I’m requesting that good ol conquerors haki and Voice of All Things for my character Baji, current King of Alabasta and soon to be underworld emperor once his current roleplay wraps up and I move forward with his plot development.
In the story so far Baji has already displayed traits and characteristics that I feel would make him part of that one in a million group of special individuals, such as essentially becoming the boss of his community as a child via protecting his friends/neighborhood from thieves, immediately taking initiative when his mother got sick to put food on the table even at the risk of his own life/freedom, refusing to bow down to Alabasta’s previous king despite being beaten publicly for an entire night and only giving in when his mother’s life was threatened, and these are all things he accomplished as a child.
As he currently stands Baji is ready and willing to wage war against the government for the sake of his country and people. Despite his appearance in only a single roleplay at the moment, he’s continued to show kingly qualities in spades as he was willing to defend his kingdom by himself against a Vice Admiral, Rear Admiral, marine captain and an entire fleet of fodder as well. A main aspect of Baji’s character that he’s reiterated throughout not only his current rp but also his backstory as well, being his defiant nature and willingness to sacrifice life and limb for his ideals of freedom and sovereignty for himself and his kingdom. When it comes to those two things there is no compromise, and under his current circumstances I think it’s become extremely apparent that he will die on his sword before he bends the knee to anybody, evident by his forceful takeover of Alabasta.
Now I know that a strong will and defiant nature is a very shallow reason for becoming a conqueror on its own, but Baji is more than just these things and this is why I also believe he’d be a good fit for VOAT, having proved himself to be such a good leader that not only was he a no brainer to be king, but the citizens and even the animals all willingly fight at his beck and call. When he started his siege on the kingdom he intended to do so alone, but when the citizens seen somebody directly defy the established hierarchy they immediately took up arms and fought at his side, which only hardened his resolve further as he was now fighting not just out of vengeance but also to protect and provide guidance to the brave many that fought along with him. In fact, Baji never aspired to rule Alabasta and was more or less unanimously elected by the citizens themselves to lead. As a result of his passion for his people Baji took a much different approach to leadership, while the nation of Alabasta is technically subservient to him Baji is incredibly involved with the people and treats them as relative equals, listening to their ideas and even implementing them as well as the native animals of the kingdom into the very defenses of Alabasta itself. To Baji, leading means being someone that the people can relate to, believing you have to have seen somebody’s world before you can call yourself their leader. He doesn’t inherently see himself as above anyone but moreso sees himself as the spear of Alabasta, the primary thing that defends the nation, the people and their ideals and shoulders all of the kingdom’s burdens himself to preserve their way of life. He understands the struggles of the every day citizen because he didn’t grow up in royalty, allowing him to empathize with the mindset and feelings of the poverty stricken, the hungry, the hopeless, etc with empathy and understanding being an interesting aspect of VOAT.
My final point is Baji’s ambition and drive to pursue strength and knowledge, not only to maintain his kingdom’s sovereignty but also due to his own desire to become the strongest under the sun through sheer force of will and be the greatest warrior the world has ever seen, an innate desire that has no real starting moment that he can remember. With the way his mind works paired with his naturally eccentric and expressive personality, he figures if you’re gonna do something you either have to go all in or don’t go in at all, there’s no middle ground in his eyes. As for knowledge, Baji’s time in the palace opened his eyes to just how much he didn’t know and subsequently had to learn through books and maps and the like, and given the deep lore connections that Alabasta has from texts from the void century to even a poneglyph present in the island which he will soon discover and will spark the rest of his story forward.
While he is only in paradise at the moment much of staff is well aware of my plans for him and his soon departure to the New World where there are more people around his level to force his growth and test just how much of a king he truly is on a scale that paradise simply can’t offer. Only reason I started him in Paradise to begin with was because that’s where Alabasta is and I had to figure out reasonable plot development to justify moving to the NW, and due to a lack of ideas and plot at first I didn’t apply for Haoshoku sooner to avoid it seeming as though I wanted to coast through paradise on easy mode. Now that I do have lore and plot points planned out though I felt applying him for it now would make it clear that I fully intend for him to be a big player in the world and actively test both his and my own limits against all the wild things out there. Baji boasts both an unyielding will/natural leadership abilities but also a deep sense of empathy and compassion for the people and even the animals of his kingdom that I feel would make him a good fit for both of these rare abilities🙏