August 24th, Year Adelli
Clear weather. Still on course to Water 7.
Stock: Lacking in medical supplies.
Crew: One member gone
Today, I have witnessed something incredible…
"Captain! Come take a look at this!" A rotund man gestured to me from the bow of our ship. What was it? He seemed pretty uptight about something… I smirked and complied with his wishes, walking along the wooden deck of our ship towards him. Hopefully he didn't see something that would cause too much trouble… Now, that would just go and ruin a damn nice day. He handed me a pair of brass binoculars and pointed at a small mountain bobbing up and down in the water. What the…? There wasn't a mountain written on our map… What could it be? I raised the binoculars to my eyes and peered through them curiously.
Woah! What the hell is that?! The head of a whale…! A humongous head of a whale! And…there seemed to be two people splayed out on top of its head.
"Did you see it, Captain?"
"It's…amazing!" I grinned, trying to focus the lenses to get a better look at the two people on the whale. There was a black haired boy and a green haired man. They seemed content and at peace… But wait, why the heck were they out here in the first place?
"Captain…? Captain! What do you think it is? Is it…?" I hear the rotund man say in anticipation.
"It's a whale. A huge one!" My crew members all stopped in their work and glanced in my direction. What a funny looking reaction!
"A huge whale…?" A man with a large red nose stepped up and grabbed the binoculars from my hands. Sheesh, talk about impatient… I watch the man in interest, wondering how he would react. Would he shriek in amazement? Or jump out of his skin in shock? But the man did neither of the two. A mischievous smirk only spread across his lips.
"It's Laboon…" He stepped back and handed the binoculars back to me. Laboon? The rumored whale who could swallow whole ships in one bite?! Actually…if I remember correctly, the first time I heard of a large whale who attacked ships was…wait, there was an article about it…an eight year old, lost to the sea because of a storm and a large whale ramming into the ship. There were rumors that the boy had been eaten alive by the whale…and then…soon after that, stories of ships disappearing out at sea arose among the sailors. It was rumored that the ships disappeared right after Laboon the whale was sighted…
Hold on…that dead boy in the article! There was a picture of him…a little, smiling black haired boy. I raised the binoculars to my eyes again and peered out at the relaxed whale bobbing along with the waves. A green haired man was lying in exhaustion, clothes clinging to his body as if he had just climbed out from the water. And… there was a black haired boy sitting next to him, smiling brightly. That black haired boy…! The one nine years ago, lost at sea! They were the same!
"Woah…" I pulled back from the binoculars and handed them back to the rotund man. The man with a red nose had disappeared… I wonder where he went off to…? But that didn't matter that much now. That black haired boy and Laboon interested me. "Hey, crew! You wanna get closer?" When I hear the chorus of agreement from behind me, a rush of adrenaline ran through my body. We'd be taking a closer look at the legendary whale and boy…!
Our ship was bobbing closer towards them slowly. I grinned, nearly leaning over the railing to see better. The wind was quite strong today, blowing my red bangs into my eyes. The black haired boy had turned to look at us now, a stern and calculating gaze. He wasn't a very trustful kid, eh? Good for him. There were little people on the sea who could be trustworthy. I gave him a friendly wave, hoping to signal that our ship was not dangerous. But the boy only seemed to stiffen even more, his eyes hardening and glinting at me ferociously. He looked only seventeen…and he could pull off such an intimidating expression…? I could feel myself gulp nervously. What an interesting kid… I signal for our ship to stop when the black haired boy's lips started moving. Was he trying to say something to us…? I couldn't hear. Laboon's fins flapped at the surface of water before turning slowly away. Wait! They were…leaving? Oh come on, I just wanted to be their friend…!
Suddenly, a blast came from the side of the ship. I gripped onto the railing in surprise as the entire ship rocked from the loud explosion. What was that?! A metal spear was splitting through the air towards the humongous head of the whale. I could only stare in shock as the harpoon pierced into the head of Laboon, sending a small spurt of blood gushing out into the ocean.
"LABOON!" I could hear the black haired boy cry from afar. The whale reared up, howling in pain, sending the green haired man flying off of its head and into the ocean. I turned to send a fierce glare at whoever had sent that harpoon.
"Who did that?!"
"It wasn't us, Shanks…" My first mate told me in a serious tone.
Another blast came from below deck and I watched in horror as another harpoon shot its way towards the whale again. The black haired boy was sliding down the head of the whale and jumped at the second flying harpoon. Was he going to try and stop it from hitting its target?! But the whale's fin lifted up quickly, slapping the boy back up to its head. The harpoon hit Laboon's side, sending another burst of blood into the sky, and the whale bellowed in pain again. The boy hastily dove into the water and swam towards the first harpoon. I watched as he latched his fingers around the metal, trying with all his might to pry it out of the rubbery skin. The black haired boy seemed so angry… so wild! So fearful…
Shit! Who the hell was doing this to them?! Just as another blast came from below deck, I ran quickly down to find the red nosed man cackling madly, peering out of a small window.
"You! What are you trying to do?!" I grabbed him by the shoulder and turned him around roughly. He merely grinned back at me in excitement.
"Don't you understand, Shanks?" The red nosed man laughed loudly, pointing out the window. "If we catch Laboon, we'll be famous! And of course, we need to catch that boy who survived from being eaten by Laboon. Imagine the profit we'll make!"
"But, they didn't do anything to us! We don't have to make profit off of them." I argue back at him angrily. Why was he so intent on breaking such peaceful and content looking friends…? The red nosed man scowled and pushed me away in disgust.
"Fine, you go on staying poor. I'll become rich and famous myself…!" He lifted up another metal spear and hefted it into the canon with difficulty. No…I had to stop him! That black haired boy was fighting so hard to keep Laboon alive! How could I let this guy take the boy's friend away from him?!
To be continued!