Hyozo

"Blue Ring Swordsman" Hyozo is a very skilled swordsman of a race called the blue-ringed harpectos.

Biography
In general, Hyozo is very laidback, calm, and quiet, with some tendencies towards being lazy. He tends to talk slowly and only when he feels that it's needed. Despite his lack of vigor, though, Hyozo seems to find enjoyment from a challenging fight.

History
Nothing is known of Hyozo's past before his appearance on the space station. However, Zev has said that he's a fairly notorious criminal. Hyozo has also disclosed that he works for Hodi Jones.

In 150,081 CMT, Hyozo and two allies went to Space Station 31337 to retrieve something. During the visit, Hyozo's allies had a hostile confrontation with at least one Irumok. Hyozo warned them not to fight, but his allies insisted, so the Irumok subsequently beat them unconscious. Hyozo was in the process of carrying his dazed allies back to their ship when he was confronted by Zev Raregroove, who identified Hyozo and told him that he could not let a criminal of his reputation walk free. Hyozo drew his katana and duelled Zev; the latter using Dying Will Flames to block Hyozo's slashes. Eventually, Zev landed a hit on Hyozo, which prompted him to comment that the rumors about Zev's skills were correct. Their duel continued, but ended when Hyozo attacked Zev with one of his tentacles and injected venom into the Juraian. As Zev began to suffer the symptoms, Hyozo commented that he must have never heard of the blue-ringed harpectos. To Hyozo's surprise, Zev was able to continue generating Storm Flames under the effects of the venom, leading Hyozo to think that Zev was of an immune species. He commented to Zev that Hodi Jones would likely be interested in him, but that he hoped Zev wouldn't die, because it was not often that he got to fight someone interesting. Hyozo then returned his allies to their ship and left the station.

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

Abilities & Powers

 * Swordsmanship - Hyozo's skill with a sword is quite notable, as he was able to very nearly defeat Zev Raregroove with his handling of a blade.
 * Venom - Hyozo's race possesses a very strong venom, capable of affecting even quasi-immortals. Among the effects of the venom are 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 is still strong enough to cause even a being of his power to become utterly incapacitated in moments.
 * Highly Agile - Despite what his tentacles would make one think, Hyozo is very quick and mobile.

Trivia

 * Marak of the Sunny Pirates has said that the same "Hodi Jones" whom Hyozo works for was one of the original members of Fisher Tiger's crew, yet betrayed them in some way.
 * Hyozo is 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.