One Piece: A Guide for Ordinary Players

Robert wasn't one of those invincible cockroaches in comics; the group nearly broke his bones with a barrage of punches and kicks.

"Kid, this is a required course. Do you know how many slaves the boss has bought? Over a hundred, but now only the three of us are still alive."

Robert lay on the ground convulsing, unable to even scream due to the immense pain in his chest.

Ah Da squatted down and whispered with a grin, "The kitchen is too crowded to accommodate a fourth person, but we won't let you die so soon. At least we have to make sure the boss's money is well spent, so enjoy your last days."

Ah Er grabbed Robert from the ground and dragged him into the meat-cutting workshop in the warehouse, throwing him in front of the cutting table like trash:

"I heard from the boss that you claim to be a chef? It's a pity the boss doesn't quite believe you. How about this, prepare all these ingredients before dawn tomorrow, and I can let you live a little longer."

Robert endured the excruciating pain as he looked at the ingredients beside the cutting table, feeling a wave of despair. There were seven or eight huge, unidentifiable livestock piled up against the wall, their skins still on. There were even more enormous fish of all shapes and sizes.

Even in his prime, he couldn't possibly process so many raw ingredients in one night, let alone now that he's handcuffed, shackled, and beaten black and blue.

Ah Er gave Robert a cold look and continued, "If you haven't finished dealing with all this by dawn, it means the boss has been scammed..."

Ah Da chimed in, "You'll become part of these ingredients then. Don't worry, my cooking skills are terrible, but thankfully those pirates can't tell the difference between human flesh and pork."

Ah Da and Ah Er turned and left, while Ah San squatted down and whispered, "You shouldn't have said you were a chef. This kitchen really can't accommodate a real chef anymore."

Chapter 3 A Glimmer of Hope

Robert's face twisted in pain. He had initially thought that staying in town as a cook would be safer than going out to sea with pirates and risking his life.

It seems that's not the case now. Even pirates don't encounter danger every time they go to sea, but people really do die in this shabby kitchen!

He transmigrated here without even knowing where he was born or what year it was.

Those transmigration novels that depict characters who transmigrate to the world of One Piece and immediately eat a Devil Fruit, or master all three types of Haki with minimal training, now seem laughable in retrospect.

This is the world of One Piece! Even if Oda portrays it as a comedy, it is essentially an absolutely dark world where the World Government reigns supreme, pirates run rampant, and the Navy is corrupt.

How could such a world be so wonderful?

If you transmigrate to this kind of world, you'd better hope you have some kind of cheat code. If you don't, then don't even bother comparing yourself to someone like Robert, who can at least survive another day. Those who transmigrated with him and died on the spot are the fate of most ordinary transmigrators.

The shackles on his feet weighed at least twenty or thirty pounds; there was absolutely no way he could escape while wearing them.

As for attempting suicide to escape this world, Robert had considered it immediately after transmigrating, but the idea was quickly dashed by someone.

People who can afford to travel abroad just to attend their favorite anime gatherings, even if they aren't all elites in their respective fields, at least demonstrate that they have the financial means to support their hobbies.

People who can earn a decent income are at least not complete fools.

After the initial novelty wore off, it wasn't long before someone noticed something truly unusual about the place, something that couldn't be explained by current technology. So the group quickly began to investigate.

The first thing everyone experimented with was whether they could access the game interface to perform various settings operations.

But all anyone can do is one thing: bring up the attribute interface to view their various values. Other functions are not just available, they are simply nonexistent!

Many viewers of One Piece also encounter other anime works, and soon some people began to speculate that they might have encountered a situation similar to Sword Art Online, where they were trapped in the game world due to some conspiracy or malfunction.

The doctor made an incision in his own arm and, by observing the healing process and various changes in his body, concluded that this must be the real world.

Robert wasn't an expert in the field of technology, but he was a long-time internet addict, and he quickly made a judgment based on his own knowledge: if this were a gaming world, he would devour his Switch 2 and PS5.

The group panicked immediately, and their discussion quickly shifted from how to become stronger in the pirate world to how to return to their original world.

It's not that no one disagrees; they think we should enjoy this world, and if we don't want to play anymore, we can just die and go back.

But soon their cabin was forcibly opened, and everyone was dragged onto the dock and sold to a pirate named Rossio. Then the one who thought that death would bring him back was the first to be beheaded.

The moment he died, Robert had a strong feeling that this man had definitely not traveled back in time, because his body was lying in front of him, head and body separated, and his eyelids were still twitching because the bioelectric signals had not completely disappeared!

Everyone was even wearing their own clothes, clearly not bodies whose brainwaves had been extracted and projected into this world; they were all dressed in what was called clothing!

If someone is dressed up and their body doesn't disappear after death, the conclusion that suggests this is quite terrifying.

Robert had a vague realization: if he died in this world, he might really be dead!

There were eight transmigrators who came with him, but now he is the only one left. The hula dancer and the fisherman are both natives of the One Piece world.

His own life was also entering its countdown, after all, no one could possibly dissect seven or eight livestock larger than oxen and five large barrels of sea fish longer than a person in one night.

Robert gritted his teeth. He no longer expected to survive. In the world of One Piece, if you don't have a good father, you at least need a good mentor. If you don't have a good mentor, you at least need a good friend. If you don't have a good friend, you at least need a good life!

Unfortunately, he had nothing but a handsome face, but it was clear that neither the shop owner nor those oddballs in the kitchen liked men.

But even if he were to die, he should at least die well-fed. He hadn't eaten for half a day and had been subjected to both death threats and physical beatings. Robert was now so hungry that he was almost too weak to continue.

Picking up the forearm-length butcher knife from the chopping board, Robert plunged the blade into the neck of a bovine-like creature already hanging on a hook, ripping it open.

They carefully removed half a rib along the seam of the bone, then roughly tore off the outer skin and threw it aside.

The cutting room was located in the warehouse, where all kinds of ingredients could be found. Robert first rinsed the ribs thoroughly with a hose, then found some spices that he could identify and rubbed them evenly on both sides of the ribs.

Robert moved firewood from the corner, quickly set up a grill, and, in a fit of desperation, decided to make himself a fruitwood-smoked rib dish before calmly facing his death.

Just when he felt the time was right, a semi-transparent notification suddenly appeared on his retina.

[You have successfully prepared a meat dish with a rating of D or higher. Your skill: Culinary Skill has been activated.]

[You have independently prepared a qualified dish. Secondary profession: Chef has been unlocked. Current level: Beginner]

[You have unlocked the profession: Chef. Your food storage space is now activated at the beginner level. It has a size of 1m³ and can only store cooking-related items, including but not limited to meat, fish, vegetables, fruits, and seasonings. No one else can touch the items while they are stored.]

Experience: 7/100

Robert shuddered: it seemed he had found a way out!

Chapter 4 Who says side jobs aren't worth it!

The solution certainly wasn't the space itself; it was a tiny one-cubic-meter space, barely big enough to fit a chair, and only food could be stored and accessed.

Robert even tried to put the already prepared fruitwood-roasted ribs into that food space, but he couldn't.

As for culinary skills and the chef profession, although they are an important step in exploring this world, they are not of much help in the current difficulties.

So what actually gave him renewed hope were those seven experience points!

Robert was most pleased that he could gain experience while cooking.

Although I don't know what level D-rank food is in the One Piece world, one thing is certain: it's definitely not my highest level.

This roasted ribs was made too roughly; the firewood was wet, and it produced thick smoke when burned.

The grill was made of firewood, resulting in very uneven heating;

The ingredients are creatures unique to this world, and I have absolutely no idea about their texture;

There was no time for marinating, so the ribs could only be flavored by simply applying a limited amount of seasoning.

Even more flaws can be found; his apprentices, working in a modern kitchen and following online tutorials, can do better than he does now.

But none of that matters now, because my top priority isn't strictly controlling food quality, but surviving under the thumb of those three kitchen bullies.

The humor and action-packed tone of the One Piece manga mask the chaotic and violent nature of this world. Those three guys went beyond mere intimidation; they explicitly issued an ultimatum to kill him.

The reason was that she might actually be able to cook, which could threaten their position.

Robert was breathing heavily. "If you won't let me live, then I'll kill you first!"

He had physical contact with two of the three. Ah Er was a monster; his physical strength was probably such that even the three of him couldn't beat him. Even Ah Da was much stronger than him.

Of the three, the only one he had a chance to kill in a one-on-one situation was that skinny Indian guy.

But Robert was most wary of the Indian. The boss had bought so many slaves, they couldn't all be thinner and weaker than him, so why was it this skinny little guy who survived?

Robert stopped thinking. Now was not the time to think that far ahead. His goal was not to kill just one of the three of them, but to kill them all!

But given his current physical condition, he can't beat anyone, let alone wipe them all out.

Therefore, my only chance is to upgrade!

Although I don't know exactly what improvements the upgrade will bring, there's no such thing as a higher-level player being weaker than a lower-level player in any game, and besides, I don't have any other options.

It was already dark, but the noise outside never stopped. In the kitchen, Ah Da and Ah Er were busy providing the simplest meals for the pirates in the shop, while shouts, cheers, and even gunshots could be heard from further away.

In this chaotic environment, Robert calmed down, as if he were back in the kitchen of the restaurant where he worked, and his team was facing the peak of the holiday dining season.

The chaos of the environment couldn't disrupt the chef's rhythm, and it remains so now.

Robert picked up the boning knife and began to carefully dissect the meat in front of him.

Discard all bone-in parts, only remove the belly, leg meat, and other parts, and cut them into small cubes according to the fat and lean meat.

Vegetables like green peppers and mushrooms are simply taken from the basket, washed, and chopped into pieces.

He slashed a hole in the wicker basket with a knife, and with a few kicks, it crumbled into a pile of vines on the ground.

Robert picked out a few relatively straight pieces, sharpened the tops with a knife, skewered the cut meat and vegetables together, and roasted them over the fire.

This room is essentially a storage room; there's no cooking stove at all, and the only cooking method available is grilling.

The whole rib dish we just made was complicated and time-consuming to prepare. Robert immediately knew what cooking skill he should focus on to level up his culinary skills. There was only one answer – grilled skewers!

Nothing is more suitable for a simple cooking environment than barbecue skewers. Even young people who have never cooked before can invite a few friends to a campsite on the weekend, rent a stove, and make their own barbecue skewers.

Whether it tastes good or not is another matter, but most people's cooking is at least edible.

Not to mention Robert, a chef who has received specialized training, he is absolutely confident that these skewers will taste even better than the ribs from before.

Adding the final pinch of salt, Robert stared intently at his attribute page until his experience points increased by a whopping ten. Robert was so excited he almost jumped for joy.

Making ribs takes at least 30 to 40 minutes from start to finish, while making skewers only takes 10 to 20 minutes. It's almost twice as fast, and you get more experience points. It looks like you'll be able to level up very quickly!

What surprised Robert was that, despite the fact that the skewers were far superior in quality and tasted much better than the grilled ribs, they were still rated as a D-level cooking by the rudimentary game panel.

Silently keeping this in mind, Robert temporarily forgot about complaining about his cooking skills. He stuffed the freshly grilled meat skewers into his mouth to fill his incredibly hungry stomach before throwing himself into a new round of grilling.

Although Ah Da and Ah Er said they wanted me to finish preparing all the ingredients before dawn tomorrow, they didn't say they would definitely wait until tomorrow morning to come and check.

The pirates outside are still ordering food, and the two of them don't have time to pay attention to themselves. If they remember this after closing time, open the storage room, and find that they not only failed to complete their mission but also wasted food, then they'll be completely finished!

Robert raced against time to skewer and grill the meat, constantly trying to increase his efficiency. However, he discovered that he needed to complete at least ten skewers at a time to be considered to have completed a cooking session and receive the corresponding experience.

As I completed the barbecue again and again, although my experience increased slightly at first due to becoming more skilled, the experience points quickly dwindled with each cooking session.

Robert panicked completely. He only had 57/100 experience points. At this rate, he would only be able to gain another twenty or so experience points before he could no longer gain experience from barbecue!

He quickly adjusted his approach, bringing out almost every different ingredient in the warehouse and starting to innovate, even adding spices from this world that he didn't recognize at all.

Although sometimes the cooking was so bad that I only gained a few points of experience, I at least maintained a steady increase in experience.