Royal Guard (Another Poetic Spartan)

The Royal Guard (王属特務, Ōzokutokumu; Royal Special Task Force and King Subordinate Secret Service respectively), also referred to as the Zero Division or Squad Zero,

Known Members
The original membership of the Royal Guard consisted of a group of created by  to protect him. Known as Royal Souls, they guarded the Soul King Palace with silent vigilance until they were nearly destroyed by The Outsider. Now few in number, the Royal Souls were forced to recruit Captain-class Souls from to make up for their losses. The Royal Souls who remained, withdrew from public eye and locked themselves within the Soul King's Inner Chambers.

The membership of the Royal Guard was almost exclusively made up of former Captains of the Gotei 13 who where promoted to the post. Only two known members never actually served as previous Captains, Jiro Kazuki and Hayate Tsukushima. Even though both were Captain-level Shinigami, Jiro turned down every promotion he was ever offered while Hayate proved himself worthy of the position. Should a Captaincy position open up within the Gotei 13 members of the Royal Guard can apply for the position, as was the case with Tōshirō Hitsugaya when he returned to Captain the 10th Division.

 † = Deceased 

Current

 * Jiro Kazuki. Former Unseated member of the 7th Division under Captain and later Captain . His promotion occurred some years after the  and was the subject of much debate within the Zero Division itself.


 * Hayate Tsukushima. Former Captain-level Member within the Gotei 13. Branded a criminal after being subjected to experiments by Shuten Tamane and, he escaped to the Human World with the help of Kei Yume, where he continued to serve Soul Society despite the animosity. His promotion occurred sometime after the defeat of Shuten and [WITHHELD].
 * Yachiru Unohana. Former Captain of the 4th Division. Sometime after the death of Captain Yamamoto and the appointment of Captain Madoka Mizuki, Yachiru was offered a position with the Zero Division for her skill on the battlefield and the fact that she had a hand in training several of the current Captains and various shinigami throughout the realms, giving the Zero Division a tactical advantage should a conflict ever arise.










 * Unknown Member.

Former

 * Hikaru Kazuhira. Former affiliate of and the Gotei 13, promoted shortly before Averian's first attack. He was forced to leave the organization after interfering with the battle between Jiro Kazuki, Sousetsu Shiba and Averian.


 * Tōshirō Hitsugaya. Former Captain of the 10th Division. He was preceded by Meian Shiba and then returned to the post following Meian's shift in allegiance to the Ryū Order.


 * Ryōta Hachirō. Former Captain of the 5th Division following, where he was then preceded by Captain Tsuyoki. He then defected from the organization to side with the Dragonforce, saying that he had a promise to keep.
 * Rei'juro Satonaka

Behind the Scenes

 * Theories about a Zero Division in existence had been going on for years between the Fan Base. In most instances, they were accurate more or less.