One Piece: A Guide for Ordinary Players

But now, with four burly men all over three meters tall and a sick horse also over three meters long, trying to hide on the Going Merry, which only has a single mast, is as impossible as expecting Enel to walk up to them and commit suicide.

Blackbeard said, "Didn't you make any plans in this regard?"

Robert sighed and said, "I didn't foresee joining your team, Captain, so I really didn't plan to bring so many people to the sky island."

Blackbeard raised an eyebrow and said, "Oh, so you actually have your own way of keeping up with them all by yourself?"

Robert pointed to the iron barrel next to him and a harpoon-like firing gun, saying, "My original plan was to quietly ride a small boat and pretend to watch from behind them. When the time came, I would use the harpoon to shoot a rope onto their boat, and then hide in the barrel, using the rope to suspend myself and follow them to the sky island."

Blackbeard laughed and said, "That's settled then. All we need to do is replace your iron bucket with our ship. Then we'll hang the ship behind them and fly up with them."

Robert almost rolled his eyes at Blackbeard. "Your raft-like pirate ship is almost twice the size of the Going Merry. No one can get to the Sky Island if it's hanging behind you."

Van Augur was at least a sensible man: "Our ship is too heavy; I'm afraid it will be difficult to move with such thin ropes."

Blackbeard raised his left hand, and darkness began to gather from it, gradually forming a small vortex: "Don't worry, darkness is gravity. If the ropes can't hold them back, my power will hold them firmly!"

Robert revealed his true intentions: "Captain, what I'm afraid of is that if we can't all reach the Sky Island due to the impact of the waves or some other reason, we'll have to make choices. Who will come with us, and who will stay behind!"

Burgess shouted, "I'm going to stick with the captain! I can't be left out of any fight!"

Doc Q lay sprawled on the table, looking half-dead: "If we really can't all go with them, then I'll stay here and wait for Lafayette. We agreed to meet here, so someone has to meet him."

Van Augur worriedly asked, "If only the captain goes up, can he defeat the Straw Hat crew?"

He regretted it as soon as he finished speaking. Sure enough, Blackbeard's face was gloomy: "They're just a bunch of greenhorns. I can handle them myself."

He looked at Robert and said, "You're not very strong, and you can't go into the water because you ate a Devil Fruit. It will be difficult for us to take care of you then."

Robert's eyes burned with determination: "Commander, since you have the ability to create black holes, could you hide us inside and take us up with you?"

Chapter 24 A Second Blossom

Blackbeard shook his head: "I do have the ability to create black holes and suck things in, but the pressure inside a black hole is extremely high, and sucking you in would crush you."

Robert certainly didn't genuinely want everyone to hide in Blackbeard's secret tunnel and fly to the Sky Island together. What he really wanted was for everyone else to fall behind and for only himself and Blackbeard to reach the Sky Island.

"What if I hide inside this metal barrel?"

Blackbeard glanced at the barrel, which was about four or five millimeters thick and reinforced with iron bars, and shook his head with a smile.

Robert's heart skipped a beat. He had become a little complacent after his smooth joining the Blackbeard Pirates and was acting without thinking.

This iron bucket looks too much like something I planned all along. If Blackbeard suspects that I came here specifically for him, then forget about achieving my great goal of capturing the Rumble-Rumble Fruit; I might be killed the next second.

Fortunately, Blackbeard seemed to have no idea that there was such an omniscient and omnipotent transmigrator in the world who could scheme against him, a complete stranger, from every angle.

Blackbeard clearly didn't like making detailed plans, and simply got up and picked up his luggage: "Find us a place to rest."

Robert quickly stepped forward: "Let me take it. I'll take you to the guest rooms to rest."

Blackbeard seemed pleased with Robert's offer to carry his bag and followed behind him with a smile.

After settling the four men and the horse in, Robert showed no sign of wanting to sleep, sitting alone in the empty tavern hall without saying a word.

The door was pushed open, and Ah San walked in carrying a package: "Sir, Bellamy and the others have already set sail."

Robert nodded. He had instructed the Indians to send people to advance the plot during the day. Originally, the group of pirates that Robin had asked for directions happened to be in a tavern with Bellamy. They talked about how Curry, the descendant of the great liar Rolando, had salvaged gold, which led Bellamy and his crew to go and steal it.

Now that Robin's information and maps are provided by himself, he naturally has to arrange for the message to be delivered to Bellamy as well.

Over time, Robert had become quite confident in Ah San's abilities. Just as he had said, there was nothing he couldn't do on Jaya Island.

Robert glanced at the bundle he was carrying and was somewhat surprised.

These past few days, thanks to his willingness to spend money, Ah San has collected all the items on Robert's list, and they are now stored in the prop space, leaving only a basketball-sized usable space in that cubic meter.

I haven't asked the Indian guy to buy me anything lately.

When Ah San noticed that Robert had noticed the bundle in his hand, he walked up to him and placed the bundle on the bar.

"Boss, I've made you a new outfit. Don't worry, the size is perfect; I've taken the measurements carefully..."

Since his time travel, Robert has had little time to take care of his appearance, and he has been wearing the same lab coat he wore during his time travel.

The bundle was opened, revealing a perfectly tailored suit, complete with a waistcoat, white shirt, and a burgundy tie.

Robert was somewhat moved. Although the Indian had bullied him when he first arrived, his behavior was generally quite mild.

After that, he always did his best in any task that Robert assigned him, and Robert really felt a little reluctant to part with him.

Without much pretense, Robert readily changed into the suit, while the Indian man rubbed his hands together, habitually bowing with a fawning expression.

"Sir, you are a natural clothes hanger!"

Robert couldn't resist lighting a cigarette. He'd never gotten used to the cigarettes in this world, but wearing this outfit, he felt like something was missing if he didn't smoke.

"How's that matter going? Have everyone been notified?"

Ah San hesitated, "Sir, are we really going to sell the tavern?"

Robert said, "The story you told those shareholders before was that the great pirate Rossio was backing you up, but I killed Rossio yesterday. Do you think you can hold onto this store after I'm gone?"

Ah San opened his mouth as if to say something, but was interrupted by the sound of the door opening behind him:

"Hey, what the hell are you up to? Weren't you going to sell the tavern? Why did you set the time for the middle of the night?"

Ah San quickly put on a smiling face and went to greet her: "Oh, look at what you're saying. You know how complicated the situation is in this tavern. If we were to auction off the shares openly during the day, who knows how much trouble it would cause? So we can only secretly gather the shareholders at night and sell our shares..."

The man sneered, casually found a chair, sat down, and looked at Robert with the eyes of someone looking at a dead man.

Robert smiled and said, "Ah San, then I'll trouble you to entertain these bosses. I'll go to the kitchen and make them something nice to eat; we can't keep them waiting."

It started to get noisy outside, but once Robert started cooking, he became completely absorbed in it. Several times, Ah San came into the kitchen sweating profusely to ask him what was going on, but Robert just told him to call him when everyone was there.

When Robert pushed the food cart out of the kitchen, there were already three tables of people scattered around the tavern's main hall.

The Wild Cherry Tavern has seven shareholders in total, including gangsters from Magic Valley Town and shop owners who supply ingredients to various businesses.

The reason why the original boss was able to establish himself in Mogu Town was not only because a great pirate like Rossio secretly helped him eliminate obstacles, but also because of his model of recruiting more people to join him.

But the most important thing is that the former owner himself was not weak in combat. Before opening this tavern, he was a minor pirate. If Robert hadn't used all sorts of tricks and methods, even with his current level of strength, it would have been difficult to kill him.

So when the boss died, these minority shareholders started to have some wicked ideas.

I have to praise India's abilities again. If it were Robert, I doubt I could have delayed for so long by just deceiving them.

"Gentlemen, let's eat and chat."

While having Ah San distribute the dishes to everyone, Robert said:

"As for why we've gathered everyone here today, Ah San should have already told you all. We were originally instructed by Rossio to kill the owner and take over the tavern, but we didn't expect Rossio to be killed yesterday as well."

The minority shareholders looked down on him even more because of his polite words, but the food on the table was really tempting.

"So I thought I'd call everyone together to see if we could invest in taking over this shop. You all know what status Wild Cherry has in Mogu Town, especially since I took over and improved the dishes. Now the business is booming. After you buy shares, I will also give you the recipes. Don't worry, it will definitely be a money-making machine!"

A bald man who looked menacing poked at the food on the table with his fork: "Kid, you wouldn't have poisoned us, would you?"

Robert laughed and said, "How could that be? Even if I poisoned you all, I wouldn't be able to leave Mogu Town. This meal is mainly for you to taste my cooking. If you're worried, Ah San, you can take a bite of each dish!"

Chapter 25 Braving the Wind and Waves

Ah San quickly stepped forward and picked out one or two dishes from each table to eat.

Anyone who has ever tried to lose weight knows that people are least self-controlled in the middle of the night; the smell of food can make several people hungry.

They weren't really afraid of Robert poisoning them; they just wanted to give him a hard time.

When the Indian man went to inform them that he was discussing the acquisition of shares in the middle of the night, several of them had strong objections, but none of them really wanted to make the transfer of such a large store as Wild Cherry public knowledge.

The best-case scenario is to intimidate this kid tonight, secretly complete the share transfer behind his back, and maintain the status quo on the surface, so that these two people running the tavern will work for him.

Robert stood to the side with his hands at his sides, not angry that the group was deliberately leaving him out, but just smiling as he watched them eat and drink noisily.

Ah San was ordered to get the drinks. He had just stepped behind the bar when he suddenly froze, clutched his stomach, and collapsed.

The group was startled by his actions, but soon found themselves feeling dizzy and nauseous, accompanied by severe abdominal pain.

Robert laughed and said, "Arsenic trioxide, which is called arsenic in my hometown, is quite toxic. Its advantage is that it is not difficult to prepare, but its disadvantage is that it will emit a garlic smell when heated. So the dishes I made today are very particular, so that everyone will not find the garlic smell pungent."

The men were lying on the ground, in too much pain to speak. They couldn't believe that Robert would actually poison them.

You know, before leaving home, everyone tells the people around them what they're there to do, and some people even bring their men to wait outside. If Robert dares to poison them, he definitely won't survive!

"I don't know why you're in such a hurry. Wouldn't it be better to just wait for me to leave? With that Indian kid's spinelessness, he'll be at your mercy."

He pulled out the exquisite dagger and plunged it into the neck of the gang leader who was groaning in pain.

"But you guys are so impatient, you insisted on forcing me to take action. To be honest, I wouldn't feel any pain killing you, except for Ah San, who could have lived..."

As the last word was uttered, there were no survivors left on the ground.

Applause came from the stairwell: "Tsk, hahaha! As expected of my crew, you really are ruthless."

Robert lit a cigarette, took a deep drag, and looked at Blackbeard: "Captain, why don't we rest a little longer? I'll be able to deal with these guys soon."

The door was pushed open from the outside, and Bages walked in with a sneer: "What are you going to do? Don't you have to clean up the messes of the guys they brought in from outside?"

Blackbeard laughed, "It's not that I asked them to interfere in your feud, it's that we have to set off. Your plan is truly flawless. Straw Hat Boy is indeed back."

Robert was taken aback when he saw Van Augur walk in from outside. He hadn't heard a sound from the two of them breaking out of the window upstairs and had no idea when they had gone out.

But Robert, of course, didn't show anything at this moment. He just smiled and said to Bagges, "Haha, thank you so much, brother. If I couldn't use poison, I really wouldn't have known how to deal with those guys outside."

Blackbeard walked to the bar, glanced at the Indian man who was only twitching weakly, and started taking drinks from the shelf.

"Robert, since I'm leaving anyway, it's alright to take some of your wine, isn't it?"

Robert laughed and said, "Captain, what's mine is yours. Besides, I stole these things from my former boss after killing him. Take whatever you want."

Blackbeard picked out a few bottles of liquor and placed them in his basket. He then opened a bottle of rum, chuckled loudly as he poured it into his mouth, and walked out the door.

Robert quickly followed: "Captain, let me carry it for you."

Blackbeard smiled and handed the basket to Robert, then led the way at the front.

As they stepped out of the tavern, Doc Q was already waiting at the door on his sick horse, Strong, and even Robert's huge iron barrel was now tied to Strong.

Robert glanced back at the tavern, flicked his cigarette butt at the pile of firewood by the outer wall, and quickly caught up with Blackbeard and his men.

Five figures stretched out long in the firelight, and Blackbeard's loud laughter echoed through the night sky.

The docks of Mogu Town, which should have been deserted at midnight, were bustling with activity. When the group arrived, the remnants of the Bellamy Pirates were cleaning up the mess.