Nichirin

Nichirin (ニチリン, Nichirin) is a swordmaster and the head of the Council of Swordmasters.

Appearance
Nichirin is an elderly man with his face covered in wrinkles, making it appear to be made of wood. He has short white hair and his eyes appeared to have been cut and pure white. His attire consists of a black kimono and a white haori.

Personality
Nichirin is a very stern individual, yet caring and confident, offering Kamikaze help when requested. In the battle against Fuhrer Ugly, he willingly sacrificed himself to save Spring Mustachio from the foe's acidic attack.

History
At some point in the past, he trained Spring Mustachio, who became one of his best disciples.

Super Fight Arc
Nichirin attends a meeting of the Council of Swordmasters. At the meeting Kamikaze asks the council members for help in catching and killing Garou in worries that Bang might fail and die. The council members agree, except Haragiri who mocks Atomic Samurai's plea. Haragiri proceeds to show them the Monster Cells and reveals he had received them from the Monster Association and transforms into a Mysterious Being himself. Nichirin threatens Haragiri, telling him that if he does not stop his nonsense Nichirin will have to get serious, but Haragiri arrogantly continues to ramble, ordering the other to eat the cells or else he will kill them, but Kamikaze cuts him first, killing him.

Monster Association Arc
Nichirin along with Amahare, Zanbai and Spring Mustachio come to aid Atomic Samurai in his fight against Black Sperm. While he is defending against countless copies of Black Sperm alongside his comrades, Fuhrer Ugly arrives in his mutated form with Gums' stomach acid covering the former's entire body. Nichirin then witnesses the monster brutally kill Zanbai by spitting an acid onto his head. He and Atomic Samurai attempt to kill Fuhrer Ugly using their respective techniques, Iai Rahu-Ashura Slash and Atomic Slash, but they are unable to harm the monster and their swords are melted due to the digestive fluids covering its body, protecting it from incoming attacks. As Fuhrer Ugly quickly retaliates against them by throwing his Full Body Melting Punch at both Nichirin and Atomic Samurai, Spring Mustachio and Iaian rush to their masters defenses and Amahare sacrifices himself by rushing towards and kicking both Atomic Samurai and Iaian out of the way of the attack while Nichirin shoves his student away. As a result, Amahare is instantly killed by the acidic punch from Fuhrer Ugly, and Nichirin is mortally wounded, being dissolved from the waist down.

As he lies dying, Nichirin activates his mythical pearl to pull out the legendary sword Sun Blade and then gives it to Atomic Samurai, entrusting him with the Council of the Swordsmaster and the quest to find the Moon Blade. He then makes his last words to Spring Mustachio to follow his own path and seemingly passes away, much to the sadness of his student.

Later on, his upper body is seen held by Spring Mustachio while Tanktop Master, who is carrying many injured heroes, and Fubuki are with them, with the latter treating Nichirin's wounds. As a giant ship is about to run past them, Tanktop Master grabs hold of Nichirin and everyone else preparing to throw them to the ship's deck but King, who has seen Saitama in the ship, stops him. A strong flood of water suddenly surrounds him and many other heroes. Thankfully, Pig God arrives and manages to swallow and save them from the flood of water in time.

Abilities and Powers
Being the leader of the Council of Swordmasters, Nichirin is very powerful and extraordinarily skilled in swordsmanship. During the Monster Association raid, he was capable of easily slicing through multiple clones of Black Sperm and demonstrated the ability to slice an extremely large block of concrete in half. Atomic Samurai was also confident enough in Nichirin's strength to ask him to assist the hero in pursuing and facing Garou rather than relying on the Hero Association.

Physical Abilities
Immense Strength: Despite his old age, Nichirin is incredibly strong. He can split the ground in half using his sword. Another display of his immense strength was when he generated air slashes that could slice a massive cliff of rock into pieces from a great distance.

Immense Speed and Reflexes: Nichirin is extremely fast. He can draw his sword and slash at astounding speeds faster than the normal human eye can see. He was the only one besides Atomic Samurai who was not afraid to face Haragiri after the latter's transformation into a Mysterious Being, despite knowing that Haragiri could draw swords at speeds faster than sound. Nichirin was also capable of slicing multiple Black Sperm clones into pieces before they could even react.

Enhanced Endurance: Despite his old age, Nichirin's endurance is impressive. Even after having the lower half of his body melted, he was still able to remain conscious and briefly talk with Atomic Samurai and Spring Mustachio while suffering great pain from the blood loss.

Fighting Style
Master Swordsman: As the leader of the Council of Swordmasters, Nichirin is incredibly skilled in swordsmanship. He was able to hold his own against many clones of Black Sperm, a Dragon-level Mysterious Being, and skillfully slice them using his sword. Another testament to his phenomenal swordsmanship is when he demonstrates the ability to perform many slashes on an apple so fast and precise that its pieces weld together without leaving visible cuts on the fruit, with Atomic Samurai commenting that the apple does not even notice it was cut.
 * Iai Rahu-Ashura Slash (居合羅喉阿修羅斬, Iai Rago Ashura Zan; Viz: Slice and Sheathe Rago-Ashura Slash): Nichirin performs many quick sword slashes in an attempt to slice the opponent to pieces. The technique bears a resemblance to Atomic Samurai's Atomic Slash.

Miscellaneous Abilities
Master Teacher: As a master swordsman, Nichirin is shown to be very skilled at instructing and raising disciples in the art of the sword. He personally taught and trained Spring Mustachio, an A-Class hero, in swordsmanship.

Equipment
Mythical Pearl Necklace: Nichirin possesses a mythical pearl necklace that could generate a pocket dimension in which he uses to store the Sun Blade. The pearl is activated by crossing two fingers together.

Katana: Nichirin carries a cane katana on his person. The sword was melted off after coming into contact with Fuhrer Ugly's digestive acids.

Trivia

 * Nichirin (ニチリン, Nichirin) literally means the Sun.
 * Nichirin's face appears to be modeled after either Tsutomu Yamazaki, a Japanese actor well known for his role as a samurai in the period drama series Hissatsu Shiokinin (1973), or Takeshi Kitano, a Japanese comedian and movie director well known for his role as a blind swordman Zatoichi in the movie Zatoichi (2003).