Chapter Text
The smell of the sea wafted through the air, the sound of the waves crashing into another and against the ship and seagulls squawking was clear; The morning breeze was amazing, a combatant of the hot sun beating down on the vessel.
The crew of toons chatted loudly, tools bumping into each other or the wood. The wheel was turned steadily by a skilled pirate of red plastic, who was eyeing the ocean, looking out for land or anything interesting.
The cabin door opened, and out came the captain. Shrimpo was no toon to be messed with; he was imposing and highly respected, not to mention his constantly hostile demeanor towards everything. Despite some toons' very best efforts, the pirate captain remained in power of the most renowned and most feared pirate crew of the vast seas.
"Ahoy, Captain!" The gachapon at the wheel called out with her usual smirk. "Feeling grumpy today, are we?"
The shrimp raised an eyebrow. "WHAT NOW, GIGI."
"Oh, nothing, just checking on you." The pirate responded with a sly grin.
"HMPH. EVERYONE BETTER BE DOING THEIR JOBS!" Shrimpo hollered. The rest of the crew, if not already at their stations, hurried to be there, while still talking.
"Captain!" One of the fishers climbed up onto the boat's steering deck. "There's an alarming increase in fish population in this area."
"AND!?"
"We're worried somethin' is...off, that's all-"
"JUST FISH!"
"Aye, Captain..." The toon nodded and climbed back down.
Shrimpo did a quick check around the ship to ensure everyone was doing their duties, then went down to the room where all their loot was stored after their expeditions.
Shelly, one of the only truly trustworthy pirates on this ship, was in charge of taking care of the treasure, and had an excellent knowledge of fossils and artifacts.
She was cleaning off an amulet when he walked in. The shell looked up and smiled. "Hey, Captain! Everything is in top shape as usual!"
"GOOD. NO ONE'S TRIED TO TAKE ANYTHING MORE THAN THEIR SHARE?" He asked, inspecting everything. Nothing seemed changed.
"Nope! No one's dared!" Shelly responded, placing the amulet back into one of the chests. The golden metal was now properly polished, and reflected the little light that the windows let into the room. In fact, all the treasures did- it gave the room an ethereal quality, like it had little golden suns inside of it, watching over the pirates' things.
"OKAY! I'M GOING TO CHECK ON OUR FOOD SUPPLY! KEEP UP THE WORK!!" Shelly beamed at what sounded somewhat like the pirate captain cheering her on, even if it was...aggressive, to say the least.
He stomped out of the room and into the food storage; barrels of stored food, which they stole or found abandoned in ruins. Good thing they knew how to ration and fish, or in between getting food, they'd have to live off maggot infested, stone hard crackers. Shrimpo remembered taking said crackers and throwing them into the ocean. It'd been the right thing to do, he was making a point, AND the crews' horrified faces were HILARIOUS to look at.
THEY'RE LUCKY THEY HAVE ME AS A CAPTAIN! I TAUGHT THEM TO KEEP THEMSELVES ALIVE ON THE SEA!
He opened the barrels, which consisted mostly of fruit and stale bread. Hey, better than the maggot crackers. Maybe he should stop thinking about those. They didn't DESERVE his headspace!
Everything looked like it was in it's correct place, as it should be! He gave a nod and turned to walk out- of course, he had a VERY important detour to grab the jar of cookies off the shelf and take one out- up the ladder and back onto the steering deck.
And he ate the cookie, of course.
Gigi was still steering, now chatting to Connie, the ghost. Shrimpo considered snapping at them to focus, but deciding against it, instead scanning the ocean's landscape.
The goal on the ship was simple. Get rich and get famous. In order to do so, there were a few rules in place- some important ones were don't be an idiot, trust basically no one but yourself, and that love is allowed but in the end is a liability.
PSH, LOVE IS JUST A WASTE OF TIME. IT'S FOR WEAKLINGS, SHRIMPO WILL NEVER STOOP DOWN TO THAT LEVEL.
They had a few buyers back in Gardenview, which was the biggest trade capitol of the mainland and probably everywhere in the world. Illegal buyers? Depended on who you asked. But they were willing to pay well for artifacts or rare finds- especially magical creatures the crew found on the sea. It was their mission to get what they could and make a profit from it!
One of their buyers was particularly eager to get his hands on a rare sea creature, for reasons Shrimpo didn't know, and didn't particularly want to. Business is business, after all, but that wasn't his business, and that buyer was bound to pay well.
The ocean today was just all blue with a few fish hopping around above water. Nothing special.
His eyes narrowed as he felt something odd.
A calming sensation, accompanied by a soft, melodious noise. Like singing. It almost sounded like a sea shanty, but more delicate, softer, slower. Almost mournful, while keeping the original spirit.
He felt an uncontrollable urge to move, to find this sound. He stepped forwards, head turning towards it.
He saw Gigi tense at the wheel, then relax, looking at him, then in the direction of the noise. The crew was going to one side of the ship, grabbing nets. The 'singing' faded off, replaced by a less strong...presence.
"Captain." The same fisherman from earlier ran up to him and said. "You're going to want to see this."
Shrimpo followed him, eyes fixed on the crew, which was now pulling a net of fish onto the deck of the ship. Except, he saw something...odd in the middle of the fish.
"WHAT TYPE OF FISH EVEN IS THAT?!" He demanded, pushing his way into the crowd.
"That's not a fish." Shelly gasped, peering at the net with a mix of curiosity and fear. Shrimpo finally got to where he could see clearly. His eyes widened slightly.
At first glance, it was a toon. A fish bowl- odd, but whatever- with a glassy body, the bottom half without legs, instead a fish-like tail- though some of the features like its face were seal-like, including the large eyes with very dilated pupils. It had webbed ears on either side of its head, and plants tucked into the water in its head, and twined around its arms and torso, like that was normal. But it could very well be an aquatic toon! Just one without legs or proper clothing.
Except for the feathers.
There were feathers behind its ears, around its eyes like lashes, down its tail, on its arms, on it chest, not much, but enough to show this wasn't a normal sea toon. Most of all, the small but noticeable wings on the toon's back, and the slight glow to the creature's eyes.
Everything added up; the appearance, the singing with the calming affect, the way his heart had felt like it was trying to leap out of his chest and make him get closer to the presence...
He recalled stories of alluring melodies, heard by sailors and pirates alike, moments before death as they crash landed into rocks or drowned by jumping into the water.
He was looking at a siren.
