Raiga is a lion mink appointed as the navigator of the group of bounty hunters known as The Gray Trail led by Grand. Currently she's travelling in the New World with her group to collect the bounty on an infamous pirate's head.
Appearance
Raiga is a petite lion mink, with golden fur and shoulder-long wavy brown hair. She usually dresses in white, most often seen wearing a pair of tight trousers, a long sleeved shirt with two horizontal light blue stripes around the waist and a dark blue bandana covering her forehead. She always walks around barefoot. On her right wrist she wears a series of bracelets of various colors, along with a New World Log Pose.
When in her hybrid Zoan form, her physique greatly expands, with her muscles more defined and the fur taking on a more rough appearance. The common tiger-like markings spread across her face, arms and back, leaving her belly in its original color. Because she prefers to remain in her hybrid lion/tiger form, it has become very rare to see her in her normal state.
Personality
Because of her insecurities in her stature ever since she was a child, she despises being reminded of her height, and will quickly become furious at anyone who points it out. Although after she ate the Devil Fruit this has become less and less frequent (mostly because she is very rarely seen outside of her hybrid form), she still can’t bear even the slightest hint at a conversation regarding heights, which in turn makes her react violently towards her teammates, both physically and verbally.
However, her personality changes completely during active combat, either because of her willingness to prove herself or because of the innate aggressiveness of her carnivorous Zoan Devil Fruit. She has demonstrated savagery and bloodthirst while fighting, oftentimes ending up torturing her opponents with her sharp claws and teeth. This emotional state has allowed her to win many battles, but she has also found very hard to calm herself in the aftermath, requiring the use of a special whistle to act on her subconscious and allow her to regain her focus.
Relationships
Family
Tyler
The relationship with her father Tyler was always a difficult one, due to the lack of real communication between the two and the idea in Raiga's mind that he did not care for her, nor for her dreams and ambitions. This was not the case, however, as Tyler was always very proud of her “little cub”, and wished for her nothing but the best. As he struggled with a serious illness in his later years, he finally shared his real thoughts and feelings with Raiga, strengthening the bond between father and daughter and allowing Tyler to pass away peacefully.
Friends
The Gray Trail
The camaraderie among the group, built over the course of several months of working together, is almost flawless, to the point where each member knows exactly their role, the best next move possible during a group fight and the best way to coordinate their abilities with the others, creating devastating attack combos in order to either incapacitate or kill a select target. Raiga especially has the skillset necessary to achieve the most combinations possible with her teammates, given her agility and heightened reflexes. This understanding also translates well outside of battle, as the rest of the group trusts Raiga completely as the navigator and frequently asks her opinion on the matter at hand. She shares a particularly strong bond with the leader of the group, Grand, toward whom she feels great respect and admiration for the numerous trials and hardships he has been through.
Allies
Mink Tribe
She still remains loyal to her fellow Minks, keeping her fond memories on Zou close to her heart, as well as keeping in touch with a few of her former childhood friends every now and then. As with every Mink, she always knows how to reach her native island at all times, even going as far as to introduce her fellow group members to her people at one point, while keeping secret her current occupation in order not to worry those she cared for.
Denny Pirates
During the travels with her group, she had an unfortunate encounter with the captain of a pirate crew, Denny “The Iron Whale”, with whom she had a fierce battle at first, as both of them were chasing the same target, a former crew member of the Denny Pirates with a bounty on his head of 1.800.000 . After reaching an agreement, the two groups formed an unlikely and, above all, unwilling alliance that would assure the success of the mission.
Powers and Abilities
Raiga is the most agile and fast member of the group, using her reflexes and mobility to great effect in combat. Feral and vicious during fights, she makes great use of her sharp teeth and claws to injure opponents in a never-ending barrage of attacks. Her aggressiveness, mostly due to the carnivorous nature of her Devil Fruit, reveals itself to be a double-edged sword however, as it is quite difficult for her to calm down and regain focus afterwards.
As with all Minks, she is a born warrior capable of using Electro, of which she mastered the use at a young age, combining it with her physical strikes to amplify the damage.
Physical Abilities
She possesses immense strength, agility and heightened reflexes, as well as an innate night vision, which allow her to adapt to most situations with ease. In case of a battle on a water surface, a weakness to her like all Devil Fruit users, she instead relies on her usage of Electro to shock opponents even from great distances. Her natural knowledge of this technique, combined with her physical prowess, grants her an array of useful and powerful moves during combat.
Devil Fruit
Raiga ate the Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Tiger, which allows her to transform into a tiger and a hybrid lion Mink-tiger form. Because of her insecurities in her original state, she rarely reverts back to her normal figure, instead remaining all the time as a hybrid. This state grants her a more muscular and defined physique, while retaining her innate agility and mobility. Along with her claws, she can charge any part of her body with Electro for devastating effects on her opponents.
Haki
Busoshoku Haki
Raiga, after a series of fights against Logia-class Devil Fruit users, realized she still did not have the skillset necessary to advance in the New World. Her training became more and more focused on filling the gaps in her fighting style, but she also realized she could not improve on her own like she had always done before. It took her great courage to ask Grand to teach her. She had already heard of the concept of Haki, but had not been able to grasp it up until that point, while, during the training with Grand, she began understanding the basics of Haki, its different forms and uses. Busoshoku Haki, or Color of Armaments, was the first she awakened, and it became a valuable tool in her arsenal, giving the chance to hit Logias as well as increase both her offensive and defensive capabilities.
Being still somewhat new to the technique, her skill has still much room of improvement, as it takes time for her to focus her Haki or to keep it stable for prolonged periods of time.
Kenbunshoku Haki
This was the hardest for her to achieve, despite her already incredibly keen senses. But, according to Grand, there lied the problem. Raiga depended too much on her natural senses, while subconsciously avoiding to focus on other types of perception.
Unfortunately, this led to frustration and anger, shutting her out from her teammates and posing distance between them, which in turn crippled their coordination in battle. Grand was the only one that kept pushing her, forcing her not to use her own senses but to develop new ones. During a fight with a Devil Fruit user who controlled mists, she finally awakened Kenbunshoku, which allowed her not only to sense the position of the opponent but also easily predict their next move.
After intensive training, she has become quite capable with Kenbunshoku, refining her skill and, combining it with her already developed natural senses, making it almost impossible to pass by her undetected.
Attacks
- Thunder Fang (雷牙 (サンダー・ファング) Sandā Fangu?): Raiga's signature technique, it is an attack that can be performed both in hybrid form and full-beast form. Taking advantage of the sharp teeth and claws, the user lunges at the opponent, injuring them with deep cuts and shocking them with Electro afterwards, greatly amplifying the damage. This is further increased if the opponent is wet or near a water surface.
- Lightning Arrow (雷の矢 (ライトニング・アロー) Raitoningu Arō?): Raiga's only ranged attack. By manipulating the electricity between her palms, she forms an arrow which she then launches in a certain direction, shocking anything that comes in contact with it.
Combo Techniques
- Ultra-big combo technique of Wotans and Minks: "Eye of the Storm" (魚巨人とミンク族の超大合体技:「嵐の目」 Wōtan to Minku-zoku no Chō-ō Gattai Waza: "Arashi no Me"?): Jokingly named by Chon, as the name implies it is a combo between Grand and Raiga. While holding onto a make-shift raft, or the mast of a ship, Raiga is launched in the air with Kairyu Ipponzeoi, then descends on her opponent and shocks them with Thunder Fang for devastating effects.
- Thunderous Streaming River Tail Hammer Shot: Crazy Ultimate Technique: "Gray Bomb" (雷鳴の川の流れ尻尾ハンマーショット: 飽く迄最後の技: 「グレイ爆弾」 Raimei no Kawa no Nagare Shippo Hanmā Shotto: Akumade Saigo no Waza: "Gurei Bakudan"?): The combined technique of all of the warriors in the group, it was named by Chon after the move was first improvized in combat. First, Chon morphs his arms into a cannon and fires a cannonball, then Grand adds to the momentum with a water stream, followed by Raiga who elctrifies the water current and finally by Neravo, who slams the electrified ball into the opponent with his tail. Through this method, the cannonball can also be redirected should the target move to another location or the shot be misaimed entirely. The name of the attack is a reference to the traits of the members of the group and their abilities, while the last part, "Gray Bomb", refers to the name of the group itself.
Trivia
- Her name and species, combined with her Devil Fruit, are a reference to the liger, the offspring of male lions and female tigers. “Raiga” is the Japanese way of pronouncing the name of this very rare species.
- This is further played upon in the name of one of her attacks, Thunder Fang. The kanji used for it, 雷牙, can also be read as Raiga.
- There is however a mistake in the gender of the character, as ligers are born from male lions and female tigers. Since Raiga's original form is that of a female lion, the union between one such animal and a male tiger would instead be known as a tigon, which differs from the similar liger in that the former on average reaches the same size as female Indian tigers, whereas the latter lacks a growth hormone inhibitor, which results in its impressive size.