Leon "Blackjack" Stone

Introduction
​Leon "Blackjack" Stone is a rogue trader, formerly working in the Drum Kingdom under the reign of Wapol. He dealt in fuels, primarily coal, to keep the citizens warm. Using a Lapahn-fur coat made from hairs he collected from spiderwebs over the course of a decade, he can avoid detection in snowy conditions from almost anyone. He survived Wapol's brutal regime by a combination of luck and favours built up over a lifetime of trading; as such, he always made sure to pass the time by gambling. A prolific card player, he won his Devil Fruit from a passing pirate ship claiming to be hunting the Yonkou. While made up of weak fighters, their cache of Devil Fruits was so large they could afford to gamble with them; as such he chose his fruit by another gamble. He always carries a deck of cards and a set of old dice inherited from his father (whom he never met) and a small gourd of water (his only gift from his mother). Upon eating the fruit, he had no idea of its powers.

Stone's Devil Fruit, the Kesshō Kesshō no Mi, is capable of altering the structure of materials. Stone knew little of its power upon first eating it; he noticed no change, and smacked himself in the forehead for eating it without checking anything. When his eyeglass melted away from his eye and a small iron-grey jewel fell to his feet, he realised that anything he focused on could become a gem. For many years, he used this ability for profit, buying coal and selling diamonds - but when the value of diamonds fell drastically in the Drum Kingdom, he realised that he could not simply rely on it. A jeweler of the area hired an assassin to hunt him; he hid in the forest under his Lapahn-fur coat, warm but cooling slowly, all but invisible.

As the days passed, Stone grew hungry. He began to eat through his supplies, until he reached a tiny, crumpled piece of jerky. Glaring at it, he gripped it tightly, cold and hungry - and as he felt the numbness reach his brain, the desire for food became overwhelming. The jerky expanded, moisture from the surrounding air being pulled in (visible to Stone only by the clouds in his breath being thinner and paler), and gradually grew into a large slab of meat. Stone then realised that he could expand as well as contract.

From that, Stone managed a small trade. He would take coal and expand it out to organic matter if he needed meat or wood; he would contract it to a gem if he needed money. But his real breakthrough came when Blackbeard's men attacked.

While the country was ravaged, Stone saw a chance. He would sink the attackers' vessel. Taking a diamond and throwing it, he landed it in the ship on his third attempt; focusing on that gem, he expanded it to a lump of coal, then a heap of wood, then - a fibrous liquid, followed by a heavy, cloying and marshy fog. The gases, warm and organic, lifted the ship's sails for a moment before flowing upwards over the country's cold air; Stone, in amazement, realised that he could sail anywhere simply by creating gases from what was around him. Filling his gourd with water, he noticed it would never last; he pushed at the neck of the gourd curiously, more and more water pouring in around his finger, none flowing out. As the finger became colder and colder, until it had to be removed from the gourd, Stone peered in; amazed, he saw a lump of ice, so cold that the gourd itself began to smoke and steam.

He later coated the gourd's inside with a diamondlike hide of expanded Lapahn fur from the edge of his coat; it now carries enough water to sustain him for months at a time, while (if carefully rationed) a single gem can provide him with food for a month. It is pure luck if he gets meat, wood, vegetables or poisonous material from each lump of coal or diamond; as such, he carries many. He sails from island to island under what he calls "the luck of the seas" within the first half of the Grand Line. He was recently seen approaching the Red Line, chuckling as he threw small objects upwards and gently bobbed along.

He sails from island to island, trading and gambling, but has only fought once.

Appearance
Stone is a thin, lithe man, with dark, scruffy brown hair and faded orange eyes. He is of average height, with a little stubble and a rounded jaw. He dresses in simple cotton layers of different colours, one shade on his front and another on his back. He is almost always wrapped in his Lapahn-fur coat, and only by looking at its weave is it obvious that it is not a pelt. He carries a small knapsack, in which he holds his wares to trade.

Personality
Stone is a warm, friendly and trusting character with a knack for cards. He can almost always be found at a market, chatting with a potential customer, or a tavern winning the majority of a town's jewels. He refuses to drink, and will not gamble against drunks on principle.

Abilities and Powers
The Kesshō Kesshō no Mi grants Stone many abilities, all of which became apparent in his only battle to date against the assassin hired to hunt him. Having interrogated the jeweler, trading information for gems and gambling for the rest, he set off to Fishman Island; finding the would-be killer at the Shabondy Archipelago, he asked them to play cards against him, using a harlequin's mask won many islands ago to disguise his face. After winning the first hand, the assassin laughed, saying he would have to leave as he'd never failed a contract. Pulling off the mask, Stone angrily demanded a rematch; the man was a liar. Seeing that the assassin's cards were not as he had said, Stone challenged the man to a duel.

Meeting in Grove 23 at dusk, the two fought briefly. When the knives thrown at Stone fell at his feet as jewellery, the assassin turned to a dirtier tactic; when the bullets melted out of his gun, he ran; when he was left naked in a pool of what used to be his clothes and equipment, Stone left, disgusted.

Stone has almost crashed numerous times; each time, he has been able to make repairs using what he calls "Gambler's Fuel", the gems from which he gets coal and then random organic matter. It is wood often enough that he can reliably repair his boat, though he has been seen making a tunnel of ice through large waves, angled slightly downwards. He once gambled and lost against Fujitora, before his tenure as an admiral; he told the blind man that he had no interest in the Marines, the World Government or the One Piece, though he might like to gamble against the Pirate King.

Devil Fruit
Kesshō Kesshō no Mi