Kaiman | Dorohedoro

Personality/behavior:

Unlike his best friend Nikaido, Kaiman is usually arrogant and lazy. However, he's rather kind and cares a lot for his best friend, Nikaido. Even though at times, he can be rude, stubborn, and prone to resolve anything with violence. But deep down, he only wishes to have his normal head back, eat gyoza, and have more money, in that specific order. And he shows no regard or concern about anything else, except for his best friend Nikaido. Kaiman sees Magic Users as scum, killing them on the spot after interrogating them, and showing no remorse afterward. He hates them, and even would start a mass slaughter in the middle of their realm to find the one responsible for his head. Kaiman has constant nightmares about his creation and death, causing Kaiman to wake up tired, worried, scared, and trying to forget them. Even if sometimes they have a connection to his past. Kaiman has shown to be a bit absent-minded as during both his jobs he finds himself easily distracted by things.

Appearance:

Throughout most of the series, Kaiman takes on the appearance of a lizard-like creature.

Although he retains his human body, his face and head up to the neck have changed dramatically due to the effects of a Magic User. Kaiman most closely resembles a Paraguayan Caiman Lizard, his hair replaced by long and sharp spikes; his head has short and snub-nosed, with short spikes, more reminiscent of a head of a lizard. He sports small crosses over his eyes and wears gas masks most of the time, though he refrains from wearing them later on in the series. He is muscular, broad-shouldered, and burly, with a weightlifter-like physique. He is around 216cm (7'1 ft) and weighs 146 kg (321 lbs)

History:

Past

Kaiman is the fourth in a succession of split personalities emerging in and possessing the body of Ai Coleman, the others being Aikawa and Kai. Prior to Kaiman's birth, the dominant personality in control of the body was Kai, the homicidal boss of the Cross-Eyes organization. Kai was hunted by the Curse, a relentless ghost-being unleashed by Kai's murder of Risu. In an attempt to escape death, Kai fled to the Hole, but the Curse followed. The Curse managed to decapitate Kai and invade the headless body. In his dying moments, Kai managed to use a smoke flask that turned to contain Ebisu's smoke of Reptile Transformation. The result was a new-grown reptile head now in control of Ai Coleman's body, effectively trapping the Curse inside and opening up the possibilities for further re-emergence of Kai, Aikawa and Ai Coleman. The resulting new person, Kaiman, was a blank slate without any memories of his body's past, with the Curse still confined within the body. Due to the unprecedented combination of factors that caused his birth, Kaiman is completely invulnerable to any form of magic.

Present

For two years, Kaiman and Nikaido hunted Magic Users that would invade the Hole. Before taking their lives, Kaiman would engulf their heads in his mouth, allowing a mysterious man inside him to identify the individual. After a short time, he pulls them out to ask what the man said, often resulting in them repeating the words that were said by the man, "You are not the one." Afterward, Kaiman kills them with his knives or other objects. As a result, Kaiman has gained a reputation as the "Magician Killer."

To make a living and to find the Magic User who changed him, Kaiman took on a job at a hospital that specialized in treating victims of Magic Practice working under Dr. Vaux. Easily bored and often slacking on the job, he did chores and asked for money, much to Vaux's annoyance. Once his reputation reached the world of Magic Users upon killing Matsumura and injuring Fujita, a wealthy and powerful figure by the name of En became invested in bringing down the lizard-headed man in Hole murdering his underlings.

While getting photos developed in hopes of seeing the man inside his mouth, Kaiman and Nikaido stumbled upon Ebisu. He threatened her saying “Let me chomp down on that skeleton head of yours real quick.” began walking around her. Ebisu sensing the danger she was in activated her magic smoke in order to defend herself. And despite not attacking anyone yet, Nikaido attacked Ebisu, kicking her into a spin and then Kaiman, while Ebisu was still midair from Nikaido’s roundhouse kick, cut off her fingers to stop her from using magic smoke, and then he tore off her mask and revealed her terrified and bloodied face. Despite a moment's hesitation at her young age, Kaiman decided he had no care and then bit down on her head as per usual. However, he was unable to ask his standard question as Fujita appeared to rescue Ebisu, resulting in her face being torn off before escaping.

Later, rumors of a Magic User who could change faces gets spotted in Migimaru-Hole, Kaiman and Nikaido venture to find "The Acupuncturist", locating him in the Kannon of a Thousand Arms club at the bar. Upon realizing he was helping humans and not causing harm, they decide to allow him to live after the interrogation. He attempts to cure Kaiman's lizard head, which at first Kaiman feels an itch in his face only to realize he was shedding, much to Nikaido's disgust.

The Day of the Living Dead, those who died as Magic Practice victims are brought back as zombies by the magic residue found in Hole's rain. Kaiman and Nikaido were killing the resurrected corpses to collect their metal burial identification tags to win a prize for a new meat grinder for Nikaido's restaurant, the Hungry Bug. However, En had sent out his cleaners, Shin and Noi along with Fujita and Ebisu to deal with Kaiman at the same time, leading to a conflict between the two parties. Kaiman battled Shin. Even though Kaiman is immune to magic, he's outmatched and gets punctured by the sharp end of Shin's hammer. Despite the wound, he managed to stab Shin and bite down on his head, where he met the man inside, leading Shin to realize there was more to Kaiman than they first thought. Tearing off Kaiman's head to free himself, he further was stunned by the face of a man with cross-eye marks grinning at him darkly from within the bloodstream. Nikaido then intervened, revealing herself as a magic user as she summoned a door, dragging Kaiman and his severed head through to escape.

With Vaux's aid, they managed to survive, Kaiman's head growing back and the severed one placed in a jar of formalin despite his disgust. Out of curiosity, Kaiman later allows it to be dissected in hopes of finding any potential clues about himself, only for a blackout to occur at the time of the autopsy and the head stolen. Kaiman signed up to an underground box match against Red Brake in the Noshinto Gong to look for Nikaido after days without seeing her. He found a flyer about the match in her room and knew she tried to win the prize money to pay for the restaurant bills (Kaiman never pays for the large number of gyozas he eats every day). During the match, Kaiman was strong enough to almost defeat Brake in a few punches but the boxer was empowered by magic with inhuman strength, and almost killed Kaiman. But Nikaido, in the last moment, killed the Magic User who ran the underground box match (also a selling point for Magic User who bought the defeated humans for magic practice), leaving Brake as a fragile old man. Kaiman attaches him to the wall with a single punch. Later, he scolds Nikaido for taking the prize money (because it was dirty money made by human slavery), only for her to scold him for being directly responsible for this mess because he never pays for what he eats. Kaiman, ashamed of this, only agrees with her.

During a trip on New Year's night, Vaux asked him and Nikaido to go to the house of an old friend of his. They got lost for hours in the huge mansion, warped by magic. They finally gave up and had their new year's dinner in the kitchen room, where they found Prof. Kasukabe, an old scientist who researched Magic Users. He studies the corpses of sorcerers killed by Kaiman and Nikaido. After a weird meeting, the Professor explained to them his research, and Kaiman chooses to go to the Magic Users Realm to track down the sorcerer responsible for his head, using an artificial door that Kasukabe made using the sorcerer's corpses.

Before going, the professor gave them a guide about the sorcerers' culture, disguises (both with a bunny theme), and enough magic smoke spray to return when they did. Immediately after they pass through the door, in the Magic User realm, Kaiman planned to slaughter every single sorcerer they could find until they get the one who cursed him. Nikaido told him to stop it, and only kill people in places with no crowds.

They spend a couple of days living in the apartment of a taxi driver sorcerer who he killed in the city. Kaiman was disgusted by the weird way that sorcerers lived. Going into a restaurant, he tried a strange drink and got sick. He passed out in the restaurant bathroom and had a horrible nightmare. However, he makes a discovery and remembers a name, Risu. After that, he woke up, flushed the toilet where he threw up, and was almost burned by it, for this was a toilet directly connected to hell. Another thing Kaiman found stupid and labeled the Sorcerers as crazy and weird. Having that sudden spur of memory, he told Nikaido that they needed to find the man called Risu, as that was the only link he had with his past. They had to leave the sorcerer's realm after Nikaido failed to kidnap Risu, and headed to Hole using a smoke spray that Kasukabe gave to them. This spray was given so that Nikaido could have surgery to remove En's mushroom curse on her back.

Back in Hole, Kaiman carries his friend to The Hospital to let Dr. Vaux and Prof. Kasukabe operate on her. He tries to help them while they are working and gives them some tea. Later, he tries to cook some gyoza while vaguely listening to the Professor talk about the effects of the rain on Sorcerers. He doesn't pay too much attention, kicking the door to bring Nikaido's dinner. The meal came out as a charcoal-like gyoza with raw garnish inside, nevertheless she still eats the food prepared by her friend in caring thought.

Vaux and Kasukabe ask Kaiman what happened to his friend resulting in so many wounds in addition to the big mushroom embedded in her back. they find a little business card in her pocket. The Professor explains that it belongs to a Devil, and only high-class magic users have them. Kaiman stops him, knowing where this is going, and the doctors explain to him that they operated on Nikaido with their own hands. It's certain, her physiology is different than theirs, she is actually a Sorcerer. At that moment, Kaiman hears a scream and runs to his friend's room to find she has vanished. They quickly jump to the streets to chase after whoever kidnapped her. Wondering how it could be possible that Nikaido didn't put up a fight and got captured so quickly, he recalls Kasukabe's explanation earlier of how rain in the Hole weakens sorcerers.

Kaiman chases the kidnapper to the sewers, where he runs into a giant mutant cockroach blocking the way. Kaiman engages in a fight with the creature, but he can't lay a scratch on it, and gets easily overpowered. Even having part of his arm ripped apart, thinking there is no use to fight the monster, Kaiman escapes while the cockroach eats a piece of his flesh. Finding a door at the end of the corridor, he spots Nikaido wounded on the floor and the mysterious man yelling about how she "Doesn't have a pearl". Kaiman is about to kill him when the man calls "Jonson", the giant cockroach, and restrains Kaiman on the floor. In contrast, the man talks about how he can become a Sorcerer by using "Black Pearls", nothing more than human bodily waste as Kaiman yells at him. The man is about to gouge Kaiman's body when his legs are chopped and fed to Jonson. He bleeds to death while telling Kaiman that he saw him before his head was transformed, his friend was there too. Vaux and Kasukabe help Kaiman with Nikaido on his back, leaving to the hospital once again.

In the Hungry Bug, Nikaido prepares some gyoza for Kaiman when 13, a recurring customer of the restaurant comes to dine on some gyoza as well. Kaiman is automatically pissed about this, believing he wants to steal his precious gyoza. Vaux also appears sulking about how they are unable to play against the Sharks, the Heiwa Clinic baseball team, unless they find another player. 13 enrolls in the team. Nikaido and Kaiman are ready to play, but Vaux is also concerned about how difficult it is to finish a match thanks to Kaiman's hard play style last year, knocking everyone unconscious and leaving the match suspended.

Professor Kasukabe introduces another member of the team to Kaiman and Nikaido, Jonson. The Professor found the giant cockroach, and he experimented with the creature making it docile and even teaching him to speak (only able to yell Shocking!) Kaiman is really disturbed by this. Sus, Vaux's younger brother, and his friend Kink appear too to prepare the team. 13 asks Kaiman what kind of relationship he has with Nikaido. He replies that they are friends, and 13 implies interest in being with Nikaido. Now playing the baseball match, Kaiman is really pissed. During his turn at the bat, he swings so hard that it scores a home run, destroying a Sorcerer's corpse from the torture square in the process. The match is suspended thanks to Nikaido. During his turn to the bat, he knockouts the clinic director with a ball directly in the face.

Kaiman stayed in Hole until the nightmares returned. Now more painful and realistic than ever thanks to his stay in the Magic Users Realm. He wonders about Risu, the only person he has memory of from his past. He craves to remember more and the only way is by going back again to explore. Nikaido asks if he wants any more to eat. Looking at her back, still recovering from the mushroom removal surgery, Kaiman understands that he cannot let her get involved any further in his quest to find his past. Thus, leaving the hungry bug and telling her that he is going to work. He wonders if she would recognize him the next time they met, believing he is going to look different. He says goodbye in his mind, and telling her that she is his only friend, regardless of whether she is a Sorcerer. The next day in The Hospital, Nikaido appears agitated and asks where Kaiman is. The Professor explains that he appeared yesterday to use the Magic Door to the Sorcerers' realm. Shocked, she realized that Kaiman had returned without her.

Back to the sorcerers world

Now alone in the Magic User's Realm, Kaiman met Fukuyama, a Sorcerer who was being bullied and almost killed in the streets. Kaiman beats one of the Sorcerers as the other was killed by Tanba, Fukuyama's Boss. Grateful for saving his employee, Tanba hired Kaiman to work in his Restaurant. Living to anyone's expectation, Kaiman was lazy and usually ate Tanba's meat pies, the restaurant's main dish. Then he got beaten up by Tanba for doing so.

During the Blue Night, Kaiman sneaked into En's event to search for any clues about him or his past. But Tanba runs into Kaiman and beats him up again for skipping work. After that, Kaiman asks for some money to buy food at the festival, angering his boss even more.

Without knowing, he indirectly saved Shin and Noi from Yaku and Baku, Sorcerers who kidnapped the cleaners for the Blue Night. With Fukuyama's help, they killed both leaving the mansion and the cleaners safe.

Unable to sleep thanks to his recurring nightmares, Kaiman went to Kesber Park again to ease his head. Worrying about his employee, Tanba talked with Kaiman, asking what was going on, and forcing him to accept his help with whatever he needed when Kaiman explained the situation. With the need to find The Cross-Eyes, his boss knew exactly what to do.

The next day, the Tanba crew delivered a last meal of meat pies to a prisoner in Hell's Prison, who was a regular customer in the shop, and also a member of the Cross-Eyes. This prisoner immediately recognized the man inside Kaiman's mouth as Risu. Confused and angry, Kaiman tried to understand the meaning of it all. Suddenly the execution begun and it was too late. Shimizu was sucked straight to Hell, and Kaiman clung to him demanding more information. If it weren't for the timely help of a Devil, Kaiman would have been doomed.

Kaiman was approached by Asu, a Devil friend of Nikaido that told him to rescue her, finding out that En kidnapped Nikaido (tracking the magic used on her back, and incarcerate Dr. Vaux, 13, Jonson and Prof. Kasukabe in the process).

Kaiman crafted a suit and went by the name of Pieman, the recently married wife of Tanba, who was giving her life to the meatpie business. Tanba then fired Kaiman so he could go rescue his friend, promising he would come back for his money even though he wasn't going to pay him.

He then fought a brainwashed Nikaido until both fell into the catacombs of the Devil Church. Nikaido finally regained consciousness when her contract with En was removed forcefully by Kaiman stabbing her in the back. Kaiman was briefly dominated by Kai's inner urges to kill powerful Sorcerers. They were both helped by Asu to escape as far as they could from En so the contract inside her would not regenerate again. Chota, one of the En Family Members, was used as a decoy by transforming him into an exact replica of Nikaido's body to fool En into not looking for her.

After a warm reconciliation and a promise to watch each other's back, Kaiman told Nikaido of his desire to travel to Berith. This is the city where he believes Risu is from. They found out that Asu sent them to Mastema, a town far away from En's Mansion. They stumbled into Natsuki, a newly enrolled Cross-Eyes girl that took Kaiman as her superior in regards to the crosses on his eyes. She gladly accompanied them to her town, where in a shop Nikaido and Kaiman stole some new clothes to wear. The old clothes that Kaiman picked fit surprisingly well. The young Cross-Eyes was deceived by her superior Maki, who sold fake Black Powder to third-class addict Sorcerers. When he was about to kill her for insubordination, Kaiman teamed up with her to kill Maki. Natsuki, thankful for it, tagged along with them as a guide to Berith.

The trip was long, and they ended up in Zaga City, where they found an old abandoned school. Kaiman suddenly felt an intense headache and knew that place triggered some of his memories. Eager to look for answers, he started to dig in the old building, wondering if he was a professor, student, or even a janitor. He found an old archive with files of the students who were enrolled, and Risu's profile caught his eye. At that moment, a painful shock, followed by the memories of his past self talking to Risu rushed through Kaiman's head. He finds out the truth about his past, believing that he once was a Sorcerer, then mindlessly rips the scales from his own face and enters a state glazed in shock. The crosses around his eyes disappeared too. Natsuki and Nikaido healed his wounds using a medical magic mask and continued their travel to Berith.

They crossed a couple of Sorcerers who wanted to kill Nikaido because they believed she was an impersonator of "Lady Nikaido" Which Chota was filling the role for. She had to deal with them all by herself because Kaiman was unable to move. He later told Nikaido how scary it was, and was worried that he might hurt her too. He says he can "feel something horrible" inside him. They ended in a luxury hostel and stayed a night in there. Natsuki told them that once they reach the Cross-Eyes headquarters, they would found Risu and the Top Officers. The two would pay for the night in the hostel. Dokuga and The Cross-Eyes top officers were working there as part-timers to supplement some money too. Eventually, they relaxed and got drunk in their room. During the night, Nikaido approached Kaiman who was in better spirits from getting a meal. She told him that she wanted him as a co-worker at the Hungry Bug. He was shocked and even asked her if she was ok having someone like him as a partner. She happily said yes, because, in another way, she would go bankrupt if Kaiman remained as a customer. This finally made him smile.

Kaiman wandered around in the night wondering if he actually was a Sorcerer, and even almost attempted to use some Black Powder Natsuki gave him when they met. At that moment he saw sorcerers with cross-eyes like he used to have, Dokuga and Tetsujo, who were looking for coins in a vending machine. Kaiman couldn't grab his knife in time before he was cornered by them, demanding to know who he was and why he was about to attack them. Not knowing how to respond, he replied, "I'm Risu's friend." Dokuga asked him if he was Aikawa, and Kaiman was shocked to hear that name. At that moment, the hostel was attacked by En, now aware of Asu's scam and coming to kidnap Nikaido again. In the middle of the chaos, Natsuki found the other Cross-Eyes there and came along with them to Berith. Kaiman tried to escape with Nikaido, but En found them. During his showdown with Kaiman, he believed he could quickly kill the Sorcerer because he was immune to magic. En, anticipating this, seeded the air with spores and tore Kaiman from the inside out using his Mushrooms. In his final moments, he was able to smash En's face, enraged. En expelled a considerable amount of smoke which made the mushrooms inside Kaiman burst out. At the same time this is happening, Ebisu is killed by her doppelgänger. This causes Ebisu's reptilian curse to be dispelled, revealing the true face of Kaiman as Aikawa. This is the first time Nikaido sees her friend with his human face. Curse which was sealed inside the body of Kaiman is now released. Kaiman was eventually found by the sorcerer Asu, previously a devil. As Kaiman went unconscious, his last thoughts are of gyoza. When he awakes again his only memories are of being Aikawa. Aikawa does not remember a man named Kaiman.

During the events of The Central Department Store, a half turned Devil Nikaido found a disoriented Kaiman on the floor of the building. Eager to hug and salute her lost friend, Nikaido became immediately suspicious about how it could possibly be the real Kaiman. She hits him demanding to know who he is, with Kaiman only answering in the rude and silly way he is known for. It is the result of a series of convenient events that the real Kaiman is able to exist in front of her. By later events, Nikaido finds out the origin of the Second Kaiman, which is the doing of Nikaido herself. Who as a full devil used her power to revive the head that was once chopped off by Shin early in the story, over a year ago. This can be seen by his spikes cut short in order to fit in the jar of formalin. This means that this version of Kaiman has no memory of anything after the last Day of the Living Dead. He believes it is still that day and is confused why Nikaido is so happy to see him. Disoriented and overwhelmed by the situation, the devil side of her took control and promised Kaiman to tell all the things he always wanted to know, who cursed his head, who he was, what his face actually looks like, but they needed to find The Store's Kitchen Knife first to get out of the building. This makes Kaiman very confused and angry.

Finding The Black House, an entity related to The Devils, Nikaido asked it to send them to Haru, the Devil that had possession of the Knife. After a brief negotiation with Haru failed, Kaiman and Nikaido attempted to attack her. Trying to take the Kitchen Knife was highly dangerous and costed Kaiman's life, the Devil's acid breath causing a killing blow. Afraid to lose her friend again, Nikaido used one of her scarce shots of magic to go back in time to prevent this outcome. She leaves the Knife to her past self, which prevents the fatal interaction between them and Haru. They now have the ultimate weapon and key to solve this chaos once and for all.

Kaiman eventually was possessed by Ai's spirit. This other entity has some control over the warped reality inside the Department Store. Using the Knife to kill Devil Kai (Kaiman was barely able to hold the extremely heavy weapon, but due to his control of the surrounding reality, Ai was able to use it freely). Ai explained that this body is a separate being from both him and Hole, sensing no traces of Hole inside the body, and only having memories of his few years in Hole, his existence is an entirely unexpected outcome to everyone involved. Ai wasn't sure how the result of the battle would affect Kaiman, he remained possessed by the spirit until their arrival to the battle between Magic-Users and the Hole Entity.

Once Ai abandoned Kaiman's body, and the mask of Aikawa dissolved from his head, Kaiman woke up disoriented. Not understanding where he was or what was happening, only to find an almost fully Devil transformed Nikaido in a mushroom suit, Kaiman couldn't believe any of it. Chapter 146

Kaiman lent the store's kitchen knife to Risu to strike the final slash on Kai's body, which now contained the last of the 9 heads. This last head is possessed by Ai's spirit, who has the memories of both Ai and Risu's beloved friend Aikawa. Kaiman asked Risu who he was. His only words replied: "I am no one to you. I have a friend to kill." Once the last head was cut, Kai emerged once more for the final laugh before the room became dark. Acid started to flow to our characters' feet, and through screams and calls for help, a large being emerged from the now-empty lake of refuse. Chidaruma declared that all the people inside the store died, and went to greet the new creature who he called Hole, later coming up with the nickname Holey. He has awaited eagerly for this moment and is very excited for Hole to be alive.

Kaiman woke up inside a strange place, and beside him, Nikaido, in her normal form completely naked, he started to talk about how a bulky man was pretending to be her and tells her to put some clothes on. She explains that they are now inside her devil body, and that was the only way to save him. He looks through two eye holes and spots Asu on the floor. Still not understanding anything, he almost drops the kitchen knife. This infuriates Nikaido and she kicks him out of her body. Outside, he finds out that Asu saved them by teleporting them to the black house. He was only able to grab Nikaido with Kaiman inside her, so he could not save Risu.

Nikaido started the final phase of transformation, becoming a full devil. The process was quite disturbing, and Kaiman was quite scared to look at her. He finds out that Store, the creature from where the knife grows from, was there with them after demoting all the devils inside the house back into sorcerers. Then Kaiman is suddenly attacked by Zombie Kasukabe. They pursue him until Kaiman had enough and slapped the professor to cut it out.

Powers & Abilities

Knife Proficiency: Kaiman is innately extremelly skilled with knives, a remnant of the Boss' own skill. He is shown shredding appart enemies in mere seconds.

Hand-to-hand Combat: Kaiman is also very adept at unarmed combat, utilizing his size and strength, alongside his jaws to great effect. Magic Immunity. As Kaiman is simultaneously under the effects of Hole, Curse and Ebisu's Magic, his body is too "saturated" to be affected by further magic, rendering him immune from the direct effects of smoke. He can still be indirectly affected though, such as being injured by magical creations.

Head Bite: When Kaiman bites down on someone's head the victim experiences it as a much larger space where "the man in his mouth" approaches them and tell them if they are "the one". Kaimain uses this ability to interrogate sorcerers, looking for the one that turned him into a lizard. This ability was only ever used on sorcerers - its unknown if it could affect normal humans. After Curse is freed, Kaiman loses this ability.

Resurrection: As part of Ai's deal with the thing in the lake, Kaiman has nine tiny additional skulls in his cervical vertebrae. When his body dies, the current head falls off and one of the skulls grows in its place, also healing him of all his injuries. This usually also cedes control of the body to the next personality. Each head can only do this once, as such the destruction of the final head would still kill him.

Gyoza Magic: Kaiman is granted a temporary devil tumor by the former-Devils in the Black House, allowing him to use powerful Gyoza magic via a sentient Gyoza Staff.

Sludge Powers: As a product of Hole's abilities, Kaiman can also consume the sludge from the Lake of Refuse.