In today’s Bleach chapter,
we learned that Unohana is
the woman after whom
Kenpachi named Yachiru -
and also that Unohana was
the first Kenpachi. Which
opens up just a whole new
can of maswali about how
exactly these two
bloodthirsty badasses knew
each other in the past! What
was Unohana like back when
she was Kenpachi? And what
exactly did she do to make
Kenpachi so taken with her?
Here are some theories!
1. They were lovers.
This is, after all, what sprang
into the mind’s of every
Kenuno shipper the moment
we found out they knew each
other in the past - maybe
they were, wewe know,
involved. In a relationship of
a romantic nature. au as
romantic as wewe can get with
the current Kenpachi and the
future Kenpachi. This theory
may be slightly unlikely
aliyopewa Bleach’s abhorrence
of any romance between any
two characters that are still
alive (that sounds…wrong,
but wewe know what I mean).
But that will not stop us
from hoping!
Unohana: Mmmm….Zaraki.
Do wewe remember all the sex
we had on the blood-soaked
battlefields of the past?
Kenpachi: Mainly I
remember the time wewe gave
me a bouquet of severed
heads. It was so sweet of
you!
Unohana: Good times, good
times.
2. She’s his mother.
Or, on the other end of the
spectrum is this possibility -
namely that Unohana is
Kenpachi’s mother. One
hopes this is not the case,
since (a) it would make
shipping them super
awkward and (b) it would
mean that she didn’t given
him a name, which would
be…cold.
Unohana: What’s this? I
did give my son a name!
Kenpachi: I would rather be
nameless forever than be
called…Foo Foo
Piddlefingers.
Unohana: …
Unohana: I may have been
drinking.
3. He saw her fighting
from a distance.
It is also possible that the
two of them didn’t actually
meet. Kenpachi just saw
some woman cutting a
swath of destruction and
asked someone who it was
and they said, “That’s
Unohana Yachiru” and
Kenpachi was so taken with
the beautiful killing machine
that he named his adoptive
daughter / lieutenant after
her.
Unohana: I did wonder,
when wewe first joined the
Gotei-13, why wewe had a
lieutenant with my name.
Kenpachi: Yeah, I would
have alisema something but I
didn’t recognize wewe when
wewe weren’t covered in
blood.
Unohana: I hear that a lot.
4. She defeated him.
This is one of my two
inayopendelewa theories, currently:
namely that Kenpachi was
some sort of raging menace,
and Unohana defeated him.
It would then be an Ikkaku
sort of situation: just as
Ikkaku was defeated by
Kenpachi and then followed
him forever, so Kenpachi,
having been defeated by
Unohana, decided he needed
to pursue her from a
distance, and hence joined
the Gotei-13 and became
Kenpachi himself.
Kenpachi: And wewe left me
alive when I couldn’t fight
anymore, which is why I give
my victims the same
courtesy now.
Unohana: Yeah…….I really
thought wewe were dead. Had
I known, I would have
stabbed wewe a few more
times.
Kenpachi: …
Kenpachi: Oh.
5. He used to work for
her…but was kicked out.
au perhaps the two of them
weren’t enemies. Perhaps
Kenpachi actually worked for
Unohana, as part of her
killing squad. But then
something happened, and he
was kicked out. Bleach likes
exiling people, after all. And
maybe Kenpachi spent all
that time wandering in the
Rukongai fighting to get
stronger because he wanted
to win his way back.
Kenpachi: Then I found out
she had switched to healing
and I was like, “Fuck that!
I’m joining a different
squad.”
Unohana: Healing is very
rewarding.
Unohana: No I’m lying. I
would give anything to kill
something again.
6. He used to work for
her…but left.
It’s also possible that
Kenpachi used to work for
Unohana but then he left of
his own accord. Maybe he got
tired of being the only guy
with no name. Maybe he
wanted to kill for himself
and not for the system. But
for whatever reason, he
struck out on his own…and
then later decided that he
wanted to go back.
Kenpachi: Turns out wewe DO
get zaidi killing
opportunities kwa being a
captain than kwa wandering
around.
Kenpachi: Who knew?
7. Unohana left Kenpachi
for Squad 0.
This one is merely an
addition to any of the
awali possibilities in
which the two of them were
Marafiki au lovers au family or
coworkers. Perhaps the
reason they Lost touch was
because Unohana was taken
to Squad 0 to work for
Sentoki - and kwa the time
she came back, Kenpachi was
gone.
Kenpachi: Oh man. Then
I’d be kinda like Hisagi
with Kensei. I don’t know
that I like this possibility.
Unohana: You’re nothing
like Hisagi. If wewe were,
you’d wear your hair in an
awkward front braid just to
be zaidi like me.
Kenpachi: …
Kenpachi: Yes. I never went
through that phase. Never.
8. He’s the reason she
gave up fighting.
Why DID Unohana ditch
fighting to be a healer? I like
to think she was just so
insanely dangerous that she
was forcibly removed from
the battlefield and now
she’s like an alcoholic who
can’t go into bars anymore
- Yamamoto won’t let her
near fighting because he
knows she’ll go berserk
and kill everyone. But
another possibility is that
her decision to give up
fighting had something to
do with Kenpachi - she hurt
him au somebody he loved?
I’m not sure.
Kenpachi: Yeah……I just
kept fighting myself.
Unohana: Yes, but with your
powers deliberately reduced.
Kenpachi: Excuse me?
Unohana: Shhh…you’ll
find out soon.
9. She sealed his powers
in some way.
So, we also learned that
Kenpachi has been
deliberately kept at a lower
level of power than he could
be, because Central-46 is
afraid of him. Now, it may be
the case that Kenpachi has
just gotten as far as he can
on his own, and nobody
(until now) has been willing
to help him get better. But
it’s also possible that
Kenpachi’s power has
actually been sealed away -
perhaps his zanpakuto
doesn’t communicate
because it’s been locked?
And it would be interesting if
Unohana were involved in
that somehow.
Unohana: No, um, hard
feelings?
Kenpachi: This whole
time….I thought I was just
really bad at names and that
my sword hated me!
Kenpachi: But whatever.
I’m glad to know I can get
stronger!
10. She slaughtered
everyone he loved.
This is my other favorite
theory. Because think about
how Kenpachi met Yachiru -
his new Yachiru. He
apparently slaughtered
everyone around her, and
then named her after
Unohana. So what if the
same thing happened to
Kenpachi when he was a kid?
He was too young to know
his name, just some little
toddler, and then Unohana
came crashing in, and carved
up his bloody world, the way
Kenpachi would later do for
Yachiru.
Kenpachi: B-but you
didn’t adopt me!
Unohana: I was busy! I
couldn’t have some little
kid hanging around all the
time.
Kenpachi: Actually, that’s
pretty great. wewe should try
it.
Unohana: Yeah…you
weren’t as cute as Yachiru
now is. No offense.
we learned that Unohana is
the woman after whom
Kenpachi named Yachiru -
and also that Unohana was
the first Kenpachi. Which
opens up just a whole new
can of maswali about how
exactly these two
bloodthirsty badasses knew
each other in the past! What
was Unohana like back when
she was Kenpachi? And what
exactly did she do to make
Kenpachi so taken with her?
Here are some theories!
1. They were lovers.
This is, after all, what sprang
into the mind’s of every
Kenuno shipper the moment
we found out they knew each
other in the past - maybe
they were, wewe know,
involved. In a relationship of
a romantic nature. au as
romantic as wewe can get with
the current Kenpachi and the
future Kenpachi. This theory
may be slightly unlikely
aliyopewa Bleach’s abhorrence
of any romance between any
two characters that are still
alive (that sounds…wrong,
but wewe know what I mean).
But that will not stop us
from hoping!
Unohana: Mmmm….Zaraki.
Do wewe remember all the sex
we had on the blood-soaked
battlefields of the past?
Kenpachi: Mainly I
remember the time wewe gave
me a bouquet of severed
heads. It was so sweet of
you!
Unohana: Good times, good
times.
2. She’s his mother.
Or, on the other end of the
spectrum is this possibility -
namely that Unohana is
Kenpachi’s mother. One
hopes this is not the case,
since (a) it would make
shipping them super
awkward and (b) it would
mean that she didn’t given
him a name, which would
be…cold.
Unohana: What’s this? I
did give my son a name!
Kenpachi: I would rather be
nameless forever than be
called…Foo Foo
Piddlefingers.
Unohana: …
Unohana: I may have been
drinking.
3. He saw her fighting
from a distance.
It is also possible that the
two of them didn’t actually
meet. Kenpachi just saw
some woman cutting a
swath of destruction and
asked someone who it was
and they said, “That’s
Unohana Yachiru” and
Kenpachi was so taken with
the beautiful killing machine
that he named his adoptive
daughter / lieutenant after
her.
Unohana: I did wonder,
when wewe first joined the
Gotei-13, why wewe had a
lieutenant with my name.
Kenpachi: Yeah, I would
have alisema something but I
didn’t recognize wewe when
wewe weren’t covered in
blood.
Unohana: I hear that a lot.
4. She defeated him.
This is one of my two
inayopendelewa theories, currently:
namely that Kenpachi was
some sort of raging menace,
and Unohana defeated him.
It would then be an Ikkaku
sort of situation: just as
Ikkaku was defeated by
Kenpachi and then followed
him forever, so Kenpachi,
having been defeated by
Unohana, decided he needed
to pursue her from a
distance, and hence joined
the Gotei-13 and became
Kenpachi himself.
Kenpachi: And wewe left me
alive when I couldn’t fight
anymore, which is why I give
my victims the same
courtesy now.
Unohana: Yeah…….I really
thought wewe were dead. Had
I known, I would have
stabbed wewe a few more
times.
Kenpachi: …
Kenpachi: Oh.
5. He used to work for
her…but was kicked out.
au perhaps the two of them
weren’t enemies. Perhaps
Kenpachi actually worked for
Unohana, as part of her
killing squad. But then
something happened, and he
was kicked out. Bleach likes
exiling people, after all. And
maybe Kenpachi spent all
that time wandering in the
Rukongai fighting to get
stronger because he wanted
to win his way back.
Kenpachi: Then I found out
she had switched to healing
and I was like, “Fuck that!
I’m joining a different
squad.”
Unohana: Healing is very
rewarding.
Unohana: No I’m lying. I
would give anything to kill
something again.
6. He used to work for
her…but left.
It’s also possible that
Kenpachi used to work for
Unohana but then he left of
his own accord. Maybe he got
tired of being the only guy
with no name. Maybe he
wanted to kill for himself
and not for the system. But
for whatever reason, he
struck out on his own…and
then later decided that he
wanted to go back.
Kenpachi: Turns out wewe DO
get zaidi killing
opportunities kwa being a
captain than kwa wandering
around.
Kenpachi: Who knew?
7. Unohana left Kenpachi
for Squad 0.
This one is merely an
addition to any of the
awali possibilities in
which the two of them were
Marafiki au lovers au family or
coworkers. Perhaps the
reason they Lost touch was
because Unohana was taken
to Squad 0 to work for
Sentoki - and kwa the time
she came back, Kenpachi was
gone.
Kenpachi: Oh man. Then
I’d be kinda like Hisagi
with Kensei. I don’t know
that I like this possibility.
Unohana: You’re nothing
like Hisagi. If wewe were,
you’d wear your hair in an
awkward front braid just to
be zaidi like me.
Kenpachi: …
Kenpachi: Yes. I never went
through that phase. Never.
8. He’s the reason she
gave up fighting.
Why DID Unohana ditch
fighting to be a healer? I like
to think she was just so
insanely dangerous that she
was forcibly removed from
the battlefield and now
she’s like an alcoholic who
can’t go into bars anymore
- Yamamoto won’t let her
near fighting because he
knows she’ll go berserk
and kill everyone. But
another possibility is that
her decision to give up
fighting had something to
do with Kenpachi - she hurt
him au somebody he loved?
I’m not sure.
Kenpachi: Yeah……I just
kept fighting myself.
Unohana: Yes, but with your
powers deliberately reduced.
Kenpachi: Excuse me?
Unohana: Shhh…you’ll
find out soon.
9. She sealed his powers
in some way.
So, we also learned that
Kenpachi has been
deliberately kept at a lower
level of power than he could
be, because Central-46 is
afraid of him. Now, it may be
the case that Kenpachi has
just gotten as far as he can
on his own, and nobody
(until now) has been willing
to help him get better. But
it’s also possible that
Kenpachi’s power has
actually been sealed away -
perhaps his zanpakuto
doesn’t communicate
because it’s been locked?
And it would be interesting if
Unohana were involved in
that somehow.
Unohana: No, um, hard
feelings?
Kenpachi: This whole
time….I thought I was just
really bad at names and that
my sword hated me!
Kenpachi: But whatever.
I’m glad to know I can get
stronger!
10. She slaughtered
everyone he loved.
This is my other favorite
theory. Because think about
how Kenpachi met Yachiru -
his new Yachiru. He
apparently slaughtered
everyone around her, and
then named her after
Unohana. So what if the
same thing happened to
Kenpachi when he was a kid?
He was too young to know
his name, just some little
toddler, and then Unohana
came crashing in, and carved
up his bloody world, the way
Kenpachi would later do for
Yachiru.
Kenpachi: B-but you
didn’t adopt me!
Unohana: I was busy! I
couldn’t have some little
kid hanging around all the
time.
Kenpachi: Actually, that’s
pretty great. wewe should try
it.
Unohana: Yeah…you
weren’t as cute as Yachiru
now is. No offense.
