The devil fruit Craze!

"Keep your voice down!"

Sarah knocked on Bella's head speechlessly and felt relieved after seeing the soldiers from Amazon Lily who didn't respond.

"Don't be overheard."

Discussing becoming a Pirate in someone else's house could lead to trouble if they were discovered; it would be in vain that John helped them find such a good opportunity.

Besides, there were other players around; John would only block them from talking about the game settings with the locals of the One Piece World. The other potential whistleblowers, those who might mention the plan, didn't fall under that scope.

For instance, if a player told Sengoku that they were all characters in a game, he would dismiss it as nonsense.

But if someone said that anyone in the naval base was going to be a pirate, then Sengoku would hear it loud and clear. Whether he believed it or not was a different matter entirely.

Bella immediately covered her mouth and shot murderous looks at the surrounding players, making her feelings clear.

The players around them repeatedly waved their hands to assure that they wouldn't spill the truth, but the flickers in their eyes suggested otherwise.

Fortunately, there was no evidence at this moment; as long as the locals didn't hear about it, even if there was an informer, they could deny it repeatedly.

Or they could leave Amazon Lily after acquiring a full set of exercise methods.

"Okay, let's continue practicing basic physical skills. We can't fall too far behind Olivia."

Sarah ended the topic, feeling a bit guilty for having brought it up in the first place.

Her intention was to guide the players to set sail and follow the trend of the great pirate era, so she hadn't thought much of it.

Looking at the expressions of the players around her, Sarah smiled and changed the subject, "Emma with your healing ability to help; we can definitely improve our physiques much faster."

The martial arts training in the One Piece World is simple: one word—practice!

Ninety-nine percent of the strong gymnasts here are trained from ordinary people, with only a few exceptions of natural monsters like Kaido and Big Mom.

People's physiques in this world resemble breaking a genetic lock; their strength continues to grow with exercise.

And the healing ability of the unicorn is undeniably useful at this moment.

While others are training to the point of exhaustion and must consider their bodies' limits, they can recover instantly here. The players themselves will not experience 100% fatigue simulation, allowing their training speed to increase significantly.

After observing for a while, John shifted his gaze elsewhere.

For example, did the players in the locations where the protagonists and supporting characters of the anime appear have any sparks with them? Had the players successfully completed dungeons involving the Four Emperors, Warlords, and other major pirates? What was the navy's attitude towards the sudden influx of players?

At this point, the number of players had grown to more than five million.

While it may not seem like much compared to the number of natives in the One Piece World, these players were not the keepers of peace.

Just like in Loguetown, even a few thousand more people caused the navy branch to be busy, filled with worries about a large pirate group landing.

The phone bugs in the Navy Headquarters were buzzing non-stop, and Sengoku was so frustrated he was pulling his hair out in fistfuls. He was nearing retirement, so why was he dealing with a new Era of Great Pirates 2.0?

...

Real-world gaming forum.

With the excitement around "One Piece," a dedicated space for it had emerged, and its popularity was skyrocketing.

The hottest discussion among users centered on the news about Devil Fruits and the two-way exchange just revealed in Emma's live stream.

"f**k! John has started giving out benefits again! Billions of benefits!"

"??? What did I miss?"

"The thing called the Devil Fruit is the mysterious prize worth 10 million that John mentioned before! There are said to be at least a thousand Devil Fruits, all randomly refreshed in the Pirate World!"

"Brother, is this what you mean? I walked in and picked up one, [jpg]"

"f**k! Kill Ouhuanggou! You'll be a millionaire if you sell it!"

"No way! Why is this thing so valuable? Didn't the game just come out? Will there really be people willing to buy it?"

"Brother, haven't you seen that the currency in the game can be exchanged for Dragon coins?"

"You can sell it to an NPC in the game and then withdraw cash!"

"I... John is a genius!"

"I'm sorry, I just sold a Devil Fruit, and now I have two million! [jpg]"

"Hehe, you fools who sold the Devil Fruit directly don't understand sustainable development. According to John's settings, you can gain superpowers by eating Devil Fruits and use those powers to make money in the game. Isn't that a better plan?"

"Well... Hearing what you said, I feel like the two million in my hand suddenly isn't worth much..."

"Extraordinary and rare! Yunfu buys Devil Fruits; the prices are favorable, and transactions are quick!"

"..."

In just a few hours, several players in the gaming forum posted pictures of themselves picking up a Devil Fruit.

The situation reflected John's original idea; it wasn't one-sided. Some players chose to sell and withdraw cash directly, while others decided to eat the fruits and use their abilities to make money.

Of course, there were still some who didn't care about money at all.

Players had their own choices, and John would quickly send money to those who opted to withdraw cash. Honesty was crucial.

As "One Piece" continued to gain traction, the results from the first day came in: eleven million!

That's right, "One Piece" achieved over 10 million downloads on its first day without any advance publicity from John.

There were no fewer than dozens of level 10 virtual game designers globally, yet their games had never exceeded 10 million on the first day.

Most of their fanbases grew gradually over time, with no one reaching the tenth level in such a short span like John had with one or two games.

On WeChat's trending searches, eight of the top ten spots were occupied by news about "One Piece," while the remaining two were about a certain queen and a dance video of a popular niche.

The number one hot search was about the two-way exchange between in-game currency and real-world currency set by John.

A/N; Thanks for reading, donate some power stones for extra chapters.

Also check out my Patreon if you want extra chapters: Patreon.com/AncestorX

Enjoy ✌️.