Early the next morning, Zhang Da Ye woke up and washed up.
He didn't linger in bed because last night, with no phone to play with, he had kept opening the magic circle and clicking through the same three pages dozens of times. Seeing his energy drop by 1% made him so anxious that he went to bed reluctantly.
Having slept early, he woke up early. After tidying the blanket, he poked Tom's snot bubble with his finger.
Pop! Tom woke up, turning his little head left and right, only relaxing after recognizing his surroundings and Zhang Da Ye's face.
"Let's go, Tom. Morning training."
The Red Soil Continent, thousands of meters tall, rose in the east of the Sabaody Archipelago. Though not extremely close, it delayed the sunrise for the entire archipelago.
When Zhang Da Ye stepped outside, the sky was still dim, and the sun had yet to rise. Many bubbles floating near the tops of the Archimedes Red Trees were already sparkling in colorful light before bursting with a pop.
Had he seen this before crossing over, Zhang Da Ye might have taken photos or videos for social media.
Now, only Tom seemed interested in enjoying the view. Zhang Da Ye focused entirely on charging his energy.
Half an hour passed quickly. He felt today's training easier than yesterday's. He decided to head back, give Byle his lesson as a break, and then push to fully charge his energy.
After breakfast, Goodman went to the shipyard, and Mrs. Molly went to chat with their neighbor, Mrs. Nabel, leaving Byle with Zhang Da Ye for lessons.
"Hey, Da Ye, what are we learning today?" Byle asked excitedly, sitting at his desk.
Goodman had custom-made the desk and chair for Byle, and even prepared a blackboard and pointer for Zhang Da Ye.
Are all shipwrights good at crafting things?
Zhang Da Ye waved the pointer to get a feel for it and said, "Let's start with your name."
Byle, bear—like a mischievous kid…
Of course, he didn't explain that literally. He complimented the name and carefully taught Byle to write it stroke by stroke, having him practice multiple times. Then he picked up today's newspaper to read the news.
Sea Calendar 1510, May 10th. The headline featured a Celestial Dragon wearing a square bubble headpiece.
"World Noble Charlmarco Saint plans to visit the East Blue Goya Kingdom; the entire kingdom rejoices!"
East Blue Goya Kingdom, a familiar name, seemed to be Karp's hometown. Luffy's three brothers were likely there now. Sabo would probably sail at this time, coinciding with the Celestial Dragons' ship, leading to his heavy injury, amnesia, and recruitment by Dragon into the Revolutionary Army…
A lot had happened these past few days—big events for Zhang Da Ye.
Some events weren't even in the newspapers, only circulating among certain groups: the Germa had carried out a mercenary attack on a non-government-affiliated country in East Blue. Meanwhile, the third son of the Vinsmoke family escaped Germa during the conflict and entered East Blue.
"I got it, Da Ye!" Byle shouted.
"Show me your writing." Zhang Da Ye looked at the child's crooked characters. "Good. Next, let's write your parents' names."
When Zhang Da Ye was young, he learned to write his family's names before learning pinyin and strokes. Perhaps it made learning more interesting. He planned to do the same with Byle.
It worked well. Children pick up what interests them quickly.
After finishing the day's lessons, Zhang Da Ye told Byle the latest story from the newspaper: Sora, a marine warrior, fought Germa's evil super soldier, Spark Red.
The issue highlighted Germa's technology and battle suits. Byle seemed fascinated.
Zhang Da Ye also felt excited. Battle suits, transformations—others might see them as stories, but he knew they were real.
Cool as they were, the main point was strength. Just a few individuals could hold off much of Big Mom's forces, giving the main crew a chance to escape.
Unfortunately, these were gene-customized suits, so Zhang Da Ye could only drool and return to his own training.
Today's summoning brought two interesting items:
[Sturdy Fish Tank: Originally for goldfish, but once contained a shark's head.]
[Jerry Uncle's Guitar: Small and delicate, often with broken strings—you know where I got the strings, right?]
He wasn't impressed by the fish tank, but the guitar, smaller than his hand, sounded nice when strummed.
Tom immediately covered his whiskers, recalling an unpleasant memory.
Zhang Da Ye laughed and put the guitar away—it wasn't very friendly to Tom.
After lunch, he ate heartily again, napped, and went running. The spring-like weather was comfortable, not hot.
Even though the Grand Line should be near the equator and hot year-round, common knowledge from before crossing over seemed irrelevant here.
Train. Rest when tired. Continue running when rested. Becoming stronger was a long-term goal. Energy numbers didn't lie, and summoned magical items were tangible proof.
Motivated by this, Zhang Da Ye pressed on—though partly because he had nothing else to do.
By evening, he finally accumulated enough energy and obtained new items:
[Triangular Piano: Used by Tom in a concert, earning the audience's applause, despite a minor mishap.]
[Tom's Family Refrigerator: Full of vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs, dairy, and desserts.]
These large items were tricky. It wasn't convenient to bring them out or show them at Goodman's house.
"I should rent a place once I get my salary. It's too inconvenient to keep these at someone else's house."
"Or maybe sell some items?" That required careful planning. Ordinary items wouldn't fetch much; magical items might attract unwanted attention.
The piano was valuable but too large to move and not ideal to showcase his inventory yet. Better to wait.