"I'm so curious. I heard that John's new game contains items worth 10 million coins! I wonder what it could be?"
"Do you really believe there's something inside worth 10 million? Even a dragonite only costs a few million!"
"That's what the Edge Horizon team announced, it must be reliable!"
"My friend's uncle's aunt's granddaughter's classmate works at Nexusplay Games. They said they don't know, but they heard One Piece World is fuming. John's ignoring it completely! Everyone's been reporting it daily!"
"You don't need to remind me. I've already reported it. It's outrageous. They plagiarized John's promotional comic! Unbelievable!"
"Yeah, I was all excited for pirate news, but it turned out to be some cheap mining game."
"Oh my gosh, it's best to report it daily—it's good for your mental health."
After uploading the game to the Dragon Kingdom platform, John opened his WebNet account like he usually did. With his current reputation, and the buildup of anticipation over the past few weeks, the forums were buzzing with player discussions under the last comic he released.
Seeing the fans defending him in the comment section made John smile.
Even if it wouldn't stop the copycats—at most, they'd change the name of One Piece World—it was nice to know the community had his back.
After browsing for a bit, John noticed that One Piece had passed review on the Dragon Kingdom platform. He quickly accessed his WebNet background to begin the announcement.
"Welcome to the Age of Great Pirates!"
After thinking long and hard, countless slogans flashed through John's mind, but after deleting them over and over, only this sentence remained.
Adventure? Treasure hunts? Grand battles? This was the true pirate world. Everyone had their own way of playing, and John wouldn't impose limits—but there was one unifying theme: this was the Age of Great Pirates!
"Whoa! John posted again!"
"The Age of Great Pirates!"
"OMG, there's a game link this time! Did he finish it already?!"
"John's efficiency is unreal!"
It was clear that some fans had been refreshing John's WebNet page constantly. Moments after his post, comments poured in. Within minutes, his post had 999+ comments.
"It's finally out!"
"Sorry everyone, I'm out! Time to play!"
"I'm going to find the 10-million treasure!"
John watched as the number of downloads for One Piece skyrocketed—one thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand… In just one minute, the game had already surpassed 100,000 downloads!
And this was without any prior announcement of the release date. The player count was still climbing rapidly.
"Beep beep~"
On WebChat, John received a message from Bella Smith.
"Boss, did you finish the game?"
"Yep, it's already live."
"Wow! Boss, you didn't announce it ahead of time?"
"No need. Announcements don't really affect player numbers."
Posting trailers or teasers might boost first-day downloads, but John didn't care about those statistics. He was more focused on long-term player engagement.
"Got it! I'm on my way!"
"Sarah, the boss's game is live! Let's get in quick!"
After hearing the news from John, Bella quickly shared it with her teammates. But, to her surprise, her once-diligent teammates were already wearing virtual helmets and entering the game.
"???"
"Wow, you traitors already logged in without me!" Bella huffed, downloading the game and quickly putting on her virtual game helmet to join them.
"Choose your starting location?"
Upon entering the game, Bella found herself staring at a detailed map of the Pirate World. As she was exploring, she received a message from Emily Wang in the top-right corner.
"Should we start in louge Town?"
Confirming the location, a flash of light transported Bella directly into the game.
Standing near the execution platform, Bella saw the rest of her team—the six other members of Edge Horizon—already waiting. She rushed over to meet them.
"Sarah, you didn't wait for me!"
"Ahem." Sarah blushed. "We were afraid others might snatch up all the good stuff if we came in too late."
After all, having learned their lesson from the Pokémon game, they figured that John's promised prizes might be limited, like rare Pokémon that were distributed on a first-come, first-served basis.
And the choice of Rogue Town wasn't random either. John had mentioned it in the information he provided. Especially seeing the execution platform made it all the more tempting.
"Huh!" Bella snorted, then glanced over at the platform. Suddenly, her eyes widened. "Wait, is this where Gol D. Roger was executed?"
"Yep, that's what the boss's notes said. I thought there might be something special here," Sarah responded, a bit disappointed.
They'd scouted the area, but aside from the NPC residents of Louge Town walking around, they hadn't found anything worth their time. They even tried talking to a few NPCs, but were met with confused stares.
John had used a basic interaction template for the residents, so unless a specific storyline or mission was involved, most NPCs had minimal interaction capabilities.
"Now that players are flooding in, we're bound to lose any edge we had," Bella remarked, watching as more and more players dressed as pirates or navy soldiers poured into the town.
"Where's the prize the boss promised?" Bella muttered as she absentmindedly looked around.
Suddenly, a backpack appeared behind her out of nowhere. The NPCs passing by didn't seem to notice it, but Bella's team certainly did.
"It's here!"
Excitedly, the team opened their backpacks. Inside, they each found two small boxes. Bella pulled one out, hearing a light clattering sound.
Opening the box, Bella revealed a fruit with a distinct spiral pattern. It looked somewhat like an apple, but it was a pure, gleaming white.
"What… is this?"
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 ✌️!
Looking at the apples that Bella Smith took out from the box, the girls were all at a loss. Sarah Evans took the apple from Bella's hand, examined it carefully, and traced the lines with her slender fingers, her face puzzled.
The girls passed the fruit among themselves, each shaking their heads, unsure of its significance. John had only explained the basic power dynamics of the One Piece world, leaving it to the players to discover Devil Fruits, Haki, and physical abilities on their own.
In this version of the world, not everyone knew about Devil Fruits, especially in a town like Loguetown. Only a few notable pirates or Marine officers, like Smoker with his Moku Moku no Mi (Smoke-Smoke Fruit), were aware of them. Had it not been for Smoker's deterrence in Loguetown, someone might have already tried to steal the fruit as soon as it was revealed.
"Is this thing really worth ten million?" Bella asked, opening another box. Inside was another bizarre fruit, shaped like a pink pear with strange markings etched onto its skin.
"There's something underneath!" Bella exclaimed. She quickly pulled out a note hidden under the white apple.
"'Logia-type fruit,'" she read aloud.
"Logia? What does that even mean?" Sarah asked, her curiosity piqued.
Bella opened the second box and found another note, this time referring to a "Zoan-type, Usagi Usagi no Mi (Rabbit-Rabbit Fruit), Mythical Zoan, Moon Rabbit form."
"A rabbit fruit?" Jessica Tang raised an eyebrow. "What's a Moon Rabbit form?"
"Is it just a rabbit? We need to ask the boss."
As the girls debated, more players gathered near the execution platform. In the distance, a group of NPCs dressed as Marines began pushing people away from the platform.
Suddenly, a light flashed, and John appeared before the girls, though no one else in the game seemed to notice him.
"Why haven't you eaten the fruit yet?" he asked with a grin.
"Boss! We didn't know what it was! How could we eat it without knowing?" Bella pouted, sounding a bit frustrated.
John chuckled. "It's called a Devil Fruit, the greatest treasure in this world."
"The greatest treasure?" Olivia Su asked, leaning forward with interest.
John nodded. "Take it to any auction house, and you'll see its value. Oh, and I've activated the in-game money exchange. You can withdraw your earnings directly into your real-world accounts."
The girls gasped in shock. "Wait, boss, you're serious? We can actually make real money in the game?"
"Yup, if you don't want the fruit, just sell it."
They quickly checked their in-game property panels, noticing the new "Deposit/Withdraw" feature under "Berry," the currency of the game. Unlike typical games with complex stat systems, John's game kept it simple. There were no levels or preset moves—the players had to discover everything on their own.
"But boss, if everyone just withdraws money, won't you go bankrupt?" Olivia asked, her professional experience as a game planner making her suspicious of such a system.
John smiled, amused by their concern. "You think Devil Fruits are easy to find? These two you hold now are incredibly rare. It'll take most players a long time to find something of similar value."
He went on to explain how the game's economic system was structured. The in-game money-to-real-world exchange ratio was one-to-one hundred, meaning players could earn some pocket money, but making serious money required following the world's rules—and in this world, only the strong would thrive.
"You have to be strong to survive here," John concluded. "It's not just about earning; it's about keeping what you earn."
The girls were silent for a moment, digesting what John had said. Then, they noticed a group of players being arrested by the in-game Marines.
"Is there no one keeping order?" Bella asked, watching the scene.
"There is, right there." John gestured toward the Marines dragging the troublemaking players away. "The Marines keep things in check, but this is a pirate world. Do you think all pirates just give up when they see the Marines?"
John smiled at the group, knowing they were beginning to grasp the complex, unpredictable nature of the world he had created.
A/N: Thanks for reading, keep donating some stones of you want extra chapters!
Also check out my patreon for advanced chapters up to 52: patreon.com/AncestorX
Enjoy ✌️!
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