Chapter 7: Players unlock a new side quest.
When Shanks found Vale, she was standing in front of Yasopp being scolded.
Listening to Yasopp's warning that "Beckman is the most terrifying and ferocious creature in the world when he's doing the accounting, so never mess with him," Violet was clearly distracted.
Vera: "Skip, skip."
Yasopp: "Vell, did you hear that? If you want to play, go find Meng Shida or Lime Jones. In this state, even Shanks would avoid Beckman."
Shanks felt he should assert his captaincy: "Yosbuch! I was just respecting talent, you understand?!"
Then came the chorus of "Do you know how hard it is to find someone who can do the math on the Grand Line?" and "If Beckman goes on strike because he's unhappy, the entire Red-Haired Fleet will starve." For a moment, the deck was filled with a cheerful atmosphere.
Val: "Look, Shanks, I found it in the treasure chest in Beckman's room."
Shanks: "What? Beckman hid a treasure chest in his room? What is it? Did he actually keep the rest of the wine for himself?!"
Violet glanced at Shanks with a puzzled look: "Of course not, it looks like Beckman's underwear box?"
Violet looked up and exclaimed, "You guys can actually wear underwear!" Keep in mind that players only have two equipment slots—head and body—so the attribute bonuses are extremely limited.
At times like these, Violet would be especially envious of those pay-to-win games. Not to mention pants and shoes, even the decorations on clothes could be taken apart and collected in several pieces for players to collect.
Although it requires a lot of time and money, it adds a lot of attribute points.
Violet had already accepted the fact that the game had very few equipment slots, but she didn't expect that the restriction was only on the players?
Violet: "Damn it, I'm so jealous."
Yasopp: "What's there to be jealous of?!"
Violet: "I was going to equip it and see how the stats were, but it turns out I can't use it!"
Yasopp: "Wait, Violet, you didn't take another one, did you?!"
Yasopp: "We're doomed, we're doomed! If Beckman finds out, he'll throw you into the sea!"
Yasopp: "So, if you throw it out of the captain's cabin, Shanks will have stolen it!"
Shanks: "..."
Shanks walked up to Yasopp and made a face at him.
Yasopp: "...What are you doing, Shanks?"
Shanks: "Eh, you can actually see me? I thought I accidentally ate the Clear-Clear Fruit on the island and turned into an invisible person!"
Shanks, his shark teeth transformed, roared, "You dare discuss such things right in front of you!"
Violet: "That's called a loud conspiracy."
Yasopp: "Where did all these words come from, Val? Give the stuff to Shanks and let him figure out a way to return it secretly."
Shanks: "Ugh, I don't want to touch men's underwear!"
Violet: "Beckman hasn't used it. I checked the durability and it's still 100%, Shanks."
"Vell, you're saying something that no one can understand at all again."
——
Although the New World underwent many changes due to the unexpected earthquake, the Red-Haired Pirates did not abandon their original plans after receiving news of 'that fruit'.
The Red-Haired Pirates' main ship and some of their subsidiary ships chose to remain in the New World, while Violet was entrusted to the fleets that chose to return to the four seas to regroup.
With the [Emergency Medical Kit*1] provided by Hongo, Val had no objection to Shanks and the others' decision. After all, in her view, this was also part of the side quest, a way of unfolding this vast world.
The accompanying fleet took Violet to a rather peaceful and beautiful island—Forchard.
Although the Red-Haired Pirates had a good reputation, they were still pirates after all. As soon as their ship, which was full of cannons and filled with muscular men, landed, it aroused the vigilance of the island's residents.
But the island's inhabitants soon realized that the pirates had no intention of attacking them, or even of staying any longer, so they quickly changed their attitude and started doing business with the pirates.
Vera stared in disbelief as the old man, who had just been trembling with fear while holding a wooden stick, began haggling with the Red-Haired Pirates, slapping the table and smearing ink as he went. Finally, he hung his head and sighed as the pirates carried away the barrels of wine. Then, he turned around and swung the money bag in his hand, revealing a triumphant smile.
"Alright, Violet, it's time to say goodbye."
Partings at sea are so common. Violet stood on the shore watching the pirate ship sail away from Forsythe Island and eventually disappear into the azure sea.
So what should we do next?
Building a house? As soon as Violet got ashore, she tried to knock down a small wooden hut by the dock to gather materials, but as soon as she took out her hammer, someone blocked her way.
"What are you doing? There are naval personnel here!"
Violet then tried to build a road sign on Forsythe Island, and the same message popped up: "[This is a naval territory; buildings cannot be added or changed at will.]"
So, her only option for a base location is an island without any powerful forces? But Shanks claimed that the small island belonged to the Red-Haired Pirates, yet when Violet was chopping trees and killing monsters there, no such window popped up.
Or is it because the navy on this island is considered a neutral force, while pirates are considered roaming monsters, so the game encourages players to take over the latter's territory?
However, her current equipment is still at the Stone Age level, and monster hunting is still a long way off for her.
So it's definitely time to find a place to establish a base first for future plans. As for the Abigail's Flower side quest, since Shanks himself said that Big Mom's territory is a high-risk area, Violet should be fully prepared before going back.
Vera opened the game panel.
In the game [Shipwrecked: Survival], there are two parallel development paths. One path focuses on reality and technology, requiring the construction of [Science Machines] and [Alchemy Engines] to help players unlock blueprints, crafting tools, and buildings. The other path leans towards magic, requiring the [Spirit Disassembler] to unlock magic crafting recipes.
Violet has not yet decided on a location for her base. One reason is that she has not found a suitable island, and another reason is that she has not yet finished collecting the materials to make the [Scientific Machine] and [Alchemy Engine].
She is also missing [gold nuggets].
Violet didn't have many options. One was to continue exploring the map and see if she could find the Rocky Area to mine for gold nuggets. The other was to find the faction known in the game as the [Pig King] or [Fishman King] and trade with them for [Gold Nuts] using [Big Meat] or [Toys].
...So we still have to keep exploring the map!
Just as Violet was complaining about the game's design, she overheard a few people whispering behind her at the dock.
"Have you heard? That girl, her name is... something like Kokorila?"
"It's Koala! She's been missing for so many years, I didn't expect her to still be alive. I heard she was captured by the Celestial Dragons, no wonder her parents searched for her for so long without any news."
"What, it was actually that group of..." The man's voice was filled with righteous indignation, as if he was about to utter some curse, but then he suddenly swallowed the rest of his sentence, "But how come, how come I heard she's coming back?"
"I heard he was sent back by that merman who caused havoc in the holy land..."
Fishman!
Violet's eyes lit up, as if she saw countless gold nuggets beckoning to her.
This is clearly the quest to unlock the path to the Fishman King, Violet thought, wanting to lean closer to listen carefully.
"Beep—beep—, where did this kid come from?!"
The man screamed in terror as he saw Vera suddenly squeeze between them.
"Oh, so you can interact with NPCs during conversations? Sorry." Violet took two steps back, and after deciding she was out of the interaction range, crossed her arms. "Let's continue the conversation."
"Beep—beep—" The two men gave Violet a strange look, then turned and quickly left.
"So it's a puzzle-solving side quest," Violet exclaimed, turning around to excitedly gather information.
The "return of the slave girl" incident is probably the main task of this Forsythe Island. Violet took a walk around the island and found that many people were quietly discussing this matter.
Whenever the merman who wreaked havoc in the holy land is mentioned, their expressions and tones become unusually complex, a mixture of fear, resistance, and disgust, along with admiration and envy.
It's really complicated... So who exactly is that fishman? Why does everyone refer to him as "that fishman who caused havoc in the Holy Land"?
Furthermore, the interaction judgment distance in this game is too large. As soon as she appears in their field of vision, the group of NPCs will stop talking and ask her what she wants to do with a wary look on their faces.
Is it due to insufficient preconditions, or is it that the real intelligence needs to be obtained from elsewhere?
Violet thought of the bar, an essential intelligence-gathering spot in every game.
Vera walked into the bar and was immediately drawn to the guy sitting with his back to the entrance. She stared blankly at his tall, almost ceiling-high hair.
Does this hairstyle really exist in the world?!
Storoberry glanced at the young girl who walked up to him. The Navy had received intelligence from the residents of Forsythe Island that Fisher Tiger, who had wreaked havoc on the Holy Land Mary Geoise a few years ago, setting fire to it and freeing a large number of slaves, and his Sun Pirates were about to dock there, and he was ordered to come and capture them.
To avoid alerting the enemy, Strawberry has been wearing ordinary civilian clothes whenever he goes out, trying to be inconspicuous and blend into the crowd like a drop of water in the ocean, without attracting anyone's attention.
“Your hairstyle is so unique.” The girl stopped beside him and reached out to pull his hair. “Is this real hair? Uh, it looks like the fantasy of a modeler suffering from hair loss before going bald.”
Storobelli didn't understand what "modeler" meant, but he did understand that the little girl in front of him said he was a bald man wearing a wig!
A vein throbbed on Stromberg's forehead.
“Boss.” Violet quickly shifted her attention from the oddly-haired guy. “Do you have any information on the ‘Murlocs Who Wreak Havoc in the Holy Land’? What prerequisite quests are needed to unlock it?”
Upon hearing Violet's words, the bar owner, who was wiping glasses, looked up in a panic, and the once noisy bar fell into an eerie silence as if the pause button had been pressed.
"W-what? Why are you asking that? I...I don't know!"
"Wow, finally, it's not the same old, pre-programmed answer! I knew the tavern was the world's intelligence center!"
Seeing Vera's excitement, the boss panicked even more.
A bead of cold sweat trickled down the boss's forehead, and his back was soaked with sweat. A fish-man causing havoc in the Holy Land! Good heavens, this was a disgrace to the Celestial Dragons, an absolutely forbidden topic! If this got out, the girl and he would be lucky to spend the rest of their lives in prison; they might even be executed on the spot by the enraged Celestial Dragons!
"Who are you, and what do you want?!"
"Hey, didn't you hear me? I need information about the 'fishman who wreaked havoc in the holy land'."
The boss rolled his eyes upwards, looking like he was about to faint at any moment.
Storoberry couldn't stand it anymore. Although the boss, whose arms were thicker than Violet's whole body, seemed like the more dangerous one, the fact was that the boss was being bullied by that little girl to the point of tears.
"He can't possibly tell you these things."
"Why? Because there are prerequisite tasks to complete?"
“No, he will never tell you under any circumstances,” Strawberry said, “because it is a topic that is absolutely forbidden to be discussed throughout the world.”
“I see.” Violet nodded and looked at the boss. “Then where do you live, boss? I’ll sneak in tonight and tell you secretly.”
The boss's eyes rolled back, his body leaned back, and he crashed to the ground with a thud, completely unconscious.
A note from the author:
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As technology and magic are unlocked, Violet will become stronger and stronger. [kiss]
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