Nero

Nero is a slim, pale figure dressed in a brown T-shirt, orange trousers, ornate shoes, and a hat topped with a red plume. He wears two necklaces, one a plain string of green beads and the other a heavier piece strung from linked red gems, along with a single glove worn on the left hand and a set of wrist bracelets. His hair is distinctive, with a bald crown split by three mohawk-like ridges.

The standard CP9 conditioning left Nero composed and level-headed, as seen in his easy banter with Franky mid-fight. He is hardly emotionless, though, flashing anger when deceived, dread when pain looms, and irritation at Franky's antics. Compared to his colleagues he is softer, falling for Franky's bait when asked to glance behind himself. Underneath the calm sits a streak of conceit, as he assumed that mastering four of the six fighting forms placed him among the genuine CP9 elite. When Rob Lucci cast him out under a death threat, that bravado collapsed into terror and a doomed dash for escape.

Though weak set against the fully trained CP9 operatives, Nero was sharp-witted, working out that intruders on the Puffing Tom would cross the train roofs to reach Robin's car and quickly noticing that Franky could be hurt from behind. His Rokushiki schooling was unfinished, so he commanded only four of its skills: the speed step Soru, the aerial Geppo, the evasive Kami-e, and the air-blade Rankyaku. Lacking Tekkai and Shigan, he could neither absorb heavy blows nor pierce enemies, so he leaned on dodging and traded finger stabs for a pair of derringer flintlocks. He had even developed one variant of Rankyaku.

Against Franky he scored early hits by targeting the cyborg's unguarded back, yet Franky eventually pinned him with his transformed legs and smashed him through the car roof with Ultimate Hammer. Kicked into the next car where the rest of CP9 waited, Nero vowed to kill Franky, but Lucci, needing the target alive, judged him worthless to the team. Given three seconds to flee, Nero was overtaken and run through repeatedly with Shigan, then cast into the raging Aqua Laguna while Kalifa drafted the report expelling him.