My absurd theory about the true identity of Terashi.

CRACKPOT TERASHI IS NEZU THEORY INCOMING:

ALSO, SPOILERS. DUH.

Shortly after Nezu was humiliated by Rei in the KAT, he stopped idolizing Mockey (or whatever the hell the ripoff disney character is called) and started to read legends of Long Min and Fa after hearing about them from someone in Bishamon, ending up idolizing them both instead of Mockey, whether out of shame for "failing" Mockey, or realizing that continuing to childishly idolize a cartoon character would restrict his ability to grow as a fighter and a person.

His PTSD from his humiliation is so deep-seated and traumatic, that Nezu decides to totally reinvent himself and start anew as the ultimate combination of his new idols Long Min and Fa, recieving plastic surgery to change his face to resemble Long Min, while also wearing a mask to resemble Fa.

He somehow picked up this new vibration technique to boost his defense against super meaty strikes after he realized brute strength wasn't gonna cut it against world-class fighters, learning and refining the technique by taking assassination contracts from the underground, allowing him to pick and choose his opponents until he was comfortable enough with his new technique(s) to return to Bishamon and wreak havoc.

• Evidence -

Exhibit A: Nezu never knew actual martial arts, and Terashi doesn't seem to know any either.

Exhibit B: Both characters seem to use "mimicry" as their way of worshipping their idol(s).

Exhibit C: Terashi is amused by Okubo at the start of the match, a remnant of his younger, happier, cartoon-idolizing self.

Exhibit D: Terashi is NOT confident in his own abilities as a fighter, even going so far as to consider himself the weakest of the Purgatory lineup... almost as if he had his self-esteem crushed in the past... or that the technique he uses is still relatively new to himself... Hmmm...

Exhibit E: Both Nezu AND Terashi are/were Bishamon fighters.

Exhibit F: We haven't seen Nezu AT ALL in Omega, while pretty much every other fighter has been seen, even if just via cameo.

Useless Anecdote: Terashi, despite his lack of experience, was able to read and react to Okubo's feints, something not even Kanoh could do in the first round of the KAT. This leads me to believe that Terashi was already expecting Okubo to throw feints because he had seen Okubo fight Kanoh in the KAT. However, Okubo IS a public fighter, and even if he wasn't, I don't think it would have been very hard for a professional assassin/hitman like Terashi to get info on the Kengan lineup before the tournament.

Side Note: I think that the Long Min we saw get murdered by the TV in Ashura was not the "real" Long Min, as I believe both the original Long Min and Fa are long dead at this point, as they are legendary fighters, although I could certainly be mistaken.

• COUNTER-EVIDENCE -

Exhibit A: Nezu is 221cm tall. Terashi is only 204cm. However, it would not be far fetched to to assume that Hanafusa is capable of modifying the height of fighters, given the insane shit Hanafusa is already capable of.

Exhibit B: ???

I'll update this post after I go back and reread the past 70 chapters looking for other stuff that may support or debunk this theory, but so far I haven't thought of anything that would definitively rule out my theory.