Unusual First Date

As far as crazy first dates went, this had to be Dawn’s worst first impression. However, he reasoned that more crime wouldn’t hurt his criminal record. Aqua didn’t have to discover that this yacht did not belong to him. He usually committed graver crimes like murder and money laundering, but he wasn’t against dining and dashing when the situation called for it. He was a mafia boss behaving like a ruffian, which was humiliating. However, pride won’t fill his stomach. Food did.

Together, they finished Aqua’s stash of snacks, and Dawn told her his plan.

“If you know any boats that don’t have people, we can go up there and take some of their food.”

Aqua knew what boats Dawn was talking about. She often dodged them from beneath the water, and sometimes, she would smell very delicious things coming from them. Occasionally, if she waited beneath them, the humans from those boats would throw food down into the water. She didn’t know how to get onto boats, but Dawn was a human. It might be possible after all.

“I’ll swim us over, but you have to go up and take some food for me. I don’t know how to get onto the boat.”

The mafia boss looked at the tail flopping excitedly and agreed. The mermaid had a rather childlike taste when it came to food. However, he could understand why she liked sweets. According to Aqua, mermaids often ate seaweed and fish. It wasn’t the most appealing diet, and Dawn did not consider jellyfish to be a good snack.

“I’ll get whatever I see, and you can choose. We’ll see if you can get onto the boat, so I can microwave something.”

Tilting her head to the side, Aqua blinked. That was a new word.

“Microwave?”

Getting into the cold water, Dawn shivered and hugged Aqua from behind as she swam to keep them both afloat.

“Yes, microwave. It’s a machine that humans made to make food warm. It tastes better when heated up. Cold food will upset the stomach.”

Aqua couldn’t relate. However, she was curious about it. She knew what warm was. It felt like the sun. Could food feel like the sun too? The curious mermaid wanted to know.

As they closed in on the pier, Aqua paused. She had no idea what to do now that they were near these boats. Should they wait a little longer? Many humans were on these boats with the lights on. She couldn’t afford to be seen by these people.

“What should we do?” she asked. “There are too many humans. All these boats are occupied.”

Undeterred, Dawn smirked.

“Leave it to me,” he reassured. “Find a boat with the least number of people on it. Five or less would be ideal.”

For the next half an hour, Aqua swam around with Dawn behind her, circling different boats to see if they were good boats to board. Dawn was very fussy and had many criteria. There must not be children or women, and the number of people had to be lesser than five. Most boats had women on them because they were ‘pleasure boats, ’ as Dawn explained. It made little sense to Aqua, but she continued swimming until they found a boat with only three men on it.

“This will do,” Dawn told Aqua. “Stay hidden under the water until I call for you.”

Letting go of his mermaid life buoy, the mafia boss swam over to the fishing yacht. The three men on board were buzzed and having a good time, but Dawn was here to ruin their evening.

Climbing onto the boat stealthily, the mafia boss studied the layout of the boat. There was a decent pantry with food and a small kitchen. The men had their rods cast into the sea while they docked slightly further from the pier in the distance. It was perfect. Nobody would look for them.

With a gun in his hand to threaten and scare the unsuspecting retired gentlemen, Dawn hid on the dock and tugged gently at one of the rods. The bell attached to the rod jingled, alerting the men of a potential catch.

“I’ll go get it,” a rugged elderly man who went to the gym regularly said. His two companions laughed and wished him luck on the catch while they continued smoking and chatting.

When the elderly man came close enough to Dawn, the mafia boss held his breath and waited until he was a few steps past the hiding spot to land a hard blow to the back of this man’s head. He made sure to control his strength as he did not want to commit unnecessary murder.

In two seconds, the man was knocked out. Dawn dragged him to the lower deck and tied him up with some ropes he found. It wasn’t very tight, so he could free himself after regaining consciousness in a few hours.

Using the same trick, Dawn tugged on the line and waited. The two men inside yelled at their friend, who was supposed to check on the rods but received no reply.

“Did that idiot fall overboard?” the smoking man chuckled.

Concerned, his friend offered to get out there and check on their comrade. The smoking man made no intention to get up, and Dawn thanked his lucky stars.

Waiting for his chance, Dawn knocked the second man out successfully and dragged the heavier man down to the lower deck to join his friend. There was enough rope for everyone.

With only one more man inside to lure out, Dawn hoped the same trick would work. People were too predictable. Dawn changed his strategy this time. The last man would likely be on guard with his two friends gone. He got above the door and waited for his chance after tugging the lines violently.

The sound of bells made the man inside wary. As Dawn suspected, he wasn’t a fool. Although he could not see what was going on inside, he watched the man’s shadow move and listened to what he did. Although there were no guns on this boat, they had a kitchen, and Dawn prepared to take down his first armed victim of the night.

The man came out of the cabin with a kitchen knife in his hand, panning left and right, but Dawn was prepared for this. He waited for the man to move out a little more so that he had space to drop down on him from above.

Thwack!

Even when armed with a cleaver, that man was no match for Dawn. However, he was the biggest of all three fishers, and the mafia boss was tired from dragging them to the lower deck. He tied them up nicely and checked the kitchen. These men had everything nicely stocked in the freezers and pantry. There was enough for him and Aqua to eat, and still leave plenty of leftovers for the men when they woke up.

More importantly, the mafia boss searched around for phones. He needed to contact his aide and inform him about Ricardo’s betrayal while laying low for a while. Thankfully, these men had mobile phones with reception as they were not too far out into the sea. 

The owner of the phone wasn’t very tech-savvy. They didn’t put a passcode, so Dawn quickly sent his aide a text to explain the situation before deleting traces of the message from the phone.

Then, he whistled and called for the mermaid from the deck. There was a life buoy on board, so he threw that down.

Aqua surfaced a few seconds later and looked at the orange loop floating in the water with questioning eyes.

“Grab onto it,” Dawn explained. “I’ll pull you up. Will you be alright out of water for a few hours?”

Grabbing onto the floating device, Aqua nodded and let Dawn hoist her onto the boat. The human was strong as he carried her up effortlessly. Were all humans like this? Maybe this man could fight a whale and win even if he swam slowly.

“I can stay out of water for a few hours. However, my tail will disappear when the sun comes up, so I need to take you back to the land before it.”

Unsure what Aqua was referring to, Dawn frowned. Then, he recalled what the mermaid had told him earlier about her ability to save lives three times before losing her tail forever. Feeling indebted to the mermaid who was now cursed to walk on land during the day because of him, Dawn thought for a while. He couldn’t ditch her after a meal. Without her tail, the mermaid would have trouble adapting to life in the water and on the land. It was probably better that she followed him, even if they had to be on the run for a while.

“Let’s eat first, then figure out what to do next,” he told her. “Do you eat meat? I found a variety of food. Pizza, maybe? Or maybe pasta. They’re food you can’t get from the sea.”

Thrilled with the options, Aqua let Dawn decide what was best. She had no idea what they were, but human food was often more delicious than merfolk diet.

Patting the pretty mermaid on the head, Dawn went into the kitchen and got to work, only to realise they both needed clothes. Maybe he would steal some clothes from these retired gentlemen and borrow their shower before they left. He had no idea how to operate a yacht, but it should not be too difficult.

First, food. He shouldn’t be keeping his date waiting for too long.