Is Ichibē Hyōsube Dead or Alive in Bleach? What Happened to Him and Zero Division?
Ichibē Hyōsube is one of the more intriguing characters from Bleach, despite the fact that he only appeared during the final arc of the manga. His powers are truly incredible and despite his short tenure, he is one of the most talked about characters in the whole series. This is, of course, why we are going to talk about Ichibē Hyōsube in this article as well. What we are going to tell you is whether Ichibē Hyōsube is alive in Bleach, as well as what happened to the Zero Division of Bleach after the Quincy War.
Ichibē Hyōsube is alive and well in Bleach and has regained the full capacity of his powers as well. After being killed by Yhwach during the invasion of the Soul King Palace, Ichibē Hyōsube was swiftly resurrected by Ichigo after the latter called out his name; this is Ichibē Hyōsube’s special ability. Later on, as was revealed in the Can’t Fear Your Own World light novel, Ichibē Hyōsube used his powers to resurrect his fallen comrades from Zero Division.
In the rest of this article, we are going to tell you about the fate of Ichibē Hyōsube and the Zero Division in Bleach, including its remaining members. We are going to give you some basic information about how the story evolved and what ultimately happened to them. All of these facts will be revealed later in the anime, so if you haven’t read the manga, we have to warn you about some spoilers in the upcoming paragraphs.
Is Ichibē Hyōsube dead or alive in Bleach?
Ichibē Hyōsube is a member of the Royal Guard and first appeared after the Wandenreich attacked Soul Society. He is titled the “Monk Who Calls the Real Name”. He also appears to hold the position of leader among the Royal Guard, or so Yhwach refers to him as such. Like all members of the Royal Guard, he was probably a member of the Gotei 13. However, it is unknown to which of the 13th Divisions he once belonged.
His special merit for Seireitei was that he gave his name to many things in society, e.g. he invented the expressions Zanpakuto, Shikai, and Bankai (although he does not call his Bankai that, but rather Shin’uchi). For this reason, he also knows the true name of each Zanpakuto, for example.
As the leader of the Royal Guard, Ichibē Hyōsube was tasked with protecting the Soul King and was labeled as one of the “Five Special Threats” by Yhwach (alongside Ichigo, Aizen, Urahara, and Kenpachi). This is why he was the last defender of the Soul King and Yhwach’s final and toughest opponent during his invasion of the Soul King Palace.
While the other members are tasked with stopping the invaders at what appears to be the entrance to the Soul King Palance, Ichibē Hyōsube has taken up his post at the real gate to the Royal Palace, waiting in case Yhwach manages to get past the rest of the Royal Guard. With such a turn of events, a clash between the leaders of the Quincy and the Royal Guard seemed inevitable and it actually happened, with Ichibē having a slight advantage over the Quincy Emperor.
After Nimaiya is defeated, Yhwach stands in front of Ichibē, asking if he’ll let him through, calling him by his full name. The Monk, therefore, gets up and retorts to him to be careful with the pronunciation of his name because he could crush his throat. The Monk then draws a line on the ground telling him that he will kill him here, prompting Yhwach to tell him that he is the one who will die three steps in front of it calling him by his name again.
Angered, Ichibē summons a huge hand that pushes Yhwach back a very long distance. Then appearing above him thanks to the Shunpō, he tells him that this palm will throw him over 1000 Ri to make him repent. The Quincy Emperor then tries to speak but finds himself unable to. He then crushes his throat with his fingers and restores his speech before summoning a huge bow and returning to Ichibē’s height with the momentum of an arrow. The head of the Royal Guard is surprised to see Quincy alive and decides to kill him. He then draws his brush and challenges Yhwach.
The two then clash and the Quincy notices that the Monk is happier than he expected. When the Emperor pushes the brush away with his arm, Ichibē then remarks to him that he has decided to sacrifice his arm. He explains his ability to her before slicing him again, sarcastically asking how he feels with half his power. Yhwach gets up and restores himself, explaining to him that he can always bring his power back, no matter how many times Ichibē takes it away.
He then explains to him that “everything in this world is there for him to seize” before shooting arrows at the Monk, which he easily breaks. Saying he was trying to save face by beating him with half his power, he attacks him again with Bakudō #62 – Hyapporankan which Quincy counters with Blut Vene Anhaben. He then decides to cast the secret spell Ura Hadō: Sannodō—Teppūsatsu which shatters Yhwach’s shell and grabs him by the throat. The Quincy technique then begins to consume the Monk’s body which tenses his muscles and is damn pissed off that Yhwach tried to enter his body and releases his Shikai, Ichimonji.
Ichibē asks Yhwach if he can distinguish between a brush and a sword when he expresses amazement at the Shikai’s arrival. The two combatants square off once more, with the Quincy threatening to return any powers taken from him before he can finish pronouncing the name of his saber before going silent. telling Yhwach that his Shikai wipes the name off of anything his ink touches. When Yhwach hears this, he uses the Sankt Altar to try and take Ichibē’s power but fails and ends up getting inked all over his face.
Ichibē believes Yhwach must be upset about losing his name when it is covered up, so he plans to offer him a new one. He names his Bankai, Shirafude Ichimonji “Black Ant” before activating it. When Yhwach cries out, “I would never have believed,” Ichibē responds, “I would not have been able to predict such a power differential.” He then summons a giant foot, smashes it through the floor, and then smashes it again between his giant palms.
However, Yhwach falls back to the floor just behind Ichibē and attacks him with a huge attack, piercing him. The Monk sees his Bankai’s writing dissipate and is confused. Quincy explains to him about his power, The Almighty, and how it enabled him to survive. Retorting that he still possesses black on his body and couldn’t escape its influence, Ichibē summons Futen Taisatsuryō in order to completely destroy Yhwach.
However, the latter recites the last of his incantation at the same time as him and tells him that his techniques are now powerless against him before tearing him to pieces, leaving him for dead three steps in front of the line he had drawn, as he had predicted it. After the fight, Ichigo and his group arrive on the scene and Ichibē’s conscience calls for the Substitute Shinigami to speak his name in order to save him.
Once spoken, the Monk manages to regenerate and begs Ichigo to stop Yhwach before he kills the Soul King, explaining that the latter is the pillar of this world and that his death will cause the complete and utter destruction of the known world. , namely the Real World, Soul Society, Hueco Mundo, and even Dangai. Later, he remarks that it is too late and apologizes to the group as they won’t be able to stop Yhwach but they don’t have to worry as this is called “peace”.
What happened to the other members of Zero Division in Bleach?
The Royal Guard, also called Zero Division, is the defense organization in the Soul King’s dimension and acts under the orders of the Soul King himself. They inhabit the Soul King Palace and when Yhwach and the Sternritter executed their first invasion of Soul Society, they came to help. Sometime later, the Quincy invade the Soul King Palace themselves, and the Royal Guard members clashed with them.
Tenjirō Kirinji was the first to intervene in the fight, repelling the Quincy and confronting their leader head-on. His blows, however, do not hit the enemy. Upset, he wonders why he was never able to hit Yhwach, and Yhwach comments that they are at an impasse. Then Senjumaru confronts the Sternritter W (“The Wind”), Nianzol Weizol, whom she ends up defeating quite easily. After that, the Sternritter X (“The X-Axis”), Lille Barro, pulls out a gun and tells her that the King’s Palace has already fallen and then shoots her in the skull. But shortly after she reappears accompanied by the Royal Guard (Division 0) confessing to them that they had just faced an illusion and that they are in a prison.
Kirio Hikifune appeared and built a cage around the palace’s complete construction in secret to protect it, then she says she’s astonished she did because she hasn’t made a containment this strong in a while. Finally, Nimiya arrives with his Zanpakutō and engages in a tactical fight against Askin Nakk Le Vaar, where Ōetsu is affected by “The Deathdealing”, for which he falls to the ground.
Nimaiya slashes his throat and calls Kirinji to give him a healing water imbuement. After Nimaiya has given him an explanation of the strengths of Kirinji’s therapeutic waters, he cuts Askin fatally and then raises his blade to Yhwach. Yhwach uses the Auswählen, and they all come back to life. Despite being shielded by Kirinji and Hikifune, “The X-Axis” then severely injures him.
The Royal Guard Captains would ultimately fall to the Sternritter and it was later revealed that they were killed. Still, the Can’t Fear Your Own World light novel actually confirmed that Hyōsube, using his unique powers after being revived by Ichigo, revived all the other members of the Royal Guard, meaning that Kirio Hikifune, Senjumaru Shutara, Tenjirō Kirinji, and Ōetsu Nimaiya are all alive and well after Yhwach’s invasion and their apparent deaths during the Quincy War; in fact, all of them appear in the light novel in person.
