Renji Abarai

**Renji Abarai** is the lieutenant of Squad Six under Captain Byakuya Kuchiki. He is also one of the main supporting protagonists of *Bleach*.

## Statistics

* **Name**: Renji Abarai
* **Origin**: Bleach
* **Gender**: Male
* **Age**: 100+ (Biologically 21)
* **Birthday**: August 31
* **Classification**: Soul Reaper, Lieutenant of Squad Six
* **Blood Type**: O
* **Height**: 188 cm (6'2")
* **Weight**: 78 kg (172 lbs)
* **Skin Color**: Light
* **Eye Color**: Brown
* **Hair Color**: Crimson
* **Alignment**: Good
* **Status**: Active
* **Class**: **A-Class**
* **Notable Attacks/Techniques**: Hado #31: Shakkaho, Higa Zekko, Hikotsu Taiho
* **Voice Actor**: Kentarō Itō

## Appearance

Renji is a tall and muscular young man with fair skin, brown eyes and long, crimson-red hair, which he wraps in a high ponytail at a large widow's peak hairstyle. His upper body is covered in tribal tattoos, which has increased over time, which also covered his entire back, much of his chest, his extremities and even much of his forehead.

Renji wears the standard black Soul Reaper outfit, along with a maroon-colored bandanna, covering all of the tattoos on his forehead. Ironically despite his rank, Renji does not wear his squad's badge around his left arm. He also wears a pair of long, dark straps on each wrist with bandages over his arms.

## Personality

Renji is quite dynamic, varying from smug, arrogant and cocky to disquieted, depressed and downcast after his major defeats, but shows himself to be an incredibly serious, stalwart, and determined fighter when confronted with an actual challenge or threat. Willing to fight, kill, and die for whatever he believes in, Renji is a dangerous and brutal man to those who stand in his way. Yasutora Sado compares him to Ichigo Kurosaki when fighting. Renji is determined to surpass his captain, Byakuya Kuchiki, and it's this determination that drives Renji to grow stronger everyday. 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 Squad Six 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 white or red bandanna, 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.

## Abilities and Equipment

**Zabimaru** (*Snake Tail*): Zabimaru's sealed form resembles a typical *katana*. It has a rectangular-shaped, bronze hand-guard with a jagged design to it, and a red handle and sheath. Zabimaru is a Melee-Type Zanpakuto.

* **Shikai**: Zabimaru's Shikai command is "**Howl**". 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 on the back. The segments of **Zabimaru** can 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, however, it can serve as a regular sword just as easily, thanks to Renji's swordsmanship. Its guard and handle remain the same in its Shikai release. Because of the way its Shikai doubles as a whip, Renji states that out of all the Zanpakuto wielded by the lieutenants, **Zabimaru** is the most difficult to master.

**Shikai Special Ability**: Zabimaru is mostly used for long- and short-range combat (due to Renji's usage of its' whip and sword-like forms). Zabimaru also has a rarely used special technique known as:
* **Higa Zekko** (*Broken Baboon Fang Bite*): 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 for counterattacks if the move fails. Byakuya later comments that using this technique will prevent Renji from reactivating his Shikai for an unspecified duration.
* **Bankai**: **Hihio Zabimaru** (*Baboon King Snake Tail*): Upon Bankai activation, Renji transforms Zabimaru into a massive version of its Shikai form, resembling a skeletal-version of a snake. Zabimaru gains many more segments, which are much larger resembling a mix between a snake's 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 held by a red strap with several fang-like jaw necklace pieces that held the cowl in between. 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 with a black metal plate on the top portion of his right hand and a black glove. 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. One year after Ginjō's defeat and Ichigo regaining his Shinigami powers, Renji went into more intense training in order to become more capable with his Bankai when fighting against more powerful opponents and more effective with its' abilities, as well as protect its weak-spots.

**Bankai Special Ability**: **Hihiō Zabimaru** is mostly used for powerful long- and short-range attacks. It can pin its opponent between its teeth and ram them into buildings, or follow them through the air and deliver powerful biting attacks to deal heavy damage. The Bankai also gives Renji a new array of techniques in his arsenal:
* **Bankai Reconstruction**: 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 **Hihio Zabimaru**. Even if a segment is damaged, knocked off, or destroyed, Renji can simply detach it and reform Zabimaru.
* **Enhanced Higa Zekko**: He can also use a much more powerful version of **Higa Zekkō**, where all the segments detach, glow and sharpen with spiritual energy. They surround the opponent and execute an omni-directional attack of blades of spiritual energy. After use of this attack, Hihio Zabimaru reconstitutes itself.
* **Hikotsu Taiho** (*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.
* **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 for only a short amount of time.

**Zanjutsu Master**: Renji is highly skilled in various swordsmanship techniques. He was trained by the 3rd Seat of Squad Eleven Ikkaku Madarame when he was relocated to his division. Before becoming a lieutenant, his skills were great enough to fight on par with Ikkaku's Shikai and earn the rank of 6th Seat Officer in Squad Eleven. Renji is able to hold his own against captain-level fighters, and is one of the only three lieutenants to have attained Bankai.

* **Whip Mastery**: What makes Renji so effective in battle is the unique method in which his Zanpakuto operates; Zabimaru is an amalgamation of a whip and a sword. Renji is a versatile fighter because of this, and to effectively wield it is a testament to his skill. Renji has stated that Zabimaru is an extension of his body, like his arms and legs, and 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 it is too late. He has considerable skill in using his extension capabilities to constrict opponents, surrounding them from various angles and then retracting Zabimaru in order to crush his adversaries.

**Shunpo Expert**: Knowing that Zabimaru's Shikai attacks leave him open to counter-attacks, Renji has become very proficient in Shunpo to compensate for this weak point. 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.

**Kido Practitioner**: As a student at the Shin'ō Academy, Renji showed poor skill in Kidō. Later, he is skilled enough in the use of the level 31 Shakkaho spell without incantation. Renji also has enough knowledge of Kidō to manipulate it for purposes other than fighting, such as using his Shakkahō spell to illuminate the dark corridors of Las Noches. However, he is only able to create a small light without reciting the full chant.

* **Hado #31: Shakkaho** (*Red Fire Cannon*): Generating high-temperature flames, the practitioner discharges it from one or both hands. The practitioner generates and fires an orb of crimson red energy on his/her palm or finger. The orb can be small, medium, or large, depending on the level of power being used. The destructive power released by the blast can vary between a simple explosion to a pillar of energy, and in both instances, the spell causes concussive as well as burn damage. The spell does not necessarily have to be used for offensive purposes, and can be used as a source of light in dark places.

**Enhanced Strength**: Renji possesses great physical strength. When he swings Zabimaru toward Ichigo in their second fight, he easily tosses him into the air, and subsequently pushes him through an entire building about a dozen meters away with relative ease. During the fight with Szayelaporro's unique Fracción, Renji protects Uryu from a direct punch from one of the stronger Arrancar, using both hands, before throwing him aside. Later, by spinning Zabimaru above his head, Renji creates enough force to generate a whirlwind, blowing all of Szayelaporro's Fracción several yards away, despite their massive size. Szayelaporro stated this was a result of Renji's "brute force." Later, after seventeen months of training following Aizen's defeat, Renji's raw strength allows him to nonchalantly block Jackie's strongest Fullbring-enhanced strike, which had enough force to unearth a large portion of the ground with the shockwave, with just the back of his wrist, and effortlessly knock her out with a simple blow to her stomach using the hilt of his sword.

**Enhanced Endurance**: During his fight with Byakuya, Renji 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. He had enough confidence in his resiliency to use a full-power Hadō #31 on Szayelaporro at point-blank range, willingly taking damage as well, and later withstood having several of his internal organs crushed by Szayelaporro's Teatro de Titere, forcing Szayelaporro to instead crush his tendons in order to bring him down while noting that Renji should have been rendered unconscious by this point.

**Enhanced Durability**: Renji is a very durable fighter. Seventeen months after Aizen's defeat, Renji takes a direct, ground-shattering strike from Jackie's enhanced "**Dirty-Boots**" Fullbring unfazed.

**Great Spiritual Power**: Being a lieutenant of the Gotei 13, Renji originally possessed high spiritual energy. Upon learning Bankai, this power increased on a scale from 5-10, with Rukia commenting that it was so high, she could not recognize it until it decreased by the end of Renji's fight against Byakuya, which caused it to become more familiar to her. His Reiatsu is light red in color.

## Weaknesses

Renji's skill in Kido was never particularly high as he is more melee oriented by nature.

Renji's Shikai, while durable to an extent, can ultimately sustain serious damage the longer the fight drags on.

While Zabimaru can withstand dangerously prolonged combat, it has limits in enduring high-level attacks that are conducted by either the enemy or by Renji himself.

Also, 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—leaving him fairly vulnerable. To make up for this, Renji usually relies on Shunpo to evade attacks as he retrieves Zabimaru's segments.