Jack Fletcher (Young Samurai) Analysis Blog

Background

Jack Fletcher

Aliases: The Great Blond Samurai, Takeshi

Nicknames: Gaijin Jack, Ninja Jack, the Smelly Samurai, nanban (by Benkei)

Age: 16 (end of series)

Occupation: Rigger (in training), navigator (in training), samurai, King James’ emissary to Japan

First appearance: Young Samurai: The Way of the Warrior (August 8, 2008)

Likes: Akiko, Jess, Masamoto, Horatio Palavicino, swords, sushi, cherry blossoms, takoyaki, okonomiyaki

Dislikes: Dragon Eye, Kazuki, Sir Toby Nashe, obanyaki, unagi

Backstory

Born in England in 1599, Jack Fletcher and his sister Jess spent their early years raised by a single father, John, after his mother died of pneumonia. As he grew older, Jack would eventually follow in his father’s footsteps and join him as a sailor, becoming the rigging monkey on a ship called the Alexandria.

During the Alexandria’s voyage to Japan in 1611, Jack and the crew were ambushed by a clan of ninjas while nearing the coast. These assailants murdered everyone on board, and a one-eyed man with a glowing green eye would end up killing John right before Jack’s eyes. Just as this dragon-eyed ninja was about to reunite father and son, Jack was able to dive overboard when the Alexandria became shipwrecked, losing consciousness shortly after.

When he awoke, Jack found himself in the care of an important Japanese family, the Masamotos. Being a foreigner and unfamiliar with the Japanese or their customs, Jack was naturally confused at this strange land and unable to speak their language, but the Masamotos helped him slowly integrate with lessons from a Portuguese immigrant named Lucius. As he slowly picked up the language, Jack befriended a girl named Akiko, who helped him learn to write kanji. These lessons together helped Jack become more used to the Japanese lifestyle and adapt to the initial culture shock, but they didn’t stop him from wanting to return home to England. However, the Masamoto’s head, the samurai Takeshita, had chosen to adopt Jack while helping nurse him back to health, meaning that until Jack turned 18, he’d be doing as his new adoptive father commanded.

Alongside Akiko and his adoptive brother Yamato, Jack encountered the ninja that killed his father, Dokugan Ryu (more commonly known as Dragon Eye), and with their help, he was able to prevent an assassination attempt on Emperor Takatomi. This accomplishment caused Takeshita to pass his first swords down to Jack, and as recognition of his skill, he was enrolled into the Niten Ichi Ryu school in Kyoto.

Jack trained in the arts of kenjutsu (swordplay), taijutsu (unarmed combat), bojutsu (staff fighting), and kyujutsu (archery), but his time at the school was strenuous. He had few friends, sometimes struggled with his lessons, and was looked down upon by his taijutsu instructor, Kyuzo, for being a gaijin, often singled out as a bad example and used as a training dummy for locks and holds. Some students even banded together to form the Scorpion Gang, a group dedicated to beating him and instilling the belief that he’d become a victim of daimyo Kamakura’s anti-Christian crusade.

Yet in spite of all of this, Jack would become one of the few lucky candidates picked to train under Masamoto and learn the Two Heavens, a technique to simultaneously wield a katana and wakizashi. To prove their worth, Jack and the others underwent the Circle of Three, a set of challenges that tested the body, mind, and spirit. The odds were stacked against him, yet Jack’s resilience and determination allowed him to pass.

But the instant he completed the challenges, he’d end up putting this newfound training to the test. Unbeknownst to him, someone had forged his name in a scroll, demanding a challenge to any samurai willing to engage the Great Blond Samurai. The one to accept this offer was Sasaki Bishamon, and their duel would commence at sunset. It was during this duel that Jack drew upon his past lessons to enter a state he’d previously been unable to earn: the mentally clear form of Mushin. With a mind clear of doubt or worry, Jack ended the fight in three strokes, stripping Bishamon of his clothes and publicly humiliating him.

Sadly, this victory would soon be forgotten when Dragon Eye and a kunoichi named Sasori ambushed him and his friends in the daimyo’s castle, stealing the rutter and nearly killing Akiko. Things only became worse when a rival school, the Yagyu Ryu, announced their allegiance to Kamakura by setting the Niten Ichi Ryu on fire. During this assault, the samurai-in-training were betrayed when Kazuki and his Scorpion Gang revealed they were double agents the whole time. They aided in the arson and came dangerously close to killing Jack and his friends, coming dangerously close to succeeding. While Jack and the others survived, the message left behind was clear: war was coming.

The samurai took refuge in Osaka Castle, but even this place contained enemies within. The emperor’s heir, Hasegawa Satoshi, was accompanied by Diego Bobadillo, a Portuguese protectorate of the Catholic Church. Since Jack was English and a Protestant, Diego assumed their difference in beliefs, if found out, would ruin the emperor’s alliance with (and faith in) the Christians, so he began plotting to discredit Jack and either banish or kill him. And to Jack’s ire, it turned out he had been the one that hired Dragon Eye to steal the rutter.

Unfortunately for Bobadillo, his plots amounted to nothing when Dragon Eye was offered a higher price by Kamakura, causing him to murder the Jesuit and retrieve the rutter again. But as Dragon Eye was about to make off with it and kill Jack, Yamato threw himself and the ninja off a balcony to their deaths. As Masamoto fought off Kamakura’s men, Kazuki reappeared, openly embracing his loyalty to Kamakura and trying to kill Jack and Akiko. It was only thanks to Jack’s training that he was able to survive, leaving Kazuki beaten and humiliated as they rode to Akiko’s mother in Toba.

Jack and Akiko might’ve survived, but their situation was not so ideal. Kamakura had slowly begun his takeover of Japan and had exiled Masamoto to a Buddhist temple for the rest of his days. Hoping to protect Akiko from being targeted by Kamakura’s men, Jack set off on his own, armed with the swords of Akiko’s father.

With Shogun Kamakura declaring a country wide banishment of foreigners and Christians, and threats of a brutal death for those who didn’t comply, Jack began a journey to the only safe haven left: the southern port of Nagasaki. While being hounded by a pack of Kamakura’s loyal samurai, Jack was taken in by the elderly Soke and his grandson Hanzo. Though he initially felt hesitant upon learning they were ninjas, his past lessons from the Niten Ichi Ryu and upbringing as a Christian let Jack to overcome his distrust and begin training in the ways of ninjutsu.

In little over a month, he had already progressed far and earned the respect of all its students except one: Miyuki. Having watched her family get slaughtered by samurai, every interaction Miyuki had with Jack was full of contempt. And when Jack attempted to sympathize with her, she revealed that Dragon Eye had actually been trained under Soke.

Jack was initially horrified and angry when he discovered this, but his experience with Soke and a long conversation between them caused him to realize that Soke had been tricked into accepting Dragon Eye as his student. And Soke’s decision to train Jack was a way to absolve himself of his sins. In time, Jack was considered a true ninja, and despite his first mission being a failure, his refusal to disclose the village’s location to daimyo Akechi got Miyuki to see him in a different light.

Unfortunately, the ninjas were betrayed by one of their own. Shiro, a disgruntled student of Soke’s, revealed their location to Akechi in exchange for a life without having to run and hide. Once his village was kidnapped and set to be executed, Shiro was rewarded by Akechi slitting his throat. But thanks to a joint effort between Jack, Miyuki, another student named Shonin, and Akiko (summoned via a coded letter from Jack), the villagers were freed and Akechi was slain by the other ninjas. Akiko was even reunited with Hanzo- who turned out to be her little brother Kiyoshi, kidnapped as a baby by Dragon Eye after killing their parents and tricking Soke into taking pity on him.

With the ninja village saved, Akiko and Jack parted ways as Jack continued to Nagasaki. However, his journey took an unexpected turn when he was beaten to near death by a traveling samurai who stole his belongings and left him for dead. The only reason he didn’t die was because his beaten, bruised body was discovered and taken in by a shopkeeper from Kamo, a village east of the Iga mountains. And when a group of doshin showed up to arrest him, Jack was saved by a nearby drunk known only as Ronin, who was fascinated by him being a student of Masamoto and agreed to help him regain his lost belongings. During this mission they met Hana, a thief who initially tried to rob them, but became indebted to them when Jack convinced Ronin not to kill her.

Hana and Ronin slowly helped Jack regain his belongings as they traveled, and their journey eventually took them back to Kyoto. It was there that Jack reunited with the Scorpion Gang, with Kazuki more eager than ever to kill him, but Jack was only focused on entering the Yagyu Ryu to duel Matagoro Araki, a fearsome samurai who’d taken his swords as a trophy after killing the thief. Using the environment to his advantage and taking inspiration from Ronin’s Drunken Fist, Jack drew first blood, winning the duel and reclaiming his swords. Despite this victory, the Yagyu Ryu’s rage at Araki’s loss and the Scorpion Gang’s attempt to arrest them forced Jack, Hana, and Ronin to flee immediately after.

The only thing left to find was the rutter stolen by a man named Botan, but when they met, Botan revealed that he didn’t have the rutter. It was actually Ronin who’d stolen the book, and he was so drunk that he couldn’t remember taking it, only recalling a blurry memory of a riddle-speaking monk that took it from him.

The three worked together to defeat Botan and his men, and Ronin saved Jack’s life when Botan was about to kill him. Unfortunately, the discovery that Ronin had aided Botan’s thievery was still fresh in Jack’s mind, and his anger in the heat of the moment drove Ronin away. With only Hana by his side, Jack met with the Riddling Monk, who tested their knowledge and pushed them to their limits with his enigmatic questions. But through sheer perseverance Jack and Hana answered each one, earning his rutter back.

Shortly after, they were attacked by the Scorpion Gang, but with Ronin’s sudden return, they were able to even the odds. Jack and Kazuki fought once more, with Jack emerging victorious and nearly sending his opponent into the raging waters of Kizu River. Hoping to save his opponent from a watery grave, Jack pulled Kazuki to safety… and Kazuki thanked him by immediately trying to stab him in the heart.

Ronin wound up taking the hit instead and fought Kazuki off, with Jack saving his drunken ally from drowning while Hana went off to Toba to report Jack’s survival and progress to Akiko. After abandoning Kazuki and ensuring Ronin’s safety, Jack set off on his own, now a ronin himself as he continued his journey toward Nagasaki.

Jack spent months traveling, but during the winter his progress became sidetracked when the Shogun’s samurai spotted him in Himeji. Jack avoided them for three days and fled into the mountains where he nearly froze to death. It was only through luck that Jack came across a nearby town, and after regaining his strength with some food, he wound up coming across the rice farmers in Tamagashi village. Though the people were initially hesitant and distrustful of him for being a gaijin, he earned their trust after saving one of the villagers’ babies from a house fire, eventually becoming the village’s guardian. With his samurai training, he was to protect the village from anyone stealing their supply, including a band of 40 thieves lead by Akuma, aka the Black Moon.

While searching Okayama for other samurai willing to help, Jack reunited with Saburo and Yori- two old friends from the Niten Ichi Ryu- and convinced them to help him. They were also joined by Hayato, an archer who’d helped Jack’s side during the Battle of Osaka Castle, the muscular Yuudai, and Miyuki after encountering her in the forest. Together they trained the farmers in the ways of the ninja and samurai, and their combined knowledge allowed them to force Akuma into retreating three separate times! And during their fourth encounter Akuma’s army was finally defeated and the Black Moon slain by the villagers he’d oppressed for years.

Though their victory wasn’t without its losses. During the final battle, Hayato was shot in the stomach by one of Akuma’s enforcers, and while he managed to save Jack from drowning, it cost the archer his life. But even with the casualties of war, the villagers celebrated Jack and his friends as heroes, with Yuudai staying behind to serve as their new guardian. No longer alone, Jack set off with Yori, Saburo, and Miyuki to continue his journey.

When they tried sailing into Nagasaki, they were shanghaied by Captain Kurogumo and his Wind Demon pirates, and during their time in the ship’s brig, they befriended one of his crew mates: a Chinese girl named Li Ling (initially disguised as a boy named Cheng). After learning Jack’s identity, Kurogumo set sail for the Wind Demons’ lair on Pirate Island and delivered him to the pirate queen Tatsumaki.

To save his friends from being executed by her men, Jack convinced Tatsumaki that he could be useful in deciphering the rutter and helping her dominate the seas. But deciphering the rutter wasn’t all she had planned for him. Against his wishes, Jack became part of the Wind Demons and aided in plundering treasure from nearby ships.

Since it’s practically a tradition at this point, Jack’s new lifestyle was soon uprooted by a close associate who turned traitor! In this case, crew members Skullface, Snakehead, Tiger, and Manzo. They believed him to be an ill omen, as his arrival had caused the Wind Demons to be briefly captured by the Sea Samurai, the victim of a typhoon, and their captain was shot. And as an added bonus, Skullface held a grudge against Jack for taking credit during one of their plunders, believing he’d been cheated out of his one chance to be promoted to captain.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the one they were turning him over to was the Shogun’s closest representative: Dragon Eye, seemingly resurrected from the dead. “Dragon Eye” (actually just a kagemusha, or political decoy) killed Jack’s captors after learning they’d failed to secure the rutter. Just when it seemed like he was about to be sailed back to the Shogun, Tatsumaki and her crew rescued Jack, but “Dragon Eye” escaped and revealed their location to the Sea Samurai.

The result was a bloody war between the two factions as their ships and crews tore through each other, but with Jack’s help, the Wind Demons prevailed. And feeling indebted to Jack, the Pirate Queen allowed him and his friends to go free.

…But before they could make plans to leave, everyone on Pirate Island learned the Sea Samurai they fought were only the first wave. Left disoriented from their supposed victory, Tatsumaki declared it was every man for himself and took her crew into their final battle, knowing they’d likely die but willing to give the Sea Samurai hell. As they engaged in their hopeless battle, Jack parted ways with Li Ling, retrieved the rutter, freed his friends, defeated the fake Dragon Eye, and escaped in time to watch Pirate Island collapse.

Now aboard one of the few remaining skiffs, Jack and the others yet again continued to Nagasaki… only to be shipwrecked by a violent storm three nights in. Jack was stranded on Kyushu Island, believing he was now alone and his friends had died at sea, and to make things worse, he was constantly being hounded by local samurai. But during his time in Kyushu, Jack met an unlikely ally: the mischievous trickster Benkei and was apprehended by Sensei Kyuzo, now working as a doshin.

Blaming Jack for the fall of the Niten Ichi Ryu and the loss of his status, Kyuzo severed one of Jack’s fingers and fought him, with his former student coming out on top. With Benkei’s help, Jack fled into the mountains and hid in Kyushu village to avoid the Scorpion Gang. During their stay, Jack and Benkei were helped by the famous Shodo calligrapher Shiryu, who helped Jack adapt his fighting style to compensate for his missing finger. After two weeks of training, Jack was ready to leave, and during their trek to Nagasaki, they reunited with Akiko.

But shortly after they reunited, Jack and Akiko were arrested by samurai and taken to the local daimyo Kato. After hearing about Jack’s skills from one of his officers, Kato tested them in a sumo match against his youngest champion, Riku. With Akiko's life on the line if he failed, Jack won, but when Kato disqualified him for using illegal moves, he and Akiko tried to escape by battling Kato’s samurai troop.

They failed and were hauled off to prison, only being saved from death by Miyuki, who’d survived the shipwreck along with the rest of his friends. With her help, Jack and Akiko went undercover as a troupe of kabuki dancers, hauling off the nearest docking bay into Shimabara just as word of their escape spread.

However, a new roadblock would be discovered when Jack learned Shimabara’s daimyo, Matsukara, was arresting its Christians and executing them unless they renounced their faith. And thanks to a well-timed avalanche caused by Saburo, Jack and the others freed the captive Christians, with Matsukara dying in the crossfire.

Now that Shimabara’s Christians were safe, Jack continued his sail to Nagasaki with a clean conscience. But when they finally got there, they were ambushed by Kazuki and the 20 ronin he’d stationed in the area. Jack and Kazuki engaged in their final battle, which pushed the two to their limits. But just when it seemed that Jack’s exhaustion was about to overcome him, he exploited a brief distraction between Kazuki and Raiden to disarm the Scorpion leader and stab him through the side.

Jack was tempted to kill Kazuki and end their rivalry there, but at Yori’s urging, he decided it would be better to spare his former rival and let him live with the humiliation. Sadly, though he won against Kazuki, Miyuki had died battling Kazuki’s ronin army, and the Shogun’s samurai were rapidly approaching.

Even with these losses, Jack was in the home stretch by this point, and there was just a small distance left to go! He FINALLY made it to Nagasaki and boarded a Dutch ship back to England, accompanied by his friends…

Until the Shogun’s samurai shanghaied the ship, threatening to kill the entire crew unless Captain Spilbergen turned over Jack and his friends. Left with no other choice, they complied, but seconds before Jack and the rest were to be burned at the stake, the execution was halted.

A bugyo interrupted and announced that Shogun Kamakura had just died, leaving daimyo Takatomi to inherit the rule. And his first act as Shogun was to have Jack, Akiko, Yori, and the rest pardoned for their crimes and freed.

But Kazuki wasn’t having it. Hoping to finally kill the gaijin samurai, Kazuki set the pyre ablaze, but in the face of certain death, Jack drew on his previous lessons from Soke and mastery of kuji-in to perform Zai and summon a rainstorm to put out the fire. And when Kazuki tried stabbing him with a katana, he was intercepted by Masamoto, now the second in command. Under his authority, Kazuki was stripped of his status as a samurai and imprisoned, his spirit finally broken.

With Jack and Masamoto reunited, they attended Nagasaki’s Bon festival, allowing Jack to catch up with his guardian and explained everything that had happened. He also learned that Kyuzo had committed seppuku out of shame, which troubled him, but he chose to remember his former master for the courage he’d shown under the Battle for Osaka Castle rather than what he’d become.

After bidding farewell to Masamoto and the friends he’s made in Japan, Jack returned to the Dutch ship from before, accompanied by Yori and Akiko, and began the journey back to England.

But when they finally made it there, Jack and his friends were assaulted by Guy Rakesby and his robbers. Though they successfully forced the gang to retreat, they’d end up getting new opponents from a group of drunkards in a nearby inn. One of these drunkards, Toby Nashe, happened to be the second cousin of one of the King’s friends, and at his word, the three were arrested and imprisoned. While his friends escaped shortly after, Jack was too late to free himself and was placed on trial. Thanks to Toby’s friends and one of the robbers, Porter, lying in their testimonies, Jack was declared guilty and sentenced to hang. It was only thanks to Akiko’s archery cutting his noose loose that Jack survived.

After a hasty escape, Jack finally made it back to his home, only to learn from a plague doctor that it had become a boarded-up plague house, all of its occupants having died two months ago.

Devastated, Jack went to the nearest tavern to drown his sorrows, but while there he came across a childhood friend- and local pickpocket- Rose. And it was through Rose that Jack learned Jess had actually been evicted before the plague hit. The ones that died were actually a group of families who’d taken up residence after. But the only one who could tell them Jess’s current whereabouts was their old caretaker Mrs. Winters, now a patient at the Bedlam asylum. There was just one problem: after witnessing the deaths in the plague house, she’d become a gibbering mess, only able to ramble endlessly about a red wolf.

Fortunately, she still held a locket with a recent portrait of Jess, and with Rose’s help, they searched numerous locations to find who commissioned the piece and Jess’ current whereabouts. During this journey, they’d end up saving the King’s advisor Lord Perceval and his wife Lady Catherine, who felt indebted to the four good samaritans. But on their way to Stratford, where Jess was supposedly living, they were mistaken for local horse thieves and arrested in Banbury by the constable. To make matters worse, Akiko’s Japanese was mistaken for witchcraft by the locals and drowned as punishment.

However, Jack and the others (including Akiko, who’d survived by using a meditative technique to hold her breath and temporarily stop her heart) were able to escape, trailed by ninjas disguised as plague doctors. And just when they thought they’d lost the ninjas and finally made it to Stratford, Jack was kidnapped by Rakesby’s gang and thrown into a dogfighting arena, though he’d be rescued thanks to the intervention of an Italian fencer named Horatio Palavicino. Having been slandered in the past by Toby Nashe (who’d shot him in the back after losing a duel and been responsible for his fencing school closing), Horatio took Jack under his wing and trained him in the art of fencing.

He’d end up putting his training to the test little more than a week later when he encountered Toby at a masquerade ball held by an old (now poverty stricken) friend of the Fletchers, Sir Henry Wilkes. Hoping to gain information on his sister, the two agreed to a duel, with Jack taking victory by combining his fencing training with the Two Heavens style. But at the end of Jack’s rapier, Toby revealed that Jess had died in a carriage accident attempting to reunite with Jack. This news left Jack shocked to his core long enough for Toby to try and shoot him, but Rose took the bullet instead.

It was only thanks to her costume’s metal breastplate that Rose survived long enough for Horatio and Yori to save her life, but the news of his sister’s death still left Jack reeling. In an attempt to ease Jack’s suffering, Henry offered to let him join his voyage back to Japan, believing Jack’s knowledge of the land would prove mutually beneficial. Jack agreed to join… until his friends helped him discover that Wilkes had been commissioning the same artist as Jess’ locket, including one of his coat of arms: a red wolf. And then they discovered he’d installed a priest door behind a false fireplace, and held within it was none other than Jess, still alive after seven years!

As it turned out, Henry had kidnapped her years earlier after taking possession of the Fletchers’ home, forcing her to agree to an arranged marriage when she came of age. And as a keepsake, he gave her a locket with her portrait inside, which Jess had immediately given it to Mrs. Winters to pawn for food.

Blaming the Fletchers for his financial losses, particularly his founding of the Alexandria’s trip to Japan, Henry attempted to blackmail Jack into helping him. In exchange for Jack taking a trip back to Japan and returning with a fortune, Henry would consider ending his engagement to Jess. Henry locked them behind the priest hole, but Jack and the others escaped seconds later, helped in part by a sudden ninja attack. And one of these ninjas was his old rival Kazuki!

Despite being stripped of his status, Kazuki had quickly escaped prison by training under some cell mates from the Fuma clan who still held a grudge against Jack. Through these lessons, he had trailed Jack all the way back to England, all for the purpose of restoring his honor by killing Jack! The two engaged in a final duel, but even with Jack gouging his eye out with a shuriken, Kazuki’s superior mastery of the Two Heavens proved a challenge. The vengeful ninja was only defeated when Jack combined his fencing and samurai training, pommeling his wakizashi to extend its reach and stab Kazuki in the gut.

Before he could finish Kazuki, Jack was distracted by the sounds of Yori and Jess struggling, and he chose to prioritize the lives of his friends and sister over ending a grudge. With all his friends accounted for, they escaped from the ensuing chaos. But when things had settled and he went back to retrieve his father’s rutter, he and his friends were arrested and sentenced to hanging.

Just when it looked like they were about to be executed, they were rescued by Lord Precival, who revealed the King had officially pardoned them and discovered Sir Henry’s treachery and unpaid debts. Now Jack and his friends were free, while Henry was to rot in prison until he paid back the thousands upon thousands of pounds he owed.

As free men, Jack and the others were assigned by the king himself to Japan to serve as his emissaries and help establishing a trade route between the two nations. And before setting sail, he was personally gifted Horatio’s own rapier. They set sail to Japan, with Jack and Akiko sharing a moment to reflect on their love for each other… and then Kazuki ambushed them from behind.

Now stricken with the plague thanks to his wounds becoming infected, Kazuki had become little more than a walking corpse ready to expire any second. But before he died, he’d do anything to make sure Jack went down with him! His attempt to lunge at Jack would end in failure as Jack tripped him, sending Kazuki overboard and into the sea.

With his longtime rival dead, Jack returned to Japan, welcomed with open arms by Masamoto and Akiko’s family. And as he went to Toba’s temple to contemplate, he realized he had finally found peace. More than that, he was finally home.

Personality

From a young age Jack always had a sense of adventurousness. He also can’t stand seeing others suffer injustice and will put himself at risk to defend them, even if it means postponing his trip home to prevent his fellow Christians from suffering.

When he first awoke in Japan, Jack was understandably confused and experienced severe culture shock at how the Japanese carried themselves and their customs, such as bathing daily instead of once a year. He struggled to understand their fashion and eating with chopsticks, and accidentally offended his school by tying ropes in knots instead of wrappings. Even after learning proper etiquette from Akiko, he preferred randori (sparring) with Yamato because learning etiquette made him scared of offending someone.

As he stayed in Japan, he found that there were certain foods he liked and others he disliked. He enjoyed takoyaki (octopus) and okonomiyaki (Japanese pancakes), but found obanyaki (pancake with red bean paste) too sweet and wasn’t a fan of unagi (eel). He grew to like its cleanliness and order and eventually wanted to stay there, though Kamakura’s anti-Christian crusade and his desire to reunite with his sister forced him to prioritize returning to England.

His stay in Japan also made him fiercely loyal to Akiko, in part due to him slowly falling in love with her. He will fight to his last breath to protect her and the rest of his friends, and will become confrontational if he hears anyone mocking them.

During his training at the Niten Ichi Ryu, Jack adopted the samurai’s code of Bushido, living by its seven virtues are rectitude, courage, benevolence, respect, honesty, honour and loyalty. As a result, he’s extremely selfless and will go out of his way to save others regardless of their grudges against him or how much it distracts from his own goals. He also refuses to kill an unarmed opponent.

After witnessing Yamato’s death, Jack was haunted by Yamato’s death and blamed himself for what happened. And thanks to Dragon Eye’s involvement in both his father and Yamato’s deaths, Jack became prejudiced toward ninjas, viewing them as cowards and dirty assassins. Even when he was warmly welcomed into Soke’s village, he was hesitant toward their kindness and constantly second guessing their actions when he found out they were ninjas. However, as time went on he started to realize they weren’t his enemies and that he enjoyed ninjutsu, eventually learning to embrace it.

During his time in Tamagashi, Jack showed that he was fiercely loyal and dedicated to keeping his promises no matter how hard they were. Even when the farmers briefly considered betraying him and handing him over to the shogun, he was still willing to protect them. And this was after it got so bad that his own teammates were ready to abandon the village to its fate.

Thanks to a mix of his dedication to Bushido and his own selflessness, Jack’s unwilling to let another person die and has gone out of his way multiple times to spare people like Kazuki even though they’ve previously tried to exploit his kindness by killing him. Even when Kazuki was at risk of drowning in a river, Jack still went out of his way to save him, and when Kazuki finally died, Jack forgave him and hoped his soul would find peace in the afterlife. He’s also deliberately spared his former instructor Kyuzo despite Kyuzo doing nothing to warrant it, all so he could maintain the code of bushido.

After seven years in Japan, Jack could no longer recognize England when he returned and was a stranger in his own land. He was astounded at the sheer savagery and uncivilized nature of his fellow countrymen. What he remembered as a gleaming jewel was now a hellish nightmare that reeked of piss and shit, and the country as a whole was a wretched cesspit. He now felt more foreign in his former home than he had in Japan, and even though he met some friendly faces and reunited with his sister, he decided he was better off returning to Japan.

Experience

During his time on the Alexandria, Jack, even at 12 years old, was one of the ship’s best rigging monkeys. He was also involved in defending the ship from several attacks from the Portuguese. His time on the Alexandria also made him proficient in climbing walls or other surfaces like bamboo.

Despite only being rigorously trained in the basics of taijutsu, his skill was complimented by Masamoto, calling them inventive and effective, and has praised Jack as surpassing his expectations. Late into the series, it was shown he could instinctively use it to put Neko in a painful wrist lock.

Through his training at Butokuden, he learned kenjutsu (swordplay) and taijutsu (unarmed combat). He eventually learned to cut every kata one hundred times before breakfast, strike makiwara (striking posts) 50 times with each fist to toughen the bones in his hands, and improved his archery with Akiko’s help.

While training in Soke’s village, Jack once again proved to be a quick learner, mastering the basic principles and becoming adept at shinobi aruki. He learned how to take various disguises to infiltrate areas, such as a drunk or a monk on a pilgrimage

He later took these teachings to heart and became more pragmatic, like instructing the people of Tamagashi to target a man wielding a musket while he’s busy reloading from his first shot.

Multiple times throughout the series, Jack has had repeated encounters with Kazuki, and after both were forced to abandon the Niten Ichi Ryu, nearly all of their encounters have ended with Jack winning.

Upon returning to England, Jack was trained by the fencing master Horatio Palavicino, and within a week they’d progressed faster than the average student, learning feints, parries, presses and binds. “He’d shown them how to glide down an opponent’s blade.How to void an attack. Perform circular thrusts. And strike with accuracy at the hands, face, throat, eyes and even the teeth.” In the same timeframe, he was able to defeat Toby Nashe, a skilled fencer, in a one-on-one match.

Arsenal

Rutter

After his father’s death, Jack inherited his rutter, a navigational logbook that describes the safe routes across the oceans of the world. It’s said that whoever owns it can rule the seas by controlling the trade routes between nations

According to the first book, its full contents include intricate hand-drawn maps, compass bearings between ports and headlands, observations of the depth and nature of the seabed, detailed reports of voyages, places and ports with allies and enemies, pinpointed reefs, marked tides, circled havens, and every page contains secret ciphers that protect the knowledge of safe passage from enemy eyes.

Daisho

A katana and wakizashi traditionally carried by samurai. They were originally owned by Masamoto, but as signs of his progression into the way of the warrior, Masamoto passed them down to Jack. They contain shafts of pure black lacquer and an inlay of a small golden phoenix emblazoned near the hilt.

Shuriken

When leaving Soke’s village, Jack was given a pouch of five shuriken ninja stars by their resident shuriken-jutsu master, Tenzen, as a keepsake. These would prove instrumental in saving him in his later adventures, usually by distracting his enemies, throwing them into eyes to blind them, or on one occasion using them to kill. However, there is one downside to using them: they can’t pierce through armor.

Shuko and Ashiko claws

A set of hand and foot claws typically used by ninjas for climbing buildings, though they can also be used in combat. Jack was given some by the ninja Zenjubo and later when he was part of the Wind Demons’ crew

Bo staff

While not used as much as the rest of his weapons, Jack has occasionally wielded a staff in combat.

Rapier

As a parting gift before returning to Japan, Horatio passed his rapier down to Jack.

Skills

Multilingualism

At the start of the series Jack’s experience sailing with his father left him fluent in a bit of Portuguese, French, Spanish, and Dutch. Thanks to Father Lucius’ teaching, he quickly learned Japanese, eventually becoming fully fluent by the end of the year thanks to Lucius’ Japanese to Portuguese dictionary. He’s also proficient in sign language.

Sailing/Navigation

Being a frequent crewmate among ships and having studied his rutter extensively, Jack has become a skilled pilot, enough that he can navigate by the stars and guide a ship back to port, possibly even get back to England from Japan. Even after four years away from sea, he can see navigational lines and tell where they’re sailing by the position of the sun.

Stamina/Endurance

Jack’s endurance and willpower has let him overcome many situations despite the toll on his body. He spent half a night climbing a mountain while starving and exhausted, completes the first Circle of Three challenge by carrying himself to a Buddha statue through sheer willpower, and immediately after endured a hail-like waterfall whose temperature was so cold that contact with it nearly caused him to black out and start hyperventilating. But even with this, he withstood the cold so long that the monk overseeing the challenge had to light a second incense stick to measure the time.

He’s walked onto red hot coals, jagged spikes of dried lava, and endured poisonous sulfur fumes entering his lungs. He’s endured a blizzard through sheer willpower despite his entire body being frozen, and overcame a lack of energy in his body by thinking of his sister and climbing back to safety. He’s continued fighting the enormous samurai Riku by focusing on his love for Akiko even after being slammed into a clay ring hard enough that his skeleton rattled.

Kenjutsu

The most common form of combat for samurai, Jack was trained in kenjutsu (swordplay), which he’s regularly used during battle to defeat his opponents, usually ninjas or enemy samurai. Near the end of the series, it was said that he could deliver these slashes with surgical precision. Upon defeating an opponent, a kenjutsu user performs chiburi, the act of flicking the sword to wipe off the enemy’s blood.

After training under the Shodo master Shiryu, Jack learned to focus ki through his writings and adapted it into his fighting style. By taking advantage of the slightest distraction and switching to an unconventional reverse grip , he can disarm his opponent and drive his other sword backwards to impale them.

Two Heavens

During his time at the Niten Ichi Ryu, Jack was trained in the Two Heavens style of kenjutsu, a devastating double-sword technique taught only to the best students of the Niten Ichi Ryu. It’s almost impossible to master, but those who do are considered invincible. In order to achieve victory, the style must constantly adapt and overcome each and every situation, whether that involves parrying, blocking, and countering an opponent’s attacks or incorporating new techniques. Its base techniques include:

• Autumn Leaf: A two-hit attack with the kissaki to disarm an opponent or disrobe and humiliate them
• Mountain to Sea: Changing tactics to attack in a manner your opponent doesn’t expect. This would include throwing a sword at your opponent while their guard is down or using a broken flag pole to pin your opponent by their armor
• Flint and Spark: Smacking an opponent’s blade aside and slashing upward them while they’re open
• Running Water: A counter strike that hits the opponent with the force of a wave
• Rising Sun: A stance where both the katana and wakizashi are held high and wide, seemingly leaving the user open and unguarded, but it’s actually a powerful offensive technique that draws in unwitting challengers before destroying them in a double sword swipe

Taijutsu

While at Niten Ichi Ryu, Jack was trained in Taijutsu, a form of hand to hand combat that involves kicking, punching, grappling, striking, blocking and throwing. In order to master it, one must possess zanshin, a sense of awareness of one’s surroundings. This is the style Jack uses the most extensively throughout the series aside from kenjutsu and the Two Heavens.

Techniques include:

• Seoi nage (shoulder throw)
• Nikyo (wrist lock)
• Ushiro-geri (spinning back kick), double mae-geri (front kick), and nukite-uchi (hand thrust)
• Nerve pinches and Chō-geric (butterfly kick)
• Inner leg reap and tomoe nage (stomach throw)
• O-goshi (hip throw)
• Kuki nage (air throw that uses the opponent’s weight against them)
• Ippon seoinage (a one-armed shoulder throw)

During his training under Soke, Jack also learned the ninjutsu variant of taijutsu, in which the goal is to escape by any means. Its techniques include:

• Demon Horn Fist: A headbutt to the rib cage that nearly breaks his ribs
• Eight Leaves Fist: Being slapped on the side of his head with his ears and tripped. When used properly, this can cause loss of balance and deafness. This can even affect enemies that are physically stronger than Jack, such as Manzo.
• Extended Knuckle Fist: Having fingers raked down the center of his chest
• Finger Needle Fist: Having a little finger jammed into his ear canal or other soft targets like the eyes
• Fall Down Fist: Undescribed blow that knocks others out

Kyujutsu

Taught to him by Sensei Yosa, Jack was trained in Kyujutsu with three principles in mind: “You need absolute focus for kyujutsu. Balance is your foundation stone. The spirit, bow and body are as one.” With this training, he eventually learned to hit targets from 100 shaku (99 ft) away, albeit barely, and could later hit a bullseye, but failed the true goal of snuffing a candle’s flame.

Bojutsu

The art of staff fighting taught to him by the blind Sensei Kano.

Chi Sao

Thanks to Sensei Kano’s training, Jack’s learned how to operate without his sight, letting him guide himself through a forest without his lantern and fight while blinded.

Breathing Control

By relaxing his breath and slowing his heartbeat, Jack can hold his breath for three minutes on land and a few minutes while underwater before passing out. He can also control the sound of his breathing, recognize the difference between someone asleep and someone pretending, and how to feign death.

Drunken Fist

By mimicking a drunkard and moving around softly, Jack can trick others into getting close before performing a strike, grab, or other attack to catch the opponent off guard. In essence, he feigns defense while performing offense.

Fencing

After being defeated by Sir Toby Nashe, Jack was trained by Horatio Palavicino in the art of fencing. Unlike the kenjutsu he’s used to, fencing focuses on rapid, agile, long-range attacks and the use of a parrying dagger to deflect bind the opponent’s blade, disarm them, or deliver a strike.

This style consists of feints, parries, presses, and binds. And under Horatio’s teachings, Jack learned how to glide down an opponent’s blade, void attacks, perform circular thrusts, and accurately strike the hands, face, throat, eyes, and teeth. He even learned the art of pommeling, where a fencer extends the reach by gripping the rapier’s hilt at the pommel.

Ninjutsu

Ninjutsu has 18 disciplines including hand to hand combat, weapon skills like the shuriken, shuko and kusarigama, evasion techniques of disguise, concealment and stealth-walking, and the mystical arts of explosives, poisons, mind control, kuji-in magic, and invisibility.

Understanding ninjutsu requires understanding the Five Rings, the five great elements of the universe: earth, water, fire, wind, and sky. Earth stands for stability and confidence, water is adaptability, fire is energy and commitment of spirit, wind is freedom of mind and body, and sky is the Void, the things beyond our everyday existence, the unseen power and creative energy of the universe.

In practice, the Five Rings are used as follows:

• The Ring of Earth uses the terrain to make it harder for armies to attack
• The Ring of Water focuses on adaptability and changing strategy, much like how a river will adapt and overflow against a log that attempts to dam it
• The Ring of Fire involves distraction, destruction, and dealing death
• The Ring of Wind- the foundation of ninjutsu’s combative uses- involves evading attacks
• The Ring of Sky uses meditation, mind control, and kuji-in magic that harnesses ki, the spiritual energy of the void. It also involves the state of mushin

In addition, the main techniques of ninjutsu are gotonpo, the art of concealment, and shinobi aruki, shadow walking. Through this one can become invisible by hiding in plain sight and sneak up on others without making noise. This stealth is enough that it could even fool Jack’s senses despite his training under Sensei Kano to hear shadows.

Ninjas are skilled in Shichi Ho De (“seven ways of going”), a technique where the user disguises himself as a samurai, a farmer, a sarugaku dancer, a yamabushi priest, a Komuso, a merchant, or a strolling player to travel freely and without detection. By impersonating an official, he can even gain access to forbidden areas.

Jack has used his ninja training to sneak past two guards, stolen the keys to a jailer’s cells without waking him, prevented Miyuki from killing said jailer without a sound, snuck into a home to retrieve his belongings, and evaded some samurai troops that spent three days trailing him. He can tell from his surroundings when someone’s hiding in the shadows and identify ninjas even when they try to hide.

Kuji-in

Nine secret hand signals in conjunction with mantras to unlock an explosive power in a ninja. By invoking Rin, Soke could lift a tree trunk over his head, and through a combination of hand posture, meditation and focus. Together they unlock the powers of the mind and tap into the energy of the Ring of Sky. By using the hand sign for Rin and speaking the mantra “On baishiraman taya sowaka,” Jack is able to channel his energy, which can provide a vital burst of energy in times of crisis. The sign Sha and mantra “On haya baishiraman taya sowaka” allow for healing others or yourself

• Rin: Through a hand sign and the mantra “On baishiraman taya sowaka,” Jack can channel energy through his body and enhance his strength in times of crisis. This burst of strength can even allow someone to lift a tree trunk over their head
• Sha: With the mantra “On haya baishiraman taya sowaka,” the user can heal others or themselves. This speeds up the body’s natural healing process and heightens the senses, letting the user enter a trancelike state where they can “[hear] the forest resounding to a million drops of water falling from leaf to leaf.” This kuji-in can be used to heal injuries from shurikens and reduce rawness and swelling from burns, though this takes an hour and leaves the user exhausted. It can keep the heart and organs strong while suffering from fugu poisoning, but this only slows the poison. It doesn't cure it, and will become useless if the user doesn’t have enough ki, though extra users can remedy this
• Jin: Though the mantra is never stated, this lets Jack read the thoughts of others through sensing suggestions or feelings, and he can tell if someone is lying. It can also be used to sense concealed presences
• Kai: Another kuji-in where the mantra is never stated. This enhances a ninja’s intuition, warning him of danger to him or his allies and growing stronger the closer you are to that danger
• Zai: Uses the mantra “On chirichi iba rotaya sowaka” to control the elements by summoning mist over a town or a rainstorm to put out a burning pyre
• Unnamed kuji-in: With the mantra “Om gate gate paragate parasamgate bodhi svaha,” Jack can empty his mind and body of all sensations to endure intense heat, though his body still suffers the burns and blisters

Powers

Ki Manipulation

By channeling ki through his body, such as his fists, Jack can transfer ki through a target when he hits it to break it from the inside. He’s used this to split two boards in half. However, this requires concentration and the belief that he can break through a target. If he gets distracted, his strength will become incomplete and he'll injure himself when trying to fully break them.

It’s implied his ability to channel ki can also give him a burst of energy, which allowed him to outlast his classmates in holding their shinai horizontally on the edges of their hands.

Mushin

A state of “no mind” that Jack can enter by clearing his mind of all wants and worries, letting him sense his surroundings even without his physical senses and gaining spontaneous knowledge of a situation as it occurs. This increases the accuracy of his strikes, allowing him to quickly end fights or ignore the pain of flames or walking on red hot coals, and lets him predict actions. These include letting him move a fraction of a second before an attack can hit him.

Meditative Precognition/Precognitive Dreams

On occasion while sleeping or meditating, Jack has had precognitive visions of the future, some vague and some more direct.

Resistances

Heat and poisons:

Through Mushin, Jack can walk barefoot through red hot coals without feeling any pain and breathed in poisonous sulfur fumes.

Cold:

Endured a blizzard through sheer willpower despite his entire body being frozen.

Mind manipulation (debatable):

This one’s a bit weird and could just be metaphorical, but here’s the context:

While engaging the Riddling Monk, his final riddle was said to be so hard to fathom that “Jack’s mind seemed to be unable to hold thoughts” and “Jack realized whatever strange power the monk had, he was working its magic upon them. Driving them to the brink of madness.” His mind strains as it becomes impossible to think of the answer and Hana’s left writhing in agony as she gibbers to herself, yet he overcomes the pain and answers the riddle.

Strength

• Cut Yamato across the hand
• In their second spar, Jack briefly pressured Yamato, cut across his stomach, and later knocked both of them to the ground by slamming a shoulder into Yamato’s stomach
• Swings a bokken (wood sword) hard enough to break a ninja’s wrist, slams the bokken into the ninja’s stomach, then hits him on the back of the head
• Winds Kazuki by slamming a shoulder into his gut, punches him, drops him by targeting his leg, and briefly grapples with him
• Hits Raiden with a side kick to the chest, pulls himself through Toru’s bear hug, and uses his arm as support while hitting Raiden with a double mae-geri (front kick) that staggers him and draws blood
• Knocks Raiden on his back in one punch, strikes the inside of Raiden’s thigh with a nerve pinch, and later breaks through his guard and hits him in the jaw with a Chō-geri/butterfly kick
• Jack traps Kazuki with a chest hold, driving his elbow and knee into the sides of Kazuki’s head to lock it in place, and later, while on the verge of blacking out, Jack splits his lip with a punch after Kazuki goes for illegal moves
• Has broken through two boards twice
• Knocks down multiple students with his blows while fighting waves of attackers
• Hits Kazuki with a combo of a front jab, reverse punch, and spinning back fist that staggers Kazuki and makes him bleed, then later elbows him and puts him in a head hold
• Beats down on Sasori until he wears down her defenses, then knocks her back with a side kick to the chest
• Hits Orochi with a knife-hand to the throat, hits him in the stomach, forces him down by driving his shoulder into his stomach, places Orochi in an arm lock wrenches the spike out of his hand, throws it away, and applies enough pressure to his elbow joint that it nearly breaks his arm
• Breaks a man’s nose with a kick
• In a free for all with the other taijutsu students, Jack delivers an elbow strike to the stomach, grabs Emi’s arm, and executes a seoi nage, sending her crashing to the ground and knocking the wind out of her. He uses an o-goshi on Yori and drops Kai to the ground with a sweep kick
• Shoulder tackles Kazuki, hits him with a hook, twists Kanzuki’s ankle, and kicks him in the back
• As he’s on the verge of blacking out, he throws his tanto into Hiroto’s stomach, forcing him to drop the manriki-gusari, then drives a fan’s iron spine into Nobu’s gut and smacks him across the temple, knocking him back
• Throws a ninja across a parapet using kuki nage
• Bludgeons Kazuki with a broken flag pole and stabs it through his armor to pin him
• Hits a ninja with a spinning hook kick that staggers him
• Destroyed a lava spike with a bokken
• Throws chopsticks at a man’s face, knocks another back by performing a nikkyo wrist lock, releases it just short of breaking the man’s arm, and throws him into some other samurai
• Kicks a table to trip one samurai, kicks a samurai into a wood pillar hard enough to splinter it, then slices off a samurai’s topknot and the ties to the bamboo ceiling, burying him under an avalanche of bamboo
• Even with Miyuki beating on him and trying to drag him off a branch, he maintains his hold long enough to grab her wrist and yank her loose as his strength gives out
• Uses the Finger Needle Fist on a guard’s ear canal, the Finger Sword Fist to hit a pressure point in the throat, and knocks him out with a Fall Down Fist to the neck
• Throws a shuriken into a ninja’s wrist, throws another to the ground while breaking his arm, elbows the leader in the stomach, and uses the Demon Horn Fist to send him into a tree
• Side kicks a samurai and lightning strikes another in the knee
• Grabs a jutte mid-swing and twists the doshin’s wrist into a lock before flinging him over his head into the mud
• Disarms a bandit by hitting him across the knuckles with his bo, then flips him over, jabs him in the gut, hits another in the chest, deflects a knife, knocks his teeth out by striking him in the jaw and slams him into a tree
• While enraged he grips a stick hard enough to snap it
• Roundhouse kicks Botan in the stomach, throws a shuriken into a man’s leg, and after recovering his Shizu swords, he and Botan clash like lightning
• Kicks Hiroto in his stomach wound and staggers Toru with a headbutt, though the narration says it’s like hitting a brick wall
• Rams a bamboo stick straight into the earth, then slices it to pieces
• Snaps Nakamura’s elbow with a taijutsu hold, elbows Sayomi in the stomach, and throws her over his shoulder with a seoi nage
• Lifts and carries an elderly Japanese woman over his shoulder
• Stabs a bandit through a joint in his armor’s plating “with devastating accuracy”
• Headbutts Nakamura in the chest with the Demon Horn Fist
• Disarms a samurai with a lightning-fast Autumn Leaf strike before kicking him away
• Elbows the fake Dragon Eye in the temple, uppercuts him in the jaw, jams a thumb into a nerve point between his ribs, and slams him against some railing
• Cuts the ropes of a wood pile and pushes his shoulder into it to trip some samurai
• While on the verge of blacking out, he kicks a samurai in the chest, elbows another in the gut, and throws him into the first with ippon seoinage
• Does an Extended Knuckle Fist to Kyuzo’s inner thigh, accidentally hitting the Kyusho point and paralyzing him. He then rams into Kyuzo with the Demon Horn Fist and sweeps him off his feet with a heel strike
• While nearly passing out, he jabs a shuriken into Kyuzo’s leg and knocks him out with its blunt end
• Kicks Hiroto in the face, breaking his nose
• Daimyo Kato’s officer says it took ten of his men to subdue Jack, and he broke one of their arms and tossed the rest around like toys
• Shatters the blades of two enemy samurai and cracks one’s ribs with a side kick
• Fought evenly with Kazuki despite him being the stronger swordsman, eventually knocking his sword aside, skewering him, and stomping on his blade hard enough to destroy its fixings
• Tears the wood planks off a boarded door
• Shoulder tackles through a heavy oak door
• Hits Guy Rakesby in the gut with his katana’s pommel
• Holds back a mastiff’s jaws even as he gets weaker from blood loss, then puts it in a chokehold
• Throws a katana into Kazuki’s eye, drives him back with a flurry of cuts, and uses a Flint and Spark strike so fast it causes sparks to fly off their blades
• Sweeps Kazuki’s legs, sending him overboard

Speed

• Dodges a loose block flying right at his head
• Dives away from a block and tackle
• Jack trains under and spars with Yamato. During a spar with Yamato, he blocks Yamato’s bokken instinctively and by luck, twists to avoid a thrust, dodges two slashes, and blocks the third
• In their second spar, Jack dodges Yamato’s bokken, barely avoids a rising slash, maneuvers past a slash at his head, then spins, steps back, and jumps away from Yamato’s slashes, and blocks a strike to the stomach
• Sidesteps an attempted decapitation at the last second
• Yamato’s bokken strikes at Jack like a cobra, but he ducks, and after riling Yamato into a blind rage, Jack sidesteps his attack and keeps up with his slashes
• Blocks Dragon Eye thrusting at his stomach with a ninjato
• “In one simultaneous movement, Jack arched his body, flung his legs round Kazuki’s back leg and grabbed his opponent’s head with his free hand. His fingers found Kazuki’s nostrils and he wrenched back hard.“
• Can dodge bokken and staff swings and strikes
• While blindfolded, Jack and Yamato move so quickly while blocking and striking that they become blurs
• Uses his chi sao training to block Kazuki’s attacks and counter with a series of jabs until he gets hit by a roundhouse punch to the jaw and a strike to the gut
• Dodges Orochi’s hook hand and blocks it with a piece of bamboo
• Ducks under a poison dart and runs from extra ones
• Blocks Kazuki’s katana
• Blocks a staff strike at the last second and jumps over another
• Blocks and ducks under multiple katana swings from Kazuki
• Barely dodges a shuriken and later deflects one
• Dodges a trident
• His bokken swing surprises Dragon Eye with its speed and knocks his tanto aside, then blocks a tanto swing at the cost of cutting his bokken in two
• Draws his sword as another samurai swings at his neck, clashing blades mid-swing
• Blocks a barrage of strikes from a samurai the narration calls lightning fast and jumps aside at the last second to dodge a slice at his stomach
• While in mushin, he moves a fraction of a second before Soke’s ninjato slices
• Blocks a knife strike and ducks under a club swing
• Swings his wakizashi with lightning speed
• Blocks an attack from Kazuki meant to slice Hana in half
• Instinctively deflects Kazuki’s sword, which cuts through the air like a bolt of lightning. dodges a thrust at his stomach, then Jack deflects a sneak attack from Hirito from behind at the last second using his wakizashi despite the pain in his arm
• Draws his katana in the blink of an eye and slices a bamboo stick to pieces with three lightning slashes
• Ducks under a steel-tipped arrow at the last second
• Cuts Hiroto’s spear in half with lightning speed and barely deflects a barrage of strikes from Kazuki
• Instinctively ducks under Goro’s sword and blocks another slash
• Blocks and deflects multiple thrusts from Toby
• Spins to the side to avoid a blade that strikes out like a bolt of lightning and jumps over a slash to the legs
• Dodges Kazuki’s lunge

Durability

• Endures the snag’s rough hemp digging into his palms as he struggles to right himself in midair
• As a result of being thrown off the Alexandria, Jack was left battered, bruised, and his muscles ached
• During his spar with Yamato, he got hit on his fingers by Yamato’s bokken and hit on the head, giving him a bloody nose
• In their second spar, Yamato kicks him in the chest, knocking him into a cherry blossom tree
• His wrist gets twisted by Kazuki to the point it feels like his arm’s about to break
• He and several other students get hit across the shins by Sensei Hosokawa’s shinai (bamboo sword)
• Knocked back by Sensei Kyuzo
• Endures being used as practice for taijutsu holds, which leads to him being flung around like a puppet, used as a punching bag, pushed over for having a poor stance, and being left exhausted, battered, bruised and aching. After all of this, Kazuki twists his wrist
• Staggered by Kazuki punching him in the chin, then has his left wrist twisted until it feels like a hot iron rod searing his arm
• While practicing ude-uke (inside forearm blocks), he and the other students hammered at each other’s arms and left bruises for a week
• Gets bear hugged by Toru so hard he nearly passes out, then endures being choked
• While practicing kyujutsu, Yosa had made them shoot until their fingers had bled from the blisters
• Thanks to being the uke during taijutsu, Jack’s body is tough enough to withstand Raiden stomping on his foot, backhanding and clotheslining him onto the ground, getting knocked back by a hammer fist, taking a hook kick to the chest that bruises his ribs, and being thrown across the dojo
• Has the wind knocked out of him by Akiko throwing him, then later has the same happen against Kazuki, who goes further by putting him in a neck hold that squeezes his ribs
• Repeatedly hammered in the kidneys by Kazuki and put in a chokehold so hard he nearly blacks out
• Endures excruciating pain from Kyuzo jamming a thumb deep into a pressure point in his neck
• Injures his hand trying to break a cedar board as thick as his thumb
• Bludgeoned by his and Kazuki’s wood staves
• Hit in the stomach by a staff, gets hit in the shins, and falls on his shoulder
• Repeatedly kicked by one of the anti-gaijins in the Scorpion Gang
• Injures his hand trying to break through a block
• Gets hit in the stomach by a bo at “lightning speed” and hit on the chin, nearly knocking him out, but powers through the pain
• Gets his lip split by Kazuki’s punch, a roundhouse punch to the jaw, a strike to the gut, and survives a chokehold and being drowned in mud
• Ignores the pain of a ninja’s shuko (climbing claws) scratching eight lines across his skin
• Withstands getting choked by a ninja long enough for Yamato to save him
• Hit in the ear by a bokken
• Jabbed in the chest with a Bo and hit him in the stomach
• Accidentally crushes his foot under a club, gets struck in the throat by Kyuzo hard enough that he’s gasping for breath, has a bokken’s kissaki dragged from the crotch up to the chest, gets kicked in the shins, struck across the jaw by the trident’s handle, thrown through the air on his back, and put in a painful arm lock until he yields
• Cuts across the left cheek by Kazuki
• Forces himself to remain on his feet after Emi punches him in the kidneys, then gets knocked on his ass by a lightning kick to the face
• Hit by a series of body blows from Kazuki, a roundhouse kick to the ribs that staggers him, a front kick that sends him through a burning paper wall, a backfist in the nose getting thrown through a wall with seoi nage, kicked several times, and has a beam land on his back
• Gets choked from behind by a manriki-gusari and nearly loses consciousness as he’s hanged, but remains conscious long enough to escape
• Powers through a kick to the kidneys to roll away from a lead weight
• Runs into a forest on top of burning coals with no signs of pain
• Kicked in the stomach by Miyuki, takes a hammer blow to his knuckles that briefly weakens his grip on a branch, and gets scissor kicked
• Used as a training dummy for the most crippling locks and techniques of ninjutsu’s taijutsu, such as a headbutt to the rib cage that nearly breaks his ribs, being slapped on the side of his head with his ears and tripped, having his fingers raked down the center of his chest, or having a little finger jammed into his ear canal
• Cut across the arm by a samurai sword
• Has an arrow shot into the back of his shoulder, endures having it ripped out, then realizes a shuriken was stabbed into his leg
• Hit in the back of the shoulder by a jutte (iron truncheon), then beaten by more doshin and their juttes
• Gets sliced across the upper arm
• Snaps Nakamura’s elbow with a taijutsu hold, gets punched in the stomach by Nakamura, blocks a kick to the chest, and ducks under a burning branch. Has the tip of a burning branch pressed against his right thigh and stuck further, burning him
• Gets launched into a ditch by an explosion that sets a bridge on fire
• Has the tip of his left pinkie cut off, severing everything up to the nail and first joint
• Kyuzo hits him with a right hook, an uppercut that knocks him on his back, a kick to the solar plexus that knocks the wind out of him, and nearly makes him pass out by kicking his injured hand. Jack then survives the potentially lethal Yoko Sankaku Jime, a leg lock that cuts off flow to the brain, incapacitates in seconds, and will result in brain damage and death if used past that point
• Slammed into a clay ring with a bone-shattering impact and gets back up
• Jabbed multiple times across the body by Toby’s rapier
• Endures his hanging long enough that Akiko frees him with her archery
• Hit in the chin by a staff hard enough to see stars, then smacked in the gut, making him spit blood
• Guy Rakesby crushes his wrist with an iron-like grip and hits him in the jaw with a staff
• Kazuki’s sword digs into Jack’s neck and threatens to sever his artery
• Cut across the chest, making him stagger and bleed heavily

Intelligence

• Baits Yamato into trying to slash at his head before maneuvering past and cutting across his stomach
• Feigns defeat to bait a ninja close
• After enduring a beating from Raiden and being unable to fight back, Jack switches tactics and begins dodging attacks until he loses stamina, letting him break through Raiden’s weakened guard and defeat him with a Chō-geri/butterfly kick
• Purposefully riles Yamato into a blind rage to make his attacks easier to counter
• Feigns attacks and plays dead to make Kazuki drop his guard
• Uses his experience as a rigging monkey to climb some bamboo shoots and chase a ninja
• Is skilled at using the rope-binding techniques of hojojutsu due to his training as a rigging monkey
• Intercepts a ninja’s chain with his bokken and sticks his blade between two graves so the ninja can’t disarm him
• Uses sageo cord to bind a disguised Kyuzo with a self-tightening gunner’s knot
• Tricks Dragon Eye into running into a forest filled with burning coals
• Passes Soke’s test to steal his pillow without waking him by using a leaking thatch and a loose piece of straw to make Soke move his head in his sleep
• Fakes his death and being stabbed by using red bean paste to simulate blood, then disguises himself as a onryu to trick a couple into returning his stolen pearl
• Alongside the rest of his group, he comes up with plans to defend Tamagashi using the Five Rings strategies, including forming defenses from the surrounding land
• Suggests targeting a man wielding a musket while he’s busy reloading from his first shot
• Uses a Ring of Fire technique by reflecting the glint of the sunlight with his wakizashi into the archer’s eyes, blinding him
• Successfully guides the Black Spider’s crew through the eye of a typhoon
• Was taught how to make endan (ninja smoke bombs) which can be filled with iron fragments or broken pottery
• Distracts Kazuki by flicking a loose rock at him
• Blinds Riku by flicking salt in his eyes
• Tricks two robbers into impaling each other
• Uses a dog as a shield from a bear and jimmies the bear’s lock to free her
• Is well-versed in the mental combat that comes before an actual fight (I.e expressions and body language show your opponent’s emotions and inner thoughts) and knows how to keep a blank face

   

Feats

• Prevented the assassination of Emperor Takatomi
• Passed the Circle of Three’s challenges of body, mind, and spirit
• Saved Emi after she was poisoned by Dragon Eye
• Has defeated Kazuki multiple times
• Won a challenge to free Hana by using a shooting an apple off her head with a shuriken
• Won back the rutter from the Riddling Monk after passing his tests
• Defeated the muscular pirate Manzo
• Helped Tatsumaki and the Wind Demons during the Battle for Pirate Island
• Helped free the Christians daimyo Matsukara intended to execute
• Finally made it back to England and reunited with Jess
• Defeated Sir Toby Nashe in a fencing duel
• Became King James’ official emissary to Japan

 

Weaknesses

Jack can become impulsive and reckless when others are threatened, often requiring his partners to hold him back or talk him down so he doesn’t get himself killed.

He’s also honorbound to his code of bushido, which has caused him to deliberately avoid lethal blows during battle, spare enemies after defeating them, or gone out of his way to help them even when it would be more sensible to kill them.

Despite all of his training, he still has his fair share of shortcomings. He’s been unable to punch through thick boards of wood, and he’s unable to hit most targets properly with archery even with repeated practice.

Even with kuji-in, some injuries take longer to heal, such as being cut on the arm. While it can ease the pain of a split lip, swollen left eye, bruises, and sore ribs, fully healing from this would take a week. And it can only speed up the healing process of a severed finger, but can’t grow them back.

He has no inherent defenses against pressure points and has nearly died to them before. He’s been fooled by straw decoys in the past, and unfamiliar fighting styles have beaten him on the first try.