"Holy crap! That's awesome!"
With his limited vocabulary, Kyle once again let out a primal exclamation of amazement.
Clearly, his game system had been drastically altered after crossing over into this world.
Back in his old life, he had never seen a game where you could level up just by spending Beli.
Still, overall, this was a promising start.
At the very least, it showed that the system was functional.
And that made Kyle even more excited about what else it could do.
"So I can gain combat power just by recruiting crewmates?"
"If the [Captain] interface changed this much, then maybe the other menus changed too?"
Closing the [Captain] screen, Kyle focused his thoughts and selected the [Inventory] option.
Unfortunately, there was no beginner's starter pack like he had hoped. Just a single, limitless bag for holding system items.
"Huh. Not much new here."
Slightly disappointed, Kyle kept exploring.
Next, he opened the [Crewmates] tab.
What greeted him was… nothing. A completely blank screen.
Even the only available button, [Develop], was grayed out and unusable.
Which made sense—he didn't have a single crewmate yet.
In game terms, he had just logged in. He hadn't even gone through the tutorial.
Moving on, Kyle opened the fourth menu in order: [Dockyard].
This time, something different happened.
A new window popped up.
[Please select a ship to bind…]
Below the message, there was a visual of a sailboat cutting through the vast sea.
On its mast fluttered the pirate flag Kyle had just raised.
There was no doubt about it.
That was the very ship Kyle was currently aboard.
He mentally clicked the ship's image, and another prompt immediately appeared.
[Please name your pirate ship: ______ ]
"You're kidding me… I have to name something again!?"
Maybe it was trauma from the earlier menus, but Kyle's head started aching the moment he saw this screen.
Worse yet…
He was terrible at naming things.
In every game he'd ever played, he always let the system generate a random name for him.
"Let me think…"
He scratched at the stubble that had grown back after shaving that morning, striking a thoughtful pose.
If the Dockyard system still worked like the game, then activating it would eventually spawn a ship spirit.
In the game, the ship spirit was mostly there to guide players through tutorials. But in the real world? Who knew what it might turn into?
So, the name mattered.
Unfortunately, for a guy who sucked at naming things, thinking hard was just a waste of time.
His first instinct was to name the ship after one of those famous ship girls from his past life.
The whole idea of a ship turning into a person because of the crew's love—classic, emotional, unforgettable.
But sadly… those characters were just way too "kawaii" for his taste. Totally not his aesthetic.
He couldn't even remember a single name from that series.
After struggling for five minutes, he gave up on the whole "ship girl" naming idea.
"A real man rides the waves and does what a man's gotta do! Women only slow down my naming process!!"
Giving himself that pep talk, Kyle dismissed any names that sounded too soft or cutesy.
In his memory, both Roger and Whitebeard's ships had names that sounded tough and manly.
He could definitely go for something in that style.
"Tough names, huh…"
Kyle searched his memory again.
Soon, some… questionable names started popping into his head.
Toguro, Yujiro Hanma, Jotaro Kujo…
The thought of spending his days living on a ship named after guys like that made Kyle clench involuntarily.
"Yeah… tough is good, but let's not go overboard."
"Maybe I should just go with something a bit more normal."
He instinctively glanced at his ship.
His eyes landed on the newly established captain's cabin, and he suddenly remembered: he still had a precious Devil Fruit sitting untouched in his inventory.
"Now that I think about it, sailing the seas with the power of the Storm-Storm Fruit would be incredibly useful."
"Not only could I control the ship's direction, I could also protect it from natural disasters."
"My uncle really thought of everything when he gave me that fruit."
"So maybe… I should name the ship something like Storm or Tempest."
"Kind of basic, but sounds pretty decent."
"Wait… hold on…"
Suddenly, inspiration struck.
It was like muscle memory from his past life kicked in.
The moment he thought of the word "storm," a dramatic lyric echoed in his head:
"A new storm has arrived—how could we ever stand still?"
"Through time and space…"
"With all my strength…"
"I will reach your side!"
"Wait a sec, wasn't there an Ultraman gacha deck in the game?"
"There's a chance I could actually get an Ultraman as a crewmate someday!"
"With Ultraman's cosmic strength, I wouldn't just be overpowered in the One Piece world—I'd be unstoppable!"
"In that case, for good luck… I'll name my ship the Tiga! The Tiga!"
With a focused thought, the name [Tiga] appeared at the top of the screen.
At that moment, Kyle felt like he had become a beam of light.
(Not literally, of course.)
It just meant the Dockyard system had been fully activated.
A sleek new interface appeared in his mind.
The first thing he saw was the ship's profile.
[Ship: Tiga]
[Level: 0]
[EXP: 0/10]
[Facilities: 0/1 (+)]
Just like with the Captain interface, a detailed breakdown of the Dockyard system popped up as soon as Kyle willed it.
Ship Level: Determines the ship's size, hull durability, and number of facilities it can support.
(Note: Reaching Level 1 will unlock the Tiga's ship spirit.)
EXP: Spend 1 million Beli to gain 1 EXP point.
Facilities: Special rooms with unique abilities that help your crew's adventures go more smoothly.
"Hmm… the Dockyard system is pretty much the same as it was in the game."
"But…"
Kyle frowned slightly.
His eyes landed on the EXP description.
Unlike the Captain's level—which gained EXP by spending Beli through the system—the ship level required direct payment.
Kyle currently had 50 million Beli in cash. That was enough to level up the ship a few times and raise his Captain level along the way.
But still…
"I shouldn't rush to spend money. Let's see what the gacha system offers first."
Gotta spend wisely.
Fifty million Beli wasn't a lot, but it wasn't nothing either. He needed to budget carefully.
Just like in mobile games, this system would definitely become a bottomless money pit.
With such limited starting funds, he had to plan ahead.
In the game, all items were ranked from E to S tier.
E was the weakest, S was the strongest.
And all of them came from the gacha system.
Opening the [Gacha] tab, Kyle was greeted with a familiar sight.
Three gacha machines, each a different color and effect, lined up before him.
From left to right:
The pale blue one was the [Standard Gacha].
As the name suggested, it was the most basic tier. Most rewards were E-rank junk, though there was a small chance to pull D- to A-rank items.
The orange one was the [Premium Gacha].
Its prize pool was similar to the Standard Gacha, but with better odds. The worst you could get was a D-tier item, and the top prize was a coveted S-tier.
But let's be real—
It was like a lottery. The system just wanted you to think you could win big.
As for actually pulling an S-tier?
Yeah, good luck.
The last machine was the most eye-catching.
Just the name [Legendary Gacha] was enough to spark awe.
Not to mention the brilliant golden glow constantly radiating around it.
In this machine, the worst drop was C-tier, and the chance of pulling an S-tier item was significantly higher.
However…
After scanning the machines, Kyle completely ignored the Legendary Gacha and focused on the first two.
For one reason:
He was broke.
The Legendary Gacha cost a whopping 100 million Beli per pull!
Sure, for a traveler with big dreams, that wasn't an impossible number.
But for Kyle right now, that was way out of reach.
Even the first two machines weren't exactly affordable.
The Premium Gacha cost 10 million Beli per pull.
The Standard Gacha? 1 million Beli per pull.
One million Beli…
In Cocoyashi Village, that kind of money could buy you an extra ten months of life.
And from what Kyle remembered, most items from the Standard Gacha were junk—things like Master Roshi's cane, Cooking Master Boy's utensils, Demon Slayer uniforms, Hinata's qipao, Bulma's underwear…
In the game, you could at least recycle that trash for some Beli.
But in the real world, who would buy used anime props?
"Sigh… please, let this gacha system be better in the real world."
No matter how bad the gacha was in the game, Kyle decided to invest some Beli to test out what kind of rewards he could expect after crossing over.
Just like the lyrics said:
A new pay-to-win era has begun—how could I not pay up?
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Note: If you're enjoying the story, you can read up to Chapter 42... You can read 38 chapters ahead of the current one) on my Patreon: patreon.com/Aurevynluv