The Legend of the Fishermen of Sicily

Having solved the problem of dealing with the fish and reported back to Andrei that he was safe, Leo confidently rowed his small boat out.

It's the same sea area, and the same weapons.

Fully equipped, Aquaman jumped into the water to "embrace" his people.

Having witnessed Aesop's entire accounting process this morning, Leo has a sense of direction today.

High-value fish species are relatively rare in waters 3-10 meters offshore, about 1 kilometer from the shore.

Of all the fish I brought back yesterday, only one juvenile grouper was considered a high-end catch.

Therefore, today's hunting strategy is—efficiency first.

He set his sights on large, medium-sized fish that were easy to find.

With this policy in place, Leo wrote several names in the Death Note—

The best choices are European sea bass and golden snapper, which are snapped as soon as they surface.

The second priority list includes mullet and sea bream, which are common in this area. Since there is no preferred species, these are the targets.

Even if you don't find anything of value, try to bring a fish or a shell up with you, so that you can find something on every dive.

Once you've done more than three dives and there's nothing of value, paddle away in a small boat and look for a new dive site.

Because of the targeted approach, unlike yesterday when we hunted whatever we saw, today's efficiency was slightly lower than yesterday.

But that's only compared to Leo himself... Objectively speaking, it's still an efficiency that others can only dream of.

During one of his rest stops on the ship, Leo admired the "spoils" scattered all over the place and thought that he should bring out a tool to weigh them so that he could calculate the money and be more motivated.

He stood on the gunwale, looking out into the deeper sea, wondering what good things might be found there.

Did they buy the "golden treasure" that Andrei mentioned?

But he was just thinking about it.

Leo promised Sorbet that he wouldn't go too far from shore for the next two months, venturing into waters no deeper than 15 meters.

"Safety first!" Leo reminds himself of this countless times every day.

......

I didn't find any high-value fish this morning, but I received a high-value "surprise".

After 9 a.m., the temperature in Sicily rose sharply. After a morning and afternoon of harvesting quite a bit, Leo wondered if he should take the fish back home, rest for a while, and come out again when it wasn't so hot.

As he was pondering when to return, he noticed a strange protrusion on the seabed.

Thinking it was some kind of seashell, I wanted to pick it up while it was still puffy before continuing my search for fish.

He could indeed pick it up with his hand, but the feel was off. Before he could react, the 'shell' in his hand mutated—it flew towards Leo like a large net.

Even more terrifying is that its color has changed, turning into an "alien" object that is neither black nor purple, and has a touch of red.

As everyone knows, Leo is an extremely daring man who would go to the ruins at night to find a deranged serial killer without even blinking an eye.

He threw the harpoon at once, striking seven times before stopping, but he did so too quickly that he didn't have time to use the "Weakness Strike" skill.

At this point, Leo had already realized that this was an octopus.

But Squidward was too resilient. He survived seven blows from the trident and still had several tentacles waving wildly in the water, with a few more coiled around the trident, slowly approaching Leo as if he wanted to have a close and intimate encounter with him.

Leo blew bubbles as he floated upwards quickly, throwing the octopus skewers as far as possible before picking up the oar.

"I'm too tired, it's time to take a break."

......

Fifteen minutes later, Rosalia, who was sleeping, was awakened by a knock on the door.

She opened the door and saw Leo standing outside, carrying a large net of fish.

Without saying a word, Leo handed over the fishing net:

"Could you help me with this?"

Rosalia was still half asleep and didn't have time to check the time. She slammed the door shut and shoved Leo away.

"It's similar to yesterday, you can go back and do it yourself."

Yesterday, Leo brought back a bag full of things, and today he still has a bag full of things in his hand.

Leo braced his foot against the door and pointed to the watch on his wrist:

"It's only ten o'clock now, and I still have to go out this afternoon."

Rosalia gradually regained consciousness and began to recall what time it was when she last saw Leo that morning.

Two or three seconds later, she picked up the bag of fish and asked:

"They caught so many in just over three hours?"

"There's more on the ship, I can't carry that many at once," Leo explained.

Rosalia paused for a moment, then began to doubt whether she was truly awake.

"If you don't believe me, come with me to the ship and see." Leo moved his foot away, gesturing for Rosalia to follow him.

......

Rosalia finished off the still-wriggling octopus skewer with a single slash, then looked down at the fish that hadn't yet been loaded onto the deck, remaining silent.

Today, Leo was more targeted, catching only fish that could fetch a good price. With the same quantity, he occupied more than twice the area.

Rosalia with a knife is indeed reassuring... Leo said to the people on the ship:

"I'm afraid it will be too much pressure if we leave it all up until tonight. I'll send you a second batch when I get back tonight."

Rosalia turned to Leo and said:

"Don't go yet."

"What's wrong?" Leo asked.

This was the first time Leo had seen such a rich array of expressions on Rosalia's face—a mixture of shock and headache, as if she were still trying to think of something:

"Go find some ice."

Rosalia bent down to arrange the fish, explaining to him as she did so:

"There are too many fish, so we need to keep them chilled with ice."

"Didn't you say that buying ice is too expensive and not worthwhile, and that we could just use a simple method?" Leo recalled what Rosalia had said just yesterday.

Rosalia pointed to the fish scattered on the ground and said:

"Having gained so much in just a few hours, do we still need to worry about the cost?"

Cost is something only poor people consider.

Leo caught so many fish in half a day... Rosalia thought this shouldn't be something he should be considering.

Leo was secretly pleased, guessing that Rosalia had already calculated the price of the fish, so listening to her was definitely the right thing to do:

"Where am I supposed to find ice?"

Rosalia pointed in the direction of the dock:

"The fish market is over, and the ice station is only open from 3:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. Now we can only borrow from those big ships."

That's outrageous.

They, small investors... actually have the day when they need ice.

.......

Bianchi approached Aurelio and offered to take his place in Messina.

Aurelio naturally wanted to help Bianchi to the end. He knew that the boy wanted to go, had the ability, and valued the honor.

Enzo was instructed by Mrs. Rosa to find a way to prevent Bianchi from going to Messina again this year.

Enzo and Madame Rosa were both devout believers and had a good relationship.

He was skilled, righteous, and influential among the fishermen. He was also highly regarded by Sandro. Mrs. Rosa believed that Enzo could find someone to replace his son Bianchi.

Since the lady entrusted him with such an important matter, Enzo naturally had to do his best to handle it.

Upon hearing that a new fishing expert had emerged in Malzamemi, Enzo felt as if God had intervened, as this would solve his immediate problem!

But when he inquired, he found out that the villagers were talking about Leo... He felt like God was playing a joke on him.

Enzo had promised Solberto that he would take good care of the child for the next two months.

How could I personally send him to Messina?

Furthermore, Enzo believed that Leo, who was new to the area, did not have the ability.

More importantly, little Monica knows that her brother Leo is going to do something dangerous, and she will be so worried that she won't be able to sleep or eat properly!

So in the morning, Enzo pretended not to know anything about it and went out to sea as usual, planning to find Aurelio that night and use his fists to make the old man agree.

Because he was still worried, he specifically asked a crew member who had been to the morning market.

Enzo went to the church in the morning and did not see what Leo brought back in person.

The crew member comforted Enzo:

"That guy from out of town is probably just lucky. He's just randomly shooting things underwater, and whatever he manages to get to the surface is whatever he manages. He definitely doesn't have the ability to get to Messina."

Enzo was relieved to hear this.

Today, his mind wasn't on fishing. He glanced at the time, told the crew to return to port, and promised to increase their catch percentage for the day.

According to Sicilian custom, the captain's income accounts for 50% of the total profit, and the remaining 50% is distributed among the crew members according to a certain ratio.

Enzo often worked sporadically, so he proactively reduced his share of income to prevent his brothers from suffering too much loss.

The ship sailed back to the Marzamemi dock, where Enzo encountered a very anxious-looking Leo in the corridor.

Leo was naturally anxious. At this time, there were hardly any large ships at the dock; they had all gone out fishing.

Several ships were docked, but they were all resting; there was no one on board.

Enzo readily sold the ice to Leo and even moved to Rosalia's house with his brothers.

Enzo felt like he was going to grow hair on his head when he saw the pile of stuff in front of Rosalia's house!

The catch from all the fish was of good quality and could fetch a good price, including an octopus...

Enzo picked up several pieces to examine them, confirming that each one had a bloody hole in its forehead.

His brows furrowed, but his eyes couldn't help but shine as he silently uttered the word "God."

Leo actually knows how to fish!