Chapter Text
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It was a simple summer day, Pirates often enjoyed the water at this time of year seeing that it’s more common to find ships to steal from. A large ship that looked like it had been used for a long time was sailing on the sea. Its flags were off-white as most ships were. This ship was owned by a group of pirates who called themselves the La.
A young woman, around 19 years old, stood on the deck and watched the sea, away from the rest of her family. Her name was Maomao. The sea was a deep blue-green and it sparkled when the sun hit it at the right angle. They were far out at sea so rather than seeing large waves there was only the rippling of the moving water as the boat floated, taken by the wind.
As the woman stood there, her green hair billowed in the wind. She had bangs that covered her forehead, a half up half down hairstyle with a bun atop her head. The area of her hair that was down was separated into two, with pearls as embellishment near the ends of her hair. She was wearing a simple outfit compared to the elaborate wardrobe of the others aboard. She had baggy dark brown pants on her legs that were mostly covered by the burgundy skirt she wore. She also sported wedge, shin length, brown, lace-up boots. Underneath her skirt she had a thigh harness that held a large knife, just in case her poisons didn’t work. On her upper-half she wore a cream colored undershirt with large puffy sleeves. On top of that was a dark green leather harness underbust corset. Though she wore a corset, she was flat, causing her to look kind of silly . She also had plenty of belts where she could loop little bags of herbs and miscellaneous objects she would find on other ships.
Maomao’s father was the captain of the ship, meaning others mainly feared him. His name was Lakan and his strategy was unparalleled. He led the pirates to victory against other ships countless times. Her mother was “saved” from a boat where she entertained the men. Her mother had passed two years prior which caused her father to spiral and go crazy. He used to play games with her like Go or Shoji. He now felt more interested in playing those games than robbing other ships. It drove the young woman mad. She hated both of her parents, they cared more about themselves than they had even cared for their daughter.
There was a point in time when her mother had been stolen by a different pirate ship while pregnant with Maomao. Her mother gave birth to her but couldn’t stand the sight of her. Her father didn’t seem to care to find them so she cut off both her own ring finger and the tip of her child’s pinky finger to curse the man.
When Maomao was only two she was found by her father and the rest of their family. Her mother resented her, she believed that Maomao was the reason her father took so long to find them. Maomao had plenty of trauma from her mother as she was aboard that enemy ship. This caused her to resent her mother right back and resent her father for leaving her with that woman for so long.
When she was around 5 years old her mother and father went off to try and kill off a neighboring pirate troop. She was left with her great uncle, Luomen. He felt more like a father than her biological dad. So he was the one she called papa. Luomen was the only person she knew that could make her father listen. Luomen was also the oldest on the ship, he had experience with medicine from treating so many people. He told stories of the time he left his boat to learn more about medicine in a far off land.
Maomao was enthralled by the information Luomen taught her. She was obsessed with medicines and poisons. She would test both poisons and antidotes on herself. It was rare that she was able to, seeing as how they rarely docked or found herbs on other boats.
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“Maomao!” Someone called out from a few feet away. Maomao turned over her shoulder to see who it was. When she caught a glimpse of round glasses and dark grey-blue hair she couldn’t help the scowl that washed over her face. The man was her adopted brother, Lahan. He was close with Lakan so she couldn’t help but dislike the man. They had found Lahan as they ravaged through another boat, he was just a child so they took him aboard and adopted him into their troop. Lahan was good with numbers, he was basically the right hand man to Lakan.
“What the hell do you want?” Maomao asked, unable to hide the intense irritation she felt at the sight of him. Lahan in response dramatically gasped, throwing his hand to his chest as if he had been shot.
“What a distasteful way to address your brother!” Lahan said sarcastically, wiping fake tears from his eyes. He was unable to help but smile after his overdramatic performance. Maomao still stood looking at him with a scowl.
“So? Get on with what you want from me.” Maomao hissed. Lahan attempted to back away from her, to escape her fury. Instead he took a deep breath and started talking.
“Father and Great Uncle wish to speak with you about a matter. They found something… Strange on the most recent boat we stole.” Lahan’s tone was all of a sudden super serious. It threw Maomao off but she knew he was telling the truth. She learned this trick from Lakan, the man who couldn’t recognize faces as a whole, but as parts, making it easy to spot when people lied.
“All right, take me to where they are.” She reluctantly agreed.
Lahan beckoned her to follow him as he led her below deck, where Luomen and Lakan sat at a small table. Maomao could help but scowl once more, looking at her biological father.
“Maomaooooo!!!” Lakan squawked. He rarely saw his daughter, but now he missed her even more because she looked like her mother. Maomao gave no response to his little outburst and instead looked at Luomen.
“What’s the important matter?” She asked politely, making sure to slightly bow to her adoptive father.
“There is no need to bow to me, or to be so polite.” Luomen responded, secretly glad that Maomao still had her manners. “Lakan found a map on the last ship we overtook. It seems to be some kind of treasure map based on how there’s a large X on it.”
“May I see the map?” Maomao asked. Luomen nodded and reached into a nearby crate. He then pulled out a folded piece of weathered paper. Upon opening it she noticed a town she didn’t recognize. “What is that place?” She asked, curiosity taking over her. I wonder what herbs may be there , she thought.
“I haven’t been there but I recognize the name. It’s close to the capital of the area. But look at the location of the X, isn’t it strange?” Luomen commented, pointing at the red X that marked the paper.
“It's… In the middle of the ocean?” Maomao said, blinking rapidly as if her eyes were deceiving her.
“Curious, isn’t it?” Luomen continued their conversation. Lahan stood next to Lakan, trying to keep him from pouncing on Maomao. Maomao side-eyed her strange biological father. Then she moved her vision back to the paper, contemplating what it could mean.
“Could it maybe be a boat there? Is it in a crate floating upon the water? Maybe it’s at the bottom of the sea.” Maomao spoke her thoughts aloud, though she knew Luomen had taught her not to. It made it easier for her to wrap her brain around what was happening.
“Maomao, you know not to speak about matters unless you’re sure. No speculating aloud!” Luomen spoke, strictly, but not raising his voice. Maomao looked at him and nodded in apology.
“Are we going to head that way?” She asked, now enthralled by what the treasure could be and how it could be stored.
“Yes!” Lakan finally popped into the conversation. He startled Maomao with his enthusiasm. “We will head that way right now!”
“All right. I’m going to go back to the deck of the ship then.” Maomao then left without leaving them time to stop her.
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As Maomao stood on the deck of the ship, looking into the water like she had before, her mind began to wonder about myths she heard. She didn’t believe them, usually, but for some reason her brain wanted to think about them as if they were real. The specific myth she was contemplating was sirens. A mythical creature where the top half resembled a human while below the waist resembled a large fish. Often either their looks and/or voices would entice sailors (and pirates) into the water. This would often end in their death. Either if it is that they couldn’t swim or the siren pulled them under the water.
Maomao had heard plenty of stories about these creatures while people on the ship tried to scare her. Some would speak of half bird creatures while others debated half fish creatures. The ideas of what they looked like slowly changed throughout the course of time. She wasn’t easily startled so it became a game some people liked to play. They had failed time and time again, Maomao only believed things that she could scientifically prove. It was odd to most other people, but alas, they couldn’t argue because she was the captain’s daughter. Anyone who hurt her would likely be thrown overboard.
Lost in thought, Maomao didn’t pay attention to the water below. She was staring at it, but her mind was elsewhere. This was why she hadn’t noticed the human face above water, watching her.
It was a siren with blue-grey skin. His eyes were sharply shaped but had a gentle quality to them. His eyes were a purple and pink ombre, a curious combination. His face looked straight out of a fairytale, if he weren’t a siren many would assume he was a nymph. He had long, silky, soft, dark purple hair that flowed behind him like a waterfall. The top half of his body was toned, smooth and shined like the water did. His tail was more blue-green than his skin. It was scaly like any other fish, but it shined like nothing else. Anyone who saw him would instantly be allured by his looks alone.
This siren was only 20 years old, younger than most sirens in these parts of the ocean. His name was Ka Zuigetsui, he was the younger brother of the siren that recently began his rule in that area of the ocean. But he hated being the younger brother, it meant that he had less freedom than most sirens. He was to only go after ships full of important or highly thought of people. He also was often treated differently by those around him, when he tried to talk to others they often instead bowed to him and left. This is how he began his alias, Jinshi. Jinshi was a lower-ranking siren, he could pretend to go after any ship.
Today he found himself beside the La ship. He was positively enamoured by a green-haired pirate. Her eyes sparkled blue like nothing he had seen before. She wasn’t what most of the sirens would call worthy of seducing, but he found himself wanting her. Not wanting to drown her like many did, but he wanted to take care of and love her. He found himself enchanted by this woman, the thing he was supposed to do. She seemed lost in thought, hence why he felt safe watching her so closely. Only when she shook her head did he disappear into the water.