It's finally out! This piece right here is one of the reasons I was a bit inactive these last few months, along with getting through the semester. This fic is already completed, total of 12 chapters, and I'll be updating daily until completion.

There are many things Captain Ladybug was prepared for.

There was a lot she'd had to face at a young age after all.

Taken in and mentored by the infamous Captain Jagged Stone, he had trained her to be ready for the rough ocean waters that had consumed her life.

She had learned to swing on ropes around the mast, and could make any sort of tie or knot with the rough material. She had learned how to scale and climb around a ship, get around fast and stayed out of the way of the bustling crew.

She'd learned to fight with swords and knives. She'd learned to make her own smoke bombs, to make use of her environment to get around, to escape, to win. To pickpocket and steal people blind. She'd swam in the deepest waters with all sorts of creatures near her, from Jagged's frightening croc Fang to wild sharks stalking them for scraps.

She'd faced other pirates, sailors, and the navy.

She'd studied the lore and laws of the seas and was clever enough to know her way around land lovers, escaping those that sought the infamously lucky Captain Ladybug.

Ladybug would proudly declare that there was a lot that she was ready to face.

Hardly anything could unnerve her.

As it should be.

A pirate shouldn't be unnerved.

They should be creative and clever, always have a plan, always have a way around challenges. It was just her, Captain Ladybug, alone against the world. True friends were a rare treasure near impossible to find so for their own sake, a pirate had to always be ready to think for themselves.

Pirates could truly only trust themselves to watch their own backs.

And had to be capable of getting around difficulties.

Especially unplanned difficulties.

It'd been a long time since Ladybug had found herself stumped by the unexpected, but it was bound to happen at some point.

This seemed to be the day.

The sun was high, the clouds whiter than ivory, and the sky bluer than a sapphire. It was a very lovely day for a raid. The Chat Noir swerved and danced around his prey, the creak of Ladybug's ship almost sounding like a malicious cackle to the scrambling sailors, frightened by the large black ship and overwhelmed by the diving pirates.

Captain Ladybug, dressed in her infamous colors of red and black, was a startling sight to any she raced up to. In her youth, she was faster than these sailors were ready for, practically dancing around them, tripping them and snatching up their guns, knives, and crossbows. She had sailors slide into her crew, had them trapped, and had them roped. Almost half the crew was taken out through by her ambush.

She stopped for a moment, taking in the chaos, grinning to see that they were winning, not minding the angry hiss of the water as it sprayed at her back, or the blow of the wind rattling her dark hair and trying to tug her red and black hat off. With a good-natured smile, she grabbed her hat to secure it and started to look around.

This ship belonged to the king, one of the fanciest ships she'd ever seen in her young sailing life.

She could've sworn she saw that it was captained by a general, but who? D'Argencourt? Agreste? Raincomprix?

Ladybug was jostled out of her pondering when the ship suddenly lurched as a huge wave crashed into them. The pirate squeaked in surprise as the water pushed at her ankles, knocking her to the hard, slick floor and sliding her down with the tilt. She rolled with it, black gloves scrambling to catch something, fearful that she may be tossed off.

She barely heard the loud thud of something falling onto the floorboards as the ship tilted, creaked, and moaned. And the surrounding waves bellowed as they were jostled by the two ships.

She did feel it though when she slammed into what fell onto the floorboards.

And she certainly heard the growl that was emitted.

Ladybug jerked back, surprised.

A net.

It was a big net.

A full net.

Ladybug's blood went cold.

Tense green eyes glared back at her, shark-like teeth bared at her, and black finned ears set back tensely.

A mer.

There was a mer in the net.

With a gasp, Ladybug slid further away, tensing when the ship rocked again and slid her back closer to the trapped mer. She was very aware of his gaze locked on her, her own eyes locked on his frighteningly thin, inhuman pupils.

A mer, her mind repeated as a fearful whisper in her ear.

She came across a mer in the middle of her raid.

This was not good at all. And Ladybug can honestly say, she's not sure she's prepared for this.

Mers... mers were dangerous and unpredictable.

Even pirates, the terrors of the sea, dreaded any encounter they may have with a mer. You just never know with mers. All the tales and the stories of these lovely half human, half fish being warned people of that.

Mers were dangerous.

Mers were unlucky.

Mers were to be avoided at all costs.

They were the sea's reapers, harsh and relentless.

The most notorious tales were about temptation. Mers luring people to them, with their beauty, their voices, their treasures, their magic; some even went so far as to as to pretend to be helpless on a beach, grabbing any soft-hearted fool who came to help them. Those who fell for a mer's temptation were never seen again. Some say that those the mer took were taken to be grooms and brides; some say they were eaten. Some say that they were simply drowned for the mer's amusement or for some ancient war the human race had long forgotten, but mers themselves hadn't...

For sure, no one knew why mers were more than happy to kill humans unprovoked.

What was a certainty was that they were dangerous and to be avoided as much as possible.

Mers were reapers.

Mers were death.

And she just came across one.

She was here close to one, being slid back towards him as the ship tilted once more. Towards an angry, captured mer.

Why in the seven seas was there a captured mer on this ship?!

She's heard a wild tale once or twice about nobles that were willing to pay a lot of coin to have a pet mer, but she didn't think it was true! It was an insane idea and a suicidal mission! But it was clear before her eyes, a captured mer, tangled up in a net on a royal ship. This mer was to be a pet. It was done.

He hissed at her, bringing her back to reality. She hurried away when he lurched at her, claws scratching up the wood, his powerful tail slamming at the railing. She wildly looked him over, her heart skipping frightfully as she took him in, watching him struggle against the net.

Like all mer, he was beautiful. Breathtaking. His features were defined, his frame was lean but not too thin. His hair golden and wild, shimmering like a clean coin in the light. His eyes reminded her of a cat's eye gemstone, with thin black pupils to match. Thin pupils that thankfully broke any sort of spell his natural beauty might've wrapped her in, for humans didn't have eyes like those.

Nothing good had eyes like those.

And looking over the rest of him, Ladybug found herself even more unnerved.

This mer was odd.

Very odd.

The odd thing about him was his scales, his colors. Or more specifically: color.

It was common knowledge that mers take great pride in their coloration. Many brave and lucky were able to spy upon mers with their spyglass, observing them. They say mers would show off and compare the colors and patterns they have on their scales; they adored sunning just to see their scales shine. It was what made mers an envy on land. Alongside physical beauty, mers had the most beautiful scales with all sorts of colors and patterns.

Those foolish enough would brave coming near a mer, just to gaze upon the beauty.

But this mer, his scales were black. Blacker than the night.

A mer with black scales was… uncommon.

No one, on land that is, quite knew what it meant for a mer to have black scales, but most swore that it had to be a bad omen of sorts.

Mer had vibrant, colorful scales. It was a fact of life.

Black scales were… unnerving. Strange. Unorthodoxed.

Some swear that even other mers avoided those that had black scales, that they'll even attack those dark scaled mer.

And she just came across a black scaled mer…

She jumped when the tip of the tail swatted her boot.

Captain Ladybug grimaced, sending a wild look around her, her crew were fighting off a bunch of sailors. She saw who had to be Captain Raincomprix shouting desperate orders, trying to find some semblance of control in this. Her ship, Chat Noir skimmed near, a dark ghost stalking its prey, waiting for her return.

Raincomprix didn't notice her near the mer, no doubt a being he'd captured, a being he intended to present to the king or whoever stupidly desired a mer. With how hard and dangerous they were to catch, any mer would do, even a black scaled one.

Ladybug turned back to the mer.

He was still, body heaving from exhaustion and slumped heavily on the floorboards, the net wrapped around him like a constraining blanket. She could even see it pressed against the gills under his arms, uncomfortably rubbing against the soft flesh with every breath he took. Ladybug winced, heart going out to the being.

He was staring at her, then sparing fast glances to the chaos around them, very clearly scared and unable to escape with the net tangled around him. Despite it, she could see him tense, his muscles rippling, ready to fight, to slash at whoever came near him.

He was still a fighter. Even trapped, and out of his element, he was ready to fight.

"Karma's a strange shark," Captain Jagged had once told her when she was so much smaller, rushing to keep up with the towering pirate and only half listening to his strange proverbs. "It may leave you alone and leave a current for you to ride home, or it may turn around and bite you in the ass."

Karma was unpredictable, specifically for pirates.

A good doesn't secure another good.

Doing this may not save her from bad luck, from having the mer go after her too.

It may be best over all to just let the mer be.

They were a capable race. A bit clumsy and challenged on land, but no less dangerous. Even on a land, a mer could easily kill someone. Could easily kill a lot. She heard they were even able to take on human appearances, using that to trick their prey.

Ladybug should leave this alone, leave this to the sailors to deal with. They took the mer from the sea, they had to pay the price, whatever it may be. She needed to get back in on the attack, help with this raid, grab what they need and go. Even more so with a mer here. They needed to get away. To move on. Leave this be. This, this wasn't any of her business, and a mer certainly wasn't a treasure she wanted. He was far more likely to be her end.

And yet, she didn't move to leave him. She just sat crouched, gazing at him.

He kept equally stiff, his green eyes now locked on her, suspicious of what the small pirate would do.

Making a whimsy decision and mentally berating this choice, she braved the mer, drawing near him. She flinched when he sent her another hiss, this one much deeper and angrier.

He did not want her close.

And yet she crouched beside him, sitting close enough that he could easily slam his tail into her, he could break her arm in a single blow and crack her ribs.

He could even stab her with his spiny fins.

He could curl around and sink his teeth into her, with a bite that could rival a shark.

Despite these dangers, she took out her knife and started to cut away at the net, easing the tangles away from the mer's long form.

So focused on this task, moving as quickly as possible before he attacked or the surrounding battle caught up and rushed to them, she was unaware of the surprised gaze of the mer watching her work, gradually freeing him. His pupils were now bigger, his fin ears perked up with interest. He could feel the net ease away, feel it become looser with every snap.

When he felt it was loose enough, he took his chance.

With a wiggle, he slid out of the net and surged forwards, sliding along the slick wood and unintentionally swatting the pirate back. His finned ear twitched at her grunt but he just ignored it, locked on escaping. Sinking his black claws into the wood, he pulled himself along, moving his body into a slight slither as he went for the railing.

With a grunt, he pulled himself up, pausing long enough to glance back.

The pirate was equally frozen, sky blue eyes locked on him, wary.

He peered at her, his arms trembling slightly from holding up his weight.

He jerked when there was a shout, seeing the man that had caught him, pointing to the mer in alarm.

The mer's ears went flat as he bared his fangs at the sailor, hissing.

He dove into the angry sea, leaving the battle on the ship alone.