"Takehaya" is the leader of a group of pirates that took six crew members of the Nathan James captive. He is named after the Japanese God of Sea and Storms. His real name is Kaito as revealed in "Legacy."
Biography[]
Before the Red Flu outbreak, Takehaya served as a captain in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force. Takehaya managed to survive the pandemic long enough for the Americans to develop a cure to the virus and awaited its arrival. When it finally arrived, Takehaya worked with his crew to help spread the cure to everyone in Japan. Unfortunately, the cure didn't work and the Japanese started dying from the Red Flu and Takehaya blamed himself. At one point Takehaya himself was infected was later shot and got a transfusion from someone who was cured and the symptoms subsided for a while but they kept coming back. Takehaya assembled a crew of Japanese pirates and stealing from other ships becoming infamous. Takehaya eventually set his sights on exacting revenge on the people he thinks led to their near extermination because they supposedly gave them a fake cure: the American government.
Events of The Last Ship[]
After his men successfully capture six U.S. Navy sailors from the Nathan James, Toshiro brings Capt. Mike Slattery to a cabin filled with medical equipment. Takehaya tells Slattery he knows who he is and proceeds to have his men forcibly strap him to a table where they pump blood from his body without killing him. One of the pirates then transfuses Slattery's blood to Takehaya while Takehaya. Takehaya has all of the prisoners except Master Chief Russ Jeter partake in a feast while they drain Jeter's blood. Takehaya insists that Slattery eat with him and tells him about his life before the Red Flu pandemic and laughs when Slattery says that he kidnaped innocent sailors. After the feast, two sailors try to escape and Takehaya has the prisoners lined up and broadcasts a message to America where he streams the prisoners' faces and them reciting their serial numbers. (“Shanzhai”)
After they are done, Takehaya steps in front of the camera where he demands US President Jeffrey Michener withdraw two US Naval Destroyers from Japanese seas or he will execute more of the prisoners. Takehaya then has Eric Miller and Ray Diaz tortured for the public to watch in America until he orders Toshiro to stop to save their blood. Takehaya has Slattery pumped for blood again and when asked about why they don't use the cure, Takehaya reveals the cure didn't work on them. Takehaya explains how he discovered blood transfusions delay the Red Flu's effects while he gets another transfusion. Takehaya reveals he blames America for their near extermination and doesn't believe Slattery when he says their doctors can help. The next day, Takehaya barges into the prisoners' cabin where he reveals he discovered they used fake serial numbers when addressing the public after rewatching the footage and smugly states that their rescue operation will end with the death of his friends. (“Devil May Care”)
Toshiro reports that the Nathan James is trapped in their minefield and Takehaya tells him to monitor them. When Slaterry asks if they are done pirating for the day, Takehaya smugly states they are going to be hunting their ship. Back at the prisoners' cabin, Takehaya orders Slattery to accompany him with Doc Rios and brings them to his sick pregnant wife Kyoko. Takehaya explains that she has been recieving transfusions for the Red Flu but it is not working and Rios explains that she has Malaria in addition to the Red Flu and that is causing her symptoms. Rios explains they need antibiotics to treat this and Takehaya has them brought to the cabin. While Takehaya is sitting with Kyoko, Toshiro walks in and tells him the Nathan James is clearing the minefield he orders Toshiro not to take any chances and to blow the ship up with a torpedo they have in storage. The plan however fails as they detonate the torpedo before it reaches the ship. Kyoko tells Takehaya they can't raise their child on this island and Takehaya reassures her that he has a plan for the future of their child. (“Minefield”)
Toshiro advises drawing the Nathan James in for a fight, but Takehaya refuses, saying they leave at dawn. When Toshiro says there is no honor in running, Takehaya asks to be left alone with Toshiro and tells him there is no honor in putting Kyoko in danger. When Toshiro states he isn't fighting for his wife, Takehaya grabs Toshiro and states he needs their blood just as badly and if they die everyone dies before letting him go. Takehaya then states they fight on his terms by getting Kyoko and the baby to safety with the others and wait for the right time to sink that ship. Takehaya later notices their own female captive, Andrea Garnett, is missing and has the camp searched until she is found. When Takehaya finds Garnett standing by Kyoko, she claims to be helping Kyoko carry some boxes and Kyoko backs her up. Takehaya sends her back with the other prisoners and tells Kyoko that she shouldn't be out of bed.
The next day Takehaya finds some wires jammed into a radio tower and concludes Garnett must've inserted them last night to signal the Nathan James. Takehaya gathers his group of pirates to prepare for battle by using the underground tunnels to hide and launch surprise attacks. Takehaya personally leads a group holding Slattery, Garnett, Jeter, and Diaz hostage through the jungle to the docks. Slattery says Jeter needs rest after taking his blood and Takehaya refutes that signaling the Nathan James caused this and will be the case if he dies. They wait there while the rest of the pirates attack the VSSB teams sent to rescue them. Takehaya states that their victory is almost here and that Slattery's friends will die and he will be his blood banks for as long as they live.
A wounded pirate reports the Americans discovered their tunnel network and Takehaya orders a retreat. While trying to leave Diaz cuts his bindings and escapes while the others keep the guards busy, with Jeter killing one. Takehaya tries to state they need their blood to prevent them from killing Jeter, but the others insist Jeter pay and Takehaya reluctantly agrees before they are attacked by the Americans. All of Takehaya's men are killed in the gunfight while Takehaya himself flees. Takehaya is later ambushed by two Chinese MSS agents and is shot in the arm before he takes cover and shoots them. After the Chinese MSS are all killed, Takehaya takes Miller hostage and demands the Nathan James leaves. Kyoko tells Takehaya to stop, to ensure the safety of their child and gets him to lower and drop his gun, surrendering to the crew of the Nathan James. (“Dog Day”)
Takehaya is treated for his gunshot wound by Rios and is handcuffed to a bed before Chandler arrives to uncuff him and ask how he found them. Takehaya asks Chandler what else he could want now that it is over and once again claims his country poisoned and killed his people with a fake cure. When Chandler proceeds to leave and tell him he will be charged and prosecuted, Takehaya states he will be dead by then. Chandler comes back and tells him they both have the cure in their system, but for some reason it doesn't work on Takehaya or Kyoko but will figure out why while Slattery hands him some blood to inject into his bloodstream so he can stay alive.
As Takehaya gets the blood transfusion as Chandler and Slattery try to convince him they are not the enemy as they ask for details on what happened when they first got the cure. Takehaya tells them what happened and how guilty he felt after he helped spread it and it didn't work. When Chandler asks about Peng, Takehaya says he doesn't work for Peng and it was just luck that Chandler was attacked at the same time as his men. Slattery takes Takehaya to see Kyoko when she starts going into labor and Chandler asks Takehaya to trust him and requests they give the baby the cure as he is delivered. Looking at his newborn son, Takehaya begs Chandler to give his son the cure and he signals his men to do so. After he is born, Kaito is taken over to Takehaya who holds him as Chandler, Slattery, and Sasha look on.
Takehaya later comes to see Chandler under armed escort and assumes they are in the Jinhshan Pass, Peng's ships have them surrounded and plans to fight all of them at once, offering a better plan if they hurry. Chandler and Slattery take him to the bridge where Takehaya charts a course for them to follow just as four Chinese destroyers close in on them. Takehaya orders them to immediately stop and they discover they are in front of a minefield. Takehaya states he can steer through the minefield since he set the traps and Slattery surrenders the helm to him. Takehaya successfully navigates through the minefield and immediately surrenders the helm back as one Chinese destroyer hits a mine while the other three break off pursuit. The next day, Chandler tells Takehaya the cure worked on his son and Takehaya thanks them for what they did and doesn't know how to make things right. As a start, Takehaya revealed he got the Nathan James' location from a smuggler named Wu Ming in exchange for not pirating certain ships with a black dot on them. (“In the Dark”)
After Shanzhai is bombed in an effort to kill Ming, Takehaya suggests looking for his family based a Chinese proverb Ming said to him when asked why he never pirated ships himself. Takehaya states he would have left them information about his operations so they could continue the business if he was dead. After finding missiles Ming was smuggling for Peng, they discover it is loaded with a green mist designed to render the cure to the Red Flu ineffective. Takehaya realizes that by the time he and his people got the cure it was already too late as he had already spread his anti-cure all across Japan and leaves to be with his wife and son. While Kaito is safe, both Takehaya and Kyoko are doomed to inevitably die of the Red Flu due to the anti-cure's effects. (“Sea Change”)
Slattery comes to see Takehaya while he is getting a blood transfusion in the infirmary and asks how he and his wife are doing. Takehaya tells him that while his son is strong he and Kyoko are getting weaker as the transfusions start becoming less effective. Takehaya then tells Slattery that Peng can't be allowed to carry out what he did to Japan on anywhere else and asks to help the Nathan James stop them through his contacts and knowledge of the surrounding seas. Slattery doesn't give him an answer, only telling him to get some rest. After determining that Peng is planning on using the anti-cure missiles on Korea next, Takehaya predicts Peng will have his destroyer with it travel through the Formosa Strait because it will be harder to detect with radar there. (“Paradise”)
Slattery visits Takehaya in the infirmary again to ask for his help when the Sea Dragon, the Chinese destroyer carrying the anti-cure is ransacked by pirates. Slattery wants Takehaya to reach out to them asking to give them a decoder that could help find Peng and Takehaya agrees to make calls to his pirate friends for help. Takehaya reaches out to Shirahama Ekei and greets him on the deck of the Nathan James as Chandler negotiates with him. When Ekei tries to double the price of the decoder, Takehaya tells Ekei that Chandler's people killed Lau Hu, the man who killed Ekei's brother, to get him to honor the original deal. Takehaya is arrested alonside Ekei and his crew when Meylan and the former crew of the Haywood take command of the Nathan James on orders supposedly from President Howard Oliver. When the Nathan James crew forcibly take control of their ship back, Takehaya is released. (“Scuttle”)
Takehaya runs a briefing held by the US Navy and his pirate crew making a plan to attack Peng and his men. Takehaya tells them he suspects Peng is heading to the Japanese National Archives based in Tokyo to erase Japan's history and culture and won't encounter any resistance as the entire town was killed by the Red Flu thanks to Peng's anti-cure. Takehaya later listens to a briefing held by the US Navy in CIC as the form a form to attack Peng's ground forces and two Chinese Destroyers. Takehaya personally leads his pirate crew alongside Chandler to confront Peng personally. When Takehaya sees the bonfire of some of Japan artifacts and documents, Takehaya falls to his knees in despair and cries over his heritage being destroyed.
Chandler tells them to keep moving as Takehaya's sorrow is quickly replaced by rage to kill Peng and confronts him at the bonfire at gunpoint. Peng taunts Takehaya over having him poisoned and Takehaya tries to shoot him but is instead shot himself and Peng walks over slowly to finish him off. Takehaya manages to grab a samurai sword to knock Peng's gun away and stabs him fatally in the chest, ultimately causing his death. Chandler tells Takehaya that the last of the anti-cure missiles have been found and Takehaya responds all of Asia to now safe. Takehaya tells Chandler he is remaining in Japan, his home, and shakes Chandler's hand before he walks away to die with his wife and have what's left of their people take care of his son Kaito. (“Legacy”)
Legacy[]
His actions left many dead, including the Vietnamese and nine members of the Nathan James crew. Those killed at the party in Hai Phong, Vietnam include eight members of the Vietnamese security team, one Vietnamese civilian, Tran Ha Binh, and five members of the Nathan James's crew. PO1 G. Lincoln, Riley, Harris, and DaCunha were killed by Takehaya's pirates at the party by either shooting them or firing an RPG at the helicopter the Nathan James was using at the time. Lt (jg). Will Mason died of a gunshot he received in the altercation at the party after he was abducted with other crew members and the pirates pump him dry of his blood. Another Nathan James crew member named Kudelski was killed by one of the mines Takehaya's men set. Three more members, Wallace, Butler and PO1 Javier Cruz were all shot in the neck and died during the attack on Takehaya's compound. His actions left many Americans, most notably the crew of the Nathan James and their families emotionally scarred through the videos they sent to the American government.
He partially redeemed himself by realizing that Peng Wu was the one truly responsible for his people's extermination and helped the Nathan James crew take him down. To this end he personally killed two Chinese MSS agents, helped the Nathan James escape Peng's Chinese Destroyers, even blowing one up with his mines and personally killed Peng with his pirate friends and the crew of the Nathan James backing him, saving millions of people from extermination as a result. Having been manipulated into his actions, Takehaya was deeply remorseful for the harm that he had caused, unlike many others and parted ways as an ally and friend with the Nathan James crew.
Trivia[]
- Takehaya, who is referred to as the mythological Japanese Shinto god of Sea and Storms, actually has a longer name. The full name of the god is Takehaya Susano no Mikoto, but chances are Takehaya's men just call him "Takehaya" for simplicity.
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