Kurapika

Hunter Exam 287th term pass. Bounty Hunter. Born on April 4th, 17 years old. Blood type AB. According to the guidebook, height is 171cm, weight is 59kg. Male.

Appears from the beginning, especially a key character in the Yorknew City arc and the Succession War arc.

A survivor of the Kurta Clan, a minority group annihilated by the Phantom Troupe, he became a Hunter to avenge his people and retrieve the stolen eyes of his comrades.

Intelligent and quick-witted, he is the sharpest mind among Gon's group. He can adapt flexibly to sudden situations and make accurate judgments in complex scenarios. He has excellent insight and sharp senses, able to discern lies and schemes by looking into the opponent's eyes. His quick thinking and high judgment skills often draw attention from various individuals.

He has a distinctive androgynous appearance with blonde hair and large eyes. He sometimes uses his good looks for disguise or negotiation. He has a fastidious personality, values fairness, and tries to deal sincerely with others. Though he has high pride and prefers solitude, he will apologize honestly if he realizes he is wrong. He is kind to the weak, young, elderly, and sincere people, but cold to rude strong individuals. He is particularly harsh with close friends like Leorio and Izunavi, yet he trusts them. He places low priority on his own life, fears losing comrades again due to past harsh experiences, and harbors a latent sense of loneliness.

In childhood, he was innocent, but his harsh upbringing transformed him into a highly cautious personality. His formal speech is influenced by novels he used as language reference books in his childhood. Due to his personality, he limits the use of honorifics to certain people. His first-person pronoun is "watashi," but he used "ore" when living in his hometown. Even in monologues, he sometimes uses "ore," though occasionally "watashi," leading to mixed usage.

After acquiring Nen abilities through training with Master Izunavi, he joins the Mafia's Nostrade Family and becomes the bodyguard of Neon Nostrade, a collector of human body parts. During the conflict between the Troupe and the Mafia community, he kills Uvogin and Pakunoda of the Troupe. After Dalzollene's death, he is recommended by his colleagues as the leader of Neon's bodyguard team and is officially appointed by the boss, Light Nostrade. Even after the conflict ends, he continues to serve as the leader of Neon's bodyguard team while fighting the Troupe with the cooperation of Gon and others. After sealing the Troupe leader's Nen abilities, he prioritizes retrieving his comrades' eyes and returns to work. Later, he replaces Light, the boss of the Nostrade Family, who is in crisis after losing his daughter's fortune-telling ability and clients, and transforms the organization into one that legally earns income through bodyguard services and gambling. He is also advancing the retrieval of the Scarlet Eyes, accepting most demands in transactions with owners. He is invited to join the Zodiacs on Leorio's recommendation, agreeing in exchange for information on a person who possesses a large number of Scarlet Eyes. He particularly collaborates closely with Mizaistom.

On the Black Whale ship, he serves as the bodyguard of Prince Woble and Queen Oito. His goal is to contact Prince Tserriednich, who possesses the Scarlet Eyes. To compensate for the disadvantage of being outnumbered, he adopts a strategy of deliberately teaching Nen information to other factions to increase allies.

He parts ways at the end of the Yorknew City arc and appears in a phone call with Killua in the Greed Island arc, but has no significant appearances for a long time afterward. He is depicted fragmentarily in the epilogue of the Chairman Election arc, but without dialogue. He reappears as a protagonist from the Succession War and Dark Continent arcs. In an interview in Volume 0 (Kurapika's Memories), when asked, "What will happen to Kurapika and the Phantom Troupe in the future?" the author replied, "They will all die."

His martial arts skills are highly advanced. Even before acquiring Nen, he fought well against Hisoka and was agile enough to outmaneuver Uvogin, the Troupe's top combatant. His offensive and defensive power in "Emperor Time" surpasses Uvogin's forced "Zetsu." He self-analyzes that if shot with a handgun bullet (9x19mm Parabellum), even with "Gyo" defense, he wouldn't escape unscathed.

Scarlet Eyes

The eyes of the Kurta Clan turn a vivid scarlet when emotions run high, significantly boosting combat power. If they die in this state, the color becomes permanent and never fades. This brilliance is considered one of the world's seven most beautiful colors and is traded at high prices as art on the black market. The Kurta Clan was a tribe strong enough to be acknowledged by Uvogin of the Phantom Troupe. The deepest and most vivid scarlet is said to be reached through strong emotions like anger or sadness, leading to the Kurta Clan being tortured and killed alive. Currently, Kurapika hides his Kurta heritage with colored contact lenses. The Kurta Clan appears in Volume 0 (Kurapika's Memories), and in Volume 8, Kurapika's flashback depicts the burning of the Kurta village.

Kurapika is usually a Conjurer, but becomes a Specialist when the "Scarlet Eyes" activate (as described in "Emperor Time" below). When performing the Water Divination test during the "Scarlet Eyes" activation, an atypical effect occurs where the water changes color and the leaf spins simultaneously.

Emperor Time

When his eyes turn scarlet, his aura's absolute quantity increases dramatically, transforming from a Conjurer to a Specialist who can use all six types of Nen abilities with 100% precision. The increase is only in the "precision" of abilities, not treating them as equivalent to the "level" of his original Conjurer type. As mentioned, the "Scarlet Eyes" naturally activate when emotions run high, but Kurapika trained to control their activation at will.

This is an auxiliary ability with no external effects, but combined with Kurapika's chain abilities, it becomes immensely powerful. However, the physical exhaustion after use is severe, and it is painful during use. To mitigate the burden, he imposed a restriction that "one second of Emperor Time shortens his lifespan by one hour," but the physical strain remains heavy.

Conjured Chains (Tentative Name)

Using Conjurer abilities, he creates chains and equips one on each of his right hand's five fingers, totaling five chains. Each chain's tip has a weight symbolizing its granted ability. Kurapika's intention of having "abilities to fight alone" means each chain has unique abilities, but some require abilities outside the Conjurer type, resulting in varying effectiveness in normal times. The chains are always conjured to hide their nature as conjured chains, and some chains are unusable without the "Emperor Time" boost. They are also used in tactics like "posing as Manipulator (or Enhancer)," "hiding with a black suit sleeve," "making invisible with In," "having five unknown abilities," and "deliberately revealing as a Specialist to obscure specific abilities."

Holy Chain

The thumb chain (tip is a cross). Enhances the self-healing power of the wrapped part to heal wounds, an Enhancer ability. It doesn't have much effect in normal times, but during "Emperor Time," it can heal even compound fractures in seconds. It can also heal others besides Kurapika.

Steal Chain

The index finger chain (tip is a syringe). By stabbing others and absorbing their aura, it can take custody of their Nen abilities. Continuously absorbing aura can put them in a "Zetsu" state. It can be used without risk if only taking custody without using the ability. Only one ability can be stolen at a time. During battle, stabbing the opponent can absorb aura and seal their Hatsu.

The last of the five chains to have its ability revealed, it was initially suggested by his Nen master to "leave one to compensate for deficiencies." In other words, it is an ability he added after becoming independent.

Index Finger's "Emperor Time" (Stealth Dolphin)

After taking custody of a Nen ability with the chain, activating "Emperor Time" summons a mechanical, talking dolphin-shaped Nen beast (Stealth Dolphin). Setting the absorbed aura into the dolphin allows the borrowed ability to be analyzed and used once. This dolphin is only perceivable by Kurapika and the ally to whom the ability is lent (as described later), and is undetectable even with "Gyo."

There is a restriction that "Emperor Time" and the dolphin cannot be deactivated until the borrowed ability is used. Once the ability is used, the dolphin disappears, and the absorbed aura is returned to the owner. Thus, setting a difficult ability into the dolphin can lead to a situation where "Emperor Time" continues to drain lifespan without using the ability.

Injecting another person allows the borrowed ability and the dolphin to be transferred to them (a Specialist lending-type ability). This creates a vacancy in the syringe, allowing Kurapika to absorb aura from other Nen users. If the person receiving the dolphin is a non-Nen user, they can see and use Nen, and when the dolphin is deactivated, it awakens Nen in them as a side effect. It was used in the Nen training course to enable participants to learn Nen in an unusually short period of "two weeks."

Chain Jail

The middle finger chain (tip is a claw). Wraps around the opponent, forcibly putting them in a "Zetsu" state and capturing them. A key ability for fighting the Troupe, it contains an extraordinarily powerful Nen that is unimaginable under normal circumstances. Being captured by this chain seals Nen abilities, so the only way to break free is to destroy the chain with physical strength alone, but even Uvogin, the Troupe's strongest, couldn't move his body at all.

Although always conjured, the ability's usage threshold is set high by Kurapika himself, making it limited. He has placed the Nen of "Judgment Chain" on his own heart, with the condition "if used on anyone other than the Troupe, he will die." Also, due to the condition of being against the Troupe, "Scarlet Eyes" and "Emperor Time" are always used together.

Dowsing Chain

The ring finger chain (tip is spherical). Enhances Kurapika's concentration to exhibit dowsing effects, with diverse uses such as finding lost items, detecting lies, locating people on a map, and more. It can also be applied to defense in battle, such as detecting and catching flying bullets, making it highly flexible. Due to the limited use of other finger chains, this is Kurapika's main ability.

The lie-detecting ability requires direct confrontation with the target. However, in the "Scarlet Eyes" state, the accuracy increases, allowing lie detection even through video if the person has been met once. It can discern with precision beyond machines, but as it is psychic investigation, it cannot be used as physical evidence. Also, it may not cover patterns like the target being manipulated, having memories erased, or being unaware of lying, so it doesn't provide 100% certainty.

Judgment Chain

The little finger chain (tip is a blade). Stabs into the target's body, wraps a Nen chain around their heart, and declares a rule to the target. If the target breaks the rule, the chain crushes their heart, killing them. Although always conjured, the ability can only be used during "Emperor Time" (due to insufficient precision in normal times for Emission or Manipulation types). It is a type of Nen used on others, and once stabbed, it remains effective until Kurapika's will releases it, regardless of distance or time. It can also be applied to multiple people simultaneously. If forcibly removed by some means, Kurapika can detect it.

However, as it is a punitive ability and not one that controls actions, it cannot exert force on opponents prepared to die, which is a clear drawback.

Kurapika has also stabbed his own heart with it, setting the condition "if Chain Jail is used on anyone other than the Phantom Troupe, he will die."

It can be used on others as well, not just himself.

Dual Wielding

A sword technique using two swords connected by a string like nunchaku. Before acquiring Nen abilities, he mainly used dual wielding in combat.