Shinku

Shinku is a herring Mermaid who hails from Fishman Island in the Grand Line, and a former employee of the well-known Mermaid Cafe in Coral Hill. Shinku is also the 13th member overall of The Jolly Pirates, acting as their most talented singer and enlisted scout whilst in the crow's nest, and is rather known for her use of Merman Combat, a style of fighting meant to make use of the best traits of a mermaid.

During her time as a Mermaid Cafe employee, Shinku was moved when she heard about the late Queen Otohime's desire to bring peace between humans and the fishmen and merfolk. Not knowing how to make a difference herself, it was Madame Sharly who imparted Shinku's dream to her; to use Shinku's passion and talents for singing to bring peace between the humans and citizens of Fishman Island. At first, while she didn't quite understand how singing could help end years of discrimination, it was her experience and meeting with The Jolly Pirates that helped open her eyes to what simple acts of kindness and selflessness can do to change otherwise big problems. Feeling more confident in her dream than ever, Shinku agreed to join The Jolly Pirates in the hope that she could sing to the world a beautiful song that would bring true peace to everyone; ultimately resembling to some degree Jolly D. Chris' dream of entertaining the world for vaguely similar reasons.

Personality
One of the most prominent features of Shinku's personality is her cheerful disposition and her willingness to do nearly anything she pleases, or what is asked of her. Added to this, is her rather naive demeanor, coupled with her usual sense of optimism. However, despite all these positive traits, Shinku usually finds herself in harm's way more than others, thanks to these said traits. This is because Shinku is a constant source for bad luck and mishaps, often being labeled a "jinx," or a "bad luck magnet." So when Shinku is more than willing to do something, and seems positive that nothing could go wrong, 9 times out of 10, something WILL indeed go wrong (which can end up involving innocent bystanders as well.) However, despite living with this problem her entire life (and somehow managing to stay in one piece through it all,) Shinku doesn't seem to be too bothered by it, and will usually be the first one to try and shrug it off with a slight laugh, or an innocent smile. In fact, she seems to be rather accustomed to this sort of thing happening on a frequent basis.

On the subject of her passions, Shinku enjoys listening to music as a pastime. So much so in fact, that she has taken up singing as a hobby, which ultimately became a profession of hers. It is because of her skill at singing, and her rather lovely voice when doing so, which lead to her becoming The Jolly Pirates' singer. Due to her love of music, Shinku has become quite fond of their musician's musical skills, and can be seen singing to one of her songs alongside her, from time to time. Shinku seems to enjoy singing rather than playing music, due to two major factors. One is the fact that she is a complete klutz, thus she would always screw up whenever she tried to play a song. The other is the fact that she finds the act of singing to be more enjoyable instead, as it allows her to express her emotions and feelings through her voice; instead of the musician's method, which allows her to express said feelings through the playing of music.

All in all, Shinku can best be described as a cheery, idealistic, young Mermaid, who has a strong passion for singing, and is often known to draw bad luck around her wherever she goes. Because of her child-like attitude at times, Shinku gets along well with most (if not all) of her fellow crewmates.

Hand to Hand Combat
Shinku seems to have learned Merman Combat, due to the years of trying to survive from having her bad luck almost kill her. Now, after years of practice and honing her skills, Shinku has become a rather skilled practitioner of Mermaid Combat, it being a Mermaid parallel to Fishman Karate. The way in which Shinku uses it seems to be rather acrobatic, being similar to Sanji's Black Leg Style, but it also encompasses powerful punches and equally powerful blows from Shinku's Mermaid tail. With it, Shinku can take on sea kings and some fishmen if necessary.

Physical Strength
Despite being a mermaid, and thus not like her fishmen counterparts, Shinku has still displayed am amazing level of strength for someone of her stature. However, it appears that all of this strength is located in two distinct points: Her hands and her tail. Shinku's fists are powerful enough to knock down steel doors and lift large objects such as trees and large boulders. All of this strength has come from the fact that Shinku, while on land, has picked up the habit of walking on her hands to get around, thus strengthening her arm and hand muscles. Shinku's tail is just as powerful, capable of sending cannonballs flying at great speeds much like a baseball bat. It is also potentially capable of crushing a weaker person's skull if just enough force is put behind it. This is thanks to the fact that Shinku's tail is also her other means of transportation while underwater.

Albeit, Shinku is strong in her own right, she is still nowhere near the same level of strength as some of the stronger fishmen seen throughout the world. As a result, this places Shinku somewhere at the top of the weaker tier of her crew and at the bottom of the stronger group of Valkyrie Pirates, making her strength somewhat average amongst her crewmates.

Agility
Thanks to her martial art, Mermaid Combat, Shinku is rather flexible, often more so than her fellow crew mates. It is this very flexibility that assists her on land when fighting, since her speed in contrast is awfully poor due to having her movements restricted once on land. This all changes once Shinku is underwater however, as her speed will then reach superhuman levels, allowing her to dart around in the water like a bullet. And to add to that, Shinku's agility and flexibility become even greater while underwater, even staggeringly so. This is because, given the way her species evolved over time, Shinku's body is now more designed to fight underwater rather than on land.

Endurance
Due to being unable to match the same speeds as some of the faster fighters in the One Piece world, and given how she relies heavily on her flexibility while on land, Shinku's endurance is actually very impressive, despite her rather fragile appearance. In fact, this helps to decieve otherwise ignorant or arrogant opponents in a fight by making the foe(s) believe that Shinku will go down after a few powerful blows and strikes. Quite the contrary, as Shinku has learned how to take a beating rather well, in case her agility were to fail her. In fact, like most of her fellow Valkyrie Pirate friends, Shinku's endurance can be considered superhuman to a degree. Shinku has shown such abilities as surviving a cannonball shot at her (albeit, the shot did quite a lot of damage to her as a result.)

Haki
Kenbunshoku Haki: Color of Observation: So far, while Shinku knows of, and has observed Haki being used by her fellow Jolly Pirates, she is currently unable to use it.

Busōshoku Haki: Color of Armaments: Like with Kenbunshoku Haki, Shinku knows of and has witnessed Busoshoku Haki in use, but has never been seen using it herself.

Merman Combat

 * Merman Combat: Rising Current - This is a pretty straightforward style of attack for Shinku when on dry land, or away from a body of water in general. The attack is performed by Shinku in a defensive stance, where she will prepare herself for any oncoming attacks from opponents. By getting into her handstanding position, Shinku will perform a leg sweep type of move with her tail, in order to knock her enemy off balance. If successful, Shinku will quickly rotate in position and follow up with a high leg sweep with her tail, aimed at the opponent's torso or head, all the while gracefully spinning on her hands.


 * Merman Combat: Waterfall Tail-Driver - Another simple, yet effective technique in Shinku's move pool. In order to pull this one off, all Shinku needs to do is be in mid-air when initiating it. Shinku, with amazing force and strength, will fling her tail down vertically onto her intended target, causing tremendous damage and destruction. This move is one of Shinku's stronger attacks, and because of that, is much harder to pull off once it has been seen, as her opponent will more than likely try to prevent her from using it again.

History
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Character Design
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Major Battles
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Quotes
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Trivia
Konjiki no Gash Bell!/Zatch Bell! - Gash Bell/Zatch Bell
 * Shinku's name means "Deep Red/Crimson." This is a reference to the fact that she has a red tail.
 * Originally, Shinku's name was going to be Kurenai, which means the same thing in Japanese. This was switched to Shinku, because Wyvern 0m3g4 felt Shinku sounded prettier for a mermaid.
 * Shinku's epithet, "Red Herring" comes from two references. There's the fact that she's a herring mermaid with a red tail, and the fact that "Red Herring" usually refers to the act of drawing attention away from a significant action or event. This epithet is supposed to reference the fact that since Shinku is so clumsy and has bad luck follow her wherever she goes, the importance of any accidents she creates will quickly be shrugged off, due to the fact that people will get used to it as they spend more time with Shinku. Wyvern had the phrase, "False Alarm" in his head when thinking of her epithet.
 * Shinku's birthday, December 31st, falls on the same day as an obscure and not widely known holiday, Unlucky Day. This references her bad luck streak and clumsiness.
 * Since she's the crew's singer, Shinku seems to share a reference to the sirens of Greek mythology with crew musician, Jean Reis. The sirens were said to have been women who would sing a magically beautiful song to sailors out at sea, which would draw them in to the sirens' island, only to have their ship wrecked on the island's shores, thus killing the sailors.
 * If Shinku was ever in an anime, Wyvern had decided that she would be played by Ikue Ōtani in the Japanese version of the series. Ikue is well know for playing roles such as (but not limited to):

Naruto - Konohamaru

One Piece - Tony Tony Chopper; Sanji (child); Enishida (Fake Nami)

Pokémon - Pikachu; Corsola; Mime Jr.; Glameow; Roselia

YuYu Hakusho - Masaru; Natsumiko; Fubuki; Shura