Where is Yachiru?

Yachiru Kusajishi: Vice-captain of Squad 11, president of the SWA, bane of Byakuya Kuchiki’s existence, and missing in action. The pink haired bundle of energy has been missing since the confrontation between Kenpachi Zaraki and Gremmy Thoumeaux. At some point during the battle, Yachiru disappeared, leaving her clothes and lieutenants badge behind. Where is she? Why did she disappear? For those questions, I believe there are two possible answers.

First, it is possible that Gremmy killed her. And if you think about it, that is the most obvious solution, Gremmy was defeated by Kenpachi, so in his final moments he killed Yachiru in an act of revenge. However, after reading the Kenpachi vs Gremmy chapters again and paying close attention to how he uses his power, I doubt that he caused Yachiru's disappearance.

Yachiru: Me.
Other Person: most people.

The main reason that I don't suspect Gremmy is simply because he didn't make anyone else disappear. If he can erase someone's existence with a single thought, why didn't he do it to Kenpachi? Why didn't he make every single person in the Soul Society disappear? If he had done that, the Quincies would have easily won the war. So why didn't he do it? My answer: he can't.

Gremmy's power, The Visionary, allows him to turn anything he imagines into reality, the key word being "into". We saw him use this power many times to imagine things into reality, but only once did we see him imagine something out of reality, when he made Guenael disappear. Now, some of you might be thinking, if Gremmy made Guenael disappear, couldn't he have done that to Yachiru? No. Guenael is a special case. 

AHH. GET IT OFF GET IT OFF GET IT OFF.

Guenael was a being that Gremmy created, and, as stated in chapter 575 the things that Gremmy imagines into existence, disappear when he loses focus. So, when he saw that Guenael was no longer useful to him, he simply stopped imagining him, which made him disappear.

The fact that his power isn't permanent also shows that even if he could make people disappear, he couldn't have caused Yachiru's disappearance. If he had simply imagined that Yachiru didn't exist, she most likely would have come back after he died. 

I imagine that my true form would look like this too. If I had one.

Now for the second possibility, you may have heard this one before. It's a theory that is so simple and so obvious that I'm a little ashamed that I didn't notice it myself. The theory: Yachiru is Nozarashi, Kenpachi's Zanpakuto.

The main fact that drives this theory is that Yachiru disappeared after Nozarashi was first released. We see her immediately before the release, but never after. When I first heard this theory, I didn't think much of it. However, after I decided to write this article I did my own research, and every new fact I found convinced me that this theory is true. Specifically, the aforementioned scene with Yachiru.

I don't usually notice symbolism or hidden meanings. But in this scene it is so obvious that it practically screams "HEY DUMBASS, THIS MEANS SOMETHING". We see Yachiru looking up at Zaraki before he releases his Zanpakuto, and we also see a flashback to when Yachiru and Zaraki first met. The place where Zaraki talked about how painful it was to not have a name, and then named both Yachiru and himself.

See what I mean.

I believe that that this scene shows us that both Zaraki and Yachiru, who were both originally nameless, have finally found their true names. Zaraki has truly gained the title of "Kenpachi" after killing Unohana, and at the same time, Yachiru's true name was revealed as well: Nozarashi.

I've seen many people try to disprove this theory by saying that she can't be Nozarashi because she is always around. She's never in her own Zanpakuto world, or that she can't be the sword because she has her own Zanpakuto.

I would not get along very well with this guy.

For the first argument, I believe that Yachiru's situation is similar to Zangetsu's. However, unlike Zangetsu who is always in his released state, I believe that Yachiru was being constantly and unknowingly manifested by Kenpachi. The manifestation having been caused by Kenpachi's immense power, which he was unable to control for a majority of the story.

Kenpachi Zaraki: 50% badass...

For the second argument, I actually don't have a way to explain Yachiru's Zanpakuto. The reason I don't have a counter-argument isn't because it proves this theory wrong. It's because there is barely any information on Yachiru's sword. She has used it in its shikai form once, when she fought Guenael. Other than how it works, the only information that is revealed about the sword is that it's shikai is unique compared to other Zanpakutos. That one fact is not enough to be used in an argument to prove or disprove this theory.

And 50% fabulous.

Now that I've finished explaining how it might be true. To close, I'm going to explain why it should be true. If Yachiru is in fact Nozarashi, then that means that Kenpachi can most likely manifest his Zanpakuto which would give him a believable way to attain bankai. Also, it would allow Kenpachi and Yachiru to have a touching moment. I know most people enjoy reading those kind of scenes.

Well, that concludes this theory. Do see any flaws? Are there any details that I might have overlooked? Or do you have a theory of your own that you want me to take a look at? Let me know in the comments.

\I have to admit, it suits her perfectly.

All information found in Bleach chapters 572-580.

TheInquisitor   .

The Inquisitor is an autistic otaku with little social life. If, for any reason, you need to contact him the preferred method would be to email him at Steven.conner839@gmail.com, or you can go to his ask.fm account: ask.fm/guardiansandfollowers. He likes to get straight to the point.