Fanfic / Son of the Western Sea

All myths are true. Outside the borders of Western Civilization lies the rest of the world. After the Second Olympian War, a restless Percy Jackson sails for the horizon, and never stops.

Son of the Western Sea is a Percy Jackson and the Olympians Alternate Universe Fic by Mac Ceallach, starting just after the ending of The Last Olympian. The Olympians choose to close the gates of Olympus in order to try and delay the upcoming war with Gaia while they recover from their battles with the Titans and Typhon. At the same time, Percy Jackson has a dream leading to the wreck of a ship in the Long Island Sound... and falls in love with it. After two years, having completed high school and repairing the ship, named the Firefly, Percy sets off on a voyage with Blackjack and a whistle to summon Mrs O'Leary. As it turns out, the gods of the other Pantheons also exist.

Five years after the end of the Second Olympian War, they decide to open up the gates and summon their mortal children in order to celebrate the anniversary of the war's end only to find that Percy Jackson is missing from the West... and in bed with the leader of a rival Pantheon.

Each chapter after the first is split into two parts: the first being Percy's journey around the world starting two years after the Second Olympian War, and the second being five years after the War after the events of Olympus reopening.

Can be found on AO3 and FF.net.

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Tropes contained in Son of the Western Sea:

• The Ace: Percy has Nigh-Invulnerability from the Styx and a Super Power Lottery of Combo Platter Powers, and is the most powerful demigod in Camp Half-Blood's history. Chiron has to remind him to let others prove themselves and stand back from situations that others can handle to prevent them being Overshadowed by Awesome.
• The Alcoholic: Clurichauns are drunken Irish fairies, though they prefer the term winery guardians, who tend to help themselves to it.
• All According to Plan: Rather thoroughly subverted by Percy. The Deities of Asia have a very detailed plan to avoid another war with the Olympians while maintaining their territory that centers around turning Percy into a Minor God of the Sea and adopting him into the Asian Pantheon. The Olympians go from absolutely furious about this to hysterically amused when they realize that they haven't yet asked Percy if he wants to become a god. Because who would turn down godhood?
• All Myths Are True: As stated by the synopsis. The Shinto Pantheon, Celestial Bureaucracy, and members of the Tuatha de Danaan have appeared. The Hindu Pantheon, the Egyptian gods, Norse Gods, the Koshchei, and the Dreaming, have all been confirmed as existing. Those are just the ones mentioned so far.
• Amicable Exes: Percy and Annabeth may have split up to follow their dreams, or not really gotten together, but they are still good friends and keep in touch.
• Androcles' Lion: The Firebird outright states that she would repay Percy's kindness after he releases her from his ropes and tells her she could take as many of his apples as she wanted, granting Percy one of her feathers and the ability to call on her by waving a feather if she is nearby. The only reason Percy had trapped her in the first place was because he was waiting on an important call and she kept trying to put him to sleep with her song. She also agrees to assist him hunting down Baba Yaga.
  The Firebird: You have been kind, traveler, and kindness must be repaid.
• Armor Is Useless: Pointedly averted. Even with the Mark of Achilles, Percy still wears armor in part to protect his mortal spot. At one point it stopped a yuki-onna from clawing his back.
• Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: Some effects of the sealing of Olympus include recessions, political gridlock, unchecked droughts and storms, and the The Twilight Saga movies.
• Baby Trap: Susanoo suggests that Amaterasu conceive a child to keep Percy with the Shinto gods, leading to his loyalty eventually flipping in order to defend his child. Both Apollo and Athena confirm that it would have worked, and caused the war..
• Back from the Dead:
  • Uke Mochi, Shinto goddess of food, was rescued by Percy as part of Amaterasu's deal to give Percy access to Japan. Considering gods sent to Yomi do not return...
  • Baba Yaga, AKA Granny Horror, has finally revived on her own after being slain by Prince Ivan centuries ago, and set about trying to recreate her herd of horses. Unfortunately, she captures Blackjack (who at that time was travelling around with the Black Sea herd of pegasi) off page leading Percy to team up with the Firebird to track her down.
• Bag of Holding: Manannan mac Lir has one, as per some of the myths about him.
• Battle Trophy: Monsters, regardless of mythology, tend to drop something after their deaths. This can range from things like the cloak of a banshee to parts of their body. Some specific examples include.
  • The Twrch Trwyth drops the magical hair implements he had as a human. Percy doesn't think much of them, but Manannan claims they are actually incredibly useful.
  • Blackjack calls dibs on the fangs, teeth and hooves left after the Chimera gets blown up. Percy gets the teeth made into a necklace for him.
  • The Calydonian Boar leaves behind its tusks and pelt once it has been slain. Percy is at a loss for what to do with them until Mrs. O'Leary claims the former as her chew toys and the latter as her new bed.
• The Beard: Rachel is not a lesbian, but due to her oath of chastity, she can appear as one to mundane high school students. She and Percy pretend to date to get around this.
• Berserk Button:
  • Do not admit to be travelling for the sake of it to Hercules, or reject immortality. He even went so far as to send Chrysaor after Percy, with the promise that he would be allowed to leave the Mediterranean.
  • The Little People do not like being thanked, especially after a deal as it implies that the deal is over at that the favour will be forgotten about.
  • Ryuujin warned Percy that Amaterasu does not like being reminded about World War 2, apparently she was humiliated by the outcome, and that there are several other topics that should also be avoided. The fact she has a Hair-Trigger Temper does not help.
• Being Watched: The gods can tell when they are being observed. When Athena is talking with Annabeth, she notes that only the Olympians are watching their conversations because the minor gods are not impudent enough to listen in on her.
• Big Brother Instinct: Percy's reaction to finding out his mother is pregnant is to worry about the risk to her and his unborn sister... then going out and slaughtering all the monsters in New York who don't learn to ignore his phone signal as protection.
• Blessed with Suck: The Bradan Feasa/Salmon of Knowledge has this, possessing all the knowledge in the world, including being able to see the prophecies of others but excluding exact knowledge of the future, but being unable to use it and being sought after to be eaten to gain that knowledge. When the Salmon tries to convince him that the prophecy means Percy would have to eat him to gain that knowledge Percy states that he wouldn't want all the knowledge in the world, because then what would be the point of traveling?
• Book Dumb: Subverted with Percy. Actually having help with schoolwork and not having to deal with the Olympians giving him quests which throw his life into chaos means that he was able to improve his grades. While he still struggles with English and History, he gets an A in Physics and a solid B in pre-calculus.
• Brick Joke: God and metaphysics from the Lightning Thief makes a reappearance.
• Cain and Abel: Kymopoleia and Percy are supposed to be this. Kym is the goddess of violent storms, called the shipwreker and Percy is the nascent god of sailing, whose domain is a ship. That creates quite a conflict of interest. Yet Kymopoleia is mostly amused by Percy's existence and godhood. At least for the short screentime she got it seemed that she just wanted some playful sibling rivalry. She is also the first god to figure out that Percy is a god.
• Cold Iron: Actually Blessed Iron, the Celtic equivalent of Celestial Bronze and Imperial Gold. Contrary to popular belief, normal iron doesn't work on fairies or Celtic monsters.
• Cool Boat: The Firefly, a Baltimore clipper Percy resurrected from the bottom of the ocean and restored. Fully modernised and redesigned with electricity, plumbing, rollout solar panels, internet, an entertainment system and a kitchen. It is also armed with eight twelve-pound cannons (originally 16) modified by Leo Valdez to automatically reload and use Greek Fire projectiles. Percy can control everything on the ship with his mind, including the cannons. Come five years after the end of the Second Olympian War, the sails are made from the shimmering skin of a single massive creature, a blessing of Tir Na Nog springs from the mast of the ship in the form of a silver branch that sprouts golden apples, and the traces of many other powers waft from the vessel "like spices [from] a marketplace".
• Crazy Jealous Guy: Non-romantic version, and overlapping with Clingy Jealous Girl — the Olympians of both genders throw a major hissy fit over the fact that Percy is connecting with other pantheons. Hestia initially eases their anger to some extent by pointing out that he still consistently sacrifices to Poseidon, and to some of the other Olympians once in a while, but their anger returns when Amaterasu refers to the Olympians as the "gods of his childhood" and states her pantheon's intention to offer him a place among them as a minor sea god and adopted son of Ryujin with control over an area of disputed territories. This especially enrages Zeus, who angrily declares that the Olympians will not release Percy to join another pantheon; after that meeting, and after Percy returns to the West, he starts getting regular visits from Olympians with orders for him to stay in the West and not enter another pantheon's territory. All this despite the fact that Percy himself, when he learns from Poseidon what the Shinto had in mind for him, says he'd have turned them down (and Apollo confirms he's being honest):
  Percy (to Poseidon): "No, you're my dad. If he'd asked me about it I'd have headed him off. Sorry."
• Crew of One: Percy's ship control abilities allow him to sail Firefly by himself using just his mind, and can even control multiple ships simultaneously whenever he actually feels the need. He is the god of sailing after all.
• Curbstomp Battle: Chrysaor absolutely demolishes Percy, even with the Mark of Achilles, disarming him and striking him in the throat within three seconds then completely outmatching him in the rest of their fight. It takes a surprise Greek Fire attack to kill him.
• Curse: Percy puts one on Chrysaor's crew of dolphin-men, cursing them to never step on a ship again.
• Dating What Daddy Hates: To say Poseidon isn't happy when he finds out his beloved mortal son is in a relationship with Amaterasu is an understatement. Not only is she a foreign goddess, she is the leader of a foreign pantheon who despises the Olympians and has a husband with a Hair-Trigger Temper who has killed gods for lesser transgressions. Poseidon isn't much happier when he learns Percy is in a relationship with Tsukuyomi (the aforementioned husband) as well.
• Deadpan Snarker: Tsukuyomi, when he chooses to speak during the meeting with the Olympians, provides biting commentary with a bland tone.
  "Yomi does not have the revolving-door policy of your underworld"
• Death of the Old Gods: Not every Pantheon has managed to survive the tests of time. Lir and Nuada have both Faded, and for the most part the Tuatha de Danann stay under the hills or in the Blessed Isles since the Olympians took over. The clurichaun states that it is even worse over in England where the Olympians were running around, with Robin Goodfellow not being heard from in centuries and possibly Fading entirely. The Berber gods of northern Africa are likewise mentioned to have mostly Faded, and the Mesopotamian gods have somehow been contained by a human society.
• Deity of Human Origin: There are several ways a mortal can become a god. An individual can be rewarded with godhood, such as Hercules and Guan Yu. Alternatively, an individual can already be a god despite being born mortal and eventually ascend of through their own power. Dionysus is an example of the latter type, as is Percy.
• Deliberate Values Dissonance: Rather inevitable since Percy is travelling around the world.
  • Visiting the Hesperides Garden's former emplacement leads him to meet a djinn who remembers it from this time. The genie is prompt to assure he never even tried to visit the Garden, not because it was dangerous but because several young women lived there and it wouldn't have been proper for another man not related to them to see them.
  • Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi don't see the situation between Amphitrite and Percy as a scorned spouse hurt by her husband's philandering, but as the main wife feeling threatened by a concubine's more brilliant offspring, as the Imperial Japan often has bloody harem politics.
  • Jason, being from the community of New Rome, is aghast at how little communal structure the Greeks have, and finds Percy, his closest counterpart among them, having just left instead of staying around to lead them to be a serious mark against Percy's character.
• Disease Bleach: Deep emotional shock mistakenly thinking that Percy intends to repudiate him as his father causes Poseidon's hair to turn completely white and him to age instantly, until the misunderstanding gets clarified.
• Divine Conflict: Mostly inter-Pantheon politics, however it mentioned in the past that after World War 2 the gods of Asia (Hindu, Shinto,etc) pushed the Olympians out of their countries after the European colonies gain independence. In Chapter 4 Ares and Athena confirm that Zeus's casual threat at the end of Chapter 2 almost triggered a new one between the West and Pantheons of Asia, Africa and the Pacific that would have resulted in World War III and would have dwarfed the impending war with Gaia. Guan Yu observes that every war god in the world felt it.
• Do Not Taunt Cthulhu: As much as Percy enjoys flipping them off, it is clear that he knows where the limits are and tends to err of the side of caution when he is not sure how they will react.
  Deep breath. Be polite to deities, for they are short-tempered and quick to transmogrify.
• Domain Holder:
  • The gods themselves, who can sense what is a happening within their spheres of influence. While they can leave their domains, they are stripped of most of their power. Zeus, Poseidon and Hades are noted to be the greatest gods of the West, but outside it they are almost human because the skies, seas and afterlife of Western Civilisation hold no meaning outside it. Domains that are more flexible, like philosophy, trade, music, inventions and war are more widespread and allow the gods to keep more of their power where they have influence. An example is Uke Mochi, Shinto goddess of food, who may only be moderately powerful but keeps the majority of her power in New York city due to the proliferation of Japanese food. Their power over the domains allow them to override the powers of others as long as their hold over the domain is stronger: Achelous, a minor river god, was able to nullify Percy's ability to control his river but was unable to stop his control of sea water.
  • Percy can control everything on the Firefly with his mind including the ropes, which he can use to lift himself or to capture people, and cannons. It won't even burn or be affected by fire unless he chooses to let it. He can also detect whenever someone or something is on the ship, has instinctive knowledge about it and summon it from great distances. Chapter 4 establishes that it extends to other ships. The similarity to the domains of the gods is not a coincidence.
• The Drifter: Percy is driven by relentless wanderlust, which is heavily implied to be caused by his status as the nascent god of exploration.
• Easily Forgiven: Averted. There is some tension between the loyalist demigods and those who served the Titans, even after Percy bargained for their being pardoned. Integrating them into Camp Half-Blood causes several arguments and requires Percy to mediate.
• Exact Words: Exploited. The Salmon of Knowledge will be reborn in a salmon that eats one hazelnut from each of the sacred trees growing around the pond. There's nothing stopping a person from picking the hazelnuts and feeding them to a captured fish themselves, and Manannan does exactly that when he needs information.
• Eye Scream:
  • The leader of the Wild Hunt jams his dagger into the Twrch Trwyth's eye, and Percy later kills it by driving a Blessed Iron boar spear through the same spot.
  • Alexios the Fifth, the Byzantine Emperor who was blinded in life before he was executed. As a lar he remains blind, with trailing tears of blood continuing to run down his face.
• Fantasy Contraception: Percy called in his favour from Inari for a form of this, he can only have children when he makes a specific offering to Inari. Poseidon states that there are ways around such curses, but does not elaborate on it.
• Fantasy Metals: Every Pantheon has access to their own. Apart from the Celestial Bronze, Imperial Gold and Stygian Iron of the Olympians, there is the Tuatha de Danann's Blessed Iron and Shinto Pantheon's Jewel Steel. The Celestial Bureaucracy, on the other hand, uses Heavenly Jade.
• Feed It a Bomb: Percy ends up killing the Chimera in Rome by taping a vial of Greek Fire to a javelin and tossing it from Blackjack's back down the Chimera's throat when it tries to breathe fire. Blackjack complains that he is going to lie about how it happened.
• Forgotten Fallen Friend: Averted. Percy still remembers Zoe... and is none too pleased to deal with Hercules. Especially when Hercules states he didn't remember her name.
• Full-Boar Action:
  • The Twrch Trwyth, a mythical boar the size of a truck that the Hunt ends up targeting on the Samhain.
  • The Calydonian Boar turns up in the foothills of Mount Olympus. While it is smaller than the Clazmonian Sow or the Erymanthian Boar it is still a giant boar the size of an elephant, and is faster that the Twrch Trwyth. It also shoots bolts of lightning from its mouth.
• Funny Background Event: Two take place during the five year celebration of Olympus.
  • An Apollo cabin jam session gone wrong is taking place in the background, apparently the celedons (warranty expired) showed up, resulting in Annabeth noting that guitar strings probably shouldn't be used that way. Nico eventually decides to interfere once a celestial choir starts begins to sing Shake it Off.
  • Eris is watching over the twin daughters of Nike playing twister.
• The Gadfly: Susano'o seems to greatly enjoy annoying his sister, with Apollo guessing that the entire reason he wore a suit when confronting the Olympians instead of formal Shinto court wear was to irritate her.
• Gate Guardian:
  • Manannan mac Lir is a variant, being the guardian of the Mists that protect the Blessed Isles and being able to grant access through them.
  • Meanwhile, Hercules is stuck guarding the Straits of Gibraltar.
• Gilded Cage: Percy's opinion on godhood, and why he would refuse if it was offered to him.
  Percy: Too many rules... can't stay with your kids, can't interfere with mortals, can't go where you want... I wouldn't have met you, or Ryujin, or Guan Yu, or Ganga... wouldn't have sailed any other oceans... I'd have been trapped.
• Halloween Episode: The time when the power the Celtic gods is at its greatest in the mortal world. It is also the time where the Mist is at its weakest, allowing mortals to see the Hunt. However, their minds will eventually attempt to rationalise it and they will not remember the truth.
• Have You Seen My God?: Almost directly after the end of the war Zeus ordered Olympus to be sealed and forbade the other Greek gods from watching their children in an attempt to prevent Gaia from waking up while regaining their power. This tactic only manages to slow her awakening by a few years. Annabeth was only allowed to go back and forward from Olympus due to Athena's influence, but is under oath not to discuss what was occurring.
• Heart Is an Awesome Power: The Shinto goddess sent as emissary in Olympus retains almost her entire power in spite of being far away from the Shinto seat of power. That's because Uke-Mochi's godly domain is food — and the United States really enjoy Japanese cooking such as ramen and sushi, with there being hundreds of shops selling the latter alone in New York.
• Hypocrite: Poseidon is outraged at his son's relationship with the gods Amaterasu and Tsukiyomi because Percy was about nineteen years old when the relationship started. Percy is quick to remind him that his mother, Sally Jackson was the same age when she got pregnant with Percy. Poseidon thinks to himself that because this is Percy, his son, it is different.
• If I Do Not Return: Played for humor in chapter 1, before Percy dives to see the ship that becomes the Firefly for the first time:
  Percy: If I'm not back in half an hour... just wait longer.
• If I Had a Nickel...: When Percy explains that Amaterasu "promised she'd avoid getting pregnant.", Poseidon responds with "If I had a drachma for every time I'd heard that..."
• I Gave My Word: For the Shinto Pantheon, a word of honor is as binding to them as an oath of the Styx is for the Olympians. Percy made Amaterasu give her word that no children would come of their relationship. Chapter 4 reveals she tried to break it in a desperate attempt to keep him. She failed.
• I Thought Everyone Could Do That: Percy assumes that his ship control powers are just part of the parcel of being a child of Poseidon. Both Poseidon and Athena refer to it as an unexpected power, as while sailors prayed to Poseidon it was usually in his role as a god of storms and he admits not being much of a sailor. Both put it down to just being an unusual quirk as a side effect of being the single most powerful demigod child Poseidon has ever fathered. After all, it isn't like the time a child of Zeus developed power over fruit...
• Inconvenient Summons: Inconvenient Iris Messaging. Panicking when they can't find Percy after 5 years of not communicating with the outside world the Olympians pour their power into scrying him, the mist shows a naked and sleeping Percy in bed with Amaterasu, obviously post-coital. She is not amused by this occurrence, and promptly blasts the message.
• Incredibly Inconvenient Deity: Percy's opinion of the Olympians. It is pretty telling that his thoughts on the Olympians sealing the gates of Olympus are that he missed seeing his father, but his high school life was a whole lot easier without them popping up and causing chaos in his life. When they finally start bothering him again, he muses that he can't wait until they forget about him again.
• In Medias Res: Chapter 1 starts off after The Last Olympian, before several time skips leading to 5 years after the end of the Second Olympian War when the Olympians choose to open the gates and find Percy in Japan. Each chapter after that cuts between Percy's journey there and the aftermath of the gates opening.
• In Spite of a Nail: Several events still happen, though the circumstances around them worked out differently.
  • According to Word of God the events of Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard continued as normal, excluding Percy being present during the events of The Ship of the Dead.
  • Leo found and fixed Festus, and was promoted to councilor of the Hephaestus cabin.
  • Piper successfully challenges Drew for the position of councilor of the Aphrodite cabin.
  • Nico Di Angelo starts dating Will Solace at some point.
  • Juno still decides to wipe Jason's memory, and fiddle with Leo and Piper's into believing they were friends with the story being that they met at the Wilderness School.
• Jedi Mind Trick:
  • Percy manipulates the Mist to avoid shop owners in the market.
  • Discussed after the battle with Chrysaor — while he considers taking Chrysaor's trireme, he concludes the sheer effort he would have to put into cloaking it with the Mist to be too much trouble.
• Jerkass Gods:
  • By Tsukuyomi's own admission the gods are, at their heart, selfish creatures. He admits to a sleeping Percy that if the latter simply agreed to stay with himself and Amaterasu they would start a war with the Olympains that would lead to World War 3.
  • Manannan mac Lir may seem like a Reasonable Authority Figure, but he is a part of the same Wild Hunt that would have hunted and killed Percy simply because he would be a challenge if he had not joined the Hunt.
• Jumped at the Call: Annabeth states to Athena that Percy was overjoyed upon receiving the prophecy stating that he would travel the world for the rest of his life.
• Knows the Ropes: Percy's ship control powers extend to controlling ropes with his mind, allowing him to bind his opponents in ropes and make those same ropes immune to damage. Or just to use them to lift things around the ''Firefly''.
• Living Lie Detector: Apollo, though as the god of truth it goes further than just detecting lies and can even detect the degree of truth. He can also tell when it is a lie by omission. Other gods can cloud this sense to a degree, but Poseidon implies it takes a degree of power that he simply does not have when outside the West.
• Locked Out of the Loop:
  • The Olympian's sealed themselves on Olympus to recover from their war with the Titans and to try and delay Gaia's awakening. Just before the fifth anniversary of the wars end, they vote to open the gates... only to find out their trump card has been bouncing around the other Pantheons, New York has become a safe haven with a massively reduced monster density and demigods are now using mobile phones freely.
  • The Shinto gods don't tell Percy that they, along with the Celestial Bureaucracy, are planning to make him Ryujin's heir and a minor sea god for his 21st birthday in order to solve the territorial disputes between Ryujin and Poseidon. It is a shame nobody told Percy this. After being filled in by Poseidon in Chapter 4, Percy admits that he would headed it off if he had known.
  • Poseidon asks the other Olympians to not tell Percy that he is a god, in order to let him live his mortal life for as long as possible before he inevitably burns through his mortal body and ascends. Artemis outright tells Percy that if she tells him why Urania is suddenly so insistent on teaching him astronomy, his mortal life would end sooner than it otherwise would and probably painfully.
• Lost Technology: The art of making Blessed Iron has been forgotten by the mortals of Ireland, along with the fact that it requires the blessings of the Tuatha de Danaan.
• MacGuffin Super-Person: Poseidon and the Olympians consider the god of spaceflight to be one, as whichever pantheon has the first one will have too great an advantage over rival pantheons to ever let them go. After Percy is confirmed by Poseidon as being the god with spaceflight as one of his domains, Hephaestus goes so far as to state that they have won the space race as a result.
• Magic Carpet: According to Rachel, at some point in his travels Percy picked one up in the Middle East, but he prefers either his ship or Blackjack.
• Magic Mirror: Uke Mochi carries one when she heads to Olympus, and expands it across the Olympian throne room to show Amaterasu and her brothers in the Palace of the Sun in Tahama-ga-hara.
• Magnetic Hero: Percy Jackson, who manages to find friends and get himself welcomed wherever he goes, despite local gods having poor views on his divine family. He even managed to get the very anti-West Shinto pantheon on his side. This includes Amaterasu, who absolutely despises the Olympians and is less than fond of their demigod children, who along with her husband Tsukuyomi ended up in a relationship with Percy.
  Amaterasu: You have made yourself welcome wherever you go, unlike Zeus's child.
• Man on Fire: Chrysaor gets shot by two of the Firefly's Greek Fire cannons. He doesn't survive the experience.
• Maybe Magic, Maybe Mundane: After praying to Artemis to aid him throwing a boar spear against the Twrch Trwyth, Percy muses that it is probably best to assume that the god who was prayed to did help to avoid potentially offending them before making a sacrifice to her.
• Mind Screw: The moon is Artemis, however in a different part of the world it is Tsukuyomi. At the same time, it is just a big rock in space. Try not to think too hard about it.
• Miracle Food: Several examples appear.
  • A second cornucopia is made when Percy lops off Achelous' remaining horn, just as Piper did in The Mark of Athena, but he gives it back to the river god. According to Achelous, the horns are his Symbol of Power and he cannot regrow them once they are taken.
  • Manannan mac Lir provides Percy with a silver branch that doubles as both an invitation to the Blessed Isles and a source of nine apples of Emain Ablach, which provide enough sustenance for a whole day when picked, regrow overnight and are delicious.
  • Percy receives some for his 21st birthday: Uke Mochi provides him with a bowl that will produce any food of Japan, while Inari's contribution is a serving bowl that will pour either tea or sake depending on which way it is poured.
• Mistaken for Gay: Rachel, due to being the Delphic Oracle and thus having a divine restriction on sex, turned down enough guys that somebody started rumours she was a lesbian.
• Mundane Solution:
  • The Olympians are trying to locate and communicate with Percy, and the native gods (who dislike the Olympians) are blocking their ability to do so magically. So how do they find out when Percy has left Tahama-ga-hara so Poseidon can talk to him? They use satellites to track when Percy appears back in Hainan and then use a microphone to listen to the resulting conversation.
  • Percy himself uses a mobile phone to communicate when Iris Messages cease working after he leaves the West. The side effect of summoning monsters is usually swiftly dealt with.
• Mundane Utility: All over the place.
  • Percy has a tendency to use his powers for such things, including:
    • Percy uses his ability to make things dry out to dry a water based paint whilst painting the Firefly's hull underwater. Additionally, he has never had to use a clothes drier since we was 12.
    • Using the Mist in order to avoid hawkers in a market.
    • Using his control over the seas to make better waves for surfing, but not to help him keep balance. In his own words, he isn't afraid of using his powers when it makes things more fun.
  • Rachel admits to using her powers as the Delphic Oracle to check that she and Percy will survive if they go skydiving, and later tells him to call her whenever he needs some prophecy help. Blackjack later states that they shouldn't be bothering the Oracle to find Medusa's island when Percy suggests it.
  • Leo Valdez uses the inherent affinity Greek demigods have for the language to his advantage by taking it as a language credit for an easy A. Word of God is that Piper took advantage of the fact that children of Aphrodite can speak fluent French to just test out, and that other demigods tend to do the same as Leo.
• My Significance Sense Is Tingling; War Gods are capable of detecting potential for conflict, and according to Guan Yu all of them were able to feel how close World War Three was to starting.The Morrigan was apparently polishing her spear for a week.
• Mystical Jade: Every pantheon has access to their own specific type of magical material. The Celestial Bureaucracy, of course, uses Heavenly Jade instead of a metal.
• Never Gets Drunk: Poseidon and his children are a Type 3, being able to keep everything but high-proof alcohol out of their bloodstream. Dionysus complains that he was never able to get Theseus drunk. Ryuujin taunts Poseidon that he was the one who taught Percy the trick.
• Noodle Incident:
  • Apparently the icthyocentaurs tried to get Bill to help slay the aughisky hunting the hippocampi near Ireland, but there was a kidnapping in Atlanta so he had to go there instead.
  • The gods of Mesopotamia, much like the Egyptian gods, are offhandedly mentioned as having fallen to the point where they have been sealed by a human organisation. No further details have been provided.
  • While Percy and Blackjack are in Rome, Percy is careful to land away from people due to worrying that the Mist will make it look like they were re-enacting Hitchcock's The Birds again, then thinks that they are never going back to Marseilles.
• Not Worth Killing: Percy is sickened to realize that the biggest reason stopping him from killing Chrysaor's dolphin-men when they are helpless against him and trying to flee is that they will eventually come back out of Tartarus and just becoming pirates again. So he spares the remainder... and puts a curse on all them so they will never be able to step on a ship again, preventing them from just becoming pirates again.
• Obstructive Bureaucrat: The bureaucrats in the Celestial Bureaucracy, which is the reason that Guan Yu didn't put in an official request for backup against Chi You and just took Percy along instead. Guan Yu complains that if the calligraphy of the forms isn't perfect and the poetry doesn't scan then the paperwork is given back with red markups, and everything has to be filed in triplicate. While apparently it goes a lot faster if the Jade Emperor wishes it, if the Emperor does not...
• Odd Job Gods: Percy is noted by Poseidon as already having the domains of sailing, exploration and spaceflight. The narration hints that his domains might end up including freedom and adventure as well.
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome:
  • Percy singlehandedly cleared out the vast majority of monster population of New York offscreen during Chapter 1, to the point that several years later the city is a safe haven for demigods (assisted by constant sweeps by Camp Half-Blood).
  • Several took place during Percy's travels, before the gates of Olympus were reopened, that have not been seen yet. These include slaying Ravana, Chi You and the Yamata-no-Orochi on separate occasions. Then there was the time he went to Yomi to rescue Uke Mochi.
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations:
  • Percy's conversation with Chiron near the beginning of the first chapter is this after the Wham Line at the end of chapter 4. Percy is explaining that he intends to go sailing and do some exploring with the Firefly, while Chiron has figured out Percy is a god and that those are his Domains.
  • With Guan Yu revealing to Percy that Ryuujin's plan to adopt him into his Pantheon had been spun before he first set foot in Japan, Percy realizes that most of his interactions with Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi have had shades of this. They believed that Percy himself had at least some understanding of the situation, which affected how they acted around him at first and how they interpreted his words and choices after their relationship began.
• Only the Chosen May Wield: Tsukuyomi binds the Honjo Masamune to Percy as a gift for his 21st birthday, making it so only he could draw it and it would sheath itself should he be disarmed. Should Percy ever die, then it will return to the Shinto Pantheon.
• Outliving One's Offspring: Discussed — the reason why Poseidon is happy about Percy becoming a god, in spite of his wishes, is because doing so means he won't have to see his son grow old, weaken and die.
• Our Banshees Are Louder: A white haired woman with bloodshot eyes, whose wail induces grief and mourning for people the listener knows that have died.
• Our Genies Are Different: The djjin are powerful beings that are to fire what humans are to clay, many of whom are Muslim and some live in Morocco. One, Sidi Chamarouch, is noted by Word of God to have equivalent power to Achelous. Percy is very careful not to ask if they can grant wishes.
• Papa Wolf: Even hinting at threatening Percy is a quick way to hit Poseidon's Berserk Button. Poseidon threatens to send a tsunami at Japan that would make them remember the last one fondly if the Shinto Pantheon dared to keep Percy captive. This even extends to Neptune, who point blank tells Manannan that if he dares to interfere with Percy's destiny he would bring the entire pantheon down on the Blessed Isles.
• Parental Favoritism: Poseidon does not even bother hiding that Percy is his favourite. Likely part of the reason that Tyson is the only half sibling Percy has any resemblance of a relationship with. Poseidon acknowledges that it isn't really fair to his other living children.
• Passing the Torch: Several of the Camp Half-Blood councilors pass their positions on. Jake Mason passes his to Leo, and Clarisse passed on hers to one of her brothers before leaving for to join the military.
• Pirate Booty: Percy claims Chrysaor's loot after killing him, with the sheer amount it is worth being enough that he will never have to stop travelling.
• Poke in the Third Eye:
  • After the Olympians combine their powers to scry Percy's location five years after the end of the Second Olympian War and the image shows him in bed with Amaterasu, the infuriated goddess wakes up and blasts the connection apart for daring to spy on her in her sleep.
  • Percy gets drawn into a vision of the Rainbow Serpent in Australia while touching ancient water in a dried riverbed. The Serpent smacks him out of the vision with their tail hard enough to send him flying, landing him on his mortal spot (causing him to black out) and leaves him drenched in rainwater... in the middle of a desert with not a cloud in sight. The author notes at the end of the chapter point out that, given the circumstances, that was actual rather gentle.
• Polyamory: Percy somehow wound up charming both Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, and they both acknowledge that his presence makes their marriage better. He refused them both individually when they propositioned him, because he did not want to be part of letting one cheat on the other, but accepted when they came to him together. This leads to their plans of marrying him into the Shinto Pantheon so they can keep him.
• Power Incontinence: A downplayed example, but Chapter 4 has Percy having to consciously tamp down on his ship control powers in the naval museum in Barcelona because his "fidgeting" is causing everything to move.
• Pragmatic Villainy: Baba Yaga doesn't poison her victims because she eats them and the poison will ruin the meat.
• Properly Paranoid: After seeing the catastrophic consequences a divine-mortal relationship can have on a child, and subsequently the world in general, Percy takes extreme measures to make sure that he doesn't father any children before he is entirely ready to do so. As an example, he not only asks Amaterasu for her word of honor that no child shall be conceived from their relations but also calls in a favor with the local fertility god to make sure that he can't have children until he performs a very specific ritual. His preparedness pays off in spades when Amaterasu attempts to break her word in order to tie Percy to her side, an action that would have separated him from his native pantheon and sparked the beginning of World War III.
• Prophecy Twist: Happened to Manannan mac Lir. The seers of the Tuatha de Danaan made a prophecy about a son of the sea, a member of The Wild Hunt, a horse that ran on waves and a journey. He was immensely relieved when he found out that Percy also qualified. All indications are that it was about the god of spaceflight, explaining how Manannan managed to figure out Percy was already a god when entire pantheons who he was much closer to missed it.
• Public Domain Artifact: The Honjo Masamune, one of Japan's national treasures and made of Jewel Steel, ended up in the stomach of the Yamata-no-Orochi after World War 2 and was left as a spoil of war after Percy slew it. It's later given to him as a birthday gift.
• Running Gag: Percy having to fight mythological pigs all over the place. It makes one wonder if it is a curse from Ares.
• Real Event, Fictional Cause: The clurichaun dubbed Lucky states that he is pretty sure that Morrigan is still around, believing that The Troubles weren't caused entirely by Mars.
• Refusing Paradise: Percy refuses to go to the Blessed Isles (the Irish ones), as he wants to continue travelling for the rest of his life. And apparently has made a habit of refusing immortality as well.
• Rewatch Bonus: The Wham Line at the end of Chapter 4 suddenly presents several parts of the previous chapters in an entirely different light.
• Secret Test of Character: Percy is skeptical when Hercules decides to let him into the Mediterranean despite Percy having refused his quest, and incredulously asks him if he going to pretend it is one of these. Hercules says it wasn't, he just believes that it will kill Percy faster.
• Sex Shifter: Inari, the husband/wife of Uke Mochi who according to Word of God simply takes the gods' ability to change their appearances to the logical extreme, reflecting how Inari is thought of as different genders in different areas.
• Ship Sinking:
  • The Olympians withdrawing from the world had some effects on the relationships. No Frank x Hazel, since Hazel hasn't come back from the Underworld and no Jason x Piper, because Hera didn't switch Jason and Percy.
  • Percy and Annabeth don't enter a relationship as they both decide not to hurt each other as they each wish to follow their own dreams.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Played with. Although the native deities after are not fond of the Olympians or their demigod children, they seem mostly content to let Percy do his own thing after making sure he is not going to cause any trouble. Manannan mac Lir is annoyed that Percy is a son of Poseidon, who took over the waters that were traditionally his, but admits that he has proven himself enough to be both a member of The Wild Hunt and be granted access to the Blessed Isles. On the other hand, Percy observes that the only reason that this doesn't apply with the Shinto Pantheon is mainly because Churchill (Poseidon's son) wasn't really active in the Pacific theatre. Percy believes that if he had been the child of Zeus (Roosevelt), Hepahestus or Athena (General Macarthur being Athena's child and children of both working on the nuclear weapons used on Japan) then Amaterasu may have helped him on his trip to Yomi... by literally throwing him in there.
• Shout-Out:
  • Percy decides on the name of his ship while watching Firefly.
    Grover: 'Take my love, take my land,' huh?
  • Percy calls Leo a firebender after the latter calls Percy's powers weird. Leo retaliates that waterbending doesn't allow for ship control.
  • Percy responds to Inari's hope that he finds what he is looking for with the phrase "not all those who wander are lost".
  • Percy's response to being attacked by a mhachkay, a vampiric creature from Turkish folklore? Snarkily tell it "Edward Cullen, you are not".
• Sibling Rivalry: Chapter 6, appropriately titled "I start a Sibling Rivalry", has Kymoploleia (a goddess and daughter of Poseidon) start one with Percy; declaring to him that their battles will be legendary and refers to a clash between them as a contest. Their natures are so opposed that upon seeing her for the first time, he immediately concludes that she is: "Rival. Opponent. Nemesis." She is the goddess of the violent storm, the Ship-wrecker, while he is the nascent god whose domains include sailing. She bemoans the fact that he was not born millennia ago, as the songs about them would have echoed through the ages.
• The Spock: Athena. While the other members of the Olympian council are indulging their hurt feelings she remains calm, re-evaluating everything she thought she knew and coming to a logical conclusion. Her opinion may not always be popular, but it is always wise.
• Star-Spangled Spandex: Urania, the Muse of astronomy, wears jeans covered in points of light forming constellations. This seems to be restricted to her Roman form, as they flicker out when she temporarily shifts into her Greek form.
• Statute of Limitations: Percy asks Poseidon if there is one on smiting, after being informed that the gods knew about the times he went sky diving. Apollo relays that Zeus says there isn't one.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: Guan Yu, the Taoist War God, is introduced by teleporting in behind Percy, resting his guan dao on Percy's back and scolding him for his poor reflexes. Percy's complaints indicate that this is typical of Guan Yu.
• Supernatural Gold Eyes:
  • Amaterasu has these as her default, and they start glowing when she gets annoyed.
  • Apollo also sports them when he becomes infuriated.
• Superman Stays Out of Gotham: The reason why heroes of differently religions do not usually interfere with other pantheons is Justified: most pantheons are not fond of the others, with the Olympians in particular being disliked. Poseidon points out that the Olympians instruct their own children to keep the existence of other pantheons to themselves.
• Take That!:
  • The The Twilight Saga series becoming movies is referred to as a side effect of the gods abandoning their duties in the same sentence as recessions, unchecked droughts and storms, and political deadlock.
  • The author admits the reason she wrote the story is because of her frustration with the Fandom-Specific Plot where "the gods discard Percy and he joins Chaos/Titans/Threat of the Week" and "all his demigod friends and allies turn on them". The latter she describes as poor writing and the Olympians dropping him like a hot potato would actually be in character while Percy considers that his high school experience was a lot less stressful without having to deal with their quests.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Percy really should know better than to tempt fate during the Wild Hunt.
    I was just glad it was Mrs. O'Leary that had caught the scent. She liked humans; she wouldn't follow anything I wouldn't want to hunt.
    "REEEEET!"
    I took that back.
  • He should also know not to say anything even remotely resembling a challenge to a storm.
    "We're being blown a bit farther away from land than I'd planned, but nothing major. A winter squall's not a problem."
    The words hung in the air just long enough for me to regret them.
    Oh, really?
• Time Abyss: Percy admits that his baseline for "older than dirt" is anything before the time of the Titans, and only a few beings qualify including the Egyptian goddess Nekhbet and a mysterious lady who he met in Iran. Then in Australia he realises that the Rainbow Serpent (which just smashed him out of a vision) is far, far older than both of them and what he was seeing had happened tens of thousands of years ago. And was still happening.
• Translator Microbes: Courtesy of the Braden Feasa/Salmon of Knowledge, who as thanks for sparing him gives Percy the ability to speak and understand every language. He still has dyslexia, but notes that he isn't going to complain.
• Villain Forgot to Level Grind: The last time Percy encountered the Chimera he was 12 years old who only just learned he was a demigod on his first quest and ended up jumping of the St Louis Arch to get away from it. By the time he encounters it again in Rome he is a fully grown demigod with the Mark of Achilles, a trained war Pegasus and fully equipped to take it on. It is a very quick fight.
• Wake-Up Call Boss: Chrysaor makes Percy realize that he had become over-confidant and complacent, believing that his Nigh-Invulnerability and Superpower Lottery would carry him through is it always had after the war ended.
• Walk on Water: Percy (as the son of Greek sea god Poseidon), Blackjack (with Percy's assistance), Manannan mac Lir (as the Irish sea god) and Enbarr/Seafoam (as Manannan mac Lir's companion). A horse that could run on waves was central to a prophecy made by the seers of the Tuatha de Danann.
• Walking the Earth: As stated in the premise. Percy ends up sailing around the world, exploring different places with their own gods, and inevitably getting into trouble along the way.
• Weirdness Magnet: Invoked and exploited. Because mobile phones signal to monsters where demigods are located they can be used to summon them. Percy utilises a hands free headset to allow him to talk and fight at the same time, and uses this strategy to wipe out most of the aggressive monsters in New York. After he leaves, the other demigods lead by the Athena cabin conduct routine patrols through the city using phones to keep the monster density down.
• Wham Line: Chapter 4 gives one that turns some previous assumptions and the very premise of the story on their heads.
  They had compared him to Heracles. They'd been wrong.
  Percy wasn't the next Heracles.
  He was the next Dionysus.
• Who Wants to Live Forever?: Percy certainly doesn't, and has continued to turn down all forms of immortality offered to him in his travels. After meeting Hercules he's convinced that he made the right choice. This outright baffles Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi, much to the amusement of The Olympians when they realize that the various other Gods of the world have been planning their political strategies around the idea that Percy would want to become a Sea God, because who would turn down Godhood?. He doesn't actually have a choice, as he is unknowingly a nascent god himself.
• The Wild Hunt: Percy accidentally becomes inducted after joining the hunt on the Samhain and killing the Twrch Trwyth. Apparently there are different chapters around Europe, which probably a reference on how the dozens of variations of the myth throughout Europe (The myth expanded from Ireland all the way to Scandinavia, so there probably different groups of gods doing there own hunts).
• Willfully Weak: The Wild Hunt, at least several of whom are gods, could effortlessly destroy their quarry if they so choose. Because they are a bunch of Blood Knights they choose not to use their powers in order to make it somewhat fair for their quarry. Enbarr says that while powers are normally not allowed, Percy shattering the cliff under the Twrch Trwyth was considered impressive enough to ignore it.
• You Can't Fight Fate: The Bradan Feasa/Salmon of Knowledge hates prophecies for this reason, they always find a way to come true. It goes to sleep content that Percy is on a different island and wakes up to find Percy had joined the Wild Hunt on the night it was prophesied it would apparently die.

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