gai Nagareboshi, about to face off against Nika

Gai Nagareboshi (流れ星=ガイ, Nagareboshi Gai) is the only known survivor of the now-extinct Mototsu race. The story of Gai Nagareboshi is told through "A Certain Unlucky Person". A person who is only occupied and concerned with looking after his most important people, Gai thinks nothing of his existence as a "Soul" (he assumes himself to be one) living in Rukongai. Gai had abandoned the premise of honor and justice through multiple encounters with Shinigami and Hollows, becoming bitter and cynical as a result. Despite this, he has a soft spot for children, and will not hesitate to protect them at all costs. After encountering the Arrancar Nika and obtaining the incredibly mysterious, incomprehensibly powerful, and highly sought-after Zanpakutō Kakusei, Gai begins to realize there's much more to himself than he originally thought.

Despite being the main protagonist of "A Certain Unlucky Person", Gai is an anti-hero, a vigilante who is willing to take the law into his own hands, in addtion to attempting others to give up on the path of justice. However, Gai is usually potrayed to be right, as not heeding his advice caused Setsuna Kawahiru to be sent into a spiral of depression, eventually culminating in her becoming a villain, a fact that Gai attempts to correct by snapping her out of it, to no avail.

While Gai, as part of the Mototsu race, is genderless, in addition to "his" inability to master the technique that stabilizes the race's hormones, leaving him genderless, is referred to as "male" due to "his" masculine voice and manner of acting. Later on, it turns out that overuse of Bankai Second Release has caused Kakusei to begin to slowly fade away whenever utilized, and after his battle with Fumeina at the climax of Turn Back The Pendulum, Gai loses his Zanpakutō for good. However, he later obtains the Zanpakutō Yūsōhōō.

Appearance
Gai, despite his androgynously beautiful appearance, is a male and insists that. He has short brown hair with a small clump of hair down the middle and white hairclips on each side, a slender figure, and wide magenta within blue eyes. Gai wears a small black shirt, shaped like a diamond; the collar is a thin strand of cloth, wrapping around his own neck, and on the sides of the shirt, there are two thin strips that connect around his back, being tied in a small ribbon-like fashion with two red, intersecting belts over his chest. He wears white hakama, with painted golden phoenix wing designs, tied with a green sash. A large piece of black fabric hangs from the center of the sash; embellished with the images of three origami cranes. Gai also bears two strips of blue cloth that drape over either side of his hips, along with a smaller, white strip of cloth tied around his waist, draped in the same manner. On Gai's arms are white bell-sleeves. He also wears black sandals with black thigh-high socks.

Personality and Traits
"Of course I care what others think! I could love others if I was true to myself."

- Gai Nagareboshi, to Hizashi Yoshi

Gai Nagareboshi is a complex person. While he merely wants to be left alone, he also shows signs of wanting to start an adventure. He is rather quiet, bitter, cynical, emotionless, and aloof, though people who are close enough to him know that this is an act; as he is actually a kind and caring person, though, especially to Kōzuki Yoshi/Gekkō Utsukushi and later Hizashi Yoshi. He is also able to forgive easily; when going up against Hizashi, after finding out about her past, he sympathized with her and promised to help her almost immediately. Gai generally keeps his cool under most circumstances, and no matter what his enemies ever do to him, he always seems to have to be able to come up with a witty retort to it. Despite claiming having "given up on that justice stuff", the reason his adventure started is because he stepped in to protect Hikari and Hitsugaya from being killed by Nika. Gai has a habit of lapsing into internal monologue, which he, naturally having horrible social skills, conveys his thoughts and feelings. It is during these first-person moments he reveals he deliberately acts the way he does to push others away for fear of getting close to them, which usually has the opposite effect, as he has gathered many friends over the course of his journey. Also, he shows an inferiority complex that make him think he can't do anything right or complete. The main reason behind this is that he had been always branded as a worthless person as a "Plus". Therefore for his seeming lack of power and mockery of Shinigami, he entered in a gang. This complex can be seen in his usual internal monologue, as he always complains about the situation but he never says it. As much as he resents assuming leadership, he is the first to ensure that what is necessary gets done. Gai's clear mind and sense of responsibility lead others to trust and follow him. Gai is not afraid to take difficult matters into his own hands, and throughout his own story, comes to decide that taking the law into his own hands is the only way to ensure that the villains of Soul Society are punished. However, as shown by his conversation with Setsuna, he is fully aware, and to some extent even worried, that in doing so he risks becoming a person that, in a sense, is just as bad as those whom he despises. Gai is incredibly determined to protect the ones he loves; which is best shown in the climax of "A Certain Unlucky Person", where he decides to stop Central 46's extremist actions, which he does by going about by murdering them in cold blood, and immediately afterwards, attempts to fight the Soul King all by himself to ensure that his friends could escape Soul Society safely.

Gai also has a lighter side, willingly crossdressing as a woman in order to help Nika raise enough money for her patesserie shop. He also has a dry, ironic wit, which is usually shown in his reactions to the actions of his less stable companions. In addition, during his internal monologues, Gai usually snarks at the questionable intelligence of his companions, the utter absurdity of situations, and at times, breaks the fourth wall by pointing out plot-holes. Gai adores children, and before he started his adventure, adopted several whom he found on the streets of Rukongai. Likewise, children ususally automatically become attatched to Gai, due to his "grumpy mode being permanently turned off around them". He is fiercely protective of them; this is best seen in his interactions with Shion, where the only reason he interfered with her thrashing delivered by Kaori because she was a child, and even before that, Gai defeated an entire royal family due to their cruel treatment of a little girl. Due to his selfless actions, Gai has aqquired a harem consisting of ﻿Gekkō Utsukushi, Hizashi Yoshi, Nika, Hikari Nakajima, Junrei Kokumei, and Saeko Hiwatari, who all try to use various methods to gain his attention, with much of it being embarrassing for him. Despite his popularity with the opposite sex, Gai is oblivious to the intense feelings that these women have for him, and is often more worried about protecting his loved ones and Rukongai. He is, however sensitive to the change of mood in certain situations, but always manages to rationalize the change in mood to something completely unromantic. In his mind, he believes that there is absolutely no chance for him to get a girlfriend, as he replied to Touma's question in Fifteenth Release, that he would not be able to get on any of the girls' good sides- ironically, Gai is the one person who brings out the best in all of them. Gai is an excellent cook, befitting his large appetite. Gai also has a habit of frequently clicking his tongue when irritated. Every time he appears after "A Certain Unlucky Person", Gai will always smash through whatever he can with a dropkick to get to his destination.

Synopsis
Main Article: A Certain Unlucky Person

Twin Bout: Ureshi vs Nagareboshi (100 years before A Certain Unlucky Person)

First Release- Beginnings

Second Release- Gai Nagareboshi vs. Nika

Third Release- Kakusei

Fourth Release- Memories

Fifth Release- Reunion

Sixth Release- Plan

Seventh Release- Unlikely Assistance

Eighth Release- Azure Thunder Knight

Ninth Release- Urahara Shop

Twelfth Release- Void

Thirteenth Release- Defrosting

Powers and Abilities
As a "Soul", Gai held very little ability at first. Despite this, he was able to fight the Arrancar Nika on equal footing with strategy. Despite his Mototsu heritage and his Zanpakutō being one of the most powerful, his skills are at best slightly below average, thus resulting in him being less powerful than his harem- and Touma. However, after his training, he has enough power to fight the Captain-Commander Haruko Kiseki to a standstill, which is no easy feat. His power, despite being a "relic from a past age", is considerably exceptional. He is often overwhelmed by opponents more skilled than himself, though he makes up for it with his intellect for pointing out and exploiting the attack patterns and weaknesses of his opponents and their Zanpakutō, due to being self-taught and from facing many Shinigami who were out to arrest him, in addition to his raw, untrained power. Gai has displayed high degrees of speed, agility and reflexes, enough for him to match melee-specialists of Haruko's calibre in battle.

Beginning Swordsman: As he has just obtained his Zanpakutō, Gai is only a novice. Despite his incredible strength, Kakusei often slips out of his hands while swinging the blade, and he prefers slow, two-handed, heavy and hard-hitting strikes that decimate his foes due to his clumsiness. However, as the story progresses, Gai becomes more skilled with his blade, though he prefers to use his hand-to-hand skill in battle.


 * Kyōgiri (凶斬り, "Bane-Slash"): Gai unleashes a violent flurry of sword slashes at breakneck speeds at his opponent.
 * Chōkyū Bushin Hazan (超究武神覇斬, "Super-Ultimate War-God Commanding Slash"): Gai bombards his opponent with fourteen sword slashes, then finishes up with a powerful overhead slash,
 * Kakushi-hane-yō: Eienhōōken (隠し羽貌·永遠凰劍 "Hidden Feather Form: Eternity Phoenix Sword"): Not Yet Revealed.

Immense Strength: Gai's only saving grace is his phenomenal strength and his superior hand-eye coordination. In his first fight shown in "A Certain Unlucky Person", Gai effortlessly blocked a punch from Nika, who had shifted the vectors in her arms, giving her a Herculean level of strength. Later on in that battle, Gai punched Nika in the face with enough force shatter her mask remnant and send her flying a good distance. Gai can to break free from almost any attack that binds him and prevents him from moving. Gai was able to battle a Vasto Lorde with his bare fists and is strong enough to break an enormous tree and swing it like a bat with one hand. He has enough power to break steel with his bare hands, and break through Nika's Hierro with some effort. He was able to defeat a Captain with his bare hands only after the Captain had exhausted all of his spiritual energy before he passed out. Another example of his impressive strength is when he caught several of his brother's kicks, which were stated to have the same power as a meteor.

Incredible Speed: While he possesses no skill in Shunpo, often stopping short of his destination and crashing into people or objects, Gai has shown to be immensely fast, befitting his small size and waifish build. Thanks to his tremendous raw power, Gai's leg strength allows him to more than make up for his lack of Shunpo, allowing him to move fast enough to instantly close a huge gap of space between him and the opponent and even seemingly disappear from sight. In battle he is able to punch with incredible speed in rapid succession, making it highly difficult for his opponents to find an opening and counterattack. Gai is also shown to be able to outrun several opponents who were using Shunpo, predicting where they would reappear and rushing to that location, before intercepting them, though it should be noted the four times that this tactic proved to be effective was against opponents who had only intermediate skill in Shunpo.

Kōshinho Expert: After "A Certain Unlucky Person", Gai had started to learn the Mototsu equivilant of Shunpo, Kōshinho (亢進歩, "Acceleration Step"). Despite having only picked up the art, Gai's skill in Kōshinho is incredible; he is able to move enormous distances in the blink of an eye. He runs with long, elegant strides. The art of Kōshinho resembles inline skating.


 * Kokugenei (剋幻影, "Victory Phantom"): A original Kōshinho technique, Gai first jumps up and down, dragging out the noise so that the sound of his feet tapping on the ground isn't heard until after his feet have left the floor again. Once the sound lag is at its fullest, Gai leaps forward like a bullet, producing a sonic boom that destroys everything in front of and behind himself, propelling himself into his opponent at inconcievable speeds. Because he moves faster than the eye can see, the opponent won't be able to react until after he has already hit them. Kagirinai theorizes that he is faster than light, but Gai claims that he just sped forward when he blinked.

Grandmaster Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Gai's expertise in hand-to-hand combat is unparalleled in Rukongai, and he was able to defeat two lieutenants at the same time with his bare hands. His preferred way of striking seems to be punches, though he has often used kicks as well. His mastery of the art form is so great that he would use it exclusively as his combat form of choice, except for Kakusei being vital to his plans. However, after achieving Kakusei's Bankai, Gai begins to use his hand-to-hand combat skills again. He has been shown to take down nearly 10 Lieutenants with only judo throws and powerful haymakers. Gai's fighting style is freestyle and improvised; it follows no particular code of honor at all, and so if necessary, he will actually attack women, hit below the belt, attack even if his opponents have their backs turned on him or are otherwise unprepared or unsuspecting, use allies or opponents as human shields or even bite his opponents. While fighting, Gai can also think on the spot, and come up with creative counterattacks against his enemies. He has been shown taking on the likes of Espada-level Arrancar as when he brutally defeated Maggiore and is even regarded by Yūrei as highly dangerous, and he admits that if he and Gai were to fight in hand-to-hand combat, Gai would win by a landslide. Gai is the most physically powerful character in "A Certain Unlucky Person".


 * Enenininryū Kibakusenmajin Fūsakuken (炎炎殷々竜起爆閃魔神風裂く拳, "Blazing Roaring Dragon Exploding Flash Demon God Air Cleaving Fist"): A regular punch aimed at the opponents' face, though Gai ususally calls the name of the attack before using it as his finishing blow. Gai began calling the name of his finisher due to one of his opponents complaining "Please, just beat me with an attack that sounds like it's worth losing to at least. Not that Fist to your Face attack." Otherwise known as merely "FACEPAWNCH" when being discussed.
 * Rasenshō (螺旋掌, "Spiral Palm"): Gai charges reishi in a spiral-like motion into his fist and releases it, firing off a highly powerful and destructive blast.
 * Kūha Dan (空破断, "Sky-breaking Sever"): Gai punches foward, unleashing a powerful shockwave.
 * Dankū Ken (断空拳, "Sky-severing Knuckle"): Gai releases a powerful uppercut.
 * Hayabusa Tenshō (隼天翔, "Falcon Heaven Soar"): A hand-to-hand technique combined with Kōshinho, Gai rushes to his opponent and delivers a powerful flying kick.
 * Mugendai Fuchi (無限大節, "Infinity Knuckle"): Not Yet Revealed.
 * Ryūō no Kengeki (竜王の拳撃, "Fist Strike of the Dragon King"): Not Yet Revealed.
 * Fushichō no Rengeki (凰の連激, "Serial Surge of the Phoenix"): Not Yet Revealed.
 * Kyūkyoku Shiagari (竜王仕上がり, "Ultimate Finish"): Not Yet Revealed.

Enhanced Durability: Due to his small and waifish build, in addition to his light weight, Gai is sent flying by powerful attacks. An example of this is was Gai was fighting Eienrai the second time, Gai predicted that "one strike, and it's over for me". The only thing that keeps him from perishing against such powerful foes is his willpower; as he is driven by the desire to protect his loved ones, he can continue to stand up again and again. However, thanks to his build, Gai is very nimble and can dodge attacks easily.

High Intelligence: Gai is incredibly intelligent, being capable of using observation and calculation to succeed when faced with a particularly powerful opponent, and he is capable of devising and executing strategies with incredible speed and precision, often coming up with three or more plans when in a tight situation. This is best shown when Gai defeated Gunha Teishin by logically anticipating where his next strike was coming from and remaining one step ahead, even though Gunha's Zanpakutō had time-space manipulation abilities. Gai has a good instinct, as he made accurate guesses about Eienrai's identity, what Nika had hinted about him, and based on those two pieces of information, predicted what he was going to do and what he had done to Hizashi. Gai's intellect is the result of his reishi patterns; as his reiatsu allows him to think at such incredible speed.

Fluctuating Spiritual Power: Gai has been noted on several occasions to have vast levels of spiritual energy well beyond other Shinigami, though it fluctuates wildly, with it being unreadable at its lowest point and at its highest point being as high as Nika's. Retsu Unohana has said that Gai's reishi patterns are similar to that of the Hōgyoku. This works by materializing what Gai wants to happen, which is why he is able to survive incredibly powerful attacks from fearsome opponents despite his terrible defense. His emotions also affect his spiritual energy: when angered, he is capable of defeating Nika before awakening his true power with only his bare hands, but unmotiviated to fight, he could be defeated by a weak Hollow. Even at less than half strength, his spiritual energy is still comparable to a Captain-level fighter. His spiritual energy is rather difficult for him to control as he has no formal training in controlling it. Due to this and that he has far more spiritual energy than his small and waifish body can consciously contain, it leaks out constantly, preventing him from hiding it and effectively making stealth impossible when dealing with other spiritually-aware beings. In his first battle against Nika, his spiritual energy manifested in the form of massive wings of white light, which have galaxies and stars imbued in them. The wings of light combined with Gai's overwhelming power and presence creates a powerful psychological effect on those who see him. After activating Bankai, the wings of pure reishi were converted into black feathered wings. However, by covering the wings in black feathers, they compress Gai's true power. Only in life-or-death situations or times of extreme stress are the wings unleashed again. However, the wings' enormous reishi output is too inefficient and drains Gai of all of his reiatsu. The wings can also be used as a defense mechanism. In RPs, Gai cannot manifest his desires due to the story becoming unbalanced if he does so. He commonly uses his reiatsu to drastically augment the strength of his punches.


 * Telekinesis: Gai is able to use telekinesis with his reiatsu to levitate his Zanpakutō and use it to strike his opponents from afar, as well as call his weapon back to his hand.
 * Reiatsu Blasts: Gai is able to fire powerful energy blasts from his fist, of which he can fire multiple amounts. Gai is able to fire them effortlessly.

Zanpakutō
In Turn Back the Pendulum, Kakusei's parameters had dramatically increased due to constant use of Bankai Second Release, as shown with Gai's fight against the Cero Espada, where Gai killed her by slicing her in half while she was Resurrección: Segunda Etapa with ease, but it is found out that Kakusei's releases fade 30 seconds sooner than normal. A few chapters later, it was revealed that Gai has a rare case and Kakusei will soon fade away, which comes to a head in the climax of Turn Back the Pendulum, where after Gai defeats Fumeina, Kakusei breaks down into reishi particles and scatters to the winds. In PersonaSuperiorDeus' and Koukishi's storyline, Gai has obtained a new Zanpakutō.

Yūsōhōō (勇壮鳳凰, "Majestic Phoenix") is the name of Gai's new Zanpakutō. It takes the form of an golden exaggerated two-handed double-sided sword in its shape and appearance, in addition to being wrapped in an ornate white and blue filigree in a pattern slightly reminiscent of fish bones, though Gai always wields it with only one hand, invariably his left one, despite its apparent size and weight. It consists of a long hilt wrapped in a red material, a distinctively large handguard, a wide length of blade, and an equally long but thinner length ending in a point. Yūsōhōō is not necessarily intended to serve the role of a slicing weapon as a nodachi such as Haruko's Akkio. It is capable of slicing, however, as Gai is capable of using it to cleanly slice through his opponents and reinforced concrete. As its appearance is not as long and sturdy as Kakusei's, Gai demonstrates the ability to strike his opponent slightly faster with his new blade. As a result of merely being a 'fragment' of the extremely powerful Kakusei, Yūsōhōō, in all forms, is rather weak, since it is made up of very little reiatsu. Nevertheless, it is powerful enough to subdue an Espada-Level Arrancar, completely blocking a Gran Rey Cero from her. It is even able to upturn the ground with a single strike. Because of its status as a 'fragment', Kagirinai Nagareboshi was able to easily cut off most of the blade during his first encounter with Gai and Gunha Teishin subsequently slices it down to the hilt during their sparring match, forcing Gai to attempt to reform it several times.

Kōkagai (煌加害, "Brilliant Assault"): Using the memories of Kakusei as a focus, Gai can unleash spinning, cross-shaped blasts of reishi. Gai compared the feeling of using these blasts to that of using Shining Onslaught, but later stated "it's far weaker".

Sabitan (さび端, "Rusting Edge"): As Yūsōhōō makes contact with the opponent's Zanpakutō, it slowly begins to make the blade rust, and after a few minutes, his opponent's blade will seal itself.

Shikai:

Shikai Special Abilities:

Bankai: Reikihaku Yūsōhōō (零気迫勇壮鳳凰, "Zero Drive Majestic Phoenix"):

Bankai Special Abilities:

Bankai Second Release: Kyūkyokusenjin Yūsōhōō (究極戦刃勇壮鳳凰, "Ultimate Warblade Majestic Phoenix"):

Bankai Second Release Special Abilities:

Quotes

 * "...Tch." -Whenever he is irritated.
 * "Yatte yaruze, Kakusei!" -Kakusei's release command
 * "I wanted to be with you forever as well." -To Gekkō Utsukushi
 * "Fight me, Gotei 13! I'll take you all on, right here, right now!" -To the Gotei 13
 * "...Tch. Whatever. So what if you're a nigh-unstoppable god now? As long as you threaten my loved ones, I can even kill gods like you with my bare hands. So, get ready, Eienrai." -To Eienrai
 * "My evolution occurs at the speed of light. Nothing can stop my evolution!" -To Yūrei
 * "Everyone has things I don't. No matter how much I struggle, I just can't obtain them and yet I still have a final goal that I want to grab no matter what." -Inner monologue
 * "I am already used to taking on the same sins. The people I've met and love so dearly...I won't fail them! For a Mototsu, the true sin is averting one's eyes... And no longer being able to believe in anyone! Let's get down to brass tracks, shall we brother? Let's show this freak how we do things, Nagareboshi style!" -To Kagirinai Nagareboshi, before their team-up
 * "What's the matter? Are you scared? Scared because you've unleashed something you can't comprehend? I don't blame you...For what you've done, I'm going to destroy you." -To Fumeina
 * "I'm a hero because I want to save people. I don't care about upholding the law or anything else, and I certainly don't care if I'm acknowledged or not. There's those light and fluffy ideals you have, and there's doing the right thing, which is what I do. Until you can understand that being a hero's not all glitz and glamour, then you'll never be like me, got that, woman?" -To Setsuna Kawahiru
 * "What's with Shion showing up in a situation like this!? ...Tch! Can't she take care of herself...? Argh, while she's getting strong, she's not powerful enough to deal with the likes of her yet. Looks like it's time for me to step in." -To Gunha Teishin, regarding Shion Akemi
 * "How pitiful. So pitiful that I would hug you tight if you were being serious. It's true that I lost Kakusei that day. I now use this...this pathetic excuse for a weapon. However... The fact that I've gotten weaker doesn't mean that you've gotten any stronger!" -To Kaori Shishagazō
 * "The law has always been the tool of whoever happens to hold all the chips. [...] But you can't deny that lives were saved because I offed those sickos, woman. You'd rather tell those people, 'Sorry you have to die today. I promise we'll change things really soon'? None of you here have the guts to take the law into your own hands. You saw what was going on, yet you didn't lift a finger. At least I'm the only one here who can do what's right for Soul Society!" -To Setsuna Kawahiru, regarding his murders of the corrupt Central 46
 * "So, I'm a villain in your eyes? Very well. I'm the worst of them all. If so...I guess it's time to teach you something. Even villains have standards!" -To Setsuna Kawahiru, before saving her
 * "They may all look the same to you, but there are different kinds and different levels of evil. A first-class villain doesn't target honest lives." -To Konmei Eikyuu
 * "Well, in this state, I might be retiring from the title of strongest in Soul Society... But even so... I've decided that I will at least continue to call myself the strongest in front of her! ...Tch!" -To a revived Eienrai, who he had just killed

Trivia

 * Gai's Shikai ability was given to PersonaSuperiorDeus by Shiratori Cullen. As such, he/she has permission to use it.
 * Gai claims to be one quarter Australian. Though this may be impossible due to the Mototsu race being born in Soul Society.
 * Due to Gai's compassionate nature thinly hidden behind his cold facade, many females in the story have developed romantic feelings for him, such as Gekkō Utsukushi, Hizashi Yoshi, Nika, Junrei Kokumei, Hikari Nakajima, and Saeko Hiwatari.
 * Gai's favorite food is apples. This is later used for symbolism in PersonaSuperiorDeus' and Koukishi's story, as Gai offers an apple to Setsuna while he advises her to live a life of selfishness and abandon the path of justice but Setsuna refuses both of them. Setsuna believes that Gai's self-centered philosophy is just wrong and also rejects the fruit because she apparently believes it was stolen. This is stark contrast to Gai usually being associated with being a messianic figure.