Chapter 14
"Jealous! Am I the only person in the world who didn't get into the closed beta?" That was the envious bystander crowd.
"Everyone in this world is so tall. At just 1.9 meters, I feel out of place." That was the master of backhanded remarks.
"Question: Has anyone run into any pirates?"
The game forum was a jumble of topics. Besides the closed-beta players already in the game, plenty of bored spectators were posting too. It took Adrian a good while to find a thread that seemed remotely useful.
He opened the last question thread.
"Didn't the game company post the Pirate King's bounty poster in its announcement? How come I've played all day without seeing a single pirate? Anyone else having the same experience? PS: I'm in the East Blue."
The replies were all over the place.
"Show-off! Go die!"
"I haven't met any pirates either. Maybe it's because I've stayed on land..."
"Or maybe it's because you never got into the game at all. (Grin.)"
"Thanks for asking. I'm in the North Blue and just started playing..."
After scrolling through several pages, Adrian finally found a genuinely useful reply from a user called "Clear as Day":
"As everyone knows, the game Pirate King has attracted gamers' attention ever since development began. As far as I know, it's the world's first Full-Dive VR Game, offering a completely immersive experience.
Unfortunately, the company has leaked next to nothing about the game itself.
It's like scratching an itch through a boot. The more you scratch, the worse it gets.
Judging by the information released on the official website so far, most of the Pirate King world is ocean. Humans mainly inhabit islands scattered across those vast waters, as well as the Red Line, which spans the planet.
Here's what we know at present, with a few irresponsible personal guesses mixed in:
1: The Red Line and the Grand Line divide the world into seven regions: the four outer seas—East, South, West, and North—the Red Line, the first half of the Grand Line, and its second half.
2: The game's major powers can roughly be divided into the World Government, the Marines, the Independent Kingdoms, and the Pirates.
3: Pirate King Gol D. Roger has reached the top, with a bounty of 5.5 billion Beli. Unless something unexpected happens, he'll declare war on the World Government, which represents order and authority. That should be the game's main storyline.
4: Version 1.0 is called 'The Opening of the Great Age of Navigation.' This suggests that the Pirate King's rise will draw huge numbers of spectators out to sea to become pirates. An 'opening' naturally leads to a 'middle' and a 'climax,' followed by a 'final act' and an 'ending.' I believe we're in for a very long story.
5: If nothing else, the name Pirate King makes it obvious the game company is on Gol D. Roger's side. My money's on Roger defeating the World Government and having the last laugh!"
It all sounded well reasoned, but Adrian reached only one conclusion: this "Clear as Day" fellow hadn't just skipped the manga. He hadn't even watched the anime!
His third and fifth points were the most ridiculous.
Forget declaring war on the World Government. After becoming Pirate King, Roger disbanded his crew on the spot, then went to the South Blue to get married and have a son!
Besides, Roger was terminally ill and didn't have long to live. Next year, he would turn himself in to the Marines and be executed in Loguetown. How was he supposed to have the last laugh?
Surprisingly, not a single reply challenged the post. Instead, it was full of comments like "Agreed!" and "All hail the expert!"
Could it be that the players don't know the story? Adrian wondered. If that's true, I'll have plenty of room to maneuver...
He closed the thread and looked over the chaotic forum. Using the ID "Eight Trigrams Sea," he posted a newcomer thread to fish for responses. It promptly sank without a trace.
"Will the forum be any better when the game enters open beta?" The thought gave him a headache. "As it is, finding useful information is a nightmare."
After browsing for quite a while longer, Adrian found another useful detail. Closed-beta players in the West Blue were mainly gathering at four locations, and the nearest was the Flower Country, only five days by ship from Ohara.
If he used Ghostification to fly there, he could arrive much faster.
Adrian wasn't in any particular hurry to meet the players. The closed beta would last fifteen days anyway. The five-day voyage would give them time to get used to the game and gain some experience.
It would also let him quietly gather more information about them on the forum.
Five days later, Adrian steered his homemade speedboat toward the Flower Country's enormous harbor, now visible ahead.
"The Flower Country. I'm here..."
He watched the ships weaving back and forth in the distance like schools of fish, his thoughts turning inward.
To Adrian, the Flower Country was one of the few truly dangerous islands in the West Blue. The reason was simple: many of the Happo Navy's senior officers wielded Haki. Chinjao, the twelfth leader of the Happo Navy—also known as its pillar—had once been able to briefly hold his own against Garp, the Hero of the Marines, with his Armament Haki.
That was exceptionally rare in the Four Blues!
Generally speaking, Great Pirates who made a name for themselves in the outer seas almost invariably headed for the Grand Line to compete with powerful opponents from across the world.
In other words, nearly all the world's greatest fighters gathered in the Grand Line.
Chinjao was one of the rare "legendary Great Pirates" who had earned a bounty above 100 million while still in the Four Blues. His bounty had reached a staggering 500 million Beli!
Even in the New World, the second half of the Grand Line where powerful fighters abounded, Chinjao in his prime would have ranked among the best!
And as far as Adrian knew, Garp had trained specifically to defeat Chinjao five years ago. He had used mountains in place of punching bags and hammered eight of them flat!
This was Garp, the Hero of the Marines who had joined forces with Roger thirteen years ago to defeat the seemingly invincible Rocks Pirates!
Granted, Chinjao later had the top of his head flattened with a single punch...
Still, the fact that Garp had taken Chinjao's unique "Drillhead" so seriously showed, to some extent, that he respected Chinjao's mastery of Armament Haki.
"Armament Haki..."
Longing flashed in Adrian's eyes. At max level, [Ghost Body] let him ignore attacks from the vast majority of people in the world, but Haki remained one of the few powers that could hurt him.
"Forget it. I came to quietly check on the closed-beta players, not provoke the Happo Navy." Adrian pushed the thought aside. "I'll think about Haki later."
Abalone Seller at the Docks
"Fish for sale! Fish for sale! Fresh black abalone!"
After five days, Cao Renqi had gone from a complete gaming novice to a practiced fishmonger. Now he called out enthusiastically at the docks, blending right in with the other fishermen.
On the other side of the docks, Adrian had just stepped off his boat when he stopped short. It wasn't because he particularly liked abalone or because something unexpected had happened. Among the fishermen, he had spotted a glaring white ID: Cao Renqi.
Great name!
Adrian praised it without thinking.
Wait, what?
He abruptly came to his senses. Instead of doing quests and earning experience like a proper closed-beta player, this guy was selling abalone at the docks? Was there something wrong with his head?
No, that's not it!
The real question is, how can I see a player's ID? I can read his name outright!
Is it because I have a system panel like they do? Adrian wondered. But with the people I met before, I couldn't see a stranger's name unless someone told me...
Whatever the reason, it was good news. He could now distinguish players from NPCs at a glance, even in a sea of people.
Adrian didn't inspect the stats of this fellow with the remarkably good nickname. He had already learned plenty about the players on the forum.
For reasons unknown, every single closed-beta player who had arrived here possessed [Full Datafication]!
That was right!
From top to bottom, even their health and stamina!
According to the players' own forum posts, everyone's health equaled their stamina. Both were derived from their Stamina attribute at a ratio of 100 to 1.
Against fully datafied enemies like that, the fabled tactic of whittling someone to death by attacking their feet would work especially well.
A fully datafied body has pros and cons, but starting with every attribute at one point is just cruel! Adrian thought.
Every closed-beta player had identical personal attributes, regardless of how they arrived or whether they landed in the Four Blues or the Grand Line.
Every last one had Strength 1, Agility 1, Stamina 1, Intelligence 1, Charm 1, Luck 1, Health 100, and Stamina Points 100. They were so standardized they might as well have been clones from the same factory.
The problem was that, apart from Luck, the standard value for every attribute of an adult man in the Pirate King world was five!
Even Charm!
The poor players started with lower attributes than ordinary children. Who knew how many would be traumatized by that...
In the eyes of this world's powerful fighters, the players were probably just a bunch of short, ugly weaklings...
Adrian nearly burst out laughing at the thought.
Cao Renqi, still selling abalone, had just finished a sale to an older woman shopping for groceries. He wiped the sweat from his forehead and was about to start calling out again when he noticed a handsome young man in an immaculate suit staring at him without blinking. The man's lips were slightly curved, his gaze deep and unreadable. In truth, his mind had simply wandered.
Cao Renqi's backside clenched. He reflexively used Inspect.
[Based on your level and attributes, you have obtained the following information.]
[?—Handsome Young Man] (Yellow Name)
[Level: ?]
[Attributes: ?]
[??]
[Danger Level: Extremely Lethal!]
"Extremely lethal?!"
Cao Renqi swallowed. During his five days hanging around the docks, he had seen dangerous NPCs before. But this was the first time he had encountered one marked "Extremely Lethal" whose information was nothing but question marks!
Just what level of person was this?
At that moment, the handsome young man strode toward him.
"Is that you—Cao Dahua?!"
Adrian came charging over, only to nearly choke when he got a good look at "Cao Renqi."
Well, I'll be damned!
The guy had a name worthy of Cao Cao, but the sleazy, pudgy face of the Serious Crime Unit's Tiger. Where did he get the nerve?
"Cao Dahua?" Cao Renqi shuddered. "Young man, have you mistaken me for someone else? My nickname—I mean, my name is Cao Renqi!"
With that boldly jiggling body of yours, you dare claim you aren't Cao Dahua?!
"Ahem! Never mind that!" Adrian coughed twice and lowered his voice. "Were you secretly inspecting me just now?"
Cao Renqi trembled again.
What the hell? Is today a bad day to sell abalone?
Nobody's ever noticed me using Inspect before. Have I run into someone absurdly powerful? At his age?
Seeing Cao Renqi so nervous, Adrian chuckled inwardly.
His Intelligence attribute now exceeded two hundred points. The boost it gave his hidden [Perception] attribute was almost beyond imagining!
To Adrian, Cao Renqi's inspection attempt had been as obvious as Lampfire in the dark.
With no answer to give, Cao Renqi forced a laugh. "What are you talking about? I don't understand. Young man, would you like some abalone? Mine is the freshest black abalone around."
"Abalone? No, thanks." Adrian smiled and stopped teasing the player. Getting down to business, he said, "My name is Adrian. I'm a traveler who just arrived in the Flower Country, and I need help with something else. Are you free?"
Cao Renqi was startled, then startled again. A moment later, excitement swept over him.
Could a fishmonger finally get his big break?!
Five days of selling abalone, and I've stumbled into a high-level NPC whose stats are all question marks. Could it be...
Abalone is my lucky charm?
"I'd be happy to help!" Cao Renqi answered eagerly.
Adrian thought for a moment. "I need some clean fresh water. Can you get me some?"
As soon as he spoke, a notification appeared on his panel.
[Would you like to issue a quest to player [Cao Renqi]?]
So this must be what comes with the NPC template!
A quest-issuing system for players!
"Yes!"
[Please set the quest requirements and rewards. Experience rewards are subject to a limit. Your total experience allowance depends on your level, strength, influence, and Legend Points.]
[You may offer your own possessions as additional rewards, including but not limited to Beli, items, experience, and skills...]
Two pale-blue translucent panels appeared before him. The one on the left let him select the quest type, while the one on the right displayed his current experience allowance.
After a quick glance at his daily allowance, Adrian set up a simple quest and issued it.
At the same time, Cao Renqi received a panel notification.
What the hell?