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Rob looked at the surface of the floating blue planet resting on the altar in the middle of the black room with a smile.
The surface of the blue planet shimmered with a strange glow, indicating that it was brimming with players. This glow reflected the continuous development of the game world, as players' levels increased across their respective timelines.
This world contained millions of layers stacked upon one another—each layer representing the timeline of a specific player. This was the story's setting.
"When I open the online mode, it'll be even more interesting…" Rob said with a smile.
The online mode was still under development at this stage. Although most bugs had been fixed, its official release wasn't far off. Rob planned to launch it after the next arc of One Piece.
"Well, since everyone's enjoying the game, let's continue drawing the manga," Rob muttered as he left the black room. Behind him, a thousand full capsules remained as he returned to his personal office.
Outside the black room, the store goddesses lined up among players waiting their turn to return to their individual stories within the game world. This was the current lifestyle—one hour of play each day, which equated to a year inside the game world.
In his office, Rob snapped his fingers, conjuring a blank paper folder in his hand. "Time to draw."
Rob had always enjoyed drawing manga manually. Though he could now manifest pages directly out of thin air using his abilities, he still preferred doing it the traditional way.
For him, this was also a lifestyle. While reading chapters brought readers joy, drawing those chapters was his own source of happiness.
A pen appeared in his hand and began gliding smoothly across the pages. Since he started, he hadn't made a single mistake. His artistic abilities had reached an unimaginable level of creativity. At this point, drawing felt as natural as breathing.
He had already surpassed the high-level drawing talent gifted to him by the Divine Network when he first arrived in this world.
His current drawing skill could now be classified as a god-tier innate talent!
Soon, Luffy appeared on the manga page, retrieving his straw hat and shaking off the accumulated snow.
"Return to Sabaody Arc… finally, this highly anticipated arc is here."
Rob was extremely happy to draw this particular arc because it marked the true beginning of the Straw Hat crew's dominance.
"They're no longer weak."
Rob smiled as he continued drawing the pages with incredible fluidity, depicting every event in perfect detail. With the help of Olive, the artificial intelligence organizing his collected thoughts in his memory palace for this arc, recreating it on the pages was effortless and error-free.
Far away from Ohara, while Rob was busy drawing the new One Piece arc, the Blackbeard Pirates were seeking an opportunity to enter the Art Store on Skypiea.
"This episode of Naruto Shippuden finally ended… it was long as hell! When will these people leave?"
Teach was highly frustrated at the sight of so many people still entering the Art Store on Angel Island, with only a few leaving.
"With such a massive crowd, I'm afraid it won't be our turn to return to the game world today… Should we head to the nearby Art Store in Shandora? Or maybe Birka instead?"
Shiryu said coldly, equally annoyed and frustrated.
"No, I bet the same thing is happening at all the other Art Stores worldwide. The popularity of the game world has skyrocketed!"
"Rob truly is an incredible person for creating another world similar to ours. Challenging someone like him is impossible, zehahaha!"
"But isn't challenging such a person the most exciting thing? Why not dream about it? After all, people's dreams never end! Zehahahaha!"
Teach laughed maniacally. Despite how unrealistic his dreams seemed, his boundless madness drove him to imagine such ambitions.
"Captain, what should we do? Our levels in the game world are so low compared to even ordinary people. All because we couldn't show ourselves publicly…"
Catarina Devon spoke with a dejected expression.
"No problem. With our abilities, we can easily make up for this gap. We just need to secure a foothold in one Art Store and keep entering the game world daily without fearing our enemies chasing us…"
"That's why we came here, far away, to Skypiea."
"Now, put on your cloaks and follow me. Hide your identities well—we don't want to be exposed right after arriving here…"
As Teach instructed, his crew complied. They walked toward the crowded gates of the Art Store, waiting for their turn to participate in the game world that day.
It was challenging but not impossible. After all, this wasn't their first time entering the game world.
Inside the game world, specifically on Enies Lobby, Whitebeard had just disembarked from the Sea Train as a criminal captured by Cipher Pol and brought to the island.
"Captain Spandam, this man is the notorious pirate Whitebeard. He dares to call himself Whitebeard without fear of the real Whitebeard. But he's truly strong—his current bounty is 250 million berries, marking him as a new Supernova."
CP9 leader Rob Lucci spoke with a serious expression as he firmly restrained Whitebeard, not allowing him to budge.
"Oh, so this is Whitebeard, the rising star of this half of the sea. Who would've thought he'd be stupid enough to seek trouble in Water 7?"
Spandam said with a smug expression.
He had personally ordered all CP9 agents stationed in Water 7 to handle Whitebeard and capture him.
This, of course, came from higher-ups—the Five Elders—who saw the young man calling himself Whitebeard as a potential threat. He resembled the real Whitebeard in his youth, making it dangerous to let him grow stronger. Hence, the Five Elders instructed Spandam to use all his resources to capture him.
And that's exactly what happened—or so they thought.
"Oh? Gurararara! Who would've thought my brilliant plan would actually work?"
In the next moment, Whitebeard escaped Lucci's grip and launched a finger pistol directly at Spandam's throat, who wasn't far from him.
"I've always wanted to do this while reading the Enies Lobby arc… Gurararara!"
Whitebeard withdrew his finger, causing blood to spurt as Spandam's eyes widened in shock. He hadn't expected to die after completing his mission.
"Oh no! The captain is dead!"
"You fool! What have you done!?"
Immediately, Rob Lucci transformed into his leopard form and viciously attacked Whitebeard, who had just escaped his grasp and killed Spandam.
"You scum! You pretended to be weak! Your goal from the start was to kill him! You've doomed yourself!"
"Die!"
Rob Lucci didn't care about Spandam's life or death, but witnessing him die without being able to save him was an unerasable stain on his record.
This all happened so fast that the rest of CP9 had only just processed what occurred. By then, the battle between Rob Lucci and Whitebeard had already begun.
Boom!
Boom!
"Gurararara! I love this game! I LOVE this game!"
Whitebeard, now at level 34, was exhilarated in this moment.
The joy of leveling up and battling stronger characters was indescribable! This must have been how Luffy felt while fighting Rob Lucci, whose level at this moment was terrifying.
Lucci, as an NPC, was level 41!
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 872: Shamrock's First Memory!
Chapter 873: Player Mihawk vs. the Shichibukai Mihawk!
Chapter 874: Fish-Man Island Saga: Return to Sabaody Arc! (Part 1)
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