Artaxes Lyov

Niklaus Shirahama, is a rookie Pirate from the West Blue, in search of forming his crew and on his way to entering the Grand Line. He decided to enter the Grand Line after reading about the events unfolding in that sea. Hungry for battle and adventure, and inspired by the pirates of old ages like the Straw Hat Pirates, the Roger Pirates, the Red Haired Pirates, the Whitebeard Pirates and even the Heart Pirates, he set his sights on this sea in hopes of clashing and defeating the world's most powerful figures and uncovering some of the many mysteries of the world, and becoming the Pirate King, the greatest of them all. He has actively attacked other small pirate crews and marines, and stole from them, but he hasn’t been very active as a pirate, so he has flown under the Government’s radar until recently. After he set sail by himself, he has been exploring islands, training and preparing for the future journey.

In his early days, Niklaus was taught martials arts by his father and mother, who were masters of six different martial art styles. After his parents died, he continued to polish his skills for seven years, while living alone on an archipelago, and then wandered off to challenge other martial arts masters, further improving his martial prowess. During this time, he developed his own, powerful fighting style which he employs to this day.

Appearance
Niklaus Shirahama is usually seen as a mostly purple-clad, muscular young man with spiky white hair and a large eyepatch covering his left eye. The sleeves of his extremely short purple coat, which covers his shoulders and upper back, are left unworn,  instead preferring to just leave them flapping around in the wind. Much of his chest is left uncovered, save for two thick straps that criss-cross against his torso, and a large collar that covers most of his neck. He wears metal arm guards and boots, and is always seen with his heavy anchor-tipped spear.

He usually bears a fun-loving expression, with a constant grin on his face. When angered, the veins around his muscles become visible, his presence becomes very intimidating for those around him, and his eyes take on a very intense look, while still grinning the whole time. If his back is against the wall, his trade mark grin disappears, he beings to ooze bloodlust, and almost all traces of his personality disappears.

.

Personality
Niklaus loves to explore through the islands and search for treasures. He gets really excited when he embarks on a journey and loves the thrill of the unknown. He likes to write about his adventures and about the new things he learns about the world. Since childhood he has loved to read as well.

Niklaus is strongly opposed to anyone who tries to deny freedom to himself or someone without reason. He is a very smart and analytic individual, but sometimes purposefully lets his emotions get the better of him, knowing that he will find a way around the situation afterwards. He hates the World Government, Nobility and the Celestial Dragons.

The other thing Niklaus loves as much as adventure and learning is the thrill of a good fight. One of the reasons for going to the Grand Line is the prospect of engaging in battle with powerful individuals. Finding the One Piece and becoming the Pirate King is his end goal, but he likes to enjoy the ride and go at his pace. Very confident in his skills and strength, even he knows there are people far stronger than him in the world, so he trains constantly. Even so, he may go as far as killing an opponent without remorse. Although he does have a code of sorts, as he won't kill without reason. But if someone takes arms against him or his crew, he will consider him an enemy, even if the person is just a civilian. He has no qualms about stealing from civilians or marines, and won't engage in battle if their victims surrender their goods.

When really angered, Niklaus enters a sort of berserk mode, where his sole focus is to finish off his opponent. In this state, the iris in his eye disappears and he does not differentiate between friend or foe. Once, he was pushed even past this state, which made him take on a completely new, violent and cruel personality that goes along with his berserk mode.

Relationships
Shirahama Pirates: Niklaus hopes to find a crew which he will greatly care about and command with trust and companionship rather than fear.

World Government: Niklaus despises the World Government, as they were responsible for his parents deaths. He will attack and kill Marines, Nobles and Government officials alike.

Nobu: A mysterious martial artist he met at the age of 18, three years after constantly challenging other masters. Nobu lives wanders the seas looking for challenges as well and training people with potential, and is a master of many styles, including Rokushiki. Niklaus found that he could not defeat his man, and spent the next three years training under this powerful individual.

Abilities and Powers
Raised in a dojo by two powerful martial artists, Niklaus began training since he could walk, and at a young age showed potential as a prodigious martial artist. After his parents death at the age of 8, he took the scrolls and books from the dojo and continued learning and improving himself after he had isolated himself. At this age, he was capable of defeating adult soldiers. At age fifteen, seven years later, he travelled the West Blue in search for dojos and martial art masters for him to defeat, and for three years went on an undefeated streak. He became known as the Silver Death God. He even challenged high ranking soldiers of various countries. After suffering his first defeat at the hands of a wandering man named Nobu, he followed him and trained every day and challenged him regulary, becoming his top student fairly quickly.

At age 21, Niklaus has been described as an unstoppable force. He constantly has sparring matches with the Commandments, but even they believe that if all of them were to fight against him, excluding the Vice-Captain, Niklaus would still come out on top, although this may be an exageration, given that each Commandment is fairly powerful in its own. They trust their captain will become a prominent figure in the world because of his great strength and passion.

Physical Prowess
Niklaus Shirahama possesses immense raw strength and speed. He is easily capable of lifting large boulders and shattering steel with his bare hands. With a mere flicker of his finger, he can send a man flying through trees a great distance. His impressive strength allows him to shatter a large portion of the ground with his feet by just taking on a fighting stance. He has been capable of stopping a huge Galeon ship on his tracks with just one arm, crushing the whole side of a Marine Battleship with a kick, destroy multiple buildings and houses with the shockwave of his punches, and swim so fast he was confused for a Fishman. Niklaus moves so fast that most opponents can't react to his speed, only hearing the powerful shockwaves left by him breaking the sound barrier and crushing the ground beneath his feet.

Niklaus is so monstrously powerful, he once crossed a whole island by jumping from the shore to the top of the tallest mountain, and then again jumping from the mountain and landing on the opposite shore. His body is also very durable, his crew members describe him as a walking mass of steel muscles, as he can take cannonball fire head on with no apparent injuries or discomfort. At age 20, after twelve years of intensive martial arts training, he claimed that he had reached a near perfect balance between speed and stamina with strength and durability and has conditioned both to a high level, but still believes he has a lot of room to grow even stronger. He had been surviving by himself since he was eight years old, fighting against animals and beasts while strength training and practicing martial arts skills. This harsh background has made him the confident and powerful individual he is today.

He has a very good sense of smell, even capable of "smelling" bad weather. His right eye is also greatly developed to compensate for the loss of his left eye. He can effortlessly track and dodge bullets even at point blank range. He once defeated his whole crew, not including the Ten Commandments, while eating a meal and dancing around them and striking and defending with just one arm. It should be noted that his crew is comprised of capable fighters, some even former soldiers, who train constantly.

Fighting Style
Niklaus is a master in hand-to-hand combat, having been trained since a small child in Fishman Karate, Death Boxing, Dancing Water Kenpo, Ancient Jujutsu, Shirahama Weapon Style and Shingen Ryu Fist. When he went to train after his parents died, he continued improving on what he knew, while learning new techniques from the books and scrolls that he took from the dojo. While challenging opponents at age fifteen, he gained insight on how he could improve his own fighting style. Currently, Niklaus fights using extremely powerful strikes, while analizing his opponent to see if a change of tactics should be neccessary. He finishes of his opponents by using deadly combinations of fast and powerful kicks, punches, elbows and even throws if necessary.

He is not strict at all about his fighting style, he can change accordingly and cleverly adapt to the situation. When he was overwhelmed by opponents as a teenager, he quickly adapted by changing to a more defensive style, dodging and flowing through their attacks and finishing them off in one or two pinpointed strikes. Currently, he has had no need to employ such tactics as he can defeat hordes of enemies with a single, powerful attack, in which he explosively rams right through the multitude of people and swings his anchor spear at those that were not already sent flying by his initial move.

Anchor Spear
Niklaus almost exclusively used a spear in almost all of the matches against armed opponents he fought. He grew so accustomed to using one, that with the help of his former rival and now First Mate, created the anchor spear he uses to this day, by incorporating a durable anchor into an already heavy staff. But given his superhuman strength, he moves and fights with his anchor with ease, almost as if it were a part of his body. The weapon as a whole can be used like an axe, but Niklaus can also detach the anchor if he so chooses. The anchor can be shot at his opponent, and also pulled back to be reattached to the staff. He can also use his weapon as a vehicle of-sorts, propelling himself through the air whilst standing on the spear staff. This is possible because his weapon has been infused with Sky Island Dials, which they stole from Underworld brokers.

Berserk Mode
Niklaus may enter a sort of Berserk Mode if his back is against the wall. He has only used this form twice as a pirate, both times resulting in great physical and mental exhaustion. He has no control over it, only acting on pure killing instincts, but his already powerful abilities increase greatly. If prolonged long enough, he may begin to speak in this state, although in a violent manner and with a different voice and speech pattern. In this state, instead of punching, he strikes with his hands in the form of a claw, almost imitating a beast. He theorizes that all those years by himself training and fighting animals and beasts must have awoken some primal instincts in him that activate in times of extreme stress.

Navigating Skills
He was taught navigation skills by his father at a young age, and later developed them on his own. He says he can "smell" bad weather incoming.

Herbalist
He learned herbal remedies from his mother and continued to develop them by reading her books and by surviving on his own.

Experience
More so than his physical abilities, it is his combat and survival experience that greatly support Niklaus's abilities and progress. Having faced hundreds of martial artists in life or death matches is what has greatly contributed to the confident man he is today.

Weaknessess
Niklaus admits that his and his crew's greatest weakness at the moment is their inexperience fighting against Powerful Devil Fruit users. But he is confident that given his vast experience in combat, he will adapt to any challenge coming his way.