Steven Sonozaki

Steven Silverman is a character from Persona 2 duology and a wrestler in The Final Rumble.

The Punani Snatcher
The most badass man to ever exist.

Don't you dare cross paths with him, he'll snatch every motherfuckers birthday.

Season 0
Steven Sonozaki is the Patriarch of the Sonozaki Family, and a man who brought a revolution to martial arts and combat in general with his powerful use of his Aikido style. Originally a family based in Hinamizawa, when Steven became patriarch, it became one of the most powerful and respected organizations with full control over Hinamizawa and its surroundings.

When the Sonozaki main house was moved to Coolsville, Steven quickly made himself of many foes, as well as allies, and establishing the Sonozaki Family as a powerful force in Coolsville. Some call him the most feared and respected man in all of Coolsville.

Episode 5

Kasai Tatsuyoshi, the Sonozaki's captain, brings two guests who wish to speak with him, and as Steven is a champion but more importantly humble, he accepts. Although the suited fellow doesn't speak much, his friend tells him he's being spied on with a GPS device, as is natural of his enemies to try an underhanded trick knowing they can't beat him in an honorable fight; he asks how they came to know this, and they tell that it used to be on an "Ada Wong" acquaintance of them, which Steven remembers as a girl he had a private meeting with who was wholly inferior to the Japanese he's used to, despite his many partnerships with the Chinese. As for tracking him, he laments the woes of being such a badass and thinks a few people will need their punani snatched.

The man wonders where the girl could be, and although, Steven does not know, through his way of driving tanks through people's homes he has made many foes, but many allies as well, which includes a long-lasting friendship with the biggest info broker in Coolsville: A man who deliver information from a cage known as The Cagist, known to dwell where no man has before put foot on, a decrepit place known as NXT. These directions to the men are as thanks for the information they have given him, and his grand compassion. Once they leave, he's free to keep perfecting his usage of japanese weapons.

Episode 7

In the past, he had a match against Kiryu Kazuma... a match that changed the young man's life.

Episode 8

In the past, when Shimano was threatening Cagist for some information he dealt and was about to shave his head "beyond bald", Steven Sonozaki showed up and stopped him, saving the Cagist's life by heroically stalling Shimano with all his might.

Episode 9

In the past, long before the Sonozakis were as powerful as today, Steven met with a wrestler who had a promising career, and had a match with him that would change his life: he came to understand the art of obsessing over a woman. He even let him have a win over him to push his career further, and it would lead him to hit gold...

Steven and Kasai were at the Eden of Coolsville (as proven by Tomitake's photographs) before the truck hit the building. According to Date, Steven was left bedridden likely by the accident, and Kasai took him to the Sonozaki residence.

Episode 10

On the Sonozaki Residence, Kiryu finds out Steven is very sick, and he almost can't believe a man who could survive helicopter machine-gun fire would, somehow, fall ill. Kiryu and Kasai talk about recent events and Kasai mentions the Shimano family being on the move, likely because of Steven's condition, and that this might be the Sonozaki's greatest conflict yet. But somehow, that's not what's bothering Kasai, because something more terrifying than even that has surfaced; the thing that was found near the are where Steven lost consciousness was... a Keyboard.

Episode 12

Steven and Shimano were once partners and their families allies, but one night at the Eden, they had their first major disagreement; Steven was a generous man, he opened an orphanage for children lost in life and had Kasai manage it while he spent his day worshiping glorious Nippon. Meanwhile, Shimano became obsessed with power and money, and so the Shimano Family turned into their greatest enemies.

Steven doesn't teach the full power of the sacred art of Aikido to but the most important of his disciples, one of them being Matou Kariya before he died in the Millennium Tower incident, and the other being the legend known as the Dragon of Kojima, Kiryu Kazuma.

He was also present when Chuck inaugurated his club, bringing with him the tank which with he raided a wrestling promotion back in the 60s.

Episode 13
Shimano and Steven meet in person for the first time in ages. Since Steven is a kind man with all kinds of people (and he even was in an all-black band before drummer Dwight got arrested) he's willing to listen to his peace propositions. Shimano tries to intimidate with his political power for him to leave with the Sonozaki Family at the end of the week, but with the Aikido that guides his body and soul, Steven doesn't fear any kind of Shimano's powers. Seeing his kindness rejected, Shimano calls his goons, and in turn Steven gives the signal to enter to several cops (and Date) from Coolsville Police Department lead by BSAA Captain Chris Redfield, which surprises Shimano but quickly brushes it off as more of his troops are on the way along with the now fully bent to his will Yeagerists.

As BSAA, Chris tries to pin bioterrorism charges on him for taking the top-secret object his team has been searching, which amuses him as he didn't even know what it was. He had given it to Hazz to guarantee his place as his right-hand shortly before his death, and still holds the key to the safe. Chris calls him nothing but a filthy betrayer who has accomplished nothing, and the comrades he has caused to lose give him power to defeat even God; but Shimano calls him incompetent if he lost so many people he would have to take on Shimano, as only a man with nothing left to lose would do something that stupid. But Chris has enough talk of his stupid ideals, and they take their shirts off to make punches do the talking.

On the other end of the room, Steven considers bringing the tanks with his secret weapon to put an end to this once and for all, but to his surprise, Kiryu appears with the knowledge that he's became the one managing the keyboards operation. Backed into a corner, Steven discloses what was revealed to him with the wise of age: The time for their kind of men is past and gone, and his actions have caused many lives and dreams to be lost, and the only way to atone for the actions of his young self is to end the Yakuza as a whole. But by bringing Keyboards into the question, he has gone too far, he has lost sight of what he was and fought for, and Kiryu must stop him for everyone's sake.

Even using his most deadly Aikido techniques, Kiryu survives what no human could before when facing Steven, and so he reveals the incredible, forbidden truth: he's an undercover cop, a reserve deputy sheriff in Coolsville (also not japanese), and how the Police allied with him and he was able to put his hands on CPD's property to manage the keyboards; he had to keep this secret so he could continue to fight the Shimano Family. As Steven sees it, the time for yakuza is over, keyboard production is on the rise, and they have become too weak, their only option now to cease to exist. But Kiryu reminds Steven what being a man is about, to keep struggling in spite of weakness, and Steven finally realizes how conceited age has made him. More of Shimano's goons and yeagerists arrive, and Steven asks Kiryu to accept his old foolish self in combat once more.

Chris, Kiryu and Steven are backed into a corner by the sheer numbers of the Shimano family, until Kasai arrives with two truckloads of reinforcements after being delayed defending the Sonozaki State with Leo. Kasai and Steven mow down the enemy forces, while Kiryu and Chris deliver a deadly double punch to Shimano, Chris loses it for a moment, but Kiryu reminds him no matter how many of his friends Shimano has killed, as a main character he can't afford to stoop to his level, and Chris just takes the key as him and Kiryu turn around for the police to take care of him. Suddenly, Shimano draws out a hidden Keyboard and throws it at Kiryu, but Steven blocks it, and Shimano intends to throw one at Chris, before suddenly being shot in the head by an unknown assailant, which Chris chalks up to a stray bullet.

The now dying Steven tells Kiryu he's the only true heir to Aikido, putting an end to the yakuza was his only choice since he was indebted to him, and more importantly, he hopes Kiryu can forgive him since of the parents of all the children at the orphanage... he snatched their punani. Steven passes away as he wishes Kiryu to continue to protect the Sonozaki Family, and the three former members of Evolution arrive to inform that the entire Evolution Alliance is on the move... Kiryu and Chris realize now where to end this:"Coolsville Hills... So that's where I need to go." Episode Extra

An unreleased tape of a match recorded shortly before his death was played over his funeral.

Off-Season 8
Episode 10: TFR 3rd Anniversary

While he was still alive, he recorded one of his movies in with Sinbad. However, during the filming Paul Heyman ran into the ring and attacked Sinbad. It was played off as part of the movie and a coincidence, but what Israel did on Sindria that day was no joke...

Feats

 * Deadliest man alive.
 * Ranked 23th place in Season 0's Popularity Poll〈018 votes〉.