Name: Azure
Age: 18
Bounty: N/A
Species: Human-Mermaid Hybrid
Occupation: Shipwright
Allegiance: Independent (Not a pirate. See History.)
Home Island/Ocean: Sunshine Isle/South Blue
Appearance: Azure is an adult, human-mermaid female. She stands at five feet and nine inches tall. She weighs about one hundred and fifty pounds. Her skin is light in tone, but has a slight tan to it. She has dark blue hair that falls just below her shoulder blades. She typically ties it up in a ponytail except when she is swimming, in which case she lets it hang loose. Her eyes are a deep, emerald green. She is slim, almost deceptively so since her occupation demands that she be built much heavier than the average human. In fact she is quite muscular and this becomes obvious when she is working or if someone were to touch her. To supplement her slim frame, she has a voluptuous shape with both a large bust and wide hips. Despite looking mostly human, a couple of aspects of her mermaid heritage have made it through. Firstly, she has a few, small turquoise scales randomly scattered across her legs. Secondly, a tiny pair of fins protrude from the sides of each of her heels.
Azure wears comfortable, but practical clothing that applies to her job. She normally wears a pair of goggles, work gloves, a tank top, shorts, and sandals. Underneath it all, she wears a swimsuit. She does this so that if the part of the ship she is trying to fix is damaged somewhere below the waterline, she can quickly strip and dive in to fix it. In cooler weather she wears a coat over her tank top and replaces her shorts and swimsuit with a pair of pants and a wetsuit.
History: Azure was conceived on Fishman Island as the daughter of a mermaid and a human merchant. The union was considered highly unusual, especially considering that her mother was a highly valued member of a unit within the island's military that specialized in fighting devil fruit users with seastone weapons. Two months before Azure was born, her father was killed by an anti-human faction while he was visiting her mother. To protect her unborn child, Azure's mother left the island and traveled to the South Blue to Sunshine Isle, which was a haven for fish- and mer-people and heavily populated by members of both species. Since humans frequented the island regularly, the populace was used to and much more accepting of intimate relationships with humans. Azure was born soon after arrival.
As the years passed, Azure began to show an interest in mechanics. Her mother was glad to see that Azure might not follow in her footsteps and might have a more peaceful life. She herself had always found a certain thrill in combat, but decided that she didn't like the idea of her child risking her life. Since she didn't want to leave her old life behind completely, Azure's mother joined the town guard. Sunshine Isle had only a light Marines presence and the few available soldiers were supplemented by a guard from the town's populace. They didn't have a lot of money, but Azure and her mother were comfortable with their lives and little changed as time went by.
When Azure was twelve, her mother started to hear rumors of pirates attacking people who were traveling to and from the island. The stories made her nervous enough that she decided to begin teaching Azure combat techniques to defend herself. Since Azure's body was more like a fishman's rather than a merman's, her mother began to teach her fishman karate and jujutsu. Due to being a mermaid, her knowledge of the fighting styles was very limited, but she was able to instill the basic principles of both into her child. From then on, Azure spent about an hour each day practicing her technique. Occasionally, she would visit the island's dojo to test herself. She still didn't care much for fighting, so she didn't bother to try to become the best, but she respected her mother's wishes and made sure she was at least prepared.
Azure spent far more of her time learning more about mechanics. She became a common site at various workshops around town and at the docks. If there was a demonstration for some new type of technology, Azure was there. She loved the idea of making something that no one else had created before. She sometimes attempted small projects of her own, but little came of her efforts during the early years.
Two years passed. The rumors of people being attacked as they were coming and going from the island were no longer considered just rumors. Worse, the incidents were becoming more frequent. No matter how many patrols were set, no one could find the perpetrators. Sometimes, even the people sent out on patrol vanished. After a third patrol disappeared without a trace, the city council was planning on sending a call for help from the Marines. However, as the call was about to be made, pirate ships appeared on the horizon. The invasion was quick and calculated. Apparently, the pirate armada had been planning for this for the past two years, questioning anyone they managed to capture leaving or going to the island. They had learned the weaknesses in the island's defenses and were able to break in with little effort. Pandemonium ensued.
The city council began reorganizing their defenses, desperately trying to slow the pirate advance. Despite the initial chaos, they had managed to identify the captain of the armada as a man named Gerrik 'the Executioner' Murkwood. His bounty was worth 70,000,000 and that made him the third most wanted pirate in the South Blue. The biggest question of the day was why he wanted to take over the island. Sunshine Isle was a primarily tourist town and they made a fair amount yearly, but they were far from the richest locale in the South Blue. Certainly, not being the biggest target meant they had smaller defenses, but Gerrik had taken two years to invade. Unless he was completely useless at making plans, he should have been able to come after them long before that. In the face of the imminent threat, these realizations were brought up by the council members, but ultimately were set aside for later contemplation. That is, assuming they had time in the future to wonder about it.
Gerrick's advance drove the defenders back to the city's center plaza, where an ambush had been set by the town guard. Azure's mother was there with the remaining defenders, preparing to trap the pirates. In the meantime, the civilians were being herded into safe houses. They couldn't escape the island because the pirate armada had surrounded it on all sides. Before reaching her safe house, Azure managed to slip away from the other civilians and made her way back towards the plaza. She wanted to see how her mother was doing and maybe try to help. After all, while her skills were rusty, she could still fight. Upon reaching the plaza she found that the ambush had been sprung successfully. A large portion of the pirate army had been trapped in the plaza and bombarded with cannon fire. Unfortunately, the pirates had more than enough troops to outlast the initial assault and destroy the cannons and they were once again ripping apart the defending forces. In the center of the battle was Azure's mother. She was a blur of movement, tearing through groups of pirates with her trident while trying to rally the remaining defenders. Her success was not going unnoticed. One of Gerrik's lieutenants had seen her and was making his way towards her carefully. His name was William 'the Enforcer' Franklin. He possessed the power of the Goro Goro no Mi. He threw several rods in a circular formation around Azure's mother and then called a lightning bolt down on her, using the rods to focus the majority of the current on her body. She collapsed from the force of the blast and dropped her trident. William came forward and seized her by the throat, lifting her into the air to gloat. His arrogance was his undoing. Azure's mother wasn't unconscious. She had a knife hidden in her sleeve and she drew it and rammed it in to William's chest, just barely missing his heart. Before he passed out from the pain he hit her with another blast of electricity. She fell to the ground and was left for dead while William's followers carried him from the battlefield. Azure had witnessed all of this and she snuck around the battlefield, making her way to her mother's side. Her mother was, surprisingly, still conscious, though horribly burned. She told Azure to take her trident and to escape from the island. Azure, knowing that the trident was a seastone weapon, told her that she could use it to kill the lightning man. Her mother, however, told her not to bother trying. The island was lost and if Azure stayed, she too would die. Her mother begged her to leave and to live a life she could be proud of. Azure refused to go, realizing that her mother had no intention of going with her. Her mother told her not to be foolish. She wasn't long for the world anyway. Eyes filling with tears, Azure finally agreed to go, but her mother had one last thing to say: She told Azure that she could not use the trident except for a just cause. She held onto Azure's arm and would not let go until Azure promised her that she would do as she said. At long last, her mother fell back and breathed her last. For a moment, Azure didn't move. A pirate noticed her and came after her. Azure heard his approach and turned to attack him with the trident, her eyes brimming with angry tears, but she hesitated. Her mother did not want her to use the trident unjustly. Was it really just to use it for the sake of revenge? Azure slammed the trident point first into the ground and punched the pirate in the face with a Hundred Tile True Punch, knocking him unconscious. She then took up the trident once more and fled the battlefield.
Looking back, Azure never really remembered how she managed to get past all of the pirates. All she remembers are brief moments of combat and eventually reaching the ocean where she was able to swim away safely.
Four years went by. Azure managed to survive by getting a job as a shipwright apprentice and slowly making her way up in the organization as her ship construction skills steadily improved. Her skill in mechanics also continued to grow, but at a slightly slower pace than it had on Sunshine Isle. Much of her time was now being taken up by combat training. She had reorganized her priorities, deciding that she had to bring an end to the pirates who destroyed her town before they could hurt anyone else. Though her anger had never faded, nor had her desire for revenge, she decided her reasoning was just and would allow herself to use the trident when the time came.
One day, a group of slave traders found Azure. They had heard tales of a beautiful human-mermaid who lived alone and was working as a shipwright and they decided that they could try to sell her to a freak show or a curious noble. Unfortunately for them, when they came to kidnap Azure, the ones who entered her home were soundly beaten. When Azure rushed outside to finish off the rest of the group, she found that they had already been defeated. A dark-haired, red-eyed man stood over their defeated forms. He introduced himself as Adezlan Kel. He told Azure he had heard of her and learned of her mother's fate from a small group of people who had survived the Sunshine Isle Massacre. He said he was sorry for her loss and told her he could help her bring down the pirate armada. At first Azure was reluctant. After all, who would just up and leave their home to go traveling with someone they didn't even know? Even if he did help her with the slavers, it was still a bit of a stretch. But after talking with him long into the night and learning about Adezlan's own rough past and goals in life, she decided to go with him. She didn't like the fact that he was a devil fruit user, seeing as her mother was killed by one, but she decided to overlook that fact for now, contenting herself with the fact that he was only one man and that she should be able to beat him if she needed to.
Since that time, Azure has learned that Adezlan is much stronger than she initially thought, but she now respects and trusts him. The two are on friendly terms and Azure even goes so far as to call Adezlan 'Dezzy', a nickname that he isn't particularly fond of, not that that stops her from using it.
Personality: Azure is an energetic and friendly individual. She enjoys spending time with others and does not like to be alone for too long. She's always been rather social like that, mainly because, even when she was in places that were not as prejudice as others, she was still oftentimes avoided due to being a human-mermaid. She likes making up nicknames for people she is especially fond of and if a situation ever becomes too serious, she does her best to lighten it. Sometimes her efforts are inappropriate for the situation, but so long as she makes someone smile, she is content. This does not mean she cannot keep her mouth shut if the need arises, but sometimes she misreads the atmosphere and doesn't realize what she is doing wrong. It is hard to get on her nerves or make her angry, except in extreme situations.
Azure loves mechanics and coming up with new concepts. She takes a lot of pride her in work, always trying to do her best. Sometimes, when she becomes involved with a project she will ignore everything and everyone else and will focus entirely on her work. It doesn't happen often, but when it does, whatever she is working on is either going to be spectacular or it will be something that simply can't be done.
Ship: White HartShip Flag: The entire flag is colored black. At the top of the flag, in white letters, is the word 'True'. Underneath that word is a pair of glaring, red eyes. Beneath the eyes is the word 'Justice', written also in white.
Devil Fruit: N/A
Type: N/A
Effect: N/A
Special Abilities: Mermaid Heritage: Azure has the ability to breath underwater, due to being half-mermaid. She has no other traits unique to mermaids except a few subtle differences to her appearance which are listed in the appropriate section above.
Fishman Karate: Due to her human body shape, she is more like a fishman than a mermaid. Thus she has learned fishman karate. Her mastery of the actual art is only basic since she did not spend ridiculous amounts of time training in her youth, but once she was on her own and became motivated, she managed to develop the techniques further to create her own style.
Fishman Jujutsu: Due to her human body shape, she is more like a fishman than a mermaid. Thus she has learned fishman jujutsu. Her mastery of the actual art is only basic since she did not spend ridiculous amounts of time training in her youth, but once she was on her own and became motivated, she managed to develop the techniques further to create her own style.
Mechanical Knowledge: Azure knows a lot about machines in the general sense. Since she has worked as a shipwright for several years, her knowledge of ship design is especially extensive. She is constantly building on her knowledge and trying to invent new ways of doing things.
Learned Techniques: 1. Thousand Tile True Punch: A powerful punch that can break through a thousand tiles. Azure can adjust her power down in increments of about one hundred tiles if she chooses. The name of the attack would change to fit the power level. As she becomes stronger, she changes the name of this attack to fit with her overall strength.
2. Open Palm: Shock Drum: Azure spreads her fingers, leaving her palm exposed. By striking her opponent with her palm, she can send a pulse through the liquid in their body, leaving them feeling sick and weak and in extreme pain. The effects of this attack are only momentary, but can leave an enemy open for a follow up attack.
3. Open Palm: Destructive Pulse: Azure strikes her enemy with the palm of her hand, sending a pulse through the liquid of their body that causes internal damage around the area of the strike.
4. Open Palm: Air-Sea Wave: Azure strikes the air with the palm of her hand. She launches a pulse through the moisture in the air in front of her that can drive her enemies back with great force. This attack can be used underwater as well.
5. Three-point Burst Blitz: Azure rushes forward, either underwater or on land, holding her trident ahead of her. As she passes people she strikes them with her weapon, cutting them and launching them back. This attack is performed with such speed that the impact of her strikes is usually not felt until she is on the opposite side of her enemies or has been stopped by a block.
6. Seven Seas Sweep: Azure swings her trident in a wide arc in front of her. This is used to scatter the enemies before her.
7. Aquatic Cannon: Azure gathers water in her hand in a ball shape and throws it at her enemy. This attack has the force of a cannonball. To use this attack, Azure must be near a water source.
8. Liquid Bolts: Azure gathers water in her hands and begins throwing it at her enemies. As she does this, she molds the shape of the water with her fingers to make it into tiny arrows. To use this attack, Azure must be near a water source.
9. Sea Dash: Azure moves through water at a speed comparable to soru. Just like when someone uses soru, Azure can only do this in short bursts in one direction at a time.
10. Wrath of the Ocean Emperor: Poseidon Barrage: Azure uses her Sea Dash technique repeatedly to rush around her opponent at high speed, forming a whirlpool. She continues to dash around them, thrusting into the whirlpool with her trident. This attack can only be used underwater and is typically only used a finishing technique against particularly difficult aquatic opponents.
Weapons/Items: EnkaiGoals: 1. To invent something revolutionary that will change the entire world.
2. To bring an end to the pirates who destroyed Sunshine Isle.
Fri May 23, 2014 7:17 pm
