Duke Carter

Name: Duke Carter

Epithet: Flaming Duke

Theme: Chicks Dig Giant Robots

Age: 21

Bounty: 0 B

Species: Human.

Occupation: Boxer

Allegiance: Himself, Duke is wandering for his own personal goals

Home Village/Ocean: Pizmo Beach, Grandline

Appearance: With his relatively short and scrawny build, Duke doesn't really seem like your typical ring fighter. He barely stands at 1.75 meters, and weights around 75 kilograms. Under his scrawny build lies a blazing fighting machine, which consists of well toned and compact muscles that provide Duke both his strength and his cockiness. Sticking with his wrestling persona, Duke walks around with what almost appears to be a costume. He wears an open, short sleeved red hoodie, which is decorated with patterns of flames along the sleeves, back and hood. He doesn't wear an undershirt, revealing his abdomen from under his hoodie. His pair of black baggy fighting pants reach all the way down to his ankles, and are tied to his waists by a simple rope since he refuses to wear any belts but the champion's belt, which he lost. On that rope, Duke keeps his pair of fighting gloves, both red and decorated with flame patterns similar to the ones on his hoodie.
Duke sports bright yellow hair, kept short so it won't fall on his eyes while his hood is pulled on. He takes pride in the fact that even though he is a ring fighter, his mouth is still filled with his original teeth.

History: As all young children who lived on Pizmo Beach, Duke was obsessed with only one thing: The Ring. The Ring was a fighting tournament that took place on Pizmo Beach every year, making it a popular tourist site and an attraction for fighters who wanted to test their might against others. Naturally, such a sport would sprout dreams in the young mind of children, who wish to be the future champions of the Ring from the moment they can speak. Who wouldn't? The glorification of the champions around the island was a perfect reason, not to mention the colorful personas and costumes the fighters wore, along with the violence that children love so much. While almost all children of Pizmo Beach dream of becoming fighters in the Ring, most of them will abandon these dreams as they grow older, but Duke was different.

Duke father was a retired pirate, who took refuge from the boring life of not sailing the seas in The Ring. As a sworn fan, and as a well trained fighter of his own caliber, Duke's love for the sport was a good enough reason for his father to start training the boy from the very ripe age of 4, despite his mother's disapproval. The training wasn't so demanding at first, but the older Duke got, the more obsessed he became with The Ring, and the more he wished to put into his training, while leaving all other goals on the back burner.

As he grew older, and fought his way through the little leagues and amateur leagues, he finally reached the notorious age of 18, with enough skill to get himself into The Ring. He took the persona of Flaming Duke, a fighter who's obsessed with fire, and names his moves accordingly. Thanks to his long training, Duke was a prodigy fighter from the very start, defeating older and heavier opponents while keeping the crowd roaring. He was both dangerous and entertaining, the perfect Ring fighter. His career escalated fast, his name became known around the island, and fans started popping up, making Duke's obsession with The Ring grow stronger. Maybe it was the success, or one of the hundred punches that brushed his skull, but he started embracing his persona outside of the ring as well, turning into Flaming Duke.

At the age of 20, Duke managed to defeat the raining champion of the ring, thus obtaining the champion's belt and becoming the new ruler of the ring, and the official best fighter of Pizmo Beach. But his title wasn't going to last long, for a new fighter arrived at Pizmo Beach that year. They called him Juan of Xing Shi island, an island known for it's dojos and skilled fighters. Duke managed to maintain his title against all other fighters, but when it was time to face Juan, he was simply outmatched. No matter how hard he tried, Duke couldn't hold his ground against Juan's special fighting style, leading to his defeat and the loss of the title.

With this defeat, Duke lost most of his fame and fans, damaging his monstrous ego greatly. He couldn't bear the loss of the belt, he couldn't accept it but without any new tricks, there was no way he could defeat Juan and return the belt. He knew where to look for these tricks, and a week after his defeat, Duke packed his bags and left Pizmo Beach, heading for the island of his dreams, Xing Shi.

Personality: Duke is an egotistic showoff, who takes pride in his skills and strength more than anything else. He hates asking for help, refusing to accept it from anyone. He can be a nice guy, but his pride and ego can get on anyone's nerves pretty quickly, in which point he'll calmly claim they're simply envious. He hates crying, and comforting someone is his most hated thing to do. His determination is admirable, he'll allow nothing to stand between him and his goal, but his dream of reaching to Xing Shi island is identical to a donkey's wish to reach the carrot in the end of the rob, it will never happen. Thanks to his poor navigation skills and stubbornness, Duke is destined to wonder the seas without ever reaching Xing Shi island. Duke enjoys spicy food, the spicier the better, and of course, good drinks.

Ship: The Firefly: A simple motorboat, big enough to only house one man and his equipment. It sports no weapons or any sophisticated mechanisms, but with a reasonable mattress and a few cubic meters of storing space, it serves Duke perfectly.

Ship Flag: Even though Duke belong to no crew and isn't a pirate, he does wave a flag. The flag is his wrestler's logo, which takes its roots from the Jolly Roger. It is effectively a frowning Jolly Roger, wearing Duke's trademarked flaming red hood, with two red boxing gloves crossed in the background. The similarities between his flag and pirate flag caused him trouble more than once.

Devil Fruit: None
Type:
Effect:

Special Abilities:

Physical Prowess: As an ex-fighting champion, Duke packs a considerable punch. Even when using his protective kickboxing gloves, Duke's punches can still break bones and hurl heavy-weight opponents back to their corner. Duke is also considerably quick and agile, a skill that allowed him to preserve a full mouth of healthy teeth through all his years in the ring. He is capable of reacting with extremely quick cat-like reflexes. Along with those skills, Duke is also impressively fast, capable of raising clouds of dust behind him while running in speeds that match those of a charging bull.

Boxing: Duke refers to this fighting style in many names, but it's always the same basic style. Back in his home, Duke was a rising fighting star, specializing in boxing. Duke's fighting style consists on the basics of traditional boxing, taught to him by his father, with added moves and techniques from Duke's own experience in the arena. Duke's fighting style is not only meant to defeat his opponent, but also humiliate them and get the crowd cheering at the same time.

Learned Techniques (Keep it 1-25):

Flaming Jab!: One of the very basic punches of boxing. A quickly-executed straight punch with the leading fist aimed at the opponent's upper section. The jab makes for a useful counterattack thanks to the speed at which it can be pulled off, and its relatively long range. The jab can also be performed with the rear hand, packing more power in exchange for a slightly longer execution time. Such a move is called a Cross.

Flaming Hook!: One of the very basic punches of boxing. A horizontal punch delivered with either arm by bending it 90 degrees and swinging it towards the opponent's side with the attacker's core muscles.

Flaming Uppercut!: One of the very basic punches of boxing. A vertical punch performed with either arm, utilizing the attackers weight and strength to strike the opponent's chin.

Flaming Overhand!: One of the very basic punches of boxing. A vertical punch performed with the rear fist, aimed down the opponent's head from above in a crescent shape. The punch's strength is combined with the attacker's wight to form one of the stronger weapons in a boxer's arsenal.

Flaming Reversal!: Similar to a Hook punch, only backwards. Duke will bend his arm 90 degrees before rotating his entire body to the side opposite to the hand. After a full rotation, Duke will connect his swinging arm in a backhand strike powered by the rotation's momentum.

Flaming Duke!: An impure punch mixed into the boxing style by Duke's love for breaking teeth, resembling the Haymaker punch. While barely bending his elbow, Duke will swing his entire arm from the shoulder joint, whipping a powerful strike aimed towards the opponent's head that could easily be a gruesome finisher. The strength of the blow is derived from weight transfer and momentum rather than muscle, meaning that the punch is more effective after a dash towards the opponent. As comic relief, people who receive this punch may lose their clothing and a few teeth as they fly back.

Bob: While facing an incoming attack, the user will move his head and shift his body to either side while ducking down by bending his knees to dodge it, and quickly respond with a fitting counter.

Sucker Punch: Being both useful and humiliating for the opponent, it is by far one of Duke's favorite strategies. Duke will move as if he is about to use one of his punches, before shifting into a different punch at the very last moment, allowing him to neutralize the opponent's defense through trickery.

Weapons/Items: A pair of red boxing gloves, decorated with a flaming pattern.

Character Flaws: Duke may easily be the worst navigator that ever sailed the seas. His sense of direction and map reading skills are shameful even for toddlers to possess. He also owns an unhealthy amount of ego, stopping him from actually hiring or teaming up with a reasonable navigator, even if it means he will be destined to forever circle Xing Shi island.

Goals: To get to Xing Shi island, and return to his home island to reclaim his champion's belt.

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