One Piece Gunslinger

Before Li Ang entered the port, he had been praying that he would not encounter this brat, and that it was still early and that the dragon had not yet rescued Sabo.

Because Leon could only roughly estimate the timeline based on the fact that Ivankov had not yet gone to Impel Down and that the bear had not yet undergone modification.

Since we've seen Sabo, it means Ivankov will soon be going to Impel Down as well.

When faced with such unruly kids, a few lessons and some basic manners are usually enough to resolve the issue. It's just a fight, right? A few beatings will teach them a lesson they won't forget.

But for Li Ang, this was an incredibly difficult task.

The reason is that Li Ang's attack ability is too strong compared to his other abilities, mainly due to the firearms he uses.

Even if Sabo becomes invincible in the future, when he's still a kid, he's only somewhat skilled and hasn't yet reached the point where he's immune to bullets. If he's accidentally hit by Leon's pistol, he'll be injured.

Not to mention, Li Ang's gun isn't some old-fashioned weapon from the One Piece world, the kind from the Renaissance to the First Industrial Revolution—it's incredibly outdated by today's standards.

This is why firearms are depicted as having little impact on the battle in the anime; they're mostly used for shooting at each other by ordinary soldiers. They're practically useless against anyone with even a little bit of skill; even Luffy, who had just set sail, was immune to bullets.

Of course, there are good guns out there.

For example, Van Augur of the Blackbeard Pirates has a great gun that can fire supersonic bullets, earning him the nickname "Sonic Leap."

But realistically, most guns in modern society fire bullets at supersonic speeds. Some sniper rifles can even reach speeds of thousands of meters per second.

After showing off the awesomeness of Li Ang's firearms, let's get back to the main topic.

If Sabo were to be accidentally shot by Leon, even if he taught Sabo a lesson, it would only breed resentment among the crowd.

You newcomer, it's one thing to sit in the position of chief of staff, but on your very first day here you injured one of our comrades, and he's just a kid. It's simply outrageous.

So if they don't use guns, they can basically surrender.

Its powerful offensive capabilities are based on firearms, but its other abilities are not particularly outstanding. It falls far short in comparison.

Even though Sabo has only just started learning martial arts from Dragon, the three mischievous brothers' amazing talent, combined with the skills they honed during their previous antics, means they could at least hold their own against Li Ang, if not surpass his limits as an Earthling.

A second-in-command officer fought a child to a standstill and ultimately won a hard-fought victory. However, his prestige among the other revolutionaries plummeted, and they felt it would have been better to simply surrender.

Moreover, the other members of the Revolutionary Army were just watching from the sidelines, and apart from Koala, no one wanted to come up and stop them.

What if you refuse? You can act aloof or use excuses like "I'm too busy, brother will give you candy" to avoid the issue. What then?

These methods may achieve temporary results, but in the end, the problem will only accumulate and become more serious. If the power of the brat is not punished, the result of giving in step by step will be to raise a little brat who will poop on your head.

Although they really wanted to reason with Sabo, Haku and Korla had been trying to reason with him for almost 10 years without much success, and Leon didn't believe that Sabo could be easily appeased with just a few words.

Wow, everything has its counter. And so, the most troublesome problem for Li Ang arose: how to break the deadlock.

But who is Li Ang? On Earth, he's unremarkable in appearance. But here, he's the king of schemes! Faced with this situation, Li Ang pondered for a moment, his eyes darting around, and he came up with a plan.

“Alright, let’s duel then.” Li Ang first pretended to agree, then said, “But to be the chief of staff, you need to be exceptionally intelligent. I’ll give you a riddle, and if you can solve it, I’ll duel you.”

Sabo beamed, about to say something, when Ivankov exclaimed in surprise, "Lion boy, this..."

But Leon acted faster, turning his head to stop Ivankov from continuing: "It's alright, I can handle it."

Then he turned back, bent down and said to Sabo, "You don't lack confidence in your intelligence, do you? You're too afraid to take on my riddle?"

"Stop talking nonsense and bring it on. There's no problem in this world that I, Sabo, can't solve." Just as Li Ang expected, no wonder he's one of the three brothers, he's really easy to fool.

"Then listen carefully!"

"Three people went to stay at a hotel. The room cost 30 yuan per night. Each person paid 10 yuan, totaling 30 yuan, and gave it to the owner. Later, the owner said there was a discount and the room would only cost 25 yuan. He took out 5 yuan and ordered the waiter to return it to them. The waiter secretly kept 2 yuan and then divided the remaining 3 yuan among the three people, giving each person 1 yuan. So, initially each person paid 10 yuan, and now they got 1 yuan back, meaning 10 - 1 = 9 yuan, and each person only paid 9 yuan. 3 people, 9 yuan each, 3 x 9 = 27 yuan + the 2 yuan the waiter kept = 29 yuan. Where did the other yuan go?"

However, Li Ang wouldn't give him the slightest chance, immediately presenting Sabo with an unsolvable problem. The entire piece was misleading, misleading Sabo to think along the wrong lines.

Li Ang explained it in great detail, going through each step of the calculations, which were detailed but not complicated, and Sabo heard every word clearly.

"Ugh, damn it, where did that last dollar go?" Sabo scratched his head, racking his brains for several minutes without figuring it out.

To Li Ang's surprise, Kella, who had been following Sabo, looked thoughtful.

Emma, ​​Li Ang suddenly remembered that Klar was the brains of Sabo's team, and Sabo commented, "Is there anything in the world that you can't handle?"

Startled, Li Ang quickly and secretly put his index finger to his lips, making a "shh" gesture to Kerla.

Clara understood and smiled, giving Li Ang a subtle nod.

Li Ang returned the smile. It seems that in the future, he will need Koala's help to deal with Sabo, this little devil.

"Well, if you can't figure it out now, you can go back and think about it slowly~~ Just come back to me when you finally figure it out."

Having said that, he put Sabo, who was still deep in thought, aside and continued on his way.

On the way, Li Ang turned to Ivankov and said, "Help me gather the other cadres. I want to hold a meeting to understand the current situation of the revolutionary army and to formulate the next direction."

Little did Ivankov know that he was completely oblivious.

"Hey, um? Li Ang, what did you just say?"

Li Ang had no choice but to repeat what he had just said.

"Oh, okay. I'll get on it right away."

Before he could take two steps, Ivankov turned back and asked, "So where did that dollar go? Can you tell me the answer to that question?"

Ivankov took the lead, and the other revolutionary soldiers echoed, "Yes, yes, where did that dollar go? We want to know too."

Li Ang facepalmed. Damn it, he was about to despair of this world full of idiots.

Chapter Seven: The First Fire

Dragon was very accommodating and quickly convened all the officials, big and small, for this meeting. However, Ivankov and Imazuna (who is sometimes male and sometimes female, Lightning) were not present.

Ivankov received news that something seemed to have happened in the Kingdom of the Transvestites, so he took Imazuna and left by boat.

Wow, Li Ang was just thinking about whether to warn Ivankov about the future dangers, but he didn't know how to do it without letting people know about Li Ang's ability to foresee the future.

Now it's all good; it's saved Li Ang a lot of trouble. Besides, Ivankov might be useful in Impel Down in the future. Li Ang stopped worrying about it; letting Ivankov go in and calm down for a few years is a good thing, although Luffy didn't notice any change in Ivankov's demeanor when he met him.

Li Ang guessed that this was the first time Long had given a newcomer such great respect within the Revolutionary Army. But it was also the last; from now on, Li Ang would have to build his own prestige and trust.

The meeting went very smoothly, almost too smoothly.

Li Ang's original intention was to understand the current situation in detail before discussing deployments and plans. He estimated that this would take at least an hour or two.

However...

"The above is our current sphere of influence and the situation of our internal personnel."

"That's it?" What the hell? Only a quarter of an hour has passed.

"Yes, Chief of Staff."

Well, no wonder they casually threw out a chief of staff position; it turns out this wretched place has less than five thousand people in total—intelligence personnel, military personnel, logistics personnel, and all sorts of miscellaneous staff.

Then, not to mention the areas that can be controlled, the places that can be influenced are only a dozen or so islands, some of which are only occupied by a small group of people who gather intelligence.

Well, the Revolutionary Army hasn't really taken off yet. After all, it will be several years before they make a big splash and attract the attention of the World Government.

Li Ang expressed his understanding, saying that Long had started from scratch all by himself, experiencing many twists and turns before finally building up this small team. Starting a business from nothing is difficult and truly not easy.

There was another reason that gave Li Ang a real headache.

“This, this, and this,” Li Ang pointed at the map on the table and angrily questioned, “These three barren lands not only produce nothing, but we also have to draw resources from other places to support them. Can someone tell me why there are such lagging areas that are consuming our already scarce food supplies?”

The revolutionary army was not well-supplied; in fact, it was already somewhat strapped for cash. Otherwise, it wouldn't have sought help from Koushirou and asked the Isshin Dojo in Seimo Shiki Village for food.

"What are you talking about? Of course, it's because these places are poor in resources, and the king is cruel and incompetent, causing widespread suffering. That's why we overthrew the original rulers and took over these areas. Helping the weak and overthrowing tyranny is our creed." One of them answered Li Ang's question with an air of self-righteousness.

"It's ridiculous. If that's the case, then these so-called beliefs might need to be revised. There's no need to save such so-called weaklings, and they don't deserve our help." Li Ang laughed angrily, making no attempt to belittle the revolutionary army's beliefs.

Bang!

"What did you say?" Several people slammed their fists on the table and stood up immediately, while many others turned around and glared angrily at the new chief of staff. "Say it again and see!"

Looking at the burly men glaring at him, Li Ang knew that any one of them could easily subdue him in a fight. However, Li Ang also understood that now was not the time to back down. If he retreated here and showed any weakness, his mission would be over.

“I’ll say it as many times as you want, but can anyone answer one question for me?” Li Ang glared back defiantly. “Why was it that when the tyrant was in power, these islands didn’t receive our aid, but now that we’ve been liberated, we need outside help?”

"This..." The burly men who had stood up fell silent.

However, one of the people sitting below answered the question: "I participated in one of those operations. As far as I know, after the king took office, he discovered a large amount of coal on that island. Originally, the island was called Black Stone Island because black stones covered the mountains and plains. Later, it was discovered that this was due to the abundance of coal, so it was renamed Black Coal Island. All the adult men there were conscripted by the king and worked day and night digging coal in the mines. Many people died in the mine tunnels."

"The king used the coal they mined to trade with the outside world and lived a life of extravagance. In addition, in order to raise the tribute of heavenly gold to the Celestial Dragons, he set up many exorbitant taxes. In the end, everyone, whether it was the men who mined inside or the old, weak, women and children outside, suffered terribly."

At this moment, another person took over and continued, "By the time we overthrew the king's rule, the mines were nearly exhausted. These men had spent almost their entire lives in the mines. Now that the mines are gone, they have no livelihood and can only survive on our relief."

After listening, Li Ang remained unmoved and continued, "Very well, after all that, I only care about one key point. That is, before the new king took office, long ago, Black Stone Island was able to be self-sufficient, right? Even without any coal mines, it could survive without any outside assistance. So, we revolutionaries were just incompetent fools who couldn't even feed and clothe the people."

Before anyone could react, Li Ang continued, "Now imagine that you are an ordinary person, and your ship is destroyed, leaving you stranded on a deserted island with no supplies. The island is barren except for a small puddle. There are some supplies on the ship, and before it sinks, you can salvage one thing from it. What would you salvage?"

The group was puzzled as to why the discussion had suddenly shifted from Black Coal Island to the shipwreck.

"What, Chief of Staff, why are you suddenly asking this question?" one of the men who had just answered the question asked, bewildered.

"Never mind all that, just answer the question. The others should also think carefully about what they would do." Li Ang insisted that they answer the question.

"Of course I'll take whatever's valuable; I'll bring my treasure." This guy's got money to burn.

"Idiot, of course we should salvage the food! How can we survive without food?" This is more rational than the previous one.

"No, if it were me, I might try to salvage a barrel of wine. Since I'm not going to survive anyway, I might as well get completely drunk before I die."

"Indeed, this is indeed a difficult situation."

Everyone chimed in with their opinions. Li Ang ignored them and instead looked in the direction of the dragon and the bear.

Seeing Xiong's unchanging expression, Li Ang said, "It seems that Bartholomew Xiong has also found the answer. Why not share it with the others?"

The bear turned its head and said calmly, "I might look for some fishing rods, nets, or something like that."

After hearing this, everyone suddenly realized, "Yes, no matter how much food we have, it's never enough. If we had fishing gear, wouldn't we be able to catch big fish to eat?"

Unlike other fools, Xiong and Long hadn't thought about it before, but now that Li Ang had given them a slight reminder, they understood why Li Ang had been angry earlier.

After Da Xiong's answer, Li Ang addressed the others, saying, "Do you understand now? Giving a man a fish is not as good as teaching him how to fish. Instead of unconditionally aiding those places now, we should help them rebuild their homes, restore production, and enable them to support themselves. They can even use the surplus resources to support our revolutionary army later. Just like that question, no matter how much food we salvage, it won't be enough; it's more useful to salvage a fishing net."

The revolutionaries were straightforward; once they realized their mistake, they didn't mince words. They immediately apologized to Li Ang and stated that in the future, regarding the areas they controlled, they would follow the principle of "giving a man a fish is not as good as teaching him how to fish," aiming to enable the local people to be self-sufficient.

Looking at the convinced smiles on the faces below, and silently repeating the saying "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime," Long's face also showed a gratified smile. This chief of staff was indeed right; he really had some ability. With a simple and easy-to-understand question, he had pointed out this huge, long-standing blind spot.

However, as is customary for a new official, Li Ang had already expressed his anger over this issue once, and was still not satisfied. The others had only tentatively accepted him and did not yet fully trust him.

So, Li Ang struck while the iron was hot and decided to continue causing trouble.