Long before he was the leader of the Black Dragon crime syndicate, Kano was a little orphaned baby, abandoned by his American mother in the Kabukicho red light district of Tokyo. He was taken into foster care by a Japanese family, who named him 'Kano'. They did their best to raise him properly, in spite of his antisocial nature.

Being an orphan and a 'gaijin', Kano was labelled as trouble very quickly by his teachers and peers. Over time, they would have more legitimate reasons to view him as such, as he fell in with a group of delinquents at age thirteen. The gang would regularly disrupt or cut classes entirely, hang out outside convenience stores, and even mug or pickpocket easy targets. It was at age fifteen that Kano first came into contact with Old Trev.

At the time, Trev and his two associates were just like any other foreign mark: disorientated by all the 'gibberish' writing around them and too distracted in their attempts to find their way to notice some kid's sly pilfering of one of their wallets. The first time they passed each other, Trev didn't notice a thing, allowing Kano to get off with a nice ¥30,000.

By chance, it seemed, Kano spotted Trev again a few days later. Having already spent the previous take, he decided to go in for seconds, walking away with an even better ¥45,000 this time. More than enough to pay his senpai to buy him that dirty magazine he'd been eyeing for a week.

Unable to believe his good luck, Kano spotted Trev yet again a few days after that. This time, upon reaching into Trev's pocket to retrieve his wallet, Kano's fingers ran afoul of something unbearably sharp. Before he could stop himself, Kano let out a yelp and yanked his hand free.

"Well, well," Trev said with dark glee as he came to a stop and turned on the boy. "Look who couldn't help comin' back for more." He grabbed Kano by the wrist and dragged him into a nearby alleyway, followed by his three companions. He threw Kano to the ground and kicked his shoulder to keep him down. "The little mongrel thought 'e could sneak into the cookie jar a third time without his Mum noticing. Not very smart, kid. I'll give you credit for makin' a real mug outta me the first time, but you shoulda' known from the second take bein' bigger'n the first that I was sizin' you up. Comin' back for the third is just plain suicidal. Teach 'im a lesson, lads. I've got a meetin' ta get to."

One of the three men accompanying Trev kicked Kano hard in the stomach. He did the same a second time. As he reared up for the third, Kano subtly took his switchblade from his pocket and readied it. As the man went for the third kick, Kano just about managed to catch his ankle with he free hand and ground it before plunging the blade into the man's shin. His howl of agony caught Trev's attention, turning him back to watch the carnage unfold.

Kano kicked one of the other two men in the knee in his moment of shock. The kick was hard enough to knock him over as the first man also fell. The third man, having now recovered from the shock of the kid's vicious retaliation, drew his own blade. It looked to be a proper service knife, in which Kano could see his own reflection. He thrust the blade towards Kano, but the teen had fought knife-wielding opponents before. The blade he now carried was a 'souvenir' from one such encounter, in fact.

Kano turned his body to avoid the attack, continuing his rotation until he was facing away from his opponent, whose arm now stretched out before him. He grabbed his wrist to stop him from recoiling backwards, and then thrust his elbow back into the man's nose. As he went down, the man who'd been kicked in the knee was getting back up.

Kano lunged at him, pinning him down and headbutting him three times. By now, the first attacker was also trying to get back up, so Kano kicked him in the face to keep him down, and then proceeded to savagely kick him in the stomach repeatedly, as had been done to him. Kano stopped as his attention was caught by the clapping coming from deeper into the alleyway.

"Not bad, kid," said Trev with a wide grin. "Not bad at all. C'mon. Let's take a walk. I'm not gonna hurt you," he added when Kano hesitated to obey.

Kano eyed Trev up as he took his knife back out of the third man's arm, spotting a bulge just above Trev's right ankle. "That knife. Get rid of it."

Trev looked down, then reestablished eye contact with a wider grin. "You noticed that, eh? Well, you gonna drop yours?"

"No," Kano replied bluntly.

"Then, we both stay armed. Fair?"

Suspecting he had the upper hand with his weapon ready, compared to the ordeal Trev would have to go through to ready his own weapon, Kano nodded.

"Good lad. You boys make your own way back. I'm gonna talk ta the kid for a bit."

Trev led Kano to a nearby park. Although cautious around the man, Kano doubted he'd take him out of the dark alley where he could kill Kano out of view of potential witnesses and into a public, albeit deserted, park if he was really looking to shiv him. Trev sat down on a bench and invited Kano to join him. He did.

"Here. For the blood." Trev handed Kano a handkerchief to wipe the blood from his hands and blade. "So, Kid, what's your name?"

"Kano," he replied.

"Japanese, I assume?"

Kano nodded.

"But a little white boy like you ain't from 'round 'ere, eh?"

"No. They think I'm American, but there's no real way of knowing."

"Well, bein' a man without a country ain't so bad. Helps with stayin' under the radar a' the pigs, eh?" Trev playfully punched Kano in the arm. The punch hurt, intentionally or not. Kano rubbed his arm in annoyance. "Anyway, you've got somethin' I like to see in a man."

Kano said nothing, awaiting Trev's elaboration.

"A killer instinct. You made quick work a' me boys back there. Pair that with yer skill as a pickpocket an' I reckon you could make a helluva criminal. An' not just this petty theft shite. I mean proper criminal enterprises. Grand larceny, carjackin', gunrunnin', that sorta thing."

He gave Kano a moment to contemplate and respond, but the younger man said nothing in the moment.

"Course, I can't expect ya ta make such a life-changin' decision on the spot. By all means, take a-"

"I'm in," Kano interrupted with sudden determination.

Trev fixed him with a serious stare. "You sure? This isn't a summer internship. This is for life."

Kano shrugged. "Fuck it. What am I leaving behind here? I don't fit in with my foster family or my schoolmates. I was always gonna become a criminal anyway. Might as well get a headstart on that."

Trev smirked. "I like yer enthusiasm. Alright then. You got a surname?"

"Not anymore."

"Good lad. Well then, Kayno. From this point on, you are officially one of us. A Black Dragon."

"Actually, it's Kah-no."

"Listen, kid. I really don't give a fuck, to be honest. So, you can either get used to it, or piss off."

"I'll get used to it."

"Smart boy."

And with that, Kano found himself travelling down a road he could never turn off of. Luckily for him, he had no desire to do so. He was part of one of the underworld's most notorious criminal enterprises and well on his way to becoming a top-ranking member.


Once the group's business in Japan was concluded, Trev had them pack up and ship out to Australia, the country of origin of the gang's original founder, Bannak, who had left the rival Red Dragon to gain a position of leadership he knew would never come with the reds. The group remained based in the Outback for the next decade. As a result of both the geography and his company, Kano's accent shifted from a blend of American and Japanese to pure Aussie. In truth, Trev's accent could easily have been British or South African for all Kano knew. But by the time he was more familiar with the distinctions between the three, Australian had stuck as his natural accent.

Kano's duties early on consisted of odd tasks for Trev, but he was soon tasked with breaking in new initiates. Few of them didn't underestimate Kano due to his age and end up savagely beaten down. As Trev saw it, it served as a good lesson in not underestimating an opponent.

Trev had already been pushing forty when he'd first met Kano. He knew he wasn't getting any younger, so he made Kano his personal bodyguard as he approached the big five-oh. By now, at twenty-seven years of age, Kano had been with the Black Dragon almost as long as he'd not been. To commemorate his new position, Kano was gifted Trev's old butterfly knives. Kano had taken a liking to them the moment he'd seen them, but Trev had insisted such a tool was reserved only for one who truly appreciated the art of knife-wielding.

Around a year after this assignment, while operating in America, Trev had Kano join him in tracking down an expert in cybernetic augmentation. He hoped such technology might prove useful in light of the recent raids by the U.S. Special Forces. Dr. Richard Rotwang was a German cybernetics expert in hiding in the U.S. after being accused of treason by the German government.

"So, what exactly is it that you are after here?" the good doktor asked, his natural accent masked by a mostly convincing American one.

"Just somethin' ta even the playin' field against the mighty U.S. of A," Trev explained. Ya might've noticed, but I'm gettin' on in life and Colonel Blade 'n' 'is boys're right on our arses."

"Colonel Blade, you say? Colonel Herman Blade, perhaps?"

"That's the one," Kano confirmed.

"So, you boys are this 'Black Dragon' keeping Herman at bay?" Rotwang let out a cackling laugh.

"What's so funny about that?" Trev asked, annoyed.

"Rejoice, fellows! Your augmentation will be free of charge. So long as you keep Herman and his men off of my back, you Black Dragons are friends of Dr. Rotwang."

"Sounds good. So, when do we start?"

"If you'd like to come this way, I'll show you some of my designs to choose from." Traces of Rotwang's natural accent began to slip through in his excitement.

Kano and Trev were both impressed by the range of options available, from simple strength-enhancing gauntlets, to internal cybernetics to augment strength and durability, and even replacements for defective organs. Ultimately, Trev opted for a set of the slip-on augments, for now. While Dr. Rotwang was fitting Trev for his augments, Kano heard gunfire from outside the hideout. Knowing the SF had found them, Kano ordered the doktor to keep working while he left to assist outside.

By the time he entered the fray, most of the Black Dragon members that had accompanied him and Trev to the doktor's hideaway had already been killed or apprehended. It was quite clear that the battle could not be won without Rotwang's tech. Kano called for a retreat into the run-down building and had the doors and windows barricaded. Obviously, such simple obstructions would be bypassed quickly, so Kano had to act fast.

Rushing back into the doktor's work area, he asked how much of his tech was ready to go. He was pointed toward a few arm cannons that were mounted to modified rifles for testing, along with two other sets of power gloves. Kano began handing these upgrades out to the surviving men. Despite the doktor's words of disapproval, Kano and his men took up position to wait for the enemy to enter from any angle.

Part of the ceiling falling in wasn't what any of them had anticipated. It gave the enemy the advantage for much of the ensuing gunfight. Before long, the doors and most of the windows had been broken through and the realisation that the weapons the doktor had crated were non-lethal set in.

Before Kano could give in to despair, however, Trev emerged, decked out with his new gauntlets and ready to pummel some army men. Two soldiers had entered melee range before the Black Dragon leader had emerged, serving as the perfect test dummies. One punch each and they were crumpled on the floor on the opposite side of the room.

The confusion of this sudden shift in the balance of power distracted another soldier long enough for Trev to smash him through a wooden crate in the middle of the room. Another went to shoot Trev, who grabbed the barrel of his gun and had the gauntlets absorb the impact of the shots. He then crushed the man's head between his hands.

Distracted by the sheer power of these weapons, Trev was almost caught off-guard by an attacker with a knife from behind. Kano nailed the man in the leg with a thrown knife, alerting Trev to his presence. One strike to the chest and he was done. But then, something seemed to have gone wrong. Trev's hand began twitching erratically. He was clearly in pain from whatever was going on with the gauntlets. They seemed to be having some sort of malfunction. This distracted him and prevented him from noticing as Herman Blade entered the room with a rifle trained on Trev, who stood between Herman and Kano.

The bullet penetrated Trev's right eye and burst out the back of his head.


Kano awoke some time later on a gurney in some dingy basement or other. Doktor Rotwang was looking him over before he could say or do anything.

"Good to see you back with us, Mr. Kano."

"W-Where'm I?" Kano asked weakly.

"In another of my many hideouts. One does not remain on the run as long as I have without such preparations."

"What happened?"

"The battle was lost. Your men were scattered, though a few remained to help me extract you. Unfortunately, your friend Trevor was shot in the head. His death was quick, if it's any comfort."

"It's not."

"But, his last act was to save you, intentionally or not."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the bullet passing through his head slowed it down so that, by the time it entered your own eye socket, it lacked the momentum to carry it deep enough to kill you. It did, however, damage your right eye beyond repair."

Kano reached up instinctively to his damaged face, feeling bandages over the affected area. Strangely, it feel like something much harder than bone was just beneath the surface. Probably a plastic or metal cap to stop him from making it worse by touching it.

"Of course, repair and replacement are two very different things," the doktor noted with a delighting grin.

Kano's remaining eye widened at the implication. He bolted upright to search for a mirror, finding that his head seemed to swing farther forward than he was used to, as if there were more weight behind it.

"Careful now," the doktor warned. "You don't want to hurt your neck while you get used to the added weight."

Spotting a mirror on the wall to his right after turning his head much more than he was used to needing to, Kano hopped off the gurney, holding his head with one hand to steady it. Carefully approaching the mirror with his new lack of depth perception, he saw the bandages covering the entire upper right side of his face. Frantically tearing them off, what greeted him underneath shook him to his core.

Where he used to have a right eye, he now had a metal plate in the shape of an eye socket, only sticking out from the surrounding flesh a millimetre or so. The skin surrounding the metal looked seared and fused to it as if to hold it in place. Inside the socket was a robotic eyeball that Kano couldn't help but comparing to The Terminator.

"No doubt, this is quite a shock that will take some time to fully process. But, perhaps this will help with your coping." Rotwang pressed a button on a remote pointed at Kano's augment. A few seconds later, Kano could see as if his eye had never been damaged to begin with. "So? What do you think?"

Kano felt the augment and the surrounding skin, under which he could definitely feel a metal plate in his forehead. He pulled his head back and rammed it into the mirror, shattering it completely and cracking the tiled wall behind it. He cut his head open doing so, but barely felt a thing. He turned back to face the doktor through the crimson veil.

"I think Colonel Blade's gonna fuckin' die for what he did to Trev. An' it's not gonna be pleasant."

Rotwang smirked in satisfaction.

Kano quickly put together a list of potential recruits, some from Trev's own list, some contacts from previous jobs. They'd need to go on a recruiting spree to rebuild after how many losses they'd just taken. A pyromaniac he'd met a year prior was at the top of the list.

Rotwang disappeared not long after saving Kano's life. He had mentioned an upcoming contract a few times, so Kano concluded that he had simply departed for that job, rather than being captured by the SF. He left the locations of his other hideouts for Kano to make use of, with a note warning that some of them could be compromised by the SF.

Kano declared war on the Special Forces, continuing the struggle even after Colonel Blade was promoted and stopped taking part in field ops personally. He had a protégé taking his place, which just opened up a new avenue for Kano to get Blade back for that happened to Trev.

These avenues would continue to open as, four years later, he would first meet Herman's daughter, Sonya Blade, and their fates would be forever intertwined.


I wanted to amalgamate Kano's original nationality with the post-Trevor-Goddard version. As well as lay the groundwork for the next chapter.