Chapter 264: Roger, the Freelancer

After Roger ate the Contract Fruit, black text appeared in his field of vision.

【Contract Task (1/5)】

Task Content: Defeat the Hei Ying Hai Ze Tuan.

Task Reward: Firearms Mastery Lv. 1.

"What a miraculous fruit; does it actually mark the target's location for me?"

Roger's thinking was deeper than that of an ordinary person.

To randomly lock onto a specific target on the vast, boundless ocean—even he, with his ability to hear the Voice of All Things, could not do it.

The game merchant Rayleigh spoke of was truly mysterious and unfathomable.

"Hei Ying Hai Ze Tuan, I think I've heard of them; they're a group of guys who roam near the Sabaody Archipelago and deal in the slave trade."

Hearing Roger's task content, Rayleigh asked, "Do you need help?"

Roger had just been resurrected, and he was worried that the other man hadn't yet adapted to the current ocean.

"No need!"

Roger looked at the red target dot appearing in his vision and jumped directly into the sea to swim over.

A moment later, the clouds not far away suddenly exploded.

Roger returned to the ship, soaking wet, holding a Flintlock in his hand.

"Rayleigh, be careful, I feel like I'm terrifyingly strong right now!"

He raised his arm, pointed the pitch-black gun barrel at Rayleigh, and pulled the trigger.

Bang.

The smell of gunpowder flooded his nasal cavity.

The lead bullet was caught steadily by Rayleigh, who noticed something unusual; after carefully observing the bullet, he asked, "A passive skill of the pistol mastery type?"

He was a first-tier player who had redeemed over one hundred thousand Reward Points.

Naturally, he could clearly understand Roger's newbie rewards.

It was nothing more than an Initial Skill or basic equipment.

"That's right, it's truly eye-opening; it can actually increase the power of firearms."

Roger excitedly stroked the gun chamber.

To him, the strength increase brought by this Lv. 1 skill was very weak, almost negligible.

The reason for such excitement was that this was a brand-new thing that had never appeared in the Pirate World before.

In just half a day,

Roger completed all the Contract Tasks and became a new player.

"Staff Mastery—I've never used staff weapons before. There's a young man in the Rocks Pirates named Kaido who seems to be good with a Wolf Tooth Club; I feel like I could spar with him now!"

Roger picked up a discarded wooden stick in the ship's cabin and kept swinging it back and forth on the deck.

"Chang Dao Jing Tong—is it like Whitebeard's Murakumogiri? That's truly interesting; I must borrow his blade to play with when the time comes!"

"Weapon Master Badge?"

Roger held a badge-like accessory in his hand, and text emerged.

As long as one could collect nine types of basic weapon masteries, one could activate the badge's ability: 【Crude Weapon Master】.

When mastering any weapon, proficiency increases by 20 points.

"The game introduction says it's a special piece of equipment from another world, specially crafted by a master craftsman for 【Freelancer】 players."

Roger squinted his eyes, carefully observing the badge, and felt very satisfied.

What he was most satisfied with was the mentioned Freelancer profession.

It had almost no main skills; all were passive abilities similar to 【Mastery】, and one could steal skills from any profession, allowing for a very free combat style.

"This is simply a profession tailor-made for me!"

Roger danced with excitement and drank two bottles of inferior ale in a row, not even minding the taste of rust.

Rayleigh, standing to the side, just smiled silently.

"By the way, Rayleigh, have you already started living in retirement?"

"Since the Captain was executed, of course I could only retire."

"Then now, the Captain has returned; do you still want to come with me on an adventure?"

Roger looked at Rayleigh with eyes full of smiles.

This man was his former right-hand man, the soul of the Roger Pirates, the Vice Captain who commanded the overall situation.

Things were different now.

More than ten years had passed, and the former crew members had long since scattered; brats like Shanks had even founded their own forces, but there were still some crew members who were still waiting alone to this day.

"Until death!"

Rayleigh also laughed.

In this chaotic ocean, he had no interest in wandering alone; this was the reason he resurrected Roger.

Rayleigh turned his head, looked at the Lunaliayazu brat with some appreciation for his talent, and asked, "And you, brat, do you want to go on an adventure with us?"

"I want to be an adventurer, not a Pirate!"

The Lunaliayazu brat, although somewhat tempted, still shook his head and refused.

Rayleigh showed a look of regret.

Before he could speak,

he was interrupted by Roger's loud laughter: "Hahaha, since that's the case, then we are adventurers!"

"Hunting unknown monsters, rushing to countless other worlds, searching for heart-stirring equipment and skills—aren't we, as such, the adventurers Shanks spoke of?"

The Lunaliayazu brat widened his eyes,

looking at Roger in bewilderment.

This was the Pirate King, the pirate with the highest reputation on this vast sea; was he really just going to cast aside the title he was so proud of so easily and casually?

"Brat, we are adventurers now; are you still going to refuse?"

Rayleigh also burst into laughter,

not at all surprised by Roger's words, even though the title of Pirate King was something their pirate crew had obtained through great hardship.

Yet, no one cared.

Like Roger, what they cared about was the process of the adventure; the Pirate King title was just an insignificant thing picked up along the way during the adventure.

Just like inferior ale, it could be drunk, or it could be thrown away.

The Pirate King,

was originally the freest person on this sea, wasn't he?

"Very well, I announce the official establishment of the Roger Adventure Crew, paying tribute to the great Captain Shanks!"

There was no hint of mockery;

when Roger said this, he thought of Shanks's youthful face, trying hard to piece together what the other person must look like now.

Perhaps a bearded middle-aged man like himself?

Regardless,

he was proud and boastful of the new era Shanks had pioneered, and he was genuinely happy for Shanks.

He hoped that they could meet again in their future journeys.

Although this sea was vast, sometimes it was also very small; as long as there was enough time, there would always be a day to meet again.

By then, he would certainly have a grand banquet with the brat Shanks.

Sabaody Archipelago, Navy base.

Because it was the necessary path to the New World, it gathered numerous pirates, merchants, and bounty Hunters.

Including human traffickers and various races sold here, Celestial Dragons often patronized the place.

Therefore, the leader of the Navy base here was a Vice Admiral with rich combat experience.

"Latest intelligence, near the Sabaody Archipelago, a pirate suspected of mastering the Conqueror's Haki coating ability has appeared!"

A Navy soldier ran into the office in a hurry.

The Marine Vice Admiral raised his eyelids, asked with a face full of surprise: "Where did the news come from? Conqueror's Haki coating is not something common; don't let it be a false report."

As everyone knew,

Conqueror's Haki was already a one-in-a-million supreme talent, and to be able to cultivate it to the level of coating, one would likely have already become famous.

Bai Shou Kai Duo, who had been announced as killed by the 【New Emperor】 Straw Hat Pirates,

the Scarlet Troll Whitebeard,

and the Queen of the closed-off country, Lingling, were all masters of Conqueror's Haki coating.

They were all well-known figures; how could a pirate crew that knew Conqueror's Haki coating suddenly pop up without any prior news?

"It is true; we have already captured and salvaged several destroyed pirate ships."

"The Captains were all great Pirates with bounties over one hundred million; they saw with their own eyes a pirate dressed as Pirate King Roger defeat them with ease."

As the voice fell,

the Marine Vice Admiral was first stunned, then sneered: "Pirate King Roger? Disguising himself as a guy who died over ten years ago, what a childish approach."

"How could such a guy have Conqueror's Haki?"

Just as he was speaking,

the Navy base began to tremble slightly, and a flying Jiangji coated with Conqueror's Haki directly sliced off the entire roof of the Navy base.

A voice of extreme Haki echoed,

"I heard from the slave traders that he contributed a lot of bribes to you. I am the adventurer Roger, here to collect these ill-gotten gains!"

(End of this chapter)