a story about two pirates and a mer (Patreon)

from the start this prompt about pirate Kiri and Baku sparked a little story in my mind, and there was just too many details to put inside one illustration, and a comic would be too long and there was no way I'd ever finish it ^_^;; so I ended up writing it, and man, haven't done that in so long but I had lots of fun~ (and I still did a quick sketch to show the vibe)

also it's very wholesome XD

[AO3 LINK]

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Eijirou was having the time of his life. Katsuki, his captain (but not captain of any other crew or ship at this very moment), was once again making the best of a bad situation and turning their luck around.

One might think trying to get a crew of strangers to mutiny and make him captain when they were still new on the ship was probably not the best strategy. Katsuki always had such confidence in himself that Eijirou once again got swept away in his manly ambition and didn't try too hard to dissuade him and just followed him down the plank when it turned out none of the extras was gonna call him captain.

It's not the first time it's just the two of them stranded on a small island, and it likely won't be the last. At this point their survival skills are miles above those of any regular pirate; it's just another adventure for them!

This adventure has a prize though, this particular island is exactly where Katsuki wants to be. This island has treasure, and if the information he shared with Eijirou (and no one else) is accurate, it'd be enough gold to buy his own ship and his own crew to captain. Eijirou can't wait to see him shine like he knows he's destined to.

Katsuki's original plan would have had them come to this island with a ship and a newly won over crew. It's too bad no one could see through his rough and awkward attempts to be a leader (they're all missing out on a good time in Eijirou's own opinion). Luck is on their side though and they got stranded on the very island they were trying to reach. Or maybe Katsuki planned for this exact outcome too, he is scary smart like that.

"Is it a buried treasure? Are we looking for an X that marks the spot?" Eijirou asks as he follows his captain along the rocky and treacherous coast squeezed between the sea and a tall cliff face.

"Nah, pirates don't do that stupid burying shit anymore, no one got time for that, should be a cave close by..." Katsuki says as he skips sure-footed from pointy rock to slippery rock with an ease and grace Eijirou wishes he could have a fraction of.

"So it'll just be lying there in a cave? Doesn't seem like that good of a hiding spot to me! What if--WOAH--" Eijirou barely manages to keep his balance when a smaller rock shifts beneath his weight, his boots are full of seawater now, oh well, "... what if someone else got there first?"

Katsuki stops for a moment, waiting for him to catch up, even extends his hand for Eijirou to take once he's close enough, pulling him up on a taller boulder and then he sees it.

Katsuki's lips stretch into a grin as he motions to a cave entrance that Eijirou would have never seen if he wasn't right in front of it. "No one got there first because you have to know it's there to find it, and I'm the only one who knows besides the pirates who hid their shit here in the first place."

Though the cave entrance was at sea level, the narrow path inside rises as they head further in, making it unlikely it ever gets flooded by the tides. They stumble in the dark only for a few minutes before they reach a wider chamber illuminated by mysterious light emanating from a pool of water taking most of the space in its center. Eijirou is awestruck by the beauty of the water reflections moving over the cave walls until his captain (ethereal in the blue moving lights) beckons him at the edge of the pool, a smugness in his tone as he gesture to what's in the water, "told ya, it was just waiting there for us."

In the clear and still waters Eijirou can easily see what he means, a few meters deep, surrounded by glowing algae and corals, a mound of gold coins and jewelry and trinkets and a chest half sticking out of it, surely also full of riches. Eijirou can't help an excited shout from resonating through the cave as he picks Katsuki up, spinning him around in a bone-crushing hug in joy until he gets yelled at to put him the fuck down. Eijirou doesn't miss the smile that never leave his face though.

With the initial excitement out of the way now they have to find a way to get the treasure out of the water. Would definitely have been easier with a full crew and tools, but Katsuki and he are pretty damn resourceful! Eijirou doesn't need to be told before he's taking off his shirt and his boots and jumping into the water, taking a big breath before hardening just enough that he sinks easily toward the bottom of the pool.

He wants to bring up the chest first, he's so curious of what might be inside and he bets his captain feels the same, but as he's pulling on it to try and dislodge it from the pile of gold he feels an unnatural current in the otherwise still waters of the pool...

feels eyes behind his back, observing him...

a low trill he hears as well as experience as vibrations through his body...

The moment he turns around he's slammed back against the pile of treasure, half of his remaining air escaping his lungs at the impact.

Despite the dim light and the blurry vision from being underwater, Eijirou can immediately recognize the creature holding him down as merfolk, skin green speckled in bioluminescent freckles, hair like a cloud of algae, and a powerful fin giving them twenty times the mobility of a regular human in the water.

In any other circumstance Eijirou would be so dead.

But. He is not alone.

Over the mer's shoulder Eijirou can just make out Katsuki's silhouette in a stance he knows too well.

The sound of the pistol shot is muffled in the water, and as deep as they are it wouldn't be lethal but his captain's aim is true and the bullet grazes the mer's arm before hitting the gold next to Eijirou's face with only enough force left to displace a few coins. The mer flinches and Eijirou takes advantage of the surprise to get out of his hold and push himself from the bottom to the surface where he's immediately pulled out onto the rocky floor of the cave by Katsuki before he's even regained his breath.

"So they set up a trap hah?" Katsuki faces back toward the deceptively calm surface of the pool, "guess those pirates weren't as dumb as they looked," he raises a sparking hand, ready to fight with his quirk rather than take the time to reload his pistol. Eijirou thinks he looks happy for the challenge.

The mer's head slowly emerges from the water, and he can see what he missed during their brief underwater struggle. Vibrant green eyes full of hostility and mistrust and pain and... tears? It's probably just because he's dripping wet right? Long earfins twitching nervously, sharp teeth bared menacingly.

"Leave," he says, voice hoarse but clear: they are not welcome here.

"Not without my fucking treasure," Katsuki scoffs.

"It's not yours to take!"

"A stupid fish ain't gonna stop captain Bakugou Katsuki from claiming whatever he wants!"

And Eijirou believes that, though he's not quite sure how he's gonna go about it, with the gold in the water and the mer having the terrain advantage. Katsuki's explosions can't do shit underwater, and though Eijirou's hardening works in any condition he doesn't have the mobility to catch a mer and give 'em a good punch. He stands up next to his captain, just out of arm reach in case the creature attempts to pull them under, and spots something that escaped his notice until now.

Around the mer's neck is a metal shackle, from which a chain trails down to the bottom of the pool out of sight. His eyes widen in sudden understanding and he steps in front of Katsuki, "Wait! wait wait wait! I don't think he wants to fight us!" turning back toward the mer with his hands raised non-threateningly he asks: "you're stuck there aren't you? this cave must feel pretty small compared to the sea right? we could break that chain!" the more he thinks about it the more it becomes obvious a mer couldn't have come here on their own, and Katsuki must have realized the same by the quiet "fuck" he hears behind him.

Eijirou crouches close to the edge of the water, extending a friendly hand, "sorry that Kats shot you, he was just worried about me, you were pretty scary at first! but we can help each other now, right? What's your name? Mine's Eijirou!"

The mer doesn't take his hand, instead plops back underwater and he loses him in the ripples for a moment before he resurfaces to his left, propping his arms on the edge of the water hole. He's trying to appear casual but the tension in the chain makes it clear that's as far as he can go, "my name's Izuku, I'm... supposed to be guarding the treasure for those pirates while they're away, so they anchored me here," there's resentment in how he says these words, and Eijirou can empathize with that. Katsuki and himself might be pirates too, and Kats can be rude and aggressive sometimes, but imprisoning someone for your own benefit? that is extremely unmanly!

"How long have you been here?" Eijirou asks, afraid of the answer.

Izuku frowns and pulls at his lower lip in thought, "It's hard to tell without feeling the tides, maybe two moon cycles? I don't think it's more than that..."

Yeah, Eijirou is horrified, he turns his eyes to his captain and finds a mirrored sentiment.

"Alright, we're getting you out, and you can give us the booty as thanks for saving your fish butt!"

"KATSUKI!"

"What?! I'm sure he wants to stick it to these dumb asshole pirates just as much as I, and what use is gold to a damn fish anyway?"

Eijirou is about to retort that it's not very manly to expect a reward for saving someone's life but he hears a soft giggle next to him.

Izuku's smile is fond when he says: "yeah, that's fair."

Breaking the chain is easy with his hardening, though he does have to get back into the water to do it. As he does he spots the huge anchor the chain is tied to. Even with however strong a swimmer Izuku might be, it's no wonder he couldn't move it.

The collar around his neck is another matter, Eijirou wouldn't want to shred his skin forcing it open, but it doesn't pose a challenge for his captain who simply heats his palm around the padlock holding it closed until the rusted mechanism melts and gives.

As Izuku brings hands to his neck, feeling his freedom for himself, grateful tears roll down his freckled cheeks, and maybe down Eijirou's cheeks too. What can he say, these things make him emotional!

Katsuki predictably tries to ruin the mood by demanding Izuku go get the treasure now but Eijirou knows him, knows his weakness for big eyes that look at him like he hung up the moon and Izuku has been doing just that. Heck, Eijirou is a little weak too. Still he takes the time to tear a strip from the bottom of his shirt to tie around Izuku's arm where the bullet grazed him earlier. It had mostly stopped bleeding already but the gesture is important, and Izuku trusting him makes him feel all gooey inside.

After that it takes but a few seconds for the mer to dive and come back up with the treasure chest and they're immediately faced with a new, logistic kind of problem. The chest is already pretty heavy (it is, indeed, full of more gold coins and jewelry worth a pretty penny), there's more stuff in the water still but they got nothing to transport it especially considering the rough path they took to get to the cave, and they still don't have a ship to get off the island itself.

Eijirou voices what his captain surely has already realized, "we'll have to come back for it won't we?"

Silence stretches between them. Izuku sinks a little lower in the water looking worried that they'll ask him to guard the treasure again until they come back. If they come back.

But Katsuki grunts, and after looking longingly at the contents of the chest for a little longer he clicks the lid closed and kick it back in the pool, tearing his gaze from it before it even reaches the bottom, instead turning back his attention on Izuku, hand extended as an invitation, "come on you oversized fish, let's get you out of that puddle."

Izuku immediately perks up.

His captain is SO MANLY, Eijirou is getting goosebumps.

It takes both of them to lift Izuku out of the water; his human half might be average in size, but his fish half is quite long and heavy with muscles. They have him cling to Eijirou's back to walk out of the cave, with Katsuki following behind holding his tail off the ground, grumbling all the while about slimy fish skin and Eijirou is smitten by the cute laughs Izuku is hiding in the crook of his neck.

After the soft blue glow of inside the cave, they're all a bit blinded when they reach sunlight. Izuku starts wriggling excitedly as soon as he sees the ocean stretching all the way to the horizon in front of them and Katsuki and he have to fight not to drop him on the sharp rocks before they can lower him safely in the waves, at which point he slips out of their grasp and disappears with a quick flick of his tail.

Despite himself, despite knowing in his heart they did a good thing and Izuku is more than justified in wanting to get away from humans as soon as possible, Eijirou aches that they didn't get more time together.

Katsuki grasps his shoulder, his tight hold expressing more feelings than he would with words, then motions for them to get going. They still have to get off this island somehow.

They've only been going a few meters that a wave hit them improbably from the back.

"KACCHAN! EI-CHAN!" Izuku's voice rings loud and clear from a little away in the frothy sea.

("Kacchan?!")

"THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SAVING ME!"

Eijirou whoops and laughs in joy, waving back at him, "Don't get caught again!"

"It's Captain Katsuki to you, stupid Deku fish!" his captain shouts over him.

Izuku laughs and disappears again for a moment, only to pop right back up closer to them, where Eijirou doesn't think it'd be safe to swim but the mer doesn't seem to have any trouble with it. His eyes hold a new mischief to them.

"Captain Kacchan," he enunciates carefully, making Katsuki grind his teeth at him, "you saved me, now let me save you, I can send a message for you, or get a ship to follow me to this island, or if you have a raft I can pull it to the next island, I'm pretty fast!" his chest puffs up in pride and Eijirou doesn't doubt he could.

As they make their way toward a more human-friendly side of this deserted island, Izuku continues following them, rattling a variety of ways he could be of help, to get off the island, to get the treasure out of the cave, to navigate dangerous seas later when they have their own ship...

It says something that his captain who only ever accepts help from his crew (currently only Eijirou) lets the mer ramble on and on.

Maybe they are a crew of three now.