Fish was a child of the sea. He had been born on a ship. His mother, he had been told, had been in a bad shape when she had been taken aboard. She had been absolutely terrified. No one on the ship had been able to learn even so much as her name or where she came from. She had died soon after the birth, and there had been a complete failure concerning a birth-record for the authorities of the land. Their forms did not accept unknown for a mother; nor did the exact coordinates count as an answer for his 'place of birth'. They had nothing to put on records, as there wasn't even a 'country of origin' to list. Even the burial for the unknown woman turned out to be impossible due to bureaucracy. The clerks were apologetic, but that changed nothing.
The captain has decided to stop serving any country due to the heartless bureaucracy, and renamed the ship Last Breath to honor the dead mother they had given a funeral at sea. The captain and the crew raised the baby on the ship. They began to call him Fish because it was his first word and it had stayed for a name. Fish was hardly ever on land due to his lack of passport. Every now and then, however, Fish had stepped on land, but then only to visit a temple or a shrine dedicated to Poseidon or Neptune with the captain.
The first time they did, Fish watched as the captain made an offering, in a lesson to show how the ancients did it. Fish, being a child of open mind, saw how the offering did NOT burn but just disappeared altogether. Their catch of fish and the calm sea confirmed the faith of young Fish, even if the captain himself did not exactly believe. He was, however, nice enough to make the offering each time they did, at first to humor Fish and, since their good luck at sea had continued, the offering had become a habit. Even then, the captain had not really believed it, but Fish did. No one had ever countered that belief, and Mist never affected Fish.
That childhood time was long gone now, however. Fish was now an adult and the captain (by vote of the crew). Now, it was his turn to make the offering. He was surprised to hear a deep voice when he was doing his sacrifice of a blowfish.
"I do like blowfish," the voice said.
"The Sea God?" Fish said, surprised to hear that deep, watery voice.
"Of course it's me," the voice replied. "You come here, pray to me, and when you hear me actually answer, you begin to lose faith. You mortals are so weird sometimes."
"Sorry, Lord," Fish said, feeling abashed at the rebuke. "I was just surprised, is all."
"I want you to take your ship to 36,8 North and 10 West," the god told him.
Fish realized that the destination would require him to pass Gibraltar, something he had never dared to do before. The idea of passing Gibraltar had always been rather terrifying, and going to unknown waters WAS dangerous. Disobeying the god, however, was unthinkable.
"I've never been there before," Fish said weakly.
"Exactly. You're to prove your faith by going to waters unknown to you." the god replied.
"Yes, my Lord," Fish replied humbly. "I—I'll do as you say."
Captain Fish left the Temple on shaking feet. His crew had gathered the supplies and began to make ready. The ship sailed towards Gibraltar. Despite the captain's concerns, Hercules did not bother with them at all. That encouraged the captain to reach the coordinates that weren't that far off, after all.