Shawlong Koufang

is the Undécimo (11th) Arrancar in Sōsuke Aizen's army. He was a member, and apparently the leader, of Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez's five Fracción. His position as the 11th Arrancar before his death implies that he was the oldest living Números.

Appearance
Shawlong Koufang has a long face with grey eyes and black hair, which is braided and usually hanging over his shoulder. What remains of his mask is on the top of his head, with a portion dropping down to cover the upper-left half of his face, and a long spike that points to his right. The location of his Hollow hole is in the center of his abdomen, but is hidden by his Arrancar uniform, which is standard.

Before becoming an Arrancar, Shawlong was a tall and slim Adjuchas. He had a light purple body with two black line running down his body. His mask resembled a medieval knight, from the back of which a very long claw-tipped tail emerged. He had armor on his chest and his arms were skeletal with long sharp claw hands. His legs were slim and along with his feet were skeletal. Before that, Shawlong was a Gillian and had a mask that was very similar to his later one.

Personality
Shawlong is an intellectual, or at least an analyst, able to confidently state the nature of his opponent's powers and how it functions. He is also somewhat well-mannered and well-spoken when compared to his comrades.

History
Shawlong was a Gillian with a personality that eventually grew into an Adjuchas-class Menos. He was apparently the leader of a small group of Menos consisting of himself, Di Roy Rinker, Yylfordt Granz, Edrad Liones, Nakeem Grindina and two other unnamed Adjuchas.

One day, they stumbled across a tiny Adjuchas whom they attempted to hunt, but his retaliation caused several of them to be "eaten." Shawlong, recognizing Grimmjow's strength, invited him to join the group as their "king," a fellowship of Adjuchas to become Vasto Lorde-class Menos.

However, they were unaware that the moment any part of a Hollow's body is eaten by any other Hollow, the Hollow's growth stops at that point and it was only much later that they realized that they were fated to fail in becoming Vasto Lordes. Grimmjow snorted at their announcement of giving up, and declared that he would detach from the group. As he left, Shawlong asked Grimmjow to "eat" them all, and Grimmjow complied, taking a bite out of each of the five Adjuchas: the same five that would eventually become his Fracción.

Arrancar arc
Ulquiorra Cifer, upon returning from his mission in the Human World, tells Aizen that Ichigo Kurosaki was not worth killing. Both Grimmjow and Shawlong commented, saying that he was obviously strong. To rectify Ulquiorra's "mistake", Grimmjow led him and the rest of his Fracción on an unauthorized mission to kill anyone with even the slightest Spiritual Pressure in Karakura Town. After scouting for those with spiritual energy they set out to hunt them down. Shawlong, along with Nakeem, comes across Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya and Lieutenant Rangiku Matsumoto, with Shawlong taking on the captain.

Shawlong easily fends off Hitsugaya, even with his Bankai released. He notices that Yylfordt released his Zanpakutō, and assumes that he just wanted to finish the battle, or an unexpected counter-attack had happened, and that he had no choice. Hitsugaya then comes rushing at Shawlong, causing a blast of ice. Shawlong shatters the ice, and gets attacked by Hitsugaya's tail, freezing Shawlong's arm. Shawlong then observes Hitsugaya's Bankai, and explains that the ice flowers behind him act like a count down until his Bankai completely shatters away. Claiming that it would be easy to kill him after that happens, he releases his Zanpakutō, as it would be rude to kill him so. Before Hitsugaya even reacts to Shawlong's movements, he receives a large cut, diagonally crossing through his shoulder to his waist.

After he severely injured Hitsugaya, he introduced his full name, Shawlong Koufang, the Undécimo Arrancar created. Hitsugaya charges at Shawlong, but ends up getting one of his wings slashed off. His wing then regenerates. Hitsugaya asks Shawlong, that according to his number, if he was the 11th strongest Arrancar. Shawlong then explains that the numbers given to each Arrancar are just the order in which they were born, not their strength. He also explains that Espada are the ones ranked by strength, from strongest to weakest.

Shawlong also tells Hitsugaya that there is an Espada with them, and he is ranked number 6. Rangiku then gets a response from the Seireitei, and that they have permission to release their limiters. Lieutenant Renji Abarai, Rangiku and Hitsugaya release their limiters. Shawlong's arm then gets frozen, as he witnesses the instant deaths of his fellow Fracción. He then flees from Hitsugaya, but gets chased down by him. Hitsugaya then freezes him on contact. Shawlong, along with the ice, shatters.

Powers & Abilities
High Spiritual Power: Shawlong is powerful for his rank, able to easily fight off Captain Tōshirō Hitsugaya using his Bankai at 20% power, only releasing his Zanpakutō at all, because he felt it would be "the polite thing to do for a captain". His Reiatsu is yellow.

Expert Swordsman: Shawlong is very proficient with his Zanpakutō. He is able to fight on par with Tōshirō Hitsugaya with his Bankai at 20% power.

Sonído: After tracking down Hitsugaya and Matsumoto, he and Nakeem use Sonído to arrive and attack their respective opponents.

Pesquisa: He uses the ability alongside the rest of his team to search for any spiritual pressures when invading Karakura Town.

Skilled Tactician: Shawlong is very intelligent, able to realize what Hitsugaya's limit was using Bankai, as well as counter his attacks.

Zanpakutō

 * Shawlong's Zanpakutō looks like a standard katana with a guard shaped like to oval with a gap going down the middle and hollow corners.


 * Resurrección: Its release command is . When released, Shawlong grows armor that covers his arms and upper chest, while his hands transform into long claws and his mask extends down to cover the left side of his face, while the part of his mask fragment, extending out to his right, becomes a claw-tipped tail. Also, his original mask fragment extends downward to form a sort of half-helmet, and the side protrusion becomes mounted on the back of his head.


 * Resurrección Special Ability: He was strong enough to easily cut through Daiguren Hyōrinmaru when Hitsugaya was at 20% power using his claws as weapons.
 * Enhanced Speed: Shawlong is significantly faster in his released state, able to leave a large wound on Hitsugaya before the latter could even react to his movements.

Censorship

 * When Shawlong slashed across Tōshirō Hitsugaya's chest during their battle, there was significantly less blood shown in the anime than in the manga.
 * The remains of his body weren't shown in the anime after being defeated by his opponent, just as the remaining members of his fellow Fracción.

Trivia

 * Shawlong's name is sometimes romanized as Shawlong Qufang.
 * Shawlong is the oldest member of Grimmjow's Fracción, and the only one older than Grimmjow himself.
 * In the anime, Shawlong's Resurrección slightly differs from the manga. In the manga, the claws and tail that he gain from his released form are longer and more pronounced. Whereas in the anime, they're shorter and more simplistic.
 * In the manga, the long spike of his Hollow mask remnants point to the left in all his appearances in Volume 23  but in Volume 24 the spike suddenly points to the right.
 * Grimmjow's Fracción are initially stated to be Gillians by the Soul Society and even Aizen himself. Later, Kisuke Urahara reports to Uryū Ishida that Grimmjow's Fracción are a mixture of Gillians and Adjuchas. Then, it is revealed through Grimmjow's backstory that they are Adjuchas, though Nakeem Grindina strongly resembles a Gillian.

Quotes

 * (To Ulquiorra Cifer) "He is an enemy. Even if there is no value in killing him, there is certainly no value in letting him live."


 * (To Tōshirō Hitsugaya) "The Tenth Division captain. Magnificent news for me. This means I've hit the jackpot."


 * (To Tōshirō Hitsugaya) "When your Bankai disappears, killing you will be too easy. Saying how weak you are would be rude to you, a captain. While you remain in that form at least let me defeat you with my greatest fighting ability."


 * (To Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez) "Join hands with us, Grimmjow. But I won't just leave it at that. We have no intention of remaining as Adjuchas or Gillians. We are definitely going to rise to become Vasto Lordes. And in order to do that, we need strength. And that enormous strength to pull us forward can be none other than you. Let us go together, Grimmjow. You shall become our king."

Navigation
Shawlong Kūfang Shawlong Kūfang Shawlong Kūfang