Bleach

Even Reiatsu ages will be Barragans likely comment as it breaks down before him.

But it ages like fine wine so Barragan will get wrekt by turning his opponent Yamamoto-tier.

But in all seriousness that shouldn't work. The idea of the reiatsu counter is that his own ability, fueled by his reiatsu, wouldn't be able to take effect. He can't age the difference in reiatsu between his opponent and himself.

It's the only way for Starrk and Aizen being beyond him to make sense really.

Starrk was impressive but IMO Baraggan would've been a better #1. He was even head of Hueco Mundo itself before Aizen came in.

edited 1st Aug '15 9:17:24 PM by HamburgerTime

Note: Iba is former squad 11, but that doesn't mean his sword doesn't have any powers. It's not a given that everyone who is in the sword has a powerless shikai; in fact, half of the known shikai (Yachiru's and Yumichika's real one) have some sort of power. Two of the known shikai (Ikkaku's and Yumichika's fake one) are shape changers of some sort. The squad just prefers that the sword be a melee type, but that doesn't mean that everyone who was ever in the squad would have a powerless shikai.

An additional example would be Renji, the other person to be promoted out of Squad 11 to lieutenantship elsewhere.

Saiga: Well, it could work to slowly drain his opponent's energy until they're at his level or weaker and then affect them directly. Problem is, reiatsu has never really worked like chakra in Naruto. It doesn't run out during a fight.

That depends on if using your reiatsu to resist another is draining at all. If it is, that still doesn't mean Barragan would be broken, because he has to last long enough to wear them down enough. Seems balanced to me, it basically puts a time limit on the fight in Barragan's favour.

But it could be like the Nasuverse' Magic Resistance where it doesn't seem to have any limit. Of course, Magic Resistance is not what I'd want Reiatsu to be as it is really unfair. It's basically what Reiatsu could be if handled badly.

And Rukia ran out of Reiryoku (get it right, you casual) healing Ichigo after his Grand Fisher fight. That's why he woke up in his human body with some cuts left on his face. So it can run out in a fight but it just usually doesn't come up.

edited 1st Aug '15 9:32:18 PM by Saiga

Stark was likely worthy of the #1 position before he split into Lili and himself. Since the original hollow was likely very powerful arrancar who broke down in order to have company.

I don't think Ikkaku, Renji, or Yachiru's shikai's count as having special abilities. Yeah, they have special functions, but those only really serve to increase their ranges.

I mean, Yumichika knows what all of them do and still feels the need to hide his' true form.

edited 1st Aug '15 9:29:20 PM by LSBK

No, Aizen approached him after the split. Starrk as we see him is the Primera, and there is nothing to suggest otherwise.

Assuming Barragan's ability should make him the top just ignores that it can't beat everyone. Because Aizen is clearly out of his weight class.

and then of course

There is Yammy

In fairness, we haven't seen much that it can't beat.

Including Baraggan himself.

It was only used on Soifon, Hachigan and Barragan. Again, Aizen's superiority by itself proves the power doesn't let him beat everyone, and Starrk is ranked higher than him (and given more hype).

With the reveal about Kenpachi, Yammy could very well be the strongest Espada now and honestly probably is as much as people don't like it.

He would have been the perfect power level for an Unohana fight though. Would've been cool.

Word of God IIRC says Yammy has the most raw power but no gimmicks. I think Baraggan and Starrk could probably both beat him. If only because he's sloooooooooowwwwww.

edited 1st Aug '15 9:46:55 PM by HamburgerTime

More like pure muscle and no brains at all.

And he sucks. He proves why pure reiatsu shouldn't be used as a sign of strength.

@Saiga: I know that, but I mean the two as the original being was likely strong enough to be considered Number 1.

We can't really say Yammy actually sucks when his only fight involved someone whose power was known to fluctuate due to his circumstances. For all we know Yammy would effortlessly defeat every other Espada combined.

I'm not saying he would, but that has just about as much weight as saying he sucks.

I assume you're talking about Byakuya, and the "circumstances" are filler vs canon.

I was kidding.

edited 1st Aug '15 10:23:39 PM by wanderlustwarrior

Kenpachi. As I already mentioned before. You should know I don't care about Bleach filler.

The fact that he lost to a team involving Kenpachi makes it basically pointless trying to rate him.

Neither of them thought he was a threat. Hell the Amor guy was more of an annoyance than Yammy was to Byakuya.

Neither of them think anyone is a threat. We didn't see enough of the fight to say, really.

They were busy arguing with each other even when we got to see them fighting Yammya and made him transform as he got even angrier. Then it flashed back to show how disappointed they were when he didn't put up much of a fight.

And Kenpachi has enjoyed fights even when he's clearly beaten the opponent or not, but Yammy didn't even do that. It just bored him. All signs point he was a pathetic fight whose only strength was the angrier he got the longer the fight lasted.

edited 1st Aug '15 10:58:47 PM by OmegaRadiance

Yammy's weakness was how bloated his Reiatsu was.Or rather,how he himself was bloated by it.Restricting it in smaller places makes the actual spiritual pressure more effective.

Hence why Aizen can pulverize beings due to the restraints.Partly that,partly cause he's Aizen.

For all we know Starrk would have been a pathetic fight for Kenpachi at that point. Byakuya is sort of a non-factor because him simply being on Kenpachi's level doesn't make a lick of sense after what we've found out.

Of course he's not on Kenpachi's level. He got thoroughly beaten by the Fear and the Love turned his Zanpakuto against him even after a power up. Hell the Amor Espada could have won if he used his power in a smart way.

All Yammy had going for him was pure brute reiatsu and it wasn't even strong enough to phase Byakuya. So it was clearly not going to harm Kenpachi.

Part of the danger of enemies is their abilities. Reiatsu only gets you so far and Yammy is the perfect example of this.

I'd wager it's skill vs brute force.Byakuya's the closeted Blood Knight type.He doesn't enjoy getting hit as much as Kenny.