It had been about six hours since Cavendish had been visited by his next-door neighbour.
This week, he had moved into a village close to the coastline with his horse Farul. When he lived in the city, he had been used to being showered in compliments wherever he went and he had been at the height of his popularity but here in this village, the mainly elderly population seemed to treat him more like a second child. It had its benefits he supposed and he had no objections as long as he got the attention he wanted.
The main benefit of moving here though – the one that trumped the inconvenience of distancing himself from the city – was that he could be closer to Farul. Suitable accommodation for his equine friend was only available in the outskirts of the city and even then Cavendish thought he could do better than that. He hated having to travel for hours just to see Farul and he resolved to change their circumstances for the better.
After days of trawling through sites, he managed to find somewhere that not only had a suitable environment for his horse but also had a decent sized house for himself. Admittedly, it was probably bigger than he actually needed though he didn't care.
On the Sunday after his first day moving in, the old lady who lived on the nearby farm dropped off a few bottles of milk as a welcome gift. The packaging was rather bizarre but he didn't think anything of it. Perhaps he should have.
000
It wasn't until he went swimming when he really felt any severe side affects apart from the morning diarrhoea. Cavendish felt a minor tingling sensation go through his legs as he waded into the sea but against his better will, swam further out. He began to get cramps however, before he could act on his decision to swim back to shore, he started feeling a burning sensation inside of him and plunged beneath the surface.
The feeling of choking on water while being rendered immobile by pain was a horrible but surprisingly short-lived experience. It was over in a matter of minutes though it did feel considerably longer. Once he came back to his senses, he noticed two things.
First, he was breathing underwater. Literally.
Second, in place of his legs, he now had a mermaid's tail.
Obviously, the second change shocked him most and he stared at the dazzling white tail in bewilderment. What could have done this? Surely even gone off milk shouldn't have such a drastic effect right?
As soon as he collected his thoughts properly, he swam off in search of help. The first person he found was a local fisherman but all he did was insist Cavendish should just "relax and sleep it off." His overly relaxed behaviour pissed Cavendish off and in the end, he was no better off than he was at the beginning of the conversation.
For some bizarre reason, Cavendish failed to find anyone else on the ocean he could talk to and he began to lose hope.
Was he going to be a mermaid forever? Who was going to look after Farul? Heaven forbid, was he going to have to start eating raw fish?
Eventually he exhausted himself and laid down on a reef, closing his eyes and beginning to snooze.
000
"So this…"
"Uhuh, we just found him…real pretty huh?"
"Shachi…you need…"
"But Cap…"
"It's alright, leave it all to me…"
The muttered conversation woke Cavendish up and at first, when he opened his eyes, the only thing he saw was the end of a dark blue tail. The owner of said tail appeared to notice his awakening and came into proper view.
"Hey, finally awake?"
Golden eyes stared into Cavendish's own, the blue fins framing them just rippling gently in the waves. Cavendish cast his eyes further down, seeing swirling, black, heart-shaped tattoos covering the upper part of their torso and arms. He hated to admit it but this other mermaid was pretty damn good-looking.
"Damn you're handsome."
They blinked and then chuckled; it was like music to Cavendish's ears. "Why thank you. I could say the same for you."
Cavendish sat himself up and shot them one of his best winks. He was rather disappointed when it didn't have the desired effect. "I am the wonderful Cavendish Rose-Heart, Prince of the land above the seas," he introduced himself. He took one of their (scaly?) hands into his and kissed it. "And what might your name be?"
"Just Law will be fine," they replied, looking rather unimpressed as they extracted their hand from Cavendish's.
"Pronouns?"
"Odd question but he/him is fine. I assume it is the same for you?"
"It is." Cavendish suddenly remembered his predicament and exclaimed, "Ah! I need your help!
I went swimming and I just got turned into a mermaid and I don't know how I can turn back into a human."
Law's eyebrows rose slightly. "Do you have any idea why that might be?"
"The only idea I have is it might have had something to do with those milk bottles I got this morning…"
Cavendish continued to describe his problem, glad he finally found someone who looked like they might be of some help. When he was finished, Law said, "I have a few theories as to what might have happened but as things are right now, we can't resolve your problem immediately."
He gestured for Cavendish to follow him. "You can stay at my place tonight and we can both find a solution to this in the morning."
000
They swam in a southerly direction for a few minutes before they reached a cliff face. At first glance, there didn't seem to be any obvious man sized holes but Cavendish watched as Law felt along part of the cliff before digging his hands into a crack and pushing aside a huge slab of rock.
After replacing the cover behind them, there was another short tunnel in and then there was what felt very much like a small apartment. There were entrances to three rooms but Cavendish only saw one of them - a sort of kitchen cum living room area – and yet even this was shockingly similar to something he'd find in a normal human home.
"What's wrong?" Law asked.
"…It's nothing," Cavendish said, giving him a small smile. " This room just feels very…how do I explain this…humanly?"
Law just laughed at that. "What? Were you expecting a smelly, decrepit cave with plants growing everywhere?"
"That's not what I'm saying!"
"I'm kidding." Law pointed towards the sofa. "Sit. I'm getting some tea."
Cavendish looked at him bizarrely. "Tea? How are we going to drink that?"
All Law did was press a button that was situated on the floor and suddenly, the water in the room began to drain out. As if he knew Cavendish was going to ask, he explained, "This just drains out the water for a while. It'll come back in a few hours time."
Cavendish decided to take a seat before the water completely drained out and he found himself unable to move. He was about to ask how Law was expecting to combat the same problem when he heard Law mutter something under his breath. Though it was very minimal, he could see the other mermaid begin to levitate off the floor and he basically floated towards the kitchen counter.
"Dude are you a magician or something?"
"Hm? Oh this? I guess you could call me one but to be honest I'm not a very good one."
"Oh come on, I bet you're just being modest."
"I'm really not." Law muttered another spell, clicking his fingers. He repeated the action when he noticed nothing had appeared and when he finally produced a small flame, he lit the stove. "See? I had to do that several times before the fuel lit up."
"Can't you do anything stronger?"
"Not flame magic no. Anyway, that's enough about me, let's talk about you instead."
Cavendish was more than welcome to switch the attention to himself and he practically did most of the talking. Law interjected a few questions here and there but mostly listened, preferring not to volunteer too much information from his end. Cavendish wondered if there was a way he could get Law a better kitchen.
When the tea was finally ready, Law joined him on the sofa. Out of the corner of his eye, Cavendish could just make out the rather judgemental look Law was giving him though it quickly changed back into a neutral one when he put his cup down.
"…Say, have you heard of a man called Doflamingo?"
"Donquixote Doflamingo?"
"Yeah. What do you think of him? Do you like him?"
"Hah, as if. He's filthy rich but he's an actual asshole when you get to know him. Also I don't like his fashion sense. I mean, what weirdo walks around in a pink feather coat and disgusting capris when-" Cavendish yawned suddenly and he began to feel unusually drained and tired.
"Today must have been a long day. Go to sleep."
"I probably… shouldn't just sleep-"
"No no no, I insist. No need to worry."
Cavendish's strength gave out on him and he slumped into the sofa, having only a brief moment of unease before he slipped into blissful sleep.
000
Cavendish woke up in bed feeling quite disorientated and confused. The last thing he remembered doing was going for a swim and he had no idea how he'd gotten home. There were a few other jumbled memories he had but he dismissed them as just a dream. All thoughts of mermaids and magic were put out of his mind as he got up to sort out his hair.
AN: Hey, I've been talking about this AU for a few months on my tumblr and twitter but I finally got a chapter out! This probably isn't my best writing but please bear with me while I get the important scene setting stuff out of the way. There are better things coming and I hope you'll all stick with me through this. This is my first multi-chapter fic that I'm releasing chapters one by one for and I sincerely hope I'll be able to finish this story. Thank you for the support; comments would be helpful especially since I'm not too secure on how to write Cavendish. Chapters may come out quite irregularly depending on how busy I get so I apologise in advance X(