Afro Samurai (character)

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 Alignment | Chaotic Neutral

**Afro Samurai** is the main character of the manga series Afro Samurai .

## Background

In an alternate version of Japan, society is dominated by the presence of the Headbands, which dictate the strongest warriors of the land. The Number One Headband, in particular, is speculated to grant its users godlike strength and immortality, making it an item that many covet. However, there are rules in place; to challenge Number One, an individual must bear the Number Two Headband, and unlike its higher-ranked counterpart, anyone can challenge and kill them. Over countless decades, the conflict over the Headbands resulted in the deaths of thousands who sought the power becoming Number One would grant them.

The bloodshed over the Headbands have impacted the lives of those left behind by those who fall in pursuit of that very power. Such is the case of a young boy named Afro, whose father Rokutaro was once Number One; he fell at the hands of a delusional gunslinger named Justice, who sought to use the Headbands to remake society as a god. Now driven by grief and revenge, Afro joined the school of a local Sword Master to learn how to wield a blade and one day avenge his father and defeat Justice himself. In his teens, he confronted his mentor over the Number Two Headband, which he had secretly possessed, and killed him over it.

As the new Number Two, Afro would spend the most of his adult life advancing to Justice’s location to exact his vengeance. Through his travels, he was forced to contend with other desperate warriors who wanted the Headband for their own ends, such as the mysterious bear-masked assassin Kuma and the assassins known as the Empty Seven Clan. In due time, Afro managed to supplant Justice as Number One and retreated into a life of solitude, knowing full well that all the death he had caused in his quest would come back to haunt him in the never-ending cycle of violence the Headbands had trapped him and countless others in.

## Powers & Abilities

* **Swordsmanship:** Afro has spent his childhood years learning the ways of both kenjutsu and kendo from his mentor, the Sword Master - an old associate of Rokutaro. To quickly recap, both are types of Japanese sword fighting, but the latter is meant to be meant for sport and self-defense while the former is more in line with actual combat scenarios where users can be pushed to kill if needed. That said, Afro’s mastery of the sword is very unorthodox. By reflexes alone, he can kill normal enemies within mere seconds - even if he does not intend to, and his combat acumen is sharpened to the point where he can create new techniques in the middle of a fight fast enough to confuse enemies who seemingly have studied his moves to a tee.

## Equipment

* **Katana:** Afro’s sole weapon is a katana once wielded by his father, Rokutaro. Following his death at the hands of Justice, Afro took it with him as a lasting memento, which he then used to learn the way of the sword. As far as signature weapons go, the katana itself has no special abilities beyond its base use, but it has certainly been shown to be sharp enough to cut through tough substances and defend against any myriad of attacks Afro may face.
* **Number One Headband:** A headband which signifies Afro’s standing as arguably the strongest warrior in his universe. Legend has it that whomsoever wears this gains god-like abilities and becomes immortal; such tales have bolstered its reputation as a sought-after item which many warriors have killed for. The rules behind the Headbands dictate that someone can become Number One by killing them in combat and taking the Headband for themselves, but in order to do so, they must attain the Number Two Headband, which nearly anyone can challenge for. Afro obtained the Number One Headband through a victory over Justice, although the specifics of that battle vary depending on the medium. Despite the amazing powers it is said to bestow upon its wearer, neither Afro nor any of his predecessors as Number One have ever been shown to utilize any of them in an actual fight.

## Feats

### Strength

* Cut through a man so easily that it’s like a knife through butter
* Punched someone so hard they get slammed in a wall
* Afro is strong enough to pull someone through a stone wall
* Sliced through two steel cyborgs
* Sliced through a stone pillar
* Slashed a motorcycle in half.
* Kicked the head off a cyborg with one kick.
* Strong enough to slice people & swords simultaneously.

### Speed

* Afro reacted to a bullet and sliced it into sharpnel
* Reacted and deflected two thrown Kunai knives
* Reacted to multiple spears being thrown at him
* Deflected and dodged crossbow arrows
* Dodged multiple grenades from a grenade launcher
* Afro is able to react and slice an RPG in half
* Afro outran a large explosion
* Dodged plasma bolts from Afro Droid's plasma cannon.
* Dodged automatic machine gun bullets while trapped in an elevator.
* Sliced through Justice before he can react
* Deflected multiple rounds from a .44 magnum.
* Decapitated 5 enemies with one slash before they can even react
* Decapitated a man after dodging a bullet from his gun.
* Dodged machine gun fire.
* Deflected plasma cannon bolts.
* Killed dozens of assassins in 3 minutes.

### Durability

* He survived the splash damage of an exploding RPG
* Afro fell off a cliff into a raging river.
* Child Afro got smashed in the face and sent flying through a wooden shrine which causes him to get impaled
* Tanked a punch from Afro Droid’s Robot Fist that smashes him into a wall.
* Got kicked into a stone object
* Got smashed through wood.
* Was shot by a .44 magnum and continues on like it’s nothing
* Got shoulder charged through multiple stone pillars.
* A motorcycle smashed him in the face and then is dragged by his afro until he is smashed through a wooden building.
* Got smashed into the ground.
* An android choke slammed him and then threw him off a cliff.
* Got hit by missiles, slashed across the back and then fell hundreds of feet to the ground.
* Afro got smashed through an entire building.
* Survived a beat down from the enhanced clone of his father.

### Skill

* Obtained the Number Two Headband in his teens by killing his mentor, the Sword Master.
* Became Number One by defeating Justice and avenging his father.
* When fighting the Afro Droid, a robotic clone who was stronger than him by 20%, Afro turned the tides against him by improvising new techniques the Droid had not been programmed to counter.
* Has defeated an army of Japanese soldiers
* Defeated the Group of Assassins known as the Empty Seven
* Makes love to a kunoichi well enough that she orgasms before she has the chance to kill him. (We’re not making this up.)
* Defeated his former best friend - Jinno (the one in the teddie bear helmet)
* Defeated a clone of his father, a previous Number One.
* Defeated Afro Droid & Rokutaro.

## Weaknesses

* **Mentality:** Afro may be his universe’s greatest warrior, but the path he took to actually attaining that spot in the first place took a heavy toll on his mental state. He is by no means actively reckless, but the many lives he’s taken and the losses that he’s had to suffer, like those of his father, Jinno and Otsuru, have seemingly made him suicidal and uncaring in the face of death itself.

* **Headband:** The myth of the Headbands’ power seems to be more metaphorical than literal, as they do not seem to offer any sort of feasible increase in power for their users, merely acting as representations of their standing than being an amplifier in their own right. Afro Samurai Resurrection also shows that the rule dictating that only the Number 2 can challenge for the Number One Headband is traditional and can easily be discarded, like how Afro loses his Headband to someone who wasn’t wearing a Headband at all.