Overtime Kū'ula noticed that some of the fish were missing from his pond. He watched the pond day and night and realized that a giant puhi was stealing all his fish. The puhi was entering the pond from a hole in the pond's wall. Kū'ula and Hina decided that as a rite of passage into adulthood their son 'Ai'ai should be the one to destroy the slithering thief. 'Ai'ai had the people in the nearby communities make two long ropes from the hau tree bark. With the ropes, 'Ai'ai and several brave men set out on two canoes and paddled to where the giant puhi was known to live.
Once out at sea, 'Ai'ai memorized the canoe's position using landmarks on the shore and mountains. 'Ai'ai then took a large stone he'd brought and dove into the water. The stone helped 'Ai'ai to sink to the bottom where he found the big cave in which the puhi lived. He climbed back into the canoe and brought out his special fishhook named Manaiakalani which he tied to the long ropes. 'Ai'ai told the men in the canoes that once they felt a tug on the ropes they must paddle away from each other toward the shore.