OPTC Chapter 313: The New World About to Fall into Chaos
Making dumplings should've been simple. Zhang Da Ye started off confidently, mixing dough by instinct—too much flour, add water; too much water, add flour…
Five minutes later, he stared in despair at the small mountain of dough in his bowl and decided to call for backup. "Meng Meng, do you know how to make dumplings?"
"Of course…" Rui Meng Meng blinked in shock at the mound of dough before him. "Boss, are you trying to summon rain?"
"What rain?"
"In Journey to the West—they say when the dog licks away the flour mountain, the chicken eats the rice mountain, and the fire burns through the bronze lock, it starts raining."
"…I just made a small mistake," Zhang Da Ye said awkwardly. "Anyway, I'll leave the dough to you. I'll go chop the filling instead."
Rui Meng Meng sighed at the disaster he left behind. With that much dough, they'd have to make hundreds of dumplings. But considering everyone's appetite, that might actually be just enough.
Chopping the filling was much easier—he just asked what everyone wanted, then prepared pork, lamb, beef, and sea beast meat separately.
After all, Zhang Da Ye was now a great swordsman. With two kitchen knives in hand, he moved so fast they left afterimages. He minced the meat without cutting through the chopping board—his efficiency and precision would put even the two-sword turkey to shame.
Once everything was ready, everyone gathered around the table.
Zhang Da Ye rolled out thin, round dumpling skins with practiced speed. That part was easy enough not to mess up.
The others followed Rui Meng Meng's instructions on how to fold and pinch the dumplings.
The quickest learner was, of course, Tom. One demonstration was all he needed to copy the motions perfectly. Ye Yan wasn't far behind either, saying he'd done it before.
Artoria followed Rui Meng Meng's steps with interest, a streak of flour unknowingly smudged across her cheek. It didn't affect her focused expression one bit. After her successful oden project with Tom recently, she'd grown even more fascinated by making food herself.
"Yohohoho~ This is quite fun! Does this mean I've mastered another type of cuisine?" said Brook. His skeletal fingers were surprisingly nimble, producing neat, symmetrical dumplings.
"That's nothing! Look at mine, Kuma-shi!" Perona proudly held up her creation—a dumpling with bear ears, and even little eyes and a nose made from meat filling.
"So cute~" Wendy said as she carefully shaped her own plain, round dumplings.
Carla watched everyone busying themselves, but her small paws weren't as dexterous as Tom's, nor were they big enough to fold dough. She could only help by watching. After a while, she said, "I'll go keep watch from the observation deck. Wendy, make my share for me."
"Okay," Wendy said, nodding. "Leave it to me."
"I'll head over there too later," said Shark Chili. Folding dumplings wasn't exactly easy with his hands either. But it was a rare group activity, so he wasn't about to miss out. "Activating Super Transformation Mode!"
"Uh, that's not really necessary…" Zhang Da Ye started to say, but Shark Chili had already transformed. His hands twitched and blurred as he moved, shaping one dumpling per second.
Soon they ran out of wrappers, and everyone else could only stare as he snatched the rolling pin from Zhang Da Ye and began rolling at double speed. "My transformation time is limited! I must work even harder!"
"Will he be okay?" Wendy asked, worried.
"He's fine," Zhang Da Ye assured her. "Don't you remember how he looks whenever it's laundry day?"
Poor Super Transformation Mode—meant for battle, but always used for house chores.
Thanks to Shark Chili's heroic effort, the dumpling-making event wrapped up quickly. For fun, Zhang Da Ye hid a coin in one of the dumplings.
"Whoever eats the dumpling with the coin will have good luck and fortune in the coming year," he explained when everyone gave him curious looks.
By the end, trays and baskets of dumplings filled the kitchen—it was hard to tell if they'd made hundreds or over a thousand.
He left the cooking to the others, while he and Tom went up to the deck. From his inventory, Zhang Da Ye pulled out a pile of firecrackers and fireworks.
"Tom, help me tell which ones are regular fireworks and which ones can actually kill someone."
Tom tilted his head, biting his finger. They all looked the same—how could fireworks kill anyone?
Still, he obediently picked out some smaller ones that seemed less likely to blow up the ship.
Zhang Da Ye strung them together using gunpowder and fuses, setting the fireworks aside.
Tom, finding it amusing, stuck a firework on top of the ship's figurehead and lit it.
With loud pops, the fireworks shot into the sky, bursting into a shower of color.
"So pretty!"
"Beautiful!"
Everyone came out from the cabin, gazing up at the glowing sky. Carla flew out from the observation deck window and landed in Wendy's arms, both watching in awe.
Light from the fireworks shimmered across their faces, marking the start of a new year.
Everyone was happy—except for the figurehead, whose head was now covered in soot. If it could move, it would've coughed out two puffs of smoke.
"The dumplings are ready!" Rui Meng Meng called.
Cheering, everyone ran back to the dining hall. Zhang Da Ye lit the string of firecrackers with his trusty lamppost.
Crackle! Crackle! Pop!
Everything went smoothly, except for one dud firecracker. Satisfied, Zhang Da Ye joined the others for dinner.
That was just the first batch—many more still needed boiling as they ate.
As expected, Perona's cute bear-shaped dumpling had burst open, leaking filling everywhere. She could only pout and eat it anyway, though kind Rui Meng Meng gave her soy sauce and vinegar to help.
"Yohohoho~ These taste amazing!" Brook said, tossing whole dumplings into his mouth as if swallowing them whole—how he tasted them remained a mystery.
Most of the dumplings looked identical after boiling anyway, but Shark Chili had made the majority of them.
At first, Rui Meng Meng managed the pot, but after Ye Yan finished eating, she handed it over to him.
Tom, on the other hand, was on a mission. He refused to stop until he found the lucky coin dumpling. If not for Zhang Da Ye stopping him, he would've started stabbing dumplings with his chopsticks.
Brook was just as childish, but midway through, he finally clutched his nonexistent stomach. "Hic~ No more… I can't eat another bite…"
His belly, of course, remained perfectly flat.
Not long after, there was a crunch—Artoria had bitten into something hard. She didn't spit it out immediately, though. Frowning, she bit again.
"Ugh…" She pulled out a coin with tiny teeth marks etched into it.
Before anyone could congratulate her, she grimaced. "What bad luck. The dumpling doesn't even taste good anymore."
No one was surprised. They all believed her words came from genuine disappointment, not arrogance.
Zhang Da Ye chuckled and picked a dumpling from his plate. "Here, as compensation."
"Thanks!" Artoria's happiness was as simple as ever.
The night passed quietly. Despite the fireworks, not a single pirate ship appeared—whether that was good luck or bad was hard to say.
Maybe the Navy's recent restructuring had really scared off the smaller pirates. No one wanted to cause trouble when the Navy's morale was high.
But while some pirates feared the Navy and stayed quiet, others didn't care and continued doing as they pleased.
In fact, some in the New World were already planning to disrupt the Navy's operations—ambushing ships and attacking branch bases as soon as the new leadership announcement spread.
Though uncoordinated, these strikes still caused real problems, weakening the Navy's efforts to control the seas.
While everyone aboard the Amber enjoyed their dumpling feast, the newly appointed Fleet Admiral Sengoku sat in his office beneath the words "Justice That Rules the World."
He picked up a report and fed it to the small goat beside him. His first day as Admiral had begun with overtime.
"Bwahahaha! Sengoku, overtime already? Good thing I never got promoted!" Garp bellowed, kicking open the office door. His booming laugh echoed through the building.
Rubbing his temples, Sengoku sighed. "Garp, how many times must I tell you to knock before entering?"
"Don't sweat the details." Garp rummaged through Sengoku's desk, ignoring the classified documents until he found a bag of rice crackers. "Knew you'd hide them here! Haha! I brought some tea—where's your teapot?"
"Stop going through my drawers, Garp!" Sengoku snapped, but he could only give in, handing him the teapot. "Drink up and leave. I have work to do."
As Sengoku returned to his papers, the sounds of crunching and slurping filled the room, testing his patience.
"Will you shut up already, you idiot?!" Sengoku slammed the table, gave up, and sat beside Garp to steal some tea and crackers for himself.
Two veterans of the Navy, over fifty years old, bickering like children.
Once he'd finished eating and finally kicked Garp out, Sengoku could work in peace again.
He had already predicted how the pirates in the New World would react. Any pirate with foresight would try to make the Navy's life harder right now—after all, if too many talented youngsters joined the Navy, the pirate era would truly end.
Sengoku's response was simple: hit back harder. It was the perfect opportunity for the newly appointed admirals, Kuzan and Sakazuki, to prove their strength and earn the title of "monsters."
Their subordinates were also eager for glory—this was their time.
Of course, some of the great pirates were exceptions. Whitebeard, Red-Haired Shanks, and Big Mom had not joined the fray.
Whitebeard understood everything but didn't care. Ambitious people would always become pirates; those without ambition didn't belong anyway. He was content to take in the reckless ones who had lost battles against the Navy.
The Red-Haired Pirates were still new to the New World. Not long ago, the World Government had invited Shanks to become a Warlord of the Sea—he refused without hesitation. He and his crew continued charging through the seas, fighting and partying as always. He wasn't the type to attack the Navy directly, but he often helped smaller crews he liked, unintentionally gathering a growing fleet of allies.
Big Mom was something else entirely. At fifty-eight years old, she was still having children. In the original timeline, her youngest, Charlotte Anana, would be born three years later. For now, her attention was focused on building Totto Land while occasionally eyeing Fishman Island with envy. Her eldest son, Perospero, took advantage of the chaos to recruit more pirate groups under their banner.
As for Kaido, drunk and sprawled across Onigashima when the news came out—once he sobered up and heard it read aloud, he transformed into his massive azure dragon form, smashing through the roof and soaring into the sky.
"End the Great Pirate Era? What a joke!" he roared, the alcohol fueling his rage. He headed straight for Marineford to test whether Garp and Sengoku could still fight—and whether the new admirals were worthy of their titles.
"Lord Kaido!" his subordinates shouted in vain. Finally, they decided to alert the All-Stars. This was far beyond their ability to handle.
…
Meanwhile, Zhang Da Ye had no idea how chaotic the New World was about to become—after all, that part never made it into the anime.
After celebrating the new year with his friends, he welcomed the morning as usual—cleaning the deck and wiping down the ship's figurehead.
Somehow, the firecracker that hadn't exploded last night had gone off in the middle of the night, leaving the figurehead's entire upper half blackened with soot. Logically, it should've burned the lower half, but since these firecrackers came from Tom's world, it wasn't really surprising.
They sailed peacefully through the East Blue for three more days, defeating two small pirate crews along the way.
Then, on lookout duty that day, Wendy suddenly spotted something strange.
"Everyone… I think I see something weird…"
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