Ron took a deep breath and picked up the green fluid on the table, his heart brimming with excitement.
He hadn't expected that even though the system had arrived late, it would actually give him something so real!
"One shot of this can restore all vital functions, remove every illness and hidden condition..." Ron muttered. "Only a system could make something this overpowered."
Without hesitation, he opened the fluid and tilted his head back to drink.
As it went down his throat, a cool, refreshing sensation spread through his body like a mountain spring breeze. It felt like a dried-up river being filled by a rushing current. Even the half-dead little fish at the bottom came back to life!
Warm energy surged through every inch of his body, reaching his limbs and bones. The chronic ailments that had plagued him for years vanished without a trace!
He instantly felt incredibly light, as if a giant weight had been lifted off him!
"Awesome!" Ron roared with excitement. Then he looked back at the light blue screen and began studying the system interface.
Outside, Morgans was busy drafting tomorrow's newspaper when he suddenly jumped at Ron's shout.
But after thinking about Ron's situation, he sighed deeply. No matter what happened tomorrow, he'd help Ron live out his final years in peace.
"Everyone, keep working. Tomorrow's headline: 'Heartless Marine Headquarters—Admiral Candidate Fired for Slacking!'"
…
Inside the room, Ron had figured out how the God-tier Entertainment System worked. It was very simple—just provide entertainment.
But when he opened the system store, he was confused.
There was only one item for sale: a smartphone.
Brand/Model: Voyage Generation One
Feature: Automatically adapts to the user's body size
Price: 1 Berry
Note: Cannot be transported, bought, or sold through system channels. Any cheating behavior will result in confiscation of all gains.
Everything else was currently unavailable. Just temporarily unavailable.
Still, the system clearly stated that Entertainment Value could be used to upgrade the store.
Which meant that once upgraded, more options would likely appear.
As for how to earn Entertainment Value? Easy. For every user who used a phone, he'd earn one point.
That meant he could build it up quickly.
Ron turned his gaze back to the store. "Could this phone be the same kind I had in my past life?" He was skeptical, but conveniently had a 1 Berry coin in his pocket.
"How do I top this up?"
[Place it under the phone and say 'Top up how many Berries.']
Following the system's instructions, Ron said, "Top up 1 Berry!" A black hole appeared above the coin and swallowed it instantly.
His store balance updated to 1 Berry.
"That easy?" Ron dug through Morgans' drawers and eventually found a 10,000 Berry bill. He placed it beneath the phone and said, "Top up 10,000 Berries!"
The bill vanished, and his system balance jumped to 10,001 Berries.
"It really worked! Spatial transmission technology, huh?"
"System, buy one phone."
As the balance dropped by 1, a basketball-sized black hole appeared above the table, and a phone dropped from it.
Ron reached out and caught it, stunned. "It's really a phone!"
As someone from Earth who hadn't seen a phone in over 40 years, this moment was more exciting than seeing a hundred bikini babes charging at him.
It looked like a standard smartphone and could automatically resize based on the user's body type.
This was seriously user-friendly.
Otherwise, guys like Kaido, Whitebeard, or the Giant Tribe wouldn't be able to use phones without trouble.
It was also ultra-thin and ridiculously durable.
Ron tried to bend it with all his strength—nothing. He added Armament Haki—still nothing. Even with Conqueror's Haki + Armament Haki—nothing!
"This thing's insane!" he exclaimed. "I don't even have to worry about breaking it!"
As for waterproofing and all that? Not a concern. The phone was seamless, no visible joints at all.
Even the power button looked like a naturally formed part of the phone.
Then Ron peeled off the screen protector and turned it on.
The phone automatically connected to the Global Network.
But he noticed something odd—no battery icon.
"No battery? What if it runs out of power?" he wondered aloud.
[Voyage Generation One uses quantum battery technology. It can operate continuously for one thousand years.]
"A thousand years? This thing could be passed down as a family heirloom back on Earth," Ron chuckled.
With battery life no longer a concern, Ron swiped left and right. The entire phone had just one app: TikTok.
No messaging apps, no social platforms, no games—nothing else.
It was squeaky clean.
Cleaner than a phone that just got hit with a factory reset.
"Even hackers would cry at this."
Ron originally wanted to play some games or watch a movie, he hadn't done either in over 40 years.
Before, without a phone, he didn't feel it. But now that he had one, he didn't want to wait another second.
"Whatever, scrolling videos works too." He tapped the TikTok icon.
The familiar opening played, a big musical note. No ads. Clean interface.
But once inside, it was even cleaner.
There was nothing. Not a single video.
At first, Ron thought the signal was poor. But after uploading one of his own, he found that the upload speed was faster than in his past life.
So, the problem wasn't the network.
Then he had a terrible realization. He tested his theory and confirmed it.
"Damn it! I'm the only one on the whole damn TikTok app!"
"I'm watching myself film myself!"
"What kind of entertainment is that?!"
Ron cursed and exited the app, then checked out the phone's other features.
In the end, he concluded:
Aside from calls and texts, it had all the standard functions of a smartphone—camera, video, posting features.
But no web browser, since no websites existed yet.
At the moment, the only entertainment feature was TikTok.
"Wait a second! The first TikTok user back in my past life probably felt the same. Only after more people joined did it turn into the full-blown content monster we know!"
"So that means I can hand out phones, let others register for TikTok, and we can all entertain ourselves together! Plus, I'll earn Entertainment Value and level up the store!"
And Ron firmly believed: if the system could give him a potion that healed everything, there were bound to be other insane items hidden in the store.
"This world needs a change." Staring at the phone in his hand, the corners of Ron's mouth curled up. "Roger, Roger, your Great Pirate Era is about to become the Great Entertainment Era! Hehehehe!"
The pirate world was too violent and bloody. The anime only showed the cheerful, passionate parts, that was just the tip of the iceberg.
Anyone with half a brain could imagine how bad things really were. Pirates ruled everything, the Marines were corrupt, and the whole system was rotten.
Ron had once tried to change it, by killing Celestial Dragons and slaughtering pirates. But the effect was negligible.
Now, with the God-tier Entertainment System?
Why be a pirate?
Watch videos. Play games. Stream a movie!
"Even the smartest college students in the 21st century couldn't escape the black hole of mobile phones. You think some pirates are gonna resist it?"
"When your whole day's eaten up by your phone, let's see where you find time to pillage and murder!"
"Muhahahahahahaha!"
Without hesitation, Ron bought ten thousand phones.
Clatter!
Ten thousand smartphones poured out of the black hole and stacked up like a mountain on the table!
The already-cramped lounge was instantly filled, with barely enough room to stand.
The massive noise startled Morgans, who was still working on the headline draft outside.
Did Ron lose it and decide to trash the entire airship over his dismissal from the Marines?!
Thinking that, Morgans couldn't write another word. He turned and kicked the lounge door open.
"Ron! You can do anything, just don't tear my—"
(To be continued.)