OPTC Chapter 282: Someday, I'll Be the Main Carry
"How is he?"
"He's fine. Just fainted, he'll wake up soon."
Ye Yan groggily heard voices nearby—it was Zhang Da Ye and Wendy talking. What was he doing just now? Oh, right… swimming… the tray…
"Zhang Da Ye, you tried to murder me!" Ye Yan shot up suddenly.
"I didn't, I swear! Don't say nonsense!" Zhang Da Ye instinctively denied it and pointed to the side. "The one who did that is right there."
Tom smiled nervously, holding a small fan and fanning Ye Yan earnestly.
Ye Yan rubbed his forehead. "Ow… ow… fine, whatever. Since Tom's apology seems so sincere…"
Tom's eyes sparkled hopefully.
Ye Yan, sensing something off, jumped up and backed away, wrapping his towel tightly around himself. "Why are you fanning me in this cold weather!"
Tom blinked, looked at the fan, then tossed it aside and smiled sheepishly.
"Ugh, guess I'm just unlucky," Ye Yan muttered.
Zhang Da Ye asked, "I thought you Watchmen had resistance to dizziness and stuff. How'd you pass out so easily?"
"I'm only resistant to dizziness, not to Tom," Ye Yan grumbled, sipping juice while looking pitiful.
He still didn't understand what Tom really was. Sometimes he acted just like a normal person, other times like a complete anomaly that ignored the laws of nature. A mystery.
Schrödinger's cat? No—Zhang Da Ye's cat.
After a while, Perona, Wendy, and Carla came out freshly washed and dressed, each grabbing a drink and sitting down.
"How do you feel?" Zhang Da Ye asked. "Still holding up?"
"Yeah!" Wendy nodded firmly. "After some rest, I feel much better. Should we continue?"
"Eh? We're still going?" Perona groaned, lying face-down on the table. "I'm exhausted…"
That was expected from Perona, but Wendy's endurance surprised Zhang Da Ye. "Your stamina's even better than I thought. You recovered really fast."
Carla proudly explained, "Because Wendy's magic comes from the air itself. The purer and clearer the air, the stronger her magic and faster her recovery. The air here is excellent."
Dragon Slayers could absorb substances of their element to temporarily boost their power—Fire Dragon Slayers ate fire, Iron Dragon Slayers ate iron.
And Wendy? She could eat air. The ultimate "living on air" ability.
Zhang Da Ye gave her a respectful look. "Alright, we'll stop the physical training for today. Your muscles will probably ache tomorrow anyway. Next, Wendy and Carla can focus on magic practice."
"Yes, sir!" Wendy responded, though she felt like Da Ye might have misunderstood her somewhere along the way.
Perona raised her hand lazily. "What about me? I don't have magic!"
"You can train your Devil Fruit powers," Zhang Da Ye said. "Or I could give you a middle school math book to study?"
"No way!" Perona didn't know what "middle school math" meant, but it sounded terrifying. She'd rather eat another Devil Fruit than learn something like that.
"No love for learning at all," Zhang Da Ye sighed dramatically. Back in his school days—well, it wasn't like he studied willingly either. The teachers were just scary.
In this world though, it was better to teach Perona self-defense than equations. As long as her mindset stayed normal, that was good enough.
So Perona demonstrated what "righteously slacking off" meant—her body lying limp on the sofa while her ghost floated around the ship.
Sometimes she watched Wendy practice spells, sometimes she floated by Zhang Da Ye's head while he trained Observation Haki, and if anyone called her lazy, she'd reply, "I'm using my powers constantly, so I'm constantly training!"
Until she popped out of a wall to scare Tom—and got bonked on the head for it.
Rubbing a huge bump on her head, the ghostly Perona wailed, "Ow! Ye Yan I get, but how can you hit me in ghost form?!"
Tom tossed his club aside with a shrug. He hadn't meant to hit her, but she did scare him first.
"That's not the point!" Perona sulked, wondering if she'd eaten a fake Hollow-Hollow Fruit.
Tom didn't understand her frustration and instead invited her to go fishing.
Perona refused—if everyone could touch her ghost form but she couldn't attack back, she might as well study how to make her real body float instead.
The next morning, everyone gathered at the table for breakfast.
"Ugh, everything hurts," Perona groaned. "My arms, my legs… I'm dying…"
"Want me to heal you?" Wendy's hands glowed blue-green.
"You can heal this kind of thing?" Perona asked. "It's not even an injury."
"Yes. At least I can ease the pain," Wendy said gently, channeling magic into her.
Two or three minutes later, Perona jumped up, stretching in relief. "It really worked! Thanks, Wendy!"
Wendy smiled shyly. "It's no problem. Healing is my job."
Ye Yan grinned. "With that magic, we can train nonstop! As long as we don't die, we just keep going!"
Carla cut in coldly. "Healing magic consumes a lot of energy. If she uses it too much, Wendy won't hold out."
Zhang Da Ye added with a smirk, "Actually, I already train like that—'as long as I don't die, I keep going.' The only ones who'll need Wendy's magic are you and Perona."
Ye Yan mentally counted on his fingers. Artoria was too strong to consider. Tom didn't count either.
Shark Chili was a robot—not even the kind that needed oil or rest. No help needed.
Brook was literally bones; he didn't care much about training.
Rui Meng Meng and Zhang Da Ye both had monstrous stamina—rarely tired, and even when they were, they recovered freakishly fast.
So in the end, the great Watchman genius Ye Yan got lumped in the "average physique" category—with Perona.
And to escape that category, he'd have to rely on Wendy… another little girl.
Ye Yan dropped to his knees. "Wendy-sis! Please take care of me!"
"Eh? No, you don't have to— and please don't call me that!" Wendy panicked, trying to pull him up. She still wasn't used to Ye Yan's utter lack of shame.
Carla sighed, crossing her arms. "I knew it. He's not normal."
"Just ignore him," Zhang Da Ye said calmly. "Wendy, are you feeling any soreness yourself?"
"A little, but it's fine," Wendy replied. "It doesn't affect my movements."
Perona asked curiously, "Why don't you just heal yourself, Wendy?"
Carla explained, "Because she can't. Her healing magic only works on others."
Perona's face fell. "Then what if Wendy gets hurt?"
"That's why I need to get stronger," Carla said firmly. "To protect her."
"Carla…" Wendy hugged her, rubbing her cheek affectionately against Carla's fur.
"Stop that, you're not a kid," Carla protested, though she looked quietly pleased.
"Everyone will protect Wendy," Zhang Da Ye said, then added, "But just in case, maybe you should teach me healing magic too, so I can take care of you."
Artoria had already confirmed that Wendy's magic energy was of a different nature from hers, so even if Zhang Da Ye learned it, his magic reserves would be low at first. But as the ship's medic, it wouldn't hurt to try.
By now, he knew he carried multiple powers: Artoria's magic, Rui Meng Meng's dark energy, Shark Chili's transformation ability, possibly Ye Yan's qi—and soon, Wendy's healing magic.
If not for Tom's physical boosts, Zhang Da Ye would be worried about his body exploding one day from power overload.
"Da Ye, you really want to learn healing magic?" Wendy asked.
"Yeah. Uh… it's not some secret spell, is it?" he asked, realizing he should've asked Grandeeney earlier.
"No, it's not secret," Wendy said. "It's just hard to learn. But if you really want to, I'll do my best to teach you."
"Then I'm counting on you." Zhang Da Ye smiled warmly.
"Mhm!" Wendy nodded, happy to be relied upon—though part of her was still scared of letting people down.
The following days were packed for Zhang Da Ye.
He helped Wendy and Perona adjust their training routines, studied Soru and Observation Haki, learned healing magic, and sometimes worried about getting seasick. Every day was full.
He even planned to learn Ye Yan's "Timed Hammer" technique someday. If he ever drew a "Soul Drum" from the lottery, he'd master that too. The Watchmen family had plenty of soul-based tools like that.
Zhang Da Ye had made up his mind: he would be an all-round support type.
His teammates were too strong for him to surpass in any single area, so the best way forward was to learn everything.
And with every new skill, his physical and magical abilities would keep improving. Someday, he'd evolve from "all-round support" into "all-round leader."
First, they carried him.
Later, he'd carry them.
From the weakest in the tavern to the strongest of the crew—then he'd finally have the confidence to call himself the owner of "Da Ye's Tavern," captain of the Amber Expedition, captain of the Amber Diamond, and Tom's… well, probably his master.
Thunk! A tennis ball smacked him on the back of the head, breaking his daydream.
"Who threw that? That hurt!" he shouted, blindfolded.
"Hehehe~ You said you wanted help training your Observation Haki. Don't get mad!"
That laugh—definitely Perona.
"Looks like you've gotten stronger," Zhang Da Ye said darkly. "Guess I'll have to double tomorrow's training."
"Unfair! You said no getting mad!" Perona protested.
"I—" Thunk! Another ball hit him mid-sentence.
Zhang Da Ye peeled the ball off his face. "Tom! I told you not to join in!"
Yes—he always banned Tom from this training, since Tom's throws never helped. Dodging them had nothing to do with Haki.
"Nyahaha~"
"Yohohoho~"
"Hehehehe~"
Different laughs mixed together as Zhang Da Ye tried to rearrange his squashed face.
Another lively day aboard the Amber.
As they trained and played, Artoria's voice came over the loudspeaker.
"Attention everyone—pirate ship spotted at three o'clock! Unknown flag. Around twenty people. They look… weak."
The first half sounded serious, but the second half instantly killed the tension.
Usually, when Zhang Da Ye asked Artoria to assess strength, she'd say things like "slightly stronger than you" or "not quite at your level." Hearing her call someone "weak" was new.
Maybe they were so weak they didn't even deserve comparison.
Zhang Da Ye wasn't sure whether to be proud or depressed that he'd become Artoria's measuring stick.
Snapping out of it, he asked, "Shark Chili, got any info on that pirate crew?"
"None at all," Shark Chili replied. "I might need to update my East Blue database."
"Good idea," Zhang Da Ye nodded. "We've only collected Grand Line bounties so far. Let's grab some wanted posters from the next Marine base."
"Are we going to fight them?" Wendy asked nervously, though her eyes gleamed with excitement.
"Yeah. Why don't you handle it this time?" Zhang Da Ye suggested. "They're weak, perfect for you to get some practice."
Honestly, Perona could wipe them all out with one Negative Ghost, probably scaring them half to death too.
"Okay!" Wendy agreed. It would be her first real battle here, and she wanted to do well.
Carla didn't object—some combat experience would do Wendy good.
So the Amber changed course. Zhang Da Ye reminded Wendy to watch out for guns, wondering how Fairy Tail's magic bullets compared to actual firearms. She should be fine though, he reassured himself—still sounding like a worried father sending his daughter to school.
Carla comforted him. "Relax. Wendy's strong. She's been through worse."
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