Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
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Even more exaggeratedly, on islands around the world, some Pirate crews began to include rank in their recruitment standards!
At this time, on the bulletin boards of taverns in major ports, a batch of recruitment notices with a completely different style suddenly appeared next to the traditional wanted posters.
On the Pirate recruitment notices printed on waterproof parchment, in addition to conventional requirements such as "skilled in swordsmanship" and "proficient in navigation," the most prominent position was strikingly printed with gilded rank requirements:
[Axe Pirate Crew urgently recruiting]
✦Main team urgently needs Junglers Eternal Diamond rank and above, priority given to those skilled with Kaido and Dian Wei skins!
✦Noble Platinum rank can serve as Junior Captain, equipped with a dedicated gaming phone
✦Order of Silver rank requires passing an offline solo test
In the "Bubble Tavern" on the Sabaody Archipelago, several young Pirates were gathered around the bulletin board, pointing and discussing.
"Now you can't even call yourself a Pirate without an Order of Silver rank?" wailed a blond kid, showing off his Tough Bronze II account.
An old Pirate next to him scoffed, "I solo-queued to Eternal Diamond with Red Hair Li Bai. Yesterday, three Pirate crews were fighting over me!"
"..."
...
Marine Headquarters Recruitment Office.
Under the propaganda sign that originally read "Justice," a new electronic display screen was installed, looping:
[Marine Elite Special Recruitment Program]
Super King: Directly granted the rank of Lieutenant Commander!
Master Star Rank: Exempt from written exams to enter officer training classes!
Eternal Diamond Rank: Basic monthly salary + 30% gaming allowance!
(Note: Subject to practical combat verification!)
"This is not neglecting proper duties for trivial pursuits!"
The General in charge of recruitment knocked on the table and explained, "Those who can solo-queue to King of Glory have reaction speeds below 0.1 seconds! The data is even better than the Six Powers training!"
He pointed to the comparison chart on the screen behind him: "Look! The excellent rate in shooting assessments for new recruits recruited using the rank standard has increased by 47%!"
Under this trend, game boosting became the most sought-after profession.
A former CP9 member, who wished to remain anonymous, earned tens of millions of Berry per month through boosting, more than he did as an agent.
The most dramatic thing was that on an unknown island in the New World, two Pirate crews were about to start a war, but suddenly discovered that their Captains were regular teammates in the game.
So the bloody treasure hunt turned into a friendly five-man party, and they even jointly established the "Four Emperors Challenger Esports Club."
In their words, "Since we're going to challenge the Four Emperors anyway, we might as well practice in the game first!"
In this esports storm sweeping across the entire Grand Line, game rank has become a new benchmark for measuring strength.
Whether in noisy taverns or Marine training grounds, people's way of greeting each other changed from "What's your bounty?" to "What rank are you now?"
...
The streets were brightly lit late at night, crowded with players grinding ranks all night.
A teenager wearing a baseball cap stared hard at the screen, his fingers flying across it.
"Just one more win and I'm Eternal Diamond!" he shouted to his teammate on the voice call.
The uncle next to him, smoking a cigarette, chuckled, "Kid, when I was your age, I was playing in the mud. I really envy you guys now..." He showed off the Master Star emblem on his phone, attracting envious looks from around him.
In a remote village in the East Blue, the scrawny young man who used to be mocked for "not even daring to be a Pirate" is now highly respected because he reached Eternal Diamond rank.
Every day, villagers bring oranges they've grown themselves to ask for advice on item builds.
"See?" the young man said, pointing to his account with the ID "East Blue's Best Mid-Laner," "Next month I'm going to participate in the Honor of Kings selection tournament in Loguetown!"
...
Holy Land Mary Geoise,
Inside the magnificent palace, Saint Charlos was lying on a jewel-encrusted sofa, wearing a special bubble head cover, his fingers frantically swiping on his phone.
Ever since he was angered to unconsciousness by an unknown "commoner" on the Sabaody Archipelago last time, this World Noble had been simmering with rage. What was even more infuriating was that the CP0 agents he sent out searched for nearly three months and still couldn't find that audacious fellow!
"Damn commoner... damn commoner..." Saint Charlos muttered through gritted teeth, his obese body writhing on the sofa.
Suddenly,
His eyes lit up, and he opened the newly downloaded Honor of Kings on his phone: "Hmph! Here, let's see who still dares to disobey this Saint!"
The game world was simply a perfect kingdom tailored for him:
Here, the heroes he controlled absolutely obeyed orders, unlike slaves in reality who trembled. He could kill whoever he wanted and hear the system's pleasant "First Blood!" prompt. Even if he lost, he could push all the blame onto his teammates!
"This game should be called 'My Combat Life with Slaves'!"
Charlos Saint proudly changed his ID to "World Noble Saint Charlos" and even spent a hundred million Berry to buy skins.
He bought every single one that was available!
But the appearance of ranked matches completely shattered his beautiful dream.
Seeing those "commoners" with higher ranks than him, Charlos Saint was so angry that he beat all the slaves in the palace: "Why can those lowlifes reach Eternal Diamond?!"
After three days and nights of "hard training" (which was actually having three CP0 agents take turns boosting), Saint Charlos finally reached Eternal Diamond rank!
He couldn't wait to open TikTok, take a screenshot of his rank, and add text: "Commoners, look closely, this is innate talent! #WorldNoble #EternalDiamondGod!"
As soon as the video was posted, Saint Charlos happily waited for the likes to skyrocket.
However, the comment section took a sudden turn:
[Holy crap! Snot-nose monster spotted!]
[Oh! The World Noble Pig is doing well, actually reached Eternal Diamond! But can your pig brain even play this game?]
[LOL, isn't this the alt account of CP0 agent "Black Crow"?]
[Confirmed! This account and Black Crow's main account were online at the same time during the live stream last night!]
[So World Nobles need slaves to boost their games too?]
[...]
What was even more fatal was that someone so bold directly released the surveillance footage from the CP agent training camp: the screen showed three masked agents taking turns operating a phone, with a World Noble butler standing next to them holding a whip...
In just one hour, the #WorldNobleBoosting topic trended!
Charlos Saint was so angry that he smashed his phone on the ground: "Throw those CP trash into the dungeon!"
But it was too late, the entire Grand Line was singing a new joke:
"The daily life of the World Noble Pig climbing ranks: boosting, money power, and his face protected by a cover!"
...
On the Sea,
Smoker, who was promoted to Marine Vice Admiral for his achievement in capturing Crocodile, was now biting a new cigar, the word "Justice" on his cape especially striking in the morning light.
He frowned as he patrolled the training ground, looking at the soldiers sprawled messily on benches, catching up on sleep, each still tightly clutching a hot phone.
"These bastards..." A vein bulged on Smoker's forehead, "I didn't see them work this hard even when chasing Crocodile!" He kicked a subordinate snoring loudly by his feet, who mumbled groggily, "Don't steal my blue... I can get a penta kill..."