Suiryu

The reason I sought strength was to live an easygoing life one can enjoy.

Suiryu (スイリュー, Suiryū) is a martial artist and user of the Void Fist. He was a top contender in the 22nd Super Fight and a five-time champion of the tournament. He is also one of the few people aware of Saitama's true strength.

Later in the series, he joins the Neo Heroes and becomes a Neo Leader.

Appearance
Suiryu is a tall, young man with a lean, muscular build. He has blue eyes, tan skin, and black hair tied in a ponytail reaching his lower back. He wears a navy blue Chinese-style martial art uniform with white linings, long sleeves, and star-shaped buttons. Under the uniform, he wears metal bands around his biceps.

After he joins the Neo Heroes, he wears a Neo Heroes Battle Suit.

Personality
Suiryu is an easygoing and carefree man usually seen smiling and is a notorious playboy, who would rather spend time with women than training. He is also perceptive, realizing Bakuzan's bloodlust and strongly believes in the philosophy of natural selection, in which the strong will always prevail no matter what.

Suiryu is very eager to fight strong opponents and believes the reason for fighting is to live an easy life without worry. Due to the power gap between him and some of the other contestants at the Super Fight tournament, he is described by Sneck, as strong to the point where he finds himself bored, much like Saitama. As a result, he seeks to fight strong opponents to seek thrills in battle, which is a thing that both he and Saitama have in common.

During fights, Suiryu holds back in an effort to make any fight more interesting, only using his legs during his fights and later defeating his opponents with one kick. While fighting he tries to make small talk and after he defeats his opponents, he sarcastically apologizes to them for being too strong. While fighting Saitama, he showed a more serious and cocky side. After Saitama's disguise was uncovered, Suiryu didn't care about Saitama's true identity and only cared about winning at all costs. During this time, he changed into a highly brutal fighter that pummels his opponent without mercy and disregards the rules of the match, only wanting to win with his own fists.

Suiryu admires Saitama once he realizes Saitama only seeks thrills and not fame or glory, but after being defeated by him, he began to fear and respect Saitama and wished to never bump into him and resumes with his carefree lifestyle. Initially, Suiryu disliked heroes, since he perceived them as cocky and fame-craving and thinks all of their heroic actions, benevolent preaching, and their sense of justice are boring and a waste of time. The reason behind this mindset is because he feels that no matter how strong or noble a hero, there is no way he or she can solve all crises or destroy evil completely. As a result, he chooses a carefree and thrill-seeking lifestyle rather than fighting for justice, which Saitama seems to heavily disagree with.

When Gouketsu attacked the stadium, Suiryu defended the other martial artists and refused Gouketsu's offer to join the Monster Association, despite being offered a carefree lifestyle as an executive member, as he believes monsters are an abomination. After being overwhelmed by Gouketsu, he is shown to express fear in knowing Gouketsu is above him in all aspects. His pride was shown to further break down from his former arrogant attitude when he desperately asks for help from Bakuzan, knowing full well he cannot win with his strength alone.

His former view of heroes changes after being saved by Sneck and Max, revealing gratitude and respect for the two heroes, who returned to the stadium in order to save him. After being beaten to the verge of death by Bakuzan, he finally and truly sees the error of his disdained view against heroes and desperately screams for a hero to come to save him, with tears in his eyes. Despite being in a state of hopelessness and near-death, he still holds pride, since he refuses to lick Bakuzan's foot, and instead breaks his toe, even when it is his only chance to gain mercy from a monster that is tormenting him, proving that he has a strong sense of willpower and pride since he is not willing to lower himself like other fighters who quickly gave up their humanity if it meant they got to survive or become more powerful. Saitama complimented Suiryu on his tenacity to fight the monsters single-handedly until Saitama had arrived.

After witnessing Saitama defeat both Bakuzan and Gouketsu with little effort, Suiryu becomes grateful to Saitama for saving his life and goes as far as asking him if he can become his disciple.

Abilities and Powers
Suiryu is a martial arts prodigy. Despite having spent most of his time goofing off or not taking his lessons seriously, he still ultimately became one of the most revered martial artists in the world, considered a legend for winning four Super Fight tournaments in a row. He defeated two A-Class heroes with one kick each and reached the finals of the tournament with little effort. During his fight with Saitama, he was able to display strength and fighting abilities on par with S-Class heroes, able to make Saitama put a little effort into not being eliminated. Bakuzan stated that if he is able to kill Suiryu, that would make him the strongest. Suiryu considers "Wolfman" a worthy opponent, and wished to fight him, and indeed when fighting Garou in a virtual martial arts battle the two proved even with one another, although Garou was unable to unleash his full power due to a system overload. Garou was impressed enough with Suiryu that he wanted to find him after their virtual battle, although he quickly dismissed the idea. After the Super Fight tournament, Suiryu was able to fight and defeat four martial artists transformed into monsters of Tiger, if not Demon-level might.

This display of fighting power impressed even Gouketsu, the first champion of the Super Fight Tournament, who had become a Dragon-level Mysterious Being. At one point, Gouketsu offered Suiryu an executive position in the Monster Association if he chose to become a monster, implying that if he ate a monster cell, he could become comparable to Gouketsu. However, as a human, Suiryu is no match for the likes of Gouketsu and Saitama, who both defeat him with ease.

Physical Abilities
Immense Strength: During the Super Fight Tournament, Suiryu effortlessly defeated the A-Class heroes Max and Sneck with one kick each. He easily cut the fighting ring in half with one chop and proceeded to flip up half of it with one stomp. His overwhelming strength was enough to terrify most of the audience in the tournament, including the security. He was strong enough to hold back and kick Choze's energy orb into the sky. Suiryu was also strong enough to blow off one of The Three Crows heads with a single kick despite being in his weakened state. With his last burst of strength, he managed to break a toe of the Dragon-level monster Bakuzan. Even when he is completely drained of energy, he had enough power to crack the concrete when he smashed it with his fist. His attacks were even powerful enough to launch Saitama into the air. When flexing his muscles, he is able to shatter metal bars around his biceps, showing off his incredible muscle power.

Immense Speed and Reflexes: Suiryu possesses an extreme amount of speed and reflexes, being able to kick at the speed normal humans cannot perceive. He also defeated Max, an A-Class hero, in an instant, with a single kick that the hero was unable to react, as well as being able to effortlessly dodge several strikes from and defeat another A-Class hero, Sneck, with another kick that the latter was also unable to react. Furthermore, Suiryu was fast enough to keep up with Monster Choze in their duel while the other martial artists, except Gouketsu, couldn't see their movements at all.

Immense Durability: Suiryu was able to come out of his fight with Saitama without any lasting injuries though the hero wasn't serious at all. He didn't sustain any visible damage on his person despite having been launched out of the fighting ring by Saitama's hip bump that used Suiryu's own momentum against himself even when the impact shattered part of the concrete audience stand. Suiryu can also take hits from a suppressed Gouketsu without being knocked out and even survived a barrage of punches from Monster Bakuzan despite being heavily injured.

Immense Endurance: Suiryu possesses great stamina and endurance as he was able to withstand a hip bump from Saitama that sent him flying into the audience and recovered in little time. Even after the fight, a short time later he is able to fight and defeat multiple martial artists who became Mysterious Beings. After defeating the transformed martial artists, he was still able to perform one of his martial arts techniques on the transformed Gouketsu. Despite being heavily injured, Suiryu remained conscious, albeit barely, after being hit by Gouketsu. His great endurance is yet again shown through the fact that he was able to withstand a heavy hit from Monster Bakuzan, despite sustaining heavy injuries from Gouketsu prior and still stay conscious.

Enhanced Senses: Suiryu was able to sense Bakuzan's bloodlust as well as being able to sense Saitama's strength, considering him as a worthy opponent after witnessing him defeating Zakos with one slap.

Equipment
Neo Heroes Battle Suit: Suiryu wears a Neo Heroes Battle Suit, which provides him with a variety of functions.
 * Mobility Analysis: The suit analyzes Suiryu's nervous system and body, with its synthetic muscle reacting accordingly and enhancing his physical abilities.
 * Life Support System: The suit contains a life support system, although it can be damaged beyond function.

Fighting Style
Master Martial Artist: Suiryu is an extremely accomplished martial artist, having won four Super Fight Tournaments in a row. He can easily defeat A-Class heroes and has shown fighting abilities possibly on par with S-Class heroes.


 * Void Fist (冥躰拳, Meitei-ken; Viz: The Dark Body Art or Dark Corporal Fist): This style focuses on maximizing damage output, while keeping a consistent flow of damage. His kicks are strong enough to launch Saitama high into the air and pin him deep into the ground. After Saitama blows off his clothes, he is shown using hand techniques with moves that involve spinning in a tornado movement accompanied by multiple hand thrusting attacks and punches, as well as a twisting punch that is strong enough to launch Saitama in mid-air. The style also contains defensive techniques, such as concentrating to harden a body part to withstand an attack from an opponent.
 * Void Sky Dragon Fist (冥躰空龍拳, Meitei Kūryū Ken): Suiryu attacks his opponents rapidly with a barrage of punches to the point of creating tremendous momentum that makes him twist like a tornado in mid-air. The momentum he creates from his repeating blows preserves his mid-air rotations.
 * Void Shivering Tiger Fist (冥躰震虎拳, Meitei Shin Koken): Suiryu drives his foot into the ground and takes a stand to put more power in his strikes.
 * Void Phoenix Ascension Fist (冥躰鳳昇拳, Meitei Hōshō Ken): A follow-up to Void Shivering Tiger Fist in which Suiryu initiates a twisting punch that is launched into his opponent's body. The twisting motion further increases the power of his punch. Suiryu states that he can pulverize a truck with this attack. He uses this move to defeat Choze and it was powerful enough to break through Choze's heavily armored body.

Miscellaneous Abilities
Keen Perception: Suiryu is very perceptive as, through mere glances at the eyes of another, he's able to deduce their nature and their strength levels. He managed to quickly figure out that most heroes in the Hero Association do their jobs for fame, glory, and self-satisfaction and realized that Saitama was very strong and only seeks thrills in battle, not fame or glory, just by looking through his eyes, when most people are blinded towards the hero's true characteristics.

Quotes

 * (Suiryu to Max) "Sorry for being stronger than you."
 * (To Sneck) "With or without heroes, all the surviving humans will continue to survive on their own. With or without monsters, the weak will be weeded out. It's just nature's way."
 * (To Sneck) "In the end, 'we' are going to survive either way. The strong guys."
 * (To Saitama) "So you're one of those guys. The way I see it that industry is just no good. I fought some A-class heroes in this tournament, but they were so weak... it's not even worth talking about. The so-called "hero" is just a name. In reality, heroes don't exist. It's just a job, but they pretend to be some kind of benefactor doing good and bringing justice. I think people on their level can't save the world no matter how hard they try. Their effort is useless. Great ambitions. High and mighty ideals. An inflated sense of morality. A heroic sense of justice. The fun life I'm looking for doesn't require any of these. They're just impurities that would lead to boredom. You're strong so you shouldn't restrict yourself with these lame things either. Why don't you choose the fun way of living freely? Just join a tournament from time to time to earn some price money. Huh? Are you feeling down? I'm telling you my real thoughts because I've acknowledged you. Just see it as advice coming from someone who is living happily.
 * "When people are beaten down into a dark place, they seek the light. No matter how frail or small that light may be, in that light there is still... hope."
 * "I... want to become a hero."

Trivia

 * In ONE's first storyboard, Suiryu was Lin Lin's brother and uses Drunken Fist (酩酊拳) instead of Void Fist (冥躰拳). During the finale of the tournament, he gets drunk, goes all out against Saitama, but loses. Afterwards, Lin Lin comforts him, telling him to work harder in the future. This setting was scrapped because a drunkard vs Gouketsu was deemed too comical and they wanted to show despair. Murata didn’t say who changed the setting.
 * The kanjis for “void” and “drunken” are homonyms in Japanese, both are pronounced “meitei”.
 * As a result of being first introduced in the manga, Suiryu doesn't meet Saitama and change his worldview in the webcomic.
 * In Murata's stream when describing what ethnicity the characters would be in the real world, Murata stated Suiryu looks Italian.
 * Suiryu's name means "Water Current" (水流).
 * Suiryu might be based on Son Goku from the Dragon Ball series:
 * Excluding the long ponytail, his hair is reminiscent of Goku's unique haircut.
 * Both are very strong martial artists who want to fight strong opponents.
 * Son Goku's design and powers were both based on Chinese mythological figure Sun Wukong (孫悟空), also known as Monkey King. In a Halloween special cover, Suiryu was depicted cosplaying Sun Wukong with a bo staff and riding a yellow cloud.
 * Suiryu's Void Shivering Tiger Fist used against Saitama is a homage to a punch that Son Goku once used against King Piccolo.
 * Suiryu's Void Sky Dragon Fist might be based on Son Goku's Human Tornado (Ningen Tatsumaki) used against Tien Shinhan in Dragon Ball.
 * Suiryu's high-speed clash with Choze might be a direct reference to one of Dragon Ball's typical tropes when two fighters fight at faster-than-eye speeds that usually result in shockwaves all around the fighting area.
 * Suiryu's black gi includes four stars, possible reference to the iconic four-star dragon ball, the most well known in the series.


 * The idea of Lin Lin being Suiryu's sister was later repurposed into the character of Suiko.

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