"I've seen things - done things - that should have had me burned at the stake years ago. If you tell my sister of them, you'll find out just how far 'malpractice' can go."Name: Marcus Damon
Epithet: The Good Doctor
Blue/Sea: East Blue
Crew/Base: The Doctor's Dinghy - One small boat, just large enough for Marcus and Thalia to live on and for Marcus to practice his medicine.
Bounty/Rank: 40,000 Berries
Age: 28
Height: 6'01
Weight: 204 lbs.
Personality: Cold. Cunning. Calculating. No room for error, be it on the operating table or simply walking down the streets. This is the persona Marcus dons at almost all times. He arrives, conducts his business with swift efficiency, collects his payment, and leaves. You're more likely to strike up a conversation with an anchor than you are with Marcus. Some go as far as to call him rude or mean due to his mannerisms, but when lives are on the line - both to take and to save - one cannot afford to waste time.
Then there's Thalia. The star in his sky, the warmth in his life. You'd think him a completely different person when with his younger sister. He laughs, he jokes, he goes out of his way to see Thalia smile. But, if you look closely - very closely - you'll see the pain. The sheer terror. He knows he's spending borrowed time with her, he knows the clock is ticking. He goes to such great lengths to make her happy because he knows any second could possibly be her last. And he will destroy anything that tries to take her happiness away.
Skills & Talent: Marcus is, at his core, a doctor. He's studied at several prestigious institutions in all four blues, and one in the Grand Line for a brief time. He knows everything from major arteries to minor nerve clusters, organs to layers of the skin, parts of the brain to bones in a pinky. He'd likely have become one of the greatest doctors in the world had circumstances been different.
With this medical knowledge also comes a good deal of knowledge in plants and chemistry. What plants can he use to make a painkiller or antibiotic? Will this compound react negatively with that one, or will they help make a muscle relaxant? Is this man dying or scurvy or poisoning? All these and more are questions Marcus knows the answer to.
Weapons: Marcus, being the medical professional that he is, has a selection of weapons at his disposal. Scalpels, poisons, needles, bone saws... Even just his bare hands are enough to bring down his target, should they be unarmored. He's even 'procured' a very special set of gloves containing two mechanisms; One that extends small, long blades from his fingers, and a mechanism that feeds razor-wire between them at up to six feet.
Aside from these, Marcus can load and fire any basic gun, and anyone with basic motor functions can swing a sword.
Transportation: Currently owns a small ship just large enough to hold himself, his sister Thalia, and a small workshop/medical lab. Currently dubbed 'The Doctor's Dinghy', even though it's actually the size of a small caravel.
Dream/Goal: To cure his sister of her disease.
Origins: What do you get when a child genius is born into a wealthy merchant family? You get Marcus. What happens when his parents see his potential and hire tutors from across the seas to come teach their child? You get Marcus training to be a doctor. His parents set him up for success from a very young age; They made sure he had the best education they could offer him, made him work on the docks helping load and unload shipments to teach him the value of working hard, and for a long while they were happy.
His mother gave birth to his sister, Thalia, when he was fourteen. She was a sickly thing, though. Beautiful but frail as thin ice. Doctors were always in and out of the house, and when they weren't teaching Marcus, they were trying to help treat his sister. They concluded she had some sort of disease that affected her immune system, something very rare, something that can be treated with the right (very expensive) medicines, but not cured.
And so Marcus gained purpose for his studies. He left home to study at any medical school that would take him, having recommendations from the doctors that had been his tutors. He expanded his knowledge, sharpened his skills, even received certifications and awards... But none of that mattered to him. He hadn't found the cure he was trying to create.
Marcus returned home for good at the age of twenty. He'd stopped in every once in a while for holidays, but this was his first time coming to stay. If only it were under happier circumstances. The illness that had effected his sister was starting to make itself known in his mother, and he rushed from the grand line to try and do what he could to help.
It was an exercise in futility, unfortunately. His mother died a few short months after his arrival, leaving he and his father to watch Thalia, the poor girl that was confused the most by all of this. With their father taking up a heavy drinking habit, this left Marcus to care for and treat his sister, doing his best to keep her happy.
And then the pirates came, in the dead of night. Marcus and Thalia were woken to the smell of smoke and the bright lights of fires being set to their home and their father's fleet. Marcus rushed to Thalia's room to find the way blocked by flaming boards, the fire rapidly approaching. Marcus did the only thing he could and forced his way inside, suffering severe burns to rescue his terrified sister.
Once outside, there were the pirates to deal with. A group of Marine deserters out to take money where they could on smaller islands. In the fight that followed, Marcus killed the captain and severely wounded the other two, suffering quiet a few himself. The last thing he remembered before passing out from blood loss was the 'pirates' fleeing to their ship as it started to catch fire from the others.
When he woke, he'd found Thalia had patched him up as best she could. With her help, he managed to get into 'working' order, rummaging about wreckage, piecing together what they could. Marcus found the charred remains of their father in the burnt husk of their home, and made sure to hide it from his sister. Together they salvaged what they could from the remains of the town; food, water, a single ship that had been hidden away inland, and just barely enough medicine to get Thalia by.
And so they set sail for the closest island, Marcus looking for work as a doctor. Unfortunately, it became painfully apparent that a non-certified (as they'd all been destroyed in the fire) horribly scarred doctor wasn't going to get much work in any reputable town. Marcus did his best to help ends meet, going hungry for Thalia's sake, but as more and more of the medicine was used, Marcus became increasingly desperate to gather the materials needed to make more.
And then he found it. A shady assassination organization, needing a corrupt noble taken out before he could set the authorities on their organization. The pay was enough to get the medicine and enough food for a week, and Marcus began his foray into the business of ending lives instead of solely saving them, keeping his 'real' job out of the eyes of his sister. Of course, any good assassin doesn't want his face to be recognized, and so Marcus incorporated his antique doctor's mask (one of the few things to miraculously survive the fire) into his 'work', tailoring the appropriate robes as well.
Now, Marcus and Thalia travel the seas, Marcus doing doctor work and assassinations when needed, Thalia ever his happy, care-free supporter.
