Chapter 266: Leaving the Pirate World

"Understood."

Vice Admiral Tsuru nodded in agreement, then continued her report: "The number of Contract Fruit is steadily decreasing."

"We have already gathered Marines with sensory-type professions to form the 【Guoshu Bulao Haijuntuan】, wandering the Si Hai and the Grand Line to excavate Contract Fruit."

To be precise,

it is not that the number of Contract Fruit is decreasing, but that there were never many to begin with.

Previously, due to game events, the game merchant dumped all the Contract Fruit into the East Blue, and since no one realized the importance of the Contract Fruit, they were easily obtained by others.

But now, the game merchant has already left the East Blue,

and while the total amount of Contract Fruit remains unchanged, they are now scattered and appearing randomly across the Grand Line and the Si Hai.

With the territory expanded, searching for them has become difficult.

Furthermore, the global broadcast via Den Den Mushi has made everyone yearn for the Contract Fruit, and their first reaction upon obtaining one is to eat it.

This is different from a Devil Fruit,

where eating one turns you into a hammer, carries great drawbacks, and requires you to pray like you're gambling that you won't end up with a useless Devil Fruit.

Some pirates and merchants would choose to sell their Devil Fruit after hesitating.

But with a Contract Fruit, one can become a player upon completing a Contract Task, with no drawbacks; as long as one keeps hunting Pollution Monsters, one can grow stronger, so no one is foolish enough to trade it for money.

Therefore, the difficulty for all factions to search for Contract Fruit has greatly increased.

"Well done. The Marine players must maintain a numerical advantage."

Sengoku nodded with satisfaction.

Tsuru is the only one who understands his thoughts; unlike Garp, whose head is stuffed with snacks and who only knows how to swing his Qilin Arm to pick fights, making it simply impossible to communicate or converse with him.

The current number of Marine players is 10,500.

They account for thirty percent of the players in the Pirate World.

That sounds like a lot,

but according to information from the game's Information Department, the game merchant distributes 3,000 Contract Fruit every month.

Furthermore, every faction that establishes a Family Territory can obtain two Contract Fruit fixedly each month.

Hunting Elite Level monsters within the Lianyu map also has a probability of dropping Contract Fruit fragments.

It won't take long at all,

and the Marine players will no longer have their current numerical advantage; we must take advantage of this time to firmly stabilize the Marine Headquarters' position in the game.

"There is one more thing."

After nodding slightly, Vice Admiral Tsuru continued: "The true purpose of that set of Lord Equipment from hunting the Soul Reaper has been discovered."

"How is it?"

Sengoku's eyes lit up.

The Navy paid a heavy price when hunting the Soul Reaper.

Although they obtained the Purple Quality Lord Equipment, they had never figured out its use and had simply left it temporarily equipped on Smoker.

It could indeed enhance combat power quite a bit, but compared to the price they paid, it was somewhat not worth it.

"A Marine Vice Admiral dropped this item after killing a Red-Haired Yaksha."

Vice Admiral Tsuru opened her inventory and traded the dropped item to Sengoku.

【Fangyutazhizhi (Green)】: After consuming materials, construct a defensive tower within the Family Territory that can attack enemies approaching the Family Territory.

"A defensive tower?"

Sengoku wore a stunned expression and hurriedly asked: "Do you mean that Lord Equipment is the material for manufacturing defensive towers?"

"That is correct."

Vice Admiral Tsuru nodded and said: "Building a defensive tower requires consuming a large amount of materials, such as Yin Energy Crystals, Lianyu Flowers, etc., all of which must be obtained from Pollution Monsters."

"Among them, the material that must be consumed fixedly is the equipment dropped by a Pollution Lord."

"Depending on the attributes of the Lord Equipment invested, the defensive tower will also manifest different abilities."

The abilities of the defensive tower are related to the abilities of the Pollution Lord.

Just like the 【Gouhun Suit】 obtained by the Marine Headquarters; if it is used to build a defensive tower, there is a high probability that some of the Soul Reaper's skills will appear.

"A defensive tower that can unleash the skills of a Pollution Lord?"

Sengoku's breathing became rapid.

When they hunted the Soul Reaper back then, don't look at how easy it was at the beginning.

But the further it went, the more powerful the strength unleashed by the Soul Reaper became; Fear Grasp, Death Scythe, Yin Energy Great Burial—it could wipe out thousands of players with a wave of its hand.

Even top-tier players had to exert their full strength to resist.

Now,

with just one defensive tower, the Marine Headquarters could possess the abilities of a Pollution Lord?

Sengoku asked the most critical question: "How many Reward Points are needed to build a defensive tower?"

Vice Admiral Tsuru replied: "300,000 Reward Points."

This is a conservative estimate; if the Revolutionary Army players and Pirate players learn of the Navy's goal and forcibly drive up the price of materials, it might be even more expensive.

"It's not expensive. Let Sakazuki handle it!"

Sengoku took a deep breath and said this with a pained heart.

300,000 Reward Points is enough to cultivate a top-tier player; how could it not be expensive?

But compared to the capabilities of a defensive tower, it is indeed not worth mentioning.

Vice Admiral Tsuru added: "Equipment dropped by Commander Level monsters can also be used as materials for building defensive towers, only they are slightly weaker and not as powerful as Lord Equipment."

"That doesn't matter."

Sengoku waved his hand and said, "In the entire Pirate World, only we possess Lord Equipment. As long as the Lord-level defensive towers are built, then let alone Hongfa Xiangkesi, even if all the players in the world attack together, Marine Headquarters will be as steady as Mount Tai!"

"Yes."

Inside the Game House,

Fang Yi had just sent off Gecko Moria and laughed, saying, "The players of the Pirate World have also gotten on the right track and started heading toward the New World."

Nowadays, the situation in the Pirate World can be said to have largely stabilized.

Of the former four Pirate Emperors, only the Whitebeard Pirates remain now.

The Queen of Tuolante, the former Four Emperors Dama Lingling, because she failed to seize the opportunity of the Samsara Game in time, was used by Fleet Admiral Sengoku of Marine Headquarters as a living target to establish his authority.

They lured the Dama Pirates all the way to the sea area near Marineford,

and then, a single strike from the Lord-level 【Soul-Hooking Defensive Tower】 shattered hundreds of large ships and the nearest island where the Dama Pirates were docked.

The near-death Dama was captured on the spot, the remaining crew scattered to flee for their lives, and the entire Tuolante Kingdom was left without a leader, being carved up clean by the covetous pirates.

Up to this point,

everyone realized the terrifying power and strike range of the Lord-level defensive towers, began collecting materials to manufacture defensive towers, and reached a consensus: absolutely do not fight the Navy near Marineford.

And then there is,

the Adventurer Guild, which is gradually coming to the fore; it is not a fixed force as solid as the Navy and the Revolutionary Army, but more like a spiritual banner.

Led by Hongfa Xiangkesi, it constantly promotes the adventurer spirit, guiding countless people to set sail and struggle against fate.

"The Noble Group of the Si Hai, the Revolutionary Army, Marine Headquarters and the World Government, as well as the various great pirates,"

Fang Yi sighed, "The complexity of the Pirate World far exceeds that of the Ninja World."

"This is also good; the more complex the forces, the less they can stably reach an agreement, and after pouring into the New World, they will be able to push the development of the game."

Regarding the current situation of the Ninja World, the game merchant is very dissatisfied.

Even though the game duration has exceeded that of the Pirate World by several months, because they are wary of each other, Tier 2 players have been slow to appear.

Since that is the case, then do not blame being surpassed by the Pirate players when the time comes.

"Master, are we going to Huoying Shijie?"

(End of this chapter)