Pirates: I Loaded the Game Panel

I thought you were some high-level NPC, but bottled purified water costs 100 Beli on average, and you're only giving me ten? I have to pay the difference out of my own pocket?!

Don't players count as people? Doesn't running errands cost money?

"Wait!"

Cao Renqi suddenly realized something. He didn't have much experience with serious games, but judging by the colorful games he'd played before, a quest this strange had to be some kind of preliminary test.

Only by satisfying Adrian could he trigger the next quest. If he failed, this whole questline was probably over.

And if he succeeded?

*Heh, heh, heh. Increased affection, maybe even ****... You know the drill!

Thoroughly excited, Cao Renqi pulled two bottles of purified water from his shoulder bag and handed them to Adrian.

"This is all the purified water I have. You can have both."

Adrian completed the quest, utterly baffled. What was going on? Was there really a player this eager to get ripped off?

Does this abalone guy actually have something wrong with his head?

Then again, what normal player would spend the closed beta selling abalone at the docks?

... Adrian took a sip of the purified water Cao Renqi had given him for free, and his eyes lit up.

"Now for the last and most important feature!"

A notification appeared on the panel.

[Do you want to open your Personal Shop to player [Cao Renqi]?]

He tapped confirm.

Two translucent panels appeared in his view, much like the ones he'd seen when posting the quest.

On the left was the "Item Shop." A tooltip explained that he could list any personal possession, even one he wasn't carrying. As long as it belonged to him, it would appear on the panel.

On the right was the "Skill Shop." He could list any skill he'd mastered, regardless of level, with the exception of Devil Fruit abilities and specialty abilities.

Adrian tried listing a few things, mostly skills with a handful of items.

[Set prices for your goods. Note: prices may be in Beli, experience, specific items, and so on.]

[You may also set purchase prerequisites, including but not limited to level, attributes, skills, profession, and affection...]

"My panel is incredible. This feature is amazing!"

Adrian couldn't stop marveling at it.

After thinking it over a little longer, he set the prices for every listing and confirmed.

Two pages of shop listings abruptly appeared before Cao Renqi, seizing his attention.

"Let's see what good skills you've got... Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat, Basic Marksmanship, Basic Swordsmanship, Basic Navigation, and plenty of advanced skills to go with them. A big shot really is different from some ordinary fisherman... Holy shit! What's this?!"

At the description of one skill, Cao Renqi's face flushed bright red and his eyes nearly popped out.

"Freely control your body, hair, and internal organs. Just focus your consciousness on a part, and you can control any part of your body. Any part... Holy shit, holy shit, holy shit! That has to include what I'm thinking of, right? It has to! Even if it's only in a game, I could finally show off my manly prowess!!"

As an unconventional casual player, Cao Renqi turned scarlet at the description of [Life Return]. To him, it was unquestionably the greatest skill in the world!

With that skill, he could put every other male player to shame!

Then Cao Renqi saw the price. It was like someone had dumped a bucket of ice water over him, chilling him from head to toe and right down to his heart.

He could ignore the experience cost for now...

But...

One million Beli???

Selling myself wouldn't cover it!

Reluctantly closing the Skill Shop, Cao Renqi opened the Item Shop and immediately lost interest.

"Flintlock, powder and bullets, standard-issue longsword, cosmetic uniform... What use are any of these? Give me a boat, at least I could go dive for abalone!"

Adrian sensed something was off. This player didn't seem like a typical player. Wanting powerful, high-quality skills made sense, but how could he feel absolutely nothing about the items in the shop?

You're a level-one newbie! A flintlock and bullets are more than enough to make you king of the starting area. Why aren't you eager to buy them?

Not wanting his first sale to fall through, Adrian decided to pitch his wares.

"Is there an item or ability here you need?"

Cao Renqi's face reddened. Looking rather embarrassed, he asked, "I wanted to ask—uh, for a friend—about Life Return. Ahem. Can it really let you control any part of your body? Freely control any part?"

You're still undercover-era Cao Dahua, aren't you?!

What a complete lech. Nothing but dirty thoughts in your head, without a trace of the Major Crimes Unit's soft-rice king about you!

Adrian's face darkened.

Once he got a definite answer, Cao Renqi grew even more excited!

"Um, could you make it a little cheaper?"

Cao Renqi tried to butter him up.

Cao Renqi noticed the NPC's name turning red.

Cao Renqi abandoned the attempt.

After giving it serious thought and carefully weighing the contents of his wallet, Cao Renqi chose a different skill.

[Your [Basic Heat Control] has been learned. You gained 1,000 experience and 1,000 Beli.]

Everything Cao Renqi paid to learn the skill went straight to Adrian, like tuition, with no middleman taking a cut.

Teaching a player a skill counted as instruction. The system panel merely simplified and accelerated the process; Adrian's own skill level remained unchanged.

Adrian had carefully chosen every skill and item on display. They were nearly all necessities for making a living at sea. He had included the few advanced skills only because Cao Renqi was the first player he'd met.

And yet...

I thought you'd be such a promising crop to harvest...

But you don't want a single combat skill. You just want to be a cook...

Having given the NPC functions of his system panel an initial test, Adrian had essentially accomplished what he'd come for. He set off from the docks, intending to head inland through the Flower Country.

Whoa!

Where are you going, big shot?

I wanted to stick with you!

Cao Renqi, who had just acquired [Basic Heat Control], immediately panicked.

He'd spent five days selling abalone for the old fisherman without learning [Fishing]. Yet the moment he'd run into Adrian, he'd picked up a Cook skill and received a prompt about unlocking a Secondary Profession. How could he let this big fish slip away?

"Where can I find you later?"

What's Cao Dahua coming after me for?

If you tag along with me, won't that make me the luckless Stephen Chow?

Adrian waved without turning around. Leaving only the sight of his carefree retreat, he vanished into the crowd.

So far, the NPC template features he'd tested had left Adrian thoroughly satisfied. The most valuable was probably the [Personal Shop], which would be his best weapon for harvesting vast amounts of experience from players.

He could open the Personal Shop to players and set purchase prerequisites for different items and skills. That would let him issue quests and put players to work.

General-purpose skills for life at sea would sell best.

Flintlocks, bullets, and swords were valuable items too.

Better yet, he could devise chains of linked skills. [Life Return], for instance, followed [Six Powers]. Even if players learned [Life Return] early, they'd still have to spend experience on [Six Powers] before they could use it.

True, once they'd learned [Six Powers], players could spend Skill Points to unlock [Life Return] ahead of time. But they obviously didn't know that! Selling them a skill they would inevitably acquire later was practically getting something for nothing!

"Maybe I could borrow some ideas and design distinctive, irresistible skills? My main profession is Swordsman, after all!

"From what I found on the game forums, the 'real world' is completely different from the one I knew. The cultures and geography may be very similar, but the specifics are worlds apart...

"So I can bring out Yasuo! League of Legends doesn't exist out there, after all, so players won't get the wrong idea.

"Death is like the wind, always by my side; the road is long, and only my sword keeps me company...

"Those two lines alone would draw in who knows how many players. Who could resist the wind man of fun?

"Now, what were Yasuo's skills again?

"Way of the Wanderer, Dashing Slash, Steel Tempest, Wind Wall, Last Breath. Five skills that roughly cover a swordsmanship passive, high-speed movement, a frontal attack, area defense, and an area ultimate. That should be enough for players, as long as their main profession is Swordsman...

"Huh? Could I charge them to switch professions too? That's another layer of experience to skim.

"Ahem. How should I modify Yasuo's skills?

"I could model Way of the Wanderer on an affinity for swordsmanship; weaken Soru to make Dashing Slash; maybe imitate Rankyaku's airborne slash for Steel Tempest. Wind Wall and Last Breath could both be ultimate techniques with their own purchase prerequisites. I can't just put every skill up for sale at once, can I? Skills differ in quality, after all...

"I wonder if the system will even allow me to 'create' skills like this. Maybe I can find another closed-beta player to test them on later. First, I need to make the modified versions.

"What if someone thinks Yasuo is too much of a show-off and doesn't want his skills?

"If Yasuo won't do, what about his brother Yone?

"Way of the Hunter, Spirit-Sundering Slash, Mortal Steel, Breaking Barrier Blade, Fate Sealed. That's pretty much the same set with a new coat of paint...

"Of course, that assumes the system will let me teach skills like these.

"Once I've got the wind Swordsman and the demon-sealing swordsman, why not add the Kinkou Order and Wuju Style?

"Imagine a wind Swordsman from the West Blue fighting a demon-sealing swordsman from the South Blue, while the Kinkou Order from the East Blue clashes with Wuju Style swordsmen from the North Blue. Just thinking about it is fun!

"I really am an out-and-out ge-nius—merchant!!"

... The Grand Line. Marine Headquarters. Marineford.

Sunlight filled the Fleet Admiral's Office. Behind the desk sat an elderly man with a powerfully built frame, a broad chest, and tan skin. He was working through documents, his white hair and beard forming the shape of the character for "mountain" and showing his age.

The old man was Kong, the current Fleet Admiral.

The Marines were a military organization directly under the World Government. In the name of justice, they maintained order across the world's seas.

That meant intelligence from all over the world was constantly being compiled and sent to Marine Headquarters, where senior Marines had to review and respond to it.

Lately, the volume of work arriving at Marine Headquarters had suddenly soared.

It couldn't be helped. Ever since Gol D. Roger had become Pirate King, people everywhere seemed to have been seized by a fever. They rushed out to sea, dreaming of becoming the next ruler of the oceans.

The number of pirates was growing by the second, and the pressure on Marines around the world had risen sharply with it.

Rrrip!

The sharp nib of a pen tore across a clean sheet of official paper, leaving a long gash. The force behind it made the writer's frustration plain.

"Damn Roger! Damn pirates!"

Behind his desk, Fleet Admiral Kong crumpled the ruined document and hurled it into a nearly overflowing wastebasket.

For the better part of the past two weeks, he'd practically lived in the Fleet Admiral's Office, handling paperwork day and night without a moment's rest.

Marine Admirals were both the World Government's ultimate military power and Marine Headquarters' strongest fighters. Fleet Admirals were chosen from the very best of them!

Almost every Fleet Admiral was an extraordinary figure who stood at the pinnacle of the seas in strength, temperament, ability, and nearly every other respect!

Yet here was one such figure, trapped in an office no bigger than a palm by an endless tangle of paperwork. How could he not feel stifled?

The thought of retirement had crossed Fleet Admiral Kong's mind more than once.

But replacing a Fleet Admiral wasn't as simple as deciding to do it.

Most importantly, even with an outstanding candidate for Fleet Admiral, someone new would still have to step forward and shoulder the duties of an Admiral!

For eight hundred years, every change of Fleet Admiral had coincided with a change of Marine Admiral. There had been no exceptions!

And whenever Fleet Admiral Kong thought of that, his headache only grew worse.

There was no shortage of outstanding candidates for Fleet Admiral, even a perfect one. In Kong's eyes, Sengoku the Buddha would surely be the next great leader of the Marines!

But candidates for Marine Admiral... there weren't enough!