Pirates: I Loaded the Game Panel

"A one-percent attack bonus? Even for a specialty, that's an embarrassment..."

Feeling refreshed, Adrian checked his status panel.

Name: Adrian

Race: Human

Template: NPC

Level: 41

Primary professions: [Apprentice Swordsman] LV20 (max), [Professional Swordsman] LV20 (max), [Sword Master] LV1 (0/10,000,000)

Secondary professions: [Navigator] LV10 (max), [Agent] LV10 (max), [Cook] LV10 (max), [Shipwright] LV10 (max), [Doctor] LV10 (max), [Navigator] LV10 (max), [Bounty Hunter] LV10 (max)

Attributes: Strength 156, Agility 95, Stamina 125, Intelligence 510, Charisma 45, Luck 1

Free Attribute Points: 0

Skill Points: 78

Health: 100%

Physical stamina: 100%

Stamina: 100%

Specialties: [Low-Level Toughness], [Ghost Fruit], [Sea Curse], [Well-Built], [Three Thousand Styles]

Skills: [Ghost Body] (max), [Ghost Creation] LV2, [Spirit Projection] LV2

[Basic Swordsmanship Training] LV10 (max), [Basic Swordsmanship Affinity] LV10 (max)

[Advanced Swordsmanship Training] LV10 (max), [Intermediate Swordsmanship Affinity] LV10 (max)

[Advanced Swordsmanship Training] LV1 (0/1,000,000), [Advanced Swordsmanship Affinity] LV1 (0/2,000,000), [Sword Aura] LV1 (0/1,000,000)

[Basic Navigation] LV10 (max), [Advanced Navigation] LV10 (max)

[Basic Marksmanship] LV10 (max), [Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat] LV10 (max)

[Basic Heat Control] LV10 (max), [Basic Shipbuilding and Repair] LV10 (max) [Simple Disease Treatment] LV10 (max)

[Soru] LV10 (max), [Kami-e] LV6, [Geppo] LV2, [Iron Body] LV1, [Finger Pistol] LV1, [Rankyaku] LV1, [Life Return] LV3

[Dashing Slash] LV1, [Demon Swordsman] LV1

Legend: [West Blue · White Ghost], [West Blue · Evil Swordsman]

Equipment: Fine Longsword, Flintlock Pistol, ordinary compass, nautical chart, Den Den Mushi, Castle-Castle Fruit

In Sea Circle Calendar year 1498, with the curtain about to rise on a new era, a transformed Adrian was ready to face any challenge!

The Curtain Rises

As spring gave way to summer, Ohara's vegetation flourished, cloaking the entire island in lush green.

At the very top of the Tree of Knowledge, mist-dampened young leaves shimmered in the sunlight. A breeze brushed past, leaving the air fresh and humid.

Dressed in a white robe over black clothes, Adrian sat cross-legged atop the canopy. His eyes closed, he cleared his mind and sank into swordsmanship meditation.

Beyond basic physical training, the Sword Master profession placed great importance on cultivating the mind and will. Its accompanying [Advanced Swordsmanship Training] also contained considerable instruction on swordsmanship meditation.

Caw, caw!

A chorus of noisy, distinctive seabird cries drew Adrian out of his meditation.

"Hm? The News Coo are early today."

Coming to his senses, Adrian looked in surprise at the large flock flying toward the canopy, newspaper satchels hanging from their necks.

Ohara was one of the best-known islands in the West Blue, not some uninhabited speck. Naturally, the News Coo never passed up a chance to do business there.

But Adrian had never seen a flock this large.

Before he could take any Beli from his pocket, several birds eagerly pulled newspapers from their satchels and scattered them through the air.

The rest showered their newspapers across the island below.

This looks familiar...

Adrian stood where he was, caught a falling paper, and unfolded it.

A single line of thick black print dominated the front page: MARINES CAPTURE PIRATE KING GOL D. ROGER!

There was no other explanation.

The cover showed only a color photograph of Roger, still smiling despite the shackles on his wrists, slumped inside a dark prison.

In Sea Circle Calendar year 1498, the World Economy News Paper rushed out a special edition and dispatched every News Coo it had, once again spreading news of that man free of charge to every corner of the sea.

Pirate King Gol D. Roger had been captured and imprisoned!

The news shook the world!

No one believed that the Pirate King, who had survived countless trials and defeated legendary foes one after another, could have been captured by the Marines;

No one believed that the Pirate King, who had completed his adventure and reached Laugh Tale at the end of the Grand Line only the year before, could have been captured by the Marines;

No one believed that Gol D. Roger, the Pirate King who had escaped countless joint pursuits by a Marine hero and a Marine Admiral, had truly been captured by the Marines at last!

Yet the World Economy News Paper had spread the story far and wide, and that photograph of Roger in prison was proof too solid to fake.

For a time, the Great Pirate Era, which had just begun to stir after the Pirate King reached the summit, faltered as though doused with a bucket of ice water.

The next day, News Coo carried a notice from Marine Headquarters at Marineford, announcing the Pirate King's fate across the seas.

In one month, the Marines and the World Government would publicly execute Pirate King Gol D. Roger for "unforgivable crimes" in his birthplace: Loguetown, East Blue!

"The curtain on the era is finally about to rise..."

A week after the Pirate King's capture, another piece of [Big News Morgans]-worthy news broke at Marine Headquarters in Marineford and raced around the world.

"Another legendary pirate has been defeated by the Marines!"

Unable to believe that the Marines had captured Gol D. Roger, the man he considered his destined rival, the legendary pirate [Golden Lion Shiki] left the Flying Pirates behind and stormed Marine Headquarters at Marineford alone.

After destroying nearly half the town, Golden Lion Shiki was defeated by the combined forces of Marine hero Monkey D. Garp and Marine Admiral Sengoku the Buddha. He was locked away on Level Six of the World's Largest Prison, Impel Down.

Marine morale soared and civilians rejoiced. Only the pirates, usually so brazen, grew anxious.

Grand Line. Marine Headquarters. Marineford.

"I'm sure you all know why I've called this meeting."

In a vast, brightly lit conference room, Fleet Admiral Kong sat at the head of the table with his arms folded. His hair rose in a spiked mohawk, and his stern gaze swept over the Marine elites gathered before him.

"Who goes to the execution in Loguetown, and who stays?"

Ordinary as the matter might seem, at this critical moment the Marines could not afford to take it lightly.

They had expected Roger's public execution to crush the pirates' momentum and stabilize the seas.

Instead, they had achieved that goal—but not entirely.

Anyone who kept careful count would find that fewer pirates had set sail recently than at any point in the past several decades.

Ordinary pirates had been frightened by the Marines' surging prestige. The great pirates, however, had reacted quite differently.

Golden Lion's furious assault on Marineford a week earlier had been a devastating lesson!

They had expected Golden Lion Shiki, a deadly enemy of the Roger Pirates, to celebrate the news that the Marines would execute his old rival. Who could have guessed he would lose his mind and try to destroy Marineford?

Roger! I want to create a world with you in it! Was that really it?

As a legendary Pirate King, Roger naturally possessed extraordinary charisma.

If even his bitter rival Golden Lion had attacked Marine Headquarters over the news, there was no telling whether another legendary pirate might make the same choice.

The threat posed by the Float-Float Fruit needed no explanation. But Shiki had suffered lasting internal injuries during the Battle of Edd War years ago. Though his strength had not diminished, his endurance had taken a serious hit, and in a fierce battle he had to remain wary of those old wounds flaring up.

Whitebeard and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit were another matter entirely!

With no old injuries troubling him, Whitebeard could truly be called a man in his prime!

In the nearly year since the Roger Pirates had vanished and Pirate King Gol D. Roger had disappeared, Whitebeard had led his sons to tremendous fame in the New World. People were already beginning to call him [World's Strongest]!

If Whitebeard led his pirate crew against Marineford during Roger's execution, how would Marine Headquarters respond?

Worse still, what if Whitebeard took in the leaderless Flying Pirates and brought them along...

Whatever happened, Marine Headquarters had to retain enough fighting strength to respond!

"Sengoku! Zephyr! You two will stay and defend headquarters with me!" Fleet Admiral Kong ordered the two admirals.

"Yes, Fleet Admiral Kong!"

Sengoku and Zephyr rose together and saluted.

Kong nodded in satisfaction, then turned toward another "admiral."

"Garp, take the kid—Garp!!"

"Huh?" The snot bubble at the tip of Monkey D. Garp's nose burst. He raised his head and rubbed his sleepy eyes. "Did somebody call me? Is the meeting over? Anyone going to get Senbei?"

"Damn it, Garp!" Kong's face turned livid. "You're going to Loguetown with Tsuru to carry out the mission! Nothing can go wrong! If there's even the slightest problem, you'll never draw another Beli of salary from headquarters for the rest of your life!"

"Oh."

Looking bored, Garp picked his nose and flicked a small black lump into Sengoku's cup beside him.

"Garp, get the hell out!!!"

Loguetown

Loguetown, which would one day be known as the Town of Beginnings and Endings, lay in East Blue near the entrance to the Grand Line. Pirates from East Blue had to pass through it to reach the Grand Line.

For people outside East Blue, there was only one way to reach Loguetown without the strength to cross the Calm Belt: travel by way of the Red Line.

Crossing the planet-spanning Red Line to avoid the Calm Belt and its dangerous beasts was the most common—and safest—way to travel between oceans in this world.

Adrian, however, had no need to go to such trouble.

With the Ghost Fruit's power of flight, he reached the island town where a legend's final act would soon unfold in just a few days.

The whole world was watching the approaching execution of the Pirate King. As both Roger's birthplace and the site of his execution, Loguetown stood at the very center of attention.

This once-obscure East Blue town had recently received an enormous influx of people coming to watch.

And as execution day drew closer, their numbers would only grow.

The World Government and Marine Headquarters had prepared well in advance, laying a tight net across the waters around Loguetown.

They would never allow Loguetown to fall into pirate hands at a moment like this. Besides sending Marine hero Garp, Headquarters Vice Admiral and staff officer Tsuru, and several monstrous young Marines, they had stationed plenty of CP Agents in town as a precaution.

In the overcrowded East Blue town, the Marines and agents likely outnumbered the pirates, even with all the civilians who had come to watch.

Flying in, Adrian had spotted dozens of massive warships far out at sea. The gray-white steel beasts patrolled the waters around Loguetown, blasting every pirate ship that entered their sight.

The Marines and World Government have locked this place down far more tightly than I imagined... Adrian thought. I distinctly remember there wasn't a single powerful Marine in Loguetown during Roger's execution in the original story... Damn you, Oda, you led me astray!

With defenses this strong, few pirates would even make it ashore, let alone watch the Pirate King's execution.

Adrian wore a restrained gentleman's black suit with peaked lapels, a vivid blood-red flower pinned to his chest. Compared with his clothes on Ohara, the outfit was less casual and more solemn.

He had come only to quietly witness the end of a legendary pirate king.

As for disguising himself as an executioner and killing Pirate King Roger himself...

Adrian had never considered it!

All right...

He had secretly thought about it a few times...

After all, players of almost any game had entertained a fantasy like that.

"Kill the max-level final boss while you're still a beginner" was a topic that never got old in gaming.

Adrian was no exception.