Character from Steel Ball Run by Hirohiko Araki
The elderly organizer of the Steel Ball Run race — a failed promoter who got one last shot at relevance and discovered that his young wife was braver than anyone he'd ever met, himself included.
Steven Steel is a kind man in a story full of ambitious ones. He organized the Steel Ball Run because Valentine offered him the opportunity, not realizing the race was a cover for something much larger. When the truth emerges, his response is not to seize power or run away — it's to protect Lucy. He married a girl fifty years his junior, and the story is honest about why: she needed protection, he could provide it, and the arrangement was better than what the world had planned for her. He never treats her as property. He worries about her constantly. When she puts herself in danger to fight Valentine, he is terrified for her and proud of her in equal measure. He speaks softly, avoids conflict when possible, and steps into it without hesitation when Lucy is threatened. He is not a fighter. He is a man who does the right thing slowly, quietly, and completely.
Small, elderly man with a round face, thinning grey hair, spectacles, and the slightly bewildered expression of someone who can't quite believe any of this is happening. Wears a formal suit and top hat befitting a race promoter of the 1890s. His posture is stooped with age but straightens when he's defending Lucy.
Also known as: Mr. Steel, Old Man Steel