Chapter Text
Ever since he can remember, he was an orphan who had always lived in the lowest part of the city, a slum.
‘He’ was born with an ability.
He could hear the ‘music’ from other people’s hearts and could sing in response to those sounds. Maybe it’s because of this ability that a four-year-old child like him can be able to survive in that hell without being captured and sold by slave traders.
He doesn’t understand much. Did the other children not hear the evil songs from those slave traders? Why do they walk straight to them and get caught like that?
But he didn’t ask anyone.
He had only sung three times in his life. He felt singing was quite embarrassing since he had never seen anyone sing before.
Once for the sister. Who often gave food to him.
She is a kind person with an unfortunate fate.
Her husband is a drunken gambler. When he returned home, he would regularly beat her. Until he beat her to the point that she had a miscarriage.
The song from her heart sounded so painful that he couldn’t stand it.
That was the first time he sang a response. He raised his voice until the cries of a shattered heart were extinguished.
The next day, sister’s relatives who had just moved from another island suddenly came to see her without any notice.
After they saw her condition, her husband got beaten by her relatives for a whole day before being handed over to the Marine. Then they took their sister to start a new life in another city on this island.
He couldn’t resist his curiosity. So he went to scout out that city from time to time.
After a while, the kind-hearted sister has a new love interest.
This time, the husband was a diligent, gentle, and hardworking restaurant owner. After marrying this young man, she no longer had the remains of the sad, skinny woman that she used to be. She was bright and cheerful, like a whole different person.
The sister finally had a daughter in the spring of two years later.
He heard that after moving, the sister returned periodically to look for him in the same alley where he used to live. Still, by then, he had fled from the city because there were new leaders who only knew how to use force to exploit others in the slums.
He heard that the new leader used to be a pirate. But he got in trouble with people who shouldn’t messed with. So their pirate ship was attacked until the group split up and fled everywhere.
To be honest, He was secretly a little angry at the pirates who had broken up that group of the new leaders.
If that guy doesn’t stop being a pirate. He didn’t have to run away like this.
Those big pirates ... if He’s not mistaken, is it the Roger Pirates?
He remembers the name in his mind and determined that if he happened to meet them, he would quickly runaway.
The second time, he sang for the sea.
He fled continuously through cities and forests. Until he came across a deserted beach.
That was the first time since he could remember that he encountered the blue sea.
Sparkling foam danced on the sand, and a sweet sound surrounded him from every direction. It was a beautiful song that he had never heard before.
Although he had just seen it for the first time, he felt very familiar with these blue waves that stretched as far as the eye could see.
She, the sea, calls him out to dance together.
And he answered the call.
He stepped into the sea. And began to dance with the waves swirling around.
The water separated from the sea, floated up, and circled his body.
He let himself flow through the waves and sang in response to the sound of bubbles that rang in his ears.
When he regained consciousness, he found himself lying on the soft sand beneath the sea, his lower body covered with sparkling blue and indigo sequin scales.
He examined his own body. Then he found that the bright red nose that had made him get bullied all his life had disappeared.
His hair had grown longer, and now it hung around the tip of his tail.
He had never felt this freedom before.
After that, he spent most of his life under the deep blue sea.
He returned to the city where the kind-hearted sister was from time to time. After the sister had safely given birth to her daughter, he decided to stay permanently under the sea.
Life underwater is both comfortable and peaceful.
When he hears the song of the sea swaying in his ears all the time. He felt like he was a baby in his mother’s arms.
When hungry, he just had to pat the sand a few times, and The sea would pile up shrimp, shellfish, crabs, fish, or seaweed in front of him.
Every once in a while, giant fish would stop by to play with him, either.
These giant fish also have a song from their hearts.
But it is a song that makes him very sleepy after listening to it. It’s like the music that old uncles in the city like to listen to.
After he lived under the sea, there was nothing he had to do, so he scrubbed off the barnacles and algae on the big fish scales as a hobby.
Then, the giant uncles seemed to be stopping by more and more frequently.
Until he was completely fed up with scrubbing the barnacles and algae. He took himself to escape and stay on the beach for a while.
When he became a human again, his red nose and pair of legs, which he hadn’t seen for months, made him feel strangely unfamiliar.
It was here that he sang for the third time.
He meets a drunken uncle. Another (non-fish) person here.
This old man would come to sleep on the beach, cuddling a bottle of alcohol and getting drunk on the beach every few days.
When he went to look around, this uncle would say hello and offer him snacks in his pocket.
When he is drunk until he is satisfied. That uncle would get up and disappear into the forest and come back again in 2-3 days.
During that time, he didn’t go back to the sea at all. The sea told him through a song not to let anyone know that he had a tail, so he did what the sea said.
Then he stuck with that old man on the beach.
This uncle had the loudest and most exciting heartfelt song he had ever encountered. It is so funny to listen to
One day, that old man spoke up.
“Hey kid, why do I see you at the beach every time I come?”
He hasn’t talked to anyone for a long time. It took him a while to figure out how to say it.
“I … stay here.”
He saw that the mustache uncle still had a puzzled expression, so he added a few more words.
“Sea … home”
“Hahaha, is that so … well, The sea is my home too”.
Then, that old man was silent.
And suddenly, the song from that uncle’s heart changed from songs with bright and exciting melodies. Instead, it’s a song that strangely pierces the heart, as if... crying.
He gently caressed the old man’s head.
Mustache Uncle looked quite shocked. He was startled for a moment. Before allowing him to continue rubbing his head.
He recalled the last time he went to see the kind-hearted sister. When the little child in her arms cried. The kind-hearted sister would hug her, gently rock and sing to the child.
Soon, the child stopped crying.
So he began to sing.
This drunk uncle, even if he’s a little scary. But he gave him something to eat, talked with him, and didn’t chase him down like the people in the city.
Even though they’ve met a few times, he didn’t want this uncle to be sad.
But when he sang out, He felt like he couldn’t stop singing.
Something deep inside shouted to him. You have to sing more. Sing for longer! This is not enough to change this person’s fate.
So he kept singing. Scream until the whole world turns blackout.