Meruem

Meruem had a rather humanoid build for an Ant. He was muscular and toned, despite his relatively small frame as compared to his servants. He had two long antennae on his ears resembling long earlobes and a large shell-like armor over his head that resembled a helmet. There were dark pigmented areas on his arms, legs, chest, and head. Meruem was always barefoot. He possessed a powerful tail equipped with a stinger that served as his weapon. Both his hands and feet had only four digits each. Meruem was initially a heartless warrior, respecting people only through their abilities to endure combat with him, but would eventually grow to be a kind and compassionate pacifist, valuing time spent with those he cared for over even his pride. Throughout the arc, Meruem would struggle and display signs of humanity in contrast to his biological birth as a Chimera Ant.

Meruem was born a cruel and violent leader. The Queen's intention to give birth to a perfect offspring was reflected in Meruem's haughty mentality. Within the womb, he would disregard his mother's concern for his development and tear through her abdomen, forcing his own birth. He felt no concern for his dying mother or other ants, killing and cannibalizing several Chimera Ants who had chosen to attend to the Queen's injuries instead of attending to him.[2][3] Neferpitou would be the first person to gain Meruem's attack, after being able to withstand an attack that Meruem intended to kill with without defending themself. He showed no empathy towards humans and viewed them as nothing other than a food source, killing and devouring a child not long after his birth.[4]

Meruem would eventually gain some respect for a human girl named Komugi, which subsequently evolved into deep care for her. With this change in heart, Meruem started to question the differences between Ants and mankind and battled with his identity as half-human and half-insect, questioning the nature of violence and strength as true power. After his interactions with Komugi and his fight against Netero, Meruem began to see humans as incredible beings with immense potential through their tenacity in breaking their own limits. He showed great respect and complete admiration for Netero, viewing his abilities and fighting style as truly magnificent, and constantly praised him throughout their battle, referring him as a rare example of a human who has transcended his limitations and the very pinnacle of human capabilities. Because of this change in perspective, Meruem no longer considered farming humans for food and instead suggested the co-existence of humans and Ants, with humans being selected and controlled for quality. Meruem begins to care for Komugi Meruem's defining traits were his pride and self-confidence. From his birth to his death, Meruem exhibited strong confidence in himself and conviction in his actions. He insisted on proving his intellectual capabilities to himself by defeating the champions of various boardgames at their own games shortly after learning their rules. However, after losing several games of against Komugi, he displayed his first sign of human emotion, trying to scare and distract her during a game of Gungi by threatening to tear her arm off if she lost. Komugi would manage to exceed his expectations and respond with such respect for him and the game that Meruem would tear off his own arm in apology for his impudence and disrespect towards her and the game.

He viewed certain concepts of human society as absurd. Such examples were when Shaiapouf explained how certain people could become rulers through connections or bloodlines instead of power, something which Meruem viewed as defying all-natural logic. When he gained an understanding of the unfairness of human society, where children starve while pathetic weaklings have everything they need, he wanted to destroy this madness and create a new world where the concept of inequality would be completely forgotten. Furthermore, he came to believe the true purpose of power is to protect the weak who deserve to live, not to torment the defeated.

He was quite adept and learned things at an astonishing rate, being capable of mastering any form seen of board games in just ten matches and defeated world champions with ease. After a brief loss of memory he seemed to become much more respectful and closer to his subordinates after being fed a part of them when he was dying, as he could feel things they can feel, and tell easily if they were hiding something or not from him; at the same time he could sense their loyalty to him, causing him to put their loyalty to the test before considering to punish them, even more so if they answered truthfully despite doing so may inquire admitting to a miscalculation. The sense of loyalty he felt from them was strong enough for Meruem that it prevented him from killing both Pouf and Youpi for lying to him, despite previously telling them not to lie to him. Meruem becomes fearful after Netero commits suicide to detonate the Miniature Rose Despite his extreme arrogance and superiority complex, he felt fear for the first time as Netero prepared to detonate the Poor Man's Rose and unleashed a frighteningly malevolent aura and supreme confidence despite being on the verge of death. Moments before he succumbed to the poison, he admitted to Palm Siberia that humanity had won and he was willing to accept his defeat. His desire to fulfill his last wish was so strong that he was willing to kneel before Palm. Like Menthuthuyoupi and seemingly the other two Royal Guards, Meruem appears to have no recollections from a life preceding his birth as the Chimera Ant King. He was the second to last ant borne by the Queen, who personally named him and doted on him like no other member of her offspring. Despite being a newborn, Meruem is the most powerful character to be introduced in the series thus far, as well as the one with the highest learning ability. Born as the ultimate biological weapon, his tremendous physical prowess is only matched by an unparalleled intellect, both of which seem to place him well above the realm of human possibility. As the King of the Chimera Ants, his power exceeds even that of the Royal Guards,[28] and he can increase it even further by consuming Nen users.[8] He fought Isaac Netero, formerly considered the strongest Nen user in the world, who retained a fearsome level of power even in his old age,[52] while trying not to kill him, a condition Meruem likened to playing chess without a rook and bishop,[33] and won their physical confrontation. After the absorption of most of Shaiapouf's and Menthuthuyoupi's bodies, Knuckle believed that military power at the state level would be necessary to match him.[44] As the king of a colony of Chimera Ants, Meruem has authority over the Royal Guards and the ability to procreate with females from different species.[3]

91 - Meruem Meruem after punching a large hole in the mountain Unfathomable Strength: As soon as he was born, Meruem already possessed enough strength to blow off the heads of several Squadron Leaders with a single tail strike for each, as well as to punch a hole into the nest with enough force that the whole construction shook. By stabbing his tail into the outer wall of the nest, he was able to launch himself high into the air.[2] His tail is so powerful that it allowed him to injure all three Royal Guards, albeit only lightly,[3][18][23] although he failed to kill Neferpitou[3] and held back on at least one other occasion.[23] He was able to effortlessly sever Netero's left arm[37] and right leg,[36] as well as, more remarkably, his own left arm[18] in spite of the outstanding durability of his body. With the aid of Ren, he managed to push back two of the hands of Netero's 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva.[33]

126 - Meruem vs Netero 2 Meruem moving at extraordinary speed to attack Netero Unfathomable Speed and Reflexes: Meruem could move so swiftly mere moments after his birth that he could decapitate two Squadron Leaders without them or Colt managing to see him move.[2] The Royal Guards seemed equally unable to react.[3][18][23] In the brief instant that Netero and Zeno were distracted by Neferpitou's aura, Meruem managed to leisurely walk between the two of them undetected.[28] By his own admission, the only time Netero's speed exceeded his own was during the latter's hand movements when activating 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva.[35] In the last part of their duel, with both fighters' senses at their absolute sharpest, they exchanged well over a thousand of blows in under a minute:[37] at the very least, this means that Meruem recovered his balance after being pushed back by Netero and launched a new offensive more than 16 times per second. However, Netero's hand motions were so fast that Meruem failed to see his first attack,[32] and it was only thanks to the psychological phenomenon known as Spirit Echoes that he managed to barely keep up with them,[35] until he finally managed to dodge a flawed counter.[37] After absorbing Menthuthuyoupi and Shaiapouf, he became so fast that he reached and knocked out Meleoron and Knuckle immediately after his En registered them, giving them the impression he had teleported, and knocked them out without either of them being capable of reacting.[44] He also gained the ability to fly, which increased his already supersonic movement speed to the point that Shaiapouf believed it to have quadrupled.[40]

Unfathomable Agility: Meruem is able to move from angle to angle deftly, as seen from his fight with Isaac Netero, in which he repeatedly recovered his balance and leaped off vertical structures in fragments of a second after being blown away by strikes faster than sound.[35][36][37]

Unfathomable Stamina: Meruem defeated the shogi and Go champions of East Gorteau without resting between matches,[13][14] and did not show the slightest hint of physical or mental fatigue even after playing Gungi with Komugi for three days straight.[20] He was so engrossed in their games that he apparently ate nothing for six days,[16] and still seemed unaffected.

MeruemAfterZero Meruem after Netero's Zero Hand Unfathomable Durability: Meruem is extremely durable. Netero's incredibly powerful supersonic attacks only inflicted minor injuries on him,[33] and none at all after his first activation of Ren.[33][34][35][36][37] He was able to take thousands of such blows without suffering even a single scratch, although it was said that he eventually began to feel a dull internal pain,[36] hinting that he may have sustained some light internal damage before even Zero Hand was used. He was also able to take on Netero's most powerful move, Zero Hand, which launches Netero's entire aura upon his opponent and he only received cuts and bruises.[37] He was able to survive the ultra-powerful explosion[39] of the Poor Man's Rose that was released after Netero's death[38] and despite his body being nearly destroyed in the process, he was still alive after the fatal attack.[39]

Immense Pain Tolerance: Meruem ripped off his own arm without hesitation, barely flinching afterwards.[18][19]

Immense Poison Resistance: Meruem was the last Chimera Ant to succumb to the poison of the Poor Man's Rose[50] despite having been at the epicenter of the explosion,[38] although it should be taken into account that Shaiapouf and Menthuthuyoupi had given a significant amount of their power to the King in order to save his life.[40]

104 - Meruem Meruem thinking about thousands of strategies in Gungi Supergenius-Level Intellect: Thanks to his astounding memory and analytical skills, Meruem mastered multiple board games just by reading the rule books, and defeated three national champions in only a few games, a time that decreased the more games he learned.[14] He is capable of examining multiple scenarios in a matter of seconds.[16] He excels at identifying his opponent's "rhythm",[14] the unconscious bias that guides their choices, and at disrupting it or turning it against them, not only gaining insight in their thought process but also managing to exploit it for his benefit. Playing Gungi with Komugi elevated his pattern-recognition skills to an ability similar to precognition. It is thanks to this faculty that he was able to penetrate Netero's otherwise impregnable defense, even predicting what body parts he would be able to cut off in advance.[37]

Chess Master: Meruem implied he defeated the East Gorteau national champion of chess in three days or less.[14] Shogi Master: Meruem was able to defeat the East Gorteau national champion of shogi in three days or less.[13] Go Master: Meruem was able to defeat the East Gorteau national champion of Go after playing only ten games.[14] Gungi Master: Over the course of six days, Meruem became so proficient at Gungi that competing against him caused the world champion to improve.[22] However, despite playing hundreds of games, he was unable to defeat her even once.[50] Proficient Hand-to-Hand Combatant: Meruem relies entirely on bare-handed combat to kill his opponents. He often uses his tail, which can stretch to a length of a few meters to reach distant targets,[2] and whose tip can be used to pierce them.[4] With his formidable strength and speed, he aims for the vitals right away.[2][4] By contrast, he was capable of knocking out Knuckle and Meleoron while moving at extreme speed without killing them, simply by hitting a sensitive area on their neck.[44]

Empathic Bond: After consuming Menthuthuyoupi and Shaiapouf, Meruem came to share an empathic bond with them that allowed him to detect their feelings in detail.[45] Nen

Meruem's En Meruem's En Meruem is an Emitter. He was born with the ability to use Nen[4] and a vastly superhuman amount of aura, which exceeded even that of the Royal Guards.[28] By feeding on Nen users, he increased the size of his aura even further.[8] After consuming Shaiapouf and Menthuthuyoupi, his aura reserves and output became such that even the overly protective Royal Guards had to admit the King seemed invincible and capable of winning a Nen battle through the sheer quantity of one's aura. Upon sensing his Ren, the Extermination Team members despaired, with Knuckle believing they would need the military power of a whole country to defeat the King.[44]

He could perform Gyo shortly after birth without receiving instructions.[4] His Ren struck fear even in Netero's heart, and allowed Meruem to pry open the hands of 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva as well as to emerge from Third Hand completely unscathed, whereas Netero's First Hand had previously caused him to spit blood.[33] This defensive application of Ren may imply he is capable of Ken.

The first time he used En, it covered an area much wider than the palace grounds and spread at the speed of light.[44] Despite its vastness, his control over it is so refined that he was able to discern changes in the environment as small as fresh footprints.[46] At first, unbeknownst to him, his En transmutes part of his aura into photons that relay information to him. When, after only two uses, he became aware of this trait of his En, he was able to turn it into a Nen ability.[48] The absorption of Shaiapouf and Menthuthuyoupi endowed him with variations of their Nen abilities, which he could activate successfully on the first try. Meruem's initial ability gives him strength through consumption. His aura grows every time he devours a user of Nen, with their aura synthesizing to his own.[8] When he consumed Menthuthuyoupi and Shaiapouf, he also obtained some of their Nen abilities. The amount of which he needs to consume one's body in order to achieve this is unknown, but it would seem that Meruem needs to absorb the vast majority of their body to be able to use their ability.[40][41] Neferpitou suggested this is a Nen ability rather than (merely) a biological one. After absorbing large parts of Shaiapouf and Menthuthuyoupi, he is able to use Menthuthuyoupi's ability to transform—including gaining wings to fly. This allows him to fly at a speed so great he could cover a distance that Menthuthuyoupi and Shaiapouf thought would take 15 minutes in a mere 5 minutes.[40].

Repeated line) "Don't make me repeat myself."[2][18] (To women begging the King to spare their lives) "Ha ha! They are idiots. Utilize your puny brain and think hard. Did you ever lend an ear to cows or swine that begged for their lives?"[8] (To the Royal Guards) "I learned from Komugi that different kinds of "strengths" exist. On my way here... I killed a child. She perhaps could have one day been superior to me in some aspect. And I plucked off that bud. For no reason. Just like that."[22] (To the Royal Guards) "I nipped a life in the bud for no reason. Heh. Heh. And what of it? It means... incredible power!! I swoop in, unjustly crushing the countless other fragile "strengths", trampling and destroying them with ease!! That is my power. Violence is the ultimate force in the world!!"[24] (To Netero) "Old soldier, I'm counting on you. Let me finish my game. Don't collapse before then!"[35] (To Netero) "I was born as the King of Ants, the crowning glory of life. All of your kind evolved solely to produce me. I am the culmination of generations of their unhesitating service. You are one of many, and no king. I hold in my hands the future of my species. Of course you could never win!! The ecology of the Chimera Ant is focused on the endpoint of all evolution... on me. Humanity, with its messy diversity... its individuals... never had a chance."[37] (To Palm) "It was... a minor change. Something... somewhere... shifted. If I had been this way from the beginning... While I am no god... what I could do with this world... No. Perhaps only now can I see it this way."[48] "I see now. This is why I was born. For this moment!!"[