Think of a City - Now Sea Here

What an incredible gift to catch up to the Think of a City rotation just in time for a new entry to be posted!  My thanks to go out to Devaki Neogi, John Reppion, and Leah Moore for providing the present - and for doing it with such panache with the wonderful 054.  I love the old-school style and am pleasantly overwhelmed with all the moving pieces that have been worked into this delightful piece.

1 - A horrible sea monster is viciously attacking a pirate ship.  The buccaneers are desperately trying to fight it off, firing canons, pistols, stabbing with their swords, but they're admittedly not doing too well.  The monster could possibly have a pirate in its grasp, about to swallow the poor man whole.

NO COPY

2 - Repeat panel, but everyone has stopped what they're doing - including the sea monster - in response to a shout from off-panel.  Everyone pauses and looks towards the source of the sound.

FISHMAN (off-panel): SCUTTLEBUTT!

3 - A fishman - kind of a mix between the creature from the black lagoon and an anthropomorphized fish - emerges from the water, looking cross.  He's positioned as if he's standing on a solid surface, his feet just below the waves.

FISHMAN: How many times do I have to tell you to stop pestering sailors?!

4 - The fishman turns to the confused sailors, offering his most sincere apologies.  The sea monster is wincing / backing off from the ship due to the fishman's words and actions.

FISHMAN: Really, I can't apologize enough.  He just gets so excited when he meets new people.

5 - From the pirates' perspective on the ship. looking out to the sea as the fishman drags the sea monster away (possibly by a leash, possibly by an ear or something similar).  The pirates look confused.
LETTERING NOTE: The fishman's words should fade away / shrink to denote his increasing distance.

FISHMAN (fading out): Honestly, I just can't believe...

6 - On the stunned pirates.  One of them pipes up.

PIRATE: If anyone asks, we killed it.