Zero was the leader and mentor to a group of ninja-assassins based in New York City. When not teaching or taking up assassination work, he ran a street-food sushi bar known as the Heike Sushi (平家) alongside his students. He was also a fan of John Wick.
John Wick: Chapter 3 - Parabellum[]
Zero first appearance with The Adjudicator at his sushi bar.
After John's unauthorized killing of Santino D'Antonio on the grounds of the New York Continental, The Adjudicator went to Zero's sushi bar and hired him and his students to carry out the High Table's will against John and anyone who helped him.
Zero and his students were first tasked with raiding Ruska Roma, which had aided John Wick's departure from the country to Casablanca. They swiftly dispatched the Director's guards and interrupted the ballet rehearsal. The Adjudicator arrives and demands that the Director to reaffirm her loyalty to the High Table and that her penance must be paid in blood. She tells the Director to hold out her "helping hands" and Zero stabs her hands with his sword.
Shortly after, Zero and his students attack The Soup Kitchen. They quickly overpower the defenders and eventually fight their a way to the rooftop where The Bowery King waited for them. The Bowery King pledges his fealty to the High Table, but the Adjudicator tells him he had his chance to step down. The Adjudicator then tells him that for the seven bullets he gave to John to aid him in killing Santino, the Bowery King will receive seven cuts, carried out by Zero with his sword.
After John returns from his meeting with The Elder, Zero's students confront the ex-hitman in Grand Central Station, killing off rival assassins before trying to kill him, but John fights them off and flees to the New York Continental on motorcycles. Zero pursues him there but before he could kill him he is stopped by Charon, who informs him that no business is to take place on Continental grounds, as John had placed his hand on the stairs leading to the front door.
One of Zero's ninjas uses a camouflage to kill a Bowery King henchman.
John then goes inside to meet with Winston and seat down on a couch while waiting for Charon to go and get him. Zero attempts to sit down next to John but the latter moves to a chair to get away from him. Zero then tells John Wick that he is a big fan of his "work" and that they are both the same as "masters of death", but John rebukes the latter part.
Later, after Winston refused to step down as manager of the Continental and John agreed to defend him, Zero was instructed by the Adjudicator to kill both of them, and informs him that mercenaries will be sent by the High Table to assist in the task. However, John manages to fight through Zero's men and two of his top students, the Shinobi, before facing off with Zero himself. After an intense duel between the two, John stabs Zero through the chest with sword. As the two lay exhausted, Zero complimented John on his skills and states it was an honor and it was a good fight, to which John agrees. As John gets up and walks away, Zero states that he'll catch up with him later, to which John deadpans that he wouldn't. Just as John is leaving, Zero slumped over and succumbs to his wound.
Personality[]
"We're the same, you know. Both given the same gift."
Despite all of the conflict, Zero sits next to John.
Despite his job as an enforcer, Zero does not seem to let it affect his personal life. He seems to take extraordinary enjoyment from fighting, and both he and some of his students are big fans of John Wick to the point that they let him recover between fights instead of hitting him when he's open; during their fight in The Continental, he quickly admitted to Wick that he's a huge fan of the latter's work and abilities. He seems to have a high degree of respect for Wick. Apart from being a master assassin, he has a soft spot for his pet cat.
Mark Dacascos described Zero as "a little psychotic."
Peak Human Condition: Zero was in excellent physical condition, being an expert assassin with years worth of training and experience. His strength, speed, agility and endurance were on par with that of John Wick, though admittedly John had already been worn down fighting Zero's students.
Zero hiding in the shadows
Stealth and Concealment Expert: Zero is very skilled in preventing unwanted attention while killing his targets. He was also an expert at infiltration. Same with his ninja students, they are experts in concealment depends in their environment such as dark places.
The lightning flashes making Zero and his ninjas visible.
Master Assassin: Zero was an extraordinarily-skilled assassin, as the Adjudicator themself holding him in high regard and believed that he could defeat even John Wick. He and his students killed several guards on the way to the Bowery King. Despite ultimately losing to Wick, Zero proved to be of equal skill to John, giving him a harder fight than any of his previous enemies, although it should be noted that Wick was already injured from fighting Zero's apprentices.
Master Martial Artist: Zero was a highly skilled martial artist and equally skilled as John Wick, being able to hold his own against the legendary assassin. His fighting style consisted of Wun Hop Kuen Do, Wushu, Muay Thai, Capoeira, Karate, Pencak Silat, and multiple disciplines of Ninjutsu, chiefly Kenjutsu.
Zero slashing one of The Bowery King's men with the assist of his students
Master Swordsman: Zero carries a wakizashi with him at all times and has demonstrated extraordinary skill with the weapon. He made use of quick and swift slashes to kill his opponents. Though skilled with a sword, he was still unable to defeat John even when armed.
Skilled Marksman: Zero is implied to have some skill with the usage of handguns, as shown when he was prepared to shoot John Wick. Before he could do so, he was stopped by Charon.
Skilled Chef: As Zero was a street-food sushi chef in his spare time, he is a talented chef. He is even capable of safely preparing highly poisonous blowfish for consumption.
Multilingualism: Zero spoke fluent English, Japanese and Indonesian.
Equipment[]
Weapons[]
Wakizashi: Zero wields a wakizashi short sword as his main weapon.
"Sir! Put your weapon down." "He's Excommunicado." "Unless you wish to become the same, I suggest you lower your gun."
Walther PPQ: Zero's sidearm is a pistol fitted with a compensator. He held John Wick at gunpoint outside the Continental Hotel, but he was prevented from shooting him by Charon.
Trivia[]
The fact that Zero is a street-food sushi-chef in his free time seems to be an allusion to the fact that actor Mark Dacascos is the presenter of Iron ChefAmerica in real life.
Although Zero is the secondary antagonist of the film, he became the final antagonist for John Wick to kill.
According to IMDb, Dacascos has spoken about the film and his character.
"A few people actually ran into the glass. As a fighter, a glass set is very spooky, because you can't hide anything technically. You have to be super sharp, but the challenge was fun, and the final look is really cool."
"As a martial artist, I totally appreciated the beautiful choreography and I loved that you actually got to see actors doing real moves with real finishes. Since Chad is himself such a talented, disciplined martial artist, he knows what goes into real combat. He also knows how to capture that spirit with the camera."
"He has a broken rhythm, where he'll be smooth then suddenly frantic. It's great when you can put so much character into the physical movement.''
Another fact about Zero and the ninjas is that they mastered the art of preparing fugu, the Japanese delicacy of raw blowfish which is only most experienced chefs can make. Years of intense training are required of them before they are allowed to serve this highly poisonous but umami-rich fish. A small mistake in the blowfish's preparation could potentially poison or kill the consumer. This shows how very skilled Zero and his students are. However, it is also possible that the blowfish they served isn't poisonous since blowfishes are only poisonous due to their diets.
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