Joe

**Joe** is the (other) main protagonist of the fanfiction Cool guy., acting as the love interest of Eliza Silvers.

## Personality

*Copy pasting from the Megalo Box Wiki since I wrote the part on his personality*

#### Youth

In his mid-teens, Joe has been noted by Eliza to be a very straightforward and honest person, with a similar easygoing nature to the one he has both in the canon series as well as his personality as an adult. He was very calm, able to stay level-headed in emotionally or physically stressful situations, though that changed when he began to have tensions with Eliza concerning the military.

It's because of his very unconcerned and relaxed persona that he was given the name "Joe" by Eliza when he told her he didn't like his name and didn't want to tell her.

#### Adult

Overall, Joe is a rather laid-back character, rarely being angry or
upset during his screentime. Despite his casual and easygoing demeanor,
however, Joe becomes particularly determined and spirited when in the
ring. He's steadfast when it comes to achieving his goals and has gone
as far as denying his coach's plan of approach for the sake of following
 his own philosophy and mindset to win the match in his own way.

Joe prefers to show all he's got rather than hold back and give
false information on his capabilities, fighting in boxing matches just
for the sake of finding a good opponent and fighting the hardest he can.
 His perseverance and nigh persistence during fights, as well as his
tenacity, has been what has helped him out or literally saved him during
 matches, being what makes him get up and keep going in the end.

He's particularly good at reading others' emotions and gauging
how they'll respond to something he says or does - this is especially
prominent during Megalo Boxing matches when he studies his opponent
carefully and is able to respond to attacks and fake-outs accordingly.

Joe seems to hold little interest in whatever fame and reputation
 he's built for himself because, as stated before, he fights for the
sake of a good fight against strong opponents. He doesn't really look
twice at whatever his ring name has earned in terms of superficial
rewards.

### Relationships

#### Eliza Silvers / Kazumi Silvers

Having first met during a wordless exchange of glances, they had a slowly building friendship until Joe dropped into her antique shop one day when it was raining a few months after these small and silent greetings had begun. Talking for the first time, Joe discovers that she's a lot prettier up close and that her voice was a lot softer than he had been expecting. As he begins to visit more and more, Eliza begins to take as much time away from her work to spend time with him. It's a few months after this that Joe actually asked her on an official date and they became a couple.

At some point before they began dating, though, Joe had refused to give his birth name, as he didn't like it and wasn't proud of it. So, Eliza offered to give him one, jokingly calling him Joe as it was a simple and straightforward name, just like him. It stuck, though, and he kept it in the back of his mind for several years after that.

When he was close to turning eighteen though, he realized the war going on was nearing them at a dangerously fast pace, and begins to consider joining the military to try and contribute to keeping it away from the city, and Eliza especially. However after mentioning it during conversation a few times, he realizes that Eliza is very against this as she doesn't want to risk him getting badly injured or even killed. The tension builds, and it's on one of the final enlistment days that he states he's probably going to join.

Eliza once again tells him desperately that he may die and she doesn't want him to die, but Joe begins to grow irritated, stressed by the situation as a whole, and this results in an argument. After a short back and forth, Joe angrily calls her annoying, listing off other things he didn't even realize he could think of just to try and get some of this pent up frustration off his chest. However, Eliza doesn't take this well. She was doing what was in his best interest, and she silently leaves, simply telling him he could do whatever he wanted, but she wasn't going to involve herself with him anymore.

Even more upset with her breaking up with him, Joe enlists in the army, realizing only afterwards that he said a lot of things he really shouldn't have and had no doubt in his mind that he'd scarred her, and that she'd never even want to look at him again. Though he wanted to apologize at the very least, in a state of denial, he told himself that it was better this way as if he died or disappeared, she wouldn't be saddened.

In the year and a half he was in the army, he kept thinking about Eliza, the guilt still stinging at him. A superior of his actually insulted him and his concern for his loved ones, resulting in him nearly killing the man. This got Joe dishonorably discharged, his citizenship revoked, now denaturalized. Though he returned to where he had lived before (the same city, at least), he was too afraid to confront Eliza again, fearing what she might say to him and instead turned to the only thing he knew couldn't betray him; megalo boxing.

After entering Megalonia roughly two years following this, he decides to use the name Eliza gave him for his ID, that being what he believed the only thing he could keep that he'd gotten from his time with her. She, of course, sees him on the television and while she is enraged he didn't at least tell her he was back, even if they weren't on the best of times, she can't help but acknowledge he's still very good at boxing. She attends one of his matches in person and waits until he's outside to confront him, genuinely congratulating him on his match.

Joe doesn't recognize her at first, breaking her heart, and she turns to leave just as Joe does a double take, shocked. As she begins to walk off, he calls for her to wait, chasing after her despite Nanbu and Sachio's confused shouting. Eliza eventually stops by a fountain they used to visit a lot, having gone there unconsciously, and demands what he wants from her.

Though it stings for her to be so aggressive, Joe feels that he deserves this and instead of punching back with words, he just gives her a smile that makes her falter as he expresses his relief that she's been doing fine and that she's become successful (guessing from her higher quality clothes than before). Still angry, Eliza begins to vent, telling him all these things that had been pent up over the years, but not of her lingering feelings for him, which he still has for her as well, though she doesn't know this.

She hits him a few times and though he does wince because he's still injured from his match, he endures as he watches her begin to break into tears. Joe attempts to comfort her, but she knocks away his hands, and when he asks her what's wrong, she slaps him across the face, asking if he's really sorry about this at all. In a state of shock and sadness, Joe doesn't answer at first and Eliza expresses her disappointment in him, turning to walk away. Out of desperation, he calls out to her and of course the first thing that comes from his mouth is her nickname, Ellie, that only he had ever called her. This gets her to pause but he doesn't notice as he apologizes for stepping out of his lane, correcting himself.

Then he gives a more formal apology, before asking if she could give him one final chance, knowing he wasn't really in a place to request such a thing, promising to prove that he still did truly love her. She simply leaves on him after a moment, leaving him alone and silently crying as he watches Eliza disappear.

However after his final match with Yuri, he wakes up in a hospital, unable to move, speak, or open his eyes much more than a tiny bit, but sees Eliza sitting beside him, looking upset and conflicted, trying to call out to her but failing before she leaves with a frustrated sigh. Once Joe manages to wake up properly, he sees a few white and red roses in a glass vase he recognizes from the antique shop Eliza still lives in.

As soon as he is able to move around, he actually breaks out of the hospital, disliking being still for so long, before going straight to the store. Just like the first day they met, it's raining, and when he enters with a crutch under one arm, he sees Eliza sitting in her usual seat, once again cleaning something. Again, just like the first day they spoke.

Eliza scolds him for getting himself hurt so badly, asking why he went to such lengths. He simply expresses his long-lived and passionate love for the sport, and that he wanted a good fight. After a moment of hesitation, Joe also admits that he really wanted to do something that he knew she would see, and that boxing was the only thing he really had left. He then explains that he refused to keep the first place title in Megalonia, instead going to help out on Nanbu's farm with Sachio.

Just before he leaves, he asks her if she's still waiting. Eliza just gives him a sad smile and tells him she's waiting for something specific. Joe leaves and lives on Nanbu's farm for a few weeks before he sees a car pull up, and Eliza gets out. Shocked, he asks her why she's there, to which she shrugged and said she simply felt like it. Immediately bonding with Sachio, Eliza visits again more and more frequently before Nanbu quickly notices the tension between the two of them, as does Sachio.

The two set up Joe and Eliza to just spend time alone together in the city and they walk around awkwardly for a bit before Elia begins to point out places they used to visit a lot together, the small ice chip broken away evolving into idle chat, reminiscing. They end up where they had their first date, a square that was high up enough it was overlooking most of the city. After a moment, he bluntly asks her if he still has a chance of being with her again, of making up for what he did, and she smiles, simply telling him to be there noon in a few days, so things would be "just like before."

Grateful for the chance she's given him, he tries his best to be better than he was before, and they slowly make amends. Once in their mid to later twenties, they eventually get married.