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“What- But I’ve told you before! This guy is a siren. He will drown us all the moment we sail to the open sea!”
Macaque stood his ground in the middle of the deck. He just finished their stupid test of strength to prove his worth to the morons that run this ship. But one of them sneered at him, their face contorted into a disgusting flair of mocking smile while they circled Macaque like some big shot, despite Macaque knowing for sure that Azure- the big lion guy with blond hair and pink-ish eyes is their captain.
“Six Eared Macaque, did you lose your sanity the moment you lost everything?” The bird demon holding their laugh, their crewmates were silent but Macaque could tell from the faces surrounding him that it would be fruitless endeavour trying to warn some idiots something that could cost them their lives crossing the sea.
Sun Wukong, the asshole that killed and drowned everything he ever owned to the deepest sea, took the opportunity to act all innocent as the Captain shield him from Macaque’s piercing gaze.
Good, great, fucking awesome.
Looks like he was surrounded by idiots. All of them. Now he is sure that they will eventually drown and he will need to look for another crew to take him to Treasure Island, where The Great Sage’s Secret Treasure Vault resides.
An Island of the legend, which means it has been missing since forever. And Macaque has no other choice but to chase the legend and get his hand on the most powerful weapon it has to offer or else the crazy sea witch that lends him his life would take it away once his time is up. And all of this is Sun Wukong’s fault!
He should probably ditch this ship and look elsewhere, but then again, no one in their right mind would just accept an ex-Pirate Captain to their ship. They will fear his past exploits and think he would take their crew given the chance. Which was a fair judgment if not for one tiny detail missing.
“Macaque, surely you must have made a mistake?“ Wukong right here has been acting all innocent. Hugging the captain’s big hand cutely, making the poor guy blushed. This is probably another one of Sun Wukong’s newest victims. Macaque rolled his eye and ignored all the stupid fluttering feeling deep in his heart. Strangled it back to the deepest part of his repressive emotion box where it belongs.
The one tiny detail that is missing, would be the fact that Macaque is too busy trying to kill this asshole of a siren so he won't be trying to steal anyone’s crew nor ship soon.
“How about we put this to a rest? You both passed the test and we would be sailing soon, perhaps a little good night sleep would make the crew less… agitated.” The Elephant finally talked, despite his giant stature, he seems to be the most gentle and wise out of the bunch. Too bad he was surrounded by a bunch of idiots, if he wasn’t, Macaque probably would consider getting this elephant on his side instead. He could use some smart guy for his future crewmates.
But eh, he digressed.
Macaque finally relent, he sighed. “Maybe you’re right.” He said. The crowd seemed to approve of his decisions and were diverse once the captain announced how the test was concluded.
Sun Wukong was quick to vanish with the crowd, Macaque grumbled under his breath.
Seems like he needs to keep this loose brained bunch alive by himself. Macaque was not one for babysitting, but when his hand is tied and there’s only so much option he could pick, he much rather suck it up for now.
Besides, he might as well find out how to properly kill a siren.
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…
Despite being a bunch of idiots up in the vast ocean, The Brotherhood crew was apparently scheduled enough to have different tasks for each crewmate and routine exercise to make sure they are all fit and ready for all sorts of trouble.
Seems like the three “leaders” do help making everything run smoothly, but mostly Macaque thought this must be The Elephant’s- Yellow Tusk’s idea.
For example, Macaque was sure he would be the one coming up with the daily check ups of the ship, as well as checking engines, moping the floor, checking up the food stocks, cleaning up the canon, and so on. The list of tasks is endless, and they rotate the task each week to make sure the daily routine wouldn’t be too monotonous or the people will get bored.
Bored people are dangerous after all. Macaque totally agreed.
What he dislikes about this whole situation is, however, the way someone is clearly not doing a good job on whatever they’re tasked on.
“Perhaps we could ask someone else to clean the back of the ship from the barnacles? Shi Hou is too small, what if he gets swayed away by the waves?” Their actual captain, Azure Lion, said to the two of his comrades.
Yellow Tusk hummed, looking at Sun Wukong like he was thinking of something. Perhaps more than the task itself, he was beginning to connect the dots between Azure’s own action and Sun Wukong’s-Though they call him Shi Hou here- obliviousness to it all.
Peng, the annoying bird demon that Macaque personally wouldn’t mind being thrown to the open sea, spoke out, “Well, if he keeps messing up on anything besides the daily training, we might as well just toss him to the fish. At least he can be the bait while we keep some fish for sushi tonight.”
Now there, Macaque might hate the bird, but that solution might be for the best if that were to happen.
Sun Wukong, again, is called Shi Hou in this ship, has the audacity to pout. “Hey! You did acknowledge that I’m useful in fighting. What’s so wrong about being er… slightly not very useful everywhere else!”
Peng scoffed at that, “Well, if you keep on eating ratio while not being useful, then why would we keep you for a long voyage anyway?” They pointed out. “Besides, there’s only so much battle happening inside the ship. It’s not like we couldn’t handle it ourselves anyway before you came here.”
“Now, now. Peng, isn’t that a bit too harsh for the newcomer?” Azure quickly takes the heat away from both Sun Wukong and Peng. Looking at both of them, it seems that they might be seconds away from launching at each other and brawling.
“It’s not that I don’t want to do my task for today… it's just that…” Sun Wukong shyly scratched his cheeks. Macaque noticed how it visibly got a shade of pink, he belatedly rolled his eye. Steeling his heart that still didn’t get the memo that the siren is dangerous.
“What is it, Shi Hou?” Yellow Tusk asked him calmly.
Shi Hou sheepishly chuckles, “I can’t swim so I’m afraid of getting that close to the water.” He finally said, sounding almost embarrassed. But not embarrassed enough to suck it up and do his job, it seems.
Peng, unsurprisingly, immediately went to attack that statement. “Just what’s the point of you wanting to become a pirate but scared of water?”
Honestly, a fair question. Though Macaque noted that he himself didn't know how to swim either.
Not to mention that his cause of death was drowning, on top of everything else. But that was another topic entirely that he did not want to discuss just yet.
Before everyone else could say much more to the topic, Macaque went to chime it quickly. “I can clean up the ship with him.” Four pairs of different colored eyes all looked at him, surprised by his appearance. But Macaque didn't pay much attention to it, instead he adds, “I have finished all my tasks for today, so it wouldn't be a problem, no?”
There was a sliver of panic surge from the pair of golden eyes, Sun Wukong seemingly horrified by the prospect. Although he was quick to hide it from everyone else, Macaque just so happened to pay a lot of attention to that one infuriatingly cute ginger asshole.
It’s annoying when the person you hate so much could blink in an all too innocently cute way, in front of other people that wouldn’t know any better. Macaque was so close to strangling the guy on the spot but he learned that acting insane will get him nowhere, so instead he changed tactics.
He will become a nuisance to the ginger fake demon monkey. Let’s see how he would like it when he got exposed later.
Captain Azure seemed about to say something, most likely some sort of excuse for Shi Hou, he seemed to have quite a soft spot for the ginger. Poor guy, really. But fortunately Yellow Tusk, always the smarter one of the trio, interjects him. “I don’t see any problem with that. And if any of you have issues, then perhaps one of us could occasionally check on them to see if they work on the task properly.”
That actually would be just perfect. Macaque could totally use this opportunity to expose the fake golden monkey once and for all in front of one of these people.
“Then, everything is settled? Now scram you both, we are all too busy to deal with these insignificant little details and have wasted enough time on it already.” The bird quickly shushed them, and Sun Wukong was unable to give any more complaints about it.
Macaque was thrilled.
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…
He and Sun Wukong take all the necessary tools to clean the back of the ship from the storage. There were the big stinky brush and bucket, as well as the rope to tie up the small makeshift platform they use as the footing to keep their balance. Macaque belatedly notices that there’s probably nothing on the ship that could be used to fix the brush if they were to break it or lose it to the sea, and they only have two of them at the storage.
These people really do be doing exactly just the barest minimum while looking for basically legend in the middle of a fucking ocean. Macaque secretly felt bad for whoever had the cleaning duty while the brush was completely broken. They probably will have to use sand, seaweed and whatever rock they find to do something about the barnacle.
Something else that Macaque noticed was the fact that Sun Wukong has been eerily quiet throughout their walk to the storage and to the back of the ship. He just slowly tied up the rope to the handle and kept his footing steady, but his eyes did wander back and forth to the water and the deck, and occasionally, it landed toward Macaque.
Macaque couldn’t help but sneer at him. “What? Cannot wait for me to shove you off the ship?” He asked, and didn't bother to hide his dark amusement. “I wouldn’t be too worried, you sure know how to swim, do you?”
Sun Wukong looked at him with concern in his golden eyes, but instead of saying anything, he quietly descended to the lower part of the ship, a brush on his hand and the other was latched tightly to the rope.
He was thinking, and probably considering all of his options.
Macaque would know it, he was prepared for Sun Wukong to fight back while he tried to push him off. He even brings a dagger on his side just in case.
What he was concerned about would be after he had managed to push off Sun Wukong and completely expose his siren self. What would happen then? He surely will call out to whoever is nearby to watch it, surely they will be convinced about Sun Wukong’s real identity.
The big problem would be as to how exactly they will defeat a siren in the middle of the ocean?
What he would be sure about is that Sun Wukong must have some weakness, one thing, anything. Something he could work on, and with more people available to be on the offense, he will be bound to figure something out.
Macaque takes his breath. After making sure that the rope was tied securely, he followed Sun Wukong to descend to the lower part of the ship and began brushing the side of the ship.
He will have to find a perfect timing. Since everything will be decided by it.
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Tossing the siren proved to be a more difficult scheme than anticipated.
Not only did Sun Wukong deliberately avoiding getting anywhere near him while scrubbing the ship clean, which actually defeat the whole purpose of him supposed to be there as ‘safety measurements’ since the guy admit he can’t fucking swim, it was also hard to make sure there is anyone nearby to quickly take a look once the guy fallen off and show his true self.
At this rate Macaque may just shove the guy and get rid of him. If he really can’t swim for some reason, stuck on his spell or whatever, that would actually be great on itself.
So he was super ready to just go with his rather impulsive trend.
But the ship was suddenly shifted, the waves from the other part of their ship shifted in a way that was strange. Both Macaque and Wukong accidentally bumped into each other and their rope tangled.
Someone cursed loudly somewhere else, Macaque secretly agreed with whoever that was. Something about a pack of big black fish kept bumping to their ship, treating it like some sort of game and the crew was quickly told to stir away and basically do something to get the fish to stop doing whatever it did.
It didn’t stop fast enough that not only did they bump the ship a few more times, but Macaque was completely tangled in the rope.
And Sun Wukong, with a look of surprise, was about to fall into the water.
Macaque forever cursed his own somewhat good reflection that his idiot hand decided to reach out to the fake golden monkey.
“-!”
They were locking eyes for a moment, twin golden eyes to his one singular somewhat also golden eye. The silence was loud, as Macaque tried to lose his grasp to the siren, but the other was fast to latch onto him.
“Hey! Get off!” Macaque shouted at him. But Sun Wukong ignored his complaint and began to pull him closer, using Macaque as his lifeline while the whatever black fish kept bumping to their ship and the sounds of crewmates yelling everywhere.
“Shi Hou-!” Oh, and there was Azure Lion checking on them.
“Oh? Looks like Macaque kept up his promise to help the other useless fool from drowning.” Peng pointed out, annoying as always.
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“Stop following me around!” Macaque was practically hissing at the siren that has been pestering him lately, which was a complete opposite of what usually happened. With Macaque being the one that was supposed to pester the siren to see whatever scheme he was onto.
“But… Hear me for a moment, Maca-“
“Don’t ever call my name.”
His voice slightly darkened, he grabbed the siren closer, slamming him to the nearest wooden wall.
“Captain Liu Er. Hear me out.” The aggravatingly, captivating, annoying little shit said. Completely ignoring his warning.
“What do you want?” Macaque asked him. Hand choking tighter, uncaring if the other died from it, if anything, Sun Wukong deserved it.
“Gee -eh. You killed a guy once and he will never shut up about it.” Despite having difficulty, Sun Wukong decided to say it anyway. Voice light, yet breathy due to their circumstance. His hand ever smoothly putting pressure on Macaque’s, the golden furred hand glistening in the sunlight, demanding attention, as well as mocking him for noticing too much of it. Everything about Sun Wukong always stood like a sore thumb.
(Yet his heart, beating in a false rhythm reminding him of his own death, still insist to said otherwise)
“Makes me wonder how you survived, after all the effort I took to make sure every single one of you drowned that day.”
Listening to Sun Wukong’s every comment just makes his blood boil, so Macaque throws the guy to the wall. Watch Sun Wukong fall to the floor slowly, yet his face is just as bright as always. Completely unbothered by the harsh treatment. If anything, he looked intrigued as he began to get right back up.
“I’m actually curious about how you survived that, as a fellow somewhat immortal, how about we stick together?”
“… Huh?” Macaque can’t believe what he heard.
But Sun Wukong insisted, he was so casually fixing his clothes, then looked back at Macaque with beaming face, “You help me drown this ship, now that we have reached the Eastern Ocean. And I will help you to reach Treasure Island.”
A siren, or more accurately, the siren that killed him, wanting to work together.
… Part of Macaque did realize that having this fishfolk, who obviously know the water better than anyone else, would most likely have a much better chance at knowing where Treasure Island is. So rather than circling around with a bunch of idiots, and quite possibly needing to get rid of them later so he can have all the treasure for himself.
But this is Sun Wukong that he was bargaining with. And he had lost his life once, after this obnoxious dumbass crossed him on that fateful night.
As if he was sensing Macaque’s unwillingness, Sun Wukong brought up a necklace from his pocket. He throws it to Macaque so fast that Macaque reacts immediately by catching it.
There was a compass attached to it, with an intricate sun design that looked very old.
“Don’t tell me…” Macaque looked at him, shocked in his eye.
Sun Wukong eagerly nodded, “Compass to the island!”
… it can’t be that easy now, can it?
“… Are you some sort of guardian of the island? How would you even have this?”
Did he really was drowned by the ancient monster that is supposed to guard the magical and filled to the brim with riches island?
… That would be very awkward to understand this late.
But to his surprise, Sun Wukong just scratched his cheek sheepishly. “Well, kind of? Not really?”
That brings just about enough skepticism in Macaque. “So you must lie then.”
Why would he need to keep drowning people anyway? From the look of this compass and their location, the island isn't even near them at all.
Sun Wukong seemingly deep in thought, one hand was raised to perform a thinking pose. Macaque annoyedly thought that it looked slightly cute, but he quickly choked the inner Macaque that had thought so and shove it back to where it belonged. Before he could complain some more and fixed his mind, Sun Wukong cut through his mind bubble with one short whistle.
“Huh?”
It was coming out of nowhere that Macaque didn’t know how to respond.
Sun Wukong, ignoring his confusion, then walked past Macaque to the side of the ship. He was looking left and right sneakily like he was checking if anyone was nearby. After he made sure there was no one, he whistled once more, a little bit louder this time.
Macaque raised one of his eyebrows.
He can’t believe he ever liked this fool.
What was Sun Wukong even thinking about?
Before he could voice his disdain some more, there was a splash in the water.
“Cloud Somersault!”
The golden monkey waves excitedly at something in the water. From where he called out, a giant dark figure emerged, with the head of a horse and body of a seal, its golden scales shining with the sunlight beaming toward it. It answered Sun Wukong’s overexcited chirps with a happy huff.
… It is a giant seahorse
“… What the-“
“Hey, no cursing to my beautiful Kelpie!”
The seahorse- Kelpie or whatever, sounds like it agreed with his master. Judging from the approving hum. Macaque found himself stuck in a staring contest with the sea creature, its deep dark eyes telling him nothing.
Sun Wukong seemingly found it intriguing, “I will let you ride my beautiful Kelpie if you work with me.”
Macaque pointed with a skeptical look.
There’s no fucking way Sun Wukong thinks he’s that easily convinced just by that alone.
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… Sometimes Macaque wonders if he’s perhaps an idiot.
Sun Wukong feet tiptoeing a little so he can properly bump his shoulder to Macaque, brightly chirping. “C’mon, partner in crime, let’s sink this ship tonight!”
There was a twinkle in Sun Wukong’s eyes as the moonlight casted onto those golden eyes. Macaque snorted unamused, not even hiding how he rolled his eyes with the silly nicknames.
“I helped you to buy some times, you drowned the whole ship with everyone in it. Then I got to ride on the Kelpie.” Macaque retold the plan. Sun Wukong looked at him funny, and delighted for that matter.
“I can’t believe you actually agreed!” He happily said, inching closer but Macaque pushed him back. Cursing his burning cheek that could not just stay calm in the presence of his… frenemy? Nemesis?
Homoerotic mortal enemy.
Macaque slapped his cheek silently.
“Whoa, what was that all about?” The siren raised both of his eyebrows, his confusion was clear. Macaque just ignored him. Sun Wukong had already quite used to his minimal response, however, so the fake golden monkey just giggled at him.
“I promised that I will get you to Treasure Island, Macaque!” He exclaimed. Cheerful and free. The stars glinting in the background like they were cheering for the golden siren. Macaque just looked at him, something else steered on his chest. Of a memory.
The full moon today was just as beautiful as that fateful night.
Macaque silently wondered where the ring he had prepared was lost, probably deep in the bottom of the ocean somewhere, cold and sad and completely forgotten.
Macaque sighed.
“Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” He said to no one in particular.
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Sun Wukong stood silently, alone on the deck, golden eyes stared at the ship. The waves below him were rising ever so slowly, the accumulation of the sea water slowly moving in the rhythm of Sun Wukong’s own breathing. As the time went, the ship was moving following the waves' own melody, making everything inside it move alongside with the now swayed ship.
There was finally commotion from the people inside, sounds of crewmates waking up and starting to realize something happening to the ship. The three leaders were quick to assess the situation and gave up orders. The bird, notably being as aggravating as ever, notices immediately that someone is doing all of this on purpose.
“You- traitor!” They pointed. All three leaders looked at Sun Wukong, who was controlling the waves; the golden siren didn't even try to hide his amusement. Smiling all cutely despite the raging seawater arose all over him.
Before The Eagle demon could reach him, Sun Wukong had already dived into the water, finally showing off his true form. Golden scales glinting from the light, with darkness of the water making him shine even more like treasures in the darkest sea.
“Siren-?!” Yellow Tusk exclaimed, looking at Azure that was too stunned to say anything.
Macaque took that as his cue to start using his own shadow power to restrain every single one of the crewmates, as well as Yellow Tusk and Azure Lion.
“You, traitor!” Peng shouted, already flying in the night sky, reading to plunge themselves to attack him.
Sun Wukong was quick to raise a tall wave to completely drown the ship. Macaque can feel himself sinking to the ocean, counting his time to check whether he did end up getting crossed a second time, or actually survive this.
The Kelpie was already softly bumping its nose to him.
Macaque did not even wait to get riding the honestly awesome creature, figuring that it wouldn’t be too hard.
“Show me what you got, sea horse!” There was perhaps too much excitement in his voice that he barely concealed. But Macaque didn't care. The seahorse to his credit was somewhat excited to show off its own capability and swim so fast Macaque can hear his own scream rivalling the drowning people behind him.
Eh, not his problem.
“May your soul find peace in the deepest part of the sea.”
Again, Macaque heard that same sentence spoken behind him. Sun Wukong had already successfully emerged the whole ship to the water body, leaving the people trying to keep themselves afloat.
There were shouts in panic and questions, and one of them in particular, was a tricked Azure Lion, while the bird tried so hard to pull the two of their comrades toward the nearest floating objects. But Azure was hellbend to get answers. Sun Wukong just looked at him, seemingly confused.
Macaque decided to stop watching and start looking ahead, where the Kelpie swam fastly and almost got him toppled over the incoming waves, it had the gall to snicker at him.
“Ha ha, funny.” He said dryly.
To his surprise, he heard a sweet chuckle coming from behind him.
“You like it?” Sun Wukong suddenly already beside the Kelpie, swimming just as fast and screaming just as excitedly.
Macaque brushes him off with a sneer, noting annoyedly in his mind that it didn’t feel as bitter as it should have been.
After a while, he finally admits. “Geez, fine. I guess this is amazing.”
Sun Wukong on his part did not comment further, just continued swimming away.
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It was just one of the nights where the full moon was up in the dark sky, only ever accompanied with the twinkling stars. The sky had been so clear that night almost as if the whole universe was aligned for one purpose.
Macaque, embarrassingly naive at that time, thought it was their way to give blessings to the first ever genuine wish he had after such a long time go without any.
His life had been busy chasing glimmers of gold and treasure, getting greedier by day, bulking away riches he could not ever spend in his lifetime alone. Perhaps that might be one of the reasons that an idea as ridiculous as settling down, living a quiet life with someone special, manages to cross his mind.
But even then he knew that the one he had been chasing, Sun Wukong, is never the one that would be satisfied with something as simple as settling down and living a quiet life.
Despite only meeting him for just a little over a month, stranded alone in the middle of the ocean with remnants of a ship and nothing else, Sun Wukong welcomed himself to Macaque’s pirate crew with a cheeky smile. His existence beamed like the sun, making Macaque feel warm just by his side. It felt like basking in sunlight. He laughed, and smiled, and made his way to his heart without Macaque even realizing it- then, every single thought he had revolved around the golden monkey.
Standing on the deck right now, completely unaware of what to come, was Sun Wukong. His golden curls waved with the gentle wind, and he was quick to notice Macaque’s arrival by the sound of his footsteps.
Wukong visibly brightened by his arrival. There was a small smile placed in his usually cheeky grinning face, it softened his feature into something more quiet.
Macaque could feel the pressure building up his chest, the ring on his pocket weighted drastically, “The moon is beautiful tonight.” It was dramatic, really, but Macaque was ready to make it work.
Wukong didn’t answer him, instead just looked at the vast ocean. Seemingly content to just watch how the stars and the moon reflected on it.
Something told him that the waves were eerily silent, despite the flow of it slowly raising, or how there were no birds roaming about. Or how Wukong just stands there watching it all happen like he knows something amidst, but chooses to not dwell on it- if anything, Wukong was embracing the incoming waves.
Macaque belatedly noticed he might be too blinded to care.
As he reached into his pocket, getting the box of personally picked golden gems covered in silver rings. Wukong looked at the shiny crystal on his hand, face bewildered and then he quickly pulled off one of his typical grins.
Macaque couldn’t help but think it was slightly more somber than usual.
“Ah, did you fall for me?”
The tone was light as always, and Macaque, despite having already been practicing his lines, found himself unable to give Wukong any replies.
Maybe it wasn’t meant to be since the start.
Because, before he even managed to utter a single word, Wukong had already decided his action. The waves answered his calls, accumulating the seawater into a giant display of power that quickly washed over the whole ship.
Macaque could not have reacted before his whole body was tossed by the impact, he could feel how he was slowly sinking, as well as everything he ever built. His ship, his riches, and his crews.
“May your soul find peace in the deepest part of the sea.”
Swimming away, with fins and tails glittering in gold as it basked in the moonlight, is Wukong. Now fully transformed to what looked like a siren.
Macaque's hand reached forward, moving trying his best to reach the siren that slipped away into the vast ocean, his mouth almost opened, giving the last bit of his breath away.
Love has melted and molded, the betrayal ignited an anger that could not be quenched by the amount of water in the sea. He cursed, and fighting his fate.
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He heard the calling of a woman. A witch.
“Six eared Macaque, I have a proposal for you.”
Clenching his fist, Macaque had agreed to forge a deal with the sea witch. His eyes as the payment, and Sun Wukong’s soul for his freedom from the witch’s own resurrection chain.
He will kill him.
Sun Wukong will pay.
(He had loved him)
(He still loves him)
He will search for the siren and bring his revenge even if it killed him again.