This, ladies and gentlemen . . . fangirls and fanboys, is what happens when you read too many mermaid fics followed by RomanoxAmerica fics by Coffee Flavored Fate. I know this idea has sort of been done before but I thought I'd have some fun, mainly because I've got the soundtrack from the Little Mermaid, as well as a couple Jimmy Buffet island songs stuck in my head (in particular, Coast of Carolina and Coastal Confessions). And I just watched the Pirates of the Caribbean, On Stranger Tides again.

This fic will have Pirates, mermaids, mermen, sea creatures/monsters, intrigue and humor (dry and not), and a attempt at romance. It will also be using the 'human names' for most of the characters, as well as a few historical accuracies and in jokes. (There will also be some inaccuracies, but that's just creative license on my part. If you spot ones that are so glaringly wrong, let me know.) I only have two languages that I can read and write, and those are english and latin (which is a little less fluent than I'd like after taking 6 years of it).

My Spanish is very basic (I can count, start a conversation, introduce myself and my family, and ask for the bathroom and a hospital, as well as know when I'm being insulted) my french is even less (again, counting, introduction, ask for the bathroom and hospital) I know some Japanese phrases, and I know how to swear in a couple different languages, as well as say 'I love you' and 'Merry Christmas'. (Thank you so much, Hetalia writers, for helping me improve my knowledge of curse words, on that note.) The point being that I'm not really going to bother with inserting other languages other than English and the occasional, maybe, swear word from Spain. I tried it with another fic, and it didn't really work for me.

Edit 4/12/13: lengthened some descriptions and edited some conversations.

The Cabin Boy

The Spanish Galleon La Morsa was an impressive ship framed by a steadily darkening stormy sky, though it was on the smaller side of a galleon, only 125 feet long. The figure head of the ship was the front half of a horse, the lower half that of a dolphin tail. Currently, she was sailing without her beautiful colors, the last scrape she was in had ended with damage to her masts and flag poles (and her victory, sending the other to the bottom of the sea), though the ships carpenter and his apprentices (one willing, two very unwilling) were working to fix it before a possible storm sprang up.

No one reacted to the crash, startled yell, and then loud cursing that came from the Captain's cabin with any surprise or unease, instead going to the unofficial bookie to bet on whether or not the 'cursed bookcase' was going to remain a bookcase this time.

Lovino Vargas glared at the bookcase which was supposed to be bolted to the wall. It was a ship, the bookcase should be attached to the wall (he had seen the ship carpenter hook it solidly the last time this happened, and not even the idiot Captain had been able to knock it over), and yet he always managed to knock the damn thing over. It was probably either cursed or possessed.

"Lovi~!" A cheerful voice exclaimed, before quickly turning puzzled. "How did you manage to knock it over this time?" Captain Antonio Fernandez Carriedo blinked at the bookshelf.

"Hell if I know bastard! I was just trying to clean!" Lovino glared at the bookshelf, tightening his grip on the broom. He was embarrassed this had happened again, and hoping that Antonio wouldn't get mad.

Antonio wasn't a cruel captain, far from it, actually, but Lovino hadn't quite forgiven him for taking him away from his younger brother and making him a cabin boy (never mind that Lovino didn't have much qualification to be anything else on the ship, except maybe being the cook, but he had standards that the galley didn't match, and Antonio, despite being a captain, wasn't able to clean up after himself very well in Lovino's opinion). Not to mention, Antonio tended to stray from the law when need suited him (generally when facing pirates, he became really scary), and Lovino was well aware that someday, Antonio could stop being so nice and turn on him, completely changing the current status quo. (Not that Antonio would, he was far too nice to his men compared to other captains, Lovino just didn't want to admit that he enjoyed being on the ship- and everyone else (save Antonio) knew it.)

"Oh well, perhaps I should re-design it." Antonio shrugged, trying to figure out how to do it and completely unaware that Lovino wasn't completely at ease with his presence. As far as he was concerned, (and he was partially right, even if Lovino denied it, which was more out of habit than any real disagreement) Lovino was one of his more loyal henchmen, and there was no need to get angry, given that there wasn't anything breakable on the bookshelf.

Not to mention, he was seriously considering getting a priest to look at the bookcase, it only ever fell over when Lovino was near it.

"I still think you should get rid of the death trap." Lovino muttered, already moving the books to a trunk that actually stayed bolted in its place.

"Well, it'll have to stay down, anyway, there are clouds gathering, and it doesn't look like we can get around." Antonio pitched in. "Oh, I wondered where I put this." He blinked at the book on top of his stack.

"A storm?" Lovino looked up, getting the captain back on track.

"Just clouds right now, but it's making it difficult to see."

Any further conversation was halted as the ship's bell began to ring the alarm, followed by an impact. In a flash Captain Carriedo was out on deck, demanding answers.

"It's Kirkland!" The Master gunner scowled. "Clouds all but hid him, and he's in an ill mood it appears, that warning shot almost took out the middle mast!"

"Return fire!" Captain Carriedo reached the helm and then ducked as a cannonball came right at him. "His ill mood will be worse by the time we're done with him! Get the Colors up!"

In the captain's Cabin, Lovino was trying to say the Ave Maria without swearing. It had long been accepted that Lovino Vargas didn't fight in battles, keeping out of the way, partly because the sailors were a superstitious lot and Lovino, having been an altar boy when he was younger, was the closest they had to a good luck charm. (That, more than anything, was probably the reason they put up with him being the captain's favorite for so long.) It was also because Lovino wasn't as willing to fight as the rest of the crew, something they were willing to ignore.

The storm that was threatening to burst suddenly did with all the fury of Poseidon, and Lovino yelled in shock, concentration broken as the Galleon rose up rapidly on a wave that sent him falling back to the glass window and the loose bookcase straight at him.

Glass broke and Lovino realized that he was suddenly outside the ship when he hit the water and everything went black.

He was floating, or on something that was floating. Lovino felt water splash on his face.

"Hey, you awake?"There was a fish tail of iridescent blue and gold, before he was staring into a pair of brilliant blue eyes. "Hello? Hola?" Lovino's eyes closed, and he fell back into the black.

Galleons were generally between 100 ft to 150 ft, and were preferred by the Spanish for the 16 to 18 hundreds. Generally, they had three masts and 2 to 3 gun decks- aka, decks were you see the canons stick out of- and honestly, I think they were rather beautiful.

Figureheads were generally unique to each ship, they most commonly were mermaids, or sea animals (like dolphins) or some sort of humanoid, like a soldier or mythical person. I'd recommend watching the pirates of the Caribbean movies to see examples of figureheads- there are a couple skeletons. Usually, the figureheads also helped give the ship a name (La Morsa means sea horse, according to google translate . . . it can also mean walrus and sea cow, but I went with the horse since it's Spain . . .). Ships were also referred to as being ladies, which is why I went with a feminine name.

Sailors were very superstitious, and pretty relative- it didn't matter where luck came from, Christianity, Voodoo/Hoodoo, mythical creatures, as long as it was good luck. That said, they were quick to lose anything that was 'bad luck'. The story of Jonah ring any bells?

Ave Maria- latin for Hail Mary, and it would have been said in latin during this time period.

Captains were pretty much the ultimate authority on the ship if it belonged to a navy or privateer, and they weren't exactly the nicest people on board the ship, either. On the other hand, Pirate ship Captains had to keep their crews appeased, because outside of battle their authority was constantly tested (simply put, the more successful battles and plunder, the better for a Pirate Captain).

For Spain, I have him as part of the Spanish navy/exploration, with him being a good guy, though strict, to his men, and then very ruthless to those that threaten his crew, though that's romanticizing it a bit- I'm working on that, let me know how I do?

England on the other hand, is a privateer that is more pirate than anything.

Romano and the bookcase- yes, this is the bookcase from Spain's house that we see Romano knock over in World Series. It happens twice, that I know of, once when Romano's thinking of it in a flashback, and again just before he overhears Spain's boss telling Spain to get rid of him. The bookcase is pretty big and heavy looking, not to mention, full of books, and honestly, it falls over way to easily for just getting a broom/mop snagged on it. I made it a plot device.