Rogues Gallery #18 - KING SHARK

My son.

“Yes, father. I can hear you.”

It is time.

“Time for what?”

For you to take up the place you have been destined to have. To rid yourself of your current name, Nanaue. You must become more than what you are. And don’t let anything stand in your way. You are a shark-man. And as a shark-man, you are at the top of the evolutionary food chain. But you are also even more special. You are the son of a god…you know what you must do.

“Yes, father.”

If you are to truly embrace what you must become, you must abide by this promise, now and always.

“I’m listening, my father.”

Never lower yourself to any inferior species. Ever.

* * * *

Nanaue looked out into the dark ocean surrounding where he floated. Rows of caves were stacked against the rocky walls surrounding the area and humanoid sharks were swimming in and out of their caves, bringing in parts of different types of prey; fish and humans alike. Trails of crimson water were following the shredded corpses and limbs to the shark-men’s homes.

Nanaue’s lips curled, the sweet smell of blood tickling his senses.

Lunch. The best time of the day.

“There’s been another attack! There’s been another attack!”

Nanaue’s attention fell upon a great muscular shark-man, who towered above the rest with his height. His large toothless mouth was seen clearly as he shouted, shoving past the other shark-men and darting through the water hurriedly towardNanaue.

“Sir, there’s been another attack! Ewalun never returned from gathering food. I went to go find him but all I found were pieces of him; just like what happened to Illiau.” The whale-shark-man said.

Nanaue’s eyes flared with sudden aggressiveness and he walked from where he was standing on the undersea cliff outside of his cave and into his home.

“Rhin, with me.” Nanaue walked over to the wall of the cave where a long and jagged sword made of bone lay. He picked it up with his clawed hands and held it high in front of him. “We’ll put an end to this before it can begin.”

Nanaue and Rhin drifted out of the cave and gently through the water where a group of shark-men floated, waiting for orders. One in particular, a tiger-shark-man with tan skin, stared atNanaue’s face, his bloodshot eyes filled with excitement.

“Karshon, you’ll be coming with us.” Nanaue pointed his sword at the tan skinned shark-man who nodded. “Oharu, Kunaha, and Yorin; you are all coming too. We need to find out who is killing our fellow tribesman and punish them for their crimes. Their blood will be repaid in full.”

* * * *

Four shadows were floating above a vast field of coral reefs and barnacles, oxygen tanks strapped firmly to their backs. The parents of the young boy looking at a clown fish, swam closely by him, looking at the reefs with immense fascination. Their tour guide, a rather experienced diver, monitored them cautiously. This was their first sea dive so it was his duty to make sure everything went well.

And so far everything was.

So far.

The tour guide felt a strange hiss and the water behind him swayed violently for a second but then immediately calmed. He looked around suspiciously only to find a few small fish passing by. He turned his attention back to the family who continued to observe the reefs. Suddenly, the tour guide felt a strong force tug him backward, followed by a great rush of pain and then red.

The mother was still taken aback by how hypnotizing the ocean floor was. So many small fish roamed around it, going about their business in the beautiful blue water. The mother’s eyes reflected this indigo light and she couldn’t help but get a warm feeling from the ocean. Then everything changed.

The water in front of her began to turn red.

The mother’s shrill scream rang through the water, bubbles erupting from her diving mask. The father and son turned around from where they floated to find the mother swimming up toward the surface, away from the booted severed foot of their tour guide, a bloody trail drifting downward. A short distance away a group of shadows swam in place ominously. The mother was already up toward the surface and the silhouettes in the dark water were advancing on the man and boy.Nanaue led the group of shark-men, his bone sword tightly grasped in one hand and the tour guide’s mangled body in the other.

“These surface dwellers are mine.” Nanaue said, darting forward through the water.

The father and boy were pedaling away but it was only seconds later that the great white-shark-man was upon them. His jagged blade came crashing down but before it could meet its target, an orange and green streak collided intoNanaue, kicking him back from the divers.

Nanaue recoiled backward but regained his balance, glaring intensely at the object that had attacked him which was now floating in place in front of the divers. A young man with golden locks of hair, a clean-shaven face, and clad in an orange scale-mail shirt and green pants hovered in the water, his pale eyes fixed on Nanaue.

“I’m still new to this whole world but I know murdering sea divers isn’t exactly legal.”

“Legal to whom, Atlantean? To your kings? These surface dwellers are in our territory.”

“Your territory?” The young man let out a bit of a laugh. “We’re only a short distance beneath what the surface calls Hawaii. Not exactly your territory.”

“There have been killings of my people recently and I believe these surface dwellers are involved. Now stand aside so we may enact our vengeance.”

“Do you really believe these divers are involved? Honestly, it seems you are merely looking for a scapegoat to justify your hostility.”

Nanaue’s jaw tightened and he swam forward a bit, coming closer to the young Atlantean. The tiger-shark-man, Karshon sprang forward violently.

“I’ll tear those humans’ flesh from their bones!” He hissed.

Karshon was flung back to the group by Nanaue’s powerful grip. Nanaue’s bead-like eyes leered at his overzealous follower who still gazed over at the divers hungrily. Nanaue’s attention returned to the confident young man in front of him.

“You dare challenge the word of a king?”

“You’re a king? Looks to me that you’re nothing more than just the ringleader for a pack of wild dogs.”

“…what’s a dog…?” The mako-shark-man, Oharu whispered to his companion, Kunaha.

“What’s your name?” Nanaue asked, intrigued by this rebel of a man.

“Arthur Curry but lately, people have been calling me Orin.”

“Well then, Orin. I’m ordering you to stand aside now.”

“Sorry…can’t do that.”

Arthur turned around, his back to the shark-men, and told the father and son to swim up to the surface. Some of the group of shark-men looked at each other, waiting for some sort of signal to tell them what to do.Nanaue felt the hilt of his sword begin to crack under his clenched hand and he exploded through the water, flying at the unguarded Atlantean.

Arthur’s back remained turned with Nanaue’s raised sword only inches away. In a flash, Arthur was now facing Nanaue, his fist slicing through the water like a knife and smashing into the shark-man’s ribs. Nanaue let out a loud groan but swung his sword violently.

“You dare strike me, the son of the Shark God!?” Nanaue roared.

“…yeah.” The young Atlantean said calmly, easily avoiding the jagged blade.

“I forged this sword from the spine of a humpback whale! I’ll gladly rip out yours to make another!”

“No…you won’t.”

Arthur Curry ducked, allowing the bone sword pass over his head and then wrapped his arms around Nanaue’s waist, tackling him into a patch of seaweed. The group of shark-men, muttered and began to swim a little closer to the duel.

“No! Stay back! This fool is mine!” Nanaue said.

“Well then THEY are mine.” Karshon grinned, his rows of teeth glistening in the water.

His bloodshot eyes, were aiming up at the father and son who were pedaling up to the surface. Karshon began to shoot forward through the currents but his shoulder was held back by the powerful Rhin.

“No, Karshon!” The whale-shark-man said sternly.

Karshon let out a small hiss, looking up grudgingly at the escaping meat but felt the tight grip of Rhin’s fingers pressing into his shoulder blades. He glanced to his side at the two mako-shark-men, Kunaha and Oharu who also appeared annoyed by the surface dwellers’ departure.

“They’re already gone. Now enough of this.” Arthur’s fist smashed into Nanaue’s face and he grabbed his wrist, knocking the bone sword away. “Go back to your homes and I don’t want to see you going after anyone from the surface ever again. Is that clear,Nanaue?”

Nanaue opened his mouth wide and snapped at Arthur’s head but the hero nimbly avoided the attempted bite. He then proceeded to slam his foot down ontoNanaue’s gut, making him lose his senses for a moment. Nanaue’s vision was hazy but he watched as the orange and green clad figure disappeared into the darkness of the ocean.

Gone but not forgotten.

The seaweed around where he lay waved back and forth in the tides and Nanaue stared up blankly at the light glimmering from the surface above. Thoughts rushed into his skull. This defeat had been worse than the others. He had been shown up by a mereAtlantean, disgraced.

He was the son of a God. How was this possible?

He climbed back onto his feet and turned his attention to his followers who all looked at him, disappointment on some of their faces while others, like Karshon, didn’t even seem to be paying any attention at all.

“Our business is finished here. We’re going home. Now.”

Nanaue picked up his weapon, and swam past his fellow shark-men who hesitantly followed, though at a safe distance, worried that their leader would take out his frustration on them.Nanaue found himself feeling more isolated than ever as no one dared to speak on the way back to the village. He spent his trip back by replaying the entire meeting with thatAtlantean in his head over and over. Each word that that man had said had been an attack of its own. He neither feared or cared about the fact thatNanaue was the son of the Shark God. It didn’t even faze him at all.

Nanaue swore one thing though.

He would meet that Atlantean again someday.

And the outcome would be far different.

* * * *

“We are supposed to be the superior species of these oceans…yet I was defeated by one man. Now tell me, how is that possible?”

“I do not know, my lord.” Rhin said, trying to remain calm, well aware of Nanaue’s anger.

Despite Rhin being a whale-shark-man, which made him much larger than his leader, he knew full well that Nanaue could kill him with ease. Nanaue was a different type of warrior altogether. It was his determination and anger that fueled his strength.

“Perhaps the Atlantean had something to do with the murders of our tribesmen?” Rhin suggested.

“I doubt that. He was just a boy.” Nanaue twitched at the reminder of just who he had been beaten by. “I believe we’ll have to look closer to home to discover who caused the slaughters of our people.”

“You think a shark-man was the cause of the murders, my lord?”

“Yes. Perhaps that Atlantean was right in that I have been too blind to accept that our own species could have been involved. As much I don’t want to see it, those murders were far too violent for any surface dweller. You said that their limbs were torn off and shredded, correct?”

“Yes, my lord. But that could have been caused by any manner of sea creature-“

“Lord Nanaue! Lord Nanaue! Come quick!”

Nanaue and Rhin swam outside where they could see a group of shark-men gathering at the entrance of the cave of the shark-man, Yorun. Nanaue shoved his way through the crowd until he could peer into the blackness of the cave where lines of red water were swirling around. The line of scarlet blood led to a large chunk of bone and shark intestines.

Nanaue turned to the crowd of shark-men who all stared at him curiously. His black eyes scanned the front row of the mob. The last two murders had caused the whole tribe to gather butNanaue was surprised to find that three familiar faces were not in attendance. He craned his head to face Rhin who seemed to be reading his mind.

“Karshon’s not here.”

“And neither are Oharu and Kunaha.” Nanaue replied.

Without a word to any of the other shark-men, Nanaue and Rhin blasted off through the shifting tides of the ocean, a streak of bubbles left in their wake. They looked carefully around at their surroundings, hoping to find some sort of sign.

“I noticed something when you were fighting that Atlantean boy. Karshon was a bit crazed, almost rabid, attempting to go attack the divers. And it didn’t seem like it was to get revenge on whoever had murdered the others. It seemed like more of a…craving. Oharu and Kunaha also reacted in a similar way.” Rhin explained.

“And you didn’t tell me this, why, Rhin?”

“Well Karshon’s always been a bit aggressive but I never remembered him being so obsessed with feeding on other creatures…or at least, I never noticed it.”

Nanaue gazed at the vast depths of the ocean carefully.

“They couldn’t have gone too far. The attack was only discovered minutes ago.” Nanaue concluded.

“Agreed, if only we c-“

“No, brother! It’s mine!” The voice of Kunaha shouted from not too far away.

Nanaue and Rhin glanced at one another before darting in the direction of the sound. They remained cautious to drift in the shadows while descending toward a small patch of rock where Karshon and the two mako-shark-men brothers Kunaha and Oharu were feeding on the mangled corpse of Yorun. Karshon had already busied himself, biting off a chunk of Yorun’s severed arm.

“Quiet down you fools. I don’t want anyone interrupting my meal.”

“Too late.”

Nanaue and Rhin emerged from the darkness of the surrounding water, causing Kunaha and Oharu to almost choke on their large pieces of meat. Karshon remained unfazed and continued to chew on the arm, though his bloodshot hate-filled eyes were locked on Nanaue’s face.

“So now you know the big secret. Am I supposed to be scared?” Karshon said coldly.

“No. But you will face punishment for the murder of now three of our own tribesmen, our own species.”

Nanaue tried to hold back the rage that was welling up inside but knew it was beginning to leak through his expression.

“You always talk about how we are supposed to be the greatest species of the seas, but now you are angry with me when all I have done is embraced my species. As sharks, the species you say is the greatest, we should be able to do whatever we want. No restrictions.”

“Killing our own people is not what our species does.”

“And who are you to decide what are species does, Nanaue? Now if you’ll excuse me, I have to finish my dinner.” Karshon said.

Kunaha and Oharu looked nervously from their leader and then to Nanaue but then continued to eat.

“I’m warning you. Step away from Yorun-“

“You mean what’s left of him.” Karshon said with a laugh, smiling through blood stained teeth.

Nanaue, not in the mood for games, leaped at Karshon with a roar. The tiger-shark-man didn’t have even a second to react and felt the full force of Nanaue’s fingers grabbing onto his jaw and pinning him onto his back on the muddy ocean floor. Karshon glared up at his attacker with savage resentment but Nanaue held him down without a problem. Rhin quickly subdued Kunaha and Oharu as well.

“Let’s go home.” Nanaue said, taking one last look at the mauled corpse of Yorun.

* * * *

“Karshon, Kunaha, and Oharu. You were all once respected members of our tribe yet you have murdered members of our own species. If you have anything you wish to say, speak now.”

Karshon stared harshly at Nanaue, picking at his teeth.

“Well?” Nanaue asked.

All of the shark-men in the crowd watching waited patiently for a response but none of them expected the response that was given from Karshon. The tiger-shark-man had a feral grin pasted onto his face.

“I’m starving.”

Nanaue let out a small sigh and looked over at Rhin who gave a slight nod.

“You three are from this point forward exiled from our lands. Do as you wish but you are no longer affiliated with our tribe. Now, begone.”Nanaue proclaimed.

Rhin and a few other shark-men grabbed the criminals and swam them away and into the distance, escorting them out of their territory.Nanaue stood tall while the rest of the village watched his every move.

“As you all are well aware, my father is the Shark God, the very creator of our species. We have seen here today an act of mistrust and betrayal. This has been a terrible event that cost us the lives of three of our brethren but it has also opened up my eyes. I see now that if I am to make sure that our species remains at the top of the food chain I can no longer be the leader of just our tribe of shark-men. I must forge myself into something more, a symbol and protector of our great race.”

The shark-men all listened to the speech, a bit puzzled at first, but now they all seemed to be engrossed in each and every word. The powerful shark-man once known as Nanaue raised his bone sword high.

“I have come to the decision of ridding myself of my current name and replacing it with a name fit for the son of a God-- KING SHARK!”