William Adams

## Image Gallery

**William Adams** (ウィリアム・アダムス, *Uiriamu Adamusu*), also known as "**The Barbarian Beast**" (異邦の怪物, *Ihō no Kaibutsu*?Literal translation: *Monster of a Foreign Nation*), was one of the fighters participating in the Tenkaichi tournament, representing Mohri Terumoto.

## Appearance

William was a notable Englishman with a well-defined and muscled figure, long fair-coloured hair that he tied into a loose flowing man bun, a full beard and a solidly self-confident expression on his face. He had several tattoos on his body: a large intricate compass in the centre of his upper back, a very simplified compass in the middle of his chest, a stylised sun over the sea on his right shoulder and a crescent moon with two stars on his left shoulder. When he first appeared, William wore a three-button waistcoat over a shirt with a brooched cravat, a long dark jacket over the top and a black hat atop his head; he carried his dirk by his left hip. During his fight with Yagyu Munenori, William went topless, wearing a pair of dark-coloured trousers, tying his shirt and plaid around his waist and finishing with a pair of 17th century jackboots.

## Personality

William appeared to move to the beat of his own drum (which wasn't too surprising considering his foreign status) and seemingly held a great appreciation for Japan after arriving there. He later showed that he was quite the rough & rowdy man, with a noticeably boisterous and aggressively confident demeanour; when he was introduced for his Tenkaichi match, instead of walking out as he was being introduced, William destructively booted the doors down and loudly introduced himself! Most strikingly, William seemed to interplay violence with sex and sex with violence; this was clearly highlighted during his bout with Yagyu Munenori, when he frequently and openly declared his desire to thoroughly rape "the symbol of Japan's samurai" Yagyu (and, by extension, all of Japan).

All this aside, William was a man who clearly loved and held his mother in high regard for her teaching him how to wield a dirk; in his dying moments, his thoughts drifted to her.

## History

William was born in 1564 in Kent County, England. While he eventually grew up to be a sailor, like his father, he inherited the martial arts of his mother, who was a seasoned warrior who fought as a proxy combatant in the trial by combat of the times; while still a young boy, William's mother entrusted her dirk to him, telling him that the knife was her entire life and to carve out his own path in life with it.

At some point while seafaring, William's ship landed on Japanese shores and ended up single-handedly slaughtering all the Japanese samurai who encountered him (while naked nonetheless). When Mohri Terumoto finally came upon him, William recognised him to be the leader of the area and ordered the daimyo to bring him women and alcohol or he'd kill him.

## Plot

William Adams was seen gathered in Ozaka castle, along with the other warriors competing in the Tenkaichi tournament.

In the evening of the first day of the Tenkaichi, while a storm was raging, a naked William was seen holding himself aloft upside-down with one arm on top of the roof of the Mori clan's temporary residence. Despite being shouted at by his retainers to get down, William mused how pleasant the weather was. Reflecting aloud on how the wind and rain had led him to Japan, William regarded his pleasure with Japan's beautiful lands and its beautiful women. Affirming aloud that he would win the tournament, William declared he would give Japan his seed and leave 10 million of his bloodline to the country!

On the second day of the Tenkaichi tournament, on board the Shogun's boat Sweet Winds, William burst on to the scene by kicking the doors down, interrupting Mori Ranmaru's introduction for him. With the announcer exclaiming in irritation, William apologised (in English), before confidently introducing himself to the audience himself (in Japanese)! With Terumoto informing him that the softer-faced man was his opponent, William stood before Yagyu Munenori (while noting that he had the face of a girl) and offered a handshake acknowledging that he was the most famed swordsman in Japan. Yagyu responded with a cool threat causing William to retract his hand, compliment Yagyu's status as a shining symbol of samurai and finally note his arousal. Commenting on his good fortune on getting the chance to ravage Japan's symbol, William withdrew his dirk and brandished it, exclaiming that he wanted to thoroughly rape Yagyu body and soul! With Yagyu unsheathing his own sword in response, Mori Ranmaru got the second fight underway!

At the moment of the signal, William leapt high into the air and darkly asked if Yagyu wanted to dance before starting his own dance-like footwork around Yagyu. Sensing the undulations of the waves, William then circled behind Yagyu before throwing a savage kick that clipped the samurai's cheek. Not letting up, William leapt towards his opponent taunting that if these small waves unbalanced him, he wouldn't survive at sea. However, Yagyu blocked his strike with William noting it wasn't enough to kill him. With their blades locked, William continued that all that was merely the opening act and *now* came the Dirk Dance, visibly pleasing Yagyu. Acknowledging Yagyu's anticipation, William wondered whether samurai could even dance to begin with, with Yagyu retorting that naturally he had the skill. Commenting his arousal, William said they should put on a show for the crowd, before rhetorically asking whether Yagyu could keep up! Launching into action, William brought the fight to his pace and eventually landed a cut across Yagyu's chest. Continuing to dominate and landing another cut, William exclaimed that the samurai's footwork was slowing, adding that getting his "gorgeous body" covered in blood made him more arousing and even more fitting to be raped. With William still gloating, Yagyu suddenly voiced his appreciation of the Dirk Dance before stating that William would now dance to *his* lead. With Yagyu immediately turning the tables and dominating, William realised in shock that the samurai was using the Bind! As Yagyu briefly mused on the pros and cons of the technique, he stated he wouldn't let William lift a finger; thoroughly overwhelmed, William likened the situation to being swamped by a human-shaped tsunami. Just then, it began raining with Yagyu politely saying he'd lead the Englishman to hell.
The samurai then began attacking with no resistance from the completely overwhelmed William, inflicting more and more cuts upon the Englishman. As William was being mercilessly and continuously lacerated, he uttered out that Yagyu was not human and was even more of a monster than he was. Wondering whether he was going to die, he called out to his mother... teetering on the edge of death, William weakly muttered that his voyage wasn't over yet as Yagyu delivered a series of brutally violent slashes that ended William's life.

## Powers & Abilities

Despite his abilities being almost completely unknown in Japan, William quickly showed himself to be a particularly impressive combatant, especially in regards to the blade, with Mori Ranmaru noting that he would be a difficult opponent for someone who had mastered swordsmanship. He showed himself to have incredible balance, great athleticism and overall excellent body control; he was able to hold himself in a perfectly straight one-armed handstand whilst a storm was raging and Yagyu Munenori even remarked about how William was able to stand with his median perfectly straight despite being on board a ship.

Likely thanks to his occupation as a sailor, William had an intuitive knack for moving completely unimpeded on board a ship rocked by the ocean's waves and even utilising the rocking to his advantage; Sasaki Kojiro observed that William used the boat's rocking to shorten the distance he had to move, making it easier to land strikes on his opponents.

### Martial Arts

**Dirk Dance** (ダークダンス (死の舞踏) , *Dākudansu*?Literal translation: *Butō of Death*): Utilising the dirk he inherited from his mother, William was well versed in this unique martial art. The Dirk Dance has an unusual sense of timing and distance which was exemplified by the circling dance-like footwork William performed to seemingly offset his opponent, with Yagyu Munenori noting that the rhythm was difficult to follow; it was inferred that the true purpose of William's dance-like movements was to predict the waves and the rocking of the ship.

William utilised a style of swordplay foreign to Japan, known as a **Bind** (バインド, *Baindo*). By locking blades with his opponent, he was able to dominate and control the movements of whomever he was facing; Mohri Terumoto stated that anyone caught up in William's dancing footwork, in combination with his usage of the Bind, couldn't move of their own free will almost as if being sucked into a vortex. While initially able to overwhelm Yagyu Munenori using this sword style, William had no answer when the samurai countered with his own version of the Bind.

## Notes & Trivia

* This character was loosely based on the real life William Adams, though has been strongly villified. The real life figure was well regarded by the Japanese and considered to be a polite and well-learned partner, with no hints of the barbaric traits shown by the William Adams in the series.
* Despite having only been in Japan for a couple of months at best, it was noted that William's pronunciation of Japanese was quite good.

## References

1. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 15 (page 1).
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 https://twitter.com/comicyamanaka/status/1403311146065489920
3. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 1 (pages 66-67).
4. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 14 (pages 17-21).
5. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 14 (pages 24-26).
6. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 15 (page 19).
7. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 15 (page 1).
8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 16 (pages 38-39).
9. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 15 (pages 14-17).
10. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 13 (page 23).
11. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 13 (pages 34-35).
12. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 14 (page 23).
13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 14 (page 40).
14. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 1 (pages 64-65).
15. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 14 (page 36).
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 15 (page 21).
17. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 15 (page 20).
18. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 15 (pages 6-8, 19-20).
19. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 15 (page 11).
20. ↑ *Tenkaichi* manga: Chapter 14 (page 22).