"Cook Yao Yi, have you noticed anything?" Fang Yi asked when he saw Cook Yao Yi lost in thought.
Cook Yao Yi shook his head and said, "I'm not sure yet. But based on what you just described, I do have some suspicions now! Wait for me here. I'll go get something!"
After saying that, Yao Yi ran straight to the kitchen. In a short while, he came back to the deck with a bag of something unknown.
"I'll give it a try first. If my guess is right... that dark shadow should appear again!" Yao Yi smiled as he poured the contents of the bag into the sea.
Sure enough, soon a large shadow covered the area where they were. Buggy got so nervous that he was all set to run away anytime.
But strangely, this time they didn't feel any vibrations. It seemed that the dark shadow just stayed beneath them and didn't attack again.
"Mr. Yao Yi, what's going on?" Fang Yi asked in confusion.
Cook Yao Yi tilted his head towards the outside of the ship's railing and said with a smile, "Take a look for yourselves! It seems we've got something to do today!"
Fang Yi stuck his head out in surprise and looked at the sea. He saw a large number of fish jumping merrily on the sea surface, as if they were waiting to be fed.
"This is..."
"Right, that so - called dark shadow wasn't caused by a single fish, but by these small fish grouped together! There are some plankton and algae on the bottom of our ship, so they've become the target. They're not attacking us; they just want to eat the food under our ship!" Yao Yi said with a smile. "This is why the captain's Slash didn't have much effect on them, as they can separate on their own!"
"I see..." Rayleigh nodded and said, "But what should we do with so many fish following us?"
"Hahaha... Watch your great master's show!" Buggy, who had discovered the truth earlier, had already taken out a fishing rod and a fish bucket, looking ready for a big catch.
Seeing Buggy's actions, the other crew members immediately understood. With so many fish around, wouldn't they just bite the hook easily?
Some of them even brought out nets. One scoop with the net would probably catch dozens of pounds of fish.
"Well, this is also a way... These fish like to live in groups, which can protect them. As you saw just now, when they form a group, the shadow they create can scare off enemies well! But when their numbers are too large, their demand for food becomes very high. That's why they rammed our ship! If we ignore them, they'll leave after eating all the algae on the bottom of the ship!"
Cook Yao Yi explained to everyone with a smile.
"However, if it were an unstable pirate ship, the bottom would probably be punctured after a few rams. So, catching some of them is actually a good thing for their group. Moreover, these fish taste delicious and can be made into dried fish, which can be preserved for a long time. They're one of the best food choices for Navigation!"
Even though Yao Yi explained things clearly, none of the crew was listening. Including Roger, all the crew members were trying various ways to catch the fish at this moment. Even they didn't know when they started a competition to see who could catch more.
Before long, the deck was filled with the fish the crew had caught.
"Guys! Can you cut it out?" Looking at the fish on the deck, Yao Yi finally couldn't hold back his anger.
After giving everyone, including Captain Roger, a good scolding, Yao Yi started directing everyone to do the sorting. Although this kind of fish tasted delicious, the way to make them into dried fish was not simple.
Moreover, due to the crew members' mischief, too many fish were caught. Yao Yi alone simply couldn't handle them all. So in the end, the whole crew was directed by Yao Yi to make dried fish on the deck.
"Hey! You caught these fish, so you should make them. Don't dump them on me!"
"Damn it! You clearly said just now that you caught these! Why are they mine now?"
"Captain... Aren't you the first in the fishing competition? These are all yours! Don't be lazy!"
While making dried fish, the crew members started to quibble. Each of them forcibly assigned the fish they caught to others. But when everyone did this, the scene began to get chaotic.
Fang Yi quietly pushed his fish to Shanks' side, but he was quickly discovered.
"Brother Yi..." Shanks looked at Fang Yi helplessly.
Fang Yi had to give an embarrassed smile and then move the fish back, but he deliberately left a few behind in the middle.
Well, a few less is a few!
At this moment, Fang Yi really regretted joining in the fun. Now he was really suffering the consequences!
Beside him, Buggy was on the verge of tears. He caught more fish than Shanks and Fang Yi. There was a mountain of small fish beside him. He estimated that it would take him several days to finish making them into dried fish.
After a whole day of hard work, in the evening, the crew members found that today's dinner was all the small fish they caught today.
"Hey! Yao Yi! Where's the meat? Why is it all fish? I want to eat meat!" Captain Roger was the first to object and loudly clamored for meat.
Seeing this, the other crew members also joined in the commotion. Although the small fish tasted good, they had already eaten them at noon, so they still wanted to eat something else in the evening.
Fang Yi wisely stayed out of it. Although these small fish could be made into dried fish, the production speed was limited. If they couldn't be made into dried fish, these fresh small fish would go bad. So they had to speed up the production while quickly consuming the fresh small fish! He could even imagine that there would probably be all fish dishes in the next few days.
Sure enough, when facing angry Yao Yi, even Captain Roger got a real tongue - lashing. Everyone started to eat the small fish obediently.
For a cook, wasting food is the ultimate sin and an unforgivable blunder.
"Humph! I told you to knock it off, but you wouldn't listen. Now there are so many small fish. If you dare to waste them... You'll pay for it!"
"After the meal, keep making dried fish for me. You can have other food only after you finish making the dried fish!" After Cook Yao Yi left this sentence, he directly left.
There was nothing they could do. Facing the tough-as-nails Cook, the crew could only start munching on the small fish with long faces.
But it was inevitable for them to complain to each other. Before the situation got out of control, Fang Yi and Shanks quickly finished their food and ran away.
"I want to throw up just at the smell of these small fish!" Fang Yi said to Shanks with a bitter smile after coming out, listening to the noise coming from the dining room.
"Let's think of a way quickly to turn the remaining small fish into dried fish! Otherwise, the Cook won't let us off!" Shanks replied with lingering fear.
Finally, after the entire crew had been working around the clock for two whole days, they just couldn't take it anymore.
After assessing the quantity of the remaining small fish, Cook Yao Yi finally relented and allowed the crew to take a break.
For two whole days, all they did was make dried fish here. Even then, there was still a small Part of the small fish that hadn't been turned into dried fish.
Now the entire ship was permeated with the fishy odor from the small fish. Fang Yi felt like he was marinated in the fishy smell.
Even Wangzai didn't stay on the ship during this period. It would rather stay in the sea than stay on the ship.
Moreover, because of the fishy smell, a large number of seabirds were attracted, which annoyed the crew to no end.
Originally, if the seabirds secretly ate the small fish that hadn't been made into dried fish, the crew would have less work to do and they would surely turn a blind eye.
But these small fish had been caught for two or three days and were no longer fresh, so the seabirds didn't eat them at all. They preferred the small dried fish.
Then the crew weren't having it. These were what they had slaved over to make. How could they let the seabirds gobble them up?
So a battle between seabirds and humans for the small dried fish began.
"Xiaoyi, keep an eye out. If a seabird comes, shoot it down quickly!"
"Sure! But I still have the task of making dried fish! How about you make dried fish for me and I'll be in charge of defending against the seabirds?"
As interns on the ship, while the crew could take a break, Fang Yi, Shanks, and Buggy were forced by the Cook to keep making dried fish with him.
At that moment, everyone looked at the three of them sympathetically. Even Barrett looked miffed. Fortunately, he was already a full-fledged crew member. Otherwise, he would surely have been given work.
"Hey! An intern should act like an intern. Don't keep shirking when asked to do something. Besides, aren't you a sniper? This is what you're supposed to do!" Since Cook Yao Yi forced the three of them to work in the name of interns, the crew often used this as an excuse to tease them.
"Come on, I'm not a sniper. I'm just an archer, and an intern archer at that! The sniper is Peterum. Go bug him! I still gotta make dried fish."
Fang Yi's pouty and resentful look made the crew members who wanted him to be in charge of defending against seabirds back off immediately.
Although Fang Yi's strength now exceeds Peterum's, status-wise, Peterum is the ship's top sniper, while Fang Yi is just an intern.
Even though Fang Yi would do what a top sniper does once the battle starts, status-wise, he's just an intern!
Peterum, who was standing nearby, felt like he was hit out of the blue. He had finally managed to get rid of these tedious tasks, and there's no way he's going to get stuck in that quagmire again.
So Peterum, who had been watching the show, immediately prepared to slip away.
But things never go as planned. Before Peterum could make his escape, the crew members grabbed him and threw him straight onto the mast to act as an automatic seabird sniper.