Aaroniero Arruruerie

is an Arrancar in Sōsuke Aizen's army, and the noveno (9th) Espada.

Appearance
He usually covers his face with an elongated white mask covered with eight holes while in the light. In place of a normal head, he has a large, glass cylindrical capsule filled with red liquid and two small, floating Hollow heads. The two heads are both tattooed with the number 9 and tend to talk in tandem when revealed, giving the effect of two people speaking in turn. The upper head speaks with a deep voice while the other speaks in a high-pitched, child-like voice, and appears to have a level of individuality. His outfit like most Espada is customized; he wears a dress garb that covers his entire body as opposed to the normal jacket and hakama. He also wears a frilly nobles' coat that acts as his replacement jacket and a single white gentleman's glove. The remains of his Hollow mask fragments are on both of his heads, the upper head having 3/4's of his head covered with the mask, and the lower head covering only half of it.

Personality
Little can be said of Aaroniero's true personality, since he was imitating Lieutenant Kaien Shiba (albeit in a twisted, erratic fashion) for the majority of his appearance. He does express some amount of pride in his ability to 'continue evolving' and his position as an Espada, despite his Gillian status. Somewhat cruel and sadistic, Aaroniero enjoys toying with his opponents, particularly those he has information on from his absorbed memories, as seen when he asked Rukia to kill her comrades to make up for Kaien's death. Interestingly, his two heads appear to have a degree of individuality, since they refer to themselves in plural when exposed, and each reacted differently to the idea of death (the bottom head panicked and screamed for Aizen's aid while the top one merely cursed Rukia).

History
Aaroniero was a Gillian, the weakest class of Menos, before becoming an Arrancar, and the last of the first-generation Espada.

At some point in the past, Aaroniero gained the powers of former Shinigami lieutenant Kaien Shiba by absorbing Metastacia, the Hollow who killed and fused with Kaien. By doing this, Aaroniero was able to gain not only Metastacia's power to fuse with others but Kaien Shiba's powers and abilities as well as his Zanpakutō.

Arrancar arc
Aaroniero is seen for the first time when Sōsuke Aizen is creating Wonderweiss Margera. He is just seen standing there but this time only the upper half of his body is covered in shadow.

He is also shown in a preview of the Espada while Shawlong Kūfang explained to Tōshirō Hitsugaya about the difference in power between the Espada and the Numeros. His body, like the other Espada in the preview was completley covered in shadow.

Hueco Mundo arc
He next appears, this time with his white mask on, when the Espada are gathered by Aizen about Ichigo Kurosaki, Yasutora Sado, and Uryū Ishida entering Hueco Mundo to save Orihime Inoue. He sits between Tia Harribel and Yammy Riyalgo and complains about the intruders along with Baraggan Luisenbarn, Szayel Aporro Granz, Yammy and Nnoitra Jiruga. He is also heard talking for the first time and he has two voices: one for each head.

Aaroniero later meets up with Rukia Kuchiki outside of his chamber and tells her to follow him. As she does, he brings her into a large dark room (his room), and takes off his mask to reveal the face of Kaien Shiba; much to Rukia's shock. He claims the reason he led her there was because Aizen could monitor everything in the "sunlight" of Las Noches. Aaroniero then deceives Rukia into thinking he truly is Kaien, explaining that Metastacia was built in such a way that it would return to Hueco Mundo when destroyed. Having been merged together at the time of its death, the two were sent back as one merged entity. Rukia believes it's actually him, so Aaroniero plays along with it.

Soon, Aaroniero gives Rukia a task, which was to bring the heads of her friends; thinking that it would be easy for her because she knows all their strengths and weaknesses. Aaroniero puts his hand over Rukia's head. Rukia, not hearing the phrase joking comming out of his mouth, gets mad. She grabs his hand in such a matter, and pushes it off her head. Aaroniero steps back, smiles, and claims that he is Kaien. This maddens rukia, and as a result, releases her Zanpakutō, Sode no Shirayuki, and begins clashing swords with Aaroniero. She then uses, Some no Mai, Tsukishiro, and attempts to shatter Aaroniero into dust. Aaroniero dodges it, and runs to a dead end. Rukia fiercley follows, and claims that he has no where left to run to. Rukia continues to clash swords with him. Aaroniero keeps taughnting Rukia, but ends up being thrown back, and attacked by a Hakuren. He dodges the attack, and continues clashing swords with Rukia. Rukia again uses her Shikai, and attacks Aaroniero with both Hakuren, and Tsukishiro. Rukia then notices the reiatsu of her friends, who are battling the Privaron Espada. Aaroniero explains that they are highly skilled, and that they are ex-Espada. Rukia then distracts Aaroniero with Hakuren, but fails. Aaroniero, wanting to end the battle releases Kaien's Shikai, Nejibana, astonishing Rukia.

Rukia is supprised at Aaroniero, as he is correctly doing Kaien's spear movements, and swordsmanship, rinsing the water and attacking his opponents. Rukai and Aaroniero continue to clash swords, until Aaroniero removes Rukia's Zanpakutō from her hands. Aaroniero, thinking he has the upper hand, gets attacked by a Sōkatsui, but effortlessly dodges it. The kidō breaks the wall, and lets sunlight in, causing Aaroniero to flee from the area. Rukia then uses a double incantation to restrain Aaroniero. Rukia then uses Sōren Sōkatsui, and makes a whole in the wall, letting sunlight in. This causes Aaroniero's disquise to fade away, astonishing Rukia. Two heads in a tank appear before rukia, and both re-introduce themselves to be the Nuveno Espada, Arroniero Arruruerie. Aaroniero then explains the causes and effects to Rukia's attacks, if she attacked him dirrectly with Sōren Sōkatsuki then he wouldn've been heavily injured. He further explains that Byakuya Kuchiki is the most skilled with Rikujōkōrō, supprising Rukia, about the fact that he knew this. Aaroniero then moves away from the sunlight, and goes back into his Kaien form, claiming not to take them lightly. Aaroniero then informs Rukia about his shapeshifting ability. He further explains to Rukia, that he is the only Gillian in the Espada, and that he is the only Arrancar who can evolve without limit. When Metastacia's soul returned to Hueco Mundo, he devoured him, and took all of his abilities. Aaroniero removes one of his gloves, and reveals his Zanpakutō, Glotoneria, giving a repulsive glare on Rukia's face. Aaroniero then releases his Zanpakutō, gaining the appearance of a repulsive cartoon-like monster. Aaroniero then claims that he has eaten 33,650 Hollows. He heads towards Rukia, telling her to fear him more. Rukia charges at him, while remembering about the day that she killed Kaien. She ends up being impaled through the abdomen by Nejibana, while Aaroniero laughs at Rukia. Rukia, thinking that she was going to die, thinks of all the times she had with Kaien, and how they met. With the last of her strength, she lifts up her shattered blade, and uses her third dance, Shirafune. Rukia defeats him, by Shirafune regenerating through his head. The tank holding the two heads shatters, and the body turns into green liquid; desintegrates. One of the heads screams in awe, and rolls in pain, until it dies. The other head refuses to accept death, and splits in half. Both of their deaths are witnessed by Aizen, who watches them with a girn on his face.

Powers & Abilities
Expert Swordsmanship Specialist: By absorbing Kaien Shiba (albeit indirectly), Aaroniero was a highly skilled swordsman fighting Rukia based on Kaien's memories. Kaien's techniques and form are revealed during the battle, and are described by Rukia as "His upper-body stance. Spear technique reminiscent of a dance, using one wrist as the center of its rotation. Then crushing the opponent between the spears thrust and the rising waves".

Sonído Expert: After Rukia's Kidō spells wore off, Aaroniero used Sonído to appear behind Rukia almost instantly, surprising her.

Broadcasted Sight: (Synchronized Awareness in the English dub) Aaroniero also has the ability to broadcast information of whatever he is currently seeing or experiencing to other Arrancar, which he does prior to his death at the hands of Rukia.

Great Spiritual Power: Having absorbed thousands of hollows and indirectly absorbing a fairly powerful Shinigami like Kaien Shiba, Aaroniero has accumulated a rather large amount of spiritual energy. He has enough spiritual power to mimic the levels possessed of Kaien Shiba, going as far as to being able to use Kaien's Zanpakutō with presumably the exact amount of spiritual energy required to wield and use its abilities.

Zanpakutō
. Aaroniero's Zanpakutō takes the form of a deformed arm-like appendage with many sprouting tentacles that is concealed in his left hand under his glove. Because he indirectly absorbed Kaien Shiba, Aaroniero also possesses his Zanpakutō, Nejibana.


 * Resurrección: It is activated by the command . When released, it turns Aaroniero's lower body into a huge, blob-like mass resembling an incredibly bloated cartoon-style octopus, with dozens of stubby tentacles and mouth-like mask pieces. In the anime, the blob mass is colored purple.


 * Resurrección Special Ability:
 * Hollow Absorption: While all Hollows can cannibalize each other to gain power, Aaroniero has the ability to completely absorb other hollows, merging not only their extra power with his own but also gaining their individual abilities. The ability allows him to evolve without limit, unlike normal Espada. Though not used, Aaroniero gained all of the powers of Metastacia, including:




 * Body Possession: It allows Aaroniero to merge his spirit body with other beings, including Shinigami. This was originally Metastacia's ability.


 * Aspect Manifestation: Once a Hollow is absorbed in this fashion, Aaroniero can manifest any aspect of them at will, including their physical form. According to Aaroniero, he has consumed an approximate total of 33,650 Hollows. It is for this reason that Aaroniero, despite his Gillian status, was able to become an Espada. Through an unusual series of events, he also absorbs the Shinigami abilities of Kaien Shiba by eating Metastacia. The weakness of this power is sunlight, which nullifies it on contact and reveals Aaroniero's true form.


 * Manifest Absorbed Power: When sealed it allows Aaroniero to manifest any power he has absorbed through his Zanpakutō, morphing it into a perfect approximation of the one he absorbed, as he does with Kaien's Nejibana. When released it allows Aaroniero full access of his absorbed abilities. He can still manifest the powers of those he has absorbed in this form, but has no limit to the total number.


 * Mimic Knowledge: His absorption ability also allows him to perfectly mimic the accompanying battle styles of those powers, due to the muscle experience and the memories in the brain.

Appearance in Other Media
He appears in the video games Bleach: Heat the Soul 5, Bleach: Heat the Soul 6, and Bleach: Versus Crusade. These games have taking the appearance of Kaien Shiba, plus being able to perform his Resurrección. In Heat the Soul 6, his tentacles were a golden color, rather than the dark purple shown in the anime.

Trivia

 * Aaroniero's aspect of death is Greed.
 * Aaroniero wears a set of white gloves during the Espada meeting, but wears only a single glove when in his own chambers.
 * In the Bleach best bout poll Aaroniero's fight with Rukia came in seventh place.

Quotes

 * (To Rukia Kuchiki) "Sorry, but I simply can't stand the sunlight, and the sunlight can't make it in here."
 * (To Rukia Kuchiki) "''If it's about our faces, keep it to yourself. We got tired of hearing people's thoughts about them a very long time ago.

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