Remember the short but great Turn Back the Pendulum Arc in Bleach, when we saw the Soul Society as it was 100 years ago?
Well, if you do, you might remember that the name Kirio Hikifune came up when Urahara became the new Captain of the 12th Division and Hikifune was said to have retired.
Now, later in the manga and just recently in the anime, we finally saw former Captain Hikifune, who never retired but was instead promoted to the Royal Guard because of her skills.
The rest of this story will be about Kirio Hikifune, who used to be the captain of the 12th Division and is now a member of the Royal Guard.
She is a very interesting character who was named early in the story and showed up later, so we are going to tell you everything you need to know about her.
There will be hints about what happens in the manga, so be careful how you read the story.
Who is Kirio Hikifune in Bleach?
Kirio Hikifune used to be the captain of the 12th Division. He is now a part of the Royal Guard. “Ruler of Grain” is her name.
Kirio seems to be a nice woman, because she started talking to Shinji as soon as she saw him again. But when she joined the Royal Guard, she seems to have developed a small food problem.
We don’t know much about her, except that she left Soul Society just before the Turn back the Pendulum arc and said she was quitting. But she did that only to join the Royal Guard.
Hiyori Sarugaki, who was her Lieutenant at the time, was very sad about this because she and Kirio Hikifune were like mother and daughter to her.
Kisuke Urahara took over after her. During her time in the Royal Guard, she had to lose weight because the way she cooked used a lot of reiatsu. Even Shinji had a hard time recognizing her after that.
Kirio and the rest of Division Zero first show up in Soul Society after the Soul King sends the Wandenreich to rebuild the 13 Divisions and bring Ichigo to the Royal Palace.
This happens after the Soul King sends the Wandenreich to attack and destroy Division Zero. Kirio goes up to Shinji soon after he gets there and punches him to get his attention.
He then asks how he and “Hiyori-chan” are doing. At first, Shinji doesn’t know her, but when he hears him call her Hiyori, he remembers her.
She yells that she’s hungry and asks him why he doesn’t remember her if she hasn’t changed much. When they get to the Reiky, Kirio tells them that, even though the whole area is generally called that,.
The right name for where they are is “Reiky Omotesando,” which means “Entrance to the Royal Palace.”
She then points to a building in front of her that looks like a nest. She says that this is the Great Spirit Palace, where the Spirit King lives.
She sees five buildings below it that look like trays. These are his headquarters, or, in short, his castles. Each of them is in charge of a city that the King has given to them.
Ichigo, Renji, and Kon leave the hot springs and go to Hikifune’s headquarters. There, they get their health back and eat all the food she makes for them.
At one point, Kirio looks thin and says that she uses up psychic energy when she cooks, which is why she looks thin.
She says that, like every other member of Division 0, she has brought something useful to Soul Society. In her case, it is a different way to use the Gikongan.
She finally gets them ready for the next base, which is that of etsu Nimaiya, a member who helped make the Zanpakut.
Later, when Ichigo went to the Seireitei to help the Gotei 13, Kirio showed up and asked where Ichigo was. Kirinji told him that Ichigo had just left, so Kirio went up the stairs and threw a rice ball at him.
In case he gets angry on the way, Ichigo warns her that she will eat her if she gets angry during the fight. Kirio says that Ichigo has changed and gotten stronger, and that her indecisive reiatsu is now just a memory after seeing how she reacts.
Ichib tells her that he didn’t get stronger, he just grew. In other words, he got stronger, leaving nothing but redundancy for everyone else.
He also says that his mind and body got stronger, making him a real Shinigami. Kirio and his other Royal Guard friends show up to face the Quincys who have reached that point.
Lille Barro is very surprised when she sees some huge trees growing out of the ground. Kirio tells her that it used to not make such a big cage a long time ago and that it is a very boring task.
Lille Barro starts to fight the cage, but nothing seems to happen, so Kirio tells him that controlling food is the same as controlling life itself.
He goes on to say that she used the kitchen to make life, and that the ingredients come from her own body. He then shows him a small tree that is growing out of his hand.
He says that this tree is using his Reiatsu to make fruit, and that his shots are packed with a lot of Reishi. He also says that this tree won’t let such tasty treats get away.
If he gets through them with his bullets, it will only make them grow faster. He tells them to hold on to their goal and do their best. If they don’t use their skills, they won’t be able to get out of the Cage of Life.
Lille attacked etsu, so Kirio and Kirinji tried to protect him by putting a big spoon and Kirinji’s wooden oar in front of him.
This didn’t work, though, because Lille’s attack went through both items and hurt etsu. When Ichib is beaten by Yhwach, she is shown lying on the ground in her thin form.
After Yhwach was killed, Ichib brought her back to life.
Why is Kirio Hikifune so Important?
Kirio Hikifune is a member of the Royal Guard, and she also helped a lot in the fight against the Wandenreich.
However, she also played a very important part in the past of Soul Society, which led to her being promoted to the Royal Guard.
She is the one who came up with the Gikon, which are Artificial Souls that Shinigami use to remove the soul from the body.
They are used to get a Shinigami’s spirit out of a Gigai if it is inside one, or to get spirits out of bodies if they don’t want to leave.
How strong is Kirio Hikifune?
As a member of the Royal Guard, Kirio Hikifune is one of the most powerful people in the whole Bleach world. He has a lot of Reiryoku.
Hikifune has a lot of spiritual power, but she also has a lot of other strong skills. The Cage of Life is one of her most well-known moves.
By mixing what’s left of his own Reiatsu with what’s left of a tree, Hikifune can make the tree’s branches grow into a cage-like shape and break them apart.
This tree feeds on any kind of Reiatsu, so if Reiatsu is used to attack the tree’s branches, the attack will be absorbed by the tree.
This makes the Tree of Life an almost perfect protection against attacks that use Reiatsu.
Kirio is a great cook who can make anything taste delicious, even bugs. Kirio can put her reiatsu into the food she cooks by using the same logic she used to make the Artificial Souls.
This food will give anyone who eats it strength that can’t be imagined. But Kirio has to eat a lot and gain weight before she can cook again because the way she cooks uses up all of her Reiatsu and makes her lose a lot of weight, which she has to gain back before she can cook again.
Hikifune has shown that he knows how to use the Shunpo by quickly deflecting a hit from Lille Barro. No one knows what her Zanpakut can do, but it looks like a big, thick wooden spoon, which is a nod to the fact that she is a cook.
