Chapter Text
Sukuna remembers the day clearly. When he first saw the merman with white hair and the stunning white tail. Long and flowing. Swimming quickly past Sukuna's ship, just under the surface. Slender arms snatching the crew member who flailed helplessly in the frigid waters.
Gone.
Dragged to the depths by sharp teeth and glittering scales.
Sukuna needs him.
It's been a few years, and Sukuna has baited, trapped, and killed more mer than he knows what to do with. It's a fun sport really. A side hobby. He robs the unsuspecting sailors who get too close to his waters. He kills the Navy members who attempt to deal with him. And he kills mer who fall into his traps because they aren't his.
But now, as he sits inside a frigid sea cave, along a lonely island shore, he can feel his patience running thin. The small life boat he used to row in is pulled up onto the rocky sand with him. There's a net set up beside him. Perfect reaching distance.
There are three dead merfolk sprawled on the ground behind him. A shame they were baited first. He doesn't care for them. Short tails, drab scales and so unbearably boring.
His mer has been spotted near here.
Sukuna looks at his bare calve, the three slices no longer dripping blood. Instead of cutting again, he swaps legs and slices the meat of his muscle and dips it in the water. His hands stay on the net. Poised with the saltwater licking into his wound and fighting for space in his bloodstream.
"Come on beautiful, I know you're hungry..." Sukuna mumbles with a feral smile.
The sea isn't kind. The sea isn't soft, nor gentle. The sea is icy, murky water, salt stinging wounds and parasites. Waves that crash against jagged barnacle-covered rock, and destroy ships beneath churning black clouds.
The sea is cruel and unforgiving. To Satoru, it's home.
He smells the blood before he tastes it. Bitter, acrid stuff. The mark of a sailor, a man subsisting off of biscuits and rum.
Satoru's gills flare and his pupils dilate. He floats in the depths of the water, too deep yet to even see the sun. He only rises to the surface to feed. That is, when he isn't hunting seals or sharks; he's an apex predator, with razor-edge teeth and claws, power and speed.
He doesn't need to break the surface of the water to know that there's something in the cave. To follow the taste of blood until he sees it: dangling meat. It's too much to resist for a mer that hasn't eaten in days, and in seconds he's shooting up from depths of the water and latching on.
The pain doesn't register. As soon as Sukuna sees the shocking white, he's throwing the net, heart racing. His blood roars in his ears. The net covers the surface and sinks down just as Sukuna yanks his leg, and his prize, up out of the water. The weights on the net help when he draws it and it tangles up in the long pristine tail.
"Finally." Sukuna breathes as he grabs his blade and wrenches it into the mer's mouth. He cuts it along the smile line, the crease of it's lips. To force it to unhinge it's jaw.
The net secures around the lovely creature as he hauls himself, and it, onto shore.
Satoru writhes like a burning thing. He's panicking. The rocks are harsh against his skin, digging and cutting. Sand flies everywhere as he tries to break free, hissing wildly. It's a rabid, feral sound, interrupted only by the threatening snap of his teeth.
Blindly, because his eyes haven't fully adjusted yet, even in the dark of the cave, he reaches out through the net and swipes at his captor.
His priority should be getting back into the water, but it isn't. He wants to draw blood.
"Vicious. Good." Sukuna laughs as claws rake into his thigh. He didn't move fast enough. And now he's regretting taking his boot off. He wants to kick, but his bare feet near the panicking beast will only give him more trouble.
Sukuna is able to get far enough away that he drags most of the merman's body onto shore, and he steps back. He's even lovelier up close. Long and sleek. The blood is striking on his face. "Look at you..." Sukuna whistles and laughs, looking down at his wounds. "Sharp." He rolls his pant legs down and slides his boots on.
The hissing subsides to a low warning growl and Satoru glares. His tail is entirely wrapped up now from his thrashing. Bloody drool drips from his chin.
This man tricked him. He wanted him to take the bite. It wasn't just human blood he was tasting. Whatever he wants with him, Satoru knows that he's unlikely to return to the water alive.
"Have you ever heard of the myths sailors sing about your people?" Sukuna questions as he glances back to the three dead bodies behind him. "Having one of you on board is good luck." He drags the net a bit more, just to hear the scraping of scales on the sand, before he grins.
"Now. I just have to get you there. You're bigger up close." Sukuna snorts, amused, as he pushes his life boat half into the water. Then he grabs the rope and approaches the tangled up creature.
The corpses lay stiff on the shore and Satoru slaps his tail threateningly when he sees them.
"Back," he warns. It comes out raspy, not the formal vocalisations he's used to using, but his voice is pretty nonetheless.
No wonder the legends have arisen of fortune and good tidings. Unfortunately for this human, Satoru is not a lucky charm. He's a curse.
He struggles against the thick, heavy rope. Tries and fails to sink his claws into the ground and get any sort of purchase. Too much blood, not enough water. He should have his teeth in the man's chest cavity right now. He should be feeding, not whatever this is. A nightmare he can't wake up from.
"You even sound lovely, lucky me." Sukuna takes advantage of the net wrapping up the creature, and he stands over it. Him. Looking down with the rope bunched around his forearm, Sukuna grins. "Scream pretty for me."
Quickly, he tucks the rope under the mer's chest and ties it tight over his arms, the net impeding it's movements. Sukuna needs him immobile to haul into the boat.
With another shrill hiss, Satoru bares his fangs. His blue veins bulge as he tries to rip through the rope. It's too thick, too strong. It leaves a painful red burn all over his pale, wet skin. Worse the more he struggles.
"You're nothing but a rotten sailor!" he shouts. "Your blood tastes of disease."
"I hope it infects you." Sukuna says with no hint of malice. Teasing. Sukuna hopes he keeps yelling and thrashing. The blood from the smile cuts, and Sukuna's own blood, make the mer's teeth a nasty filmy red. They're sharp and there are a few too many. Like a shark.
So pretty with his mouth closed. So deadly when he parts his lips.
Sukuna ties up his arms and then wraps a knot around his tail. Near his fin. He hogties him roughly. "I've always wondered if your kind cannibalises it's own... Want a bite?" Sukuna glances at the closest mer. A woman with auburn hair and a mangled tail. She was a fighter.
Satoru's tail thwips angrily and he goes rigid in the net. The stench of death is overwhelming on land. He hopes the human can't hear his stomach growl.
He has no loyalty to the woman. If he were hungry enough, and she were too weak or too sick to swim away... The young ones are the most vulnerable. Satoru has had close encounters of his own. It's hard to tell what anything is when you get deep enough into the ocean.
He tries to look towards the sun shining through the entrance of the cave, squinting. He thinks that through the waves sloshing and the water dripping from the stalactites on the ceiling that he can hear raining pouring down outside.
But maybe that's just wishful thinking.
"Well, who knows when your next meal will be... Hungry enough to bite a diseased sailor like me, but too stubborn to ask for scraps." Sukuna stands with his feet planted on either side of the mer's hips, looking down at the seamless meld between skin and scales. Where it merges. Sukuna wants to peel them back to see what it looks like underneath.
"I'll cut you a piece. Any favourite body part?"
Satoru growls low in his throat, his jaw held together firmly lest his skin rip apart at the wounds. "I prefer your kind."
They're sweeter. Less chewy. Though the tendons still get stuck between his teeth.
"Noted. Guess you'll starve." Sukuna steps off of him and pushes the boat far enough into the water for him to load the mer in. Then he's heading back to his captive and grabbing him by the ropes. He can handle a bit more dragging.
The sand and grit abrade the mer's skin as he gets pulled carelessly. He needs to get back into the water, and fights to do so, straining as much as his body will allow. He hasn't ever been above the surface this long. Not once in his life. It feels wrong.
If he's lucky, he can tip the small boat with his thrashing.
"Y'know, I'm glad you've got spirit." Sukuna manages to get him to shore, right by the boat. "I would have been pissed if you were meek. After all this time." If the merman Sukuna was hunting turned out to be a pathetic sobbing mess... He might have just killed it instead. This fight makes it worth it.
Sukuna hauls the overgrown fish and tosses him into the boat. Then he's kicking off and pushing the boat deeper. He lands in the craft, and looks down "Before you get carried away... You're tied up enough that you won't be able to swim. If you capsize us, the only one that suffers is you, pretty thing." With that, Sukuna sits and grabs the oars.
"I'll take my chances," Satoru snaps.
And though his lungs are rapidly growing more accustomed to human speech, the sand in his gills stings. The air is too drying and he must be bleeding where the rope digs too tightly into his flesh. All he can taste is blood. Blood and salt.
"I think," Sukuna shifts himself and pulls out the knife he used to cut his leg, "You don't quite understand the situation you're in, little fish." He shifts his boot and the hard sole presses against the mer's cheek, pushing him into the unforgiving wood. Sukuna leans over and presses the knife against his slender throat.
"Either you're good for this trip, or I'll cut your gills enough so that you can barely get air. So you're weak and breathless. Then I'll take your gasping ass onto my ship and you'll have to hope they heal nicely." Sukuna pricks the soft skin on his neck and watches the blood bead. "So I will say again," Sukuna trails the knife down to the mer's gills, "it's your choice how this goes."
The pirate sucks his teeth with a grin, "Personally, I want to cut them, but I'll be generous."
Satoru makes a chirping sound this time, pleading. The skin is tender there, and the cool metal of the knife feels all wrong.
How long has this human been hunting him?
The thought enters his head invasively, like the blade pierces his skin. Humans have tried many times, and they've fallen victim to his whims. He drags them into the water and eats them alive before they even have time to drown. But this one, this one speaks like he knows him.
He's clever, and cruel.
Satoru was so wrong.
Little fish. He doesn't dare move a muscle with the knife pressed against him.
"Good boy." Sukuna praises when the mer doesn't move. Then he's shifting his boot and using some of the rope in the bottom of the boat. He doesn't explain as he ties the knife to his boot, pointing down. Sticking out further than his sole. He shifts and rests his boot hard against the mer's neck as he sits up to row.
If the boat rocks too much, the blade pokes and slices his neck. "Better help keep it steady. The waves can be rough." Sukuna shifts his boot so it's standing on his throat, and the blade is near his jugular and gills. "Hope my sea legs kick in, hm?"
Sukuna starts rowing and his boot presses a bit harder on a wave, the blade pressing, but then retreating on the next swell.
Satoru's tail undulates as he tries to keep the boat steady. Despite his efforts, he gets cut more than once. Deep enough that it will probably scar, not deep enough to kill him though.
He trills and chirps loudly. The waves are intense, and he desperately wants to be back in the sea. His base survival instincts have long since kicked in and if he can't fight, he should hide. Somewhere dark and safe amongst a thick forest of kelp.
He's almost thankful for the boot keeping his face against the ground so that he's not forced to look his captor in the eye. The man who believes in superstition, that his kind are meant to bring luck...
"I'll curse you," he hisses. "I'll send a storm. You and your crew will die."
"No you won't. Don't spout bullshit." Sukuna laughs just as he sees his ship and starts to row toward it. "You're going to be a pretty trophy for me, and everyone will think you're a supernatural and blessed being."
Sukuna looks down and leans over, gripping the mer's hair and forcing him to look up at him. His boot cuts his collarbone slightly. "Not me. I know you can bleed..." Sukuna pauses, then leans back and continues to row. "If you were lucky, I wouldn't have caught you."
Satoru snaps at him, causing both the corners of his mouth and his collarbones to bleed freely. The wetness is welcome, so is the warmth. But he's already dizzy. He's lost enough blood as it is.
The boat rocks again and he lurches."You know nothing about me."
"Relax. Fine, you're a mystical beast who'll curse me and my blood line." Sukuna rolls his eyes and presses the knife against his skin. Sukuna can feel it give, and then he feels when it hits bone. " Oops. Stay still. We're almost there."
Satoru shrieks, an unnaturally high-pitched sound that fades into a growl as the small boat gets swallowed up by the shadow of a massive ship. Satoru can hear it, the creaking of the wood and the fabric of the sails protesting the harsh wind. He can hear the crew aboard shouting back and forth at each other. He can smell the rot.
He’s never wanted to know what’s aboard a human ship and yet, he’s about to find out.
Once the boat is close enough, the crew and Sukuna secure the ropes to it. To attach it to the pulley to bring it up to the deck. There're cheers and hollering from the crew. Their Captain succeeded. Now they have a lucky mer. A white one at that.
Sukuna looks down and unties the blade from his boot. He tsks at the wounds on the creature. They need to heal, but Sukuna doesn't regret it. "Welcome aboard. You have a name, pretty thing?" The boat starts getting raised.
Satoru struggles weakly as the water drops out from beneath them. This is his last chance to slip overboard and regain his freedom. But he’s bleeding. He’s burned, from the rope, and his eyes sting from the air and the sun.
Filthy. That’s what humans are and what they’ve made him. A dirt covered creature. A clot of blood.
“I won’t tell you,” he answers. “You shouldn’t say it.”
"Alright fishman." Sukuna sighs good-naturedly, "Too good for a beast like me to speak your name." The boat cranks all the way up and then it’s hauled above the deck. Sukuna grabs the ropes on the mer's back, the one attached to his tail. He hefts him and throws him onto the deck with a loud thump.
"He bites. Stay away from his head." Sukuna starts to cut the net, but leaves the ropes to bind him.
Satoru begins thrashing again, trying to shake the heavy net off of his back and tail and knock the human overboard in the process. He has no usage of his arms, so no way to grab onto anything. He’s helpless on the deck of the ship, flopping and writhing like a dying fish. Hissing as loudly as he can manage with his worn out lungs, wanting to keep everyone and everything away. The sailors aren’t the only ones. There are gulls circling overhead like vultures.
A few of them are brave enough to swoop down, leaving white feathers on the deck when they’re unable to land.
When Sukuna gets a solid hit from the tail, he curses and takes a hold of the thrashing creature. "You really have to make it hard on yourself huh?" He yanks and starts to drag the mer over the deck and toward his quarters. He goes up the steps instead of going through the door.
"He's kind of pathetic, isn't he? Thought the Captain would catch a better one..."
Sukuna glares and sees the crew member's face before dragging the fishman up the staircase to the upper deck at the back of the ship. There's a hole behind the helm, with a small railing surrounding it.
"Welcome home." Sukuna grunts and stops with the mer between him and the hole. Then he's reaching down, cutting through just enough of the rope so that the mer can escape on his own, and Sukuna's dumping him in the water inside the hole. Lifted over the railing and dropped into a perfectly balanced biome tank, large enough to fit the mer comfortably. Below deck it's in the Captain's quarters.
Satoru plunges into the water, knocking into the glass as he sinks. The small cleaner fish at the bottom scatter. The seaweed and plants flutter among the splashing. Once the sand at the bottom settles and his blood dissolves, he cracks open his eyes to see the sky above him.
It's... slightly warmer than he's used to. He spins, getting a full view of his new enclosure, a small ocean aboard a ship.
His sounds echo, bouncing off the class when he tests his higher frequency chirps and clicks.
Where did the human go? Satoru looks around as much as he can. So many objects he's never seen before. Soft looking things that would fall apart in the water, shiny things, like gems, and danger. So much danger.
He presses his palms against the glass and waits.
Sukuna looks down, and before he cranks the gear to push the grate over top, he calls out to the crew member who complained. "Yes Captain?" The young man bounds up to him, eager to please. Sukuna looks at him, eyebrows raised in a peaceful expression.
Sukuna smiles and stabs the man in the neck. As he yanks the blade back out, blood splatters, and Sukuna shoves him over the railing. He's not dead yet. But he will be soon.
The man falls into the water, and Sukuna puts his blade away as he covers the hole with the grate. Sunlight can get through to feed the plants. His insolent crew member will feed his mer.
Sukuna walks down and into his cabin to watch.
The young crewman splashes loudly. He flails in the water uselessly, but Satoru is on him before he even starts screaming, water swallowed up into his blackened lungs.
It's instinctual. Satoru's eyes roll into the back of his head. Flesh rips off of his victim's body in pale ribbons. Fat clinging to dermis, stringy veins. Satoru pulls his arms from the sockets and devours his head while he's still alive. Deep, flaying bites that peel back the skin and cartilage from his skull, teeth that puncture his eyelids, spill the jelly into salt water.
When he's done with him, the half-eaten, still twitching corpse sinks to the bottom of the tank. Satoru circles it, strings of tendons in his teeth. The water now turned a bright crimson red.
Sukuna whistles and sits in the chair that faces the tank. "Glad I got the other sea creatures in there to clear out the water. You like making a mess. Don't you wish that were me?" Sukuna crosses his leg at the knee and rests on his elbow. The tearing of flesh and the feral carnage are mesmerising. "I guess we'll figure out your appetite as we go."
With a small noise, Sukuna stands and goes to a drawer. He pulls out medical supplies and strips out of his boots and pants. Without even a glance, he begins to stitch up his leg wounds. The cuts, the bite, and one of the scratches on his thigh. The others aren't deep enough.
Satoru responds to Sukuna in his own language while he circles the tank, dodging loose chunks of tattooed skin. Letters and numbers he can't read floating aimlessly. He'll eat them later when he's hungry again.
For now, he's frenzied. Eyes black as he watches the man's naked legs. Odd things. Cumbersome.
Sukuna glances and sees the hyper focus onto his legs. "You really fucked it. Too greedy to eat." He taps the bite mark that will scar. Little stitches hold each incision closed. He starts working on the cuts he used to lure the other mer. Those three didn't bite. They were more cautious. That or his mer is on another level of viciousness.
"You look like you're used to deep water. At least there's a rock ledge in there you can hide under. You'd be an eyesore with blisters." Sukuna says with a smirk as the needle pierces his skin and he tightens the string. The alcohol he used to clean the wound is beside him. He takes a swig before continuing.
Satoru's ears flick back and forth as the captain speaks. He doesn't care as much about what he's saying as he cares about getting out, but the grate is holding him in there. Stuck with the dead body of a young man he ate too quickly to even taste.
He turns his back on the room. Eyeing the ledge that the human speaks of, with starfish and living coral growing up the sides.
This human was supposed to know everything about him.
He doesn't.
Sukuna stays quiet the rest of the time he's stitching up his wounds. And then when that's done, he's stitching up the rips in his pants. When he's done, he slides them back on, then his boots, and he puts away his equipment. "We'll see how long you hold out." And with that, he winks at the mer, and saunters out of his cabin.
They can focus on hunting humans now. And they need to set sail.
A few months pass, and Sukuna has tossed uncooperative crewmates, and a few captives into the tank as food for his mer. The thing doesn't speak to him, but he sure as hell glares.
And now, as the Navy ship sinks, and Sukuna holds onto the Captain by the back of his coat, he walks him up the stairs to the deck. "I want to test something, and you're perfect for me," Sukuna comments.
The man makes muffled sounds around the gag in his mouth. It forces his lips apart, his teeth indenting, his spit soaking it.
When they get up to the top, Sukuna pushes him up to the railing and looks at the grate. "Hey beautiful, I have something for you. And for you," Sukuna looks at his captive, "Painful death, or pain with a high chance of survival?"
Just beneath the surface, Satoru floats in waiting. Blown out pupils locked on to his next meal.
His wounds have long since healed, leaving behind bright white scars. Over time he's gotten used to the booms of the cannon fire and the clash of swords above deck, but what he's never grown accustomed to is the dark look on the captain's face. The way he watches him so intently.
He can't see it now. The two humans are merely blurred silhouettes as the water wobbles the edges of their shadows.
The man makes panicked noises, "Mmmf!" And struggles as he sees the mer beneath the grate. Just below the surface. Sukuna pats his back a few times and hums thoughtfully.
"Painful death? Good choice." With that, Sukuna opens the grate halfway and throws the man on it. Then he climbs on. He's better at balancing on the metal than the Navyman is. There's panicked hands and feet, and grunting noises.
Sukuna drags him to the edge, lays him on his stomach and with a laugh and a, "Deep breath now," shoves just his head under the water. He starts to struggle, but Sukuna holds fast. "A gift for you. I know you like their faces. Skin's softer and the eyes pop, right?"
Satoru makes eye contact with the human in the water. He swims closer, so that their faces are inches apart, and reaches out to take the man's jaw in his hands, like one would go in for a kiss.
Gently, he pulls free the gag. It's enough to startle the human momentarily. For him to stay still long enough for Satoru to sink his teeth into his nose and cheek. He pulls away and the flesh comes with him. Cartilage and a bit of lip.
He swallows the slippery, gummy skin without chewing. The lump in his throat is visible as it makes its way down.
Excited clicking sounds echo throughout the tank, and so does the screaming, until Satoru crunches through his larynx.
Sukuna laughs as the body spasms and fights, the way the man gurgles on his own blood and sea water. He doesn't relax, and he keeps a close eye on the mer's hands. Just in case he reaches up to try and drag Sukuna in. But the pretty thing looks more interested in sucking the skin off the dying man's body. Ripping him to shreds.
"Good, do you want the whole thing, baby? Or is his head enough for you? I'll even crack him open so you can have his brain." Sukuna glances at the guy's kicking feet, his soiled trousers. Pathetic.
Satoru swallows an ear, and dips his long tongue into the bloody, hollowed eye socket. His gills flutter open and closed while he thinks. Never once taking his eyes off of the captain.
Eventually the carcass sags, and he hisses, pulling on the body, tugging it further into the water. That's his answer. He wants the brain. The most decadent part of a human.
"Fine, fine. I was going to break him open for you. But if you're that excited..." Sukuna gets up and shoves the body in. "Bash his skull open yourself."
Sukuna hops off the grate, knowing the mer would kill him in a heartbeat. He starts cranking the grate closed.
Satoru drags the body down, but instead of chewing on it again, he hooks his claws through the thin skin under the man's jaw and pops off his head. Then he starts banging the mostly bare skull against the glass of the tank.
He doesn't know what would happen if it cracked, if this human would kill him or throw him overboard if he had nothing to keep him in. But he has nothing to lose, so he's curious about finding out which will give first. The bone or the glass.
Sukuna pauses and looks down, "Oi, if you break that, you're going to be a fish out of water. I won't get it fixed. And you can just lay in a dry tank. I know that won't be comfortable. And if you climb out, I'll have the advantage. What with my legs ." Sukuna looks through the grate, then jogs down and into his cabin to look at the thing with his new toy. Like an otter with a clam.
It's thick glass, has to be to hold all that water, but Sukuna isn't sure how strong it is versus a human skull bashing at merman strength.
Satoru cracks the skull against the glass once more, a feral grin overtaking his delicate features. Then he circles the perimeter of the tank several times, carrying it with him like a prize.
"I think your legs are funny," he hums, sing-song. "It gets boring in here, you know."
One final bash against a rock in his aquarium and the skull caves. He dips his hand inside it, scooping out brain to suck off his fingers.
"Good thing you don't have any then." Sukuna sits and watches, relaxed, reclined with his legs stretched out. It's the first time the mer has spoken to him since the beginning. "I think your tail is lovely." Sukuna watches him scoop out brain. He watches some of it float out into the water around him.
"And I don't care if you're bored. I promise you, this tank is the best place for you on this ship. And don't give me the 'then let me go' shit. "
"Then let me go," Satoru deadpans, an uncanny mimicking of the captain's deep voice.
He gnaws on the broken edge of the cranium. It's painfully boring, and he always gets aroused and excited after killing. With no way to expend his energy, he swims frustrated laps around the tank. Pretty tricks for the human watching.
Of course his tail is lovely. His scales are iridescent in the right lighting. His fins are like chiffon.
He makes an agitated sound. If the human weren't watching he'd use one of the holes in the decapitated skull and fuck it.
"You're good at that." Sukuna commends the mimicry. "Can you sing?" He ignores the noises afterward. Seems upset, he always does. Especially after a kill.
Sukuna still doesn't know his name. He doubts the mer will give it to him. Absently, Sukuna shifts in his seat and crosses his legs.
"I won't sing for you."
Satoru doesn't stop swimming. He can feel his cock beginning to bulge beneath his slit and he dives down to grab the abandoned corpse, dragging it around by the ankle for a few minutes before tearing off its thick, heavy clothing and leaving it naked to bloat in the water. The shredded cloth floats up to the surface. It's not enough.
Satoru bangs his own fists against the glass a few times, growing increasingly irritated and pent up.
He knows the captain is watching when he inevitably takes the skull again and floats onto his back. His tail swishes, and his pale cock pushes through the slit beneath his abdomen. It's not fully extended, but enough to stick inside the hole that used to be someone's throat.
The muscle is just tight enough to be fun to play with. He fucks it down onto his penis with his hands.
Sukuna's eyes widen at the sight. The movements, the flex of the creature's arms as he brings the dead man's head up and down on his cock. Sukuna's fingers flex and he inhales sharply. Then he's grinning lazily and sitting back for the show.
As much as Sukuna made comments about the mer's beauty, he never thought of this. Now he won't be able to think of anything else. To see the smooth dick covered in gore. His cum is probably incredibly salty.
Satoru closes his eyes, his hair floating in pretty white tendrils that frame his face and tickle his skin. The man’s throat squeezes around his cock and suctions each time he pulls it off. It’s not the worst thing he’s played with, but his movements grow more erratic as he starts to thrust into it.
It’s exactly what he needed. The release he hasn’t had in months. The flood of hormones that has his spine tingling and his blood surging.
He just needed to cum.
As the mer continues, eyes closed, hips jerking almost frantically, Sukuna wets his lips and feels his own cock swelling rapidly. He can feel the heat pooling in his gut, spreading out like tingles to his finger tips.
"Fuck, you're beautiful." Sukuna's voice is rough and his pants are much too tight. It feels like a waste to touch himself now and distract himself from the show. He can wait.
Satoru’s eyes snap open. His ear closest to Sukuna twitches and he turns to look at him, just briefly, before he goes back to brainlessly pumping the skull on his cock until he silently ejaculates. Most of it inside, but some shooting off into a thin rope in the water when his hands fall away. He relaxes immediately afterwards, floating peacefully in the sun’s rays as opposed to his frenzied swimming.
The used skull sinks to the bottom and rests in the sand, a few of the cleaner fish and crabs scuttling over to inspect it.
"So that's what you want. Every time you kill and get agitated. You want to cum." Sukuna sounds almost in awe as he rubs his jaw. He watches the mer closely. Looking at the long lines in a different light. Less like a work of art, and more like a slab of meat. Flesh and bone that fucks and wants to be fucked.
"Do you sometimes rape them first? Before you kill them." Sukuna asks, eyes eerily focused on him.
Satoru laughs at the idea before he responds. “I play with them.”
They’re just toys to him, like the starfish clinging to the glass on one end of the tank. He eyes it, considers plucking it off and crushing it in his fist. But there are a limited amount of living prey in his little man-made habitat. It’s better in the ocean, when he can grab fish by their tails and drag them through the water until they suffocate.
Oh. Sukuna smiles very wide. "Yeah?" He stands and walks up to the tank, arms crossed loosely over his chest. "Like you played with that?" His hand waves out and gestures vaguely at the used skull. "Or in a particularly sadistic way?" It makes Sukuna's blood pound between his ears. How long has it been since he felt this kind of excitement?
Since he saw the merman the first time. It wasn't even this great when he caught him.
Satoru's eyes are wide with interest. His cock is still resting outside of his slit.
"However I want to," he answers.
The ocean is his, and it's not often he happens upon another mer. He wonders where they are now, how many days away from his territory? He's lost count.
"You like being in control?" Sukuna asks, tone casual as he walks to the side, fingers trailing on the glass before he stops and taps a few times. Slowly he looks up and at the mer.
"I always am."
How could he not be? He's smarter, faster and stronger than anything else in the sea. He may not be the largest, but he's still dangerous.
The captain only managed to capture him on a fluke.
Satoru swims down towards him, cocking his head to the side as he takes in his face, the scars on it, and the hair on his chest.
Sukuna doesn't flinch when the mer gets close. It's the closest they've been since he caught him. The scars in the corners of his mouth are mesmerising.
"What's your name?" Sukuna asks, watching the piercing blue eyes up close.
"Satoru," he purrs.
"You trying to lure me in there, beautiful?" Sukuna laughs, but he wets his lips before he grins. "I'm not that dumb." His cock is still throbbing, but Sukuna couldn't care less right now. He can wait.
Many sailors have been lured by Satoru's voice, and his face. All of them died kicking and screaming.
"Maybe I'm lonely," he floats closer to the glass, flattening his palm against the surface, fingers outstretched.
There he stops moving completely. He freezes, eerily still while nothing but his tail fin and his hair sway gently as the water settles.
"Cute." Sukuna looks at Satoru's palm and he raps his knuckles on the glass in the centre of his hand. To feel the vibration. "Which limb would you tear off first?"
Sukuna watches him. Probably about to strike of some sort. Hunting him with the glass between them. He's going to have to be extra careful around the grate. He'll send in others to retrieve the clothes.
The scarred corners of Satoru's mouth twitch. "The one between your legs."
That makes Sukuna laugh, and he flattens his hand alongside Satoru's, leaning his face in. His forehead is close to the glass. "Well, good for me that you're in there, and my cock's out here then. I'd rather not have your teeth anywhere near me."
"Good for you, unfortunate for me."
Satoru wants to lunge, and to bite, but the glass is preventing him. It feels all wrong. Just like everything else about being trapped inside. The captain and the people he's fed are the only ones he sees. At least he can see the moon through the grate at night.
With a final chuckle, Sukuna backs away from the tank and spreads his arms out wide. "A real shame." He winks just before he spins on his heels and saunters out of his cabin. He has loot to go through, and the longer he talks with Satoru, the worse his erection gets, so he leaves.
He'll jerk off tonight, and he'll make sure to make eye contact with the bastard.
Weeks pass with Satoru privy to all of what goes on in Sukuna's quarters. His eating and sleeping, charting courses and planning.
Sometimes he watches, sometimes he doesn't. But he begins to dislike being alone in the room. To feel like walls are closing in on him when he is.
He's sleeping under the rock ledge in his tank when the grate opens overhead. His ears twitch at the sound of metal on metal. Is he being fed again? Already?
The ship isn't rocking as much as it usually does, which leads him to believe they're close to shore.
Slowly he swims up near the surface of the water, curious when he doesn't hear the captain's familiar, deep voice.
The first crew member looks in, "Good it's coming up. Grab it!" Another throws the weighted net over Satoru and they expertly trap him in it. The fact he has nowhere to go makes it easy. With the captain off the ship, they can finally deal with their little problem.
The newest form of punishment is being fed to the stupid creature the Captain keeps as a pet. And it's a terrifying existence. To hear the screams and see the body parts left behind. To see the cruel grin on the Captain's face as he feeds a fellow human to a monstrous fish.
"Help me pull it up!" They'll have a bit of fun, and toss it overboard. No one can stop them.
Satoru feels panic race through his bloodstream as he's snared in the net and pulled through the water.
It would have been a blessing to be removed from the tank before, but now... Now it feels wrong.
He tries to swim against it, thrashes and fights like he had the first time, but it's no use as he's pulled higher and higher and soon the warm air is hitting his skin. His hair drips, plastered wet against his forehead. No matter where he looks, he doesn't see the captain.
"Look, it's scared. You fuckin well should be! Freak." A crew member kicks Satoru's spine as he's flopped onto the hard wooden deck. The guy looks at his fellows, the other three of them, and he grins. "Whoever finds a fuckable hole first gets to use it."
The others laugh and one stabs into Satoru's tail with a dagger. He leaves it buried to the hilt. "Does this one count?"
Satoru doesn't scream but he flinches and curls tails away, or tries to, as fast as he can. He swipes at the boot that had kicked him through the net, but he isn't able to get close enough to bite it, not yet. So he tries to slither backwards back into the tank. Back to the only safety he knows now.
There's a grunt, but the guy with the net manages to hook it to the railing so Satoru can't get too far toward the tank. So that he can't run away. Flop more like it. "Nah, that one doesn't. Gotta find one that nature made." The group of them laugh and there's another kick. Into his gut this time.
Another guy pushes Satoru so he's on his back and his scimitar presses into the soft skin of his humanoid side. "Think it's got a pussy?"
The last one, who hasn't done anything yet speaks up, "The slit right there. It'll have a dick, but we can probably use the hole."
"You get first go then, no fair that you already knew..."
Satoru doesn't recognize all of the language they're using but he knows what they're talking about. He knows they want to hurt him, so he freezes, waiting for one to get close enough to put their guard down.
Two of them approach at once. The one with the scimitar gets close to Satoru's torso, to try to hold him down. As the other, the one who knows where to stick it, goes toward his tail, just below his hips. "Watch for it's teeth."
The other two manage to get up close and ready to pounce. They know he'll start to flail around when they start. "Should we just kill it now?"
"No, just hold it down. I want it warm. I want it to bleed."
There's a slice on Satoru's shoulder, down his upper arm, from the scimitar.
Satoru tracks the man above him as he leans down, closer and closer as if in slow motion. Nothing but his eyes move until his whole body is moving. In a flash of whipcord muscle he’s crushing the man’s neck in his jaw. Blood spurts around his teeth, and Satoru doesn’t let go. He digs his claws into the man's back, through fabric and into his skin. If they’re going to kill him then he’s taking them down with him.
"Fuck!" One of them screams at the one with Satoru's teeth in his throat gurgles and twitches. He tries to cry out, tries to pry the merman away, but ends up slipping on his own blood and falling down. Satoru stays attached and the other sailors panic. "Fuck, fuck, fuck!"
The dagger in Satoru's tail gets ripped out as the man who's dick is half out drops down on him and swings down. It embeds into the meat below Satoru's hip. And through the thrashing, the other two have to drop down on the mer to try to hold him still as he rips the throat out of their companion.
There's a creaking sound from the main deck. And a few hushed voices from the other crew members. The ones not participating in the blood bath. The frenzy. And the ship heaves as it lifts the small boat that Sukuna uses to go to shore. The men pinning and getting torn to pieces by Satoru don't hear the ominous sounds of wood being raised from the water.
Through the struggling and the screaming, they don't hear the solid thump as Sukuna drops to the deck and stalks up the stairs to the top deck.
"What do you think you're doing?"
The men freeze and look, and in doing so, another loses his life to the claws and teeth of the mer. Sukuna storms forward and grabs both the remaining ones, unafraid of Satoru attacking him. He tosses them on the deck behind him and spins. He has his back to the mer, but he doesn't flinch. Instead he grabs a knife from his boot and approaches the first. The lucky one who was going to rape Satoru.
Sukuna drops on him, straddling his stomach and he sits heavily, forcing the air from his lungs. "How. Dare. You."
And Sukuna drives the blade into the centre of the man's throat, like a shard straight through to his spine. Sukuna withdraws it, and the other man starts to scramble and run. "Grab him." Sukuna commands his other crew members.
Sukuna stabs down again, blood spurting onto his arms, face and onto his lap. His chest. He stabs again and again, grinning maniacally as he does. The blood gets on his teeth. When the man's head is barely attached to his body, blood and gore sticking to the blade and Sukuna's hands, he stands. He sways from the high and then stalks to the last man.
He grabs him by the back of the neck, his other crew members backing away. "Was it worth it? You’re just a bug beneath my boot." And he stabs him in the gut. Then slices across as his innards spill out. Some splash onto Sukuna's boots. The leather is wet with blood and bile.
When he drops the dying man, Sukuna finally turns back to Satoru. His eyes are wild. He drops the knife and slowly approaches.
Satoru sits up, balancing his weight on his arms, his tail flicking against the wooden deck angrily. The entire bottom half of his face is thickly covered in blood, the handle of a knife is protruding from his hip. He hasn’t fully shaken off the net, still tangled up in it, dripping wet.
But he doesn’t attack. He doesn’t drag himself towards the edge of the ship.
He waits. He watches the gore roll across the deck as the ship tilts slightly to accommodate a wave. Gulls overhead caw loudly, excited by the violence, and Satoru looks up at the human approaching him. The last man standing.
Sukuna doesn't even hesitate as he pulls the blade from Satoru's hip and starts to cut him free of the net. "You need stitches." It's low, rough as he watches the mer, in case he attacks.
His arm, the holes in his tail. Sukuna isn’t wrong.
Satoru licks his lips in response. Shakes free from the net and watches the bloody knife glint in his hand.
It's the first time he's been out of the tank in what must have been at least one hundred days. He takes a good look at the rest of the ship and the crew in the distance, but what he really wants to see are the waves. The ocean.
"Will you fix me?" he rasps, wavering a little as he does. He's lost a considerable amount of blood. When he looks down at his bleeding arm, it looks more pale than he's used to.
"Yes." Sukuna responds with a frown. He looks over the wounds and sucks his teeth. "Will you kill me if I get close enough to close them?" He wouldn't be surprised if Satoru lashes out at him too. Violent creature.
Then he calls for his medical kit and a bottle of booze. His first mate slinks into his cabin.
Satoru lowers his gaze to the captain's feet. "I won't," he says. "Not yet."
He's seen Sukuna stitch himself up, and know what to expect from the thin metal and thread. If he doesn't stop the bleeding, he doesn't know how else to recover, and he's not dying like this. At the hands of some scurvy infested land crawlers.
"Hm." Sukuna hums and takes the box from the pale haired first mate, then the bottle of alcohol. The first mate looks down at Satoru, their pale skin and white hair similar, but the splash of red and their plum eyes mark a stark difference. They back away as Sukuna drops to one knee near the first stab wound in Satoru's tail.
"This will sting, and if you cut or bite me, you're going to die on this deck." And with that, Sukuna splashes the wound with the alcohol to clean it, his hands, and the needle and thread.
Then Sukuna gets to work, brows furrowed, kneeling in blood. Covered in blood. But his hands are steady.
The mer's tail flexes but doesn't flick. He watches intently, slowly lowering himself to the floor as he does, until he's resting on his elbows. His glacier blue eyes flick back and forth between Sukuna and his smaller human and he makes a high-pitched clicking sound. Dazed, not entirely realising that they can't comprehend.
"Do you want me to clear away the corpses, Captain?"
Sukuna looks at the two that Satoru killed, then the two he did, then back at his work. He grunts at Uraume. "Decapitate them and bring me their heads." Two of them are practically decapitated already. Uraume nods and then they order a few other crew members who carefully take the corpses and hack their heads off. No one complains that they knew these people. That they ate together.
Sukuna moves to the wound on Satoru's hip, disinfects it, and then hooks the needle through. "I'm going to have to remove these once you're healed. You going to act nice and pretty for me again?" Sukuna mumbles, glancing and making eye contact with Satoru. "Or you going to rip my throat out? Maybe I'll give you someone to devour as I do it."
Satoru's eyes are lidded but his brows furrow and his pointed teeth get bared at the feeling of this wound getting stitched. It's more painful. Sensitive, and closer to his skin that isn't covered in smooth scales.
"Pretty," he mimics. "Not so pretty anymore."
With a final huff, he lies flat on the deck of the ship rather pathetically.
"You're still beautiful." Sukuna responds as he finishes that one, eyes tracking when Satoru tenses from the pain. Then he's shifting and kneeling at his arm. It's the closest Sukuna's ever been to him. "I like the shine of the scars on your skin. It reminds me of your scales." Absently, Sukuna's hand touches the one wound that scarred on Satoru's collarbone, his fingers tracing lightly. Then he quickly goes to work on stitching the slash in his bicep.
"This one will hurt, if you need to bite, I'll give you the handle of my knife."
Satoru eyes it warily, and then he nods, opening his jaw for Sukuna to set it inside, gums and teeth still bloody, just like his chin.
He likes having the human close. Especially when he's exposed and outside of the tank that he now considers home. There's something about him. About the pain. There's a reason he hasn't tried to make an escape yet, even if he isn't sure what it is.
Sukuna slots the hilt into the mer's mouth and he feels a strange wave of warmth through his gut when he realises Satoru doesn't bite him when he's so close. When it'd be so easy to take some of his fingers.
Sukuna subconsciously shifts closer as he fixes up his arm. When he's done, the last of the heads is dropped on the deck near the crank for the grate. Sukuna glances as he takes the knife from Satoru's mouth, fingers brushing his lips. Sukuna stands and looks down. "I need to lift you to put you back. And if you move around too much, your wounds will reopen. But those-" He jerks his chin to the heads that his first mate left for them, "Are yours."
Satoru hardly has it in him to protest, he just wants to be back in the water, so he trills. He reaches his arms up to grab onto Sukuna's pant leg and pulls himself up.
He's surprised there isn't a knife to his throat or a pistol to his head.
The hands on his pants send a primal pleasure through Sukuna, and he leans down, arms around the mer's torso, careful of his hip and his injured arm. When he gets him up high enough, he grunts and gets him in a bridal carry. It's not easy with the length of Satoru's tail, but he can do it for the short few steps to the railing.
Satoru's instincts kick in once he gets high enough and he squirms, flexing in Sukuna's arms, waxy skin slipping against blood stained fabric, wanting to wiggle free.
He slips out of the human's hold and dives back into the water of his tank with a loud splash, quickly finding his place beneath the rock ledge. The salt stings his wounds.
Sukuna watches the blood wash off in the water and then goes and grabs the decapitated heads. He tosses them in the tank for Satoru to rip apart. He doubts the mer will fuck these ones. If only because he's wounded. Not from a lack of rage.
Sukuna cranks the grate closed, and he slowly looks to Uraume. "If there's anyone else, I'll kill them. Make sure that's known by every single person on this ship."
"Yes sir."
Sukuna cracks his neck in frustration. His muscles are tense, and he knows his fuse is short. He needs to relax. He needs to fuck something. He swings down from the rigging and glances at his first mate, "Follow me."
"Yes Captain." They watch him carefully, reading the tension in his shoulders, the urgency in his step. He gets like this every now and then. He always seeks them out when he does. They follow behind, keeping pace, but a few steps behind.
Sukuna bursts into his room and after a few steps, he spins and grabs Uraume, kicking the door closed and carrying them to his desk. They don't even look toward the tank. Sukuna spares Satoru a glance before he sets them up on the far side of his desk.
They don't kiss each other's mouths, going for their necks and chests instead. Sukuna pulls his shirt off as they strip their pants off one leg and pull their little breasts out. Sukuna's on them and biting instantly, rolling his hips against their cunt. He pushes them on their back and he glances up to see the tank. His eyes search for Satoru as his clothed cock grinds against a bare pussy.
The mer is floating idly in his tank. Some of the plants at the bottom have grown taller. The coral is vibrant and healthy. He peers through the kelp and watches in fascination as the human spreads their legs and bares their cunt.
They're mating, that much is obvious to Satoru, even if he's never seen two humans do it before. He's more curious about the captain, and when their eyes meet he doesn't look away.
Sukuna grins, but when he tries to look down at Uraume, he finds himself looking back at Satoru. His cock twitches as he shifts to put his fingers between their legs. Slowly he touches and circles. But his eyes stay on the mer as much as he can. He glances down to get his bearings, or to suck on their neck.
They don't seem to mind his focus being off them. And they gasp at a particular pinch to their clit. Sukuna can feel that they're wet enough. He's taken them with less. They both like it a bit rough anyway. So Sukuna stops touching their cunt and undoes the front laces of his pants, pulling his cock free with a hiss.
Uraume strokes him a few times, spits on their palm, then wets him. They line him up and then bite a soft mark on his neck to tell him. To get him to start.
So Sukuna pushes in, slowly to get the wetness on his whole length, and when he starts fucking into them, his eyes never waver. Red to blue.
He imagines the mer under him and he moans low in his chest.
Satoru chirps in response. A high-pitched ringing almost like a whistle. The human body moves so gracelessly, but like this... It's different.
He decides to put on a show for him. To raise his arms above his head and stretch, arching his back. His abs flex and his tail swishes. He likes being watched.
Sukuna inhales sharply and his hips slam harder. Uraume makes little noises on each punishing thrust. Sukuna's eyes track the muscles in Satoru's arms, down his chest, his stomach, then to the v that leads to the muscles of his tail. To the slit that he knows has a cock in it. He wonders if he can fuck the slit, underneath the pale erection that he wants to see.
He wants it right now.
"Ah, fuck-" His eyes close for a moment, then he's leaning back a bit further, one hand on Uraume's shoulder, and the other on their hip. He makes sure his chest and stomach are visible to the mer. His stomach flexes as he thrusts. He slows down just enough to show off the rocking of his hips. He looks down and watches his cock move in and out for a few seconds.
Both of Sukuna's hands move to the desk on either side of Uraume's head, white hair fanning around them prettily. Sukuna grunts and fists some as he fucks into them harder. The sheer amount of testosterone running through him makes him glare at the tank. He wants Satoru under him. He wants to mark up pretty skin with bruises and to cum deep inside him.
Satoru's face splits into a grin.
Sukuna likes it. The human likes him.
He wonders if he'd like to see him touch his own body. Drape his hands down the length of his neck, his chest. If he'd watch him play with his slit with nimble fingers. The same fingers he's seen rip off limbs and snap jaws off of skulls. He’s never touched it before. But he would.
It's amazing how well the smaller one takes it. Satoru loves the way their small breasts bounce with each thrust. They look like they'd be wonderful to sink his teeth into. Pillowy soft flesh.
The longer Satoru watches, the more aroused he gets.
With a small groan, Sukuna reaches a hand between him and Uraume, and rubs their clit furiously. They make a quiet noise and tilt their head just enough to feel the pull of his grip in their hair. If they notice how much Sukuna and Satoru are staring, they don't mention it. Instead they pull and play with their nipples as Sukuna pinches their clit, then rubs mean circles with his thumb.
They snap first, back bowing as Sukuna slows down enough to help them ride through it. They gasp and let out a throaty moan just before Sukuna grabs their throat and fucks into them hard and fast. Hips slapping against them loudly and painfully. Sukuna's eyes flick back and forth between Satoru and Uraume, making sure to give them air when they get too red.
Then he's pulling out and fisting himself quickly. He cums with a grunt as hot ropes of semen land on Uraume's stomach and chest. Sukuna's eyes are half open and he has a self satisfied smile as he looks at Satoru.
Satoru tilts his head to the side and swims closer to the glass. His hand pressed up against it.
Why doesn't he finish inside? He wants to ask, but he opens his mouth to reveal his too many teeth and says nothing. Like an angler fish waiting for its prey to swim inside. Sukuna will come to him, eventually.
Satoru wants to eat. He wants to be fed, and he half expects to be given the smaller human. Sukuna never denies him.
Sukuna leans back fully and looks down at Uraume, who has their eyes closed as they regulate their breathing. As if sensing his stare, they open them. "Thank you, Captain."
Sukuna hums noncommittally and grabs a rag to clean them off with as they both redress matter of factly. "Leave." He mumbles as his eyes catch with Satoru's again. Uraume nods and says something in return, but Sukuna doesn't listen. When his cabin door closes, Sukuna finishes tying his trousers back up and walks around the desk. "Entertained?" His voice is low.
Satoru’s gills flare the closer Sukuna gets, the equivalent of breathing harder, more water flowing through them. He scratches his claws against the glass, wishing he were scratching Sukuna's chest instead.
Would Sukuna cum in the water of his tank like he came on his human?
"You were watching too."
"Yes."
Sukuna steps up close to the glass and looks at the mer with blown pupils. He looks at Satoru's clawed hand for a moment, then to his hips, and up to his face again. "I was."
"You want to play with me."
Satoru is only inches from the barrier, so that Sukuna can see every detail. The scars. The faintest features of his body like the rare pale freckle and each individual eyelash.
Sukuna gives him a feral grin, "Yes." He touches the glass over Satoru's chest and then traces down to his stomach. "A shame you bite."
That makes Satoru laugh, a lilting sound. "Then why don't you gag me?"
Why doesn't he pull out his teeth? Why is the captain so generous to him, when it comes down to it? Satoru's curiosity grows and lingers just like his lust and hunger.
He's so happy he could sing. Finally something interesting.
"You want me to gag you, Satoru? So we can play?" Sukuna purrs and raps his knuckles on the glass with a grin. "Trim your claws and make you helpless as I have my fun? Tie you down so you don't thrash out of my grip?"
Sukuna pauses, "I could."
"But you're afraid."
Satoru looks away from him and at the bones collecting in the sand beneath him. Skulls, ribs and femurs. Loose teeth.
If Sukuna hadn't netted him that day, that's all he would be.
"You've threatened to rip my dick off. And I like it too much to lose it." Sukuna answers easily. Unbothered by being called out. "If I drag you out of that tank, I'll incapacitate you. Make all your defences impotent. Then I won't be afraid." He pushes some of his hair back, "But I don't want to. I'd rather play with the danger. You wouldn't rip me up." Sukuna wouldn't bet on it, but he wants to see Satoru's reaction.
"I wouldn't?" Satoru asks innocently, bringing a single finger up to his lips, cutting it on his teeth and letting the blood bloom in the water around him until his pupils are huge.
Sukuna grins, baring his own teeth. His eyes train onto Satoru's finger and he licks his lips before laughing. "No. You wouldn't. I'll give you something to bite so you can follow your primal needs. You can't help it." He steps back though, needing to disengage before he does something stupid.
There's a difference between talking to the mer about it, and trying to drag him out of the tank and fuck him until he's cock dumb. At this point, Sukuna knows that Satoru would drag him in the water and kill him.
Sukuna doesn't want his dick to be his cause of death. And the way it hurts from how hard he is right now, means he needs to walk away.
Satoru lets himself sink back into the kelp where he watches with calculating blue eyes. He's disappointed. Increasingly agitated the further away Sukuna gets.
Cowardly human.
Sukuna watches the mer sulk and he snorts a laugh before adjusting his cock in his pants, then spins on his heel and walks out of his cabin. He needs some air.