Maseo Yamashiro

"Maseo is dead. I'm all that's left, Sarab. A phantom."

- Maseo to Oliver Queen

Maseo Yamashiro is one of the former mentors, former handlers, and an old friend of Oliver Queen. Maseo is also the husband of Tatsu Yamashiro, and the father of Akio Yamashiro. Sometime after Hong Kong, Maseo joined the League of Assassins, around the same time Sara Lance did. From then on, he came to be known as merely Sarab (سراب Phantom), refusing to use his former name entirely.

Oliver Queen's handler
After Oliver made an attempt to contact his family, he stopped Oliver and brought him back to Amanda Waller. To prevent Oliver from escaping yet again, Amanda threatened to make sure Oliver never leaves or she would kill Maseo's family. A few days later, Maseo ordered Oliver to kill Tommy Merlyn, as Waller couldn't risk Tommy finding out Oliver was still alive. Maseo told Oliver it's his own fault that he had to kill his best friend as when he logged onto his email account, it set off an account alert. He and Oliver devised a plan by kidnapping Tommy and claiming to Tommy that Oliver was dead and they hacked Oliver's account in hoping a family member would come. Maseo then "rescued" Tommy from Oliver who asked Tommy to get his father to pay a ransom.

Maseo later tasked Oliver to kill a terrorist, who was actually Edward Fyers' handler who had the intel on shooting down the Ferris air jet. After Oliver had the intel, Maseo told his son not to let Oliver use his laptop though Oliver eventually persuaded his son. Maseo at first yelled at his son but Oliver would quickly take the blame. Maseo then was asked to meet with Amanda.

After gaining intel on Li Khuan Hui, he told Oliver and Tatsu that he'd drop by the docks for an hour to meet a contact. After several hours, Tatsu and Oliver searched for him where they believed he was killed. Maseo later revealed that the agents were in lockdown after the triad killed three agents.

Sometime later, he and Oliver kidnapped Triad members and tortured them for information. They learnt that the Triad wanted to steal the Omega virus. They infiltrated the facility at which it was kept, taking out the guards. They soon realized that the virus had been stolen, learning via security footage that an employee had done so. He kidnapped the employee, who begged for his life and offered his limited money. As Oliver began to torture him, Maseo realized that he perhaps could have been drugged and made to steal the virus, shocking Oliver that he had tortured all for nothing. Fearing for his family, Maseo returned home to find blood over a photo and Akio, who claimed that a white-haired woman took his mother.

With the League of Assassins
Not long after an event in Hong Kong, Maseo, overwhelmed with guilt and grief, found his way to Nanda Parbat, after hearing the stories it could help him forge his guilt into something else, around the same time as Sara Lance, commenting that she was a strong warrior. From then, he was known only by the name Sarab (a translation of "Phantom", or "mirage"). This name was seemingly a reflection of feeling that he was dead and a ghost.

In 2014, he was present when Nyssa al Ghul had Oliver brought to her, telling him that he had extinguished her father's patience and that he had forty eight hours to find Sara's killer. He disregarded Oliver's "confession" to killing Sara because she begged for death to get away from the League. He explained to Oliver that he had time to say goodbyes and gave him the location of where the trial by combat that Oliver had challenged Ra's to was going to take place. Forty eight hours later, Sarab watched as Oliver and Ra's fought. While initially being a relatively fair fight, if slightly leaning towards Ra's, Ra's soon beat down Oliver, stabbing him through the middle and kicking him off the mountain. After the battle between Ra's and Oliver, Maseo took Oliver's corpse to Tatsu, who revives him under unknown circumstances.

After bringing Oliver to Tatsu, Maseo prepares to return to Nanda Parbat. It is revealed he ended all contact with Tatsu several years ago, and he refuses Oliver's offer to come with him to Starling City. When Assassins from the League come to Tatsu's house, Maseo first attempts to conceal Tatsu and Oliver from them, then kills them when his ruse fails. He buries them, then cuts his own neck in order to provide an alibi, saying that he will tell Ra's that Oliver wounded him and escaped after killing the other Assassins. Despite a final plea from Tatsu, he departs for Nanda Parbat. He is later revealed to be Chase's contact with the League, receiving his report about Thea and Malcolm Merlyn.

After hearing that Oliver has refused the offer to become the leader of the Assassins, Maseo confronted him to make him embrace it. However Oliver told him that killing people will not change anything.

Maseo wore an Arrow costume and killed Mayor Castle during her meeting with Ray, Felicity, Lance, and Laurel. He hesitated before taking a shot at Felicity.

Personality
Maseo is a calm, level-headed and composed individual. He is a ruthless operative who was willing to do whatever Waller ordered him, though he feels guilt for his actions and was under the pressure of Waller threatening to murder his family if he did not comply. Despite that he and Oliver kill and torture people he believes it is for the greater good. After first seeing Oliver as a target the two became more of partners and friends later. He is a loving, caring husband and father to his wife Tatsu and his son Akio.

After an unknown event in Hong Kong, Maseo's adoption of his Sarab personal has made him completely abandon his former self, shutting out all communications with his wife, Tatsu. The only remnants of his former self only surfaces when the people important to him in his old life are in danger. He is then shown to be highly loyal to the League of Assassins and is willing to follow every order, even if it meant killing innocent civilians. He was however trying to inform Oliver as much as he could and tried to get him to tell the truth about Sara's death because he had no desire to watch Oliver die, implying his loyalty to his friend. It was later revealed Maseo's loyalty to Oliver is beyond his loyalty to even the League of Assassins and Ra's al Ghul as a result of Oliver playing a vital part in saving Tatsu during his third year of going missing.

Abilities

 * Peak of human physical condition: As a former A.R.G.U.S operative and a member of the League of Assassins, Maseo is shown to be in top physical condition. His reflexes allowed him to catch an arrow shot at him by Oliver (a feat that only highly skilled individuals have accomplished).
 * League of Assassins training: Maseo has gone through the training all League members do. He possesses skills in combat, assassination, stealth, tolerance for pain as well as a variety of melee weapons such as swords, bow and arrows, and knives.
 * Expert marksman/Firearms: Maseo is shown to be highly skilled with firearms, being able to shoot a cell phone out of Oliver's hand.
 * Expert hand-to-hand combatant/Martial artist: Maseo is shown to be a highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat and martial arts, enough to beat Oliver in unarmed combat before becoming the Arrow.
 * Expert archer: Due to his training with the League of Assassins and the fact that he carries arrows in a quiver, Maseo is an expert archer. He shot an arrow with great accuracy through a window to assassinate Mayor Castle.
 * Expert swordsman: Due to his training with the League of Assassins, and the fact that he wields a blade, Maseo is an experienced swordsman. He was able to kill three fellow assassins with his katana blade with ease.
 * Skilled tactician/Leader: Maseo is skilled at designing plans to break into secured buildings and abduct people from public spaces in broad daylight. He seems to have a leading role in the League, as Nyssa mentioned he would lead the executions in Starling City if the dead line had passed and Chase reported to him while on the hunt for Malcolm Merlyn.
 * High tolerance for pain: Due to his League of Assassins' training, Maseo has high tolerance for pain as seen he was able to cut his own neck in order to provide an alibi for Oliver without flinching.
 * Multilingualism: As a native Japanese, Maseo speaks that language fluently, in addition to Chinese, English and Arabic.