The plan had been to fish for either a shark or swordfish. Casting large live fish into the ocean off the boat was the easy part, everyone had caught at least a large fish. Shane caught a large swordfish, everyone had been careful to stay out of its way.
Negan was pissed, he was the only one who hadn't caught anything.
He hooked a large fish to his line and cast it out, he was determined to catch the biggest fish. He was hoping for a shark.
The men had given him shit all day, he hadn't even reeled in something small. He grumbled as Dwight reeled in another small shark.
"What the fuck!" Negan snarled as he sat waiting, the sea spray covering his face.
"What?" Rick asked as he walked towards him.
"Why is it that all of you have caught something and I've got nothing?"
"Maybe you just suck at fishing." Shane replied.
"Oh fuck off." Negan grunted as he reeled his line a bit to get the bait moving.
Under the waves there was something watching the wriggling bait, they inched towards it curiously. The merman's stomach began to growl, and this fish didn't seem to care that he was getting closer and closer.
Daryl took his chance to strike, he swam forward with force and chomped down on the fish. The fish began to thrash in his jaws, he reached up for it to try and stop it from fighting him, he went to turn, swimming away with the fish in his jaws when he let out a cry of surprise.
The fish seemed to jerk upward with so much speed that he couldn't understand what was currently happening.
Negan smiled feeling the twitch of his line, he began to reel quickly.
He let out a cry as he felt something sharp scrape the roof of his mouth he tried to release but soon found himself also being pulled towards the surface. His blue eyes shot wide in realization.
He had taken a bite of human bait.
He squeezed his eyes closed as he was pulled free from the ocean, Negan saw the large shark tail before he noticed the human half. "I got a big one, boys!" Negan shouted as his catch landed on the deck with a slam.
"Whoa.. oh oh my god Negan you caught a fucking merman!"
Negan froze as he looked down at his catch. "Oh shit."
Daryl looked up at the four human men, he was shaking and his mouth was dripping in blood. Negan dropped to his knees immediately, they had heard about what happened to humans who took mers. Jail time, huge fines, losing their fishing license and their boats.
"Shit I am so sorry, oh my god."
Daryl attempted to pull away, he slammed his back against the ship. His brows were furrowed, tears were rolling down his cheeks.
"Hey, hey it's okay we won't hurt you." Negan promised, he reached out for the crying mer. Daryl hit his back against the side of the boat again before he eased at Negan's soft touch.
"Can I see what I did?" Daryl opened his mouth, Negan carefully pulled the fish off his sharp teeth and saw that his hook had hit him right in the center of his mouth. "Get me a wet rag!" Negan snapped.
Dwight and Shane raced off, Rick sat beside Negan looking over the wound his hook had created. "Shit man."
"Out of all the things I did end up catching." Negan shook his head as he examined Daryl's mouth better.
Dwight came back with a wet washcloth, Negan carefully placed it in his mouth. "You're okay.. I am so sorry."
Daryl simply gave him a sad look. His brow furrowed as he sucked on the cloth. Blood soaked it, but it was at least cleaning it up now. Dwight hovered and Shane was pacing just watching for other boats.
"We can't just throw him back till it stops bleeding." Rick muttered as they replaced the soaked cloth and replaced it with another clean one.
"Well we can't keep him for long." Shane hissed. "If another boater finds us."
"We didn't do it on purpose." Negan grumbled. "God I feel terrible."
Daryl was at least thankful to find they didn't plan to hurt him, or keep him. However his mouth hurt, this was worse than swimming through an ice storm.
Daryl brought his hand up to feel the wound. He sighed as they continued to try and clean it and keep an eye on him. "So, you did it, you caught a damn fish."
"Well this wasn't what I thought I was reeling in, thank you." Negan flipped Dwight off while he continued to clean the wound. "Okay, I think its stopped.. Mostly."
Daryl reached up, it did feel less open. He was thankful mers at least healed faster than humans. The men continued to examine the shark mer to ensure that was the only problem. "Alright time to go back to the ocean now."
Daryl smiled softly, thankful they were planning on sending him back.
One of the men handed him a wriggling fish. He took it from him hesitantly before smiling, his sharp teeth caused Shane to step back in nervousness. Those teeth were sharp and Daryl was clearly more capable of harming them because he had more of a thought process than the sharks they caught.
Negan carefully picked him up and dropped him over the side of the boat with a splash. Daryl smiled as he hit the water. He dove down, finding some gorgeous shells, he swam back up towards the boat and threw them over the side of the ship before waving to them with the fish still in his hand.
The men looked over the shells, this fishing experience was one of the more memorable experiences. Negan bent down and picked one shell up that was almost the same color as the merman's eyes.
He was glad he hadn't seriously injured him. Daryl swam off and decided for now on, he would never get that close to a fishing boat again.