Shaft

Shaft carries black hair and brown eyes, though his most striking visual trait is the object he hauls everywhere: an empty coffin, reserved for the corpse of the man he intends to kill. Dragging that casket wherever he goes marks him instantly, a detail that nods to the 1966 western Django, just as the character's name borrows from the film Shaft.

Grief has hardened Shaft into a man consumed by a single purpose. He refuses to accept any account of his brother's death that lets his target off the hook, brushing aside pleas of innocence and dismissing anyone who blocks his path, including a trio of old men who try to draw him into conversation. Relentless to the point of recklessness, he will hijack a vehicle or leap onto a speeding train without a second thought to close on his quarry.

Shaft's crusade begins when his older brother buys psychedelic mushrooms from the dealer Domino Walker; after eating one, the elder Shaft laughs himself to death. Swearing revenge, Shaft sets off after Walker with a coffin in tow, meaning to cart away the body once the deed is done. He finally corners his target in a city on Io, watched by Edward and Ein, but Walker insists the death was no fault of his. Shaft rejects the excuse, and just then a passing truck flattens the coffin. He draws his gun and gives chase, only to lose Walker in the scramble.

Pausing at a restaurant called Pescaderia, Shaft waves off the Three Old Men who approach him, then spots the child trailing him and realizes she is hunting Walker too. He soon sees Walker board a train and commandeers a watermelon truck to catch up, knocking the driver from the cab. Leaping aboard and stalking from the rear car forward, he feels certain he finally has his man.

The chase collapses at the last moment. Edward and Ein land atop the train as well, and Ein clamps onto one of Walker's bags. When Walker lets the bag go, the sudden release flings Shaft off the train and onto the car driven by Coffee, another of Walker's pursuers. The vehicle crashes, yet Shaft walks away alive, his quarry slipped from his grasp once again.