Vol. 1 SANPEIJIU

Sitting idly in the corner of a half-dry lake bed. Bo’s daydreams are interrupted by a splash.

“I guess I can finally stop thinking about what I’m going to eat tonight. He thought eagerly to himself.
“Should have enough to sell lat-“

Bo’s thoughts of happiness are quickly replaced with adrenaline and fear.
Murmurings and footsteps from a distance sent Bo’s fight or flight into action.
“You hear that?”
“Someone’s in the Daimyo’s waters”

Without making a sound Bo fled in the opposite direction of the rising sun into the cover of what was left of darkness.

Standing where he once lay peacefully, the samurai quickly said “Gida must hear of this” while handing his companion’s bait and fishing nets.
Angrily kicking a grass weaved basket into the dry lake bed and he began yelling into the forest
” We will find you! Whoever you are! No one steals from the Daimyo and lives!”

Still, within hearing distance, Bo weaves in and out of the forest “To think that, you have to be three weeks ahead of me” he laughed to himself.
“Took me two weeks to find these hunting grounds,” he thought to himself as he took a moment to breathe.
Like my father used to say “Our people are like fish out of water when we’re on land” he chuckled.

Bo felt totally out of his element any time he was made to run. Tired and irritated, he said to himself “Now swimming, that was effortless.”

Memories of him and his father swimming and hunting come to mind, attempting to gather himself
“Not now, come on Bo get it together. We’ll rest when our people are avenged and we can’t do that until we get stronger.” Dusting off his family crest “They only respect strength.”

Standing tall Bo continues his journey. Just ahead, just out of the forest into a clearing where the road starts to begin again, he notices a bounty board.

“What could you have done to be worth so much my friend. 300 Ryo for your head and nearby possessions, something’s not right. I killed monsters who did everything imaginable and they never fetched this high of a price” he says to himself as he stuff’s the bounty into his kimono.

“No turning back. Taking on any challenge ahead of me” he hesitantly says to himself out loud and not believing he can. He sets out for Dochi.

*Time skip*

Swaggering through the front door and let the evening breeze in behind him. Bo arrives in an inn just outside the outpost city of Dochi.

Observing the small leaking inn, Bo searches for a wet area. He notices the perfect table to keep his back to the wall, adjacent to the kitchen, and under the steps leading to the second floor is an open table.
Bo settles in the farthest corner and unloads his gear.

“Two ramen, sweet tea, water, and a rag” he calls out to the waiter.

An old man slowly raises to his feet from the woodstove adding more kindling to his fire, fetches the water and rag.

As he adjusts his kimono and wet suit revealing his scaly body he notices he’s being watched by a group of drunken men. “It’s the same everywhere,” he thought to himself. “Thanks, Pops.” Rinsing his back and chest. “I needed this, felt my body drying out.”
Never raising his head, the old man bows and accepts the thanks without speaking.

Still hydrating his chest and back. He eyes the waitress
“Then again maybe it’s not the same,” he thought to himself when the beautiful waitress arrived with his ramen and sweet tea.

“Ahhhh that smells great!”

Bo drops the rag in the water and discreetly but quickly zips up his wetsuit and grabs his bowl.

Observing Bo’s webbed hands the waiter says “You don’t have to be shy about your skin.”

Slightly raising her kimono and tucking it in exposing her thigh “Some of us are marked at birth too” revealing tribal tattoos along her lower thigh and you can imagine it covers the rest of her light brown body.

While lusting over her beauty and untraditional short hair Bo quickly asks “what’s your name.”
Noticing his looks she shyly answers “Firi”
“Well, Firi I think others would prefer to see your tattoos than my scales.”

She blushes
Extending his long arms to take her hand he clumsy dips his light green kimono into his ramen
“I’m Bo.”

Cleaning his sleeve “Not too many Ispe around here. I don’t know about yours but my father always told me it’s safer to be amongst your people.”

Pulling down her kimono
“Since I can remember I lived here. My father tells me some of my people are held back East. But never talks about home or the cleansing. Once they got us down to a certain number they left us alone my father said.”

Stuffing his face Bo stammers
“My people also had the same result. But we sure made them pay. Fighting age males were slaughtered and the little ones were forced to fish farm because of our abilities. But I’ll make them pay for what they did.”

Finishing the last gulp of tea.
“I’m looking for the monster I’ve been hearing about. The rumors are what brought me here. I came to get the bounty.”

“A lot of hunters and ronin looking for a quick 300 Ryo never come back. They say it’s the god Ebisu. They also say it’s the ghost of a samurai who waits for a warrior to put him to rest. Whatever the rumors are the Daimyo keeps upping the bounty after each failed attempt.”

Clearing the table Firi was unsure to tell him but liking the boy she continued the conversation “You have to go to the Daimyo he is issuing out that bounty. He is just up the–“

She is then cut off by a tall ogre of a man with green eyes. He watched the interaction long enough and bellowed drunkenly from the other side of the inn.

“Serve that freak outback!”
His friends chime in “Yeah, though they were all extinct.”
“Fire, get over your ass over here and finish serving us!”

“Sorry, Gida. More sake for you and the family on the house.”

“What would please me if you didn’t allow a freak to bathe and eat in front of me”
he drunkenly slouched forward and his friends followed in laughter.

Gida eyeing Bo’s reactions to his insults grew more furious when he didn’t get the reaction he wanted. Without a glance of acknowledgment from Bo, he gestures to the waiter.

“Firi, thank your family for me, the food and the water were great. I don’t have any money but I can pay you for the fish I caught earlier” he says while unpacking.

Firi’s blushing face turns to a shock of horror.
“Are you crazy” she whispered hysterically
“Your head can roll for this. My head can, for even seeing it and not reporting it.”

Bo notices the hushed whispers and eyes from other occupants and quickly cuts her off from the lecture.

“Look just like you and many other people have gone without meat. The Shogun and the Daimyos only care about themselves. Only giving out hunting licenses to the best hunting grounds to the highest bidder. While we starve and fight over the few scarce farms and hunting grounds.”

She reluctantly takes the fish and discreetly puts it in her kimono.

“Thank you, I and my family will eat this tonight and we will think of you and pray to the gods.”

Packing his things Bo eyes the men on the other side of the room.

Leaning over just enough that only the two can hear and she can feel the warmth on his breath “Before I go, I want to know is there a market for my fish.”

Gathering herself from her innermost thoughts she shyly answers
“Ask around for Kite. He’s the only man willing to meet and purchase that.
But that’s a three-day journey on foot. He should be near an outpost in-between here and So say. You’re just a day behind, if you hurry now you can catch him.”

“Thank you I’ll head out now.”

A drunken shout from over Firi’s shoulder “I think I’ll walk you out.”
He reached over his training kanabō and grabbed his sake.

Meeting Bo at the entrance he put his arm over his shoulder, Gida spoke surprisingly sober “Where were you this morning.” Taking a sip while peaking at the back of his kimono “And why are you wearing a banned insignia.
You know, you people… I can never tell… so I have to ask. Are you born smelling like fish or is it cause we had the younglings do all our fishing?”

“And what youngling gave you that ugly sca-“

Squeezing tightly on Bo, “I’d watch my words.” Loosening his grip “Papers and release your gear to a search.” Finding nothing.
“I guess you people are just born smelling that way. Get out of here, I’ll be seeing you later.”

“Tango,” he said in a low growl returning to the entrance, from the dimly lit corner of the inn his family occupied he appeared.
“Follow that freak and report back to me. Do nothing else.”
Bowing, hiding his true intentions “Yes Gida-same.”

Returning to his favorite corner of the inn with the view of every occupant, he eyed the girl he and many others sought after, the young Ispe.

Finally turning around, Firi met a fiery gaze.

“More sake Gida?”

The ogre stood up unfolding his arms exposing the Hachiman tattoo on his chest and some weird scars on each side of his torso, striking Firi across the face.

“What is that smell”

Firi flanked all sides.
Smirking and leaning in Firi’s face sniffing her chest, a member of Gida’s gang snarls “You don’t think fish boy there stunk up the place.” While pointing at where Bo just sat moments ago.

Grabbing at Gida’s strong arms and gasping for air Firi chokes out “N-N-Nothing”

Gida drops her from his grasp
“I can’t hear you” he growled.

“Hey, Gida, I don’t think she thinks we would have smelled i,t,” he said with a wide grin.

“Hey pops, are you going to allow your child to steal from your Lord ?” He growled

Firi’s father scurried from out the back of the kitchen and bowed.

“N-No, my father had nothing to do with this. It was my decision.” She said in a panicked voice

“As if we already didn’t need any reason to take your little pretty head or this dump. But you practically signed the deed.” He said with a laugh.

Pleading in a low elderly voice “Please Gida-sama let my little girl go. We caused no harm or disrespect. It was the boy Gida.”

Gida folded his arms back in his kimono and kicked the old man’s hands back “Is this how you plead after the disrespect of our Daimyo I witnessed” snickering in between his taunting.

“From the aroma of the fish from Daimyo Senpeijiru’s hunting grounds to you and your child serving that freak in my presence.” snarling loudly

“Now I don’t recall giving this business the right to serve, purchase or sell meat and fish.”

Firi’s Father crawled back to his feet and pulled at Fire to do the same.
“Please I beg of you.”
Slapping Firi on the back of her head and they begin begging in unison.
“Please I beg of you. Forgive us this once my Lord we always paid what was demanded of us to be here. “

Eyeing the damp old inn ceiling Gida picks at his beard.
“Not good enough” kick away their begging hands.

“Akuma, Iko grab her, and let’s go.” He hastens his men to action.
“Hey pops I’ll send someone over to handle the paperwork of both the girl” looking up and down at the doorway to her father’s inn
“And this place” he laughed on the way out.