[hider=Here Fishie Fishie]
[CENTER][img]https://i.imgur.com/v9aJj0l.jpg[/img]
"Freedom isn't a privilege- it's a right. [i]And I will have it.[/i]"[/CENTER]

[b]Name:[/b] Mera 
[b]Age:[/b] 22
[b]Gender:[/b] Female

[b]Race:[/b] Fishman (Sandbar Shark)
[b]Height & Weight:[/b] 6'0", 175 lbs

[b]Personality:[/b] Mera is a bit reclusive and more than a little shy, but this is owing to the conditions she's been forced to endure in her past. She's actually a very sweet, outgoing girl once she's decided to trust the person who will see it. However, she doesn't take betrayal well, and once broken her trust is [i]extremely[/i] difficult to earn back. Furthermore, nothing makes her angrier than imprisoning or enslaving others.
[b]Bounty:[/b] None at present.
[b]Origin Story:[/b] 
Mera's hardly a stranger to fighting for survival in the world.

She and her mermaid sister Calma were born in the waters near Sabaody Archipelago to a fishman father and a mermaid mother. The Archpelago was still more than moderately risky for their people, but for their family it was home. Her father and mother wanted their daughters to be raised living alongside humans, regardless of the risk to themselves. And for all of their adolescence, things went swimmingly (heh). A few close calls here and there, and more than a little bigotry, but they had each other and they made it through. 

That changed a few months after they both turned 18. Mera and Calma had gone into the Archipelago, in their usual guises and precautions, to do a little shopping. What they didn't realize, however, was that a notorious Slaver had managed to see through them and was following them to the little cove they called home. A few days later the Slaver returned- with an entourage of armed men behind him. Their parents immediately took action, putting up as much fight as they could while urging their daughters to run. They ran for the water, but not before seeing their father gunned down and their mother clapped in chains. The pursuit then turned on them, even as they both dove down to the deep. Calma was far faster, owing to her mermaid abilities, but this only resulted in her running into the nets that had been prepared ahead of them first. With little regard for her own safety Mera tried to save her sister, but as she tried to break the nets Calma called up a current to sweep her away and out to sea. 

By the time Mera recovered she was far away from the cove, and much as she wanted to go back and fight... in her heart she knew it was hopeless. So she started swimming, far away from the Archipelago, as fast as she could. Over four years she wandered the ocean, eventually making her way to South Blue. All the while she made every attempt to grow stronger, in the hopes that she would one day return to Sabaody, find her family, and liberate them. It didn't take long for her to realize she would need allies to get there, however, and somewhere along the way she had a run-in with one Captain Sunny, who also happened to be looking for comrades to enter and best the Grand Line. After they bailed each other out of a jam, a partnership was struck. And the rest is history...
 
[b]Abilities:[/b]
-Fishman Physiology: Being a fishman grants Mera all the benefits of her species, such as increased strength, high speed swimming, and the ability to breathe and speak underwater as well as communicating with other aquatic creatures.

-Fishman Karate, Swordfish Style: A variant of the Fishman Karate martial art taught on Fishman Island, Mera incorporates a sword into her technique because she found it imropoved her focus for manipulating water in her vicinity, as well as giving her an extra edge in a very literal sense should she find herself engaged on dry land.

-Voice of the Waves: Having spent most of her life traveling by water, Mera has a very keen sense for reading the waves and currents of the ocean both at the surface and in the depths. Long term navigation is not a skill of hers, but if she's shown a patch of sea in front of her and asked to find the best way across it such is right in her wheelhouse.

[b]Inventory:[/b] 
Her personal sword (Tachi, 30" in length, pommel is decorated with a seashell)
Her day-to-day clothes (usually some sort of wrap that covers what it needs to without impeding movement)
[/hider]