Artaxes Lyov

Niklaus Shirahama, is a rookie Pirate Captain from the West Blue, and currently 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, 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. Niklaus commands a powerful crew of people he recruited during, and after his days as a wandering martial arts fighter. Together they sail in their technological Battle Ship, Fugaku.

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 also cares a great deal about his underlings, and his crew and he share a very strong bond. His crew call him aniki (兄貴, big brother), as a gesture of respect and companionship, though the higher ranking members call him "boss". He, in turn, refers to the whole of his crew as "mateys." As a captain Niklaus can be very protective of his crew, and he will put their safety first amongst all else.

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. 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 greatly cares and protects his crew. He believes in commanding his ship with trust and companionship rather than fear. He knows the strengths and weaknesses of his crew members, and will often entrust tasks to those he knows capable. He will risk his life for any member of his crew. Among them, the Eight Officers are his most trusted members.

The Eight Officers: The Eight Officers are the first eight members of Shirahama's pirate crew, they are also the strongest ones. Shirahama met most of them during his days as a wandering martial artist. They then began to follow him and became pirates. Three of the Officers are the only ones capable of stopping Niklaus when he goes berserk.

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.

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 two years went on an undefeated streak. He even challenged high ranking soldiers of various countries. After suffering a draw with the person who would later become his First Mate, they continued fighting every other day for a whole year without no clear winner, both getting even stronger in the process.

Nine years after setting off to challenge fighters, at the age of 24 his crew members view Niklaus as an unstoppable force. He constantly has sparring matches with the Officials, 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. They trust their captain will become a prominent figure in the world because of his great strength.

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 Eight Officials, 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 Raging Dragon Karate, Death Boxing, Dancing Water Kenpo, Ancient Jujutsu, Shirahama Weapon Style and Fuji Dark 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.

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.

Haki
Niklaus can use the mysterious power known as Haki. Although he can only use in combat one of the "Colors" of Haki, he does knows of the existence and details of all three forms.

Kenbonshoku Haki
At age 10, while training in isolation, Niklaus developed Kenbonshoku Haki, which at the time enabled him to detect the auras and presence of his surroundings. He slowly gained control of it over the years by meditating intensely and training to control it. His Haki greatly developed in his continous battles agains martial arts masters, which some were capable of using this Color of Observation. He has developed a wide radius of detection, and can also pinpiont strong opponents by sensing their aura. Niklaus claims he does not remember when he developed the ability to predict and dodge moves using this Haki type, as he previously thought it was all part of his martial art prowess.

Busoshoku Haki
Niklaus knows of the existence of this Haki type, but is not skillful in it yet nor can he activate it in combat. He can surround parts of his body in an invisible force, but requires more training to activate it in battle.

Haoshoku Haki
Also known as "King's Haki", is a type of Haki only accessible to one in a million. Niklaus learned about the existence this Haki type when he faced a master who had this "Color" and who almost defeated him at age 19.

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 Devil Fruit users. But he is confident that given his vast experience in combat, he will adapt to any challenge coming his way.