Zanpaktou fusing; possible?

[Sergelia]

I guess one could say I wasted a huge chunk of my Bleach-fantime watching the anime, so forgive me if I missed some very, very relevant part of manga that would cut off my little brain-child in its roots. If I did, just tell me and I'll puppy-eye a mod into locking this.

You've been warned.

So. We're in the middle/near the end of the Hueco Mundo arc, Orihime's turned her personal "ZOMG teh tweest" card and it seems that what we once laughed at as "the evil power of teh hairpins" is actually a power violating the realm of God. Which is, I admit, a bit anti-climatic and gives her too much power for my taste, but is pretty awesome when taken out of perspective.

Second big revelation, Chad's powers are actually pretty much Hollow powers. I was happy for Chad when he revealed that, and I don't care that Noitora's defeated him - at least Mexicanoboy did his best and rocked while at it. But what's important about this is that, while Orihime's powers are likened to a Vaizard's (Shinigami-Hollow, with a taste of a Deity), Chad's are pure-Hollow (at this stage at least). So, while their powers initially seemed pretty random, Kubo's finally giving them shape, form, and a possible direction in which they might go. Cool.

But... if Orihime's half-saint, and Chad's a human with Hollow powers, and Arrancar and Vaizard seem ridiculously overpowered, where does that leave the Shinigami?

Remember, everyone, the Shinigami's initial purpose, as they were introduced by Rukia as early as chapter 001, was something along the lines of "cleansing souls, sending them to where they belong, and fighting Hollows along the way". But are things getting out of hand for Shinigami, then? Can we honestly imagine that normal, average Shinigami (not talking about Captains and Vice Captains here, nor people like Ikkaku and Rukia, who could be Captain and Vice Captain respectively if they wanted/were allowed to be) would present a serious threat to even a mediocre Arrancar?

I'm not entirely sure. And that's what brings me to my point.

If Bankai is really as far as a Shinigami can go (without becoming a Vaizard), then I'd say Seiretei is in for some trouble. Sure, the captains are oh-so-mighty and awesome, and indeed I like them as much as the next person, but when we stop and think about it their powers don't really seem all that much when put next to, say, Aizen's, or the supposed power of the unknown Primera Espada. The way I imagine WW, it shouldn't be turned into another Bankaifest. But what to do about it?

I present you - Shinigami-fusing-with-their-Zanpaktou-to-everyone's-shock-and-wonder.

What could be the ultimate, the final goal of the whole 'One has to fight alongside his Soul Slayer' philosophy, what could be the core purpose of giving a sword personality and a mind on its own? Well I think it would be for the sword owner and the sword to not only fight like they're one, but to BECOME one.

Remember Ichigo's bankai training... he fought against Zangetsu. IMO it would be a nice take on the Shinigami-zanpaktou relationship if the absolute-ultimate technique could only be achieved by absolute unity.

I'm not sure how this would work. Sadly I don't have private insight into Kubo Tite's mind and my telepathy seems to be turned off these days. I don't know what it would look like nor how it would enhance a Shinigami's powers, except definitely allowing them maximum use of their reiatsu and a complete control of every single technique the zanpaktou can use. You're totally allowed to boo at me, throw net-tomatoes, negrep, whatever. But if you think I'm on to something (well I do, anyway), then please help me elaborate on the idea.

However, even if I haven't yet thought of the technique's every up-side, I thought of the MAJOR, and possibly only, down-side. It would be something like what Ishida did against Mayuri; a burn-out. Once you've fused with something you cannot exactly say "ohmygosh, thx, I'll be normal again now.1" Once a Shinigami has performed the fusing, he wouldn't be able to go back - but instead of losing his powers, he would simply lose the ENTIRETY of his reiatsu. Or, to put it bluntly, in a normal human's words; they'd DAI.

Of course I know I'm not the only one who thought "Aw, Bankai can't be all there is to it!" and especially after seeing Kubo thought the exact same thing (hence him making Ichigo a Vaizard). My idea may be silly and underdeveloped (I did only think of it like 20 minutes ago) but I'm certain that it's at least partially right.

So! What do you think; YAY or NAY?

*ducks tomatoes* Be nice.

[Saffire]

Eh, fusion is basically what Arrancar do without the drawback anyways, isn't it?

I think the current cast is sufficient to take on the White Army without pushing Shinigami to suicide maneuvers, they just somehow have to be convinced to take part. We don't really know how well a Captain like Shunsui or Byakuya stacks up against a mid-to-high level Espada, since Rukia was able to stand up to the 9th without even that much power. 33,000 hollows or not, it's possible the higher-rank Captains could have smashed him to pieces.

Lol, Shunsui vs Stark...the laziest fight evar!

[Sergelia]

@Saffire - Well, I did take the Arrancar!powerup into account, but that's not exactly what I meant. They don't seem to work alongside their Zanpakutou; they just seem to be taking a different form and its powers. Or to put it differently, I don't believe that an Arrancar's Zanpakutou would have a personality. It's like... Vizards and Hollows; the Vaizard are more Shinigami, the Arrancar will always be more Hollow. And where the Hollow side overpowers the Zanpakutou-wielding one, the poor sword will remain nothing but a tool.

Just IMO, you do have a point there.

EDIT: As for powers, well... again, you make a good point. I guess I didn't say it all that clear in the first post.

In another thread, Air (I think) said that Nakim and D-Roy were most likely Gilian and thus they were beaten by just Shikai. That makes perfect sense to me.

But I expect by the time Winter War happens, Aizen will have bigger tricks up his sleeve. Otherwise, what would be the point? :nuts I mean... I'm okay with the current lineup and all, but HM arc feels a bit like warm-up before an exercise. What we see now is NOTHING compared to what the War will present; afterall, it will be the climax of the manga.

[ezxx]

so by become one you just mean the sword and Ichigo disappear and a new born being of the two comes out. That's essentially what bankai is. Bankai is the highest level of harmonization with a zanpaktou. You've seen just about everyone in that state taking on aspects of their zanpaktou - i.e Hitsugaya growing wings, Renji growing that fur-like costume, Ichigo wearing the black outfit zangetsu has- while still remaining recognizable to us.

Imo the reason the captains can stand a chance against the arrancar even if there's a vast difference in reiatsu is because they've got exquisite control of their reiatsu. That means, who ever they fight, they sharpen or focus it enough(of course they'd have to be in a reasonable range first) they can cut the opponent. I think tousen may have displayed this already. If one has captain level reiatsu, then focusing all that reiatsu on one spot should be enough to wound almost anyone.

[tari101190]

when releasing a zanpakto i guess your fusing yor spirit power with the zanpakto in a way. but if you mean phisically fusing then i guess its possible. its not that crazy if you think about it.

[Rain]

It's not a bad idea but I wouldn't want to see it in bleach, it just doesn't fit the style, and i don't think anything interesting could really be done with it.

[Sergelia]

Thanks... I guess. >__> Judging by the poll results, so far I should go write a fanfiction while dodging the tomatoes.

^___^ Everything is fine in the world.

I think I'll vote for the "underdeveloped" myself. This idea was obviously a product of my daily sugar rush (ate at least 200g of pure sugar with coffee). I mean, it's not as bad as some of my ideas are, but I should've developed it further before posting.

Ah well.

EDIT: Rain, I think I agree with you, now that I think of it. But there is one tiny thing - Bleach powerups have never been all that interesting to me anyway (save for Bankai).

[SBJ220]

Y'know, this is one of the more interesting topics I've seen in a long time. I'd say it's not possible to fuse two together considering "the zanpakuto chooses it's wielder" and all that, but to fuse man with metal... I'm interested to see what others think about this. If we're going to suggest that Ichigo would perform something of an arrancar release, well... I'll tell you what, I don't think it will happen, but I'd be all for it. He's got to have another power up soon enough. Okay, he can use his mask better. Cool. But he's still only on GJ lvl. He needs more.

[wakeskater]

He's got to have another power up soon enough. Okay, he can use his mask better. Cool. But he's still only on GJ lvl. He needs more.

Ichi's next powerup will be he flips his mask upside down... and all his powers reverse, to uh... throw off the opponent

but in seriousness, id like to see something along the lines of a perfect harmony between vaizard and vastolord... sort of a perfect balance of shinigami and hollow... like... a vaizard with hollowish armor

[Velius]

Sorry, but going to have to go with good fanfic material on this one. :D It sounds like fun, but just nothing is close to be possible from what we know. Though I could see how the anime could lead to a lot of people thinking of ideas like this. They really aren't that far out there.

[Jaina]

This was pretty much the idea behind the Sealed Sword Frenzy OVA, wasn't it? So probably not likely to occur in canon. :) Could potentially make for interesting fic, if done well.