Leo Hayakawa; Pre RACQFAL Plot

== Leo Hayakawa: Plot + Lore (before racqfal) ==
ALL OF THIS IS LORE BEFORE THE EVENTS OF RACQFAL
=== Past Story Arcs + Plot ===
Leo was a Devil Hybrid, having the heart of his former pet/companion Pochita, The Chainsaw Devil. Leo died and Pochita revived him by becoming his heart. After a critical injury on Geonosis, he lost his heart, killing Pochita, and had his original heart reformed by Shoko using RCT.
He took the last name "Hayakawa" from his older brother figure (Aki Hayakawa) after his death. His little sister Nayuta took the name too.
Former member of Tokyo Special Division 4.
Was also a member of The New Republic. After being presumed dead for 4 years, he escaped from Imperial Captivity with Iki
===== Relationships =====
====== Friends ======
==== Kobeni Higashiyama ====
Leo and Kobeni are close friends, as they're 2 of the last active members of Tokyo Special Division 4. Despite their rocky start, (Kobeni panicking and attempting to kill and sacrifice Leo several times) they became friends through various missions together as a team. She apologised to Leo when saving his body from Katana Man and Akane Sawatari, and after Arai and Himeno's deaths became a lot closer with Aki, Power and Leo. Eventually being on good terms with the rest of the Division too.
After resigning from the team, and everything else that took part after the Division's disbandment and Makima's death, she stayed in contact with Leo and even helped look after Nayuta from time to time. When the fall of The Republic took place, she joined Leo and Nayuta in escaping and living as outlaws throughout the galaxy. Eventually joining The New Republic with them too.
In the 4 years of Leo's presumed death, Kobeni and Nayuta maintained their close relationship, and she would often tell Nayuta stories from her time with Leo serving in Tokyo Special Division 4. She also kept maintenance of their ship, and when finding out about Leo's return, she cried and visited him while he was in the hospital.
==== Lucifer Thornton ====
Lucifer and Leo originally met during The Republic's reign, serving as another member on Fireteam Zero. After eventually leaving to join Tokyo Special Division 4, the two met again during Alderaan's Invasion, and another time a few years later. After their few meetings in The Republic, the two eventually met again whilst Lucifer was on a New Republic mission to free Yuji Itadori causing Leo, Kobeni and Nayuta to assist. After discussions, Leo joined The New Republic and the two went on many missions together. The two were close friends and after a while Lucifer's son, Suguru Thornton, became close with Nayuta Hayakawa. After Leo's apparent death, Lucifer and Nobara Kugisaki took Nayuta in as one of their own referring to her as an adopted daughter, referencing how Leo acted as a kid in regards to Lucifer and Nobara, making him their adopted son after his death and including him in their family.
==== Beam ====
They first met after being partnered up by Makima, though he offered himself as a volunteer due to being a big fan of the Chainsaw Man. They don't have much interaction with each other, but they seem to get along well. Leo allows Beam to follow him with the only condition of not being seen by people. Beam is very protective towards him and he will put his life on the line to save Leo. He followed him when he was having a "date" with Reze and quickly jumped to save him from the Bomb Devil and took him to the Public Safety's headquarters. While being chased by the Bomb Devil and the Typhoon Devil, Leo and Beam worked together as a team in order to defeat those Devils.
==== Princi ====
Leo and Princi were friends whilst they both served in Tokyo Special Division 4. Despite their totally different attitudes, they were close and had many fun times together in their missions.
In The New Republic's main base on Bogano, Leo told Nayuta many stories of his past and spoke fondly of Princi.
====== Family ======
==== Aki Hayakawa ====
Aki and Leo initially began as distrustful teammates, as Aki strongly disliked him: he despised him for his Devil nature and his bold, crass personality. Aki would openly state to Leo that he had no qualms about killing him if he became useless. In turn, Leo reciprocated Aki's hostility. Though hostile, they would still begrudgingly cooperate with each other, as both were commanded to do so by Makima, and Aki recognized Leo's utility as a tool.
Over time, however, their relationship would change: after being forced to live with each other by Makima and working together on missions, Aki and Leo slowly became close, and would eventually become best friends. In the face of tragedies and sadness, Leo and Aki comforted one another, such as when Leo gave Aki an apple after Himeno's death, or when Aki comforted him over their cancelled trip with Makima.
After becoming the Gun Fiend, during his murderous rampage and battle with Leo, Aki would end up hallucinating, perceiving everything as a snowball fight with him. Tragically, Aki's love for Leo proved to be the catalyst for his defeat at the hands of him: Aki stopped his murderous rampage after hallucinating Leo crying during the snowball fight, ceasing his deluge of snowballs (which, in truth, were bullets) because it was the first time he had ever seen Leo cry. This pause was enough to allow Leo to pierce Aki's body with his chainsaws, killing him.
The death of Aki led Leo into a deep spiral of grief and depression, with him losing his will to live, unable to cope with the reality that he had murdered his best friend and surrogate older brother. Leo's despair would lead him to extreme decisions, such as relinquishing his free will and subjugating himself to Makima so that he could escape the painful reality that Aki was dead by his hands.
=== Power ===
Beginning as partners assigned by Makima, Leo initially viewed Power as a nuisance, whilst she attempted to use him for her own gain. Power initially betrays him, bringing him as a trade-off for the Bat Devil to return her cat. After she is rescued from the Bat Devil by him, she apologizes and begins to warm up to him, offering him to “ fondle her chest “, as a means to apologize. Despite a rough start, their shared stupidity, apathy and hedonistic tendencies allow the two to quickly grow close, often playing games and arguing at times others would find inappropriate. Leo develops the nickname 'Powy' for her, whilst she refers to him as her 'Buddy'.
Their relationship becomes comparable to that of siblings, with Leo specifically noting a lack of romantic or sexual connection between the two. Both are intensely protective of the other, as seen when Leo and Aki looked after her following the Darkness Devil attack in Hell, also protecting her physically from Aki when he was possessed by the Gun Devil. Likewise, Power agreed to take part in the hunt for the Gun Devil despite her apprehension, purely out of her desire to continue working with Leo.
Power's friendship with Leo shows when she turns into the Blood Devil against Makima, and fights her and her men. When Power is about to die after saving him from Makima, she forms a contract with Leo by giving him blood in return for him finding the Blood Devil again.
==== Nayuta Hayakawa ====
When he first met her, Leo was reluctant to adopt Nayuta. After talking to her, he realized she was surprisingly similar to him, like with her preferred food, and took her home. The same day, Leo got visited by Pochita in his dream, who told him the Control Devil wanted to have a family where she was equal to someone else and advised him to give her lots of hugs. A while after this, Leo calls Nayuta a little sister and is obsessed with collecting money for her education, confident that she is smart enough to go to college. He also describes her as a problem child with an extreme personality.
Nayuta picked up a lot of mannerisms from Leo, such as her informal way of speaking and her laugh. She is also shown to care a lot for him despite calling him her property when they first were getting close.
During the Fall of The Republic, she fled with Leo and Kobeni, eventually joining The New Republic. After Leo's presumed death for 4 years, she matured a lot, while still being a pain sometimes, and cares for Leo deeply.
====== Love Interests ======
==== Makima ====
Makima and Leo shared an asymmetrical relationship: whereas Leo was greatly infatuated with Makima and willing to go to great lengths to serve her, Makima saw him as nothing more than a pet and tool, taking interest in him solely for the fact that the Chainsaw Devil Pochita resided in his heart. To this end, Makima masterminded a plot to control the Chainsaw Devil by manipulating Leo, setting up circumstances that would allow him to experience the love, companionship, and comfort that he had craved his entire life, before violently stripping him of everything he cared about in an attempt to break him and bring out Chainsaw Man. Despite discovering her plot, her identity as the Control Devil, and the fact that he meant nothing to her, Leo would still continue to love Makima. To him, although she had betrayed him and had brutally slaughtered his closest friends, she had been one of the few people in his life to show him affection.
Leo's love for Makima and her apathy towards him would prove key to her defeat. Makima was ambushed by him with a chainsaw, as he realized that she only remembered people she was interested in by their scents, and thus would not be able to recognize Leo because she had never memorized his scent. Following this ambush, Leo successfully killed her and ate her body. By doing so, he was not attacking Makima but was instead "becoming one with her", which bypassed the conditions of her contract with the Prime Minister of Japan that made her impervious to fatal injuries.
After Makima's death, Leo would end up becoming the caretaker of her dogs and her reincarnation Nayuta. Having been told by Pochita that the Control Devil's greatest dream was to form equal relationships with others, Leo dedicated himself to granting the Control Devil's dream by lovingly raising Nayuta and becoming her family, hoping to prevent she became another version of Makima.
==== Reze ====
Much like with Makima, Leo had an asymmetrical relationship with Reze. While Leo becomes quickly infatuated with her, Reze was only manipulating him and saw him as nothing more than a tool. In order to kill him and steal his heart, Reze orchestrated a plan to make him fall for her, pretending to have a crush on him, teaching Leo how to swim and giving him the experience of going to school. Even after knowing that she deceived and attempted to kill him, Leo still dreamed of escaping and starting a new life with Reze, thus he refused to kill her. He was later seen waiting for her in the café she used to work as a cover, though after waiting for an entire day, he came to the disappointing realization that she wasn't returning.
====== Devils ======
==== Pochita ====
Pochita was saved by Leo when in his time of need by feeding him his blood to recover from an injury, leading to them befriending one another Devil and Human alike. This allowed the debt that filled young Leo to be dealt with by becoming a young Devil Hunter with the help of Pochita. Later after being a Devil Hunter his whole life he was betrayed by the debt collector and brutally murdered by zombified humans. This death caused Pochita to become Leo's heart due to a contract making Leo a Devil-human Hybrid.
===== Abilities =====
====== Physical Prowess ======
* Enhanced Human Condition: Due to fusing with Pochita, Leo gained superhuman abilities even when not transformed. In his human form, Leo is durable enough to survive being hit by Power with a hammer and getting squeezed by the Bat Devil, despite both individuals possessing immense strength. He is also very strong, capable of decapitating a Fiend with just one swing of his Axe.
** Enhanced Endurance: Due to his rough childhood, Leo has developed a high tolerance for pain and stress, being able to still function as a Devil Hunter for the Yakuza despite having multiple of his organs missing at the time. His mental fortitude has allowed him to fight for three days straight while constantly being injured and remaining conscious even after having multiple parts of his body cut or blown off.
====== (Former) Hybrid Powers ======
* (Former) Hybrid Transformation: By pulling on the cord emerging from his chest, Leo can transform into a bloodthirsty Chainsaw Devil. Leo needs blood in order to use his abilities, so if he does not have enough of it in his body, he can not fully transform and will instead enter a pseudo-hybrid form. While Leo still has access to some of his powers in this form, they are considerably weaker and his chainsaws are shorter. If Leo runs out of blood, while already being fully transformed, his chainsaws will automatically retract themselves. While in this form Leo still doesn't posses Pochita's signature ability of Devil erasure which was proven in his fight against the Falling Devil which was eaten by him but neither weakened or erased.
** (Former) Augmented Strength: After entering his Hybrid form, Leo's physical strength is increased exponentially. He can break walls and kill most Devils with just one punch. On one occasion, he was able to catch a thrown car out of the air without staggering and then throw it back with an equal amount of force and on another occasion, he was capable of lifting a car and then throwing it with enough force to make it explode.
** (Former) Augmented Durability: While in his Hybrid form, Leo's physical durability is increased to inhuman levels. He can fall from great attitudes and punch Devils through walls, without receiving any injuries. He also has survived a point-blank blast from the Bat Devil that destroyed a building behind him, multiple explosions from the Bomb Hybrid, being on fire for extended periods of time and being near the Typhoon Devil's tornado, which has been shown to be strong enough to lift cars. His head and chainsaws are far more durable than the rest of his body, due to being made of metal, and being capable of deflecting bullets.
** (Former) Augmented Stamina: Leo was capable of fighting the Eternity Devil for approximately three days. As long as Leo continues to drink blood to recover from his injuries, he is essentially a perpetual motion machine.
** (Former) Chainsaw Manifestation: As part of his transformation Leo grows fully-functional chainsaws from his arms, legs, feet and head. These chainsaws are extremely effective at cutting Devils' flesh, allowing Leo to sever limbs and bifurcate his enemies. They are also very effective at cutting other materials, such as stone and concrete, however they have shown to be incapable of cutting through metal. The chainsaws in his legs and feet are not usually active, however, Leo can employ them just by willing it. Just like the rest of his body, these chainsaws are regenerated every time Leo pulls his cord and fully transforms.
*** (Former) Chainsaw Retraction: If he needs the full use of his arms and legs to do certain tasks while in his Hybrid form, Leo's chainsaws can be retracted into his body, allowing him to perform mundane actions such as grabbing objects. While Leo can willingly retract his chainsaws, they can also be retracted automatically based on his instincts alone.
*** (Former) Chainsaw Wall Crawling: Leo is able to manifest short chainsaws under his feet, which he can use to stick onto walls and even walk on them. He used this ability once, in order to run away from a group of dolls that were created by Santa.
*** (Former) Chain Entanglement: Leo is able to disconnect his chains from his chainsaws to use them in combat. He can wrap his chains around his opponent's body and then pull them closer to him. Leo can also wrap his chains around objects to cut them, throw them or do both. If Leo's arms get torn off but are still connected to his body, he can still use his chain like body tissue to wrap his enemies around. The chains can also be used as grapple hooks, allowing Leo to wrap them around a target and then pull his body closer to said target.
** (Former) Blood Consumption: Leo is able to heal completely from nearly any fatal injury, and in some instances recover from death, so long as he consumes a sufficient amount of blood. After losing his arm to Bat Devil, Leo's arm re-attached itself after he received a blood transfusion. With his fight against Santa Claus, he consumed one of her doll's blood to keep fighting while still being on fire.
*** (Former) Nigh-Immortality: Due to being a Hybrid, Leo is immortal and nearly unkillable. He can survive getting shot, being thrown from buildings and taking all kinds of injuries that would kill most Devils. Even if he dies, as long as someone pulls the cord on his chest, Leo can come back to life in perfect condition. Even after being decapitated, being cursed by the Curse Devil and having most of his body blown up, Leo still managed to come back to life with no lasting damage.
====== Devil Contracts ======
* (Former) Chainsaw Devil Contract: In exchange for living a "normal life", Pochita became Leo's heart and turned him into a Hybrid. All of his Hybrid abilities are originated from this contract.
** (Former) Blood Devil Contract: In exchange for finding the reincarnated Blood Devil and befriending them, Power gave all of her remaining blood to revive Leo.
*** (Former) Blood Chainsaw: Due to the blood gained from Power, Leo is able to manifest a chainsaw made from said blood, boasting a sharp pair of horns similar to that of Power's on the base of the chainsaw. By using her blood manipulation ability that was imbued into the chainsaw, he was able to disturb the regeneration of Makima which allowed him to defeat her.
====== Skill set ======
* Hand-to-Hand Combat: Even without his transformation, Leo is a capable unarmed and armed fighter. Against the Leech Devil - which was many times his size and weight - he was able to easily block her blows, whilst delivering punches and headbutts with enough force to damage her. His skills improved further after training with Kishibe, in which he learnt to rely more on strategy instead of blind-strength.
** Strategic Intelligence: Despite never receiving a proper education, Leo is very perceptive when it comes to ascertaining his enemies' weaknesses and how to exploit them. Leo was trained under Kishibe, who he refers to as "master" teaches him various strategies. This is shown in the fight against Katana Man where Leo deceives Katana Man by making him think that Leo can only manifest chainsaws in his arms. Leo also managed to incapacitate Reze by using her weakness against water and defeat Santa Claus by abusing her weakness towards fire and light. Due to training Leo has continued developing his skills, such as learning to use the chains to reattach his head and limbs after being dismembered and learning to resist mental attacks by damaging his own brain with his chainsaws as seen in the fight against the Falling Devil.
* Swimming: After meeting Reze, Leo learned how to swim. He managed to use this skill to his advantage during his fight against her.
====== Weapons ======
===== Weaknesses =====
* (Former Weakness) Anaemia/Low Blood Amount: Despite being turned into a Devil Hybrid, Leo will suffer from anaemia when he was fatally injured by either a shallow cut or a heavy blow, which weakens his transformation into Chainsaw Man. To counteract this, Leo must consume a copious amount of blood to refill his strength.
===== Arcs =====
====== Doppelgänger Arc ======
Leo met Leo Teich (Earth-089A) and Lucifer Thornton when they went on a mission exploring uncharted space. An unnatural and extremely rare phenomenon occurred, resulting in Leo meeting Leo Teich, who both share the same name, an almost identical face, and voice. However both are individuals who are practically nothing alike. After travelling with them and going back to Reach along side them, Leo was requested to a private room by a higher up.
This higher up was Makima, who after taking a interest to Leo, requested for him to eliminate Leo Teich (Earth-089A) as he was supposed to be killed a long time ago, and was accused of having connections to Muzan, The Separatists, and a traitor known as Shinoa Hīragi. Makima then requested that Leo Teich (Earth-089A) was brought to her office, and as he arrived, Leo shot him in the back of his head, and as he lay on the ground, shot through his chest, piercing his heart. Makima surprised by this, told Leo that it was a test to see how obedient he was, although she was glad he followed orders. Leo unbothered replied, "barely knew the guy anyways." and was dismissed from Makima's office.
====== Fireteam Zero Arc ======
Leo was briefly a member of Fireteam Zero, only taking two missions ever with them. Lucifer Thornton attempted to be friends with Leo, but was confused by the massive change of pace in the fireteam as it was more active than usual. Nobara Kugisaki got along well with Leo, finding him funny as he was one of the only people to mess with Megumi and laugh in his face. On the other hand, Fushiguro found him irritating and not focused enough to mix well with the fireteam. Living in Fireteam Zero's HQ was even more tiring for the other Fireteam Zero members as Leo clearly had no social cue and wasn't bothered about making messes. After a few days he was removed from Fireteam Zero by the higherups and was placed into a separate unit under the orders of Makima.
===== Considered Family =====
====== Aki Hayakawa ======
Leo considered Aki as an older brother and despite never saying it, loved him like one too.
====== Power ======
Leo considered Power as a sister, and despite all of their bickering and arguing, treated her like one too.
====== Kobeni Higashiyama ======
Leo treated Kobeni as family, not calling her a sister exclusively. However Nayuta referred to her as an aunty like figure.
====== Nayuta Hayakawa ======
Leo was Nayuta's adoptive older brother, who cared for her and raised her.
====== Lucifer Thornton ======
After Leo's apparent death, Lucifer and Nobara took Nayuta in, calling her their daughter and referring to Leo as their son out of respect. Leo never learnt that Lucifer felt that way.
====== Nobara Kugisaki ======
After Leo's apparent death, Lucifer and Nobara took Nayuta in, calling her their daughter and referring to Leo as their son out of respect. Leo never learnt that Nobara felt that way.