Hayakuwa Samato

**Hayakuwa Samato** (早 (はや) 鍬 (くわ)  左 (さ) 馬 (ま) 斗 (と) , *Hayakuwa Samato*; "*Samato Hayakuwa"*), also known as **The Evil Emperor** (凶 (きょう) 帝 (てい) , *Kyōtei*), is a nak muay who competed in the no-holds-barred Rokushin Kaikan Tournament.

## Appearance

Samato is a well muscled individual with a long face, a sharp nose and long light-coloured hair, which he wears in a single long, crescent-shaped bang that covers the right side of his face. However, his most distinguishing feature are his completely black sclera at .

## Personality

Samato is arrogant and aggressive. Much like his relative Kure Raian, he is sadistic and ruthless, reveling in brutality and death.

## History

Little is known about Samato's history. At some point he encountered Ikeuchi Mentaro under unknown circumstances and somehow earned both Ikeuchi's ire and his fear.

Samato gave Kureishi Mitsuyo his scar that runs across his nose.

## Plot

When announcing the no-holds-barred Rokushin Kaikan tournament to the top members of Rokushin Kaikan, Ao Kenji mentioned that he planned to incentivise Ikeuchi to participate with the presence of someone Ikeuchi had a grudge against. This fighter was revealed to be Samato when he suddenly met Ikeuchi and declared his entry into the Rokushin Kaikan tournament.

Before the tournament, Samato attacked a Rokushin dojo, swiftly defeating Ohta Masao and Ando Rei before he himself was attacked by Oshio Gaku. After a short fight, Oshio was defeated as well.

After this, Samato entered the tournament, being placed in C block.

## Powers and Abilities

Samato is a powerful and intimidating opponent. Mentaro considers him the strongest nak muay he knows and also possibly the strongest man in general. Samato's elbow strikes in particular were strong enough to rip Oshio Gaku's face open and nearly cleave his hand in half.

### "Removal"-like Technique

Similar to the Kure and the Wu, Samato is able to freely access and utilise his latent muscular strength with no repercussions. The technique makes the user's skin turn red with their blood vessels bulging on the surface. It is not currently known how much of his latent power he was able to release. When using Removal, Samato is able to damage Tatsuyoshi Katsuya, who is physically very durable and resilient, but despite that, Samato was unable to defeat him.

### Berserker

As the name implies and separate from his "Removal", Samato's Berserker state is when he loses all control and goes on a rampage.

## Etymology

* **Hayakuwa** means "already, now, fast, early" (早) (**haya**) and "hoe" (鍬) (**kuwa**).
* **Samato** means "left horse" (左馬) (**sama**) and "Dipper" (斗) (**to**).

## Notes & Trivia

* According to Sandrovich, Samato and the Kure Clan are aware of each other's existence, though are neutral and have no particular connection.
	+ Samato and Kure Raian (and by extension Kure Fusui) are distant relatives. The former two are similar in personality because of this. How distant this relation is is unclear.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 12 (Seeker)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 Fist of the Seeker: Rokushin Kaikan Tournament character profiles
3. ↑ Chapter 10 (Seeker)
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Chapter 11 (Seeker)
5. ↑ Chapter 15 (Seeker)
6. ↑ Chapter 14 (Seeker)
7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Reddit: Official Author Twitter Response about Samato