Minamoto Mitsuru

"The Ronin of East Blue" **Minamoto Mitsuru** is, as her epithet suggests, a wandering samurai and archaeologist hailing from the isolated nation of Wano Kingdom, an archipelago renowned for their incredible mastery of swordsmanship as a country beyond that of anywhere else in the world who inexplicably found herself in the East Blue. As a member of the Minamoto Clan, Mitsuru herself is descended from greatness, as she is a direct descendant of the fabled *Minamoto no Yorimitsu*; the first of the Kensei, and is the great grand-daughter of the legendary warrior given the epithet of Tomoe Gozen.

In addition, she also bears a deep familial connection to the Imperial Clan of Wano Kingdom in the Kozuki, as the Minamoto are historically a branch family of the Kozuki Clan. Inspired by her family history and their connection to Shimotsuki Ryuma, Mitsuru wishes to complete the work of her ancestor and ascend to the title of **Sword God**, by conquering the challenges left by Ryuma to each of his disciples and combining the knowledge gleamed from such a task.

Additionally, Mitsuru also wishes to uncover the true history behind the world, having been told by her uncle, the man who was once the "Cyclops of Wano", that the outside world was led astray by those who now govern it. Due to her connection with the ancient Kozuki and their constant practice of age-old traditions, Mitsuru has the ability to read the poneglyphs, an ability the World Government suspects but is unsure that she has, contributing greatly to her current bounty of 60,000,000.

### Personality

At first encounter with Mitsuru, one would be forgiven (and not be entirely wrong) for believing that Mitsuru is almost hopelessly hedonistic. Living a life of both decadence and debauchery as perceived by those Mitsuru would describe as "uptight", saying that Mitsuru is a woman that indulges in personal pleasure is an understatement for the ages. Best described as a reveler, Mitsuru has a tendency to wander her way into bars and taverns, start a bar fight that spills into the streets, and then leave the bar with someone's wife. Infamous for her ability to hold her liquour (despite constantly asking for sake), her scandalous affairs, skill in combat, and general scoundrelly behaviour, Mitsuru is considered to be a bit of a local tavern legend in the Blue Seas. Indeed, it may seem Mitsuru may become **Tavern God** before she ever achieves the title of her dreams.

However, unlike most of her company, Mitsuru is an incredibly dedicated swordswoman the likes of which few have probably ever seen firsthand, not due to power, but due to sheer devotion and dedication to the craft and her weapons themselves. Virtually inseparable from her swords, Mitsuru takes meticulous care of them, fixing even the slightest dent or chip in her blades in her free time as she was formally taught the basics of blacksmithing. If this was not part and parcel of her reputation, most would not believe her to be the same person as the legendary drinker of East Blue. Mitsuru's dedication to swordsmanship is such that she meditates upon adding a new sword to her collection, attempting to resonate with each new added sword and commune with it to gain an understanding of its "personality". The conviction behind her ambition is astonishing, with those doubting her ability to achieve her goal often being.. coerced to eat those words.

As a Ronin however, Mitsuru still has the morals and a, unique brand of the honour that her family and countrymen possess. As she scours both sea and land, if she comes across those that require assistance in some shape or form she will absolutely go out of her way to defend the weak and the innocent, and has a soft spot in her heart for children. To that end, she will, and has brutally executed murderers and corrupt nobles, and whenever she docks in a familiar town will sit on the streets and give food and drink to the less fortunate children, along with complimentary kenjutsu lessons.

## Backstory

Spoilers, literally all spoilers. Hm. I guess I could do this.

## Powers and Abilities

### Physical Prowess

As a Minamoto, Mitsuru comes from an extremely accomplished line of superhuman swordsmen and swordswomen, being the great granddaughter of legendary Kensei such as Minamoto Yoromitsu, from whom her name was derived, and the legendary warrior woman known as Tomoe Gozen. Despite her relatively small stature compared to some of the strongest individuals she has ever faced, between the sheer intensity of Mitsuru’s unrelenting training and her naturally gifted athleticism, Mitsuru has tremendous physical conditioning.

* **Superhuman Strength:** Mitsuru also possesses superhuman physical strength, greatly empowering the power and range of her strikes which her swordsmanship further strengthens. Mitsuru is capable of clashing with superhumanly large opponents, and against weapons of ridiculous size. However, perhaps most notably, Mitsuru can strain her muscles to degrees that most would typically consider quite uncomfortable in combat, effectively greatly augmenting her typical striking strength and lifting strength, though the former is increased more.
* **Superhuman Speed:** Perhaps the trait that Mitsuru is most well known for apart from her unique swordsmanship style, is a tremendous level of speed, agility and reflexes. Mitsuru is renowned for having dispatched groups of enemies exceedingly quickly and with effortless grace, weaving between her enemies' attempts at escape with indifference. With pure untrained speed, Mitsuru was considered to be the fastest Minamoto in generations, even beyond her elder sister, speaking volumes of her potential. Even when it comes to typical travelling speed, between her stamina and speed, Mitsuru crosses regions of an island much faster than she needs to, typically jogging and keeping up pace with horses and carriages (a trait taught as part of the Minamoto training regimen in order to allow them to catch up to fleeing horses after dismounting.
	+ **Superhuman Reflexes and Agility:** As the philosophy inherited by the **Sword God** in the Minamoto Clan was that of *Flow*, Mitsuru’s agility is considered to be incredible, capable of *flowing* between motions effortlessly, becoming even more absurd when combined with her swordsmanship. In addition, her reflexes are also similarly advanced, capable of reacting to surprise attacks or attacks that may have already managed to get incredibly close to her. This trait has led to Mitsuru being capable of practicing her swordsmanship even when completely asleep as a reflex action.
* **Superhuman Durability and Endurance:** Speaking of her durability and endurance, Mitsuru’s are nothing to sneer at. Mitsuru possesses the ability to withstand hunger as well as the ability to continue fighting for extreme periods of time, even if she incurs great injury. Injuries that would typically disable another for years may merely impede her for a short while after receiving some amount of treatment.

### Swordsmanship

#### Jitterbug

**Jitterbug** is the personal style of swordsmanship invented by and still practiced by Minamoto Mitsuru, and in her opinion while it leans more heavily towards the Gentle Blade style of swordsmanship, it still nonetheless demonstrates an affinity for being utilized to mimic feats of the Strong Blade style, if not bring a user closer to a balance between both forms. As a result, Mitsuru considers Jitterbug to be an extremely adaptive, fast-paced style of swordsmanship that in a sense revolves around mastery of one's body.

As a young child, Mitsuru was so excited and nervous to finally be practicing swordsmanship that as she would strike, she would noticeably jitter as she moved forward with her sword, a rookie mistake to be sure but one that could potentially cause problems later on if her jitters led to buckling when facing powerful opponents. However, with the concept of *Flow* being paramount to the Minamoto Clan in every aspect of their training, Mitsuru was allowed to practice and channel these rapid jitters to occur when she needed them to, how she needed them to. Owning her mistake and transforming it into a strength, Jitterbug revolves around the harnessing and usage of these jitters to create a style of swordsmanship powered by "vibrations". Believing that all things in this world, no matter how tough, powerful, or fearless jitter, she believes then all things can be ripped asunder by her Jitterbug.

### Musical Skill

Despite the typical association of Shamisen with that of popular culture and more lower class citizens of Wano, a highly ornate Shamisen is one of Mitsuru's most treasured possessions that she regards on the same level as a newly discovered sword. She refuses to give any details on how it is she obtained it and has been rumoured to be once found shedding tears over the body of this lute, the jittering she mastered to create her swordsmanship becoming more than evident and as untamed as ever.

With this being said, Mitsuru appears to have learned at some point how to play this instrument, as she appears at the very least fairly adept; playing it during her free time accompanied with song, or very rarely if asked to. She also appears to have a fairly trained voice as well, something quite uncommon for a samurai of noble birth as herself, which only shrouds both this instrument and her inexplicable skill in it in mystery.