One Piece: A Guide for Ordinary Players

Robert let out a long sigh of relief: "Let's leave them for now and get the others sorted out. Oh, and hire a few more helpers from town. Also, clean up the kitchen I messed up yesterday. The tavern will be open as usual starting tonight."

Ah San nodded quickly: "Don't worry, Lord Robert, I will definitely get everything sorted out for you before dark!"

Robert pulled out a key and unlocked his shackles: "Not for me, but for yourself."

Ah San was taken aback, then nodded and bowed, saying, "My life already belongs to you, sir. Why would I need to do anything for myself? As long as you are satisfied, sir, it will be my greatest honor!"

Robert laughed and said, "I came to Gaya with a purpose. After I've accomplished my task, I will completely cure you and then leave. At that time, this tavern will be yours. So, everything you're doing now is for your own benefit, understand?"

Ah San's breathing became rapid. If he had some lingering thoughts about being forced to take poison by Robert and almost dying, he was now truly heartbroken.

He never dreamed he could run the tavern in place of the owner, but now, this opportunity has fallen into his lap like a windfall!

"My lord! I am your dog! The shop will always be yours. I will watch over it for you when you are not here. If you need anything, just send a message back, and I will..."

Robert interrupted his declaration of loyalty: "Yesterday you said about those treasures the boss hid. Go find them. I really need to spend some money on the things I'm going to do next."

Ah San's eyes gleamed with gold: "The boss's secret stash is right under this office. The Wild Cherry Tavern has four floors in total. This room on the top floor serves as the boss's private space. It's actually connected to the third floor by a mezzanine that's more than half a person's height. Others might not be able to tell, but you can't hide it from me!"

Robert couldn't help but chuckle. That boss was truly a failure. Not only did the shrewd Indian in front of him know that the boss had hidden treasures in his room, but he just didn't guess that they were in the underground mezzanine.

Seeing Robert laugh, Ah San shrank back again: "But I don't know what the mechanism is either. Please give me some time, and I will definitely be able to find it."

Robert shook his head and said, "No need for that. Go and take care of the things I just told you to do. Take those two downstairs with you. They don't understand you as well as you do. Give them a warning and make sure they don't do anything foolish."

Ah San hurriedly nodded in agreement, then turned and went downstairs.

Robert followed quietly behind until he saw Ah San severely reprimand the two shop assistants and then lead them away through the back door. Only then did he feel a little relieved.

After confirming that the back door had been closed from the outside by the Indians, Robert took some tools from the storage room and went up to the fourth floor.

Now that I'm the only one in the store, why bother looking for a fix? I'll just tear down the floorboards.

With sledgehammers and crowbars in hand, they quickly dismantled the bedroom floor into pieces.

A metal plate was quickly dug out. Robert dug up all around it, then smashed the slide rail with a hammer and violently lifted the metal plate of the mechanism.

Three large boxes came into view, and Robert opened them one by one.

The first box contained gleaming gold and silver jewelry, all of which looked very valuable.

The second box contained several stacks of ledgers and a large black bag. Robert didn't even glance at the ledgers, but reached out and pulled out the black bag. After opening it, he couldn't help but swallow hard.

The black bag was full of Berries, each bill worth ten thousand Berries. A hundred bills were neatly bundled together, and there were ten bundles in the bag, which was ten million Berries!

Berry's purchasing power is equivalent to the Japanese yen in his previous life, which means there are nearly 500,000 RMB in cash in this bag!

Previously, Robert had looked down on a restaurant owner's slush fund, but now it seems he really underestimated the value of the New World's pirate stronghold.

Robert set the black bag aside and opened the last piece of the box.

The box contained only a few items, the most conspicuous being a short-handled flintlock pistol and a sheathed wakizashi.

The flintlock pistol's handle and barrel are carved from a single piece of thick, beautifully patterned nanmu wood, inlaid with silver decorations, and have a glossy surface, clearly indicating that it is regularly maintained.

Although the wakizashi's scabbard is not particularly ornate, the carefully wrapped leather cord and the intricate patterns on the tsuba (handguard) reveal that this sword is no ordinary weapon.

"So, does this mean I have to choose between the swordsman and the gunslinger professions?"

A sinister smile, like that of a dragon king, appeared on Robert's face:

Children make choices, adults do.

It can't get erect at all!

Chapter 13 You call this a slave?

Robert reached out and took out the wakizashi, which was clearly Japanese in style. He gently pulled out the blade, and it was indeed a fine sword with a gleaming cold light.

He hadn't learned any swordsmanship, but this short sword, only fifty or sixty centimeters long, was more handy to use, so he simply hung it on his waist.

Then he took the flintlock pistol out of the box. This pistol used lead bullets with a diameter of about nine millimeters. It could be directly loaded with pre-packaged gunpowder, making reloading relatively convenient.

He had previously captured a flintlock pistol from an Indian, but the gun looked crudely made and poorly maintained. Robert was afraid that he might miss a shot and end up dying from a barrel explosion.

The technology in the world of One Piece is quite perplexing; its strengths are incredibly powerful, while its weaknesses are truly insurmountable.

They are capable of developing equipment and ships that can fly and travel underground, but most of their firearms are outdated single-shot muskets.

Fortunately, the musket was still quite powerful. Even Whitebeard, who was known as the strongest man in the world, was eventually killed by a hail of bullets. With this obviously high-quality musket in hand, Robert felt somewhat at ease.

Compared to knives, firearms are now providing Robert with a greater boost.

Robert reached out and touched the primer box and ammunition pouches next to the gun. Just as he picked up an ammunition pouch made of animal hide, which was clearly different from the other cloth pouch, a system notification suddenly appeared in front of him.

【10 Seastone Bullets】

[Obtained the special item Seastone. Item space activated. Based on current reputation, size 1m3, can only store inanimate items whose ownership is entirely yours.]

Robert was thrilled. Putting aside the ten Seastone bullets, the one cubic meter of storage space alone was enough to solve his major problem. He could put his spare ammunition and the money he had just found inside, so he no longer needed to carry large bags on his back.

As the game system became more and more sophisticated, Robert seemed to have a sudden realization.

Both times the storage space was opened, there were prerequisites. The food space was opened because the player made a dish that was recognized by the game and unlocked the chef profession, while the item space was opened because the player obtained Seastone, a special item unique to the One Piece world.

It seems I need to make some plans and focus on exploring how to activate new features in the game.

After putting the money, guns, ammunition, and even the dagger into his inventory, and taking out a few small but valuable jewels from the treasure chest, Robert began to plan what he would do next.

The only thing I'm certain of right now is that the Alabasta incident is over, and the main characters haven't arrived at Jaya Island yet, but I have absolutely no idea when they'll arrive.

After leaving Alabasta, the TV series was padded out by at least ten episodes, from the growth memories of each member of the main group to a bunch of boring plots like the pirate ship in the mountains, the Eternal Country, and the pirate graveyard. I skipped through most of them back then.

It's impossible to deduce from these plot points how long it took the main characters to arrive in Jaya, and all my plans are based on the events that unfold after the main characters arrive, so I'm really in a dilemma now.

He was worried that the main characters would arrive too quickly and he wouldn't have time to prepare, and he was also worried that before they arrived, his enemy Rossio would return with his men.

Robert found a piece of paper and began to write and draw on it. The common language in the One Piece world is mostly English, with a small amount of Japanese and Roman script mixed in.

Robert, after all, had attended university, so his reading and writing skills were relatively fluent.

Ah San's voice came from the stairwell: "Sir, we're back!"

Robert calmed himself down before saying in a deep voice, "Come in."

The Indian man cautiously entered the room, his eyes immediately drawn to the pried-open floorboards and the large box underneath.

“Take these accounts and look at them carefully. You should be able to get some information to persuade the shareholders to support you in taking over the tavern. Sell all the treasure in the other box. You don’t need to report to me how much you made. Anyway, I won’t give you a single Berry for anything I ask you to do next.”

Ah San was breathing heavily, never expecting that Robert would trust him so much, and he almost burst into tears.

"Sir, rest assured, I, Ah San, would never embezzle even a single Berry! Just tell me what you need!"

Robert handed him the list he had just written: "I need you to prepare everything on this list for me as soon as possible. Any problems?"

The Indian man took the list and looked at it carefully. The more he looked, the stranger his expression became. The shopping list that Robert had given him wasn't that the items on it were particularly valuable, but they were definitely bizarre.

After looking at the list for a long time, Ah San finally put it down: "No problem! Except for a few items that involve rare materials and will take some time to make, I can definitely get everything else for you within ten days!"

Robert squinted: "Ten days?"

Ah San instinctively shrank his neck. Robert smiled and patted him on the shoulder: "Young man, you'll never know your potential if you don't push yourself. You have three days to finish all the ordinary items. For rare materials, I'll give you a maximum of ten days."

Ah San swallowed hard: "Sir, that will cost even more money..."

Robert pointed to the chest of gold and silver treasures: "I don't care how much you spend, as long as I buy everything on the list, the rest of the money is yours."

Ah San's breathing became heavy, and the difficulty in his eyes was gone, replaced by full of enthusiasm.

"Guaranteed to complete the mission!"

Ah San had been in Mogu Town for many years. The fact that his former boss entrusted him with such a lucrative task as purchasing and sourcing goods showed that he must be very capable.

So Robert didn't try to show off his superiority like the brainless bosses he'd encountered before, interfering in areas he wasn't good at. He just focused on making demands and controlling the progress and quality.

"Have you recruited enough staff? Can you open for business tonight?"

Ah San didn't understand why Robert was so insistent on keeping the tavern open. Logically speaking, the tavern had just experienced a major upheaval, and it should have closed for a few days to reorganize and stabilize its relationships with upstream and downstream businesses.

But having lived for a long time in a place like Mogu Town, which can be described as a valley of pirates and villains, he has his own survival methodology, the first of which is to never interfere with any decisions made by people who have the power to control his life.

"Both employees are now on our side. I've already explained your abilities to them thoroughly, so don't worry, they wouldn't dare to do anything underhanded. It's just that in the kitchen... I can only find two self-proclaimed cooks who are actually slaves..."

Robert didn't seem to care: "It's alright, I'll take care of the meals. I'll just have those two slaves help me."

Ah San said with a fawning smile, "I'll take you to see those two new slaves; you'll definitely be satisfied."

Robert felt a chill run down his spine, sensing that the Indians were up to something.

Robert descended to the first floor with a heavy heart, and his anxiety finally subsided.

Two employees were busily cleaning up the kitchen that had been bombed the night before, while only two women were in the main hall.

She was a tall, slender woman with blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing an exquisite vintage woolen bucket hat and a short dress. She looked more like a rich young lady on vacation than a slave.

The other girl looked to be only fifteen or sixteen years old. She had red hair braided into two pigtails, wore a huge pink wide-brimmed fisherman's hat, and wore a mix of short and long clothes, big and small, like a non-mainstream person.

Given the timing—just after the Alabasta event—the identities of the two are becoming increasingly clear.

Even though Robert considered himself to be exceptionally shrewd, he couldn't help but swallow hard and look at Ah San.

"This is what you called... a slave?"

Ah San thought that Robert was very satisfied with the two beauties he had chosen, one big and one small, and nodded vigorously with a look of self-satisfaction.

"You dare treat them like slaves? They're like heifers with gonorrhea."

The Indian man looked puzzled: "Uh, sir, what do you mean?"

That's incredibly awesome!

Chapter 14 Dihua! The D Clan

Robert was almost laughing in exasperation at the Indians. Even though the two women in front of him had been transformed from 2D to 3D, their distinctive attire made him recognize them immediately.

A high-ranking member of Baroque Works, Crocodile's assassin organization, was defeated by the Straw Hat crew and dared not return to Alabasta, thus escaping a calamity—Miss Valentine's Day and Miss Golden Week!

Both of them have bounties on their hands. Miss Valentine's Day has a bounty of 750 million Berries, while Miss Golden Week has a bounty of a whopping 2900 million Berries!

This was before the currency had depreciated significantly, and a pirate with over 20 million was already an absolute big shot.

"Ah San, go to the kitchen and take the two of them to hurry up and tidy up. Make sure everything is finished before the opening tonight."