Ikkaku Madarame

Ikkaku cuts a tall, wiry figure, and his shaven head, which he flatly refuses to call bald, has made him a target of endless teasing; its shine was once mistaken for the moon by onlooking soul reapers. A small red mark sits at the outer corner of each eye, and a scar he took from Ichigo Kurosaki runs down the left of his chest. He wears the plain black uniform of a Shinigami with bare feet in his sandals. Later he adds a gilded plate over his right shoulder stamped with the character for dragon, and once promoted he sports a lieutenant's badge on his left arm.

Loud, coarse, and forever eager for a brawl, Ikkaku treats combat as pure enjoyment and stretches every fight out as long as he can, deliberately holding back his fuller skills and saving even his Shikai, let alone his Bankai, for a last resort. A worthy opponent leaves him grinning. He counts only one-on-one duels as honorable and holds that a fight is settled solely by death. His loyalty to Kenpachi Zaraki runs so deep that he has turned down more than one offer of a captain's seat, concealing his Bankai precisely so he is never forced away from Zaraki's division. From his captain he took a guiding creed: to admit defeat only once killed, and to count survival as luck and a reason to come back for the one who failed to finish him. To that end he keeps a clotting salve tucked inside his sword's hilt.

Even while ranked only Third Seat, Ikkaku fought at nearly a captain's level. His rough but potent swordsmanship pairs blade in one hand with sheath in the other, and being ambidextrous he freely swaps their roles to bait and surprise opponents; his skill was enough that Renji Abarai once begged to be trained by him. He is equally adept with the polearm and three-section-staff forms his weapon takes, capable in bare-handed combat, and strong enough to catch a released Arrancar's punch while gravely wounded, once popping a dislocated shoulder back into place with a flex of muscle. His spiritual pressure glows red, though, true to his division, he has no talent for Kidō whatsoever.

His blade is Hōzukimaru, an ordinary-looking katana whose hollow hilt hides a vial of healing ointment. At the command to grow, its Shikai takes the shape of a spear, then splits at a second word into a linked three-section staff he swings like a flail. Its Bankai, Ryūmon Hōzukimaru, forms a pair of great pole weapons joined by chain to a central axe-like blade bearing a dragon crest. Rather than granting any special trick, this Bankai simply builds power the longer the fight lasts: the crest slowly floods with crimson as Ikkaku deals and takes blows, reaching full strength only once it is completely stained.