Nice Sword Ya Got There [More An Update Than An Upgrade]

» Character Name: Ranma Gekiretsu
» Character Application: [Link To App]

» Upgrade Details:
Changing the appearance of Ranma's Shikai (and its phrase), and adding two new offensive techniques to the list of Hōkamaru's Zanjutsus => Setsuna and Uji

New Zanjutsus:

Shikai Description w. New Appearance:

Ranma's had a weird relationship with his Zanpakutō, Hōkamaru. With the latter being so stubbornly shy as to never utter a word - beyond the very first word he ever spoke to his wielder, which was his own name - Ranma's felt a sort of disconnect between the two, which bugged him out for the longest time.

But there has been a sort of connection, in the end. After all, Ranma has spent plenty of time and effort into pushing his Shikai to its farthest limits, making good use of its slowdown ability. He's developed a knack for coming up with different ways to use Hōkamaru's ability, but up until recently, they'd all been very auxiliary maneuvers, and he's felt poor and limited in finishing power beyond his capabilities with Kidō.

With Ranny's (Rangiku's) help and encouragement, Ranma tries to not bother his Zanpakutō too much with forcing any sort of conversation out of it. Instead, he experiments with a couple ideas in his mind while sparring with his Vice-Captain and her Zanpakutō - one of these ideas is slowing down the movement of his Asauchi itself mid-swing, a technique he'd seen Hōkamaru himself use in the Inner World!

Ranma has used his Shikai for a while, knowing that its ability doesn't affect him, but to think that it can actually affect the sword itself for a very brief instance... he has to try it out!

Slowing down a fraction of the swinging blade, then swinging as hard as possible during the short duration of that effect, generates a lot of weight and momentum in the rest of the swing - a sort of super-charge swing with his Zanpakutō, actually making use of its ability to up his offensive power.

Another trick he tries out is slowing down a Hadō spell instead of a living target. His Zanpakutō reveals to have some sort of synergy with Hadō - especially Shakkahō, arguably his current favorite Hadō spell - and he tries to slash apart a Shakkahō orb slown down by his Zanpakutō's effect, causing a burst of burning slash waves to travel towards his Vice-Captain once the effect is undone!

Experimenting and 'playing' around with his Zanpakutō in this fashion ends up changing the shape of his Shikai - from a confusing, wavy straight sword to a less dynamic, bent khopesh. The fewer waves in his sword's design symbolizes the lesser confusion he feels regarding Hōkamaru, since it convinces him that his Zanpakutō might not be a big talker...

But he's listening. Deeply. Words may not be needed to come to an understanding - Hōkamaru has other ways to communicate with Ranma. He never disliked his wielder, after all.

» Summary:
- Ranma's not going to get any words out of Hōkamaru by constantly bickering to the sword for a conversation.
- Vice-Captain Matsumoto takes his mind off of his attempts to strike a talk with his sword, suggesting a bit of meditation.
- Ranma sees Hōkamaru in the Inner World performing Setsuna!
- Driven to try it out himself, he invites Ranny to a Zanpakutō spar, partly curious about his Vice-Captain's Zanpakutō and what it can do.
- Ranma tests out both Setsuna and Uji against the ashy cloud assault brought forth by Ranny's Haineko, but despite his efforts, the Vice-Captain's in a league of her own - not just in Zanjutsu, but also in Hakuda and Hohō.
- Beat and on the ground, Ranma's at least grateful to have shown Ranny just how gifted he is with Zanjutsu. He and Hōkamaru sure know how to cook up new things.

» Threads:
https://www.platinumhearts.net/t25011-the-true-nature-of-a-zanpakuto-rangiku-ranma


I'd also like to change a few things about Hōkamaru in Ranma's Character App:

- Zanpakutō Name: I named it the entire potential Bankai name in my app, would like to just shorten the name to 放歌丸, Hōkamaru (Loud Singer).

- Zanpakutō Spirit: Hōkamaru has been coming off as grumpy, stoic and unwilling to strike any communication with Ranma. However, Ranma's begun to learn that Hōkamaru might just be stupid shy verbally, instead desiring to establish a connection and conversation that needs no words uttered. Henceforth, I'd like to alter the description of his Zanpakutō Spirit a little:

Zanpakutō Spirit: