Chapter 36
The World Government and the Marines clearly understood that too. Otherwise, why would they launch a full-scale World Military Draft in a pirate era they claimed was "about to end"?
After leaving Loguetown, Adrian flew toward West Blue at an unhurried pace. Along the way, he saw more battles at sea than he could count.
Compared with his trip to Loguetown, pirates were appearing far more often!
The Great Pirate Era had begun!
"But how could I let you disturb my Subordinates without a care?"
With a soft laugh, Adrian vanished from midair.
The next instant, he appeared above the sea, hovering mere centimeters from the gently rippling blue water. From a distance, he looked as though he were standing on it.
"To think the first people I'd use this move on would be some nameless pirates from West Blue!"
Adrian dipped his hand into the sea and closed his eyes, sensing the spirits beneath the surface that ordinary people could not see.
At its maximum level, Ghost Domination allowed its user to awaken nearby spirits with rudimentary awareness and take control of them.
That meant the boundless sea had, without Adrian realizing it, changed from his [nemesis] into his [home turf]!
How many souls had died unjustly in this vast ocean over the countless years?
Even if only a fraction had survived the passage of time, that was more than enough for Adrian.
"Taste fear..."
Ocean Ghost: Venomous Vortex!
The once-calm sea erupted into massive columns of water, each as thick as several people could encircle. Like enormous, writhing sea snakes, they raced beneath the surface and twisted the water into a vortex.
Had anyone been underwater, they would even have seen the translucent, ghostly faces covering those giant snakes like scales!
Thud, thud...
"Captain! Captain..." A pirate on lookout rushed onto the deck, shouting in terror, "A huge whirlpool just appeared beside us! It's enormous!"
"Idiot! Have seagulls shit in your eyes? How could a whirlpool appear here?"
A cruel smile curled the middle-aged pirate captain's lips. He was about to draw his gun and teach his clueless underling a lesson when the ship suddenly began to rock violently beneath his feet.
A rapid succession of small sounds came from the ship's hold. Every creak of splintering wood, every crack opening in the hull, seemed to strike the pirates' hearts.
"It's the whirlpool! It's hit our ship!"
The pirate who had sounded the alarm lay terrified on the deck like a stray dog with a broken spine.
"Steady! We—"
The middle-aged captain shouted, trying to calm his crew, but a sharp crack from the hull cut him off.
The next moment, the surging ghostly vortex swallowed the midsize three-masted ship like a snack.
The people aboard the merchant ship could hardly believe their eyes. What had happened? Why had such a huge whirlpool appeared out of nowhere? And why did it seem to be targeting those pirates?
In all his long, weather-beaten life, Captain Arthur had never seen a whirlpool so strange!
Just then, a figure leaped from the center of the vortex and landed on the merchant ship's deck. Below him, the sea finally grew calm.
"Is this a Shelby Company merchant ship?" the newcomer asked with a gentle smile under everyone's awestruck gaze. "Could you give me a ride?"
Oatfee Island.
Inside a brightly lit building, Tommy Shelby sat alone in his office, handling one matter after another: legitimate and illicit, business and gang affairs alike...
With the man pulling the strings staying out of sight, he, Tommy Shelby, was the supreme leader of both the Shelby Company and the Razor Gang. He had the authority to handle everything himself!
A knock came at the door.
Dazed with fatigue, Tommy pinched the inner corners of his eyes. "Didn't I say not to disturb me right now?"
"Tommy. It's been a while."
"Sir, it's you!" Tommy Shelby jolted fully awake.
"That's right. It's me."
Adrian smiled faintly and took in Tommy's increasingly mature appearance.
He wore a dark brown newsboy cap and a black tweed coat. A navy tie disappeared beneath a gray waistcoat hung with a brass watch chain. Below his plain black trousers were a pair of distinguished brown brogues.
The air of history's most stylish gangster was coming along nicely.
"I've heard a few things about the Shelby Company lately," Adrian said warmly. "Word is you've expanded the business through most of West Blue. You're doing well, both aboveboard and behind the scenes, Tommy."
"I'm only doing what I should, sir," Tommy replied respectfully. "None of it would have been possible without your guidance."
"I have a task for you." Adrian's tone left no room for refusal. "Buy as many weapons and munitions as you can. I'll come and collect them from time to time."
Tommy did not understand why White Ghost needed weapons that would be useless to him, but he nodded earnestly.
"If this trip goes well, the Shelby Company might even break through its current bottleneck," Adrian added encouragingly. "West Blue is still too small, isn't it?"
First Stop: Flower Country
Several days later.
The air over the sea was damp that morning, and the temperature was pleasantly cool.
Adrian steered a small boat away from Oatfee Island, following a nautical chart toward Flower Country.
The public beta had been running for several days, yet activity on the official game forum kept climbing.
The administrators had divided the forum into boards by region, making it much quicker to gather information.
Lately, Adrian had been paying particular attention to the West Blue players' board.
By quietly watching the forum, he had learned that, besides Flower Country and the other two closed-beta locations, several new player spawn points had appeared in West Blue for the public beta. The other three outer seas had roughly the same number.
The opening days of the game were the best time to approach players.
Any earlier, and they would not have enough experience for him to harvest.
Any later, and they would have learned other class skills on their own.
Right now was perfect.
The outline of Flower Country's port appeared on the distant horizon, with ships coming and going. Adrian immediately spotted the bright "white IDs" darting about in apparent haste.
To him, the players walking around looked like wallets waiting to be picked up.
They might be a little thin, but there were plenty of them.
And plenty meant he could eat his fill.
Adrian had barely stepped onto the dock when several players came over and "quietly" used Detection on him.
[??—Unknown] (Yellow Name) [Level: Unknown] [Attributes: Unknown] [Threat Level: Extremely Lethal]
"Whoa! Another high-level NPC!"
"Aren't players usually supposed to spawn in beginner villages at the start of a game? Why are there so many high-level NPCs in Flower Country?"
"That guy... Why does he look familiar?"
"Holy shit! It's Big Lethal!" At last, one player recognized Adrian.
The nearby players lit up with excitement. Big Lethal was one of the high-level NPCs discovered during the closed beta. When he got serious, he had practically killed another [Extremely Lethal] NPC in one hit, earning himself the affectionate nickname "Big Lethal" from the closed-beta players.
With the arrival of the public beta, Big Lethal's reputation had spread among the new players too.
Word that Big Lethal had come to Flower Country spread, and more and more players gathered.
Many still remembered that One-Step Fast Man Cao Renqi, who had been bragging all over the forum a few days earlier, had learned [Dashing Slash] from Big Lethal!
Adrian cleared his throat and said in a thoroughly scripted manner, "Hello. As it happens, I could use some help."
With that, Adrian posted the quest he had prepared in advance.
In the nearly year-long gap between the closed and public betas, Adrian had risen past level 40. He had also gained the two Legend Points titles [White Ghost] and [Evil Swordsman], greatly increasing the rewards he could offer through quests.
He would give players quests. They would complete them and gain experience. Then Adrian would harvest that experience.
Milking both the system and the players at once—that was a win-win.
I win twice!
[Big Lethal (?): You've encountered a mysterious NPC passing through. He seems to have some work for you. Accept quest?]
The quest asked players to gather oddly shaped fruit. There was no required variety; it just had to look strange enough.
His taste might be peculiar, but the reward was much better than the other jobs on the docks. The players accepted at once.
Before long, players returned carrying piles of strange-looking fruit. They turned in the quest and smiled as they watched their experience climb.
Adrian checked the fruit briefly. As expected, there was nothing of interest.
Obviously, the quest was his way of testing the players' luck to see whether anyone might bring him a Devil Fruit!
At this stage, the players had never even heard of Devil Fruits. They had no idea what they were actually looking for.
Adrian had never expected anyone to turn one in anyway. The quest was meant to bring him closer to the players and give him an excuse to open his shop later.
Once the number of onlookers reached a certain point, Adrian took out a map and pointed to an empty stretch of tidal flats. "I'll be staying here for a few days. If you need anything, I can provide weapons or other assistance."
As he spoke, he opened an item shop window for all the players.
Adrian stocked only a few kinds of goods: nautical charts, compasses, ordinary longswords, flintlock pistols, and plenty of ammunition. They were all essentials for life and combat at sea, and all were priced in Beli.
After all, he had to bring some money back to the Shelby Company, didn't he?
"Whoa, Big Lethal is a Mysterious Merchant too!"
"Guns and ammo! I want them so bad. With those, I could actually go fight monsters instead of wasting my time selling fish on the docks!"
The public-beta players were suffering just as the closed-beta players had. When they first entered the game, all six of their attributes were at one. They could not even level up by fighting monsters and had to make do with simple daily quests.
As if that were not humbling enough, the people of Flower Country complained that they reacted too slowly, were too weak, and had no staying power.
What do you mean, no staying power?
But with one point of Stamina, they really didn't have any.
Even if they bought guns, the players had no shooting skills and could not make full use of them.
One player who had just bought a flintlock pistol tried firing it. The recoil jolted his wrist, and the bullet flew straight into the sky.
That was when Adrian put up his second panel: the skill-learning panel.
Learning skills came with requirements, though. Players could not simply buy them outright.
Adrian set the requirement here at five affection points and 2,000 experience, double what it had been during the closed beta.
The players immediately noticed the newly opened skill shop.
"Holy shit! A Mysterious Merchant and a Career Mentor? Big Lethal is incredible!"
"There are so many skills! Basic Marksmanship, Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat, Basic Navigation..."
"You need affection points to learn them. How do we raise those? Give Big Lethal more ugly fruit?"
"I figured it out! Every 5,000 Beli you spend gives you one affection point... Uh, so giving him money actually works?"
"I never thought I'd spend this much money on a man!"
"But I've learned a skill, and I still don't have a class..."
There it is!
Adrian gave a sly grin and opened his third shop panel. Besides basic class knowledge, it contained several skills he had created himself. Learning class knowledge would consume it automatically and grant the corresponding Secondary Profession.
The third shop also had an affection requirement. Each skill cost an average of 10,000 experience and 10,000 Beli.
Think about it. If you don't pay, how will you get stronger?
And if you don't pay more, how will you get even stronger?
No Insiders Here. Let the Trading Begin
The crowd of players was growing so large that it was close to disrupting the normal operation of Flower Country's docks. Ordinary citizens were casting wary glances their way, and someone might call the dock guards over to disperse them at any moment.