[You killed Doer, captain of the Doer Pirates (Bounty: 1,500,000 Beli). Reward: 1,000 points!]
[Achievement Unlocked: Pirate Instant-Slayer.]
[Pirate Instant-Slayer: If you kill a real pirate within 30 minutes of logging in, you gain the "Instantslayer" tag and passively emit a faint bloodlust aura.]
Doer had barely stitched this newborn crew together. A few raids, a little luck…and he thought his next town would be "easy money."
He didn't foresee the skinny "cannon-fodder" recruit turning with a clean thrust.
The knife left his chest slick. Face twisting, he rasped to his men, "Kill…him…"
He toppled. The dozen pirates froze—then fury snapped them awake. Swords out. Muzzles lifted. They charged.
Ke-Bu-Gai-Ming didn't flinch. He relived the kill—the warmth on his hands, the weight of the blade pushing through ribs—and grinned.
Worth it.
Bullets and steel crashed into him. Pain flared white-hot. He hit the dirt.
Darkness.
His heart, though, was blazing. Ten billion well spent. With this fidelity, this simulation, this weight… these slots would pay for themselves a thousand times over.
[Holy— the whale died just like that?!]
[Too casual… and yet he did snipe a 1.5M captain on spawn. Nuts.]
[So that's the floor for 1.5M bounty. Good benchmark.]
Respawn flash—Ke popped up on a different beach and immediately checked his panel. Just as the tutorial warned: death wiped XP and points.
But the achievement remained.
Ke burst out laughing. "Hahaha! That's the real way to play this!"
"Sure, I died and lost XP/points. But the achievement persists!"
Chat: [Bowing to the madman.] [Kneel.png] [Big brain meta unlocked.]
Sea Breeze HQ.
Ke's four teammates were busy doing their own "useful deaths," testing edges and triggers. Li Jing frowned, glancing at Gu Feng.
"Isn't this… unhealthy? If everyone cheese-rushes achievements instead of leveling, won't it break the game loop? Should we intervene?"
Gu thought, then shook his head. "Death-wipe of progress is already a harsh stick. And our base rule forbids players from initiating evil—killing pirates is fine."
He added, eyes half-lidded: "Low levels, they'll risk it. But when they're high level? Will they still stomach losing everything?"
Li Jing nodded slowly. "True… And you said death has more than one price, right?"
On cue, Ke's chat exploded.
[Uh… bro.]
[Find a mirror. Now.]
[Surface of the sea works. Just look.]
Ke jogged to the waterline and stared. Yesterday: silver hair, lean, handsome. Now? Slightly doughy face, heavy dark circles—like he'd been drained of twenty years of life force.
"What the—?! Death penalty is ugly debuff too?!"
His comms chimed with twin shrieks.
Storm & Bell (the guys) swore.
Queen & CureAll (the girls) wailed: their looks had tanked after a single death.
Ke's jaw clenched. Then he chuckled darkly. "Keep pushing. Each of us nabs one or two core achievements now. If later optimizations ever touch achievement persistence, we'd be idiots not to stock up while we can—even if we pay the beauty tax."
Chat: [A true martyr.] [Saint Whale.] [Pay-With-Life Pirates = canon.]
Li Jing side-eyed Gu Feng and gave a silent thumbs-up. Beauty rot, body slump—stacked with full wipe—would make even whales start valuing life later. Elegant leash.
Gu chuckled, renamed their channel Pay-With-Life Pirates, and tab-hopped.
—Kaka's Red-Haired voyage? Routine sailing, still pulling 6–7 million viewers.
—The four-stream hub hovered around 10 million, spiking with big moments.
He flipped to Little Fisherman.
The Straw Hats had made landfall at Syrup Village—Usopp's home.
Gu's lips curved. He posted on the official feed:
[Dev Note: All five test slots are now live (see new channel). Also: the Memoir System is online. When you meet people with stories, there's a chance to unlock a character memoir—so you can really understand them.]
—Comments detonated—
[Black box! Two hundred mil per slot is robbery!]
[Whatever. Dude paid. It happens.]
[Still hate you, Gu Old Thief!]
He ignored it. On Little Fisherman's screen, a long-nosed teen bounded up with three kids in tow.
"Hey! I'm the captain of the Usopp Pirates—Usopp!"
Luffy and Zoro grinned. Little Fisherman and Nami watched quietly.
[Guys, uh… how is his nose that long?] Little Fisherman's caption scrolled.
Chat cackled: [Long-Nose Tribe?] [Enhanced smell?] [More like bigger hitbox.]
"Come on, I'll take you to see Kaya," Usopp said, cheeks pink.
"You… like her?" Little Fisherman teased.
"N-no, I just—" Usopp's face burned as his eyes fell, the flicker of inferiority showing through. A liar who wants to be noticed.
They reached the villa. Usopp spread his arms and bellowed, "Miss Kaya—pirates are here!"
As they waited at the door, Little Fisherman's vision blinked—
—Memoir Triggered.
A dirt path. A boy with a long nose sprinted, shouting "Pirates are coming!" Villagers flooded out, then chased him down in irritation. He tucked himself into a tree's crook, hugging his knees, smiling to himself.
"Another good deed done… they noticed me again today."
Chat went quiet.
[He's pathetic… and kind of heartbreaking.]
[Yeah, attention-starved kid who cried wolf.]
[Still messed up—"pirates are coming" isn't a cute prank in East Blue.]
The door opened. A pale, lovely girl stepped out.
[KAYA!!]
[New goddess acquired!]
[Why the heavy cloak in this heat?]
Usopp lowered his voice. "Miss Kaya's… always been sick."
Luffy beamed and offered a handshake. "I'm Luffy. I'm a pirate!"
Kaya's eyes curved to crescents. "A pirate? Not like the papers say at all."
Their hands were about to meet—
A large, black-gloved hand clamped around Luffy's wrist.
The threshold darkened.
A butler's silhouette spilled across the step—lenses flashing, posture prim and cold.
"Unruly guests," the voice said softly, "are not welcome in this house."
◇ I'll be dropping one bonus chapters for every 10 reviews. comment
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on P@treon if you're interested: patreon.com/HorizonStudios0