It's the something day of the something year, and I'm once again wishing I started some kind of log from the get-go. Since making my way from home I've made no progress in my search, but I did manage to finish something pretty amazing the other day.It wasn't often that mermaid were spotted outside of the Grand Line, though as it happened no one had spotted Suiten yet today in the South Blue. It was early in the afternoon and she was swimming lazily, making as few flicks of her tail as possible to move her forward. The sea was vast, and there were so many stretches of it that were just devoid of anything interesting. It was either water, sand, or darkness as far as the eye could see. This was one of those sections. If she was lucky, Suiten could catch sight of some fish out there, but for the most part she was just swimming aimlessly and bored out of her mind. During these periods of open ocean travel she tried to entertain herself in anyway possible, which sometimes meant she would work on her "travelogue." It usually didn't help. It certainly wasn't now.
Now I'm going to... She trailed off in her thoughts, pushing her tail once to turn over and float gently down on her back with her face staring blankly up towards the surface. She closed her eyes and let out a deep sigh, a cascade of bubbles escaping her lips.
Narrating to myself is so boring! I need some handsome dummy to dictate to.Eventually she felt her back hit the seabed, and she lay there for a little while to doze. A break every now and then wasn't such a bad thing, was it? She could have chosen a more pleasant area to rest, but so far she'd seen barely anything for miles so she didn't find it likely she'd come across a comfier spot anytime soon. Besides, this spot would have been nice enough if not for some irritating noise that was steadily growing louder. She tried ignoring it until it got too much to brush off.
Flipping around, Suiten's eyes snapped open and her cheeks puffed out into a rather cute looking pout. Her hands were resting on her hips where scale transitioned into skin, and she stared into the dark where the sound of scraping was coming from.
"What's with the noise?! Some people are trying to... to..." A shadow loomed over her, and she let out a strangled
"Uwaaah!" as it passed.
● ● ●
"Net's pretty heavy t'day."
"Come off it old man, you say that every damn day."
"What's wrong with tryin' to be opta- optermistic? 'Sides, it really is. C'n hardly lift it."
The man, a sun-tanned elder with a cropped haircut, struggled to turn the crank wheel. He let out a grunt as his companion, a shorter but stockier blondie with a rope tied around his forehead rolled his eyes. Commercial fishing vessels had all but cleaned out these waters a few years ago, but some traditional fishermen remained hopeful that their livelihood hadn't disappeared for good.
After a few minutes of watching the struggle, the younger fisherman stood up.
"Alright, alright, out of the way. Age finally caught up with you huh? Let me do it."
He grasped the crank in both hands and pushed. The look of surprise on his face when it barely moved caused a bout of laughter from the elder. A vein visibly pulsed on his forehead as he put his back into it, gritting his teeth. He made space for his companion to assist and together they hauled the net up from dredging the sea floor. There were fish in it, but not many more than usual. Maybe less even, since so much space was being taken up by one huge specimen. A sleek tail of reds, oranges, and golds about three feet long greeted the men as the crane held their bounty aloft.
The blonde man whistled his appreciation. "I had no idea there were fish this big left around here."
"
Told ya it was heavier th'n usual." The older man stroked the patchy stubble of his chin. He glanced at his partner while the fish wiggled. "Wonder what it is, how much its worth. We could be eating well tonight."
"Haha, the whole town could be if we cook it instead!"
"Cook who?!"The two men screamed and stumbled back as their captured fish finally reoriented herself, sitting up to reveal a human-like body attached to the tail they'd been admiring. She brought her hands up to grip the ropes and glare through the net, but the expression was completely non-threatening thanks to her slightly green face and swirly, dizzy eyes.
"Ugh... s-so rude..." She mumbled. Her head was swimming, and not in the normal way.
The more experienced fisher recovered first while the younger was still staring slack-jawed. He coughed into his hand to clear his throat and then asked, "Er... uh... are you okay, miss...?"
"...""...?"
"St... do...""Whatcha say...?"
Suiten shook her head vigorously, and though still dizzy she shouted,
"s-stand back if you don't want to be cut to pieces! You humans think you can catch me? H-ha! I can free myself in forty different ways!"At this point the blonde man got himself together and stood, holding his hands up to try and placate the mermaid. "Hold on, you're the one that ran into our net! Calm down and we'll get you out."
The crane began to move again to deposit the net on board, but Suiten either hadn't heard the man or didn't believe him. She rummaged in her bag and produced something that looked like the hilt of a sword. It held no blade and was unremarkable, save for the way Suiten was brandishing it.
"I warned you! This thing gathers water and compresses it to be super sharp!""We said we'll let you go!"
"Hiyah!" She clicked the button and a puff of air came out of the hilt, but otherwise nothing happened. All three of the people gathered on that little boat held their breaths for a few seconds before letting them out all at once.
"Ehe... right. It only works underwater..."The blonde sailor facepalmed, while the older man let out a relieved chuckle. "You sure gave us a fright, missy. But we promise not to hurt ya. We're simple folks just lookin' fer some fish, not fish-men."
"Okay... thank you," Suiten said, though she grumbled "mermaid" under her breath. After taking a few moments to relax, she believed the guys didn't have any ill intentions. They worked to lower the crane and open up the net until she was free. She stretched out on the deck of the small vessel while the sailors smiled, a bit mystified by the encounter. Until.
"Yay~" Suiten stretched her arms over her head, and the device she'd kept a death grip on slipped from her fingers over the side of the boat.
"Oops." Still powered on, it sucked in sea water and sliced a chunk out of the ship as it tumbled down below the waves.
"THE BOAT!!"