Zelkova

Zelkova (欅, Keyaki, lit. "Moon Tree") is a male Flick Reaper. He is the Guildmaster and also the captain of the first division of Moon Tree, a guild in The World R:2 which consists of over 1000 pacifists and peace promoters. He is also the master of Net Slum.

Appearance
Zelkova has the appearance of a young boy in white Japanese-styled clothing, with silver hair and golden eyes. He wears a blue obi, and carries an oversized fan as part of his outfit. When engaging in battle, Zelkova takes the fan off, unfolding it to reveal the Goddess Scythe. He also has horns atop his head, which some players say are a cheat, while others claim it's a rare item similar to Balmung's wings.

Personality
The very heart of Moon Tree itself, Zelkova possesses all of the qualities members of the guild strive for. He is kind, compassionate, understanding, and seemingly incapable of anger. He is also unbelievably powerful. Despite this, he lacks any real ambition, and has more fun teaching his members and exploring The World than organizing and managing most aspects of the guild. Sakaki sees this as weakness, and also as a chance for him to extend his own influence. A pacifist, Zelkova forbids his members to PKK unless they themselves or someone under their protection are PKed (with Arena battles the only notable exception). He will, however, forgive anyone who seeks it.

Basic Info
Nothing is known about Zelkova in the real world. His article in the .hack//G.U. Perfect Guidebook goes so far as to suggest he might not exist offline. When asked about who he is offline, he merely replies "I'm Zelkova."

During the events of Volume 4, it is confirmed that Zelkova is an AI just like Aura or Kusabira, however it is not revealed how he was created. After he is rescued from Shadow Vegalta by Haseo and Pi, Kaede confronts Zelkova, fearing for what might happen to him after The World stops working. However, Zelkova mentions that both Netslum and himself will continue to exist even if The World ceases to function, but not in the same way.

In Volume 3, Zelkova states that he created Moon Tree because he was interested in having home, family and friends.

.hack//G.U. Games
Zelkova is first encountered when Pi and Haseo are investigating an AIDA-infested area at Δ Delicious Past Weed Eater. Near the end of the dungeon, the last remaining AIDA attempts to infect Zelkova, who is exploring the area with Kaede. Pi successfully blocks the AIDA, causing it to infect her instead. After a battle with her Avatar, Haseo is able to Data Drain the AIDA from her, and they part ways with Zelkova and Kaede. Later, Zelkova asks Kaede to have Atoli bring Haseo and Pi to Moon Tree's @Home so he can thank them for saving him. Although he was unable to see what happened, he was able to understand that he was saved. Atoli at first thinks Haseo is being summoned because he has done something horrible, and is relieved when she finds out the meeting isn't a reprimand. Here, Pi explains to Haseo via party chat how Sakaki's ambitions have split the guild into two groups, and Haseo observes firsthand Sakaki encouraging Zelkova to take leave of his duties as guildmaster.

Later, Zelkova is a spectator in the Arena Tournament. In the battle between Haseo and Matsu, Matsu uses the Flame Sword, a sword he had forbidden himself to use once he joined Moon Tree. Afterwards, Zelkova forgave him for breaking his promise, understanding the fact that fighting an opponent as strong as Haseo had given Matsu the closure he had been seeking for a long time, and that Matsu would never need to break his promise again. Afterwards, Matsu gave the Flame Sword to Haseo. Zelkova later witnesses the battle between Endrance and Haseo, and comments on how although Endrance knew deep in his heart that the cat AIDA he called "Mia" wasn't what he wanted it to be, but he was forcing himself to believe it was anyway.

After the tournament, when all the players were transferred to the AIDA Server, Zelkova followed a request from Raven's guildmaster Yata and ordered his guild to look for distortions on the server. With the help of Zelkova's Guild, G.U. was able to restore the server to its natural state. Later, Sakaki staged a coup d'état against Zelkova. Using the power of Innis, Atoli was able to PK Zelkova and turn him into a Lost One. Sakaki then turned Moon Tree's @Home into an AIDA server. After Haseo stopped Sakaki, Zelkova returned to normal along with the others. After forgiving Atoli for her actions, he began the hard work of rebuilding Moon Tree alongside Kaede. It was at this point that he revealed Nala's true identity to Haseo, that of G.U. leader Yata. After this event, however, Moon Tree's @HOME was sealed off. During this time, Zelkova sent Haseo anonymous emails and followed his activities closely. When Ovan released his "Rebirth" ability through the internet, Zelkova brought all the other Epitaph Users to Net Slum Tartarga, and helped repair Haseo, whose PC and spirit were both damaged by the blast caused by Ovan's reset of the entire network. He then gives his Member Address to Haseo, with Kaede doing so soon after.

When Cubia appeared following the successful reboot of the system, Zelkova offered Net Slum to Yata as a new base for Project G.U. Using his powers, Zelkova assisted the G.U. members by organizing the players of R:2 into a force to fight against Cubia's Gomoras, and by searching the system for Cubia's main body. He also moved Canard to the Net Slum, along with Yata's Grunty, Wise Grunty. Following the successful victory over Cubia, Zelkova returned to R:2 alongside Kaede to begin the long task of rebuilding his guild.

.hack//G.U.+
Zelkova rescues Haseo from Kazumi's Data Drain, and Job Extends him to Xth form. He also brings Kuhn and Atoli to Moon Tree's Headquarters and debriefs them about Kazumi and his objective. He later warps all of them to the Net Slum and proceeds to reveal one of Ovan's Signs, allowing Haseo to hack it and warp himself, Atoli, and Kuhn to the Serpent of Lore, while Zelkova serves as support.

.hack//G.U. Returner
Zelkova is briefly seen at Δ Hidden Forbidden Festival.

.hack//Link
See Zelkova (LINK)

Trivia

 * In the Japanese version of the game, Zelkova's name was Keyaki. The name Keyaki means "Zelkova serrata" or "Keaki", which is a type of East Asian elm. Before becoming Keyaki, Zelkova went by the name Tsukinoki, which is another word for the same tree. The name of his guild, Moon Tree ("Tsuki no Ki" in Japanese), is a pun off of this.
 * According to data hard-coded into Rebirth, Zelkova possesses perfect stats, much like Helba, and is also level 150, the maximum level. This was later changed when he joins Haseo's party in Redemption, but he still possesses infinite gold.
 * Zelkova is the only Flick Reaper to join Haseo's Party.
 * His weapon is called the Goddess Scythe in the English version of the series, and the Palm of Kannon in the Japanese version.
 * He is credited with the creation of the Crown of Lu Ming by the Moon Tree guild clerk.
 * Zelkova's PC is only 5'1" (156 cm) in height.
 * Zelkova's English voice actor also voiced BlackRose in the original games.
 * The Shopkeeper from .hack//LINK has a picture of Zelkova in his collection.
 * He joins Haseo's Party at 127 and his starting weapon, Goddess Scythe, is the strongest Scythe in the game.