Chapter 11: Damon's Miraculous Liberation! The Reality of a Deal?!
In Kara's Tavern, Strahl and Ace were both listening raptly to Damon's story told through Kara, both wearing serious expressions on their faces. Kara herself was solemnly looking down at Damon's wanted poster.
"Damn, that's rough." Strahl said solemnly, hand twitching slightly in anger, while Drago's emotions rolled into him as well at the injustice of it.
"As wrong as it is its common occurrence for that stuff to happen." Ace replied, catching the other two's attention. "Fishmen and humans haven't been on the best of terms ever, really. If Cowboy here really is half and half, then he would be looked down upon by other fishmen and humans."
"Yeah." Kara replied sadly.
"What I don't understand is; why is he here and working for this Bourne guy when by all rights, he should be a with the Nobles or on a pirate crew in the Grand Line?" Ace asked curiously, confusing Strahl at the names.
"Well after that stuff happened he was on the way to an Auction House, when…"
Ten Years Ago- Outside of Fishman Island
Damon was sitting forlornly at the mast of the ship, hands tied up once again and was slightly bruised. Around him the slavers were drinking and bandaging up their wounded as outside the ship's bubble the dark blue sea and the occasional fish went by. The same image kept going through Damon's mind of his mom calling him her son and getting shot. A pair of boots entered his vision and as he looked up to see who it was, a defeated expression on his face, he saw that it was Jaeger, holding his father' pistol crossbow in his hand.
"Hey there, hotshot. How's it going?" Jaeger asked, twirling the crossbow, with a smirk on his face. Damon stared for a second before looking back down, making his captor frown. "Hey, cheer up, hotshot, now you can see the surface and look for your Pops. There might be a chance a prestigious Pirate Captain will purchase you. Or you'll end up as a slave for the Nobles to torture. Either is fine for me." Jaeger continued with a small grin. "I'll be gettin' paid either way. HAHAHAHAHA!" He finished with a laugh before walking away towards his cabin, leaving Damon to wallow in his self-pity.
Twenty minutes later, almost everyone was resting except for our stewing blue fishman. I killed her, I killed my mom. Damon thought tears no longer falling. I'm hated by fishman and am going to be sold as a slave by humans. Damon continued, I wish I was-
"RAAAGGGHHHH!" A loud roar shook the ship and the sea even seemed to rumble, shaking Damon out of his thoughts and the pirates to jump up in fear. From the Captain's Cabin, Jaeger appeared somewhat sleepy looking.
"What the hell is that?!" A pirate asked looking around.
"It sounds so close!"
"Men keep you heads on a swivel! We're still not out of the woods yet!" Jaeger announced to the crew.
"Hey do you guys see that?" One pirate asked pointing off the broadside of the ship. Damon followed his finger and saw a small shape out at sea.
"Eh, it's probably just a whale or something." As Damon continued looking at it he saw that it was slowly getting bigger, making his eyes widen.
"C-Can a whale get that big?" a pirate asked as all the crew looked over at it. Soon the thing was twice the size of the ship, making them panic. "I-It's a – "
"Sea King Giant!" The Sea King was now close enough to see that it was as big as a mountain, had a head of a hawk, the body of an eel and looked pissed. All the surrounding slavers started panicking and running all around to try to move the ship.
"Move it, move it, move it!" Jaeger yelled at any person near him, fear overcoming his eyes as the Giant Sea King Hawk opened its maw and snapped the ship in half, devouring the Captain and busting the bubble around the ship, drowning the rest. Damon meanwhile, had his eyes wide open in shock at the giant of a sea king and the drowning men, before he spotted something glinting in the other half of the ship. As he looked closer he noticed that it was his father's crossbow slowly floating to the bottom of the sea and in a moment of panic he broke the rope binding him and swam as fast as he could underneath the Sea King, fighting against the current that the sea king had created. When he reached it, he took a moment to look at it and noticed for the first time the appearance of the bow. It was a bronze falcon with the wings acting as the arms of the bow and the talons were the grip. After looking at it Damon felt as if he was being stared at by something and when he turned around he saw the Sea King was staring intently at him, though not in anger. Damon tightened his grip on the crossbow and asked "W-Who a-are you?"
The Giant Sea King Falcon continued staring at him for a moment before it looked down at the bottom of the sea, making Damon look down as well, then looked back up to see it staring inquisitively at him. He realized what the Sea King was asking and bowed his head. "I-I can't there's nothing for me down there." It nodded sagely before bringing its beak down towards him, and opened it wide, then breathed deeply, dragging Damon into a current that he fought against, but eventually he got blown away, gripping tightly to his father's crossbow and screaming loudly, "SON OF A FIIITTTCCCCHHHH!"
The Giant Falcon Sea King watched the young fishman get blown away before it left the area of the shipwreck, leaving the dead slavers to float slowly to the surface and the ship to the sea floor.
Back in the present- Kara's Tavern
Strahl and Ace sat shell shocked at that, earning a small smile from Kara.
"That's…" Ace began.
"Awesome!" Strahl finished in amazement. "God damn that is awesome!"
"Wait, you know what a sea king is?" Ace asked looking at him in confusion.
"Nope." Ace and Kara sweat dropped. "But it's pretty much a giant sea monster, right?"
"Yeah, pretty much, how in the hell did he get out of that alive?" Ace wondered.
Kara shrugged and said, "Damon told me he has his suspicions, but he didn't share with me about it."
At the Bourne Pirate's Ship
Damon was kneeled in front of Bourne, who sat on a large chair, with his head down his duster was taken off as well as his hat, leaving him in a ruffled-up shirt and his pants. His shirt was torn in places and he appeared to be slightly panting.
"Boy, you are pushing your damn luck." Bourne said, playing with something in his hand and leaning on the other. "You've run off for the final time." Bourne whistled and in came in a pirate. "Tell the boys to go out and have fun, paint the town redder."
Damon's eyes widened as he looked back up and yelled, "Don't you dar-ARRGGHHH!" Damon was interrupted by an intense electrical shock.
Bourne glared at him and said coldly, "Don't you dare tell me, your savior, what to do boy."
Damon continued screaming as his life flashed before his eyes, the key point being when he met this man.
Ten years ago- in the sea of the South Blue
The Bourne Pirate's ship was sailing through the sea looking for its next target, the men were lazing about and fishing. One of the men fishing sighed and said, "Damn, there's nothing biting today."
"Not only that but, we haven't even gotten any action in a long time." A pirate playing cards with another said.
"Don't let the Captain hear that, he might think it's mutiny." His partner said as he placed down his hand, making the other's eyes bug out in surprise at the royal flush.
The fisher from before was about to reel in his line to toss out again when he felt a tug on his line. He looked at it in disbelievement, when it tugged again he got an excited look on his face and pulled on it snagging his catch. "H-Hey, I got something!" He announced, catching all the member's attention. "It's huge, too!"
"Go! Go! Go! Go!" The crew started cheering and at the final go he heaved as hard as he could making his catch shoot out of the sea and land on the deck on…two legs?
"GAH! LUCK IT GET THIS GAMN THING OUTTA ME!" The catch was revealed to be an angered Damon, still holding his father's crossbow with one hand and holding his rear with his other, where the line of the fishing pole attached to. The entire crew stared disbelievingly at the young Fishman, who promptly yanked off the fishing hook. "SHAM IT!"
"What is that racket?!" yelled the gruff voice of Bourne who walked forward to see Damon pointing his unloaded crossbow pistol at the Captain, who looked undisturbed. "Who's this runt?!"
"Who are you calling a runt, bush face!?" Damon replied arrogantly at the Captain.
Does this kid want a death wish?! The entire crew thought in unison.
"NAHAHAHAHA!" Bourne laughed at the young boy. "I like your spunk kid! Let me ask, can you actually use that little thing?"
Damon looked slightly ticked off, "Of course I can! My Dad was-" Damon started saying but, stopped. "A-Anyway I could probably even hit that seagull up there." Damon finished, pointing up right above them making all of them look upward, but not see anything, except for Bourne who grunted.
"Very well, how about this," Bourne began, "You shoot down that bird and I'll let you go free, but if you don't, you get executed right here for trespassing,"
"Fine." Damon replied right away, not even caring about the deal. "Get me one bolt and I'll shoot that thing right now." Bourne looked at a pirate and threw his thumb towards the storehouse, which the pirate immediately took off for.
A few minutes later, Damon had a bolt loaded into his crossbow, and was looking up in the air, along with the rest of the crew. Damon aimed his bow up at something and after a few seconds fired, making the bolt fly swiftly through the air. Several moments later, the pirates began laughing loudly.
"What a moron!"
"There probably wasn't even something up there!"
"He just signed his own death warrant!"
While the pirates were laughing, they failed to notice the shadow appearing at the side of the ship until a large splash made them turn and bug out their eyes. "EEEHHHHH?!"
Floating in the sea was a Giant Seagull with the crossbow bolt stuck right in the heart, with only the feathers of the bolt showing. Damon rubbed his nose and put his crossbow over his shoulder while Bourne looked at him with a grin.
"Say, boy, how about we make another deal?" Bourne asked drawing Damon's interest as he looked seriously at the captain.
Three years later
Damon had taken another Marine ship on his own and was wearing his current attire, having a party with the Bourne Pirates. He was drinking whisky heavily and laughing loudly, until he noticed one of the pirates was looking away from him, pants held up by a rope and a devious look came over his face. Damon grabbed a knife, made a shushing motion to the others, and began sneaking over to the man, cut his rope belt and swiftly walked back to watch the show. Immediately the pirate's pants fell and with a yelp he attempted to hang onto them, tripped and fell headfirst into a pie, making everyone laugh like hyenas.
"Good one, Damon! HAHAHAHA!" One pirate yelled out.
"You really got that kinda stuff down, now!"
Damon laughed loudly and raised his mug, "That was nothing! I can do even better!"
Later that night
Damon was up watching all his crew sleeping soundly, then looked up at the stars, a small smile on his face. I think it might be time. These guys have been good to me, but I need to move on, mom, I will find Dad, and bring him to see you.
Damon walked around his crew to the Captain's Cabin, opened the door and walked in to see Bourne sleeping soundly in his armchair. Damon walked up to his side and frowned slightly. "Sorry, Captain, but I need to hold true to that final promise, thank you for keeping me." Damon bowed and began to walk out but was held back by a hand that gripped him tightly enough for him to hear a crack. Damon winced and turned to see Bourne glaring angrily at him. "Captain?"
Outside the cabin, the pirates were sleeping soundly, till the doors to the cabin shattered open and something flew out of it, hitting the mast with a loud smash waking them all up. They woke up to see Damon standing up unsteadily, clutching his right arm tightly and blood running down his head. "What's the big deal, Captain?"
Bourne walked forward, through the door to reveal him scowling angrily at the young fishman. "Did you really think I would let you leave so easily?" The brown-haired Captain asked, stepping swiftly toward Damon.
"Captain!"
"Damon? What the hell is goin' on?"
"The grell?! Let me leave?! Our deal was I could be free to leave!" Damon replied angrily, before Bourne grabbed his neck and started squeezing with one hand, making him gasp for air.
"And you are, I just wish to give you a parting gift." Bourne continued as he drew out a large ringed silver object, which made Damon's eyes widen in fear.
Present time- The Bourne Pirate's Ship
Damon was breathing heavily on the deck before Bourne, who continued to play with the object in his hand as the rest of the pirates were preparing to assault the town, most of them trying to avoid looking at what was going on. "Now, here's how it's going to go down, you will stand right there at port and watch this town burn, if any civilians come here you fire, got it?!" Bourne said as Damon looked up angrily, revealing a silver collar on his neck that was sparking slightly.
"Slave?"
TO BE CONTINUED…