The fact that I’d understood what the person before me had said startled me, and I stopped my flailing to look at him. A big brown ship with three masts wobbled on the surface of the water as the waves from my struggle billowed into it. Men in stereotypical pirate garb hung onto the sides of the ship for dear life.

I followed the line of white mana streaming from my mouth across the water, and up the side of the ship. A woman with burnt orange hair, maybe in her mid-twenties, stood with eyes wide and mouth aghast as she followed the magic sprouting from the staff in her hands down the ship, across the waves, and up into my maw.

I probably would’ve thought she was gorgeous--and way out of my league--any other time. But right now, she was only the source of my pain. And fury bubbled in my eyes.

You’re pulling a real Grant move, you know!

Our eyes met, and she dropped to her knees, the staff falling to her side. I tried to flick my head, pulling on the line, but somehow the staff didn’t budge. The line only got tighter, and I finally realized how the trap worked.

The more effort I put into escaping, the faster it pulls me in? That’s absurd! What a cheat!

Nevertheless, I ceased my struggle, merely gazing angrily at the men on the ship, attempting to intimidate them. Considering I’d rank my size as equal to a horse, or maybe a great white shark, it probably worked. I put my best “release me” face on, but I had no idea how stupid I probably looked, with a tree of kelp growing from my forehead and a magic hook in my mouth.

“That beast…” one of the men muttered. “Aria! Unhook that thing before it kills us!”

Oh, hey, there’s a good option I hadn’t even considered.

The first form of intelligent life aside from Leonard--poor Leonard--and they immediately assume I want to eat them. My stomach growled.

Okay, maybe I did want to eat them. But… humans? My own people? Scratch that. My own ex-people?

I knew from experience how unsanitary humans could be, and if they were living a pirate’s life, they probably had that nasty scurvy stuff that citrus cured, or whatever. Eating them wasn’t on my top ten things to do.

However, number one on that list right now was getting rid of the piercing hook in my mouth! So maybe it could be up there. I glared at the cause of my predicament, the woman apparently named Aria.

Unhook me, wench.

The words didn’t emanate out of me or anything, but the message carried.

“ARIA!” the same guy shouted again. “UNHOOK IT!!” He stumbled away from the gunwhale, rushing toward her and shaking her shoulders. “Hey! Dispel your magic!”

Well, the good news was that they didn’t want to kill me after all. This was all just a big misunderstanding! I read the name on the side of the ship: The Marred Marauder.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

“I can’t dispell it…” she muttered, stumbling to her feet. “If I can’t kill the fish I catch, I have to pull the hook out by hand…”

Well, the first choice is really not an option, so forget that.

I moved closer to the ship (to the great discomfort of the men aboard) and opened my jaws wide in response.

“It’s intelligent!” somebody shrieked. “We’re all going to die!”

“Shut up, Garvy!” the first guy yelled back. “It only wants that hook out! Hopefully…”

He yanked Aria to her feet, grasping her by the biceps, and pulled her toward the gunwhale.

“Wait!” she shouted, struggling to grab hold of something and kicking against the deck with all of her strength. “Wait! What are you doing?!”

“You get that hook out now, or you become fish chow! Either way, the magic stops and the beast forgets us.”

He tossed the girl toward the railing, and she tumbled over, falling into the sea. A moment later, her magic staff joined her, and the girl’s head popped up over the water. She was gasping for air.

“Screw you, Daniel!” she shouted up at him, swimming to get her--luckily floating--staff. Her eyes grew wide as she remembered that I floated there, just feet away, patiently waiting for my operation.

Come on now, woman, fix the issue.

“Listen!” he responded, smirking and twirling a pistol. “You either fix the issue, or I shoot you.”

See? Even Daniel understands.

Under normal circumstances, it might have bothered me to hold my mouth open for this long, but as long as I wasn’t moving, the hook wasn’t wriggling further in, and I wasn’t experiencing as much pain as I could be.

Plus, being a creature with stronger jaw strength than a human probably made it easier.

Aria seemed to come to a decision. Teeth chattering, she slowly swam toward me. I couldn’t tell if it was from the water or from fear, but either way, she seemed to push it out of her mind as she got up right next to my mouth.

My eyes followed her, probably either a really scary sight or a really stupid one. I still had no idea if the kelp on my head was yet noticed, but I couldn’t see it being hard to discover.

“U-um… I’m going to have to cl-climb in to remove the hook… Mr. Fish.”

I blinked, but there wasn’t any other way I could communicate my understanding. I was, after all, a big Mr. Fish.

The girl tossed her stave onto my tongue, and I struggled to not swallow immediately. Well, not immediately. I struggled to not swallow at all. Especially when she somehow hauled herself in after it, disappearing from my vision.

Moments later, I could hear a shriek, and felt the weight in my mouth displace itself suddenly. She’d fallen over.

I wonder what kind of abilities I could get if I just… Nope. Not happening.

A sudden burst of pain got my attention. Like touching a flaming marshmallow at a campfire, the burning sensation encompassed my mind. I felt some of my gum tear away as the spear in my mouth was torn out.

Chunks of flesh were thrown out of my mouth, and I could only assume Aria was getting covered in my blood.

Oh. I’m going to have to get out of here quickly… That could attract unwanted attention…

As soon as the girl jumped out, her staff in hand, the magic now dispelled, I snapped my mouth shut, swallowing the blood that had pooled inside.

“S-sorry, again…” Aria muttered. She didn’t meet my eyes, but I glanced up at Daniel, and shot him a glare, before turning and flopping back under the water.

I watched as the girl’s booted legs swam toward the ship, and she was hauled out of the water.

I’ll remember you, Marred Marauder…

At some point in the future, when it mattered, I was certain I would meet them again.

And when I did, I’d scare the living shit out of them again.

Hehehe.