"Make sure you keep an eye on the log pose, shorty!"
"I got it already! I know how to sail, so just be quiet already!"
"Well, you sure steer badly! We would have collided with that huge boulder if I hadn't changed the direction of the ship by going underwater and kicking it!"
"That was reckless! With your strength, you could've damaged the boat way more than any rock could! Do you even know how to sail?!"
"I don't need to! As a fishman, I have an innate talent for swimming along these seas and letting the waves guide me! Now, hurry up and get us to the next island already!"
"Well, stop badgering me about it, since you don't have a clue about how to operate a ship! Besides, we wouldn't even have to stop so suddenly if you hadn't ate all of the food in the storage!"
"I told you already, as a tiger-shark fish-woman, I always have an insatiable appetite that I can't keep under wraps! I'll eat anything if it means that I can keep some food in my mouth!"
"With that logic, we're going to starve to death! Just hurry up and catch some grub!"
"Don't worry, no one is better than me when it comes to hunting!"
After fish-woman Kuishi and the child Devil Fruit user named Hasho teamed up together to find the latter a nice home to stay at, the two experienced difficulties getting used to each other's company. Due to Kui's appetite, she ate the rest of the stored food in one go, which immediately put her on food gathering duty to feed the both of them. As the navigator, Hasho kept checking on the log pose and the map in front of him, not paying attention to the huge rock sticking out in front of their path. Kui immediately rushed to the ocean and used her strength to kick the bottom right of the ship, pushing it away from a collision course. Scolding from both ends would solve neither the food crisis nor the question of when they would reach their next destination.
Sitting on the railing, Kuishi stared at the surface of the water in search of any big game that would come their way. She hoped to catch a humongous prey in order to satisfy her appetite. Her wish was granted when an enormous shadow surfaced from the depths of the ocean and shot right up from the waters, causing a big splash of sea water around the creature that spilled over onto the ship.
Hasho turned around from his chair position and shouted, "What in the hell was that?! What's going on, Kui?!"
Kuishi cracked her knuckles in excitement while showcasing her sharp, pearly whites teeth and responded, "Sit tight, Hashy! I'm about to catch us dinner!"
From the depths of the Grand Line waters appeared an gigantic ant-like Sea King that set its sights on the duo on the ship, eclipsing the size of the boat and showing off its fangs to his targeted prey.
Scared out of his mind, Hasho's eyes turned solid white as he stuttered, "I-Is t-that a….?"
"Yep, that's a Sea King, alright! This one looks way smaller than the ones on Fishman Island! This won't even be a warm-up for me!" Kuishi said confidently.
As the fearless woman got into her fighting karate stance, the Sea King immediately charged his head towards Kui, seeing her as the main entrée.
"K-Kui! Look out! That thing is going to eat you alive!", the young boy warned his companion out of fear.
After only a few seconds of concentration, Kuishi shouted the attack phrase, "Fishman Karate…. Hundred Brick Fist!" before sending a hard punch towards the sea beast.
In an instant, the shockwave caused by the Fishman Karate user was more than enough to incapacitate the Sea King, causing it to fall backwards into the ocean floor. Hasho was absolutely stunned by just how powerful Kui seemed to be, taking in every moment as the fish-woman dived into the sea and dragged the humongous beast onto the deck of the ship.
"I-Incredible…she's absolutely incredible! With just one punch, Kui was able to take down that gigantic beast! I'm so glad I didn't get on her bad side…" The boy thought to himself before he walked over to Kuishi, who was struggling to pull her catch on board due to its weight.
"Hey, Hashy! You mind giving me a hand here? This big bastard just won't give up!" Kui asked as she hauled over tons of weight just above her right shoulder.
"Think, Kui! There's no way you're going to be able to bring that huge thing on here unless you cut it into pieces! Hold on, I'll see if I have a huge knife or sword somewhere in my-"
"Mmm! This meat is so yummy!" Kuishi shouted in bliss as she had already taken a big bite of the Ant Sea King, holding a chunk of the meat in her hand while chewing on a bite with stains of blood dripping from her mouth.
Hasho's eyes nearly popped out of his skull as he shouted, "Are you a savage?! Wait until we cut and cook it at least!"
"Whmy do I gomta wmait? Meat tmastes much bwetter when caugmht freswh!" Kuishi mouthed with food still being grinded and chewed on inside her greedy mouth.
Hasho put the palm of his hand up to his face and replied, "Just stop eating it and let me cut it! It'll taste a lot better once it's been properly cooked!"
The young boy opened his Stor-Stor space and pulled out a standard cutlass that he acquired from the body of a fallen navy soldier and moved right next to the Sea King with the blade in hand in order to perform proper cutting and skinning of the catch.
Once Kui swallowed the chunk of meat in her mouth, she went along with Hasho's idea and said, "Fine, I'll let you cook it, but you better make it taste good or I'll kick your butt, okay?"
"I'm definitely no expert chef, not by a long shot, but I taught myself how to prepare at least a half-decent meal from all of the time that I spent by myself having to cut and steal for food. At least, the food will taste edible by the time I'm done with it."
And so, Hasho began cutting the humongous sea creature with the help of Kui who used her Fishman Karate abilities to slice open chunks of the meat. Once the skinning and cleaning was done, Hasho took the big pieces to the kitchen below deck and used the grill to prepare today's big lunch. Needless to say, Kui enjoyed practically anything that she could consume because once the food was finished cooking, she ate at least six or seven servings of pure Sea King meat while the boy prepared only small pieces along with a few vegetables and fruits for his whole meal. By the time Kui was finished eating, a food belly the size of a basketball formed on her stomach, but she never seemed to care about how much the food she intakes has an effect on her overall physique. Hasho just stared and found himself laughing due to the voracious appetite of his companion.
"What's so funny, shrimpy?" Kui asked with stuffed cheeks of meat stored in her mouth.
Hasho continued laughing aloud before mustering up the words to reply, "Nothing at all! No offense, but you're just a riot to have around, Kui! Everything about you is just so goofy and dumb!"
"You're the dumb one! I'd clobber you if I wasn't so hungry right now!"
"You're still hungry?!"
"Duh!"
Hasho's jaw nearly dropped to the floor in awe of her bottomless appetite but Kui just smiled and laughed at the boy as she reached for another huge piece of meat.
After their meal was over, Hasho went back to the lookout to scout for any nearby island that they can stop at. It was only twenty minutes later that he would finally find a suitable spot.
From the top of his lungs, the Devil Fruit user shouted out, "Kui, land ahead! There's an island just up ahead!"
A resting Kui perked up and responded, "Really? Finally, we can stop and get us more food to eat!" "Food, food, food! Is that all you ever think about?" The boy retorted as he climbed down the ladder.
"Like I said before, brat, I gotta keep eating something. If we ever run out of stuff to snack on, I might just use you as an emergency food supply", Kuishi said with a toothy grin, sending shivers down Hasho's spine.
Now standing in front of the much larger fishwoman, Hasho wondered if that comment of hers was truly a joke or not. With her strength, she could easily gobble him up if she ever felt like it.
"Y-You're k-kidding, right?! Y-You wouldn't eat me…."
"Maybe not… or maybe I will~"
Taken by surprise, Hasho suddenly felt himself being lifted up in the air by the muscular fishwoman's arms and being swung from left to right in a teasing manner.
"I'm gonna gobble you up!" Kuishi exclaimed playfully, nuzzling her face into the young boy's shoulder.
"S-Stop! Put me down! This is embarrassing!", Hasho exclaimed with a small blush tinting his cheeks.
"I thought you didn't like me? What's up with that red on your face? You finally starting to warm up to me?" Kui said with a smirk as she pointed to Hasho's cheeks.
"S-Shut up, fishy! Put me down!" The boy said while flinging his body around, trying to escape from the clutches of the fishwoman.
Kui grabbed his cheeks and pinched him hard as payback. "I thought I told you not to call me that, you little brat!"
"Owww! Alright, I won't! N-Now, put me down! I've got to go dock the ship now that we're nearing the island!"
"Don't worry, I'll put you down… as soon as you call me Big Sis Kui!"
"No way!" The boy stuck his tongue out at the fishwoman playfully.
"Cheeky little… Fine, go ahead and dock the ship. Being on a ship for so long isn't too good for an active woman like me anyways~"
Kuishi sets Hasho back on his feet and the latter operates the trading ship into the nearest port. With instructions from the Devil Fruit user, Kui hoisted the anchor to the sea to secure the ship's position. After that, the two finally stepped foot on the island named Vin Island, known for its luxurious celebrations.
"Hey, Hashy…"
"Yeah, Kui?"
"This place is kind of a dump…."
The atmosphere of the town they docked at is one of poverty and desperation. Multiple buildings look old and damaged because they haven't had any proper care over the years. Even the sky itself looked grey and bleak, without any ray of sunlight to shine upon the townspeople. Speaking of the citizens, nearly every one of them that lives in this desolate part of the island all resembled that of beggars and walking corpses. Too poor to put food on the table, some resorted to the streets either to plead for money from tourists who happened to be visiting or turned to a life of crime. However, the common citizen all had one place to direct their anger to: the other side of town where the island got its name from. The wealth disparity between the two halves of the island were as clear as day, which riled up more people who lived on the brink of starvation. This part of town was a hotbed for pure anger, frustration, desperation, and rebellion.
"K-Kui, I think we should steer clear of the people in this place… Something about it feels… K-Kui!" Hasho shouted with comedic sharp teeth at his fishwoman companion, who casually began walking near the entrance of a pub.
"Huh? What are you whinning about, shrimp? Are you scared? Need me to protect you?" She teased him with a perky grin on her face.
Blushing again, Hasho shouted back, "N-No, shut up! I'm just saying that this place looks really dangerous! Even with someone like you around, we could get into some trouble with the wrong crowd if we're not careful! Trust me, I know what that's like!"
Kui put on a big toothy smile and answered, "Stop worrying so much. If someone messes with us, I'll just beat them to the ground. Our main goal is to get supplies, right? We'll be-Oof!"
Kuishi accidentally bumped into a much larger and muscular man standing near the entrance of the bar. From anyone's point of view, this guy's intimidating biceps and triceps coupled with his tight shirt that showed off his pecs was enough to put fear in the hearts of many.
"You new around here, little girl? If so, you're gonna have to go through me first." The ripped man said in a booming, deep voice.
Kuishi stood there calmy and looked up at the man in front of her with red, hot shark eyes and responded, "Yeah, I'm new here. What's it to you?"
The sound of cracked knuckles came from Kuishi as she anticipated a fight brewing between her and this man. On the other hand, Hasho was astonished about the events that were about to unfold in front of him.
"Oh, great! We just got here and that idiot shark woman is already about to start a fight! Why does she have to be this way?" He thought to himself.
Unexpectedly, the eight feet tall man pulled out a bouquet of wilted roses from his side and presented them as a gift to Kui.
"M-Ma'am, here's a present for you! Even though our town isn't the best looking, I'm still glad that a beautiful woman like you has decided to stop by here!" He exclaimed with a sincere smile on his face, showing his missing teeth and his olive-colored skin.
His stressful lifestyle took a toll on his body, but nevertheless, this man still managed to smile.
"My name is Dorjee! Welcome to our island!"
Hasho witnessed the whole scene with astonishment and thought to himself, "What a goofy oaf! There's no way someone as tough as Kui will-"
"T-Thank you…" Kuishi said softly with a small blush radiating on her blue cheeks.
"WHATTTTT?!" Hasho exclaimed with his eyes popping out of his head in comedic fashion.
"Why don't you come inside the bar? This town may not have much but we can at least get you a good drink!" Darjee exclaimed happily.
Kuishi matched his energy and replied, "Sure! I could use a good drink! Besides, this is a perfect opportunity for me to stock up on supplies!"
Darjee opens the saloon door for the young fishwoman and says, "Right this way, m'lady~"
"You're really trying to butter me up, aren't you?" Kui replied with a bright smile on her face as she entered the building.
Hasho began walking towards the bar while exclaiming, "Hold on, Kui, wait for-!"
Out of nowhere, a mysterious hand found its home on top of the Devil Fruit boy's shoulders. A slight chill was sent throughout Hasho's body when he felt the touch, causing him to turn his head around slowly.
"Can I help you?" He asked with a slightly nervous grin on his face.
"Come with me…" was all the white-cloaked man uttered before he chopped Hasho in the back of the neck and knocked him out. Then, he picked up his small body and began walking away from the area.
Meanwhile, inside the bar…
"Sorry if the place isn't to your liking, we here at Vin Island want to make all our guests feel as comfortable as possible!"
Just like the rest of the town, the place was an absolute dump. Drunkards piled up around the tables and on the floor, walls falling apart, broken windows, humid air, and worst of all, the entire atmosphere felt as morbid as the one outside of it.
Kuishi stood up on the table and said, "Don't worry, I got a plan to spice things up…. Drinking Contest! Any of you tough men wanna have a go at me! Or are you too chicken?!"
"Chicken?! Who's chicken? I'll drink you under the table, fishwoman!" One of the patrons shouted back.
"Yeah, me too! I'm not scared of any challenge!"
"Bring it on!"
All grabbing large mugs of ale and sake, Kuishi shared a brief toast with all of the other patrons in the bar before gulping down the drink and starting off the party.
Darjee laughed heartedly and thought to himself, "Already, this woman seems to be bringing a needed spark to the people! Maybe, she could be the hope that we so desperately desired!"
At the same time, Hasho was brought before a mysterious all-white room surrounded by people in all-white cloaks.
In blindfolded confusion, he shouted, "Where the hell am I?! Show yourself!"
The person sitting in the throne chuckled to himself and proceeded to say these ominous words, "Welcome home… my son…"
TO BE CONTINUED…..