Page 1254

This period corresponds to approximately 70 words in the book.

The Sabaody Archipelago, the death of the mountain bandit king.

In the storyline, Siegfried sings an invincible song and then fakes his death to escape.

But in reality, that plot might actually be the ending; Sieg really will die there.

...

Chapter 324 ending text:

The short sword pierced Sieg's heart, and blood gushed out like a fountain.

Sieg stood there with a smile, a smile that seemed to convey a sense of relief.

......

In fact, it wasn't just Sieg who was liberated, but me as well.

Of course, I changed my mind in the end.

My strongest emotion at the time was actually resentment.

If the story were to end there, then "The Mountain Bandit King" would become just another ordinary book on Hedgehog Cat, another very short book with over 10,000 subscribers.

People might say, "There was a novel called 'Mountain Bandit King' before. It was quite funny at first, but it got less interesting later, and it was a bit short."

There are actually quite a few books like this, though each book is different. Some books, by their very choice of subject matter, are destined to be short-lived; it's a good thing they end early, forcing them to continue would only result in a poor sequel.

If I no longer have the energy to write an interesting sequel to this book, then why bother with a poor sequel?

Even so, I still feel unwilling to give up after thinking it over and over.

If you go back and read the earlier parts of the story, before the 70-word mark, you'll find that many plot holes had already been quietly planted.

Actually, I had already prepared the outline for the rest of the story. When I reached 70 words, the main story was not even halfway through, so I was unwilling to stop there.

The reason I changed my mind and continued writing can actually be summarized in one sentence:

I have a story in my heart, and I want to complete it.

.....

From the moment I made the decision, my mindset has quietly changed.

The primary goal became completing the story.

That's why I'm so dedicated to filling in the gaps in the past chapters and the final volume; pursuing a complete story is my biggest goal.

Once I set this goal, I stopped paying attention to the noise in the comments section.

Those who truly represent the "silent majority" are never trolls.

The most representative data should be subscriptions.

Since then, I've only checked the subscriptions occasionally, and most of the time I don't read the comments or anything like that, and I just quietly write my book.

It was like the end of a lively banquet. It had a great and bustling start, but after all the guests left, I was alone at the banquet venue at one or two in the morning, with half-empty Coke bottles all over the floor.

In the end, we just had to pack up and get back to life.

.......

After the death of the mountain bandit king at the end of the third volume, the title of the fourth volume is "Rebirth".

Sig faked his death and escaped; he was no longer the bandit king.

At the beginning of this volume, one question I pondered was... what kind of person would Sigurd be if he were no longer the bandit king? What would he do?

From here on, I made various attempts, both large and small, in terms of writing style and content.

The naval storyline was also an experiment, and the later past arc, parallel world arc, and so on were all bold attempts and transformations.

After ignoring the noise from the outside world, I began to think about some questions about books.

For example... how should silly and funny stories continue to develop?

I've followed some veteran writers of humorous articles, humorous content creators on Bilibili, humorous short video bloggers on other platforms, and comedy anime, sketches, and movies...

Then I gradually discovered a fact.

The phenomenon of "running out of ideas" is something that every comedy writer, regardless of their profession, must face.

Once it gets too long, it gets tedious, and it's basically impossible to stay as fun and funny as it was at the beginning.

Humor alone cannot sustain a long online novel.

Even top creators in various industries cannot achieve this, let alone me.

My previous attempts to maintain the taste of the "first sip of ice-cold Coke" were actually just making things difficult for myself, which was asking too much of myself.

This isn't a groundbreaking conclusion, but I felt a huge sense of relief after reaching it. Unfortunately... it's a bit too late.

From then on, I stopped deliberately seeking out laughs and instead focused on the story itself.

The absurdity serves as the surface, and this surface is crucial, being the key to attracting readers to continue reading. However, beneath the absurdity, the story must ultimately prevail.

Once I stopped being so hard on myself, that anxiety gradually faded away, and my condition slowly returned to normal.

Then, following the tycoon's lead, the past chapter was written smoothly.

The beginning of the past chapter was written in a hospital corridor. I did hesitate while writing it, unsure if this choice was good or bad, because my confidence had collapsed and I hadn't recovered from my low point. But at the time, I was focused on reality and didn't dwell on gains and losses too much.

The article was well-received after it was written, and subscriptions gradually returned.

The common phenomenon on Hedgehog Cat is that "the peak is reached as soon as it is released," and once subscriptions drop, it will not rise again, even if a book has tens of thousands of subscriptions. I have not heard of any cases where subscriptions have rebounded and the market has risen again.

This "Mountain Bandit King" has a second life. This second life lasted a long time, with subscriptions remaining consistently high even in its later stages. In terms of the stability of subscriptions alone, it surpasses most books with over 10,000 subscriptions.

It didn't peak immediately upon release, nor did it falter later on; it remained stable until the very late game.

Subscribing to data best represents the "silent majority." And I made the right choice.

So I'm quite glad that I persevered until I finished writing this book.

.............

Returning to the very beginning.

What kind of story does this book, "The Mountain Bandit King," want to tell?

A story of a lie becoming the truth.

The idea that a lie can become the truth has three meanings, or rather, three stages.

1. First layer: Usopp's card lie comes true.

This layer is a simple and crude way of rewriting reality with lies, almost like a prophecy: the lies Usopp told will all become reality in the future.

This stage is designed to mislead readers into believing that Usopp is the one who covered up the lie, thus concealing my true intentions, which is the major plot twist in the later outline.

The original Sig was actually based on Usopp, who fought using his cleverness.

2. The second layer involves making the lie appear true.

Turning boasts into reality step by step—that's what "The Past" mainly does.

The first layer exists to conceal the second layer.

3. The third level is to transform from a false bandit king into a real bandit king.

This phase corresponds to the period from the end of the past chapters until the end of the book.

This is the story structure of this 350 million-word novel. The three layers inside and outside represent both the progress of the main storyline and the stages of character development for the protagonist.

Looking back now that it's finished, it's very well done.

This time, I'm really on the third floor.

.......

The second question that follows is: What are mountain bandits? And what is a mountain bandit king?

This is a question I started to consider after the middle of the course of my life.

As we all know, the pirates in One Piece and the ninjas in Naruto are vastly different from the concepts in the real world.

If the core of One Piece is freedom and adventure, then the Pirate King is the freest person on the high seas.

If Sig is to become the "true bandit king", then what is a bandit and what is a bandit king?

When Sig becomes the strongest person, will the Invincible Style truly become the Mountain Bandit King?

Of the ten One Piece fanfics, nine end with the protagonist crushing the World Government.

What's the difference between the Mountain Bandit King and other protagonists who crush the World Government? There are plenty of extraordinary or decisive protagonists in online novels, but the Mountain Bandit King I want to write about isn't a great man who single-handedly reverses history and guides the world.

...

Of course, what constitutes a pirate or a bandit is not important to the reader.

Most readers read online novels for entertainment and amusement.

But for the author, this book has a greater significance.

It's because of the heavy emphasis on sentimentality that there's a 20-word outline and the repeated attempts to fill in the plot holes.

If the sole aim is to earn royalties, then this book should have ended when the "Mountain Bandit King faked his death," and starting a new book would be the most cost-effective approach.

.................

Next is the Q&A session, where I will answer some questions that appeared in the comments.

1. Is there a sequel?

No. Actually, I've said before that I won't write this book as an infinite flow story, nor will I include a Naruto arc.

The starry sky is actually just a backdrop; it's only depicted metaphorically, not literally.

I'm doing this because I want to write an open ending. It's not setting the stage for a new book. I don't plan to write a sequel.

The story has an end, but the lives of the characters in the story have not ended; they are still living their own lives... so this is the ending.

The Pirate King, who has spent his life on adventure, has set foot on the sea of ​​stars. I think this is a good ending, and it is very appropriate as an open ending.

A fictional ending is an open-ended conclusion.

But if we write it realistically, like "One Piece Sequel: Space Pirate King", wouldn't that just become Boruto?