"Friend? You can't be serious! He's a mershark, Akala! His kind doesn't care about us and he might like he's...gentler , but he's still a predator. Eventually, his true nature will show itself and not even you will be immune to his feral instincts! He's just..." Kai actually had no intelligent argument to counter her. He didn't know why Ha'aheo acted so peculiarly for his kind. He already knew that Ha'aheo was strong and if he wanted to hurt Akala, he could but he didn't. In spite of this, Kai didn't want to accept that Ha'aeho could be different.
"I doubt he was rescuing you so much as looking for an excuse to fight." Kai snorted. "They're just lucky he wasn't hungry."
"That's enough, Kai. " Manaka scolded the hunter with a frown of disproval on her weathered old features. "Ha'aheo has given you no reason to be so judgmental. He's a little...um. Different. " Well, that was one way of putting it, "But he means no harm. He's curious about us and you shouldn't discourage that with your negativity or else he really will become exactly what you seem to want to believe in."
Kai deflated, "Fine, but even if that's true...you can't tell them it's your fault! Ha'aheo can probably take care of himself!"
Manaka shook her head, "Against a handful of men , perhaps but if they've got more than one gun...even Ha'aheo is no match for that."
-
Returning to the ocean certainly refreshed Ha'aheo , but the bored and curious side of his nature got the better of him and he could not help himself. Every few moments he would pause and break the water's surface to look back over his shoulder at the island and towards the humans who kept getting smaller and smaller as he swam further away. However, as he noted the pirates lowering their boats and moving near to the Yor-icky (as he called them) , he paused and frowned . Ha'aheo did not know what pirates were, but he knew what they did and knew what they usually looked like . He considered what Akala told him about not needing to fight and his frown deepened. He thought she was strange in her thinking and wrong. And she seemed not to be the only one. It was all of these Yor-icky.
He shook his head and watched, from a distance, the pirates and villagers talking. He couldn't hear them from where he sat in the water so he had no idea it was he that they were after. As soon as the pirates moved away, Ha'aheo disappeared beneath the waves.
-
Later that evening , as the villagers sat around the community fire together, a figure approached. In the dark, it was difficult to make out little more than the man's silhouette . He was tall, powerfully built and he moved towards the fire on unsteady feet. Kai was up on his feet immediately with his spear in hand, " You're not taking anyone!"
"Kai! Wait!"
"Hrrrn. " The stranger grabbed the spear and ripped it from Kai's hands, snapping it in two . "NO! Bad! Bad, Kai! BAD!" Ha'aheo threw the broken weapon down on the sand. "Ha'aheo comes see Akala. "
The villagers all turned their eyes to Ha'aheo and then Akala.
Kai's expression dakened with anger and he pointed an accusing finger at the mershark, "Stupid shark! You scared the children!" Really, that was a lie!
Ha'aheo wrinkled his nose, " Hrrrn. Ha'aheo scary." He agreed with a nod of his head. Yes, he knew what this word meant! And he was quite pleased both by knowing and by what Kai called him. The shark considered this a handsome compliment.
"Anyway , she doesn't want to see you so get lost."
Ha'aheo nearly looked crestfallen, "Akala no see Ha'aheo? Ha'aheo come back." As if this should have been a reason enough. He tilted his head, " Kai say. Kai no Akala. Ha'ahao come see Akala ."
"Why don't you go see your pirate friends, huh? You know, the ones you ATE!" He poked the shark's chest and Ha'aheo pushed him away , snarling menacingly .
"NO TOUCH Ha'aheo!"
Kai tripped backwards and fell onto his rear in the sand. " You're the reason they're here! If you care about her then go over there and make them leave us alone!"
Ha'aheo seemed to understand this . Sort of. "Care? Not know word. " He wrinkled his nose. "Bad men come. No go. " It must have meant that they wanted something. "Ha'aheo think...no good. Take Akala-friend. Make Ha'aaheo alone. No want. " He decided. "Okay. Ha'aheo go."
"No! Don't go!" Hokuao jumped up from where he was sitting and ran over to the mershark. The boy being much smarter than Kai, knew better than to hug him , "I heard what they said! They mean to kill you!"
Ha'aheo tilted his head and wrinkled his expression curiously, "Kill? Kill make dead. Gwahahaha! No. Bad men weak. Ha'aheo strong. No die. " Ha'aheo's arrogance never faultered. The bad men did not scare him.
"You should be careful," Manka warned him , "those men have many firesticks. "
"Firesticks?" Ha'aheo flinched. Now, this he was afraid of. One firestick alone had almost defeated him. A flicker of doubt passed over his usually overconfident expression but he shook it away quickly, "No scared of firesticks."
He replied with stubborn haughtiness.
