Update Complete and the Roronoa Zoro Recruitment

The connection notification popped up right as I was about to log out. The relationship list had been updated with some new entries.

There was also an unclaimed reward waiting for me.

“Can I claim them separately?”

“Alright. Then I’ll take the Playable World +3 first.”

I’d have to use collective intelligence from the viewers to figure out the rest of the rewards later.

Ding!

Patch downloading…

“Huh? There’s actually a patch? That’s hilarious… Wait, the remaining download time is… only ten minutes? Guess I’ll scroll through Instagram while I wait.”

I uploaded the photo I’d taken with Hinata and Ino right before logging out. Just thinking about their surprised, adorable faces made me chuckle. After the upload and finishing a can of beer, the patch finished.

“What the hell? It’s all gacha-related patches? They raised the prices and changed the rates… If you start rigging the probabilities, you little shit, I won’t let it slide…”

I was firmly in the position of the powerless consumer. Still, thanks to all the donations I’d received, I had plenty of financial breathing room.

“Alright, it’s been a while. Shall we head back to One Piece?”

“Yep!”

“Jin! What are you thinking about?”

When I opened my eyes, Nami was staring at me. Beside her, Alvida sat with a gentle smile on her face, also looking my way. For a moment I couldn’t remember the current situation, but after thinking back, I recalled that I’d raised both Nami’s and Alvida’s stats before logging out last time.

“Since your abilities have gone up, we don’t need to train anymore. So I was thinking about what we should do next.”

“Can’t we just head straight into the Grand Line? You said you’re not making a crew with your little brother… Do we really have to travel together?”

“Yeah! I want to watch him become the Pirate King. But I don’t want to become a pirate myself, so I’d rather stay as allies and keep an eye on him. We’ll probably go our separate ways sometimes, but I want us to set sail together at the start.”

“If that’s what the captain wants, then I guess there’s no helping it.”

“So what are we doing now?”

“Hmm… We’ve got plenty of time anyway. How about touring the East Blue? We can eat some good food along the way.”

“Sounds fun! What do you think, Alvida?”

“I will do whatever Master desires♡”

“Then it’s decided—we’re going on a trip!”

The two of them immediately started planning our itinerary. I asked them to take a selfie with me and snapped a few shots with my smartphone.

“Hmm… So this is a tool for taking pictures? Jin, will you sell this to me?”

I promised to get her a new one later, then headed to my room and turned on the stream.

Stream Title: Sending Selfies to Winners via Email P.S. Travel Destination Recommendations

“Winners, please send me a private message. I’ll check and send the photos.”

“The P.S. was just me bragging. I’ve roughly decided where we’re going. I’m thinking of stopping by Loguetown and Baratie.”

“We can figure that out slowly. Anyway, there’s something I want to decide together with all of you.”

“This time I’ll really listen to your opinions.”

“First, I want to hear your thoughts on the quest rewards and the recent patch—whether they’re good or bad.”

“The rewards are one item selection ticket and one skill selection ticket that I can bring to reality. What do you guys recommend?”

After listening to the chat, I agreed it was too risky.

Clink!

“Ah, hello. But why do you want the Arc Reactor?”

Clink!

Clink!

After that, donations flooded in from countries all over the world begging me to sell to them. The constant donation alerts became too chaotic, so I temporarily disabled them.

“Hold on. Let me think for a second. Almost every country wants this. If I send it out carelessly, won’t it start a war?”

I agreed with the viewers and politely declined all the offers.

“This could get way too big, so I’ll pick the item myself. Let’s choose a skill instead!”

After listening to many suggestions, we narrowed it down to two options: Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan and a skill that would reduce the risks of the Eight Gates of Dunjia. The synergy with the Eight Gates looked amazing, but nothing specific came to mind. The original Full Recovery was good too, but the cooldown made me hesitate.

I perked up at the message and asked for details.

After hearing that, the synergy with the Eight Gates seemed perfect, so I acquired High-Speed Regeneration: Ulquiorra Cifer.

Satisfied with the skill choice, I explained the patch to the viewers. Most of them didn’t seem too upset. Even though the rates changed and prices went up, the split categories meant they’d probably spend less overall.

“But what could these special items be?”

I decided to do a 10-pull on the high-grade gacha.

Flash!

The familiar effect blinded me for a second.

“Are the rates actually decent? I still can’t tell… Let me do a few more pulls.”

A little while later…

“How is it possible that not a single useful item came out?”

After pulling nothing but junk for 200 attempts, I started suspecting the rates were manipulated.

“I’ll keep the useful junk and sell the rest… Alright, I’m only doing one more 100-pull. For real this time.”

After ten more 10-pulls…

“Fuck it! Let’s see who wins, you or me!!!”

I dumped every last won I had into the gacha and finally pulled four useful items.

The Infinite Water Bottle was from Overlord. Its only function was to produce infinite water. I’d give it to Vivi later.

The Gwangmyeong Seungcheondo was an item from Into the World of Creation that could strengthen other items. I immediately fed it my Zanpakutō. The reinforcement would take a whole month, but I had plenty of time, so I let it run and moved on to the next item.

The Rapid-Fire Cannon was from League of Legends. When I checked it with Sage’s Eye, the description had changed slightly due to the influence of the Playful Life app.

It looked like a solid item, so I sold off my old regular gun.

Finally, the first special item. It probably wouldn’t help in combat, but it was still exciting.

“Then I’ll hold a random draw among the viewers right now. The winners will be invited tomorrow. I’ll personally guide you through the East Blue by ship. Enjoy three days of sightseeing.”

“I’ll introduce you to Nami and Alvida. But if any of you throw pick-up lines at them, I’ll drop you off on a deserted island for the full three days. I’ll introduce you to Luffy too if the opportunity arises.”

I gave the five lucky winners a list of rules:

— No sudden actions

— No hitting on female characters

— No spoiling the original story to canon characters

With those three conditions in place, I invited them. I guided them around with Nami and Alvida (telling Nami I was charging them money while secretly paying her myself), ate Sanji’s cooking at Baratie (one of the female winners even took a commemorative photo with him), stopped by Foosha Village, threw a party at Makino’s bar with Luffy, and the three days passed without any major incidents.

After the viewer event, I traveled around with Nami and Alvida, enjoying some healing time. In between, they fought pirates who didn’t appear in the original story and gained real combat experience.

Before long, the day of Luffy’s departure arrived. My party and I waited for him in Shells Town.

“Jin! Is your brother really coming to this island?”

“Yeah! He’ll probably show up. Since he needs to gather a crew, if he hears about Zoro—the strongest guy in the East Blue—he’ll definitely come here.”

“Let’s wait a few days. If he doesn’t show, I’ll go look for him!”

“A concept?”

“That’s not bad. Should I go with the swordsman concept here like you suggested?”

“I like that idea too! I’ll raise them while keeping their value in mind.”

Nami’s charm had risen to A+ after two years of growth. The rest of her stats were already at B thanks to the last boost, so she was already quite strong. I’d have to raise them according to their individual traits once we entered the Grand Line.

I liked Nami’s early-game brain plays from the original story, so I planned to focus on her intelligence and find her a suitable weapon. As for Alvida, her nickname back when she was a pirate was “Iron Club Alvida,” and with her Devil Fruit ability… she was clearly a close-range tank. So I handed her Leoric’s Mace from my inventory.

When I told them to grow their abilities according to their individual combat styles, both of them seemed happy with the idea.

Two days later, we heard a loud commotion. Using Observation Haki, I sensed that Luffy had arrived.

“Yo~ Long time no see, Luffy!”

“Huh? Jin! What are you doing here? Wait… Don’t tell me you’re here to take Zoro too?”

“I’m not interested in men.”

“Shishishi! Yeah, you always hated traveling with guys.”

“Anyway, are you here to recruit Zoro as a crewmate?”

“Yeah, if he’s a good guy!”

“Mister Luffy! Zoro is a wild beast of a man!”

“Is being a wild beast a bad thing? If I like what I see, I’m taking him as my crewmate!”

“I looked into him separately. He doesn’t seem like a bad guy. He got captured by the Marines because he was trying to save a kid. Just in case, go meet him yourself. He’s tied to a post at the Marine base execution ground today too.”

A short while later, while we were drinking beer with the crew at the tavern, Luffy came back after meeting Zoro.

“Was Zoro good enough to be your crewmate?”

“Yeah! I liked him! But he said he’d survive tied up there for a whole month and then be set free, so he turned down my offer! I’m gonna wait for him.”

Huh? Did something get twisted because I told the girl earlier that he saved a child? Even if he refuses, I might have to push him into joining.

“Viewers, did I just fuck this up? Is this the butterfly effect?”

“Keh keh keh keh!! I told you to bow your head! I’m telling my father!”

From far away, we saw the pathetic Helmeppo walking arrogantly like a Celestial Dragon through people who were prostrating themselves.

“Do you want to end up tied up like Roronoa Zoro? That guy is an example. He’ll be publicly executed in three days!”

Hearing that, Luffy walked out into the street and stood in front of Helmeppo.

“What happened to the one-month promise?!”

“Who the hell are you? Pfft! That kind of promise was obviously a joke! Only an idiot would believe it! Keh keh keh keh!”

Bam!!!

Luffy punched Helmeppo square in the face, then looked over at me.

“Jin! I’m going to save him and make him my crewmate!!”

“Go ahead! But I’m not helping. A crewmate should be saved by his own captain.”

“Yeah! Of course! Shishishi!”

Luffy and Coby headed toward where Zoro was being held. I told Nami and Alvida to come watch and followed after them. Unlike Alvida, who followed with a bright smile, Nami sighed and shook her head as she trailed behind us.

I turned my head and looked at Nami walking behind us. She still had a ways to go before matching my tastes, but I knew she’d grow beautifully by the time we reached Alabasta.

When we arrived, we sat on a railing with a clear view of the execution ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠ground and watched the show. Luffy bounced bullets away with his rubber powers while the Marines with swords were blocked by Zoro’s Three Sword Style.

“If you value this kid’s life, don’t move!!”

Helmeppo held a gun to Coby’s head and threatened Luffy. At the same time, Morgan tried to chop Luffy down with his axe.

“Rubber Rubber…”

Bam!

“Pistol!!”

Luffy smashed the face of Helmeppo, who had been holding the hostage. Morgan tried to bring his axe down on Luffy, but slash! Zoro cut him down.

“Nice, Zoro.”

“Easy as pie, Captain.”

“Uwaaaaaaaa!!!”

The Marines cheered at the sight.

“Uwaaaaaaaa!!! I’ll kill you all!!!!!”

Having been tied to the post without food for so long, Zoro was much weaker than in the original story. Because of that, Morgan didn’t take fatal damage from Zoro’s attack and stood back up in a rage, swinging his axe wildly.

Luffy and Zoro got back into stance to fight Morgan again.

Celestial Demon Divine Art – Demon Dragon Slash!

Slash!Thud!

I quickly stepped in and cut off the arm holding Morgan’s axe.

“You guys were being too sloppy.”

“Jin! We could’ve handled it!! You said you wouldn’t interfere!”

“I said I wouldn’t help you save your crewmate. This is after you already saved him, right?”

“Uuuu~ That’s so cheap.”

“Hahahahaha!”

We laughed at the sulking Luffy and returned to the tavern.

“Jin! You haven’t been introduced yet, right? This is Zoro, my crew’s first member!”

“You didn’t have to help, but thanks anyway. My name is Roronoa Zoro.”

“Ahahaha! Nice to meet you. I’m Jin, Luffy’s older brother.”

I stood up and offered Zoro a handshake.

“You two don’t look alike.”

“We’re sworn brothers!”

“Ah, I see. Anyway, you look like a strong swordsman. Want to spar with me?”

Zoro looked at the Zanpakutō at my waist and challenged me. I chuckled and replied,

“I am a swordsman… and stronger than you.”

“What? Get outside, you bastard!”

“Hahaha! Just eat first. You’ve been starving for days and have no strength…”

“Ah! Now that you mention it, I’m starving…”

After we finished eating and were resting, Marines burst into the tavern.

“Is it true that you people are pirates…?”

“Yeah! Just the two of us, but we’re pirates!”

“We’re not. We even have official certificates.”

After looking at the certificates, the Marines spoke to Luffy’s group.

“We are all grateful that you saved this village. However, if you are pirates, we ask that you leave. As a minimum courtesy, we will not contact headquarters.”

“Shall we go?”

“Thanks for the meal, ma’am.”

Luffy and Zoro stood up calmly. The Marines saluted them at the harbor.

“Attention! Salute!!”

We watched Luffy and Zoro sail away after receiving the salute from Coby and the Marines, then boarded our own ship and followed the Straw Hat Pirates.

Now we were finally going to meet the great Buggy the Clown!