Chapter 258

He fiddled with the device until it finally powered on. Surprise flashed across his face as he stared at the screen, but his brow quickly furrowed.

"A Projection Den Den Mushi?"

He turned to Tashigi. She grinned at her own device, yet no projection screen hovered above it. Was hers different from his?

Just as the thought crossed Smoker’s mind, Tashigi spoke up, noticing his confusion without looking away from her chat.

"I turned off the projection on my end so only I can see it." She cheerfully tapped her screen. "Turn it on, log in, and input your information following the interface prompts. Then you can switch the projection off. That way, no one else can see what you’re doing. Oh, WaveScroll is the app I’m using right now. You can chat with multiple people, but you have to add their WaveScroll ID first. Of course, there’s also a shake feature that lets you add strangers IDs!"

WaveScroll? Smoker frowned again. He turned the armored Den Den Mushi over in his hands. "So complicated. Why did he make Den Den Mushi so complicated?"

Still, he studied the screen and followed the prompts to fill out the so-called information. He found the WaveScroll app Tashigi mentioned, but that wasn’t all. There was also East Blue Weather, East Blue Navigation... all sorts of random utilities, and even...

"Pirate Guild? Hmph, is he that blatant now?" Smoker scoffed again.

His eyes narrowed as he tapped the icon. An interface popped up. He leaned in to focus through the lingering cigar smoke.

"Why is there so much information to fill out? Pirate crew name? Can’t enter without filling it out?" He paused briefly. "Forget it, I’ll call it the Cigar Pirates. Let’s see what tricks you’re pulling."

After randomly filling in the details, the screen shifted, entering the chat interface Tashigi had mentioned. Before Smoker could wonder why this was yet another chatting app,

*Beep beep~*

A crisp chime rang out. A line of text suddenly appeared on the chat interface.

[A new member has arrived. Welcome Captain Cigar. This is the Pirate Guild’s East Blue exclusive group. You probably already know how things work from the Guild! Of course, if you have any questions, feel free to ask directly!]

[Tiger: I am the Temporary Administrator Tiger!]

And that wasn’t the end. Another line of text popped up.

[Straw Hat: I am the man who will become King of the Pirates!]

That second line wasn’t from the same person. One avatar was a cracked skull pirate flag, round as a ball, the other... was nothing but a simple straw hat.

Smoker frowned, narrowing his eyes. Seeing the keyboard appear on the interface, he immediately understood what was going on and typed a reply.

[Cigar: Pirate King?]

A moment later.

[Tiger: Ignore that punk, there’s something wrong with his head. Ever since he joined, he’s been making a racket about becoming the Pirate King. The brat is just a brick hauler at a construction site. He probably has no idea what the Pirate King even represents. He’s completely delusional!]

[Tiger: Don’t worry, I’ve muted him! He won’t be able to post again until tomorrow!]

[Cigar: ...]

Smoker had already skillfully typed a line of ellipses. Frowning at the so-called Pirate Guild, he fell into deep thought, preparing to ask something useful.

At that moment.

*Beep beep beep~*

Someone else spoke up. The avatar was a skull with a middle-parted hairstyle, accompanied by what looked like a three-toed chicken footprint.

[Kiny: Tiger, how do you feel after listening to today’s lesson? Our biggest obstacle in entering the Grand Line is that Marine Captain dispatched from Marine HQ, Smoker. He possesses a Logia Devil Fruit, the same type as a Marine Admirals, is quite famous in Marine HQ! What do you think we should do to defeat him?]

[Smoker: What?]

What the hell?

And that wasn’t the end. Right after...

Another line of text jumped out.

[Kiny: By the way, Captain Cigar, did you listen to that lesson? What do you think we should do?]

As soon as those words appeared on the screen, Smoker stared at the Mobile Den Den Mushi in sheer exasperation. A harsh curse welled up in his mind, threatening to burst out through his teeth.

On the other side of the sea, Dante sneezed suddenly. He rubbed his nose and glanced back down at the documents in his hands. A satisfied smile spread across his face, and he nodded.

"Great. Keep up the promotion. Push our Armored Den Den Mushi across all Four Blues. Oh, and remember to advertise that buyers can get an exclusive Den Den Mushi Armor custom-tailored for them. We can even engrave their names on it."

This time, to boost promotion, he had issued one to every captain who came to register. That’s right, it was completely free. They even engraved custom names at no cost. Although he had announced that only the first five hundred captains to register would receive one, up until today... according to the Pirate Guild’s statistics, they had already given away over a thousand.

The network required everyone to join in and fill it with content to become interesting. He believed that one day, this newly born network would connect the entire sea. By then, public opinion would truly be in the control of their East Blue Marines. Of course, supervision and permissions still had to be strictly managed.

Furthermore, although the content was still scarce, the current functions already met their needs. Shopping, for instance. There was no longer a need to select items from flyers like before and call in orders via traditional snail lines. They could place orders directly through the device, with various product information updated in real time. Although physical transportation remained the same old story, logistics were already much more convenient. They were re-planning the shipping routes as well, bound to become simpler in the near future.

The current number of users was still too small. The vast majority were confined to the East Blue. However, the stations they had set up in the Grand Line, the Four Blues, and the Calm Belt had already started heavy promotion. As this group of certified pirates inevitably entered the Grand Line, the user base would undoubtedly increase.

The only thing to watch out for was the World Government. They needed to be careful not to be targeted or have the technology snatched away by certain factions before they could fully develop.

Dante pondered for a moment, looking at the documents on his desk, and muttered to himself, "Still need to find something to keep the World Government busy."

Saying that, he looked up at Viola beside him. "Mock should have rested enough. Tell Mock it’s time for him to go back to work."

Since Hancock left, Mock had stayed behind. Aside from waiting for the New East Blue Overlord Armor, he was just lounging around Romance Dawn. Naturally, Dante had arranged for people to give the boy some special training during this period. The armor was completed a few days ago, so it was time to put him back in the field.

"Also tell him that Enel is coming back soon. If he doesn’t want a beating, he’d better run."

"Yes."

"Also... Robin."

Seeing Viola accept the task, Dante shifted his gaze to the other side of the room, looking at Robin. "Has the instructor from the Amazon Lily arrived?"

"Arrived just this morning."

Hearing Dante’s question, Robin closed her book, nodding gracefully. "I’ve already had people arrange it and notified the Academy. There shouldn’t be any problems. It’s just..." She paused slightly, a faint frown touching her brow. "Should we restrict their range of movement? But I feel that won’t be of much use. No matter how much we restrict them, if they stay long enough, they will inevitably notice something."

"Already handed over to the Academy? That’s good." Dante waved his hand casually. "As for staying long enough... by then, it probably won’t matter anyway."

By the time they pieced the truth together, he might have already taken down the World Government. Besides, even if she knew, it didn’t matter. Hancock might be a Shichibukai, but she wasn’t truly loyal to the World Government. Even if she found out his secrets, she wouldn’t bother telling them especially if it harms the Celestial Dragons.

"Ask Zephyr-sensei later about the situation at the Academy. Find out if those instructors are actually teaching seriously. If they aren’t, let me know. I’ll go to Hancock myself and replace them."

"Yes, Boss." Robin rolled her eyes at Dante, a sweet, teasing smile playing on her lips. "You’re probably the only one the Pirate Empress would even give the time of day."

"..."

Dante ignored her, planning to have a proper talk with his little secretary later about her teasing. With matters mostly settled, he stretched his arms, ready for a well-deserved break.

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