One Piece: I Loaded the Game Panel

"Knock you seven times (trans.: Hello), Gion, what are you doing here?"

"Keeping watch," Gion said rather coldly.

"Oh, oh, didn't wear a condom (trans.: Congratulations)... Wait, don't tell me I'm the one you're watching?"

"Congratulations. You answered correctly."

"The Marine hero is handling Dark King Rayleigh, Golden Flash and Frozen Boy are handling Gaban, and that magma guy is handling the Hurricane Fruit... So when it's my turn, you're the one responsible for me, Gion?"

"Yes! That's my only mission today!"

Adrian feigned delight. "Really? That's wonderful! You're really going to take responsibility for me? How far does that responsibility extend?"

"..." Gion simply stared at Adrian in silence.

"I liked the old you better, Gion." Adrian looked disappointed. "I like girls who respond to me, but you don't respond at all now. That's awful. I might fall for someone else."

"...That would be better!"

"How heartless." Adrian shook his head. "All right, I spotted a somewhat familiar back... and..."

He awkwardly stopped talking, because Gion's expression had already turned visibly unpleasant.

Adrian's words had clearly stirred up some extremely unpleasant memories for Gion. After all, the last time, this utterly unreliable-looking bastard had abandoned her in broad daylight in the middle of the street for exactly this ridiculous reason!

"I swear, it's true this time, just like last time!" Adrian raised three fingers. "Gecko Moria, the Zombie King of West Blue legend. Have you heard of him?"

"You've clashed with him?"

"Even Marine Headquarters didn't receive the intelligence?" Adrian rubbed his chin. "I defeated the Moonlight Pirates during a chance encounter at sea. Aside from their captain, Gecko Moria, none of the crew survived."

"I thought Gecko Moria had died in the sea that time, but he clearly used some method to escape death. I only noticed his figure just now."

Adrian wasn't lying.

He really had seen Gecko Moria's shadow. Although it had vanished in a flash, that enormous body and striking appearance couldn't have been faked.

Moreover, he had overlooked something all along. When he completed the [Moonlight Pirates] mission, the panel had never displayed the information [Killed Gecko Moria].

Adrian had originally assumed that knocking Moria into the sea didn't count as "personally killing" him, but now it seemed the real reason was that Moria simply hadn't died.

Gion silently noted down the intelligence that "White Ghost annihilated the Moonlight Pirates," then said, "I'll go with you to take a look."

"Personally, I still don't recommend that you come with me. Gecko Moria is called the [Zombie King] by the people of West Blue for a reason," Adrian said. "Those zombies..."

He noticed the determination on Gion's face, shrugged, and changed his words. "If you insist."

He casually accepted the mission to "assist the Marines in intercepting pirates." Gecko Moria had practically walked right into the line of fire. Adrian had originally planned to remain a neutral spectator.

60. Chapter Sixty: Negative Hollow! Debut!

Loguetown Port.

In the short dozen or so minutes after the execution ended, every ship docked there that flew a black pirate flag had either been smashed into scattered wreckage or engulfed in roaring flames.

At that moment, aside from a few legitimate merchant and passenger ships, the entire port contained only vast numbers of Marine warships.

The prepared Marine Headquarters had sailed over from the sea. While everyone in Loguetown had been distracted by the Pirate King's execution, they had swept up every pirate near the port and completely cut off their escape routes!

After briefly cleaning up the battlefield, large numbers of well-trained Marine elites entered Loguetown in an orderly fashion. They planned to coordinate with the Marines stationed in town, attack from both inside and outside, and end the battle as quickly as possible.

"Hee hee hee hee, this is troublesome. Should I hijack a warship and escape?"

Hidden in the shadows, Gecko Moria watched the Marines swarming across the dock and burst into mad laughter.

"If I did that, I'd definitely steal the spotlight... But I can't yet! I haven't collected enough shadows! Not enough to completely defeat [White Ghost]!"

His voice suddenly became more venomous.

"White Ghost! I'll kill you! I definitely will! Hee hee hee!"

"Ugh..."

Gecko Moria froze slightly, then heard a cold voice from behind him.

"How ugly. Is this really the [Zombie King] of West Blue legend?"

Gecko Moria spun around and saw a beautiful female Marine standing not far away. He had no idea when she had appeared. She wore the uniform of a high-ranking officer.

Of course, what drew Gecko Moria's attention even more was the man standing beside the female Marine.

"White Ghost!!"

Gecko Moria shouted the man's name, his voice filled with hatred.

"He really is a little ugly. Looks like what happened back then hit him pretty hard." Adrian first laughed in response to Gion, then turned toward Gecko Moria. "I heard you calling my name, Gecko Moria. Are those your final words?"

"Don't get cocky, White Ghost!"

The madness and hatred in Gecko Moria's eyes were gradually replaced by increasingly dense darkness, while his body expanded step by step without limit.

"I crawled back from hell precisely to take my revenge on you!"

"Shadow Revolution!"

The short white horns on either side of his forehead transformed into enormous, twisting demonic horns. Dense, sinister black light poured from his narrow eyes, his interlocking fangs became even more ferocious, and another pair of enormous black bat wings appeared behind him. His height grew directly to nearly fifteen meters!

Facing the enemy he desperately wanted to kill, Gecko Moria released his strongest technique without the slightest hesitation.

It was obvious that compared with several months ago, his mastery of Shadow Revolution had improved by an unknown degree.

In barely one or two breaths, Gecko Moria's height had nearly doubled!

Adrian and Gion, whose builds had never been particularly tall, looked like two Tontatta standing before Gecko Moria in his Shadow Revolution form.

A powerful wariness flashed through Gion's eyes. She gripped her sword hilt tightly with her right hand, ready to fight at any moment.

She could clearly feel the terrifying pressure radiating from the enemy before her. Someone like this couldn't possibly have a bounty of only a few tens of millions of Beli, even in West Blue!

How exactly did the Marines of the West Blue branches gather pirate intelligence?

Yet in the face of the now even more terrifying Gecko Moria, Adrian remained as relaxed as ever.

Over the past few months, Gecko Moria wasn't the only one whose strength had advanced!

Moreover, before heading to Loguetown, Adrian's [Ghost Creation] skill had already reached LV3 under the maximum-level buff from [Ghost Body].

[Ghost Creation] LV3 (0/400,000,000): Freely produce and control spirits without subjective consciousness. The ability can touch the deepest soul and the root of consciousness of living beings.

Even LV3 [Ghost Creation] could already create the ability everyone had been eagerly anticipating.

However, Adrian had continued investing large numbers of Skill Points, raising [Ghost Creation] to its maximum level.

When it reached LV6, the name of the [Ghost Creation] skill quietly changed.

[Ghost Domination] LV6 (0/3,200,000,000): In addition to actively creating spirits yourself, you can awaken spirits with simple consciousness within your range and gain the authority to dominate and control them.

[Ghost Domination] LV9 (0/25,600,000,000): Freely control spirits without subjective consciousness. The ability's development can extend into other fields involving the mind, spirit, and thoughts.

[Ghost Domination] LV10 (MAX): Freely dominate spirits. The ability can be developed toward broader conceptual dimensions.

Although [Ghost Domination] looked more complicated than [Ghost Body] in its description, its strength was in no way inferior!

Ghost Body was merely an ability attached to the Hollow-Hollow Fruit.

Ghost Domination was the true core skill of the Hollow-Hollow Fruit!

This was a skill that, even after reaching max level, still required the Devil Fruit User to deepen its subsequent development!

The change in the name of [Ghost Creation] also faintly verified one of Adrian's guesses.

Ever since he advanced [Ghost Body] to max level, he had entertained a similar idea.

LV6 should be the [Awakening Threshold] of a Devil Fruit!

When Ghost Body had advanced to LV6 back then, it had already allowed him to transform into a ghost for a short period.

Now, when Ghost Creation advanced to LV6, the important part wasn't merely the change in the skill's name. It was the effect: ghosts that had originally been "only producible by the ability user" could now be awakened within a certain range.

LV9 corresponded to a Devil Fruit's [True Awakening]!

LV9 [Ghost Body] had already allowed him to remain in ghost form for a long time.

Likewise, LV9 [Ghost Domination] could even develop the Hollow-Hollow Fruit's ability into other derivative abilities!

Although it still required the ability user to develop it personally, there was no doubt that LV9 [Ghost Domination] was already an undisputed [Awakening-Level] ability!

Gecko Moria, in his Shadow Revolution form, threw back his head and roared. He then charged forward at incredible speed, swinging his fist with all his might at the two enemies before him.

"Now, Gecko Moria, taste the ability I've been looking forward to for so long."

Adrian chuckled. An enemy with such a massive body was precisely the best test subject for his skill.

A semitransparent ghost, indistinguishable from an ordinary white ghost, emerged from his palm and met Gecko Moria's enormous, platter-sized fist.

"Negative Hollow: Unable to Rise Again."

The Negative Hollow slipped into Gecko Moria's arm without the slightest trace of force.

"Hee hee hee, I..."

"In my next life, I only want to be a dreamless, salted-fish otaku..."

Gecko Moria stumbled. The strength suddenly left his entire body. He dropped to both knees and braced himself against the ground with both hands, his dark-purple short hair that had been about to shoot skyward now resembling a wilted scallion.

"One Sword Style: Iai: Maple Leaf Cutter!"

Gecko Moria's enormous head was cleanly severed with a single stroke.

This time, the panel finally displayed the kill notification.

"I warned you, Gecko Moria. Your final words were too careless!"

Adrian flicked his wrist, shaking the blood from Yubashiri's blade, then sheathed it.

"T-That's it?" Gion stared wide-eyed. She looked at Gecko Moria's corpse, then turned toward Adrian in disbelief. "What did you just release?"

"Want to try it, Gion? I'll be careful."

"Positive Hollow: Universal Panacea!"

"Mmm~ Ah—"

61. Chapter Sixty-One: Open Beta Arrives

In the real world, on a familiar small player-created forum.

One hour before the open beta was about to begin, Cao Renqi sat at his computer and unleashed a burst of extreme output at the screen.

"'One Piece' version 1.0's open beta is finally about to begin!"

"Big destiny, I miss his billionth fluid."

"I'll contribute the kidney I had left from last time! And I'll also contribute a string of mysterious numbers I've treasured for years. Guaranteed to be this month's premium content: MVSD—"

The first day of the open beta.

The players who had been waiting impatiently flooded into the game the instant they could.

Across the boundless sea, on dozens of beginner islands, batches of "Drifters" appeared in an instant.

A newbie who had just finished creating his character and arrived looked around curiously. "It's really realistic. Come to think of it, I always thought this game was being propped up entirely by paid posters."

At the same time, Cao Renqi, who had just shared half a number on the forum, also successfully entered the game, completely unaware that the players on the game forum had already politely greeted his ancestors for eight generations.

There was an old saying: if you post a picture, don't leave out the source, _____.

The moment he entered the game world, a familiar-sounding voice reached Cao Renqi's ears.

"Tsk tsk! You still can't take your pants off during the open beta! One-star review!"

Cao Renqi was startled. He turned around and, sure enough, saw that familiar big brother whom he had encountered once during the closed beta, the one with exceptionally strange preferences.

He remembered that during the closed beta, this big brother had apparently even asked the old fisherman whether he could help him take off his pants...

Human preferences were free, but Cao Renqi still wanted to suggest that this big brother see a doctor.

At that moment, the man noticed Cao Renqi's gaze as well. He turned his head, and his eyes lit up slightly.

"I remember you!"

The fat on Cao Renqi's face trembled. He took a small step back and hurriedly waved his hands. "I was only thinking about it! I haven't even said anything yet, big brother!"

"What are you talking about?" the man asked in confusion. "Aren't you the 'One-Step Quick Man' who was incredibly popular on the forum a while ago?"