Approximately 15 years old when the series begins, Bat is a wandering thief and orphan. He originally resided in a small village run by Toyo, but when the food supply began to run out he left so that the younger orphans could have his share. While wandering he is captured and imprisoned at Lin's village, which is where he meets Kenshiro. Impressed by the strength of Kenshiro, he tags along with him (somewhat by force), believing that this way he will no longer have any trouble finding food. At first, he is depicted as a selfish nuisance, but after a while Bat is shown to be a virtuous person, as evident by his reasons for leaving his home village. Bat is rather cowardly and careless and will often jump to the wrong conclusions, but this masks his kind nature and he is usually willing to help out in a situation when he can. Bat is very good at fixing machines and can also drive, an example being a dune buggy used as transportation throughout the first part of the manga. He looks up to Kenshiro like an older brother, and likewise Kenshiro begins to see him as a younger brother.