Orochi

As you wish, I will bestow upon you terror.

"Monster King" Orochi ("怪人王"オロチ, Kaijin-ō Orochi), also called Lord Orochi (オロチ様, Orochi-sama), is a Dragon-level Mysterious Being and the leader of the Monster Association.

Orochi is one of the main antagonists of the Human Monster Saga.

Appearance
Orochi is a large and ominous-looking monster who is mostly humanoid. He has several large spikes pointing upwards above his head, cracked skin, empty eyes, and multiple sets of pointy teeth inside his mouth. His shoulders, wrists, and fingers have the appearance of monstrous snakeheads with pointy teeth, with the latter ending in large claws. His knees have the appearance of snake skulls and his clothing consisted of a large cape connected to a circular, veiny joint in the center of his chest and a piece of cloth covering his lap. He also has a long, spiky tail.

During his fight with Garou, it is revealed that his body is actually made up of a multitude of small, serpent-like dragons, similar to how muscles wrap around the human body. His horns also grew into a crazed head of "hair," more like tentacles. He unravels his body into a mass of writhing dragons, mouths, and claws, and back again, and in this form his cape transformed into a fiery veil around his torso. He appeared to have great control over his shape in that form, taking on a humanoid stance against Garou but climbing up to meet Saitama as a great mass of dragons and fire with no humanoid shape to speak of.

To fight Saitama, he transformed again, this time condensing his body into a more slim and humanoid figure. In this form, his fiery veil increased in size, and the horns upon his head began to glow and even grew dragon heads of their own. His mouth disappeared, his eyes grew in size and become completely white. This appeared to be Orochi at his ultimate strength.

Orochi's heart is an amorphous blob of flesh with eyes.

Personality
Orochi is a stern and merciless creature whose immense power is enough to keep in check hundreds of other monsters in the Monster Association. He does not speak much, mostly because he does not need to, since his partner and creator, Psykos, under the guise of Gyoro Gyoro, did all the talking for him. Although Orochi is the leader of the Monster Association, Psykos is the true person in charge, with Orochi acting like more or less an enforcer of her rule. After years of brainwashing him, Psykos has gained almost complete control over Orochi, to the point that he essentially never defy her commands. However, it is still possible for Orochi to ignore Psykos in very rare cases, as he prioritized the threat of Saitama over his creator's calls for help. However, it appears that Orochi has only been using Psykos to promote his own increase of growth through her training and monster sacrifices and has actually been hiding his true power from her, as when Psykos attempts to merge with Orochi, he begins to take control of her and attempts to absorb her in order to increase his own power. Despite this, Psykos manages to regain control over him to an extent, preventing herself from being completely absorbed by Orochi, although he retains a degree of control over this new form, openly stating he would get revenge on Saitama and speaking through Psykos.

Orochi is also much more intelligent than he appears. His laconic nature and beastly appearance caused Garou to underestimate his intelligence, believing him to be a mindless monster when in reality he is described as a "fighting genius" by Psykos. He is also one of the few characters in the series who acknowledged Saitama's immense strength and did not disregard him based on his appearance before fighting him, with the others being Carnage Kabuto and Lord Boros. Additionally, upon fighting him and getting to see the depths of his abilities, he quickly realized that Saitama is the one who not only defeated Gouketsu and Elder Centipede but is the one rumored as the "Monster of the Ghost Town," showing his advanced senses and deductive abilities.

While he may have been a monster, Orochi controls his violent urges and didn't outright kill humans immediately if they caught his interest, such as the case with Gouketsu. This is shown when, instead of finishing him off after defeating him, he captured the martial artist and offered him greater power as a monster in exchange for cooperation. He also grew fond of Gouketsu, often asking Psykos about the executive's current situation, showing that he does prefer some monsters over others. He displayed leniency again with Garou, only asking the recruit to kill one hero to prove himself.

However, he has little to no tolerance for failure from his subordinates, as he ate Awakened Cockroach alive after he failed to kill Genos. On the other hand, he can be convinced to spare subordinates such as Do-S despite their failures, if their usefulness outweighs their failure.

It is later revealed that due to being so powerful and Psykos' brainwashing, his emotions and sense of self are slipping away, very similar to Saitama's problem. He became excited upon seeing the unbelievable power Saitama possessed, a person who's reached the pinnacle strength possible for humans, and looked forward to seeing how the human's strength would fare against his own as the ultimate monster, giving him a rush and helping him override Psykos' brainwashing. Upon his revival, Orochi expressed his desire to get revenge on Saitama, showing he has a sense of pride too.

After being reduced to gore by Saitama, Orochi had a very one-track mind as he tried to pull himself back together, haphazardly absorbing any monsters who got in his way. He then attacked Psykos, his own creator, in an attempt to absorb her powers for himself. The two end up sharing one mutated body, with both of their consciousnesses coexisting; this is shown when Saitama punches a portion of his biomass and the shock causes Orochi to momentarily override Psykos again.

According to Psykos, during his past life as a human, Orochi was a broken man who was already losing his humanity by the time she met him. This made him a suitable candidate to be the future Monster King.

Abilities and Powers
Orochi is the leader of the Monster Association, and his powers far exceed that of average Dragon-level monsters. Gouketsu claimed that Orochi is the strongest monster on Earth. Even Bofoi showed signs of fear when describing Orochi to Child Emperor. After seeing the damage done to the Metal Knight Drone, Child Emperor admitted he did not want to fight whoever caused it either. Psykos called Orochi "the ultimate being" and a "success" of her many attempts to break the limit of growth. She is unable to gauge Orochi's power, calling him a "true monster." Even after being blown to pieces by Saitama, he is able to somehow coordinate the actions of all of his newly regenerated monster heads.

Supernatural Abilities
Metamorphosis: Orochi's main and most terrifying ability is to change the shape of his body at will. He can shift to and from his humanoid and more monstrous appearances, revealing his "released form" while unraveling his bipedal appearance into a nest of monstrous dragon-like protrusions all along his body. There are nested mouths in place of his face and head while his limbs transformed into dragon-headed coils with their own appendages and extremities. When he wants to fight with his full capabilities, Orochi shifts from his released form to a humanoid final form more suited for battle. After his body is nearly destroyed by Saitama, he is still able to manipulate and transform the bits of his flesh around the headquarters.
 * Elasticity: Orochi is able to stretch and deform his physical shape like taffy whether in his concealed or natural forms. He can stretch his arms a good distance away, and snap it back like a rubber band afterward.


 * Shapeshifting: On top of transforming his limbs into dragon-like worms, Orochi can make his coils sheathe and project tooth-like protrusions to act as his fingernails, indicating that he has some form of transformation capacity beyond just mode shifting. He has gotten larger from his initial monster form back when he first became a monster, suggesting some control over his size.


 * Tendril Generation: Orochi can unravel his body into a nest of dragon-headed tendrils with their own faces, claws, and fangs that they can use to bite and scratch. After learning an enemy's fighting style, he can also use their skills in conjunction with his serpentine limbs.


 * Horn Manipulation: Orochi can extend his horns over long distances. They are incredibly heavy yet able to change and alternate their trajectory very quickly. Bofoi's drone was destroyed by a single strike from his horn.

Monster Cell Generation: While the process has never been shown, Orochi is able to generate Monster Cells with his body. The Monster Cells are harvested from Orochi and then nurtured using a large machine in the Monster Association base. Because he is the source of the cells, he can create as many Mysterious Beings as he wants.

Fire Manipulation: Orochi can breathe fire from his mouth and from all of the dragons over his body. The intensity of his flames prompted Gyoro-Gyoro to create a barrier to protect herself, and the flames are ejected from his dragons' mouths so quickly that they appear like beams of glowing energy. The fire is powerful enough to melt and explode the stone environment surrounding him. Had Gyoro Gyoro not protected herself, the fire would have burned her to death. When he transformed during his fight with Saitama, his dragons also changed shape and became completely enveloped in flames.

Electricity Manipulation: In his final form, Orochi can also generate electricity, allowing him to fire a massive blast of lightning that spread across the headquarters of the Monster Association.

Energy Projection: During his fight with Saitama, he is revealed to have the ability to project large blasts of energy. His dragons also shoot beams of energy. He is also capable of using his dragons to unify the energy blasts into a single energy beam. His energy blasts are strong enough to shake the entire area, destroying many buildings and raising the terrain several hundred meters into the air, while creating a massive tunnel. His energy beams are also strong enough to slightly penetrate through Tatsumaki's defenses, slightly tearing and singeing her dress.

Absorption: Orochi's body can absorb other organisms that touch him as well as lash out with tentacles to grab at other creatures and pull them into his mass.


 * Regeneration: Using the blood of absorbed creatures, he can regenerate his body from the brink of death. However, he is only shown to be able to regenerate starting from his heart.


 * Esper-Fusion: If Orochi absorbs an esper of sufficient power, the esper can suppress Orochi's control and take over their fused body, although Orochi still retains a degree of control due to his immense power. This then tremendously amplifies the esper's abilities.

Physical Abilities
Immense Strength: While the depths of Orochi's strength have not been shown, Orochi demonstrated amazing physical strength, as evidenced when his horn pierced through one of Bofoi's robots while its arms were raised in defense, going through its entire body with apparent ease and tremendous speed. Given the eerie tone Bofoi spoke in when describing the events, this is no minor feat. He defeated human Gouketsu in combat, and even after Gouketsu became a monster, he deemed Orochi as his superior. Orochi is able to casually restrain Garou within his hands and force his way past Garou's guard with pure strength, while still holding back.

Immense Speed and Reflexes: Orochi is able to strike Bofoi's robot with his horn so quickly that its self-destruction mechanism was broken before it could even activate. Awakened Cockroach was also not able to react to Orochi's attack despite having a sixth sense, although he had previously lost his legs. Orochi is even able to react to incoming attacks from Saitama to an extent, grabbing the hero in mid-air with one of his horns to stop his attack, and later dodging his punch by moving upwards. He is the only monster besides Boros that has been capable of doing this so far.

Immense Durability: Orochi is shown to receive no damage from his fights against Garou or Gouketsu. After setting his own cloak on fire, Orochi is able to wear the flaming garments for an extended period of time with no apparent difficulty. After his fight with Saitama, he is able to stay alive and remain conscious despite having the majority of his body blown to pieces by Saitama's punch.

Endless Growth: Orochi's voracious appetite contributes to his progression cycle. By eating other mysterious beings the Monster King gains both in size and power according to Gyoro Gyoro/Psykos.

Fighting Styles
Genius Combatant: Similarly to Garou, Orochi can instantly learn any move used by his opponents. With just one look, Orochi mastered Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist to the same level as Garou.
 * Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist (流水岩砕拳, Ryūsui Gansai-ken): A martial art Orochi copied from Garou. He uses Water Stream Rock Smashing Fist with his horns and his multiple dragons tendrils as arms against Garou. He is seen using this fighting style against Saitama.
 * Gouketsu's techniques: While never explicitly displayed as such, Orochi defeated Gouketsu in one-on-one combat prior to the series and took some of his moves for his own.

Fusion with Psykos
After barely surviving his battle with Saitama, Orochi uses his absorption ability to regenerate his body. He absorbs his master Psykos; however, Psykos resists complete assimilation and the two merge into one, both switching control of their shared body as they fight. They are strong enough to injure Tatsumaki and force her to get serious.


 * Power Incorporation: Orochi can incorporate other's powers with his assimilation ability. These powers are then increased according to Orochi's own strength.


 * Psychokinesis: Psykos' psychokinesis is greatly amplified by Orochi's power. When their barrier clashes with Tatsumaki's, Tatsumaki is genuinely surprised at how hard it is. They can even usurp Tatsumaki's control of her barrier and turn it inside out, causing Tatsumaki's power to work against her.
 * Gravity Manipulation: This fusion can manipulate gravity.


 * Shapeshifting: This fusion can shapeshift its horns into an enormous avatar of Psykos.
 * Tendril Generation: This fusion is able to extend its fingers into large spears.

Quotes

 * "Why are there defeated among us?"
 * (To Saitama) "I don't know where you crawled in here from, but you are clearly not just some human trash that can be ignored."
 * (After being defeated by Saitama) "So this is... terror."
 * "The baldy who tore me to pieces is next... I will find him and turn him into a live sacrifice for my resurrection...!"

Trivia

 * ONE told Murata the Monster King is a nurtured/cultivated type of monster. Murata drew a now-rejected sketch on the spot based on what he interpreted that statement as.
 * The name "Orochi" (大蛇) literally means "great snake." Yamata no Orochi (八岐大蛇), a legendary serpentine monster/god with eight heads and titanic body who fathered a demon general Shuten-dōji (酒呑童子), is one of the most famous examples.
 * Orochi's tail is modeled after a sandworm. Murata went fishing during golden week and got bitten by the worms used as live bait.
 * Orochi's "released form" strongly resembles the descriptions of Typhon, a serpentine giant who is one of the largest and most powerful creatures in Greek Mythology. Common or similar characteristics include bodies consisting of a hundred serpents or dragons, unearthly glowing eyes, breathing fierce flames, and fathering numbers of monsters.
 * Orochi's "released form" is also confirmed to be inspired by the kaiju film monster Biollante.
 * Orochi is the eighth of many "Kings" mentioned in the series and the most powerful of them all, the others being the Subterranean King, the Beast King, the Deep Sea King, the Ancient King, the Sky King, the King of the Underworld (anime-only), the "second Sea King," and the Forest King.
 * He is the second king with a confirmed first name, the first being Pluton, King of the Underworld.
 * Along with the Sky King, Ancient King, and Forest King, he is the only king not killed by Saitama.
 * According to Murata, Orochi is 10 times smaller than Marugori.
 * He is the only Mysterious Being to have fused with a human (Psykos) to gain a new form.
 * Murata said on stream that Orochi's disaster level is Dragon or above, but did not outright say God. This is similar to the statements made about Boros.
 * Murata states that if Melzargard, Groribas, and Geryuganshoop work together to fight against Orochi, even with preparation, they have almost no chance of winning.
 * A year before Chapter 108 is released, Murata told the viewers of his live stream that ONE has told him that Orochi would not be one-shotted by Saitama. Murata then added that it should not be a problem for Orochi to survive a few of Saitama's normal punches. This is ultimately proven true when Orochi is revealed to have survived one of Saitama's punches.
 * Murata originally speculated that the reason why ONE decided to add Orochi into the story was to give Tatsumaki a big fight in order to injure her, so Psykos disable her later in the story easier. This turned out to be partially true.
 * In Murata's original notes, Orochi was first planned to fight eight of the S-Class heroes at once. They would have the advantage at first due to their speed and numbers, but Orochi would then transform into his "released form" and each of the heroes would have to fight one of Orochi's eight dragons. Tatsumaki would then flip the Monster Association headquarters to finish him off, leading into the fight with Psykos and the Monster Association executives on the surface.
 * He is the third monster to acknowledge Saitama's power at first glance. However, unlike Carnage Kabuto or Boros, he sees Saitama's god-like power through perception instead of any kind of power-reading ability.
 * Orochi is the second monster to stay conscious after being defeated by Saitama and still be able to exchange words, the other being Boros. He was also able to regenerate after being punched, similar to Boros.
 * The design of Orochi's form after fusing with Psykos was based on a neuron.


 * Murata is uncertain who is stronger between Orochi and Golden Sperm, but states that Orochi has superior techniques.

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