Gai Nagareboshi

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Former Powers and Abilities

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The Shooting Star of Victory
Name	Gai Nagareboshi
Kanji	流れ星・ガイ
Romanji	Nagareboshi Gai
Characteristics
Race	Mototsu/Seishin hybrid
Birthday	September 10
Age	17 (over 5000) 21 (over 5000)
Gender	Male
Height	159 cm
Weight	26 kg
Eyes	Magenta within Blue
Hair	Brown
Blood Type	O
Professional Status
Affiliation	Himself
Occupation	None
Previous Occupation	None
Team	None
Previous Team	None
Partner	Unknown
Previous Partner	Unknown
Base of Operations	Rukongai
Personal Status
Marital Status	Single (for the first few chapters of "A Certain Unlucky Person") In A Relationship (as of Part IV of ising Phoenix) Married (as of the end of Rising Phoenix)
Relatives	Kazuma Nagareboshi ('creator') Masato Nagareboshi (Biological father; alternate self) Megami Nagareboshi (Mother; status unknown) Kagirinai Nagareboshi (half-brother) Eimi Nagareboshi (younger sister) Karen Amagase (foster mother) Kachihi Amagase (son)
Education	Basic
Status	Alive
Zanpakutō
Shikai	None Gaikaōtori (formerly) Kōshinhōō (stolen) Suigetsu (formerly) Kakusei (formerly)
Bankai	None Chōetsu Gaikaōtori (formerly) Onmyōshikō no Kōshinhōō (stolen) Not Revealed (formerly) Shinseina Kakusei (formerly)
Setsura	None Shinkō no Karehōōtei (formerly) Kūkūten Tenshitō Kōshinhōō (stolen) None Zennōsha Kakusei (formerly)
Other Abilities
Psychic Abilities	Clairvoyance Psychokinesis Mind Reading
Other Skills	Starlight Avalark

 

"You say that like I give a damn. I might actually give a damn. Who's asking? You? Then I definitely care." — Gai Nagareboshi, to Mitsuru Inazuma

Gai Nagareboshi (流れ星・ガイ, Nagareboshi Gai, lit. "The Shooting Star of Victory"), also known by his full name of Gaillardia F. Nagareboshi (流れ星・F・ガイラルディア, Nagareboshi F Gairarudia) and by his moniker of the White Devil (白魔, "Hakuma") and more popularly as the Rising Phoenix (上昇火の鳥, "Jōshō Hinotori") is the only known survivor of the now-extinct Mototsu race, and the Soul King's former tool for destruction before he was deemed a "failure". The story of Gai Nagareboshi is told through the Rising Phoenix series; and he is the main character of the series. A person who is only occupied and concerned with looking after his most important people, Gai thinks nothing of his existence as a "Soul" (he assumes himself to be one) living in Rukongai. Gai cares little for the premise of honor and justice, and he is rather bitter and cynical. Despite this, he has a soft spot for children, and will not hesitate to protect them at all costs. After encountering the mysterious Nika and obtaining the incredibly mysterious, incomprehensibly powerful, and highly sought-after Zanpakutō Kakusei, Gai begins to realize there's much more to himself than he originally thought. Gai is seen as an agent of destruction, usually being called "the devil", a rumor spread by Central 46, who believe the Mototsu is far too dangerous to exist.

Despite being the main protagonist of the Rising Phoenix series, Gai is an anti-hero, a vigilante who is willing to take the law into his own hands. During the events of "A Certain Unlucky Person", Gai develops feelings for Hizashi Yoshi, the former Captain of the 11th Division and the main female protagonist of the storyline. After the storyline and during "Rising Phoenix", Gai and Hizashi enter a relationship, before they suffer a messy breakup and Gai gets together with an unknown partner.

While Gai, as part of the Mototsu race, is genderless, in addition to "his" inability to master the technique that stabilizes the race's hormones, leaving him genderless, is referred to as "male" due to "his" masculine voice and manner of acting. Later on, it turns out that overuse of Setsura has caused Kakusei to begin to slowly fade away whenever utilized, and after his battle with Eienrai at the climax of Part I of Rising Phoenix, Gai loses his Zanpakutō for good. However, he later obtains the Core Zanpakutō Suigetsu, which soon evolves into the "Zanpakutō of Miracles", Kōshinhōō once in the climax of Part II of Rising Phoenix.

However, in Rising Phoenix: Sealed Scarlet, Corrupt Black, Gai loses his powers after an encounter with Kaede Mikazuki, breaking him significantly, mentally and physically, forcing him to restart from scratch- though he is later promoted to Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13.

In Rising Phoenix: Final Chapter, Gai is once again the main character of the trilogy as his story wraps up.

Appearance

Gai, despite his androgynously beautiful appearance, is a male and insists that. He is stated to have "the height of your average Japanese schoolgirl" by Nika, and he has a slender, waifish build. Haruko comments that Gai is a "annoying pretty-type character", and Gunha occasionally calls him "girly face"; a member of Central 46 also called him a "pretty boy". Like all Mototsu, Gai's skin is also said to be so white and smooth that it appears almost like he’s made of porcelain. Gai's facial features are very child-like to the point that on the rare occasion that he smiles, he appears exactly like a female. He has short brown hair with a small clump of hair down the middle and white hairclips on each side, and wide magenta within blue eyes. Gai's eyes function similar to a scope, able to select out enemies and lock onto them. Gai wears a small black shirt, shaped like a diamond; the collar is a thin strand of cloth, wrapping around his own neck, and on the sides of the shirt, there are two thin strips that connect around his back, being tied in a small ribbon-like fashion with two red, intersecting belts over his chest. He wears white hakama, with painted golden phoenix wing designs, tied with a green sash. A large piece of black fabric hangs from the center of the sash; embellished with the images of three origami cranes. Gai also bears two strips of blue cloth that drape over either side of his hips, along with a smaller, white strip of cloth tied around his waist, draped in the same manner. On Gai's arms are white bell-sleeves. He also wears black stilettos underneath his hakama.

During Part II: A Nonchalant Lover's Suicide and all subsequent appearances, Gai wears a tight black jumpsuit with red linings that clings to his body. In addition, Gai now wears a white scarf that reaches down to his knees. Gai throws his scarf away when releasing his Zanpakutō, as it is filled with weights. Gai's hair is now splayed out in all directions at the ends, reaching down to his waist. Several large clumps of hair stick out, some curling away horizontally. His bangs frame his face, though they have two 'layers', with the behind layers falling to rest upon his chest. There are a few locks of hair kept in the middle of his forehead, there is a slim curled forelock of hair at the top of his head. As he grows older, Gai's build and facial features remain relatively the same in appearance but the feminine characteristics, already apparent in his younger years, have been further accented.

After Part III: Another Side, Another Story and all subsequent appearances, Gai's appearance has changed slightly. Gai's hairstyle remains the same, though now it reaches down to his knees. Gai's eyelashes have lengthened significantly, and he now wears eyeliner. Gai wears a new outfit; consisting of a sleeveless white overcoat over a black string bikini top with a green metallic pauldron over his left shoulder, the pauldron bearing a phoenix symbol. He wears a long black sleeve over his left arm, knee-high leather boots, and a brown mini-skirt over high-topped black shorts. He has a red pack that hangs from his waist and is strapped to his left leg. In addition, he also has a necklace with a phoenix pendant, two black bands around his right bicep, and a silver navel piercing.

Personality and Traits

"Gai, though...I would call him a legend, but knowing how modest he is about things like this, he'd probably get annoyed. Anyways, that person—He's like fire and ice and rage. He's like the night, and the storm in the heart of the sun. He's ancient and forever. He burns at the center of time and he can see the turn of the universe. He's the light that shines towards the future, guiding us all to a new era; an era of peace. Truly, a wonderful person with no equal." — The White Wizard, to Rikuri Nagareboshi

 Gai Nagareboshi is a complex person. While he is disinterested in the affairs of the world around him, he also wishes to change it for the better, though is slightly afraid to attempt to do so. He is rather quiet, cynical, emotionless, and aloof, though people who are close enough to him know that this is merely a facade; as he is actually a kind and caring person though despite his icyness, especially to Kōzuki Yoshi/Gekkō Utsukushi and later Hizashi Yoshi. In the company of those he is fond of, Gai's cold facade shatters completely, as he becomes incredibly shy, unable to look those he has grown attached to in the eye, complimented by a continual stutter. In conversation, on the rare times that he participates in it, Gai has extreme difficulty reading the atmosphere in situations and usually just speaks out what comes to mind in his usual deadpan tone, sometimes making others surprised at his actions.

Gai often misenterpretes what others say and takes some things literally; this usually results in others becoming briefly alienated and Gai feeling ashamed for his horrible social skills, which he constantly attempts to improve so that he can feel the same as everyone else. He is also able to forgive easily; when going up against Hizashi, after finding out about her past, he sympathized with her and promised to help her almost immediately, though it should be noted that Gai told Hizashi this in his usual aloof tone, which Gekkō noted Gai to be "desperately attempting to stay frosty". Gai generally attempts to keep his cool under most circumstances, and no matter what his enemies ever do to him, he can sometimes come up with a retort to it of questionable quality. Gai can seem at times to be uncaring or even callous, but actually has a very strong sense of justice and prefers to fight fairly.

Gai has a habit of lapsing into internal monologue, which he, naturally having horrible social skills, conveys his thoughts and feelings. It is during these first-person moments he reveals he deliberately acts the way he does to push others away for fear of getting close to them and his insecurities. Also, he shows an inferiority complex that makes him believe he can't do anything right or complete. This complex can be seen in his usual internal monologue, as he always complains about the situation but he never says it unless a subject particularly enrages him, at which point he will drop all aloofness and assertively state his distaste, all while keeping a sarcastic tone. Even so, Gai can incredibly flippant, casually mouthing off to even the most powerful of opponents, and he generally enjoys rubbing people the wrong way.

While Gai is usually disinterested and anti-social, he will become uncharacteristically attentive and eager to help if it concerns his personal interests, despite usually having nothing notable in particular to contribute, and enjoys listening to those with similar interests, even if they and he were on previously bad terms. Gai is also quick to agree with certain viewpoints, as he finds them "facinating", though at times, it seems to others that he agrees becuase others he is familiar with support said decisions. If he is unsure of anything, he will immediately ask for the definition when it concerns his favorite subjects, though he will often forget key elements and have to ask again, much to his dismay. Gai tends to apologize profusely, even if he had done nothing wrong due to the fact that he often believes that he has, which occasionally gets on the nerves of others around him. Due to his aloofness and the apathetic air he exudes, very few actively take interest in Gai, whose motto and way of life has become "If you receive a little kindness, give them a large serving."

Over the course of his first adventure, Gai had acquired two love interests; Gekkō Utsukushi and Hizashi Yoshi, though he was oblivious to this at first. After Gekkō's death at the hands of Eienrai, Gai and Hizashi became a couple eventually; though later on, Nika herself developed an interest in Gai because in her eyes, he is "unique", as did Yuuki Kaburagi, who has been madly in love with him since her previous life, as well as Mitsuru Inazuma; who Gai saved from his villany and showed him that life was worth living. Soon after, Gai and Hizashi broke up due to Gai's unwillingness to commit to a marriage; Gai is the type of person who prefers things to never change, which contributed to his denial. In Part IV of Rising Phoenix, Gai acquired another love interest, Kurenai Zenshin, who turns out to be a fragment of his soul. In the next installments, Gai's harem number only rockets up.

It should be noted that Gai is bisexual; being attracted to both males and females, a fact that he had discovered only recently. However, Gai prefers women over men, yet he has stated that he loves both genders equally, even continuing "...You people and your quaint little catagories." Gai keeps this a closely guarded secret, due to the nature of his upbringing by his discriminative foster mother and fear of being shunned by others, and would only reveal it in the company of homosexual and other bisexual people, as he feels more comfortable in the company of those similar to himself. Gai is often relieved when participating in conversations after revealing his bisexuality to the other person, and happier to talk about subjects concerning that, though he becomes shy once again when it comes to personal interests, often hoping to end the subject with simple responses due to fear once again, as he believes that his interests may seem "warped" to the other person. Very few males meet Gai's standards; preferring impossibly and improbably feminine men, as he dismisses the rest of them as regular people to converse with and strike up friendships with.

Gai also has a lighter side, willingly crossdressing as a woman in order to help Nika raise enough money for her patesserie shop. He also has a dry, ironic wit, which is usually shown in his reactions to the actions of his less stable companions. In addition, during his internal monologues, Gai usually snarks at the questionable intelligence of his companions, the utter absurdity of situations, and at times, breaks the fourth wall by pointing out plot-holes. Gai adores children, and before he started his adventure, adopted several whom he found on the streets of Rukongai. However, only few children actually become attatched to Gai, despite his "grumpy mode being permanently turned off around them", and those few view him as a "mother figure", which is similar to his role towards the main six characters, such as when he occasionally tries to makes sure that Gunha eats properly due to his scrawny frame, much to the latter's annoyance. He is fiercely protective of them; this is best seen in his interactions with Shion, where the only reason he interfered with her thrashing delivered by Kaori because she was a child, and even before that, Gai defeated an entire royal family due to their cruel treatment of a little girl.

Despite having a large appetite, Gai is a horrible cook, and he is good with sewing, as evident by the multiple "tasteful" costumes he has stashed away in a drawer, which also serves as a hint that Gai is slightly perverted, though he hides this fact well under his chilly facade, yet he occasionally gets flustered by Gekkō and Hizashi's rare flirtatious moments. Gai also has a habit of frequently clicking his tongue when irritated. Gai is also a good actor, as shown by his crossdressing stunt, where he acted as the 'Yamato Nadeshiko' type of female shockingly well. Gai is a terrible swimmer, as he sinks like a brick in water.

"Even after seventeen years, Gai is still stubborn as ever. You can say that he matured over the years but you can still see that glimpse of a child here and there." — Mitsuru Inazuma, on Gai

During the events of Sealed Scarlet, Corrupt Black, and Final Chapter, continuing onto Broken Mirror, Gai's personality has changed significantly. His overall personality is calmer, mature, and philosophical. He has gained respect from almost every other character in the series due to his heroics in the previous installments of the series; with them calling him the "Unlosing Rising Phoenix" instead of "Rising Phoenix" proper because of this. Gai often acts in a fashion which would best be described as being that of the reluctant hero; this is due to Gai not viewing himself as a leader type, being a mere warrior, often leaving leadership decisions to Vittoria and Gunha. Gai is also now level-headed when it comes to fighting. Even in disastrous situations, he does not seem to lose his cool and can think of a strategy.

Gai now also enjoys fighting (as contrast to trying to finish his battles as quickly as possible in Rising Phoenix), shown when he sometimes doesn't fight at his full potential so he can toy with his opponent or make a fight last longer. At times, Gai gets bored with fighting weak opponents and finds entertainment in fighting strong opponents who will give him a challenge. Gai's enjoyment of fighting was reflected in his dialogue with Rikuri during which he asked her if she agreed with him that a fight every now and then makes life more interesting.

Gai can be serious when the situation calls for it, but he still maintains a fairly laid-back demeanor during such situations and is never without a witty taunt or comeback. It is amusing to note that even though Gai does mature as time goes by, but never really loses his attitude. Even despite his increased seriousness, Gai show off as, on several occasions, he performs exaggerated and over-the-top moves.

History

At the beginning of Soul Society, the Soul King created the Mototsu. Though at first, its creations had slight defects, such as extremely short lifespans, instant death through other supernatural energy, and other flaws. Learning from its past mistakes, including the accidental creation of Harafumei, the Soul King created Gai Nagareboshi as a new Mototsu, far more advanced than anything it had ever created before, with power far superior to that of anything ever before. The Soul King took the time to complete Gai, who it called its "greatest masterpiece". Gai was routinely awakened in a semi-conscious state during his conception, and the Soul King spoke with him, as he, unlike the rest of his kind before, was created with a unique Soul that allowed him to think, feel and act completely on his own, as the Soul King prepared him for the world. However there were more sinister intentions- The Soul King originally planned to use Gai as a weapon of mass destruction against opposing factions. However, this never happened, and Gai's former horrifying power was never used for war. Gai was aggressive and disobedient, and because of this the Soul King decided to seal him away underneath the depths of Seireitei, deeming him a "failure", though it later perfected the Mototsu race through learning from its mistakes. At an unspecified date, some time prior to the start of "A Certain Unlucky Person" he was awakened by the then current Gotei 13.

When he was first awoken, Gai destroyed all intruders who had dared to enter his lair. Gai was later cornered by the entire First Division at the time at an unknown location—at the cost of the total loss of said division, however. Not wanting to get any more comrades endangered by the powerful enigmatic being, Isshin Kurosaki himself challenged Gai in a one-on-one battle. Even though Gai quickly gained the upper hand during the battle, Isshin was able to defeat Gai after six white wings of light with galaxies and stars embedded in them erupted from his back, apparently causing the boy great pain, yet at the same time granted him a phenomenal power increase. Isshin destroyed these wings with the Saigo no Getsuga Tenshō, defeating Gai and consequently causing him to lose all his murderous intentions, memories, and abilities- and he had almost no recognition of the Soul King or his creation, except in traumatic nightmares. Gai had turned against the Soul King's purpose. After the battle, Isshin brought an amnesiac Gai to Karen Amagase, who adopted him as a foster son. After ten years, Karen mysteriously dissapeared, leaving Gai in Rukongai.

The Twin Phoenixes

In Final Chapter, Izanami states that Gai reminds her of the "woman of pure heart" that she met in the future; i.e. Vittoria Giovanna. The link between the two is initially thought to be that of merely reincarnation; though as it turns out, Vittoria is the "positive side" of Gai Nagareboshi, while the version of Gai depicted in Broken Mirror is the "negative side".

However, while Gai remains stagnant in character and attitude and his power is fixed, but godlike, Vittoria changes exponentially in both character and power—while Gai did not train at all, being gifted from the get-go, Vittoria received training from Chira Tendou, Kaede Mikazuki, Clarissa Bucciarati, and Zakura Terui—all of these proved critical in the end. However, it should be noted that Gai has a significantly greater amount of victories than Vittoria.

A major difference between the two is that Vittoria is merely a human with Quincy powers and a Zanpakutō; while Gai is semi-divine, due to his origins as a Mototsu and a Seishin.

Synopsis

Rising Phoenix series

Introduction/Prologue Arc

• The Decider: Gai Nagareboshi vs. Yuurei

Part I: Feathers of Emotion

• After the Battle: Ten Years Later
• Blast from the Past: And Assorted Things
• Beware of Thorns: A Kiss from a Rose
• Mysterious Memories: The Calm before the Storm
• Cain and Abel: The Decisive Shining Onslaught
• The Last Hope: Setsura

Part II: A Nonchalant Lover's Suicide

• A Certain Anniversary Recap
• A Love which Transends Eons
• The Reveal of the Wresting Surge plus some Out of Context Fanservice
• One Week of Discomfort
• A Lighthearted Moment
• Fighting Spirits Phoenix Rising
• The Light that Shines towards the Future

Part III: Another Side Another Story

• A Truth

Part IV: Memories of the Past

• Did Not See That Coming
• A New Threat
• A Snake in the Grass
• Training from Hell Part II
• Deal With It
• A Mystique Meeting
• No Such Thing As Another Relative
• Doubt and Trust
• A Reason to Protect
• The Path of Light and Darkness

Part V: Victory Phoenix

• A Twist of Fate
• An Unexpected Surprise
• A Proper Celebration
• What Lies Dormant
• Waking the Beast
• Stupidly Happy
• The Last Moments of Peace
• To The Settling Of It All
• Our Awakening, Rising Phoenix

Equipment

Infernox Core (インペーノックス コー, Inpenokkusu Koa): The key element in Gai's arsenal; the Infernox Core is a high-density mass of concentrated spiritual particles retrieved from the Mototsu Soul Society, possessing properties similar to the Hōgyoku. It is the so-called "strongest" Nox Core; also known as the "original codex" and can tap into the power of Origin. It has no fixed form. It originally had the form of a jet black rock shaped in the fashion of a human without a head when it was in the possession of Kazuma Nagareboshi. After Gai touched it, it crumbled, turned into a mist, swallowed him in darkness, and then took the form of his left arm, despite still having the same obsidian blackness. Because it requires life force to function, Gai absorbs life from the people that he defeats. The purpose of the Infernox Core is to gather souls. The Core, when released also has the ability to grant several advantages to Gai, such as increasing his stats, producing a magical glyph to strain the enemy and doubles Gai's attack power.

IDEA Engine (イデア機関, Idea Kikan; IDEA meaning "Interruption of Demonic Energy Anomaly"): The IDEA Engine is a device developed by the 12th Division of the Gotei 13 in order to replicate the power of the Legacy Armour, Juggernaut Overdrive. It was thought that it would be able to strengthen the power of the current Gotei a hundred-fold; this is done by deploying an anti-reishi field within the vicinity that cancels out other negation techniques. It was originally utilized by Kurenai Zenshin; though after her death, it was transferred to Gai the moments their souls merged once again. With it, he was able to bypass Rikuri Nagareboshi's negation of his Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive by merging the armour and the engine; the moment that they fused, the armour gained a powerful golden hue in addition to phoenix wings. Through this miraculous fusion, Gai gained access to True Origin; granting him enough power to obliterate Rikuri in a single attack.

G-Exes (グ・エックセス, "Gi Ekkusesu"): A unique spiritual weapon; said to be one of the Sanshu no Jingi; part of Amaterasu, to be precise. Gai managed to find it in an abandoned warehouse when searching around for a rare cooking ingredient. It possesses two modes: Sword Mode (ソード・モード, "Sōdo Mōdo") and Rifle Mode (ライフル・モード, "Raifuru Mōdo"). It takes the form of a katana, with a blade composed of pure spiritual energy. Along with its principle blade, four stubby beams of spiritual energy are also emitted; Gai's fingers have limited protection from being caught in these beams due to small handguard. Being made of the same energy as the rest of the blade, the guard has the notable potential to stop the foe's blade from sliding down and slicing through the hilt, and by proxy Gai's hands. The rest of the blade is coloured a pure white; with a sparkling emerald gem embedded within the hilt. The unique material that the katana is forged from enhances the power of the sword by converting large amounts of spiritual particles into heat intense enough to melt most defenses on contact. The G-Exes is extremely sharp, and does not rely on the kinetic energy of a high-speed swing to cut through its targets. It is also covered with anti-spiritual energy coating, allowing it to parry Zanpakutō. It should be noted that due to being one of the Jingi, the G-Exes has abilities similar to a Zanpakutō. When switched to Rifle Mode, the blade pivots from the hilt and rotates on its long axis, revealing a targeting sensor. The Rifle Mode can be used in either rapid fire mode, or be charged to deliver a single, high-powered blast for mass devastation.

Nu-Exes (ニュー・エックセス, "Nyū Ekkusesu"): The direct evolution of the G-Exes, the Nu-Exes is one of the most advanced weapons of its time, designed and used by Gai himself. Although its development was only partially completed at the time of its activation, the Nu-Exes is an incredibly formidable weapon. Incorporating the psychic technology secretly provided to the Gotei 13 by Kaede Mikazuki, the Nu-Exes is able to utilize psychic weapons and channel Gai's emotions and mental energies. When combined with Gai's immense skill and experience, Gai wielding this powerful, state-of-the-art weapon is able to almost single-handedly defeat Kaede's forces, this power being put to the test to determine the history of Soul Society.

Cherion (カイラン, Chirion): Cherion is the name of Gai's new weapon that he forged between Final Chapter and Broken Mirror. As a direct contrast to the rest of the Unlosing Rising Phoenix's arsenal—which have been gauntlets and longswords, Cherion is a shimmering golden bow. The design of the bow is that of a pristine gold; with several runic symbols engraved upon it. The arrows that Cherion fires are imbued with sacred light that can easily pierce and destroy evil itself. Due to their immense power, they can usually eliminate enemies with just one hit.

Powers and Abilities

"I thought I was invincible...But one day, I met this magnificent, mysterious man. His fists rend the heavens and shot open fissures in the earth. He had speed like lightning, and his mere presence was...overwhelming. It was like facing down a real Phoenix. This man was Gai Nagareboshi." — Chira Tendou, to Clarissa Bucciarati on Gai Nagareboshi

Gai held very little ability at first. Despite this, he was able to fight Eienrai the first time on equal footing with strategy. Kagirinai has stated in his second fight with Gai, that his powers are like "Father's" (the Soul King). Despite being the Soul King's "greatest creation", his Mototsu heritage and his Zanpakutō being one of the most powerful, his skills are at best slightly below average, thus resulting in him being less powerful than the rest of his companions. His raw power and potential, despite being a "relic from a past age", is considerably exceptional, however, when fighting in any form aside from hand-to-hand, Gai is rather clueless, and often makes crucial mistakes despite his 'street-smarts'. He is often overwhelmed by opponents more skilled than himself, though he makes up for it with his rare intellect for pointing out and exploiting the attack patterns and weaknesses of his opponents and their Zanpakutō, in addition to his raw, untrained power. Gai has displayed high degrees of speed, agility and reflexes, enough for him to match melee-specialists of Captain-Commander Haruko Kiseki's calibre in battle with ease.

As the former main protagonist of the series, Gai is extremely powerful—even retirement hasn't slowed him down in the slightest; this is best proven by his battles against several gods, where he was able to outsmart them while handing them backsides, even without being able to use all his power. The deeds that Gai has achieved with his extreme power, is what lead this universe to commemorate him as a legendary hero whose name would be spoken of in countless tales. Gai's main element is light; and he is able to effortlessly overwhelm god-like beings. In Broken Mirror onwards, Gai is shown as having powers on a multi-dimensional scale that can distort the spacetime continuum, and in Devil's Ascent, he possesses metaphysical powers, with several characters calling him a 'God', implying that he has acquired omnipotence.

Please note that this is the powerset that Gai displays in the latest installment of the Rising Phoenix series: Broken Mirror.

Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: While Hakuda is his forte, Gai, more often than not, is forced to rely on Zanjutsu in order to combat his opponents. He has recieved no formal training from any source other than what the Soul King implanted within his mind about the way of the sword, and as a result, is severely lacking in the area, at least when compared to his comrades. However, as Mototsu have the ability to learn and improve through observation, Gai's style of swordsmanship is undefined; it borrows from all of his allies' Zanjutsu styles, and is therefore highly unpredictable. All of his experience aside from observation stems from being thrust into a heated battle without a single clue how to even hold a sword, yet for some reason, Gai has been shown capable of competing on equal grounds against the sword masters of Hizashi Yoshi and Kagirinai Nagareboshi's caliber, though in the former case, Hizashi was merely testing him and not fighting seriously, and in the case of the latter, Gai recieved a power boost in order to fight on even grounds with his elder brother. Gai has an incredibly aggressive style: he is constantly on the offensive, and eschews any defensive moves in favor of speed and strength, striking heavy and hard while lightning fast. After losing in a straight-up swordfight, which happens often, Gai immediately resorts to physical brawling. It should be noted, that after he decided to rely on his hand-to-hand combat skills due to them being inheriently superior, Gai Nagareboshi had learned to utilize this techniques with his bare hands or feet.

• Gurenōka (紅蓮桜花, "Crimson Lotus Cherry Blossom"): An advanced Iaidō technique, Gai grips his blade and draws it from its sheath quickly, before using his natural speed, speeds past the enemy and slices them, before returning Gaikaōtori to its scabbard. The cut only appears seconds after Gai has struck them. This technique throws away defence for a full powered attack, so he only utilizes this 'death-or-glory' attack in life-or-death situations. Interestingly, it also appears to drain him heavily whenever he finishes the attack, though Gai has been known to unleash Gurenōka four-to-five times in quick succession when faced with a truly difficult opponent. It is known that Gai has picked this technique up from his former lover, Hizashi Yoshi.
• Reiraku Byakuya (零落白夜, "Midnight Sun Faded Glory"): An original and extremely powerful technique developed by Gai in wake of witnessing Chira Tendou's swordsmanship skills, in honour of his worthy opponent. After being struck by the exact same technique over and over again in their final battle, Gai decided to adapt it for his own usage. Reiraku Byakuya is prepared by Gai assuming an unusual stance; dropping into a partial crouch, both knees bend, right arm drawn back and left extended forward while Gai winds up his sword arm. Focusing his spiritual energy into his feet to get a better foothold as well as his left wrist to augment his strike, Gai waits for his foe to draw close, before instantly breaking out of the stance and thrusting at his foe while releasing his sword arm, creating a drill effect with extreme force at high speeds, piercing through many a obstruction and tear through the air itself. The technique is considered quite deadly, as the Reiraku Byakuya has only a precious few blind spots to be exploited. Despite the apparent inflexibility of using one attack repeatedly, it has many useful applications.

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Gai's expertise in hand-to-hand combat is unparalleled in Rukongai, and he was able to defeat two lieutenants at the same time with his bare hands. Gai's incredible skill in the art is drastically enhanced by his inherent immense strength, giving him the ability to unleash devastating blows with ease. His preferred way of striking seems to be punches, though he has often used kicks as well. He has been shown to take down nearly 10 Lieutenants with only judo throws and powerful haymakers. Gai's fighting style is freestyle and improvised; it follows no particular code of honor at all, and so if necessary, he will actually attack women, hit below the belt, attack even if his opponents have their backs turned on him or are otherwise unprepared or unsuspecting, use allies or opponents as human shields or even bite his opponents. While fighting, Gai can also think on the spot, and come up with creative counterattacks against his enemies. He has been shown taking on the likes of Espada-level Arrancar as when he brutally defeated Maggiore and is even regarded by Yuurei as highly dangerous, and he admits that if he and Gai were to fight in hand-to-hand combat, Gai would win by a landslide.

• Avalark Ryūsei Ken (アヴァラーク流星拳, Avalark Meteor Fist): Gai's signature technique; he concentrates his spiritual energy into his hands, and suddenly makes the position of the stars of the Phoenix constellation. He then delivers a series of fierce punches, which move at speeds which they can no longer be seen, leaving only jet streams in their place; the speed of the punches is such that it appears as if they were miniature meteors, capable of striking the foe over a thousand times a second, and they are capable of attacking the foe over long distances. If Gai has a full amount of spiritual power, more fists may strike, until they reach the speed of light. The fists land so fast that, after a volley, they seemingly connect simultaneously. The massive circles of air bursts from the punches surrounding Gai resemble actual meteors.
  • Avalark Suisei Ken (ペガサス彗星拳, Avalark Comet Fist): A variant of Avalark Ryūsei Ken; Gai concentrates the force of a hundred meteors in his fist, manifesting a comet of immense power; and there, he throws himself against the opponent before swinging his fist forwards, releasing the comet in the form of an enormous pulsating and highly powerful sphere of spiritual energy that also has the likeness of a comet, blasting his foe with extreme force. Avalark Suisei Ken has the potential to deal overwhelming damage; as it reacts with the reiryoku generators in a foe's limbs and counter-spins them, thus causing their defenses to weaken at the moment of impact. Despite it's tremendous power, Gai rarely, if ever utilizes Avalark Suisei Ken, saving it for times of extreme hardship and despair.
• Kokuryūōshō Rankyōdaigan (黒竜王床乱香大丸, Black Dragon King's Rising Great Lancing Gun of Strife): An attack created by Gai in memory of his older brother, Kagirinai. First, Gai channels a large amount of light into his left hand that becomes visible through the sheer amount of energy there is, which he then hardens with his spiritual energy which turns the light a pitch-black. The high concentration of light produces a sound that is similar to that of a roar of a dragon, hence the first part of the name. Gai then cocks his arm back, causing the light to shape itself into the form of a dragon's head, before swinging his arm upwards, unleashing a devastating uppercut that inflicts piercing, penetrating damage and creates a fiery explosion that deals immense damage. The pun here is that Kyōdai (兄弟) can mean admiration of a brother, referencing that despite his attitude, Gai really did admire Kagirinai for his freedom and larger-than-life attitude. The name of the attack also references Kagirinai's signature attack, Haguro Ryūō Jōshō Toppa (羽黒竜王上昇突破, Feather-Black Dragon King's Rising Breakthrough).
• Hōōgenma Getsueiken (鳳凰幻魔月詠拳, The Illusion of the Demonic Phoenix unleashes the Fist of a Moon Song): This is a powerful punch attack that Gai has developed since Broken Mirror; it is infamous for destroying the minds of its victims—the technique is dealt with an uppercut, as Gai concentrates his spiritual energy into his knuckles to literally destroy his opponent's mind; as he releases the spiritual energy outwards upon contact with the foe's body, which Gai quickly attunes to his star element—this causes an odd interaction with the opponent's brain, causing them to receive numerous nightmarish illusions which are nigh-indistinguishable from reality, trapping them within these phantasms. Once caught within these illusions, the foe has increased difficulty in controlling their spiritual power and their perception of reality becomes somewhat blurred. Along with having the potential to drastically weakening and trapping the foe in an illusion nigh-indistinguishable from reality –followed by an instant death-, Gai can utilize Hōōgenma Getsueiken in order to delve deep into the target's mind and even reverse any trauma they have experienced; though this could serve as potentially damaging to the target.
• Senshōha (旋衝破, "Spinning Break"): Senshōha is a unique countering defensive Hakuda ability that Gai utilizes against projectile Kidō and certain Zanpakutō abilities, along with several other abilities such as elemental constructs. This is done by Gai utilizing his latent psychic powers to accelerate it more rapidly until it becomes a point. Then he uses his hand-to-hand combat prowess in addition to his psychic powers to "guide" the attack and redirect it. Essentially, taking an attack, but its power is accelerated into a drill that he then guides with his hands, spinning around and returning it the velocity of an projectile just as it contacts with him, before clutching it in his hands. Twirling it around, Gai throws it back at his opponent at twice the speed and force. However, Gai is still subject any secondary effects the attack could have. Furthermore there is always the danger that the attack could explode upon deacceleration as well. It is a "catch-and-throwback" ability that does not break the opponent's attack. Senshō, literally "spin-thrust", is a rarely-used kanji phrase for "spinning".
• Tsunagarenu Kobushi (繋がれぬ拳, "Unchainable Knuckle"): Tsunagarenu Kobushi is an Hakuda attack capable of freeing Gai from Bakudō and certain Zanpakutō abilities. As such, due to this ability, binds and shields are useless against Gai. This is done by Gai activating his psychic powers the moment the binding spells close in; at the split second of catching him, the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid performs a forward thrusting movement while slapping his hands together, releasing a burst of pure concussive force which is directed and augumented by his spiritual energy and psychic powers to repel the spell and disintergrate it through sheer force.

Monstrous Strength: Gai's only saving grace is his phenomenal strength and his superior hand-eye coordination. In his first fight shown in "A Certain Unlucky Person", Gai effortlessly blocked a punch from Nika, who had shifted the vectors in her arms, giving her a Herculean level of strength. Later on in that battle, Gai punched Nika in the face with enough force shatter her mask remnant and send her flying a good distance. Gai can break free from almost any attack that binds him and prevents him from moving. Gai was able to battle a Vasto Lorde with his bare fists and is strong enough to break an enormous tree and swing it like a bat with one hand. He has enough power to break steel with his bare hands, and break through Nika's Hierro with some effort. During his battle with Yuurei, a single swing of his arm had enough force to level a mountain. He can grab hold of Yuurei's Zanpakutō blade with his Shinseina Kakusei gauntlet without feeling any of the exerted force although that force was capable of doing considerable damage to the surrounding area. He is able to effortlessly break through Yuurei's Amaterasu no Tō, which is composed from sekki-seki with his bare hand. Another example of his impressive strength is when he caught several of his brother's kicks, which were stated to have the same power as a meteor.

Incredible Speed: While he possesses no skill in Shunpo, often stopping short of his destination and crashing into people or objects, Gai has shown to be immensely fast, befitting his small size and waifish build. Thanks to his tremendous raw power, Gai's leg strength allows him to more than make up for his lack of Shunpo, allowing him to move fast enough to instantly close a huge gap of space between him and the opponent and even seemingly disappear from sight. In battle he is able to punch with incredible speed in rapid succession, making it highly difficult for his opponents to find an opening and counterattack. Gai is also shown to be able to outrun several opponents who were using Shunpo, predicting where they would reappear and rushing to that location, before intercepting them, though it should be noted the four times that this tactic proved to be effective was against opponents who had only intermediate skill in Shunpo. Gai has been stated repeatedly that the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid moves at a speed too fast for almost anyone to comprehend.

• Enhanced Reflexes: Gai possesses tremendous reflexes, agility and speed; which, despite him being severely battle worn, usually enables him to dodge many a powerful projectile while balancing himself on one hand. He is also able to skillfully and acrobatically dodge a barrage of blasts; even by performing a side jump, and if the foe knocks him off a building, he is able to launch himself off of a few small falling rocks back towards his foe with ease.
• Skilled Acrobat: Small and spry, Gai is known for being highly flexible in battle- able to perform one-handed backflips, somersaults, and mid-air cartwheels with little effort in terms of physical strain. Gai is also known for rolling around on the ground to evade foes' attacks, as well as being able to perform multiple spins and tricks in mid-air.
  • Time Freeze (時間結, Jikanketsu): As it was discovered in Final Chapter, Gai's super speed is not actually the genuine article, but in fact, it is an ancient and limited form of Chronokinesis (時能力 (クロノキネシス), Kuronokinesisu, Japanese for Time Power, English for Chronokinesis), which makes Gai capable of stopping time, albeit only for roughly three seconds. When using this ability, Gai often seems to be teleporting or moving at impossible speeds; so it was debunked that Gai cannot move at light speed, but merely, he is subconsciously using Time Freeze to move. This ability seems to be extremely exhausting, and the intervals of stopped time that Gai is able to maintain decreases throughout his later appearances. It was discovered during the fight with Reina. The nature of the time stop follows the flow of time in the real world, as shown when the duration of time Gai was capable of stopping was drastically reduced when Rikuri accelerated time. This ability can last for a maximum of five seconds during the battle with Reina.

Kōshinho Expert: After "A Certain Unlucky Person", Gai had started to learn the Mototsu equivilant of Shunpo, Kōshinho (亢進歩, "Acceleration Step"). Despite having only picked up the art, Gai's skill in Kōshinho is incredible; he is able to move enormous distances in the blink of an eye, and can also keep highly fast opponents on their toes with his continuous assaults. He runs with long, elegant strides. The art of Kōshinho resembles inline skating.

• Kokugenei (剋幻影, "Victory Phantom"): A original Kōshinho technique, Gai first jumps up and down, dragging out the noise so that the sound of his feet tapping on the ground isn't heard until after his feet have left the floor again. Once the sound lag is at its fullest, Gai leaps forward like a bullet, producing a sonic boom that destroys everything in front of and behind himself, propelling himself into his opponent at inconcievable speeds. Because he moves faster than the eye can see, the opponent won't be able to react until after he has already hit them. Kagirinai theorizes that he is faster than light, but Gai claims that he just sped forward when he blinked. In fact, Gai moves at the same speed as he does in the thrusting motion for Reiyaku Byakuya Xceed.
• Meikyō (明鏡,"Soul Mirror"): A technique invented by Nanaya Wanijima, which was handed down to Gai. Utilizing his Seishin ability of light manipulation, Gai causes bilocation, which causes his foes to view two places at once; this allows him to shift himself towards the enemy's blind spot. Upon noticing the "fake" Gai, his foes become caught under brief hypnosis, causing those under the influence of the technique can be easily outmaneuvered by Gai. However, Gai must stabilize his reiatsu in order for this technique to work; if Gai's reiatsu is thrown out of balance (this is done by rousing his emotions or by being struck by anything outside of the area-of-effect, or even by losing focus while initiating this technique), then this technique will dissipate and Gai will be left stunned. The duplicates formed by this technique function as if they were Gai himself, even able to bleed. After sustaining enough damage, they become miniature phoenixes and rise to the heavens before turning to ash. Gai often makes use of these puppets to utilize some of his stronger attacks and to act as diversions or support in the heat of battle. Meikyō is by far, Gai's most useful technique. These puppets also carry a shocking twist- when defeated, they let out a small explosion which can burn or paralyze his foe in an instant.

Master Archer: Due to obtaining Cherion during Broken Mirror, it can be said Gai is a master of archery; in fact, he has similar skill in archery to a high-leveled Quincy; meaning that without a doubt, Gai is one hell of a crack shot with his crossbow. It has been noted that Gai displays astounding accuracy and the ability to fire arrows rapidly without hesitation, meaning that it is rare that Gai's attacks miss. By using his psychic powers, Gai has shown to imbue his arrows with telekinetic properties; which allows him to guide his arrows to his foes; enabling him to perform unexpected sharp turns and move his projectiles at impossible angles to take his foes off-guard without fail.

• Justice Arrow (ユスティセロー, Jasutisu Arō): One of Gai's signature attacks; which he refers to as "Shining Onslaught, but with ammo". It is activated by Gai manifesting an arrow of light from nowhere and stringing it upon Cherion; there, he focuses his spiritual energy into the tip of the arrow before unleashing it; the tip of the arrow coils into spiral that can penetrate any target by creating a twisting distortion in space when fired. The arrow reaches speeds of Mach 10 on the most direct path to its target, and it will continue to pursue the target, even if parried, repulsed, or avoided, as long as Gai keeps aiming at the target. He can shoot Justice Arrow over five times in a row, and he adds more spiritual power to charge the shot each time; the arrow packs tremendous explosive power, and the moment that it reaches the opponent, their defenses are instantly eradicated, often leading to instant death.

Enhanced Durability: Due to his small and waifish build, in addition to his light weight, Gai is sent flying by powerful attacks. An example of this is was Gai was fighting Eienrai the second time, Gai predicted that "one strike, and it's over for me". The only thing that keeps him from perishing against such powerful foes is his willpower; as he is driven by the desire to protect his loved ones, he can continue to stand up again and again. However, thanks to his build, Gai is very nimble and can dodge attacks easily.

High Intelligence: Gai is incredibly intelligent, being capable of using observation and calculation to succeed when faced with a particularly powerful opponent. Gai is renowned for being very cunning, due to his ability to trick opponents and his capacity to maintain several tactics up his sleeve. This is best shown when Gai defeated Gunha Teishin by logically anticipating where his next strike was coming from and remaining one step ahead, even though Gunha's Zanpakutō had time-space manipulation abilities. Gai has a good instinct, as he made accurate guesses about Harafumei's identity, what Nika had hinted about him, and based on those two pieces of information, predicted what he was going to do and what he had done to Hizashi. However, Gai often lets his emotions get the better of him, which puts him at a massive disadvantage on occasions. Gaillardia Nagareboshi is a recognized genius; though this only applies to certain subjects, i.e. the things that interest him; which isn't very much due to his narrowly defined interests. While it is obvious that the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid's intellect does not extend to his piss-poor knowledge of behaviour of other beings -either because he possesses horrible social skills or everyone around him needs to see a shrink- in regards to minor things such as little bits of trivia about the most random of subjects. However, looking beyond this, Gai possesses a certain knack for mechanics and has an understanding of the flow of spiritual energy, utilizing this knowledge to design his own unique contraptions.

High-Speed Regeneration: Due to being the 'perfected' Mototsu, Gai's body has shown to have high-speed regenerative abilities. Gai has mentioned that as a child, he always healed very quickly, which he had initially thought was due to Karen's skills at bandaging him up. His healing rate is so fast that, after getting stabbed in the stomach, he lifted up his shirt only seconds after and showed Hizashi that the wound was already closing itself up. This ability activates whenever he is wounded, though if he is in a particularly difficult battle, it takes its time to slowly patch up his more severe wounds.

Phoenix Biology: As per his animal motif of the king of birds, Gai has the attributes of a phoenix, such as high speed regeneration. It should be noted that phoenix tears sell for a large amount in Seireitei, leading many of his friends to cause him strife in order to harvest his tears as a sort of "get rich quick" scheme.

Psychic Powers: Gai possesses heightened mental awareness; with an sixth sense. He is capable of telepathically detecting others, and is sensitive to the hostile intentions directed at him by others, allowing him to uncannily react to his opponents even before the offender carries out their intended action; precognition of sorts. It should be noted that these powers are not from the planes of Soul Society, Hell, or the World of the Living, and instead were borne from an unknown source. Whenever in usage, a cyan aura coating summons Gai.

Kidō Practitioner: Mototsu are unable to utilize Kidō, at least not without suffering extreme side-effects. However, through sheer willpower, Gai has managed to utilize #68: Gensei to save the life of Yuuki Kaburagi, though in the process his blood vessels and organs were ruptured, his nerves were cut, and blood spewed out of every orifice in his body. After this, Gai had never thought of utilizing the Demon Way again.

• #68: Gensei (現世, "Present World"): Reishi amasses around the user's arms, before transforming into life energy, which flows into an open wound upon the target. This life energy flows into the target's system to purge it of all wounds. There, the aura expands and covers their systems, causing all wounds to be instantly healed. Incantation: "I am the one who protects my loved ones from the dangers of this cruel world. I am the life giver, the protector of the innocent. With these hands, I shall restore you. I shall free you from your suffering as the source of life flows into your mind, body, and soul. Return to me! Number 68! Gensei!"

Advanced Growth Rate: One of the major reasons why Gai is such a deadly foe is because he possesses a high amount of perception when it comes to training, despite loathing participating in training and becoming sick at the very thought about it. Gai learns through his body; usually, he doesn't understand any explanations, so his tutors more often than not decide to force him to experience the technique he is meant to learn first-hand by smacking him around with it. This way of learning has proved extremely effective, to the point that he can learn even a master-levelled technique after being smacked across the head with it ten times.

Overwhelming Spiritual Power: Gai has been noted on several occasions to have vast levels of spiritual energy well beyond other Shinigami, though it fluctuates wildly, with it being unreadable at its lowest point and at its highest point being as high as Nika's. Retsu Unohana has said that Gai's reishi patterns are similar to that of the Hōgyoku. This works by materializing what Gai wants to happen, which is why he is able to survive incredibly powerful attacks from fearsome opponents despite his terrible defense. His emotions also affect his spiritual energy: when angered, he is capable of defeating Nika before awakening his true power with only his bare hands, but unmotiviated to fight, he could be defeated by a weak Hollow. Even at less than half strength, his spiritual energy is still comparable to a Captain-level fighter. His spiritual energy is rather difficult for him to control as he has no formal training in controlling it. Due to this and that he has far more spiritual energy than his small and waifish body can consciously contain, it leaks out constantly, preventing him from hiding it and effectively making stealth impossible when dealing with other spiritually-aware beings. In his first battle against Nika, his spiritual energy manifested in the form of massive wings of white light, which have galaxies and stars imbued in them. The wings of light combined with Gai's overwhelming power and presence creates a powerful psychological effect on those who see him. However, the wings' enormous reishi output is too inefficient and drains Gai of all of his reiatsu. The wings can also be used as a defense mechanism. He commonly uses his reiatsu to drastically augment the strength of his punches.

• Demon-Slayer Spiritual Energy: Gai's spiritual energy carries a "demon-slayer"-esque effect; only recently was he able to activate this ability permanently. This spiritual energy acts as a powerful barrier against demonic corruption, as well as darkness-aligned attacks, the former of which is how Gai has been able to stave off the Envoy of Destruction's corrupting influence. This spiritual energy is also apparent within his attacks, which are incredibly effective against corrupted beings, Tenjōgekido, Crimson Sovereigns, Hollows, Arrancar, and Visored; or any individual which has darkness-aligned abilities. This spiritual energy is strong enough to permanently damage a deity, some of which can usually recover from even the most life-threatening damage, which is how Gai was even able damage Kazuma. This "demon-slayer" spiritual energy, along with Renkyotō make Gai a large threat to his opponents. All of Gai's Renkyotō techniques as well as his Zanpakutō carry his spiritual energy, while Renkyotō is already incredibly effective against dark beings, his demon-slayer spiritual energy doubles this effectiveness, in addition to Gai's incredible strength, allows Gai to defeat most dark beings with ease.
• Burst (バースト, Basuto): Burst is a special technique that enables a person to fuse with their spiritual weapon, assimilating their powers and immunities while enhancing the user's physical and defensive strengths; changing the user's appearance slightly. It is noted that by enacting Burst, the user actually absorbs their weapon's powers permanently; though one (a Mototsu or Crimson Sovereign) can obtain another spiritual weapon with time. Whatever abilities the user will get depends on the type of powers the weapon possessed; for example, a wind-based Zanpakutō will make the user immune to attacks of an earthen nature. While Burst was only discovered by the Crimson Sovereign scientists eons ago; Gai has been revealed to utilize Burst to absorb each and every one of his Zanpakutō unknowingly; it is said that when he absorbed Kakusei at the end of Part I of Rising Phoenix, it slowly morphed his appearance (aided by time-travel) into that of his current form.
• Anki (暗記, "Memorization"): Thanks to his high intellect and way of learning, Gai can instantly develop new applications of many of his pre-existing techniques to deal with threats as his body dynamically learns from experience. This power is one of the main reasons why Gai is so deadly; as it allows Gai to evolve beyond any limit, which allows him to learn and predict moves of opponents he faces. As Gai fights, he learns from his opponent's movements, attack patterns, abilities, and techniques. This ability gives Gai an increasing advantage over many other foes, as counter tactics can be produced very quickly.

Avalark

Avalark (アヴァラーク, Avuāraku): Gai's signature skill; which he gained from expanding upon the properties of his signature Shining Onslaught. When utilizing Avalark, it enables Gai to use the properties of many astronomical objects and other life-forms for battle, mostly in offense. The types of astronomical objects drastically vary, such as meteors, or the manifestation of the energy of the stars from Gai's own body; going further, Gai is able to unleash destructively powerful beams and blasts of light from his hands and legs; which is the basis of Shining Onslaught. Even so, Gai can use more than just light; as he is capable of utilizing the power of gravity against his foe in incredible ways—the strength of these attacks is comparable to that of the effects inflicted by a crushing meteor. Even so, Gai can utilize Avalark to enhance his skills immensely for various purposes, such as cloaking him in light which can overwhelmingly increase his own speed even further; the power of Avalark makes it possible to alter the nature of compositions, from destroying massive collections of weak spiritual energy to stopping the movements of strong collections of spiritual energy. Gai is capable to burn the power of the stars and increase it, until he makes it explode.

• Rakuhōha (落鳳破, Falling Phoenix Crush): Rakuhōha is a special attack of Gai's; it was originally one of the most powerful attacks of his first Zanpakutō; Kakusei—though in Broken Mirror, Gai has access to it once again. It is one of Gai's strongest attacks; and it is suited for terrible destruction in a wide range. The attack begins by Gai charging his spiritual energy into his left fist, before converting into that of his element of stars. There, he slams his fist into the ground, fracturing the earth and spreading the cosmic energy contained in his fist outwards in the form of nine bolts of tremendously destructive energy which erupt from his fist in a fanned out manner. These bolts contain incredible power—a single one of them is capable of tearing through defenses and destroying weak foes with a singular strike.
  • Rekkōha (裂光覇, Rending Light Supremacy or Splitting Light Command): An alternate version of Rakuhōha, which is focused more on destroying everything in Gai's path. Gai performs the same motions as Rakuhōha; though the moment he punches the ground, causing eleven beams of light to rain down from the heavens, obliterating everything in front of him and behind him.
• Event Horizon (外縁, Gaien): A special technique utilized by Gai Nagareboshi; presumably he learned it from Girouette Kresnik's memories. Utilizing it, his fist becomes enveloped in light, which compresses and extends in length. There, the light solidifies into the form of a sword. He then unleashes an unholy flurry of combos with his blade at high speeds, devastating the foe. To finish the foe off, Gai repeatedly lurches forward, swinging his blade and sending off beams of light in all directions as he does.
  • Magic Hour (魔法時, Mahōtoki): The follow-up to Event Horizon; when utilizing Magic Hour, Gai leaps into the air and shoots up a beam of light with his hand. By doing so, he summons many large pillars of light to repeatedly come down in random places onto the battle field. Enemies that get hit take devastating damage. It should be noted that while in the air, immediately afterword, a symbol manifests below him as he raises his other arm into the air, unleashing a tremendous amount of homing light orbs towards the foe at high speeds which bombard them with incredible speed and force. Immediately afterward, Gai summons pillars of light topped with the Rising Phoenix emblem, casting eight of them ahead of him, then dashing forward and sending the last where he just stood.
• Lost Drive (ロストドライブ, Rosuto Doraibu): This is one of Gai's most powerful attacks; Also known as "Hikari ni Nare!" (に消になる, ''Disappear into Light!"); Lost Drive is performed by Gai thrusting his hand into the sky; amassing immense amounts of light around his left foot, imbuing it with an artificial gravity well in the left greave of his armour. To use it, Gai summons a massive glyph of spiritual energy, then hits the target with elemental constructs of his spiritual energy, then slams a powerful jumping kick into the weakened target. The moment that Gai's kick strikes the opponent, the artificial gravity well generates a "custom" shockwave, transforming all particles in contact with its striking surface into photons. Lost Drive has more than enough sheer destructive power to erase opponents while leaving their souls intact; Gai's powerful kick causes them to disappear into light; the sheer power of the kick releases golden light and energy capable of destroying anything it comes in contact with. If Lost Drive cannot kill the opponent outright; this attack can send Gai's foe careening into the Sun; as seen with the Phoenix Akutenbake.
• Shining Onslaught (炯然躍進, "Keizen Yakushin"): Shining Onslaught is Gai's signature technique, and the most used of all his attacks; the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid has gained access to it to utilize it in any state. With it, Gai is capable of unleashing spinning, 'X'-shaped blasts of golden feather-like spiritual energy. The power, speed, blast area, force, and size of this Shining Onslaught is far beyond any other application of the technique; to point of seriously harming a Tenjōgekido, which are stated to be impossible to harm unless their opponent is the Soul King, a Seishin, or another Tenjōgekido. Gai's tremendous speed allows him to move faster than the Shining Onslaught itself, allowing him to fire multiple blasts from different directions. Shining Onslaught is a powerful technique with great force, capable of causing large-scale damage and destruction.
  • Full Throttle: Shining Onslaught (全開・炯然躍進, Zenkai: Keizen Yakushin): A tornado of reishi amasses around Gai's fist, which begins to rotate rapidly, creating a shrilling howl. Gai's spiritual energy begins to swallow, compress, and accelerate wind pressure into a fake space-time dislocation capable of pulverizing any opposition in the form of a crushing torrent, a spiraling arrow-like beam of wind. Grinding at the laws of the universe with its power, it creates a rip in time and space extending from the earth to the sky to pierce the nature of Soul Society itself; an abyss capable of crushing all of creation and returning it to nothingness is opened. The rift created by this attack is said to be a look at the "truth" of what existed before Soul Society. This attack relies on indiscriminate targeting to track down the opponent's reiatsu. Gai can move the attack in any direction, or stop it in mid-flight and with a snap of his fingers, detonate it any time he wishes. Nanaya has stated Gai's Full Throttle: Shining Onslaught to be the original form of the Shining Onslaught and "The True Shining Onslaught" (真の炯然躍進, "Shin no Keizen Yakushin").
    • Cardinal Exclamation (カーディナルエクスクラメーション, Kādeinaru Ekusukurameeshon): Gai's most powerful attack. Gai raises his hand into the air, gathering enormous amounts of spiritual energy in the atmosphere into his palm, even draining it from all chosen life forms that surround him, conducting that energy into a small sphere of amazing power; this sphere has a cascade of glimmering golden wisps circling around it, and surrounding Gai's figure is a calm breeze that drifts away from him, expelling colourful bands of an Northern Lights-esque aurora. Without a moment of hesitation, Gai releases the sphere and punches it with his free hand, unleashing it as an overwhelmingly powerful burst of spiritual energy that shoots forwards in the form of an all-consuming wave of white light. The power of Cardinal Exclamation is so immense that it releases an energy similar to the explosion that gave birth to the universe, the Big Bang. When opposing an attack of similar power, it will not only double or multiply, but increase infinitely.
• Shining Sword Breaker (華光耀劍鋒シャイニング•ソード•ブレーカー, "Shainingu Sōdo Burēkā"): Gai's ultimate technique; a combination of offensive and defensive energies, based on the Two Powers into One (二に一力, Funi Ichi Ryoku) technique utilized by the first Rising Phoenix; Girouette Kresnik. Gai brings his hands together and clasps them, accompanied by him chanting "gemu giru gan go gufo…" (ジエム ジル ガン ゴ グポ, Jemu Jiru Gan Go Gupo); there, an electromagnetic tornado forms around the enemy when Gai's hands gather, binding the foe in a gravity lock. The armour of Juggernaut Overdrive's hands reconfigure to add an extra finger joint. At this point, the sections break into dozens of shards that collect over both hands, forming gigantic black claws on all fingers except the thumbs. Once the foe is paralyzed, Gai charges at the opponent, finishing the Two Powers into One chant by screaming "Vitas!" (ビタス, Bitasu!) as he charges at the foe, smashing his gathered fist into the enemy's soul and tearing it out in both of his hands. This invariably causes the opponent to explode and renders their soul dull and lifeless. Gai yells the chant one word at a time while delivering alternating blows with his right and left hand - by "giru", Gai's hands crackle with lightning, and by "go", both arms are aglow with the red and yellow associated with this attack. After "gufo", the claws collect over Gai's hands as they are brought together, and the move finishes normally, screaming "Vitas!" afterwards. Shining Sword Breaker can only be blocked by attacks of a similar nature. There is one notable exception to this rule – the defenses of the Envoy of Destruction were so impregnable that it was able to deflect Shining Sword Breaker with just its palms. Generally speaking, the success or failure of the move is invariably telegraphed by whether or not the enemy is properly bound by the tornado first. Nevertheless, this is a technique even stronger than Full Throttle: Shining Onslaught and Gai's strongest attack.

Rising Phoenix Power

Rising Phoenix Power (上昇火の鳥の力, Jōshō Hinotori no Chikara): The Rising Phoenix Power is a somewhat unclear ability that Gai possesses as the Unlosing Rising Phoenix. It stems from Gai's tendency to hold true to his convictions no matter what happens; and utilizing it, it grants him the ability to interact with phenomena; primarily enabling him to destroy and resist it—this is shown by him shrugging off any and all illusions while overcoming the taint of Ruination Break, increasing his power enough to enable him to kill Rikuri with relative ease. The Rising Phoenix Power is also why Gai has such animosity towards sources of phenomena intervention, such as the Tenjōgekido and Crimson Sovereigns; making Gai hostile towards them. Unfortunately, the Envoy of Destruction acted like a seal on the Rising Phoenix Power, evidenced by when in Broken Mirror, when Seikyo separated from Gai, he became stronger than ever; and despite being housed in Vittoria Giovanna's soul, when he took temporary control of her body to fight his arch nemesis Kaede Mikazuki, he was able to defeat her handily—something he could never do even at his previous prime. For reasons unknown, the Rising Phoenix Power is also linked to Gai's emotional state, as seen during the events of Rising Phoenix; during the first arc, the whole Gotei 13 and the rest of the cast could not even scratch Eienrai, yet Gai was strong enough to subdue Eienrai by himself, but after that and his personality change in Part II his power became much weaker as he was being easily defeated by Eimi before he went to face Chira and was defeated thrice; even Gunha himself was shocked to find out he had actually defeated Gai in a fight during a sparring match. However when Gai finally got grip of his senses and could overcome his obsessions he became strong enough to defeat Chira, dispel the Discord spell upon Soul Society with a mere thought, and then track down Masato and defeat him. After this, in Sealed Scarlet, Corrupt Black, during his fight with Daitenshi Emperor Azrael he was classified in the same threat rank as Kazuma, showing that the episode with protecting Kurenai that made him get his objectives clear indeed made him stronger just by harmonizing his emotions. Diavolo is shown to be completely in the dark about this power, despite having observed every single possibility about Gai; when Gai received a massive power boost against him after Diavolo killed Kurenai, he is caught off by surprise, being badly defeated before he decides to flee, impressed and amused of how strong Gai can be, all this while declaring that he would have lost the fight had it gone on.

• Kizunahōōyū (絆鳳凰融, Phoenix Fusion of Bonds): A special application of the Rising Phoenix Power; it is only achieved when Gai and Vittoria bond properly later on in Broken Mirror. By using this ability, it momentarily separates Gai and Vittoria's souls and then overlays Gai's soul upon Vittoria's, cloaking her in an aura of golden light while turning the tips of her hair brown and her eyes become magenta within blue. This process is basically a combination of souls, with Vittoria obtaining all of Gai's powers, causing her regular physical attributes to be upped significantly. It has been noted that Gai can stay in control when utilizing this ability; however, instead of the usual form, Gai's body is used as the base while the tips of his hair become bleach-blonde. This fusion is described as extremely powerful, as Vittoria is the Yang side of Gai, while Gai retains all of his Yin traits; fusing together results in Gai's full power. Seemingly, the only flaw to this transformation is that the length of time it can be maintained is dependent upon the link between Gai and Vittoria; Gai states that during the first transformation, if they hadn't bonded perfectly already, it wouldn't last for more than five minutes. The amount of time they can consecutively maintain the form increases as the two continue to work together; as during Vittoria's second fight against Rikuri, the time they can maintain the transformation is thirty minutes.
  • Juggernaut Overdrive Materialization: In this form, Vittoria is capable of manifesting the armour of Juggernaut Overdrive, or manifest parts of it, such as the gauntlets and graves. However, instead of donning the armour as normal, the golden aura blazing around her body enlarges into a form that is a larger version of the armour. However, due to being composed of pure aura, it is capable of burning those who lay their hands upon it, inflicting serious burns just by contact. The composition of the armour itself is transparent; as Vittoria can see within the helmet of the armour throughout the transformation.

Legacy Armour

Starlight (星の光スターライト, "Sutāraito") is the name of Gai's sealed form of his Legacy Armour; accessed though utilizing Nika's Scarlet Core as the focus. Because of the Scarlet Core's mystical origins, it causes a reaction with the remnants of his psychic powers and the Infernox Core, granting him a new weapon. Currently, it takes the form of a large gauntlet that also possesses shield-like qualities and is crimson and azure in colouration. This fist attachment possesses multiple spiked protrusions, appearing rather similar to a drill which can inflict piercing, penetrating damage upon his foe. It has multiple exhaust ports on the sides; and by utilizing them, Gai can add fourty additional tonnes to the power of his punches. In the middle of the gauntlet is a roulette system to use one of four attacks. It's true power is to transform Gai into four different forms based on each of his old abilities, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. In it's base state, Starlight researches the evolution of living beings by digitizing the mysteries surrounding it and collects battle data to customize itself, growing alongside Gai and is customized and used exclusively by Gai himself. As it gathers data, Gai's psychic powers serve as the data analyzer and high speed abilities and parts builder.

• Phoenix Shot (鳳凰力弾ドフェニックス・ショット, "Fenikkusu Shotto"): The de-evolved form of Shining Onslaught; Gai concentrates his spiritual energy at a single point- his fingertips. Quickly, the spiritual energy concentrates at a single point, before amassing into a large sphere, allowing the sphere to gather and condense stray spiritual energy into it, drastically augmenting its power. Without a moment of hesitation, Gai releases the sphere and punches it with his free hand, unleashing it as a powerful short burst of spiritual energy. Gai compared the feeling of using these blasts to that of using Shining Onslaught, but later stated "it's far weaker".
• Boost (後押しブースト, "Būsuto"): An unusual phenomena retained from his Gaikaōtori, minute by minute, Gai's spiritual energy influences his psychic powers, augmenting the powers which Starlight possesses every minute, doubling it. This is done by applying his spiritual energy to the very core of his Legacy Armour, causing a chain reaction which multiplies its power exponentially. In return, his psychic powers can interact with his spiritual energy and physical power, amplifying that as well, making Gai far faster, stronger, and more resilient as the battle progresses, in addition to increasing his skill parameters sans his spiritual energy. However, such a powerful ability has a limit; if Gai's power is boosted too much, then it will revert to the starting point as he has been overloaded. In any of his Second Liberation forms, Boost is constantly being activated every second until he can no longer handle the strain.
  • Transfer (転送トランスパー, "Toransufā"): Utilizing the remnants of his psychic powers, Gai can transfer the amplified power to any being or object he desires, granting him a decent support role. Doing so strengthens and augments the target of his choice, granting them Gai's boosted power; though at the time Gai's power is transferred to his target, his own powers are drained to the point that it seems as if he never received these boosts. The transfer is initiated by forming a thin line of spiritual power between Gai and the target; however, it should be noted if utilized against a foe, Gai can use the lines to swing his target around.

Second Liberation

Starlight Second Liberation (星の光秒解放スターライト・セカンド・リベラシーオン, "Sutāraito Sekando Riberasiion") is the evolved form of Gai's Legacy Armour. In it's new form, it takes the form of armour which covers his entirety. It's features are almost draconic, though it also bears resemblance to the king of birds, the majestic and almighty phoenix; but more resemblance to the peafowl than such a legendary creature, possessing a predominantly stark-white shining crimson colour scheme. A sextet of large, elongated mechanical feathers with azure tips stick out of its pauldrons, and on the back of these pauldrons are two deep-crimson elongated binders which jut straight down. On the backs of its arms are medium-sized, serrated, feather-like blades, and trailing down its legs are majestic feathers tipped with Vernier thrusters. Its body, with the exception of the chest plate is coloured a glimmering crimson, and its joints are illustrious as well. It possess cross-like wing binders which served as both Vernier thrusters and four powerful spiritual beam cannons. The marking on the chest plate can be made out as a faint '鳳凰'. The armour also possesses a scale-like dragon's tail which is connected by small links. A light blue visor rests over Gai's head, which has four, jagged ear-like protrusions that extend backwards from the sides of the visor.

Second Liberation Special Abilities: Second Liberation's special ability is known as Illegal Move Change Phoenix; (不法動き変化鳳凰イリーガル・ムーブ・チェンジ・フェニックス, "Irīgaru Mūbu Chenji Fenikkusu"), which is activated by utilizing his psychic powers to draw upon memories of the past, rousing memories of his previous Zanpakutō and projecting their properties upon his body, thus leading the properties of said abilities to mix with his spiritual energy and synchronize together, causing an evolution within Gai's body; in order to decide upon his form, his feelings trigger this evolution. For the record, Illegal Move Change Phoenix can only be utilized for five minutes before the spiritual energy of the ability absorbed and Gai's spiritual energy diffuse, causing a chain reaction where he loses control of the ability and the energies which fuelled him scatter to the winds of Soul Society, draining Gai thoroughly.

• Shining Onslaught (炯然躍進シャイニング・オンスロート, "Shainingu Onsurōto"): Gai's signature technique; Gai is capable of unleashing spinning, 'X'-shaped blasts of golden feather-like spiritual energy. The power, speed, blast area, force, and size of the Shining Onslaught is far beyond any other application of the technique; to point of seriously harming a Tenjōgekido, which are stated to be impossible to harm unless their opponent is the Soul King, a Seishin, or another Tenjōgekido. Gai's tremendous speed allows him to move faster than the Shining Onslaught itself, allowing him to fire multiple blasts from different directions. Shining Onslaught is a powerful technique with great force, capable of causing large-scale damage and destruction. This iteration of Shining Onslaught is a reiatsu collection attack and thus becomes far more powerful the later it's used, and it is Gai's most powerful attack. It is most useful when activated towards the end of a battle between high-level opponents, since the area will be saturated with excess energy from their attacks. It is a recycling of the spiritual particles just used and spread over the battlefield. Therefore, even though Gai has been exhausted from spiritual energy, the ability can still be invoked.
• Broken Magnum (ブロークンマグナム, Burōkun Magunamu) The upper right arm of Juggernaut Overdrive's armour spins clockwise at high speed while Gai's fist spins counterclockwise, which he then aims and launches at the target, causing heavy piercing/penetrating damage. Generally, the upper arm automatically returns to its socket. There are at least two variations on this, both used against the Envoy of Destruction in Broken Mirror II. In the first, the arm is launched first then begins to spin, and in the second, the arms spins against something before being launched. The second was effective against Seikyo's Evil Barrier. Broken Magnum has also been used on Rikuri in a variant where the fist does not detach at all, instead simply spinning rapidly during a punch. Broken Magnum is derived from a nameless technique that Girouette Kresnik possesses, using her right hand to launch quick-firing laser.
• Zanpakutō Manifestation (斬魄刀表れザンパクツ・マニペスタシーオン, "Zanpakutou Manifesutasiion", literally materialization of the soul cutter sword): A unique ability known only to Second Liberation; by utilizing his psychic powers to draw upon the abilities of his previous Zanpakutō. Drawing the ability from his mind, Gai solidifies the memory, before incorporating his own current spiritual energy into the ability, making his vision of using his past power a reality. All in all, this ability enables Gai to utilize any technique that he has used in his lifetime, though first, he must materialize the Zanpakutō which possesses the ability in order to use it properly.
• G-Strider (グーストライダー, "G-Sutoraidaa"): Not really an ability, but a transformation available in Second Liberation form. The armour emits a pulse of spiritual energy, provoking a swift autonomous transformation that forcibly rearranges certain segments of Gai's armour, allowing the parts in-between to emit constant streams of spiritual energy, replicating effects similar to thrusters. The rest of the armour folds in, as spiritual energy is emitted to give the image of phoenix wings; this new form enables Gai to move at thrice the speed of the regular Second Liberation armour.
• Raiser Boost (高進後押しライザー・ブースト, Raizā Būsuto): Raiser Boost is an inherent feature of Starlight that temporarily increases its spiritual particles output beyond normal parameters for greatly enhanced combat performance. When Raiser Boost is activated, Starlight operates at full power by releasing all of the stored spiritual particles and increasing it's operation rate to its maximum output. These released spiritual particles saturate the frame of the armour, which renders a glowing pink-reddish hue on Gai's entire body. When using Raiser Boost, Gai leaves afterimages, these afterimages normally confused by people seeing them as the human-shaped spiritual particles, but in fact they're oscillating spiritual particles at a speed much higher than the speed of sound. As he possesses Raiser Boost, Gai has extreme high speed and maneuverability, along with unlimited bursts of accelerations. This increases his speed, attack and defense by thrice the amount. However, Raiser Boost is only active for three minutes before Gai needs to rest for three days.

Forms

• Divine Awakening Sonic Boost Knight (神聖な覚醒の戦車ヂビーン・アワケニング・ソニックブースト・ナイト, "Dibiin Awakeningu Būsuto Naito"): Based upon Gai's Shinseina Kakusei. Shedding the most vital portions of his armour, Gai covers his body with spiritual energy as black devilish wings that he can use as incredibly sharp blades shoot out of his back. In addition, the gauntlets of his armour become pitch-black and more ornate. The speed gained by shedding the armour grants Gai the ability to move at supersonic speeds; easily outstripping Kaede at her utmost limit. However; in return, his armour is thick as tofu; easily making him vulnerable to particularly overwhelming attacks. Upon activation of Sonic Boost Knight, Starlight announces "Change Star Sonic!"
  • Sonic Boost Knight Special Abilities: Through discarding the most vital and heaviest parts of the armour of Second Liberation, it drastically reduces Gai's weight to the point that it seems as if he is as light as a feather; enabling him to achieve mobility unprecedented in the history of Soul Society. This speed allows Gai to move at speed comparable to or even exceeding Haruko Kiseki, who is noted to be one of the fastest Shinigami alive. However, because of this shedding of the armour, Gai more or less becomes a one hit-point wonder; a good, sturdy attack is more than enough to take him down for the count; and in order to increase his speed further, Gai loses the ability to utilize any ranged attacks.
    • Hyper-Speed Combat: Gai generates excessive amounts of heat, before dissipating the excess heat by shedding the outer layers of the armour; to onlookers, it seems as if Gai utilizes some form of Flash Step; creating multiple afterimages made up of metallic particles while enabling him to move at even higher speeds than before. As the afterimages are composed of metallic particles; they contain mass, and with his psychic powers, Gai can install one movement into them the moment they are formed, such as an attack or defense in order to assault his foe.
    • Arondight (無毀なる湖光アロンダイト, "Arondaito"): Gai's main armament in Sonic Boost Knight form; it is an anti-giant weapon; it takes the form of a wickedly curved short sword which is pitch-black in colouration. Arondight can cut through most spiritual barriers, though in return, it is rather ineffective against living targets. Gai can increase the cutting strength by using the blade in conjunction with his thrusters. Despite its appearance, the blade is actually really heavy and requires Gai's whole body to swing in order to make the blade swing as well. The blade also requires time to reharden itself after it slices and is not designed to be used for long periods.
      • White Night Annihilation Sword (白夜殲滅剣ホワイト·ナイト·アニヒラシーオン·ソード, "Howaito Naito Anihirasiion Sōdo"): Sonic Boost Knight's most powerful attack; derived from Kakusei's Byakuya Senmetsuken. Gai amasses stray spiritual energy in the vicinity upon Arondight as well as his own spiritual powerr, which is further enhanced by his psychic powers, causing a unique reaction with each other, forcing the spiritual energy to expand, extending into the form of a gigantic feather of white light before solidifying, gaining overwhelming cutting power. In an instant, Gai unleashes a series of seven consecutive blows; slashing through his opponent several times from different angles at incomprehensible speeds, with each slash causing a fiery explosion, before blasting through them.
• Divine Chain Water Moon Rigid Tank (天来鎖水月の戦車ヂビーン・チエーン・ヱーター・ムン・リジド・タンク, "Dibiin Chēn Wōtā Mūn Rijido Tanku"): Based upon Gai's Tenraisa Suigetsu. It is focused around solid defence and strong, ranged attacks. However, in exchange, it is as slow as a snail and it's more powerful attacks take time to charge up and fire. In this form, the pauldrons, greaves, gauntlets, and boots of the armour take upon a crimson hue, before expanding to form bulky armour. The wings contract inwards, attaching to the shoulder pads to form blades. In addition, strips of metal jut downwards at his waist, forming a dress of sorts. These armoured parks constantly emit light-blue spiritual energy. Upon activation of Rigid Tank, Starlight announces "Change Solid Impact!"
  • Rigid Tank Special Abilities: In Rigid Tank form; Gai's physical strength and attack is drastically augmented, even more so due to the bulky portions of armour adorning his figure. In this form, Gai fights in a style similar to a wrestler, utilizing the emitters across his body to enable him to perform devastating physical attacks combining offense and defense. However, his speed in this form has slowed to a crawl.
• Divine Yin-Yang Rising Phoenix Fang Blaster (陰陽至高の高進鳳凰の牙発破工ヂビーン・ン・ヤング・ライジング・フェニックス・ファング・ブラスター, Dibiin Yin Yangu Raijingu Fenikkusu Fangu Burasutā): Based upon Gai's Onmyōshikō no Kōshinhōō. It is focused around incredible offence, both physically and in regards to projectiles; though it's speed is second only to Sonic Boost Knight. Upon activation of Sonic Boost Knight, Starlight announces "Change Fang Blast!"
  • Fang Blaster Special Abilities:

Juggernaut Overdrive

Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive (高進鳳凰の極覇龍ライジング・フェニックス・ジャガーノート・オーバードライブ, "Raijingu Fenikkusu Jagānōto Ōbādoraibu"), also known as the Ascending King Firebird Pole of Supremacy is the final evolution of Gai's Legacy Armour; and it's true form. When activated, it has an incantation:

"I, who is about to awaken, am the White Devil who has discarded the principle of domination. I shall walk the road of righteousness by having infinite hopes and dreams. I shall become the Rising Phoenix. And I promise you all! I shall show you the future which shines in true crimson light!"("私は、誰が目覚めるしようとしている 午前支配の原則を廃棄し白魔, 私は無限の希望と夢を持つことで正義の道を歩いてなければならない。, 私は上昇火の鳥となるもの, そして私はあなたのすべてをお約束致します！私はあなたに本当の深紅色の光で輝く未来を提示しなければならない!", "Watashi wa, dare ga mezameru shiyō to shite iru Gozen shihai no gensoku o haiki shita Hakuma. Watashi wa mugen no kibō to yume o motsu koto de seigi no michi o aruite nakereba naranai. Watashi wa Jōshō Hinotori to naru mono Soshite watashi wa anata no subete o o yakusoku itashimasu! Watashi wa anata ni hontō no shinkōshoku no hikari de kagayaku mirai o teiji shinakereba naranai!")

In Rising Phoenix: The Gears of Fate, Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive has a different incantation, as befitting Gai's status as a villain: "I, who is about to awaken am the avatar of destruction who has stolen principles of domination! I laugh at "infinity", and reject "dreams"! I shall become the one who brings the world to its knees. The Rising Phoenix...and I shall sink you to the crimson purgatory!" (私は、誰が目覚めるしようとしている午前支配の原則を盗まれた破壊の化身私は"無限"笑うと、 "夢"を拒否する私はその膝に世界をもたらす一つとなったものとします。上昇火の鳥と私は真っ赤な煉獄にあなたを沈むしなければならない！, "Watashi wa, dare ga mezameru shiyō to shite iru gozen shihai no gensoku o nusuma reta hakai no keshin watashi wa" mugen" warau to, " yume" o kyohi suru watashi wa sono hiza ni sekai o motarasu hitotsu to natta mono to shimasu. Jōshō Hinotori to watashi wa makkana rengoku ni anata o shizumu shinakereba naranai!")

In Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive, it takes the form of illustrious golden armour which covers his entirety. It's features are almost draconic, though it also bears resemblance to the king of birds, the majestic and almighty phoenix, possessing a predominantly shining golden colour scheme. A sextet of large, elongated feathers with crimson tips stick out of its pauldrons, and on the back of these pauldrons are two azure elongated binders which jut straight down. On the backs of its arms are medium-sized, serrated, black feather-like blades, and trailing down its legs are majestic black feathers tipped with Vernier thrusters. Its body, with the exception of the chest plate is coloured a glimmering golden, and its joints are illustrious as well. It possesses cross-like wing binders which served as both Vernier thrusters and four powerful spiritual beam cannons; though six majestic wings that have stars and galaxies jut out of his back as well. The marking on the chest plate can be made out as a faint '上昇火の鳥'. The armour also possesses a scale-like dragon's tail which is connected by small links. An emerald visor rests over Gai's head, which has six, golden jagged ear-like protrusions that extend backwards from the sides of the visor.

Like its predecessors Anteishi Setsura: Kūkūten Tenshitō Kōshinhōō, and Anteishi Setsura: Shinkō no Karehōōtei, Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive is a close combat-oriented form. Its primary weapon is the Hi-Nu-Exes, the latest in the line of dual functioning weapons that can alternate between sword and rifle modes, specifically developed by Gai himself. An anti-spiriton shield is mounted over the left shoulder in a similar fashion to one of Kūkūten Tenshitō Kōshinhōō's wings. The shield itself can deploy six Light Seekers which are stored on the sides of the shield which serve many functions, such as an extra little offensive power. The visor of Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive acts as a controlling device for the Light Seekers, the particle controlling capabilities of the antennae have yet again improved, allowing Gai to communicate using psychic brainwave interfacing. The head of Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive resembles Gai's previous Anteishi Setsura, Shinkō no Karehōōtei's visor.

The golden armour adorning his arms was made to allow Gai to wield his close combat weapons to the fullest. The wrist joints are so flexible that they actually could move like his regular arms; thus making it seem as if Gai is armourless. The spiritual particle condensers located within the arms allow spiritual energy to be transferred to the weapons smoothly and effectively. Gai's leg armour has special capabilities to allow him to achieve high maneuverability in zero-G conditions. The knee joints are as fluid in motion as his real knees, with spiritual particle condensers located in them. Some parts of the legs were developed from Kaede's Kanzenkudō and Kagirinai's Setsura, while other parts bore massive improvements to the original parts from Shinkō no Karehōōtei. The remaining parts were derived from other Setsura and Bankai, only reverse engineered to improve upon them drastically.

Juggernaut Overdrive Special Abilities: In Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive, Gai possesses highly enhanced offensive and defensive capabilities; being an amalgamation of all of Gai's previous Zanpakutō that has the properties of all of their strengths, which are naturally augmented, with none of their weaknesses. Unlike any of Gai's previous Zanpakutō, which required him to create a new fighting style to adapt to the situation, Juggernaut Overdrive excels in various ranges to suit Gai's combat needs and style. To this end, Gai more often than not utilizes its powers in close quarter battles, aided by its high mobility, in order to more easily avoid landing critical blows upon his opponents, instead he only incapacitates them or otherwise prevent them from continuing a fight. Being Gai's most powerful final form to date, in Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive, Gai is so powerful that he could possibly have eliminated the entire army of Jashin single-handedly had Gai chosen not to communicate with Jashin. Although this conclusion is the same hypothetical calculation that excludes important factors such as the healing abilities of demons and fatigue and can take up to a whole month of constant battle time making it a very hard feat nevertheless.

Equipment

• Hi-Nu-Exes: Gai's primary weapon in Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive. It is fully made from the crimson material used to make spiritual particle condensers. Like the G-Exes and Nu-Exes, the Hi-Nu-Exes possesses two modes: Sword Mode and Rifle Mode. In conjunction to an ordinary rifle mode, it can also combine with the Light Seekers to either form a massive rifle or a enormous sword depending on the formation. With all six Light Seekers attached to the sword in its buster rifle mode, Gai possesses the ability to create a large laser sword similar to the Xixphos Sword while in Raiser Boost. When not in use, it is then stored on Gai's left waist. It is extremely sharp, and does not rely on the kinetic energy of a high-speed swing to cut through its targets. It is also covered with anti-spiriton coating, allowing it to parry Zanpakutō with ease, even if they're in Bankai form.
• Anti-Spiriton Armour: When in Juggernaut Overdrive, Gai's golden armour possesses specialized mirror coating which is capable of deflecting spiritual blasts or reflecting shots back to their source. Due to this coating, he is able to block many spiritual attacks and is even able to block shots fired from a borderline wave motion gun. However, due to its nature of ablating when defending against great heat, this coating can only tolerate a few hits to the same spot.
• Over Shield: A shield binder on the left side of Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive's armour that is connected to the verniers. Other than possessing Gai's other Spirit Drive underneath, it also acts as the storage and quick-recharge station for the Light Seekers when they are not actively used. The shield possesses a panel that reveals the Spirit Drive when opened; large amounts of spiritual particles can be released from this point to overwhelm his foe. When the Light Seekers are deployed, they are expanded toward both sides of the shield, and simultaneously fly towards Gai's foes.
• Light Seekers (光きぼうしゃライト・シーカー, "Raito Shīkā"): A form of remote weapon unique to Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive; a series of blasters in the shape of wings. Circling the area on their own, the Light Seekers can be utilized in creative and strategic ways; they can be used in group formations for multiple barrages, and the actual blast fired by a seeker is also powerful, given that they are emitted by the blaster itself instead of Gai's blade. The Light Seekers also have the ability to generate a unique beam shield, known as a "shining barrier", to provide a defense against both spiritual blasts and solid projectiles with lower outputs compared to the light shield's spiritual energy consumption. Although these seekers prove incredibly effective and flexible in purpose, they are also large, making them easy to be destroyed. With the help of his psychic powers, Gai can utilize the Light Seekers by thoughts alone. The Light Seekers can be attached to the Hi-Nu-Exes to form either a powerful enormous sword or a massive rifle for combat. For added defense, Gai can deploy a force field by placing the six Light Seekers in a closed spherical formation and can activate Quantum Overdrive to enhance his overall capabilities.

Techniques

• Analysis: Utilizing his psychic powers, Gai gains the ability of foresight; the area then connects directly with his mind, flooding him with combat data and possible outcomes. This overload of data could allow Gai to achieve a flawless victory, but it places great mental and emotional stress upon him. If he experiences prolonged exposures to this ability, he can become totally unstable, unable to tell the difference between friend and foe. However, it has been stated that because of his 'simple' mind, Gai can utilize this ability to its fullest, being immune to the effects of it.
• Psychic Layers: The armour of Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive is composed of microscopic psychic receptors that allow Gai to control the armour, and thus his own body as if he were in a lucid dream—essentially rendering him limitless, bypassing his body's natural limits, pretty much leaving his imagination the only restraint to his actions. Gai makes great use of this feature, controlling his powers and maneuvering his Light Seekers like extensions of his own body.
• Wings of Light (光の翼, "Hikari no Tsubasa"): Another form of the Wings of Light that Ren Ichimonji's Bankai possesses; Gai studied it, and adapted it for use in this form; they can only be activated when the Light Seekers are deployed. Other than a cosmetic feature, however, they serve no other known purpose, and do not cause immense drain on Gai's spiritual energy unlike Ren's. Rather, they are simply due to the fact that the thruster layout on Juggernaut Overdrive's "wings" is similar to that of Ren's Bankai. However, they do allow Gai to move at supersonic speeds; which is how Gai is able to evade Kaede's assaults so easily during their third battle.
• Broken Phantom (ブロークンファントム, Burōkun Fantomu): Originally used with Juggernaut Overdrive in Divine Chain Water Moon Rigid Tank mode, Broken Phantom has come to be the term for any upgraded version of a Broken Magnum attack. Broken Phantom is characterized by greater control in space and a wider effective damage radius upon enemy contact. The original, used by Divine Chain Water Moon Rigid Tank, uses a Phantom Ring leashed around Gai's right arm that is released with a cry of "Phantom Ring! Plus!" - this increases the buildup time of the attack, but triples the radius of Broken Magnum and gives it much higher control in direction. Unfortunately, the Phantom Ring is prone to destruction, and the move becomes extremely long to execute. Juggernaut Overdrive's Divine Yin-Yang Rising Phoenix Fang Blaster mode solves this problem by using a Program Ring deployed from Gai's left leg. This version has a damage radius on impact twice as wide as the Phantom Ring version, and cannot be destroyed due to being made of energy. Also, unlike previous Broken Magnum attacks, Gai simply rears back and punches rather than holding his arm upwards before attacking - this allows Broken Phantom to be performed much more quickly with little to no telegraphing.
• Jōshō Hinotori Kōkiarukudō (上昇火の鳥・光輝有る駆動, "Rising Phoenix: Shining Drive"): Gai's final and ultimate attack; the technique with which he utilized to defeat Kaede Mikazuki in the end of Sealed Scarlet, Corrupt Black. In Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive, all of Gai's power is regained; not only that, but all of his most powerful forms are stacked on one another, giving him enough power to unleash this attack only once. It should be noted, that while being the most powerful technique in the Rising Phoenix universe, once used, Gai will then lose consciousness accompanied by intense pain with the loss of his powers following. Then, any remaining spiritual energy stabilizes and he will awaken (sometime later) followed shortly by the loss of his remaining spiritual powers; though in Gai's case, it will return him to a normal Soul. When in this form, Gai gains a golden hue that manifests around his body.
  • Fūinaka Haitokukuro Goshikihaku Taibi (封印紅背徳黒・越し気迫大尾, "Sealed Scarlet Corrupt Black Overdrive Finale"): Quickly, Gai raises his fist to the sky, as the spiritual energy buildup from Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive expels itself, in the form of two oversized golden phoenix wings that materialize upon his back. Amassing spiritual energy upon his feet, Gai shoots forwards towards his target like a bullet at extreme speeds surpassing anything seen before, impacting upon his foe with overwhelming force using a flying side kick, driving his foe backwards. Spinning around, Gai unleashes a series of fierce punches, which move at speeds which they can no longer be seen, leaving only jet streams in their place. They are capable of hitting the opponent over a thousand times a second, like meteors, even hitting the opponent over long distances. The fists land so fast that, after a volley, they seemingly connect simultaneously. The massive circles of air bursts from the punches surrounding Gai resemble actual meteors; each burning the foe with Gai's vicious light. Gai then leaps high into the skies vertically, touching the clouds, releasing most of the spiritual energy to shoot down like a meteor, delivering a downwards kick that drives his foe into the ground, creating a reaction so powerful that it forms a pillar of golden fire from ground zero upward, high into the atmosphere. As the pillar burns spectacularly, the foe is sent hurtling upwards, where Gai shoots out of the pillar, blasting them with a spinning corkscrew kick, impacting upon them and sending his foe hurtling into the skies. As he shoots through the atmosphere, he splits the sky in half.
    • Shin'irikugō Taikyoku Gekkōōtori (心意六合 •太極月光王凰, "Heart and Mind, Six Harmonies: Supreme Ultimate Moonlight Phoenix"; literally Through the realization of the Heart and Mind, the Moonlight King Firebird rises Supremely and Ultimately): Gai's ultimate attack, in which he unleashes his full power, calling upon the abilities of Gai's true might and the Soul King itself— it is an attack that exceeds the power of all others, effortlessly surpassing the very concept of "god" to seem as if it came from a completely different dimension. It is said that this is the technique which reduced Soul Society back to its horrid state when Gai was still Kazuma's weapon in the Solar Wars. It was re-awakened when Gai regained his powers—thus, it only saw one use before his spiritual powers burnt out—this attack was too much for his spiritual power to bear.

It is said that the attack requires three catalysts—a clear mind, the sufficient amount of spiritual energy in order to survive unleashing the attack, and finally, the resolve to utterly annihilate the foe in order to activate it. Once all three requirements have been achieved, Shin'irikugō Taikyoku Gekkōōtori will reveal itself. As the attack is the cause of the 'Moonlight History', the scourge that continued to revert Soul Society back to Feudal Japan times whenever conflict arose before the time of one hundred years before the events of the Rising Phoenix trilogy, Gai must take care when handling it as to not destroy Soul Society and return it to mere sticks and stones. It has the ability to remove one's capabilities to connect with spiritual energy completely forever—in the case of Pluses, it disintegrates them. This attack is dissimilar to Gai's other ultimate techniques because it is so perilous to him, which is why he has hesitated on using it.

In order to manipulate the spiritual particles of Soul Society, and thus, erase them, his own spirit must be pure, or he would be corrupted and destroyed. It is Gai's "true power", and without a doubt, the most powerful attack in the Rising Phoenix trilogy. Upon declaring, the incantation, Gai manifests wide, golden wings of light that instantly fabricate on his back, quickly extending out in a fan of sparkles before solidifying into wings. Sparkles trail off of the wings, and they shimmer as Gai moves, making them truly a beautiful sight to behold. There, the wings extend towards a black hole in the skies above—upon contact, the wings widen the construct, and with a flap, they release an overwhelming wave of mystical light that covers a wide range, presumably from Rukongai to Seireitei, that turns any and all spiritual particles to sand—the sheer speed of the attack gives any and all in the vicinity little to no time to react, leading to them being returned to oblivion in a matter of moments.

Juggernaut Overdrive Burst Mode

Burst Mode (バーストモード, Basuto Mōdo): The secret function of Juggernaut Overdrive, which was sealed away by Girouette Kresnik in fear that it would later be used for evil; though after Gai absorbed the IDEA Engine, he gained the ability to access this form. It is considered a "super form to a super form", and in this form, Gai's attack accuracy is decreased, but his mobility is even greater than before, enabling him to single-handedly wipe out entire armies. In order to enter this mode, Gai must activate the IDEA Engine to change Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive into Juggernaut Overdrive: Phoenix Burst. Upon activating Burst Mode, azure coloured blades of reishi are emitted from the gauntlets, boots, pauldrons, and back of the armour; the last in particular shaping itself into phoenix wings of reishi. These blades allow Gai to attack even stronger in close-range, increase his defense, and enhance his speed and mobility by ten times his normal amount.

Juggernaut Overdrive Burst Mode Special Abilities: With the power of Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive Burst Mode, Gai gains the ability to fly and is invulnerable to all harm, except for the attacks from the most powerful characters in the series such as Kazuma, and even then, that's only in Kazuma's own Anteishi Setsura form. His physical abilities in this form are also enhanced far beyond his normal ones; his sound barrier-breaking speed has been increased tremendously, reaching the speed of light, he can jump much higher than usual to even touch the clouds, and he has improved reflexes to match his increased movements. His physical strength has also been increased vastly, allowing him to tear through dimensions with ease. However, due to only being around for one fight, it is unknown how much more powerful Gai is in this form.

• Genesic Magnum (ジェネシックマグナム, Jeneshikku Magunamu): The version of Broken Magnum that Genesic Juggernaut Overdrive possesses is the originator of the technique; though only the "fist" fires at the enemy, quite unlike other applications (detaching at the wrist, not at the elbow), it is vastly more powerful and longer in range. The execution of this version of Broken Magnum is something of a homage to the signature "Shining Finger" technique from G Gundam.

Zanpakutō

Over the course of his adventure, Gai Nagareboshi has been in possession of four Zanpakutō. His first, Kakusei, was a weapon which all Mototsu possessed; while the second, Suigetsu, was the premature evolution of the Infernox Core. However, Kōshinhōō is his true weapon, and the one most associated with him. However, after Masato Nagareboshi wrested control of Kōshinhōō off him, Gai wielded Masato's own weapon, Aitashoshin for a short period of time before gaining a new weapon. However, after his defeat by Kaede's hands, he has lost his Infernox Core and thus, Gaikaōtori.

Envoy of Destruction

Due to the nature of his creation and consequent defeat at the hands of Isshin Kurosaki, Gai's full power is sealed within him. In Part V, at the start of Gai's battle with Eimi he lost control of his emotions, so the Envoy's power broke out from his hatred and anger. In this form, he has long brown spiky hair which travels to his mid-abdomen. Red rib-cage like protrusions are pointing at the center of his chest. He also has spiked shoulder-plates which are white and red, and his entire body becomes purely white, with his eyes becoming reptilian and golden in addition to now being slitted in a 'cross-like' look, and he gains blood-red sclera. He wears a tattered white robe, which greatly flares at the edges and has black protrusions coming out of them. With this he wears white hakama with black stripes that are kept fitting with a black obi sash at his waist. Gai also has multiple black rings floating around his head like a halo with multiple Shining Onslaughts floating around him. Gai now has a tail, which is capable of being used as a weapon or to lift and strangle a victim, and seven floating swords of black feathers behind his back. In this form, Gai does not have access to his Zanpakutō, or any of its abilities, instead relying on near godlike power. During his battle with Kagirinai, Gai managed to gain control of the form for a few minutes, but still suffers the strained but he still suffers from the physical strain resulting from the form, and is was at risk of "letting himself go"if he does not consciously keep control. After his defeat by Kaede's hands, the Envoy has been sealed. 

"Click" to show information about Gai's former Ruination Break 

Ruination Break

Ruination Break (覆滅休憩, "Fukumetsu Kyūkei"): Utilizing clairvoyance which is an innate Seishin ability, Gai changes his natural offensive spiritual energy into defense, before drawing the spiritual power of all of the Zanpakutō he had once possessed and adds it to his own pool. Nanaya informed Gai that the Seishin clairvoyance is similar to the rain. All the rain drops hit a predetermined place, based on wind and such. They congregate together to and flow; eventually making a stream, according to Nanaya that is fate—Gai can hear the rain, but he can't understand the significance of every drop, and this ability will only show him bits and pieces of possible futures, and he doesn't have the ability to piece together the whole picture, so the best he can do is syphon power from those past and present. Then, Gai is able to modify the flow of spiritual energy throughout his body in order to accept that new energy, while accepting the Envoy of Destruction's power. In doing so, Gai becomes clad in a glistening white armour that possesses somewhat demonic features. Accessing Ruination Break was almost hellish for the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid; he only achieved it as he experienced despair as Kurenai's life was in grave danger, triggering the negated emotions of the Envoy of Destruction, but in all subsequent activations, Gai unleashed it in a much easier manner.

In Ruination Break, Gai possesses drastically augmented strength; speed, endurance, and the power of his techniques have tripled, though due to the extreme force Gai's mere presence exudes, it saps the spiritual energy of Soul Society to use as fuel for his attacks, meaning that he could eventually destroy Soul Society if he overuses this form. Upon first deactivating Ruination Break, Gai lost 99.99% of his lifespan, leaving him with only two months to live, but after Nika's sacrifice and the treatment Kurenai gave him with her psychic powers, Gai had recovered his lifespan and the form no longer has any drawbacks. Ruination Break bestows upon Gai a pair of large, shoulder mounted cannons which can unleash extremely powerful blasts of spiritual energy, and crimson, angelic wings which he can utilize to fly at speeds exceeding Mach One. In addition, any side-effects that his regular attacks had are doubled—for example, instead of creating two illusions, Meikyō manifests four illusions. All in all, it should be noted that despite the initial drawbacks, Ruination Break is superior to the traditional Envoy of Destruction form that Gai possesses; and in a way, it is a substitute for Anteishi Setsura, however, Anteishi Setsura is more powerful.

• Meikyō: Hangon (明鏡・反魂, "Soul Water: Reverse Soul"): An adaption of Meikyō, which is explosively augmented by Ruination Break's power. Instead of causing bi-location, Gai instead skips to the second part, focusing and stabilizing his spiritual energy, compressing it to its utmost limit. Then, the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid expands his energy outwards in an explosive burst, causing it to flow forth from his very being and solidify, taking the form of perfect duplicates of his own body infused with a portion of his own spiritual energy. While these bodies possess no internal features, allowing Gai to control them with his thoughts, he can bestow upon them thought processes, allowing them to think and attack independently of Gai. These replicas have many things in common with the real deal; including sharing the exact same spiritual energy as him, so in most cases, it is near impossible to distinguish them from Gai Nagareboshi. They possess all of Gai's abilities, and if they are killed, they detonate, causing a medium-sized explosion.

• Shinzō no Owari (心臓の終わり, "End of Heart"): By manifesting his Zanpakutō in Ruination Break form, Gaikaōtori shows its true form. In addition, Gaikaōtori has received the powers of Kakusei, Suigetsu, and Kōshinhōō, which augment the weapon's potential hundred-fold. This unholy fusion takes the form of a wrist-mounted triangular constructed attached to his left arm. The object protruding from the base appears to be a combination of a broadsword and a bazooka, and therefore, it can be utilized for slashing as well as shooting. Gai condenses stray spiritual energy in the area into his Zanpakutō utilizing his psychic powers, in addition to the spiritual energy he has absorbed with Gaikaōtori's regular ability, as well as Gai's own immense spiritual energy, intensifying the spiritual energy by convergence and acceleration, before unleashing it all in the form of an expanding crimson-coloured energy ball of quintessence which creates a massive explosion, vaporizing anything caught up in its light. After the initial attack, the sphere continues to collapse into itself, using intense gravitational forces to pull in foes that were not destroyed by the explosion, and immediately subject them to a second helping of this attack.

• Hakka Ryōran (百火繚乱, "Many Fires Profusion"): By vibrating the spiritual energy that composes the armour at supersonic speeds, Gai causes friction within the gauntlets and greaves, setting them ablaze. Unusually, these flames are a ghostly-white, the colours of the soul-evaporating flames of the Envoy of Destruction. When alight, Gai's arms and legs deal twice the damage they would normally output; this fire burns away at his foe's soul with every strike, at a much faster rate than it would if it were a Renkyotō technique. Gai can also unleash waves of fire up to and including fireballs that cause a large amount of damage from his hands and feet on a whim at a rapid pace, allowing him to constantly bombard his foe with a seemingly never-ending shower of flames. Over time, these flames spread upwards, before converging at his back before spreading out and expanding into six phoenix-like wings of flame. At this point, Hakka Ryōran serves as a prelude for the greatest attack of Ruination Break.

• Izutsu: Ryūseitenge (畏砲•流星雨, "Fear Cannon: Meteor Shower"): As the purgatorial flames upon Gai's back reach their peak, the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid directs them upwards into the sky at high speeds, before they expand and solidify. These flames, now in the form of large spheres, are further augmented by Gai's psychic powers and his own spiritual energy—both of these forces cause a chain reaction which morph them into enormous meteors that multiply into the hundreds range. With a single thought-activated command, Gai Nagareboshi can cause these meteors to descend to the ground at ludicrous speeds. Upon impact with the foe or an obstruction, they detonate in an enormous explosion, some of which are able to level several blocks of a city. Additionally, Gai can manipulate the flight patterns of these meteors with his mind, just in case they don't produce the desired effect; but manipulating more than one at a time is rather strenuous for his brain. Another way of executing this attack is for Gai to converge the flames upon a single palm, producing a large comet, composed of ice and other frozen gases, within one of his hands. However, rather than throwing it towards his opponent, his makes a slashing motion with significant force, using the comet's tail in a similar manner to a sword's blade.

Former Powers and Abilities

Physical and Mental Abilities

"Click" to show information about Gai's former physical and mental abilities 

Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: While Hakuda is his forte, Gai, more often than not, is forced to rely on Zanjutsu in order to combat his opponents. He has recieved no formal training from any source other than what the Soul King implanted within his mind about the way of the sword, and as a result, is severely lacking in the area, at least when compared to his comrades. However, as Mototsu have the ability to learn and improve through observation, Gai's style of swordsmanship is undefined; it borrows from all of his allies' Zanjutsu styles, and is therefore highly unpredictable. All of his experience aside from observation stems from being thrust into a heated battle without a single clue how to even hold a sword, yet for some reason, Gai has been shown capable of competing on equal grounds against the sword masters of Hizashi Yoshi and Kagirinai Nagareboshi's caliber, though in the former case, Hizashi was merely testing him and not fighting seriously, and in the case of the latter, Gai recieved a power boost in order to fight on even grounds with his elder brother. Gai has an incredibly aggressive style: he is constantly on the offensive, and eschews any defensive moves in favor of speed and strength, striking heavy and hard while lightning fast. After losing in a straight-up swordfight, which happens often, Gai immediately resorts to physical brawling. It should be noted, that after he decided to rely on his hand-to-hand combat skills due to them being inheriently superior, Gai Nagareboshi had learned to utilize this techniques with his bare hands or feet.

• Gurenōka (紅蓮桜花, "Crimson Lotus Cherry Blossom"): An advanced Iaidō technique, Gai grips his blade and draws it from its sheath quickly, before using his natural speed, speeds past the enemy and slices them, before returning Gaikaōtori to its scabbard. The cut only appears seconds after Gai has struck them. This technique throws away defence for a full powered attack, so he only utilizes this 'death-or-glory' attack in life-or-death situations. Interestingly, it also appears to drain him heavily whenever he finishes the attack, though Gai has been known to unleash Gurenōka four-to-five times in quick succession when faced with a truly difficult opponent. It is known that Gai has picked this technique up from his former lover, Hizashi Yoshi.
• Akumajo (悪魔女, "Devil Woman"): Not Yet Revealed.
• Reiraku Byakuya (零落白夜, "Midnight Sun Faded Glory"): An original and extremely powerful technique developed by Gai in wake of witnessing Chira Tendou's swordsmanship skills, in honour of his worthy opponent. After being struck by the exact same technique over and over again in their final battle, Gai decided to adapt it for his own usage. Reiraku Byakuya is prepared by Gai assuming an unusual stance; dropping into a partial crouch, both knees bend, right arm drawn back and left extended forward while Gai winds up his sword arm. Focusing his spiritual energy into his feet to get a better foothold as well as his left wrist to augment his strike, Gai waits for his foe to draw close, before instantly breaking out of the stance and thrusting at his foe while releasing his sword arm, creating a drill effect with extreme force at high speeds, piercing through many a obstruction and tear through the air itself. The technique is considered quite deadly, as the Reiraku Byakuya has only a precious few blind spots to be exploited. Despite the apparent inflexibility of using one attack repeatedly, it has many useful applications.
  • Reiraku Byakuya Xceed (レーイアク・ビアクイア・クシド, "Reiraku Byakuya Kusido"; "Exceeded Midnight Sun Faded Glory"): During a battle with Masato, Gai adapts the Reiraku Byakuya to strike immediately, as he cannot utilize it to even so much as touch his extremely nimble foe, who was essentially evading each and every one of his strikes. Essentially, the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid merely thrusts forward with his blade at point-blank range using all of his upper body strength. This version, unlike the original, does not require any prior preparation or footwork; in fact, its power far exceeds the original by a large margin to the point of striking with over one hundred tonnes behind the blade and an even more ludicrous speed. However, a drawback to this technique is that performing these powerful movements in such rapid succession is detrimental to his physical strength, putting a large strain upon his body. For this reason, Reiraku Byakuya Xceed has only seen usage twice.

Monstrous Strength: Gai's only saving grace is his phenomenal strength and his superior hand-eye coordination. In his first fight shown in "A Certain Unlucky Person", Gai effortlessly blocked a punch from Nika, who had shifted the vectors in her arms, giving her a Herculean level of strength. Later on in that battle, Gai punched Nika in the face with enough force shatter her mask remnant and send her flying a good distance. Gai can break free from almost any attack that binds him and prevents him from moving. Gai was able to battle a Vasto Lorde with his bare fists and is strong enough to break an enormous tree and swing it like a bat with one hand. He has enough power to break steel with his bare hands, and break through Nika's Hierro with some effort. During his battle with Yuurei, a single swing of his arm had enough force to level a mountain. He can grab hold of Yuurei's Zanpakutō blade with his Shinseina Kakusei gauntlet without feeling any of the exerted force although that force was capable of doing considerable damage to the surrounding area. He is able to effortlessly break through Yuurei's Amaterasu no Tō, which is composed from sekki-seki with his bare hand. Another example of his impressive strength is when he caught several of his brother's kicks, which were stated to have the same power as a meteor.

Incredible Speed: While he possesses no skill in Shunpo, often stopping short of his destination and crashing into people or objects, Gai has shown to be immensely fast, befitting his small size and waifish build. Thanks to his tremendous raw power, Gai's leg strength allows him to more than make up for his lack of Shunpo, allowing him to move fast enough to instantly close a huge gap of space between him and the opponent and even seemingly disappear from sight. In battle he is able to punch with incredible speed in rapid succession, making it highly difficult for his opponents to find an opening and counterattack. Gai is also shown to be able to outrun several opponents who were using Shunpo, predicting where they would reappear and rushing to that location, before intercepting them, though it should be noted the four times that this tactic proved to be effective was against opponents who had only intermediate skill in Shunpo. Gai has been stated repeatedly that the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid moves at a speed too fast for almost anyone to comprehend.

Kōshinho Expert: After "A Certain Unlucky Person", Gai had started to learn the Mototsu equivilant of Shunpo, Kōshinho (亢進歩, "Acceleration Step"). Despite having only picked up the art, Gai's skill in Kōshinho is incredible; he is able to move enormous distances in the blink of an eye, and can also keep highly fast opponents on their toes with his continuous assaults. He runs with long, elegant strides. The art of Kōshinho resembles inline skating.

• Kokugenei (剋幻影, "Victory Phantom"): A original Kōshinho technique, Gai first jumps up and down, dragging out the noise so that the sound of his feet tapping on the ground isn't heard until after his feet have left the floor again. Once the sound lag is at its fullest, Gai leaps forward like a bullet, producing a sonic boom that destroys everything in front of and behind himself, propelling himself into his opponent at inconcievable speeds. Because he moves faster than the eye can see, the opponent won't be able to react until after he has already hit them. Kagirinai theorizes that he is faster than light, but Gai claims that he just sped forward when he blinked. In fact, Gai moves at the same speed as he does in the thrusting motion for Reiyaku Byakuya Xceed.
• Meikyō (明鏡,"Soul Mirror"): A technique invented by Nanaya Wanijima, which was handed down to Gai. Utilizing his Seishin ability of light manipulation, Gai causes bilocation, which causes his foes to view two places at once; this allows him to shift himself towards the enemy's blind spot. Upon noticing the "fake" Gai, his foes become caught under brief hypnosis, causing those under the influence of the technique can be easily outmaneuvered by Gai. However, Gai must stabilize his reiatsu in order for this technique to work; if Gai's reiatsu is thrown out of balance (this is done by rousing his emotions or by being struck by anything outside of the area-of-effect, or even by losing focus while initiating this technique), then this technique will dissipate and Gai will be left stunned. The duplicates formed by this technique function as if they were Gai himself, even able to bleed. After sustaining enough damage, they become miniature phoenixes and rise to the heavens before turning to ash. Gai often makes use of these puppets to utilize some of his stronger attacks and to act as diversions or support in the heat of battle. Meikyō is by far, Gai's most useful technique. These puppets also carry a shocking twist- when defeated, they let out a small explosion which can burn or paralyze his foe in an instant.

Enhanced Durability: Due to his small and waifish build, in addition to his light weight, Gai is sent flying by powerful attacks. An example of this is was Gai was fighting Eienrai the second time, Gai predicted that "one strike, and it's over for me". The only thing that keeps him from perishing against such powerful foes is his willpower; as he is driven by the desire to protect his loved ones, he can continue to stand up again and again. However, thanks to his build, Gai is very nimble and can dodge attacks easily.

High Intelligence: Gai is incredibly intelligent, being capable of using observation and calculation to succeed when faced with a particularly powerful opponent. Gai is renowned for being very cunning, due to his ability to trick opponents and his capacity to maintain several tactics up his sleeve. This is best shown when Gai defeated Gunha Teishin by logically anticipating where his next strike was coming from and remaining one step ahead, even though Gunha's Zanpakutō had time-space manipulation abilities. Gai has a good instinct, as he made accurate guesses about Harafumei's identity, what Nika had hinted about him, and based on those two pieces of information, predicted what he was going to do and what he had done to Hizashi. However, Gai often lets his emotions get the better of him, which puts him at a massive disadvantage on occasions.

Hakuda Mastery

Master Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Gai's expertise in hand-to-hand combat is unparalleled in Rukongai, and he was able to defeat two lieutenants at the same time with his bare hands. Gai's incredible skill in the art is drastically enhanced by his inherent immense strength, giving him the ability to unleash devastating blows with ease. His preferred way of striking seems to be punches, though he has often used kicks as well. He has been shown to take down nearly 10 Lieutenants with only judo throws and powerful haymakers. Gai's fighting style is freestyle and improvised; it follows no particular code of honor at all, and so if necessary, he will actually attack women, hit below the belt, attack even if his opponents have their backs turned on him or are otherwise unprepared or unsuspecting, use allies or opponents as human shields or even bite his opponents. While fighting, Gai can also think on the spot, and come up with creative counterattacks against his enemies. He has been shown taking on the likes of Espada-level Arrancar as when he brutally defeated Maggiore and is even regarded by Yuurei as highly dangerous, and he admits that if he and Gai were to fight in hand-to-hand combat, Gai would win by a landslide.

• Senshōha (旋衝破, "Spinning Break"): Senshōha is a unique countering defensive Hakuda ability that Gai utilizes against projectile Kidō and certain Zanpakutō abilities, along with several other abilities such as elemental constructs. This is done by Gai utilizing his latent psychic powers to accelerate it more rapidly until it becomes a point. Then he uses his hand-to-hand combat prowess in addition to his psychic powers to "guide" the attack and redirect it. Essentially, taking an attack, but its power is accelerated into a drill that he then guides with his hands, spinning around and returning it the velocity of an projectile just as it contacts with him, before clutching it in his hands. Twirling it around, Gai throws it back at his opponent at twice the speed and force. However, Gai is still subject any secondary effects the attack could have. Furthermore there is always the danger that the attack could explode upon deacceleration as well. It is a "catch-and-throwback" ability that does not break the opponent's attack. Senshō, literally "spin-thrust", is a rarely-used kanji phrase for "spinning".
• Tsunagarenu Kobushi (繋がれぬ拳, "Unchainable Knuckle"): Tsunagarenu Kobushi is an Hakuda attack capable of freeing Gai from Bakudō and certain Zanpakutō abilities. As such, due to this ability, binds and shields are useless against Gai. This is done by Gai activating his psychic powers the moment the binding spells close in; at the split second of catching him, the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid performs a forward thrusting movement while slapping his hands together, releasing a burst of pure concussive force which is directed and augumented by his spiritual energy and psychic powers to repel the spell and disintergrate it through sheer force.
• Urāte (裏当て, "Reverse Striking"): An advanced technique created by Gai "on the fly" during his confrontation with his ex-lover, Hizashi Yoshi at her apartment because of the need to defend himself after a major misunderstanding. By focusing his spiritual energy, Gai shifts the point and force of any impact by striking the absolute center of his target, which can range from inanimate to living beings. Gai can transmit the force of impact wherever he pleases; all of this can only be possible as long as there's a medium to transmit his power through. Upon focusing his spiritual energy and striking his target's center, his spiritual energy forms a small hole in his target, before creeping into their bodily systems and reaching the brain, connecting Gai and his foe's minds for the briefest of moments, making the foe believe that Gai has struck them in any other position he wishes—their body acts up and becomes damaged in that position to make such an illusion an reality. Against inanimate objects, Gai can just utilize this technique in its intended manner without any further preparation, resulting in the object of desire gaining the properties and strength of Gai's own spiritual energy, which is more than often enough to deflect many a strike. Urāte is the core of many a spiritual energy-based hand-to-hand technique utilized by the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid.
  • Tashinga (針功牙, "Forged Iron Fang"): A technique invented to supplement Urāte upon realizing its usefulness. Quickly, the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid gathers and converges his rotational force while in motion, before shaping it into the form of a serrated claw superimposed upon his Zanpakutō which is coincidentally also a claw, forged by his own spiritual energy. Without any hesitation, that compressed atmospheric force is focused from that high-speed twirling into a one-way-road from the claw and unleashed in a thrusting motion with a single-hand knife strike by utilizing Urāte, allowing Gai to transmit his own spiritual energy through the air, releasing it in a powerful wave of destruction towards his foe. Gai comically refers to it as a Kamehameha upon the first time he utilizes it, which is the signature technique of Dragon Ball's Son Goku.
    • Gaō Sōhō Enrenshō (我王双歌炎烈掌, "Fang King Double Phoenix Flame Strike Palm"): A combination of Urāte and Tashinga, Gaō Sōhō Enrenshō is one of the most powerful techniques in Gai's arsenal. Relatively speaking, it derives itself from the principles of Tashinga, before the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid applies the ability of Urāte to transmit his spiritual energy throughout the atmosphere. As a downside, this technique requires the same amount of preparation of Tashinga, however, as a plus, it is distinct in its manner of execution, unleashing the rotational energy built up in a twin knife-hand strike instead of a single-hand knife hand strike. The defining characteristic of Gaō Sōhō Enrenshō is in its strength and capacity to transmit Gai's spiritual energy. As a plus, because of Gai Nagareboshi's ridiculous strength, he generates almost preposterous amounts of rotational energy—this, in addition to his enormous reserves of spiritual energy and the force released is equivalent to the ferocity and force of Masato's Full Throttle: Shining Onslaught. Even though Kazuma designed the entire Renkyotō fighting style, Gai is the only practitioner to utilize this technique, partly due to his Seishin heritage, though Gai admits that he invented the technique "on the fly".

Renkyotō

Renkyotō (連虚刀, "Serial No Sword"): Renkyotō is an ancient "sword" style learnt by Gai Nagareboshi, taught to him by Kazuma Nagareboshi. It was first invented by Kazuma during the wars with the Seishin dimension and the Crimson Sovereigns. Renkyotō is known by very few people in history due to the fact that it has only passed on from master to apprentice for two generations, leaving Gai and Kazuma the only users of the style. Upon training in the way of Renkyotō, the user's body and mind limiters are removed, allowing them to utilize their full potential in order to master the style with more ease. Removal of these limiters allows Gai to gain near-superhuman speed and agility, as well as pseudo-clairvoyance which allows him to avoid his opponents' attacks by millimeters with very little effort in order to counter the very instant his foe's strike misses. The average spiritual being uses only 30% of their body's potential strength, but Gai, due to having mastered Renkyotō can tap into the remaining 70% as well. Renkyotō also derives power by using spiritual energy to use the body's full potential as well as to project spiritual blasts from Gai's hands and feet.

While Renkyotō is hailed as a sword style, it is paradoxically is and it is not. Renkyotō prioritizes Gai turning his own body into their own weapon; a blade of sorts. His mind must be focused to see himself as a weapon which cannot be shattered, instead of a being which can be harmed. Going by this mindset, Gai must conduct himself in a similar manner to an autumn breeze; peaceful and calm one moment (i.e. gracefully dodging and evading his foe's strikes), to fierce and relentless the next (i.e. attacking ferociously and in rapid succession, all while keeping the same nimbleness which he possesses while evading). It should be noted, that Gai never strikes with a clenched fist—focusing more on open-palm strikes and knife-hand jabs along with heel blows which are augmented drastically by Gai's cleared mind.

Renkyotō is properly used only when Gai has achieved a clear mind. One of the requirements for a clear mind is through willpower. Another requirement for clear mind is for the user's "mind" to be "clear" psychologically, which means Gai must focus on the battle at hand and nothing else; such a state can be disrupted by the slightest mistake, as well as any taunting. It should be noted; achieving a clear mind channels Gai's own spiritual pressure and forces it into the tips of his fingers, palms, and heels, allowing the user to drive his own spiritual energy directly into an opponent's body through a physical strike on them. This can cause incredible direct and internal damage; it is even capable of damaging someone who is being protected by a barrier, attacking directly at their Saketsu (鎖結, "Chain Binding") and Hakusui (鎖結, "Soul Sleep"), little by little. Renkyotō's more powerful techniques stress two-step hand-to-hand blows in order to ensure that any and all who oppose it are thoroughly slain.

• Mumumyōyakumu (無無明亦無, "The Absence of Ignorance"): The signature technique of Renkyotō, Mumumyōyakumu involves the user striking the foe three times in rapid succession, using the same hand. It transitions from open palm strike, to elbow blow, to finally a powerful knife-hand thrust, which all seem to connect at the exact same time due to the incredible speed at which the user unleashes these blows. Each time, the user discharges more of their spiritual energy into the foe, which increases drastically with each strike. While it does not inflict any physical damage, the spiritual energy which seeps into the foe's body disrupts their ability to utilize any spiritual powers for brief moments; at which time, their parameters are drastically reduced—the strike also may cause the target to bleed from the mouth, weakening the control of their spiritual energy and depth of perception of reality. It should be noted that "Mumumyōyakumu" is synonymous with any triad of swift strikes, so in essence, this gives it great 'mix-and-match' potential. On weaker foes, this technique is able to incapacitate them without any hassle.
• Haja Kenshō (破邪顕正, "Crushing Evil, Spreading the Truth"): A departure from the previous technique's quantity over quality, Haja Kenshō is often used as a follow-up to Mumumyōyakumu due to its setup; perfect for ending a chain of attacks. First, the user transfers the spiritual energy they have channeled in certain portions of their body entirely to their left foot, before they use it as a fulcrum for an enormous leap forward towards their foe at incredible speeds. The amount of spiritual energy carried in their foot is accelerated by the velocity that they are moving at; before they strike them with a side kick, sliding past their foe. Upon the instant of contact, the spiritual energy that they had channeled to their foot seeps into their foe's body, utterly destroying their control of their spiritual energy and depth of perception of reality, sealing off their Saketsu (鎖結, "Chain Binding") and Hakusui (鎖結, "Soul Sleep") in one strike. A few moments later, however, their spiritual powers return to them, though by this time, the user may have already defeated them.
• Kyōkanbōkō (鏡巻暴行, "Mirror Spiral Assault"): Kyōkanbōkō is a technique that is suited for counterattacking; as a foe thrusts forward or charges forward, the user sidesteps them, moving past them; in doing so, the user spins in a full circle, accelerating briefly and adding momentum and centrifugal force to the strength of the next blow, which is aimed at either the foe's back or the back of the neck. Immediately behind the foe's eyesight, the user channels their spiritual energy to either their hands or their feet, before unleashing a knife-handed strike or a somersault kick; both of which inflict incredible damage. The movements of this technique occur in what is perceived to be a split-second by the foe, allowing the user more often than not to take their opponent by surprise without fail. In any situation, Kyōkanbōkō is easily the most often utilized technique of the Renkyotō style due to its purpose and that the user can chain into any other technique—it is also the only technique which Sekiha Tenkyoken can chain into if its initial strike fails.
• Shinsoku (神速, "Godspeed"): Shinsoku is a forced transformation of the speed techniques which many a race utilize. In essence, Shinsoku is only achieved by the body's limiters being removed while learning Renkyotō; this power augments and transforms the user's speed technique to give the user an overwhelming boost in velocity which far surpasses the swiftness of many speed oriented beings; but as the user usually cannot think at the speed of their movement, their movements are mostly erratic and uncontrollable unless they achieve a clear mind. When moving, even if someone could detect the user's trajectory, it is near impossible to catch them while leaving behind a trail of visible after-images to confuse their enemies. Sparkles trail and shimmer off of the user's feet as they move, making this technique truly a beautiful sight to behold.
• Baku Kaitenshō (爆回天翔, "Exploding Revolving Heaven Soar"): A projectile attack; the user transfers their spiritual energy channeled into their body into either one of their arms or one of their legs. Then, entirely by willpower, they compress it inside of the end of their fist or their foot, the user throws their hands up in the air, and using the hand which has no spiritual energy, they grab the arm which has collected the spiritual energy, pointing it towards the opponent, before cocking it back in a similar manner to a gun, unleashing all of the spiritual energy stored in a single blast as a titanic wave of spiritual energy which devours anything it touches. Alternately, if they have charged up the energy in their foot, they perform a roundhouse kick in their foe's direction, releasing the wave towards their foe. A fully charged wave can create an explosion larger than a mountain; if the user prefers quantity over quality, then with several rapid movements, they can release the spiritual energy as several volleys of small beams.
• Sekiha Tenkyoken (関破天虚拳, "Stone Breaking, Sky Shocking Fist"): The secret ultimate technique of Renkyotō, Sekiha Tenkyoken is a powerful technique whose secret lies in mastering the Renkyotō while also discovering both the significance and insignificance of one's life.

Spiritual Abilities

"Click" to show information about Gai's former spiritual abilities 

High-Speed Regeneration: Due to being the 'perfected' Mototsu, Gai's body has shown to have high-speed regenerative abilities. Gai has mentioned that as a child, he always healed very quickly, which he had initially thought was due to Karen's skills at bandaging him up. His healing rate is so fast that, after getting stabbed in the stomach, he lifted up his shirt only seconds after and showed Hizashi that the wound was already closing itself up. This ability activates whenever he is wounded, though if he is in a particularly difficult battle, it takes its time to slowly patch up his more severe wounds.

Kidō Practitioner: Mototsu are unable to utilize Kidō, at least not without suffering extreme side-effects. However, through sheer willpower, Gai has managed to utilize #68: Gensei to save the life of Yuuki Kaburagi, though in the process his blood vessels and organs were ruptured, his nerves were cut, and blood spewed out of every orifice in his body. After this, Gai had never thought of utilizing the Demon Way again.

• #68: Gensei (現世, "Present World"): Reishi amasses around the user's arms, before transforming into life energy, which flows into an open wound upon the target. This life energy flows into the target's system to purge it of all wounds. There, the aura expands and covers their systems, causing all wounds to be instantly healed. Incantation: "I am the one who protects my loved ones from the dangers of this cruel world. I am the life giver, the protector of the innocent. With these hands, I shall restore you. I shall free you from your suffering as the source of life flows into your mind, body, and soul. Return to me! Number 68! Gensei!"

Advanced Growth Rate: One of the major reasons why Gai is such a deadly foe is because he possesses a high amount of perception when it comes to training, despite loathing participating in training and becoming sick at the very thought about it. Gai learns through his body; usually, he doesn't understand any explanations, so his tutors more often than not decide to force him to experience the technique he is meant to learn first-hand by smacking him around with it. This way of learning has proved extremely effective, to the point that he can learn even a master-levelled technique after being smacked across the head with it ten times.

Fluctuating Spiritual Power: Gai has been noted on several occasions to have vast levels of spiritual energy well beyond other Shinigami, though it fluctuates wildly, with it being unreadable at its lowest point and at its highest point being as high as Nika's. Retsu Unohana has said that Gai's reishi patterns are similar to that of the Hōgyoku. This works by materializing what Gai wants to happen, which is why he is able to survive incredibly powerful attacks from fearsome opponents despite his terrible defense. His emotions also affect his spiritual energy: when angered, he is capable of defeating Nika before awakening his true power with only his bare hands, but unmotiviated to fight, he could be defeated by a weak Hollow. Even at less than half strength, his spiritual energy is still comparable to a Captain-level fighter. His spiritual energy is rather difficult for him to control as he has no formal training in controlling it. Due to this and that he has far more spiritual energy than his small and waifish body can consciously contain, it leaks out constantly, preventing him from hiding it and effectively making stealth impossible when dealing with other spiritually-aware beings. In his first battle against Nika, his spiritual energy manifested in the form of massive wings of white light, which have galaxies and stars imbued in them. The wings of light combined with Gai's overwhelming power and presence creates a powerful psychological effect on those who see him. However, the wings' enormous reishi output is too inefficient and drains Gai of all of his reiatsu. The wings can also be used as a defense mechanism. He commonly uses his reiatsu to drastically augment the strength of his punches.

• Demon-Slayer Spiritual Energy: Gai's spiritual energy carries a "demon-slayer"-esque effect; only recently was he able to activate this ability permanently. This spiritual energy acts as a powerful barrier against demonic corruption, as well as darkness-aligned attacks, the former of which is how Gai has been able to stave off the Envoy of Destruction's corrupting influence. This spiritual energy is also apparent within his attacks, which are incredibly effective against corrupted beings, Tenjōgekido, Crimson Sovereigns, Hollows, Arrancar, and Visored; or any individual which has darkness-aligned abilities. This spiritual energy is strong enough to permanently damage a deity, some of which can usually recover from even the most life-threatening damage, which is how Gai was even able damage Kazuma. This "demon-slayer" spiritual energy, along with Renkyotō make Gai a large threat to his opponents. All of Gai's Renkyotō techniques as well as his Zanpakutō carry his spiritual energy, while Renkyotō is already incredibly effective against dark beings, his demon-slayer spiritual energy doubles this effectiveness, in addition to Gai's incredible strength, allows Gai to defeat most dark beings with ease.
• Anki (暗記, "Memorization"): Thanks to his high intellect and way of learning, Gai can instantly develop new applications of many of his pre-existing techniques to deal with threats as his body dynamically learns from experience. This power is one of the main reasons why Gai is so deadly; as it allows Gai to evolve beyond any limit, which allows him to learn and predict moves of opponents he faces. As Gai fights, he learns from his opponent's movements, attack patterns, abilities, and techniques. This ability gives Gai an increasing advantage over many other foes, as counter tactics can be produced very quickly.

File:Gai Stats.png

Gai's Former Battle Data, clockwise. Top: Offense (100), Top Right: Defense (30), Bottom Right: Mobility (60), Bottom: Kidō/Reiatsu (0), Bottom Left: Intelligence (90), Top Left: Physical Strength (100). Total: 520/600

Former Stats

Offense	Defense	Mobility	Reiatsu	Intelligence	Physical Strength	Other
100	50	100	100	70	100	520/600

Zanpakutō

"Click" to show information about Gai's former Zanpakutō, Gaikaōtori 

Gaikaōtori (凱歌凰, "Victory Phoenix") is the name of the Zanpakutō that Gai Nagareboshi evolved from Aitashoshin. Despite looking similar to a Zanpakutō, it is something "altogether different"; as it was not borne from Gai's soul, rather his desire to protect Kurenai. As it turns out, Gaikaōtori is the prototype to Kōshinhōō. Because of its incredible power, the weapon was sealed away in stasis; the other Zanpakutō were derived from it; though the design was simplified, resulting in the other Zanpakutō, as it was considered too powerful for any user, with its variants deliberately downgraded since Kazuma decided that Gaikaōtori was too powerful for anyone to be trusted with. After touching it, Gai absorbed the blade into the Infernox Core. When summoning it, Gai transmutes his entire left arm into a giant broadly bladed sword with carvings and a hollow middle; the weapon's blade's edge displays two phoenix wings, and its hilt bears two angel wings, contrasting the bat wings that comprise Aitashoshin's handle. The pommel is fashioned in the shape of the Kanji for "light" (光), corresponding to Aitashoshin's kanji for "darkness". When it is summoned by Gai, Gaikaōtori emerges in a bright, yellowish-white light. In doing so, his left shoulder is capped with a cross-shaped emblem. It is the first Zanpakutō in existence of its kind. Hence, it is being called "the best Zanpakutō in the world" in its debut.

Appearance: See Nika Kazoraem.

Personality: See Nika Kazoraem.

Shikai: Activated by the phrase, "Let's do it!" (やってヤルゼ, "Yatte yaruze!"), Gaikaōtori becomes a a beautiful sword, having a red crystal in it's hilt, having the kanji for "eagle" across the blade, and an image of an eagle engraved backwards on the hilt, the tail sticking out slightly on the blade, and the head on the handle. The pommel has an emerald in it, and the rain-guard has eagle's wings on the sides. This weapon is also capable of three distinctive modes of function: Sword Mode, Scythe Mode, and Revolver Mode, where the sword transforms and reforms itself to a sword, scythe, or a revolver pistol respectively. It's whole form and construction are unique; it is considered a masterpiece. It possesses the power to repel evil, causing its blade to sparkle with a mystical light. Despite its size, Gai wields the weapon with an unorthodox reversed grip, and he usually carries it in a guitar case, so as not to attract unwanted attention.

During his fight with Hizashi Yoshi, Gaikaōtori takes on its true form; a sleek, thin jet-black arm which is clad in armour and possesses razor-sharp claws. At his scapula-joint, it possesses a cyan, supernatural glow which fashions itself into a large phoenix-like flaming wing. Upon the back of his hand, there is the kanji for "light" (光). It possesses high-speed spinning gear parts around Gai's wrist, which allows acceleration and spinning of his spiritual power to boost his attack power drastically. At Gai's decision, unlike most Zanpakutō, which can be sealed into their original form, Gaikaōtori is always in its Shikai form.

Shikai Special Abilities: Gaikaōtori becomes imbued with Gai's own newly awakened psychic powers in its released stage, granting him multiple abilities, such as telekinesis. Gai has mentioned that he is unsure of the exact workings and limits of Gaikaōtori's powers. Gai uses this ability to manipulate physical objects; he is able to grasp an object and hurl it at his targets great distances with tremendous force. He can also project energy blasts that can bring harm to others and he is able to stun his targets by materializing a sphere of psychic energy around himself. For movement, he is able to manipulate himself by levitating in the air to fly at tremendous speeds which are comparable to the highest Shunpo speeds. He can also teleport short distances, and can control anything at an spiritual level, sans his foes. It should be noted that Gai can still utilize Gaikaōtori's abilities even though it is now part of him; the Power Amplification in particular.

• Reflection: Gaikaōtori, using telekinesis, is able to move matter with the mind without exerting any physical force upon the items. Mostly, Gai is able to draw many projectile attacks into his reach and reflect them; giving the appearance that he is able to "catch and return" his foe's attacks, but in reality, Gaikaōtori is attracting the projectile to its blade by using Gai's spiritual energy as a "positive magnet", and then repulsing the projectile by reverse engineering Gai's spiritual energy as a "negative magnet", accelerating the speed at which the projectile is sent back to its original caster sevenfold by applying a vector to them.
• Seiōha Shadanki (星煌刃遮断器, "Starbright Breaker"): Seiōha Shadanki is a variant of Gai's trademark Shining Onslaught (炯然躍進, "Keizen Yakushin"). In its first use, Gai refers to Seiōha Shadanki as "Shining Onslaught—Gaikaōtori version". This iteration of Shining Onslaught is a reiatsu collection attack and thus becomes far more powerful the later it's used, and it is Gai's most powerful attack in Shikai. Seiōha Shadanki is most useful when activated towards the end of a battle between high-level opponents, since the area will be saturated with excess energy from their attacks. It is a recycling of the reishi just used and spread over the battlefield. Therefore, even though Gai has been exhausted from reishi, the ability can still be invoked. Gai condenses stray spiritual energy in the area into his Zanpakutō, in addition to the spiritual energy he has absorbed with Gaikaōtori, as well as Gai's own immense spiritual energy, intensifying the spiritual energy by convergence and acceleration, before unleashing it all in the form of a spinning, 'X'-shaped blast of light-cyan spiritual energy. Gai is also able to charge-up this technique to produce considerably more damage. It is capable of large-scale destruction with high penetrating power. With Gaikaōtori, the power, speed, blast area, force, and size of the Seiōha Shadanki is far beyond any other application of the technique; to point of seriously harming a Tenjougekido, which are stated to be impossible to harm unless their opponent is the Soul King, a Seishin, or another Tenjōgekido. Gai's tremendous speed allows him to move faster than the Seiōha Shadanki itself, allowing him to fire multiple blasts from different directions.
  • Shining Storm (炯然嵐, "Keizen Arashi"): Upon Shining Onslaught's formation, Gai divides the technique into the form of several golden spheres of pure energy and with a single hand gesture, he sends them crashing down upon the landscape in a similar manner to meteors descending to the earth; these spheres cover a wide range. Gai is able to launch them directly at his foes from the original Shining Onslaught; he is also able to converge the spheres into the original, which causes it to grow in size before detonating in a titanic explosion which harms all that is in a fifty meter radius sans the sole exception of Gai himself like a miniature supernova. Shining Storm is most useful when activated towards the end of a battle between high-level opponents, since the area will be saturated with excess energy from their attacks. It is a recycling of the spiritual energy just used and spread over the battlefield. Therefore, even though Gai has been exhausted from spiritual energy, the ability can still be invoked.
  • Shining Onslaught (炯然躍進, "Keizen Yakushin"): Gai's signature attack, adapted for close-range use. Through continuous spiritual energy compression and the spinning loops of his Shikai form rotating at astounding speeds, Gai compresses the energy of Seiōha Shadanki around his fist. In addition, Gai condenses stray spiritual energy in the area into his fist, in addition to the spiritual energy he has absorbed with Gaikaōtori, as well as Gai's own immense spiritual energy, intensifying the spiritual energy by convergence and acceleration, turning his fist a shining golden. This attack promises absolute destruction, which is granted by causing friction with the hydrogen in the air by the sheer ferocity of the blow, generating a medium-sized explosion upon impact. The resulting resonance of the energy-imbued fist can crush the target and is particularly dangerous to spiritual beings of divine origin, such as Seishin, as Masato's example demonstrated. It is capable of tearing through sekki-seki and even through weak Kidō. Visually, this technique is a reference to the infamous Shining Finger utilized by the Shining Gundam in Mobile Fighter G Gundam- Gai even tells his opponent that he was watching "some mecha anime" while creating the attack. To further hammer this fact in, Gai has often declared while utilizing this attack, "This hand of mine glows with an awesome power. It’s burning grip tells me to defeat you! Now here I go, Shining Onslaught!" (この私の手は、圧倒的なパワーを点灯します。それの書き込みのグリップを敗北するよう指示 ！ここに行く今、炯然躍進！, "Watashi no kono te ga hikatte unaru! Omae wo taose to kagayaki sakebu! Hissatsu, Keizen Yakushin!"). After Shining Onslaught, Gai can subsequently discharge the remaining energy in an attack called "Blazing Finale", where the energy flies off his fist in a wave of spiritual energy towards his foe.
    • Shining Onslaught Sword (炯然躍進剣, "Keizen Yakushin Ken"): A more powerful variant of Shining Onslaught; Gai concentrates the energy of Shining Onslaught, onto Gaikaōtori's sword form, causing the blade to erupt in golden energy, making it seem as if the blade was made up of nothing but golden energy. The length of the sword increases dramatically, to become five times Gai's size; coincidentally, it becomes similar to Byakuya Senmetsuken in composition and effect, allowing Gai to cut through anything; Gai often utilizes this by slamming down upon his foe, bisecting them. However, this technique is unreliable as the sheer amount of spiritual energy needed often blows up in Gai's face, leading this attack to be seldom seen. Gai can also increase the length of this blade, until it is as large as a skyscraper. In addition, Gai can ride on this blade, before he sends it flying at great speeds at his foe, and attacks them upon the moment of impact.
• Absorption: The moment that the spiritons are broken down, Gai utilizes Gaikaōtori's psychic powers once again to transform his spiritual pressure into a "positive magnet", though this time, it draws in the spiritual particles dissolved by its Reflection ability as Gai allows his fluctuating spiritual energy to accept the foreign energy, converging it at a single point and consuming it, adding it to his own spiritual reserves. Once Gaikaōtori absorbs the spiritual energy, it becomes Gai's to use against his opponents as he chooses. There are several limitations to this ability; Gaikaōtori cannot absorb too much supernatural energy, or else all the energy absorbed will be expelled and returned to their owners, along with a portion of Gai's own spiritual energy.
• Instant Analysis of Foe's Capabilities: Through a combination of telepathy and psychometry, Gai is able to instantly analyze his opponent's capabilities. This analysis goes as deep as making an instant record of his foe's powers, personality, and skills. However, this analysis does not extend to revealing his foe's weaknesses and fears, leaving Gai to have to discern his foe's low points by himself; though such a thorough scan does provide more than a few hints. Gai is further capable of analyzing a technique's reishi composition as well as the subject's muscle movements when they use the technique, by simply timing it right he could cancel the technique out instantly by slicing it. However, this only works for "weak" techniques, and has zero effect upon powerful techniques.
• Power Amplification: An unusual phenomena, minute by minute, Gai's spiritual energy influences his psychic powers, augmenting the powers which Gaikaōtori every minute, doubling it. This is done by applying his spiritual energy to the very core of his Zanpakutō, causing a chain reaction which multiplies its power exponentially. In return, his psychic powers can interact with his spiritual energy and physical power, amplifying that as well, making Gai far faster, stronger, and more resilient as the battle progresses, in addition to increasing his skill parameters sans his spiritual energy. In addition, Gai can transfer the amplified power to any being or object he desires, granting him a decent support role, though Gai being Gai, this is rarely done. However, such a powerful ability has a limit; if Gai's power is boosted too much, then it will revert to the starting point as he has been overloaded. In Bankai, this ability is still retained, however it boosts every ten seconds, and Gai can hold the power for much longer.

Bankai: Chōetsu Gaikaōtori (超越凱歌凰, "Transcendency Victory Phoenix", alternately "Victory Phoenix Excellion"): In Bankai, Gaikaōtori itself does not change, however; Gai himself does. Gai's eyes turn golden, and he wears a white striped shirt, grey pants and has various plates scattered over his arms, legs and hips. His shoulders are bare and have a gear shaped symbols on each side. His upper arms have black, silver and gold rings just below the gear symbols, and his lower arms have black belts just below the rings. He has armoured gloves and shoes, both shine a brilliant white. Six swords of light float behind his back. Similar to his Ruination Break form, there are triangular shaped marks on each side of his face. Specks of light hover around Gai's legs. There is also a blue magical mist surrounding Gai's feet and turns into two light blue wisps, one rising from each foot, when Gai slides across of landscape. These wisps circle Gai in a manner similar to a double helix when he is stationary. Pale yellow sparkles constantly fall off Gai and create somewhat of a streak behind him when hovering. Also, Gaikaōtori, which is floating behind him seems to have deep yellow electricity flowing through it.

Bankai Special Abilities: In Bankai, Gaikaōtori retains the same abilities it had in Shikai, though they are explosively augmented, or rather compressed and refined to the point that he can take down Masato Nagareboshi's Anteishi Setsura, Kūkūten Tenshitō Kōshinhōō. In addition, his psychic powers are increased to the point that it can be speculated that Gai is one of the greatest psychics to ever exist among the Mototsu. In this form, Gaikaōtori is also capable of numerous special attacks, some of which are improvised on a moment's notice by Gai.

• Nullification and Absorption: Replacing "Reflection", nullification and absorption forces any spiritual attack that touches Gaikaōtori's blade or Gai's fist scatters to the winds. This is done by exerting the full force of Gai's psychic powers upon the attack's very core, causing a chain reaction that reverts the technique to naught as it dissipates upon contact with the weapon, essentially allowing Gai to dispel nearly any type of spiritual energy.
• Enhanced Bankai Duration: As with its nullification and absorption ability and the fact that Chōetsu Gaikaōtori is constantly absorbing stray spiritual energy from the environment, Gai's Bankai, theoretically, has a near infinite duration. This, obviously, allows him to fight far longer than other foes of his level. Even though this is a small scale application, during his final encounter with Masato, which includes activating his Bankai for the first time, Gai continuously stayed in his Bankai state for six days.
• Psychic-Assisted Ultra-Speed Combat: Utilizing his psychic powers as a fulcrum, Gai condenses stray spiritual energy in the area into his Zanpakutō, in addition to the spiritual energy he has absorbed with Gaikaōtori, as well as Gai's own immense spiritual energy to its smallest point, intensifying the spiritual energy by convergence and acceleration, before letting out this energy to allow him to move at speeds where the human eye can no longer track him. As Chōetsu Gaikaōtori constantly continues to absorb and compress stray spiritual energy, it can be theorized that Gai can keep up this speed as long as he wishes. It should be noted that the expansion of this energy produces a crimson sphere of psychic power solidified spiritual energy, causing it to become essentially an energy ball that surrounds him as he moves. Gai mainly utilizes this to fly in like a meteor, dealing damage as he moves.
• Meikyō: Sakura (明鏡桜, "Soul Mirror: Cherry Blossoms"): A drastically augmented and enhanced Meikyō; utilizing his Seishin ability of light manipulation, Gai causes bilocation. However, unlike the regular Meikyō; Sakura allows Gai to alter the foe's perception in order to force them to believe that there are several dozen duplicates of himself before his foe. The number is dependant upon the amount of spiritual energy Gai exerts, so at peak condition, it could be a few hundred duplicates. They think and attack independently of Gai, or if Gai so wishes, they can work at his word. These replicas have many things in common with the real deal; including sharing the exact same spiritual energy as him, so in most cases, it is near impossible to distinguish them from Gai Nagareboshi. They possess all of Gai's abilities, allowing Gai to launch small-scale assaults on his foes. This ability can be utilized in tandem with Gai's speed enhancement, creating a chaotic volley of charging attacks which are random in movement.
• Erupting Burning Onslaught (爆熱祢津躍進, "Bakunetsu Yakushin"): The natural evolution of Shining Onslaught, one step before the ultimate variation, Noir Onslaught. Erupting Burning Onslaught comes in two flavours; the regular sword beam, and the close range application. It should be noted, that instead of the usual golden or the psychic-assisted cyan, Erupting Burning Onslaught is a feverish crimson that appears to be burning. It focuses all the energy in Gai's body into his hand or his blade, before releasing in a single burst. It has the power to tear through nearly anything, and is easily one of Gai's most powerful attacks. Unlike the rest of Gai's techniques, Erupting Burning Onslaught is able to contain many a highly destructive attack utilized by many of his foes that can destroy a large radius of the surroundings upon. This is because the flaming wing upon Gai's arm absorbs the explosion and use it as kinetic energy, rendering that reality-shattering attack null and void. Like the close-range Shining Onslaught, Erupting Burning Onslaught is a reference to the Burning Finger of the God Gundam in Mobile Fighter G Gundam. It has an incantation, "This hand of mine is burning red! Its loud roar tells me to grasp victory!" (この私の手は、赤い書き込みです ！その大きな咆哮勝利を把握するよう指示, 爆熱祢津躍進！, "Watashi no kono te ga Makka ni Moeru!! Shouri wo tsukameto todoroki sakebu! Bakunetsu Yakushin!")
  • Bakunetsu Zantaifū (爆熱祢津軍台風, "Erupting Burning Slash Typhoon"): A variant of Erupting Burning Onslaught, designed to hit from even further away with even more force. After condensing the energy of the Erupting Burning Onslaught further to its utmost limit, Gai swings his sword forward or punches forward, releasing all of that spiritual energy in the form of a vortex of blazing spiritual energy. This attack inflicts wind elemental damage as well as fire elemental damage at the same time; it should be noted that all while the energy that constructs the vortex causes friction with the air, exploding violently every second.
• Full Throttle: Shining Onslaught (全開・炯然躍進, "Zenkai: Keizen Yakushin"): A tornado of reishi amasses around the blade or gauntlet of Chōetsu Gaikaōtori, which begins to rotate rapidly, creating a shrilling howl. Chōetsu Gaikaōtori begins to swallow, compress, and accelerate wind pressure into a fake space-time dislocation capable of pulverizing any opposition in the form of a crushing torrent, a spiraling arrow-like beam of wind. Grinding at the laws of the universe with its power, it creates a rip in time and space extending from the earth to the sky to pierce the nature of Soul Society itself; an abyss capable of crushing all of creation and returning it to nothingness is opened. The rift created by this attack is said to be a look at the "truth" of what existed before Soul Society. This attack relies on the indiscriminate targeting of Chōetsu Gaikaōtori to track down the opponent's reiatsu. Gai can move the attack in any direction, or stop it in mid-flight and with a snap of his fingers, detonate it any time he wishes. Nanaya has stated Gai's Full Throttle: Shining Onslaught to be the original form of the Shining Onslaught and "The True Shining Onslaught" (真の炯然躍進, "Shin no Keizen Yakushin").
  • An alternate version of Full Throttle: Shining Onslaught is shown during Gai's battle with Demiourgos. Gai focuses the Full Throttle: Shining Onslaught on his person, absorbing the force of the reishi to the point where his power multiplies by several factors. Gai is then rocket-propelled towards the opponent like a missile, striking them with a corkscrew kick, before bursting through his opponent's body. The moment that he contacts with his foe, he cuts off their "Saketsu" (鎖結, "Chain Binding") and "Hakusui" (鎖結, "Soul Sleep"), dealing no physical damage. However, this attack takes a severe toll upon Gai's body, to the point that he needed to rest for several weeks after the battle. After said battle, Gai resolved to never use such a fearsome application again, except he broke it out one more time during his battle with his father, the final fight of Rising Phoenix as a decisive blow.
• Noir Onslaught (黒躍進, "Kuro Yakushin"): An upgraded Shining Onslaught; it is unleashed in the same manner as the original, except now it takes upon a menacing jet-black colour. As reflecting Gai's mindset when he first utilizes this technique, Noir Onslaught plunges any and all exposed light into deep darkness from which there is little hopes to escape from. Upon contact with a foe, Noir Onslaught subjugates anyone and anything in its blast area to a fierce assault of downward forces, making it seem as if gravity had intensified to the point that it could kill someone just to make a single step; after this effect occurs, the downward forces converge, before taking the form of pure energy and erupting into a pitch-black pillar which rises to the heavens in an instant, piercing the sky. By absorbing the energy of Noir Onslaught, it enables Gai to be at one with the departed souls of those who are close to him, and it enabled his spirit to take physical form in order to fight and beat Masato to an inch of his life almost effortlessly even though he was in a coma. "Noir" is French for "black"; in this case, it refers to "film noir", a rather dark outlet of films filled to the brim with despair-inducing content—reflecting the despair that motivated Gai to journey upon a rampage of revenge in retaliation for Nika's death. It should be noted, that Noir Onslaught is without a doubt, the strongest attack in Rising Phoenix; and because of its extreme power, there is no proper way of halting its impact and effect as of yet.

Anteishi Setsura: Shinkō no Karehōōtei (安定し雪羅・真紅の赫鳳凰帝, "Stabilized Second Shift: True Crimson Illumination Phoenix Emperor"): In his Anteishi Setsura, Gai gains a long, two-tailed crimson trenchcoat and a white sleeveless striped shirt that splits before his belly button, trailing down into two halves that reaches down to his thighs, with a black and orange mantle adorning his back. He wears purple cargo pants with golden armour on the sides, fanning out into two blade-like extensions. He acquires golden detached sleeves, his upper arms have white, gold and silver rings just below the gear symbols, and his lower arms have black belts just below the rings. He wears armoured shoes. His body becomes covered in scales, and his pupils contract. He also possesses six multicoloured seraphic wings. All in all, Shinkō no Karehōōtei appears similar to Gai's Bankai Chōetsu Gaikaōtori, and Nika's Resurrección, Vectoriales- this is because it was achieved by utilizing Nika's cracked Scarlet Core- her only remains after her death in Gai's arms and scanning it over Gaikaōtori to achieve such tremendous power.

"Click" to show information about Kōshinhōō, Gai's second most recent former Zanpakutō 

Kōshinhōō (高進鳳凰, "Rising Phoenix"), also known as Avuārāku (アヴァラーク, "Avalark") is the name of Gai's true Zanpakutō, and the final evolution of the Infernox Core, further powered up by Kazuma's soul. Kōshinhōō is the true form of a combination of the Infernox Core, the power of Kazuma's soul Gai's resolve given form. Seeing as the weapon is the true form of Gai's soul, Kōshinhōō plays a unique and critical role in Gai's survival, meaning if it is destroyed, or if Gai is separated from it, it results in the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid's death. When sealed, Kōshinhōō takes the form of an exquisite broadsword the length of a surfboard with a large golden cross emblazoned on the face of the silver blade. The sword's hilt is golden with phoenix wings at on the sides, and the pommel is shaped like a small golden cross with a phoenix-wing-shaped shard, which is the Infernox Core, in the middle. The end of the cross has a red ribbon tied to it. Along the cross emblazoned on the blade, there are several interesting symbols. It has an ornately etched base, but its most unique feature is that it has been specially customized with a motorcycle-like gear shift. Kōshinhōō can cut what cannot be cut, and because of its origins, it is impossible to replicate the weapon and its abilities in any way, shape or form. Gai is shown with the ability to telepathically recall Kōshinhōō to himself, should it be separated from his body. Kōshinhōō receives an impressive increase in strength whenever someone Gai cares about is in danger; this is due to the weapon being Gai's resolve to protect all he cares about given tangible form. In addition, if Gai has a major disadvantage against a stronger opponent, Kōshinhōō allows him to easily learn from past battles, allowing counter tactics to be produced very quickly, and predict the moves of the opponents he faces. Unlike Gai's other Zanpakutō, Kōshinhōō is intelligent, self-aware and responds to Gai's wishes, granting Gai Anteishi Setsura so that he obtains the strength required to defeat Masato. However, it should be noted that it does not have a Zanpakutō Spirit.

Shikai: Kōshinhōō's release command is "Let's do it!" (やってヤルゼ, "Yatte yaruze!"). In Shikai, Kōshinhōō has the ability to neutralize the regenerative abilities of Gai's foes. It takes the form of a spear-lance with a large decorative cloth attached. The cloth is turned into an force of spiritual energy when it resonates with Gai's willpower. The cloth's spiritual energy can be used as propulsive kinetic energy for forward charging, or, dissipating the gravitational forces of a fall.

Shikai Special Abilities: While utilizing his Zanpakutō, Kazuma's soul supplements Gai's own, giving him a vast increase in both strength and speed. Kōshinhōō's special ability is to turn anything, including Gai's opponent's abilities, back to the starting point upon contact with the blade, also allowing Gai's to dispel nearly any form of supernatural energy. This ability acts more like a "spiritual poison", a fast acting one that breaks spiritual energy apart. The energy is not being dispersed, but it is literally being killed. Gai has mentioned that he is unsure of the exact workings and limits of Kōshinhōō's powers. On rare occasions, this ability will falter, thus causing the opponent's ability to strike Gai. As a byproduct of this negation ability, Gai is capable of analyzing his opponent's weapon's reishi composition, obtaining information on most of its strengths and weaknesses. As a secondary ability, Kōshinhōō is capable of performing a variety of golden-coloured reiryoku techniques, derived from his trademark Shining Onslaught, which also carry Kōshinhōō's negation ability.

• Shining Onslaught (炯然躍進, "Keizen Yakushin"): Shining Onslaught is Gai's signature technique, and the most used of all his attacks. Unlike most Zanpakutō abilities, this technique can be used in Kōshinhōō's sealed state, as proof of Gai's skill. Gai is capable of unleashing spinning, 'X'-shaped blasts of golden feather-like spiritual energy. Unlike Kakusei's version, Kōshinhōō's Shining Onslaught has no flaws; as Gai is able to utilize it without limit. With Kōshinhōō, the power, speed, blast area, force, and size of the Shining Onslaught is far beyond any other application of the technique; to point of seriously harming a Tenjōgekido, which are stated to be impossible to harm unless their opponent is the Soul King, a Seishin, or another Tenjōgekido. Gai's tremendous speed allows him to move faster than the Shining Onslaught itself, allowing him to fire multiple blasts from different directions. Shining Onslaught is a powerful technique with great force, capable of causing large-scale damage and destruction, though unlike Gai's multitude of previous Zanpakutō; it is his only attack, though he has branched it out into several variants. During his fight with Gūtara Kiyō, Gūtara compared this new Shining Onslaught to Kazuma's Full Throttle: Shining Onslaught in terms of sheer power.
• Kyōkeizenga (鏡炯然牙, "Mirror Shining Fang"): Gai can use Shining Onslaught as a reflective technique. It allows Gai to reverse the reishi of the regular Shining Onslaught, and turn it into an attack which defends instead of harms, though utilizing it in such an unorthodox method is heavily draining to his spiritual energy. Activation of this technique makes it necessary for Gai to provide double the reiatsu to form the shield due to its unique construction, and if it is struck, he will feel pain and receive damage in accordance. Gai can also materialize it from a distance, allowing him to shield Hizashi from Arazomekanki without either of them realizing it. This wall can also disperse the resultant force of an impact at the instant of receiving an attack with the Shining Onslaught as a concentrated explosion that is automatically returned along the attack's opposing trajectory.
• Oku Keizenga (億炯然牙, "Hundred Million Shining Fang"): The Oku Keizenga embodies the idea that quantity has a quality all its own. Rather than a single Shining Onslaught, Gai unleashes an insane amount of Shining Onslaught spewing out of Kōshinhōō at a speed faster than light. Unlike the Shikai Shining Onslaught, which can only go in one direction, Gai can mentally stop the Shining Onslaught released by Oku Keizenga and point them in another direction if the opponent dodges. Gai can also utilize Oku Keizenga in a different manner; starting by launching a single Shining Onslaught. Quickly, Gai releases a second Shining Onslaught into the first, which refracts the blast into billions of Shining Onslaught.
• Byakuya Senmetsuken (白夜殲滅剣, "Midnight Sun Annihilation Sword"): Gai amasses white light on his blade which is formed through condensing stray reishi onto Kōshinhōō, giving it the look of a gigantic white feather, thus giving Kōshinhōō the ability to cut through anything. He often uses this as a series of seven consecutive blows, called "Kanki Tenshōku" (喚起天翔駆, "Evocation Soaring Drive") where Gai slashes his opponent several times from different angles at incomprehensible speeds, with each slash causing a fiery explosion, before blasting through them. This attack is most useful when activated towards the end of a battle between high-level opponents, since the area will be saturated with excess energy from their attacks. It is a recycling of the reishi just used and spread over the battlefield. Therefore, even though Gai has been exhausted from reishi, the ability can still be invoked.
• Ultra-Speed Combat: Gai wrests command of the reishi that he generates upon releasing, and compresses it to its smallest point, allowing him to perform ultra-speed combat, moving at a speed faster than the human eye can comprehend. Even if someone could detect his trajectory, it is near impossible to catch him. Gai's speed appears to create up to eight doubles of himself while in motion. These doubles are not illusory; the Mototsu-Seishin hybrid is moving at a speed between different positions that is faster than the speed of sound. As such, were all the doubles to attack at once, it would mean that Gai is attacking from all those positions simultaneously, giving him incredible destructive power. Similarly, because of this same speed, attacking the doubles would be futile as Gai would have moved long before the attack even reaches him. Gai also becomes fast enough to outrun his own Shining Onslaught, allowing him to strike and enhance them or launch simultaneous attacks at the opponent from various angles.
• Enhanced Spiritual Power: When utilizing his Shikai, the spiritual power Gai possesses becomes even greater than before, as it ceases to fluctuate and merges with Kazuma's own. During Gai's fight with Gūtara, Nika notes that the volume, concentration, and catastrophic nature of his reiatsu didn't seem like that of a Mototsu or Seishin but more like she was watching Gai and Kazuma obliterate Gūtara in unison. Additionally, Gūtara commented that his reiatsu was almost exactly the same as Kazuma's. In Shikai, Gai's reiatsu takes the shape of a golden phoenix overlapping him.
• Enhanced Strength: In Shikai, Gai was able to run circles around Gūtara Kiyō with little effort, and put Demiourgos on the defensive with merely brute force. He can cleave through structures with ease. He effortlessly swatted Nika's maximum-powered Cero Oscuras away with a single hand. Later after Nika took on her Arazomekanki form, Gai was even able to somewhat crack her blade with a single slash. A singular butterfly kick was powerful enough to shatter Gūtara's ribcage.
• Enhanced Endurance and Durability: Releasing his Zanpakutō causes Gai to become far more resistant in both physical and spiritual terms; Gai even states that it feels as if "Kazuma is in control of my [Gai's] body". Gai's enhanced durability is best shown when he was blown through various structures during his fight with Arazomekanki. Later, Gai shielded Hizashi from a barrage of Arazomekanki's chains which have enough destructive force to destroy mountains. Even after taking this barrage, he was still able to fight and defeat Arazomekanki, even destroying a supernova with a running thrust, breaking through it and taking the win.

Bankai: Onmyōshikō no Kōshinhōō (陰陽至高の高進鳳凰, "Yin and Yang Supremacy of the Rising Phoenix"): Kōshinhōō's Bankai is considered completely out of the ordinary for any Zanpakutō. Unlike most other Bankai forms, which usually create some sort of massive creature or effect, Gai's attire changes drastically. Gai now wears a white trenchcoat that is slightly tattered at the end, the trim of the coat shaped like fleur-de-lis, and the shoulders are black and slightly grey. The tail of the trenchcoat and the arms have black and red flames on the end and the right arm is held together by belts. The trenchcoat has fur trim on the collar, and the back of the trenchcoat is cut open, exposing his sculpted back lines. Gai wears a black glove on his left hand, covering the Infernox Core, and a length of chain spirals up his arm from said glove. Gai wears tight black shorts, and plates attached to simple, thigh-high boots with high heels which reach up to about halfway up his thighs, leaving a small area of bare skin on his upper thighs. Gai completes this attire with pointed, armored, silver boots with a sharp "hook" on the outer side of each. Due to Kazuma Nagareboshi's Bankai, Kotoamatsukami Tenjōmukyū, influencing this form, Onmyōshikō no Kōshinhōō sports several pieces of armour; most notably a crimson breastplate resembling an upside-down crescent moon and jagged protrusions near his upper legs and hips. Out of his back, four large angelic and crimson wings sprout; these wings are composed of the same reishi-seeking golden flames that Kazuma creates with Kotoamatsukami.

As with Gai's appearance; the blade of Kōshinhōō also undergoes a change, as the blade disappears from the hilt; instead, a torrent of pure destructive reishi erupts from the hilt, becoming a lightsaber-like beam weapon which is a fluid-formed blade, less like a blade in the actual sense. Because of its unique properties, it can absorb, channel, amplify and emit incoming reishi-formed attacks. The reishi which forms the blade has the properties of the Zero Effect. As the reishi particles change to heat, the heat is transferred to whatever is in contact at the moment. With this feature, it is possible to attack at high temperatures that cannot be endured by the blade. The guard is of a crown-like shape, while becoming curved and jagged. Onmyōshikō no Kōshinhōō's chain is attached to the base of the sword's hilt, and also to Gai's glove, forming a wide loop, which spirals up the length of his left arm.

Bankai Special Abilities: Not Yet Revealed.

• Augmented Shining Onslaught: Onmyōshikō no Kōshinhōō retains the use of Shining Onslaught and can be used in the same manners, but can be used in an enhanced form, with explosively augmented power and speed. Onmyōshikō no Kōshinhōō converts Gai's reiatsu into Kazuma's reiatsu, and then intensifies the energy by convergence and acceleration. With a single whip of the massive blade, Gai unleashes a brilliant white jagged arc which has two angelic wings on each side that flows out of the blade and fires at an opponent in the arc of the sword's swing. When utilized at full power, it gives off the appearance of a phoenix rising from the ashes upon being fired from the blade. Gai is also able to charge-up this technique to produce considerably more damage. This new Shining Onslaught was shown to have enough power to completely tear through Gūtara's "Continuous Rise" ability, and its blast was able to demolish a large radius of Seireitei and leave behind a huge crater. Gai can control the flight path of this attack. During that battle, Gai refers to this attack as "Kōshiga Yakushin" (光子牙躍進, "Photon Fang Onslaught"), referring to the attack's glistening colour.
• Light-Speed Combat: In Bankai, Gai's already formidable speed is greatly enhanced, to the point of being able to move at the speed of light. During his second battle against Arazomekanki, Gai's speed was great enough to completely overwhelm his opponent, who was unable to follow Gai's movements and was forced completely on the defensive from his barrage of attacks. His attacks also become so swift that the opponent cannot even perceive them until after they are hit. This speed allows Gai to even time travel due to its faster-than-light speed properties; to the extent of allowing Gai to freely control time for the briefest of moments, moving in a similar manner to Kazuma's Itsumo Sonzai technique. The maximum range of this is unspecified, but Gai is able to travel back at least thousands of years to the time of the creation of the Tenjōgekido. Gai is also able to take objects and people back in time along with him.
• Incomprehensible Spiritual Power: In Bankai, Gai's spiritual power increases further. His reiatsu has become something completely new, having a unique feeling to it completely unfelt by any other. Gai's ability to sense reiatsu has increased greatly as he could sense Hizashi from Seireitei, while he was in Rukongai, and determine her current status. By achieving evolution into a dimension separate from his Mototsu and Seishin heritage, any and all races have become unable to feel Gai's reiatsu unless he voluntarily lowers his level and allows them to interfere, in the same way that a two-dimensional being is unable to interfere with a three-dimensional being. In this same way, Gai is standing in a dimension even higher than the one Kazuma and the Head Seishin are standing in.
• Devastating Strength: With a simple swing of his blade, Gai was able to destroy a mountain.
• Immense Endurance and Durability: In this form, Gai's endurance and durability have increased to the point that he can withstand standing in the epiccenter of an explosion with minimal damage sustained.
• Ryūki no Teika (隆起の低下, "Prominence Drop"): Gai sprouts phoenix wings, before flying into the air. Immediately afterward, Gai aims down at his foe and decends, manifesting blazing reishi on his legs to take the form of talons. As Gai impacts, these talons pierce his opponent as he swoops down like a bird on its prey to perform a flying drop kick. This kick carries the force of one hundred and eighty tonnes behind it.
• Hane Renda (羽根連打, "Feather Barrage"): Gai flares his spiritual pressure out to its fullest, generating an aura resembling the classic peacock feathers. This aura magnifies significantly in the span of a few moments, before more feathers spread and the "eyes" turn magenta within blue. Then, Gai launches the "eyes" at his opponents, which home in upon them, giving them little to no chance to escape unless it is physically impossible to harm them or a serious obstruction is in the way. Once they impact upon the opponent, these "eyes" explode spectacularly.
• Full Throttle: Shining Onslaught (全開・炯然躍進, "Zenkai: Keizen Yakushin"): A tornado of reishi amasses around the blade of Onmyōshikō no Kōshinhōō, which begins to rotate rapidly, creating a shrilling howl. Onmyōshikō no Kōshinhōō begins to swallow, compress, and accelerate wind pressure into a fake space-time dislocation capable of pulverizing any opposition in the form of a crushing torrent, a spiraling arrow-like beam of wind. Grinding at the laws of the universe with its power, it creates a rip in time and space extending from the earth to the sky to pierce the nature of Soul Society itself; an abyss capable of crushing all of creation and returning it to nothingness is opened. The rift created by this attack is said to be a look at the "truth" of what existed before Soul Society. This attack relies on the indiscriminate targeting of Kōshinhōō to track down the opponent's reiatsu. Gai can move the attack in any direction, or stop it in mid-flight and with a snap of his fingers, detonate it any time he wishes. Nanaya has stated Gai's Full Throttle: Shining Onslaught to be the original form of the Shining Onslaught and "The True Shining Onslaught" (真の炯然躍進, "Shin no Keizen Yakushin").
  • An alternate version of Full Throttle: Shining Onslaught is shown during Gai's battle with Demiourgos. Gai focuses the Full Throttle: Shining Onslaught on his person, absorbing the force of the reishi to the point where his power multiplies by several factors. Gai is then rocket-propelled towards the opponent like a missile, striking them with a corkscrew kick, before bursting through his opponent's body. The moment that he contacts with his foe, he cuts off their "Saketsu" (鎖結, "Chain Binding") and "Hakusui" (鎖結, "Soul Sleep"), dealing no physical damage. However, this attack takes a severe toll upon Gai's body, to the point that he needed to rest for several weeks after the battle. After said battle, Gai resolved to never use such a fearsome application again, except he broke it out one more time during his battle with his father, the final fight of Rising Phoenix as a decisive blow.

Anteishi Setsura: Kūkūten Tenshitō Kōshinhōō (安定し雪羅・空空天天私闘高進鳳凰, "Stabilized Second Shift: The Rising Phoenix in the Void-filled Skies of Heaven's Personal Struggle"): Gai's ultimate form, which is achieved when intense wind blows against Gai and into Kōshinhōō and activates its full potential. It is designated as the "Shinka Saiteki Senshi" (進化最適戦士, "Evolved Perfect Warrior") as it represents Gai's full potential. The knowledge of this release allows Gai to instantly analyze the opponent's capabilities and weaknesses, before tuning his blade to deal quadruple damage to the opponent, imbuing it to increase its deadliness against said weaknesses. In this form, Kōshinhōō can separate into a large sword and a shield. The blade has the ability to neutralize the regenerative abilities of any foe. Through Kōshinhōō's ability to link Gai's two other blades, Suigetsu and Kakusei with itself, Kūkūten Tenshitō Kōshinhōō allows Gai to perform his attacks at triple power. In this form, Kūkūten Tenshitō Kōshinhōō retains the same form as it once had as Onmyōshikō no Kōshinhōō, though the trenchcoat, armour, and wings turn an illustrious golden, and two more wings are grown, which have galaxies and stars imbued in them. This visage likens Gai to the Seraphim of Judaism, who were said to be the highest ranking angels, and this was signified by their six wings. This imagery also casts Gai as a hero and saviour.

"Click" to show information about Suigetsu, one of Gai's former Zanpakutō 

Suigetsu (水月, "Water Moon") is the name of the premature form of the Infernox Core's Zanpakutō. When sealed, it takes the form of the Infernox Core, which is infused to Gai's newly-regenerated left arm, and appears as the symbol fixed upon the back of his left hand. The name "Suigetsu" comes from Kagirinai's challenge to Gai, as the older Mototsu boasted that Gai's mission of saving Yuu Kimitsu is futile. The moon reflected in water is something that can be seen but not held, as Gai can clearly see himself saving Yuu, but Kagirinai cannot see Gai actualizing this goal. Mitsuru called Suigetsu "a baby bird, soon to grow into a majestic phoenix as it spreads its wings", meaning that Suigetsu is the premature form of Kōshinhōō, Gai's true Zanpakutō.

Shikai: Activated with the phrase, "Let's do it!" (やってヤルゼ, "Yatte yaruze!"), the Infernox Core emits large amounts of reishi, which flows into Gai's left hand, before expanding and solidifying into the form of an oversized elegant cleaver which curves inwards at the backside of the tip, similar to a trench knife, with a black hilt, dark wrappings and a short length of chain at its base. It has an ornately etched based, but its most unique feature is that it has been specially customized with a motorcycle-like gear shift. The sword is taller than Gai is, 1.97 meters. The chain can be used to swing the weapon like a flail and toss it at opponents for mid-range combat.

Shikai Special Ability: In Shikai, Suigetsu is largely used for close combat, however, like other 'Getsu-type' Zanpakutō, it possesses the Getsuga Tenshō. Unlike most other 'Getsu-type' Zanpakutō, Gai can manipulate the Getsuga energy into several other additional attacks.

• Getsuga Tenshō (月牙天衝, "Moon Fang Heaven-Piercer"): Suigetsu absorbs Gai's reiatsu, and at the instant of the slash, Suigetsu releases highly condensed reishi at the tip of the blade in the form of a white crescent moon or in the shape of a wave. The Getsuga Tenshō is a powerful technique with great force, capable of causing large-scale damage and destruction. Gai has used this technique in several different manners, such as striking the ground to create an omnidirectional blast to knock away incoming attacks or slashing at the ground to upturn it and crush everything in its path. Gai compared the feeling of using Getsuga Tenshō to that of using Shining Onslaught, but later stated "it's far weaker". However, it is still capable of taking on a point-blank Inen Bakufū from a Mototsu by dissipating it with a blast of equal power, and it is capable of cutting through most materials and substances with relative ease. Gai can also fire faster versions of this attack that rely more on their speed and cutting power, rather than their explosive power. Unlike most other users of the technique, Gai is also able to charge up the Getsuga Tenshō to produce considerably more damage, which Gai calls "Kōshi Getsuga" (光子月牙, "Photon Moon Fang").
• Oku Getsuga (億月牙, "Hundred Million Moon Fang"): The Oku Getsuga embodies the idea that quantity has a quality all its own. Rather than a single Getsuga Tenshō, Gai unleashes an insane amount of Getsuga Tenshō spewing out of Suigetsu at a speed faster than light. Unlike the Shikai Getsuga Tenshō, which can only go in one direction, Gai can mentally stop the Getsuga Tenshō released by Oku Getsuga and point them in another direction if the opponent dodges, similar to the Kuroi Getsuga utilized by Ichigo Kurosaki. After using it once in the final battle of Part II against Arazomekanki, Oku Getsuga became Gai's signature attack with Suigetsu; utilizing it in each and every one of his battles afterwards. Gai can also utilize Oku Getsuga in a different manner; starting by launching a single Getsuga Tenshō. Quickly, Gai releases a second Getsuga Tenshō into the first, which refracts the blast into billions of Getsuga Tenshō.

"Click" to show information about Kakusei, Gai's first former Zanpakutō 

Kakusei (覚醒 lit. Awakening) was the name of Gai's Zanpakutō. Kakusei was the first Mototsu Zanpakutō in existance, and as Ayano theorizes, Kakusei could be the first Zanpakutō to ever come into existance, aside from the Soul King's Zanpakutō, due to the Mototsu race's longevity. Kakusei is regarded as an extremely powerful Zanpakutō due to its deadly ability which can be used even in its sealed state. According to Eienrai, Kakusei is currently one of the most powerful Zanpakutō in terms of potential, since it has "over one thousand abilities coursing through its blade", though its level is brought down due to Gai's slightly below-average skills, thus putting him on a slightly lower level than the rest of his team. Gai's Zanpakutō is referred to as Kakusei (廓清 lit. Purification) until it is shattered, and it is later revealed in Tenth Release- Memorization, its name is not Kakusei (廓清 lit. Purification) but Kakusei (覚醒 lit. Awakening). Kakusei, unlike most other Zanpakutō, allows Gai to learn and predict moves of opponents he faces even without being in its released state. In its sealed state, Kakusei is a large broadsword. It has a gear-hilt that can slide off the blade and be used as a flailing weapon. It has an ornately etched based, but its most unique feature is that it has been specially customized with a motorcycle-like gear shift. The sword is somewhat longer than most Zanpakutō, at about 1.7 meters long. Gai obtained Kakusei in Third Release- Kakusei, creating it from the remains of Tōshirō Hitsugaya's Hyōrinmaru, which was destroyed by Nika, with the help of Anki. Kakusei is one of the most mysterious Zanpakutō in the story, with its abilities being incomprehensible. In Turn Back the Pendulum, Kakusei's parameters have dramatically increased due to constant use of Setsura, but it is found out that Kakusei's releases fade 30 seconds sooner than normal. Its been revealed that he has a rare case and Kakusei will soon fade away, which comes to a head in the climax of Turn Back the Pendulum, where after Gai defeats Fumeina, Kakusei fades away and scatters to the winds.

• Shining Onslaught (炯然躍進, "Keizen Yakushin"): Shining Onslaught is Gai's signature technique, and the most used of all his attacks. Unlike most Zanpakutō abilities, this technique can be used in Kakusei's sealed state, as proof of Gai's skill. Gai is capable of unleashing spinning, 'X'-shaped blasts of white feather-like spiritual energy. However, the attack is flawed. The blast's power is inconsistent, as its appearance varies from jagged and threatening, to frail and laughable. If fired in succession, the 'X' becomes more cracked, with the attack becoming more fragile with crack it gains. If the attack has anything less then seven cracks, it can be shattered with ease. Gai came to the conclusion that if he fires seven shots in row, he leaves himself wide open to attack. Shining Onslaught is a powerful technique with great force, capable of causing large-scale damage and destruction. Gai has used this technique in several different manners, such as striking the ground to create an omnidirectional blast of white feathers to knock away incoming attacks or slashing at the ground to upturn it and crush everything in its path. Gai has developed variants for this technique, which are listed below.
• Shining Breakthrough (炯然突破, "Keizen Toppa"): Stabbing Kakusei into the ground, Gai forces thousands of white feathers to erupt from the ground underneath the opponent at extreme force and speed.
• Shining Paling (炯然囲い, "Keizen Kakoi"): Gai is capable of firing rod-shaped white feather palings from the tip of Kakusei; these stakes are made of hard reishi, which enables them to picket the ground and fence in the adversary, or to pile upon them; Gai may also stand atop of the palings.

Shikai: In Shikai, Kakusei takes the form of a unique broadsword, having a magenta blade, with golden trim around the blade. The hilt and cross-guard are a brilliant white, and the cross-guard has two purple crosses sticking out from the sides. There is a triangle sticking out from the cross-guard, making a sort of triangle as seen from the side, slightly covering the cross-guard. This 'triangle' has a green gem in the middle and golden sides with air vents, similar to a knight's helmet. The grip is red and the pommel has three purple spikes on it. Gai's left hand becomes covered by a crimson glove and the chain at the base of Kakusei's hilt extends out further than it previously did, spiraling up the length of his sleeveless left arm with the additional portion of the chain hanging down freely from his upper arm. On his left shoulder, there is a crimson pauldron that has three curved fins of metal jutting out from his left shoulder blade, each progressively larger as they near his shoulder. The fins can break apart to propel Gai forward at great speed and increase the power of his strikes. Kakusei also gains a crescent-shaped blade attached to its hilt by a long metal chain, which can extend greatly if necessary by force of will. The chain itself can be used as an attack or to entangle a target. The chain can also be used to swing the weapon like a flail and toss it at opponents for mid-range combat. Kakusei's wide blade can be used as a shield from incoming attacks. It's release command is "Let's do it!" (やってヤルゼ, "Yatte yaruze!"). In both Shikai and Bankai, Gai displays the ability to shift Kakusei into multiple forms, including a whip, a jet-vehicle, a spinning-cog weapon, a cannon, a claw-like weapon, a greave, a pair of wings that allow flight, and a gigantic sword of pure reishi.

Shikai Special Ability: Kakusei's special ability is called Anki (暗記 lit. Memorization). As he initially cannot manifest his own Zanpakutō into his plane of existance, he must shatter and use his opponent's broken sword as a means to materialize Kakusei. As he performs Anki, his Zanpakutō in its sealed state will take on the form of the assimilated Zanpakutō's sealed state. When doing this, Kakusei obtains a majority of the abilities of the assimilated Zanpakutō, which vary from attacks to movement styles. Gai has assimililated thousands of Zanpakutō, however, his techniques are mere fragments compared to the originals. In Tenth Release- Memorization, Kisuke Urahara teaches Gai another way to utilize Anki; by clashing swords with his opponent, and quickly pouring his reiatsu into Kakusei's blade, Gai can copy one of his opponents' attacks. Another way is to headbutt his opponent. After his deep sleep, Gai can only remember one ability, and nothing else. One hundred and fifty years ago, Gai used Anki on Hanegetsu, thus stealing the the ability to create and control an unknown power which is shaped like feathers for multiple reasons. The 'feathers' have piercing effects, and one is as sharp as any Zanpakutō. These 'feathers' are incredibly durable. The material he creates with these black 'feathers' defies the Laws of Physics. Kakusei has a habit of unlocking certain abilities for Gai when the situation desires it, in order to escape from a tight situation. Gai cannot use Anki against his opponent in RPs.

Techniques:

• Enhanced Shining Onslaught: In Shikai, Shining Onslaught is drastically augemented.
• Yami Myaku (闇脈, "Dark Pulse"): Gai puts his hands together in front of his chest and fires a beam of black and purple feathers of spiritual energy from in between them at the opponent, or Gai crosses his arms in front of his face and an orb of black and dark blue circles appears in front of them. Gai then separates his arms and the orb moves in front of Gai's chest. Gai then fires a beam of black and dark blue feathers of spiritual energy from the orb at the opponent.
• Hanya Heki (はんやへき, "Midnight Burst"): Gai's eyes glow light blue and his body becomes surrounded by a crimson aura. He then raises his arms above his head. When he does, the aura around his forearms gets thicker. He then slams his arms down into the ground. A pink and crimson growing forcefield of reiatsu appears from the aura around Gai's arms and grows larger, spreading all around him. The thicker the aura is around Gai's arms, the more powerful the attack becomes.
• Karasu Tsubasa (鴉翼, "Raven Wings"): Gai can create black feather wings on his feet that grant him the ability of flight and speed.
• Messenkō (滅閃光, "Destructive Shine"): Gai punches the ground, sending out several black feather clusters in different directions.
• Hakka Bakushin (発火驀進, "Ignition Rush"): The fins on Gai's left shoulder blade break apart, unleashing a white surge of reishi from his shoulder that launches him foward at inconcievable speeds. The moment Gai begins to move, a sonic boom is unleashed. This technique is often preceeded by a powerful spinning slash.
• Umōseiiki (羽毛聖域, "Feathered Sanctuary"): White wings form around Gai's body which negate his opponent's use of an ability that would affect him once per release.
• Hōō no Toppa (鳳凰の突破, "Phoenix Breakthrough"): Gai can attack equal to the number of wings protruding from his back. If so, Gai can negate his opponents' defenses, Kidō, or Zanpakutō abilities, as well as defenses created by equipment that would prevent him from allowing his attack to connect, and he takes no damage if his opponent had a 'shared pain' ability until slightly later on, and this is represented by the wings on Gai's back vibrating at the speed of light.
• Tsubasa no Gyakuten (翼の逆転, "Winged Reversal"): If one of Gai's attacks connects with his opponents' and the opposing technique is of a greater magnitude, Gai's technique automatically transforms into his foe's attack and the two cancel each other out. However, this can only be utilized four times per release, this is represented by black feathers surrounding the opponent's attack, before morphing Gai's attack into the foe's own.
• Byakuya Senmetsuken (白夜殲滅剣, "Midnight Sun Annihilation Sword"): Gai amasses white light on his blade, giving it the look of a gigantic white feather, thus giving Kakusei the ability to cut through anything. He often uses this as a series of seven consecutive blows, called "Kanki Tenshōku" (喚起天翔駆, "Evocation Soaring Drive") where Gai slashes his opponent several times from different angles at incomprehensible speeds, with each slash causing a fiery explosion, before blasting through them.

Bankai: Shinseina Kakusei (神聖な覚醒 lit. Divine Awakening) In Bankai, Kakusei takes the form of two pitch-black gauntlets. It has a crystal blue emblem in the middle, and an orange cross on top of this, and flame type designs also cover the base of the gauntlets. There is a pair of arm thrusters attached to the gauntlets. In Bankai, Gai manifests massive, black devilish wings that he can use as incredibly sharp blades. Despite constantly attempting to better himself in Zanjutsu, Gai eventually realized that he would fare better if his Bankai was attuned to what he excels at: hand-to-hand combat.

Bankai Special Ability: While in Bankai, Gai's manipulation of feathers is greatly enhanced, as are his Anki skills. However, Gai also has a secondary ability.

• Shield of Black Wings: Gai is capable of wrapping his wings around himself like a sphere protecting him from any attacks. This attack is unusable in RPs, unless the other collobarator wishes otherwise.
• Hyper-Speed Combat: Gai takes all the power of his Bankai and compresses it into a small, condensed form. Then, he uses the power of the Bankai to perform high-speed combat in the form of exceedingly fast bursts of speed that happen at random times which Gai cannot predict. Nika compared Gai's Shinseina Kakusei's second ability to Ichigo Kurosaki's Tensa Zangetsu, but unlike Tensa Zangetsu, Shinseina Kakusei does not enhance his Bankai duration, but rather shorten it drastically in return for short periods of high speed. During his last fight with Haruko Kiseki, Gai has obtained the ability to time these bursts of speed, and shows great maneuverability, being able to effortlessly dodge all of Haruko's Kōkan Bakufū attacks.
• Enhanced Shining Onslaught: Shinseina Kakusei retains the use of Shining Onslaught, but in an enhanced form. However, due to the absense of a blade, Gai makes a hand motion releasing the blasts from his hands. When used in Bankai, these potent blasts are blue with a magenta outline and their path can be controlled, with explosively augmented power and speed. Gai can also keep Shining Onslaught within Shinseina Kakusei to augment his punches.
• Ittō Ryōdan: Genmugai (一刀両断・幻夢ガイ, "One Sworded Double Severing: Phantasm Victory Song"): Gai launches two giant crescent waves from Kakusei repeatedly, which cover the entire area in front of him and can kill his opponents instantly. This technique was only used by Gai in a flashback, and he was invulnerable during this attack. Ittō Ryōdan is the art of splitting someone in half in one stroke, thus proving the prowess of this one hit-killing attack. This attack is unusable in RPs.
• Genmugai Kai (幻夢ガイ・改, "Phantasm Victory Song Revision"): A weaker version of the above, where Gai releases one giant crescent wave from his fist.
• Shin Messenkō (真・滅閃光, "True Destructive Light"): Gai punches the ground, and a series of black feather clusters shoot from the ground to the sky at the speed of sound. This attack was only used in a flashback, and is unusable in RPs.
• Rakuhōha (落鳳破, "Falling Phoenix Crush"): A revision of the above, Gai slams his fist to the ground, causing nine black feather bolts of destructive reishi to erupt in a fanned out manner.
• Maō Gokuenha (魔王獄炎波, "Devil Prison Flame Wave"): Gai holds his sword pointed towards the ground with both hands clasped around its hilt while he closes his eyes to focus his thoughts, with several black feathers falling around him. When he opens his eyes, he creates a field of dark reishi around himself, granting himself large burst of strength. He begins a mad dash to the opponent, rising into the air and slamming the ground with his sword, causing pillars of fire to rise from the ground and incinerate his opponent.
• Reiraku Byakuya (零落白夜, "Midnight Sun Faded Glory"): Reiraku Byakuya allows Gai to absorb the Reiatsu of a Zanpakutō, Kidō spells, and even Quincy Arrows. He can in fact absorb anything as long as it's reiatsu. Once Reiraku Byakuya absorbs a power it becomes Gai's to use against his opponents as he chooses. At anytime he can release the absorbed energy as one strike, an exceedingly powerful slash, which is able to ignore any defense and effect. A single direct hit is often enough to force opponents to exhaust their own reiatsu completely in an attempt to cushion the blow, effectively rendering them drained. However, activation of Reiraku Byakuya actually requires a vast amount of reishi, barring the absorbed energy, which is much more than Gai can continuously supply.
• Ketteiteki no Keizen Yakushin (決定的の炯然躍進, "The Decisive Shining Onslaught"): The most powerful technique in Gai's arsenal, analogous to Ichigo Kurosaki's Saigo no Getsuga Tenshō. Because of his Mototsu heritage, Gai does not suffer the loss of his powers upon utilizing this technique; instead, he loses Kakusei. For the duration of the ability, Gai’s hair turns white, and becomes ankle-length. Dark crimson bandages form around his body, tightly wrapped around his torso, right arm, and face, ending just beneath his eyes. Golden flame-like markings spread across his chest and wrap around his left arm, and the remains of his hakama cover his lower body. In this form, feather-like reiatsu continuously molts off of Gai's body, most of which is focused around his left arm. Being in this form allows Gai to utilize Mirai ni Kagayaku Hikari.
  • Mirai ni Kagayaku Hikari (未来に輝く光, "The Light that Shines towards the Future"): The most powerful technique in Gai's arsenal. First, Gai throws his hands up in the air, and using his left hand, he grabs his right arm, pointing it towards the opponent, screaming the attack's name as he does so. He then jerks his arms back, in the process causing an explosion to spring forth from his right arm and a phoenix emerges from it. Shinseina Kakusei then gathers the leftover reishi from the battlefield, and it begins to glow white. As all the reishi is absorbed, Gai rockets forward at the speed of sound, and a small explosion of reishi goes off behind him. As Gai flies toward, he becomes enveloped in a golden aura, with golden feathers and sparkles trailing behind him. As he impacts, he rockets through the opponent's body.

Setsura: Zennōsha Kakusei (全能者覚醒 lit. The Almighty Awakening): Setsura is the result of Gai's "true awakening" after being freed from his true form, which was fuelled by his rage. During his battle with Eienrai, as his nigh-unstoppable foe lurched towards the weakened Hizashi, aiming to kill her, Gai cried out in desperation for someone to help him save her. As the light began to fade from his eyes, a voice called out to him, telling him to stand and fight. The moment he heard this voice, Gai's body stood up on its own, fuelled by his own resolve. His own reiatsu surrounded him, before enveloping him and Shinseina Kakusei completely, as he unleashed his Setsura (雪羅 lit. "Second Shift") for the first time, a state unique to the Mototsu that is equal to a Vizards' Resurrección, which foregoes the use of a Zanpakutō in order to evolve the body. In this new form, Gai's attire changes to a white, two-tailed trenchcoat, with no shirt underneath. Gai also wears a golden divided hakama, with painted golden phoenix wing designs, tied with a magenta sash. A large piece of white fabric hangs from the center of the sash; embellished with the images of three origami cranes. Gai also bears two strips of red cloth that drape over either side of his hips, along with a smaller, black strip of cloth tied around his waist, draped in the same manner. Gai's attire is completed with black sneakers. Gai can summon an enormous broadsword with nine orbs engraved in a zigzagging pattern on the blade and a red orb on the cross-guard. On the sides of the cross-guard, there are golden angelic wings. It has an even brighter trim around the blade, and around the orbs, there are crystals. Gai can also summon a large white fist attachement. Six massive wings of white light, which have galaxies and stars imbued in them erupt from his back. This visage likens Gai to the Seraphim of Judaism, who were said to be the highest ranking angels, and this was signified by their six wings. This imagery also casts Gai as a hero and savior- despite his lazy and unfriendly personality. It is interesting to note that in Setsura, Gai is levitating slightly above the ground.

Setsura Special Abilities: Similar to Kakusei and Shinseina Kakusei, Zennōsha Kakusei drastically auguments Gai's feather manipulation and Anki skills. However, as of now, Gai's attacks become attuned to the light element, symbolizing his role as main character of PersonaSuperiorDeus' stories.

• Enhanced Shining Onslaught: Zennōsha Kakusei retains the use of Shining Onslaught and can be used in the same manners, but can be used in an drastically enhanced form. When Gai first utilizes the Shining Onslaught against Fumeina, it was shown to have a drastically different appearance. Instead of the usual 'X' shaped blasts of white feather-like spiritual energy, it takes the form of a brilliant white arc, or crescent moon, with two angelic wings on each side. This new Shining Onslaught was shown to have enough power to completely tear through Fumeina's Finalidad Asalto, and its blast was able to demolish a large radius of Seireitei and leave behind a huge crater. Gai can also release Shining Onslaught off his sword or his gauntlet.
• Wing Extension: With a single command, Gai can launch his wings at his opponents at inconcievable speeds. Gai's wings can extend up to one hundred meters long, and they carry tremendous force when extending.
• Shōene Hakai (省エネ破壊, "Energy Destruction"): If an echleon of supernatural energy other than reiatsu or reiryoku comes into contact with Gai's wings, then it will be instantly converted into reiryoku, though it will still strike Gai with the same force as it normally would. However, certain highly powerful attacks can bypass this ability.
• Kōshi Nagare (光子流れ, "Photon Stream"): Not Yet Revealed.
• Hoshishizuku Kippari (星屑きっぱり, "Stardust Finality"): Not Yet Revealed.
• Bōkō Onsokuheki (暴行音速劈, "Assault Sonic Burst"): Not Yet Revealed.
• Light-Speed Combat: In Setsura, Gai's physical power is pushed far past the limits and beyond even that, giving him otherworldly physical parameters. With it, he can use the power of Setsura to perform light-speed combat. His new speed is so great, that it also enhances his Kōshinho prowess and allows him to create thousands of afterimages to confuse his opponent.
• Enhanced Setsura Duration: The fact that all of Gai's physical energy is pushed past the limits and beyond means that usage of Setsura doesn't expel as much reiatsu as Bankai from the point of activation; thus allowing him to use Zennōsha Kakusei at a much longer duration than many other Shinigami, Arrancar, and Vizard with their own releases of his level.
• Moon-Fang Shining Onslaught (月牙炯然躍進, "Getsuga Keizen Yakushin"): Not Yet Revealed.
• Hanahikari Kagayaku Ken Kissaki (華光耀劍鋒, "Blossom Light Shining Sword Point"): Not Yet Revealed.

Relationships

Nika: 

"Nika: "Why do you always shut yourself off from everyone~?" Gai: "Because it keeps you away."" — Nika's ghost and Gai

 Since meeting Nika, Gai immediately developed a fear of the devil woman, and wants to remain "something resembling normal" and sometimes even thinks about leaving Nika, but always questions if he can really leave her because she is someone he cares about. Despite attempting to hide it through his cold and apathetic facade, Gai is always very considerate of Nika's feelings and asks if she is okay when doing something. The one time that Gai truly thought about abandoning Nika was when he found out what Nika did in the past that she been trying to hide from him: that Nika killed his lover, Yuu Kimitsu. Nevertheless, Gai forgave her, much to Yuu's reincarnation, Yuuki Kaburagi's chagrin. As the plot progresses, their bond strengthens as Gai's friendship with Nika causes her to change her goal on becoming the Queen of Desire and Gai grows as a person through her hidden advice. Hizashi Yoshi: 

"Gai: Erm, so...yeah. *scratches head* ...Awkward." Hizashi: You are the one informing me, Gai. Remarking that this is awkward would be what is called an understatement." Gai: Hehe, yeah...Alright, can we agree on something? I'm sorry for being an arse, though you gotta learn to keep your distance, got it?" Hizashi: "Understood. Hehehe..." Gai: "Tch! Stop starin'!"" — Hizashi and Gai

 Upon first meeting her, Gai and the former Captain got off to a rocky start. He does know how to make the right choice, however, as when offered a chance to impress her and is mostly the one who influences him in his thoughts when he is faced with a decision that will risk the lives of many. However, the two later broke up; but eventually mended things and became good friends.

Yuuki Kaburagi:

Gekkou Utsukushi:

Haruko Kiseki:

Gunha Teishin:

Mitsuru Inazuma:

Kagirinai Nagareboshi:

Kurenai Zenshin:

Chira Tendou:

Masato Nagareboshi:

Ren Ichimonji:

Kachihi Amagase:

Rikuri Nagareboshi:

Vittoria Giovanna:

Quotes

• "Yatte yaruze, Kakusei!"
• "...I wake up, and then...I realize I have to deal with people." -Gai Nagareboshi, explaining his constant scowl.
• "Hizashi. Yuuki. Devil woman. Gunha. Haruko. No…I'm not gonna end here. I'm not gonna lose. ...I can feel it. Everybody's voices. Everybody's feelings. It's not only my power. But everybody's feelings are supporting me and… ARE! KEEPING! ME!" STANDING! UP! NOW! MY FRIENDS' POWER IS RUNNING THROUGH MY WHOLE BODY!!" -Gai Nagareboshi, while fighting Kagirinai Nagareboshi
• "…Hibernation sickness? Is she trying to make a Star Wars reference? Besides, my hibernation ended one hundred years ago. There's no way I'm still woozy, unless I can't tell. But that's beside the point. I need to extract the information concerning her clues from her this instant. What does she mean? What kind of person was I before I awoke? Good and evil…They're just labels that serve to drag us down, hindering our ability to protect those who we hold dear. If I was a saint…If I was a devil…Would it matter? I'm not afraid to face my past." -Gai Nagareboshi, talking to Yuuki Kaburagi
• "…Damn. So, I'm out of clothes? Great. Just freaking great. So, my choices are to look like an oddball or walk around butt-naked?" -Gai Nagareboshi, to Mitsuru Inazuma upon ageing to 21 years old physically
• "I need to start doing this. I'm going to keep a journal and whenever I want to do something I know people won't like, I'll ask to hear disagreements in it. Then when people complain later I will show them the journal and ask why they didn't speak up earlier. …I have the feeling that Nika does that while directing Central 46." -Gai Nagareboshi, upon reading Yuuki Kaburagi's diary
• "Now shut your damn mouth and listen to me! I love you, just I love the rest of my friends. What gave you the arse-retarded idea to try and off yourself!? More specifically, what gave you the idea that you not being in my life would make me happy!? Here's what I want. I want you to stop acting like a damn psycho! I want you to give up on those damn suicidal thoughts! And most of all, I want you to smile for real! Stop giving me that fake smile! Got that!?" -Gai Nagareboshi, upon reviving Yuuki Kaburagi
• "I'll kill for her! No matter what, I'll kill for her! It'll end, if I kill that bastard to save her! To hell with the rest! Either way, I can't return to the path of heaven. All I can do is think only of going down to hell together with this bastard!" -Gai Nagareboshi, when fighting Chira Tendou, referencing Kurenai Zenshin as the one he wishes to protect
• "…I know that. I know that I've been stuck in the mud in my whole life. You've reminded me of that, and so I already have no regrets being there. What I'm seeking for isn't there…Enough with this shit! Enough with all of you ganging up and aiming for innocent people. Only you and I are going to hell! Don't you dare drag her to hell, you bastard!" -Gai Nagareboshi, once again fighting Chira and referencing Kurenai
• "Even if you are a fragment —mine— you're still Kurenai. I don't care if I have to absorb you to become whole, I promise you, I won't do it. Even if you shouldn't exist, that doesn't invalidate the bond I've formed with you. That reason is enough of a reason to exist, right? You're not a mistake; you were meant to exist! You're not Gaillardia Nagareboshi; you're Kurenai, yourself and nobody else. Now, I'm a guy who's ill at ease and who only knows how to fight. That's why…it's been hard for me to say this. …I…I wanna protect you. I want to protect you for the rest of my life… I'm in love with you. I love you, Kurenai." -Gai Nagareboshi, confessing to Kurenai Zenshin
• "I'll be the first to admit that I got into doing the hero business for all the wrong reasons, but none of that matters now. You're a threat to the entire Soul Society, not just me and my friends. But like it or not, you're still MY responsibility. Because I'm the only one here who's willing to be responsible. You may not be out to destroy the Soul Society, but living under the heel of a walking villain cliché like you will destroy its soul. If I don't beat you here and now, then soon this screwed-up nonsensical world won't exist anymore. There won't be any place left for people like us. So, in summary, it's a dirty job, but someone has to do it. Anyway, enough with the speeches. Let's get down to brass tracks. Yatte yaruze, Gaikaōtori!" -Gai Nagareboshi, to Masato Nagareboshi
• "I, who is about to awaken, am the White Devil who has discarded the principle of domination. I shall walk the road of righteousness by having infinite hopes and dreams. I shall become the Rising Phoenix. And I promise you all! I shall show you the future which shines in true crimson light! Rising Phoenix...JUGGERNAUT OVERDRIVE!!" -Gai Nagareboshi, upon activating Rising Phoenix Juggernaut Overdrive

Behind the Scenes

Trivia

• Gai's title, White Devil (白魔, "Hakuma"), is a reference to the title of Amuro Ray, the main protagonist of Mobile Suit Gundam.
• Yet another Gundam reference; the triad of Illegal Move Change Phoenix forms, Divine Awakening Sonic Boost Knight, Divine Chain Water Moon Rigid Tank, and Divine Yin-Yang Rising Phoenix Fang Blaster were inspired by the Destiny, Infinite Justice, and Strike Freedom Gundams respectively from Mobile Suit Gundam SEED.
• Gai's stat wheel was created for PersonaSuperiorDeus by SecretGeneration. All credit goes to him, as he rightfully deserves it.
• Gai's profile pic was drawn by Cayo. Thanks, pal. He rightfully deserves any and all credit for it.

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