Skyler DuBois

Name: Skyler DuBois
Age: 22
Bounty: N/a
Species: Whale Shark Fishman

Occupation: Multiple, including but not limited to Navigator, (Rank) Cabin Boy, Slave
Allegiance: Marine
Home Village/Ocean: Grand Line

Appearance: Skyler is not an extremely tall individual; at his tallest he stands at five feet and ten inches. He’s a rather rotund individual, though his shape is not due to fat, but rather due to his birth. His hair is also black, wavy, and plentiful, though he normally keeps it under wraps by tying it off halfway down his back. This leaves two segments of hair to poof out in bunches down his back. He has three parallel slashes for his gills near where his neck should be, and he has two tusk-like teeth sticking out of the bottom of both sides of his mouth. He doesn’t have much of a neck, his head sort of molds to the rest of his body like a shark’s does.

Skyler’s arms and legs are about the proper length for both his age and size, neither too skinny nor too broad. His body is very fit, but he is, understandably, not absurdly sized. His youthful age and his moderation in training have successfully stopped him from growing disproportionally in size. He wears the worn and somewhat shredded clothing given to him by his owner, consisting of a faded Criminal brand shirt and jeans. The shirt is short sleeved, with a deep blue front and back bearing a miniaturized Criminal symbol in the top left corner, and white sleeves with blue piping on the edges. The sleeves and hem are faded and torn, as are the cuffs of his jeans. He doesn’t bother with footwear, because it impairs his movement.

History: To put Skyler’s situation out on the table for everyone to see, Skyler is the equivalent to an orphan. His parents were a part of a small group of fishmen and mermen civilians who wanted to see the parks in Saobady Archipelago. Skyler was only a toddler at the time, and was at the point where he no longer needed constant attention from his mother to survive. Unfortunately, his parents and their group, containing mostly, if not only, people who weren’t able to protect themselves, were attacked by a roving group of slave trading pirates. Though his parents should have been stronger due to the naturally high strength of fishmen, the pirates had far more experience in battle, and they quickly got the upper hand. Each fishman and merman in the group was quickly taken down and carted off to an auction house.

Skyler was sold to a young noble; not one of the world nobles, but still a person of high birth. He was split from his parents due to his easily impressionable mind and youth. As soon as Skyler was able to walk and talk, his owner made him run errands, move things around the estate, and carry messages to acquaintances. At around this point in his life, Skyler was taught what his owner’s point of view was. In essence, his owner told him, every person had a place in life, and every person had a position they were meant to fill. It had just so happened, he said, that Skyler had been born in the mold of a young nobleman’s slave. Skyler embraced the concept, because although the nobleman was harsh, he wasn’t outwardly cruel. He had no inkling that the nobleman’s thoughts were so far from the truth, and due to constant effort on the nobleman’s part, Skyler cemented in his mind the concept as irrefutable.

At around the age of nine, Skyler was granted what was, to him, a boon; he received authorization from his owner to work at the bottom of a lake as a miner. The island upon which Skyler’s owner had placed his residence had a number of highly valuable ore veins located at the bottom of the island’s lakes. Now that he was old enough to actually work in a more strenuous area, he was able to mine the deposits efficiently, with far lower maintenance costs than divers could have ever cost. He did this with absolutely no complaining, even finding a certain amount of joy in his work. Though his youth prevented him from being extremely industrious, his labors did end up supplementing his owner’s income quite nicely.

On his tenth ‘official’ birthday, Skyler had his first truly memorable encounter with the Marines and the pirates they hunted. A pirate crew had attempted to flee from the Marines and hide near his owner’s estate, and they managed to escape capture for about a week before the Marines caught them. When Skyler asked his owner what was going on, his owner explained to him, “The men in white are the defenders of justice, and the other men are enemies of the state, as well as enemies of humanity and every race alike. The men in white, the Marines, serve the Government and eliminate threats like these men, in order to help the rest of the people.” This praise from his owner was sufficient to make the Marines shine like the sun in Skyler’s view of the world, and he believed in their integrity from the beginning.

Skyler’s fifteenth year with his owner marked an interesting part of his life. His owner had realized that, by restricting the learning of his servants and slaves, he had made them completely unable to take initiative. Furthermore, they were totally useless for any other purpose than manual labor. In order to correct the problem, he hired a scholar to teach his servants and slaves at least a few things about useful skills, like higher cuisine arts, navigation, and music. The scholar’s knowledge was purely academic, with no true applied knowledge, but it was enough to serve the master’s purpose. Skyler himself received a cursory education in navigation and the principles of Fishman Karate, which inspired him to try to teach himself the general applications of Fishman Karate in the very small amounts of spare time he was given.

When Skyler was about twenty one, a sharp-eyed Marine officer visiting the master’s mansion noticed that Skyler had the potential to be extremely useful to the Marines. Thanks to his rearing as a completely submissive servant of a Government sympathizer, he would likely be one of the most loyal agents possible. As the master had gotten quite a lot out of his initial investment, he was willing to part with Skyler under a number of conditions. Primarily, Skyler would be still under the master’s possession, even while he was enlisted, and could be repossessed at any time. Skyler could not rise in rank, and he would not be given a proper uniform. Viewing the enlistment as just yet another order from his master, Skyler joined the Marines, improved his Fishman Karate skills a bit, and was recently assigned to the Rain Kettle VI.

Personality: One of Skyler's prominent features is his heavily ingrained Stockholm syndrome, the majority of which was formed over the course of his childhood. Skyler doesn't have the capacity to believe that his captors and owners, specifically the World Government and the Marines, are capable of performing any actions deemed 'evil'. His perception of right and wrong is entirely dictated by what the Government commands; if an island must be conquered, the island must be conquered. Anyone given a higher priority than himself by the Government also becomes a higher priority for him, and Skyler rarely considers going against the Government's wishes. Possibly the only people Skyler would place over the Government's rules are the people who owned him from the beginning, for they were the ones who are the primary focus of his Stockholm syndrome.

Skyler himself is a highly uplifting and friendly individual, finding it hard to get mad at people in general. He will immediately obey the commands of others, and puts the interests of others above his own. On the off chance anybody would actually ask him about what he likes, he becomes very energetic due to the excitement of being able to talk about things he likes, like swimming and anything affected positively by the water. He tries to cheer up people through the simple vehicle of a cheery disposition, as he finds jokes rather hard to pull off properly. He does really like jokes, however, so he will freely laugh if a joke is told, good or bad. He also attempts to speak respectfully at all times, even to people younger than him, and even to people he is attacking on the World Government's orders.

Ship: N/a

Devil Fruit: N/a

Special Abilities:
Innate Navigational Skills: Skyler was born with a particularly strong sense of direction. When combined with his adaptation to the waters of the Grand Line, this strong sense of direction makes him able to help his teammates navigate the oceans far more easily. Even more than that, Skyler can detect changes in the waters of the ocean in order to warn his allies when a large storm may be coming.

Fishman Strength: As a fishman, particularly as a shark fishman, Skyler has at least ten times the strength of a normal human, but his strength has been increased even further than that. He is not quite strong enough to lift up entire battleships, but his strength is certainly enough that his improved strength is apparent in combat. This helps supplement his primary fighting style, Fishman Karate, and make his attacks a little more devastating.

Fishman Karate: Skyler received tutelage from a scholar of the fishman people in the basics and the concepts involved with the performance of Fishman Karate. Due to the fact that Skyler never received "true" schooling in the art of Fishman Karate, Skyler's skills are somewhat sloppy and unrefined, though he has been continuously improving his skills. This makes him a decent opponent in a fight, for he has grown accustomed to not using large amounts of water when fighting. When he does use large amounts of water, whether thanks to rain or the ocean, Skyler's skills are improved by a substantial amount.

Learned Techniques (Keep it 1-25):
Wave-Form Strike: By influencing the water inside whatever he strikes, Skyler is able to increase the power of his strikes to deal more damage to organic and water-filled opponents, and this effect is nearly always in use. This technique is performed by forcing the water inside the body of a struck target to vibrate the water molecules in the target's bloodstream, forcing the tissue to compress against the location where the strike occurred. This leads to the wound inflicted becoming much more painful and serious than it would under normal circumstances.
Anointment: By covering his hand in water and flaring out his fingers very quickly, Skyler can send many droplets of water flying as fast as dull bullets, allowing him to turn little drops of water in concussive weaponry.
Christening: After scooping up water into the somewhat webbed palm of his hand, Skyler can pitch a sphere of water at someone with a lot of speed, making a small amount of water strike a person like a cannonball.

Weapons/Items: N/a

Character Flaws: Skyler's primary flaw is that he will obey nearly any order given by the Government. Even if the Government gave him suicide mission, or even went so far as to order his execution for any reason, he would obey without the slightest hesitation. Additionally, when on land, or not under the effects of normally adverse weather conditions, like rain, Skyler cannot perform at his best due to the fact that there simply isn't enough water around for him to use for Fishman Karate.

Goals: Skyler's only goal is to make the leaders of the Marines and the World Government happy through obedience.

Approvinated.