One Piece: A Guide for Ordinary Players

Morda stood at the ranch entrance with a grin, waving to the two of them. Robert was so caught up in Ace's pulling and dragging that he didn't even have a chance to properly greet her.

His heart pounded. Could it be that Ace had already discovered Blackbeard's whereabouts and was about to deliver him to his doom?

"I purchased a lot of supplies, since we'll be at sea for several days."

Suddenly, shouts of killing erupted from the direction of town: "Catch them! They were the ones who dined and dashed in town yesterday!"

Robert was so startled that his mind instantly cleared: "Did you pay for the supplies?"

Ace replied matter-of-factly, "I'm a pirate, why would I pay money? Hahaha, by the way, what shall we eat later?"

Robert: "Go eat some desiccant, you're brain-dead!"

Chapter 7 Teacher, I don't owe you anything anymore, because I've given back all the knowledge I learned!

Ace's boat was quite interesting; it was shaped like a sampan and was just big enough for two people to sit on, because there was a large stove attached to the stern.

The flames can be converted into hot air through this furnace, propelling the small boat forward at extremely high speeds.

Behind Ace's single-person boat, a small boat was towed by a cable, carrying a large amount of supplies, leaving only a small space for Robert to rest.

Seeing this small boat reminded Robert of the Ark Maxim. As soon as his Devil Fruit ability was developed enough to power it, he would immediately set sail.

Sleeping on a boat is practically impossible. These small boats are like roller coasters at sea. Even when Robert is awake, he has to stay alert to avoid being thrown overboard, let alone sleep.

"By the way, didn't you say you'd help me train? Do you have a training plan?"

Ace glanced at Robert: "Aren't you going to take a nap? What's the rush?"

Robert wore a bitter expression: "Brother, is there some kind of killer chasing after you? And with you on this little boat, how am I supposed to sleep?"

Ace said dismissively, "I already told you there's no need to worry about Blackbeard. I actually hope he catches up soon so I can take him down quickly!"

Robert: "What do you mean? Are you using me as a scapegoat?"

Ace feigned ignorance and changed the subject: "By the way, didn't you want to become stronger? Do you know how many stages there are to becoming stronger?"

Robert frowned: "I don't know, does this need to be done in stages?"

Ace cleared his throat: "Of course, a person's strength increases the fastest when they are weak. There are many ways to improve one's strength, such as fighting, training, or even engaging in a profession that one is good at, but there is a limit to how strong one can become.

Robert put himself in Robert's shoes and quickly understood what those words meant.

When I was level 1, I could even gain experience by cooking. But when I reached level 2, the experience gain became slower. When I was level 5, I didn't even get any experience from killing those poisoned wild cherry trees. I guess that's when killing low-level monsters stopped giving me experience.

Ace continued to explain: "When your physical abilities exceed three times that of an average person, fighting weaker opponents will no longer provide any improvement. At that point, you can only continue to grow stronger by fighting even more powerful opponents."

Robert did a quick calculation. Leaving aside the bonuses from Devil Fruits and special circumstances such as his increased agility due to Blackbeard's guidance, the free attribute points he would gain upon reaching level ten would be enough to raise his overall attributes to more than three times that of a normal person. In other words, once he reached level ten, he could no longer gain experience by clearing large areas of mobs!

"So what level is this so-called expert? I can't exactly go and challenge one-on-one to a Yonko, can I?"

Ace gave him a look that said, "There's no definitive answer to this kind of thing. Besides, I'm telling you how to get stronger, not sending you to your death. Why would I tell you to go and fight a Yonko-level expert one-on-one!"

He pondered for a moment: "If we have to make an analogy, at this stage you can only continue to improve by facing stronger opponents than yourself. It's roughly equivalent to a regular pirate with a bounty of over 500 million Berries, or a Marine of lieutenant rank or above."

Robert calculated that if it was just pirates with a bounty of around 500 million or junior officers in the navy, it shouldn't be too difficult for him to deal with them.

Ace counted on his fingers: "But this kind of growth will also encounter a bottleneck. It's about one and a half times stronger than the peak physical strength of the first stage. Then it's useless against Marines below the Admiral level or pirates with a bounty of less than 100 million berries."

Robert's brows furrowed deeply. A level 10 increase is 1.5 times, which is 25 levels. So after level 25, the only way to gain experience is to fight against high-ranking Marine admirals or Supernova-level pirates.

Seeing Robert's worried face, Ace laughed and said, "This is nothing. At least in these two stages, you can still get stronger by sparring with others. But when you use your current physical strength as a benchmark and try to become twice as strong, you will find that you can't get any stronger no matter what."

Robert wondered, is level 50 the current level cap? Then what about the Admirals, the Seven Warlords of the Sea, and the Four Emperors, who are clearly much stronger than level 50?

"That can't be right. The Four Emperors are such powerful figures, it's not like they could reach the level you're talking about and stop getting stronger. Or are you telling me that some people are born with strength far beyond that of ordinary people, and that I can never catch up to them in my entire life?"

Ace said, "How could that be! You must always believe in becoming stronger! First, what I just talked about was physical strength. If you can master some techniques such as swordsmanship or Haki, it will be amplified. You know what Haki is, right?"

Robert nodded, and Ace continued, "The development of your Devil Fruit abilities can also multiply your strength. And there's one more crucial point I haven't finished mentioning: even if you encounter the highest bottleneck I mentioned, there are ways to continue strengthening your body!"

Robert, now playing the straight man, exclaimed, "Tell us what you have to say!"

Ace looked on with longing: "That is to constantly challenge stronger people. As long as they have already crossed this limit, challenging them will allow you to seize the opportunity to become stronger from them!"

Robert looked completely bewildered: "What do you mean by seizing the opportunity to become stronger? Explain it in detail!"

Ace's expression was also confused: "It seems that there is a certain amount of resources in the world to become stronger. There are only so many top experts. Whenever a new expert rises, it is accompanied by the older generation of experts giving up their positions. If you want to become stronger, you have to fight for them. If you defeat a strong enemy, he will become weaker and you will become stronger. That's roughly the idea. I can't explain it in detail. You will understand when you reach that stage."

Robert instinctively pressed, "Is it similar to the law of conservation of energy, or is it like Hayek's Big Hand?"

Only after asking did he realize that Ace couldn't understand this kind of knowledge.

Ace seemed quite interested in the two terms he had mentioned: "The concept of conservation of energy is very vivid, but what does that 'hand' mean?"

Robert casually explained, "That's how we talk when we're doing business, you don't need to worry about it."

Ace leaned against the mast: "So you need to know your stage to train better. You can just practice on your own at the beginning. If you want me to train you, you have to at least reach the bottleneck of the first stage."

Robert quickly summarized that before level 10, he could level up by clearing out large areas of mobs.

After reaching level 10, you need to fight regular extras to gain experience;

Once you reach level 25, you should start looking for skilled players who are considered top-tier in the storyline.

Once you reach level 50, don't expect to learn any skills unless you get hit three times by Kaido!

These are all improvements in basic physical attributes, that is, simply the level.

So if you want to take a shortcut, you still have to develop the fruits of your labor!

Since Ace has clearly stated that mechanical ascension and inserting a transformer into his body is not a necessary condition for the awakening of the Devil Fruit, he has to think of another way.

The AC booster he made before required electromagnetic induction, but what Robert is trying to do now is to achieve voltage amplification without relying on external forces, using only himself.

While it's true that electricity creates magnetism, trying to create a permanent magnet inside the body is clearly beyond the scope of scientific knowledge.

Therefore, the idea of ​​AC boosting was somewhat putting the cart before the horse. Robert came up with a very simple DC boosting circuit: the Boost circuit.

When Robert drew the design diagram of the DC boost circuit on the ship's side with a small carbon rod, he suddenly realized that he still suffered from having gone to college.

"Compared to all the complicated boost circuits, isn't there a simple method that even junior high school students learn?"

"Series turbocharging! Parallel current boosting!"

"I'm so sorry! Mr. Wang Lei, physics teacher at Experimental Junior High School!"

Chapter 8 Why would you need the Supreme Great Sword to kill me?

The voyage was incredibly boring; aside from the initial excitement of setting sail, it was followed by endless emptiness.

Especially in the Grand Line region of the One Piece world, the sea is sometimes cold and sometimes hot, sometimes with giant sea monsters attacking and sometimes with huge waves crashing.

Although Ace was a skilled sailor and a pirate with extensive sailing experience, the journey these past few days still made Robert suffer greatly.

In addition, he was frantically researching how to divide his entire body into independent segments to achieve a series-parallel connection effect.

Every time I run out of energy, it feels like a middle-aged office worker being forced to eat after returning home, with no choice but to eat as much as possible and slowly wait for my energy to recover, which greatly affects the progress of fruit development.

They barely stopped to go ashore along the way, so Robert could only frantically extract theoretical knowledge from Ace to fill the time gaps in his physical recovery.

After resting for a few hours on the last small deserted island, Ace emptied the small boat that had been used to store supplies.

"You can see the Navy G2 branch just by going around this small island. Can you go there by yourself?"

Robert placed two wind-blown shells on either side of the boat: "Don't worry about me, just wait for me here. If all goes well, I'll be back in half a day."

Ace patted him on the shoulder: "You promised to come back with me to see Dad, don't go and never come back."

Robert laughed and said, "You really don't trust me? I thought we were already friends after just three days together."

Ace laughed and handed over two firework tubes: "Of course we're friends. If those Marines give you trouble, just set off the fireworks. Even if it's a Marine branch, I'll come to your rescue!"

Robert took the fireworks: "Why are they making things difficult for me? I'm just an ordinary messenger. Don't worry, I'll be back in a bit. When I am, you have to find a place to train me for a few days as agreed, so that I can protect myself before we go after Blackbeard."

Robert casually stuffed the fireworks into his pocket, then activated the windmill to propel the small boat toward the G2 branch.

The deserted island was already very close to the naval branch; the towering buildings were visible to the naked eye, so Robert wasn't worried about getting lost at sea.

In fact, during his days at sea, he had basically experimented with various uses of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, and the awakening of the fruit was on track.

Based on the current progress, he estimates that he will see results in about a week at most!

Luffy is practically illiterate, yet he developed Gear Second after only three months at sea. With his solid junior high school knowledge, he developed Gear Second, which belongs to the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, in just over a week. Could he be considered a potential Yonko with the skills of a scholar?

As the saying goes, "Looking at a mountain makes a horse run itself to death," and it took Robert more than half an hour to reach the vicinity of the G2 branch, where he was spotted by a patrolling small warship from afar.

The warship quickly approached, and the sailors on board pointed their guns at Robert: "Stop the ship and don't go any further. This is the Navy's G2 branch. State your identity and the purpose of your visit!"

Robert had already stored everything in his spatial storage, leaving only the letter from Moda in his pocket. Now, he boldly raised both hands above his head and loudly proclaimed:

"I'm just an ordinary person. I'm here to deliver a message!"

The navy did not lower their guard at all because of Robert's words. They first drove a small warship to approach, then used a grappling hook to hook Robert's small boat. After confirming that he did not resist, several soldiers went down into the small boat to search him.

Robert was taken to a warship, where a naval officer approached and asked, "We need to verify your identity, and you also need to explain who you are delivering the message for and to whom it is being delivered!"

Robert said frankly, "I am a chef from Jaya Island named Robert Dinello. I owed a little girl a favor when I went to the Kingdom of Lulusia to make purchases, so I am here to deliver a message for you. It seems that her parents are both from our G2 branch of the Navy."

Upon learning that the girl who had entrusted Robert to deliver the message had parents who were both from the G2 branch of the Navy, the group's attitude softened, but they did not completely let their guard down.

A soldier went into the cabin to report to the branch dispatch center. Robert, feeling at ease, waited openly at the bow.

A short while later, the soldier returned and said, "The command center says we can take people ashore now."

The ship's commander nodded expressionlessly and directed the warship toward the island where the G2 branch was located.

As they approached the shore, Robert was slightly puzzled; there were more than a dozen people standing at the entrance of the G2 branch.

Robert assumed that Morda's parents had come to greet her after hearing about her letter, so he didn't take it seriously. After the ship docked, he followed the officer who had questioned him earlier off the ship.

As soon as they landed, a brown-haired lieutenant colonel with a thin mustache approached them: "You're Robert D. Nelo?"

Robert keenly noticed that his word segmentation was very clear, and that he had deliberately downplayed the middle name "D" when he introduced himself to avoid misunderstanding.

Sensing something was amiss, Robert slowed his pace and said cautiously, "I'm just here to deliver a letter. The girl didn't say who it was for. You can open it yourselves."

He reached into his jacket pocket, took out the letter, and handed it to him.

The lieutenant colonel with a mustache frowned, looking displeased, and slowly walked forward with his hands behind his back.

His arrogant demeanor was in line with Robert's stereotype of certain unscrupulous navy personnel, which somewhat alleviated his concerns.

The lieutenant colonel with the mustache stretched out a hand to take the letter. Robert instinctively reached forward and offered it to him. The instant their palms touched, the lieutenant colonel suddenly grabbed Robert's wrist!