Bill Burton

Bill Burton (ドル・バートン Biru Bāton) is a fictional character in the manga and anime series of Shaman King. He is the toughest member of Hao's followers and part of Team "Tsuki-Gumi".

Appearance
In battle he wears a modified version of his old football uniform with spikes on the helmet and knee caps. His upper body is completely bare save for a pair of chest plates and spiked shoulder plates. He has stars on his gloves and wears a cape with patterns similar to the American flag.

When in the public he wears a pair of orange overalls, an orange cap, black boots and black gloves.

Later on in the series, Bill is shown wearing several red and yellow block pieces worn over his normal outfit including shoulder pads, a neck bracer, chest armor, gauntlets, and boots, presumably gained from Brocken.

Personality
He is very loyal to Hao, and is not above attacking opponents from behind or when they are down, but he does also have a sense of honor and in gratitude of being saved from the X-Laws by Asakura Yoh he guides him and his friends towards the Patch Village.

Spirit

 * See More: The Big Guys

His guardian ghosts were the Deceased of twenty one players of his former football team called "The Big Guys" that were all killed in a bus crash. Even after their death they still follow him and takes orders as if they still alive and were a football team.

Past
He was once the leader of the American Football Team called "The Big Guys", and the fans nicknamed him with the team name for his skills. One day however, the bus drove over a cliff and the entire team except for Bill were killed. Later it was revealed that the breaks had been cut by a fan who Bill had refused an autograph sometime before. Bill was forced to retire due to his injuries and later he became known as "Little Bill". He had lost hope until one day, he met a younger Asakura Hao who had appeared before him and healed all of his injuries with a single touch of a hand. That day, he swore loyalty to Hao.

Five years before the Shaman Fight and after agreeing to join Hao, Bill was seen inside the Spirit of Fire as Hao brought him to his new home with the other members of Hao's group, before Hao left again to find new comrades. Being bewildered that the "center of attention" left already, Bill ridiculed the surroundings before almost picking a fight with Hang Zang-Ching. As the majority of Hao's henchmen came to introduce themselves to him, he remained very skeptical of such an odd bunch living together, until he met Brocken who seemed to be a genuine person and happy and thankful to Hao, noting that bad habits aside, they seemed to be genuinely good people. When the BoZ attempted to pick a fight, Bill merely stared them down, while Brocken warned them not to mess with their newest ally.

Shaman Fight in Tokyo
Not much is known about his First Round experience but he did qualify to enter the Shaman Fight by landing a successful hit on a Patch Officiant, and won at least two matches to get to the Second Round. He was first seen in the series with Hao's other followers when they interrupted their boss from playing around with Yoh and friends, so that they wouldn't miss the Patch Plane that would take them to America. He would then sit among his allies on the plane, and later rode on the Spirit Of Fire with Hao and the others when the inhabitants of the plane were dumped out of it.

Traveling through America
When Yoh and company reach the Patch Village and find an area that is blocked off saying keep out, Bill alongside Turbine, Hang-Zeng, Damayaji, and Boris Tepes Dracula show up and attempt to stop them from going any further. Tao Ren thinks they are suspicious looking, and eventually they are recognized as Hao's henchmen. Bill remains silent, and watches as Yoh's group does battle with Boris. Eventually Turbine acknowledges that Boris is too out of control and even he can't stop him, saying that he doesn't want to get involved in this and takes Bill and Hang-Zeng with him to go and report back to Hao.

Later after Boris dies at the hands of Marco, Bill suddenly shows up behind the X-Laws and attacks them with his Oversoul, but they all summon their Archangels and manage to nearly kill Bill with their combined might. Before they can deal the finishing blow, Yoh appears to defend him, proclaiming that he realizes its too late to do anything about Boris, but he won't allow them to kill anyone else. Eventually the X-Laws leave, and refusing to leave him behind, Ryu carries Bill further into the Patch Village with them. Eventually he wakes up, and states he owes them a debt for saving his life, that he returns the favor by revealing the path they have chosen is called "The Path of Truth" and they have been guided there by their spirits, and that the place has been protected by the Patch and many traps have been placed there to prevent regular humans from entering. When pressed by Ren for more info, Bill refuses saying his own debt has been paid and that they should continue on. When asked by Yoh what he will do now, he affirms that he will continue onwards with his own power, boasting he is one of Hao's most resilient men, and that he won't die so easily.

Shaman Fight Second Round
When the Second Round begins, Bill is seen wearing a casual disguise sitting in the stands with the other members of Hao's group, watching Team "Tsuchi-Gumi"'s battle with Team "The Ren".

He later reappears before Icemen team after their defeat against Yoh's team, wanting to kill them and feed them and their spirits to Hao's Spirit of Fire though Horohoro steps in. Horohoro's father Usui Lycan also strolls by and Bill goes to kill Lycan but is knocked back by his guardian ghost Gororo. Later, he was about to deal a finishing blow to the weakened Horohoro but is stopped by Lyserg Diethel's Archangel.

While the group were ordered to deal with a fleet of human warships, they begin to wonder if they are doing the right thing. When Hang Zang-Ching asks Peyote and Mohamed to stop because they scare him he is suddenly killed by Peyote's O.S. "Grande Phantasma". Peyote tells them to calm down as he only wants to make them stronger by dying, but then pierces Bill completely and reveals that he was kidding.

Invading the Plants
Though Bill and most of the others were revived, in a conversation with Anahol Pokki, he reveals that because Peyote and Mohamed's bodies took too much damage, they were the only ones from the slaughter who were unable to be revived.

After Hao becomes the Shaman King, Bill is seen sitting with Zang-Ching and Brocken in one of the cars aboard the Soul Train inside the Great Spirit, stating that despite him denying it, it's obvious that he needed them.

Funbari no Uta
Several years later, Bill, together with Tao Ren and Hang Zang-Ching, build the Raitei Group(雷帝グループ Lightning Emperor Group) a large electronics manufacturing company. 13 years after the tournament, Bill, Hang Zang-Ching and Brocken Meyer, travel with the current heir Tao Men to the Funbari Inn.

Anime/Manga Difference
Like the rest of Hao's followers, Bill was seen far less often in the anime. Bill was sent with Ashil to keep him from "accidentally" killing Yoh, for a while he kept Yoh from entering the battle, although Yoh was eventually able to get past Bill, and fight along with his friends.

He initially fights Porf Griffith in the battle of Babylon Gate, and is later shown killing Larch Dirac by tackling his Archangel and crushing Larch with it. In the final assault, however, Bill couldn't control his new powered up Furyoku and his body couldn't handle it. This ends up killing him ("knocked out" in the English anime).