James Cook

**James Cook,** is a player character in One Piece; The Aftermath. He is a former bounty hunter turned marine, currently in charge of G-7 Chaos Squadron. He is played by **Neo000** and is a Player who joined shortly prior to the events of **Alabasta & The White Death.** Born in **the Orange Islands** within the East Blue working for his family, he eventually left and headed towards the grandline to pursue bounty hunting, before eventually joining up the marines right before the war of the Wabiest. He also is a devil fruit user, having eaten the Pika Pika no Mi.

## Appearance

James has an extremely muscular build as a result of his daily routine of constant heavy physical fighting, wielding a great sword and other activities performed by active marines as well as his heritage rather than any intentional effort to achieve that physique.

He boasts a dirty blonde, slicked back hair with dark shades that seemingly never leave his face, and two sun shaped earrings. Usually doninng his justice cloak over a streamlined silver suit, with a blue dress shirt and a golden tie.

## Personality

James is an extremely prideful man, believing that anyone's worth is in their strength, as to him power is all that matters in the world. These two things count as his most sacred qualities, as much of his self-esteem and pride is derived from them.

Reckless, hot-headed and rude, James believes more in actions than words, often preferring direct physical solutions to most problems regardless of how complex a situation actually is. He is a largely stoic and brutally honest figure, reactive to his environment and not pursuing social interaction or bothering with it. There are very few people that he considers his friends, but his attitude towards them is vastly different to that of anyone else, as he is far more open to them, both emotionally and socially. He is fiercely loyal to those he cares about, often sparing nothing for their sake, and doing his all to protect and keep them safe and happy.

However,his tenure leading his own marine squad has largely shifted his perspective. While he still maintains his pride, he wont let it endanger his men or get in the way of his mission. He also has come to consider strength of will as anyone's most important defining feature, as well as their moral standard.

His service in the marines also had the effect of dulling his recklessness as he was forced to grow up into fitting a position of leadership, as he took qualities more fitting for his role. He became more tactical in his approaches, and more considerate of a situation's various factors and complexities. Also maturing emotionally as he was thwarted into a position of mentorship over his crew, who largely look up to him as a role model.

He largely follows his own moral code and whims, tending to ignore the general doctrine of the marines' absolute justice. Being from a criminal background himself, he is willing to give anyone a second chance at redemption, unless their acts were deemed beyond forgiveness by him or they showed no signs of seeking atonement, or even if he simply can't be bothered with trying. He is also prone to immediate emotional judgement, as he tends to immediately kill a criminal without a second thought, should they enrage him enough or stand for too long in his way.

Still he is completley dedicated to the marines and his duty. Having a strong sense of justice and desire to protect the weak, he believes that if one can not be strong, then those who are should have their backs. While not blind to the navy's faults he still maintains that they remain a force of good, putting faith that his comrades, friends and the various men and women he met, befriended and mentored will always do the right thing, and constantly supporting the faction within the navy that is pushing for reform.

James now holds that the people he cares about as his most important thing, ranging from his family to his crew and his friends. His duty to them is above all in his mind, usually viewing them as his own children and brothers, which usually results in them having unquestionable loyalty to him. He is constantly seeking the strength and power needed to keep them safe in a world filled with dangers and villains, unwilling to lose anymore that he already has as each lose saps away a part of his soul, serving as a lasting remembrance of his failure to keep those he cares about safe.

## Abilities / Powers / Equipment

**overview**

Being a vice admiral of the marines, James holds control over any navy personnel of a rank lower than him. Being able to effectively command them across battlefields, and assigning them objectives and directly ordering them around.

James' fighting style tends to be of relentless aggression and unmatched speed and ferocity. Using a combination of his swordsmanship and devil fruit to inflict a tornado of attacks with incredible power, speed and precision. His durability is also unparalleled by most. Being able to sustain damage that would usually be enough to take down the rest of his crewmates. However, he does not rely on pure "tank" preferring a more finessed approach to dodging attacks with his devil fruit, or blocking them with his superb swordsmanship.

This combination of relentless assault, unmatched speed and unnatural durability has allowed James to take the most inhuman of opponents. From perfected robots to the most powerful of monsters and mythical Zoans.

He has demonstrated feats of power that are far above what's known or even expected from marines of his rank, being able to go toe to toe with a warlord of the sea and an awakened logia, the white death while still being only a marine captain, and being able to sustain an entire two days' worth of grinding combat on the hellish island of Namakura (only taking a rest after being forced to by admiral Akairaion).

For these reasons and up until his promotion to vice admiral, it has been generally accepted that James boasts far greater power than what his rank alludes to, which often leads those who underestimate the rear admiral into a false sense of superiority.

**Swordsmanship**

James is an extremely proficient swordsman, having being trained in the use and mastery of nearly every blade since his childhood. Swords are his weapon of choice, and he is able to wield them to great effect, and with immense versatility, effectively wielding them for defence and offence. His preferred type of sword is the Greatsword, a large powerful blade designed to deliver strong and devastating blows.

James is also the current wielder of the legendary cursed Skypiean blade, God Killer. An O Wazomono meito blade, this Greatsword is actually far lighter than most, being able to be wielded with one or two hands depending on the stance he is taking and opponent that he is facing. God killer has also somehow been infused with part of the pika pika no mi, thus wields the powerful ability to manipulate light, although much of that power is zealously kept away by the sword's spirit which has not deemed James worthy enough of it yet.

**Devil fruit**

The rear admiral is the current user of the pika pika no mi. An extremely powerful and legendary logia type devil fruit that allows the user to conjure, manipulate and become light.

This devil fruit offers James a whole new array of destructive power. Besides the usual characteristics of a logia, such as intangibility to most forms of damage, this fruit grants powerful attacks mostly consisting of devastating beams of light that can burn and explode large swathes of grounds, taking down hordes of enemies, or more focused bursts of energy designed to act more as "evisceration" beams, for the sake of limiting collateral.

James has also demonstrated extreme potency with his devil fruit, being able to easily make and manipulate the substance known as hardlight. Usually using it to create weapons made of pure tangible light, often times in the form of a shower of spears, or a flying discs that can cut off limbs. He can also use this substance for area control, often erecting tall and thick walls made of physical light to box an enemy or to limit their line of sight.

Releasing radiant energy in the form of beams is not the only way he can cause destruction. Indeed, the most destructive of his arsenal is the ability to unleash bursts of radiance similar to a supernova. These violent explosions of radiant fury tend to cause a massive amount of collateral damage and cover a very large swath of territory, turning it into charred wasteland, and blinding any enemies who somehow survived.

However, the most advantageous powerup of the pika pika is the unmatched speed it has granted the rear admiral. Using it to often dodge attacks effortlessly and cover long distances in an instant, ensuring nothing can escape him when being chased, and that very few things can manage to hit him. James has also been able to combine the incredible speed of the light logia and his swordsmanship to turn into what is effectively a human blender, striking countless times before his enemies can realize it, and using the incredible speed he has to increase the damage of his swords and physical attacks.

**Haki**

James wields both armament and observation haki. Learning the advanced form of both types in a little over a yaear. As a fighter, James prefers to use his armament haki to boost the damage of his attacks, as well as to make sure that any logias he encounters are neutralized, while using his observation to further assist in dodging incoming attacks while also increasing the accuracy of his own attacks.

He also possesses conquerors haki but is not yet aware of it.

## Relationships

**•Chaos squadron:** James has a strong relationship with his own marine squad that he leads. As most of them were new recruits with often shady or criminal backgrounds, the responsibility of shaping these rogue elements into proper marines was placed on him by his higher ups. It is due to that that he takes on the role of a caretaker and mentor of his crew, taking responsibility for all of their actions and always doing his best to protect, and shape them into proper marines, while also trying to live up to the role model they view him as. Ultimately, he has come to consider the crew of the Helios as his family, seeing them as his own. He is very dutiful towards them, which has earned him their unquestionable loyalty, often opting to follow his command rather than their superiors or those of a higher rank. Out of the entire squadron, he has the strongest relationship with Captain Guruh, coming to view them as their own unofficial daughter.

**•The Nimbus:** his former bounty hunting crew before joining the navy. James holds most members of his former crew very dearly, considering them to be his closest friends or brothers even. The Nimbus was the first time that James was able to properly connect with other people, resulting in him becoming more open to people and realizing that what truly matters was his friends and family. post disbandment, James still holds a strong bond with most of his Nimbus friends, being always ready to rush for their aid should they ever need it, their brotherhood eternal.

**•Princess Merlot:** perhaps the most important person to him. The princess is his current wife and the love of his life. His desire to stay with her playing a major part in his decision to quit his chaotic unstable bounty hunting life, as he wanted to stay by her side.

**•Lecha, Spruce and Oeirve:** James cares deeply about his three adoptive daughters. Having picked up each one of them during his various travels, rescuing them from either certain death, a life of piracy or loneliness as most of them have lost their parents. He has vowed to take care of them and has a strong desire to become the father he wish he had.

**•His biological family:** The relationship he has with most of his siblings remains unknown, however it can be assumed that it was either indifferent or strained due to his family's increasingly criminal and cruel activity. James' relationship with his mother is atrocious as the latter only viewed him as a replaceable tool, with the former having spent his entire life trying to gain her approval before leaving after realizing it was never going to happen. He does have a strong bond with his twin brother and his older brother Jabroski, and older sister, Jaime.

•**Vice admiral Meldy:** A friend to James from before he joined the navy. Vice admiral Meldy's relaxed and laid back demeanor often seeps into James, allowing the usually stoic and joyless man to relax, and have fun.

**•Rear admiral Smokey:** Also a friend of his from before his time as a marine. Having been his friend since the times of the Nimbus, they have only grown closer since James' signing up into the navy. Being of a similar age, moral standard and rank, rear admiral and having helped Chaos squadron in various missions beforehand, rear admiral Smokey is the closest thing James has to a best friend, as he appreciates the fire logia's innocent and well meaning personality.

**•Former fleet admiral Roy:** His immediate impression of the former fleet admiral were positive, due to the former not killing him on the spot, and instead offering him a second chance at life as a marine. James considers the former marine as a good friend and has a more casual relationship with him, much the same he does with Meldy. Roy's joke filled attitude and laid back nature serving as a source of entertainment to the otherwise reserved man.

**•Vice admiral Gaia:** Originally having a strained relationship with the vice admiral, plagued by mistrust and suspicioun due to James' criminal background and actions. His opinion of G-7's vice admiral has increasingly shifted as Gaia has, in more than one instance saved both his life and the life of his squad. James has come to respect his superior's dutiful dedication to justice and his own independence and unwillingness to blindly follow the celestial dragons, viewing him as what the ideal marine should look like. He is also the only marine who James accepts orders from as final.

## Trivia

•After eating the pika pika, James was never seen without shades. His exposed eyes only being witnessed by Merlot.

•He has somehow acquired the ability to spawn infinite shades whenever a pair breaks, thus never running out.

•He despises the french, for unknown reasons.

•He has a disastrous sense of direction, nearly always getting lost in large buildings, mazes or cities.