Hyakkimaru is the central character of Tezuka's best-known samurai story, Dororo. A powerful warrior, Hyakkimaru is traveling on a long quest to retrieve 48 parts of his body which were sold to demons by his father at his birth. This is a very dramatic adventure series, with a great variety of unusual mythological creatures and demons, as well as bandits and other fierce foes. Gradually the grim experiences of his travels make Hyakkimaru more and more distant and grim, so as he recovers more and more of his human body he becomes at the same time less and less human.