Kumoiro Rin

Kumoiro Rin is a quiet and hard-working Marine. Though her biology makes her unusual, she's spent the majority of her career keeping her head down in South Blue, taking her time rising in the ranks without drawing attention to herself. She has only just begun to earn a name for herself in the Grand Line, putting her natural talents as a mermaid to good use.

Appearance
Rin is a tall woman with green eyes and long pink hair in a hime cut that falls to her knees. She rarely changes expression, often maintaining a sharp glare that gives her a stern appearance. She has tanned skin and a notable scar, wrapped around her neck and clearly quite old.

She favors long wrap skirts and opaque tights as well as flats, a change from the standard uniform of the Marines that allows her to more easily shift between her legged form and natural mermaid tail without giving up her modesty or freedom of movement.

Personality
Rin is a nearly silent woman who's expression rarely gives up what she's thinking. She takes her duties seriously, no matter how trivial or routine, and puts the same dedication into filing paperwork and handling minor escort missions as she does pursuing dangerous pirate crews. Regardless of personal feelings, she seeks to follow the laws of the Marines without making exceptions, believing that enacting justice consistently is the key to maintaining the respect of the common people.

She rarely speaks, and when she does, rarely speaks above a whisper; if she raises her voice it becomes obvious that it's harsh and wavering, sounding more like the death rattle of a ghost than anything expected of a mermaid.

While it's difficult for most who work with her to tell what she's thinking or feeling at any given time, for those with Kenbunshoku Haki and a particular talent for hearing the voices of people's hearts, Rin is actually quite a talkative person. She is able to be 'heard' far more clearly and obviously than most, and often broadcasts her worries and thoughts loud and clear.

Family
Rin wasn't raised among her own kind; as a young girl she was adopted by a Marine named Kumoiro Drang and raised alongside his grandson, Ian, as his younger sister. It wasn't easy, raising a mermaid; she had difficulty moving on land, needed to return to the water often, and attracted attention far too easily given the mythical status of Merpeople outside the Grand Line. None the less, she was raised with love, affection, and a deep respect for the concept of 'Justice'.

Though Drang opposed her actually joining the Marines, her dedication to training and the chores expected of a new recruit eventually convinced him to give her a chance... though he also deliberately limited her ability to advance within the ranks, secretly restricting her assignments to South Blue. It was only after her tail split on her 30th birthday that he finally relented, though even now he's kept his meddling a secret from his grandchildren.

Pet
Shortly after beginning her duties in the Grand Line, Rin managed to calm a rampaging sea beast, a wild Sabertooth Seatiger which she slowly befriended and finally tamed, naming it Mikazuki. A massive beast with fangs half as long as Rin is tall and a speed that belays it's size, it's only particularly friendly to Rin and those she designates as 'not food'.

Abilities and Powers
As a mermaid, Rin's strongest strength is her speed and maneuverability underwater. She can easily outpace fishman and every other beast in the sea, can make turns and dives on a dime, and can reach depths of 1500ft without having to deal with diving sickness. She can also naturally communicate with sea beasts and fish, though she claims to have an easier time understanding domestic and pet fish than wild ones.

Her tail only split recently; before turning thirty, Rin was forced to fight while strapped into a wheelchair to make up for her inability to walk. Even now, when her legs are restrained, she loses very little in terms of fighting power, able to fling herself through the air and along the ground by propelling herself with her naginata and maneuvering as easily in a wheelchair as anyone else walking.

Rin has some training with Busoshoku Haki, but remains a novice due to her lack of experience with other Haki users. In a clash, she's more likely to be the one who falls, and she can't keep up her guard or attacks for very long before being exhausted.

When it comes to Kenbunshoku Haki, she lacks both training and natural ability, leaving her unable to use it, but to those who CAN, she's a pain. Rin's 'heart' is naturally louder than others, a trait which would normally make her actions and attacks easy to follow and predict in battle... but in the same way that static blocks out clear words, Rin's loud monologues and personal musings interfere dramatically with thoughts of her own motions.

Weapons
In battle, Rin favors the naginata for it's range and weight, striking elegantly against her foes. Her personal weapon is made of a special metal that keeps it from rusting and allows her to use all of her speed without worrying about water resistance underwater. She's also learned how to manipulate water as an extension of her weapon, allowing her to form geysers, whirlpools and waves that can even carry onto land.

Youth
It's presumed that Rin was born in Fish-man Island... but she doesn't truly know. She's forgotten everything before the age of 9: her birth name, her parents, everything. Rin's memory begins in a barrel of stale seawater, sitting in the brig of a pirate ship full of dying men with a collar around her neck.

She had clearly been kidnapped, but the crew that stole her away didn't find the fortune they sought. An unknown plague fell upon them, rotting away their minds and bodies until they were left little more than hollow shells. They attempted to escape through the Calm Belt to seek medical treatment... but never made it. Rin was left as the sole survivor, forced to drag herself from her barrel during the day to find food among the meager supplies left by the crew and crying out for someone, anyone, to save her.

South Blue
In a remote Marine base, on a tiny Island near the Calm Belt, a young Marine by the name of Kumoiro Ian began to hear a voice. It was tiny at first, quiet enough to mistake for the mumbles of the people around him, but day after day, it grew louder and clearer. "I'm so hungry..." it would cry, "I want to go home...". "Everyone's dead...", "Please, someone..."

It sounded so clear to him, yet he couldn't find the source of the voice anywhere on the island, and no one else seemed to hear it. No matter how many times he was told no one was speaking... no matter how often he was given medicine to sedate him or leave to try and heal his mind, the voice kept calling to him. "The food's rotting...", "There's sea monsters everywhere!", "Someone, someone, please...!" It only seemed to grow louder and clearer, as if it was just over the next hill, as if he could almost SEE them...

Eventually, the decision was made to try and humor the boy. It seemed nothing was working, and so he was sent out on a battleship to patrol the seas. He felt the voice grow all the louder and begged the ship to go closer and closer towards the dangerous Calm Belt, no matter how he was reminded that nothing but Sea Kings could be found there.

It was quite a shock to everyone when the young boy lead them to a ghost ship drifting on the waves, even more so when he leapt across to it's deck ahead of everyone else and raced down into the depths... to reveal a weeping, ragged girl with a fish's tail, her unspoken pleas so loud that they had awoken Ian's latent Haki to lead him to her.

The mermaid was given the name Rin and taken into the Kumoiro family, disguised as a human with the help of a wheelchair and a blanket to put over her 'crippled legs'. The long ordeal had robbed her of strength, her memories, and even her voice, torn ragged by the collar that bound her neck... but Rin embraced her new life and became a Marine Recruit, throwing herself into the role given to her by fate with aplomb.

Trivia
All art of Rin is personally drawn and belongs to Lil Bug J.