Akira Hongō

is the Karate Master and God Fist of Yamis One Shadow, Nine Fists and the master of Shō Kanō.
==Physical Appearance==
Hongō is a very tall man with a slim frame yet sports a well-defined and muscular build. He is light-skinned with long-straight black hair that frames both sides of his face with some bangs hanging over his face. He also sports a small and scruffy mustache. His most noticeable trait is his long and pointy ears. After his last battle against Sakaki in their teen years, he received a large scar running down the left side of his face near his eye. Hongō is regularly seen wearing tight black outfits with a flowing backside and gloves. He constantly wears sunglasses with triangular lenses. In his teen years, his hair was much shorter, down to his upper shoulders, and he did not have facial hair and sunglasses. He wore a sleeveless vest with some special straps on his arms and had dark pants with a belt around his waist. His facial features were also virtually the same. He was also considered very handsome by numerous female nurses who tended to him when he was injured.
==Personality==
Hongō is a rather serious man when it comes to many things, even as simple as meeting the other Fists. Even when taking simple kind gestures from others such as Lona thanking him, he did not talk and just stared sternly. He's also a very quiet person, as he rarely speaks unless he wishes to, especially in battle. He scorns the use of science and technology to measure one's level of Martial Arts, though he has shown he doesn't mind using it to train Sho. Despite his cold nature, he has a rather close bond to his disciple and cares for him deeply, as their relationship is like that of a father-son like relationship. He has faith in Sho that he is the 'Sole Successor' and wishes to disapprove everyone's opinion of Sho that he is not worthy of the title. He has also shown visible rage when he heard Sho died during the D of D Tournament and even mourned the loss over his beloved disciple. He harbors a great hatred for Ryozanpaku, as it is revealed that he received his scar from Shio Sakaki and is clearly upset when he learns Sho died saving Miu Fūrinji. In the battle for the Karate successor of Yami, he tells Kenichi to tell Sakaki that they will "end this soon".
During his past when he trained the young Sho, Hongō has also shown to be rather lenient, as he does not care that Sho saved the bird, simply saying with a smile, "Do what you like." This shows that he respects the wishes of others, a key mindset that placed him into conflict with Sakaki.
When he was still friends with Sakaki, Hongō was seemingly more soft-hearted and spoke more than he does now. He also seemed to have been down the path of the saving fist since he helped saved several people from getting killed on more than one occasion such as how he leaped in front of some bullets just so the hostages wouldn't get hurt.
Hongō's reason for embracing the Satsujinken is out of honor for Hajime Suzuki, who demanded a death match with him when Yami pitted Sakaki, Hajime, and him in a death match for the succession of Karate in Yami. Although he embraces the Satsujinken, he has made it a personal rule to only kill martial artists and refuses to kill anyone that is not a martial artist. Despite this rule he is more than willing to fight anyone who challenges him, martial artist or not. The only actual exception that he makes to this rule is if someone willingly attacks him after being warned that he shows no mercy to whoever challenges him, as shown when Sakaki warned Miu after watching Kenichi get struck by him.  His conflict with Sakaki stems from this reason: whereas Sakaki wanted to let Hajime live and do what was best for him, Hongō was more concerned with fulfilling Hajime's wishes, calling Sakaki "selfish" for refusing to understand that. However, Hongo does have some of his old Katsujinken beliefs inside, as he spared a young woman and her child from getting killed by Mihai and even gave an angry glare at the man.
Hongō is shown to have an honor code like Kenichi, as shown when he refused to fight Shigure because she is a woman and refused to fight anyone who is injured, however he did fight Griffith who was a woman since she targeted Kenichi and Miu.
While he shows to be ruthless and very serious most the time, he, compared to the other members of Yami, has proven to be very honorable. He stopped his fight with Sakaki and assisted him in trying to save Miu from Jenazad when Junazard interfered and even promised the Elder that he would return her to her home. Even Sakaki vouches that he is a man who keeps his word. He also has a high respect for the Kuremisago clan, stating that he couldn't bring himself to shed blood on their sacred land. He also wishes for no disciples to lose their lives in battle, such as stating to Sakaki that he wishes for Kenichi and Miu not to die in their fights with Junazard's men, showing a more compassionate side.
He is willing to let his opponent fight on their own turf. Letting him use all of his best moves, and then "put his heart off guard" that he doesn't have an ounce of mercy, to the old or children. He isn't one to let anger ruin his form, he becomes more calm and more cold-hearted. However, on rare occasions, when he gets mad, he fights in a mad like frenzy that Kenichi noted he lost his cool when Jenazad spoke ill of Sho.
Hongō's most defining trait of his personality is that he's repeatedly known for being remarkably stubborn. In fact, his stubborn nature is evident in and out of fights as even in his youth he left the hospital despite the grievous wounds he had on his body just to fight in a karate tournament and eventually won it. Sakaki states that when Hongō says he's going to do something, he sticks with it till the end and finishes it, refusing to back down. Even when his life was in danger, he refused help from Sakaki and refused anesthesia from the doctor and stated he won't move a muscle as they operate on him, showing he has a problem trusting strangers. Even his disciples Seta and Hayami have stated he's always this stubborn and has yet to show otherwise.
Despite his good look that attract many women in the past and present, Hongo showed no interest in women or interest in fighting them. However, it was shown that in his past with Sakaki and Suzuki, that he was speechless, and his eyes were wide opened after seeing Sakaki's sister. This wasn't seen before or after, but it shows that Hongo has a little bit of interest in women.
==Skills==
Throughout his rivalry with Sakaki, he was able to defeat Sakaki, who was considered by many the greatest master-level martial artist in karate, 126 times compared to Sakaki's 125, earning him one victory over Sakaki's record. This would make him at least on par with, if not slightly better than Sakaki. However, before their 251st fight, Sakaki had chosen the path of Katsujinken while Akira had chosen Satsujinken, so Akira was able to fight with all of his strength whereas Sakaki held back to prevent himself from killing him. It was also mentioned that even though Sakaki says it was his loss, Akira considers it his loss because he didn't manage to finish Sakaki. Rachel Stanley mentioned as well that Akira was a man whom her master, Diego Carlo, acknowledged as superior to him.
*Master Karateka: Akira is considered to be one of the greatest karate masters in the world, rivaled only by Sakaki himself. During his death match against Suzuki and Sakaki, Akira was able to turn the tables on Suzuki upon resolving to kill the latter despite Suzuki previously overwhelming both him and Sakaki with the two noting that Suzuki was stronger than either of them. Early on Akira was originally defensive oriented in his karate style though this caused him to react too slowly during fights especially group battles that Suzuki suggested he change it into an offensive one. While a Sei-Type and true master of it, he is more than willing to allow his emotional build up, specifically anger, fuel his attacks. Despite the seeming recklessness of it, he is is able to remain focused enough to not lose his edge in battle, rather enhance his already formidable prowess. Even against Silkwat Junazard, a senior member of Yami and the only character to have ever given Hayato Furinji, the Invincible Superman a hard time, he was able to defeat and ultimately kill the warrior despite the grievous wounds he received from him, which is a testament to his skills. Most recently, during the Eternal Sunset, He was able to defeat Mihai Știrbey, a Grand Master and member of the Hachiō Executioner Blade with seemingly little effort. Though during his fight with Știrbey he merely aimed to throw the scythe master out of the building which prevented the latter from unleashing his full potential then.
*Master Teacher: Sakaki mentions that as a master, Akira makes his disciple completely understand all his moves and even states that Akira is considered the best of the One Shadow, Nine Fists at raising disciples. Even Kenichi noted the impressive growth Seta and Hayami had displayed since their last encounter on Despair Island and had realized that Akira was able to teach three different karate styles to Sho, Seta, and Hayami. Later on, Akira began training the latter two using specialized equipment through what they are lacking and need improvement on.
*Immense Tenacity: His greatest attribute was not his power nor his technique, but his tenacity, something even his rival Sakaki is fully respectful of, as shown when Sakaki did not interfere with his death match against Junazard to the end, believing that Hongō will defeat Junazard. Even up against Junazard, one of the strongest in the nine fists, he still maintained his cool and fought putting his life on the line numerous times just to land a decisive hit on his opponent. He allowed himself to be knocked down once in order to use his ultimate move for the first time and allowed himself to be mortally wounded by Junazard (though it was revealed that he used Naizouage to survive). All this was to prepare for the final exchange with Junazard which gave him the largest opening to strike the decisive hit. Even Junazard admitted that he's someone with extraordinary tenacity when he was hit. After the battle, despite the injuries he sustained, he refused to take anesthesia for his treatment, insisting that he can stay still of his own free will.
*Immense Strength: Several martial artists tried to stop him by trying to hold him all at once, but he kept striding forward normally. He also sent the group flying when he released his ki. He is capable of just stepping in stone to keep himself from falling from the angle with ease. With just a kick he can shatter the ground in a shockwave and even use a large golden training ring and spin it like nothing. His downward strike aimed for Jenazad caused the stone tower they battled on top of to collapse. Despite having enormous physical strength, Akira also possesses powerful control over his strength where he was able to easily save Hayami from a fall on top of a rooftop using only his pinkie to prevent himself from breaking Hayami's neck during the catch. His strength can also build up powerfully even from instinct where Jenzad observed had Hongo didn't have such fine control over his strength, then he would have punctured a hole through Kenichi's torso even when the disciple was wearing an iron chain vest when the Demon God Fist sent a powerful wave of killing intent towards him.
*Immense Endurance: Hongō has shown to have an inhuman amount of endurance, as he took several of Sakaki's best moves and was able to keep fighting as if it hardly affected him. Even by slamming himself to the ground to escape Junazard's grip he took little damage. He's also shown to have a high tolerance for pain, as he dislocated his right arm and his left leg simultaneously and only barely grunted in response. Even when Junazard struck inside his body and caused a great amount of pain and blood to come out, Hongō only grunted at the pain and was able to keep fighting. Even after taking several critical blows from Junazard that broke his bones in his arms and legs and lost a considerable amount of blood, Hongō was able to rise back up and strike back with a counterattack and eventually, Hongō was able to strike at that moment for one last attack and despite Junazard rushing his hands inside his body, Hongō was able to deliver the killing blow and defeat Junazard.
*Immense Sei Ki: Even Kenichi, who has already encountered Ki from master level opponents several times, finds Akira's Ki unbelievable and intimidating. Shigure, who rarely fears any enemies, find him extraordinary within a few seconds of exchanging blows. On top of that, it is hinted that he was suppressing his ki all this time. When he mentions Sakaki to Kenichi, he released vast amount of ki that completely surprised Kenichi. After which, Elder appears and stops Miu from pursuing Akira, stating that "he is dangerous". This is the second time Elder stated something like this, second to Silkwat Junazard whom Elder commented that he had a tough fight with. His Ki is extremely immense to the point where when it clashes with Sakaki who's ki he is incompatible with does nothing but create a destructive force. Both Kenichi and Miu note that his ki is nothing like they have seen before. And when fully released along with Sakaki even more so, to the point where even those with a relatively strong heart cannot stay in the area.
*Sharp Senses: He is able to hear the chime of his disciple's broken caged bird earring from within the village while staring down at it from a hilltop. He is able to completely avoid Shigure's sword strikes and Apachai's attacks even though he was carrying one of his disciples.
*Keen Intellect: Despite his rugged appearance, Hongō as repeatedly shown to be a very perceptive and tactical individual, as he immediately knew Kenichi was lying about how Sho died from protecting Miu and not Kenichi like he said. He could also instantly tell that Apachai was wounded when he and Shigure attempted to intervene against him and his disciples at the abandoned village which he made retreat rather than fight. Even against someone who's known for being a very crafty manipulator like Junazard, Hongō was able to outsmart him near the end of their fight and even fool him by using his injured arm a second time from using the same move on him again and defeat him with it.
*Immense Speed: Upon hearing the chime, he almost instantaneously arrives at the home that Kenichi and Miu were investigating. He is fast enough to exchange a battle of offense and defense of the highest level with Sakaki in an instant and the only way to keep up with the speed was to not watch with the normal eye but the inner eye. Despite this, his level of speed is so high that even Miu who was used to the battles of a master lost the ability to see the battle against Sakaki due to the overwhelming speed in which they were battling. Hongo is also fast enough to create many afterimages of himself in the use of his strongest techniques when he fought against Jenazad and Sensui.
*Immense Reflexes: Akira Hongo's reflexes are also incredibly high and is perhaps fueled by his tremendous instincts. Right when Jenazad blasted the immense surge of killing intent towards Hongo in order for him to attack Kenichi, who was running towards him, Hongo managed to reflexively hold back enough of his strength to stop himself from puncturing through Kenichi within an instant. Later on, during his death match against Jenazad, Hongo managed to save himself from being killed by the Demon Fist God's True Breathing Throw by instinctively throwing his own body towards the ground within a hair's breadth. Even Sakaki noted that if Hongo was just a second too late in his instinctive dodging then he would have been killed about 9 times already.
==References==
Category:Yami
Category:Master
Category:Satsujinken
Category:S-Class Master
Category:Karate Users
Category:Sei
Category:Male
Category:Grand Master