Renji Abarai

Renji Abarai (阿散井 恋次, Abarai Renji) is the former lieutenant of the 6th Division in the Gotei 13 under Captain Byakuya Kuchiki. He is now the Captain of that very same division.

Appearance
Renji has long crimson hair, which is usually kept in a high ponytail, and his entire upper body being covered in tribal tattoo work. The amount of tattoos has increased over time, starting from his early days as a Shinigami candidate to covering his entire back and much of the front of his body and his extremities. He dresses in the standard Shinigami outfit, though he usually includes some sort of headgear, usually expensive glasses or a white headband. While out of uniform, Renji often wears a white kimono-like type of night clothing, with pink floral patterns on it, and a dark grey sash tied around his waist, helping it to stay in place, with bandages underneath. It has also been said 'that the women within his Division do not mind that he usually walks around in his night clothing'. As a captain, he wears the standard captain's haori now as well, though nothing else about his appearance changed.

Personality
Renji is about as eccentric as any other Shinigami. He varies from smug and cocky to disquieted and depressed after his major defeats, but shows himself to be an incredibly serious and determined fighter when confronted with an actual challenge. Willing to fight, kill, and die for whatever he believes in, Renji is a dangerous man to those who stand in his way. Yasutora Sado compares him to Ichigo Kurosaki when fighting. Renji likes taiyaki (a popular fish-shaped pancake usually filled with sweet bean paste) and dislikes spicy food. Renji likes futsal, and in his free time works on assembling a team from the 6th Division, with success, more or less. The current members are himself, Rikichi and the 4th, 8th, 13th and 20th seated officers.

All of Renji's sunglasses are from Seireitei's popular "Silver Dragonfly Glasses Store" and cost half a year's worth of his paycheck. However, every time he wears a pair, they are broken in one way or another. On these occasions, he replaces them with a tied white towel, until he can purchase a new pair of goggles. His dream is to once wear a pair that he has designed himself. He also looks for them in the Human World as evidenced in the latest Shinigami diary though he has no sense of fashion since he took some of the heart-shaped and star-shaped variety.

History
Renji Abarai was born in the 78th district of Rukongai and grew up as an orphan, in "Inuzuri" with several other children, including Rukia Kuchiki. The company of children lived by stealing or hunting for food. Though Renji and Rukia quickly discovered they had spiritual powers, they remained with their friends until they all died, which prompted them to become Shinigami for a better life.

At the Shinigami academy, Renji was admitted into the top class, being very adept at swordsmanship, although quite inept at Kidō. His senpai was Shūhei Hisagi. At the academy, Renji befriended Izuru Kira and Momo Hinamori, who each proceeded to become lieutenants. He was a graduate of the academy in its 2,066th year. His relationship with Rukia became distant after her adoption by the Kuchiki family since he felt he had no place interfering with her life now that she was a noble, despite the fact they both seemed to regret losing the company and confidence of the other. Abarai decided it was best to let her enjoy life as a noble, telling himself not to interfere no matter what happens.

Renji, Kira and Hinamori served under Sōsuke Aizen and Gin Ichimaru in the 5th division, after which Kira and Hinamori were put under Ichimaru and Aizen in the 3rd and 5th divisions respectively. The rebellious Renji was moved to the 11th Division and eventually rose to the 6th seat. During his time in the 11th Division, he befriended Ikkaku Madarame, who taught Renji how to fight. It was also shown that Renji was aware that Ikkaku had a Bankai, but refused to use it to train Renji. On the same day Rukia headed for the human world, Renji was promoted to lieutenant of the 6th Division. Izuru, Momo and Ikkaku knew about his past with Rukia, and told him that if they were such great friends he must go to her immediately before her departure. However, instead of going to see Rukia off, he decided to wait and surprise her three months later when the promotion ceremony was complete (along with her assignment). Unfortunately by this time he was sent to bring her back to Soul Society. After meeting Byakuya Kuchiki, the 6th Division's captain, Renji's greatest dream has been to surpass him in strength.

Powers & Abilities
Master Swordsmanship Specialist: Renji is a highly skilled combatant in swordsmanship techniques. He was trained by then 3rd Seat of the 11th Division, now Captain of the same division, Ikkaku Madarame when he was a member of that division. Renji is able to hold his own against captain-level fighters. Renji is also the only current lieutenant to develop enough skill to attain bankai.


 * Whip Mastery: What makes Renji so effective is the unique method in which his Zanpakutō works, in the fact that his Zanpakutō is more of an amalgamation of a whip and a sword. Renji is versatile because of this, and to effectively wield it is a testament to his skill. Renji has stated that his Zanpakuto is an extension of his body both his arms and legs and to that point he has used it in a variety of ways. He can use its extension ability to attack an opponent from behind or either the left or right without giving away the variation of his attack until its too late. He has shown considerable skill in using his extension capabilities to entrap an opponent by surrounding him from various angles and then retracting in order to crush the opponent.

Flash Steps Expert: Knowing that Zabimaru's Shikai attacks leave him open for counter-attacks, Renji has become highly proficient at Flash Steps to compensate for it. Renji can even keep up with captain-level Shinigami for an indeterminate amount of time. He knows enough to be informed on their higher level techniques.

Kidō Practitioner: As a student at the academy Renji showed poor skill in Kidō resulting in an explosion. He is skilled enough in the use of the level 31 Shakkahō spell that he can fire it without much trouble half of the time but in other instances it has exploded. Renji also has enough knowledge to Kidō to manipulate it for purposes other than fighting. For example, he used Shakkahō as a light in one of the dark corridors of Las Noches. However, he was only able to create a small light without chanting.

Enhanced Strength: When he swung Zabimaru toward Ichigo in their second fight he was able to easily toss him into the air, and subsequently push him through an entire building about a dozen meters away, with relative ease. During the fight with Szayel Aporro's unique Fracción, Renji protected Uryū from a direct punch by one of the stronger (and larger) Arrancar using both hands, and proceeded to throw him aside. Later, by spinning Zabimaru above his head, Renji was able to cause enough force to generate a whirlwind, blowing away all of Szayel's Fracción several yards despite their massive size. Szayel commented that he was using "brute force."

Enhanced Durability: During his fight with Byakuya, he is hit directly by every blade from Senbonzakura Kageyoshi, and when he continues to fight he is pierced by five more blades. Even after such terrible damage he makes a last ditch effort attack, almost piercing Byakuya with Zabimaru, and finally falls defeated. Just one day later he is able to function enough to use Shunpo, carry Rukia Kuchiki while running down Sōkyoku Hill, and even duel Aizen using his Shikai.

Immense Spiritual Energy: Being a former lieutenant of the Gotei 13, Renji already had a high spiritual energy. Upon learning Bankai, this power increased on a scale from 5-10, and after becoming a captain, his spiritual energy was noted to be twice as high as it was when he was fighting in the Winter War. Rukia even comments after feeling his defeat that it was so high, she could not recognize it until it decreased which caused it to become more familiar to her. Using his reiatsu in Shikai, he was able to injure that same Espada by transferring it through Zabimaru.

Zanpakutō
Zabimaru (蛇尾丸, Snake Tail): Zabimaru's sealed form resembles a typical katana. It has a rectangular bronze handguard with a jagged design to it and a red handle and sheath.

Renji's Zanpakutō is one of the rare cases whose spirit is actually seen, the other being Ichigo's and Hitsugaya's. Zabimaru is a nue (Japanese chimera in the form of a baboon with a snake's head for a tail), hence his name. Zabimaru has tattoos similar to Renji's tattoos. Renji is very fond of his Zanpakutō, to the point where he easily gets agitated upon learning that it's gone or stolen without his knowledge. Zabimaru's spirit is portrayed as battle-loving and proud, similar in personality to Renji. It insisted on fighting Zangetsu again after losing, confident that it could succeed on the second attempt. Both the snake and baboon are capable of speaking (albeit usually in a finishing-each-other's-sentences manner), though the baboon is usually the more dominant one. The snake seems to be the more violent of the pair.


 * Shikai: Zabimaru's Shikai command is "Howl" (咆えろ, hoero; "Roar" in the English dub). In its Shikai, Zabimaru transforms into an even longer 6-part segmented blade; each segment is wider than the one preceding it from the hilt with 2 pick-like protrusions on the front and back of each segment, with the ones on the front much longer than the ones at the back. Zabimaru's segments grow in number almost without limit. The segments are connected by a stretchable thread, making Zabimaru more useful as a whip than an actual sword, though it can serve as a regular sword just as easily, thanks to Renji's swordsmanship. Zabimaru's guard and handle remain the same in its Shikai release. While Zabimaru can be stretched to incredible lengths in its whip form, Renji has a limit of three consecutive attacks before having to bring the segments of Zabimaru back together for recovery - which makes him fairly vulnerable during the time interval. To make up for this, Renji usually relies on Shunpo for evasion as he retrieves Zabimaru's segments. Renji's Shikai, while durable to an extent, can ultimately sustain serious damage the longer the fight drags on. Not that it can't withstand dangerously prolonged combat, but even it has limits in enduring high-level attacks that were conducted by either the enemy or by Renji himself. Because of these many drawbacks, Renji states that out of all the other Zanpakutō wielded by the other Lieutenant Shinigami, Zabimaru is the most difficult to master.


 * Shikai Special Ability: Zabimaru has a special technique rarely used known as:


 * Higa Zekkō (狒牙絶咬, Bite of a Broken Baboon's Fang): Renji can also use his spiritual power to take the disconnected/broken segments of Zabimaru and levitate them into the air, allowing him to execute a one-shot omni-directional attack, but states that it is damaging to Zabimaru and leaves Renji defenseless. Byakuya later comments that using this technique will prevent him from reactivating his Shikai for an unspecified duration.


 * Bankai: Hihiō Zabimaru (狒狒王蛇尾丸, Baboon King Snake Tail): transforms Zabimaru into a massive version of its Shikai form resembling a skeleton of a snake. Zabimaru gains many more segments, which are much larger resembling a mix between a snakes vertebral column and the pick-like protrusions of his Shikai segments, and it also gains a snake-like head about the size of a small car. Renji is also slightly transformed, gaining a fur cowl around his neck. The cowl appears to be the fur of an ape and thus, the ape's skull could be seen over Renji's left shoulder while the rest of the fur extends to cover his right arm. Zabimaru itself, in Bankai form, does not literally "cut;" Renji usually catches his opponent with the snake-head of his weapon and smashes his opponent into the ground with it. The head has also proven capable of inflicting heavy damage through biting.


 * Bankai Special Ability: Zabimaru also gains special techniques when in Bankai form such as:


 * Bankai Reconstitution: Unlike its Shikai, Zabimaru's segments are held together by Renji's spiritual power, allowing him to separate and reattach them at will. The segments themselves are extremely tough, making it extremely difficult to destroy Hihiō Zabimaru. Even if a segment is damaged, knocked off, or even destroyed, Renji can simply detach it and reform (or reconstitute) Zabimaru.


 * Hikōtsu Taihō (狒骨大砲, Baboon Bone Cannon): after Renji becomes more adept with using his Bankai he learns to use this technique. The technique fires a dense blast of concentrated spiritual energy from Zabimaru's mouth. The technique costs a substantial amount of energy from Renji which usually causes an aftermath that breaks the segments out of formation.


 * Enhanced Higa Zekkō: He can also use a much more powerful version of Higa Zekkō, where all the segments detach, glow and sharpen using spiritual energy. Surrounding an opponent to execute a omni-directional attack of blades of spiritual energy. After use of this attack Hihiō Zabimaru reconstitutes itself.


 * Reiatsu ropes: Renji can separate his Bankai segments and use them to surround his opponent. By linking the segments together again with his reiatsu, Renji is able to bind the target. He use this technique on Yammy Riyalgo, but it is easily destroyed by him.