OPTC Chapter 306 - Christmas
After completing the Christmas mission, Ye Yan eagerly climbed back into the lookout post and tore open the heavy gift box. Inside were ten neatly arranged gold coins.
"Well, that's generous. Even some big companies' year-end bonuses don't pay this much." Ye Yan happily picked up one coin, ready to bite it like they did on TV, only to realize his own face was engraved on it.
"…" His mouth froze mid-bite. Checking the rest, he found one engraved with him dressed as the "Lonely Mushroom," while the other eight featured each of his flag spirits. The back of every coin bore the same cheerful words: "Merry Christmas!"
"Well, fine, putting my handsome face on coins I can accept. But those creepy spirits too? What a waste of good gold…"
After rubbing the coins for a bit, he gave up trying to test their authenticity and summoned his Demonic Banner. "You lot, get out there and patrol. The boss just handed out bonuses!"
The night passed quietly, and Zhang Da Ye was secretly glad his newly learned night vision technique hadn't yet caused any insomnia.
The next morning, someone shook his shoulder hard. Half-asleep, Zhang Da Ye mumbled, "Tom? What is it?"
Tom grinned widely, proudly showing off his Christmas gift—a small metal nameplate.
On the front, it read "Tom" in both Chinese and English. On the back, in tiny letters, was a long inscription.
Worried Zhang Da Ye couldn't read it clearly, Tom even held up a magnifying glass.
"Zhang Da Ye hereby vows to adopt Tom as his pet cat. From this day forth, through good times and bad, wealth or poverty, health or sickness, joy or sorrow, he shall love and cherish him, never to part."
Of course, Zhang Da Ye already knew what it said. He'd spent a long time thinking about what to engrave.
If there was one gift guaranteed to make Tom happy, it would be… a Jerry.
After all, Tom never had to worry about food or comfort anymore—he only lacked a little companion to help him wreck the place. Sadly, Zhang Da Ye couldn't break the dimensional wall to catch Jerry.
Aside from that, maybe Tom also wanted a girlfriend… but Zhang Da Ye couldn't exactly kidnap Carla for him, so he had to think of something else.
He remembered Tom's first wish when he'd joined the crew—and so he made this little nameplate.
"Do you like your gift?" Zhang Da Ye asked.
Tom nodded so hard his head looked like a pecking chick's, joyfully putting on the plate as a necklace before pouncing on Zhang Da Ye and planting a big kiss on his face.
"Alright, alright." Zhang Da Ye lifted him off, rubbing his head. "So my Christmas gift is a kiss from Tom?"
Worth every second.
Tom blinked, puzzled, then pointed to a box by the bedside, as if saying, "Isn't your gift over there?"
"Huh?" Zhang Da Ye picked up the medium-sized box. "You put this here?"
Tom shook his head, giving him a "you silly human" look—obviously, it was Santa Claus!
Curious, Zhang Da Ye opened the box. Inside sat an adorable plush lion, with a small card beside it reading in elegant handwriting: "Merry Christmas!"
He held up the lion, staring into its stitched eyes for a few seconds before smiling softly. He already knew who it was from.
Just then, someone knocked loudly on the door. Perona's voice rang out, "Tom, Tom! Come on, there's snow outside! Let's go play!"
Wendy's small, gentle voice followed, "Perona, don't shout like that, you'll wake up Brother Da Ye."
As expected, Wendy was a sweet little angel, while Perona was pure chaos. Clearly, he hadn't been strict enough with her.
The moment Tom heard the word "snow," he bolted out the door, only to dart back inside seconds later wrapped in a blanket, teeth chattering and whiskers covered in frost.
Zhang Da Ye laughed, poured him a cup of hot water, and helped him into a padded jacket. "There. Now go have fun."
…
By the time Zhang Da Ye stepped out, fully bundled up, Perona, Wendy, Carla, and Tom were already crouched around a set of footprints half-buried in the snow.
Tom looked smug—Santa had really been here! He didn't even question why his "gift from Santa" had Zhang Da Ye's vow engraved on it.
Perona gaped. "No way. Santa's real?"
"But we all got gifts," Wendy said innocently, "and look—these are his footprints! And the reindeer's too!"
Perona folded her arms. "Come on, that's a fairy tale for kids. If there really was a Santa delivering gifts, it'd definitely be that guy pretending again. He loves wearing weird costumes."
Yawning, Ye Yan climbed down from the lookout post. "I swear on Artoria's appetite, I did not dress up as Santa and give you those presents."
He told the truth just to mess with them, then went back inside to nap without a hint of guilt.
Perona hesitated, suddenly unsure what to believe.
Carla, who saw through everything, sighed quietly. Ye Yan had probably dressed as a reindeer instead, even forging the footprints. But she didn't expose him—Wendy deserved to keep a bit of Christmas magic, and she herself rather liked the ribbons on her gift.
Shark Chili didn't join the conversation. He was double-checking their route—the most important thing at sea, done several times a day.
"Yohohoho~ everyone! I got a Christmas gift too—a violin! A violin!" Brook ran out beaming, waving the instrument around.
Rui Meng Meng and Shark Chili exchanged looks. The oldest on board was somehow the most childlike—and clearly believed in Santa with all his heart.
Zhang Da Ye smiled. "Is it a good one?"
He worried he hadn't picked the right kind.
Thankfully, Brook nodded vigorously. "Excellent tone and tuning! Would you like me to play a song?"
Zhang Da Ye grinned. "How about a lullaby for Ye Yan? Might help him sleep."
"Leave it to me! Yohohoho~" Brook cheered and hurried back inside, as happy as an eighty-year-old child.
Those who knew the truth quietly thanked Zhang Da Ye, while the blissfully unaware ones went right back to building snowmen.
Wendy and Perona, both wearing mitten gloves—red and blue—rolled two big snowballs, giggling as their breath puffed white in the air.
Tom and Carla pushed smaller snowballs with their paws, ready to stack them into snowmen later.
But as Tom pushed, he slipped—and tumbled downhill with the snowball, rolling straight toward Zhang Da Ye.
Instinctively, Zhang Da Ye turned and ran, chased from bow to stern and back again. Only when the snowball grew man-sized did he suddenly realize, "Wait—why am I running from a snowball?"
He stopped abruptly, planted his feet, and stretched out his hand with a confident smile. With his current strength, he could stop rolling boulders, let alone snowballs—saving Tom would be easy.
Then the snowball flattened him into a paper cutout and slammed both of them into the figurehead.
Boom. The snowball shattered, leaving paper-thin Zhang Da Ye and Tom stuck to the ship's sculpture.
"Well, the block failed, but hey—I might've just learned Paper Art. Worth it," Zhang Da Ye muttered, trying to mask his embarrassment.
Shark Chili peeled the two of them off the figurehead and shook off the snow. "You two okay?"
Tom wobbled, his eyes swirling like spirals. Zhang Da Ye, brushing snow off his face, replied, "We should be worrying about the statue, not us."
The figurehead's frozen surface had melted slightly, a droplet sliding down its cheek like a bead of sweat.
Wendy wanted to rush over, but Perona stopped her. "Don't bother. Those two get into accidents all the time. If you go, you'll just get dragged in too."
When she saw Zhang Da Ye and Tom still moving, Wendy relaxed—only to get smacked in the face by a flying snowball.
"Mmmph…" she whimpered, nearly toppling backward.
"Wendy!" Carla gasped, realizing she'd overreacted—but it really had come out of nowhere.
Wendy wiped the snow off her face, teary-eyed.
"What's that supposed to mean, you jerks?!" Perona flared up instantly, scooping a snowball and hurling it straight at Zhang Da Ye.
Whether she meant to defend her friend or just get revenge was anyone's guess.
Zhang Da Ye blinked. Tom was dazed, Shark Chili wouldn't pull a prank, so… did his right hand act on its own?
He barely had time to think before Perona's snowball hit Shark Chili square in the face.
"Well, looks like we're doing this," Shark Chili muttered, scooping his own snowball and tossing it—smacking Rui Meng Meng on the back of the head.
"Huh? Am I in the game now?" Rui Meng Meng said dizzily, then joined in anyway.
Surrounded by Rui Meng Meng, Perona, Wendy, and Carla, Shark Chili groaned, "Guess I've got no choice—super transformation mode, go!"
The snowball war escalated. Zhang Da Ye and Tom joined in too—at this point, no one cared who threw the first one.
Tom's arms spun like wheels, launching snowballs like a machine gun, his firepower single-handedly suppressing the other side. The girls and the little cat had no chance, scrambling for cover.
Watching that, Zhang Da Ye couldn't help thinking, no wonder Tom's still single—he's too good at this.
Then, the tide of battle changed when Artoria stepped out from below deck.
Tom's snowball hit her square in the face.
Unfazed, the King of Knights licked her lips. No sweetness. Just plain snow. So—not food, then.
Meaning… this was a snowball fight.
Tom's smug laugh echoed across the deck—exactly the same one he used when taunting enemies.
"Very well," Artoria declared, eyes narrowing. "Take this!"
A snowball flew straight into Tom's open mouth, and he swallowed it whole, instantly silenced.
That shot marked the turning point. Under Artoria's leadership, the girls rallied and launched a fierce counterattack.
Zhang Da Ye suspected she'd secretly activated "Leader Aura," but he didn't back down—he still had Tom.
Tom's rate of fire was high, but the damage low, and his taunts drew all the attention, giving Zhang Da Ye and Shark Chili room to maneuver.
At the peak of the chaos, the loyal flag spirits carried Ye Yan—still wrapped in blankets—out to the middle of the deck. He woke up shivering, just in time to take a barrage of snowballs to the face.
"You bastards trying to mutiny?!" Ye Yan roared, instantly realizing who was behind it.
The flag spirits cackled. "Don't blame us, Master! We're only doing this so you can join in the fun!"
"I don't want to join in, damn it! Not like this!"
"What?" the flag spirits gasped theatrically. "Oh dear, our mistake! But that's on you, Master—why didn't you say so sooner?"
"You idiots! Maybe wake me up first next time?!" Ye Yan yelled, grabbing a handful of snow to chase them down.
Brook, swept up in the confusion, joined the fray without even knowing whose side he was on.
The ship's figurehead could only sweat silently—it knew the truth. The very first snowball had actually been aimed at Tom, but somehow it had turned into an all-out war.
The battle raged on until Shark Chili's transformation wore off. There were no winners in the end.
Everyone except Shark Chili had to bathe and change clothes afterward.
Ye Yan was the biggest loser—running barefoot in his pajamas through the snow for half an hour, he caught a cold. Now, wrapped in a blanket at the ship's bar, he sipped ginger tea and sniffled miserably.
The flag spirits didn't get off easy either. Ye Yan handed his Demonic Banner to Tom and told him to shake it for half an hour straight. Now all eight spirits were leaning over the railing, vomiting into the sea. Once they were done, they had to clean every last patch of snow—or suffer more "shaking torture," one second per snowflake.
And so, amidst the laughter and chaos, the Amber Travel Crew celebrated their Christmas.
No one had the heart to take down the tree or the lights just yet. Wendy, Carla, and Perona's snowmen were left standing proudly on the deck.
Sniffling, Ye Yan eyed the little snowman, a wicked grin spreading across his face. One snowflake left means one more second of punishment… how many snowflakes does a snowman have again?
You dare mess with me? We'll see who's laughing now.
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