One Piece: A Guide for Ordinary Players

"I was just asking a child a question about nursery rhymes, and you guys dragged me here? Isn't that making a mountain out of a molehill?"

The leading man said menacingly, "Why do you care about that nursery rhyme! Tell me! What exactly is the Crimson Emperor?"

Robert's doubts grew stronger. It was that nursery rhyme again. The Red Emperor was just one of the crimes he had fabricated against Akainu. Why were the people of this country reacting so strongly to it?

The blue-haired woman asked cautiously, "You don't know what the Crimson Emperor is? Then why are you so sensitive about this name?"

The priest said in a chilling tone, "Then you should ask this heretic, there has never been any Red Emperor in the legends, there is only a Red Demon!"

The pagan tied to the pillar remained expressionless throughout until the priest spoke, at which point he addressed the priest in a devout and peaceful tone:

"He is the ruler of the Crimson Lotus Hell, an immortal king who will one day descend to earth. This nursery rhyme comes from Paradise, where the Crimson Emperor's fame must have spread throughout all the kingdoms. Repent, for you are the sinners, you are the heretics!"

The pirate burst into laughter: "I thought the legends of the Crimson Emperor and the Fountain of Youth were true. Turns out it's just the ravings of a bunch of cult lunatics. How boring. I'm not going to play your nonsense anymore."

With a sudden burst of strength, the iron chains binding him snapped.

Robert didn't take advantage of the chaos to do anything, but instead used the opportunity to observe everyone's reactions.

The several high-ranking officials of the country sitting in the dock remained completely calm, while the man accused of being a traitor screamed shrilly and struggled and twisted his body, as if afraid of being implicated.

Among the other prisoners, the cult member kept his eyes closed and muttered something under his breath.

The blue-haired beauty who had just looked terrified was now also pretending to be panicked, but according to Robert's Observation Haki, her heartbeat was the most stable among those present.

The pirate who broke free of his chains rushed toward the man sitting in the main seat, seemingly intending to take him hostage and leave. Just then, a whooshing sound was heard, and his legs suddenly exploded off at the knees.

Robert could see clearly that it was the female knight who had brought him here who had made the move.

Although she was ugly, her strike that shattered the enemy's knee was beautiful, accomplished in an instant with that seemingly clumsy lance.

The female knight seemed to have had enough of this farce: "Do you gentlemen wish to continue the interrogation? In my opinion, all we need to do is take them to the pyre and burn them alive. That will naturally force out all the rats hiding in the darkness!"

The leader of the group frowned in disgust as he looked at the pirate lying not far from him, screaming loudly.

"His Majesty the King is very concerned about this matter and has given me one day to find out the truth, but I'm only giving you half a day!"

The priest also stood up: "I must go back and appease the believers. Overnight, all the statues of the Father in churches across the country were damaged. This is a life-or-death crisis for our church. Now that the last head of the Father has been found, I think the most important thing is to repair the statues as soon as possible."

With the two important figures leaving one after the other, the female knight became the one in charge.

"Bring these four bastards to the front of St. Nerode Cathedral. I will execute them in front of everyone before nightfall!"

The traitor shouted, "I am innocent! This has nothing to do with our People's Army!"

The female knight sneered: "It doesn't matter. You are always trying to overthrow the country. As soon as the nursery rhyme appeared, those cultists didn't even react, but you clowns were already jumping around and trying to bewitch the people."

"Now that I've caught you, you actually think you're innocent? You're just stupid!"

The blue-haired beauty began to sob softly, pleading with Robert and the cultist to tell them what they knew.

The female knight glanced coldly at Robert: "I didn't expect you to be the calmest one among these people. It seems you're not a good person either!"

Robert almost burst out laughing. What kind of logic was this? Being calm was not a good thing. In fact, if we were to compare calmness, the beautiful woman over there crying her eyes out was no less composed than him.

He decided to do nothing for now, as he had too little information. Redfield knew his background and knew he must have a purpose in bringing him here.

If he wanted to use this opportunity to cause a ruckus and be tempered in battle, then it wouldn't be too late to act when the execution was imminent.

If his purpose is to get me to do something else, then I need to observe him more carefully first.

The group was then blindfolded and led away from the underground interrogation room. The pirate's shouts grew fainter and fainter, and by the time they reached the surface, he was lifeless due to blood loss.

The female knight waved her hand impatiently, signaling the soldiers to drag the body away and dispose of it.

The remaining three were placed in iron cages and transported to the execution site in a horse-drawn carriage.

Along the way, the three of them were constantly pointed at and whispered by the people. The blue-haired beauty pretended to be afraid, while Robert sat in the corner frantically analyzing the situation. On the contrary, the heretic who had been very calm in the interrogation room was now extremely excited and kept shouting to everyone:

"Lost sheep! The prophecy has appeared: the Crimson Emperor is about to descend upon the mortal realm. He is immortal, omniscient, and omnipotent, and will surely tear apart the shackles of false gods!"

"Have faith in the true God and bathe in His divine light!"

"When thunder illuminates the night, He will descend upon the divine kingdom that rightfully belongs to Him!"

The execution platform had been erected, and Robert and the others were tied to wooden pillars with piles of dry firewood at their feet.

Above the main entrance of the church behind them, the headless statue that had been cut off has now been urgently reattached by skilled craftsmen.

Time ticked by, but the turning point Robert had been hoping for did not occur. The sun was about to set, and the execution time announced by the female knight to the whole city was fast approaching.

The blue-haired beauty continued to plead desperately, but the cultist had completely fallen into fanaticism. Looking at the countless people gathered below the execution platform, he loudly proclaimed the doctrines he believed in.

As for Robert, even if he wanted to confess, he would have nothing to say. Even if he did reveal Redfield's involvement, probably no one would believe him, since he still didn't understand why the old man had pulled this stunt.

The female knight addressed the crowd below, saying, "Yesterday, these heretics blasphemed against God with heinous means. Now we have brought them to justice, and the stolen divine body of the Holy Father has been fully recovered. His Excellency the Bishop has asked the Holy Father for forgiveness and restored His incarnation on earth."

"Now, we are about to execute these blasphemers!"

The crowd below the stage was enraged, chanting that they wanted to burn Robert and his men alive.

The female knight raised her torch and, amidst the shouts of the crowd, set the firewood at their feet ablaze.

Flames roared up, and Robert felt a wave of heat wash over him. Because his body was restricted by Seastone and he could not transform into an elemental form, he could only use his physical body to withstand the high temperature.

Robert could have easily escaped by simply removing the bracelet, but Karina's nonsensical words suddenly flashed through his mind.

He was just one step away from awakening his Armament Haki. If this was his chance to awaken it, should he hold on a little longer?

Robert shut out all external distractions and focused on his body.

Previously, the dummies Redfield used for training were just for punching and kicking, but now that Robert has systematically learned defensive techniques, he's used to it.

Now flames erupted from beneath his feet, the tongues of fire attacking Robert from almost every angle. Redfield's techniques were useless, and everything returned to its original state, with Robert only able to rely on his basic attributes to withstand the damage.

His endurance and mental attributes are several times that of a normal person. Even without mastering Armament Haki, ordinary flames wouldn't kill him in a short time.

The other prisoners, however, were not so capable. The flames had barely been lit when the cultists died on the spot, shouting their insane ravings before they died.

The blue-haired beauty continued to feign pain, but who could scream for half an hour and still not be burned to death? Even the people in the audience could tell something was wrong.

It was already dark, but the huge flames on the execution platform illuminated the square in front of the church as if it were daytime.

Robert felt he could only hold on for another ten minutes at most before he had to run away; his strong body already showed signs of burns.

The blue-haired beauty next to him was the first to give in; the shackles on her hands had been unlocked at some point.

But her first reaction after unlocking the handcuffs was not to escape the fire, but to leap behind Robert, seemingly to remove his handcuffs as well.

Robert instinctively tried to stop him, but then he heard a soft click. Not only were his handcuffs not removed, but a pair of sea stone handcuffs were added to his wrists, with the other end fastened to the pillar that bound him!

The woman leaped out of the fire, looking at Robert with a cold smile: "You're really patient. I'm not playing with you anymore."

"Oh right, it was that old man who told me you were a Devil Fruit user. You know who I'm talking about, right?"

Robert knew who he was talking about, but he couldn't understand how this woman used the seastone handcuffs. One end was cuffed to her wrist, and the other end was tied to a fixed object that couldn't be stored in space. It was an effective way to prevent him from breaking the seastone.

I did think about instantly removing the sea stone handcuffs in front of Redfield, and he sensed my thoughts. However, I deliberately didn't use my item space in front of him, just to be on guard against him.

So, the only people who would betray you seem to be those you've known for a long time and who are also perceptive.

Karina!

Chapter 12 The Godfather Hannibal

Robert's heart clenched. If Karina had betrayed him when they first met, he could have accepted it completely.

He's not exactly a universally loved male protagonist in an otome game, and he can't offer attractive enough conditions, so it's normal for employees he poached to leave.

But now that I've spent so much time with her, I must have developed some feelings for her by now.

Speaking of this encounter with Redfield, I could have simply learned Haki from him through Whitebeard's introduction. The reason I had to outwit and outmaneuver him was for Karina's sake.

He had his eye on the Bat Fruit Mythical Zoan Vampire Form that Redfield was destined to find, and wanted to intercept it and give it to Karina!

If she really betrayed him under these circumstances, then he would truly be a complete clown.

Even when Robert was tied to the execution platform, he was not in any life-threatening danger and could leave at any time.

This led to a playful attitude, and Robert even had the wicked pleasure of cosplaying Roger while standing on the execution platform.

But now he could no longer calm down. Even though he knew it was just his guess, once the seed of doubt was planted, it could never be stopped from growing.

Robert's breathing became more and more rapid. The heat from the burning flames not only scorched his skin, but also burned his entire respiratory tract when inhaled.

The combined pain from within and without became the ultimate driving force to break free of the shackles:

You have awakened Armament Haki.

The prompt interrupted Robert's internal struggle, and he smiled with relief. He had indeed completed his training. As for how this woman knew his secret, he could just grab her and ask her!

The reason I didn't break free from these constraints before was simply because I didn't want to leave, not because I couldn't.

It's just a pair of sea stone handcuffs tied to a pillar. If you can't break free of the sea stone, how could you not break the pillar that's been burning for half a day!

With a powerful twist of his arms, Robert snapped the carbonized wooden post in two. The sea stone handcuffs, no longer connected to anything else, were useless to Robert.

Removing the sea stone handcuffs, Robert walked out of the sea of ​​fire step by step, casually taking out the cloak he had bought in Water Seven years ago and covering himself with it.

The crowd below gasped in shock when they saw the blue-haired woman escape from the inferno, and when Robert also emerged from the flames, chaos erupted.

The female knight, who was on the stage, reacted the fastest, drawing her sword from her waist and slashing at Robert.

Robert seemed to have done nothing, merely glancing at her out of the corner of his eye, and the female knight's body instantly froze in place, even her forward momentum mysteriously disappearing.

With a gentle push, the female knight fell off the execution platform. Fortunately, the force that had initially immobilized her was removed as she fell.

The female knight could only frantically adjust her body and land awkwardly on the ground. Although she was extremely strong, she still twisted her leg because of the hasty landing. She could only shout orders for the soldiers to surround her.

Robert did not recklessly use his Rumble-Rumble Fruit powers. He was now somewhat of a celebrity on the sea, having recently caused a great disturbance at Marineford.

Having finally faked his death and escaped, it's best not to let the Rumble-Rumble Fruit reappear so soon, lest it irritate the Navy's fragile pride.

However, even with just molecular-level microscopic manipulation, Robert can achieve the effect of controlling enemies for a short period of time. By simply combining it with other attack methods, he can still possess formidable combat power.

The blue-haired beauty, who had just been acting all delicate, stopped pretending and struck Robert with a finger as fast as a bullet.

Robert's Observation Haki, combined with his restored electronic senses, allowed him to clearly detect her movements and intentions. He easily dodged the attack and his fist, imbued with Armament Haki, slammed into her abdomen.

Robert, now at full strength, is more than ten times stronger than an ordinary person. Combined with the power generation techniques he recently learned from Redfield, he sent the blue-haired beauty flying backward with a single punch.

Spitting out a mouthful of blood in mid-air, the blue-haired beauty instantly realized she was no match for him. She stomped on the air a few times and miraculously turned and escaped the execution platform.

If the finger gun wasn't obvious enough, now that the blue-haired beauty has used Moonwalk, her identity is crystal clear: she's either a member of the Navy or CP, a special agency directly under the World Government.

Robert glanced back at the soldiers rushing toward the execution platform. He decided not to get entangled with these ordinary people any longer; he could get more information from the blue-haired beauty.