"Oh my god, is... is this all true?"
"Attacking a Celestial Dragon, putting a slave collar on them, defeating a Navy Admiral, openly challenging the Navy, and even declaring they'll seize Sabaody Archipelago?!"
"How could anyone dare to do such terrifying things? Aren't they afraid of death?"
"I must be dreaming—how else could something so absurd happen?"
"This is ridiculous! I think this report is completely made up!"
...
Just as Sengoku and the others had anticipated, the news report caused an uproar across the world, shocking countless people and sparking heated discussions.
By the afternoon, an official Navy statement denying the rumors, along with two freshly issued bounty notices, was released from Marine Headquarters. These were immediately distributed to Navy bases worldwide, slightly quelling the public outcry—though it didn't completely die down.
Meanwhile, somewhere in the Grand Line, a wooden ship continued sailing leisurely.
On board, Lin Xuan, who had just finished eating, suddenly heard a series of system notifications in his mind:
*Ding! Congratulations, Host. Reputation Points +99,999!*
*Ding! Congratulations, Host. Reputation Points +99,999!*
*Ding! Congratulations, Host. Reputation Points +99,999!*
...
In just a short time, he had gained over a million Reputation Points, and the number kept rising—even accelerating!
Lin Xuan's eyes lit up. "Looks like the news about what happened on Sabaody has spread! That genjutsu before leaving was totally worth it!"
As it turned out, when he was leaving Sabaody Archipelago, he had already noticed the reporter hiding nearby, eavesdropping. He also guessed that the Navy would try to suppress the news.
Lin Xuan had gone to great lengths to make a scene, hoping to rake in Reputation Points. He wasn't about to let the Navy silence everything.
Spotting the reporter, he had a sudden idea—he cast a genjutsu to make the reporter invisible to Kizaru and the others.
Admittedly, people in the One Piece world were generally physically strong, but their resistance to illusions was weak. Even a Navy Admiral like Kizaru, especially while injured, was no exception.
Thanks to Lin Xuan's genjutsu, the reporter managed to escape right under the Navy's noses.
Not only that, but Lin Xuan also implanted a subconscious suggestion in the reporter's mind: No matter what, you must publish everything you saw. That was why the news had spread worldwide.
Now, watching his Reputation Points skyrocket past five million, Lin Xuan mused, "At this rate, I could earn tens of millions in a single day! In a few more days, it might even reach hundreds of millions!"
But just as he was speculating how high his Reputation Points could go, he noticed the growth rate slowing down.
"Hmm?"
Lin Xuan frowned. "Why is it slowing down? The One Piece world can't be that small, can it?"
As far as he knew, the World Government alone ruled over 170 nations. Alabasta had over ten million people, and Fish-Man Island had five million. Add in countries outside the World Government's control, and the world's population was conservatively estimated at two billion.
Even if not everyone read the newspaper, it shouldn't have slowed down after just a few million Reputation Points.
After a moment of thought, Lin Xuan realized what was likely happening.
"The Navy must be stepping in to cover things up and control the narrative," he muttered, rolling his eyes.
Right then, a News Coo flew overhead. Lin Xuan waved, and it dropped a newspaper to him—though one of the pirates he controlled had to pay for it, since Lin Xuan himself didn't have a single Beri on him.
He quickly skimmed the paper but found no mention of the Sabaody incident. Instead, the front page was dominated by the Navy's official denial.
It seemed the original report had been recalled, and Marines stationed worldwide had likely been ordered to confiscate any remaining copies from those who had bought them.
When Lin Xuan saw that he and Madara Uchiha were being accused of manipulating the press, slandering the Navy, and defaming the Celestial Dragons—alongside their new bounty posters—he couldn't help but laugh.
"These Marines dare call themselves 'justice'? How shameless!"
Then he unfolded the two bounty notices. The moment he saw the amounts, his dissatisfaction deepened.
"The Navy only put up 200 million Beri bounties? That's way too stingy!"
In the original story, after Luffy's rampage on Sabaody, his bounty had jumped straight to 400 million Beri.
Lin Xuan felt that the threat he and Madara had demonstrated far surpassed Luffy's at that point. Yet the Navy's bounty was disappointingly low.
The difference was, Luffy's bounty had climbed gradually, while he and Madara had started at 200 million Beri—an extremely rare occurrence in this world.
The Navy was probably worried that setting the bounties too high would raise suspicions, undermining their denial efforts.
Of course, even with their emergency measures, the Navy couldn't completely suppress the incident. People would keep debating whether it was true or not.
Lin Xuan's Reputation Points would keep growing, just at a slower pace—but over a longer period, potentially earning him even more in the end.
Besides, the Navy could only cover this up for so long. In a month, when the decisive battle on Sabaody began, the truth would come out, and all the Reputation Points owed to Lin Xuan would flood in.
However, Lin Xuan soon had no time to dwell on this. Because at that moment, Madara Uchiha—having just finished watching the Naruto clips Lin Xuan had shown him—was now in a state of absolute fury!
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T/N:
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