Saiyu

"I wanna say, I think I'm more than enough on my own to guard Beyond."

- Saiyu, to the Zodiacs

Saiyu (サイユウ, Saiyū) is a Blacklist Hunter and a member of the Zodiacs with the codename "Monkey". He is part of the Defense Division, created in preparation for the voyage to the Dark Continent.

Appearance


Saiyu is a lanky man with a very short haircut. Part of the hair at the back and on the top of his head was shaved to form two small heart shapes. In general, his face looks like that of a monkey. He wears a headband, which is most likely a reference to the magical headband of the Monkey King Sun Wukong from the Chinese classic Journey to the West, a pair of long wristbands, a sleeveless jacket short enough to show his six pack abs and, near each shoulder, the symbol of a crescent and a 5-edged star in which the crescent represents "being towards a bright future" and the star represents "the five pillars of Islam". These are the symbols present on the flags of some Muslim countries.

Personality
Saiyu is characterized by directness in manner and speech, without subtlety or evasion. He is not afraid of saying unkind or rude things about two powerful fellow Zodiac members like Ging and Pariston, and publicly challenging the former.

13th Hunter Chairman Election arc


After Netero's death, Saiyu and the other Zodiacs gather to vote for a new Hunter Association Chairman. He, alongside the other Zodiacs is hostile towards Pariston, especially after he proposes himself as the new Chairman. Like the other Zodiacs, he is forced to follow Ging's rules to elect the new Chairman. Despite his strong dislike of Pariston, during a meeting to decide new rules for the 3rd round of election, he uses a staff to stop Kanzai from charging at Pariston.

Eventually, he attends the final round of the auction, guarding one of the exits to ensure no one leaves until a Chairman has been elected. He gets shocked when, after winning the elecetion, Pariston leaves the position of Chairman of the Hunter Association, making Cheadle Yorkshire the new chairman.

Dark Continent Expedition arc
The ten Zodiacs watch a second video left by Netero. In it, the former Chairman prompts them to make an exploration of the Dark Continent even more successful than his son's. The risk is an A, but his must not be considered an order. A discussion concerning the expedition follows, During the discussion about the Dark Expedition, Saiyu raises his hand and asks Cheadle about their opposition to Beyond's hunt. Kanzai agrees that it could be considered a challenge, since other organization are already involved. However, Geru objects that Beyond probably started his preparations a long time ago, being thus ahead of them. She adds she'd be willing to join the expedition if Ging were with them, as that kind of competition suits his mentality, but he has already withdrawn and it is unlikely he will come back. Her conclusion is that Beyond is at an advantage even before departing. Botobai steps into the conversation, stating that Hunters will be required, and that it would not contradict the chairman's orders.

However, Mizaistom wonders if the V5 truly has the authority to monopolize the decisions regarding the Dark Continent, since the journey would bring benefits in terms of lands and resources, and other countries might have the right to be involved as well. Their discussion is later interrupted when Beyond Netero himself calls them. Saiyu, along with the ten remaining members of the Zodiacs, meet up with Beyond, who instructs them to call the V5 for him in exchange for handing himself to them and proposes a "give and take".

Beyond is taken into custody, and Cheadle starts questioning him. The other nine Zodiacs listen to the conversation outside the cell. Later, Saiyu is present when Beyond signs the contract with the terms the Hunters Association has set.

Cheadle summons a meeting to introduce the new Boar and Rat, and she starts explaining about the V6, the Five Great Calamities, the difficulty of the mission, which is A, whereas the Chimera Ants were ranked B, and asks if anyone has any questions. Kurapika raises his hand, saying he has many. The first is how many infiltrators on Netero's side the Zodiacs have managed to identify, much to everyone's shock. Kanzai asks him how he would know that, and Kurapika is surprised, as he thought it obvious: It is clear that Beyond was waiting for his father's demise and had been making preparations all along, with letting the Hunters Associations capture him being part of them. To achieve his goals, however, he needed both a competent right-hand man and a substantial group of followers, which Cheadle recognizes as Pariston and the Temp Hunters. Kurapika reflects that everything up to the election makes sense, but what will come after is still a mere hypothesis.



After Mizaistom escorts him out to speak to him in private, the Zodiacs sum up their preparations for the journey, with Saiyu casually saying he has nothing to say, although he believes he would be fine guarding Beyond by himself. He is put in the Defense Division. When Mizaistom calls a new meeting, Saiyu jokingly inquires if Kurapika and Leorio have not been invited because he wants to talk about bullying. He seems flabbergasted by Mizaistom's announcement that a spy may be hiding among them. Like the others, he agrees to reveal his powers. However, unbeknownst to him, Kurapika is using his dowsing to determine who is lying, and it turns out the person in question is Saiyu.

Abilities & Powers
Being a Zodiac, Saiyu is one of the best Hunters, and his authority in the Hunters Association is inferior only to Cheadle's. He is very confident in his abilities, boldly challenging Ging, whom Isaac Netero considers one of the five most skilled Nen users in the world, in combat, although the fight never occurred. Aside from being a Hunter, he is also a martial artist, which means he is a competent close-quarters combatant at the very least. Since he employs his staff as part of his combat style, it is likely he is proficient at wielding it.

Nen
Saiyu was seen stopping Kanzai with a rather long staff when the latter was about to attack Pariston. Since this weapon was nowhere around him and he was never seen carrying it after that moment, it is highly likely he conjured it, as was confirmed later on.

Trivia

 * Saiyu's name comes from Saiyuki (西遊記, Saiyūki), the Japanese language title of the Chinese classic Journey to the West. His design is based off the Monkey King from the same novel.
 * Saiyu refers to his staff as a nyoibo. In the Dragonball series, Goku's staff is a nyoibo as well. Both have the ability to stretch. In both cases, the staff was inspired by Sun Wukong's staff on the after mentioned Journey to the West novel.
 * Saiyu's Nen ability is a direct reference to three wise monkeys.