Promotion Again · Drawing Lots

A banquet was being held in the cafeteria at Marine Base 36.

It had been Yang Yunzhi's idea. Why did pirates get to throw banquets every day? The Marines should have them too. And not just after victories—there should be celebrations on holidays as well.

What, you said the One Piece World didn't have that many holidays?

If there weren't enough holidays, they could make some up. If he said the fifth day of the fifth month was to commemorate Qu Yuan and nobody accepted it, would they still object if he gave them the day off?

The long tables were piled with the best food the kitchen crew could offer—whole golden-roasted sea beast rib racks, rich soup simmered with island greens and shellfish, and even several rare desserts drizzled with amber maple syrup.

The soldiers held wooden cups filled not with alcohol but juice. Hina had strictly forbidden drinking, but the clink of juice cups was just as crisp and spirited.

Yang Yunzhi sat beside the main table with half a cup of orange juice in hand, watching Luo Niu's table. The big man was enthusiastically acting out the night raid, and when he got to the part where he shot a pirate in the wrist, the nearby recruits let out subdued gasps.

"Looks like everyone's in good spirits," Hina said from beside him.

She had changed into casual clothes, her pink hair loosely tied behind her head, and an easy smile rested on her face.

"They won a battle and earned merit. They should be happy." Yang Yunzhi took a sip of juice, its sweet-and-sour flavor spreading across his tongue.

He did not particularly enjoy overly lively occasions like this, but seeing the pure excitement on those young soldiers' faces, he felt that getting lively once in a while was not so bad.

The instant the orange juice slid down his throat—

"Ding."

It had not come from the cafeteria. It was the system's distinctive notification, striking directly inside his skull.

Yang Yunzhi's fingers twitched, and he nearly dropped his cup.

[Congratulations, Host. Military rank promoted to Captain!]

[Dao Power increased: 640 (standard Major level)]

[Basic reward: Intermediate Martial Arts (fused)]

[Portable Space capacity expanded: 64 cubic meters]

[Map scan radius upgraded: 6,400 meters]

[Justice Gauge maximum increased: 6,400]

[Personal AI computing power increased... increase complete]

[Obtained one promotion draw opportunity]

The flood of information washed through his consciousness like a waterfall.

Yang Yunzhi closed his eyes and felt a warm current rise from deep within his body. It was not merely an increase in strength, but a comprehensive "upgrade."

His bone density was subtly adjusting, his muscle fibers were restructuring, and his neural transmission speed was accelerating.

The most obvious change was in his brain. Ballistic trajectories that had previously taken half a second to calculate now emerged the instant the thought formed; the details of the nautical chart he had seen that morning were as clear as if it were spread out before him; he could even process three or four trains of thought at once—listening to Luo Niu's boasting while calculating the base's supply consumption for the month and still sparing attention to ponder the Oniki Clan's intelligence.

So this is what it feels like for Dao Power to double? He clicked his tongue inwardly. His Dao Power had doubled before, but it had not felt too outrageous because his foundation had simply been too poor.

But now, it had jumped directly from 320 to 640. The change was enormous.

Still, Hina had not announced his promotion. Why had the system suddenly sounded?

Could it be that his promotion order had already been signed over at Marine Headquarters?

Unfortunately, Dao Power was not the same as combat strength.

After all, next door in Dragon Ball, a combat power of 120 could blow up the moon.

Only after experiencing it firsthand did he understand that "Dao Power" in the One Piece World was actually closer to a comprehensive index of physical ability.

A Dao Power of 640 did indeed surpass Kalifa of CP5 ten years later, but one punch collapsing the moon?

Forget the moon—even blasting apart a small hill would be difficult!

He opened his eyes, and an extremely faint white gleam flashed deep within his pupils. His Byakugan vision had expanded in tandem.

With a radius of sixty-four kilometers, it encompassed all of Glass Island and more than a dozen surrounding islets.

It was child's play compared to Violet's absurd four-thousand-kilometer Glare-Glare Fruit range, but it was more than sufficient as passive vision.

"What happened?" Hina noticed his odd reaction.

"The juice is a little sour." Yang Yunzhi set down his cup without changing expression. "I'm going outside for some air."

When he stepped out of the cafeteria, the cool night wind brushed across his face.

The base's lights cast a warm halo behind him. The distant sea was black as ink, with only the moonlight shattered into countless silver scales.

He walked to a corner of the training ground, found an empty spot, and began testing the newly acquired Intermediate Martial Arts.

Its opening stance was still Tai Chi's Cloud Hands, but the circulation of force was completely different.

If Basic Martial Arts was "proper form, smooth force," then Intermediate Martial Arts was "force follows intent." The arc traced by his arms appeared slow, yet concealed seven variations; with one step, his center of gravity shifted between three false points, ready to unleash a turning force that defied all common sense.

"If Basic Martial Arts is still at the level of Tai Chi and Xingyi Boxing, then Intermediate Martial Arts has reached the level of Shaolin's 72 Secret Arts..." Yang Yunzhi withdrew his stance and exhaled a puff of white breath.

That was not to say he truly knew Shaolin martial arts. It referred to this level of precise control over force.

With a Major-level foundation paired with such techniques, holding his own against a Lieutenant Colonel should not be a problem.

Of course, he would probably never need to use it.

In everyone's eyes, he was a civilian officer.

Even if he became a General in the future, he ought to be the kind of "strategist General" Sengoku was—though Yang Yunzhi felt Sengoku's strategic ability was open to question.

Next came the Portable Space.

Sixty-four cubic meters was neither especially large nor especially small.

Yang Yunzhi casually stored an abandoned cannon mount from beside the training ground. The iron thing was over three meters long and half a meter in diameter, yet it looked like a chopstick inside the space.

Now that he had the dimensional space opened by the Door-Door Fruit, the system space had indeed become somewhat less appealing, but its advantage was absolute safety.

His Flying Thunder Bow, Pod, and the other things drawn from the system were all stored here. After all, the dimensional space had been opened by a Devil Fruit. Perhaps another Devil Fruit could invade it as well. Sensitive items were safer in the Portable Space.

Then came the new map function.

With a thought, a translucent overhead map appeared in the upper-right corner of his vision.

Centered on him, the terrain, buildings, and personnel markers within a radius of 6.4 kilometers were clearly visible.

With every promotion, the map not only expanded in area but also gained new functions.

After studying it for a moment, Yang Yunzhi discovered that the newly added function this time was faction marking.

With another thought, he attempted to mark a faction—

[Please select a marker color]

He chose light blue.

The next second, the entire area of Marine Base 36 was covered in light blue.

He had not manually outlined it. The map had "recognized" the actual territory under the base's control—including the barracks, docks, training ground, and even the warships moored in the harbor.

Interesting.

He selected red and marked Glazed Town.

The town area on the map immediately turned red, and the entire territory of Gem Country was tinted pale red as well. That was Gem Country's actual domain of rule.

"Interesting. It feels like I'm playing Territorial Seas!" The moment he saw the different colors on the map, some instinctive gene within Yang Yunzhi awakened.

He really, really wanted to dye the entire map one color!

But he temporarily suppressed that thought. He had nothing right now and no reliable people under his command. No rush, no rush.

Although every faction needed its own color, he was not worried about running out of colors.

He recalled a mathematical conjecture: the Four Color Conjecture.

In theory, four colors were enough to color the territories of all factions.

But that was not this function's greatest use.

Its greatest value was "surveillance." If a patch of another color suddenly appeared within the light-blue Marine base one day, it would mean a faction that did not belong to him had infiltrated it.

"Pretty interesting." He put away the map.

Lastly came Justice Value and drawing lots.

He noticed that the Justice Gauge currently held 3,200 points.

Yang Yunzhi stroked his chin and pondered. "The Blood Knife Pirates had a total bounty of 30.5 million... but those minor grunts had no bounties, while their crime values weren't low. Altogether, they should account for another ten million or so. If converted, perhaps ten thousand in bounty equals one point of Justice Value?"

If that was the calculation, the Blood Knife Pirates should have been worth 4,000 Justice Value points.

"That's right!" Yang Yunzhi finally remembered that the Justice Gauge's previous maximum had only been 3,200.

So it really was possible that every ten thousand in bounty translated to one point of Justice Value.

But then he shook his head again.

That calculation was not rigorous.

Cases like Arlong, whose bounty was twenty million while his actual crime value exceeded two hundred million, shattered that ratio. Justice Value should be closer to "the actual harm caused" or "the positive impact created after punishment."

Still, having data was better than blind guessing.

Yang Yunzhi rubbed his hands together and decided to test the Justice Value draw first.

Justice Value draws could only yield items native to the One Piece World, and the number of points spent was very flexible. He could draw once with one point, or spend all 3,200 points in a single draw.

As for what each point of Justice Value could get him, he would have to test it.

The system interface unfolded.

The Justice Value draw section resembled a crude capsule toy machine. Insert points, pull the lever—

"Let's test the waters with one point."

A flash of light appeared, and a small metal cube materialized in the space.

Yang Yunzhi took it out and examined it. It was an exquisitely crafted lighter, engraved on the side with "West Blue Tobacco Company · Collector's Edition."

He remembered that its market price was 12,000 Beli.

"So one point of Justice Value is worth around ten thousand Beli. Does that mean it's truly an equal exchange?" He raised a brow. "Ten points."

This time, it was a revolver. Its grip was inlaid with ivory, a standard aristocrat's toy worth roughly a hundred thousand.

"One hundred points."

A long blade fell into his hand.

The blade was slender, its temper line like drifting clouds, while its guard was carved in the shape of ocean waves.

Yang Yunzhi drew the blade half an inch from its sheath, cold light reflecting in his eyes. The Fine Grade Blade "Cloudstream" was priced at no less than eight hundred thousand in weapon shops.

"One thousand points."

This time, he drew a sniper rifle.

Its barrel was longer than a standard rifle's, and the scope lens glimmered with a pale violet coating beneath the moonlight.

Two ancient characters were engraved on the body: "Insight." Yang Yunzhi inspected it. Its rifling was a rare hexagonal spiral, the magazine held ten rounds, and it came with an adjustable bipod and a suppressor mount.

This thing would have been top-tier even on Earth. In the One Piece World, it was even more priceless.

For a rifle like this, those top snipers would probably be willing to spend tens of millions of Beli.

"So the pattern is clear." Yang Yunzhi stored the sniper rifle away. "One point of Justice Value ≈ ten thousand Beli in purchasing power. The more invested, the more valuable the prize."

He glanced at the Justice Gauge. There were 2,099 points remaining.

"Devil Fruits cost over one hundred million on the market, and higher-grade fruits are even more expensive. The Op-Op Fruit costs five billion! If I draw using Justice Value, I'd probably need to invest five hundred thousand points!

Looking at it this way, spending fewer than ten thousand points per draw is a terrible deal, because the things I can draw are basically all purchasable.

But good things above ten thousand Justice Value points are top-tier items, such as Devil Fruits, Great Grade Blades, and Supreme Grade Blades. Those things are usually priceless and impossible to buy, so they are worth spending Justice Value on.

Unfortunately, the gauge maximum is only 6,400 now. To save up to ten thousand, I'll have to wait for the next promotion."

"Then I'll save it for now." He made his decision. "Once the maximum breaks ten thousand, I'll directly draw a Logia Fruit for fun."

Now came the main event—the promotion draw.

The promotion draw interface was far more magnificent.

Against a starry background, countless specks of light flowed and shifted. Within them, he could vaguely see shadows of all sorts of strange objects: blades, books, machinery, and even outlines of living creatures.

Yang Yunzhi took a deep breath and pressed his palms together. The gesture was purely for the sense of ritual.

"Three Pure Ones, Buddha Tathagata, God, Allah, Kami-sama... whichever big shot happens to be passing by, bless me with something useful." He paused before adding, "Preferably not some scam item, like a 'Cthulhu Trial Card' or something."

Draw.

The stars spun, the points of light converged, and finally condensed into a streak of azure radiance.

[Congratulations, Host. Obtained divine artifact: Zephyr]

The light landed in his palm and transformed into a... feather?

Yang Yunzhi froze.

He had thought it would be a weapon or armor, but it was an accessory—a feather-shaped piece carved from green jade and threaded through a silver chain. It felt warm and smooth, while currents of air seemed to circulate slowly within it.

The item's information flooded into his mind at the same time:

[Zephyr]

[Category: Accessory (Neck)]

[Effects:]

[· Wind's Blessing: Movement Speed +10%, Attack Speed +50%]

[· Keen Edge: Attack Power +25 (equivalent Dao Power increase)]

[· Clarity: Mental fatigue recovery speed +30%, skill cooldown time -10%]

[· Tenacity: When affected by control effects (stun, slow, bind, etc.), duration reduced by 35%]

[Note: A wind relic from a certain MOBA world. Its wearer will gain the wind's lightness and sharpness.]

Yang Yunzhi pinched the pendant, his expression subtle.

I remember Zephyr being a sword. How did it become a feather?

Still, whatever.

An attack power increase of twenty-five Dao Power was equivalent to receiving one-fortieth of Major-level strength for free.

The attack speed and movement speed bonuses were simple and brutal, and they were all percentage bonuses. In the high-speed battles of the One Piece World, they were priceless.

Cooldown reduction and mental recovery were even more of a blessing for office workers. He could open a few more portals or let Little Bean calculate a few more sets of plans.

The most broken effect was "Tenacity." Reducing control duration by thirty-five percent meant that enemy abilities such as binding, petrification, and freezing would all be weakened against him. Combined with the Door-Door Fruit's spatial evasion, his survival rate would be maxed out.

"It's just a little out of place stylistically..." he muttered as he put on the necklace.

The green jade feather rested against his collarbone, and a cool current spread through his body along his skin.

Yang Yunzhi tried taking a few steps. His footsteps were nearly soundless, and when he lifted his leg, it felt as though the wind were supporting him.

He casually picked up a branch from the ground and thrust it rapidly. The afterimages merged into a blur, and the sound tearing through the air was sharp as a whistle.

"The attack speed really is ridiculous." He stopped, spinning the branch around his fingers. "Combined with the Flying Thunder Bow's rapid fire, or quick swordplay in close combat... heh."

At that moment, a clamor rose from the direction of the cafeteria. The victory banquet seemed to have reached its peak, and someone had started singing—badly off-key, but with wholehearted enthusiasm.

Yang Yunzhi put aside his testing thoughts and turned back.

The moonlight stretched his shadow long behind him. The green jade feather at his neck flickered in and out of view beneath his collar, giving off a faint glow.