Haunt 2: Ghost Child
-3 years later
"Adam! Be careful with those supplies!" Tami yelled at her son while she finished her workday.
Said son, a young boy of 3 with tanned skin and untamable wavy dark navy hair with blue tips, was lifting a crate over 7 times his size with no apparent difficulty to the back of their home.
"Yes Ma!" Adam carelessly answered as he placed the box near the storage room like it was supposed to be.
To most people, what just happened would have been a strange scene, but for those who regularly visited this district or Lion Acupuncture, it was a common one.
Everyone in the district knew of Adam.
He was a rare hybrid fish-man, a Siamese Fighting Fish one, hence his darker skin and wild, but somehow silky dark navy hair which fades into a blue matching his icy blue eyes contrasting his skin.
Tami never told who the child's father was, but with the timing, many thought she had somehow been with someone like Whitebeard himself when his crew had visited. This rumor was due to just how incredibly strong Adam was, being beyond what even the vast majority of trained adults seemed capable of even as a babe.
It would have made many fearful and even possibly hateful of the hybrid if he wasn't so cheerful and helpful to most, almost never causing any sort of incident. Hell, the only time he's ever caused trouble is when someone is doing something stupid like trying to harass his mother, who is very much capable of defending herself when she isn't cooing over her baby protecting her or telling him how to beat up his punching bag better, or when a troublemaker passes through and harasses the locals.
Honestly speaking, the fact that his mother was incredibly intimidating, even if she wasn't exactly the largest of women and was even beautiful in a tomboyish way, and few would risk her wrath or not receiving her top notch medical skills by scorning her child, stopped most from disliking the helpful boy by default.
"That's the last of 'em!" Adam reported loudly. "Imma go read some books!"
"Ok!" His mother responded from the other room. "Be sure to put them back where they belong after! Be ready in an hour, we'll be going to the Café!"
"Sure thing ma!" Her child replied as she heard him run upstairs with a wry smile before turning back to the patient she had been working on.
It was an elderly mermaid who had a lot of kinks in her tail, a regular customer who came by for by-weekly treatment.
"Good to see such a nice lad." She chuckled as she patiently stayed still while Tami began removing the needles in her tail, earning sighs of relief from most. "And to see you both doing so well together."
"It was tough, but I can't say I'd ever wish to not have him in my life." Tami smiled gently as she rapidly finished up. "Although he does cause me to worry a bit too much. He's been begging me to send him to the dojo almost as soon as he could walk and talk."
"Hohoho!" The old mermaid chuckled. "I seem to remember a young mermaid who wanted to join the royal guards back in the day as well."
"Please don't mention that." Tami blushed at her childhood dream. "It's embarrassing."
"Hohoho!"
Meanwhile, the young Adam was listening in on the rather loud conversation as he used the step ladder to grab the next few books he wanted to read over the coming days.
His mother had many books on marine biology and anatomy because of her job as a medicinal acupuncturist and medicine maker, something Adam took full advantage of to learn about his own body and what Fish-men and merpeople were capable of. It also allowed him to know what to look out for in terms of diseases, sicknesses, injuries and weaknesses.
There were so many types of them that it was very hard to learn everything, but a child's mind with a disciplined and dedicated spirit guiding it could achieve great things. It helped that he could quickly become used to the language and writing system thanks to his extensive experience with foreign cultures in his past life, plus his own knowledge allowed Adam to burn through most basic books and educational material with incredible ease, only needing to adjust some things to fit into his new world's 'rules'.
It did baffle Tami, her son being so intelligent since she knew the father was an idiot with muscles for brains and that she wasn't THAT smart and had put in a lot of work to become as skilled and knowledgeable as she was. Seeing her baby learn to read, write and speak so early had been a surprise, but a welcome one as it allowed her to teach her son what she knew and have him be her little helper.
Now the weird part was him being a better cook than her.
Ok, Tami knew she wasn't the best of cooks, especially with how her poison tends to accidentally drip into most foods she makes, but a three year old surpassing her made her a bit depressed as she ate the tasty food with a pout. She had gotten better, but she had also inadvertently helped her son develop quite the immune system and poison resistance from her efforts and from when she actually did try to breast feed him with her... meager supplies.
She would always say she wasn't lacking but her son was glutton, which the latter technically wasn't wrong because Adam did eat quite a lot for his age to compensate for his ridiculous body and his basic exercises.
The people of One Piece could do ludicrous training from a young age without any kind of negative repercussions and Adam took full advantage of this. Honestly, Garp was fighting wild animals and beating apex predators with a pipe and had abs before the age of 6, Oden was killing bears with boulders at age 4, and Newgate was building up his own treasure and reputation on his home island by age 5.
All one needed was the right spirit and sheer grit to power through it all.
And Adam had plenty of that.
He fought in wars, pirates, mercenaries, terrorists and even dictators all over the world. Combated the sea for the right to sail his Eve everywhere for decades. And faced the anger of the sky more times than her could count.
So he honed his natural abilities anyway he could.
Lifting and carrying heavy burdens. Running and parkour running through his home district. Swimming with the Mermaids at the cove when his mother allowed. Developing all his senses through creative usage of ropes, bags and corals. And beating up those who cause trouble in the district when he could to acclimatize himself further to his ridiculous strength and development for his size and age.
He went through the drills and martial arts he learnt from his travels and time in the military, even starting to swinging heavy objects like weights ala Zoro to train different kinds on muscles essential for it.
Adam had gone through a phase which involved wielding blades in the past due to some pirate dreams. It was a bit embarrassing, but he loved the idea of wielding a pistol in one hand and a blade in the other. A bit of a man's romance if you will.
It wasn't going to be his main combat style, knowing full well the limits of firearms in this world, but it would be a fun way to fight larger numbers.
But for now, Adam trained himself and did odd jobs around the district to gain the money needed to join the Fish-Man Dojo. He didn't want to cause any sort of financial burden on his mother. She was a good mom who cared deeply for him, something Adam appreciated a lot after having lost his own mother in his mid-twenties during his past life to cancer. Tami was different, almost like an elder sister at time, a feisty one unafraid of expressing herself and very capable of defending her body and clinic, but also very caring and protective.
Her tongue on the other hand, well that was almost as poisonous as her spines when she got going, but any sailor should know how to swear.
"Adam! Are you ready?" Tami called out, causing her son to quickly to back the book he was reading and run down.
He was wearing a simple white shirt with wave patterns, blue shorts and sandals, a rather common outfit for a little Fish-Boy.
Tami herself was dressed in a soft red blouse and with her bubble around her waist to float around.
"Ready!" The boy simply declared with a grin his mother matched as they walked out of the clinic hand in hand.
Outside they were greeted by the usual sights of Waterwheel Town, with the coral-like buildings decorated with various great waterwheels allowing for the continuous flow of water to the homegrown crops and to combat against any sort of stagnation in the local ponds.
The mother-son pair headed over to the nearby jet-stream, hopping in to hasten their journey to the Café.
Adam hadn't known this until his first visit as a toddler, but Tami used to work there as a waitress in her younger days after her own parents passed away and while she studied and saved up to open up her acupuncture clinic. That made his respect of his mom grow quite a lot due to her over coming a lot of struggles, including having him, and still being happy and loving.
As a result of her past employment, she was close friends with many of the girls working there and the owner, thus they met up at least once a week over dinner to catch up.
To Adam, using the jet-streams above the island was always a fun time. He loved going fast within them and feeling the powerful currents. It also allowed them to get from one section of the island to another in record time, reaching Mermaid Cove in only a few minutes instead of taking hours by walking.
Fish-men and merpeople bodies were built very tough.
The Cove was bustling as always, being the trading hub of Fish-man Island and its port city.
One could always find something happening here, as well as many patrolling soldiers to keep the peace with the many pirates and marines passing through the island.
It was also the most accessible to humans and the part of the island which most resembled the surface apparently, with buildings not shaped from coral but wood and stone, luxuries down here really.
Making their way through, with most knowing to give Tami space to maneuver even if she was being very careful with her spines and had them flattened against her body while going through the crowd, it took little time to reach the famous Mermaid Café. The source of dreams and temptations for men across the world.
"Tami! And kyaaa! You brought Adam-chan!" A beautiful mermaid with flowing green hair, bountiful chest covered only by a green and white stripped bikini top, and with glistening yellow mermaid tail squealed as she kidnapped said Adam into her chest and began trying to hug the life out of him as his mother sighed.
"Hello Lillian. Please don't treat my son like that, even if he can take it. He still needs to breath." Tami greeted with a twitching eyebrow at how her son's head seemed to disappear between useless mounds of fat.
Ok, maybe not useless as she could have used something like that to feed her little glutton, but useless most of the time.
No, she wasn't jealous!
"Hmph hmmm mhph mmhmm." Adam spoke as his voice was entirely muffled with heavenly softness men would die of jealousy to experience.
"Lillian, please allow my son to speak." Tami sighed again.
"Oh? Sorry *Tee Hee* It just felt so nice." The mermaid cheerfully replied as she turned her confiscated cuddle toy around.
"*Huff* No worries mom. I can use it as breath training." Adam repeated with a bright smile, causing his mother to rub her forehead.
"Just... don't complain to me about them grabbing you in the future." Tami told her son with a deadpanned stare.
"Ok! I'm used to it since they're always doing it. I just decided to get some benefits out of it." He easily replied with a bright smile.
"Let's get in then. I'm hungry and I know he'll want food soon." The mother said as she pushed in the door, followed by a happy Lillian who was ruffling her cuddle toy's silky hair while she could.
Adam was very popular amongst the ladies of the café. He's been coming here every since he was born, being frequently taken care of by the girls working there, with even a few having acted as wet-nurses for some time and being babysitters.
And even now the girls liked to have him around because he helped around with supplies, managed to fix things around the café, and even helped out in the kitchen and with some troublesome guests.
Let's say it again, the girls really loved Adam because they found him incredibly adorable and endearing.
So when he came in while being held by Lillian, the battles began for the right to cuddle.
His previously mentioned silky hair being a bonus from his heritage as a Siamese Fighting fish Fish-man making him a very appealing cuddle toy. Plus the ladies loved pampering him with treats they knew he loved by feeding him because he looked cute while eating them in their eyes.
In all the commotion, none of the mermaids noticed their prize slipping away to join the only other person his age at the café: his childhood friend Shyarly.
The girl was cute shortfin mako shark mermaid with short black hair swept to the right side of her face, just above her dark blue eyes. She was currently wearing a light blue dress under her favorite marine blue hooded cape that she wore when out predicting futures for fun. The little mermaid liked it because it made her feel like she was mysterious, but to everyone else it was adorable. She was also clutching her crystal ball as she sat on a café stool.
"Hi Shyar!" Adam happily greeted the young mermaid as he joined her using the neighboring stool.
"Hi Adam!" Shyarly responded in kind, hopping excitedly as she did so. "I had a vision about us!"
"Really? What's it about?" The boy asked out of curiosity.
He knew very well that her abilities were the real deal, likely being an inborn form of very advanced and specialized Observation Haki as well.
"We're going to live together! Isn't that great?" She revealed with a pure smile.
"It is! I can't wait! I'll have someone who can help me train and mom can have more company." Adam responded as he thought about Shyarly's father, a real deadbeat and drunkard who dumped her half-brother Arlong in Fish-man District and had actually done so to Shyarly as well in canon.
If he and his mother could help with that, then he would be more than willing to do so. Tami also wouldn't allow a young mermaid like Shyarly to be kicked out into the district. That was just asking for her to get taken by pirates or slavers.
While the two chatted, the matron of the café, an older mermaid with fluffy gray hair, a kindly demeanor, with catfish whiskers sporting an apron and floating on a bubble brought them some cookies and milk.
Her name was Madame Niko, and she was essentially the closest thing to a grandma both children had thanks to all the time they spent at the café.
Thanking her, the two nibbled and talked about their week.
Shyarly about how she started telling fortunes at her little booth here in the café, earning little tips the adults gave her mostly because she was adorable and some wanted to look good in front of the hostesses.
Adam about the training and reading he's done between helping around his district and mother.
The former was really impressed when he talked about a few pirates he beat up and had the guards take in for harassing some shop owners and even trying to kidnap someone. That he forgot to mention how much his mother yelled at him that night was just a coincidence. Meanwhile the later laughed at some of the funny fortunes revealed to him, like the man who would fall headfirst into a toilet or someone who would piss himself in front of a whole crew of mermaids while trying to impress them.
The two were aware of the group observing their interactions due to their much higher senses and awareness, knowing that the hostesses were chatting while enjoying the innocent sight before them with warm smiles, but they didn't really care.
But suddenly, the doors to the café slammed open, causing everyone to look over because they had closed early for this little gathering.
At the door was a light grey fish-man, being relatively tall but skinny overall beyond the beer belly. He had sharp teeth in a slightly protruding mouth, a long cone shaped nose, and a shark-like dorsal fin coming out of his tattered and stained tank top.
Obvious to everyone, he was swaying and drunk, with a flushed face and mostly unfocused gaze as he walked forward.
Shyarly stiffened considerably because this was her father: Osbern, a Goblin Shark Fish-Man.
"Where did ya put my money!" He belched out unsteadily as he approached Shyarly as the hostesses frowned at him.
"T-there's no more." Shyarly fearfully answered. "You already took it all yesterday."
Those words made the surrounding mermaids instantly become angry, with Tami bristling her spines at what she had just heard.
"Then what good are ya? Little freak!" Osbern spat hateful as he grasped Shyarly, lifting her up as she clutched her Crystal ball and closed her eyes in fear but not letting out any sounds. "If ya can't get me money then I know just where freaks like ya belong!"
But that's as far as he got before both mother and son acted in perfect unison.
With fast and precise movements, Adam broke his elbow and took Shyarly from him, while Tami expertly threw a poisoned spine into his neck, causing him to pass out and collapse on the spot.
Unfortunately for him, he landed on his now broken elbow and slammed his head on a nearby chair, but no one cared.
The adults immediately swarmed Shyarly as she shivered in Adam's arms tearfully over what just happened.
She was embarrassed and scared about what came to light.
"Hush now Shyar. Everything will be ok." Adam whispered as he made sure to let her feel safe and warm. "That man can't hurt you anymore. You don't have to listen to him."
"That's right dear." Tami softly supported, making sure to slowly join her son in hugging the poor girl. "We won't let that scum hurt you. You can stay with us."
Those words caused Shyarly to snap and look at Tami's motherly smile, something she never really got to see aimed at her before.
"Us mermaids have to stick together after all." She added with a small wink.
"That's right! Let's take care of this good for nothing!" Lillian agreed with the rest nodding along.
"I vote for dumping him in the gutting pit." A short haired brunette with a blue tail said.
"I vote for castration." A long haired ravenette coldly suggested as she looked at the man like he was lower than the ocean floor.
"What about a sea king nest?" An innocent pinkette with a matching tail offered with a smile.
"Girls," Madame Niko interrupted them, "why not inform the nice guards about this man trying to sell his daughter to slavers?"
Now those words made them all pause before smiling like predators.
Osbern hadn't specifically said that, but saying something like 'If ya can't get me money then I know just where freaks like ya belong' in front of a group of mermaids and about a mermaid, it could easily be understood as a man wanting to sell his daughter into slavery for money. And the guards certainly would take that seriously and look the other way for any damages the perpetrator might have suffered beforehand as they 'defended themselves'.
So while Tami and Adam soothed Shyarly, the Mermaid Café hostesses quickly began to tie up the trash on the floor while one went to fetch the guards. There was always at least two patrols nearby due to the fame of the café.
And before said guards could show up, a certain lioness took the opportunity to stop this kind of scene from repeating itself by using her spine on a certain part of the trash's anatomy. Nothing lethal, but certainly fitting punishment.
By the time they came and dragged him away with disgust in their eyes, Shyarly had actually fallen asleep from the emotional events and this caused the gathering to finish early. Madame Niko did hand over water-proof take out boxes for the now trio to bring with them, with Tami carrying the young mermaid and Adam taking the boxes and her Crystal ball as they quietly said their goodbyes for the week.
Author Notes:
For everyone to be aware of where we are in things, this is currently 26 years before the latest events of One Piece, thus 2 years before the start of the Great Pirate age and the execution of Gol D. Rogers.
What happened wasn't just convenient childhood friend getting.
Shyarly was actually dumped onto Arlong, her half-brother, by a father he never met when she was 3 and he was 15 in Fish-Man District.
I just fleshed it out a bit and changed things due to Adam's existence, the fact that Shyarly should have at least some ties with the Café due to later running it, and both of them being the same age.
Also, if you've never seen a goblin shark, look it up. Weird ass thing, but since both siblings are Shark related as a mermaid and fish-man, I thought this would be fitting.
I've said this before but, Tami is not defenseless in the least. She still has the standard 10x base stats while being used to fighting dirtbags trying something on mermaids since young, having poisonous spines she can use at close range and as senbon like a ninja, and great knowledge about acupuncture.
She will fuck you up.
Adam is fully capable of pinning a full grown Merman since birth, so breaking an elbow with his past knowledge and experience after three years wouldn't exactly be a stretch either.
He isn't immune to her future sight and I am classifying it as Haki nonsense.
MC does not have automatic Haki, but will have naturally easier time due to his innate strength and senses.
And 3 years old is definitely not too young to get shit done in One Piece. Shyarly already had her Crystal ball at predicted Shirahoshi's birth in ten years at the age of 3 and the stuff I mentioned I chapter is canon. I'm not even mentioning the insane cannibal named Charlotte Linlin either.
Right now it's more mellow, but shit is going to be turned sideways in a few years.
Hope you enjoy.