"Shanks, you were a trainee on the Roger Pirates?"
Kaka's eyes went wide as she stared at the redhead in disbelief.
Around them, Beckman, Lucky Roux, and the others weren't joking for once—their faces were uncharacteristically solemn.
Shanks nodded, smiling gently at Kaka.
"Yeah. Captain Roger taught me a lot."
He paused, then added with a touch of nostalgia,
"Oh, and there was another trainee with me back then—name's Buggy."
"Buggy?" Kaka blinked, suddenly recalling the red-nosed guy she'd spotted beside Shanks in the promo footage.
"Shanks, that Buggy you mean—is he the crybaby with the clownish red nose?"
At Roger's execution, Shanks had misty eyes but held himself together.
By contrast, that clown-nosed kid had bawled like a child.
Shanks arched a brow, then nodded with a chuckle.
"Yeah, that's him."
Kaka made a mental note of the name, then waggled her brows at chat—her inner monologue spilling onto the screen.
[Guys, highlight this: BUGGY. Memorize it!]
[Don't say I didn't warn you—Shanks was a trainee under the Pirate King and now he's a Sea Emperor—just a step below Roger.]
[Roger's gone. The Four Emperors are the strongest pirates alive.]
[And Buggy was a trainee too. If you run into him someday… be nice. Very nice.]
She was only half-serious, but viewers took it to heart.
All 3+ million watching scribbled the name into their brains—and speculation exploded about how terrifyingly strong "that trainee Buggy" must be.
Word even reached the joint quad-stream next door.
"Buggy, huh? Noted," said the four in unison—I'm Just a Fisherman, Sword-Shadow Flowyear (an old-school wuxia streamer), White-Clad Drunkard (a young comic variety guy), and Net-Addict Girl (a punky, fashion-forward gamer).
At the moment, the four weren't together—their views showed them drifting on different stretches of sea.
I'm Just a Fisherman was sailing with Luffy and Zoro, trying to track down their stolen dinghy.
It would still be a few days before they reached the next island and met Usopp. He'd already chosen the Pirate alignment and joined the Straw Hat Pirates.
Sword-Shadow Flowyear had also picked Pirate before logging in.
His first task prompt: Find a pirate crew to join, or found your own.
He had no strength yet, so "found a crew" was a dream for later. For now, he lingered on his starter island, hoping a crew would dock—or that he could hitch a merchant ship out.
Net-Addict Girl went another way—she picked Free Alignment.
Which meant: no prompts at all. She spawned on a peaceful island, decided to travel the world, and immediately ran into a practical problem—she needed to find a ship first.
Lastly, White-Clad Drunkard chose the Marine alignment.
After a night at sea, dawn light brought him to a naval base.
East Blue—Loguetown Marine Branch.
He stopped cold in front of a plain-looking execution platform.
Wearing a Marine recruit's sleeveless white vest, he gawped up at it, jaw slack.
"G–guys… did I just spawn at Gol D. Roger's execution site?"
[Holy—!]
[That platform looks exactly like the one from the promo video!]
[No kidding. And Drunkard's luck is cracked—he picks Marines and spawns right in Loguetown?!]
[Yep, canonically Roger was executed in Loguetown.]
[Streamer, get up there—go feel the view Roger saw! GO!]
Egged on by chat, White-Clad Drunkard couldn't resist.
He glanced around and started up the ladder.
The platform was only ten-odd meters high—a few stories. Not that tall.
But standing there, he was swept by a sudden, inexplicable rush.
"Guys, I—"
He never finished. A white cloud of smoke blasted in from the distance.
"Who authorized you to step on the execution platform!"
A harsh voice rang out from the smoke. It coalesced into the upper body of a rugged man with short white hair.
One palm flashed out—smack—and Drunkard was swatted clean off the platform.
Pain exploded across his ribs; he lay on the ground, gasping.
The smoke condensed into a full figure: a man in a Marine coat, a cigar clenched in his teeth, face like thunder.
"Recruit. Do you even know what this platform is?"
Smoker's mood was rotten.
Since the dawn of the Great Pirate Era, Marine control over the world had quietly thinned.
Every day, pirates passed through Loguetown toward the Grand Line.
Smoker personally captured most of them. But some slipped through.
At last year's HQ annual meeting, he'd heard whispers that the New World was essentially out of control; the Grand Line teemed with upstart pirates.
Pressure had been building in his chest ever since.
And now—a new recruit had climbed Roger's platform and stood there, eyes shining, like it was a tourist attraction.
What kind of Marine does that?
No wonder Smoker's face looked like a storm.
White-Clad Drunkard lay there stunned, clutching his chest, mind blank.
Then a system prompt popped into view—and he froze again.
[Congratulations! You encountered Marine Colonel Smoker. Marine Hall of Fame unlocked.]
[Entry: "White Hunter" — Smoker]
[Rank: Marine Colonel]
[Post: Highest Officer, Loguetown (East Blue)]
[Ability: Logia — Smoke-Smoke Fruit]
[Likes: Cigars]
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