Ryusakana-noTomo: Friend of Dragon Fish

[Note: This is a sketch: please do not judge this too harshly as I have yet to release the actual novel. Enjoy this in the meantime however!]

[Whilst reading please listen to this music! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGtKxbu7vLI]

There was once a young warrior, a young samurai, who sought to make a name for himself. Born in a warring period of his country he knew the best chance to achieve immortal fame was to sell the services of his sword. This young and daring samurai went by the name of Tokugawa...

And so, before he became the great man of history, the founder of the greatest age of peace in his wartorn nation, he set out on his journey, on his way of the warrior. The first chapter on this journey began as follows...

There was a small hamlet, a collection of shacks and huts off the coast called The Little Fish Treasure. It was a quiet and peaceful village. For many generations the people lived relatively simple lives in harmony with nature. But as the name of the village implies, there was a great bounty to be had from the generous ocean. Indeed! So bountiful was the sea that there was more fish then waves off the beaches. Fishermen came in raking with them a harvest of fish worth a fortune. Soon some of the villagers grew outrageously wealthy, they used this wealth in turn to erect massive fishing fleets. The remaining fishermen of the village could not compete with their wealthier neighbors and so became their servants. With entire scores of men working under the direction of a few, the harvesting of fish became more vigorous and intense, fish was hauled in by the ton day after day. Life seemed blissfully prosperous for the village. However, it was then that misfortune struck!

One day the fishing vessels returned, but there were no fish to be seen, when the boats reached ashore, the villagers discovered all the fishermen had been brutally slain, torn to pieces! The masters of the fishing fleets pondered long and hard and then dismissed this striking incident, "Oh, it is only some stray pirates, though it is strange they would attack fishermen so ruthlessly, perhaps they have some crazed captain?"

With this as their justification, they calmed their followers and sent out more fishing fleets the next day, and by the evening again the vessels came back barren of fish and filled with the gruesome sight of dead mutilated fishermen. Three weeks passed and there seemed to be no end in sight for the nightmare that befell Little Fish Treasure. What's more all the rich men of Little Fish Treasure got wind of news from other fishing villages along the coast, they too were suffering from the same affliction! Now desperate, they armed their fishermen with all manner of weapons. Whether these were pirates or not, they had been challenged to battle! It was befitting that they answer.

It was decided that they would sally forth into the open sea at dawn. That night they celebrated with a great feast, fireworks, and many colorful displays of decadence, almost as if they had won the war. But it was not so...!

Late into the night, half of the drunken fishermen set off for their vessels, hoping to find someplace nice and quiet to rest. When the foolish fishermen fell asleep a great monstrous figure leapt out of the water, slashing and cutting all that lay before it! The boats gnawed, buckled, and snapped! Many a timber was torn to a thousand splintering pieces! ...From the shore the crowd merrymakers spotted the terrible scene and watched under torchlight with horrified helplessly, as their fathers, uncles, husbands, sons, and cousins were torn to pieces along with their boats.

As day broke, the shore of Little Fish Treasure was a devastated and nightmarish scene. Littered about were pieces of flesh, bones, and debris from the mangled vessels, the shore and surrounding water was dyed with a thick pool of red, it seemed that the blood would not wash away... The horrific scene terrified the once boastful villagers who exclaimed, "We are only fishermen! Not soldiers! How can we dare face such a monster of the sea?"

They refused to return to the remaining boats, not until their masters got them protection. And so they began to hire out the services of many ruffians, thieves, thugs, soldiers, and warriors from across the land to face the beast whilst the fishermen sought to percur their fish. But not one of those brave souls ever survived, nor did the fishermen, and in the end not one fish came to shore for all that effort. Many years passed in this fashion. It was then that on one day, the young warrior in rags bearing a single sword emerged from out of the thick of the woods, looking frail but fierce.

Immediately he presented himself before the elders of the village, "Noble Sirs, I am Tokugawa, and I am a warrior. I may not have the look of greatness, nor do I come of high and noble birth, but what I lack in credentials I more than make up for in spirit and in my prowess with the sword and the bow! Let me accompany your men out to sea tomorrow for I will rid you of this beast that plagues you! I do not need any of your gold. My payment need only be in food, a good bath, and my name borne with the honor of slaying the raging menace!"

The skeptical elders heard all this and replied, "Very well brave and foolish youth, we will give you what you asked. Go and test your strength, but we must warn you so many stronger, wiser, and nobler warriors than you have all tried and failed. We give you all these things you ask not because we believe in your empty promises, for greater men have vowed and failed, but because we hope that today, after so many years, some warrior, you perhaps, can buy us enough time to bring in one days harvest! Just one day's worth...! If you can do that, you shall certainly be known far and wide!"

"Worry not! I will certainly slay the beast! I am glad masters that you have given me this chance, despite the fact that you have uttered irrevocable insults upon me, I will proudly serve you till my mission is complete!", said the young and proud Tokugawa. He bowed and went on his way to fetch for himself, his promised meal and bath...