Disclaimer: I certainly don't own Naruto, Disney or any of its affiliated properties. If I did, I wouldn't be writing this now would I?
"The connection of our hearts…" : Speech (Bold for yelling ,Bijuu, or massive creatures)
'The connection of our hearts…' : Thought
The open ocean, half an hour after Naruto left the women…
Naruto had never thought of the ocean as something that would really play a big role in his life – granted, the only other time he really saw an ocean was when he was a fairy in Neverland but all of the times he interacted with it, he had some supernatural advantage to ignore any threats it could pose to him. Having relied on his chakra, fairy magic or special anatomy to traverse the majestic water body meant that being a proper sailor for the first time in his life came with some interesting experiences.
"Urk…I really should give Tiger some more credit – she was sailing the high seas as a child and here I am, a grown man struggling to get my sea legs! Ugh…maybe getting a simple rowboat to venture out to the ocean was a bad idea…" Naruto grumbled, his powerful arms pulling at the oars as his little rowboat made steady progress in the general direction of the Old Man's fishing haunts (according to his bereaved wife that is). Given that he was travelling in the morning, the waves weren't as high as they could have been and the sky was clear of any clouds – fine weather indeed. This might have been true for any other venture but Naruto was quick to realize that the shining sun overhead meant that the ocean's surface would reflect its rays straight in his face, as well as give his head and back a good roast in the humid heat – combine that with the ever swaying boat, then even Naruto, with his infallible endurance would begin to feel more than a little stressed.
"I sure hope that old man is still kicking – I can't imagine how long he must have been adrift in the open waters…I must be getting close though, I have been rowing like this for a while now…" Naruto said, putting his oars down to stand up and look around, his eyes squinting due to the glare coming off the ocean's waves as he surveyed the horizon to try and catch any glimpse of the man he was looking for. It was tough going, but after about seven minutes, he saw a black blob in the distance.
"That must be the Old Man's boat! Man, I was worried that I would have to travel further out to find him – I better hurry!" Naruto said, quickly sitting in the boat again, rowing with all his speed to the speck in the distance. It took about twenty minutes but Naruto finally got to the stranded boat.
"Ho there! Old man! Are you alright? Your wife sent me to check up on you!" Naruto said, waving over to the old man, only to be surprised at what he was met with. He was expecting to see an old man on the end of his rope, waiting for help but what he found was a chipper elderly man animatedly talking with a strange fish with peculiar golden scales. In fact, the two seemed so absorbed in their conversation that they didn't even notice Naruto approaching until his boat knocked against the old man's vessel when he pulled up next to him.
"Oi! Are you even listening to me ya old codger! Your wife's been worried sick and you've been staying here chewing the fat with a fish?! Are you out of your mind?!" Naruto said crossing over to the old man's boat to shake the man's shoulders.
"What? Who are you man? How does my wife know you? Never mind that though – listen to this fish talk! I thought I was seeing things, being out here for so long chasing after this marlin I caught but I have been talking to it for hours already and it hasn't stopped telling me new things so I can't be going mad!" He said, turning to Naruto with a cross face before pausing and pulling the relatively younger man(he was around 60 years old and Naruto looked about 40 years old) to a bucket he had in the corner of the boat, where a yellow fish with blue stripes was floating with an amused expression on its face.
"The name's Naruto – you generally introduce yourself first before asking someone else's name…that there's just common courtesy. I just came to your homely little town and your wife begged me and my wives to find you so you don't have to worry about any fishy business there…*Old man pulls his arm here* whoa there…calm down man. I take it this is the first time you've seen a talking animal huh?" Naruto said, crouching in front of the fish, who poked his head out of the bucket to wave at him.
"Hello there good sir! My name is Flounder – can you please convince Mr Santiago to let me go free? The man is hell bent on keeping both me and this one poor great marlin he caught last night - my friend Ariel must be worried sick about me by now…" He said, watching Naruto tilt his head curiously before looking off to the side of the boat before he shouted in surprise.
"What the hell! Can a normal fish even get that big! Good god man – I thought it was a shark at first!" Naruto yelled as the old man, now indirectly introduced as Santiago laughed pridefully before patting his puffed out chest.
"Haha yes, it is quite the beauty eh? I espied this beast yesterday morning and chased him down until I caught him in the later hours of the night. No longer will I be known as the cursed fisher man who couldn't catch a single fish in eighty four days! I caught this little bugger by accident when my net snagged him when pulling the bigger fish to my boat. I was about to throw it back into the ocean but when I heard it scream like a human boy, I couldn't contain my curiosity and decided to keep it too. To hear him talk, it seems that great Poseidon has a great city under the waves, although he seems have left it to his descendant Triton now…" He said, stroking his beard thoughtfully while Naruto sighed and shook his head at Flounder, gesturing towards Santiago, who was lost in his fantasies.
The chatty atmosphere was broken when a sharp black fin appeared at the water's surface before making a beeline for the boat. Santiago's boat then was rocked violently when the owner of the fin slammed into it, the water around the boat turned a telltale crimson when the great marlin strapped to it took a grievous wound as the attacking shark left with a hefty mouthful of fish meat (about forty pounds worth for the curious among you).
"What was that?!" Naruto said, looking over the edge of boat, noticing the shark fin slipping away as Flounder shouted in fear.
"It's the sharks Mr Naruto! They must have been attracted to the marlin that Mr Santiago caught and now that its blood has spilled into the ocean, more will surely come. You must abandon the fish- surely you can't fight off all the sharks that will undoubtedly come for it now!" Flounder said, trying to talk some sense into the two humans (he also wanted to escape the boat himself – he knew Ariel was too curious for her own good and would undoubtedly try to investigate the situation-potentially getting hurt in the process…).
"Nay! I will fight any sharks off – let them come! I won't let this catch escape me!" Santiago said, walking over to the end of his boat to pull out a harpoon that he then began brandishing. Now, Naruto was no fool and a matchup between a doddering old fool and a mako shark big enough to make a meal out of an eighteen foot great marlin (some biology trivia here – the largest representatives of mako shark can actually reach ~15 feet in length) wouldn't end well for the man in question. As such, it should come as no surprise that Naruto scoffed at Santiago before yoinking the harpoon out of his hands and readying himself to stab the shark, who looked to be turning back for another rush at their boat.
"Easy there old timer. You can keep the fish but remember, you need to be alive to show it off to your wife and the other townsfolk…" He said, smirking at the grumbling man before his eyes narrowed in concentration, time seemingly slowing down as he focused on the speedy shark coming towards them. Just as the shark got close enough for another bite, Naruto struck out with the harpoon and his aim was true – he stabbed the shark in the eye, puncturing the organ and plunging into the fish's brain, killing it instantly.
"My god man! Are you a fisherman as well? That was a splendid strike – now help me pull the shark to the boat!" Santiago said, excitedly casting a net to catch the shark's corpse while Flounder shook his head tiredly.
"I aint no fisherman Santiago – just a capable warrior. Don't get too excited – there are more sharks approaching – too much blood has gotten into the water…" Naruto said, pointing towards the marlin, whose open wound was spilling copious amounts of blood into the water. This attracted three more sharks to the boat and a mermaid who was curious as to what the strange vessel was.
Ariel had been looking for her friend for most of the morning to no avail – she had been swimming closer and closer to the surface of the water in the hopes that Flounder (who was a tropical fish) would be present. Needless to say, she couldn't find him and was now fearing the worst.
"Oh Flounder, where are you? Please tell me you haven't become a meal for a shark or a fisherman..." Ariel mumbled as she swam through the warm epipelagic waters, her vibrant red hair flowing behind her with the speed of her movement. Her attention was then taken by two blobs of darkness blocking the sun's light.
"Ah- there are some boats above! Perhaps one of them has Flounder on it – I should try and see if I can sneakily save him. They surely won't miss him, given the big fish they already managed to catch…" Ariel said, swimming up to Santiago's boat, unaware that one of the mako sharks had sighted her and was heading in her direction.
Meanwhile, back with the men (and Flounder)…
Naruto had just finished helping Santiago strap the shark to his boat and was pulling out a harpoon from his own boat after he returned the one he was using to the old man. There were two sharks attacking the old man's boat and Santiago was doing an admirable job keeping them away but since he was taking too long, Naruto decided that he should speed things up with his own harpoon. Leaping over to Santiago, our resident ninja was quick to slay one of the sharks and was about to stab the other through the gills when a girl's shriek split the morning air, shocking the men and Flounder(who poked his head out of the bucket, having recognized the scream).
"What was that! Where did that scream come from?!" Santiago said, looking around wildly as Flounder pointed a fin at Naruto's boat, which had drifted off a little due to the momentum from Naruto's strong leap. The men saw a girl no older than seventeen swimming away from a shark while trying to climb onto the boat(at least that's what it looked like – Ariel was just trying to search the boat while avoiding the shark's maw).
"That's Ariel! She must have been trying to find me and now she's in danger!" Flounder said, nearly flopping out of the bucket in his attempts to get to her.
"Don't worry Flounder – I'll save her. Santiago – stay here." Naruto said, the man nodding as Naruto removed his shirt and leaped into the water before swimming towards the girl (he didn't dare to use his harpoon – the girl was a deft swimmer and he was worried he might stab her when aiming for the shark by accident). He quickly pulled the girl aside; putting her behind his back before pulling out a dagger strapped at his side (he had rearmed himself when reuniting with his wives). He then calmed himself down, his body floating silently in the water. Both Ariel and the shark were confused at his behavior(Ariel wanted to escape and the shark was at a loss at his prey's behavior) but the fish just rushed at Naruto, unheeding of Ariel's scream. Just before the shark's maw could close on Naruto's torso, Naruto made a quick twist, his body contorting swiftly to the shark's side to pull it away from Ariel and slamming it into the boat – with the shark now disoriented, he then stabbed the shark in the eyes and gills repeatedly (his blade was short so he had to cripple the beast as quickly as possible).
The hapless shark, now blind and unable to breath, died a torturous death from asphyxiation. Ariel was in awe at the flawless execution of skill that Naruto displayed – so much so that when Naruto pulled her out of the water and onto his boat, she could only think about how the shirtless silver fox look seemed to work so well on him (she blushed inwardly at her own thoughts). Naruto for his part was shocked for the second time that day when he saw that the girl he saved had a fish tail instead of legs.
"Oooh boy – I have seen dragons, fairies and everything in between but a genuine mermaid? Alice and Shanti are going to love this…" Naruto mumbled, scratching his head as Flounder and Santiago cheered at his success.
And that was chapter 62! Naruto has met Ariel and Flounder – how will the story change when Ariel has a human friend way before she even sees Eric? How will Ursula get boosted by the Grimm Lords? Will Naruto's charisma steal Ariel's heart even if he looks like he could be Geralt's whiskered brother? Stay tuned to find out!
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