7:00 p.m. sharp, five pairs of eyes lit up at once.
Ke-Bu-Gai-Ming ("Whales of Cash Can't Change Fate") drew a long breath and opened his eyes to… an endless sea and a ribbon of gold sand.
Salt wind slapped his cheeks. He threw his arms wide and laughed.
"Ha—ha—ha! Ocean, I'm here!"
"ONE PIECE…I'm coming!"
Yeah, he'd dropped ten billion to buy five closed-beta slots. That story started years ago.
His parents died when he was seventeen, leaving him a fortune—ten billion federal credits. He nearly folded then… until games and a few real friends kept him afloat. He tipped big, spent big, and some people hovered for the money. He didn't mind; he wasn't stupid either. Over time he found four who stayed even when the cash wasn't flying.
They'd no-lifed a high-fidelity MMO before: old-school grind, bleeding-edge tech. He spent like water—on himself and them—and somehow made money over the years. Ten billion became fifteen.
Then Age of Voyages aired. Instant love. Instant "masterpiece." He flamed forums for it, dropped gifts to stir up hype in rival streams—classic him. He figured he'd wait till month-end public test.
But Sea Breeze lacked promo funds and cracked the gates again. Five slots. He bit down and paid ten billion.
Five left. Plenty to live. Games were his second life.
[Storm? Bell? Queen? Doc? Where are you?]
—[StormMage]: "No clue; small town for me."
—[QueenSlayer]: "Outside a Navy base. Not Loguetown or Shells."
—[BellGong]: "Surrounded by pirates—uh, they're charging me!"
—[CureAll]: "Tiny village. Salt-of-the-earth NPCs."
Ke chuckled and issued orders:
[Do it like we planned—die ten times each to scout. Not wasted deaths—useful ones.]
[We're the Pay-With-Life Pirates. If we can't whale with cash, we whale with lives. Go map the world!]
No rush to regroup. Early game, regrouping only makes dying inconvenient.
Watching from HQ, Gu Feng grinned. He'd expected someone to play like this. Barefoot players don't fear wearing shoes. Fresh spawns fear nothing.
He just didn't expect it this soon.
Gu's smile turned wolfish. "Explore through death, huh? Let's see if you can handle that bill."
Ke-Bu-Gai-Ming, oblivious to the designer's trap-stack, checked his viewer count. Even brand-new, their officially spotlighted channel drew crowds.
[No way—is that Ke-Bu-Gai-Ming?!]
[He famous?]
[You missed the headline? Dude who blew over a billion in another MMO?]
[So he's the one who paid ten billion for five slots?!]
[I can't afford the 10k headset and this madman spends ten billion to log in…]
[Bro, I asked for your game ID, not your government ID—why you hurting us like this]
Chat cracked up; others broke.
Ke peeked at comments and smiled.
[First stream—go easy on me.]
[But I promise, even if we're not the strongest, the Pay-With-Life Pirates will explore the most.]
[Watch me stress-test a pirate crew and feel out the power scale!]
He headed straight for a beached ship—Doer Pirates—fresh out of port, already worth 1.5 million bounty after gutting a town.
He waved cheerfully. "You guys pirates? Can I join?"
The captain, Doer, eyed Ke's skinny frame with a sneer. "What can you do? Any specialty?"
A specialty… to be a pirate? Ke blanked—then gamer instincts kicked in.
"I—I'm not afraid of dying."
Chat wheezed.
[He played the only S-tier answer!]
Doer paused, then grinned. "Fine. Prove it. There's a Navy post in this town. You'll charge first."
Ke bobbed his head. "Captain, of course!"
Doer nodded, already filing Ke as expendable fodder. If the kid lived, maybe he'd keep him.
Ke wasn't here to be anyone's lackey. He had a player's pride.
"Uh, Captain—weapon? For… storming the Navy?"
"Right." Doer snagged a long blade from a heap and tossed it over.
Ke caught it with both hands—nearly sliced his palm. A goofy fumble. Doer's eyes curled with contempt.
He raised his voice to the crew. "Operation Sack-the-Town—start!"
Pirates whooped—then Doer heard, of all things:
"Captain, would you say this blade is… sharp?"
"What do you—"
The tip slid through flesh. The blade burst out his chest.
He looked down at the steel, then up—eyes widening as he met Ke-Bu-Gai-Ming's calm gaze.
"Oh. Pretty sharp," Ke said.
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