Klein, Garp, and Sengoku all enjoyed the kind of special treatment reserved for genius recruits.
Only poor Zephyr—very much a "late bloomer"—was still grinding it out in the regular class without any of those perks.
But…
Klein actually looked out for his little bro Zephyr, handing over the special-issue protein powder that Admiral Rampaging Bear had gifted him.
No charge!
Zephyr's jaw just about hit the floor. He even wondered if Klein had come down with a fever.
How could he possibly understand the joy of Klein making 300 million Beli overnight?How could he understand the beauty of the "free sample" hustle?
'Kid, just wait till the IOUs start piling up. You're not escaping my clutches!'
Besides…
Those big tins of protein powder hadn't cost Klein a single Beli. Giving some away didn't hurt at all.
Zephyr was so moved he was about to burst into tears. Free!
Completely free!
And it was Klein who gave it to him—about as likely as the sun rising in the west.
Yet here it was.
So sweet!
Freebies are so sweet!
Before he knew it, "Big bro" was rolling off his tongue smoother every time he opened his mouth.
Night gave me dark eyes, and I use them to game till dawn.
'Genshin Impact—launch!'
Washed up and sprawled on his bed, Klein dove into the game, still simmering with righteous fury.
First, he cleared the daily missions. Then he snapped up every value pack on sale.
After a small round of upgrades, he started pushing story stages.
'Tiny Smoker? Easy win!'
Then he entered the Grand Line, speed-running from Whiskey Peak all the way to Alabasta.
He unlocked a bunch of Devil-Fruit challenge stages, which meant he could later collect those Fruits: the Spike-Spike Fruit, Clone-Clone Fruit, Wax-Wax Fruit, Dog-Dog Fruit: Model Dachshund, Mole-Mole Fruit, Bomb-Bomb Fruit, Float-Float Fruit, Dice-Dice Fruit, and the Flower-Flower Fruit.
Some of them were actually useful—like the Dice-Dice Fruit, Flower-Flower Fruit, Clone-Clone Fruit, Bomb-Bomb Fruit…
Klein couldn't help recalling that scene where "Zoro" sliced through the "boogers." Unforgettable. Credit where it's due—the early anime team really put in the work.
"Sigh—once these Devil Fruits are unlocked, I'm gonna have a real problem: which one do I even use?" Klein started humble-bragging to himself.
"Sigh—who even gets this kind of problem, fam?!"
Each of these treasures of the sea was worth at least 100 million Beli, and aside from Blackbeard Teach, everyone else could only eat one Fruit.
Just like future CP9's Rob Lucci—people kept saying not only was he held back by assignments, he also ate a trash Devil Fruit.
From the brilliant Enies Lobby arc and the way he forced Luffy into a desperate, desperate corner… to later turning into a "trash-talker" whose bark beat everything but his actual bite.
But Klein was different. Once he unlocked a Fruit, he could swap to whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted.
Pure bliss!!
Mom will never worry again!
Imu's Dad finally fell before the Shichibukai, Crocodile.
In the defeat cutscene, Crocodile's left-hand golden hook pierced Imu's Dad's chest. Blood spurted as he taunted, "The Grand Line isn't a place for small fry like you to survive."
A kill to the body—and the pride.
Of course, that fit "the little crocodile's" personality perfectly. He looked down on literally everyone.
Standing beside him was Robin, her skin bronzed by the desert sun.
"Damn!"
"Crocodile, I'm gonna remember this!!"
"When you run into me later, I'll show you why roses are red!"
Good thing there wasn't a desktop in front of him, or Klein would've smashed the monitor and snapped the keyboard in half from sheer rage.
Damn it.
They ganged up on him. By the time he reached Crocodile, his HP was already at half from fighting all those henchmen.
Couldn't win…
His stats just weren't there yet!!
After he finished the stage rush, a system prompt popped up.
[Character Level Up.]
[LV.49 → LV.50]
[Stats: ...]
[Congratulations! Reaching Level 50 unlocks the Haki feature. Go upgrade Haki to boost your character's power!]
"Huh???"
A chill ran down Klein's back. "No way—are the devs spying on me right now?"
"..."
He needed Haki more than anything at the moment—and the game just happened to unlock Haki.
Was that his doing?
Hadn't this been out for months already?
Was there actually a surveillance feature??
Whatever. Right now, the priority really was boosting his Haki.
Back to the main screen.
Sure enough, a new "Haki Trials" icon had appeared in the UI. He tapped it open.
There were three trial tracks: Conqueror's Haki, Armament Haki, and Observation Haki.
Each Haki had one free attempt per day.
Clear stages to get "Haki resources." Higher difficulty meant better drops.
Familiar gameplay. The moment he spent his free Conqueror's Haki attempt, a gift pack banner popped up.
A lavish gilded frame. A dominating artwork of Roger.
Maxed-out visual flair.
[Conqueror's Haki Value Pack—Super Deal!]
[Power up and rise to the top of the seas!]
[Show your kingly bearing!!]
[Gear Fourth Challenge Special Pack ·····]
Buy!
Buy it and you won't lose. Buy it and you won't get scammed!
"Three colors of Haki—that's transmigrator starter kit material!" Klein grinned. "If you don't have all three, you're embarrassing the whole transmigrator community!"
"You'll get roasted!"
Money wasn't a problem right now.
If you can't use Haki, you're basically an NPC on the roadside.
He bought the pack, got more attempts, and burned through them right away.
Then rinse and repeat for Armament Haki and Observation Haki.
Three more "value packs" refreshed for the day.
Not even 30,000 Beli total. Who were they looking down on?
Having money…
Does make you float a bit. Klein didn't even blink as he bought every pack.
He used up all the tries.
Until he failed a stage and the defeat prompt popped up:
[You can raise Haki via "Haki Trials," "Shop—Haki Materials Discount Packs," "Events," and other features.]
"Eh—"
"There are materials in the shop too?!"
He rarely visited the shop. When he'd been broke, the daily value packs were enough.
Plus, the shop hadn't had many items that actually moved the needle.
Klein opened it and saw that after the last update, the shop had a lot more to buy.
Including…
"First top-up double?!"
"Damn!!"
"When did the devs get so generous? There wasn't a first top-up double at launch!"
"Don't tell me…"
"This is their first time making a game?!"
"Keeping up with the times, huh!!"
He was stunned. He'd never seen any first top-up double in this game before.
He'd assumed it didn't exist—but the last update actually added it?
"What a loss."
"A total blood loss!"
He opened the recharge page.
From low to high, the options were: 60,000 Beli; 300,000 Beli; 980,000 Beli; 1,980,000 Beli; 6,480,000 Beli; 12,880,000 Beli; 88,880,000 Beli; and 188,880,000 Beli!
"Nearly 200 million at the top end? That's insane!!" Klein gaped.
He had never seen a game this shameless.
This was some ugly, ugly monetization.
Other games started at 1 or 6, and usually capped at 648—but this one's ceiling was almost 200 million Beli?!
Buy!
Sooner or later, I was gonna top-up anyway!
Do it early to level up VIP and enjoy better perks.
With first top-up double, 100 million Beli becomes 200 million Beli!
A steal!
You buy it, you profit!!
The only painful part? After he bought every single first-top-up pack…
He realized his bank card was running on fumes.
All the first-top-ups combined came to 30,044,000 Beli—about 300 million!
"Hiss—no way it's this perfectly timed every single time." Klein could only shrug.
First top-up double?
Skipping it is a blood loss!
He bought them all. The Beli count in the top-right doubled instantly—straight to 600 million!
Staring at that 600 million, Klein felt amazingly refreshed. "Six hundred million Beli. First time I've ever held a stack this big."
"I can't even spend it all. Literally impossible!"
After topping up, he found the Haki discount packs in the shop.
Each of the three Haki types had a 50% off, 20% off, and full-price pack—daily limits 1, 3, and 5.
The prices, though…
Kinda brutal!
The 50% off one was still 500,000 Beli!
Klein bought them all—total damage: 23,700,000 Beli!!
And the packs refreshed weekly!?
"Who said money is impossible to spend? Screw your team's jungler!" Klein burst out swearing.
If he bought every weekly Haki discount pack, that was almost 100 million Beli a month.
Add in the daily value packs, and monthly spend would be just over 100 million.
"Good grief—"
"One day, money's gonna drive me insane!!"
His mood tanked in an instant. Then a stray thought hit him: everyone knew he'd made a ton of money…
So where did it all go?
"Want my treasure?
"If you want it, I'll give it to you—go find it!"
'I put (recharged) all my money on Laugh Tale (the game)!'
Damn!
Everyone thought he was rich, but in truth, he was broke and stressed out!
It was rough being him!