AM N. NOT.
✌🏻(￣ー￣)
While the camerawoman continued traveling across Japan, she showed different students who had received the message from UA.
✌🏻(゜ロ゜)
Meanwhile, there was one person who had not moved for hours.
Maki.
He was still sitting in the basement, his eyes lingering on the system panel in front of him.
Then he noticed something new.
Below the panel was a small indicator.
1 / 3
Maki stared at it for a moment before swiping to the next page.
The second panel appeared.
Just like before, the three categories were still there.
Naruto. One Piece. Bleach.
He inspected it carefully. The structure of the panel remained the same as before, but its design had slightly changed. The interface looked more refined now, blending better with the updated style of the system.
After a moment, he swiped again.
The third page appeared.
Just like the second page had been earlier, this one was locked.
Dark golden chains wrapped tightly across the entire panel, sealing it shut. At the center of the page was the head of a dark golden dragon-serpent, its scarred face staring outward like a guardian.
Maki stared at it quietly.
Below the panel was the requirement to unlock it.
[0000 / 5000]
Five thousand points.
That was the cost to unlock this page.
Maki simply gave a vague look before swiping back to the first page of the system panel.
His eyes then moved toward his current points.
Around 7,000 points.
Of course, his points continued to increase as time passed.
He watched the number tick upward again.
But even with that, he still didn't unlock the new page.
Who knew why.
Instead, his attention returned to the first panel.
The very first page.
The page that had given him a way to survive in this world.
The page where he had made his very first draw and gained those unbelievable abilities.
Even this part had changed.
Now, a single draw required 1000 points.
Maki stared at the dragon eye engraved at the center of the chest.
Then, without hesitation, he clicked it.
The obsidian chest suddenly shook.
The dragon eye slowly closed its eyelid.
Then—
Creeeaaak.
The lid slowly opened.
When the chest was fully opened, something floated out.
An obsidian orb.
Just like the draw system in the second panel, there were no cards this time.
Only the orb.
But this one looked different.
It was a crystallized obsidian sphere, and wrapped around it was a golden serpent dragon, coiling across the surface like a living seal.
The orb hovered above the opened chest.
Maki leaned forward slightly.
Then he noticed something.
On the front surface of the orb, there was a skull carved into it.
He tilted his head.
Yes.
It was definitely a skull.
He stared at it, studying the craftsmanship. He wasn't someone who knew much about art, but even he could tell that this skull had been carved with incredible detail. It looked almost like a real human skull, even down to the small curves of the jaw.
Slowly, he reached out and pressed it.
He had no idea what he would receive.
But the excitement was already there.
Like a fisherman sitting patiently at sea, waiting for the moment a fish finally bites the bait.
The moment he clicked it—
The hovering orb suddenly shot forward.
It flew straight out of the system panel and slammed toward his forehead.
His eyes closed instinctively.
For a brief moment, everything went silent.
Then—
His eyes opened.
His red irises were filled with strange joy.
And somehow…
He was smiling.
He looked down at his hand.
It was shaking.
Shaking with excitement.
Then he whispered softly,
"Thank you… little girl."
"Qujanaqimmat…"
For some reason, he seemed extremely grateful for whatever he had just received.
Earlier he had been complaining and cursing to himself.
Yet now, he looked strangely satisfied.
(￣ー￣)👉🏻Had he finally lost his mind?
Well.
Who knows.
Meanwhile, the camerawoman kept filming, clearly being far more productive than Maki, who had been sitting in one place the entire time.
The camera shifted again.
This time it focused on a slender woman.
She was wearing a blue sundress, her white shoulders exposed. The fabric hugged her body tightly, showing off her perfect figure. Her slim waist and wide bust were impossible to miss, the dress clinging to every curve.
But the most noticeable feature about her…
Were the horns.
She was holding a weapon.
A kanabo.
A heavy spiked metal club.
And this one was entirely golden.
She carefully cleaned its surface while watching her reflection in it.
This woman was none other than Ulti.
She wasn't wearing her mask, and her beautiful face reflected faintly across the polished metal of the kanabo.
Then suddenly—
Her phone rang.
The ringtone was Maki's voice, singing the chorus of All of Me( by John legend ) in his deep tone.
[ Cause all of me
Loves all of you
Love your curves and all your edges
All your perfect imperfections
Give your all to me
I'll give my all to you
You're my end and my beginning
Even when I lose I'm winning
'Cause I give you all of me
And you give me all of you oh-oh ]
Ulti didn't answer immediately.
Instead, she simply listened to the song until it finished.
Only after the ringing stopped did she pick up the phone.
Her pink eyes scanned the message on the screen.
It was a message from UA.
Enrollment Complete.
The selection process is over. Thousands applied, but only the elite remain. Admissions are now strictly closed, and you, Hoyle Ulti, are part of the new era.
Ulti read the message.
Then she smiled.
"As expected from me-arin~."
She opened her hessenger app and sent a message to her sister, Black Maria, telling her she had passed the test.
See you soon-arin~.
Almost immediately, Black Maria replied with congratulations.
"Oh that Ulti-chan of yours. Congrats…"
Then another message appeared.
I'll need your help with something, Ulti-chan.
Ulti raised an eyebrow.
Whenever her older sister said something like that, it usually meant something serious.
She typed back.
What's wrong, sis?
Black Maria replied quickly.
Oh~ nothing that big… well, he was actually big! But I need you to watch a person for me.
Ulti blinked.
A person?
She typed again.
Who?
Black Maria sent another message.
It's a man.
A man…
Ulti repeated the words in her mind.
She knew very well how her sister liked to "educate" troublesome men using her fists and her rather sadistic personality.
So why ask her instead?
Still, Ulti typed again.
Who?
Another message appeared on the screen.
Your brother-in-law.
Ulti froze.
For a moment, the hard-headed girl completely stopped thinking.
Her brain refused to process what she had just read.
!!ヽ(ﾟдﾟヽ)(ﾉﾟдﾟ)ﾉ!!
AM N. NOT.
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Trivia
Using Hoyle as a collective family name for the Tobiroppo is a "God-tier" choice for a One Piece fan project or headcanon. It fits Eiichiro Oda's naming logic so well it almost feels like it should be canon.
Here are the four big reasons why Hoyle is the perfect fit:
The "Rules of the Game"
In the real world, Edmond Hoyle was the man who literally wrote the book on card games. The phrase "According to Hoyle" is a common English idiom meaning "strictly according to the rules."
The Irony: The Tobiroppo are chaotic, violent pirates who constantly break rules and try to usurp the All-Stars. Giving them a name that means "The Rules" is the kind of irony Oda loves.
It Completes the "Deck" Hierarchy
The Beast Pirates are structured like a deck of cards:
The King, Queen, and Jack: The All-Stars.
The Joker: Doflamingo (their underworld partner).
The Numbers: Literal giant cards.
The Tobiroppo: All named after specific card games (Ulti, Page One, Black Maria, etc.).
The Surname: Hoyle acts as the "box" that holds all those games together
It Unites the "Sibling" Dynamic
Ulti and Page One are biological siblings, but the Tobiroppo often act like a dysfunctional family of "problem children" for Kaido.
Having a shared name like Hoyle Ulti and Hoyle Page One makes their bond feel more official.
It also adds a layer of prestige; it sounds like a "Great Pirate Family" that Kaido recruited specifically because of their strength.
It Sounds Natural in "One Piece"
Phonetically, "Hoyle" is short, punchy, and easy to shout—which is a requirement for One Piece names.
"Hoyle Who's-Who" has a nice rhythmic alliteration.
"Hoyle Sasaki" sounds like a formal Yakuza name.
"Hoyle Black Maria" sounds like the name of a high-stakes gambling madam.
That's why It's Hoyle Ulti.
!!ヽ(ﾟдﾟヽ)(ﾉﾟдﾟ)ﾉ!!
AM N. NOT.