Ordinary Luck, Just Missing the Word "Contest" (Seeking Collections and Recommendation Tickets!)

"There's only five million Berries. These guys are seriously poor."

Wude counted the Berries in the bag, then walked over to a pirate corpse. He kicked it over and pulled a bounty booklet from his pocket.

Over the years, he had often collected wanted posters and pasted them into notebooks.

One page per person, categorized by sea, bounty, and strength, with each notebook compiled into a bounty booklet.

Now that he was in the East Blue, the "newbie village for fan fiction, birthplace of legends," he was carrying his booklet of small-fry pirates from the East Blue.

It made identifying his prey easier and earning money less of a hassle. (Small-fry: Is that any way to talk to someone!?)

"Your head isn't even worth more than your savings. One-star review." Wude quickly found the pirate in the booklet. His bounty was only three million Berries.

At that moment, a News Coo flew overhead.

It spotted the person below with its sharp eyes.

"Give me the latest newspaper." Wude pulled a Berry from his pocket and handed it to the News Coo.

After receiving the payment and handing over the paper, the News Coo did not want to linger on the ship for even a moment.

Wude unfolded the newspaper and quickly skimmed its contents.

One piece of news caught his eye:

[The incredible gladiator Kyros has won 2,500 consecutive matches!

Can he create an even more glorious miracle!?]

Wude hurriedly memorized the news. He was very interested in Kyros.

Of course, this had something to do with his "Famous Scene Check-In" system.

According to the system's introduction, the rewards from a famous-scene check-in were affected by three conditions.

Famous Scene Reward: the impression made on the people of this world + the impression made on fans of the previous world + luck.

The third factor could be ignored. A man of terrible luck attempting to sneak through had failed; otherwise, the bloodline reward would have had the word "contest" tacked onto it...

As for the first two conditions, put simply, they referred to the impact made on the One Piece world and its fans. Their combined effect determined the quality of the reward.

Therefore, famous scenes probably weren't limited to the few moments that appeared in edited videos. They were likely calculated according to popularity.

As a fan of One Piece, Wude had often searched for timelines and character information whenever he had been free before transmigrating.

After transmigrating, he had organized all that information specifically.

He had focused mainly on events and their timing.

The information he had looked up in his previous life might have contained errors, and the world after his transmigration might also have undergone unknown changes.

So he had simply divided the events into rough time periods.

Of course, for the same reasons, he would constantly keep up with news from the outside world and compare it against his records.

That was the intelligence a transmigrator possessed.

"Within the next two years, Kyros might achieve 3,000 consecutive victories in the arena. I wonder if that counts as a barely acceptable 'famous scene.'" Wude put everything away.

He did intend to join the Marines, but before that, he wanted to test whether something like this counted as a famous scene and whether it could earn him a reward.

There was nothing he could do about it. The system gave no quest prompts or any other information. Everything depended on analysis—or guessing.

Still, he felt that Kyros's 3,000 consecutive victories should at least count as a barely acceptable famous scene.

Otherwise, there would be very few famous scenes he could check in before the story began. He would have to wait more than a decade for Luffy to set sail, which would be a huge waste of time.

The warship drew near, and the Marines aboard it boarded the pirate ship.

Wude dragged the pirate captain over with one hand. "Three million Berries."

"Did you take down all these guys?" Marine Colonel Vincent asked.

"That's right." Wude nodded. There was nothing to hide.

The world of pirates was full of all sorts of strange and bizarre abilities.

"That's impressive. Excuse me for asking, but are you a Devil Fruit user?" the colonel asked, staring at him with burning interest.

"Not at all." Wude shook his head with a smile.

The Marines all looked at him. Time passed, seemingly frozen, as the atmosphere fell silent.

"...You are?" a captain tried to break the strange silence.

"I didn't plan on answering, so it wasn't an impertinent question." Wude grinned mischievously. The Marines broke into a cold sweat, but since they could not beat him, they could only force out awkward smiles.

"We're preparing to return to the 144th Marine Branch. There's a town there where you can collect your bounty and replenish your supplies. You can return with us." The colonel tried to win him over.

"Sure. I need to restock my food anyway." Wude accepted readily.

The colonel felt that Wude would make a fine addition to their combat strength. It would be best to get to know him and build a relationship. If he got the chance, he could recruit Wude into the Marines.

That would greatly increase the strength of their 144th Marine Branch.

After the Marines finished cleaning up, the warship slowed down and sailed alongside Wude's small sailboat, returning to the island where the 144th Marine Branch was located.

Aboard the warship, Marine Colonel Vincent glanced over his subordinates before turning to Bellemere and smiling.

Among the many men aboard the warship, Bellemere was the only beautiful woman.

"Ensign Bellemere, would you like to get to know that powerful young man with me?"

"No."

A while later, on Wude's ship.

He sat on the railing with a newspaper in his hand and spoke to the person beside him.

Bellemere naturally wanted to get to know the young man. She sincerely hoped that a strong fighter would join the branch.

Although she did not want to admit it, she knew she was weak. The weak could not protect anything.

The colonel and she chatted with the young man.

"You said you were 'willing to join the Marines,' didn't you? Wouldn't joining our 144th Marine Branch directly be perfect?" Marine Colonel Vincent asked in confusion.

He and the young man had just exchanged some of their views on the Marines, so he had invited Wude to join the 144th Marine Branch.

The result... had been a merciless rejection.

Vincent hurriedly winked at Bellemere, his trump card.

A beautiful and spirited Marine big sister, and the kid wasn't interested?

"..." Wude looked up at the two of them.

It wasn't as though he had never had a girlfriend in his previous life. He wasn't that desperate...

As far as he was concerned, liking someone required being attracted to their appearance and getting along emotionally.

Psychologically speaking, he was no longer the naive boy who blushed whenever he saw an older woman.

"I have something to verify. As for joining the Marines..." Wude looked at Little Black in the lookout tower. "I'm going directly to Marine Headquarters."

"I see..." Vincent nodded. "If you need help with anything in the East Blue, you can tell me."

"Mm." Wude nodded, then looked toward Bellemere.

The moment he saw her, a piece of information leaped into his mind: "Bellemere's unit will fight the pirates in the Oykot Kingdom and be wiped out."

He had lived in the Oykot Kingdom for several years and had developed feelings for the place.

Combined with the name Bellemere, it was easy for him to remember this incident.

The year of the event was easy enough to calculate. When Bellemere picked Nami up from the battlefield, Nami had been a baby.

Nami was eighteen when Luffy set sail.

Therefore, this incident would take place in the Age of the Sea 1504.

In other words, it would happen sometime later this year.

Before heading to Dressrosa to verify his theory, Wude planned to do something good first.

He would clear out the pirate forces around the Oykot Kingdom and the 144th Marine Branch.

Half a day later.

The island where the 144th Marine Branch was located was not far from the island where Wude had been.

The sailboat and warship docked side by side, and Wude disembarked with the Marines and walked toward the Marine base.