43 Vol 1. pt. 43 Patch 8.0: How to Train Your Crew (1/2)

Together with Serra, Cassiel, Rock, and a bucket of shrimp, Fenrir heads out on The Shoebill to the fishing spot that Jax told him about.

Fenrir has to be careful not to accidentally ram, or get rammed by, any other ships as he sails to the rear of the tower. The port city is an extremely busy one with at least a dozen vessels of various sizes entering or leaving at all times.

Serra looks ready to drop the ship's anchor as soon as they reach the spot, but Fenrir commands her not to. He explains that he's worried it might scare the fish or at least disturb them. For that same reason, he tells the girls not to talk too loudly or make much noise in general.

Neither of the girls knows how to fish, but Serra lets Cassiel get lessons first.

It gives Serra more time to pet Rock.

Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

”Alright, are you watching?” Fenrir asks.

Cassiel nods and stares at his hands. He's never seen her look so focused before.

It's pretty cute.

”Alright, first you reach into the bucket and grab a shrimp. Once you grab one, you have to make sure to hold onto it tightly enough that it won't break free but not so tightly that you'll hurt or kill it.” Fenrir reaches into the bucket and tries grabbing one of the shrimp. He winces a bit when one of them manages to cut his hand, but he eventually gets a good grip on one to pull out.

And then it jumps right out of his hand onto the deck.

Rock rushes over to it and tries playing with it.

Rock discovers that she doesn't like the taste of shrimp when she accidentally bites it hard enough to pop it open in her mouth.

”Alright, let's try again,” Fenrir says.

”Are you sure you're the one who should be teaching me this?” Cassiel asks. ”Here, just let me try.” She reaches into the bucket. A cocky smile spreads across her lips when she picks out a shrimp much faster than he did, but then the exact same thing happens to her.

Instead of biting the shrimp to try and play with it, Rock barks at it until Fenrir has a chance to pick it up.

”Are you sure you're the one who should be giving me sass?” Fenrir asks Cassiel and gets a glare in response. ”Alright, once you have the shrimp, you want to run the hook right through the center of its body. Try not to get too close to its head. You want it to stay alive.”

”Why?” Cassiel asks.

”Because if it's alive then it'll be swimming around and grabbing attention. Fish are more likely to notice it and try eating it,” he explains while sliding the hook through the center of the shrimp. Cassiel cringes from the sound it makes as the hook punctures the shrimp's shell. ”Once you have your bait ready, you want to hold the rod in your dominant hand like this,” he grips the rod so that the foot of the reel is between a couple of his fingers, ”have a bit of line freely hanging and then hold the line against the rod with your finger, open the bail like so, and aim at where you want to cast your line to. Now, this next part is all about timing. You want to raise the rod up like this, and then halfway through your swing, you need to let go of the line. Watch the tip of my rod to see when I release.”

With his explanation over, Fenrir swings his rod forward and releases the line when the tip reaches halfway through where he was aiming it. The line goes flying out over the water! It is a smooth cast that lands almost exactly where he was aiming. ”And then you close the bail! You want to open the bail when you want the line to go out, and close it when you don't want to give more of it. Make sense?” Fenrir asks, looking over at Cassiel whom looks unimpressed.

”Looks easy enough,” she says. She goes through all the steps he went through. First is grabbing another shrimp, sliding it onto the hook, and then preparing to cast the line.

Her first attempt results in the hook being sent straight down into the water off the side of the boat. She knows that it isn't right, so she reels it in to try again. Her second attempt gets the hook snagged in her hair, so Fenrir has to help her unhook herself. The third attempt reaches about halfway to her target, but… the shrimp slips off mid-cast.