One Piece: A Guide for Ordinary Players

A person who constantly proclaims himself a remnant of the old era will certainly not find a ship in the new world capable of carrying him.

When Ace saw Robert refuse, he assumed that Robert didn't believe in his abilities.

"Hey, I'm not lying to you. My bounty is really high, a full 550 million Berries. And that Whitebeard you were admiring earlier, do you know what my relationship with him is?"

Robert asked somewhat perfunctorily, "What's your relationship? Didn't you say you were one of his captains?"

Ace raised his chin proudly: "He's my dad!"

Robert: Your father is more than five degrees of kinship with you, isn't he?

Chapter 5: For a college student like me, developing the fruit is as easy as taking candy from a baby!

Morda used a carriage to transport a whole cart of ingredients back for the two of them. Robert showed off his skills, but Ace immediately mastered them.

"Robert, come with me. Once I catch Blackbeard, I'll take you back to the Moby Dick. Then I'll have my dad take you in as his godson, and I'll recommend you for the Fourth Division. The food those guys make is nothing compared to what you make."

Robert did not explicitly oppose blocking this path; the saying goes, "At home, you rely on your parents; when you're out in the world, you rely on your godfather."

As long as Whitebeard was alive, he was indeed the best godfather in the pirate world, without exception.

But now that I'm a clean slate, wouldn't it be better to wander around and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the pirate world? There's absolutely no need for me to become a pirate.

Since he wasn't explicitly refused, Ace took it as a yes and ate his meal with a clear conscience.

Robert caught up with a master who was named and had a connection to the original work, and who was also a member of the natural sciences, so of course he had to ask the senior for advice.

"Uh, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit I ate was incredibly powerful in the hands of its predecessor, but now it's practically useless. What's going on?"

Ace, his mouth full, said, "Don't worry, you've never trained before, so your physical foundation is too weak. You just need to train for a while, and your strength will improve quickly."

Robert felt that wasn't the case. If his current weakness was simply due to low four-dimensional attributes, he wouldn't have consulted Ace at all; he could have just leveled up on his own.

However, after doing the math, he realized that even if his power increased to 1000 points, he could only generate 10000 volts, which was far from Enel's level.

To increase Strength to 1000 points, you need to reach nearly level 100 in free attribute points, and you also need to increase Stamina, which requires an even higher level.

However, Enel's power level was definitely not as exaggerated as 1000 points. Based on his own strength, he would be lucky to have two or three hundred points of power, but he was able to release two hundred million volts of voltage. There must be something fishy going on.

"No, I've seen the previous user of this fruit make a move. Although his physical strength was far superior to mine, the difference between our physical bodies was definitely not as great as the difference in fruit abilities."

Ace smiled and said, "Is that perceptive? Although physical strength is the foundation of everything, we Devil Fruit users cannot be judged by common sense. So this leads to the second concept, which is Devil Fruit development!"

Robert wasn't surprised. Luffy had been trained since childhood, so his physical abilities were several times better than Robert's when he set sail.

But initially, he only relied on stretching his body and using the elasticity of rubber to attack enemies, so his combat power was just so-so, because the upper limit of rubber can't be much higher.

This limited potential meant that he was already struggling in the Alabasta arc. If he hadn't forcibly used a power-up and managed to unleash the effects of Armament Haki with his blood, even a hundred Luffies wouldn't have been able to defeat Crocodile.

Skypiea's power-up was even greater, making the rubber completely immune to lightning attacks. Moreover, Enel acted like a fool, not even realizing he needed to use his elemental powers to dodge when the giant golden ball hit his face, which allowed Luffy to turn the tide of the battle.

While both arcs seem exciting, what's truly powerful is Luffy's willpower; his fighting ability is clearly lagging behind the intensity of battles on the Grand Line.

Therefore, in the Enies Lobby arc, Luffy developed Gear Second and Gear Third.

These two forms not only changed the protagonist's fighting power, but also significantly raised the ceiling for the development of the Gum-Gum Fruit. It was only in the Enies Lobby arc that Luffy finally shed the label of relying on cheat codes to defeat powerful enemies; he really put in the effort and used his brain.

Seeing Robert deep in thought, Ace patted his stomach: "I can't just eat your food for nothing. Tell me, what's your biggest problem right now?"

Robert subconsciously said, "The essence of lightning power lies in two things: the amount of electricity and the strength of the voltage. Right now, my body can only store a small amount of current, and the voltage I can output is also very weak, so there is no major problem. I am just very weak in an average way."

Ace waved his hand: "I don't understand anything about voltage and current. Let me take my own fire ability as an example. The stronger I am, the higher the temperature of the flames. The stronger my body is, the more and longer I can release flames. It should be similar to what you call voltage and current."

Robert nodded vigorously, knowing that Ace was about to deliver the important information.

"Back then, I also felt that no matter how strong my body became, the flames were still just so-so. So I started thinking about how to make the flames hotter. Until one day, I realized that I could no longer spread the flames out in a large area. I had to compress and concentrate them as much as possible, because the more I compressed them, the hotter the flames would be."

Robert felt like he had grasped some inspiration, and he was just one step away from breaking through the barrier!

"Since then, not only has the power of my flames increased, but the total amount of fire stored in my body has also increased. This is the effect of fruit development. Now I have developed my fruit ability to the third stage. The improvement brought by physical strength is no longer as great as the benefits brought by fruit ability development. Therefore, fruit development is the path that we ability users should take!"

If it were the original Robert, he would definitely turn into a contrarian and retort with Kaido's famous quote: "You can't conquer the world with ability; only Haki can transcend everything."

"I don't want to conquer the world. Ace is right, developing Devil Fruit abilities is a shortcut to increasing strength! I can always learn Haki later when I have the chance!"

After Ace's brief two-sentence hint, Robert instantly understood why his Devil Fruit ability seemed so weak—because he had only eaten it on the first day and hadn't yet developed it at all!

If upgrading and adding attribute points is like adding to the fruit's abilities, then developing the fruit is like multiplying them. In fact, the higher the level of development, the more exponential the improvement becomes.

In an instant, he remembered an inconspicuous note in the attribute panel: all calculations of fruit abilities are based on awakening level 1. In other words, when he raises the fruit's awakening level to level 2 or higher, the algorithm will undergo a dramatic change!

"Then how should I develop the fruit?"

She stared intently at Ace, but Ace waved his hand to help Moda clear the table: "Everyone's fruit is different. What I'm telling you is just my experience. If you can't find your own path, then your limit will be determined by me."

Robert sat on the grass, staring blankly at the cows grazing, but in his mind he began to plan how to develop his own harvest.

According to Ace, he only needs to solve one of the problems: current and voltage. The other will naturally increase as his awakening level rises.

Increasing voltage isn't as simple as increasing temperature. You know that the greater the pressure on the current, the faster the current flows, but how do you increase that pressure? The answer is to increase the voltage—but that's just going around in circles!

A calf walked up to Robert, flicked its tongue to pluck a blade of grass from the ground, and put it in its mouth.

Robert couldn't help but think, "If I eat some materials like manganese, cobalt, nickel, or lithium cobalt oxide, could I increase my electrical energy storage capacity? Or does this mean that in the end, my fruit development will have to focus on the profession of a chef?"

Suddenly, his eyes were fixed on the calf's tongue, which was constantly twirling grass blades, and the electrical knowledge he had basically forgotten from his university lectures suddenly began to assault his brain.

"The electricity generated by the Rumble-Rumble Fruit is direct current. If we convert it to alternating current, we can amplify the voltage through electromagnetic induction!"

"So that's why Enel had four drums stuck on his back! Turns out they were transformers!"

Chapter 6 Striving for a New Journey

Robert was excitedly planning where to buy magnets and how much copper wire to prepare when someone suddenly patted him on the back.

"Let's go, it's time to set off!"

Robert looked at Ace with a puzzled expression: "It's almost dark, where are we going to start?"

Ace smiled and said, "I promised that little girl Moda that I would deliver a letter for her. Come with me."

Robert, of course, would not refuse; he simply wanted to stay one more night to verify his ingenious idea.

As for changing Ace's fate, Robert plans to take it one step at a time. Although he likes the character very much, he doesn't want to risk his life by pretending to be a big shot.

"Where are you going so late? Why don't you set off tomorrow?"

Ace said mysteriously, "Let's go to the Navy G2 branch. It's not close to here. I've calculated it. If we leave now, we'll arrive in about three days from now. We can sneak in under the cover of darkness without anyone noticing."

Robert curled his lip: "Did that letter from Miss Morda contain anything illegal or disorderly? Why did you have to sneak in at night to deliver it? Listen to me, let's do it openly during the day!"

Ace immediately broke down: "I'm a pirate! I'm a great pirate with a bounty of 550 million Berries! I'm delivering a message, not turning myself in!"

Robert pointed to himself: "You're a pirate, but I'm not. You should rest here for the next few days. I'll run an errand for you. We'll set off on an adventure together when I get back!"

Ace was momentarily at a loss for words: "But...but Moda saved me, I should repay her personally..."

Robert pursed his lips: "Don't complicate simple issues. You just explained the knowledge of fruit awakening to me, which helped me a lot. You owe Moda a favor, and I owe you a favor. This way, I can repay you and you repay her, and we can repay both favors in a simpler and more efficient way. Isn't that great?"

Ace smiled and said, "You're right, hahaha. Then let's set off again first thing tomorrow morning. I'll take you to the surrounding area, and you can go in and deliver the message!"

Robert felt that he had done a good job and there was no need to force Ace to stay, as that would seem strange, so he readily agreed.

Ace, who couldn't stay idle, went to help Morda with farm work, while Robert began his grand plan to handcraft a transformer!

The principle of making a transformer is actually very simple: a ring-shaped magnet with the secondary pole having several times more turns of coil than the primary pole can theoretically increase the voltage by several times.

Theoretically, this turns ratio can be made infinitely large. As long as the loss problem is overcome, the voltage can be amplified to astronomical figures.

Robert was already fantasizing about only increasing his stamina attribute in the future, relying on the current 200V voltage, and using a transformer with a 100 million turns ratio to unleash his ultimate move.

You, Enel, dare to call yourself a god with 200 million volts? What about me with 20 billion volts? A Celestial Dragon God?

The Kingdom of Lulucia is a major power in the first half of the Grand Line. There are shops in the city that make navigation pointers. Robert spent a little money and easily bought some magnets to make the pointers.

As for copper wire, it's even easier to buy; there are hardware stores in the One Piece world.

When Ace rubbed his sleepy eyes and came to find Robert early the next morning, he saw a disheveled figure sitting in front of the barn with huge dark circles under his eyes.

"What did you do all night? How did you get yourself into this state?"

Robert, holding a rather crude-looking component, said, "I've made the transformer, but why hasn't the fruit awakened?"

Ace slapped his forehead: "You just ate a Devil Fruit yesterday, and you expect to awaken it today?"

Robert looked puzzled: "What? This thing has a built-in CD player?"

Ace stepped forward and patted him on the shoulder: "Eat something first, get a good night's sleep on the ship, there's still a long way to go."

Robert shook his head: "I can't sleep if I can't figure it out. Tell me what I'm missing first."

Ace pointed to the ugly coil in his hand: "This thing can amplify your abilities?"

Robert said to Ace, "Want to try it? I tried it myself last night, and it really works."

Ace smiled with interest: "Then let's give it a try!"

Robert first stretched out his arm and pointed at Ace, and an arc of electricity instantly connected the two.

Robert was not worried at all that Ace's strength far surpassed his own, and he generously output about 10A of current.

Ace took the hit head-on, grimacing as he said, "Your Devil Fruit ability is too strong, kid. Is this really the first day you've eaten a Devil Fruit?"

Robert looked at him strangely: "You don't need to be so flattering. You know, your good-for-nothing brother just took an attack a million times stronger than this right in front of me yesterday and he's completely fine..."

Ace stretched his body, which was numb from the electric shock: "This power is enough to kill more than a dozen ordinary people. You know, when I first ate the Flame-Flame Fruit, I immediately awakened the second stage, but even so, I mainly relied on physical skills to deal with some big birds."

Robert held up the transformer: "Want to try my 50x amplified attack now?"

Ace shook his head: "If using this thing really increases the power by 50 times, although I could withstand it, I would definitely get injured, so I won't try it."

Robert looked at Ace expectantly, while Ace said speechlessly, "Hey, I asked you to find a way to amplify your so-called voltage or current using your own body. How can your Devil Fruit ability awaken if you make a weapon?"

Robert looked disappointed. He thought that as long as he made some large transformers like Enel and carried them with him, he could quickly become stronger. It seemed that this was not the case.

Ace changed the subject: "Don't be disappointed. Haven't you already found a way to become stronger? You're much better than me. It took me several months to figure out the principle of enhancing flames. Now you've figured out how to enhance the power of electricity. The next step is to use your body to simulate this equipment. When you can achieve the amplification effect without external force, your Devil Fruit will have completed one development."

A surge of hope welled up in Robert's heart. Why was he in such a hurry? The ocean was so vast. If he wanted to hide, where would Blackbeard find him anytime soon?

Now that I've found a good teacher and a way to improve, I'll just study it slowly.

A huge weight lifted from my heart, and sleepiness instantly washed over me: "Are we leaving now? Can I take a nap first?"

Ace grabbed Robert's arm and dragged him toward the beach: "Let's sleep on the way! We have to leave now, or we'll be too late!"