Taiju Shiba

Taiju Shiba is the former 10th leader of the Black Dragon.

Appearance
Taiju is a very tall and strong man, towering over others. He is the second tallest character shown thus far. His hair is blue and was kept long and tied up. He wears a custom Black Dragon uniform, where the uniform jacket is longer and red instead. He keeps his uniform jacket open, showing his chest. He has tribal tattoos styled in a series of swirls on the left side of his neck down to his chest and cursive tattoos below that. There is a giant cross tattoo on his back. He sports a crazed grin and exhibits all sorts of unusual expressions-one eye opening wider than the other and his forehead vein popping out-when fighting or when excited.

Personality
Taiju is brutal and abusive. He enjoys tormenting his opponents and has little care for others' wellbeing, even his own siblings'. He doesn't care who his opponent is, even if he is facing a girl. He trained the 10th generation Black Dragon gang, completely reforming it. Taiju was very abusive towards his siblings, going so far as to beat them over insignificant things.

He is a prideful individual, believing in the supremacy of his fighting abilities and in the strength of his gang. In addition, he is incredibly charismatic, completely capturing the hearts of his followers.

Despite his appearance and abusive personality, Taiju is a very religious Christian. He goes to church alone to pray on Christmas annually.

Taiju actually loves his two siblings very much, but his over-protectiveness became warped into domestic abuse.

Authority
During the time he was the Black Dragon' leader, he had absolute control over the powerful gang, directing and ordering them as he pleased.

Leadership Skills
Under Taiju, Black Dragon became incredibly formidable and united, with others observing how it was almost like an army. Taiju, along with his impressive strength, is also very charismatic. His followers do not merely obey him out of fear; they do so out of respect for him as well.

Physical Strength
Taiju's strength is one of the greatest in the series. His punch has knocked foes unconscious or several feet back. He has lifted a pew with one arm and thrown it with ease. In fact, Takemichi remarked that he has never been hit by a punch even close to as strong as Taiju's.

Fighting Prowess
Taiju is an incredibly powerful fighter. His blows are destructive and his endurance is extraordinary. Taiju easily defeated elites of Toman, who were very competent fighters in their own right. He was the only person in the series to knock out Mikey with a single punch, even if Mikey took that blow on purpose. He shrugged off a knife stab wound and went on to face several opponents. In addition, he also woke up quickly after being hit at full force by Mikey's signature kick. Because he was unrivaled due to his overwhelming raw strength, however, Taiju evidently never took the time to hone fighting techniques, so he fights in a rough and violent way, having been able to use brute force to get his way all his life. This, along with his overconfidence in his strength, were the major reasons for his loss to Mikey.

Intelligence
Not only was Taiju intelligent enough to utilize his assets, such as having Koko raise funding for his gang, he himself is financially competent. In the present, he opens a high end restaurant and is highly successful.

Etymology

 * The name Taiju means "big, great" (大) (tai) and "longevity, congratulations, one's natural life" (寿) (ju).
 * Taiju's surname Shiba means "brush, firewood" (柴).