Post by SeaBear on Jun 1, 2022 12:34:13 GMT -5
Lulworth Jones
Other Names: Lulworth Paul Jones, J.P.
- Surname "Lulworth", Double First Name "Paul Jones" (Jones default)
Height: 6’6’’ / 200 cm
- 9’10’’ / 220 cm – Hybrid
Build: Thick / Top-Heavy
Age: 25
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Devil Fruit: Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Tyrannosaurus
Occupation: Marine
Real-World Nationality: American
Animal: Gila Monster
Favorite Food: Prime Rib
Laughter Style: Hrahhahahaha
Bounty/Rank: Lieutenant
Total X-Poinz: 300
Used X-Poinz: 300
Total Rebate: 150
Used Rebate: 150
Earned X-Poinz Record:
Rebate X-Poinz Record:
-50 (Rank 1 Technique: Tyrant Slam)
-50 (Rank 1 Technique: Tyrant Crack)
-50 (Rank 1 Technique: Tyrant Drop)
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Personality
A Party of One
Of Jones's time in the Marines, there is one mark against him that every superior he has ever had might note: that Jones struggles to work with others. It doesn't come across particularly as a dedicated aversion or an active distaste for groups or team efforts, rather he is somewhat— distant. It's not a complicated matter; Jones simply has trouble drawing close to others, having had an upbringing without anything in the way of boyhood friends or companions, making him withdrawn, almost shy in a sense. He'll tend to set off to try and handle a given task on his own when presented with one, but will not refuse help should it be offered.
Be The Change
The reason Jones joined the Marines in the first place was in order to pursue a lofty dream following the tragedy of his youth, the dream of a world where people may be able to live their lives freely and content, without fear of dangerous criminals threatening their lives. Realistically, he recognizes this goal is impossible: so long as people possess free will, there ae people who will choose wickedness and injustice. However, his life’s aims are to ensure security for as many places and people as he can manage, and to root out the corrupt parties that have nested themselves within the rungs of the Marines. To this end, his life's ambition is to climb higher and higher, that he might influence more and more change, until he reaches the very top: the seat of Fleet Admiral.
Sword and Shield
Jones’s personal form of justice he ascribes to within the Marines is what he refers to as “Valorous Justice”, to eliminate threats and neutralize oppressors with absolute success with one hand, and tend to the weak and unable with the other. From his perspective, too often do World Government efforts that focus on hunting down criminals care little for the commonfolk in their wake. Likewise, humanitarian efforts seem to fail when it comes to protecting territories and settlements from outside threats. In his mind, justice requires one to prioritize both responsibilities to the public a Marine is meant to defend; removing dangers while still mindful of the people they’re being removed for the sake of.
The Art of Diplomacy
Despite Jones's history with pirates, that certain pirate groups have inspired great amounts of positive change, in cases more so than or even in spite of the World Government's presence, is something of an open secret in the Marines anymore, even if it a forbidden topic of discussion in most branches and efforts to circumvent such reports run rampant. Regardless, Jones is cognizant of this, and as such, even when encountering a wanted figure, will approach from a diplomatic angle first if they appear docile, keeping casual and approachable in an attempt to get a feel for them. If he feels they may be amenable enough, he will be likely to request their departure before a fight occurs... But, should they refuse — that fight is likely to ensue.
A Dangerous Temper
Though Jones does his best to keep himself in check, when emotions begin running high, his self-control may slip, and he’ll fall steadily into tunnel vision on apprehending his target or crushing his opposition, losing sight of himself and his surroundings. In this state, he’s liable to rampage with reckless abandon, leaving scores of property damage and collateral in his wake. It is this unchecked boiling over and subsequent calamity that led to his epithet within the Marines in the first place. Of course, Jones is conscious of his failings when he slips into wanton anger, and much of his annual pay has been deducted to help cover repair costs from his slip-ups voluntarily, though World Government standards typically give their agents a free pass in such instances.
Appearance
Jones is a tall man of ridged, sculpted muscle, bearing a thick, stocky body and chest with a short, thick neck, his shoulders slanted some and arms somewhat small in mass proportionately, albeit still strong and well-defined. He has a crop of short, blown back dark blonde hair, and a patch of matching hair at his chin, which comes in a chiseled cleft with a thick, wide jawline. His eyes are sharp, with small irises of a solid black.
He wears the Coat of Justice over his shoulders, beneath wearing an open, sleeveless dark grey vest with a raised collar, showing off his chest and abdominal muscles and the fullness of his arms. His pants are of a matching color, held by a silver clasp, leading down to dark, blackish-brown combat boots.
Traits
Beastly Might — Starter Trait
- The first part of Jones’s Lieutenant training at Marine HQ, in a workout plan to maximize his offensive potential. Jones was put into an extreme strength-training regiment even in comparison to his peers with the intention of bolstering his Devil Fruit attributes to maximum efficiency by ensuring his strength remains colossal, even when he should find himself unable to transform, and make him even more formidable when doing so.
Unyielding Body — Starter Trait
- The second part of Jones’s Lieutenant training at Marine HQ, meant in order to better realize the form of fighting Jones’s physique naturally lends itself to. Jones was put in matches against fellow officer trainees in single-versus-group fights, in order to toughen Jones gradually and make his formidable body be able to soak copious amounts of damage without buckling and, more importantly, being able to overpower incoming offense to deliver his own.
Immense Agility — Starter Trait
- The third part of Jones’s Lieutenant training at Marine HQ, plotted out with purpose in order to compensate for Jones’s greatest weakness: his lack of movement speed. While not slow per say by any means, Jones is not nearly of the blinding speeds that those around his level and above can reach, and to that end was put into a harsh, regimented gymnast curriculum, in order to make him dexterous and flexible, able to maneuver and move himself with precision and poise in order to overcome this point of lacking.
Tyrannosaurus Human — Devil Fruit Trait
- The physiology and prowess granted to one who eats the Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Tyrannosaurus. As an Ancient Zoan, the user is granted incredible strength and hardiness beyond even the usual Zoan scope, able to crush things such stone and metal with ease and take tremendous amounts of punishment with a hugely durable body. The user may enter a halfway Hybrid form between a human and Tyrannosaurus, adopting a bigger and stronger bipedal form with a number of natural weapons, and even become a full Tyrannosaurus, adopting the full stature and might of a colossal, rampaging monstrous beast.
Fighting Styles
Name: Tyrant Storm
Focus: Crushing Force, Natural Weapons
Class: E
Description: A form of combat derived from Olympic wrestling, Jones utilizes his body's natural bulk and toughness together with the tremendous durability, size and musculature afforded him by his Devil Fruit to pulverize opponents who enter his range.
Techniques
Name: Tyrant Slam
Fighting Style: Tyrant Storm
Rank: 1
Description: Jones takes an iron grip of his opponent, swinging them over his head before violently smashing them into the ground, cratering it on impact. The immediate force of the collision looses a dense expulsion of force, blowing away anyone so close as to be in arm's length of the impact site. This may be used with both arms in Hybrid Form, or with his jaws in Full Zoan form.
Name: Tyrant Crack
Fighting Style: Tyrant Storm
Rank: 1
Description: Jones swiftly spins his body in a lateral fashion, whipping out his dense, muscular tail to strike against nearby opposition. This may be utilized in Hybrid Form or Full Zoan form, the range and area of affect changing accordingly.
Name: Tyrant Drop
Fighting Style: Tyrant Storm
Rank: 1
Description: Jones takes a high leap into the air, before turning into his Tyrannosaurus form, crashing back down to the ground below in a tremendous, weighty impact. Can only be used in Full Zoan state.
Background
The story of Lulworth Paul Jones begins much like that of many who would go on to become Marines, a calling passed on from parent to child – or rather, parents, in Jones’s case, born to Marine Captain Grace Anning, wife of intelligence officer Lulworth Adams. A figure of some renown within the South Blue, Anning and her husband retained separate surnames for the sake of Adams’s own protection from recognition or retribution while out on investigations, but very much of a strong and healthy relationship, their son was dubbed as would be in a joint family name.
Born and raised on Marineford, much as many Marine families, Jones like others was brought up being told of the great and noble duty of the Marines, head filled with stories of great heroism and triumph over wicked criminals and pirates the world over. As both his parents were in working for the World Government, the young Jones spent much of his childhood alone, and had trouble making friends with the other kids in town without a more active parental guidance, but he all the same lived his boyhood with his head held high, always proud of where he came from, even as many regarded him a strange, loner kid and something of a drifter.
When Jones was ten years old, his mother and father came to recognize that their busied lifestyles had done nothing for their son, and as such, sent Jones away to his mother’s home island of Prairie Shore in the South Blue –a humble little island of plains and valleys, with a small town and an industry focused largely on agriculture– to live with her parents in a more controlled family setting. The elderly couple welcomed the boy with open arms, and for the next six years of his life, Jones was able to be brought up on humble life values and lessons, taught a multitude of simple, helpful skills for his adult life, such as cooking, outdoorsmanship, being able to read the weather, and a bit of carpentry.
It was then, at sixteen years of age, his life was forever changed when the humble island came under attack. The ruined remnants of one of the multitude of lesser pirate crews his mother had brought down had discovered her home island, launching a full-scale assault in some attempt at vengeance and retribution. As droves of innocents outside were hunted down, shot, gutted with reckless abandon, the captain of the broken crew managed to track down Anning’s home, Jones’s home, and barged in, attacking his grandparents who tried fruitlessly to defend themselves. Taken by a surge of anger unlike any he’d known in his young life, Jones had then taken up a woodworking knife, charging the monstrous figure and catching him by surprise, jamming the blade into his eye and bringing him to the ground, where Jones began to assail the intruder with everything he had until his wounded but alive grandparents pulled him away, holding him close until the Marine efforts mercifully arrived to do cleanup.
This event would define who the young Jones was soon to be.
Firstly, it was his first taste of the true depths of the evils of piracy, and a traumatic memory that would shape him as a man in his years to come.
Secondly, when the Marine company Warrant Officer arrived, found the crew’s captain very much dead, and learning who was responsible – a recommendation for Jones’s induction into the Marines was promptly sent up to HQ.
Two years later, his admission was finalized, and from age eighteen onwards, Jones found himself brought aboard into the 86th Company, a very minor division within the South Blue, taken aboard by the very officer who’d recommended him two years prior as a Seaman Apprentice. His fervor for taking down the enemy made Jones a driven, self-motivated recruit who produced faster and more regularly than his fellows of similar station, seeing him promoted to Petty Officer within two years’ time – and it was here that Jones would remain for the next two years of his life, his results showing capability, but nothing of particular note that made his seem worth a higher position.
However, it was upon a visitation back to Prairie Shore that this would change. Called to come back for a week by his grandparents, Jones would find himself entrusted with something he could never have bargained for. As it turned out, his father had made a very special acquisition during a smuggling bust within the North Blue, and had acquired an item of untold rarity, and had secretly sent it back to them to be entrusted to their care.
And when his grandparents produced it, the item was revealed to be a Devil Fruit.
Both Anning and Adams had been keeping apprised of their boy’s progress—but had also come to recognize that ascension in the Marines had become oddly stagnant of late. Without the right connection or leverage, it seemed almost impossible to ascend in the ranks substantially without achieving something truly remarkable. Even for Adams’s position, it was impossible to know what power a given Devil Fruit was holding, classification knowledge being well above his pay grade, but whatever it might be, if Jones could harness it and make it his own, surely he would make great strides in the Marines, power holders being typically invaluable.
These efforts would prove more fruitful than any of the family involved could have imagined. Jones obtained a grander, stronger body, a hide that seemed to shrug off just about anything, strength beyond most human measure, and senses enhanced well beyond the norm. Returning to his post with these new gifts, Jones’s productivity skyrocketed, making roughly four times as many arrests in a given month than he ever had before, and coming back from every operation with not a scratch on him. More importantly, his superior officers witnessed plainly as at times he became a tremendous bulwark of a monster, seemingly unstoppable.
Within six months, Jones’s position was reevaluated, and promptly he was ascended to the position of Warrant Officer, the local officials determined to make the best use of him and deigning that greater independence granted to him would yield even greater results.
In the several years since, this had been as Jones’s position, continuing to make arrests and catch wanted individuals wherever they may be found… However, eventually, some things had begun coming into question for him personally. Word had begun circulating about certain disgraced Marines, getting up to reprehensible if not criminal activity; “Axe-Hand” Morgan and his son, Lieutenant Fullbody, Captain Nezumi… However, despite the rumors of hard evidence for their misconduct, it seems all charges against them were regarded as alleged and unsubstantiated on an official level. This prompted Jones to begin taking a closer look at the world power he was a part of, doing more independent research. The more he did, however, the more similar accounts cropped up here and there… As much as he wanted to believe it wasn’t true, it almost seemed like for every individual like his parents, there was a crooked one somewhere in the wings.
Moreover, there were accounts from the desert country of Alabasta…which, if were to be believed, it sounded almost as though a pirate crew had liberated them from the machinations of the disgraced warlord, Crocodile. In fact, it was a crew whose name seemed to be coming up in more and more similar stories from around the East Blue.
Jones would find himself sitting on these pieces of information, in conflict with how he’d been pursuing his goals until now. He'd initially only wished to be a great agent of justice like his father or mother, but now the purity of that justice was called into question…
It was no sooner than this, that his birth home, Marineford – was all but destroyed in a great and terrible war with the Emperor of the Sea, Edward Newgate, all the while Jones watched on like many other lesser officers from his station.
His mother, Captain Anning, had been among those called to take up position for her accredited efforts—and amidst the bloody battlefield, had barely come out of it alive, losing both her left leg and right arm, dismissed from duty indefinitely. And after the war, Adams subsequently retired from active duty himself, taking his crippled wife back to Prairie Shores to take care of her, where the two have remained since.
What this changed for Jones's duties, however, was the scores upon scores of prisoners who had escaped from Impel Down, reportedly numbering over two hundred from as high-risk as Level 5, taking to the seas, and all bases were to be on high alert. Disillusioned with the Marines following the war and distraught over how it had broken his family, Jones threw himself into his work with a renewed fervor for the next months, managing to capture a considerable number of the escapees amidst his regular arrests – all the while, he questioned his heading, and what he was meant to do from here.
He'd heard from his mother; Admiral Sakazuki had nearly murdered a young marine who’d spoken out to try and save their men, and before the Emperor "Red-Haired" Shanks stepped in, everyone around had been about to just let it happen. Just for speaking out to prioritize saving Marine lives.
No matter how Jones looked at it, that wasn’t a leadership he could believe in. In fact, it felt like that seed of inhumanity trickled down, perhaps leading into the criminal acts he’d been looking into on his own. But if he couldn’t believe in that, then what could he do?
It was at the end of Jones’s consumed vigil that inspiration struck, as he received a contact straight from Marine Headquarters. His efforts of the period following the war’s fallout had borne more fruit than he’d garnered – in fact, he’d managed to recapture fifteen escapees from Levels 2 and 3 of Impel Down who’d managed to reach the waters of the South Blue, and given the pedigree of criminal that was, it was no small feat.
He was to report for a transfer to Marine Headquarters: he would be in training for his promotion to Lieutenant, effective immediately.
Like a bolt out of the blue, Jones realized what he was meant to do.
The level of distortion within the Marines in the name of Absolute Justice – it went too high. Even if he were to try and make a formal stance of opposition, it would just be quelled. Heroes within the Marines were a dying breed, legends like Garp the Fist and his generation now an exception rather than the expectation. His mother and father, his heroes, had lost all they’d gained in the name of a self-righteous bloodbath.
The mission wasn't about protecting the innocent, anymore. It was possible it hadn't been for some time, either. The name of the game was just stamping out the enemy, and bystanders were fit for collateral, if need be.
Nothing would change. The one at the top made all the calls.
But something could change – if the one at the top was replaced by another.
Opening his package from Marine HQ, Jones took a good, long look at the large, white coat that now lay in his hands, the insignia of Justice emblazoned on the back.
Seven years since he'd joined the Marines, this would be his starting line. From hereon out, it would be a lifelong fight to reach the very top.
And once he made it there – an age of a true Valorous Justice could begin.
Character Music: Jiren's Theme – Dragon Ball FighterZ
Miscellaneous: Jones's name is derived from John Paul Jones, called the "Father of the US Navy", and Lulworth Cove, a World Heritage Site on the Jurassic Coast in Southern England.
