No Way, No Way

Ahem, that's right. The only reasons he got skunked were that he had no bait, no proper gear, wasn't used to the local waters, and the wind and waves by the sea were too strong.

Those weren't excuses. They were facts. He was simply telling the truth.

As a landlubber accustomed to river and lake fishing inland, it was only natural that he had trouble adapting to sea fishing. Getting skunked was perfectly reasonable and normal, wasn't it?

He, Yu Hai, a seasoned inland angler, accepted no rebuttals.

In truth, anglers did not like this kind of bobbing float, because it was hard to know whether they should lift the rod or not.

But his bait was snail meat, so he did not need to worry about little fish messing with the fishhook.

A bobbing float generally meant one of two things.

The first was that small fish were nibbling at the hook. They could not swallow the food, but were interested in it, so they kept sucking at the bait with their mouths.

If the bait had low viscosity, small fish could easily pull it apart.

The second possibility was that a big fish was testing the bait. If it decided the bait was edible, it should swallow it whole next.

He did not need to worry about the first possibility. He just had to stay steady; little fish could not eat the snail meat on the fishhook anyway.

But if it was the second possibility, he would strike it rich. Once it bit, it had to be a big one, and there would be the same sharp downward dip he had seen when catching Sharp-toothed Fish.

A downward dip meant the float sank beneath the water, but not slowly. It suddenly plunged down with force, which meant a big fish had taken the hook.

If the float moved while submerged, that was a black float—the float sign every angler most wanted to see. Once it appeared, a catch was guaranteed.

Bzzzz—

Suddenly, the float that had been bobbing atop the waves sank in an instant. The fishing line snapped taut, and the force was so great that it nearly dragged him off balance.

But he reacted quickly, lifting and setting the rod at once. He braced the Fishing Rod against a reef, steadied his stance, and let the big creature in the sea thrash about while he stood firm as a mountain.

Seeing the float bob continuously, he had initially thought it was small fish. He had also prepared himself for the possibility of a big fish, but he had not expected this big fellow's strength to be so far beyond expectations.

Judging from the force transmitted through the Fishing Rod, it was no weaker than the Sharp-toothed Fish from before.

He had managed to haul up that Sharp-toothed Fish even while hungry. Naturally, he would not let this big catch get away now.

Poliwag, who had noticed the commotion, immediately stopped playing in the water and rushed ashore. It came to Yu Hai's feet and kept calling, "Yo, yo, yo, yo..."

Poliwag was probably saying something like, "Go! Go!"

Ever since it had been stopped from entering the sea last time, Poliwag would not go into the water without Yu Hai's order. Instead, it stood on shore, sticking out its little pink tongue to Lick its lips, delighted beyond measure.

They finally had fish to eat again. Kelp was delicious too, but how could eating grass compare to high-protein fish?

Eating grass was only a helpless choice. Given the option, Poliwag would rather eat meat.

Seeing Yu Hai struggle so hard that his face had turned red, Poliwag knew it had to be a big one.

The thought made Poliwag even more excited.

Yu Hai was not having an easy time either. This fish was far too strong—far stronger than he had expected.

It felt even stronger than the Sharp-toothed Fish from before. It struggled endlessly, and he was genuinely afraid the big fish would snap his Fishing Rod.

This Fishing Rod was his old companion. It had accompanied him through countless days and nights and countless night-fishing trips. He absolutely would not allow it to break.

The rod could not break, and the fish could not be released. Only children made choices. Of course, he wanted both.

With a stubborn fire burning in his heart, he deadlocked with the big fish in the sea for an entire morning. Even Poliwag grew tired of cheering, but the fish below still struggled.

When the fish's struggles finally slowed, Yu Hai also let out a breath. That kind of intense resistance had been brutal enough to leave him exhausted.

But the fish was resting; he could not. He still had to keep applying pressure and continue playing the fish.

This was a hard-won big catch. He had waited and waited, and it had finally bitten once. He truly did not want to let go.

So even if he could barely endure it, he had to hold on. This concerned an angler's dignity.

With that thought, he immediately raised the rod and quickly backed away, using the Fishing Rod's flex to play the fish.

The second round of playing the fish, the third round, the fourth round...

The fish's struggles were no longer as fierce as before. Each one was weaker and shorter than the last, and soon it was completely spent.

Its first desperate struggle had probably drained too much of its strength, leaving it exhausted.

Yu Hai immediately pressed his advantage. For this fish, he did not even have the mind to supervise Poliwag's training. He stubbornly wrestled with the fool in the sea for an entire day.

It was not until the sun was about to sink beneath the sea that he finally saw what the fool that had battled him all day actually was.

"Magikarp, Magikarp, Magikarp..."

It was neither a koi nor a carp. It was a Magikarp.

"What the hell? You've got to be kidding me!" When Yu Hai saw the golden crown-shaped dorsal fin break the surface, he immediately cursed.

He was not cursing because the fish was bad, nor because it was inedible. He was cursing because it had no meat!

This thing was nothing but bones, with muscles growing in its head. It had ten kilograms of weight for nothing. No wonder it could wear him out all day.

But could ten kilograms really contain no meat at all?

He did not believe it.

Just from the fact that it could use Water Splash and bounce around all day, one could tell how tenacious its vitality was and how developed its muscles had to be.

It did not care even if it lived in filthy water. It could be found in seas, rivers, ponds, and puddles all over the world...

Magikarp swam everywhere. It was also the most common Pokémon in the Pokémon World, as well as the weakest, known alongside Wishiwashi as the Crouching Dragon and Young Phoenix.

Well then, that phrase had been slandered again.

It was not his fault. When he saw those two, the first thing that came to mind was Crouching Dragon and Young Phoenix.

But he had already caught it, so he could not just refuse it. It was truly tasteless to eat yet a pity to discard—a perfectly useless thing.

It was in his hands now, so no matter how the Magikarp on the surface struggled, it was useless.

Unless this thing evolved right on the spot.

But he was not Jiro. He could not make a Magikarp evolve just by kicking it. Who knew how many weak, pitiful, helpless Magikarp Jiro had helped change their fate as trash?

Its evolution was a leap in life form, transforming from trash into a fierce man descending from the heavens. That required tremendous perseverance and determination.

Perhaps the fifty percent evolution rate at Magikarp Falls was related to the idea of a fish leaping over the dragon gate.

Once it crossed over, it represented the determination to evolve.

Although Magikarp's evolution had always been a mystery, he knew one thing: the odds of a Magikarp evolving were very low.

Even at Magikarp Falls, the evolution rate was only fifty percent.

He did not even know what kind of place this was, and this was a wild Magikarp. His luck could not possibly be that bad.

It probably would not evolve, right? No way...