Time passes without much ceremony for an immortal demigod. The years tend to blend together, with little to mark the transition from one to the next. The faces in the human villages would change as time went by, but their habits never did. Everything did change, however, when Maui brought a young crab monster out of Lalotai. Suddenly, the passage of time was clear and distinct right before his eyes as they traveled together.

As the decades rolled by, Tamatoa grew from a tiny, adorable crab small enough to fit in Maui's hands to a crustacean more than half the demigod's height. He no longer needed a borrowed shell for protection, much to their mutual relief. It had become increasingly difficult to find new shells of suitable size as the crab had gotten larger and outgrown old ones, causing some considerable hassle for them both. Instead, Tamatoa now sported his own heavily armored carapace. He'd become more colorful over the years, as well. Dusky purple still remained as his base color, but was now accentuated with indigo shades, rosy hues, and light blue striations. Maui assumed it was an adult coloration, but it was hard to know whether or not the crab had actually reached full adulthood or not. One thing was certain, though: Tamatoa kept getting larger. Maui occasionally wondered how much bigger the crab would get, but didn't invest too much consideration in the matter beyond a casual, stray thought.

The crab in question was currently sprawled lazily under a wide-canopied banyan tree. He was fiddling with some trinket, turning it over in his claws and admiring it's sheen in the dappled sunlight. Lethargy was the theme of the afternoon as the oppressive heat of the sun had driven them inland to the milder air of the forest. Maui too was lounging leisurely in the shade, relaxed against the cool, smooth surface of a granite boulder, and softly humming to himself.

They had been on this island for a while now, taking it easy after their last misadventure, which had left them both somewhat battered. They had encountered a snake-like creature of enormous size while searching for a particularly promising treasure. The snake had managed to get its coils around Maui, squeezing him tightly enough to crack several of his ribs, and had caught Tamatoa with a stream of spitting venom, making the crab ill for weeks. Despite those setbacks, they had still emerged victorious and had put an end to the snake. Unfortunately, the treasure they sought had turned out to be nothing more than a rumor and they had limped back, empty handed and wounded, to this island to recover.

A month of easy living had seen them both back to health, but they lingered on for weeks beyond that. The island had abundant food and, being far off the usual trade routes, saw few passing travelers-so they enjoyed a comfortable peace. Neither of them would be content to laze away here forever, though. Already, Maui was beginning to feel the itch to get back on the water and on to the next adventure.

He glanced towards his companion, who was still captivated by the glitter of whatever bauble he was tinkering with. Tamatoa tended to collect stories and rumor along almost as much as he hoarded shiny bric-a-brac. As such, he could usually be relied upon to come up with some new myth or artifact or treasure to chase down. It was really just a matter of motivation.

Maui straightened, sitting up from where he had been comfortably reclined against the boulder. "Hey," he called over to the crab.

No response. Clearly, he wasn't paying attention.

Louder now and more insistent, Maui tried again. "Tamatoa?"

Still nothing.

"Hey, crab cake!"

That did the trick. Roused from his reverie, Tamatoa gave Maui an irritable look. "What?"

Maui grinned, victorious. "What have you heard about this area?" he asked. "Anything interesting?"

The annoyed look faded somewhat, but there was a reluctance there. It seemed evident that the crab wasn't quite ready to walk away from their comfortable little vacation yet. "I dunno-"

"C'mon," Maui wheedled. "You always seem to know where all the coolest stuff is. I don't know how you do it." A little flattery usually helped bring the crab around.

The resistance in Tamatoa's eyes was breaking down, but only by degrees. "Well, if you paid attention for once instead of-"

Interrupting, Maui tried a little more flattery. "Yeah, but that's why having you as a friend is so great! You find out all the good stuff for us!"

A lopsided grin started to creep onto Tamatoa's face and Maui knew that he'd won the battle.

The crab looked thoughtful for a moment. "There might be something," he said slowly. "There's a legend of a great silvery fish, Anapa, who lives in this corner of the ocean. Supposedly he knows the location of the mythic Spear of Rahiti. The story goes that if you catch him-but let him go-he'll tell you how to find it."

Maui's eyes lit up. "Let's go fishing, then!"

"You can't fish to save your life," Tamatoa retorted drily.

Maui smirked, brushing the jibe off. "I've got a magical fishhook. What better way to catch a magical fish?"

Tamatoa chuckled in amusement, unimpressed. "No way you'll catch Anapa," he said.

"Oh yeah? Care to make a wager on it?" Maui said, slyness in his voice.

"A wager?" Tamatoa's long antennae perked in interest.

"Next big treasure we argue over-no matter what it is. If I catch Anapa, I get to give it to the mortals. If I don't catch this fish, it's yours. No questions asked."

The proposition clearly had Tamatoa's interest now. While their friendship had grown quite strong over the years, they still tended to disagree over how to divvy up the spoils of their adventures. It was the one thing that could spur real arguments between them. A free pass was a tempting offer.

Finally, the crab grinned widely. "You're on, man." He pushed himself up from the ground to stand and extended a claw to Maui, adopting the human tradition of sealing an agreement.

With a triumphant smile, Maui stood as well and shook the offered claw. "Deal."

They set out right away, taking advantage of the early afternoon tide to launch the canoe. Following Tamatoa's suggestion that Anapa was a huge fish and therefore would be found in the deeper waters, they sailed out into an open expanse far from the island before reefing the sail and letting the canoe drift on the current.

Tamatoa seated himself on the edge of the deck, legs tucked under his body, and watched with amusement as Maui fitted a long, heavy rope to his hook. The demigod fastened the bight of the rope to the stern of the canoe. "You really think this is gonna work?" Tamatoa asked.

Maui gave him a cheeky look, one eyebrow raised. "Of course!" He tested the knots, then nodded in satisfaction at his work. "You just watch!"

"Oh, believe me. I wouldn't miss this for anything," Tamatoa replied with a laugh.

Maui chuckled too, then cast the hook into the sea with a mighty heave. It flew a good distance, then entered the water with a splash and sank swiftly into the azure waters. Still grinning, Maui sat down on the deck next to the crab and steadily fed the coils of rope into the sea. He elbowed Tamatoa good-naturedly. "Just wait," he said. "It's gonna be amazing."

"No doubt," came the only mildly sarcastic reply.

The line had barely been paid all the way out when there was a tug on it from the depths. Maui crowed triumphantly and Tamatoa stared in open-mouthed disbelief. Jumping to his feet, Maui started hauling up on the rope enthusiastically. "Ha! Told you!"

Tamatoa didn't reply, but kept his eyes glued to the wet rope emerging from the water. More rope emerged and a dark shape rose with it.

The crab suddenly burst out laughing, shaking with raucous guffaws. Maui tilted his head, perplexed. Then something broke the surface of the water beside the rope. Maui leaned over to look and let out a groan, which elicited even louder laughter from beside him.

It was the rotten hull of a giant canoe, crusted in barnacles and draped with long strings of seaweed.

When Tamatoa had managed to get his laughter down to just a snicker, he poked Maui in the ribs with a pincer. "Well done, Demigod of the Wind and Sea," he mocked, then promptly descended into giggles again.

Perturbed, Maui shot him a withering look. "Ha, ha," he said flatly. Undeterred, he shrugged and reached over the side to disengage his hook from the sunken canoe. The wreck sank slowly back into the deep as Maui re-coiled up the line.

Bravado back in place, Maui grinned. "Okay, let's try that again."

The hook went back over the side once more. Once again, Maui paid out the line and sat back beside Tamatoa. The rope hit the end and nothing happened. The pair of them sat quietly, watching the rope for any sign of movement. Tamatoa idly trailed his antennae in the water. The only sound was the gentle lapping of the water against the hull of their canoe.

The rope twitched slightly-ever so slightly. Maui and Tamatoa both looked at the line intently. Another twitch, stronger now. They looked at the rope, then at each other. Maui grinned. "This time!" he announced, utterly certain of success.

He reached for the rope, but there was a sharp yank on it from below. The whole canoe dipped sharply with the pull, causing Tamatoa to yelp and scrabble at the deck with his claws as he was nearly tossed overboard. The crab was unable to swim and would sink like a stone, Maui knew. Quickly, before addressing the now-taught rope, he grabbed the edge of Tamatoa's shell and pulled him back from the precarious edge of the deck. The crab flashed him a grateful look.

The whole canoe suddenly lurched, hauled backwards through the water by the rope at the stern. "We've got him for sure!" Maui cried.

Tamatoa, clinging to the deck with all his legs, shouted back, "I think he has us!"

Maui made a grab for the straining rope, catching ahold of the slick fibers and hauling up on the to get a little slack. Bracing himself against the deck, he heaved on the line. From below came an answering pull and the rope yanked fiercely back into the water, jerking out of his hands and leaving rope burns on his palms. The boat bucked again as the rope snapped tight to the stern. Then it began to speed backwards again, kicking up spray and bouncing in the waves as they were dragged around by the line.

"Cut the rope, Maui!" Tamatoa wailed. "He's going to sink us!"

"And lose my hook? No way!" Maui shot back. "I got this."

Maui dove for the rope again and with a ferocious yell, dragged it up from the water again. This time, he was ready for the pull from below and braced against it. His hands left bloody palm prints on the rope, but he was making progress. The boat leapt in the waves, violently tossed about with the opposing forces, and showered them both with water churned up by the struggle. Nevertheless, slowly but surely, the rope was being hauled up. The opposition from below grew weaker more of the rope broke through the surface.

Tamatoa had gotten a better grip on the deck now that the boat wasn't being thrown around quite as much. Legs splayed wide for balance, he came to Maui's side and peered over the edge of the canoe. Despite his titanic efforts to pull up the rope, Maui still managed to grin at the crab. "We've got him, I know it!"

Tamatoa looked into the water, murky and silted up from the struggle. There was definitely something down there, a very large shadow rising up from the deep. Whatever it was, it was coming up fast now. The rope had gone slack in Maui's hands and he pulled it up easily now.

"I'm not sure that's-"

The crab was cut off by a sudden boil of water rising up from near the rope. Out of this churning splash, a giant suckered tentacle burst into the sunlight. Then another. And another. And they just kept coming.

"Uhoh," Maui said, eyes wide.

Tamatoa skittered a few steps back in alarm. "Wrong sea monster!" he yelped.

From the center of the tentacles emerged the body of an enraged octopus, several times the size of Maui's canoe. It was a pale yellow-tan color, with large spots of blazing orange dotting it's mantle and arms. Those round spots were bordered by thin rings of brilliantly glowing blue-rings that were rapidly flashing light and dark in the creature's rage. It gnashed it's beak, razor sharp and heavily scarred, in anger. One furious blue eye-an eye nearly the same size of Tamatoa-fixed on the pair of startled adventurers on the canoe with pure malevolence in its gaze.

"Throw it back," Tamatoa demanded of Maui, panic creeping in around the edges of his voice. "Throw it back!"

Maui let out a short, nervous laugh, "yep, that's the idea."

He needed his hook-this eight-armed leviathan was far too big a job to handle without it. Unfortunately, his hook was currently buried somewhere in the mass of writhing tentacles, still attached to the end of the rope. Well, he'd just have to get it back.

"Right, then." Maui gave the crab a quick, calculating glance. "Keep it up here! Don't let it go under!" he instructed shortly. Without waiting for a reply, he let out a yell of challenge and leaped from the deck towards the giant octopus and disappeared into the mass of flailing tentacles.

The boat rocked wildly with the demigod's departure and Tamatoa, gripping the wood tightly, stared after Maui in stunned disbelief. "Wait, what?!"

Keep it up here?! And just how was he supposed to do that?! How in the-

A tentacle descended, curling downward to snatch at Tamatoa on the deck of the canoe. With a yelp, he sprang to the side and barely avoided the grasping arm. The arm swung around to try again, but Tamatoa was ready this time and struck at it with a claw. At least, he tried to anyway. The octopus' tentacle was slippery and squishy, making it hard to get a grip on, much less do any real damage. It was also significantly larger than Tamatoa could really get his pincer around effectively. As a result, the tentacle easily pulled free and retaliated savagely, knocking Tamatoa backwards. He landed on his back, skidding on his shell towards the edge of the boat.

Grasping wildly with a claw, he managed to catch ahold of the canoe's rigging and stop himself from sliding overboard, but just barely. Not wasting any time, he gave the line he was clinging to a sharp tug. The knot came undone in the rigging and the line pulled up sharply-hauling Tamatoa back upright with it.

His eyes swiveled immediately to find the octopus, which had apparently lost interest in Tamatoa for the moment in favor of the demigod currently scrambling up one of its legs. He didn't seem to have retrieved his hook yet and Tamatoa dearly hoped he would hurry up with it.

Suddenly, the octopus dropped below the the water. Beside Tamatoa, the rope that had pulled the octopus up was rapidly slipping back over the side and into the water. He grabbed for it, but knew perfectly well he didn't have the strength to keep the fractious cephalopod at the surface himself. Best he could do with the rope was to tie it off and hope the boat's buoyancy could keep the creature from diving deep and taking Maui down with it.

He looped the rope around a wooden cleat on the deck and it pulled tight instantly, jerking the boat again sharply. Now on a shortened leash, the octopus responded with renewed fury and burst back into the air. It returned its attention to the canoe, now perilously close. As the creature rose from the water, Tamatoa's field of vision was filled with a close-hand view of its gaping maw. The fetid stench of it's breath washed over him and venom dripped from the enormous chitin of its beak. A sight like this could easily be the last thing a crab ever saw, he knew.

But that wasn't the only thing he saw.

Wedged in one corner of the creature's mouth was Maui's fishhook, the attached rope still tethering it to the canoe. The fishhook was so close, yet also so close to almost certain death. Maui was nowhere in sight, but the bundle of writhing tentacles attempting to smother something within them was a good indicator of where he was.

One tentacle peeled away from the rest, exposing a glimpse of Maui through the mass, and swung over to renew the assault on Tamatoa.

He spared a brief flash of a glance to where Maui was working his way out of the tangled tentacles. The demigod had managed to extricate most of the top half of his body from the mass of cephalopod arms and caught the crab's look.

Something unspoken passed between them in that brief look. Maui had practically raised Tamatoa since the fateful day they first met in Lalotai, close to a hundred years ago now. The crab trusted the demigod completely.

He allowed the tentacle to seize him from off the deck of the boat.

It was an experience that Tamatoa never hoped to repeat, being lifted towards the snapping, poisoned jaws of the octopus. Some would say that time slows down in these sort of moments, but that would be a lie. There was none of that cliche time-slowing-down feeling here, instead everything happened in a reeling, breathless blur-one moment crashing into the next with no time for thought between them.

As soon as he was close enough, Tamatoa lunged for the hook. His pincers closed around it and, with a hard yank, pulled it free from where it was jammed in the creature's mouth. A fast snip severed the line back to the boat, releasing the tension and causing the octopus to be thrown back slightly, over-balanced. In the split second while the creature was disoriented, Tamatoa called out to Maui and flung the hook to him.

The demigod caught it with ease. There was a flash of blue light and a hawk's shrill cry. Tamatoa was pulled back towards the octopus' maw. Another flash of blue light and he was falling through the air, a severed tentacle still wrapped around him. The vast blue of the ocean rushed up to meet him as he plummeted towards it. Another flash of blue and his fatal trajectory changed, hawk talons gripping his carapace.

Then he was back on the deck of the canoe, trying to catch his breath and kicking himself free of the dangling tentacle, which was still twitching spastically.

A look back at the octopus-now septopus-showed that Maui had the situation well at hand, shifting rapidly between his hawk and human skin and raining blows upon the creature. It was clearly not expecting this fresh onslaught and elected to retreat, rather than lose any more arms. All at once, it ceased it's attack, submerged, and jetted deep under the water-leaving a murky cloud of black ink in it wake.

Just like that, it was over and the sea's surface was calm once more. It would have been like the octopus monster had never been there at all, had it not been for the stringy slick of ink lapping against the side of the canoe. Soon even that would be dispersed and all traces of the octopus would be gone. Well, all except the severed tentacle still on the deck-maybe he should save it for dinner.

Maui, still in hawk form, alighted on the canoe next to Tamatoa and returned to his normal look. The pair of them stood there for a long moment, saying nothing and breathing heavily from the ordeal. Then Maui began to laugh, an infectious laugh born of the exhilaration of survival, the thrill of battle, and the demigod's general joie de vivre. Flustered though Tamatoa was from his up-close encounter with cephalopod dentition, he couldn't help but grin in return.

"Well," he drawled with a touch of smugness, "that wasn't Anapa."

Maui, still laughing, shook his head.

"You ready to give up yet?" Tamatoa went on, eager to win their little bet.

"Ha! No way," was Maui's defiant reply.

"Seriously?!"

Maui, laughter diminished yet still wearing a broad grin, set his hook down and started hauling the trailing rope back onto the boat. "Third time's a charm!"

Tamatoa stared. "You know this is a terrible idea, right?"

"Probably."

Maui pulled the last of the severed rope back aboard and was reattached his hook to the end. He gave Tamatoa a sly grin, then prepared to throw the hook back into the sea.

"Ok, so we're doing this," Tamatoa said, somewhat resigned. This time, he kept away from the edge of the boat and declined to sit down-preferring to be ready for whatever angry beastie came up this time.

Maui laughed and tossed the hook in one more time. It landed some ways off with a splash and sank into the deep again. "This time, we'll get him."

Tamatoa's rather snarky response was one of dubiousness, to say the least.

Time passed and the sun drew lower in the sky. The line was still and silent, without even the tiniest tremor of movement. It seemed no lurking monsters of the deep were taking the bait this time.

After a long while with no sign of activity from below, even Tamatoa finally relaxed and settled back on the deck more comfortably. Maui, seated nearby, looked terribly bored. Tamatoa hid a slight grin, figuring that the demigod would give up soon and forfeit their wager. Indeed, it seemed Maui was near to scrapping the whole affair-fidgeting with the slack rope and frowning at the placid water. Tamatoa watched him surreptitiously with one eye, waiting for him to call this ill-favored fishing trip off. Any minute now-

Maui stood suddenly and took up the slack rope with an air of capitulation. To Tamatoa's immense satisfaction, the demigod started to haul the rope back up. "Well, I guess-"

He stopped. The rope stopped. There was no answering pull from below, but it was definitely caught on something. The pair of them both peered over the edge together, but the visibility below was still clouded from the day's earlier commotion and nothing could really be discerned from where the rope vanished into darkness.

They shared a look. Maui grinned. "This is it. For real this time," he said, although he didn't sound completely sure of his words.

Tamatoa rose from his seated position with deliberate slowness and carefully stepped back from the edge. If it appeared he was hiding behind Maui, that was purely a coincidence of sharing such a limited space as the canoe's deck.

Maui began to draw the rope in, heaving against the force on the other end. Whatever it was, it wasn't fighting so much as taking a dead-weight approach. It was an obvious Herculean effort for every inch of line pulled from the sea, but slowly, inexorably the rope was hauled up.

"Tamatoa."

His antennae perked and he peered at the demigod, "huh?"

"Help me out here," Maui said, strain evident in his voice.

Tamatoa blinked, a little surprised by the frank request for assistance. Maui didn't usually ask him flat out for things like this, preferring either a more improvisational approach to teamwork that left everyone's egos intact.

"Now, please," Maui reminded him, insistent and through gritted teeth.

Tamatoa shook free of his thoughts and stepped up to grasp the rope in his pincers. With legs splayed wide and low, he braced himself on the deck and took on some of the load. Together, they hauled on the line. Whatever they had snagged, it was ridiculously heavy.

Sharing the load now, they made better progress and the rope came up easier.

"We've really caught something here," Maui said, grinning despite the strenuous effort.

Tamatoa couldn't resist a smirk, though he too was straining hard at the rope. "Probably another boat," he teased.

Something was coming up, though-something clearly larger than any boat Tamatoa had ever seen. The dark shape beneath them was absolutely enormous and he fervently hoped it was not some even larger and angrier creature this time. The water around them seemed to swell with displacement from whatever it was.

They were close now. He could nearly make out textures on the shape below. Behind him, Maui spoke up, "hold up a minute."

Tamatoa swiveled his eyes to look at him questioningly, but paused and just held the rope steady.

Taking a breath, Maui instructed, "on three, one big pull."

Tamatoa flicked his antennae in acknowledgement and adjusted his grip on the rope.

"One."

Maui planted his feet more firmly on the deck, widening his stance.

"Two."

Tamatoa braced up, gripping the wood beneath him.

"Three!"

Together, putting all their combined strength behind it, they heaved sharply on the line. It hurtled out of the water, drawing something huge up with it-something so huge that water surged up around them. Suddenly, they found themselves riding the crest of a wave backwards as the massive object burst to the surface. Blinded by sea spray, it was impossible to see what they had caught.

The canoe shuddered to a halt from its downhill slide down the wave, as if run aground on a sandbar. As the fine mist of water cleared from the air, their catch was suddenly revealed. Drenched from the waves, Tamatoa and Maui both stared in disbelief.

It was an island.

A fully formed, fully foliaged, fully functional island. Their canoe was beached upon it, stranded atop a rock formation. Surrounding them on all sides was fresh, green jungle. Young trees marched up steep slopes to a central mountain peak, where water was cascading down and back into the sea. Maui's hook was embedded in a rocky arch, not far from where their canoe had come to a stop.

Tamatoa looked at the island, then looked at Maui. "You really are terrible at fishing," he said, utterly deadpan.

Maui, still staring at the island dumbfounded and open-mouthed, managed a distant reply, "yeah, you win this bet."

As the island settled and the last of the seawater drained away, their canoe teetered precariously on the rocks. Tamatoa grabbed at the deck for stability. "Uh.. maybe we ought to get down from here," he suggested pointedly.

Maui snapped out of his shock. "Right."

It took a little coordination to avoid unbalancing it and tipping everything over, but they managed to get the canoe off the rocks and dragged it back down to the shore-retrieving Maui's hook along the way. Once the canoe was settled on the beach, they both dropped exhausted to the sand. The sun was setting now, lighting the sky aflame over the new island.

Staring blankly at the golden-hued sky without really seeing it, Maui was lost in thought. He was still grappling with the surprise of having pulled this whole island out of the sea. This was not how he anticipated this trip going. Truth be told, he was torn between deciding if this was a failure-being unable to catch that mythic fish he'd set out for-or a success-accomplishing a completely unexpected, but awesome deed. He had lost the wager, after all, and-

"Hey," the crab's voice behind him interrupted his thoughts. "Is that a new tattoo?"

Tamatoa was a sharp-eyed crustacean and had only grown more canny since Maui had brought him out of Lalotai. There wasn't any use trying to hide most things from him. It had been since before he met Tamatoa since he'd received a new tattoo, but Maui had felt this one appear on his back shortly after they brought the canoe down. He had kept it to himself-having still not decided if this was an event worthy of praise or of shame. The other tattoos on his back, after all, were not things he was particularly proud of.

Before Maui could respond, however, the crab went on. "Hey, wait a minute." Tamatoa got up from the sand and approached to examine Maui's back more closely. "That's us, pulling up this island!"

Us? Maui strained to look over his shoulder. He could just barely see it, but it was indeed both of them-perched in the canoe on the top of a wave and hauling up the island.

"That is so cool!" There was a note of pure delight in the crab's voice, a tone that he took less and less often as he had gotten older and Maui smiled fondly. Even after nearly a century, there was still a bit of youthfulness to his friend at odd moments and it had occurred to Maui that Tamatoa's species must take quite a long time to reach full maturity.

Perhaps, despite appearing on his back with other less savory tattoos, this one wasn't cause for embarrassment. After all, it depicted both him and Tamatoa-his friend-working together. It was a stark contrast to the one between his shoulder blades. Maybe this was a victory, rather than a failure. Maui's mood brightened with the thought.

"Yep, they just appear sometimes," he replied, then gave the crab a conspiratorial wink. "Usually after doing something awesome."

"Then what's the other one on your back about?" Tamatoa asked, the question instantly cutting right through Maui's uplifted mood.

Maui stumbled to find words to avoid the question, but Tamatoa cut him off. "If you're about to suggest we go explore this island as a distraction," he said pointedly, the youthful naivety of before rapidly vanishing. "I'll have you know that I've been humoring you far too long with that ploy."

Oh. Busted. Maui wondered just how long the crab had been playing along. He opened his mouth to say something, then closed it, then opened it again. He fully expected Tamatoa to make a joke about him looking like a landed fish gasping for breath, but no jibe was forthcoming.

Instead, Tamatoa was looking at him with a mix of sympathy and sternness. "Maui," he began firmly, although not unkindly, "I nearly get eaten by an octopus to help get your hook, but you can't tell me this?"

Ah yes, guilt. The crab was an expert at wielding it since the very start.

Maui sat in reluctant silence, fighting with his own conflicting thoughts. He'd never told anyone this particular story before-other than himself, none but the gods knew it. However, he'd never had a real friend before either. Maybe it was time.

And so Maui told him.

Tamatoa listened thoughtfully as Maui spilled his secrets, offering no mockery or teasing. He was sympathetic, although Maui knew the concept of parental abandonment was viewed somewhat differently by crabs, for whom it was the biological norm rather than a disgrace.

When Maui reached the end of his tale, Tamatoa was silent for several long moments.

"You know," he began slowly, apparently choosing his words with great care. "You can't choose your family, but you can choose your friends. That choice means more than where you come from."

Maui blinked. It was a surprisingly insightful statement from the crab, who was typically quite clever, but not necessarily very deep.

Tamatoa gave him a look tinted by a touch of that old youthful innocence once again. "They might have abandoned you, but we will always be friends."

Maui smiled.