Gaoh Mukaku

* Ashura
* Omega

*"Ryuki, promise your grandpa that you'll kill all the Worms. Those pests must be exterminated. I'll teach you how to kill them."*
— Gaoh Mukaku's request to his grandson, Gaoh Ryuki

**Gaoh Mukaku** (臥 (が) 王 (おう)  鵡 (む) 角 (かく) , *Gaō Mukaku*; "*Mukaku Gaoh*") was a mysterious martial artist who claimed to be a master of the Gaoh Style, and later founded the Niko Style. He was also the adoptive grandfather of Gaoh Ryuki. In reality, he was originally known as **Long Xiu**, the sole survivor of the Dragon Tribe that was wiped out by Shen Wulong. Ever since, he was hellbent on enacting his revenge against Wulong and his 'successors'.

## Appearance

Mukaku was a powerfully imposing individual, with a bulky muscular frame and an obviously battle-worn body and face littered with scars. He had a mat of hair atop his head, thick distinctive eyebrows, cauliflower ears and thin stubble above his lip and on his chin. Gaoh typically wore dark bottoms and wrapped his stomach in bandages (essentially creating a rudimentary haramaki) with a loop of bandage wrapping over each shoulder.

In Ryuki's memories of him, Mukaku was much older than when he was training the Tokita Niko's. He had grown out a goatee, and his eyes had grown weary, either from age or something else. His two scars and eyebrows remain very much the same however.

In his full first appearance in *Omega*, he is seen a little chubbier and wore a tatterred, sleeveless kimono and a kasa. While he was training the Nikos, his hair hadn't gone grey yet, and sported a bushy mustache.

## Personality

On the surface, Gaoh Mukaku seems like a mellow but joyful old man who cares for his disciples. He also shows a comedic side like when he was shocked to know that Katahara Retsudo was Katahara Metsudo son and not his grandson.

In reality, he's an immensly cold-hearted opportunist. Perhaps born out of witnessing Wulong slaughter his entire tribe, Mukaku would grab any advantage he could, no matter who got harmed or killed. He saw not only his disciples, but even his adoptive grandson Ryuki as a means to an end, not caring if they die or not. Back in the day he would even use his comrades as shields to survive. His other most notable trait was his massive grudge against Wulong. Despite this grudge, he's also painfully aware that he can't ever beat him in a straight fight. In one of his conversations with Ryuki, he admitted that he knows that all things he had done were awful. If he died, then everything he had done would be for nothing. At the very least, he trusted that if he did die, Ryuki will carry out his vengeance in his stead.

Mukaku's life was filled with abandoned plans. He always sought the strength needed to take on Wulong, but lacked the heart necessary to go through with them the moment a setback occurs. His motivations for fighting was simply to survive and kill Wulong.

## History

Long Xiu was a member of The Dragon Tribe, who had followed Shen Wulong alongside the Westward Faction and the Worm. They were the descendants of Long Min, a legendary hero inside the Chu Kingdom of China. One day a war broke out between The Dragon Tribe and Shen Wulong due to his decision to clone himself. This ultimately led to the tribe's destruction, with Xiu only surviving because he decided to not fight him, even when he desparately wanted to.

Five years later, Xiu joined a sub-faction of the Worm called Wowang Syndicate, whose purpose was to crush any organization that opposed the Worm. In a manner that would inspire him down the track, Wowang was comprised of five men, the leader of which was named 'Dage One'. Their strength was so great that Mukaku initially compared Wowang to 'five kings'. Mukaku would instigate Dage and the Wowang to betray Wulong. One night in China, the group ambushed Wulong, but they were wiped out easily. Xiu survived the massacre, and would go into hiding in the The Inside, a failed Gu chamber, and changed his name to 'Gaoh Mukaku'.

At some point, Mukaku discovered an instruction manual of a nameless martial art that he would steal and make his own. In the 1940s, Gaoh Mukaku took part in the Kengan matches, spreading the name of the "Gaoh Style" to the criminal underworld.

Mukaku would later attempt to unify the Inside, in a bid to destablize the Worm's influence. Progress had proven nigh-incremental despite constant domination in battle for thirty years. He would later choose to pass on both his fist and 'dream' to the next generation instead. With the help of his friend Shimochi Kazufumi, Gaoh rearranged his style into one useful for the modern day, bringing about the birth of the Niko Style. He also adopted a number of orphans to pass the style down to. Due to the harshness of his training, only seven could keep up. Those seven would be given the name, Tokita Niko, after two of the districts of the Inside. His purpose in doing so was for the Niko's to all act independently in the same name, to build up a legend. He would later recall telling the seven Nikos that the drop-out students were probably okay, since he has not heard from them ever since they left. In reality, however, the orphans who could not become Tokita Niko were forced by Mukaku to participate in a Gu ritual, though none of them managed to survive.

Eventually, Gaoh decided to teach them in Gakigahara Forest. According to Mukaku, Five and Six betrayed the rest of the Nikos, with Four the only known survivor while Three went missing, with Mukaku himself going into hiding. The reasons for the betrayal itself is unknown.

At some point, Mukaku tracked down the facility that housed the Connector's clone. Upon destroying it, he was left with one that he would raise as his own tool of revenge. He would name this clone Gaoh Ryuki, teaching him the Gaoh Style and enforced an immensily harsh training regime that would mould Ryuki into the killer he deemed necessary to destroy the Worm and Shen Wulong.

In one conversation with his grandson, Mukaku told Ryuki why he hated the Worm so much. He admitted that he had done a lot of awful things to inevitably find a way to kill Wulong, and if he died, it would be all for nothing. He told Ryuki that if he did die, it would be left to him to complete his revenge. Ryuki, on his part, misinterprets Mukaku's death as him merely keeling over due to him already being at an advanced age.

### *Kengan Omega*

Gaoh Mukaku was confronted by Ogi, a direct subordinate of the Head of the Worm, in the disputed territory of The Inside. After killing the worm agent, Mukaku declared that he would kill the Connector.

Mukaku then appeared to unsuccessfully ambush the team that aim to rescue Gaoh Ryuki, specifically targeting Tokita Ohma. He then decided to sit down and have a talk with them.

A bit later after his talk, he finally confronts Shen Wulong in an attempt to kill him once and for all, going all out on using every trick he had and his martial ability. However, he was mutilated with his own katana, getting his fingers and the upper half of his upper body sliced off. After a life of abandoned plans, countless failures, ambitiously trying to fulfill his unwavering revenge against the Worm and The Connector, a will he had kept since the death of his clan, family and friends, he dies at the hands of the strongest, unsuccessful after the truth is revealed to him.

## Power & Abilities

Mukaku was a powerful martial artist who never was defeated in battle, despite battling constantly over thirty years using the **Gaoh Style**. He later created the **Niko Style,** showing immense mastery of the style. He also shows proficiency in the Long Clan Style, knowing even a secret technique. Even at a hundred now, he shows no opening in battle, proving to be a deadly force with each strike meant to kill instantly.

In his youth, Mukaku alongside with rest of his Wowang's comrade-in-arms was each considered to be worth a thousand man in battle, as if they were the "Five Kings". His syndicate was well-trusted by the Head of the Worm, enough to operate independently while crushing all enemy syndicates standing in the Worm's way.

Mukaku's physical power was displayed in full force in his first appearance in the series, when he completely obliterated a high ranking Worm agent's skull with a simple overhead punch that sent the man's head into his own rib cage. What was even more impressive was the fact that Mukaku was clearly out of his prime in his advanced age in the present. Ohma and Koga both remarked how out-of-norm it was that he was still tough enough to handle them along with Retsudo in battle despite well into a hundred.

However, above all else is Mukaku's craftiness and underhanded tactics, with his willingness to combine his mastery of martial arts with weapons, both traditional and modern to completely and utterly anihalate his opponents. During his encounter with Shen Wulong Mukaku utilized tactics such as throwing iron pellets at a speed where they shredded wood, using metal gauntlets, swords and spears, as well as even carbon monoxide and the flooring. It is also worth noting that Mukaku in his old age is even willing to use doping to make up for his declining speed and reflexes due to age, even gaining more brute strength than what he had in his youth. This however did mean that he wasn't as capable of using all 4 katas of the Niko style due to his lack of speed in his old age, meaning that he had to rely mostly on Adamantine Kata as his main form of offense and deffance, supplemented by his mastery of the secret techniques of both the Gaoh style and the Long Clan style.

It is also worth noting that Mukaku is familiar with Pre-initiative, likely due to the fact that he exchanged techniques with Shimochi Kazufumi and thus learnt about Motionless from the Kaiwan style. It unknown whether he knows how to utilize it, however Mukaku was extremely wary of Shen Wulong due to believing that he possessed something beyond it, implying that Mukaku knows how to counter Pre-initiative at the very least.

Until his death at the hands of Shen Wulong, Mukaku was nigh-unmatched and Shen implied that only his top lieutenants like Yan could possibly defeat him, aside from the Connector himself, further cementing the fact that Mukaku is one of the strongest characters in the series.

### Possessing Spirit

Being the creator of the technique, Mukaku utilized it in his youth in an attempt to assassinate Shen Wulong, to no prevail. It's described as 'a technique to kill a god'. He hasn't demonstrated usage of it in the present, likely as a result of his advanced age.

## Etymology

* **Gaoh** (臥 (が) 王 (おう) ) literally means "Prostrating King" .
* **Mukaku** (鵡 (む) 角 (かく) ) uses the kanji for "Horned" and "Cockatoo". Combined, it can mean "Horned Parrot".

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 86 (Omega)
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Chapter 215 (Omega)
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Chapter 228
4. ↑ Chapter 213 (Omega)
5. ↑ Chapter 209 (Omega)
6. ↑ Chapter 215 (Omega)
7. ↑ Chapter 205 (Omega)