Besouro Mangangá

— Besouro mockingly singing in front of the policemen.

**Besouro Mangangá** (born **Manoel Henrique Pereira**) was a legendary capoeirista born in Santo Amaro, Bahia and known for his many tales spread across Brazil that depicts him with supernatural powers and abilities surrounding his capoeira. He was notorious for his several confrontations with the local law enforcements, who were known to be corrupted at the time and capoeira was considered as a "martial art for criminals".

## Appearance

Besouro is a young man who seems to be in peak physical condition, as seen from his upper body's well developed muscles and he seems to be physically in of his early 30's. His most noticeable physical trait is his unique haircut consisting of dreadlocks. He was seen wearing white pants and had no upper body clothing, while carrying a berimbau. He also walked barefoot, possibly due to the fact he was poor but probably easier for him to grab with his toes and performing strikes during fights.

Image Gallery

## Personality

— Futaba Jyungo admiring Besouro's charisma.

## Biography

### Past & Youth

Manoel was the child born in 1895 from Maria José and João Matos Pereira, an union between parents from different ethnic groups (one of them was black, the other was white) and was often called "*mulatto*" because of this. Although there is little information about his parents, Manoel was said to be the child of a slave and he is possibly the result of a rape.

#### Learning Capoeira

According to various tales, he was taught capoeira by Mestre Tio Alipio at an early age but those tales are still questionable and unverified to this day.

### Against The Police

Besouro became quickly infamous for his dislikes against the local police forces and got into several confrontations that resulted into fights. Capoeira was banned back then, often used by Brazilian gangsters and thus was shunned for being seen as "something bad". Besouro would not let this happening obviously and decided to rebel against the law enforcers.

— Suspiro.

Besouro would later encounter Suspiro, a giant bulky man who has a hobby to hunt down every capoeiristas in the region for either his own fun or sending them to the police to gain money for his compensated efforts. Suspiro claims his hunting on capoeiristas is a "personal war" and the cops will turn a blind eye if Besouro used his martial art but this was all but an excuse to use violence.

#### Rising Legend

With feats of capoeira skills, Besouro amass a quick popularity and became famous in the entire subcontinent of America, with legends and stories claiming his victories against the corrupted law enforcements are spread word of mouth on an incredible fast rate, to the point the stories on Besouro are vastly changed and he is regarded as a human bestowed with supernatural powers: the most popular is him transforming into a beetle (*besouro* in Portuguese) to fly away and escape his enemies.

At the same time during Besouro's rising infamy, two other men were also beginning to create their own schools of capoeira, possibly inspired by Besouro's influence. Those men were Mestre Pastinha and Mestre Bimba, creators of the capoeira styles Angola and Regional respectively.

#### Death

It is unknown when he died but many believes Besouro was assassinated by the local outlaws, possibly an entire gang who hold a grudge against him and kill the legendary capoeirista. Despite he could outrun several of his enemies, he was still being outnumbered and most of the worked together in order to defeat and kill him.

### Legacy

Even after his death, Besouro was revered with great admiration throughout South America due to his infamous feats of capoeira, to the point many decided to become capoeiristas to honor him. Even Mestre Pastinha and Mestre Bimba were possibly influenced by Besouro's popularity during his time when alive. He is praised as a "patron of capoeira" in every schools of said martial art, every capoeiristas knows his name.

Meanwhile, a man who has underwent a change from a kidnapped victim to the organization's sole leader is said to be the "living reincarnation of Besouro himself". This man is none other than Sanjou Isao, the current leader of the Lança Mortal malta gang. Although he has yet to show his capoeira style and skills, he is incredibly praised as if he was Besouro incarnated. Isao also sports the very same haircut like Besouro used to.

## Abilities

### Physical Abilities

Besouro was known for his physical abilities, creating rumors such as he was granted supernatural agility and strength to fight off groups of opponents. Myths claims he was able to run away from the police forces, as if he was "flying away like a beetle". According to Jyungo, several schools of capoeira agrees Besouro is seen as the strongest capoeirista to ever live. His "supernatural strength and speed" was proven to be true when he managed to swiftly defeat Suspiro with a single kick to the abdomen, the speed of the kick being incredibly fast the policemen and witnesses were unable to see anything and thought Suspiro suddenly kneel.

One of his most popular feats according to tales was his agility that was deemed to be unnatural, which spawned the famous legends on how he would turn into a beetle to fly away from his enemies. Although this remains quesitonable, the manga depicts Besouro capable to jump/leap high on several policemen's heads as a way to escape them.

### Fighting Style

Besouro's fighting style is capoeira but there were no "official styles" during his days, such as the likes of Angola, Regional and Contemporânea. His capoeira was taught by his mestre and he improvised his very own version, his own style of capoeira was made to fend against foes during street fighting. It could be said Besouro's fighting style is "capoeira street fighting". Although he mainly uses capoeira for fighting, Besouro is depicting to know how to fight with weaponry: his berimbau was weaponized for fighting situations while being a musical instrument to conceal it's true purpose.

### Techniques

* **Bênção**: A powerful front kick aimed at an opponent's midsection (mostly targeting the solar plexus or stomach). He was capable to deliver a precise, fast and strong kick to Suspiro without any witnesses understanding what just happened in front of their eyes; all they saw was Suspiro seemingly falling down unconsciously.
* **Mandiga**:

### Weapons

* **Berimbau**: Though a berimbau is known to be no longer a weapon and more of an instrument for music purposes, Besouro still designed his own as a weapon with a pointy metallic piece of metal protruding from one of it's tips. While it is not enough to kill an adult due to the small size of the pointy piece of metal, it still can puncture through the skin and useful to fend against a horde of opponents surrounding Besouro.

### Miscellaneous

* **Patuá**: A necklace holding a small capsule-like container, which is said to hold powerful runes and enhances his physical abilities to greater levels. According to countless rumors and legends about his prowess, Besouro was able to leap fast and very high and give supernatural durability akin to a beetle's shell and cannot be harmed by knives or bullets.

## Quotes

— Besouro after he stabbed a policemen and taunts him.