Octavio Luna Kan
Octavio Luna Kan (オクタビオ・ルナ・カン, Okutabio Runa Kan) is one of the main protagonists of the light novel rey infinito.
He is a strong indigenous orphan from Antigua who leads a massive network of informants on the streets, and joins the Speedwagon Foundation as an investigator after proving his usefulness. Together with Joaquín Ruiz-Jorruda, the two become known as a legendary duo surpassing even J.D. Hernández and Lisa Lisa, known as the Huérfanos de la Tormenta (
Appearance
Octavio Luna Kan is a tall and muscular teenager with a husky voice.[4] He has tanned skin and his height exceeds 185cm, making him unusually tall for a Mayan. His height and features make him resemble a Uruguayan football player instead. Octavio's chin and cheekbones are stated to be sculpted with machine-like precision and he has a well-toned chest. His eyebrows convey the disposition of a bold and brave king.[1] Octavio's eyes are dark and similar to the eyes of a herbivorous forest animal,[4] though they're also hawk-like when he glares.[1]
After joining the Speedwagon Foundation, he wears a black suit.[1]
Personality
Octavio is a confident and courageous boy with an insatiable ambition for fulfilling his dreams. He and Joaquín dreamed of leaving the constant bloodshed in Antigua and having the opportunity and freedom to adventure outside the borders of the country.[3] However, he still loves his hometown[4] and is proud of his heritage.[1] He quickly agrees to J.D. Hernández's proposal of assisting the Speedwagon Foundation with tracking down Fabio Ubuh, later thinking that Fabio is an embarrassment to his people after learning that he is also K'iche'. Octavio is loyal to his K'iche' faith and claims that he's close to the gods.[3]
Octavio believes that if he tries hard enough, he could change everything.[1] He is persistent in achieving his goals, begging Lisa Lisa to recruit him and Joaquín as members of the Foundation.[3] Although she denies at first, she understands their worth and gives them a challenge. Octavio and Joaquín eventually surprise her as they quickly succeed in their tasks by making use of all their skills.[1]
Octavio is a nice man who would throw himself in front of a car to save a puppy. He has a "cool way" of smoking, he is excellent at telling jokes, and he is popular with girls. Octavio is also good at acting, managing to obtain information by crafting elaborate stories to appeal to people's emotions. If he had a more fortunate childhood, he could have starred as a younger Clint Eastwood in Hollywood.[1] His bravado isn't undeserved, as Octavio is respected as being #1 on the streets and has followers that listen to his commands.[1][4] He's protective of his allies even if it causes harm to himself, as he carries J.D. on his back while hopping on his single injured foot in an attempt to escape from Hopscotch's power.[1]
Despite all his merits, Octavio throws caution to the wind, acting both impulsively and fearlessly. Lisa Lisa states that he and Joaquín are like the binary system given human form; Octavio rushes toward any possibility like the number 1, whereas Joaquín is a bottomless receptacle of knowledge like the number 0. Ever since he was a child, Octavio hasn't paid attention to lectures and relies on Joaquín to listen for him.[1] Octavio rebels against J.D.'s orders and devises a plan to ambush Fabio, regardless of the man being a serial murderer with an unknown power. Although he succeeds in capturing the killer, he is injured by a bombardment of flies and forced to let go of Fabio.[4] He has a troublesome nature and is obsessed with being in the spotlight. He'd get angry if one of his friends gets too clever or threatens to steal his thunder. He tends to call people petty insults, and his pride results in him getting into fights.[1] He is also demanding and impolite, ordering the Speedwagon Foundation investigators to let him speak with their boss after they treated his wounds, and then being rude to Lisa Lisa by calling her an abuela (grandmother). However, his disrespectful attitude to Lisa Lisa was to hide that he was flustered and embarrassed with himself for thinking about how beautiful she was despite her age.[3] He hates lying and claims that he has done violent things to avoid having to lie. He also hates the countryside, thinking that it is depressive. After learning about the Arrows, Octavio feels as if a new pathway has opened up for him and is desperate to obtain the Arrow so he could gain incredible power.[1]
Abilities
Octavio is strong with a high endurance and pain tolerance. His willpower allows him to recover quickly from his injuries.[3] He shrugs off his injured legs during the Hopscotch battle and hops with powerful force all the way to a water tank in the corner of the plaza he was in to find the Stand User.[1] He's also a clever tactician; after ensuring that Joaquín followed J.D. into the underground passage to help him, he stages an ambush at the other end of the tunnel so that Fabio would have nowhere to escape.[4]
Networking
As the leader of a massive back-alley network of local orphans, homeless people, and peddlers on the street, Octavio has several informants who could gather any information he needs in his city.[4] Octavio and Joaquín tease information out of people, shut down any lines of questioning, and form a three-dimensional image of the town's rumors by bringing together the scraps of information like pieces in a jigsaw puzzle. His network also helps him investigate neighboring villages.[1]
Morality Viewing
According to Octavio, both he and Joaquín are capable of perceiving the light and darkness within people, allowing them to know whether one is righteous like an angel or evil like a demon. He claims that they're usually correct and that it must be gifts they received for being orphans who are very close to the gods.[3] This ability helps them succeed with gathering information and completing their first mission for Lisa Lisa.[1]
History
Background
Octavio was raised in a missionary-run orphanage alongside Joaquín, but the two were thrown out after refusing to join a seminary. Octavio ended up making a name for himself in the streets, becoming the leader of a back-alley network of other orphans, homeless people, and peddlers.
J.D. Hernández, an investigator from the Speedwagon Foundation, hired Octavio and Joaquín as informants to help him catch the Monstruo of Antigua.[4]
rey infinito
Guatemala Arc
Battling the Monstruo of Antigua
Semana Santa begins on Friday, April 20, 1973. At night, J.D. passes by the ruins of the Convento Santa Clara and meets up with Octavio and Joaquín. Octavio informs him that the killer is on the move, and Joaquín grunts and gestures with his arms and body to communicate. Joaquín has a speech impediment and could not speak, but J.D. is still able to understand what he is trying to say through his expressions. J.D. learns that the killer attacked the sacristan at the La Merced church. Before leaving, J.D. tells Octavio and Joaquín not to engage with the killer if they find him, although Octavio retorts that he could be really useful in a fight.
Knowing the path that the killer would take, Octavio stages an ambush at the other end of a tunnel and has Joaquín follow J.D. inside to bring him back to safety. Joaquín and J.D. manage to escape from the tunnel and emerge in the plaza in front of a cathedral thanks to Joaquín's navigational skills. The plaza is filled with spectators due to the climax of the parade. Octavio then calls out that he caught the killer. Octavio pins the man down while J.D., other Foundation workers, soldiers, an old homeless lady, and merchant children rush over to the scene. Before J.D. could yell at the locals to leave, a massive swarm of flies covers the entire sky. The killer flicks his wrist, sending the flies raining down like artillery toward Octavio. Octavio is shot in the shoulder and back, but manages to crawl away and take cover, letting the man go. Lisa Lisa takes off her disguise as the old homeless lady and defeats the killer with her Ripple.
Joining the Speedwagon Foundation
J.D. has Octavio and Joaquín treated by the doctors in the Speedwagon Foundation as they offer far better resources, quality of care, and surgeries than any normal hospital. Octavio recovers remarkably quickly after several days, mostly due to his willpower. He demands to speak with their boss afterwards and Lisa Lisa agrees to see him.
Octavio is angry about Fabio tarnishing the reputation of his people, claiming that he could have been the savior of the city rather than Lisa Lisa if the man didn't summon those flies. Octavio slowly introduces himself after Lisa Lisa asks for his name, offended that she doesn't know it already. He disrespects Lisa Lisa by calling her an abuela (grandmother), before deciding that he'll just call her Lisa Lisa like the others. Octavio asks how Lisa Lisa pulled off those techniques at her age but J.D. admonishes him, claiming that they made a deal that the boys wouldn't get involved any further after the killer is captured.
Lisa Lisa asks Octavio and Joaquín if they want money to keep quiet or if they would rather learn her tricks. Octavio reveals the duo's ambitions of wanting to leave the war-torn city so they can experience an adventure beyond the borders. He begs Lisa Lisa to recruit them as investigators for the Foundation but she isn't swayed by their story, and refuses to bend the rules the Speedwagon Foundation has about not involving itself with humanitarian aid or recruiting local hires. Octavio and Joaquín persist but J.D. rejects them in Lisa Lisa's stead. Octavio then reveals that both he and Joaquín possess a special power that allows them to perceive the morality of people, which they believe they acquired from being close to their gods. Although Lisa Lisa questions whether he's speaking the truth, she picks up on their worth and resolve, and presents them with a challenge if they want to join.[3]
Their first task from Lisa Lisa is to investigate whether there are more people hiding abilities like Fabio's. They use their massive network of informants to amass information from anyone they could find. They also craft sob stories to appeal to people's emotions, such as an eccentric old lady who refused to answer anything. Their second task is to discover how Fabio had acquired his ability. They travel to the maquiladora where he worked and interview the landlord of the apartment where he lived. They realize that J.D. and his team already investigated the same areas and wonder if this is a competition Lisa Lisa set up to see which group would find the truth first. They think back to Fabio's backstory and decide to find the trafficker that scammed Fabio. Octavio knew that most traffickers had bad intentions, robbing customers who couldn't pay and then leaving them in the forest, such as what happened to Pedro Ochoa and Enrique. Octavio and Joaquín's informants expand their search to neighboring villages and they gather together all the rumors and secrets they heard. They eventually learn that the boss of the trafficker in charge of Fabio's home village changed right before Fabio's plan to cross the border. Since then, the organization got a lot shadier, demanding exorbitant fees, forcing people to walk through dangerous areas, and shooting them with arrows.
The duo hands their report to Lisa Lisa four days after she gave them the challenge, before the deadline elapsed. They found one of the trafficker gangs stationed in the forests northeast of Guatemala City and know its general location, so they offer to accompany Lisa Lisa there as official members of the team. After reading the report, Lisa Lisa gives them a speech about fluorescent lights flickering at an imperceptible rate. She compares herself and the boys as living beneath the light, but there are some who live beneath the flickers of darkness. It's the Speedwagon Foundation's duty to capture the flicker of darkness. She asks if they're ready to hide from society by becoming members of the Foundation, and finally asks what the biggest lie they've ever told is. Octavio responds first by saying that he hates lying so he's done violent things to avoid having to lie. Joaquín grabs a notepad and writes down that saying he hasn't ever lied is the biggest lie he's ever told. Lisa Lisa appreciates his answer and accepts them as members.[1]
A Game of Hopscotch
Accompanied by Lisa Lisa, Octavio, and Joaquín, the research group led by J. D. travel by car to their destination. They pass by Mayan ruins and Lisa Lisa gives them a history lesson while Octavio dozes off. They reach their destination, arriving at a small settlement where the human traffickers are rumored to be. However, the place appears to be deserted. They decide to investigate anyways since they came all this way. As soon as Octavio exits the car, he steps on the prongs of a half-buried rake, severely injuring the toes of one foot.
Several of the Foundation investigators begin to fall in holes. Joaquín notices chalk drawings of shapes on the ground and makes noises while pointing to them. J.D. understands what he's trying to say, deducing that anyone who steps inside of a shape drawn in chalk will fall into a hole. However, Octavio reveals that he's already stepping inside one but hasn't fallen. Joaquín copies Octavio's posture with one foot up causing Octavio and J.D. to realize that this is a game of hopscotch. As the group stands on one foot, J.D. orders them to focus on getting back to the car before thinking of a rescue plan. Suddenly, they see a large number of shapes being drawn on the ground by an invisible evil spirit, covering the ground with patterns. Making matters worse, a rusty sickle is thrown at J.D.'s thigh, making it difficult for him to keep his balance. Several sickles, hatchets, knives, and rakes are sent flying toward the investigators, causing more of them to fall into holes.
Octavio's uninjured leg is struck by a knife but he manages to stop his fall by slamming his hand outside the lines of chalk. He grabs J.D. and carries him on his back, managing to hop on one foot with the weight of two people. Meanwhile, the evil spirit draws underneath their cars, creating a hole beneath the car Lisa Lisa is sitting in. However, she manages to save herself by using the Ripple on her muffler alongside acrobatic techniques. Lisa Lisa informs them that there is no need to retreat. Instead, they now have more data about these abilities. She thinks that the ability can't spread its power over a wide range, so the user must be hiding nearby. Octavio and Joaquín both understand what she means, thinking the user might be hiding in the water tank in the corner of the plaza. Octavio hops to the water tank while ignoring his injured feet and discovers that his assumption was correct once he takes off the lid of the tank. A 15-year-old mixed orphan named Izahela Mena-Mena was the User of an ability later named "Hopscotch" in the investigation files. She collapses from exhaustion and they find that she was assisted by other children who were throwing the weapons.
The Speedwagon Foundation takes Izahela and the other children into custody and they learn from her testimony about a man named Alhorn being the leader of the traffickers, who used an Arrow on herself and several others. Lisa Lisa gives a speech about mysterious phenomena occurring in Peru and possibly other locations caused by what seems to be a virus. She hypothesizes that a man who wished for the power of a god made the Arrows from minerals at these locations and there must be several of these Arrows throughout the world. Lisa Lisa states that it is now the Speedwagon Foundation's duty to retrieve every arrow in circulation. For the present, they will focus on capturing the subordinates of Alhorn and recover the arrows they possess in Latin America. At night, Octavio feels restless from Lisa Lisa's speech, excited that he has a new opportunity for gaining power. Never seeing Octavio in this state before, even Joaquín feels excited about the potential that awaits them.[1]
Chapters
Novel AppearancesQuotes
Quotes- “Of course we'll help! What tonto would enjoy having a murderer sneaking around town?! And if we can flush him out during Semana Santa, that's even better!”—Octavio Luna Kan, rey infinito Chapter 1
- “That mosca-controlling bastard was K'iche' too, wasn't he? I don't know who the hell he thinks he is, but he's an embarrassment to K'iche' everywhere. I'm nothing like that murderous freak. I'm telling you, if those moscas hadn't attacked me, I'd have choked that son of a bitch out right there.”—Octavio Luna Kan, rey infinito Chapter 2
- “We were waiting for something like this to happen. An opportunity to see what lies beyond the borders of this backwater town, this heartless, boring world... We've been waiting our entire lives. I don't know what exactly it is that you people do, but you're going after more people like that mosca bastard, right? Don't you fly all over the world solving mysteries, just like you're doing here?”—Octavio Luna Kan, rey infinito Chapter 2
- “I bet you never expected your informants to have a dream like this. But we're not just gonna let you make us sit here with our hands tied like all the others. You can't just pass us by like the nubes rolling over this island city. You've given us this chance—just take us with you. We want to get out of here. Have you ever thought about it? The endless civil war. The streets reverberating with the constant sound of gunfire and explosions. The days where you could smell the wounds and blood in the air, the same smells of the Pasión. The rotten youth we're leading, plagued with worries about food, unable to make an honest living. The utter lack of adventure and freedom I went through after climbing the ranks. When the sun sets and the colors of twilight blanket the town, we climb a hill and watch the stars as they rise over the horizon. But we can only see as far as the horizon. The sky may as well be a dark, featureless wall. No matter what we hope is outside of Antigua, no matter what we believe in, the view from that hill may as well be all that exists. Have you ever thought about... how suffocating a life like that must be?”—Octavio Luna Kan, rey infinito Chapter 2
- “Maybe it's because we're huérfanos who are very close to God... that we got these gifts. The two of us are capable of perceiving angels and demons, the evil and the righteous, and light and darkness with our eyes and our noses. We're usually right on the money, right, Joaquín? So I'm confident that we can serve some purpose to you, señora. Let us serve as an extension of your hands, eyes, and nose.”—Octavio Luna Kan, rey infinito Chapter 2
- “Well, I... hate to lie. I've even done some pretty crooked and violent things just to avoid lying.”—Octavio Luna Kan, rey infinito Chapter 3
- “What the hell kind of training do you do to be able to pull off a stunt like that as an abuela?”—Octavio Luna Kan, rey infinito Chapter 3
- “This is a rarity for me. A miracle is unfolding here, just for me. Right now, I'm being called upon to act and decide...”—Octavio Luna Kan, rey infinito Chapter 3
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 rey infinito Chapter 3
- ↑ Based on his age and the year the story takes place.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 rey infinito Chapter 2
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 4.7 4.8 rey infinito Chapter 1
