Kenpachi Zaraki

**Kenpachi Zaraki** is an anti-hero from *Bleach.* He has appeared in the Akuma VS Kenpachi trilogy, which chronicles his long-standing battle with the deadly *Street Fighter* anti-hero Akuma. The trilogy consist of Akuma VS Kenpachi Zaraki, Oni VS Kenpachi, and Oni VS Kenpachi Round 3.

## Bio

Prior to entering the Soul Reaper ranks, Zaraki resided in District 80, the most lawless district surrounding the Soul Society. He became very proficient with swordsmanship, or at least fighting, while he was there, and eventually adopted the district's name, "Zaraki", as his surname. He also took a Zanpakuto, still in an "Asauchi" state, from a corpse and made the weapon his own despite being unable to hear its spiritual embodiment. During that time, he met a kindred spirit in Squad 4's Retsu "Yachiru" Unohana, both leaving their opponent with a scar during their duel. After leaving the district he found a small girl who, despite her young age, did not fear his sword. Since she had no name, he named her Yachiru after Unohana while christening himself "Kenpachi", Unohana's title which has been associated with one who has killed many. Yachiru became inseparable from Zaraki from that point further, following him wherever he went, usually clinging to his back.

After some time had passed, Zaraki found his way into Soul Society and killed the previous captain of the 11th Division, thus gaining his seat in the Gotei 13. As a new captain, Zaraki was begrudgingly forced to learn Kendo, something he hated because it personified his sword, though he did agree on one point: a blade swung with both arms is more powerful than with one arm. As such he makes it a point to avoid using it in battle in order to prolong the experience of fighting as long as possible.

## One Minute Melee

### Akuma VS Kenpachi Zaraki (Street Fighter VS Bleach)

Kenpachi was walking through a forested mountain area, and then saw Akuma standing in his way. Kenpachi told him to move, only for Akuma to challenge him to a fight. Towards the end, Kenpachi tried to finish Akuma, but Akuma blocked the attacks, disarmed him, and ended the battle by launching Kenpachi into the air, whipping him with a Demon Armageddon, and kicking him so hard that he gets launched into the distance.

### Catwoman VS Black Widow (Marvel VS DC)

Kenpachi was still flying through the air, screaming at the top of his lungs, which attracted the attention of Catwoman, who was counting the money from the briefcase she stole.

### Oni VS Kenpachi (Street Fighter VS Bleach)

Kenpachi was shown still flying from his previous encounter, and crashed on a huge rock before landing. Seeing Akuma, Kenpachi approached him, telling him to prepare to die, only for Akuma to punch him in the face. Kenpachi took off the eyepatch, while Akuma transformed into Oni. Towards the end, Kenpachi performed the double handed kendo, and sliced a mountain in half. Not to be outdone, Oni leapt into the air and punched Kenpachi's face with Misogi into the ground so hard, it set off a massive burst of lava that took up the missing half of the mountain, winning the fight again. After the fight, Kenpachi was shown being rescued from a lava flow by Yachiru Kusajishi.

### Oni VS Kenpachi Round 3 (Street Fighter VS Bleach)

Kenpachi appeared along with Yachiru, leapt down from the trees, and finally went all-out by entering Bankai Mode to match Oni's power. Much like in the previous episode, Kenpachi demolished the entire area by cutting down every single tree with his sword, and towards the end, he sliced off Oni's left arm and cut his right arm at the shoulder. At the end of the fight, Kenpachi performed a spinning attack to try and finish Oni, but Oni grabbed him with his remaining arm, and outright killed the Soul Reaper with Wrath of the Raging Demon and kicked him into a tree, bringing an end to the feud once and for all.

## References

* Kenpachi Zaraki on Wikipedia
* Kenpachi Zaraki on the Bleach Wiki