I'd be happy about a vote!
He, meanwhile, returned to the captain's quarters.
Kyle hadn't forgotten.
After all, he still had a budget of 10 million Berries left—completely unused!
He opened the gacha interface and, following the plan he had made earlier (two normal pulls and one premium pull)...
Kyle directly tapped on the single-draw button of the premium gacha.
In an instant…
The final 10 million Berries he had saved for the draw disappeared without a trace.
But the very next second, a notification popped up in his mind, stunning Kyle.
[Congratulations! You have obtained a C-Rank Item: Character Card – Yamori (Jason)!]
"Another hit!?"
Seeing a blue streak of light fly into his inventory, Kyle blinked in astonishment.
To be honest—
Given the typical stinginess of mobile games, before drawing, he had already mentally prepared himself to pull nothing but junk.
At the very least, he'd still earn some captain experience.
But he never imagined that his luck today would be this absurd!
With 30 million Berries…
He pulled a Poké Ball equivalent of a character card, obtained a bug-level captain skill...
And now, he'd even drawn a C-rank character card!
His luck was so ridiculously good that he was starting to feel numb. He couldn't even tell if he should be cheering anymore.
"I really hope I didn't use up all my luck for life today…"
With a sigh in his heart, Kyle opened his inventory again to check out the newly acquired character card.
Yamori.
He had absolutely no memory of that name.
But when he saw the character illustration, a long-dead and dusty memory suddenly surged into his mind.
"Oh… it's him…"
Kyle stared in surprise at the anime character he had nearly forgotten.
A burly figure, clad in a neat off-white suit, golden hair slicked back in a mature style—yet his crimson, manic eyes revealed his madness.
This was none other than Yamori (Jason), the S-Rank Ghoul from Tokyo Ghoul, one of the creators of the iconic "Washing Seaweed Song"…
And the one who helped Kaneki Ken awaken!
Who would've thought that a formidable S-Rank ghoul of Aogiri Tree would be relegated to just a C-rank character card in the system?
Talk about a fall from grace~
According to the system's character card rules...
S-Rank cards can awaken three times.
A and B-Rank cards can awaken twice.
C-Rank cards? Only once.
Higher rank cards also require more awakening stones.
Each awakening gives a noticeable boost in combat power.
Even though there's a gap between A and B ranks, a C-rank card being denied that third awakening means it can't go too far in the long run.
Still, even so!
Even if Yamori was only a C-rank card, Kyle couldn't contain his excitement!
Because the moment he saw the illustration, one perfect match immediately popped into his mind...
And it obviously wasn't the small, skinny recruit Coby.
It was someone at their next destination—the commanding officer stationed at Shells Town, the leader of the Marine G-153 branch…
A man with the same burly build, blond hair, and unstable mind as Yamori—the Marine Captain known as "Axe-Hand" Morgan!
As one of the few Marines in the entire series who actually made Garp the Hero bleed, Morgan's name surely deserved a place in history!
Kyle's original plan had been to raid the G-153 branch as a pirate, expose Morgan's atrocities, and loot some cash and supplies from the Marine base while he was at it.
But now, with this character card…
A new objective had been added to their mission—
Kidnap Axe-Hand Morgan!
"First I kidnapped Tashigi in Loguetown, and now I'm planning to kidnap Morgan in Shells Town…"
"Why does it feel like I've gone too far down the kidnapping route to turn back?"
Kyle muttered softly to himself, though the corners of his mouth curved into a playful smile.
Clearly, he was enjoying it.
After all, each kidnapping could potentially mean a new crewmate.
Things were definitely moving in an interesting direction.
He just hoped rumors wouldn't start spreading in the underworld that he had some twisted preference for kidnapping Marines.
Waves lapped gently against the rocks, making a splash-splash sound.
One day later, at the port of Will Town.
At the horizon where sea met sky, a formal Marine battleship sailed swiftly toward Will Town under the morning sun and finally docked at the port.
From the ship, a brawny Marine with a stern glare strode down quickly.
Three lit cigars puffed smoke into the air, mingling with his white hair.
This was none other than Captain Smoker of Loguetown, who had been chasing the Dusk Pirates across the sea!
However...
Because the Diga was too fast, they had already lost track of it two days prior.
With no leads, the fleet had been split up to comb the surrounding sea in a grid pattern.
Yesterday afternoon, the Loguetown Marine base received a telegram stating that Will Town had been attacked by pirates—and that someone had captured a crew with a bounty and wanted to exchange them for the reward.
Since Smoker's ship happened to be nearby, he came personally to handle the situation.
"You're the ones who captured the Alvida Pirates?"
Smoker strode forward, looking at the town mayor with suspicion.
This little town didn't look like it had the strength to take down a pirate crew…
The mayor, who had been preparing to greet Smoker, quickly waved his hands and said,
"No, no, no, Marine-sama! You misunderstood—it wasn't us who captured the Alvida Pirates."
He gave a sly grin and explained,
"Actually, it was another group of pirates who caught them—but they sold Alvida to us."
Following Kyle's instructions, the mayor had no intention of hiding the truth.
Selling captured bounty pirates was actually quite common on the high seas.
Some powerful bounty hunters would even kill a wanted criminal and use the bounty to pay off their tavern tabs.
Smoker didn't say much about the bounty situation, but the mayor's words clearly piqued his interest.
"Another group of pirates?"
He paused, his brows furrowing as he thought:
"Pirates fighting among themselves? To be able to defeat Alvida, who's worth 5 million Berries, they can't be weak."
"Is another troublesome crew appearing in these waters?"
Smoker wasn't impressed by pirates in general.
But with such a vast ocean, wiping them all out was impossible.
Every time a powerful new crew appeared, the risk to East Blue's civilians increased.
After a moment of thought, Smoker looked back at the mayor to ask for more details.
"Do you know where those pirates came from?"
He meant to gather as much intel as possible.
To his surprise, the mayor immediately nodded and said,
"Yes, yes, we do."
"They said they were from the Dusk Pirates, just a man and a woman…"
"—WAIT!!!"
Smoker suddenly shouted, biting down hard on his cigar, snapping it in half.
"You said it was the Dusk Pirates who defeated the Alvida Pirates!?"
He glared furiously, startling the mayor.
The mayor swallowed nervously and cautiously confirmed:
"Y-Yes."
"That's what they told us."
"Yesterday morning, the Alvida Pirates suddenly attacked Will Town… and then…"
Under Smoker's intense gaze, the mayor reported the events of the day in full detail.
Of course—
He was smart enough not to mention the long-term deal he had made with Kyle.
After hearing everything the Dusk Pirates had done, Smoker fell into silence.
"..."
As a pirate crew currently being chased by the Marines, the Dusk Pirates had actually saved a town from being plundered.
Meanwhile, the Marines, who were patrolling nearby, had no idea what had happened.
It was laughable—a complete farce!
If they had arrested the Dusk Pirates, then Will Town would have been wiped out by Alvida's crew…
Could it be… the Dusk Pirates were actually good pirates!?
For a brief moment, doubt again crept into Smoker's heart.
Ever since he was grazed by that seastone bullet, something had felt off—something just wasn't right.
Chasing the Dusk Pirates wasn't just about rescuing Tashigi.
He also wanted to find Kyle and ask what exactly he was trying to do.
But doubts aside, as a Marine, Smoker had a duty to fulfill.
After confirming Alvida's identity, he directly ordered his men to take out 5 million Berries and hand it over to the mayor of Will Town.