Machi (マチ, Machi) is one of the members of the Phantom Troupe, a gang of thieves with class A bounties [1]. She is the strongest physically of all the women in the Troupe and ranks 6th in the whole group in arm wrestling.
Appearance
Machi is one of the few Phantom Troupe members that prefers to wear
traditional Japanese-style clothing. She looks like a modern day kunoichi — female ninja. Her usual outfit consists of cycling short-like pants matched with a short-sleeved uwagi, an obi sash worn around her waist and a obijime is tied over it, a pair of fingerless gloves, tabi boots or socks with zōri,
and leg warmers that cover from the ankles up to her knees. She has
pink mid-back hair that is usually tied into an updo. In the 1999 anime
adaptation, her hair is dark purple.
Personality
Machi is one of the coldest members in the Phantom Troupe. She always
appears to be calm. Hisoka seems to have high regard for both Machi and
her abilities, although she considers Hisoka a pest at best and a
potential enemy of Chrollo's at worst. She has sharp intuitions, which
have turned out to be true most of the time and are trusted by some of
her comrades such as Nobunaga and Chrollo. Machi is incredibly loyal to
Chrollo and has stated that she would hunt Hisoka down if he were to
kill Chrollo.
Background
Not much is known about Machi, except that she, along with Chrollo Lucilfer, Feitan, Franklin, Nobunaga Hazama, and Pakunoda, is one of the original members that hail from Meteor City,
a junkyard city inhabited by outcasts of the world. People who live
there do not exist in any official records, and the existence of the
city itself is known to very few people. It is also stated in manga and
anime that original members of the Phantom Troupe had something to do
with the bad blood between the Mafia and those from Meteor City. Why the
Troupe left the city is a mystery. Later, the group was joined by more
members, in accordance with Chrollo's idea of a group comprising of
exactly thirteen members, including himself.
Plot
Heavens Arena arc
Machi makes her first appearance right after the fight between Hisoka and Kastro in the Heavens Arena, waiting for the former in a locker room tunnel. She charges Hisoka 70 million Jenny
in total for patching up both of his severed arms then leaves after
giving him the message that the Phantom Troupe will be gathering in
Yorknew City on August 31st.Then (In the anime only), she watches
Hisoka's fight against Gon.
Yorknew City arc, Part 1
On 31st of August, Machi is seen again with Franklin, Nobunaga, and Feitan on their way to Yorknew City.
Later, at the meeting of the Troupe in an abandoned building of the
city, Chrollo tells her and the other members that they are going to
steal all the auction items of the Mafia's underground auction.
In the evening of September 1st, they infiltrate into the Cemetery Building,
where the auction is held, and kill all the mafiosi and their clients
but the auction items have already been removed from the vault by the Owl of the Shadow Beasts. They then fly to the Gordeau Desert on a balloon with the Mafia being hot on their heels.
After arriving in the desert, Machi and her comrades stand to one
side and watch Uvogin massacring a large number of Mafia gangsters and 4
Shadow Beasts single-handedly. When Uvogin is captured by Kurapika
she immediately uses a needle and a nen thread to track Uvogin. She and
4 other members then chase after Kurapika with a car but just before
they can catch up with him, the remaining Shadow Beasts
arrive and stop them. Machi and her teammates kill all of these Shadow
Beasts with ease except for the Owl, who they capture and torture to get
the auction items. Near midnight, they find where Uvogin is held
captive and free him after killing Dalzollene.
In the early hours of September 2nd, Machi tells Uvogin about the
items and the termination of the Shadow Beasts, but he insists on
finding the chain user — Kurapika — to get revenge instead of returning
to the Troupe's hideout with them. She and other members have no choice
but to let Uvogin do what he wants. Not long afterwards, he is killed by
Kurapika in a duel in the Gordeau Desert.
September
3rd, because Uvogin has not returned, she and Nobunaga pose as a couple
in the middle of a square in an attempt to lure out the chain user but
they attract Gon and Killua's attention instead and are tailed by them. With the help of Phinks
and Pakunoda, who have been secretly following them, they easily
capture the kids and bring them back to their hideout. In the evening,
she and the other members excluding Nobunaga launch a retaliatory attack
on the Cemetery Building, slaughtering around 2,000 Mafia gangsters and
professional assassins altogether. Thanks to Chrollo's smart move to
hire Illumi Zoldyck to assassinate the Ten Dons beforehand, they manage to avoid casualties. After the death of the Ten Dons, Kortopi
creates fake corpses of 5 of them to trick the Mafia into loosening the
building's defences and makes copies of the auction items. Machi and
her comrades proceed to sell the copies in the rescheduled underground
auction right afterwards. They then return to the hideout and celebrate
their victory.
Yorknew City arc, Part 2
In the afternoon of September 4th, in the Troupe's hideout, Nobunaga
insists that they keep pursuing Kurapika instead of leaving Yorknew.
Knowing it is impossible to dissuade him, Chrollo uses Neon's
ability to make prophecies about Nobunaga and some other members,
according to which 5 more of them will die if they meet the chain user
within 2 weeks. They then intend to return to Meteor City to avoid that
prospect, however Hisoka alters his own prophecy with the Texture
Surprise and manipulates the whole group into staying in Yorknew City so
that he can have the chance to fight Chrollo.
Later,
Chrollo is able to deduce that Kurapika is one of Neon's bodyguards,
and thanks to a pair of fake Scarlet Eyes that they sold him the night
before, they know that he and the other bodyguards are staying in Hotel Beitacle,
2.5 km from the hideout. Chrollo orders Kortopi, Machi, Nobunaga,
Pakunoda and Shizuku to go with him to the hotel. On the way, Chrollo
notices that they are being followed by 2 people so he tells Kortopi,
Nobunaga and Pakunoda to go ahead while he, Machi and Shizuku stay
behind. They then capture Gon and Killua again. Meanwhile, Pakunoda and
the other two are able to know Kurapika's name and face after capturing
and killing Squala.
Chrollo, Machi and Shizuku take Gon and Killua to the hotel and meet
up with Pakunoda's group in the hall. He tells Paku to check their
memories again, but before she can reveal what she has learned about
Kurapika, a power outage suddenly happens, allowing Gon and Killua to
break free from her grasp and attack her and Machi. Machi easily
recaptures Killua despite the total darkness and some broken ribs while
Nobunaga catches Gon. However, when the light comes back on, they
realize that Chrollo has been captured by Kurapika.
Phinks, Feitan and Shalnark soon arrive in the hotel. They then
receive a call from Kurapika, who tells them not to follow him, not to
hurt the hostages and give the phone to Paku. He then tells Paku to go
to Ringon Airport
alone to negotiate the terms of a hostage exchange and the other
members to return to their hideout. Phinks, Feitan and Shalnark try to
follow Paku, but Nobunaga stops them for fear that Chrollo would be
killed, leading to a heated quarrel between Nobunaga and Phinks. Because
Machi and Shizuku agree with Nobunaga and Kurapika tells them about
Melody's ability to detect lies, they all return to the hideout as told
by him.
Paku next comes back from the airport and tells them about the
conditions, which involve her going to the exchange location alone with
the kids. Phinks becomes so angry that he wants to get rid of the kids
then go after Kurapika but Machi disagrees with him. She and Kortopi
then almost get into a fight with Phinks and Feitan, who think that she
and the others are being manipulated by Kurapika, before their quarrel
is interrupted by Gon. Phinks finally agrees to let Paku go alone after
Franklin tells him that if he keeps being stubborn, the worst thing —
Chrollo's death — may happen.
After Pakunoda returns without Chrollo and the kids, Machi is one
of the 6 members who she gives her memories to before being killed by
Kurapika's Judgement Chain. Knowing that they cannot pursue and kill
Kurapika as long as the Judgement Chain is still tied around Chrollo's
heart, they stay in Yorknew to wait for Chrollo, who has left the city
in search of an Exorcist.
Greed Island arc
On September 6th, Phinks and Feitan steal a copy of the game Greed Island from Southernpiece auction house
and bring it back to the hideout. Machi and other members are invited
to play with them but they decline. Later, after Shalnark discovers that
Greed Island is an island in the real world and that there is an
Exorcist on the island, she enters the game with the other members to
search for this person. They are forced to cooperate with Hisoka because
Chrollo himself has asked Hisoka to find an Exorcist for him.
After the Troupe has located the Exorcist, Abengane, Machi is asked by Hisoka what she will do if he defeats and kills Chrollo
after Kurapika's Nen chain has been removed from his heart. She
responds that Chrollo will never lose to him, but if that were to
happen, she would hunt Hisoka down and kill him, demonstrating her
fierce loyalty to Chrollo. Hisoka says he would like that, in a playful
and somewhat flirtatious manner.
Combat
Being part of the Troupe, Machi is a very powerful fighter. She has
extreme confidence in her skills, demonstrated when willing to engage in
combat with both Phinks and Feitan in order to let Pakunoda go to the
meeting with Kurapika, and when claiming that, if Hisoka were to manage
to kill Chrollo, she would chase him and murder him. Furthermore, when
Gon and Leorio couldn't grasp the extent of her and Nobunaga's strenght,
Killua asked if picturing two Hisokas would have been of help. She has
superhuman physical features, like the rest of the Troupe, but has yet
to fight with her bare hands. The way she shielded herself when attacked
by Killua in the darkness proves that she knows at least the basis of
martial artistry, as she could protect her neck and head efficiently.
Her abilities in stealth are reminiscent of ninjitsu, matching her
kunoichi appearance.
Enhanced strength: The fact that she ranked sixth in
arm-wrestling despite being a woman is a testament to her high strength.
She can easily lift several grown man hung at her wires and, as stated
in the 2011 anime, she can slice a Nen user with them.
Enhanced speed and reflexes: Machi's speed is astonishing:
she was able to notice that Gon was going to move, to appear behind his
back and to grab him before he, despite his quick reflexes, could even
catch a glimpse of her or make a step. Moreover, she was the only one
able to act after Uvogin was entangled in Kurapika's Chain Jail,
throwing a Nen imbued needle at his calf to keep track of him. After he
unleashed his deafening howl, Uvogin stated that for people like her
covering her ears before the sound reached was no business at all.
Enhanced agility: Machi can run on the sides of buildings and easily jump horizontally from one to another.
Enhanced stealth: Her abilities in stealth go without saying, as she can approach and kill enemies without them noticing her.
Enhanced pain resistance: Machi is extremely resistant to
pain: she got stabbed in the chest by Killua and got some ribs broken,
and still managed to catch him and keep Gon under her control.
Enhanced perception: She sensed that multiple people
concealed with Zetsu where tailing her and Nobunaga, though she was
unable to tell their locations and number.
Master trap layer: Machi can use her wires to kill or bind
her enemies, not even bothering to show herself to her enemies in the
fight against the mafia. Her traps are hard to spot and can kill
multiple targets in a matter of seconds.
Strong Muscle Control: She seems to have excellent control
over her muscles as Killua was not able to retrieve his hand
immediately when he stabbed her with his fingers which lead to his
eventual capture.
Nen
Machi has never shown any abilities in Nen aside from the
transmutation of the said aura in wires. However, being a member of the
Troupe, she must be fairly skilled at it.
Machi's Nen Type: Transmutation
Type: Transmutation
Nen Stitches (念糸縫合)
Machi is capable of creating
threads which can be lengthened without limit and can only be seen by
using Gyo out of her aura. These threads can be used to sew open wounds
and even to completely reattach severed limbs in a short time.
Type: Transmutation
Nen Threads
Machi uses this technique to
manipulate her target's movements with considerable accuracy using the
threads like a puppeteer. She can also use them to capture or strangle
enemies. The strength of the threads is inversely proportional to their
length: a thread as long as the Earth's diameter would be as strong as
cotton, but a one-meter long thread could lift a ton.
Other abilities Sharp Intuition: Machi has incredibly accurate hunches,
resenting premonitions, as most of the Troupe members, including Chrollo
and Nobunaga, usually trust them to be true and she has never been
wrong before so far.
Trivia
Machi is the first Phantom Troupe member introduced in the series (not including Hisoka).