Fushi

Fushi (フシ) is an immortal being created by The Observer and placed on Earth to preserve the world.

His name can be written with the kanji 不死 literally meaning No Death/Undying. This name was given to him by March, his mother figure.

Appearance
Fushi is an immortal being that can take the form of anything that has given him stimuli.

His original form was a white sphere. Without consciousness, he copied the first thing he bumped into which happened to be a rock. Soon afterward, he became moss and stayed like that for some time. When a wounded wolf wandered close in the middle of winter and died, the immortal copied the wolf. He retain the ability to turn into these things.

Later, after the death of The Nameless Boy, he mimicked the boy's appearance and took the form of a young boy with white hair, pale complexion and green eyes. He wears a short, brown fur cloak and a light blue shirt and pants with fur boots. A rope dangled from his hand and neck as The Nameless Boy died holding Joaan's leash, though the latter soon disappeared. The injury that took The Boy's life is also present on Fushi's left leg. Fushi commented that this form felt like it belonged to him the most.

Other than The Nameless Boy whose form he usually default to, he can also take the form of many others; most notably: March, a little girl with long black hair wearing a simple white dress. Gugu, a young man with defined muscle who hid his deformed face behind a salamander mask. And Parona, a beautiful young woman with black hair and slender body.

Personality
Fushi appears to be a good listener, is curious, brave, and a fast learner. Before learning how to speak, Fushi would learn how to do things by mimicking other people's actions.

After learning how to express himself via words, Fushi speaks his mind - no matter how mean it may sound. He cares deeply for others and dislikes death. He also blames himself for the Knockers attacks, believing that destruction follows wherever he goes. Fushi finds it extremely hard to make friends because he knows he will have to see their lives to the end; they will always die while he forever lives.

Background
Fushi was dropped onto Earth by The Observer as a sphere, created to help preserve the world.

The Nameless Boy Arc
At first, "It" took the form of a sphere that could imitate any thing that existed. Some time after being dropped onto the Earth, It assumed the form of a rock and once temperatures began to rise, It copied the appearance of moss. Before long, as snow began to fall, a single wolf came ambling from the south and, once it collapsed, "It" took the form of that creature. Having gained a consciousness "It", now in the form of a wolf, continued walking and carving into it's mind new sensations.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, the wolf comes across a boy. The Nameless Boy calling the wolf "Joaan", is very excited to see it and is very happy it didn't forget about him. Noticing that Joaan isn't acting normal, the boy carries it into the house where he tries to give it food, but to no avail. Once inside, "Joaan" takes in the atmosphere of the house - observing the sounds, the smell, and the warmth. If It could speak, It would probably say "I want to stay here forever". The next morning, after trying (and failing) once again to feed Joaan, the boy and the wolf go out to gather wood. Besides the boy, there are no people to be found and the only thing outside are houses that have long since fallen into ruin. The boy cuts and gathers the wood from a nearby house, telling Joaan it's like borrowing from other people. But he expresses guilt, saying he knows, deep down, that if the others were to come back they would probably be angry at him. He understands though that if he doesn't do this, he will die. He holds hope that the other people of his village will come back even though they've been gone for five years.

The boy tells Joaan how much he would have liked to go with them. He recalls trying to sneak out and follow them, but Joaan stopped him by biting his leg. As a result, the other people found out and told him to stay put and take care of his grandparents.

After gathering wood, they head back to the house and check the fishing lines to discover a giant fish on the other end. To save fuel, they eat it raw. Noticing Joaan refusing to eat for the third time, the boy wonders if the wolf has forgotten how to eat. He shows it how to eat and the wolf immediately mimics the boy's actions and says the word "here".

Later that night, It watches the boy draw pictures of the other villagers on the wall. The boy tells Joaan he is doing this so there is evidence that other people lived here and so he doesn't forget. He then tells Joaan that he is thinking of leaving because he wants to see the world and experience new things. The boy spends all of the next day preparing for the journey and, once he is finally done, they head south. After hours of walking, they come across a marker that tells them to continue heading south and they decide to rest for the night.

The two continue on their journey, finding more and more markers. After about five days, the boy finds a bush that he says proves they are getting closer to the mountains and, just as they are about to continue, the boy slips and falls into the water, injuring his left leg. They decide to stop for the day so the boy can tend to his injury. He tries to reassure himself that it is just a flesh wound and that he can keep going.

As the days pass, it is obvious the boy is losing strength, as he cannot continue walking for long periods of time, and his injury is starting to swell. He continues to try and convince himself that turning back now would be foolish and that surely they don't have much farther to go. Just as he says this, the boy spots a marker with a crossed out arrow, telling them that going forward will not lead to paradise. To the left the boy sees broken down wagons and multiple headstones. The boy, trying to remain optimistic, tells Joaan that everyone got this far, which means paradise can't be far away now. Breaking down into tears, the boy asks Joaan if they can make it to the mountains but, when the wolf doesn't respond, he becomes frustrated wondering why it doesn't answer him. He continues crying even harder, knowing that Joaan can't respond and that he's been talking to himself the whole time. He apologizes and decides that going home would be the best thing to do.

Once home, the boy cries himself to sleep and awakes the next morning with a fever. He makes Joaan food and checks on his wound, which is now infected. He tells himself that his wound is healing and that once it heals, they will try to find the mountains again. However, the boy's fever is even worse the next day and he has no strength to get out of bed. Later that night, he struggles to get to his chair, saying "If I'm sleeping when they all come back, that would be embarrassing, right?" He asks Joaan to never forget about him and quietly lays back in his chair.

After an unknown amount of time, the boy's body falls to the ground. The wolf tries to get the him to move, but is unsuccessful. It grabs a hold of the boy's coat and immediately begins taking on the form of the boy. It leaves in search of "an even stronger impetus" and will no doubt fulfill the boy's wish of exploring the world.

Spirit Bear Arc
After parting with The Nameless Boy, the Immortal journeyed south and crossed the mountain, fulfilling The Boy's wish to go beyond the mountain toward paradise. However, he quickly met the Spirit Bear and was mauled, leaving him dead and falling from the mountain to the forest below.

In the forest, the Immortal revived and met March, a little girl from Ninannah region who was meant to be a sacrifice to placate the Spirit Bear. Though at first terrified at witnessing The Immortal's gruesome revival process, March quickly taken a liking to The Immortal and followed him around.

March was disturbed from the Immortal's lack of humanity, though that feeling quickly turned to sympathy after seeing how The Immortal can't even eat properly and doesn't have a place to belong. She decided to become the Immortal's mother, naming him Fushi from the word Fujimi ''(不死身 lit. Undying Body/Immortal). '' A day after they met, the escorts led by Hayase finally caught up to March and took her. Fushi wandered the woods until he met Parona who asked if he had seen the little girl. Fushi then led her to the sacrificial site where March was tied to an altar, soon to be consumed by the Spirit Bear. After seeing March and Parona being attacked by the bear, Fushi turned into Wolf and fought the Spirit Bear, ultimately felling the monstrous beast. In the aftermath of the battle, March gave him a fruit and he responded with his first words, "Thank you"

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When Hayase took March and Parona, Fushi came with them to Yanome. During the journey he became closer to March to the point where he would only follow her and was taught about how to eat and bathroom manners. At this point his mentality was that of a dog, unshakably loyal to his mother figure and not knowing the ways of human. In Yanome, they ate many delicious food and ended up being poisoned with Western Morning Glory by Hayase. Fushi woke up in a cell with Hayase introducing him to people who are presumably the high-ranked officials of Yanome. Another man was let into the cell, saying that he will go free if he can kill Fushi. After Fushi attacked the man back though not to the point of death, Fushi learned his second phrase "It hurts.". When Pioran came in and tried to kill him as well, Fushi didn't resist and only said "It hurts" over and over. The moment the guard lowered their guards, Fushi tried to escape by turning into a wolf but stopped by Hayase's arrows. He was placed in the same cell as March.

From that cell, Fushi dug a hole beneath the wall to where the Spirit Bear was kept, while repeating "It hurts", presumably feeling the bear's pain. He didn't stop saying this phrase as he accompanied March healing the bear's wounds. When March comforted the dying bear and hugged it, Fushi abruptly stopped saying "It hurts" and instead looked at March and said "Thank you.".

When Parona carried out her escape plans with Pioran and March, Fushi went with them. However, Hayase quickly chased after the group, telling them she will let them go free if they leave Fushi behind. They refused and the altercation broke into a fight, ending in March being shot to protect Parona. Angered by this, Fushi leapt out and turned into Spirit Bear, wreaking havoc in the city and almost killing Hayase. He was stopped by Parona who cradled March's dead body, thanking him for fighting for March's sake. He turned back into human form and then stopped Parona from killing herself.

Turning back into Spirit Bear, Fushi took March's body and Parona to Ninannah.

Afterward, Parona told him to keep going because the Yanome would continue chasing after him. He complied and escaped through the forest. The Beholder commented that Fushi is not alone because March's spirit continued to accompany him through his journey.

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Interlude
After leaving Ninannah, Fushi continued to wander until he met Pioran. Having nowhere to go, Pioran followed him and after a while started teaching him how to read and write. Pioran claimed that she will teach Fushi how to become human if he followed her and started to teach him about many things until Fushi can pass as a human and hold a conversation though choppy and awkward.

While on a boat toward Pioran's ex-lover's house, Fushi proclaimed his wish to grow up and reminisced about The Nameless Boy, saying that he remembered The Boy's smell, sound and form but not his name. After landing and camping for the night in a forest, Fushi was attacked in his sleep by a Knocker. A man in black hood appeared and told Fushi how that Knocker has stolen something precious from him, being The Boy's smell, sound and form. Angered by this, Fushi fought the Knocker and managed to defeat it, reclaiming his memory of The Nameless Boy. The man in black hood introduced himself as The Beholder, Fushi's creator. He explained that the Knockers are beings created to hinder them from their goal of preserving the world. After telling Fushi about this, he disappeared, promprting Fushi to say he didn't really understand what happened but that it was weird.

The Nameless Boy
The Nameless Boy is the first human Fushi met. Because at the time Fushi assumed the form of The Boy's companion wolf, Joaan, he accepted Fushi without ever knowing the real Joaan is dead.

Fushi was The Nameless Boy's sole companion in the empty village. He would often talk to it and pretended that he's having a conversation, to the point where he thought Fushi speaking "Here" was nothing but a hallucination.

When Fushi first lived with The Boy, it didn't know how to become a living being, unable to even eat. The Boy cared for it, giving it shelter, sharing his food and allowing it to sleep in his bed. In turn, Fushi followed him like the most loyal of dogs, thinking that it never want to leave. Even when the boy decided to take a dangerous journey to look for the other villagers, it loyally followed him through a blizzard.

After the boy succumbed to his injury and starvation, Fushi took his form as a way to fulfill The Boy's last request to "never forget him". Fushi walked southward and died over and over to reach the paradise beyond the mountain, the place The Nameless Boy wanted to go to. Years after his death, Fushi kept trying to fulfill his wish to look at many new things and explore the world in his stead. The Nameless Boy stayed an important existence for Fushi, saying that though he never knew The Boy's name, he still remembered The Boy's look, sound and smell and was angered when a Knocker stole The Boy's memories from him.

When turning into a human, Fushi always defaulted to The Nameless Boy's form, saying this body felt like it belonged to him most.

March:
March is the second person the Immortal met and his mother figure. After leaving the Tundra and crossing

the mountain, he ended up in a forest where he met March who was running away from Hayase and her group. She was designated to become a human sacrifice for the enraged Spirit Bear.

At first, March was horrified at the Immortal's gory revival but that feeling turned into intrigue with childlike speed. She decided to follow him, feeling annoyed after the Immortal ignored her for the umpteenth time. After realizing the Immortal didn't even know how to eat, March began to sympathize and pity him because he had no one to teach him how to become a proper human. She designated herself as the Immortal's mother and named him Fushi. March is a precious existence for Fushi, being his mother figure who taught him the basics of becoming human like how to eat, how to go to the bathroom and comforted him when he was injured. March always dreamed of growing up and becoming a mother, and therefore far too happy to take the role of Fushi's mother figure. In turn, Fushi is loyal to her, faithfully following March and only March, and tried his damnedest to protect her from any danger. The two time he fought in the Spirit Bear arc was to guard March.

Hayase: Hayase is obsessed with Fushi to the point where she has attempted, and at times succeeded, in killing people close to him. Because of this, Fushi despises Hayase and even threatens to kill her when they meet again in Jananda. When she declares her love to Fushi, Fushi tells her that he wouldn't care if she died and leaves her on a boat in the middle of the ocean. Forty years later, Fushi is still being hassled by Hayase's descendants and reincarnations, proof of how strong her desire to "be one" with Fushi is. Fushi resents Hayase even after her death for killing March and Parona. He wants nothing do with her along with her descendants and reincarnations

Pioran: Pioran is an elderly woman who teaches Fushi a bit about how to write, speak, and live like a human being. Fushi cares for Pioran as if she were his family and goes so far as to enter a fighting tournament in order to rescue her. Fushi was devastated after her death, so much so that he isolated himself for forty years so he would never have to feel the pain of losing someone again.

Gugu: Gugu takes on the role of an older brother for Fushi, teaching him the emotional side of being human. He teaches Fushi what death is and helps him learn more about his power. For the next four years, the two grow up together, living as brothers while always being prepared for the next Knocker attack. When it came to fighting the Knockers, Fushi relied heavily on Gugu and always looked to him for guidance and direction on how to defeat it.

Tonari: Tonari is a young girl that Fushi meets in Jananda. In the beginning, Fushi couldn't stand Tonari and found her annoying and strange. However, as time went on, he started to see her as a friend and a person he could trust. When Tonari dies, Fushi tries his best to heed her wish of him having friends/companions who can understand him and to not isolate himself anymore.

Kahak: For many generation, Hayase's descendants has been protecting Fushi, creating a brigade for that very purpose and spreading words and faith about Fushi. Kahak was the only male who leads the brigade despite the position being traditionally female. His mother died without bearing a daughter and thus the responsibility fell to him. However, he, too, fell in love with Fushi just like everyone in his bloodline when he saw Fushi shifts into Panora's form. Later, he claimed that he would love Fushi even though he's a boy or a girl, old or young.

Abilities
As an immortal, Fushi will recover from any injury he receives, no matter how gruesome. His revival speed become faster with every death, from five day to six hours to minutes before he revives from death. Fushi can take the shape and abilities of of anything that gave him stimuli. The stronger the stimuli, whether physical or emotional, the better he can shift into said form. However, he can only shift into living being after said living being is dead. Also, he cannot shift into someone he has never seen alive. When he tried to mimic a corpse, he will simply become a corpse and nothing more.
 * Immortality
 * Shapeshifting

When taking a form, sometimes he will have injuries that the person had before their death if Fushi witnessed said death. March's form has a blood stain on the abdomen while The Nameless Boy's leg is bandaged and whenever he shifted into The Boy's body he would feel hungry, hinting at The Boy's cause of death being starvation.

When shifting into another living being, he can assume the ability of the body he borrowed. Other than these main bodies, Fushi can also assume the forms of sea fish, lobster, Rean, Beer Old Man, Pioran and Tonari's crew from Jananda. Fushi learns very quickly and is constantly observing the things around him. Fushi has the ability to sense pain in others even if he cannot see them. He was also capable of sensing Gugu and Rean's feelings of love. This allowed him to gain emotional stimulation from living beings around him and enabled him to shift into their form. When it comes to non-living thing, Fushi only need to receive the stimuli for them once before recreating the objects perfectly for unlimited amount of time. It's the reason why he would often rub food, books and other objects to his arm, though he prefer to buy things after he experienced them to take part in the economy. So far, he can create corpses of the people he's seen, the shell of a crab, various books, various weapons (including explosive arrows), unlimited money, a doll, and many kinds of food which seemed to be perfectly safe to be eaten by humans.
 * 1) Wolf: The first conscious form that Fushi took. In this form he is agile and and fast, capable of bringing down the Spirit Bear. On top of that he has sharp hearing and smelling senses.
 * 2) The Nameless Boy: Fushi has commented that this form felt like it belonged to him the most and thus he would default to The Nameless Boy when choosing a human body. In this form, Fushi is a young boy with white hair and light complexion, prompting Tonari to comment that he's  '真っ白 (all white/pure white)’ when first seeing him. The body has no remarkable advantage.
 * 3) Spirit Bear: When Fushi shift into this form he became a titanic bear with countless arrows stuck to its back. Each swipe of his paws are deadly and he is capable of wreaking havoc in a large town on his own.
 * 4) March: After his mother figure's death, Fushi can shift into the form of March, a little girl with black hair. In this form he is agile, though not as much as the wolf, and can climb trees easily. He can also use the form for acting--there are no one who could refuse to help a little girl who is bleeding from her abdomen.
 * 5) Gugu: After Gugu's death, Fushi can assume his form and gain the advantage of powerful muscle and fire-breathing capability. Losing him to a Nokker later in the series was commented on as being a heavy blow.
 * 6) Mole: Gained this form in the Prison Island in order to save Pioran. In this form he can dig through rocks and the small size made it perfect for stealth.
 * 7) Panora: Fushi turned into Panora in the middle of the Arena, alerting him of her death. Panora's body is light, flexible and soft, perfect for martial arts and archery. This form made Kahak fell head-over heels for Fushi, to Fushi's absolute horror.
 * 8) Tonari: Decades after their parting in Jananda, the two of them reunited and Tonari died soon afterward. In Tonari's form Fushi gained powerful poison-resistance, something Tonari acquired for Fushi's sake. This poison resistance can also work retroactively, dispelling poison that other bodies was afflicted with the moment he turned into Tonari.
 * 9) Sander: It's unknown when Sander died. In his form, Fushi is a capable healer thanks to Sander's occupation and knowledge as a doctor.
 * 10) Kai: With his sturdy body and armor, Fushi gained high defense when wearing Kai's body. On top of that, Kai can use an anti-Knocker weapon that can tear out a Knocker's core without aiming for it.
 * 11) Hylo: Combining Hylo's skill with crossbow and his own power, Fushi is capable of inhuman rapid fire by 'restarting' the crossbow after every shot. Hylo's lack of pain sensitivity is a double-edged sword as it allowed him to fight with abandon but blocked him from feeling other's pain.
 * 12) Messar:  Fushi commented that physically speaking Messar's body is not very outstanding. But Messar is in possession of a new-type weapon that resembled a gun. Using Fushi's own replication, the gun can shoot indefinitely.
 * Intelligence
 * Empathy
 * Replication

Later, after being caught by the Church under the accusation of heresy and imprisoned in an iron box and had molten iron poured in, Fushi gained the ability to replicate the heat of the molten iron and ultimately escaped from his prion after a few days. Using replication, Fushi can create a new body for the dead and allowing their Faie to return to the living realm. However, he cannot revive the people he has never seen alive as he cannot grasp how the person was before their death. From chapter 81 onward, Fushi can replicate several parts, and create his territory from all separated objects, and if Knockers come to attack in his territory, no matter how far, as long as still in his area, Fushi can easily create his weapons, something like swords, dead trees, to attack. As shown in chapter 85, first time he create his form and becomes able to share his consciousness, and it took about 5 seconds to transfer. As long as he connected to his territory, he can return to his main body.
 * Resurrection
 * Territory Domination
 * Transferring Consciousness

Trivia

 * As shown in chapter 24, Fushi can grow older despite being immortal. However, if he dies or changes form, he goes back to the original age of the person he took the appearance from.
 * Fushi is able to feel the thoughts and feelings of living things that are close to death. Because of this, Fushi would leave the cooking of crayfish and other sea animals to Gugu.
 * As of chapter 42, Fushi's dream for the future is to become strong enough to defeat the Nokkers.
 * Fushi has shown several times to be interested in cooking and sewing.
 * After turning into fishes and lobster for a few years, Fushi can no longer eat fish.