Cherreads

Chapter 35 - Chapter 35: What The? (BONUS)

For every 100 PS = 1 bonus chapter

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The number of videos on TikTok was climbing by the day, already surpassing 100 million uploads.

However, the registered user count remained relatively low. Ron frowned slightly as he stared at the backend stats.

Just over 30 million.

Not massive by his standards, but in the pirate world, it was still a considerable number.

Exquisite Culture Media was Ron's envisioned path for the Kuja Pirates to transition into legitimate careers. So far, it was the most successful direction. The problem was, the other sectors were still too underdeveloped.

Some of the leading content creators in specific fields hadn't even emerged yet. Meanwhile, the number of suggestive female streamers was growing by the day, all trying to ride the wave of traffic.

Just like the feed Ron had just scrolled through. It was filled with familiar faces: Alvida, Perona the Ghost Princess, Porche from the Foxy Pirates—all filming flirtatious, low-angle dance clips.

Then, Ron noticed Alvida's follower count was skyrocketing. In just a few minutes, she had gained hundreds of new followers.

"That old hag from East Blue? Oh right, she's pretty now after eating the Smooth-Smooth Fruit."

Immediately after, her follower count passed two thousand and was still climbing rapidly.

"Huh? That's interesting."

Ron opened the backend to examine the data and found that most of Alvida's followers were newly registered users from Loguetown.

More curiously, the comment section was full of messages like:

> "Thank you, beautiful Alvida, for the phone! Followed!"

> "I knew my left eyelid twitching meant something! A phone literally fell from the sky! All I had to do was follow? Too easy!"

> "There are good people among pirates! Beautiful Alvida is one of them!"

There were a lot of comments like that.

"Wait a minute… she really found a loophole? What a damn genius," Ron muttered in awe.

There were many known ways to gain followers fast. For instance, Sengoku could just use his name. Another method was mass-registering alt accounts to follow yourself.

But Ron had blocked that method early on with a mandatory real-name registration system.

He hadn't expected Alvida to go full philanthropist, buying phones with her own money and handing them out. Her only condition? "Follow me on TikTok."

For people without smartphones, this was like manna from heaven. Completely free.

Thus, a new method of buying followers was born.

As long as you had money, you could grow your fanbase like crazy.

And Ron didn't mind one bit. As long as it resulted in real account registrations, it meant more users and faster system upgrades for him.

"Buy, buy, buy. The more, the better!"

Then Ron swiped to the next video.

It was… unique.

Not filmed by a person—but by a deer.

A reindeer, in fact.

Someone Ron was very familiar with.

Tony Tony Chopper, bounty: 50 Berries.

At this point in the timeline, Chopper hadn't yet joined the Straw Hat Pirates. He was still studying medicine under Dr. Kureha on Drum Island.

"Even Chopper's playing with a phone now. With Wapol gone, Drum Island seems to be bouncing back nicely," Ron chuckled and kept watching.

In the video, Chopper awkwardly positioned his phone on a small stand. His expression was hesitant, but his curiosity about the device was obvious.

Online, no one knew he was a reindeer. They treated him just like any other person.

No mocking, no fear. Just regular comments—maybe the occasional argument, but only from a human-to-human angle.

And even so, Chopper was truly happy.

Because…

For once, he was being treated equally.

Ron watched with interest.

After fiddling with the phone setup, Chopper appeared in frame, his face a blend of guilt and resolve.

"Hello, everyone. Actually, I lied at first. I'm not human. I'm a reindeer who ate the Human-Human Fruit," Chopper said, head bowed, his voice low and sad.

A few seconds later, he looked up.

Tears rolled down his cheeks.

"But I've really enjoyed talking with all of you. I've been so happy. But Doctor Kureha told me the most important thing about being a person is honesty—facing yourself with courage, and that only then can you earn respect. So that's why I made this video!"

Chopper tried to smile but broke into sobs. His sad little face was unbearably cute.

Toward the end, he sniffled and stammered, "Please follow my TikTok account… Doctor Kureha wants to sell her medicine. But she says Mr. Dalton is dumb as a cow and totally useless at it."

Ron burst out laughing, holding his stomach. "Hahaha!"

Still chuckling, he gave the video a like and manually pushed some traffic its way.

"Sometimes letting things grow naturally brings out top-tier creators. But it's too slow. I'll give this one a boost."

In his past life, Ron had been a big Chopper fan. That little blue-nosed cutie was his favorite Straw Hat pet.

And more importantly, Chopper's medical skills were no joke, enough to make him the top medical blogger on the app.

Drum Island.

Chopper was currently grinding herbs and flipping through a medical textbook.

He didn't really want to post that video. But Doctor Kureha said if he didn't, she'd call him an idiot again.

"It's so embarrassing… No one's gonna watch it anyway. Who would care about a reindeer's thoughts? I even lied and acted human this whole time…" Chopper muttered with a sigh.

He glanced at the new phone on the table. His earlier excitement had completely faded.

"Once they know the truth, they'll probably block me for lying…"

Just then,

Ding!

The phone chimed.

Chopper stopped grinding herbs. His eyes widened.

"Huh? A notification? Who would message me?"

"It must be someone calling me a liar…"

He hesitated, not wanting to look. But remembering that a man must face things head-on, he gritted his teeth, steeled himself, and picked up the phone.

[TikTok Developer liked and commented on your video.]

"What The?! THE TikTok Developer actually liked my video?!"

Chopper stared at the screen in disbelief. He quickly tapped the comment.

TikTok Developer: So cute. You must be a highly skilled doctor!

Chopper's mind blanked. His heart swelled. His nose twitched.

Tears filled his eyes.

"You idiot… even if you praise me like that, I'm not happy… idiot TikTok Developer…"

(To be continued.)

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