Pirate: I Loaded the Game Panel

"But at least I got something good out of it!"

[Armament Haki Trait: Black Jade]!

Come to think of it, Adrian had returned early to Flower Country in the West Blue instead of heading to the South Blue as planned. Besides wanting to claim the wealth beneath the Jade Treasure Ice Bed, this had been part of the reason.

As a legendary pirate who had once contended with Garp and Roger on the seas, Chinjao was unquestionably powerful.

But by the time he appeared during the Dressrosa arc in the original story, he was already a white-haired old man. Though he put up a good fight against Luffy, there was no telling how strong he had been in his prime.

Especially after Luffy punched Chinjao's prized Drillhead back into shape, only for Chinjao's own grandson Sai to kick it crooked again...

That was...

Honestly hard to take seriously...

Still, there was no disputing that Garp had trained his fists by punching mountains specifically to defeat Chinjao years earlier!

Taking every detail into account, the answer could only lie in Chinjao's Drillhead and his Armament Haki!

His naturally formidable Drillhead gave Chinjao far more striking power with his head than an ordinary person. Add the possibility that he had mastered an advanced trait of Armament Haki, and the famous Chinjao the Drill made sense.

That had been Adrian's theory before coming to Flower Country.

After all, basic Armament Haki had only two abilities: [Coating] and [Hardening].

But advanced Armament Haki was another matter.

[Ryuo] referred to Haki in motion, with something of [Coating]'s dynamic quality to it.

Did that mean [Hardening] had a corresponding advanced trait too?

Willing to take the gamble, Adrian had hurried to Flower Country after learning [Ryuo] from Koshiro. He sought Chinjao the Drill, the only person currently within reach who might possess an advanced Armament Haki trait.

To be honest, if Chinjao's attitude had not been so hostile, the deal would very likely have gone through, especially considering Adrian's previous "friendly" standing with the Happo Navy!

Adrian's original plan had been to help the Happo Navy recover the wealth stored beneath the Jade Treasure Ice Bed in exchange for a thirty-percent share and Chinjao's Armament Haki training manual.

But things rarely went as planned. Who could have known Chinjao would behave like that...

After killing Chinjao, Adrian had briefly given up on advancing his Armament Haki.

To his surprise, the powerful panel had not only confirmed his theory but also listed the trait as an ability reward.

[Black Jade]!

What a distinctly Flower Country name!

Just like [Ryuo] was tied to Wano Country.

What was there to hesitate about?

Pick it!!

[You have acquired the skill: Armament Haki Trait: Black Jade!]

In an instant, a flood of Armament Haki training techniques surged from the depths of Adrian's mind. Every little trick for Armament Haki Hardening that had once eluded him, despite his desire to develop it, became clear and easy to grasp, settling into his mind as knowledge he had already mastered!

A long while later.

Adrian raised his right hand, and with a thought...

Pitch-black Armament Haki covered his entire arm. But unlike the plain metallic black it had been before, the Haki now seemed to shimmer with the soft luster of polished jade.

Adrian tapped his right hand lightly with his left index finger. It rang with a metallic clang.

That hardness far surpassed what he had achieved before!

If he added Ryuo Haki on top of it, the power would be unimaginable!

Adrian let the Armament Haki fade from his arm, thoroughly pleased.

"Going strictly by the panel, my Armament Haki is still only LV3. But with both [Ryuo] and [Black Jade] enhancing it, its actual strength has to be above LV5! That's excellent!"

Just then, another message suddenly appeared on the panel.

[For killing Chinjao the Drill, the pirate with the highest bounty in the West Blue, and eliminating every Happo Navy witness present, you have gained 1 Legend point!]

[West Blue Legend: The Mysterious King of the West Blue!]

"And that's it? Nothing else?"

Adrian stared at the solitary panel message and grumbled.

"That legend description is as mysterious as the title. It tells me absolutely nothing!

"Oh well, it's still a Legend point. That means five percent more experience earned in the West Blue... But come to think of it, do I have to enter the Grand Line to earn higher-tier Legend points?"

Adrian shook his head and put the matter aside.

For now, the only way he knew to trigger a Legend point was to challenge enemies. From the Capone Gang at the beginning to the Happo Navy now, one formidable foe after another had built his legend with their lives...

"Wait, have I stumbled onto the real secret to getting rich? Do I just keep challenging everyone?" Adrian rubbed his chin, deep in thought. "That does happen to be my specialty..."

If only every enemy I met gave me a chance at a similar specialty-draw or skill quest... he thought greedily.

After a quick cleanup of the battlefield, Adrian returned to the hole he had broken in the ice. Looking down at the vast trove of gold and silver below, he could not help thinking of Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon.

He jumped into the hole and flew to the top of a towering mound of gold coins, then gazed at the treasure with a troubled expression.

"What am I supposed to do with all this? Strictly speaking, it's my [loot]!

"If I could use the Castle-Castle Fruit, this would be so much easier. I really miss having spatial storage, but I still haven't found the right person for it...

"If I leave everything here, who knows...

"Huh? Actually, leaving it here might be fine?"

Adrian tilted his head as something occurred to him.

To Adrian, the Jade Treasure Ice Bed was as easy to cross as a street on a quiet morning. To ordinary pirates, it was an insurmountable wall!

Unless they had a special Devil Fruit ability, they could not break through the Jade Treasure Ice Bed and reach the mountains of gold and seas of silver beneath it without sufficient power and destructive force.

And by "sufficient," he meant a pirate with a bounty of over five hundred million!

Was there anyone like that in the West Blue?

Probably not anymore, right?

Adrian looked around, taking in the vast expanse of the Jade Treasure Ice Bed. "In other words, this place is practically a natural vault!"

Apart from the two drawbacks that too many people knew about it and the ice was completely transparent, the Jade Treasure Ice Bed seemed to have no flaws.

"Could I use that to set a trap?"

Adrian blinked as one dark idea after another sprang to mind.

"But attracting the whole world's attention to the West Blue would be difficult. Pulling it off wouldn't be easy..."

Adrian pushed those stray thoughts aside and casually picked out a decent-looking short sword from the treasure. Once the ice had completely healed, he left Flower Country for good.

Next came his final destination—the South Blue!

Before anyone knew it, the game's public beta had been running for nearly half a year.

Converted at the proper ratio, that was a little over a month in the outside world.

The earliest players, who had gained access through the closed beta, were already approaching level 20 on average. That was the level cap for players in version 1.0.

According to unsubstantiated rumors on the forums, Pirate King would release six versions in total, with a final level cap of 120.

Only after each version update would players unlock the next level cap.

But the forums were full of claims like that, and few people believed them. The developers never released any solid information, after all.

Back to the matter at hand.

Before Adrian had finished his focused training at Isshin Dojo in the East Blue and formally become a Swordmaster, the first player to reach level 20 had already appeared.

The news had caused quite a stir on the official game forums at the time.

The first player to reach the level-20 cap had the ID [Wanjia].

That ID was well known in real-world gaming circles too.

Unlike the "famous pants-dropping enthusiast" [Golden Spirit]...

[Wanjia] loved grinding experience and racing up the levels. In every game he played, that familiar ID appeared near the top of the level rankings, as though he had an army of tireless grinders backing him up.

Wanjia had not secured a coveted closed-beta spot, but he had been among the first wave of players to enter when the public beta opened.

Wanjia had first arrived in the South Blue. Before choosing a primary profession, he had been captivated by Da Zhiming's line, posted on the forums: "The road is long, and only my sword walks beside me."

But Da Zhiming had been active mainly in the West Blue at the time. Unable to cross the ocean, Wanjia had reluctantly abandoned the idea of following him to learn skills and change professions.

After enormous effort to earn enough Beli, Wanjia had resolutely joined the swordsmanship dojo on his starter island and become the first to obtain Apprentice Swordsman as his primary profession.

After that, Wanjia had kept grinding relentlessly and completing quests until he became the first player in the game to reach level 20. He had then generously shared what happened upon reaching the version's level cap on the forums.

That was how the wider player base learned that the level cap in version 1.0 of Pirate King really was 20.

People had their doubts at first, but as more and more players reached level 20, the cap was confirmed.

The discovery did nothing to dampen their enthusiasm for the game, though.

Reaching the level cap did not stop them from accumulating experience. They could still complete quests and grind.

Besides, in a virtual game this lifelike, there was far more to enjoy than grinding experience and leveling up!

More importantly, the cap applied only to a player's primary profession. Obtaining a Secondary Profession could still improve their attributes and strength.

By now, over a million players had entered the game, and the number kept rising. The official forums were buzzing.

"I finally got into the game! Oh, that light! Oh, that water!"

"Whoa! Look at this [image]! That little thing sure is... something!"

"Once, a humble basic profession stood before me, but I failed to cherish it. Only after losing it did I regret it. If the developers gave me a chance to do it all over again, I'd tell myself from three months ago four words: don't become a pirate!

"And if you want to know why...

"The damn Marines threw me in jail again!

"Last time, I escaped prison by killing myself. This time they got smart and chained me to the floor! Flat on my back, too! I can't believe how clever these NPCs are. I want to delete my character and start over!"

Plenty of players were posting eagerly in the South Blue section too.

Suddenly, a new post caught the attention of South Blue players browsing the forums.

"Da Zhiming finally came to the South Blue! [Excited] [Crying]"

A crowd gathered in the replies.

"'What? Da Zhiming actually came to the South Blue?' You thought I'd reply like that, didn't you?"

"Don't believe rumors. Don't spread rumors."

"No pic? Then what are you even talking about?"

But more and more posts appeared in the South Blue section. Many included images of enormous crowds, with "Da Zhiming" standing conspicuously at the center, surrounded by players.

The South Blue players browsing the forums began to wonder if it was true.

While Adrian had traveled through the West Blue, South Blue players had assumed "Da Zhiming" was an exclusive perk for West Blue players. Information dating back to the closed beta had shown him to be particularly active near Flower Country, after all.

But when Adrian set off for the North Blue, the South Blue players' feelings changed abruptly.

If Da Zhiming could go to the North Blue, might he come to the East Blue or South Blue too?

Players from the two seas had repeatedly clashed on the forums over whether Da Zhiming would visit the East Blue or the South Blue first.

In the end, the South Blue players had been crushed to learn that Da Zhiming went to the East Blue first...

Fine. East Blue first, then. Their turn would come sooner or later.

When Adrian left the last starter village in the East Blue, the South Blue players were full of anticipation. At last, it was their turn.

But the truth struck like a bolt from the blue.

After finishing his East Blue journey, Da Zhiming suddenly vanished!

Day after day passed. He remained gone for nearly a full month of in-game time!

Their hopes dashed, the South Blue players took the bitter disappointment badly. For a while, their forum section was filled with lamentation.