Hyozo

"Blue Ring Swordsman" Hyozo was a skilled criminal and swordsman of the blue-ringed harpecto race.

Description
Hyozo was generally laid-back and quiet with some tendencies towards being lazy. He tended to talk slowly and only when he felt that it was necessary. Despite his lack of vigor, Hyozo seemed to enjoy a challenging fight.

History
Little is known of Hyozo's past before his appearance on Space Station 31337. However, Zev Raregroove claimed that he was a fairly notorious criminal. Hyozo also disclosed that he worked for Hodi Jones.

In 150,081 CMT, Hyozo travelled to Space Station 31337 with two of his allies to retrieve something important. During the visit, Hyozo's allies had a hostile confrontation with at least one Irumok. Hyozo warned his allies not to fight the Irumok, but they ignored his advice and were subsequently beaten unconscious. Hyozo was in the process of carrying his dazed allies back to their spaceship when he was confronted by Zev Raregroove, who identified Hyozo and warned him that he could not allow a criminal of his reputation to walk free. Hyozo immediately drew his katana and engaged Zev in combat, with Zev using Dying Will Flames to block Hyozo's slashes.

Eventually, Zev landed a hit on Hyozo, which proved to Hyozo that the rumors he had heard about Zev's skills were correct. Their duel continued but concluded when Hyozo injected some of his own venom into the Juraian. Judging from Zev's shocked reaction, Hyozo correctly guessed that Zev had not previously been aware that the blue-ringed harpectos were a venomous species. Although the venom began to slowly incapacitate Zev, he was able to continue to generate Storm Flames under the effects of the venom, which lead Hyozo to think that Zev was of an immune species. Hyozo commented to Zev that Hodi Jones would likely be interested in him, but added that he hoped Zev would not die as a a result of his poisoning because it was not often that he got to fight someone as interesting as he. Hyozo then retrieved his unconscious allies, returned to his spaceship, and left the station.

Immediately after the duel with Hyozo, Zev was rescued by Misaki Raregroove, who brought him onto the Bebop II. Misaki told Zev that she had witnessed the tail-end of his battle with Hyozo and had wanted to intervene to help Zev, but had decided to wait until Hyozo had left first. Zev thanked his mother for her help and asked if she knew of the blue-ringed harpectos: Misaki did, so she told him about their homeworld and status in the galaxy.

Abilities & Powers

 * Swordsmanship: Hyozo's swordsmanship was quite notable, as he was able to very nearly defeat Zev Raregroove with his handling of a katana.
 * Venom: Hyozo's species, the blue-ringed harpectos, possessed a very strong venom that was capable of affecting even quasi-immortals. Among the effects of the venom were hampered breathing, chest pains, and loss of greater motor functions. Though Zev was able to resist succumbing to the lethal effects of the venom, it was still strong enough to cause even a being of his power to become utterly incapacitated in moments.
 * Highly Agile: Despite what his tentacles might make one think, Hyozo was very quick and mobile.

Trivia

 * Marak of the Sunny Pirates said that the same "Hodi Jones" whom Hyozo worked for was one of the original members of Fisher Tiger's crew, yet betrayed them in some way.
 * Hyozo was one of the first characters to very nearly defeat Zev in a long time - although, it seems that neither were taking each other entirely seriously.