Neferpitou

Neferpitou is a character from the HunterxHunter anime and manga.

Neferpitou, nicknamed Pitou, was a cat-humanoid Chimera Ant and the firstborn of the Chimera Ant King's three Royal Guards.

Appearance
Neferpitou had the appearance of a humanoid cat with wavy white hair. Their cat-like ears and tail were covered with yellow and white fur, respectively. They had ruby-red eyes, and their knees had demarcated joints like insect legs. Neferpitou's hands were slightly larger than an average human hand. Their clothes were a blue overcoat with six yellow buttons and cuff links, shorts and orange socks with thin black stripes, and a pair of blue shoes.

Personality
Neferpitou was very loyal to the King and would sacrifice themselves for him. Of the three Royal Guards, Pitou was the most curious and would get distracted easily and loved to play, and according to Shaiapouf, would get carried away when having fun. Pitou was a cat Chimera Ant, and like a cat, loved to play with their opponents like a cat would with their prey. Despite their cheerful and playful manner though, Pitou had a cruel and terrifying personality as well. Pitou also took their duty to protect the King seriously and was willing to sacrifice their chance to fight strong opponents to fulfill their duty.

Unlike Menthuthuyoupi and Shaiapouf, Neferpitou did not seem to mind Meruem's later newfound interests in Komugi. Thus, among the three Royal Guards, Neferpitou was the only one that greatly prioritized Komugi's safety as opposed to Menthuthuyoupi and Shaiapouf's hatred towards Komugi, something Neferpitou was aware of which created distrust in regards to the matter, for making their king deviate from the path they envisioned for him.

Pitou's loyalty and devotion to the King was so great, that during Komugi's operation to save her life from the injuries caused by Zeno's Dragon Dive, Pitou showed their vulnerability and fear since they had no means to defend themselves from Gon's wrath for what they had done to Kite. As a result, for the first time, Pitou surrendered to Gon and Killua. They asked them for mercy with no consideration of fighting them by putting their hands upward—a signal that predators use to surrender—to show a lack of malice in order to fulfill the King's order to save Komugi. Even after their death, Pitou's Nen still remained; their Terpsichora, even stronger than before, manipulated their corpse to attack Gon to protect the King.

Abilities
As one of the three members of the Royal Guard, Neferpitou is one of the most powerful Chimera Ants to live, and one of the strongest characters in the series. They fought and killed Kite, a powerful Pro Hunter, while suffering only minor injuries, and shortly after discovering Nen. Illumi referred to Neferpitou as Meruem's "top soldier". Despite intending to kill them, the King was only able to bruise Neferpitou with one of his tail strikes, which caused him to praise the Royal Guard. Shaiapouf, another Royal Guard member, was driven through a wall by the same attack, although the King's power had increased by that time. The Hunter Association's Chairman Netero, considered the world's strongest Hunter in his prime and by some the most powerful Hunter even in his old age, wondered if Neferpitou could be more powerful than him, as Colt, after witnessing both fighters' aura, later affirmed. Ikalgo was confident that even if he joined forces with Gon, Killua, and Palm, as well as, possibly, Knuckle and Meleoron, the Royal Guard would still come out on top.

Immense Vision: Pitou was able to spot Kite, Gon, and Killua, who were two kilometers away. They even caught sight of Netero, who completely turned off his aura in the storm of Zeno's transmuted "dragons", although this was also achieved through their highly developed instinct.

Immense Hearing: Neferpitou was able to hear a cell phone that was on low volume inside an echoing castle, while Gon, who has a similar ability, could not hear anything.

Immense Smell: Neferpitou was able to smell Pokkle while the latter was hiding in a massive pile of bones.

Immense Strength: Neferpitou can use their claws to rip off A Nen user's limbs and heads without effort and with only one arm. Their legs are so powerful that they can cover distances of more than half a kilometer with just one leap, as shown when they rushed to the King's side.

Immense Speed and Reflexes: Neferpitou was stated to be capable of decapitating Gon with a broken arm without him supposedly being able to fight back. By contracting their leg muscles, causing them to bulge, Neferpitou can increase their speed even more for a single leap. They reached Kite's party, who was very far away from them, in a split second. They were also able to leap to Meruem with extreme speed. Their reactions are also top-notch, as they could catch a glimpse of Netero's hands moving whilst he was preparing his 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva, meaning Neferpitou is able to perceive movement at speeds of at least Mach 1.

Immense Agility: Neferpitou can move very deftly and attack from any angle.

Immense Stamina: Neferpitou appears to have never slept since their birth since they never released their En until they treated Meruem.

Immense Durability: Neferpitou was only bruised by a powerful strike of Meruem's tail with the intention to kill. They also withstood a blow of Netero's 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva without being injured, and their tail remained intact after they activated Doctor Blythe to stop their movement. More remarkably, a grown, empowered Gon, whose Jajanken: Rock had enough power to fell several trees without direct contact, needed to use the ability several times before finally managing to crush their skull. After Gon used his final Jajanken to deliver the final blow, their body, although damaged, was not obliterated by the blast.

High Intelligence: Mere hours after their birth, Neferpitou had already acquired enough knowledge about the human brain to stimulate certain areas in order to receive specific responses, and they later proved capable of severing the neural connections between memories and emotional responses. Their surgical skills allowed them to create their first Nen ability, Doctor Blythe, which can operate on humans and Chimera Ants alike. They assembled a chemical laboratory in only a few days.

Immense Intuition: Neferpitou has also displayed extremely developed instincts. They correctly guessed Killua would head north from Luonton, and in the moments before the palace siege, Neferpitou looked up to see without any stimulation or reason to do so, seeing Netero and Zeno whilst the latter performed his Dragon Dive, with Neferpitou themselves not knowing why. They also successfully recognized Netero as being the most dangerous between the two men almost the instant the duo emerged from the clouds and into their perception and awareness range. Furthermore, they recognized Gon and his unwavering resolve as a threat despite the disparity in power, an ominous feeling that proved correct when Gon transformed.

Nen
Neferpitou is a Specialist. They were born with the innate ability to control their Aura Nodes, as well as with an unfathomable amount of aura and a learning speed far exceeding a human's, so they could use En hours after their birth and create Nen abilities on a whim. They were able to terrorize Rammot and Pokkle with their aura while being in a neutral state of mind and seemingly while using Ten. In fact, their aura appears tremendously ominous to Nen users even when Neferpitou is not giving off hostility, which can act as a powerful deterrent. Kite, Gon, and Killua were frightened by their malicious Ren during their first encounter, and the latter stated that Hisoka and Illumi, two extremely skilled and sinister Nen users in their own right, could not produce an aura comparable to Neferpitou's. Their aura is so abundant that they can keep their immense En and puppets active for days on end and not get tired in the very least.

Their En is singularly vast. It is irregularly shaped: Rather than a sphere, it takes the form of tendrils, a single one of which can be extended up to two kilometers in length. They can bend its shape at will. They also appear to be capable of utilizing In. Despite the process of creating a Nen ability being notoriously long and difficult, Neferpitou successfully performed a surgery with Doctor Blythe just by imagining how to bring Kite back to life in order to fight him again. Neferpitou has displayed proficiency in multiple Nen categories, other than their innate category of Specialization: at the very least, Emission and Manipulation.

Neferpitou's Nen Type: Specialization

 * Doctor Blythe - Doctor Blythe is a giant doll conjured by Neferpitou, used only to surgically treat injury. It is equipped with countless medical tools that can be used to provide first aid as well as perform major surgeries. A mortal wound to the stomach can be treated in less than one hour, a severed arm reattached and fully healed in two or three hours, and destroyed corpses can be reconstructed to be later manipulated. The ability can be used on humans and at least some Chimera Ants despite the anatomical differences. With practice, Neferpitou became able to shorten the time required for a complete surgery. Doctor Blythe cannot move from where it is summoned and, being connected to Neferpitou's tail, it limits their radius of movement to 20 meters for as long as it is in existence. Furthermore, the Royal Guard cannot use other Nen abilities or En while Doctor Blythe is active, and their own body is shrouded only in a very small amount of aura, making them more vulnerable to damage.
 * Puppeteering - Neferpitou can attach a clownesque puppeteer to a target to exercise complete control over them. They can not only move it but also make it speak and even have it use Nen regardless of whether the owner of the body was a Nen user. If the corpse is indeed that of a Nen user, Neferpitou can have it use its Nen abilities. The orders of each puppet are set by Neferpitou beforehand, so it is able to move automatically, but the Royal Guard can still reposition it as they please. The number of bodies Neferpitou can control at the same time is unknown, though it is known to be higher than 50. However, their puppets are of lower quality than Morel's. Neferpitou can sense when one of their puppets has been disabled, which, combined with their En, allows them to monitor vast areas. The conditions for Neferpitou to attach the puppeteer are unknown. The first two times they used this ability, it was on corpses on which they had operated with Doctor Blythe. The senior officers Neferpitou controlled with their puppeteers collapsed when they were dispelled, possibly suggesting they can indeed be applied only to deceased individuals. Dispelling the puppeteers allows Neferpitou to recover the aura inside them. Since the soldiers controlled with this ability were often seen either making impressive jumps or hovering in the air, it is possible the puppeteer grants them this capacity, though it may also be simply due to the puppeteer dragging the controlled soldiers along as literal puppets on a string as it floats about. The puppeteers are invisible to non-users and Nen users in a state of Zetsu. The one controlling Kite was invisible even to Nen users before manipulating him into using Nen. It is unclear if this was because of In or that is simply a condition of the ability. In the latter case, this might mean that the puppeteer is conjured and that Neferpitou decreased risk and increased aura consumption to hide it from sight in certain circumstances.
 * Terpsichora - Terpsichora takes the form of a monstrous ballerina with strings connecting its fingertips to Neferpitou's body like a marionette. It is a combat-oriented ability that takes only 0.1 seconds to be used offensively after being manifested. Due to Neferpitou commanding it to "dance past [its] limits" and the noticeable effect of swelling the muscles in its user's hands and legs, the latter much like when they are preparing to jump, it seems this ability can increase their physical attributes.[48] Even after Neferpitou's head was crushed, the ability remained active out of their loyalty to the King, becoming stronger after death and enabling them to sever Gon's arm. Overall, its effects seem to suggest that it might make use of Enhancement and Manipulation, with the ballerina being conjured or emitted, if it is not a Specialization ability.

Trivia

 * The extra book cover of the "Hunter × Hunter - Sôshû-hen - Treasure" Volume 8 shows the character's name as "Neferpitou" (identical to the version in the Viz translation). Japanese Hunter × Hunter goods feature, instead, the alternative name "Nephelpito".
 * Neferpitou's name, like all of the Royal Guards, probably comes from an Egyptian god, Nefertem, and a character named Pitou from a French children's book series called Caroline et ses Amis; like Neferpitou both related to felines, the latter is a panther and the former is eventually seen depicted with the head of a lion or as a lion or cat reclining.
 * In Neferpitou's Water Divination aura screening the leaf withered away.
 * Neferpitou was the only Royal Guard that was not killed by the Miniature Rose, the only one who was killed in battle, and also the only one that died without knowing Meruem's name.
 * Neferpitou was the second Chimera Ant that Gon had actually killed under his own free will (the first being Baro).


 * Neferpitou ranked sixth in the third character popularity poll conducted by Weekly Shōnen Jump, dually ranking them the most popular Chimera Ant within the poll.