Aoto Shiwaku

((NOT CANNON))

### Relative(s)

Kanae Kochō (Older Sister)Kanao Tsuyuri (Younger Adoptive Sister)Shinobu KochoUnnamed parents

Aoto is the adopted little brother of Shinobu Kocho. He is the current cloud hashira, as well as the creator of cloud breathing. Aoto is what you would call a "child prodigy" as he is only 14 years old and is a master of both Love Breathing and cloud breathing. Cloud breathing is derived from Mist Breathing, which he learned but was not very good at it. Aoto is the newest hashira, only being a hashira for around two weeks, but has already risen the ranks and is in the top five strongest hashira ever. His use of both Cloud Breathing and Love Breathing makes him a deadly opponent. Since he is adopted, he keeps the last name of his parents, even though he is now a part of the Kocho family.

## Appearance

Aoto is relatively small and short for his age, being around 80 pounds and 5 feet tall. He has white hair, with dark purple and black chin-length bangs at the front of his face. He is blind in his left eye, so the color of it is a cloudy gray, whilst his right eye is a crystal clear sky blue. He wears an oversized, big, gray tinted version of the classic hashira uniform. He does this to show distaste for the hashira, as well as help him create after images.

He wears a black pair of tabi sicks, with a purple outline on them. As well as that, he wears a pair of white zori. He wears a white and gray belt, with the white part fading into the gray color at the end of it. His Saya (or sheathe) is the standard sized Saya for a nichirin katana, and is a solid gray color, with a black outline. Now, his katana is something special. He uses the same type of nichirin blade that Mitsuri does. He wields a very long, thin and flexible katana, like a whip. It was made by Tecchin, due to it's weird nature needing a very advanced swordsmith to make it for him. Tecchin also made Mitsuris. Due to his katana's length, he can attack opponents from long distances, as well as use it for bending and weaving through targets.

His katana-whip's handle is white, with black cloth wrapped all around it for grip, with a little keychain of him and Kanae hanging on it, out of respect. The blade is black, with the edges being a silver/white color to make outlines around his slashes. Since he has a deep respect for Mitsuri, he decides to make his handguard the same as hers, just in a different color. His katana's handguard is white four-leaf clover, with the leaves having a golden border. The katana has the words "death" inscribed on the blade in small lettering.

He wears an oversized white haori, that fades to a nice black at the bottom. The haori is outlined in a dark purple. On the inside of the haori are countless pouches where he keeps extra weapons, such as Wisteria poison and knives. The haori gives all his opponents a false sense of security, as the haori makes them think he is much smaller then he actually is. The haori was given to him by Kanae Kocho before she died.

He wears a pair of cloth earrings. The earrings are a rusty red, fading into a black at the end. The earring on his right ear has a cloud design on it, whilst the other has the design of a four-leaf clover on it.

## Personality

Aoto is a bored, tired and quiet young boy. He is sweet and respectful when in the area of people of authority, such as other hashira or the leader of the demon slayer corps. Other then that, he could come off as disrespectful and rebellious, as he tends to disobey orders just so that he can sleep or go off and do his own things.

He tends to be a loner, and constantly goes off on his own to fight demons. He sees the other demon slayers as hinderences, as he gets annoyed whenever he has to save people that could protect themselves. This is evident in his fight against Hantengu, with Mitsuri. In the fight, he got annoyed that he had to quickly save Mitsuri from one of the wooden dragons, and did not even say "You're welcome" he just walked off.

He is not a demon slayer for the benefit of the human race, he simply is a demon slayer just because Shinobu is one. He is rather unemotional, and even watched with a bored expression as Doma tortured Shinobu in the infinity castle arc. People compare him to a demon because that Aoto thinks that "if people can't defend themselves, then no one should protect them." Even though he thinks this, he will not hesitate to protect people who cannot defend themselves.

Through this, he does have a small soft spot for Mitsuri Kanroji, Obanai Iguro, Tanjiro and Nezuko. For some reason he takes pity on all of them, and actually hopes that Mitsuri can find love. He knows that Obanai likes Mitsuri, so he tries his best to get them to spend as much time together as he wants. No matter how not-caring he might seem, deep down he really just wants to help the people he loves.

## Abilities

### Overall Abilities

As one of the youngest hashira in the demon slayer corps, Aoto is very powerful and skilled in combat against demons. From when he first met Tanjiro and his friends he was already showing how much he had outclassed them. In the hashira training arc he went toe to toe against Giyu Tomoika, and they ended in a draw seeing as Giyu could not find an opening to attack Aoto, and Aoto could not break through Giyus defenses. It was a stalemate. Aoto has also easily killed lower moons, lower moons that Tanjiro struggled to kill. Like Muichiro, Aoto tends to wander off in thought a lot.

When Aoto was fighting Doma, before Shinobu showed up, he managed to impress Doma with his stunning speed and strength. He was so impressive that Doma actually decided that he was going to need to try, and when he did, Aoto still held his own despite being heavily injured. Aoto had suffered major injuries but still fought on, tired, bored and bravely against Doma. After Shinobu and Aoto manage to kill Doma, they fight Muzan. Giyu and Aoto were the first ones to fight Muzan, and Aoto managed to hold Muzan off for several minutes on his own, despite him loosing an arm in his fight against Doma. Muzan himself says "this kid is something else" in refrense to how good Aoto is.

**Unbreakable Will:** Aoto possess one of the strongest wills in the entirety of demon slayer. He manages to fight on against Doma, despite there being a hole in his chest and his missing arm. When Tanjiro becomes a demon, him and Giyu act swiftly to fight Tanjiro and keep him at bay. Even when Tanjiro slashes Aoto's lungs, he keeps fighting, not willing to risk the safety of other people just because he wants to survive.

**Keen Mind:** Like Giyu, Aoto has always been able to keep a cool and collected mind in fights, allowing him to analyze the battle field for threats and weaknesses. He was a tactical genius. During the hashira training arc, when Tanjiro was sparring with Zenitsu, he is able to point out 13 mistakes that Tanjiro made, in the one minute that he was watching. He is able to come up with tactics within a split second, which helped him and Shinobu kill Doma.

**Insane Pain Tolerance:** During his fight against Doma, he is pinned to the wall. His left arm has an ice spike through it, pinning his arm to the wall. Seeing Doma about to kill Shinobu, he musters all the strength he has in his body, and presses forward, ripping his own arm off to escape the pin and save Shinobu. He only winced slightly, not a sound escaping his mouth.\*

### Demon Slayer Abilities

**Demon Slayer Mark:** Aoto is another one of the hashira to unlock his demon slayer mark. When his arm was pinned to a wall by a ice spike that was thrown by Doma, he was trapped. After watching Doma torment and Shinobu, he got very mad. After noticing that Doma is about to kill Shinobu, he snaps. A demon slayer mark in the shape of a white and gray cloud forms on the left side of his neck. With that newfound power, he finds it in himself to cut off his own arm. Since the ice was driven so deep, he could not move due to his arm pinned to the wall. So, he cuts it off. That frees him and allows him to fight Doma again. A marked and one armed Aoto fought toe to toe against Doma, even impressing him.

* **Icy Blue Nichirin Color:** During his fight against upper moon 2, he unlocks a new nichirin color. Due to the freezing temperatures in the area he is fighting in, his body gets so cold to the point where he passes out. When he wakes up, his body has adapted to the cold, so he does not feel it anymore. This causes his whiplike katana to become -150 degrees Ferinheight, which prevents regeneration by just freezing the wound in place.

### Physical Abilities

**Immense Speed and Reflexes:** As a hashira, Aoto is very fast. He is able to impress upper moons, and can even go neck and neck against Tengen in terms of speed. He is able to dodge countless attacks by Doma, showing how fast he really is. His reflexes seem almost instantly, even for someone who is always tired. People think that since he is always tired that his reaction speed will be slow, but they are dead wrong. He has some of the fastest reaction speed in the entirety of demon slayer.

**Immense Stamina and Strength:** As a hashira, Aoto possess immense strength and stamina. Despite his small appearance, he is very strong. He shows this when he engages Doma in a clash, and manages to hold his own in that clash for 20 seconds before Doma manages to throw him back. He also manages to stop one of Hantengus wooden dragons with his bare hands.

## Fighting Style

**Master Swordsman:** As a hashira, Aota is one of the best swordsman in the entirety of the corps. Even though he is very young, he was trained specifically by Mitsuri and Shinobu to be very skilled and talented with a sword. He uses his mastery over the whiplike katana that both him and Mitsuri uses to confuse his opponents. He was able to keep up, and even overpower Mitsuri, the original user of the whiplike nichirin katana.

### Breathing Style

**Cloud Breathing:** Cloud Breathing is a mix of Love Breathing and Mist Breathing. It uses the whiplike katana from love breathing, as well as the flexability aspects. It uses the focus on obscuring or tricking their opponent from Mist Breathing, with clouds being like Mist. He learned both Mist and Love and just combined the two.

**Mist Breathing:** He was trained in Mist Breathing by Muichiro Tokito.

**Love Breathing:** While he was being trained to use the whiplike nichirin katana, Mitsuri Kanroji also decided to teach him how to use Love Breathing. Even though he is the hashira of cloud breathing, he still uses Love Breathing, and even added his own form to it.

## Cloud Breathing

* ***First Form: Cloudy Day -*** Aota twirls his whiplike katana around him so fast that the white edge of it begins to make after images, surrounding him in a cloud-like area (which is really just the katanas afterimages) where he then slashes at his opponent two times before leaping back.
* ***Second form: Eight Layered Clouds -*** Aoto rushes at his opponent, slashing at them as he slides under them, allowing his whiplike katana to hit many spots on his opponents body (usually 8) due to the length of the katana.
* ***Third Form: Scattered Clouds -*** This is a defensive form where Aota twirls his katana around him at an insane speed, blocking every single attack that tries to break through.
* ***Fourth Form: Distant Clouds, Pouring Rain -*** Aoto leaps high into the air (normally off a high edge) into the clouds where he then rains down slash after slash from afar with his whiplike katana, before landing perfectly on the ground.
* ***Fifth Form: Wild Clouds -*** (This form is like Mist Breathing Fifth Form: Sea of Clouds and Haze.) Aoto rushes at his opponent in a zig-zag fashion, while twirling his katana around him, the white edge creating white images that create a cloud image around him, hiding him from view as he begins to rapidly slash at his opponent.

## Love Breathing

Aoto just uses the normal 6 forms of Love Breathing, made by Mitsuri Kanroji.

## Death

Sadly, every good story has to come to an end at some point. Aoto Shiwaku's is no different. His death is a very sad one. When Tanjiro became a demon, Aoto and Giyu were the first ones to react, despite Aotos missing arm he faces Tanjiro with no fear. Sadly, due to his major injuries he is thrown back after a little bit of fighting, slamming into a wall. Demon King Tanjiro had managed to get a good slash across Aoto's lungs before Giyu manages to contain him. Aoto slumps down against the wall he was thrown against, slowly and painfully dying. No one could help him because they were to focused on helping Tanjiro. After Tanjiro is cured, he is very upset about taking Aoto's life, only to realize that he is dead. For the first time since he was 4, Aoto smiles and says he forgives Tanjiro. He slowly dies surrounded by all the hashira that he saved. In the infinity castle arc with Aoto in it, Mitsuri and Obanai survive due to Nakime getting distracted by Domas death. The only hashira that die are Gyomei, Muichiro and Aoto.

## Opinions on the Hashira

### Wind Hashira - Sanemi

"I respect him greatly, he is just to hot headed for my liking."

### Flame Hashira - Rengoku

"I deeply respect him. There is no one who could ever live up to his strength, confidence and bravery. His ability to do what's right always stunned me..."

### Love Hashira - Mitsuri

"She always talks to me. I respect her, but she shows to much skin."

### Serpent Hashira - Obanai

"He is rude, but I respect him for liking Mitsuri."

### Stone Hashira - Gyomei

"I respect him for being so strong and willing to do what is right for people."

### Insect Hashira - Shinobu

"She is kind, but also annoying. I respect her for saving me, but she is annoying. She earned my respect, but she is to talkative and annoying."