Mo'o 'Ala- The Mighty Primate King

''This is a reiteration of the classic tale of Dragon Ball in a new light. The terrain of the world is now an archipelago, not dissimilar to that of Polynesia, Indonesia, and the Hawai'ian islands.''

Ra Makimaki, the Monkey King
A bright sun shone over a warm beach as a gentle breeze blew through the palm trees' leaves. Except for lush, tropical greenery, clear turquoise waters, and pale white sands, the strip of land was barren, all except for one boy. This boy was none of ordinary blessings. Despite being noticeably young, thin, and short, the boy held quite a bit of power, equal to that of ten ordinary men at just his young age. As attest to his marvels, the boy is now returning to his lone home on his lonely island with a feast fit for himself, an entire giant oyster, both larger and heavier than himself, which he lifts above his head with ease.

Even with his great strength, the boy was not average for another reason. He would never be able to hide amongst a crowd, for he possessed a fifth appendage, a long, black tail, quite like that of the howler monkeys seen quite often on the islands in the archipelago.

It was this boy that would someday become a savior of the entire world, and perhaps even more. For this boy, of no ordinary blessings, has gone down in myths and legends. For he is known by all who have heard of him as Ra Makimaki, the Monkey King.

As Ra continued, carrying his prize back to his small hale(1), he noticed a shift in the air. There was a presence, the feeling that he was being watched.

"Ho! Is anybody there?" Ra called out, looking behind him. He wasn't met with an answer, so cautiously, he continued back to his home. The hale was little more than a thatch hut made from pili grass and supported by a low wood-frame structure. Inside was only a mud floor and a small grass rug bearing most of Ra's possessions. On it were a few wood awls armed with serrated shark teeth, grass rope, a basalt pestle, a small wood 'Olo(2), and his greatest possession of all, a clear yellow stone with four red stars in it given to him by his late grandfather. Young Ra, after putting down his oyster, sat down cross-legged on the bare ground before the stone.

"Hey, Grandpa, I found a whole oyster today!" Ra said towards the stone, his head bent down and his eyes closed. Ever since the day he died, Ra spoke to the stone of his grandfather, believing there to be some connection in it. It was in these moments that the young boy, all alone, felt that his grandfather was still there, that he wasn't all alone.

This peace was soon cut abrupt, however. In the distance, towards the beach, a deafening sound broke the still silence that always blanketed the tiny island of Ra Makimaki. The water could be heard being chopped around as a chugging sound similar to thousands of mini explosions neared the beach.

"I-It was nice talking to you, Grandpa!" Ra exclaimed, grabbing the 'Olo and dashing out of the hut. Through the trees, the cause of the sound could not be seen, yet it all the same could be heard. Ra dashed through the trees, reaching incredible speeds as he dodge one palm trunk after another. He then broke the treeline and was running on soft white sands. The source of the cacophony was soon revealed, as a small, thin, sail-less boat zoomed towards the beach at impossible speeds.

"Wh-What kind of boat is that?!" exclaimed Ra, not believing his eyes. The sea-craft was faster than any canoe or outrigger that his grandfather had shown him, and this one didn't even have a sail. As the craft was rapidly speeding towards the beach, Ra received a better look at it. The boat was shiny and white, clearly not made of wood. It was manned by just one figure, a thin, weak-looking person, who wasn't even rowing the craft, much less be able to row at all. In seconds, the boat was at the shore. The figure that came out was incredibly thin for someone of their height, and a little weird looking. He was more curved, almost slender, with long hair. The figure wore weird clothing: a red cloth that came around their entire torso and arms, blue tough-looking leggings that were separated down the middle, and wood pads under their feet. He took off the wooden pads and rolled up the sleeves of the blue leggings to below his knees before hopping out of the strange boat. He then began wading towards the shore.

"Who are you?!" Ra called out, alarmed. He had not seen another person since his grandfather died. There was no answer. The figure merely took something out of a fold in their robe and looked at it as they continued through the surf.

Ra hesitated. In his entire life, the only person he had ever seen on the island was his grandpa. Other than that, save for the monthly trips they would take to a nearby village on another island via outrigger, Ra was completely deprived of interaction with other people. He had no idea what this stranger wanted, whether he came with good or bad intentions. His grandpa had taught Ra many things, though, and of those things was how to be a warrior. Even without a weapon, the child could fight. And fight he would, for if this person came to take his island, young Ra would do whatever it would take to defend his only home.

"Fine, if you won't talk, then I'll let fists do the talking!" Ra shouted, puffing out his chest. He summoned the courage and pride of the warrior, the way Grandpa had taught him, and lowered his stance, ready to charge. The intruder did not seem to notice and only walked forward, continuing to stare intently at whatever it was they brought out from their robes. Not waiting for a reply, though, Ra charged. The surf splashed around him as he ran faster than anyone could think possible towards this unknown person, foreign to his island. With his head ducked down and his eyes closed, Ra was blind to his surroundings. However, as he neared his target, Ra looked, expecting to see a villain ready to fight back. What he saw instead, however, shocked him. He stopped dead in his tracks, or tried to, and ended up slipping in the waist high warm waters that surrounded the coast of his island.

Before young Ra Makimaki was no highway man or foreign soldier, at least not any that matched what Ra could imagine what one looked like. The figure, both taller and slenderer than Ra, and presumably older, did not look like a man. He had no tattoos marking his passage into manhood, that even Ra had at such a young age. He bore none of the bulk that was to be expected of a wayfarer of the ocean; his arms looked to be as thin as Ra's tail. His body was curvier, with two lumps on his chest where a defined chest should be. It was weird to see how he covered his body in such weird garments, as if they were constricting around him. They looked stiff and hard, restricting movement. The figure's face had softer features, thinner eyebrows, kinder eyes, more pronounced lips. This man, or boy, was no warrior or pirate, at least not a successful one. Yet he came from such a weird boat, now that Ra had an even better look at it. It was too wide to be a canoe, and had no oars. Instead, it had a wheel mounted to the inside of the front and a black box at the end. It was made of no material that Ra had ever seen, with a white outside that shone brighter than the dead corals that washed up onto his beach. There was a band of some transparent substance in the front of it, as if a billion sand crystals were melded into one long, thin one. Yet the boat was not what stole Ra's breath, it was the man. This person perplexed the young child, he had never imagined a person could look like this.

"H-How did you do that?" a voice came from the figure. It was much higher, with a lighter tone, and a different accent, than that of Ra's. Yet even though he could hear the figure's words, it was an entire different thing to understand them, in the state that Ra was left in by the figure's mere voice.

"Hello? Can you understand me?" asked the figure again, a little less startled. The boy had appeared out of nowhere, after all.

"Wh-Who are you?" asked Ra, snapping out of his trance. His gaze had fixed upon the mounds on this man's chest, as if they were coconuts or smooth breadfruit.

"Oh, I-I'm Palema'i. I'm sorry to intrude, I thought this island was deserted," came the answer of this stranger.

"It's alright, besides me, no one lives here," replied Ra. Even then, he was still transfixed on just how different this person was.

"Really? How come you're all by yourself?" he asked.

"My grandpa once lived here with me, but he's dead now. I live here alone," said Ra. He felt that he could trust this person, and besides, this was the first person that Ra had spoken to in years. He savored every second of it.

"Oh, I'm sorry.." the figure replied, looking down.

"It's alright, but, I have a question," Ra said to this person.

"Yeah?"

"Why do you look so weird?"

"What do you mean?" asked the figure, shocked.

"You don't look like any person I've ever seen. You're much thinner, and you look softer, and bumpier," Ra told the figure. His isolation had deprived the young Ra of much refinery, including manners and basic social interaction.

"Well, obviously. That's because I'm a girl," replied the figure.

"Wait, you're a g-girl?!" exclaimed Ra. Being sheltered as a child had not only deprived the young boy of certain social skills, he also had never seen a member of the opposite gender before. He had, of course, heard of girls, yet he had never seen one.

"Well, duh. Wait, have you never seen a girl before?"

"No, the last time that I left this island was many years ago."

Polynesian / Indonesian Words
(1): Hale (hŏ-lā) : Hawai'ian for house or home, generally refers to the huts that they lived in prior to Western contact.

(2): 'Olo (ō-lō) : ancient Hawai'ian wood surfboard used in ceremonial and recreational practices reserved for the ali'i, or chiefs.