As always, the turbulent waves of the Grand Line rocked the side of even the most durable of ships. The unpredictability of these waters have sent countless souls to their doom, and even more treacherous are the men and women who sail along these waters who seek fame and glory. Even a young child would eventually have to turn into the devil himself to survive out in the harsh realities of life.
A few ways down from the Reverse Mountain, a 16th century style merchant ship categorized by its numerous sails, sturdy wooden architect, and long bow set its destination to numerous small islands in order to trade goods and make a living. However, the captain of the ship is currently having issues making sure that his stock stays safe and sound.
"YOU DAMN BRAT! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" The rounded, middle-aged captain exclaimed loudly as he threw a small child through the front door of his quarters, causing the young one to slide across the deck.
As the child picked himself up, he scoffed and stared at the larger man with dark blue eyes of determination and desperation. One look at the kid and it was clear what kind of condition he was in. For starters, his ebony-colored, unkempt hair stretched down to the top of his ribcage, resembling that of a feminine hairstyle at first glance. The reason for this is because he doesn't pay to get haircuts and instead saves money for essentials like food and water. Straight scars that he received from getting to scuffles with other thieves and crooks could be found in the middle of his left cheek and to the bottom right of his short nose. His olive skin is covered with cuts, bruises, and dust on his arms and longs. Coupled with a skinny build due to malnourishment, his clothes were in tatters, starting with the thin tank top that barely on his body, the slacks that were filled with holes, and finishing off barefoot to complete the poor urchin look. The child was desperate for food, seeing as how he lost almost all of his money in a gambling scheme. The boy's entire existence screamed unlucky.
Reaching into his pocket for a switchblade, the hardened child responded to the captain of the ship by saying, "Back off, old man, your food and ship is mine now!"
The old man's face turned red with anger and he shouted back, "IF YOU THINK I'M GOING TO CAVE INTO A YOUNG BRAT, YOU'VE GOT ANOTHER THING COMING! ON THESE SEAS, AN ATTACK ON ONE'S LIVELIHOOD IS CERTAIN DEATH!"
Flexing a hidden source of muscle and stamina, the captain sprinted towards the child off his strong calf muscles.
Quickly, the child put his hands out and prepared to counterattack, but not before he heard a sudden splashing sound coming from the waters near the ship. The young boy glanced over to see a shark fin poking out of the water.
"A shark? What's it even doing down the-OOOOOF!" Before the boy could finish his train of thought, the old man slammed the child against the railing of the deck with his kneecap. Blood began to drip down from his forehead due to the injury.
The captain walked over, grabbed the child by the tatters of his shirt and told him, "Another lesson, brat! Never lose focus on the enemy in front of you! You would never survive these waters with the lack of knowledge you possess! Now, get the hell off of my ship!"
In one sudden movement, the captain chucked the boy off the ship, planning to send the kid into a watery grave.
Thoughts such as, "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! I can't believe I'm gonna die like this! And with nothing to show for it at that! I'm gonna die like a mutt just like everyone always said I would! I never even got the chance to prove then wrong!" ran throughout the young child's brain just before he closed his eyes and prepared for the sweet embrace of death….
Suddenly, a powerful gust of water shot straight up from the surface of the ocean, surprising even the long-lived captain himself.
"W-What in the world?! Is this an ocean geyser?!" He shouted as droplets of water began splashing onto his boat.
The young boy began coughing out spurts of water, trying to catch his breath again. He felt himself being clutched in the arms of someone strong, and this caused him to ponder who exactly could've saved him when there was no one else around.
A strong, but feminine voiced boomed out, "Hey, old man! I know you wanna protect your food and all because trust me, I get the feeling, but do you really gotta throw a little kid into the ocean because of that? You're setting a real bad example, ya know!"
At full view, the boy's savior was none other than Tiger-Shark fishman Kuishi herself, squatting down on the railing of the merchant ship as she clutched the young boy tightly between her left arm.
The boy was utterly shocked, as he had never seen someone with her appearance before. There were a multitude of questions coursing through the young lad's mind.
"W-What are-?"
"A-A fishman?! What is a fishman like you doing all the way out here on my ship?! The old man screeched in shock.
Kui casually replied, "Well, I was looking for something to eat and my sense of smell brought me here. I wasn't gonna interfere with your fight, but watching a kid drown would leave a really bad taste in my mouth. Can't you just let the little brat go and let this little incident slide?"
His face as red as a tomato due to the anger swelling inside of him, the old man shouted, "Shut your scaley mouth! I don't need some half-fish nobody telling me how to handle crooks and thieves! This kid is going to pay for trying to ruin my-!"
With her sharp teeth gritted together, Kui dropped the kid from her clutches onto the wooden deck of the boat and furiously dashed towards the surprisingly well-built old man. Using her powerful legs, the tiger shark fishwoman delivered a damaging right kick to the old man's torso area before the latter could even finish his sentence. Because of how powerful this attack was, the old man was sent flying backwards, crashing through the railing of the ship and hurtling backwards until he fell right in the middle of the sea.
With an angry expression on her face, Kuishi barked the following statement with her teeth showing, "Never call me a half-fish again unless you value your life, you old bastard!"
Meanwhile, the young boy behind her was utterly terrified at how strong the woman in front of him is. With one swift kick, she was able to take out someone that nearly sent him to a watery grave. He could barely find the words to express his gratitude and his bewilderment at the events that just occurred in front of him.
"M-M-Miss… W-What exactly a-are you…?" the dirty street urchin finally spoke up.
With a more laid-back expression on her face, the red-eyed woman turned around and replied, "What? Have you never seen a fishman before?"
"A-A fishman? Y-You mean like the ones from Fishman Island?! I-I thought that was just a myth…. Y-You're really one of them?!"
"Yep! I was born and raised on Fishman Island! My name is Kuishi, but you can just call me Kui!"
"Kui, huh? Well, my name is Hasho. Thank you for saving me. I would have most certainly died if you hadn't came along."
Hasho bowed his head towards Kuishi as a sign of gratitude. Not understanding the gesture, Kui titled her head a bit with a confused look on her face.
"What are you doing?"
"I-I'm thanking you…. ya know, for saving my life…"
"Oh, there's no need for that. I just did it because I felt like it, that's all there is to it. Say, I know humans can't swim nearly as well as fishman do, but shouldn't at least knowing how to swim be a common skill when sailing the seas? You're gonna get yourself killed, ya know~" Kui asked curiously.
"Oh, there's a simple reason for that. When I was little, I was homeless and on the verge of starvation when someone tossed out a weird-looking fruit. Out of desperation, I immediately grabbed it and ate every last bit of it, even though it tasted really gross. After that, I realized that I had consumed one of the legendary Devil Fruits."
"A Devil Fruit, huh? That explains why you can't swim. I hope I never encounter one of those fruits! Not being able to swim would be like having my legs cut off! Oh, by the way, what kind of ability did you get from eating that fruit?" Kuishi asked the boy curiously.
"Oh, I ate the Storage-Storage Fruit! I'm a storage human! With my ability, I can store any object into this little pocket dimension of mine as long as the amount inside doesn't exceed my current weight which is 62 pounds (28 kilograms).
"That sounds pretty handy! Show me what you got inside your little pocket space!" Kuishi exclaimed with a soft smile and a look of curiosity in her eyes.
"No problem, it's the least I could do for the person who saved my life. Stor-Stor: Open!"
Out of thin air, a dark and purplish void appeared on the floor of the deck, surprising the tiger shark woman greatly. Hasho casually walked over and reached inside the hole, searching for an item to pull out.
"Give me one sec… Ah, here it is!" The Devil Fruit user shouted before pulling out a dirty potato sack bag. For the first time, a bright smile appeared on the face of Hasho himself.
"Inside this bag is currently 250,000 berries that I've collected from stealing, working, and gambling. It's my most prized possession! I also have a few other essentials like a toothbrush, toothpaste, blanket, spare clothes, silverware etc."
Putting all of this information together, Kui went straight to the point and asked, "Hey kid, do you not have a home or any family members to take care of you? Someone your age shouldn't have to be stealing just to survive…"
Just then, painful memories of Hasho being constantly mistreated by villagers and him fleeing his hometown flashed throughout the young child's head.
"N-No, I don't have a home or any family. For as long as I can remember, I've been completely alone…." Hasho replied with a saddened look, holding back the tears welling in his eyes.
Showing a toothy smile, Kuishi finally suggested, "Welp, that settles it then. I can't in good conscience just leave a little runt like you to just fend for himself. Hasho, I'm gonna accompany you until I can find you a new home!"
A small blush appeared on the boy's face, internally shocked by what he had just heard. Never before in his life has someone offered to help him out. Everyone he met prior either wanted him dead or wanted to scam him out of everything he owns.
"N-No way! I've gotten along just fine without her help and I'll keep doing so! I don't want anyone looking down on me!" Hasho replied in a flustered manner.
Using her webbed hand, Kui began pinching Hasho's right cheek and responded, "Look, I already made up my mind! A kid like you with barely any strength and knowledge is going to die out here! I'm going to accompany you and that's final!"
Hasho winced in pain from Kui's tight grip."Owwww! L-Let go of my cheek, you dumb fish woman!"
"Fish woman?! I dare you to call me that again!" Kui shouted angrily before giving the boy a sizable lump on his head.
"Owww, that hurts! Listen, I don't want your help and that's-!"
Hasho was interrupted by the sound of his stomach growling loudly. Having not eaten for at least a week, the boy sat his back to the floor, too famished to continue their debate.
"S-So hungry…. N-Need food…." was all that Hasho could currently muster from his lips.
After a quick five minute search, Kui walked back through the door carrying two huge crates of preserved food on her shoulders onto the deck.
"Alright, Hasho, you're not gonna get anywhere by yourself on an empty stomach. Time to chow down!"
The Stor-Stor child slightly lifted his head and upper body upwards as Kui used her bare hands to open the wooden crates.
"Let's see… We got a bunch of canned food, saltine snacks, dried meat, vegetables, fruits, bottled water, a bit of candy, and—"
"K-Kui… Why are you so intent on helping me…? We've only just met… There's no way you could feel anything towards me, so why…?" Hasho asked weakily.
After tossing the boy a few saltine snacks and some bottled water, Kuishi replied, "How many times are you going to make me repeat myself? I don't wanna live with the thought of a child dying when I could've done something to prevent that! Though, the funny thing is… I grew up hating humans because of how much they seemed to despise fishman and because of how they treated our kind like absolute garbage, but now, here am I trying to save the life of a human child… Life really does work in mysterious ways..."
Hasho's eyes opened wide after hearing this and soon began consuming the food that Kui shared with him. Slowly regaining his strength, the devil fruit user asked the woman another question.
"So, what made you decide to leave your home and come out here? Wouldn't you feel more safe with your own people than being out here with a bunch of humans?"
"Yeah, that would make a lot of sense. However, when I was a kid, there was this one person that everyone grew up admiring. Despite being a fishman himself, he formed a crew and set sail from his home in order to see the world and help as many people as he could. I'm not really the savior type, but my reason for sailing the seas is as simple as this: I want to see the world with my own eyes, and see all of the good and bad that it has to offer. I'm not going to let anyone stop me either!" Kuishi explained.
Feeling content with the fishwoman's goals and aspirations, Hasho held out his hand and stated, "Okay, Kui, from today forward, we're a team. Until I can find someplace to call home, the both of us are going to have each other's backs and survive these harsh seas. Does that sound good to you?"
Kui smiled with satisfaction and agreed to the alliance by grasping the left hand of Hasho with her webbed right one.
"Great! Don't forget, I'm the one who's going to be calling the shots!"
"W-Wait, what?! Why do you get to be the leader?!"
"Isn't it obvious? Out of the two of us, I'm the oldest, the strongest, and the smartest! It's only natural that I should be the one who gives the orders on this ship!"
"Smartest?! You definitely have more brawn than brain, fishy!"
A few seconds later, Hasho ended up with two huge lumps on his head due to Kui's heavy fist.
"OWWWW!"
"I told you not to call me those kinds of names! Now, since you're so smart, set a course for the new island! If it was just me, I'd be able to survive on my own, but since I've gotta babysit a little runt like you, we're going to need more supplies to satisfy both of our needs!"
"You brute! One day, I'll pay you back!" Hasho shouted as he made his way to the steering wheel.
"Haha, good luck! The day I let you get a hit on me is the day I end up dead!" Kuishi responded confidently as she headed to the front of the bow in order to serve as lookout.
"Watch me, Tiger! I'm gonna live my life to the fullest just like you did!" She thought to herself as she gazed upon the crashing waves of the open sea.
Kuishi has finally found a companion on her uncharted journey: a boy named Hasho who can store anything he desires. Although the two of them may be worlds' apart in terms of skill and appearance, their colliding paths are sure to cause a great stir sometime in the distant future. Follow along for the adventures of Kuishi and Hasho!
To Be Continued…..