Chapter 385: Luffy: I've Become Public Enemy Number One?
Tsunade was incredibly wealthy—
easily ranking among the top five richest individuals in the entire Hidden Leaf Village.
Those ranked above her were all clan heads, who, although appearing wealthy on paper, couldn't freely access their wealth since most of it had to be allocated for clan expenses.
Therefore,
Tsunade was the most financially flexible player in Konoha.
Already a top-tier medical ninja with a solid foundation, she had mastered healing and support skills after becoming a Paladin, adapting seamlessly to the role.
Not only that, she also possessed formidable melee combat ability.
And Holy Light was the natural nemesis of corrupted monsters.
Stacked with buffs,
a player like Tsunade was a long-time darling of the Mercenary System's rankings.
Whether it was shinobi from the Four Great Nations, marines and adventurers from other worlds, revolutionaries, or pirate crews—
whenever they were hunting gold-tier monsters or tackling tough dungeons, they would spend lavish amounts of contribution points to hire Tsunade.
In Azure Nation: Specter Chronicles, there was no resurrection mechanism—
death meant true deletion.
So a Paladin who could heal allies at death's door was in constant, overwhelming demand.
As soon as the first pet appeared,
the [Pet Leaderboard] was launched.
The first pet belonged to someone from the Pirate World—leader of the Desert Circus, Buggy.
Tsunade frowned, a hazy silhouette surfacing in her memory. "I remember him vaguely… He's a bullet-specialist sharpshooter. His strength barely qualifies him for the first tier."
Barely—because she'd once clashed with the Desert Circus while hunting a gold-tier [Snow Giant] in the Eternal Snow Mountains.
Their vice leader, who controlled a sand mech, was quite strong.
In contrast, the red-nosed leader himself had poor combat ability—worse than mid-tier players—but boasted high-grade gear that artificially inflated his power.
"Could it be… that he's just really lucky?"
Tsunade's brows tightened as she stared at the top of the Pet Leaderboard.
#1: Zombie Baby (B-Rank)
Owner: Buggy
Evaluation: B-Rank Quality (100 pts), Pet Skill (100 pts), E-Rank Zombie Hat (30 pts), E-Rank Zombie Robe (50 pts)
Total Score: 280 pts
"A B-Rank pet? And it even has pet equipment?!"
Tsunade's eyes widened in disbelief as she opened the detailed info.
She had already spent fifty thousand contribution points,
and all she'd gotten were ten A-Rank pet fragments from the guaranteed rewards—
the rest were cheap scraps and low-quality materials.
The pet lottery had just begun,
and as a seasoned gambler, she had wasted no time diving in. She was confident she had spent more than anyone else.
Yet somehow,
this guy had already drawn a B-Rank pet and pet gear?
Tsunade's face darkened
as she looked at the junk in her inventory.
[Zombie Leg Bone (F)]: A broken zombie leg bone. Can be used to craft F-Rank pet gear (Zombie Greaves).
[Zombie Fingernail (F)]: A dried, bloodstained nail. Can be used to craft F-Rank pet gear (Zombie Gloves).
[Rotten Zombie Right Arm (E)]: A decaying arm. Feeding it to a zombie-type pet grants +30 XP.
[Damaged Zombie Heart (E)]: A defective zombie heart. Can be used to craft E-Rank pet gear (Zombie Staff).
…
All low-grade trash.
Even crafting a finished piece of F-Rank pet gear required a hundred zombie leg bones.
At this rate, with her luck, she'd need hundreds of spins just to make one item.
"Damn it!"
Tsunade's face turned red with frustration.
They were all using the same prize pool—why did other players draw jackpots while she was stuck with pity rewards?
She glanced at her ten accumulated A-Rank pet fragments,
tempted by the idea of gambling again.
If her luck held,
those ten fragments gave her a solid shot at redeeming an A-Rank pet egg.
Should she risk it?
Originally, she had planned to take the safe route—wait until she had dozens of guaranteed A-Rank fragments before redeeming.
But after seeing the leaderboard…
her gambling instincts overwhelmed her.
[Pet Egg (Zombie Baby) successfully redeemed!]
A slowly rotating egg appeared in her pet interface.
[Pet Egg (Zombie Baby)]
Quality: F-Rank
Hatch Progress: 0/80 (Fill with zombie materials to increase hatch progress)
BANG!
The roof collapsed, dust flying everywhere.
Tsunade, fuming, had punched a hole clean through it as she landed on the ground.
Lowest rank.
"Again!"
She growled through clenched teeth and resumed spinning the wheel—another 5,000 contribution points vanished.
*[Congratulations! You received: Zombie Leg Bone (F) 1]
*[Congratulations! You received: Inferior Zombie Heart (E) 1]
[…]
Tsunade's face turned from red to black as she continued spinning in silence.
Spin after spin—
nothing but heaps of low-level zombie materials.
It wasn't until she had burned through 700,000 contribution points that she finally pulled a single [Pet Egg (F)].
"Thank goodness the Game Merchant has some conscience. Otherwise, I'd storm his shop!"
Veins bulged on her forehead. Her beautiful face was covered in a shadow of gloom.
She carefully stored the pet egg
without hatching it.
Because the pet system included a [Furnace] that allowed players to refine items—pet eggs, materials, and other gear—into higher tiers.
Three **[Pet Egg (F)]**s could be tossed into the furnace to possibly yield a single [Pet Egg (E)].
Similarly,
fifty [Rotten Leg Bones (E)] could be fused into a [Rotten Leg Bone (D)].
Which meant that
even someone as unlucky as Tsunade could eventually obtain a rare pet through sheer accumulation.
She opened the game chat and skimmed the other players' messages.
"Ugh… I spent so long saving up 100 C-Rank pet fragments, thinking I'd have a 50% chance at a C-Rank pet egg… and I got a worthless D-Rank egg!"
"Same here. I had 200 C-Rank fragments, but it felt wasteful to redeem just one egg, so I mixed them with normal fragments and split them to try for two C-Rank eggs… Both came out E-Rank. Beat that."
This one came from a Pirate World player—Fujitora.
Also a gambler.
After becoming a Reincarnation Game player, he chose the [Asura] class, gaining top-tier strength and potential.
Originally recruited by the Marine HQ alliance,
he was poached by the Adventurer Guild and brought into their ranks by Shanks, who shared the same class.
The points Fujitora had used for the lottery
were basically his salary—or, more accurately, his "signing bonus."
And now it was all gone.
In return?
Two low-level pet eggs.
The blind Fujitora was so exasperated, he nearly opened his eyes from frustration.
"This pet lottery is a total scam! Who was the genius who first begged the Game Merchant to lower pet fragment prices?!"
"I knew the Game Merchant was up to something!"
"Sure, fragments are cheaper now—but it just lures people into drawing rarer fragments. This whole thing is one big trap!"
Seeing the chat fill with complaints,
Tsunade felt a little better. Her frown eased.
Humans were like that—
being scammed alone was unbearable, but getting scammed together made it tolerable.
Prompted by the players' outrage,
Tsunade also realized the key issue. She muttered, "Yeah… If the price hadn't dropped, no one would've risked it for high-tier pets. It's all that guy's fault for talking the Game Merchant into lowering the prices."
That thought
was shared by nearly all the players who had been drained of contribution points by the pet lottery.
As if synchronized,
they began publicly denouncing the culprit in the game chat.
Meanwhile, inside the Qin estate,
the Straw Hat crew had just cleared out the front courtyard's wax zombies when they suddenly felt a chill down their spines.
Even the usually composed Robin, after seeing the storm brewing in the game chat, whispered nervously, "Luffy… it's best if you lay low for a while. Otherwise…"
Players were already posting bounties on Mercenary System missions—
A reward of 50,000 contribution points for Straw Hat Luffy's head.
In seconds, players accepting the mission had climbed into the thousands.
Luffy had become public enemy number one.
Hearing Robin's worried explanation, Luffy just laughed heartily. "A pirate being wanted… isn't that totally normal?"
In truth,
this whole situation had little to do with Luffy directly.
Players had simply lost too many contribution points and needed someone to vent their anger on.
Other players might have felt wronged or furious.
But not the Pirate King!
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