One Piece: I Loaded the Game Panel

His blade swept like the wind, swift enough to blur his figure beyond recognition.

Again and again...

Adrian's lunges grew faster and faster, until he moved like a phantom.

He could feel his progress. Step by step, he was approaching the point where he could create a skill of his own.

Time passed, and the sun sank westward.

Hiss—

Adrian lunged and slashed once more. This time, the perfect sensation he had been chasing suddenly filled his mind.

He felt his long blade cut through the resistance of the wind with perfect clarity. Body and blade became one as he surged forward, reaching a terrifying speed.

The instant Adrian executed the move, another "Adrian" appeared more than ten meters away. For a moment, two identical figures existed at once.

A sharp glint of steel lingered faintly in the air.

Only then did the "Adrian" left behind slowly fade.

[Evaluating self-created skill...]

[Evaluation successful. You have developed a self-created skill!]

[Please name your self-created skill!]

More details surfaced in his mind, and the panel automatically recorded every principle behind the skill he had created.

Adrian glanced at its effects and mused, "How about Lazy Fish Thrust... What nonsense! I'll call it Dashing Slash!"

[Name confirmed! You have developed the self-created skill Dashing Slash!]

[Dashing Slash] LV1 (0/10,000): When swinging your blade at a target enemy, you can instantly burst forward up to 10 meters.

It really was a ridiculously fun skill!

Wasn't he having a blast?

Adrian couldn't resist swinging his blade again. His figure pierced the air with the flash of steel, leaving afterimage after afterimage across the clearing, along with one sharp streak of light after another.

Only after using it more than a dozen times in succession did Adrian stop.

The more he slashed, the fiercer the momentum grew!

I'm having so much fun!

A 0-21-0 grin spread across Adrian's face before he could stop it...

"I need to find a victim... an alpha-test player to try this on!"

Adrian turned into a ghost again and flew toward the docks.

Before long, he was back at the docks. A quick scan revealed that "Cao Renqi's" ID was still there!

"Boss Cao! Long time no see!"

Adrian hurried over and caught hold of the abalone seller just as he was about to pack up.

Cao Renqi never even saw him move. Someone grabbed him out of nowhere, giving him a fright.

"Huh? It's you!" The moment he recognized Adrian, he froze.

The words he had been about to say went straight back down his throat.

Holy shit! Big Lethal! That was what Cao Renqi didn't say aloud.

What Adrian didn't know was that a player with too much time on his hands had already posted his earlier defeat of Hog on the Player Forum. Caught up in the fight, Adrian simply hadn't noticed the player's ID.

Nor did Adrian know that the players had bestowed the elegant nickname "Big Lethal" on him!

Even now, the Player Forum was buzzing.

"Help: One Extremely Lethal instantly took out another Extremely Lethal. Which one is more lethal? [Video attached]"

"Some extremely lethal things are Big Lethal, and some are Little Lethal. When Little Lethal ran into Big Lethal, he was done for!"

"No exaggeration, Little Lethal would have to drop to his knees and beg me not to die if he cut me once!"

"Why would he even need his blade? With that armor of muscle and that build, you'd drop to your knees if he so much as bumped you!"

"So this is what a high-level NPC can do?"

"Does anyone know what that Ghost-like thing was? It was amazing!"

"By the way, did the guy who uploaded the video film it with a door lock? It's so blurry! I wanted to see what that girl looked like at the end!"

When the news first broke, Cao Renqi couldn't resist joining the discussion. He also showed off the Personal Shop he'd seen Adrian open, earning envy and resentment from plenty of players, along with no shortage of snide remarks.

"Holy shit! Could Big Lethal be some kind of Mysterious Merchant?"

"Very possible! At this stage, native NPCs don't give us alpha-test players a second look. Only a Mysterious Merchant handing out beginner perks would take an interest in low-level players like us."

"What kind of idiot does that? Wouldn't you keep a high-level NPC like him to yourself? Why show him off?"

"Real talk, I have a friend who really wants to learn Life Return. Did the OP learn it from Big Lethal? I want to know what it's like."

"Bro? Or should I say sis?"

Harvesting the Leeks Again

Why has Big Lethal come looking for me again?

Could it be...

He's had a change of heart and wants to pay me back for those two bottles of mineral water from earlier?

Cao Renqi's thoughts were a muddle. Unable to make sense of anything, he stood there in a daze.

"Hello? Boss Cao, are you all right?" Adrian shook Cao Renqi's shoulders hard. "Can you hear me?"

What's wrong with this abalone guy? Is something actually wrong with his head? Should I find a more reliable player? Looks like I'll need to spend more time gathering information on the forum before approaching players again...

A string of thoughts flashed through Adrian's mind.

"Yes! Yes!" Cao Renqi snapped out of it and nodded frantically. "Big—Mr. Adrian, is there anything you need help with?"

"Uh..."

Adrian was at a loss for words. He suddenly realized he had no reason to open his Personal Shop for Cao Renqi right now, so he improvised another quest.

[You have triggered the D-rank quest Bread. Accept/Decline?]

Cao Renqi immediately accepted. He wanted to get on Adrian's good side as much as possible!

But a second later, the look Cao Renqi gave Adrian turned resentful again.

This morning, you bought two bottles of Purified Water from me for 10 Beli when they cost 100 apiece...

Now you want to buy bread, and this time it's even worse. Just 1 Beli...

You might as well rob me!

Don't act like the abalone guy isn't a player!

Even a little experience would be better than 1 Beli!

Tears filled Cao Renqi's eyes as he took all four pieces of bread from his pack—his dinner for the night—and handed them to Adrian.

"This is the last of my bread!"

Damn it! Do you really think I'm trying to steal your bread?

Adrian nearly lost his mind. He took the bread, set it aside, and opened his Personal Shop for Cao Renqi again.

Cao Renqi checked the goods, only to find that the once-packed display now held a single, lonely skill.

"I miss Life Return... What's this? Dashing Slash? Let's see the description... Holy shit! That's freaking Flash!"

With the hand speed honed over twenty-eight years of being single, Cao Renqi snatched up Dashing Slash in a flash.

[Dashing Slash (Player Version)] LV1 (0/200,000): When swinging your blade at a target enemy, you can burst forward up to 10 meters. Costs 10 Stamina. Cooldown: 30 seconds. (Note: Requires base Strength 5, Agility 5, and a Swordsman Class.)

A god-tier skill!

Cao Renqi's eyes shone as he roared inwardly.

Just then, Adrian shook his head. "Too bad you're not a Swordsman. You can't use this skill."

What?

Cao Renqi looked up, eyes wide, and froze. Why the hell did I buy it if I can't use it?

He studied the requirements again. He could understand falling short on attributes—his level was low, after all—but what the hell was a "Swordsman Class"?

Cao Renqi checked his panel. It still showed Drifter as his only class.

He had made decent progress toward unlocking the Fishmonger class, but Fishmonger clearly had nothing to do with Swordsman!

Then Adrian asked, "Do you want to become a Swordsman?"

Cao Renqi understood. Big Lethal was also a class instructor!

Cao Renqi nodded frantically. Only a fool would say no.

"I do!"

Good. He's a quick learner.

Adrian nodded to himself and added Basic Swordsmanship to his shop.

Basic Swordsmanship was different from Dashing Slash.

Dashing Slash was meant to attract players, so he couldn't price it too high. Like his other basic skills, it cost 1,000 experience and 1,000 Beli.

Basic Swordsmanship, on the other hand, was a knowledge-based skill and the key to unlocking a main class. Adrian priced it at 10,000 experience and 5,000 Beli—an enormous sum for a beginner.

Cao Renqi nearly bankrupted himself buying Basic Swordsmanship, wiping out everything he had accumulated over five days of play.

At the same time, his game panel notified him that he had mastered the fundamentals of swordsmanship and unlocked the Swordsman class.

"Main class: Apprentice Swordsman. Strength and Agility both went up by one. Stamina has been unlocked too—it's at 100, just like my energy and health, though I don't know what it does... Oh, and I got two Free Attribute Points and one Skill Point. Might as well spend them!"

Cao Renqi put both Free Attribute Points into Agility, then raised Dashing Slash to LV2. Its cooldown dropped by three seconds, leaving him thoroughly pleased.

"Huh? Wait! I still can't use it. My attributes aren't high enough!"

Cao Renqi blinked and checked his stats: overall level 1, Strength 2, Agility 4.

"What a shame!"

Meanwhile, Adrian received the experience and Beli Cao Renqi had paid.

When he uploaded Dashing Slash to his Personal Shop, he had discovered that he could freely change the names and descriptions of self-created skills, but their effects would remain the same.

Take Dashing Slash, for example.

If Adrian wanted, he could call it Lazy Fish Thrust, Happy Wind Boy, or even list it in his Personal Shop as the Armstrong Cyclone Jet Armstrong Cannon Sword.

Its actual effect would not change in the slightest. It would still be a burst of movement over a distance of up to ten meters.

That was undoubtedly good news. He wouldn't have to rack his brains inventing other high-speed movement skills with similar effects.

All he had to do was change the name and description, slap on a new coat of paint, and sell it to players again.

For players who weren't too bright, he could even sell the same skill multiple times: Dashing Slash first, then Lazy Fish Thrust, then Spirit-Sundering Slash...

Players paid for skills, and Adrian earned experience. Everybody won!

In high spirits, Adrian closed his Personal Shop and made to leave.

Seeing this, Cao Renqi hurriedly asked, "Boss, is there anything else I can help you with?"

Now that he had a Flash-like skill waiting to be used, Cao Renqi's desire to level up burned brighter than ever.

To level up, he needed experience. To get experience, he needed quests—preferably high-level ones!

Was there any NPC in Flower Country easier to talk to than the Big Lethal standing before him?

No!

Even if there was, Cao Renqi doubted he would be lucky enough to meet them, let alone get a quest from them.

Adrian was his only option right now. Cao Renqi would have welcomed a barrage of high-level quests from Big Lethal!

Adrian looked Cao Renqi up and down. After letting the moment hang, he shook his head. "You're still too weak. There's nothing more you can do to help me."

Cao Renqi instantly recalled how helpless Little Lethal had been once Big Lethal got serious, and a chill ran through him.