A/N: Yet another G/t scenario I found intriguing enough to write about. (Literally spent the better half of a 7 hr car ride typing this up) It seems to me if there were giants in the world a water dwelling merman as big as a whale would be the most biologically believable. Plus it's just fun/neat as hell to consider. So here's a "fish story". Slight warning of naughty language and "vorish" themes.

"YOU thievin' son of a bitch!" Horatio bellowed when he pulled up his fishing nets only to discover they were practically empty.

Seconds before they were glimmering with the struggling flashes of trapped fish. In fact, it would've set Horatio up to quit for the day. But the powerful tug that keeled his boat almost on its side and the immense flash of white scales beneath the water left little doubt he'd been robbed by Big Blanco.

Horatio was an old, lifetime fisherman. He was a widower since his wife passed away ten years ago and he was over sixty. He had a bushy gray beard that covered most of his neck and face. He always wore a tired old rain slicker that probably should've been retired a decade ago and green waders with red suspenders. Horatio was old but strong, tempered by seasons of working on the sea. A fat cigar was usually stuck in his weathered old mouth, puffing like a coal train as he sat or worked. And his signature red beanie kept his balding head warm. If anyone needed to find Horatio, they could spot that loud red stocking cap miles away. His face, though bearded, was rough, wrinkled, and weathered from decades on the sea, like an old brown leather belt. He was as rough as he was crotchety; a salty old crab ready to pinch any who dared to harass him.

And today Big Blanco had hit a nerve.

Horatio kicked at his net hoisted up onto his modest fishing vessel in anger, shaking his fist at the sea, "You big white piece of shit! Go catch your own gods damned fish!"

"Grandpa? Was it Big Blanco? Where?" Horatio's grandson Jackson of nineteen appeared from under the helm cover.

Jackson had taken on the job of being a deckhand for his grandpa for three years of his life. He was a lean but strong young man with dark hair and brown eyes. In the three years he'd helped his grandpa he had only seen Big Blanco a couple times. It always excited the young man.

Horatio, not so much.

As if to mock the old man, the enormous white scales arched out of the water a few hundred yards away followed by the distinct flash of a tail bigger than Horatio's boat. It slapped the water with a mighty [WHAP!], sending a wave to rock Horatio's boat.

"Oh WOW! Look at that!" Jackson crowed, hanging on.

"Thievin' bastard!" Horatio cussed, chucking a random boot he'd hauled earlier out into the water.

Big Blanco was neither fish nor whale. He was a leviathan class merman well over one hundred fifty feet long with a pearlescent white scaled tail and light blue skin. His eyes were silvery to blue and would sometimes flash in the dark ocean. Bioluminescent lights covered his sides and fins in precise patterns so when he swam at night, he looked like some sort of alien spacecraft. Though he appeared to have long white hair, it was truly closer to the fluffy tentacles of a jellyfish or the tentacles of an anemone as it swirled about his human-like face. It was very rare to see the merman's face, but those who had claimed to see it described him as "the prettiest fish man" they'd ever seen.

Big Blanco was a legend to most in Horatio's village of Vestin, but a real one. Long ago he was thought to be a god of some sort but now he was more of a celebrity to be seen on the occasion by a lucky few. (Horatio didn't consider it lucky to see Big Blanco.)

Big Blanco was mostly peaceful and would loiter in the cove that bordered the village at different times of the year. (It was suspected he lived in the deep, dark ocean miles away.) But he had a habit of stealing the catches of the fisherman of Vestin or sometimes would play with the boats that crossed his path. He'd never sunk any, but he'd give the passengers and sailors a thrill when he pushed them around. But it was somewhat rare.

However, Horatio seemed to always be on his radar.

Other fisherman would be frustrated when the giant merman would steal their fish, but it was considered good luck to see Big Blanco. (Luck would come later...not at that moment.)

Horatio saw him as a curse.

The old fisherman grabbed a gaff that he kept for larger fish and banged the gunwale of his boat with it, "Get outta here and go bother someone else!"

The water went quiet, rolling normally as if nothing were amiss. Horatio puffed an ill-tempered cloud of smoke from his cigar and picked through the almost bare net for the six or so mackeral that Big Blanco left him. Thankfully the merman hadn't damaged his nets too badly this time. Sometimes he'd tear them up but most of the time he was clever enough to pull the net open just enough to suck all the fish out of it like a kid eating candies from a bag. Horatio had seen him do it twice in recent memory.

As he threw his meager catch into the cold box, his grandson was proclaiming his excitement.

"Oh wow! Wow! Did you see the size of that tail! It was HUGE!"

"Shut up and help get this net ready again." Horatio barked, not excited in the least. "Son of a bitch...stealing my fish..." he continued to grumble.

...

Several weeks later...

Fog had settled over the town of Vestin and beyond. It was so dense, not many dared to take their boats out for fear of getting lost or run into the rocks. Horatio decided to go out beach combing rather than risk his boat. Jackson went with him, eager to spend some leisure time with his grandpa.

Over the past few weeks, they hadn't seen Big Blanco and thus hadn't had his fish stolen from him. Although...it was odd. The enormous merman was usually around this time of year regularly. But Horatio wasn't going to complain. He had fish and the merman hadn't stolen them. It was good.

As he and Jackson walked along the rocky shore blanketed with white fog, a noise that sounded like a loud bubbling popping burst up ahead.

Both men stopped.

"What was that, Grandpa?" Jackson asked.

Horatio was sixty years old and he'd never heard such a strange sound. It sounded like bubbling water but sharper. Almost like...someone slapping a basketball repeatedly. It continued on and off and then a hollow groan shook them. When it stopped, the pair hesitated to keep going, but their curiosity was tugged. Together they made their way through the fog, only being able to see a few feet in front of them.

"Oof!" Jackson exclaimed, bumping into something wet and solid.

"What happened?" Horatio asked, coming in behind the young man.

Jackson blinked. The fog was white but so was whatever he'd bumped into. He reached out and exclaimed when he suddenly recognized the texture as fish scales...scales as big as his torso.

"OH! Oh my gosh! Grandpa! Look!" he pointed.

Horatio squinted then his bushy brows went up.

It was Big Blanco...beached.

Horatio had only seen glimpses of the gigantic merman, parts really; a tail, a flash of scales, a back fin. He'd never gotten a pure hard look at him, nor had he been able to take in the true size of the behemoth other than comparing him to his boat. (Which looked like a bath toy next to him.) But there he lay on the rocky beach, lolling with the unmerciful waves.

"It-it's Big Blanco!" Jackson exclaimed again, "Oh no...is...is he dead?"

Horatio walked to the right and slowly the white scales stopped and transformed into a finer scaled blue...a torso...a huge arm. Then he saw red lines carving through the blue skin. The old man reached out cautiously toward the cuts and felt the unmistakable hardness of fishing net deep in the wound. It had wound together into a tight nearly unbreakable snarl that bound the merman's arm to his body and pinned his caudal fins. Several more cuts and bruises patterned his body.

"Got yourself tangled in a fishing net... Huh! Thought you was too wily for that. Bastard." He commented with a rueful shake of his head.

Suddenly the loud popping, clicking noise split the air. It was almost too loud for both men to tolerate bare eared. A hissing noise and the huge body moved slightly.

"Well...you ain't dead." Horatio commented, moving onward toward Big Blanco's head.

He saw the long nearly translucent tendrils that formed the merman's "hair" first. It looked less impressive out of the water, much like a stranded jellyfish. And then he finally got a look at the merman's face. His neck was stretched out with his head on the ground. His face was indeed what others described it: "the prettiest blue fish man they'd ever seen". But it looked scrunched with pain.

Slowly, blearily, the merman's large eyes opened revealing their silvery color flecked with dark blues. They were almost human looking but not wholly. He stared at Horatio and then Jackson but almost in a dull way. He didn't act like he had much energy. Still, he pulled his thin lips back and bared sharp, almost shark-like teeth, hissing.

Jackson stepped back from the threat but Horatio just got mad, "Don't you show your teeth at ME, ya bastard! See what happens when you go fuckin' with our nets? Now they've caught you!" Horatio proclaimed.

The gigantic merman narrowed his eyes but hid his teeth.

Horatio almost had a smug satisfaction knowing Karma caught up with Big Blanco and his thievery. But then...he felt a little bad too. Despite him being the bane of his fishing, he was a magnificent being and seeing him beached made him look terrible...pitiable. Much like a mighty whale that ruled the ocean but was helpless to the crush of gravity on land.

Then Big Blanco made that popping noise again. This time the men could feel it pulsing against their bodies it was so loud. Horatio and Jackson cringed, covering their ears though it did little to help.

"Cut it out!" Horatio yelled.

The gill flaps behind the merman's strong jaw suddenly leaked blood, oozing down into a shallow pool beneath his neck. It was then they could see bluish green line cutting against his mouth too.

Horatio wondered exactly how Big Blanco was able to breath if he had gills. Perhaps he was like a walking catfish and could survive outside water for a time or had some sort of amphibious lungs? Either way, being out of the water didn't seem immediately lethal.

He assessed the giant merman with thinking eyes. Why was he bleeding from his gill flaps if he was tangled around the body? There weren't any strands cutting around his neck...just one going into his mouth. Then the old fisherman correlated the view. Big Blanco looked very much like a fish that swallowed a hook.

"Grandpa...we've got to help him." Jackson decided.

Horatio gave his grandson a look that said "seriously?".

At first the old man looked loathe to aid the giant merman. How many times had this son of a bitch left him with nothing but scraps for the day? How many times had he cost him a fortune in damaged fishing equipment?

"Grandpa..." the young man protested the expression.

With a heavy sigh on his cigar, Horatio threw off his rain slicker and grabbed out one of his pocket fishing knives which he always carried.

Jackson pulled out his too and went to start cutting the lines on Big Blanco's arms until his grandpa grabbed his jacket to stop him, "Don't...cut those just yet."

The young man gestured, "But Grandpa, he's tangled! We have to free him."

"Yeah...but he's got something wrong deeper inside that we've got to take care of first."

"What?"

Horatio gestured, "See that blood from the gill slats?"

"Y-yeah."

"Look like a gulped hook to you?" he asked.

Jackson blinked, "Well...kinda...but there isn't a hook anywhere that big!"

"Probably ain't a hook...but it's sharp. Gotta take care of that problem first. And it would be best if he couldn't move his arms while I do it."

"Wait...you're not suggesting..." Jackson looked horrified by what his grandpa was thinking.

Horatio didn't like the idea he had at all. But he'd taken thousands of hooks out of thousands of fish before. Just...never a "fish" big enough to swallow him whole.

"Let's see if he's smart enough to understand." Horatio sighed, approaching Big Blanco's face.

The bleary, silver eyes moved slightly with the old man's approach. His teeth showed slightly with warning.

Horatio was cursing himself. WHY? Why was he even thinking of doing this?! He honestly didn't want to die, devoured, and chewed up by Big Blanco. That would just be insult to injury.

"Ok...ok. Here's what's going to happen, Blanco. I'm going to cut that line in your mouth."

Slowly the fisherman pointed to the line in Big Blanco's mouth and tugged at the corner of his own mouth. The huge eyes stared at him. Then he pretended to cut some invisible line with the knife and relaxed the pull on his lip. He had no idea if the merman could understand. To his and everyone's knowledge, Big Blanco didn't speak. But he acted just as smart as any dolphin looking to score some fish.

Perhaps he'd understand?

He nearly fell backward on his butt when Big Blanco leaned in closer with his neck and put his mouth a mere foot from Horatio. A soft popping noise rattled his head.

With direct movements, Horatio cut through the heavy twisted line until it unraveled partially to reveal it too was net. But now the tension was lessened. Big Blanco's mouth moved slightly but he stayed still.

"Ok..."

Now the terrifyingly tricky part.

"Shit....you-you've got to open your mouth...and let me find whatever his in there making you bleed." He managed to say.

Slowly he opened his own mouth, pointed to himself, and pointed inside his mouth. His hand moved a bit to mimic "work" and he pretended to pull something out. The silvery eyes squinted. It almost looked like a confused look. Horatio repeated the gestures slowly.

Big Blanco made a threatening show of his teeth.

Horatio pointed and ranted, "Look... you think I WANT to go in there?! You'll probably eat me anyway! But I can guarantee NEITHER of us is going to survive if you try it, fucker!" he threw away his cigar stub, "So what's it gonna be, Blanco? I can walk away now and leave you for the gulls."

A long pause. The brain behind those silvery eyes was clearly thinking. Then the gigantic merman rested his cheek on the ground so his head was sideways. Slowly he parted his jaws and a chill ran down Horatio's old spine. The merman's teeth were a terrifying blend of shark and mammalian, sharp, serrated, and flesh tearing. His mouth was at least as big as a small bedroom. The gill slats at the back of his jaw were letting in the light, showing off the gape of his shark-like interior. His tongue was less human and more of a fleshy floor that led to the tight pink palate that shut off the throat.

Leading and then disappearing through that flesh door was the net line. Crimson was mixing with the saliva at the back.

"Satan's balls..." Horatio whispered, knowing he was officially going to die attempting this.

"Grandpa..." Jackson sounded how he felt.

He glanced at his grandson, "If this bastard eats me...slash around in his gill slats and let him bleed out like a tuna."

With cautious, ginger movements, Horatio stepped into the sideways mouth, trying to avoid every pointed tooth that threatened to shred him like paper. He shuffled toward the back of the merman's mouth. The flesh rippled slightly, threatening subtly to devour him. Then he bent down and gripped the bundle of netting. The wall of flesh that blocked Big Blanco's throat tightened in response. Horatio reached out and touched the flap and slowly tried to push it open to follow the path of the net. Though it felt spongy it also felt powerfully solid.

He pushed harder, "Come on..."

Gradually the flap responded to the push and opened like a living door, revealing the dark gape of the leviathan's throat. Horatio cringed, dreaded moving in any further but knew he had to find the net and whatever was stuck.

Thankfully, Big Blanco's sideways head position made it easier to look down the hatch and his opened gill slats allowed for light. Just inside the throat hatch in the dark, Horatio could see the net become a large snarling blob but what surprised him was there appeared to be hooks embedded into Blanco's throat wall. Blood was running down the pink walls.

A curse came out of Horatio. A stringer line of hooks had become entangled with a regular net, creating a deadly trap. Most likely the net and stringer were both lost by their owners but Big Blanco found them and tried to get himself a free meal but didn't anticipate the hooked lines. Then in his choking pain he got tangled and twisted in the rest of the net and couldn't get it out. It looked nasty.

Horatio sighed, actually feeling bad for him. He patted the fleshy bottom of Blanco's mouth next to him.

"Stupid bastard. You got yourself in a mess." He commented softly.

He reached for his belt and pulled out a pair of fishing pliers (he always carried a knife and fishing pliers.)

"Just hold still...I'll try to get these out."

He wasn't so sure he could, given the mess. The only good news was Big Blanco couldn't swallow him with that painful mess choking him even if he attempted to make him a snack.

He leaned down and pinched the closest hook and with a quick movement extracted it. Big Blanco's throat hatch reacted automatically to the pain and shut, squishing him from the shoulders up. Horatio kicked the fleshy wall with his boot.

"Damn it! Let go of me!" he cursed.

"Are you ok, Grandpa?" Jackson called in to him.

Mercifully, Blanco's throat hatch relaxed again and released Horatio. The old man shook himself, a bit flustered.

"Got a mess of hooks in here." He explained shortly. "Might take a bit to remove 'em all. You got any cork on you?"

"Cork?"

"Or something I can put these hook tips in once I pull them out?"

Jackson looked around and ran off. He returned with a chunk of soggy driftwood.

"This?"

Horatio reached out and took the piece. It would do to stick hooks into so they wouldn't get stuck elsewhere and make his job worse.

With determination, the old fisherman returned to the task. Some hooks weren't very deep and Big Blanco didn't react too much but a few made his mouth reflexively close with pain and Horatio found himself squeezed a number of instances by that muscular throat hatch. But for the most part he allowed the old man to tend to his problem. Honestly, Horatio thought he must be a lot more intelligent than most creatures if he wasn't panicking and was actually allowing him to perform the painful extractions. A whale or other wild animal would've never allowed such a thing to occur.

Finally, Horatio pulled the last hook and balled up the snarl of net under his arm. Big Blanco's whole throat was a bloody mess but everything seemed to relax the moment the last barb was pulled. Horatio backed out of the sharp toothed maw with the net ball and driftwood stabbed with more than a dozen hooks.

Big Blanco didn't eat him. A miracle.

He tossed the net aside and sat down, removing his soggy stocking cap before sitting on the ground, "There. Now you can cut those other nets loose."

Jackson nodded and jogged to the nearest entanglement to get to work. Horatio meanwhile needed a break. His old heart couldn't take the stress of that. Big Blanco cracked his jaw slightly and actually swallowed audibly. His silvery eyes closed, almost appearing relieved. The old fisherman shook his head. The last thing he ever thought he'd do is help Big Blanco, much less climb halfway down his throat to remove a bunch of hooks.

It was officially his greatest "fish story" ...now he could retire.

It took Jackson several long minutes before the last tight piece of netting was cut from Big Blanco's body. Feeling the tension release from his arm, the merman shifted and pulled the netting out of his cuts with hisses of pain. Jackson dashed away to give the giant plenty of room. Big Blanco seemed weakened but now that he was free the ocean was calling. Slowly, the massive being used his free arms to push himself up. His tail slapped the waves and he pushed himself backward off the beach and back into the water. Blood mixed with the foamy surf as he dragged himself through the shallows into deeper water. His tail pumped aggressively and before long he disappeared beneath the foggy waves.

It was an impressive sight.

Horatio stood up and patted his grandson on the shoulder, "I might come to regret this."

"Naw. It was the right thing to do." Jackson disagreed. "You're really brave, Grandpa."

Horatio found a new cigar in his rain slicker and grumbled, "Or really stupid...time will tell."

...

Four days later...

Ever since helping Big Blanco, Horatio hadn't seen the huge merman. He honestly wondered if he was recovering or died in the depths. It was hard to tell. Jackson was sorting through a few fish they'd caught in the net. Nothing great. The catch was pretty scant.

Suddenly, the water blistered only a few yards from the keel of the boat, startling the two men. Up through the disturbance an enormous head emerged followed by a blue torso, rising out of the water to tower over their boat. Water rained down on them from the looming leviathan.

Neither man moved.

Big Blanco made that same popping, clicking noise he'd made on the beach but it was much stronger now and accompanied by a whale-like warble. He dipped lower in the water, staring at the two men closely.

"Uh...hey?" Jackson greeted nervously.

Horatio gave the giant a grumpy look, "Damn it, Blanco! What? Look... we ain't caught shit for fish today so if you're looking to rob what we got then..."

Quite abruptly, Big Blanco opened his mouth and dropped three enormous tunas onto the deck. The whole boat listed harshly with their added weight.

"GEEZ!" Jackson startled and then marveled at the size of the fish flopping weakly.

Horatio gave an abrupt puff from his cigar. Just one tuna of that size was worth two day's catch!

He stared up at the huge merman who was staring back at him.

"Well...thanks." He mumbled begrudgingly.

To be honest it would take quite a few more tunas to make up for the other catches Big Blanco had stolen from him over the years. But...this gesture was clear enough: a thank you. Big Blanco warbled softly and ducked under the water.

Little did Horatio and Jackson realize that those tunas were merely the beginning of a lifelong partnership.