Looking around at the deck full of people rendered speechless by shock, Pryce couldn't help but let a smile curl at the corner of his mouth.
"Fine, if that's too much to take, then just pay me for the senzu bean I gave you!"
"Just send me back after that! Marco!" Pryce had no intention of wasting any more time with them and spoke directly to Marco.
"Wait!" Before Marco could reply, Whitebeard Newgate hastily interrupted the conversation.
"I accept your terms!"
"No problem!" Whitebeard Newgate spoke to Price with determination.
Everyone in the cabin stared at the two of them in astonishment. Even the captain agreed to such harsh conditions!
"Pops—" Diamond Jozu hurried forward, trying to persuade Whitebeard Newgate.
"Shut up. Haven't you realized how valuable Pryce is to us yet?" Flower Sword Vista grabbed Diamond Jozu, his tone stern. "If every one of us gets a senzu bean, this deal is worth it—more than worth it!" Marco nodded in agreement as well.
Seeing Whitebeard Newgate nod his head, Pryce remained remarkably calm. This was, after all, just as Pryce had expected! In the eyes of these powerful people, his value was downright priceless!
"Don't worry, Pryce a real man never goes back on his word!" Seeing Pryce silent, Whitebeard Newgate wondered if Pryce was upset, so he hastily pounded his chest in reassurance.
"Of course I trust Captain Newgate character!" Price smiled and nodded as he spoke.
"Then let me officially welcome you to my pirate crew!"
Seeing Pryce agree, Whitebeard Newgate burst into hearty laughter. Right away, all the clever division commanders began to cheer! With Pryce senzu beans, the might of the Whitebeard Pirates could easily double!
"Marco, give Pryce a tour and set him up with a top-notch room!" "And boys—tonight we throw a party to welcome Pryce to the crew!" Whitebeard Newgate turned to say this to everyone. The whole cabin immediately erupted in thunderous cheers!
Marco nodded and led Pryce off to wander around the massive Moby Dick.
Soon enough night fell, and the deck of the Moby Dick was ablaze with lights, the air full of raucous celebration. Every member of the Whitebeard Pirates now knew their crew had recruited an extraordinary new member—someone whose senzu beans could heal injured people instantly!
Pryce found himself surrounded by people, glass after glass in hand. Looking at the red liquid in his cup, Pryce couldn't help but start missing the booze from his previous life! This stuff was in a whole different league! Still, his easygoing willingness to drink with anyone won him plenty of goodwill! Even Diamond Jozu, who'd been less than thrilled with Pryce during the day, slowly warmed up to him under the coaxing of the others! The two even draped arms around each other's shoulders, downing drink after drink.
After midnight, bodies were sprawled all across the deck of the Moby Dick. Slightly tipsy and hiccuping, Pryce made his way straight back to his room. He locked the door, sat cross-legged on the bed, and summoned up the otherworldly production system in his mind.
"Current item to manufacture—senzu bean!"
"Already produced: three, basic grade!"
"Manufacturing points awarded: 3"
"Next item unlocks at 30/100000"
Pryce scratched his head as he looked at the system interface. Looks like it's a long road ahead! Each basic-grade senzu bean only grants a single manufacturing point, and every point only adds 10 units of progress toward unlocking the next item. Better step up the pace on making basic senzu beans—and start developing intermediate and advanced-grade ones too!
After all, the real prize of this system isn't just these items—the main draw is the lottery! That's right—manufacturing points are for the lottery draws! Just think, even the very first senzu bean was a prize he won from the system's initial lottery! And that was only a purple-tier draw. Who knows what kind of insane stuff is in store on the gold and orange-tier draws! Just thinking about it had Pryce all fired up. If only there were enough points for a draw!
.......
The next morning, long after sunrise, Pryce finally woke up, leisurely stretching. Stepping out of his room and into the sunlight, Pryce was already planning how to speed up his senzu bean production.
"Not bad, Price—you held your drink well." Whitebeard Newgate lounged at the bow of the ship, sunbathing as he greeted Pryce.
"I've got a long way to go before I can drink with you, Captain!" Pryce replied modestly.
"By the way, Captain, do we have any bigger spaces on board where I could set up my senzu bean factory?" Pryce didn't bother with pleasantries—he just got right to the point.
The moment Pryce mentioned business, Whitebeard Newgate instantly perked up.
"We do!, Of course we do! and even if we don't, I'll have these brats' rooms torn down to make one!" Whitebeard Newgate replied enthusiastically. Marco rolled his eyes at that.
"Perfect—have a few of the crews member help me clean out the space!"
"Oh, and Marco—go get the stuff on this list for me!, the more, the better. Everything should be in equal proportions!" Pryce handed the shopping list he'd drawn up the night before to Marco.
Marco paused, surprised Pryce would entrust something this secretive to him.
"Well, what are you standing around for? Go get shopping!"
"The sooner you bring everything back, the sooner our senzu bean factory will be up and running!" Seeing Marco hesitate, Pryce shot him a puzzled look.
That snapped Marco out of it his hands trembled slightly as he took the list. "Oh, you're not worried I'll steal the recipe or stab you in the back or something?"
"Relax—I trust both you and Captain Whitebeard. Besides, even with the recipe, you couldn't make senzu beans alone!" With that, Pryce left Marco and Whitebeard Newgate behind and took several crew member off to clean the room.
Marco was a bit red-faced, but as a doctor, there was no way he could resist studying the formula for the senzu beans. He immediately bent over to study it in detail.
After a long moment, Marco finally lifted his head.
"Well, Marco?"
"See anything?" Whitebeard Newgate eagerly asked.
"Dad, Pryce is definitely a genius!"
"Every single ingredient on this list is a common herb!, There are even random weeds and flowers you'd find growing by the roadside!, But I just can't wrap my head around how those things could possibly combine into something as miraculous as a senzu bean!" Marco said, looking genuinely bewildered.