"I really can't find it. I didn't see anything under Nexusplay Company, and I can't find Gol D. Roger on the internet at all."
"The name One Piece sounds epic, but I have no idea what kind of game John is going to make. Let's stay optimistic—I trust the quality of John's games!"
"I'm just hoping it won't take too long to release. But if John rushes it, the quality might drop… I'm torn!"
"Haha, I'm done doubting. My face is still sore from my last mistake."
Nexusplay Company was the entity Grace had registered for John. In fact, John probably wasn't even aware that the company belonged to him. The fans' speculations were pretty wild, to say the least.
Some players managed to find Nexusplay Company due to the Minecraft release. John was always the laid-back type, but his company, under Grace's leadership, was extremely competent. She had not only gathered the Edge Horizon team for him, but also handpicked almost everyone at Nexusplay Company, including the people who worked on Minecraft.
In fact, the crafting materials and other details for Minecraft were all published under Nexusplay Company's name, though few people initially noticed.
Now, with One Piece trending online, John had stepped back into the shadows. He knew this buzz was temporary, and he needed to quickly finish the pirate game before interest fizzled out. In John's past life, countless promising games lost their players due to delays or cancellations.
"Boss! Boss! Boss! This is serious!" Ten days later, John was hard at work, diligently developing characters for the pirate game, when Bell messaged him urgently.
"What now? Is your pigeon dead, or did the sheep come back to life?"
"Haha, no, the sheep is still dead, but the real issue is… Boss, someone copied your game!"
"Huh? Plagiarism?" John was startled, but also somewhat amused. "It took this long for someone to copy me?"
To be honest, John was expecting copycats. In his past life, once a game genre got popular, knockoffs would flood the market in no time. John was genuinely surprised that, after releasing three successful games, no one had followed suit yet.
Finally, it had happened.
He couldn't help but feel a bit excited. "Which game did they copy?"
"Well… the one that hasn't come out yet."
"??? You mean Identity V? Is there a leak?"
John's first thought was that something had gone wrong with Identity V, and he quickly ran through the names of the Edge Horizon team members, wondering if there was a mole.
"No, no! It's not Identity V! It's One Piece!"
Bella's message conveyed her frustration. John could almost imagine her pouting as she typed. He snapped out of his confusion but was still baffled.
"Wait, One Piece? How did they copy a game I haven't even finished?"
John's mind flashed back to his earlier concerns. He had worried that someone might rip off his idea before he could get it out there. Now, that fear had become reality.
"Send me the link."
A moment later, Bella forwarded it to him. John clicked on the title of the game and stared at the name, speechless.
"One Piece World? What is this?"
Worse, the game was priced at 50 dragon coins, and over 400,000 players had already downloaded it.
They made over 20 million from this knockoff?
John's face darkened. He could accept imitation to a degree, but this blatant cash grab felt like an attack on his hard work. It might even damage the real One Piece game's potential success.
He skimmed the reviews for the copycat game. Half of them were positive, but almost all the praise was focused on the concept of pirates. There was hardly any mention of the gameplay, which was apparently subpar.
"Boss, what should we do? Should we have a lawyer send them a letter?"
"Is there any actual evidence?" John asked, reviewing the game more thoroughly. It seemed they had merely copied the idea of pirates. The game's title was One Piece World, but the content was just a treasure-hunting game with a nautical map.
They had probably been inspired by the comics John had posted, thinking One Piece was all about treasure hunting. The game's core loop involved spending real money to buy boats and set sail, with paywalls that stretched from hundreds to thousands of dragon coins.
John was furious.
"Ugh! This is infuriating!" His face was stern. The worst part wasn't just the plagiarism—it was knowing that these people were profiting off his concept while he was still working on the real thing.
He messaged Bella: "Send them a lawyer's letter! Get a law firm involved and file a complaint!"
John knew the chances of winning a case were slim. Game themes like this were hard to protect, but he couldn't just sit idly by.
"Keep an eye on this developer. If they so much as drop litter in the street, I want them hit with a legal notice!"
"Roger that, boss!" Bella responded quickly, before adding, "One more thing, boss. The Minecraft mods collection contest just ended. What about the mystery prize?"
"Already? I completely forgot!" John slapped his forehead. He'd been so wrapped up in designing One Piece that the Minecraft contest had slipped his mind.
"Did you win?"
"Hehe, the boss promised, and there's an extra reward too!"
"Uh… let me owe you for now. I need to finish One Piece first."
"Boss! Are you seriously flaking on me?"
"Relax, I'll make sure to reward you properly. I can't do without you."
A/N: Thanks for reading, and donate some stones for extra chapters.
Check out my patreon for advanced chapters: patreon.com/AncestorX
Enjoy✌️.
While chatting with Bella, John scratched his head absentmindedly, feeling somewhat helpless about the situation. He had completely miscalculated the timing.
Mystery jackpot? Initially, John had planned for the mystery prize to be a Devil Fruit from the pirate game he was designing. It was meant to serve as the ultimate prize for the Minecraft module collection contest and double as an advertisement for One Piece. But with the game not yet completed, the timing didn't align as planned.
John quickly replied, "Have the cash bonuses been distributed?"
"Yep! The financial team handled that. We're just waiting for your mystery prize, boss!" Bella replied, teasing him slightly.
John knew that although he often kept things vague, the team was efficient and capable. He responded, "I can either give you a powerful item in the new game, or if you don't want to wait, I can give you 10 million Dragon Coins instead."
"Wait, the mystery prize is worth 10 million Dragon Coins?! 😳" Bella was clearly taken aback, expressing her surprise with a series of shocked emojis.
John smirked. "To me, it's worth a fortune, but you might not think so. Your call."
According to John's in-game currency exchange, 10 million Dragon Coins equaled one billion Berries, which was a fair price for a Devil Fruit in the One Piece universe. But the fruit he was offering wasn't just an ordinary one—it would have exceptional abilities, making it a priceless reward.
"I'll have to discuss this with Sarah and the rest of the team," Bella replied, hesitating. After all, she had entered the competition as part of the Edge Horizon team, so the decision wasn't hers alone.
"No rush. I won't give out the reward until the game's finished. Focus on the work you're doing with Identity V for now," John reassured her, smiling. After that, he returned to working on his pirate game with renewed focus.
John hadn't intended to stay up late, but after seeing that someone was profiting off a knockoff version of his unfinished game, he couldn't help but work faster, wanting to release the real One Piece game as soon as possible.
In the next room, the Edge Horizon team was just as surprised when Bella shared her conversation with John.
"Look at this! These are the boss's exact words. See, I told you it was worth entering the contest!" Bella said proudly, smiling with satisfaction.
"A prize worth 10 million?" Sarah Evans, the team leader, looked amazed.
"Yup! I said it was the right move to join!" Bella grinned as she asked, "So, what do we choose?"
"The boss said we have to wait until his game is done. I think the prize will be tied to One Piece," Olivia Su mused. "What if it's a voucher for 10 million in-game currency?"
"Maybe the boss is preparing a pay-to-win scenario?" Olivia's guess, while off-target, made Sarah shake her head.
"Not necessarily. Remember when the boss mentioned added value? I think it's something unique—like a rare Pokémon," Sarah speculated.
The information John had shared with them only covered the basics of the One Piece universe—the world map, factions, and so on. There was no mention of Devil Fruits, so the team was in the dark about the true nature of the prize.
"Something like a dragonite?" one of the others wondered aloud, thinking of the current prices for rare Pokémon in the Second World game. Rare Pokémon often sold for hundreds of thousands or even millions, and pay-to-win players were always ready to spend.
"The boss is serious about this," Bella said, a little pouty. "No matter how much I ask, he won't tell me anything."
"Well, we'll just have to wait for him to finish the game. I trust him," Olivia said confidently.
"Me too. Let's go with the mystery prize," Sarah agreed. "Besides, it's not like we're short on cash."
"And if we ever need money, we can always ask the boss for it!" one of them chimed in, lightheartedly.
Their decision was unanimous: they'd wait for the mystery prize.
Three days later, under John's determined pace, the One Piece game was finally complete.
There was no need for an internal test; if there were bugs, the system would notify John and allow him to fix them during development. Some settings might be slightly off, but that could only be ironed out with public feedback once the game went live.
With the hype already brewing, thanks to the Edge Horizon team hinting at the mysterious 10-million-Dragon-Coin prize and John's upcoming game, excitement for One Piece grew even more.
Of course, the knockoff One Piece World tried to ride the wave of this excitement, making a last-minute cash grab.
John logged into the Dragon Kingdom game platform and uploaded the completed One Piece. The game approval process in this world was fairly relaxed, and with John's status as a tenth-level virtual game designer, the game was quickly cleared for release.
Finally, it was time for the players to set sail.
A/N: Thanks for reading and Donate some power stones for extra chapters.
Check out my Patreon to read up to chapter 50: Patreon.com/AncestorX
Enjoy ✌️!
You may also Like
Paragraph comment
Paragraph comment feature is now on the Web! Move mouse over any paragraph and click the icon to add your comment.
Also, you can always turn it off/on in Settings.
GOT IT