Chapter 2: Shark Bait

The Next Morning…

I don't even remember waking up because I am so tired. Mizu and his damn brothers got up and started working super early. It was like they were trying to make as much noise as possible! I gave up trying to go back to sleep after an hour of trying. I was furious when I stormed out onto the deck but Mizu and his brothers just laughed at my complaints. I sat on the dock and watched the brothers work all morning. Apparently, the ship was dragging along a huge net that caught hundreds of fish at a time. They dragged the net from the sea with all three of them rotating this huge lever in a circle around a banister then they released the fish on the deck.

Mizu shouts to me,

"Hey Shogo, get your lazy butt up and help us sort out this fish!"

I sigh angrily before I get up and walk over to the massive pile of fish.

"What do you want me to do Wrinks?"

"Wrinks!? Just sort out the pink salmon from the rest and toss it over there, smartass!"

Mizu replies angrily.

His brothers are laughing at Mizu behind me.

'Hmph! Serves him right for calling me lazy. Heheheh'

1 hour later…

There were tens of pink salmon in the gigantic pile of fish on the deck. Out of the maybe three hundred fish pulled from the sea only about 80 of them were pink salmon. When I asked about it, Mizu told me that the pink salmon were a rare fish usually even rarer than this, but he and his brother had found a few good spots which they have been using for years. He also told me that was the reason why their fishes were requested by the royal family sometimes. Apparently, pink salmon tasted amazing and was considered a deli-ca-cy or whatever to many. Once we were finished sorting, Mizu starts counting the pink fishes,

"Shit! We're one fish short of the Daimyo's order. I guess we're gonna have to stay on the water another d-,"

"I'll get it!"

I sprint to the side of the boat and leap off into the water headfirst before Mizu could finish. No offense to the three brothers but I did not want to spend another day on this fishy boat with smelly old men. Oop I forgot my spear,

"Hey! Can you throw me my spear!"

"Here you crazy buffoon!"

*SPL-LSSHHH*

"WOAAAHHHH! WATCH WHERE YOUR THROWIN THAT YOU SENILE LOBSTER SKINNED-, "

*BONK*

"Take those goggles with you too! You'll have to go pretty damn deep to find any fish at this time-of-day kid! Holler when you've given up and we'll pull you out!"

Then Mizu walked off, completely ignoring my stink eye and sore forehead. I shake the water off the googles then put them over my eyes. I take a deeeep breath and plunge down into the water.

'Wow these googles are helpful after all. I can see a lot better down here. Ohhh was that a flash of pink that I see. Here fishy, fishy, fishy, fishy. I just want to stab you a bit.'

I started to get deeper and deeper until the sunlight was very faint, but everything is still somewhat visible. I get closer to the rock that I had seen the pink near, but there was no salmon to be seen. I'm not convinced that nothing was over here, so I search all around the rock. Looking closely at every corner and crevice hoping to see the salmon trapped inside it or something.

'Ah Ha!'

Hiding almost beneath the backside of the rock is a camouflaged octopus holding a pristine pink salmon.

'I feel bad for killing you with your pants down buddy, but I need that fish…. Also, I kinda wanted some grilled tentacles.'

I impale the octopus and grab the fish before it could swim away. I kicked off the rock and swam toward the surface. For some reason, I get this sinking feeling in my stomach. I look down just cause and boy am I grateful I did. There is a giant fucking shark gaining on me from below. I start kicking as hard as I can. My heart feels like it is about to explode as the shark speeds toward my legs ready to take a chunk out of me. Then suddenly I feel this burning sensation in my stomach, and I am lighter than I've ever felt before. Suddenly It felt like something is propelling me forward besides the movement of my feet and arms. I speed up a lot, but the shark is still faster than me and it would reach me before I surfaced. Six feet before my head broke the surface, I thrust my spear below me, and it sinks deep into the shark's head. I curl up on the top part of my spear, making sure to fold my legs in out of range of the shark's closing mouth.

The shark's momentum propelled us out of the ocean into the air. I see the boat and I holler for help while throwing the salmon onboard so I can use both my hands to grip the spear. The shark then starts to twist in the air trying to shake me off but I shift my weight on the spear to prevent the shark from turning me upside down as we both plunge back into the sea. It tries to dive under the surface headfirst, but I lean back all the way to prevent it from diving back underwater. The shark isn't able go underwater as I angle its snout upward. I put my feet down briefly to stick my spear in deeper and more blood starts to seep out of the shark's stab wound.

The shark finally starts to flail around less and less the more weight I put on the spear. Soon the shark is just slowly moving its head side to side and I put as much force as I can on the spear while wiggling it to make it go further in. The shark violently shakes itself one final time before going completely slack and its body starts to keel over. I immediately start to panic a bit because the last thing I want to do was get back in these waters.

"SHOGOOOO! …...HOLY SHIT THAT'S A BIG ASS SHARK!"

It seems my help is finally here.

20 mins later…

I sit to the side and watch the three brothers hoist the giant shark onto the deck with their crane net thing. I can't believe I killed that thing, it had to be like five Shogos in length and two Shogos in width. I probably wouldn't have even been a snack to it if it actually ate me. Nearly the entire length of my spear went completely through the shark. It looked like the shark had gotten a foot-long splinter in its head. Mizu comes over and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Are you feeling alright kid?"

"Yeah I'm fine. It didn't manage to hit me once. But I don't wanna go back in water any time soon,"

I reply shaking a little as I said it.

"Well I'm glad you're okay kid. I didn't want the death of an eight-year-old on my conscience,"

Mizu says wiping sweat off his forehead.

"Eight-year-old? Mizu, I'm four!"

"C'mon brat, there's no need to lie to make yourself look cooler. It's an impressive feat for a fully grown man to kill something that large with just a spear. Now let's head to Nakajima."

Mizu pats my head a few times then walks off to help his brothers dismantle that behemoth of a shark.

'Hopefully, I can get pointy back.'

1 hour later…

I am in the cabin eating soup at the round table when Mizu and his brothers come in to join me at the table.

"Alright Shogo, we're twenty minutes off the coast of Nakajima. Here's the plan, we're gonna hide you in the dead body of the shark you killed and cart you out into the town. When coast is clear we're gonna stop to take a break near an alleyway, that's when you crawl out of the opening in its stomach and runaway. Got it?"

I nod quietly and finish my soup.

"Also, we made a little something for you as a gift in return for your help with the fish earlier. Your spear kinda broke inside of the shark while we were moving it, so we decide to make you a better one."

After Mizu said that one of his brothers put a wooden spear the size of two of me on the table, with a massive shark tooth longer and wider than my forearm to top it off.

I'm not gonna lie, I get a little choked up at the sight of it but ultimately, I manage to keep my cool.

*hic**hic* "sniffle"

"Thank you guys a bunch!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah brat. Just make sure you survive long enough to use it for something useful,"

Mizu replies with a chuckle.

"Now go crawl into that shark!"

30 mins later…

It is dark, warm, and wet but most importantly smelly in this damn shark. I don't know what I was expecting when Mizu told me about this plan, but this is uncomfortable. Every time I shift to get more comfortable it gets worse… I think something squishy just rubbed against the back of my neck.

Suddenly, I feel the boat stop moving and I lurch forward sliding further into shark guts.

Then I hear Ryoshi, one of Mizu's brothers, shout something about docking but it was so muffled that I couldn't make it out clearly.

After so more muffled yelling, footsteps start sounding all around me and suddenly I feel the shark be shakily lifted and the quickly set down.

Mizu's POV

I massage my lower back hoping to ease the burning pain that flared up after helping pickup that huge ass shark and putting it into the cart.

"Thanks for the help boys! My brothers and I will wheel the shark to the shop ourselves. Stick around though! You still need to help getting the Daimyo's order out of the boat. Don't wander too far from the boat!"

I looked to the shark and checked for the tiny seam we cut for Shogo to climb into before we docked. It must be horrible in there, but the kid should at least be able to breathe alright.

'Even with all the damage done to it the shark should fetch us a pretty penny. I should give the kid a little bit of coin for all his trouble not too much though, heheh.'

"Ryoshi! Suima! Let's get this behemoth to town!"

I slapped our temporary Ox's butt to make it start moving down the boat's ramp and bring the cart onto the docks below. Suima guided the Ox drawn carriage to the end of the docks. The village's opening was filled with merchants going in and out with various goods. There are many a derelict loitering around the village ignored by most and glared at by some with little sympathy for those without direction. We slowly approached the gate, but our entry was cutoff unexpectedly by two ninjas appearing out of nowhere. The ninja on the right with a katana on his back began demanding information from us,

"State your names and reason for entering Shimizu clan territory."

I inwardly panic at the sight of the ninjas in front of us,

'Fuck! They've never stopped us like this before! They're not even stopping anyone else around us! Why now!'

My brother Ryoshi spoke my thoughts to the ninjas,

"What's with the sudden gate security? We were already permitted through by dock security. We've been coming through this gate for years without being stopped once. Why are we being singled out now, ninja-san?"

"Your cargo is suspicious; our sensor has felt an active chakra signature in your vicinity. Now state your names and your business, I will not ask nicely again."

The shinobi replies aggressively, his hand hovering above the hilt of the katana strapped on his back.

Then Suima and his silver tongue hopped into to action,

"Woah Woah Woah! Ninja-san no need for any threats. We're just three harmless old fishermen. I am Suima and these are my brothers Ryoshi and Mizu. We own Color Fish; the legendary fishing company and we are going to sell a huge shark we caught in the process of completing an order for the Daimyo himself."

Suima then showed him our company's coveted crest on our carriage; a colorful fish with wings on it. The ninja on the right bared his teeth in annoyance showing them to be sharpened to resemble that of a shark.

'Oh god! He's one of those sword maniacs'!'

The shark toothed ninja looked to his comrade left of him for confirmation and received a small nod. Then the ninja on the left finally said menacingly,

"That does not explain the active chakra signature coming from your cargo. Please explain it. I cannot promise your safety if we don't like your answer."

The ninja on the right gave all three of us a sinister smile that made my back sweat profusely. It took all my brain power and sixty-three years of wisdom to come up with this amazing answer,

"Well, thanks for your help ninja-san. You've confirmed for us that our shark is a lady! She must have been pregnant with pups. That's why the damn thing was so big this time of year!"

I laughed and wrapped my arms around each of my brothers' shoulders,

"Looks like we got some extra money coming our way boys! The gods of the sea have done us a great service this time, hahaha!"

My brothers looked at me and smiled nervously hoping to aid me in fooling the ninjas.

"Oh, then you'll want to remove the beast from the corpse quickly. We pay more money for live sharks then dead in this region. Especially charka sensitive ones. But please be aware that our eyes will be on you for the foreseeable future,"

The ninja on the left replied monotonously and then he vanished from his spot in front of us. The ninja on the right glared at us for a second longer then followed his comrade. A few more seconds after the ninja had left, I let out the breath I had been holding in since they stopped us.

That was one of the most stressful encounters of my life and I've sailed through an active battlefield on the water before! We need to hurry up and ditch this brat before he endangers us anymore!

'Guess this is what I get for helping random kids floating in the middle of the sea. Never again!'

We took a few more seconds to recover from that dangerous encounter and slowly meandered along the main road into town. We waited until we got deep into the ghetto ironically not far away from where the butcher, we're good friends with operates. We plan to sell the shark there after we're done dropping the brat off in a nearby alley. Alright this is the drop-off point!

Shogo POV

*knock**knock**knock*

'Finally! It stinks so much in here!'

I crawl out of the hole in the shark's stomach. I look back at its face and shook my head a bit.

'I guess I did wind up in your stomach after all. You brought my awesome destructive force on yourself though.'

Then I crawl out of the cart and look around. My face scrunches up because the air smells of salt and rancid garbage. It is super dark wherever I am currently, as the mist makes it seem like nighttime. It took a while for my eyes to focus but I saw the ran down looking buildings that I was in between. There were no people visible in the enclosed space just like Mizu said. Turned around to look for Mizu and his brothers. They were standing at the entrance of the alleyway with smirks on their faces.

"Alright brat end of the line."

Mizu said jokingly.

Suima hands me my new spear and Ryoshi tosses me a small bag of coins.

"Be safe out here Shogo. Just continue to the east side of town and don't stop till you hit the beach. This side of town is dangerous for you but there's a shop over here called the Pearl that you can pawn valuable stuff for money at."

"Take care of yourself brat!"

And with that Mizu and his brothers walk off with their cart down the main road. Not wanting to stay out in the open any longer I run down the alleyway. Hopefully I could find a safe place to settle down on that beach to the east, at least for the night.

Unknown POV

The brown child runs out of my line of sight toward the beach carrying a spear twice his size along the way.

"Very strange looking baby shark"

A grin threatens to split my face in half.