OPTC Chapter 232 Clever Little Fox
Shark Chili didn't forget his promise to treat the Bru. Luckily, Water Meat was the Bru's favorite food, and it happily devoured the meal.
Tom, watching this, decided his Bru shouldn't be left out. He also fed it—but in a rather wicked way. He tied a piece of meat to a string dangling from a stick, holding it just out of reach of the Bru's mouth. The poor creature had to swim a long way before finally earning a bite.
Their plan was to cross Water 7 from north to south. To do this, they had to ride their Brus upstream into the central district, then follow the current downstream all the way to the harbor at the city's edge.
Going downstream was especially thrilling. The speed, coupled with Tom's loud cheers, made it feel like they were whitewater rafting.
The fun was all Tom's. Zhang Da Ye, meanwhile, struggled to hold onto several shopping bags in both hands while clamping a large box under his seat with his legs to keep it from flying off.
The bags were full of snacks they had picked up along the way, intended to share with the others. The big box contained Shark Chili's carefully selected toothpaste collection—along with four oversized toothbrushes.
The shopkeeper had been impressively well-stocked. Toothbrushes came in every size imaginable, proving that Shark Chili wasn't the only one who needed brushes that large.
"At times like this, I really miss the bubble packs from Sabaody," Zhang Da Ye grumbled, protecting his mountain of goods.
Shark Chili asked, "Doesn't Boss Da Ye have an inventory?"
"About that… items not obtained through draws can only be stored inside containers also won through draws. It's inconvenient. And right now, all those containers are already filled with our emergency supplies."
Before setting sail, Zhang Da Ye had prepared meticulously. Fearing that the crew's bottomless appetites might wipe out their stores, he crammed every container in his inventory with food and water.
Things like shoe cabinets, bedside tables, refrigerators, suitcases… even the spaces inside a rice cooker and an oven weren't spared.
The only exception was a wardrobe, reserved exclusively for storing their gold and beli.
Artoria, always willing to ease Zhang Da Ye's burdens, suggested, "Why not take food out of one cabinet and replace it with our new purchases?"
"That still means hauling out piles of food. We can't just throw it away…" Halfway through, Zhang Da Ye realized her true intention and laughed. "You really are a clever little fox."
In the end, everything was smoothly transferred into one cabinet and stored away, without wasting a single item.
Artoria licked a smear of cream from the corner of her mouth. "So, you'd hidden Fishman Island desserts from us? How sly."
"I actually forgot which cabinet held what. Whatever comes out is random." Zhang Da Ye thought it over. With Artoria's luck, maybe it wasn't so random after all.
So they spent the journey eating, drinking, and shopping. Though Water 7 wasn't that large, they somehow didn't reach the harbor Kokoro mentioned until late afternoon.
After docking, Tom and Artoria stayed behind, happily enjoying their Water Candy. Zhang Da Ye and Shark Chili split up to gather information from workers at the various piers.
The harbor wasn't very big. There were a dozen or so docks, but only a few had freighters unloading cargo. The rest were filled with idle workers chatting away.
Zhang Da Ye walked over, greeting them. Spotting a few men smoking, he took out the cigarettes Shark Chili had bought earlier and passed them around.
Shark Chili had reminded him: "You don't need to smoke, but it's useful to carry a pack."
The workers accepted gladly. Some tucked them behind their ears, others lit up immediately, and a few just held them while talking. What they all shared was a newfound warmth toward Zhang Da Ye's questions.
"Business? A merchant? Can't recall. Anyone else remember?"
"Never seen him. Maybe he docked elsewhere?"
Then one worker slapped his thigh. "I remember! Someone mentioned him before. Isn't he that crooked merchant?"
Zhang Da Ye nodded. "That's right. He scammed me, and I came to settle accounts."
The moment the words "crooked merchant" were spoken, the workers grew heated.
"Damn those merchants, especially the ones from Saint Poplar. They know we shipbuilders in Water 7 struggle with raw materials and rely on them, so they jack up prices!"
"Exactly! And the guys from Pucci Island aren't any better. Their food is outrageously expensive. If not for our island producing some grain, we'd all starve."
"Things only improved these past few years thanks to Tom's sea train. Otherwise, those merchants would still use transport problems as an excuse to hike prices endlessly."
"Even with the sea train, we still only get supplies from three islands. Add in the competition between our shipyards, and in the end those crooked merchants still come out on top."
"Anyway, back to that merchant, Business." The worker who recalled him pulled the discussion back. "He's the worst of the lot. Polite on the surface, but he loves stirring buyers into bidding wars. Last time, two shipyards even brawled over his goods. Dozens of workers ended up in the hospital."
"No one controls this? Isn't there a mayor?" Zhang Da Ye asked. He remembered from the story that Iceburg was mayor, someone who could negotiate with the World Government. The position was practically king-like within Water 7.
"The mayor…" The workers grimaced, lowering their voices. "Useless. He promised the world during elections, but once in office, he can't accomplish anything. He can't even rein in a few shipyards. Next election, we're not voting for him."
"Better off making Tom the mayor. He's the world's best shipwright. Who'd dare defy him?"
"But he's a fishman. A fishman mayor? That wouldn't sit well…"
"Hey, that's ungrateful talk! So what if he's a fishman? He worked ten years to revive Water 7! If he were mayor, the sea train might connect even more islands. Then we wouldn't have to suffer under those merchants anymore. Make them pay double for train tickets!"
"But still…"
The workers argued endlessly. The topic spiraled from crooked merchants to Water 7's economy, then to human-fishman tensions, and finally to whether mermaid girls were beautiful and if they'd marry humans.
The way the conversation drifted gave Zhang Da Ye the feeling of being trapped in a group chat. It started with small complaints, rose to debates about national issues, veered into international relations, then suddenly derailed into nonsense. Usually, it ended either with a ban or the group dissolving entirely.
After bantering with them and boasting a little about his time on Fishman Island, Zhang Da Ye suddenly froze. "Wait… what was my original question again?"
Rumors end with the wise. Group chats end with nonsense.
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