Beast Beneath the Moonlight

Beast Beneath the Moonlight (月下獣,) is the ability of Atsushi Nakajima.

Description
Beast Beneath the Moonlight gives Atsushi the ability to transform into a white tiger. At first, he did not seem to have much control over the transformation, likely due to the fact or caused by his unawareness of his state as an ability user.

After becoming an official member of the Armed Detective Agency and under the influence of All Men Are Equal, he gains more control over his transformations. The ability makes Atsushi to have:


 * Full body to partial transformation: Atsushi has shown several varying states of transformation, which range from a rather large full tiger form, to just slit pupils and tiger stripes on his face. He can transform and manifest various tiger body parts at wills, such as tiger forearms with claws or a tiger tail.
 * Regeneration: Also notable is that Atsushi's ability has extreme regenerative powers capable of healing bisection and amputation almost instantly. This was shown during his fight with Ryunosuke Akutagawa.
 * Increased speed and stamina: He has shown to possess immense speed, durability, strength, stamina, and endurance on several occasions. He has also been shown to be a natural fighter in close combat and has shown to very cunning in battle in several fights. However, after using his ability, Atsushi seems to become unconscious and collapses onto the ground.
 * Enhanced senses: Due to the tiger's nature, Atsushi can hear and see above what is normal for humans. He can sense other people's presence, or use the tiger's sense of smell to detect scents from people.
 * Enhance durability:With the tiger's power, Atsushi can withstand physical attacks or resist damage including sword attacks, falls from heights , or even shots on his forehead.

Moreover, Atsushi can use the tiger's individual parts as part of his ability even if he is at partial transformation:
 * Tiger Tail:Atsushi can make the tiger's tail appear to grab someone or to something.
 * Tiger Fangs: Part of Atsushi's ability, he can use the tiger's fangs to catch a fast object like a bullet or break a weapon use against him like a gun

Types

 * Beast Beneath the Moonlight: Half-Human, Half-Tiger (月下獣・半人半虎,): Atsushi can transform into a partial tiger, this makes Atsushi to have the tiger's legs as his arms and feet. His eyes have slit pupils and he has tiger stripes on his face.
 * Beast Beneath the Moonlight–Rashomon (月下獣羅生門,): Atsushi is wrapped by Rashomon.
 * Beast Beneath the Moonlight–Rashomon: Toramurakumo (月下獣羅生門・虎叢,): Atsushi's tiger claw is wrapped in Rashomon and enhances its offensive power, enough to overwhelm a fully-powered Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald.
 * Beast Beneath the Moonlight–Rashomon: Black Tiger's Supreme Claw (月下獣羅生門・黒虎絶爪,): Using the tiger's claws that can cut through abilities themselves and Rashomon, Atsushi can stretch out that severed space and cut through physical armor and abilities. It morphs into a divine blade, and as such, according to Akutagawa, no life form that suffered an attack from it can quite possibly survive.

Moves

 * Spatial Distortion (空間 断絶,): Atsushi can distort a space resulting it to being crushed.
 * Teleportation (瞬間跳躍,): Atsushi can teleport using the tiger's claws and Rashomon's power to cut through space.

Appearances
Main= {{Ability Appearance
 * Chapters=

Armed Detective Agency vs. Port Mafia Arc

 * Chapter 1 - Looking the Gift Tiger in the Mouth
 * Chapter 4 - Yokohama Gangster Paradise, Part 2
 * Chapter 8 - Kill A Man and Die Thee Too, Part 2
 * Chapter 11 - Back in the Day...
 * Chapter 12 - Rashomon and the Tiger

The Guild Arc

 * Chapter 16 - Constantly Pushed Back to the Past, Part 2
 * Chapter 19 - The Three-Way Battle
 * Chapter 25 - Q
 * Chapter 26 - Will of Tycoon
 * Chapter 27 - Upon the Shattering Shores
 * Chapter 28 - The Emergancy Plan
 * Chapter 29 - Even If My Head Be Mistaken
 * Chapter 34 - The Last Tycoon
 * Chapter 35 - Rashomon, the Tiger and the Last Tycoon
 * Chapter 36 - If I May Lay Down This Burden Today

The Guild Aftermath Arc

 * Chapter 38 - Slap the Stick

Cannibalism Arc

 * Chapter 47 - Mutual Destruction, Part 1
 * Chapter 51 - Echo, Part 1
 * Chapter 52 - Echo, Part 2
 * Chapter 53 - Echo, Part 3

Decay of Angels Arc

 * Chapter 57 - Sunday Tragedy, Part 1
 * Chapter 58 - Sunday Tragedy, Part 2
 * Chapter 61 - Dogs Hunt Dogs, Part 3
 * Chapter 63 - Enemies of Society
 * Chapter 67 - The Sadness of Those Without Wings, Part 1
 * Chapter 76 - Skyfall, Part 3
 * Chapter 77 - Skyfall, Part 4
 * Chapter 78 - To Threaten God, Part 1
 * Chapter 84 - Hero vs. Criminal
 * Chapter 85 - Hero vs. Criminal Part 2
 * Chapter 86 - Hero vs. Criminal 3
 * Chapter 87 - Hero vs. Criminal 4
 * Episodes=

Armed Detective Agency vs. Port Mafia Arc

 * Episode 1 - Fortune is Unpredictable and Mutable
 * Episode 3 - Yokohama Gangster Paradise
 * Episode 8 - Teaching Them to Kill; Then to Die
 * Episode 10 - Rashomon and the Tiger

The Guild Arc

 * Episode 12 - Borne Back Ceaselessly into the Past
 * Episode 17 - Three Companies Conflict
 * Episode 19 - Will of Tycoon
 * Episode 20 - Though the Mind May Be Wrong
 * Episode 23 - Rashoumon, the Tiger, and the Last Emperor
 * Episode 24 - If I May Shed Away My Burden Now

The Guild Aftermath Arc

 * Episode 30 - Slap the Stick & Addict

Cannibalism Arc
}}
 * Episode 34 - Cannibalism (Part 1)
 * Episode 36 - Cannibalism (Part 3)
 * Episode 37 - Echo)
 * -|BEAST =

Derivation
Beast Beneath the Moonlight is a reference to the real-life Atsushi Nakajima's short story, The Moon Over the Mountain (山月記,). Based on a Tang dynasty legend of a certain Tiger Man, the story tells the encounter between a government official named Yuan Can and a man-eating tiger. The creature turns out to be his friend, Li Zheng, who himself believes has wasted his talents due to his fear of failure. He admits that his "cowardly pride" and "arrogant shame" eventually transformed him into a man-eating tiger.

This short story also became the namesake of another book entitled The Moon Over the Mountain: Stories, a collection of nine literary works that revolve around folktales, legends, and stories related to Ancient China.