Claude "Torch" Weaver (クロード・“トーチ”・ウィーバー Kurōdo "Tōchi" Wībā) was a bounty hunter hired by Russell.
Appearance[]
Claude was a bespectacled, middle-aged man with a heavyset built and blonde hair styled in a flat top. He donned casual wear, consisting of a short-sleeved light blue polo shirt, khaki dress pants and light brown shoes. He always sports a grin when using his flamethrower.
Personality[]
He was shown to be quite jovial and hammy, prone to making ironic commentary on his targets' doom in a very free-spirited manner. He is one of the few characters in the series that does not use foul language, preferring to make use of euphemisms, such as "darn" or "shucks", instead. As his nickname would suggest, Claude is a pyromaniac who uses a lighter shaped-and-sized flamethrower as his weapon of choice, although for heavy-duty jobs, he will also use a full-sized flamethrower. In spite of his profession and the fact he burnt his own wife to death (which he claims took five minutes), Claude claims to be religious, possibly of Christian faith (most likely the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints due to the fact that his religion forbids consumption of alcohol) and is a teetotaler.
History[]
Greenback Jane[]
At the Yellow Flag, Claude was a newcomer among the various bounty hunters hired by Russell to capture Jane, and Sawyer the Cleaner wished to know who he and Lotton were. After Claude clarified that he could not drink alcohol due to his religious beliefs, he showed the bounty hunters a large lighter and projected a large flame from it that almost destroyed the headlight above, scaring the bounty hunters. Afterward, Claude left with the other bounty hunters to find Jane. Going to the Lagoon Company dry dock, Claude waited at the bottom of the dock until Jane exited the second floor to escape. Terrified to see Claude, Jane politely asked if he could move out of her way, but he smiled and asked her if she wanted to join him for a barbecue, lighting his lighter at her and scaring her back up the stairs. As Revy, Eda and Rock were surrounded with Jane on the second floor while the bounty hunters besieged the building, Claude lit the dock on fire with his flamethrower in order to flush them out.
While Claude continued to torch the dock, Russell arrived and berated him for setting fire to the dock since the fire could kill Jane. Eventually, the dock building fell apart as the Black Lagoon got closer to the harbor. When the PT boat swerved to let Jane and her saviors on board, Claude and Russell also managed to jump on deck. Subsequently, Russell ordered him to kill everyone on deck while the former would trash the engine room. After Revy dealt with the other bounty hunters, Claude kept Revy on her feet by continuously forcing her to take cover using his flamethrower. As Revy continued to get angry, Claude joked that he could cook her fast since he cooked his wife quickly. As Revy lured Claude to a particular part on the boat, she ordered Dutch to swerve the boat again. Claude tried his best to hang on a second time but was thrown off, giving Revy the opportunity to shoot him. The bullet pierced his stomach and detonated his flamethrower's fuel tank in the process, killing him in a huge explosion as he flew off the boat.
Trivia[]
- Though almost certainly coincidental, Claude is often compared by fans to Hank Hill from the television series King of the Hill due to their similar appearance and personality, particularly the avoidance of profanity and love for gas-based implements and activities (flamethrowers and barbecues for Claude; propane and propane accessories as well as barbecues for Hank).
- In a popularity contest during the 10th manga collection release, Claude ranked 37th with 9 votes.
- In a popularity contest during the 12th manga collection release, Claude ranked 46th (tying with Filano and the fourth brother) with 7 votes.