Chapter 20: Unexpected Jackpot: The Prize of a Lifetime

He’d only been in the One Piece World for less than a month, but he’d already collected four Devil Fruits—a haul most would kill for.

Looking at the four fruits with pride, he couldn’t help thinking he’d done transmigrators everywhere proud.

“Knock, knock, knock!”

“Lord Karl.”

“Come in!”

Hearing Krell’s knock, Karl quickly stowed the Devil Fruits out of sight.

“Lord Karl, we’ve finished tallying the spoils.”

“We’ve brought in around 1.4 billion Berries in loot.”

“But since you’re splitting fifty percent, your cut this time is 700 million Berries.”

Standing by the door, Krell reported respectfully. He wore a hint of regret—it wasn’t common on Beehive Island to hand out half of what you plundered.

Karl was the first captain to ever pull a move like this—then again, Karl was his lifesaver.

His time on Beehive Island had opened his eyes: most pirates barely pocket even a fraction of the loot after every raid.

Karl was a bit bummed there was only one Devil Fruit in those three iron chests, but Krell had already finished moving the rest of the valuables and came to report.

“As for everything else, we’ll need to fence it through the Underworld before we get an accurate price.”

“Got it. We’ll deal with the leftovers once we’re back on Beehive Island.”

Karl looked thoughtful as he spoke, an idea occurring to him as he saw Krell.

“By the way, pick out a few Fishmen from the slaves and set up a rescue team.”

“Split the remaining people among the other squads.”

The main reason for dividing people up was that with his crew growing, more and more members would become Devil Fruit users.

With the rescue team, they could fish out Devil Fruit users who fell into the sea. After all, one capable user was a huge asset.

Under his command, he’d formed ten squads. Each one only had twenty or thirty people right now.

They’d just freed over five hundred slaves, so spreading them around was the only way to manage.

He wasn’t about to burn himself out managing infighting—he doubted most of these people would be around in the long run anyway, so he wasn’t planning to waste the effort.

“Understood, Lord Karl.”

Krell instantly caught on and promised to take care of it. He was basically Karl’s steward these days—half the jobs fell straight to him.

He’d already decided in his heart to be loyal to Karl to the end.

“Oh, and check in on Long Yi and Long Er, will you?”

With tasks handed out, Karl suddenly remembered the two kids, Long Yi and Long Er.

“Long Yi and Long Er? Who are they?”

Krell looked puzzled for a moment.

As far as he knew, there were no such kids on board—was there something he didn’t know about?

“Picked them up on the road earlier, just a couple of strays.”

He remembered their dirty faces in that grimy alley. The memory made him chuckle—never expected he’d be playing the hero.

He couldn’t help but find it funny, suddenly turning into a softie.

“Yes, Lord Karl. I’ll check on them and report back once I know more.”

“Alright, off you go.”

Karl waved him off. He’d now officially survived a full month in the One Piece World.

Once Krell left, Karl immediately called up the Guoman System.

He opened the system’s virtual panel and saw his monthly draw had gone from zero to one.

“System, start the lottery!”

It had been ages since Karl last spun the wheel—he was itching to see what he’d win this time.

A golden wheel materialized before his eyes, the screen displaying all kinds of heroes from different Chinese animations.

“Yuan Tiangang from Underdog, the Fire Walker from Fog Hill of Five Elements, Elder Heavenly Master from The Outcast…”

A black pointer began spinning rapidly around the golden wheel.

“Some serious prizes today!”

“Even Elder Heavenly Master’s in the pool.”

Compared to Elder Heavenly Master, every other hero template looked second-rate.

The guy could cultivate immortality—said to be unbeatable below the level of immortals, and even against immortals, it was a toss-up.

On top of that, he stood at the pinnacle in The Outcast, his strength incontestable.

Watching the wheel spin, Karl shut his eyes and chanted Elder Heavenly Master’s name in his mind.

“Congratulations, Host. You’ve drawn the Elder Heavenly Master template.”

Karl leapt straight out of his chair, thrilled—this was the luckiest prize he’d ever pulled.

“The reward is stored in your inventory. Please check the details at your convenience.”

For a moment, Karl thought he heard the system’s voice tinged with envy.

“Show me Elder Heavenly Master’s details.”

“Hero Template: Elder Heavenly Master from The Outcast

Background: Elder Heavenly Master, Zhang Zhiwei, is the 65th-generation Celestial Master of Mount Longhu, one of the Ten Elders. His Daoist name is Tiantong. The strongest of the ‘One Apex, Two Heroes’—his mysterious powers are said to be second to none in The Outcast.

Skills: Golden Light Spell, Yang Five Thunders, Palm Thunder, Tranquil Mind Spell, Daoist Thunder Magic, a variety of Daoist martial arts.”

As Karl read through Elder Heavenly Master’s info, his emotions went on a rollercoaster.

This month’s lottery had paid off in a big way. He never expected to actually land Elder Heavenly Master’s template.

Unable to contain his excitement, he spoke up.

“System, fuse the Elder Heavenly Master template now!”

“Template fusion in progress…”

As Karl’s body merged with the template, he felt a dramatic transformation.

A scorching energy coursed through him—every cell seemed to awaken and evolve, his strength multiplying instantly.

Muscles thickened and hardened, bones became denser, even his height shot up until he stood nearly three meters tall. Stronger nerves made his senses razor-sharp.

At the same time, his mind became crystal clear—recall and comprehension both soared, old memories now vivid.

He felt swifter, with a greater grasp of logic and analysis.

Floods of knowledge surged through his mind—he knew instinctively these were Elder Heavenly Master’s abilities.

In that instant, it was as though he’d trained for decades.

Once the fusion ended, he flexed his hands, the contraction of his new muscles confirming he’d grown even stronger.

He stretched out his right hand as a flower of lightning bloomed from his palm—Palm Thunder, just like that.

He watched the crackling thunder in awe, thinking he could even fake being a Rumble-Rumble Fruit user in the future.

“This is wild!”

“It’s almost like breathing.”

“The only cost is my stamina and personal energy—guess you could call it internal power.”

Forming a Palm Thunder, he noticed he’d burned through about one percent of his stamina. Still, with Titan Strength, his recovery was so fast it barely mattered.

Not that he was worried—he could regain that energy in no time.

What about the power, though? Glancing at the desk in front of him, Karl’s grin widened.

“Crack—boom!”

The Palm Thunder slammed into the desk.

In an instant, the desk turned to charcoal and exploded into pieces.