Chapter Summaries

Summary

Plot and events

• Ed wakes in an unfamiliar stone room with a head injury and discovers he has been reborn as Adrian, a young war orphan in the One Piece world, in Sea Circle Calendar year 1495.
• A game-like system appears. Adrian is an NPC, level 1, with poor health and no skills or equipment. The panel says the official game release is three years away—1498, the year Gol D. Roger’s execution is expected to begin the Great Pirate Era.
• Adrian realizes players will eventually enter this world and may bring the disorder associated with the “Fourth Calamity.” He sees the three-year lead time as a chance to prepare.
• Kumadori Yamamba, a CP9 member overseeing training on the island, visits with a doctor and other staff. Adrian learns he was injured during “beast training” and is expected to resume training in three days.
• After they leave, Adrian studies the system. He moves Commoner from his main profession slot to a secondary one, intending to leave his main class open rather than commit to the World Government’s agent path. The chapter ends as he considers the level scale and notes that level alone does not determine strength.

Character developments

• Adrian is pragmatic and quick-thinking: despite his shock, he assesses his new circumstances, recognizes the value of his system, and begins planning around the coming players and major events.
• He is physically vulnerable—injured, starving, and weakened—and faces a dangerous future under CP9 training.
• Kumadori is presented as a cold, intimidating trainer who regards the trainees as expendable, though she is focused on whether Adrian survived.

Character interactions

• Kumadori questions the doctor about Adrian’s condition; the doctor explains that Adrian’s brain injury could have caused memory loss, but that surviving it is fortunate.
• Kumadori introduces herself, explains her CP9 role, and gives Adrian three days to recover before training resumes.
• Adrian responds respectfully while privately reflecting on her identity and the peril of his situation.

Significant themes

• Preparation and survival: Adrian’s limited time before the game’s launch gives him an opportunity to grow before players arrive.
• Power and its limits: The system offers a path to advancement, but Adrian’s current weakness and the chapter’s warning about level not equaling strength complicate its promise.
• Game mechanics versus a real world: Adrian has character stats, yet injury and survival remain consequential rather than safely game-like.

• Adrian searches for a way to grow stronger: He wants to become a Marine but cannot enlist while under the World Government’s control, and becoming a pirate near a guarded Cipher Pol base would be suicidal. With formal training starting in three days, he needs another way to gain experience and avoid being overwhelmed.
• He discovers that study advances professions: While exploring the base, Adrian tests whether reading can teach him skills. Studying a navigation book raises his Basic Navigation progress; reading a swordsmanship manual eventually unlocks the Apprentice Swordsman profession. He then learns Basic Navigation and unlocks Navigator as a secondary profession. Both grants raise his attributes and provide free attribute and skill points.
• Practice becomes his route to leveling: Adrian uses his new sword-training skill to practice alone with a wooden sword. Each session awards experience, and reaching 200 points advances Apprentice Swordsman to level 2. Over the next three days, he performs more than a thousand swings daily, amassing nearly 150,000 experience, though he avoids spending it all at once to keep his growth from looking suspicious.
• His return draws notice: On the first day of training, Adrian explores the base and is recognized mainly as the boy who survived a recent incident. When he arrives at the training ground three days later, Instructor Kumadori Yamamba notices that he seems far healthier, more alert, and more confident than before. She questions him, but he denies that anything happened.
  Character development and interactions: Adrian shifts from anxious helplessness to cautious optimism as he discovers how to develop through study and practice. His game-like system gives him a practical path to strength, but he recognizes that rapid improvement could expose his secret, so he deliberately restrains himself. Kumadori, his observant instructor and immediate superior, is intrigued by his transformation; Adrian greets her respectfully and resolves to maintain a good relationship with her.
  Themes: The chapter emphasizes resourcefulness and self-improvement, the appeal and constraints of institutional power, and the tension between gaining strength and concealing it. It also introduces the system’s progression mechanics: learning, professions, skills, and disciplined practice can substitute for quests or combat.

Plot and key events

• Kumadori Yamamba resumes Adrian’s training and taunts him over a previous accident, implying that the next death should be final.
• In brutal hand-to-hand practice, Adrian faces a towering, powerful trainee. He dodges at first, but loses focus while using Detection and takes a serious blow. After two exhausting hours, he is injured and drained, though he makes some progress in the skill.
• Marksmanship instructor Suzuki begins firearms training. Adrian’s first attempt is poor: most of his shots miss, and he barely hits his own target. He also starts learning other subjects required of CP9 reserves, leaving little time for sword practice.
• After a week, Adrian raises his Apprentice Swordsman level to LV3, unlocks Basic Hand-to-Hand Combat and Basic Marksmanship, and makes progress toward the Agent class. He keeps his spare attribute and skill points in reserve.
• During a beast-hunting assignment in the Safe Zone, Adrian patiently ambushes and kills a Long-Horned Deer, earning 480 experience. He uses much of his accumulated experience to improve swordsmanship skills rather than raise his level, hoping to avoid attracting attention.
• Adrian returns with the carcass and barely passes the assignment. He resolves to train harder before being sent into more dangerous areas or on missions.

Character development and interactions

• Adrian recognizes that his combat weakness lies not only in strength but also in stamina, experience, and concentration. He remains cautious, preferring gradual, believable improvement over a sudden rise in level.
• Kumadori is openly hostile and appears to have deliberately matched Adrian with an overwhelming opponent. Instructor Suzuki, by contrast, calmly treats poor shooting as normal.
• Adrian’s interactions with the other trainees are mostly competitive: he is paired against a far stronger boy and must complete the same hunting task as the group.

Significant themes

• Survival through preparation: CP9 training is harsh, and Adrian knows future assignments will be more dangerous.
• Strategy over raw power: He uses patience, stealth, and careful planning to kill the deer despite being weaker than it.
• Controlled growth and concealment: Adrian manages his experience and progress to avoid drawing suspicion.
• The cost of ambition: Training leaves him injured and exhausted, while the pressure to improve steadily consumes his free time.

Key plot points and events

• Over six months of brutal CP9 training, Adrian grows stronger, reaches Level 10, unlocks the Agent and Cook professions, and improves through both the system and ordinary training. He is still frustrated by his height, despite growing to 1.7 meters.
• At a Doriki test, Adrian scores 30, while his former sparring partner Dawson scores 115. Adrian uses his Scan ability to see that Dawson is rapidly developing into a powerful fighter.
• Adrian wants to leave the training island and explore the world, but cannot leave without orders or a safe way to cross the sea. He waits for another year and a half.
• By mid-1497, Dawson has passed 500 Doriki and is assigned a Field Assignment as the next step toward becoming a full CP9 member. In a spar, Adrian uses his strong Kami-e to evade Dawson’s much more powerful attacks, demonstrating that skill can overcome a large gap in raw strength.
• Dawson reveals that Adrian has been assigned to accompany him. Adrian eagerly accepts the system’s first mission in three years. The assignment is in the Ilusia Kingdom in the West Blue, and they are due to depart the next morning with instructor Kumadori Yamamba.

Character developments

• Adrian grows more capable and resourceful, learning several of the Six Powers and Life Return while deliberately concealing his true potential. His desire to leave the island and experience the wider world intensifies.
• Dawson advances dramatically in strength and becomes a serious CP9 candidate. Though taciturn and socially awkward, he recognizes that Adrian is holding back and trusts him enough to spar and work alongside him.
• Kumadori Yamamba remains an intimidating instructor and assigns Adrian as Dawson’s support, though her exact reasoning is unknown.

Significant themes

• Skill versus raw power: Adrian’s Kami-e lets him avoid Dawson’s overwhelming strength, illustrating that combat ability depends on technique as well as stats.
• Patience and ambition: Adrian’s growth is steady, but his wish for freedom and adventure makes the long wait increasingly difficult.
• Concealed potential and uneasy expectations: Adrian hides his abilities, yet Dawson sees through him; the support assignment may require Adrian to contribute in ways beyond fighting.

Character interactions

• Adrian and Dawson’s relationship has shifted from a one-sided childhood sparring match to mutual respect: Dawson challenges Adrian, notices his restraint, and brings him onto his assignment.
• Adrian responds to Dawson’s news with envy and excitement, especially when the mission offers his first real chance to leave the island.
• The chapter ends with Adrian suspecting Kumadori chose him for his practical skills—navigation, cooking, or planning—rather than his combat strength.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points

• After two years of saving experience, Adrian returns to his panel and spends nearly twelve million experience points on rapid advancement.
• He raises Apprentice Swordsman to its level cap of 20, then completes its advancement trial by defeating an enemy at least five levels higher. This unlocks Professional Swordsman.
• He maxes out his Navigator, Cook, and Agent professions, then uses his remaining experience to reach Professional Swordsman level 9. His character level rises to 29, and his combat attributes become formidable.
• Adrian invests 47 free attribute points in Stamina to shore up his weakness in direct combat, keeping the rest in reserve.
• Dressed in his new Agent uniform, Adrian leaves the training base for a field assignment to the West Blue. At the base entrance, he meets Dawson and Instructor Kumadori Yamamba, who will accompany them through the jungle.
• Adrian uses his panel to assess Kumadori: she is level 45, but her abilities and threat level seem manageable to him. He privately considers this useful for a plan he has in mind.
• The group crosses the island’s dangerous zones and reaches the coast. Seeing the open sea moves Adrian deeply; he and Dawson share the excitement of reaching the edge of their sheltered world.

Character developments

• Adrian transforms from a long-training recruit into a much stronger fighter and well-rounded operative. He plans carefully, keeps some attribute points for emergencies, and appears intent on making the most of his chance to leave the island—possibly without returning.
• Dawson remains practical and observant. He senses that Adrian has become more dangerous, though he does not know why.
• Kumadori Yamamba is strict and wary, especially toward Adrian, warning him not to wander or try to memorize the jungle route. Adrian’s assessment of her, however, makes him less concerned about her interference.

Character interactions

• Adrian and Dawson begin the assignment with friendly conversation, but Dawson privately notices Adrian’s changed presence.
• Kumadori gives the recruits instructions and specifically cautions Adrian, suggesting she distrusts his judgment or expects trouble from him.
• Adrian responds politely while concealing his own intentions. When the sea comes into view, he and Dawson react with shared awe, while Kumadori treats their excitement as a familiar rite of passage.

Significant themes

• Growth through preparation: Adrian’s accumulated experience and deliberate choices produce a dramatic leap in ability.
• Freedom and escape: The sea represents possibility beyond the controlled training base, and Adrian’s reaction suggests how strongly he longs to leave.
• Power and self-determination: Adrian’s stronger status gives him more confidence and room to pursue his own plans, even under supervision.
• Appearance versus intent: Adrian behaves courteously toward Dawson and Kumadori while keeping his ambitions private.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• Adrian, Dawson, and their instructor, Kumadori Yamamba, leave the Grand Line on a World Government mission to the West Blue.
• Adrian questions how they will cross between seas. Kumadori explains that they will sail to the Red Line and cross overland rather than passing through Mary Geoise or Fish-Man Island.
• After a difficult journey lasting roughly a month—including more than ten days at sea and a lengthy crossing of the Red Line—the group reaches Xilian Island, a minor West Blue island controlled by a local gang.
• While the others restock supplies, Adrian encounters two dockside criminals: a gray-shirted con man and his pickpocket accomplice. He catches the theft attempt and follows them into an alley, intending to obtain information and a local sea chart.
• The criminals surrender immediately, but Adrian’s questioning is interrupted when Dawson arrives. Adrian reveals that he intends to leave the World Government rather than continue serving it.
• Dawson attacks Adrian with the Six Powers technique “Finger Pistol: Fist Cannon,” but Adrian evades it with “Kami-e” and counters with “Iron Body: Iron Fist.” Adrian wins the clash decisively, injuring Dawson’s fist.
• Kumadori then attacks Adrian from hiding. He narrowly avoids her initial sword strike and challenges her claim of superiority.
• The chapter ends with Adrian and Kumadori engaged in a fierce sword fight. Although Kumadori is faster and more experienced in assassination, Adrian’s improved Kami-e, superior swordsmanship, and ability to read airflow gradually give him the advantage.

Character Developments

• Adrian: Demonstrates growing independence and confidence. He openly rejects the World Government and reveals that he has surpassed the level he possessed only three days earlier. His mastery of the Six Powers has improved significantly, particularly Kami-e and Iron Body, while his swordsmanship remains his greatest strength.
• Dawson: Shifts from mission partner to adversary when he tries to force Adrian back to the ship. Despite his enormous size and physical power, he is decisively outmatched by Adrian.
• Kumadori Yamamba: Reveals herself as a highly dangerous assassin and Adrian’s instructor. She is shocked and angered that Adrian avoids her ambush and begins overpowering her in direct sword combat.
• The two local gangsters: Initially attempt to scam or rob Adrian, but quickly become frightened and submissive after seeing his strength. They serve as comic relief while also providing a possible route to local information and a sea chart.

Significant Themes

• Freedom versus servitude: Adrian’s refusal to continue serving the World Government marks a major turning point and establishes his desire for independence.
• Growth and surpassing one’s teacher: Adrian openly claims that a student can exceed his instructor, a belief demonstrated through his improved techniques and performance against both Dawson and Kumadori.
• Strength beneath appearances: Adrian’s average build and short stature cause others to underestimate him, but his abilities far exceed expectations.
• Adaptability and knowledge: Adrian’s understanding of geography, the Red Line, and the Six Powers allows him to overcome obstacles that initially seem impossible.
• Power and intimidation: The criminals’ immediate surrender and Dawson’s failed attack emphasize how overwhelming Adrian’s newfound strength has become.

Important Character Interactions

• Adrian and Kumadori discuss the logistics of traveling from the Grand Line to the West Blue, revealing Adrian’s curiosity and Kumadori’s impatient but approving attitude toward him.
• Adrian humiliates and intimidates the two dockside thieves, turning their attempted robbery into an interrogation.
• Dawson confronts Adrian over his attempted departure from the World Government, leading to their first direct clash and Adrian’s clear victory.
• Kumadori ambushes Adrian and challenges him as both instructor and enemy. Their battle becomes a test of whether Adrian has truly surpassed her.

Plot points and events

• Adrian fights Kumadori Yamamba and outmatches her in strength, surprising her with how far he has advanced. When she calls Dawson to help, Adrian realizes he must escape rather than continue his original plan of quietly leaving the island.
• He spends saved experience to raise Soru and Kami-e, and boosts his Strength and Agility. When surrounded, he triggers the emergency quest [Freedom], which requires him to escape and rewards him with a skill or Specialty taken from an enemy.
• Kumadori and Dawson attack from opposite sides. Adrian evades with his greatly improved Soru, cuts Kumadori’s hair, then uses a fast Iai strike to hold his blade at her throat. He spares her and tells the pair to let him leave without reporting him as a pirate.
• Adrian borrows a nautical map and money from the local Mafia, steals a fishing boat, and sails away. The D-rank [Field Assignment] quest fails, but [Freedom] succeeds.
• The system offers five rewards. Adrian rejects abilities he already knows and chooses Dawson’s Low-Level Toughness, a Specialty that converts Stamina into additional health and energy. Gaining it is intensely painful, but Adrian confirms it has strengthened his reserves.
• The new Specialty inspires him to seek more powerful abilities from formidable opponents. Rather than fear the dangers ahead, he becomes eager to challenge the world and grow stronger.

Character developments and interactions

• Adrian reveals a sharp increase in combat ability and control, combining enhanced speed with sword techniques to defeat opponents without killing them. He is pragmatic about avoiding a wanted poster but increasingly ambitious about pursuing power.
• Kumadori Yamamba moves from confidence to alarm as Adrian overwhelms her. She recognizes the danger, accepts his offer to stop fighting, and lets him go.
• Dawson initially backs Kumadori in the fight but realizes he cannot match Adrian. He remains angry and bewildered as Adrian departs, while Adrian congratulates him on his likely promotion to CP9.
• Adrian’s exchanges with Kumadori are openly contemptuous, including his long-delayed insult about her voice; with Dawson, his farewell is more pointed and taunting.

Significant themes

• Power through growth and strategy: Adrian’s training, system upgrades, and tactical use of speed let him overcome opponents who once seemed beyond him.
• Freedom and self-determination: He chooses his own path over the Government’s plans and avoids unnecessary conflict to preserve it.
• Power as a reward—and a risk: The system turns enemies into opportunities for advancement, while acquiring a Specialty comes with real physical pain.
• Rising ambition: Adrian’s escape marks a shift from simply avoiding trouble to actively seeking stronger opponents and greater challenges.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Adrian sails toward Ohara, hoping to visit its famed Tree of Knowledge and read the vast collection of books there. His system rewards reading with skills, professions, and attribute growth.
• A huge flock of News Coo brings word that Gol D. Roger has reached the final island and named it Laugh Tale. The world celebrates him as the Pirate King.
• Roger’s achievement triggers Adrian’s system: the game’s closed beta will begin in five days and last fifteen days. Adrian also gains access to an NPC Template function and the Player Forum.
• Adrian registers on the empty forum under the username “Eight Trigrams Sea.” He hopes to use it to observe players and test how the NPC function works.
• While reviewing bounty posters, Adrian notes the fortunes and current reputations of several major figures. He is relieved that he has no bounty of his own, suggesting former associates kept their word and did not report his departure.
• Cannon fire interrupts Adrian’s thoughts. He spots the Blade Pirates, led by a captain with a three-million-Beli bounty, attacking a merchant ship.
• Onboard the merchant vessel, Captain Clivatt tries to keep passengers calm and organizes the crew for boarding combat. The pirate ship overwhelms the merchant ship’s guns and closes in, setting up a confrontation.

Character developments

• Adrian remains eager for knowledge and independence. He is excited by Roger’s achievement, intrigued by the newly unlocked system features, and wary of both pirate life and Marine authority.
• Adrian’s response to the attack reveals his contempt for pirates who prey on ordinary people, though he has not yet decided whether to intervene.
• Captain Clivatt shows experience and leadership under pressure, shifting from attempts to calm the passengers to preparing his crew to defend the ship.

Significant themes

• Ambition and achievement: Roger’s voyage transforms him into a worldwide legend and marks the attainment of the Pirate King title.
• Knowledge as power: Adrian sees books and learning as a direct route to personal growth and strength.
• Freedom versus authority: Adrian wants to avoid both pirate persecution and the restrictions of Marine service.
• Power and vulnerability: The merchant ship’s passengers and crew are exposed to the violence of a stronger pirate force.

Character interactions

• Adrian engages with the system and forum, treating their new features as potential tools for gathering information and interacting with future players.
• Captain Clivatt directs his sailors, questions how the pirates approached unnoticed, and orders them to prepare for a defensive fight while limiting panic among the passengers.
• The chapter ends as the Blade Pirates close on the merchant ship, with Adrian nearby and the outcome unresolved.

Chapter Summary

Key Plot Points and Events

• The Blade Pirates board the merchant ship Clearwater, defeat its guards, and begin looting the passengers and cargo under Captain Johnson’s command.
• Captain Clivatt rushes to protect his wife, Penelope, and their sleeping daughter. He urges Penelope to escape through a secret passage with their valuables while he remains behind to defend the ship and crew.
• Clivatt retrieves a strange, spiral-patterned white Devil Fruit from his safe. Before he can escape, Adrian suddenly appears in the Captain’s Cabin and takes the fruit.
• When Clivatt threatens Adrian with a gun, Adrian effortlessly cuts off the gun barrel with his sword and proposes a deal: he will defeat the pirates in exchange for the Devil Fruit.
• Clivatt hesitates because the fruit belongs to the Capone Gang, but Penelope encourages him to accept. Clivatt agrees, prioritizing his family’s immediate survival over the gang’s future retaliation.
• Adrian defeats Captain Johnson in two strikes, causing the remaining pirates to surrender. Clivatt binds them and plans to turn them over to the Marines for their Bounties.
• Adrian declines a celebratory feast and leaves the ship with the Devil Fruit. Before departing, he tells Penelope that he will be staying at Ohara and offers to help if her family ever needs him.
• Adrian heads toward Ohara Island, now motivated not only by his original plans but also by the need to identify the Devil Fruit using Ohara’s research.
• He arrives at Ohara ahead of schedule, enters the Tree of Knowledge Library, and locates the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia along with several related works.

Character Developments

• Adrian demonstrates overwhelming speed, strength, and swordsmanship, but the damaged blade reveals that he has not yet mastered the ability to cut through objects cleanly. He is opportunistic but prefers negotiating to unnecessary violence.
• Adrian confirms that he intends to acquire a Devil Fruit eventually and is especially interested in powerful abilities such as the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. He suspects the fruit he obtained may be the Hollow-Hollow Fruit.
• Captain Clivatt is shown to be a responsible but conflicted captain and father. Although he wants to protect his family, he refuses to abandon his ship and sailors. Faced with Adrian’s power, he pragmatically accepts the deal.
• Mrs. Penelope initially reacts with fear but remains focused on her daughter’s safety. She supports Clivatt’s decision and later views Adrian as a kind benefactor rather than a threat.
• Their daughter, Perona, remains asleep during the attack. Her name causes Adrian to wonder whether she could be connected to the future “Ghost Princess” Perona.

Significant Themes

• Power and authority: Those with strength on the sea can dictate events, as shown by Adrian’s ability to force Clivatt into negotiation and his effortless defeat of the pirates.
• Family and sacrifice: Clivatt is willing to risk himself and his position to protect Penelope and Perona, while Penelope supports the difficult choices necessary for their survival.
• Pragmatism versus morality: Adrian takes the Devil Fruit but offers a legitimate exchange instead of simply stealing it. Clivatt similarly chooses immediate survival over loyalty to the Capone Gang.
• Knowledge as power: Ohara’s library represents humanity’s pursuit of understanding. Adrian’s search for the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia emphasizes the importance of identifying and properly evaluating powerful abilities.
• Foreshadowing and destiny: Perona’s name and the unidentified Devil Fruit hint at future connections and events in the wider world.

Character Interactions

• Johnson intimidates the passengers and crew while commanding his pirates to seize both personal wealth and the ship’s cargo.
• Clivatt and Penelope discuss escape, family safety, and Clivatt’s duty to the Clearwater.
• Adrian confronts the couple, takes the Devil Fruit, disables Clivatt’s weapon, and turns a hostile encounter into a transaction.
• Penelope’s silent encouragement helps Clivatt accept Adrian’s offer.
• Adrian reassures Penelope before leaving, creating a positive impression and establishing a possible future connection with the family.
• At Ohara, Adrian interacts briefly with the library administrator before independently beginning his research.

Chapter Summary

Key plot points and events

• Adrian realizes the Devil Fruit he took from the Blade Pirates is the Hollow-Hollow Fruit, one of the most formidable Paramecia fruits, and is thrilled by the discovery.
• In Ohara’s library, he meets Nico Robin, who has just eaten the Flower-Flower Fruit and is frightened by both her strange new power and the belief that Devil Fruit users are monsters.
• Adrian helps Robin understand how her ability can be useful, showing her that she can make extra hands bloom on objects to help with tasks such as reading. He also warns her that Devil Fruit users lose their ability to swim and grow weak when submerged.
• Robin introduces herself, shares that she loves swimming, and hurries home when Adrian points out how late it has become.
• Dr. Clover, Ohara’s library director, questions Adrian’s presence. Adrian explains that he wants knowledge to survive alone at sea, listing skills he hopes to acquire. His ambition to learn many professions leaves Clover both exasperated and impressed.
• Using the library and his game panel, Adrian learns Shipwright and Doctor. The panel then disables learning further Secondary Professions simply by reading and warns that future professions will become harder to unlock and level.
• Before the increased costs take effect, Adrian spends experience to raise both professions to level 10, gaining substantial attributes and skill points.
• After dinner at an inn, Adrian decides the nearby Hollow-Hollow Fruit is worth taking over the distant, uncertain prospect of finding the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. He bites into it.

Character developments and interactions

• Adrian shows compassion and practical insight with Robin, while remaining focused on his independent goal of becoming self-sufficient at sea. His game system lets him rapidly build expertise, though it now imposes limits on that growth.
• Robin moves from fear and shame toward curiosity and hope as Adrian reframes her power as a useful tool rather than a curse. She is still a child who loves swimming and is mindful of getting home on time.
• Dr. Clover begins suspicious of Adrian, briefly suspects a connection to the World Government, then relaxes into an amused, exasperated mentor-like role as Adrian describes his ambitions and unusual learning speed.

Significant themes

• Power is shaped by its user: Adrian tells Robin that the Flower-Flower Fruit is neither good nor evil; what matters is how she chooses to use it.
• Knowledge and self-reliance: Adrian treats learning as preparation for surviving alone at sea, pursuing a wide range of practical professions.
• Fear of the unfamiliar: Robin’s distress reflects how ignorance can make unusual abilities seem monstrous.
• Limits and choices: The game panel restricts easy profession growth, while Adrian must weigh a powerful fruit he can obtain now against one he may never find.

Plot points and events

• Adrian eats the Hollow-Hollow Fruit despite its awful taste and immediately discovers he can create a tiny White Hollow.
• His system grants him the Ghost Fruit Specialty, which doubles his Intelligence, the unavoidable Sea Curse, and three skills: Ghost Creation, Spirit Projection, and Ghost Body.
• Adrian learns that Ghost Body can develop into powerful ghostification. Since improving it through experience would be prohibitively slow, he spends 55 Skill Points to raise it straight to level 10.
• Max-level Ghost Body lets him become a ghost at will, fly, change size, pass through solid objects, and ignore all physical attacks. Adrian is thrilled by what amounts to a passive, Logia-like defense.
• He spends his remaining Free Attribute Points on Intelligence, bringing it to 250, and tests his new ghost form.
• Staying ghostified also passively accelerates his other ghost skills—especially Ghost Creation—though Adrian calculates that progress will still take years. He then prepares to experiment with the fruit’s abilities.

Character development and interactions

• Adrian shifts from cautious curiosity to excited confidence as he realizes how powerful Ghost Body can become. He weighs the cost of advancing it, uses his scarce Skill Points decisively, and then restrains himself from spending the remainder impulsively.
• His interaction with the newly created White Hollow is minimal but marks his first hands-on test of the fruit. He otherwise acts alone, testing his new abilities and drawing on his knowledge of Perona’s future techniques.

Significant themes

• Power and cost: Devil Fruit abilities offer extraordinary strength but come with the Sea Curse, while advancing them through experience demands enormous resources.
• Strategic resource management: Adrian’s choice to spend Skill Points on Ghost Body, rather than rely on slow training, shows the value of planning and prioritization.
• Potential and progress: The chapter emphasizes both the fruit’s immense ceiling and the long grind still required to develop its other abilities.

Key plot points and events

• Adrian tests his Hollow-Hollow Fruit abilities. He can create harmless White Hollows and small explosive Hollows, and use Spirit Projection to leave his body and travel about a hundred meters. In spirit form, he can pass through walls and is unaffected by water, prompting a brief, disastrous bath experiment.
• At Ohara’s library, Adrian demonstrates that he has mastered the basic material in shipbuilding and medicine, raising both secondary professions to level 10. Dr. Clover, who had regained his confidence, is once again discouraged by Adrian’s rapid learning.
• Adrian orders clothes, amusingly asks the tailor whether he might grow to three meters tall, and learns that two meters is more realistic. He then builds a small, hand-powered speedboat at Dock 37.
• Owning the boat triggers a B-rank Navigator upgrade quest: Adrian must sail across one of the four outer seas and chart it. He plans to remain in the West Blue, but postpones departure to keep training and practicing his Devil Fruit powers.
• Three days later, the player forum opens and the game’s closed beta begins. Cao Renqi, an inexperienced but enthusiastic VR fan, arrives in Flower Country, West Blue, alongside hundreds of other players. He explores the unusually realistic beach and checks his starter equipment before quietly distancing himself from a player attempting to remove his trousers.

Character developments and interactions

• Adrian grows more capable and curious, testing the limits of his ghost and spirit abilities while continuing to build practical skills. His impatience to become taller and his irreverent complaints about the system add to his comic, unconventional personality.
• Dr. Clover’s renewed scholarly confidence is undercut when Adrian effortlessly passes tests in two fields, leaving the scholar dejected.
• Grandma Dorothy is warm and professional, offering Adrian practical advice about ordering clothes while indulging his hopes of becoming exceptionally tall.
• Cao Renqi is introduced as a newcomer motivated more by wonder and exploration—and hopes of meeting women—than by competition. His awkwardness contrasts with the more goal-oriented beta players around him.

Significant themes

• Learning and progression: Adrian rapidly masters basic professions, while the Navigator quest points toward further advancement through exploration.
• Experimentation and discovery: Adrian probes the rules and limits of his powers, and the beta players begin discovering the game world for themselves.
• Game-system rules and absurdity: The ownership requirement for Adrian’s boat and the system’s strict quest logic frustrate him, creating humor.
• Wonder and immersion: Cao Renqi’s sensory experience of the beach emphasizes how convincingly real the virtual world feels.

Chapter summary

• The players meet their first local NPC. Cao Renqi and the other beta players gather around an old fisherman, whose surprisingly strong stats make them question how difficult the game will be. The fisherman panics, calls them “Pirates,” and runs away, leaving the players baffled.
• Jixiang explains life in the Flower Country. The fisherman returns with Jixiang, a towering squad leader of the Three Treasures Navy. Jixiang says the players’ “Drifter” status is not a profession: they must earn recognition as commoners and take up work such as farming or dock labor. The Navy is organized into ranks called the First through Eighth Treasures.
• The players’ early combat ambitions collapse. Jixiang offers a place in his squad to anyone who can pull his enormous battle-axe from the ground, but every challenger fails and exhausts their stamina. He advises the players to live peacefully rather than pursue combat. Some then try hunting in the mountains, only to be overwhelmed by powerful monsters; they learn that deaths cost experience, impose a lengthy resurrection wait, and are limited during the beta.
• Fishing and exploration prove dangerous too. Players crowd around the fisherman to learn fishing, assuming shore fishing is safe, but a gigantic Sea King emerges nearby and convinces them otherwise. They opt to visit town instead.
• The group enters town and disperses. The players marvel at its realism and architecture, then scatter to pursue their own goals. Most competitive testers rush to seek quests and an early advantage. Cao Renqi, a carefree casual player, prefers to wander, admire the town’s women, and eventually help the fisherman sell his catch.
• Adrian checks the player forum. On Ohara, Adrian hopes to make contact with beta players, but discovers that none have appeared on the island. He settles for browsing the forum, where a player has posted about finding a “huge treasure” on the beach.

Character developments and interactions

• Cao Renqi remains cautious and easygoing. His uniformly low attributes make him acutely aware of his weakness, and he avoids taking risks alone, follows the crowd into town, then chooses leisurely dock work over competitive questing.
• Jixiang acts as a blunt but practical guide: he mocks the players’ physical ability, demonstrates the gap between them and local fighters, and directs them toward safer work.
• The old fisherman shifts from apparent beginner-guide to a source of both information and danger. Players first surround him with questions, then return to him for fishing lessons and eventually work alongside him.
• The players move from excitement and bravado to caution after repeated failures. Their interactions show both rivalry—especially over joining the Navy—and growing cooperation as they seek safer opportunities.
• Adrian remains separate from the players’ experience, watching events indirectly through the forum and hoping for a chance to meet them.

Significant themes

• The gap between game expectations and reality: Players expect easy progression and powerful game mechanics, but the world’s dangers, physical limits, and death penalties force them to adapt.
• Survival through humility and ordinary work: Farming, labor, and fishing may be more realistic starting paths than combat, though even seemingly safe activities carry risk.
• Freedom versus competition: Some players treat the beta as a race for advancement, while Cao Renqi sees it as an opportunity to explore and enjoy another life.
• The world’s scale and realism: The detailed town, imposing locals, and enormous creatures make the game feel vivid—and physically intimidating.

Chapter summary

• Adrian investigates the game’s players. Unable to find much reliable information on the chaotic forum, he reads a confident but badly mistaken theory about the game’s story. Adrian knows the truth: Gol D. Roger will disband his crew, settle in the South Blue, and eventually surrender to the Marines. He suspects players may not know the canon story, giving him an advantage. He also learns that West Blue beta players are gathering in the Flower Country and heads there.
• The Flower Country’s dangers are introduced. On arrival, Adrian reflects on the Happo Navy and its leader, Chinjao, whose mastery of Armament Haki made him exceptionally powerful even by Grand Line standards. Adrian longs to learn Haki, since it is one of the few abilities that can threaten him, but chooses to avoid trouble and focus on observing the players.
• Adrian discovers how players differ from ordinary people. At the docks, he spots Cao Renqi’s player ID among the fishermen. Adrian realizes he can now identify players at a glance. He also knows beta players all have fully datafied bodies and identical starting attributes—mostly 1, compared with an adult’s usual 5—making them unusually weak at the beginning.
• Cao Renqi mistakes Adrian for a dangerous NPC. Having spent five days selling abalone instead of pursuing typical quests, Cao Renqi uses Inspect on Adrian and sees only question marks plus an “Extremely Lethal” danger rating. Adrian notices the inspection, startling Cao, and introduces himself as a traveler. Though Adrian briefly confuses him with “Cao Dahua,” he asks whether Cao can help him obtain clean water.
• A quest system appears. When Adrian makes the request, his panel offers him the option to issue a quest to Cao. Adrian recognizes this as part of his NPC-like system, sets the quest and its rewards, and sends it. Cao receives a notification, ending the chapter on his surprised reaction.

Character developments and interactions

• Adrian is observant, amused by the players’ ignorance and weakness, and increasingly aware that his system lets him interact with them as an NPC. His interest in Haki is tempered by caution.
• Cao Renqi has adapted to the game through dockside work rather than combat. His fear of Adrian quickly shifts to excitement when he thinks he has found a promising quest-giver.
• Their exchange is comic but establishes a new dynamic: Adrian can offer players quests, while players may see him as a powerful NPC.

Significant themes

• Knowledge as an advantage: Adrian’s understanding of the established story contrasts with players’ speculation.
• Game mechanics versus lived reality: Datafication, attributes, IDs, inspections, and quests shape how players and NPCs perceive one another.
• Power and vulnerability: Adrian is formidable to a novice player, yet he remains aware of the rare threats—especially Haki—that can harm him.
• Unexpected paths to opportunity: Cao’s humble abalone-selling routine puts him in contact with a potentially valuable quest-giver.

Plot points and events

• Adrian tests his new NPC system by opening a personal shop for Cao Renqi, who eagerly gives him two bottles of purified water to complete the quest.
• The shop lets Adrian sell items and skills for Beli, experience, or other goods, with purchase requirements such as level, attributes, or favorability.
• Cao Renqi fixates on the body-control skill [Life Return], but its million-Beli price is beyond his means. He instead buys [Basic Heat Control], effectively paying Adrian directly for instruction.
• Adrian leaves the docks. Renqi, hoping to stay near a valuable source of quests and skills, asks where he can find him again, but Adrian slips away.
• Adrian recognizes the shop’s potential for earning experience by selling useful skills and items through quest chains. He considers designing swordsmanship skills inspired by fictional characters and styles, including Yasuo, Yone, the Kinkou Order, and Wuju.
• The scene shifts to Marine Headquarters, where Fleet Admiral Kong struggles under a surge of paperwork caused by the growing number of pirates following Roger’s rise. Though he sees Sengoku as a strong successor, Kong worries that there are too few candidates to fill the Admiral positions.

Character developments and interactions

• Adrian confirms that the NPC shop works and begins thinking strategically about how to use it to direct players and profit from their progression. He is amused and baffled by Renqi’s unusual priorities.
• Cao Renqi proves to be an eccentric, unserious player: he ignores combat gear, pursues [Life Return] for its suggestive implications, and ultimately chooses a cooking-related skill. He immediately grows attached to Adrian as a potential quest-giver.
• Kong is revealed as a powerful but exhausted leader, frustrated by the workload and constrained by the difficulty of replacing both the Fleet Admiral and the Admirals.

Significant themes

• Game systems as tools for control and profit: Adrian treats shops, skills, and quests as ways to guide player behavior and gain experience.
• Player unpredictability: Renqi’s priorities defy Adrian’s expectations of what a new player should want.
• Leadership and institutional strain: The Marines face mounting pressure from the pirate boom, while succession planning exposes a shortage of top-level talent.

Key plot points and events

• Marine Headquarters receives reports of thousands of mysterious “Drifters” appearing across the Four Blues and the first half of the Grand Line. They ask locals questions, disappear for periods, and—most astonishingly—revive after being killed. Though effectively immortal, they are extremely weak.
• Fleet Admiral Kong is baffled and orders more information. Vice Admiral Tsuru has sent investigators to the Flower Country, though their identities remain undisclosed.
• In the Flower Country, Adrian considers how to exploit players for experience during the coming open beta. He visits a tavern to gather information after finding the pleasure district quiet in daylight.
• At The Abundant Hostess, Adrian hears patrons joke about the former owner, Mia, a woman who claimed to be a Giant and lost the tavern to a gambling addict.
• A striking woman arrives and draws everyone’s attention. Adrian recognizes her as Gion, a future Admiral candidate, though she introduces herself as “Tao Zhi.” He gives the false name “Tao Ya” and boldly flirts with her, even proposing they share a bed.
• Gion is surprised by his forwardness but not offended. His approach reminds her of Tokikake, a fellow Marine trainee who has repeatedly confessed his feelings to her in an awkwardly direct way.

Character developments and interactions

• Kong shifts from irritation at Garp to serious concern about the Drifters, but their weakness reassures him somewhat.
• Adrian remains opportunistic and irreverent, turning even information-gathering into an excuse for flirtation. He recognizes Gion but conceals his knowledge and identity.
• Gion responds with amused curiosity rather than anger, revealing a composed and playful side. Adrian’s bluntness prompts her to recall Tokikake’s repeated confessions.
• Cui Ze, the tavern owner, trades jokes with the patrons about the former owner; the lively crowd provides Adrian with local gossip and a humorous welcome.

Significant themes

• The uncanny seen from the outside: Players’ ordinary game behaviors—logging off, quest-seeking, and respawning—appear supernatural and alarming to the world’s inhabitants.
• Identity and deception: Adrian and Gion both use false names while testing each other through flirtatious conversation.
• Humor and contrast: The Marines treat the Drifters as a potential mystery, while Adrian views the same phenomenon as a game mechanic; the tavern’s banter contrasts with Kong’s formal alarm.

Plot points and events

• Marine Gion, on a secret mission in the Flower Country to investigate strangely behaving Undying Drifters, watches Adrian at a tavern.
• Sili, a drunken commander of the Second Treasure Navy, threatens Adrian and harasses Gion. Adrian knocks him out with a Mini Hollow, revealing his Devil Fruit ability to Gion.
• Hog, the Second Treasure Navy’s powerful “Pillar,” arrives to avenge Sili. Adrian provokes him by comparing him unfavorably to the famed Chinjao.
• Hog attacks. Adrian uses Soru and swordsmanship to fight despite Hog’s superior physical attributes and experience. His game panel identifies Hog as a level 54 enemy of “Medium” danger, though much of his information is hidden.
• Hog unleashes a powerful blade-shaped shock wave that appears to cut Adrian in half, but Adrian is unharmed, thanks to his Ghost Body ability. He then switches from swordplay to his Devil Fruit.
• Adrian’s Mini Hollow explodes against Hog, but Hog emerges apparently unhurt and continues the attack. The excerpt ends mid-fight.

Character developments

• Adrian is confident and irreverent, but treats the fight as a chance to improve his limited combat experience. He assesses Hog through his panel, adapts to the strength gap, and reveals that his apparent vulnerability is misleading.
• Gion moves from dismissing Adrian as an irritating stranger to recognizing him as a Devil Fruit user and observing his speed and fighting skill.
• Hog is introduced as a formidable, battle-experienced fighter with considerable pride, though Adrian’s taunts expose his insecurity about his reputation compared with Chinjao.
• Cui Ze, the tavern owner, is wary of provoking the Second Treasure Navy and tries to prevent the conflict.

Character interactions

• Adrian’s sarcasm escalates the confrontation with Sili and then deliberately needles Hog, especially over Chinjao and bounty comparisons.
• Gion silently observes the dispute and fight, while reassessing Adrian’s abilities.
• Cui Ze warns the group about the political danger of fighting on Happo Navy territory, but the clash proceeds.

Significant themes

• Appearance versus reality: Adrian seems outmatched, yet his Ghost Body makes Hog’s decisive strike ineffective.
• Strength, skill, and experience: Adrian cannot match Hog’s raw power, so he relies on mobility, tactics, and unusual abilities.
• Pride and reputation: Hog’s status as a “Pillar” and his comparison with Chinjao shape his reactions.
• Combat as learning: Adrian sees the dangerous encounter as a way to gain experience, not merely a threat to survive.

Plot and key events

• Adrian overwhelms Hog, the Second Treasure Navy’s Pillar, with a swarm of explosive Mini Hollows. The assault nearly destroys the tavern, but Hog survives and claims the battle helped him awaken Armament Haki.
• Adrian ends the fight with Withering Heart-Piercer, a ghost that passes through Hog’s saber and explodes inside his chest, killing him.
• Hog’s death unlocks faction relations in the Flower Country. The Second Treasure Navy becomes Adrian’s Deadly Enemy; the Three Treasures Navy and other forces become Hostile; the Flower Country turns Cold; and the Happo Navy’s standing improves to Neutral.
• The witnesses are stunned by Adrian’s victory. Tavern owner Cui Ze warns him that the Second Treasure Navy will retaliate and urges him to leave.
• Gion invites Adrian to travel with her, hoping to recruit him for the Navy. He declines, preferring to avoid Navy attention and continue pursuing his own plans.
• Adrian leaves town before the Second Treasure Navy can arrive. In the mountains, he reviews his battle losses, spends experience to maximize eight skills, and reaches level 30. He then begins practicing sword techniques.

Character developments and interactions

• Adrian demonstrates that he has more than enough power to defeat a formidable enemy, but remains cautious about the political consequences. He values freedom and progress over joining the Navy, and treats the tavern’s destruction with awkward humor.
• Hog briefly gains confidence after believing he has awakened Armament Haki, only to be killed by a ghost ability that bypasses his defense.
• Gion reveals a practical, ambitious interest in Adrian’s talent: she sees him as a potential future Navy powerhouse. Adrian recognizes the likely motive behind her invitation and turns her down.
• Cui Ze is concerned less with blame for the ruined tavern than with the danger Adrian has brought to town, and urges him to escape.

Significant themes

• Power and hidden abilities: Hog’s apparent breakthrough cannot protect him from Adrian’s unconventional attack.
• Consequences of violence: Killing one leader changes Adrian’s standing with multiple factions and risks drawing wider conflict.
• Freedom versus allegiance: Adrian refuses recruitment, choosing to remain independent.
• Growth through experience: Adrian turns the battle’s rewards into improved skills and uses the aftermath to continue training.

Plot points and events

• After extensive practice, Adrian reaches a breakthrough and creates Dashing Slash, a sword technique that lets him dash up to ten meters when attacking. The game panel records the skill, and he tests it repeatedly.
• Looking for a player to try it on, Adrian returns to the docks and finds Cao Renqi, an abalone seller. Adrian doesn’t realize players have already seen a video of him defeating Hog and nicknamed him “Big Lethal.”
• Adrian invents a bread quest, which Cao accepts despite feeling cheated by the tiny reward. Adrian then opens his Personal Shop and offers Dashing Slash.
• Cao buys the skill before noticing its requirements: sufficient Strength and Agility, plus the Swordsman class. Adrian offers to teach him Basic Swordsmanship. Cao spends nearly all his savings on it, unlocks the Apprentice Swordsman class, and improves his attributes and Dashing Slash—but still lacks the stats to use the skill.
• Adrian discovers he can change a self-created skill’s name and description without changing its actual effect, suggesting he may be able to resell the same ability under different labels.
• Cao, eager to gain experience and eventually use Dashing Slash, asks for more work. Adrian tells him he is still too weak to be useful, leaving Cao chastened.

Character developments and interactions

• Adrian grows more confident as a swordsman and turns his new technique into a product for players. He remains oblivious to his reputation and casually exploits game systems and player enthusiasm.
• Cao Renqi goes from startled and suspicious to eager to cultivate a relationship with Adrian. He accepts a poor-value quest, spends heavily on training, and becomes determined to level up.
• Their dynamic is comic and unequal: Cao sees Adrian as a powerful NPC and potential source of quests, while Adrian treats him as a convenient test subject and customer.

Significant themes

• Progress through practice: Adrian’s persistence produces a genuinely new skill.
• Game systems and economic opportunity: Skills, classes, quests, and the shop shape character advancement—and create ways for Adrian to profit.
• Reputation and misunderstanding: Players’ forum chatter transforms Adrian into a feared figure, even though he does not know about his nickname.
• Comedy through mismatched expectations: Cao expects fair rewards and useful guidance, while Adrian offers a cheap quest, an expensive class skill, and blunt reminders of Cao’s weakness.

Key plot points and events

• After defeating the Second Treasure Navy’s pillar, Adrian is approached by an emissary from the Happo Navy. Its acting leader, Bean, invites him to tea and music to learn what he intends to do. Adrian declines but promises not to cause trouble unless provoked. The Happo Navy withdraws its people rather than risk confronting him.
• The closed beta continues for nine more days. Adrian mostly practices, develops skills, and checks the increasingly organized player forum, while judging the players too weak—and too poor—to matter yet. When the beta ends, he notes that the real-world and in-game timelines differ and turns his attention back to leveling and his Navigator quest.
• Returning to Ohara after his trip to Flower Country, Adrian reports that minor pirate crews attacked him three times. He sank their ships with Mini Hollow: Nova Fire and used the voyage to chart sea areas, reflecting on the early signs of the Great Pirate Era.
• Dr. Clover gives Adrian a delayed letter from Mrs. Penelope of the Clearwater Trading Company. The Capone Gang has taken Captain Clivatt, apparently because he surrendered the Hollow-Hollow Fruit to Adrian, and Clivatt has been missing for weeks.
• Adrian asks Dr. Clover for directions to Oatfee Island, the Capone Gang’s base. Clover warns him of the danger but provides a chart. Rather than sail for two days, Adrian decides to fly there using his Ghost Body.

Character developments

• Adrian remains confident and decisive. He refuses the Happo Navy’s invitation without escalating matters, then quickly commits to helping Penelope despite the time-sensitive and dangerous situation. His flight ability offers a practical way to reach the Capone Gang quickly.
• Dr. Clover shows personal concern for Adrian, having noted Robin’s visits and warning him about the Capone Gang. Though worried, he trusts Adrian’s judgment and helps him.
• Bean is cautious and pragmatic: he chooses to withdraw his people rather than provoke a powerful stranger.
• Mrs. Penelope and Captain Clivatt are absent, but the letter establishes their peril and Adrian’s prior promise to help them.

Significant themes

• Power and restraint: Adrian is formidable, but he avoids unnecessary conflict and signals that he will respond only if provoked.
• The changing seas: Pirate attacks and the rise of notorious organizations foreshadow a more dangerous era.
• Distance and delayed information: Slow communication means Penelope’s plea may be nearly a month old, making swift action urgent.
• Responsibility and loyalty: Adrian honors his promise to help the Clearwater Trading Company, even when doing so means confronting a major criminal group.
• The divide between game and world: The beta’s end and differing time flows highlight Adrian’s awareness of the players’ future impact.

Character interactions

• Adrian and the Happo Navy emissary discuss the invitation and the killing of the Second Treasure Navy’s pillar; Adrian declines while offering conditional reassurance.
• Bean receives the emissary’s report and orders the Happo Navy to pull back.
• Dr. Clover tells Adrian about Robin’s visits, delivers Penelope’s letter, warns him about the Capone Gang, and gives him a chart.
• Adrian thanks Clover, keeps the matter largely private, and sets out alone to rescue Clivatt.