One Piece: Nico Robin Collection

Chapter 59: Explanation of the Pirate World Bounty and Berry
I've noticed that many readers don't understand the bounties offered by the Four Emperors, and generally feel they're too low. Let me explain this to you in more detail.

First of all, the reward does not refer to the value of the person himself, but the price the bounty offerer is willing to pay to solve the target.

For example, the bounty on Saddam Hussein was 25 million U.S. dollars, which is equivalent to 3.5 billion Japanese yen. The final bounty on bin Laden was 50 million, but this should be the highest amount publicly disclosed by the United States in history. It is not very valuable for reference, but more of a stance and symbolic meaning.

Readers are in a God's perspective and feel that the Four Emperors actually control an area, which is definitely worth more than this, just like it is impossible for Bin Laden to not come up with 5000 million. That's why they feel that the reward is too low.

But as mentioned earlier, the bounty of the Four Emperors can be understood as the price paid by the Navy to get rid of the Four Emperors.

Otherwise, the actual value of the Four Emperors combined is no less than that of the Navy. The Navy can't sell itself out for a bounty.

This is the explanation of the bounty, and then there’s the question about Berry’s purchasing power, which is really interesting.

Many readers have never understood Berry’s purchasing power, so let me first talk about Berry’s settings.

Purchasing power: 1 berry = 1 yen.

This is undoubtedly an official setting.

The purchasing power of the Japanese yen is actually very confusing to us Chinese people, as it seems to fluctuate.

First of all, One Piece was born in Japan in the 90s. At that time, the Japanese economy was in its twilight years, but it still had some of its glory days. It had high incomes but also high consumption, but the purchasing power was still pretty good.

And even though their economic development has stagnated for thirty years, they are still considered a developed country.

Because of different national conditions, our country is a developing country, but resources are very abundant and human resources are very cheap, so some things that seem very cheap to us are actually very expensive in Japan, and some things that seem expensive to us are even more expensive there, or unexpectedly cheap.

It’s like how Chinese people can’t understand why a round watermelon can be sold at a price of hundreds of thousands of RMB, because the watermelons grown on the sandy slopes of the northwest are bigger than piglets, so sweet that they can make your teeth choke, and only cost a few cents per pound in the summer.

This kind of regional difference can also be seen in China. For example, prices in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou are high because their urban development has entered the level of developed countries, and wages are generally higher than other places. Although not much higher, they are indeed high.

I can also see the distribution of readers and subscription levels in each province in the background, and can also see the economic level and personal qualities of readers in different regions from certain aspects... Guangdong has the most subscriptions and the least trolls (whispering)
Back to the topic, the Berry in One Piece is benchmarked against the Japanese yen, but its purchasing power is also based on Japanese society. Remember, it is purchasing power.

And based on the purchasing power of the Japanese Yen between the 1990s and 2000s, the purchasing power was quite strong, but the cost of resources and labor was high. As for large items like vehicles and ships...they are actually too expensive here (_)
A copy of World Economic News costs 100 berries, which is equivalent to 5 yuan in RMB. Nami said it was originally 50 berries, which can be regarded as 2.5 yuan, which basically fits the historical background of Japan at that time, including rising prices.

However, some things that are supposed to be expensive, such as devil fruits starting at 1 million and large swords costing tens of millions, are indeed not reasonable.

Personally, I think the reason is that Oda at that time was just a... uh... what is commonly known as a loser, and he didn't have much knowledge. However, apart from these things, his purchasing power for other things in the original plot is still normal.

So after careful consideration, I settled on a target of 100 billion yuan for the protagonist's assets. This can be interpreted as a coal boss worth billions in China. Too much is easy to become a pig, but too little is too influential and people won't pay attention to you. Regarding assets, half of the company's after-tax revenue must be deducted from reserves and cash flow. The remaining amount still needs to be paid for workers, shareholder dividends, and relationships. Finally, the protagonist's income is the final product. Even if the company's net income is 10 billion yuan a year, the actual amount received may be less than 1 billion yuan. Compared to the golden finger of the collection system, this income is almost negligible.

In addition to the buff of resources, I gave the protagonist the label of a business star, a man who controls endless resources. You can understand him as a tycoon in the resource industry. He has a wide range of connections and can get any resources. He has a certain influence in the field of mineral resources. It doesn't mean that he has unified the East China Sea business circle.

So some readers understand that this is a super rich man, this is a pure pig, I really can’t do anything about it!
Some people say if I were Doflamingo, I would enslave you! I say, don't be so mean to Doflamingo, he's in a business with no capital investment, he can earn tens of millions per slave, it's all pure profit.

Who did they sell the captured slaves to? Which group did they earn the money from? Where did they invest the money?
There are so many paths in life, but why did he choose the poorest one, crossing the Grand Line and running to Luoge Town in the East China Sea to rob an industrial mine owner? And then offend all the financial backers and clients, and destroy his own reputation?
Are you sick? Isn't that right?

I can even imagine the mental state of this person when he said this. Perhaps it was the moment his parents deducted his pocket money, and he realized the truth of the jungle in this world. He usually laughs and jokes, but once angered, he is like a deep and dark demon, and everyone will suffer his terrible wrath...

I can understand teenagers saying this. Who hasn’t experienced middle school?

But I still have this idea when I’m in my twenties. Instead of reading novels, I should really use my brain first.

To be honest, I had thought about the issue of net worth when I first started setting the standards. After all, I am an author, and I have basically anticipated the complaints that readers may have.

But after thinking carefully about the protagonist's conditions: a real enterprise, engaged in resource mining, not only did he not get the head, but he also had resources hanging, a reward of tens of millions of yuan for his combat power, and his net worth was only that of a local coal boss, and he was in the East China Sea...

Considering that Capone Becky was able to unify the West Sea underworld before going out to sea, it doesn't seem like there's any problem.

I thought some people would think that the price is too high, or too low, that the protagonist's strength is getting stronger or weaker, and I don't know the setting of the comparison between Berry and the Japanese yen, that having money can't get a devil fruit or something, but...

What do you mean you don't know what a business is? Assets equal capital?
Listen, oil...

A man can be naive and poor, but he must have seen pigs run before he has eaten pork, otherwise he will always be naive and poor. There are some things or rules that you may not be willing to accept or understand, but it is undeniable that their existence is an objective fact that will not change no matter how angry or yelling you are.

This can be considered as a subtle response to those troll readers.

To put it bluntly: If you are inexperienced, you should read more. The world never revolves around you.

Don't say you're talking about the reality of the pirate world. When you criticize me, aren't you playing the reality logic of the survival of the fittest very well? After all, I followed the laws of corporate operation to determine the protagonist's background. What are you criticizing me for? The master's orders?

I've been holding it in for so many days and I really can't hold it in any longer. I have to get rid of this anger today!

Sorry for the delay in updating, I'm working hard on the update!

(End of this chapter)