Head Chef Yaoichi, did you figure something out? Fang Yi asked, noticing Yaoichi deep in thought.
Yaoichi shook his head. "Not entirely sure yet. But based on what you described earlier, I do have a suspicion. Wait here—I'm going to get something."
He dashed to the kitchen and soon returned to the deck carrying a mysterious bag.
"Let me test something. If I'm right… that shadow should appear again."
He smiled and dumped the contents of the bag into the sea.
Sure enough, the ocean around them darkened as a large shadow spread beneath the ship. Buggy tensed up immediately, ready to bolt.
But strangely, there was no trembling this time. The shadow just lingered beneath them, not attacking.
"What's going on?" Fang Yi asked in confusion.
Yaoichi gestured toward the edge of the ship. "See for yourselves. Looks like we've got work to do today."
Fang Yi leaned out over the railing and saw countless small fish leaping around happily, as if waiting to be fed.
"What is this…"
"That shadow wasn't caused by a single large fish—it was a massive school of small fish!" Yaoichi explained. "They were drawn to the algae and plankton growing on our hull. They weren't attacking us; they were just after food."
"That's why the captain's slash didn't hurt them. They weren't a solid object—they could scatter and regroup instantly."
"I see…" Rayleigh nodded. "But what do we do about them? There are too many."
"Hahaha! Leave it to me!" Buggy, having realized the truth earlier, had already pulled out a fishing rod and bucket, ready to go.
The rest of the crew quickly followed his lead. With so many fish, it was practically guaranteed they'd catch something with every cast. Some even grabbed nets, ready to haul in dozens of pounds at once.
Yaoichi nodded. "That works too. These fish travel in schools for protection, creating the illusion of a huge predator. But when they gather in large numbers, they need tons of food, hence why they bumped our ship. If we ignore them, they'll just eat the algae and leave. But too many can damage weaker ships."
"And they taste great," he added. "They make excellent dried fish—perfect for long voyages."
But by now, none of the crew was listening. Even Roger had joined in the fishing frenzy. It wasn't long before the deck was piled high with slippery, wriggling fish.
"Alright, that's enough already!" Yaoichi finally snapped. "You're all acting like kids!"
After scolding the whole crew—Roger included—Yaoichi began organizing the work. These fish were tasty, but drying them properly wasn't easy.
Worse, the crew had caught far too many for one person to handle. In the end, Yaoichi conscripted everyone into processing fish right there on the deck.
"Hey! These were your catch, so YOU dry them. Don't dump them on me!"
"You liar! You said they were yours five minutes ago!"
"Captain, didn't you win the fishing contest? These are yours. No slacking!"
Chaos broke out as everyone tried to offload their fish onto someone else. Fang Yi slyly slid his haul toward Shanks—but was quickly caught.
"…Really, Yi-ge?" Shanks gave him a look.
With a sheepish grin, Fang Yi dragged the fish back, though he made sure to "forget" a few along the way.
Less work for him, right?
Fang Yi now deeply regrets joining the fishing fun. He'd dug his own grave.
Buggy was worse off. He'd caught the most and now had a mountain of fish to deal with. He looked ready to cry.
After an exhausting day, dinner rolled around… and unsurprisingly, the meal was entirely fish-based.
"Yaoichi! Where's the meat?! I want meat!" Roger bellowed.
The rest of the crew echoed his complaint. Fish was fine, but they'd already had it at lunch—they wanted variety.
Fang Yi wisely stayed out of it. With so many fresh fish on board, they needed to be dried quickly or they'd spoil. Until that was done, fish would dominate every meal.
Yaoichi, furious, ripped into Roger like a storm. Even the captain shut up and ate quietly.
To a chef, wasting food was an unforgivable sin.
"Hmph! I warned you. Now look! If any of these fish are wasted, you'll regret it. You'll keep working until every last fish is dried. Only then will I cook anything else!"
With that, Yaoichi stormed off.
Beaten down, the crew silently ate their fish… though the finger-pointing and bickering didn't stop.
Fang Yi and Shanks wolfed down their food and escaped before they could be dragged back into the mess.
"I can't even smell sardines anymore without gagging," Fang Yi groaned as they fled the galley.
"We need to finish drying the rest soon," Shanks muttered. "Or Yaoichi will kill us."
After two grueling days of nonstop drying, the crew finally snapped.
Yaoichi, seeing that only a few fish remained, finally gave them a break.
Still, the ship reeked of fish. Fang Yi felt like he was being marinated in sardine juice.
Even Wangzai, the ship's dog, had abandoned ship, choosing to sleep in the ocean instead.
To make things worse, the smell had attracted flocks of sea birds.
Now, the crew had to fight off birds trying to steal their hard-earned dried fish.
If the birds had gone after the fresh, unsalted fish, no one would've cared. But the birds were going after the dried stuff—the stuff they'd worked days to preserve.
So, war broke out between the bird and the crew.
"Xiao Yi, keep an eye out for birds! If any come close, shoot them!" one crewmate shouted.
"I could… but I've still got fish to dry. How about you switch with me?"
As interns, Fang Yi, Shanks, and Buggy were forced by Yaoichi to keep working even after the rest had been released.
The rest of the crew—Barrett included—watched with pity. Barrett was lucky he'd been promoted to full member, or he'd be stuck with them.
"Interns should act like interns!" the others teased. "Stop whining and do your job! Aren't you a sniper?"
"I'm a trainee archer, not a sniper," Fang Yi retorted. "The official sniper is Petem. Go bother him."
Even though Fang Yi's skills surpassed Petem's, he was technically still just a trainee.
Petem, hearing this, immediately tried to sneak away—but he was caught and forcibly hauled up the mast to serve as an auto-bird-defense turret.