The sound of waves and murmuring greeted my ears as I returned to the land of consciousness.
"Oi! Mystery person is awake!"
"Not so loud you rubber bastard! You'll hurt her ears!"
"Too late" I grumbled sitting up with mask still firmly on my face. Three pairs of eyes greeted me from the stem of the small vessel. "Did you touch my mask?"
"No milady, although the rubber bastard wanted to."
Nodding in acceptance I glanced at my surroundings. "Where are we heading?"
"Arlong Park of Cocomi Island" Sanji replied taking a drag of his cigarette "Apparently it is run by Fishmen who fled from the Grand Line.
"Fishmen huh?" Could they perhaps be descendants of Isonade?
"He is a pirate that once fought alongside Jinbe, a member of the Shichibukai! In terms of individual strength, he's far stronger than Don Krieg" Yosaku hissed.
"But I wonder just what Nami has to do with them, Could it be that she is a mermaid? That would explain her beauty…"
"Not possible" I interrupted. "Mermaids gain their ability to walk on land after reaching the age of thirty, there is also the fact that upon contact with water a mermaid is forced to transform into her original state."
"That's right!" Luffy exclaimed turning towards me, "Your from the Grand Line!"
"Your from the Grand Line!" the two exclaimed.
"The captain just said that." I deadpanned
"You called me captain, so now you've got to tell me your name!" Luffy grinned.
"You don't know her name!"
"You still haven't earned the right to hear my name." I muttered only to be interrupted by the growling of my own stomach.
"I guess its time to make some food." Sanji smiled, standing up.
"Meat!"
"Moooooo!"
"Is that your stomach mystery person?"
"A person's stomach doesn't moo Luffy" Sanji sighed carrying platters of food.
With a great surge of water, a great beast with the visage of a cow emerged from the water.
"Aghhhh! It's a sea monster! Yosaku screamed, clinging to my side. "What's a Grand Line Monster doing in East Blue?"
"Its probably hungry"
"Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" Luffy shouted, slugging the beast in the face. "Don't you dare touch my food!"
"Poor sea cow" I muttered.
"You dumbasses! Don't beat up something for only being hungry! It's probably injured so it can't find its own food."
Eyes quirked in amusement I watched as the caring chef transformed into a violent warrior before returning to waiting on the crew.
"Now that that was taken care of, why exactly are we heading to Arlong Park?" I questioned the three.
"Nami stole their ship and is heading there," Yosaku answered.
"I need my navigator back!" cried Luffy through mouthfuls of meat.
"So we are in a hurry then, why don't we tie the ship to the sea cow so we can get there faster?"
"What a wonderful idea my fair lady!" Sanji sighed before turning to the two and barked out orders.
With a cry of fear from the sea cow the boat lurched forward, plowing through the sea.
"Woohoo! Faster, faster!" Luffy shouted, holding onto his straw hat.
"Hey! Don't get tired now you hippo!"
"I think it has something to do with your kicks Sanji-anki" Yosaku muttered.
"Arlong Park is up ahead!" I called out to the rest of the group.
"Moo!" The beast lunged forward veering off to the right.
"Hey your swimming the wrong way, turn left!" Sanji shouted
"That building over there!"
"We're gonna crash!" Yosaku screamed.
As the three continued screaming at the oncoming shore I jumped ship, hitting the water hard. Struggling to the surface I watched as the sea cow rammed into the shore, the rope connecting the beast to the boat snapped at the moment of impact, causing the ship to fly through the air. Ignoring the screaming ship crash in the distance, I swam to the concussed sea cow.
"Come on boy, time to wake up."
The sea cow opened his bleary eyes.
"You want to make Isonade-sama proud now don't you?"
Suddenly the sea cow jackknifed, dragging me below the waves. The beast sliced trough the water towards an underwater cavern. Once inside the cow pushed me toward a small tunnel in the back leading to another cave. With heavy arms I swam through the winding tunnel, struggling through the seaweed until I was greeted with another cavern, this one with an air pocket. Breaking the surface I felt a webbed hand pull me out of the water. Stumbling I glanced up to meet an effeminate man, dark blue hair braided with a blue tinge to his skin and gills on his lower neck.
"So Moomo wished for you to see me. Why is that I wonder."
"You're a fishman?"
"Half." The man replied sitting on a piece of coral rock near a fire pit. "My mother was human but my father was a Blue Shark Fishman." He shot a half-grimace smile toward me as he roasted a Bullet Auxis over the fire. "Not really the best relationship considering the intricacies of Blue Sharks courtship."
Shuddering at the thought I glanced back at the dark water. "Don't Blue Sharks live in schools?"
"Normally I would be part of a school but due to my heritage I have been neglected by my fellow Fishmen."
"So you are the fishmen equivalent to a hanyo."
Onyx eyes sharpened as the Blue Shark hanyo assessed me. "Now I see why Moomo brought you here, no human knows about the Yokai and we Fishmen helped keep it that way. Who are you to know such things?"
Gazing back at the lad I removed my mask and let the illusion slip away. With ears, tail and markings bared, the shark's posture relaxed. Offering a hand he smiled.
"My name is Morrisey, son of the Blue Shark Fishman Kai and the Human Tallulah."
"Did your parents really name you that?"
"My Uncle actually. He doesn't really care for humans."
"But Sea Taboo?"
"The only reason I still live is because Uncle swore a blood oath to my father before the humans killed him. So…" he sighed motioning me to make myself comfortable. "What is a Kitsune doing so far from her home?"
"It is part of my coming of age ceremony," I replied.
"You must have one of the harder tasks considering it has been centuries since a sane full blooded yokai has wandered the seas." Morrisey replied pouring a cup of awamori for me.
"That is true but I must prove myself to the Council of Nine lest I lose said sanity."
"How long…"
"Do I have left?" I finished for him. Watching him nod I sigh. Till my 300th year, meaning that I have fifteen years left."
Silence descended on the cavern. "I am close to completing my mission, all that's left is to travel through the Grand Line and return home."
Glancing up the Blue Shark studied me. "Let me come with you." Seeing my puzzled expression he explained. "There is nothing here for me. My own kind shuns me for my blood, stating that it is unclean. Funny considering both fishmen and mermaids resulted from the union of Isonade-sama and a human."
"Hypocrites" I muttered, downing my drink. "I would not mind having a traveling companion but the ship I am on now was stolen by some members of a pirate crew based here, and the captain of said ship won't stop until he has his ship and navigator back."
"Navi- are you talking about an orange haired girl?"
"Precisely."
Sighing, Morrisey pinched the bridge of his nose. "Then the only way to get off this island is my defeating my Uncle."
At my expectant gaze he continued. "And my Uncle Arlong is no pushover."
AN/Definitions
Blue Sharks:Easy to identify by their slim, torpedo shaped figures. They are very elegant swimmers and reach to about 13 feet in length (4 meters). Unfortunately they are also one of the most overfished sharks in the world. These sharks can be found world wide, they are often found at depths of 1312 feet (400 meters). Blue Sharks are often found in same sex schools. They eat squid, bony fish, smaller sharks, sea birds, shrimp and lobster. The courtship between males and females is quite violent. Male sharks often bite females so female skin is three times thicker than males. Approximately 10 to 20 million of these sharks are killed due to human capture every year.
Bullet Auxis: An Auxis is the scientific name for the bony fish family that tuna belong to. So a Bullet Auxis is a Bullet Tuna.
Morrisey: Directly translates to "Sea Taboo", but can also mean "child of the sea" or "the sea."
Awamori: A sake that is native to Okinawa, Japan.
Age: Based off of the ages used in the manga Inuyasha. By calculating the actual age in comparison to the physical age Akakakushi would look to be about twenty years old when in reality she is several years shy of being 300, roughly the age of an adult yokai.