drowsy, bloody, crazy
Renji is the lieutenant (vice captain) of the Sixth Division, under Captain Kuchiki Byakuya. Previously, he served in the Fifth Division and in the Eleventh Division before becoming Byakuya's vice captain about a month prior to Rukia's arrest.kneel to the baboon king
Renji's zanpakutou is named Zabimaru (literally snaketail) and unreleased, looks like any other sword. Its hilt wrap is a dark brown-red and the hilt and handguard itself are both of a bright gold coloration. Zabimaru is recognized to be a melee type zanpakutou (notably, the direct opposite of Senbonzakura).
Zabimaru's shikai is summoned by the command "Hoero (literally howl), Zabimaru!" wherein Zabimaru becomes sword-whip hybrid, with multiple pick-like blades extending from its cutting edge. In this form, it can be used as both a regular sword or, more commonly, as a sword-whip. Renji has a limit of three consecutive attacks before having to bring the segments of Zabimaru back together for recovery.
At some point, Renji also learned a one-shot technique with Zabimaru's shikai called Higa Zekkou (Baboon Fang Breach). Even when the whip of Zabimaru is broken, Renji can use his spiritual power to levitate the segments and hurl them at an enemy from all sides. However, this attack hurts Zabimaru.
Zabimaru's bankai is called Hihou Zabimaru (literally Baboon King Zabimaru) and is in the form of a giant skeletal snake, complete with a snapping head (that, amusingly enough, can be used to chew on his opponents in the PSP Bleach game). It can both attack with its body and block attacks with its segmented vertebrae. This form does not need to have all the segments intact in order to fight, and is connected by the power of the user, making it extremely difficult (but not impossible) to damage or destroy. Renji developes the special technique Baboon Bone Cannon (hikou taihou), which essentially fires a dense reiatsu blast from Hihiou Zabimaru's mouth. He first demonstrates this technique against the arrancar Il Forte Grantz.
Zabimaru also has a manifestation in the form of a baboon with a snake tail. The baboon has a wise, sensible mind while the snake takes on the attitude of a teenage punk. This form can be recognized as a nue (sometimes called a Japanese chimera). A nue is a legendary creature found in Japanese folklore. It has the head of a monkey, the body of a tanuki, the legs of a tiger, and a snake instead of a tail. A nue can also transform into a black cloud and fly around.
Nue are bringers of misfortune and illness. According to The Tale of the Heike, the Emperor of Japan became sick after a nue took up residence atop his palace in the summer of 1153. After the samurai Minamoto no Yorimasa killed the creature, the emperor recovered.
The most famous story involving the nue takes place in the year 1153, at the imperial palace in Kyoto. Emperor Konoe begins having terrible nightmares every night, to the point that he falls ill, and it seems that the source is a dark cloud that appears on the palace roof every night at two in the morning. The problem is eventually solved by Yorimasu Minamoto, who stakes out the roof one night and fires an arrow into the cloud, out of which falls a dead nue. Yorimasu then takes the body and sinks it into the Sea of Japan.
A sequel to the story exists, in which the nue's corpse floats into a certain bay and the locals, fearing a curse, bury it. The mound where the beast lies can still be seen today.
