Kenpachi Zaraki - Abilities

Abilities

Kenpachi is the only captain of the Gotei 13 who doesn't know the name of his sword, and therefore he is unable to use his bankai. In addition, he only used kidō once during his fight with Nnoitra Gilga, also seen to be the only type of kidō he knows and gives the reason why he fights one handed, and rarely uses flash steps. The Bleach Official Bootleg databook ranks his talent in the former as zero. However, he more than makes up for his faults in sheer power. His spiritual pressure is such that, even when wearing the energy-sealing eyepatch, Kenpachi can fight on-par with and defeat other captain-level opponents, even when they release their zanpakutō in either shikai or bankai form. Its concentration is so great that it acts like armor against weaker opponents. During their first duel, he allowed Ichigo one free attack before the duel began. That attack failed to pierce his body, and Ichigo's left hand was wounded in the process. By releasing the bulk of his spiritual pressure, he was also able to cancel out the strongest attack of Maki Ichinose's Nijigasumi during their battle in the Bount Arc.

Despite his seeming disregard for any strategy in his fights and his self-admitted aversion to thinking during battle, Kenpachi is adept at finding and exploiting weaknesses in his opponents' techniques. While he claims to have no sanity or common sense, Kenpachi is actually very perceptive and notices traits in people that others wouldn't notice. For example, he correctly singles out Kaname Tōsen and Gin Ichimaru as the only captains who are afraid to die. He observes that Maki Ichinose is "..like an ivy vine, clinging to the trees." an observation on the latter's overarching trait of fighting for others causes while having none of his own. During his battles with both Tōsen and Nnoitora, he formulates strategies to work around his disadvantages, such as losing most of his senses or fighting an opponent with six arms, though that strategy may simply consist of removing the arms one by one.

Kenpachi has tremendous quantities of physical strength, proving able to both kick Tōsen through a building in their battle, and grab Ichigo's giant sword barehanded to reel both him and it in for an attack.In the Bleach movie "The Diamond Dust Rebelion",he has been shown lifting a mountain sized obstacle with little effort. His physical strength is matched by his endurance; Kenpachi has been shown to easily ignore most of the injuries he sustains in battle, not suffering any debilitation despite suffering multiple lacerations that would disable normal humans. He even allowed himself to be stabbed just to grab Tōsen's blade and break his bankai's effect. The majority of his fight with Nnoitora was a one-sided brawl in Nnoitora's favor, with Kenpachi only taking things seriously when he finds himself in actual danger of dying from the sheer number of lacerations he had received. Kenpachi was proven strong enough to stop Nnoitora's Cero with his bare hands, effortlessly, without showing any sign of injury in the process.