Gray D. Starks' Character Application

Gray H. Starks wrote:Name: Gray H. Starks
Epithet: "White Fist" Gray
Age: 24
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Sexuality: Straight

Affiliation: Pirate
Occupation: Fighter

Appearance:
Gray is a fairly tall and medium built man but with a ripped complexion and slightly broad shoulders. His hair reaches down below his shoulders and he prefers keeping it swept back over his ears with a bunch tied into a spikey ponytail (see image). He has a noticeable x-shaped scar on his forehead above his left eyebrow. His hands are almost always bandaged (hence the epithet "White Fist"). He sometimes wears a black fedora; however this is only on special occasions. His clothing includes a black half-sleeve shirt which he changes often, dark brown cargo pants that he always rolls up to his shins, and a black overcoat that he hangs over his shoulders. He keeps pins on the inside of the overcoat’s shoulder pads which he uses to keep his coat from falling over when fighting while wearing them. The overcoat is finely stitched, with golden linings along the sleeves, the buttons and on the shoulder flaps. His overcoat has many deep pockets as well, which will almost always appear full of something (described more in sections that follow). His footwear varies, but generally, he wears open footwear such as sandals or even goes bare-feet at times.

Hair Color: Black
Skin Tone: Very light brown
Height: 6'4"
Weight: 210 lbs.

Personality: Gray’s attitude towards everything is extremely laid back. He is generally carefree of the surroundings, his actions or anyone else’s. He prefers avoiding violence when it can be avoided and does not pick meaningless fights. He believes that when he fights someone, he must give it his all. When in a serious battle, Gray doesn’t hold back and he pushes himself to his limit.

Gray is generally a happy person, and usually an optimist, but he is definitely not a hopeless optimist. If a situation seems hopeless and retreating is the wisest option, he has no ideals stopping him from following that course. However, this does not apply to situations where someone close to him is in danger or in need.

Gray’s idea of justice is also very tentative. He does not consider himself a destroyer or an upholder of justice. His attitude towards justice is more dependent on his mood. Again, it is a different matter altogether when his acquaintances or friends are the subject in question. He never stands by idly if he feels like his friends are truly in need of outside assistance.
Gray also harbors hatred towards extremely cocky people. He makes it his personal agenda to put misguided arrogant people into their rightful places.
Moving on to some of his more comical traits, he is hopelessly addicted to pineapples.

Likes: Cool clothes, beaches, pineapples, warm weather
Dislikes: Difficult situations, uptight people, arrogance

Motivations: Gray’s ultimate goal is to sail to the New World with a crew of his own and experience the world’s most dangerous sea to counter his dislike towards difficult situations. He believes that he will be a true man only if he changes himself to enjoy difficult situations as his father did.
His secondary goal is to find the most delicious pineapple in the world and eat it.

Fears: Losing his friends, dying before his goal is met, going for days without a pineapple

Behavior/Habits: Gray is almost always found relaxing. He doesn’t enjoy meaningless violence and is never aggressive. Gray spends a lot of his time sleeping or reading. Gray likes reading just about anything, including newspapers, despite his carefree nature.
He is a socially outgoing person and enjoys drinking with his friends. He often ends up getting drunk and doing idiotic things, but tends to deny having done them and refuses to accept any evidence to prove otherwise.
He is strangely addicted to pineapples. Pineapples are one of the very few things, the lack of which makes him go against his own personality. For instance, when he hasn’t had a pineapple for an extended period of time, he becomes aggressive and impatient.


History:
Gray was born in Loguetown on the day the former captain of his father’s pirate crew was executed. His father respected the man very much and thus he thought it was important to witness a life-changing execution, not knowing that his absence would be the window of time where his first son would be born. Throughout Gray’s youth, his father, Dain, regretted missing his birth and would often apologize to the point where Gray would get irritated. This helped build Gray’s indifference towards such ‘trivial’ things. His father retired from his crew after he missed Gray’s birth in order to not make the mistake of missing Gray’s childhood. And thus, Gray had the luck of having his own father being his fatherly figure, unlike many children whose fathers were pirates. Gray began his training in hand-to-hand combat and sword fighting when he was 4 and quickly became proficient with hand-to-hand combat. However, he had no talent in art of swordsmanship. And so he focused his training on hand-to-hand combat. From a very young age of 6, he already possessed multiple scars on his fists from fighting against his father, who always used a sword for his defense. When he was eight, his parents had another son, and Gray requested to name him. He named his brother Krios, borrowing the name from a character in one of his favorite books.
After his brother’s birth, he continued on with his training while attending school regularly. His mother strongly believed that training of the mind was just as important as training of the body, and Gray grew to share this same belief. He quickly formed the habit of reading more than just fantasy novels. He became an avid reader, which helped develop his wit. When his brother turned four, his father opened a local combat school, and Gray became his assistant as he had already become quite skillful. Gray personally trained his brother in hand-to-hand combat. By the age of fourteen, Gray had become quick enough to dodge a bullet fired from medium range. When he turned fifteen, Gray was spending some time walking down the beach towards the opposite side of Loguetown, where he had found a field of pineapple plants, which he had gotten addicted to. On his way there, he found a strange fruit washed ashore. The fruit slightly resembled a pineapple so without wasting a moment, he gulped down on the fruit, which happened to taste similar to a pineapple too. Not suspecting anything, he continued on his merry way when all of a sudden, he choked and fainted.
When he woke up, he found himself covered with multiple blankets in his own bed with his mother asleep in a chair beside him. Confused, he shook his mother awake to find out what happened, and was informed that he had been missing for over a day and his father and brother had gone out to search for him, when they found him unconscious on the beach. He explained to his parents what had happened and his father was surprised and questioned him regarding the appearance of the fruit. When Gray described it, his father was certain that it was a devil fruit, but he had not heard of anyone choking and fainting because of it. His mother was more concerned with Gray being helpless in sea water, but Gray reassured her that he would’ve been helpless anyway as he never cared to learn how to swim.  Curious to find out what powers the devil’s fruit had brought upon Gray, his father took him to an isolated cottage on the opposite side of the island for a month. There, they conducted various experiments with his training until they realized what Gray was capable of. Gray had eaten the “Pressure-Pressure” fruit. The powers of this fruit allowed him to control the air pressure in his immediate surroundings. When he first ate the fruit, he had unknowingly decreased the air pressure around himself, thus making it hard for him to breathe.
Gray and his father returned home after understanding the basics of this new power and learning how to control it enough to keep it from harming himself or innocents. Gray continued to train his new power along with his martial arts training and learned to manipulate it even more, also increasing the range of its coverage. Krios had now matured enough to realize how big of a difference there was in his strength and his brother’s. He began to despise the attention that his brother got and started making trouble whenever he could. Gray, not wanting to lose his brother’s confidence that he had kept for so many years, attempted to spend more time with him. Eventually Krios accepted his place in the family, being assured by them that he was just as valuable to them as Gray. When Gray turned twenty, he decided it was time to set sail on his own adventure, and he departed in a small sailboat all on his own, being a skillful navigator from having studied geography and the art of navigation from the many books that he had read. He explored some islands closer by and met many new people, but had no out of the ordinary encounters. He was thankful for this, and he returned home after two years of exploring the East Blue.
When he returned home, he discovered that his father had been crippled. Shocked by this tragic discovery, he demanded to know how this happened, and found out that his father was crippled when he tried to defend a helpless pirate who was being assaulted by a gang of bandits. Gray hated his father for endangering himself for a complete stranger and losing his ability to walk in the process. This is when Gray started to develop a strong dislike for difficult situations such as that one. But, deep inside, he respected his father for standing up for the helpless. He also knew from the very start, that his father, unlike him, enjoyed difficult situations, and was always ready to pay the price.
Eventually Gray forgave his father, and returned to the sea, promising his brother that the next time he visited, he would take him along. As Gray pondered his father’s plight, he decided to someday sail the new world and experience the most dangerous sea in honor of his father.

Gray wrote:

Gray D. Starks

Name: Gray D. Starks
Epithet: White Fist
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Race: Human
Sexuality: Straight

Affiliation: Pirate
Occupation: Humble Wrath

Appearance:
Gray is a quite tall and medium built man but with a ripped complexion and slightly broad shoulders. His hair reaches down below his shoulders and he prefers keeping it swept back over his ears with a bunch tied into a spikey ponytail (see image). He has a noticeable x-shaped scar on his forehead above his left eyebrow. He also has a scar across his left eye. His hands are almost always bandaged (hence the epithet "White Fist"). He sometimes wears a black fedora; however this is only on special occasions. His clothing includes a black half-sleeve shirt which he changes often, dark brown cargo pants that he always rolls up to his shins, and a black overcoat that he hangs over his shoulders. He keeps pins on the inside of the overcoat’s shoulder pads which he uses to keep his coat from falling over when fighting while wearing them. The overcoat is finely stitched, with golden linings along the sleeves, the buttons and on the shoulder flaps. His overcoat has many deep pockets as well, which will almost always appear full of something (described more in sections that follow). His footwear varies, but generally, he wears open footwear such as sandals or even goes bare-feet at times.

Hair Color: Black
Skin Tone: Slightly tanned
Height: 6'10"
Weight: 245 lbs.

Personality: Gray’s attitude towards everything is extremely laid back. He is generally carefree of the surroundings, his actions or anyone else’s. He prefers avoiding violence when it can be avoided and does not pick meaningless fights. He believes that when he fights someone, he must give it his all. When in a serious battle, Gray doesn’t hold back and he pushes himself to his limit.

Gray is generally a happy person, and usually an optimist, but he is definitely not a hopeless optimist. If a situation seems hopeless and retreating is the wisest option, he has no ideals stopping him from following that course. However, this does not apply to situations where someone close to him is in danger or in need.

Gray’s idea of justice is also very tentative. He does not consider himself a destroyer or an upholder of justice. However, he despises meaningless killing, and tries to stop it if he can. His attitude towards justice is usually more dependent on his mood though. Again, it is a different matter altogether when his acquaintances or friends are the subject in question. He never stands by idly if he feels like his friends are truly in need of outside assistance.
Gray also harbors hatred towards extremely cocky people. He makes it his personal agenda to put misguided arrogant people into their rightful places.
Moving on to some of his more comical traits, he is hopelessly addicted to pineapples.

Likes: Cool clothes, beaches, pineapples, warm weather
Dislikes: Difficult situations, uptight people, arrogance, killing

Motivations: Gray’s ultimate goal is to sail to the New World with a crew of his own and experience the world’s most dangerous sea to counter his dislike towards difficult situations. He believes that he will be a true man only if he changes himself to enjoy difficult situations as his father did.
His secondary goal is to find the most delicious pineapple in the world and eat it.

Fears: Losing his friends, dying before his goal is met, going for days without a pineapple

Behavior/Habits: Gray is almost always found relaxing. He doesn’t enjoy meaningless violence and is never aggressive. Gray spends a lot of his time sleeping or reading. Gray likes reading just about anything, including newspapers, despite his carefree nature.
He is a socially outgoing person and enjoys drinking with his friends. He often ends up getting drunk and doing idiotic things, but tends to deny having done them and refuses to accept any evidence to prove otherwise.
He is strangely addicted to pineapples. Pineapples are one of the very few things, the lack of which makes him go against his own personality. For instance, when he hasn’t had a pineapple for an extended period of time, he becomes aggressive and impatient.


History:
Gray was born in Loguetown on the day the former captain of his father’s pirate crew was executed. His father respected the man very much and thus he thought it was important to witness a life-changing execution, not knowing that his absence would be the window of time where his first son would be born. Throughout Gray’s youth, his father, Clay, regretted missing his birth and would often apologize to the point where Gray would get irritated. This helped build Gray’s indifference towards such ‘trivial’ things. His father retired from his crew after he missed Gray’s birth in order to not make the mistake of missing Gray’s childhood. And thus, Gray had the luck of having his own father being his fatherly figure, unlike many children whose fathers were pirates. Gray began his training in hand-to-hand combat and sword fighting when he was 4 and quickly became proficient with hand-to-hand combat. However, he had no talent in art of swordsmanship. And so he focused his training on hand-to-hand combat. From a very young age of 6, he already possessed multiple scars on his fists from fighting against his father, who always used a sword for his defense. When he was eight, his parents had another son, and Gray requested to name him. He named his brother Kray, borrowing the name from a character in one of his favorite books.
Growing up, his mother, Titania, was a great spiritual influence on him. His mother had a thing against people who lose contact with their families, and she would always tell Gray to not lose contact with his, once he starts his own, just like his father. His mother also despised killing with a passion. She always used to tell Gray, "Every life has meaning, a purpose. To take someone's life away from them, is taking away the meaning of life itself."
After his brother’s birth, he continued on with his training while attending school regularly. His mother strongly believed that training of the mind was just as important as training of the body, and Gray grew to share this same belief. He quickly formed the habit of reading more than just fantasy novels. He became an avid reader, which helped develop his wit. When his brother turned four, his father opened a local combat school, and Gray became his assistant as he had already become quite skillful. Gray personally trained his brother in hand-to-hand combat. By the age of fourteen, Gray had become quick enough to dodge a bullet fired from medium range. When he turned fifteen, Gray was spending some time walking down the beach towards the opposite side of Loguetown, where he had found a field of pineapple plants, which he had gotten addicted to. On his way there, he found a strange fruit washed ashore. The fruit slightly resembled a pineapple so without wasting a moment, he gulped down on the fruit, which happened to taste similar to a pineapple too. Not suspecting anything, he continued on his merry way when all of a sudden, he choked and fainted.
When he woke up, he found himself covered with multiple blankets in his own bed with his mother asleep in a chair beside him. Confused, he shook his mother awake to find out what happened, and was informed that he had been missing for over a day and his father and brother had gone out to search for him, when they found him unconscious on the beach. He explained to his parents what had happened and his father was surprised and questioned him regarding the appearance of the fruit. When Gray described it, his father was certain that it was a devil fruit, but he had not heard of anyone choking and fainting because of it. His mother was more concerned with Gray being helpless in sea water, but Gray reassured her that he would’ve been helpless anyway as he never cared to learn how to swim.  Curious to find out what powers the devil’s fruit had brought upon Gray, his father took him to an isolated cottage on the opposite side of the island for a month. There, they conducted various experiments with his training until they realized what Gray was capable of. Gray had eaten the “Pressure-Pressure” fruit. The powers of this fruit allowed him to control the air pressure in his immediate surroundings. When he first ate the fruit, he had unknowingly decreased the air pressure around himself, thus making it hard for him to breathe.
Gray and his father returned home after understanding the basics of this new power and learning how to control it enough to keep it from harming himself or innocents. Gray continued to train his new power along with his martial arts training and learned to manipulate it even more, also increasing the range of its coverage. Kray had now matured enough to realize how big of a difference there was in his strength and his brother’s. He began to despise the attention that his brother got and started making trouble whenever he could. Gray, not wanting to lose his brother’s confidence that he had kept for so many years, attempted to spend more time with him. Eventually Kray accepted his place in the family, being assured by them that he was just as valuable to them as Gray. When Gray turned seventeen, he decided it was time to set sail on his own adventure, and he departed in a small sailboat all on his own, being a skillful navigator from having studied geography and the art of navigation from the many books that he had read. He explored some islands closer by and met many new people, but had no out of the ordinary encounters. He was thankful for this, and he returned home after two years of exploring the East Blue.
When he returned home, he discovered that his father had been crippled. Shocked by this tragic discovery, he demanded to know how this happened, and found out that his father was crippled when he tried to defend a helpless pirate who was being assaulted by a gang of bandits. Gray hated his father for endangering himself for a complete stranger and losing his ability to walk in the process. This is when Gray started to develop a strong dislike for difficult situations such as that one. But, deep inside, he respected his father for standing up for the helpless. He also knew from the very start, that his father, unlike him, enjoyed difficult situations, and was always ready to pay the price.
Eventually Gray forgave his father, and returned to the sea, promising his brother that the next time he visited, he would take him along. As Gray pondered his father’s plight, he decided to someday sail the new world and experience the most dangerous sea in honor of his father.