Ten Years of Fishing Like a Day

"Poliwag, do you know how dangerous that was?" Yu Hai asked, feeding Poliwag as he spoke.

"Yo, yo," Poliwag nodded. It knew it was dangerous, and it had felt the threat of death for the first time.

"If you know, then don't act alone next time. You're too weak right now. If you want to fear no enemy, you need to become stronger," Yu Hai said, unsure if Poliwag could understand, but he said it anyway.

"Yo yo, yo yo," hearing this, Poliwag's eyes grew more serious. It knew how dangerous its previous actions had been.

If Yu Hai hadn't thrown out a Poké Ball to distract the Pidgey, it might not have made it back.

Being caught and eaten by the Pidgey would have been its ultimate fate.

It was as if fire burned in Poliwag's eyes. For the first time, it felt its own weakness, and for the first time, it craved strength so much. It wanted to be strong enough to fear no enemy, to protect its trainer who cared about it the most, Yu Hai.

Becoming stronger was the most resolute thought in Poliwag's mind at that moment. Then, channeling its frustration into appetite, Poliwag devoured the food Yu Hai had cooked like a whirlwind and wanted to go train by the sea.

But as soon as Poliwag stood up, its legs were still weak, and Yu Hai gently pushed it back down.

"Where are you going?" Yu Hai didn't know what was on Poliwag's mind, but he knew Poliwag couldn't go anywhere right now. Eating and resting were Poliwag's only tasks.

"Yo yo, yo yo," as soon as Poliwag recovered some strength, it turned its head towards the sea and then spat out a Water Gun, telling Yu Hai it wanted to train.

Yu Hai smiled helplessly at this. He felt like he had over-motivated it. It was good that Poliwag had drive, but this wasn't the time to use it.

"Rest well. No training today," Yu Hai's hand pressed firmly on Poliwag's head, preventing it from rushing out impulsively. He also shook his head at Poliwag, indicating refusal.

Seeing Yu Hai shake his head, Poliwag deflated like a leaky balloon and became listless again.

But when Poliwag saw the food presented before it, its fighting spirit reignited, and it looked up at Yu Hai, who had brought the food.

"These are the fish bones left from last night. I heated them up for you in a pan. You just need to eat and rest well. We'll talk about training after you've recovered..."

"Yo yo," Poliwag looked at the food in the pan and pushed the frying pan towards Yu Hai.

Yu Hai understood Poliwag's good intentions, but he couldn't digest fish bones, so he refused Poliwag.

"You eat first. There's more here," Yu Hai refused, then picked up the Magikarp whose scales he had just scraped off, placing half of it over the fire to roast and the other half in a pot to stew.

Although the Magikarp was mostly bones, there were still some fish skin and muscle attached to the bones that could be eaten.

It was just that it probably wouldn't taste good and would be quite chewy and difficult to digest.

He didn't have a pressure cooker, otherwise, stewing it would probably make it taste better.

Since he didn't have a pressure cooker, he would just stew it for longer. This meant the roasted half of the fish bones would be ready to eat faster than the half being stewed.

Taking the dried Magikarp ribs from the fire, Yu Hai mashed the fish bones again and used the frying pan as a bowl for Poliwag, holding the fish bones before its eyes.

"Yo yo, yo yo," Poliwag saw the pot of fish bones, swallowed, and pushed it towards Yu Hai.

But the frying pan that had just been pushed over was pushed back by Yu Hai. "I have..."

Yu Hai said, pointing to the front of himself, where there was a small bowl of fish bones. However, compared to the fish bones in Poliwag's frying pan, there were much fewer.

He could eat this stuff too, it just wasn't easy to digest and could get stuck in his teeth. The freshly roasted fish bones were quite brittle, with a texture similar to eating potato chips.

As for the taste, it was hard to describe.

Seeing that Yu Hai also had fish bones in front of him, Poliwag no longer refused. It happily accepted the frying pan and began to eat heartily.

Although the fish bones in the stew pot weren't ready yet, the fish soup could be tasted first. This original fish soup.

Yu Hai first scooped a cup of fish soup for himself with an iron cup, and then used a bowl made from a plastic bottle to scoop a bowl of fish soup for Poliwag.

After placing the fish soup for Poliwag, he tasted the fish soup himself. He felt it mostly had a fishy smell, along with some seafood aroma, and that was it.

If it could be paired with some seaweed and shellfish, the soup would be truly delicious and at least wouldn't have such a strong fishy smell.

Unfortunately, the tide hadn't receded yet, so it wasn't a good time for foraging by the sea.

Sigh, it's good enough to have something to drink, no need to be picky.

He sighed helplessly and poked the fish bones with chopsticks. He found that the fish skin and muscle attached to the bones had softened a bit, so he picked out a piece with his chopsticks to try.

The result was still as tough as leather, completely unchewable. He was about to put it back into the stew pot, but Poliwag stopped him.

"Yo yo, yo yo..."

Poliwag had regained its strength, its voice had a bit more power, and its previously pale complexion had improved significantly.

"You want to eat?" Yu Hai tentatively picked up the fish skin and placed it in the frying pan before Poliwag.

Poliwag didn't reply but lowered its head, bit into the fish skin, and swallowed it, beginning to chew.

Seeing this, Yu Hai didn't stop him. He went back to the pot and scooped out some remaining fish offal, considering it breakfast.

Afterward, as more fish skin was cooked, he picked it all out and placed it in Poliwag's frying pan.

Letting the little glutton Poliwag wrestle with this chewy fish meat, he wouldn't participate.

He just scooped a cup of fish soup, poured the fish soup from the stew pot to cool, refilled the stew pot with water, and placed it on the fire to boil. Then he ignored it.

Instead, he grabbed his old companion, the fishing rod, and went to his usual reef fishing spot. He baited his hook with snail meat and cast his line.

Actually, fish meat was no longer the primary source of food, but he still fished. He wanted to catch a Water-type Pokémon with good potential, not limited to Magikarp.

Of course, he didn't want a Kingler. He wouldn't take one even if it were given to him, unless...

Never mind, those street bums would only ruin his mood. He wouldn't think about it.

After no longer thinking about that group of street punks, Yu Hai focused his attention on the fishing float, taking small sips of the fish soup in his iron cup, treating it like plain water.

Actually, fishing is a very boring and tasteless activity. If one isn't interested in fishing, they simply can't endure the loneliness of waiting for a fish to bite.

The reason fishermen are fishermen is because they are fishermen who can endure loneliness. Waiting day after day for ten years is commonplace for fishermen.

It's just that the wait for a fish to bite this morning was exceptionally long...

The collection count broke 300 today, not easy! Thank you all for your monthly passes and recommendation tickets. Seven or eight book friends cast their votes, and I won't list them one by one. I'll thank them all here together. Thank you x3.