John Steinbeck

John Steinbeck (ジョン・スタインベック,) is a member of The Guild. His ability is, The Grapes of Wrath.

Appearance
John is a young man with an average height and build, with short blonde hair and blue eyes. He wears a flat cap on top of his head; a white shirt with his sleeves pulled up a bit, and a blue overall with a black belt; and dark boots.

He carries with himself a raw potato; and navaja, a tool used by him in order to activate his ability.

Personality
John comes as a relaxed and easygoing man, casually comenting about the countryside and talking with his partner, Lovecraft, without minding being heard.

His ability grants him great confidence in himself, enough to spend time talking to his enemies, which can be his downfall too.

He claims to hate chores, trying to save himself some trouble while doing them, which demonstrates that he is a cunning person. Nevertheless, he is in no way, a lazy person - He's capable enough to carry the missions given to him.

Although he may be polite and kind, he shows having no regard to his enemies, claiming to not care about what he has to do to them. But he is not an entirely bad person, because his main motive for doing this kind of job is for his own and dear family.

Ability
The Grapes of Wrath (怒りの葡萄,) allows John to grow grapevines from his neck. By grafting the vines attached to his body to other plants the flora in the entire vicinity will be an extension of his body.

His own branches and the others from the flora can be used as means to capture and hold a person or object with a tremendous strength, and as well, shield him from attacks.

He can even combine his ability with Q's since Q's ability is cursing people who hurt him. Fitzgerald's emergency plan involves both of their ability; Steinbeck uses his Grapes of Wrath to connect the plants directly into Q's body, effects his sense of touch, thus when a person accidentally trips of a plant, it will hurt Q, causing the person to get cursed.

Background
Prior to joining The Guild, John was a farmer in North America, just like Tom Joad, the main character from ''The Grapes of Wrath. It is implied that prior to working for The Guild, his big family was poor.''

Plot
Steinbeck first appears on Chapter 18, where he shows up in the ground after crashing his truck, then later complaining about the country narrow roads. After getting up, he talks with Lovecraft about a package about to be delivered. Some time later, he shows up with his partner in the middle of the conflict between the Armed Detective Company and the Port Mafia, warning them about the arrive of the package. (Which is nothing more than ability users from The Guild) After wiping out both factions, he retires with the rest of his partners.

On Chapter 19, he's seen together with Fitzgerald in a cruiser, comenting about the situation and spending time with him.

John shows up later on Chapter 22, in the countryside together with Lovecraft after accepting the Mafia's proposal to go and capture the clerks from the Armed Detective Company as a bait, even when knowing it was obviously a trap. On the next chapter, they are seen waiting in ambush for them, where he activates his ability in order to capture them in the place. But this doesn't work for they have escaped by other route, but thanks to the propagation of his ability, the car is catched easily. There he has a small conversation with Naomi, revealing information about his ability and himself... but thanks to this, he's lost precious time, and then they are surprised by Kunikida and Tanizaki, whom he engages the earlier in combat, losing to him and being stripped of his vines.

But thanks to the time bought by Lovecraft, he is able to stand once again and make use of his ability, catching the clerks once more. He then has a small talk with Tanizaki, and in the middle of that, he notices a single truck drifting of his lane thanks to ''Light Snow. Having no time to react, the'' vehicle crashes into them.

It's discovered that he survived together with Lovecraft, but just when they are about to resume the pursuit, they are arrested by the police.

Steinbeck, together with Lovecraft made an appearance again in chapter 31, where they both ambushed Dazai who came to rescue Yumeno Kyusaku / Q. However, Chuuya's appearance was not expected and his coming turned the tables over, resulting in their defeat and Q was saved.

After the Guild's fall as of chapter 36, Steinbeck said that he would stay, protecting what was left from the Guild as their Leader had gone missing.

Fitzgerald made a comeback in chapter 44, but Steinbeck did not wished to join him. But, he was willing to crush Fitzgerald's ambitions to its very roots. But deep inside, he still hoped that he could befriend with his former leader.

Trivia

 * The name of his siblings are based on the actual characters from The Grapes of Wrath.
 * He seems to like eating potatoes.
 * John is actually good at making impressions.
 * Much like Tanizaki, he cherishes his own little sister quite a lot, constantly spoiling her.
 * Though he is one of the Guild's members, he hates Fitzgerald due to his endless ambition and arrogance.