The Punisher

This article, The Punisher, was added by Basenji793 who determines its usage on this wiki.

Senkoku
Race	Hankami
Birthplace	The Void
Age	6,000+
Gender	Female
Height	6'0"
Weight	160 lbs
Professional Status
Affiliation	Hell
Profession	Judge of Souls, Queen of Hell
Partner	The Slayer The Monitor
Personal Status
Relatives	Izanami-no-Mikoto (mother) The Monitor (brother) The Oracle (brother) The Melody (brother) The Reaper (brother)
Togabito Skills
First Appearance
Roleplay Debut	Los Niños de Izanami: Inicialización
Series Debut	Bleach: The Children of Izanami
Voices

"Man... I don't think I've felt this bad in a long time.Just that one slash, and it feels like my body's gonna split into spiritrons at any second. It feels like I just mouthed off and got a walloping for it. God, I hate it so much. But at least it makes me aware of what's going to happen if I lose. You'll take control. You'll forcibly rip it away from the hands of mortal kind for the sake of your own dream. You'll take away their freedom so you can carry out your vision, no matter just how it may affect the ones below you. I was the cause of that before, and I'll be damned if I let it happen again. I'm going to put you down, Daddy, even if that means I have to bring the entirety of my dimension down on your head to do it!" — The Punisher to Izanagi

Senkoku (宣告, Sentence), otherwise known as The Punisher or Sakura Kojima (小島桜, Kojima Sakura), is a powerful entity that serves as a judge of souls and Hollows as well as a punisher for rogue spirits and entities within the spiritual world. She initially serves as a deuteragonist during the Children of Izanami arc before switching to an antagonist role later in the series. She goes back to being a supporting deuteragonist in following arcs, although she sometimes regresses to playing a minor role.

Appearance

The Punisher's appearance in Bleach: The Cauldron of Black.

The Punisher's appearance is relatively humanoid. She is a young, Caucasian woman with a somewhat slender build, light orange hair, and blue eyes. The fact that her body is somewhat slender and suited for a lady disguises her ability to fight brutally to great effect. Her current attire consists of a red, long-sleeved top with a bronze outline tracing the hem and underside of her breasts, red armored arm guards and shoulder plates, a black cloak which nearly hangs down to the ground, and black pants with cuffs fit neatly into gray boots.

Personality

Initially, the Punisher behaved in a rather moody and irritable fashion. She was barely cooperative and consistently hostile in her interactions with Daisuke Hayate and Kukkyōna Hayate, as well as others. Eventually, however, she started to warm up to Daisuke and became friends with him during their stay in Yūrei Ōkoku. But after her rescue from Bokyaku by the Gotei 13 and the Deep Cover Ops, her entire attitude up to that point was nothing more than a facade. She was callous, uncaring, snide and malicious in her interactions with other people. Physical violence was not beneath her if it meant getting rid of particular nuisances. She held a high level of sadism, openly laughing at the pain and misfortune of others. In addition to extreme masochism when injured in combat and an enjoyment of fighting and destruction, she was one of the more psychotic Hankami survivors.

After her duel with Daisuke and the restoration of the world after the Plinian Movement, the Punisher slowly shies away from her darker tendencies. Initially, she still acts in an antagonistic fashion to people other than Daisuke, though it is to a lesser degree than before. Her level of hostility regresses until a mild point in the Cauldron of Black arc, where she openly defends the leaders of the Alliance from getting crushed by Izanagi's spiritual pressure. She still carries a dry and sarcastic attitude with her and will often still butt heads with most other people, although knowing when a line has been crossed. She behaves much more maturely, restraining her emotions when necessary in order to make decisions. This doesn't stop her from making morbid jokes and threatening others whenever she feels threatened in response.

Despite being the Judge of Souls, the Punisher held a biased outlook to those she considered "mortals". She looked down on them, believing them to live an unnecessarily self-destructive existence. One of her goals had been to purge existence with the Plinian Movement and start the world anew. But after meeting Daisuke and other resolute individuals who disagreed with that viewpoint, she slowly loses her nihilistic attitude towards them until she eventually begins to support the existence of mortality. She also holds affection to her siblings and fellow Hankami, doing whatever she feels is necessary to protect them. She loathes traitors and is particularly ruthless to a foe that betrayed her, even if that foe happens to be a Hankami. But despite her kindness to her siblings, she did not understand kindness given to her - particularly if it was by someone she deemed a "mortal". After the Plinian Movement, she slowly gains understanding and becomes more open-minded to the feelings of others.

History

The Punisher, some months after her birth. Note the the difference in hair color and length.

The existence of Red Sun spans back to the beginning of early Japan by Izanami-no-Mikoto and Izanagi-no-Mikoto. After giving birth to the incarnation of fire Kagu-Tsuchi, Izanami died and was sent to the realm of the dead. Izanagi was so enraged and grieved by her demise that he killed Kagu-Tsuchi. Although Izanami was in the world of the dead, she could feel the newborn's death as if it were her own. At that given moment, she felt grief, rage, and betrayal at Izanagi for taking the innocent life. Her feelings caused her to become disillusioned with the fate of humanity and consume the fruit of the underworld. Upon consumption, it is said that her flesh was ripped from her body and formed into separate entities.

One of those entities was Senkoku (宣告, Sentence). It is said that Senkoku was born with barbed wire wrapped around and slicing deep into her wrists in a manner similar to hand-cuffs. The first thing she felt was pain, and because of her newborn state of mind, she recognized it as a sort of gift for being alive. After she was deemed the judge and punisher of corrupt souls by her mother, Senkoku would continue to wear the barbed wire in an effort to continue feeling the agonizing pain of the thorns slicing into her wrists again and again. Because of feeling the excitement of seeing corrupt souls struggle, beg for mercy, and break down in the face of their judgement, she deemed their pain too be far more exciting than her own, and she had the barbed cuffs removed.

Portraits of her with the barbed cuffs can be seen on propanda posters created by radical cult members.

Synopsis

• Unknown Start

Joining As One Arc

• Bleach: Joining as One Arc: Signs

Children of Izanami Arc

• Children of Izanami: Initialization
• Children of Izanami: Confirmation (mentioned)
• Los Niños de Izanami: Inicialización
• Los Niños de Izanami: Confirmación
• Los Niños de Izanami: Despertar del Infierno
• Los Niños de Izanami: Contención
• Izanami no Jidō: Mother, Forgive Me...
• Los Niños de Izanami: Culminación

War of Four arc

• The War of Four: Courts and Circles
• The War of Four: Dark Revelations
• The War of Four: In Touch
• The War of Four: The Eye of the Storm
• The War of Four: Recovery
• The War of Four: The Precipice of War
• The War of Four: Seeds of Revelation

Bleach: The Cauldron of Black Arc

• The Cauldron of Black: Unite the Chosen
• The Cauldron of Black: The Creator and the Destroyer

Powers & Abilities

The Punisher in a battle-ready stance.

Master Zanjutsu Specialist: The Punisher's sword style is best described as one of ferocity. Her strikes and movements are bold and direct, proving to be unnerving to hesitant opponents. It is also unpredictable, and she hakes a habit of shifting her attack patterns in order to unbalance her opponents even more. Her way of swordplay focuses on offense rather than defense. It is said that she channels her very emotion into her attacks, effectively enhancing the power backed behind each blow.

The Punisher's personal katana.

Immense Shinsei: As one of the deities of Red Sun, the Punisher possesses decimating amount of Shinsei energy within her. The corruptive, dangerous, and destructive nature of her energy is enough to wither even the strongest of opponents who cross her path. It is also said to have been felt as "menacing" by Daisuke Hayate. As with her bretheren, she is a dark Shinsei user.

Genius Intellect: The Punisher exhibits a heavy knowledge of how the mind works, using any and every way in order to manipulate it to her advantage. It is not uncommon for her to use psychological warfare against her enemies in order to expose their own hidden doubts and fears as well as break their concentration and destroy their resolve. This is not limited to mere words alone; she will use physical actions and assault in order to add insult to injury and bring her opponents down to a more vulnerable state.

Haya Master: The Punisher tends to use her speed commonly, but in an unpredictable manner that matches her sword style. Her skills with Haya allow her to appear and re-appear suddenly to the trained eye, catching them even further off balance than she would've with her zanjutsu alone.

Immense Strength: Despite her deceptive build, the Punisher is capable of achieving feats of godly strength. The way in which she commonly utilizes this is through hand-to-hand combat and blunt physical trauma. Only a few fist and leg blows from her is necessary to cripple and kill her opponents, including stronger ones. She is capable of withholding her strength when it proves necessary. Likewise, one sword swing from her is enough to wreck the earth underneath her and unleash a large fissure that can extend for miles.

Immense Endurance: Being an entity of Soul Society as well as a deity, the Punisher is capable of withstanding attacks and injuries to her person that would kill any human. An example of this is when she was struck down by 666 with a direct blow to the chest. She was also able to take a stab through the side and continue defending herself against the relentless assault of Jaaku Ketsurui.

Immense Durability: The Punisher possesses a tremendous amount of resistance to some forms of attacks and weaponry. In her duel with Masanori Kawahiru, she caught his blade bare-handed before shattering it without any damage done to her hand.

Regeneration: Though this is only implied and not directly shown, the Punisher seems to have the ability to rejuvenate her wounds and even the most grievous of injuries. Despite having barbed wire wrapped around her body at birth and enduring constant tears and lacerations because of it, she is shown not to have a scratch on her in her introduction and debut.

Fusion: As explained by Haralson McTavish, the Punisher possesses the ability to perform a ritual that can fuse her soul with a being of her choice. In turn, this melds the minds, bodies and powers of the fusees into one, which can vastly increase the intelligence and strength of the resulting being. Only the direct children of Izanami possess this ability, being capable of fusing with more than one being at once. This ability is also outlawed from use on those seen as "mortal" beings, although this law is seemingly broken without consequence when the Punisher fuses with Daisuke.

Seifu no Yakuwari

As the Punisher herself explains, every Hankami was born and given a certain "role" known as Seifu no Yakuwari (政府の役割, Government Role). All Hankami have their own unique role in order to enforce in the universe's governing, with said role giving them their own unique powers and abilities. The Punisher's own Seifu no Yakuwari stems from her dominion over Hell and its residents. It is hinted by Senkakusha that the Punisher's true power and potential, at the moment, has yet to be realized.

• Flame Manipulation: This is one of the most commonly used forms of combat by the Punisher. She can summon flames from Hell itself to the surface in order to attack her enemies. These flames are capable of incinerating anything at an accelerated pace, burning a target to ashes within a time period of seconds. Although they have held the reputation of being infallible, they have been shown not to be unconquerable. Daisuke Hayate was able to demonstrate the ability to take control of offensive flames unleashed by the Punisher during their duel.

• Daitenshi Creation: The Punisher, through means of physical contact, is able to forcefully convert Togabito and other souls of Hell into Daitenshi, personal minions who serve as her vanguard. She has a strong amount of control over them, primarily through the chains that are fused into their bodies. Not only is this to ensure dominion over them, but it is also for their protection. The chains are nigh-indestructible, but in the event that they are all violently broken, the dark energy within the Daitenshi will turn on them and either break their minds or destroy them completely.

• Fuku Yūin (副誘引, Vice Inducement): The Punisher is able to, through means of mental will or physical contact, provoke and bring out the worst of a victim's sins out of him/her. Through this manner, she can effectively hold control over their actions and perceptions as she pleases until their minds are effectively broken. The extent of this ability reaches to those who are considered "mortal" in the eyes of Izanami, including Shinigami, Quincies, Hollow, humans and other majority races that inhabit both the material and spiritual worlds. Because all life is known to have some extent of "sin" within them, no one of the said races is exempt from being influenced.

• Ryōkei Tetsudzuki (量刑手続き, Sentencing): After deeming a Soul who has passed away in the spiritual world to be guilty or not guilty, the Punisher has the power to sentence it to its respective fate. If it is found not guilty, it is reincarnated as a new person within the Material World. If it is guilty, it is sentenced to one of the many levels within Hell. This can be done with or without incantation, though she usually uses the incantation:
  • "Here lies another wretched soul that failed to see the light even in its afterlife. Let it not pass through to the Circle, but detour it to my welcoming abogue. Let it burn forever in my fires. Let it know pain, suffering, and purgatory eternal, for as long as I live, I will never allow it to find what it looks for. Amen."

Transformation

The Harbinger, the Punisher's and Bokyaku's fused form.

During a radical transformation due to the unknown Demon originated spell of merging, the two of them became a being of powerful proportions, radically exceeding the strength any Soul Reaper Captain can achieve, who's sole motivation is to punish all realms, both the World of the Living and the Spiritual Realms for their sins and crimes. It also took on the name, "Harbinger" as the entity referred itself in this mannerism.

Unfortunately, this transformation is as exceedingly powerful as it was brief. Because it required a harmonious "contract" between the Punisher and Bokyaku himself, the bond they shared while melded with Shinsei energy was whimsical at best. When stressed and shocked to the point of believing a power could overtake it, the Punisher's consciousness took hold and physically broke the hold the merged state had over both Bokyaku and herself, thus ending the ascended form it had.

• Unrivaled Spiritual Power: In this form, Harbinger has ungodly high power. Because of this, anyone within a close vincinity could be confused about where Harbinger's real location is, hence its ability of being able to ambush Hana due to its constant High Pressure exuding the atmosphere around them.
• Monstrous Strength: Harbinger upon its awakening, has achieved a high amount of physical strength, such as to the point where it was able to stand-toe-to-toe with the Slayer, a Hankami who's renowned for his own monstrous physical strength, even going as far as forcing him back with a single shove one-handed. He also managed to follow up with a ability similar to Oni Headpoke Hakuda technique, gathering a large amount of physical force behind one flick of a finger, throwing it at an enemy with prejudice in the form of a golfball sized pocket of pressurized air, albeit was blocked by a timely defense by the Monitor.
• ZanjutsuMastery: Shown during its battle with the Slayer, it was able to stand on even ground, additionally with eyes closed, which was once shown as a trademark that Sakura had when fooling around with Daisuke in a sparring match, without much stress or effort into its fight against him. Later shown, Daisuke launches rapid high-powered and rapid strikes, all of which are caught by Harbinger's blade, its keen eye not missing a mark.
• Energy Manipulation: During his bout with the Slayer, Harbinger was able to redirect a large fissure of energy thrown by the Hankami, with almost relative ease then following up what could be assumed as a variant of Kurai Geijutsu fueled, by its personal energy, before throwing back a crimson fissure of its own twice-fold in strength with little to no difficulty. It was then perturbed enough to launch a devestating energy fissure attack against Daisuke without much effort at all, albeit a few seconds to charge, filling up the sky and taking two follow-up Bankai techniques to break through it.

Trivia/Behind The Scenes

• The Punisher's unofficial theme songs are S&M by Rihanna and Forgive Me by Godsmack.
• During a sparring match with Daisuke, the Punisher had her eyes closed the duration of the fight while apparently toying around with him. Later on in the story, the Harbinger (the resulting fusion of Sakura and Bokyaku) has its eyes closed while fighting the Slayer.

Quotes

• (To Daisuke Hayate and Kukkyōna Hayate) "War.... is just another product of the corruption that is within the spiritual and physical world. Everyone who engages in war is guilty and deserves to be punished, no matter who they are, no matter what the reasons. In that sense.... the three of us aren't so different. We've fought.... we've felt the pain.... and we've taken lives. We all take part in the dance of death, and we can never stop. Not now.... not ever."
• (To the Hanta Master) "A life....p...p...purpose....? Sounds like...you're just using me for your own personal tool...!! It sounds to me as if you prefer to play with fate...and that's something beyond your hands, demon... There are bigger things here than you... and I.... something that you could never hope to understand with your current knowledge.... if you continue on as you are.... then the consequences that will befall you will be far more than what I could've ever done to you....!!"
• (To Daisuke) "Kid.... it's only been a few weeks since we first met. Other than the woman you see on the surface, you know nothing about me. You have no idea of who I am, because you were never there when the barbed wire was tearing through my skin. You were never there when Mother gave us her will and testament. You weren't there with me and my siblings throughout those thirty five thousand years ago.... So don't you EVER call me your FRIEND!!!!'"