AN: Just a quick little tidbit about my OC before I start. Her tears can kinda turn into pearls and different colors mean different emotions she's feeling. She can also use them for spells and potions and stuff(yes she's a witch..of sorts). I think that's all you really need to know for now, the rest I can explain in-story in later chapters
Here's the chart for reference for this chapter. Sorry it's so bothersome. I'll be putting the same chart at the bottom of every chapter so you won't have to go back and forth if the different color pearls bug you.
Pearl Color Chart
Brown: endure, wistful, sad
Dark Red: anger, rage, longing, wrath, danger
Light Red: love, determination, passion
Dark orange: distrust, fear
Light orange: vitality
Red-orange: desire, stimulation
Dull Yellow: conflict
Light Yellow:joy,happiness,humor,overwhelming
Dark Green: jealousy, sickness
Yellow Green: sickness, jealousy
Dark Blue: cold, depression
Light Blue: faith, trust, understanding
Sky Blue: freedom, relief
Dark Purple: frustration
Light Purple: nostalgia
Light Pink: romance
White: purity, faith, innocence, virginity, hope
Black: death, despair, depression, submission
Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece only my OC
Dark purple and black tears fell down the mermaid's pale face as she raced through the serene crystal blue water, the sound of her pursuers close behind her making her let out a choked sob. She dared not look back as the colored tears fell off her face and formed into shiny colored and perfect orbs, making their way into the satchel on her side as she swam for dear life.
When would she be truly free?
When would she stop being chased and captured only for her to escape? Sky blue pearls winked at her through a small slit in her satchel's side, mocking her. This was not the freedom she yearned for. Now dark red tears joined dark purple and black ones as she feared and despaired at being caught again, as well as anger towards her chasers and longing for the freedom that she so craved. Her blank mind managed to make one thought boom throughout her head, the previously stated fear and desperation clear even to her.
'Help me, please!'
The large merman, muscular and pale, turned his head in the direction of the entrance to Fishman Island. He had heard a voice, beautiful, melodic, and entirely female voice coming from that direction. The strange thing was, he was sure he heard it in his thoughts not his ears, as if it were spoken in his mind. The message was only three words and well received.
'Help me, please!' The large, tank-top wearing shark beneath him gave him a strange look and his mermaid companions did the same. A younger mermaid with a starfish friend inquired to his diverted attention.
"Is something the matter Prince Fukaboshi?" Without turning his head away from where he felt the voice came from, he answered the green haired girl.
"Yes, it seems I have business to attend elsewhere." All the mermaids gave attractive noises of complaint and this time he did turn to address them. "I'm sorry for being unable to spend more time with you ladies but I'm sure my brothers would not mind staying longer." Ryuboshi whispered to him above the squeals of delight that ensued.
"Is something the matter, onii-sama-fa-so-li-da~?" Before he could give a response, the voice again appeared in his mind and this time it seemed that she was not addressing him anymore, if she had even intended to.
'No! Stay away from me! No more! Please let me go!' The last part seemed to end in a heartbreaking sob that had the eldest prince looking in the direction of the entrance again, a deeper frown on his face.
"I feel something amiss near Sabaody." He answered his brother truthfully. His brothers' usually cheerful expressions turned serious. Manboshi and Ryuboshi only nodded their heads once before distracting the mermaids who seemed ready to ask them questions.
"Who wants to have a dance party-Akkamanbo?!" The mermaids cheered again as Fukaboshi whispered a parting sentence.
"Tell Father that I will be back before dark." Ryuboshi nodded before joining his middle brother in his antics and Fukaboshi used the opportunity to leave unnoticed, his long blue hair flowing through the wind as Megalo, the shirt-wearing shark sped to the entrance, heeding his wish.
As soon as they cleared the second bubble, they shot through the water like a torpedo rushing towards the surface where he had heard the voice from. When he heard the voice no more he feared the worst and the closer he got to the grove, the more he thought of turning back. Only when he caught sight of four distant figures did he become alert. And only when he heard the voice again did he ready for a fight. It only made him angry when this time he heard with his ears.
"NO!LET ME GO!" Megalo was left behind in a sudden cloud of bubbles as Fukaboshi sped off in the direction of the struggling, grunting figures. He waved his trident from behind and blew away the three large mermen grabbing at the mermaid he saw sobbing and wriggling in their grasp.
The mermaid gasped in shock as three sets of hands disappeared from her body only to be replaced by a set of stronger larger hands and that made the mermaid struggle even harder than before. Once again, her words seemed to intrude his thoughts.
'What is this? Wolf at the front, tiger at the back?' The prince was surprised that even in the situation she was in, her thoughts were so bitingly sarcastic. How must she be when she truly spoke? Was she just as bitter in speech as well as thought? The three mermen escaping diverted his attention from the distraught mermaid.
"Do not think-" Fukaboshi's futile attempt to stop their escape was forcibly interrupted when the mermaid in his arms escaped in the opposite direction.
Almost automatically, the prince found himself chasing the mermaid rather than her three assailants. He found himself wishing to reassure the mermaid with black hair and a dark purple fin with bold yellow stripes on each side.
The closer he got, the more he realized that she seemed the same type of shark as Madame Shyarly. He found himself reaching out to her, not only with his hand but with his thoughts and the word came almost unbidden to his mind.
'WAIT!' The mermaid froze so suddenly that Fukaboshi almost ran into her. Thankfully he stopped in time and he stayed there as frozen as she was, unsure of whether to go closer. Her thoughts interrupted him once more.
'Did he just speak into my mind?!' Her thoughts sounded breathless and shocked, but held little fear more like wonder yet she didn't turn around. Fukaboshi took a deep breath and focused his mind. Perhaps he could speak to her without it being an accident.
'Yes, I did. I heard your plea for help all the way from Fishman island. That is how I came to find you here.' Her posture seemed to become less tense and Fukaboshi tried his luck and continued.
'To find you here and rescue you.' The mermaid finally turned and the prince could not believe it. It is not what he saw that had him in disbelief, but his reaction that caused it.
The mermaid had almond colored skin and her eyes were a deep vibrant purple. Six parallel lines of a darker, redder shade decorated her slim neck and small shoulders, similar to the ones on his own neck. He would have thought that the chains of multi-colored pearls and shells that adorned her black tie-in-front crop top and attractive waist complimented her greatly if only he could remove his eyes from hers, but they seemed trapped by their depth.
They stayed there, suspended in a tense silence, but Fukaboshi could find nothing to say.
The black haired mermaid took in the appearance of her supposed savior. His ocean blue hair was wavy and long, his skin extremely pale, as pale as the moon.
He was large, not only wide but tall and all muscle. His obsidian eyes were sharp and his long face seemed serious almost stern. His posture was straight not because he was tense, but simply because that was the way he held himself and his head was tilted downwards slightly as if he was used to looking down on people, not in the mean way but to make eye contact. Oh and he was making plenty of eye contact. She was unused to it, she had never looked at someone in the eyes for so long not even her own family. It was.. Intimate.
She knew she should have felt uncomfortable, squirmed a little under this overwhelming merman's gaze, but she found herself as drawn into his eyes as he seemed to be to hers, but she could not stay like that forever. There were too many pressing questions.
"Who are you that you would come to the rescue of some mermaid simply because a voice in your mind pleaded you to?" Her hoarse, whispery voice seemed to snap the handsome merman out of whatever reverie he was in and he gripped his trident just a little bit tighter.
"I am Fukaboshi eldest of the four Neptune brothers." Neptune? The name sounded familiar, but she could not remember and it didn't matter at the moment because she still wasn't sure if she should trust him, handsome or no. She did feel obligated, however, to introduce herself in return.
"Akari, Tsukihoshi Akari." When it became clear that she would say nothing further, the merman asked her a question, rather awkwardly as well she noticed.
"Er, are you unharmed? You-or rather your voice sounded somewhat... upset when I heard it." Her grip on the satchel's sling tightened until her knuckles became as pale as his skin and she began to visibly shake.
Akari found that her throat closed up, attempting to hold back the sob that wished to escape and she bit her lip to hold back the tears that wished to escape. She knew that her distrust for this man was pointless. Her magic, or maybe even something in her own heart, was telling her she could trust this merman, that he was safe. So she closed the distance between them and thrust herself into his arms, burying her face on his shoulder and letting out the quiet sobs that racked her chest and shortened her breath.
Sorry if Fukaboshi seems a little ooc but considering how he's only been in one OP story arc I think I have a little free reign in messing with his personality. I'll try to keep it as in character as possible though...