One Piece: A Guide for Ordinary Players

The group rushed into the clouds and disappeared completely from Akainu's sight.

Robert lay on the airship's deck, preventing the robotic engineers from turning the ship around:

"Don't rush off, keep moving forward, towards the area above the vortex!"

The robotic engineers don't care about danger; they only faithfully carry out the orders given by Robert.

The airship sped forward, quickly arriving at the spot where Beehive Island had disappeared. Below, the seawater formed a huge whirlpool, filling the void left by the island's vanishing.

Robert had Bian control the wasps to help him to the ship's side, where he picked up binoculars and looked out at the sea.

Blackbeard was nowhere to be seen; only Ace and Marco were seen flying across the sea, searching for him.

Bian sent a swarm of wasps toward Marco, forming an upward arrow in the distance. The pink wasps were very conspicuous in the sky and earth. Marco and Ace subconsciously looked up in the direction of the arrow, only to see a small black dot in the very high sky.

Both of them were in despair, but now a glimmer of hope arose in their hearts. Marco flapped his wings and followed the wasp into the sky.

Akainu naturally saw the strange phenomenon in the distance, but he was busy filling the large hole in the ship's hull with lava. It was already difficult enough to keep the warship from sinking into the sea, let alone chase it on the churning waves. He could only grit his teeth and give up.

Marco and Ace landed on the deck and immediately spotted Robert slumped beside the mast.

Ace stepped forward and punched Robert in the shoulder: "Are you crazy? How dare you provoke Blackbeard all by yourself!"

Robert grinned broadly: "My strength has improved by leaps and bounds this past year, okay? Guess why Blackbeard used such a trump card? It's because he would have been killed by me if he hadn't!"

Ace plopped down in front of Robert: "Stop bragging, if you've got the guts, stand up and walk a couple of steps."

Robert curled his lip: "Don't let my current exhaustion fool you, it's just a side effect of my ultimate move. I guarantee Blackbeard is in even worse shape than me."

Marco sighed, "It's a pity he got away."

Robert's eyes widened like saucers. He hadn't expected Blackbeard to kill him, but he couldn't accept that after unleashing such a powerful skill, Blackbeard could still calmly escape Marco's pursuit.

"It was Van Augur. When we arrived, we saw him rescuing Blackbeard from the whirlpool and then disappearing with him."

Robert finally breathed a sigh of relief. How could a boss of this level die so easily? But it seemed that Blackbeard had indeed paid a huge price, just as he had guessed, and that was enough.

I've managed to push him to this point this time; if I develop my strength a little more, I can take him down.

"Come to my place and rest for a while. Dressrosa is a member state of the World Government after all, and we can use the navy to block most of the trouble."

Ace and Marco exchanged a glance and remained silent.

Since Whitebeard's death, the two have shouldered the heavy responsibility of being Yonko, but their strength is indeed completely unworthy of such a position, and the more they persist, the more difficult it becomes.

“I have a piece of land that urgently needs people to occupy and manage it. Consider it an invitation from my brothers to help me out.”

Ace forced a smile and said, "Dressrosa can't possibly hold that many people anymore. Where did you get this territory from? It wasn't in the Four Seas, was it?"

Robert pointed to the sky above: "Dude, ever been to Heaven on Earth?"

Expanding overseas business footprint in international financial markets

Chapter 1, to put it bluntly, is about deadbeats.

Robert had long wanted to take over the entire Sky Island; he had a natural distrust of everything on the sea.

In the world of One Piece, there are so many strange and wonderful abilities that even the Four Emperors, who are as powerful as they are, are inevitably troubled by all sorts of troublemakers every day.

Today there's a supernova, tomorrow a revolutionary. Unless Robert stops going anywhere and stays in his own territory, the more power he gains, the less free he becomes.

Luffy keeps proclaiming that the Pirate King is the freest person in the world because he imagines that the Pirate King only needs to reach Laugh Tale, without having to conquer islands or protect the civilians under his rule.

But in reality, if simply going to a certain place could make one a king, then with Robert's current strength, he could easily fly directly to the southernmost point of the Grand Line, Water Star Island.

Even if you don't find a single signpost, you can start from Water Star Island and work your way down to each island through elimination. Finding the so-called Laugh Tale is just a matter of time. After all, if it really exists, you can definitely find it by exhaustive search.

However, in Robert's speculation, the One Piece was never an island in the conventional sense, quietly sitting there waiting to be discovered.

The World Government is fully aware that there are forces there capable of overthrowing regimes, yet it does nothing and even allows the existence of the Four Emperors in the New World. It must be because it is fearless.

It's not that we know no one can find that place using brute force, but rather that we're certain someone has found it and it's useless, just like Roger back then, who could only lament that he was a joke.

The more you know, the more afraid you become. People like Luffy, who are fearless, actually stem from ignorance.

Of the entire main group, only Robin has fragmented knowledge of the true nature of the world, making her the most out of place. While others are mindlessly throwing parties, she always stands on the sidelines smiling, unable to truly participate.

Robert knows more, so he dares not be as carefree as Luffy; he must accumulate enough trump cards before he can feel at ease.

Sky Island is an excellent location.

Firstly, it is more difficult for it to be attacked by powerful bosses like Im or the Five Elders than any other island in the sea. At least because the cost of attacking it is too high, it will not be the first choice when there are other targets of equal value.

At the end of the Egghead Island arc, the Punk Records were uploaded to the cloud, controlled by several of Vegapunk's clones, who were heading to the small sky island of Visalia.

Although Vegapunk said that Skypiea was not safe and was still at risk of being controlled by the World Government when he met Robert, when he was really desperate, the only choice he made was to hide above the clouds.

The second advantage of Skypiea is that there aren't many powerful pirates. Robert only needs to put in a little effort to ensure that his own backyard doesn't catch fire.

Maintaining a single stronghold in Dressrosa on the sea is sufficient. As my identity returns to normal, my enemies will surely use Dressrosa as a point of attack to exact their revenge.

With Luo guarding the home front, we can barely manage security issues. But as we expand our territory, we won't have that many high-end combatants who can stand alone by our side.

After Robert's enthusiastic recommendations, Ace and Marco couldn't help but yearn for Skypiea.

They were all well-traveled and knowledgeable pirates who had known of the existence of Sky Island for a long time. However, in their minds, Sky Island was nothing more than a backward and barbaric land, with no value in conquering it.

However, after Robert's analysis, it became clear that for the Whitebeard Pirates at this point, there was no better place to go than Skypiea.

If there were any other way out, Ace and his men would never want to bring the war to Mermaid Island.

"Since this is your territory, then we won't stand on ceremony!"

Ace was itching to get started. What he needed most right now was time. After training with Shanks for a year, his strength had improved by leaps and bounds, and he realized how ridiculous his previous confidence had been.

Whitebeard protected his adopted sons too well, never letting them experience any life-or-death battles firsthand, which created a false impression of their strength.

Everyone realized this during the year. Not only Ace, but the other members of the Whitebeard Pirates also worked hard during this time, constantly striving to improve their strength.

However, before they had grown strong enough to meet the challenges of the Four Emperors' crews, they were attacked by Akainu and Blackbeard.

If there really is a safe territory as large as a sky island where everyone can set up camp without any worries, and as Robert said, there are means of transportation that allow everyone to come to the sea to train at any time, then revenge will be just around the corner!

Ace readily agreed, while Robert blushed.

He had been making empty promises, but in reality, he didn't own a single sky island. His plan to buy the sky island was still just talk.

"Uh, to give everyone a sense of participation, I haven't started taking over the Sky Island yet... I need you guys to put in some effort..."

Ace and Marco were taken aback, then burst into laughter. Compared to Robert giving them a piece of land as a handout, this situation was much more acceptable.

When the airship returned to Dressrosa, Robert was already full of energy and a hero again.

In the underground factory, Law and A-San were summoned and gathered with Ace and Marco.

"As you've all heard me say before, we plan to expand into the skies and conquer all the sky islands."

"But at that time, Dressrosa was in dire need of reconstruction, and buying the Sky Island was just a plan."

"The situation is quite tense now, and occupying the Sky Island is indeed imminent."

Robert glanced at the Indian man, who understood immediately, and stood up to introduce the current progress to everyone.

"We started working on dealing with Sky Island three or four months ago. Although the launch is a bit sudden now, I think we still have a chance if we combine economic strength with military force."

"Our current debt to Sky Island is astronomical, and I'm still borrowing money with Dressrosa as collateral. The Sky Island people have no economic sense and just think I'm a sucker. They're currently printing money like crazy."

Robert chimed in, “Over-issuing currency will inevitably lead to inflation, but we can’t wait for the Sky Island economy to collapse naturally; we have to give it a push from behind.”

"Use all of Doflamingo's savings to target food supplies. Within a month, I'll double the price of food sold to Skypiea."

The Indian man nodded and said, "It's not a big problem. I've reopened his previous arms sales channels, and the grain we've acquired can be sold to war-torn countries that are short of food with a small profit or without any loss."

Apart from the Indian man who had been taught some economics by Robert, everyone else present was completely bewildered by the two men's constant use of terms like currency, lending, and excessive money printing.

Even though it was Dressrosa who borrowed a large sum of money, these two debtors acted as if they could bankrupt their creditor very soon.

The three great pirates were like the worst students in the class, listening to the top student in the Olympiad discussing the last big question of the college entrance exam with the teacher.

Especially Ace and Marco, who didn't even know that Robert was going to buy Skypiea, could only subconsciously look at Robert, who was not currently involved in the discussion but had been cooperating with Robert for a long time.

Luo cleared his throat. He hadn't understood a single word either. Having worked with Luo Ba for so long, they had always been responsible for their own parts.

When Robert was at Marineford, he was responsible for providing support; when Robert captured Dressrosa, he was responsible for taking control and protecting the city.

However, in front of the two great pirates, Ace and Marco, Law was unwilling to show that he actually knew nothing, and explained in a matter-of-fact tone:

"What these two mean is, about the money they borrowed..."

"They're not going to pay it back!"

There's still a scourge to be dealt with in Chapter 2.

Robert chuckled and explained in the simplest terms, "I'm a man of integrity in business. I'll definitely pay them back every penny I borrow, maybe even more. They'll thank me then."

"It's just that the Sky Island Ik is more valuable now. 10000 Ik can be exchanged for 1 Berry, and one million Ik can surely buy a loaf of bread."

"What Ah San and I are doing is to make the money on the Sky Island as worthless as possible when we repay it. Ideally, one hundred million Ik won't be worth one Berry, and you won't be able to buy half a loaf of bread even with several sacks of money."

Those present may lack basic knowledge of modern economics, but that doesn't mean they aren't intelligent.

The attribute growth brought by Devil Fruits is doubled. Everyone here is a Devil Fruit user, and everyone's mental attributes are far higher than those of ordinary people. Regardless of whether their intelligence has been improved, at least their minds work much faster than the average person.

Robert simply stated the facts, and everyone gasped in shock.

Compared to simply taking over with knives and guns, Robert's move was incredibly ruthless; in fact, they all felt that Robert was more cruel than most pirates at sea.

Because killing people with weapons takes a lot of time, and if Robert's move succeeds, most of the people on Sky Island will probably starve to death!

Marco, who was actually the most soft-hearted, couldn't help but frown and ask, "Won't a lot of people die? And most of them will be civilians..."

Robert knew his concerns; he wasn't a demon and wouldn't take pleasure in killing.

Moreover, in Robert's view, all the Sky Islanders are now under his rule, and he would be heartbroken if even one of them starved to death.

"Don't worry, I just want to occupy the Sky Island, not commit genocide. We will implement a food refinancing program, turning ourselves from debtors into creditors of the Sky Island."

Looking at Ace and Marco, Robert said seriously, "But I guarantee that all the rulers of Skypiea at that time will do two things."

"First, they are reneging on their promise, refusing to allow us to repay the loan with the devalued Ikki, and thus withholding the grain we provided as aid."

"Second, they shift the debts of the people onto ordinary people, levy more taxes on them, and withhold a large amount of the grain we transport."