Tōba

This article is about the leader of the Kusajishi district criminals. For the resident of Karakura Town, see Ryohei Toba.

Tōba is a criminal bookie at one of the Kusajishi gambling halls and an authority figure in the region's criminal element.

Appearance
Tōba is a middle-aged man with light skin, swept-back neck-length dark brown hair, prominent eyebrows, brown eyes, and a large scar that runs diagonally across his right eye, as well as a second jagged scar between his right shoulder and right pectoral near his clavicle. He wears a light brown scarf wrapped around his neck, with both ends resting on his left shoulder and with one end being colored red, as well as a pale blue kimono fastened at the waist with a deep blue sash underneath a brown jacket.

Personality
Despite his ties to the criminal element of Kusajishi, Tōba is a generally calm and affable man; when approached by Jin Kariya with an offer to bet his life in Tōba's gambling hall, Tōba simply assumed that he was new in Soul Society and calmly explained that betting one's life did not mean as much there compared to the Human World. Following Kariya and his comrades' display of strength in the gambling hall, Tōba, though initially frightened, set them up in a cottage in Kusajishi to stay the night, as he was intrigued by Kariya's promise to turn Soul Society upside-down. Like the other residents of Kusajishi, Tōba nurses a deep grudge against the Seireitei for leaving the denizens of the Rukongai impoverished instead of working to let all Souls who enter Soul Society live in equality and peace, but he was hesitant to make a move against the powerful military force of the Gotei 13 until Gō Koga displayed the healing powers of the Bount with the assertion that this gave the residents of Kusajishi invincible allies to help them, leading an astonished Tōba to voice his full support for them and their cause by gathering hundreds of thugs from all around Kusajishi to aid their plan. In addition to being supportive of his subordinates, he is also awed by the supernatural destructive power offered by the Dolls of the Bount. However, when the residents of Kusajishi succeeded in breaching the gates of the Seireitei and Kariya eventually revealed that they were only ever being used as pawns because they would only get in the way of the Bount fighting the Shinigami, Tōba was at first left in shocked disbelief and presumed Kariya was making some sort of twisted joke, and when Kariya confirmed that he was serious, Tōba refused to simply give up when he was so close to the Seireitei and angrily attempted to kill Kariya alongside the other thugs.

Bount arc (anime only)
Note: Events occurring in this arc are only in the anime and do not constitute canon material. The day after the Bount enter Soul Society, Tōba is sitting in his gambling hall and overseeing the games being played by the local residents when Jin Kariya enters and approaches him. Amused by Kariya's offer to join the game by betting his own life and pointing out how the pain remains the same even though he is no longer in the Human World, Tōba allows him to play a game of cards with one of the thugs present, but is shocked and frightened when Kariya dispatches the thug after winning the card game and proceeds to defeat every other thug in the room alongside Gō Koga and Maki Ichinose. Suddenly, Kariya reveals to Tōba that he intends to turn Soul Society upside-down.

Following this, Tōba sets up Kariya, Koga, and Ichinose in a cottage in Kusajishi to rest the night while he begins gathering men to their cause. That night, Tōba holds a meeting between the thugs he has already gathered and Koga, who is joined by Ichinose. Though initially hesitant to believe that the Bount will aid the residents of Kusajishi in attacking the Seireitei, Tōba and the others are convinced of their sincerity when Koga explains that the living situation of the denizens of the Rukongai are similar to the suffering experienced by the Bount in the Human World and reveals that they are effectively invincible in Soul Society due to their ability to heal themselves indefinitely with Reishi.

Tōba proceeds to spread the call for able-bodied men across Kusajishi and is surprised by the response to this far exceeding his expectations, with the rapidly increasing number of arrivals soon doubling their total number of fighters and greeting Kariya with an army when he returns from his battle with 6th Division Captain Byakuya Kuchiki. Under Tōba's supervision and instruction, the residents of Kusajishi cut down several trees in the surrounding forest and convert them into massive siege engines overnight that are then transported to the area just outside the Seireiheki with the aid of Sawatari's Doll, Baura, alongside Tōba and Kariya.

With Tōba's encouragement and with Jidanbō Ikkanzaka and Danzōmaru defeated by the Bount, the villagers succeed in raising two of the gates of the Seireiheki with their siege engines. However, after dispatching the Shinigami that respond to the intrusion at their gate, Kariya reveals that this concludes their part in his plan, and when a confused Tōba questions what he means, Kariya elaborates that this battle will be fought solely by the Bount from here on out since the villagers would only get in the way. Angered by this betrayal, Tōba draws his knife and rushes toward Kariya alongside the furious villagers, but is quickly killed by a blast of wind from his Doll, Messer.

Equipment

 * Knife: Tōba keeps a knife sheathed on his left hip. It has a medium-length, single-edged blade ending in a sharp point and handle wrapped in white cloth that is equally long.

Quotes

 * (To Jin Kariya) "I suppose you wanna bet your life. You're new around here, aren't you? This isn't the Human World, friend. We do things different in Soul Society."


 * (When asked if he can gather able-bodied men) "It shouldn't be a problem. There's no one around here who'll go against what I say."


 * (Regarding joining Kariya's plan to attack the Seireitei) "Very well. But first, I need proof that you're serious about this plan of yours. Anything will do. Show us all how dedicated you are to this."


 * (To Kariya) "You used us?! How dare you pull that on us, you bastard!"


 * (Regarding Kariya) "No one makes a fool out of me! Let's tear him to shreds, men!"

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