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Doing the laundry.

Making dinner.

Drawing comics.

The days passed.

Most people would do nothing when they got a break from work. But for Zhang Ye, he couldn’t be busier. This fellow could never stay idle for long. Even if he had nothing to do, he would still find something to be busy with. Just look at how this fellow had become so fascinated with cooking, coming up with new dishes every day to surprise his wife.

Meanwhile, Zhang Ye’s friends and family were the ones bearing the brunt of it.

On set.

At a filming location.

The director said, “OK, let’s get ready to roll the cameras.”

The assistant director said, “Everyone, silence your phones.”

Everyone turned off their cell phones, only to hear Yao Jiancai shout, “Wait, wait, wait, I have to take a call.” Then he answered the phone in a speechless manner: “What is it?”

On the other end of the line, Zhang Ye said: “How do I stir fry eggplants?”

“You’re already calling me for the third time today!”

“I don’t know how to make it.”

“Just put in some oil and fry it.”

“It doesn’t work. The oil disappears the moment I add it in and the eggplant dries.”

“Aiya, why are you so stupid? Since eggplants soak up oil really fast, you can just add more oil.”

“Damn, you should have said so earlier. I’m hanging up then!”

After hanging up, everyone in the film crew looked at him. Yao Jiancai helplessly waved the phone in his hand. “It was Zhang Ye. That fella is learning how to cook.”

Everyone chuckled at that.

Shanghai.

Backstage at a concert.

“Teachers, please get ready to go on stage.”

Xiaodong and Amy were both ready.

Only Li Xiaoxian was still on the phone. “Teacher Zhang, I’ve to get on stage.”

Zhang Ye said anxiously: “Tell me first. The pan is already hot. Hurry, hurry, hurry!”

Li Xiaoxian could only say: “You’ll have to blanch it first to remove the blood.”

“I still have to blanch it?”

“Of course. Otherwise, it won’t taste good.”

Xiaodong rolled her eyes.

Amy pressed, “Xiaoxian, hurry up. We have to go on stage. Ignore Teacher Zhang. He’s called you eight times over the past few days. He’s just not the type who can learn how to cook!”

Beijing.

At the venue of a commercial performance.

Fan Wenli had just finished performing her song and did not even have a sip of water yet when the call came in.

“Old Fan, how do you make sweet and sour mandarin fish ¹ ?”

“Huh?”

“Hurry up and tell me, I’ve already slaughtered the mandarin fish ² !”

“Come off it. You can’t even cook stir-fried tomato and scrambled eggs properly and you want to make sweet and sour mandarin fish? How can you learn to run if you haven’t even learned to walk?”

“Heh, don’t underestimate this bro, alright?”

Li Xiaoxian.

Zhang Xia.

Fan Wenli.

And so on.

As long as they were his friends and knew how to cook, Zhang Ye harassed them an ungodly amount over the past few days. Their phones would ring nearly every time mealtime approached. This annoyed and upset everyone. Further, you couldn’t get impatient and say things to spite Zhang Ye either. Because once you did that, he would become even more eager to prove you wrong. So how were they suppose to handle this?

Meanwhile, Zhang Ye was having lots of fun himself.

He would prepare several dishes each day and wait for Old Wu to praise him after eating. Whenever that happened, Zhang Ye would always feel a sense of accomplishment and be overjoyed.

Of course, he did not forget about his proper work either.

Zhang Ye was going after a spot among the Asian S-listers, after all.

Each night after Wu Zeqing turned in, he would head to the newly set up drawing studio and drink a cup of coffee or strong tea to charge up before starting to draw. Once he got started, he would draw into the wee hours of the night. When he felt normal or got too tired, he would just draw one chapter a day. If he was in better condition, he could draw up two to three chapters a day. The stockpile of One Piece’s chapters was increasing. However, the release rate of the serialization in Japan was still too slow at one chapter per week. Finally, when Zhang Ye felt that he had too many chapters stockpiled, he got his studio to liaise with the publisher to see if he could up his release rate to two or three chapters per week by releasing joint chapters.

…

Across the sea.

Japan.

A new issue of Shōnen Magazine had gone on sale.

One Piece’s second chapter had landed.

If the first chapter was an introduction of the backstory with memories serving to lead the readers into the main plot, then the second chapter was the official start of the story.

“Wow!”

They’ve started fighting!”

“He’s a rubber man!”

“This is fun, this is so fun!”

“Luffy is so cute!”

“There’s a new character.”

“It’s getting better.”

“This comic is not bad. I think it’s worth reading.”

“This new serialization brings about a very refreshing feeling. I’ve already recommended it to my friends.”

“Hai, it’s just that the character design is too ugly.”

…

A week later.

The third chapter of One Piece was released.

“What a good read!”

“I’m starting to anticipate it more and more!”

“I’m gonna die! I suddenly find the character design to be very nice!”

“Me too, I’ve actually gotten used to it!”

“This character design is too unique.”

“I’m still going to vote for it in this issue’s popularity poll.”

…

Shōnen Publishing.

In the editorial department.

The results of the new issue’s popularity poll were released.

All of the editors, including Seto Kyoko, had gathered in anticipation to have a look. When they saw it, all of the editors guffawed.

“It’s One Piece again!”

“It’s in first place again?”

“It’s gotten first place for three consecutive issues now.”

“This must be this year’s biggest black horse.”

“Kyoko, treat us.”

Kyoko was all smiles at heart. However, she said, “What treat? I’m worried to death. Teacher Aoi’s representative has called to nag me several times already. They said that releasing one chapter per week isn’t enough and were hoping that we could increase our pages for them to have two or three chapters released per week instead. There has never been a precedent like this.”

The editors nearly vomited blood!

“What?”

“He finds it not enough?

“Three chapters a week?”

“Kyoko, you’ve made it big!”

“Hey, why don’t I have such a dedicated cartoonist under me!”

“I’m so envious of you, Kyoko. The cartoonists under me are all experts at procrastinating til the deadlines for their submissions. They’d never make any progress at all if it weren’t for the deadlines. I always have to nag every one of them for their work. Sometimes, I even have to lose my temper with them. Why, why can’t I meet a cartoonist as dedicated as yours!”

“Ahhh, it’s really such torture to compare people with one another!”

“Kyoko, you’re going to cause a big upset this year!”

“One Piece already has the makings of an extremely popular comic series. It’s almost definite that it’ll get a standalone release. If those sales are good, it will surely be animated too.”

At this moment, the editor-in-chief arrived.

Kyoko anxiously said, “Editor-in-chief.”

The editor-in-chief acknowledged her and said, “It’s in first place again?”

Kyoko said with a smile, “Yes.”

The editor-in-chief thought for a bit. “How many chapters of One Piece have been submitted thus far?”

Kyoko said, “I’ve received 30 chapters so far. I don’t how many assistants Teacher Aoi has hired, but his work rate is too fast. Furthermore, I looked through the work many times. The quality of every one of them is top-notch.”

The editor-in-chief nodded and said, “About that matter you brought up previously, let’s have a meeting to discuss it. There might not be any precedents, but it doesn’t mean that we can’t do it.”

Kyoko said in surprise, “Are you saying?”

“We can give it a try.” The editor-in-chief said, “There’s a comic series that just ended this week, so we can allocate its spot to One Piece. We’ll see if two chapters a week will work out well. If it doesn’t, then we can always cut it back down to one chapter a week.”

And with that, One Piece began to release two chapters a week.

The popularity of One Piece also swept across the whole of Japan with lightning speed!