Natural Enemy 2-14

The sky finally gave up on subtlety as rain pummeled the deck in sheets so thick they might as well have been fists, drowning what might have been the whole world as lightning flashed on repeat.

Thunder boomed back-to-back as rainwater pooled in the dips of the warped wood, mixing with the red leaking from the bodies of pirates and merchants both. All of it swirled together into a pink froth that drained off the sides with a gurgle that sounded like a dying man choking.

Kai was choking too, lungs feeling full of wet cotton as he wiped the rain from his eyes. Focus, focus, focus… He was doing his best on that, blinking against the salt sting to better concentrate as the meaty mountain moved toward him.

Beula wasn't tired considering she hadn’t fought at all, unless you counted what she did to Cain and Kai definitely didn’t. Her massive, blubber-armored body glistened in the storm light, shedding the rain as easily as she shed Cain. 

Her anchor — a huge hunk of rusted, crusted iron that definitely weighed more than the entire Naruto — scraped as she dragged it across the deck, gouging a deep, splintered scar in the seasoned wood.

“You know…” The whale woman clicked her tongue. “This was the last birthday gift my ex-husband gave me.”

Kai blinked.

Then blinked again, mouth open in confusion. What is she… His eyes slid down to the barnacle-encrusted anchor in her grip, a lightbulb going off as he realized. Ohhh. The teenage bounty hunter tilted his head, a forced smile on his face. “...I’m happy for you?”

“I’m not.” She scoffed, the sound almost a bark. “Eugene always was a cheap bastard.”

She let the anchor drop to the deck with a sound enough to rival any thunderclap.

The weight of it cracked the wood, sending a vibration through the soles of Kai’s sandals, as both of those heavy whale mitts grabbed the heavy iron links from her body with loud iron clanks.

With a grunt that sounded like a foghorn clearing its throat, she pulled.

A single, hard pull sent the anchor sky-high as Kai gaped.

It defied gravity. It defied logic. 

It defied sense.

But none of those stopped a thousand pounds of rusty iron from going airborne, spinning like a deadly yo-yo at the end of the chain.

WHAT THE FUCK IS A FISHMAN?

The whale-woman spun on one heel and Kai’s eyes went wider than he thought possible as she sent the anchor flying his way.

Move.

The weight whistled past his face as he scrambled back on hands and knees, so close Kai could smell the rust and brine. A wall of crates shattered to splinters, heavy boxes stacked layers thick obliterated into a cloud of sawdust.

"Missed!" Beula laughed the word, sounding as much a roar as anything else as she yanked the chain back. The anchor tore through the deck and debris, coming back to her hand as she caught it without flinching.

She swung again, the anchor sweeping sideways as broken bodies gave way as it cleared the deck. Nononon-

Kai hit the ground in a dive, body slamming into the wet wood as the wind of the anchor passing by nearly ripped the jacket off his back. A puddle of pink water carried him a good distance as he slid forward, propelled by his power.

"Hold still!" 

"No thanks!" Kai gasped the words as he scrambled to his feet and backed up. Need… need some space. Space was in short supply, the deck more wreckage than spare wood, so he raised his left hand — Water Gun — and fired. “Quik-Shot!”

Quik-shot after Quik-shot blasted out, a barrage of forced compression as his hand shook, Kai desperate to find a weak spot.

Unfortunately, nothing on Big Beula was weak, each shot hitting her chest and face with a sound like someone slapping a side of beef. The pressurized water, each one strong enough to pierce wood, barely dimpled her skin as her blubber absorbed it, rippled, and bounced back without a bruise.

She didn't even blink, not a flinch after a dozen water bullets hit home.

 Okay. Kai grit his teeth. Harder.

He held one bullet on the tip of his fingers, right in between his pointer and middle. Water molecules squeezed tighter, pressed together until they almost screamed for release. The world seemed to slow, Beula’s steps suddenly seeming to move his hand shuddering with the strain.

One eye closed, he aimed for her shoulder, right at the heavy muscle that lifted the anchor.

Water Gun: Water Bullet! He let it fly.

The bullet landed with a sizzle, the projectile steaming against the whale-woman’s skin. It cut a shallow line in the gray flesh, drawing a thin trickle of dark blood that washed away instantly in the deluge.

Beula laughed and let the anchor drop. “Cute.”

She charged. 

For something so big, she moved like a mudslide on steroids. One second she was walking, the next she was a gray-white blur.

Shit. Kai’s eyes widened. "Wave Wall!"

A sheet of seawater rose up from the deck, and Beula barely even noticed as she plowed clean through. The wave shattered against her chest, droplets exploding outward as if it was just simple mist as she reached out.

Kai tried to dodge, scrambling back on the too-slick deck. Before he could blink, a too-big hand clamped around his neck.

"Ghk—"

Beula lifted him like a doll, his feet kicking uselessly in the air. Nononono! A split second later, the air left his body as she slammed him back into the deck.

Stars exploded in his eyes as the back of his head bounced off the wood, cheap fireworks lighting up the sky in place of lightning. Kai gasped for air, hands gripping tight to the wet blubber as she raised him back up higher. 

"I'm a fishman, you little shit!" Her face inches from his, she roared the words in his. Breath smelling like chum and rot, Kai gagged breathlessly as her hot spit his cheeks. "You think you can drown a whale? You think you can splash me to death?"

She squeezed.

Nnnnghhhh!

"I’m not even a Beluga, you know that?" She leaned closer, black eyes manic. "I’m a Sperm Whale Fishman. You stupid humans just slapped that on me because of a little difference with my size and skin."

Kai kept clawing, his fingers scrabbling against wet rubbery skin. "Pl-please.” The word bubbled up with blood, weak as he wheezed.

"Please?" Beula straightened up, hauling him up with her by the neck as she dangled him like a caught fish. “Well, since you asked nicely.”

Thick fingers let go and Kai gasped for air as he dropped to the ground in a heap, curling into a ball as he tried to remember how to breathe.

"Pathetic.” Another thick glob of hot spit landed on his cheek. "A little boy splashing a little water. Don't worry." The lightning flashed, illuminating the rusted iron spikes against the stormy sky. "I’ll end you quick.”

Kai looked at the deck, his wrecked reflection staring back at him from a puddle of rainwater and blood. His hat was gone, lost somewhere and somewhen in the fight. Move. Move or die.

Rain hung in the air as he looked up, each one suspended and shining as lightning crawled against the sky. All of it falling from above and pooling on the deck; with hundreds of pounds a second just around him, the whole world was water.

The whole… Kai blinked.

He’d been trying to be clever. Stupid. 

But he didn’t have to be. He was a fat kid from Kaihua who could probably lift a truck. 

He was a brawler. 

He was a monster.

Why… why am I poking her? Kai swallowed the blood in his mouth, the taste of copper waking him up. Use the weight. 

After all, the ocean was heavy.

Beula grunted as the world sped up back to normal agan, the muscles in her back shifting as she brought the anchor down.

His heels dug into the slick wood as he slid backward on his ass, skin scraped raw against the broken planks.

The anchor slammed down right where his head had been, deck shattering and wood chips flying right into his face.

Kai rolled to his feet, finding his balance on the shifting ship as his legs went wide. He pulled the water from the air, the water from the deck, the water soaking his clothes; all of it surging right towards him.

Gallons. Hundreds of gallons.

Tons and tons of water wrapped around his right arm, tons and tons of pressure squeezed tight until it screamed; all of it fused into something denser than ice, denser than rock as his arm vanished into all of it. 

His fist hummed, surrounded by all that water; Heavy water.

Shoulder goraning under the weight, Kai spread his feet wide to keep from tipping over, the deck creaking under all the mass of a wrecking ball held tight to his fist.

The whalewoman wrenched the anchor free from the deck with a wet sucking sound, black eyes flicking to the vibrating mass of water surrounding his arm. “What, you gonna pop a balloon on me?”

She swung the anchor again.

Kai stepped into the swing, hips twisting as he drove his feet into the wood, planks cracking beneath his feet. 

He punched.

“Heavy Water Fist!”

Water met iron and iron shattered. Like glass dropped on concrete, the rusted encrusted metal exploded apart into fragments as Beula’s eyes bulged.

The fist didn't stop, the wrecking ball slamming into her chest. For a split second, the rain vanished; everything on and around them suddenly dry as the air blew back from the pure violence in his fist. 

Beula didn't scream, not without air left in her lungs to scream with. All eight feet, and however many thousands of pounds that she was, lifted into the air.

She flew.

The entire length of the ship vanished around her as she smashed through the walls of the cabin — wood exploding, furniture disintegrating — as she kept going until she punched all the way through the other side; a missile of blubber and bone.

With a sound like a bell ringing, the Fishwoman crashed into the far deck rail, bending the iron bars into a U-shape as she slumped silently.

The rain rushed back in, filling the void, louder than before as Kai stood alone in the center of the deck. The water gauntlet fell apart, the whole thing splashing to the deck in a flood of water as he stood there shaking.

Kai looked down at his hand; knuckles raw and scraped clean of skin. His arm was screaming but he was standing.

Kai stared at the heap of whale at the far end of the ship, through the shattered walls. Finally, he sat down hard on the wet wood with a grin on his face.

"I'm the heavy hitter." 

He wiped blood from his chin.

"Suck it, Cain."