Sea Breeze Company Headquarters — Gu Feng's Office.
Li Jing glanced at her phone, then quietly set it aside.
Now she finally understood why Gu Feng was so calm about Snowwind Company's aggressive countermeasures.
It was all summed up by his relaxed words:
"It doesn't matter. I'll handle it."
At the corner of the screen, the live popularity counter was going insane — one promo CG alone had pushed viewer interest past ten million.
Gu Feng smiled faintly, utterly unbothered.
Why worry, when he had absolute confidence in that vast ocean he'd built?
Even in his previous life, just watching the anime had made him laugh and cry through its iconic scenes.
Now, he was giving players the chance to live those moments themselves.
"Gu Feng, Kaka's stream just went live," Li Jing reported.
"The other four streamers have entered the game too."
After watching the promo CG, all five of Great Voyage Era's early streamers had realized the game's incredible potential.
If they could seize this opportunity now, they might become top-tier stars overnight.
"Good," Gu Feng said. "Why don't you stay, Jing-jie? Let's watch together."
Li Jing nodded, and they sat on the sofa, turning on the projection display.
The massive screen split into four panels:
Top left: I'm Just a Fisherman
Top right: SwordShadow FlowYear, a veteran martial-arts game streamer.
Bottom left: White-Clad Drunkard, a young, funny, variety-game personality.
Bottom right: Net-Addict Girl, a trendy punk-style streamer.
Beside them, another feed displayed Kaka's live channel separately.
As soon as Kaka went live, her numbers skyrocketed.
Riding on the wave of the promo CG's popularity, her viewer count broke one million in minutes — and surged past three million before she'd even entered the game.
The joint stream of the other four broke one million concurrent as well, and kept climbing steadily.
Anyone who'd ever streamed knew how hard it was not just to attract viewers, but to keep them.
And yet both Great Voyage Era streams were doing exactly that — the numbers rose and held firm, climbing step by step.
Kaka took a breath, calmed her racing heart, and turned off every notification except the live chat.
Then, she clicked Enter Game.
Her vision brightened; the sound of waves and creaking wood filled her ears.
When she'd logged off last night, she'd gone back to the Red Force's cabins — her own cozy room deep inside the ship.
Ever since joining the Red-Haired Pirates, everyone treated her like a precious little sister — doting and protective.
She stretched and opened the window.
Morning light spilled across the calm sea, the sky cloudless and blue.
After changing into a simple shirt and shorts she'd bought before leaving town, she looked more like an adventurous young girl than ever.
As she stepped onto the deck, laughter erupted all around.
"Hahaha! Idiot captain, you lost again!"
"Man, you were so confident before, and now look at you!"
"Hahaha, those paper strips on your face — priceless!"
"Like a hairy baboon!"
"Pffft—hahaha!"
The Red-Haired crew's laughter filled the ship, and Kaka couldn't help but giggle too, her bright smile lighting up her face.
"Shanks, what are you guys doing?"
She walked closer — and the red-haired captain immediately froze.
His ears turned crimson as he jerked his head away, desperate to hide his face.
That only made Kaka even more curious.
"Shanks?"
She hurried forward, as Beckman and the others chuckled, blocking Shanks like guilty children hiding a prank.
But she managed to peek — and burst out laughing.
His entire face was covered in paper slips, decorated like a literal baboon.
Tears streamed down her face from laughing so hard.
"Shanks… you…"
The entire ship roared with laughter — and so did the 3 million viewers watching live.
[Man, this crew's vibe is amazing!]
[Yeah! Compare that to Alvida's gang or Hild's pirates — this is night and day.]
[This Red-Haired crew is my dream pirate team…]
[Dream on, bro, they're Yonko! You know what that means? Sea Emperors!]
[In the Hall of Fame, only Roger tops the Four Emperors — everyone else is small fry next to them.]
As the chat flooded with excitement, Kaka settled down beside the laughing crew.
She looked at Shanks, curiosity glinting in her eyes.
"Shanks, can I ask something?"
Shanks didn't even look up from his hand of cards.
"Sure. You're one of us now — ask anything."
Kaka nodded, thinking of that straw-hatted boy from the promo CG.
"Were you… there, when Pirate King Roger was executed?"
The laughter stopped.
Instantly, the ship's air grew heavy.
Beckman's hand froze mid-shuffle.
Yasopp and Lucky Roo fell silent, glancing her way.
Kaka blinked, feeling awkward. "Did… did I say something wrong?"
The quiet stretched. Then, finally, Shanks lowered his cards.
He tore the last strip of paper from his face, his expression unusually serious.
"Where did you hear that?" he asked quietly.
Kaka hesitated, then said honestly, "I just heard about Roger — and, well, since you're one of the Four Emperors, I got curious."
For a moment, Shanks' gaze wavered — then he smiled.
"Ah. That."
He leaned back, his tone soft but proud.
"Roger… was my captain. My guide."
"When I first went to sea, I was nothing more than a trainee aboard the Roger Pirates."
The words fell like thunder.
Kaka's eyes went wide.
"W–What?!"
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