Mass release, as long as you support with PS, might be more frequent depending on turnout. Also, I'll drop another bonus when we reach 10 reviews (currently at 6), so drop one if you enjoy this so far!
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Meanwhile, On an unnamed island, the massive pirate ship Red Force lay quietly anchored offshore, its skull-and-crossbones flag snapping in the wind.
The Red-Haired Pirates were in the middle of an extravagant feast that had already been going on for several days.
At the heart of the celebration sat their captain, Shanks, sharing drinks and conversation with the man wielding the black blade—Dracule Mihawk. The two seemed to have an endless supply of things to talk about.
"Oi, Mihawk, quit staring at your phone all day. What's so great about TikTok? It's just a bunch of girls wiggling around. Nowhere near as graceful and dignified as Makino."
Shanks shoved a large mug of beer into Mihawk's hand, clinked his own against it with force, then drained it in one gulp.
Mihawk, exposed by Shanks in front of the entire crew, didn't show the slightest irritation. He just laughed heartily and followed suit, downing his drink.
They'd known each other for years. These sorts of antics were routine by now.
Shanks handed him another beer and grinned. "Seriously, Mihawk, what's the point of doom-scrolling all day? You'd be better off ordering a couple things from Makino's shopping cart. I'm almost out of beer again."
"Hmph."
Mihawk flipped his pockets inside out with an expression that practically screamed broke. He scowled.
"You scoundrel. First you tricked me into following Makino, then you got me buying from her shopping cart every day. I don't even have a single Berry left."
Shanks pretended not to hear him, laughing as he clinked mugs again. "C'mon, Mihawk, how long have we been old friends? Quit whining and drink!"
"Hmph."
Even though he grumbled, Mihawk still raised his mug and clinked it with Shanks.
The two kept going, drink after drink, seemingly incapable of getting drunk.
Their laughter and antics infected the crew around them, who joined in the revelry without hesitation.
Just then.
Lucky Roo came waddling over, belly bouncing, phone in hand and eyes wide with excitement.
"Captain! Captain! Look! That kid Luffy posted another video!"
"Huh? Luffy again?" A flicker of interest lit up Shanks' eyes. He immediately set his mug down and snatched the phone from Lucky Roo's hands.
When he saw Luffy yelling at the Marines in the video, proudly declaring that he'd become the Pirate King, Shanks burst into laughter, head tilted back as he laughed at the sky.
Even Mihawk, standing beside him, shook his head with a look of resigned disbelief.
He still didn't understand why Shanks had put all his faith in that reckless brat.
In Mihawk's eyes, Luffy hadn't done anything particularly impressive yet. Just another hot-blooded kid with no impulse control.
"Classic Luffy. Provokes whoever gets in his way, hahaha!" Yasopp laughed, stepping over and chiming in. "These brats haven't even reached low-level pirate strength, but their follower counts are already miles ahead of ours."
Benn Beckman sat nearby, still focused on polishing his revolver, completely unfazed by the noise around him.
Without even looking up, he muttered coldly, "What good does that do? It's just for entertainment."
"No way, Beckman. That's not what you said last night while watching Kikyo's livestream," Lucky Roo teased, eyes twinkling with mischief.
Yasopp shook his head, his tone teasing too. "Honestly, if you actually saved money once in a while, you could get your own phone instead of borrowing from others."
Beckman's face flushed slightly. He snorted and said nothing.
Everyone on the ship knew, he'd never cared much for money. Naturally, he didn't have enough saved to buy a phone.
And since he was too proud to ask anyone to buy one for him, he was the only one on the entire ship without one.
Although... it did seem like he'd recently started putting money aside.
…
Meanwhile.
At Marine Headquarters, on the sun-drenched balcony of the top floor, the golden light bathed two Marine legends lounging in rattan chairs.
Garp and Sengoku were enjoying a rare moment of leisure. Sunlight filtered through the balcony railing, casting soft shadows over their relaxed forms.
Nearby, Sengoku's goat was grazing peacefully, occasionally glancing up at its master and then at Garp, its eyes gentle and content.
Garp looked at the goat and muttered, "Sengoku, that goat of yours eats anything, but you still order specialty grass from the Grass Kingdom's TikTok shopping cart?"
Sengoku snorted. "Like you're one to talk. You used to buy senbei by the bag. Ever since they started that group buy promo, your warehouse is practically bursting."
Garp's eyebrow twitched. "You knew about that?"
He thought he'd been sneaky with his snack stockpile. Apparently not sneaky enough.
"I'm Sengoku, the Fleet Admiral of the Marines and a verified TikTok macro-influencer with hundreds of thousands of followers. What don't I know?" Sengoku said flatly, not even opening his eyes.
Ever since he'd registered on TikTok, his inbox had been flooded with messages every day. Notifications had basically become background noise.
The messages came in all forms: complaints about this colonel, rants about that vice admiral.
Plenty of people even acted as "informants," reporting which colonel littered where, or which vice admiral was relieving himself in public again.
It was hard not to know everything.
Sometimes, Sengoku felt less like a Fleet Admiral and more like the head of a massive TikTok complaint center.
Yet ironically, all those trivial reports made his job easier.
He didn't need daily briefings anymore. Instead, he could post memos directly to TikTok.
If a problem could be solved immediately, it was. If not, he'd find a way to handle it.
This system had streamlined Marine management like never before.
Even distant Marine bases had joined his fan group, eager to stay in the loop.
Any updates or reports were sent directly to him.
If a situation was too complex for text, they'd start a video call or upload a clip to explain.
As a result, Marine HQ's operational efficiency had shot up dramatically.
(To be continued.)
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