One Piece: A Guide for Ordinary Players

Chief Puming was intimidated by Garin's imposing manner, and his tone softened: "So, is the purpose of holding this hunting competition early this year just to kill a mere pirate?"

Saint Satan chuckled and smoothed things over, saying, "Let's just consider this a rehearsal for each family. Whether the rankings from this competition will directly determine the resource allocation for the next three years, or whether a rematch will be held, we will report to Lord Im and let him decide."

Upon hearing Im's name, no one dared to voice any further objections. Or perhaps they were merely expressing their stance, and now that their objective had been achieved, they fell silent.

Chief Purming stood up: "Since we didn't decide on the location of the hunting competition, the arrangement of the competition and the security of the event naturally cannot be the responsibility of our Purming family."

"Saint Garin, you are the leader of the Knights of God, and this ambush plan was proposed by your family. I only hope that you can take responsibility for the safety of all participating families and not repeat the tragedy of God Valley!"

Garin's expression darkened for a moment, but he quickly regained his composure:

"The Pulminger family need not worry about that. Robert is not comparable to the Rocks of yesteryear. Taking him down will be as easy as taking candy from a baby!"

Robert was utterly shocked: "What do you mean? So you're holding a hunting competition, and I'm the one being hunted?"

Chapter 14: Do doctors understand nuclear physics?

Before today, Robert never imagined that he would become the target of the World Government. Although he has grown stronger and stronger, he is gradually showing signs of taking over Whitebeard's mantle and becoming one of the new Four Emperors of the Sea.

But what are the Four Emperors? At most, they are organizations on the same level as the Navy. When has the World Government ever needed to personally take action against pirates, especially someone like me who has just gained some fame and hasn't officially become an Emperor yet?

Robert watched quietly as the Celestial Dragons began to chat about other things, knowing he wouldn't hear anything useful from them anytime soon.

However, just knowing that he had become the target of the hunt was exciting enough. Robert went all out and used electromagnetic induction to scan the entire Pangu City.

Many areas in Pangu City were completely blank in Robert's perception, which is very likely because the materials used to build those areas had the property of shielding electromagnetic radiation, including the Flower Room.

Karina had said that Uta was staying among the flowers, but Robert's scan failed to find any trace of her, indicating that the flower garden was located in one of the few areas he couldn't explore.

Now that he knew he was the target, Robert relaxed. Compared to Uta, he was definitely more resilient to pressure.

Since the other party has decided to use Uta to lure him, they certainly won't do anything to Uta beforehand, lest he discover their scheme.

Robert searched for Uta without success, then narrowed his eyes and focused his attention on the patriarch of the Pulming family. Since this family wasn't exactly a good family anyway, Robert directly started tampering with things in front of the two big shots, Saint Satan and Saint Garin.

After discussing the hunting competition, the group had completed their checks and balances and tested each other. They all tacitly agreed not to continue the topic. As they were all big shots in their respective fields, it would have been easy for them to change the subject by exchanging a few words about the operation of the World Government.

Of the three people present, only the head of the Pullminger family had little fighting ability; he was just a simple politician, a fact that Robert had already figured out the moment he met him.

After a few casual words, the group reached a tacit understanding to end the conversation. The first to stand up was the clan chief, who had come to confront them.

He felt a bit listless, with chest tightness and dizziness, and thought it was because of the series of events that had happened that day. He coughed and prepared to say goodbye and leave.

Suddenly, Seiichi Garin raised his hand and said, "Something's wrong, someone is attacking us!"

Satan also reacted immediately. Both of them were experts, and the moment they noticed the anomaly, they unleashed their Observation Haki to the maximum extent. However, Robert had already completed his crime and returned to Karina's room.

"Kalina, come with me. Your mission is over. Leave the rest to me."

Karina shook her head firmly: "I've thought it over carefully. This identity is very useful. It allows us to know a lot of information about the hunting competition. We can't give up on her easily."

Robert didn't want to tell Karina that these people were actually targeting him, and that Uta's safety was actually somewhat guaranteed.

She couldn't stay among the flowers forever. As long as Uta appeared within her perception range, she could take her away before anyone else could react.

All of the Celestial Dragons' plans are based on the premise that he will go to the Hunting Tournament to rescue Uta. As long as he takes them by surprise and makes his move before the Hunting Tournament, the Celestial Dragons will be caught off guard.

"I've already found Uta. We won't have to wait for the hunting competition; we'll be able to rescue her soon. Don't worry."

“Now it’s your identity that’s in danger. You’ve been to the Flower Garden more than once before, and I’m afraid Im has already discovered your identity.”

Karina shook her head and said, "Although I did feel monitored in the flower garden, it felt more like a routine check on my identity. I have a real Celestial Dragon chip, and my ability to transform into other people is impeccable."

“Didn’t you say that Im is the most mysterious and powerful person in the entire World Government? He wouldn’t focus all his energy on a nobody like me.”

“I discovered from the memories of this Mantalie Palace that before I became her, long before Uta was brought to Mary Geoise, she had harassed Uta more than once. Im wouldn’t be so idle as to verify my authenticity every time, and besides, he might not even be able to tell the difference.”

Robert was at a loss for words on how to persuade Karina to leave, and he was already considering whether to resort to violence to forcibly take Karina away.

"Actually, I'm more worried about the people in the Pulminger family than Im. That Pulminger Saint is a fool and there's nothing to worry about, but his father is no ordinary person. When I first impersonated Mantalie, I may have given myself away, and he might have noticed some clues."

A loud bell rang out from the direction of Pangaea, and soon alarm bells also sounded at the Purminger family's manor.

Karina frowned as she counted the chimes: "Nine chimes, that's the highest level of security!"

Robert said, "You must have been exposed. Hurry up and come with me."

Karina rolled her eyes at Robert: "Neither the Mantalli Palace nor I, Karina, are worthy of Mary Geoise's nine alarm bells. There must be an extremely powerful enemy invading, or something major has happened that could lead to the destruction of a family."

Her eyes quickly caught the change in Robert's expression: "Did you do this?"

Robert nodded: "I tested the regenerative abilities of the Five Elders and incidentally killed the patriarch of the Pullminger family."

Karina's eyes widened: "Then there's no problem! As long as he dies, the Pulminger family will be thrown into chaos, and no one will notice my changes!"

The entire Purminger Manor was in chaos. Karina, listening to the commotion outside the door, asked with some concern, "He's probably dead, right?"

Robert's electromagnetic induction remained firmly locked on the direction of Pangu City. He said casually, "Don't worry, he's not dead for sure, he's already dead. No matter how strong the doctor is, it won't help."

Karina frowned: "You should leave first. Killing the patriarch of a Celestial Dragon family so blatantly... it was a bit impulsive..."

Robert shook his head, mimicking how Karina had refused him earlier: "If you don't leave, I won't leave either. You're not worried they'll find out I was behind it, so you're ruining your plans, are you?"

"Don't worry, with the level of knowledge these Celestial Dragons have, they probably won't even be able to figure out how I killed them."

Karina said anxiously, "Don't underestimate the power of the World Government. The Celestial Dragons may not understand, but do you think the doctors they've captured from all over the world don't understand either?"

Robert chuckled dismissively: "Does a doctor understand nuclear physics?"

Chapter 15 Experience the Power of Science

Although Robert is a die-hard One Piece fan, he abandoned the series for a considerable period of time.

The reason he abandoned the series was not the manga's hiatus, the anime's free-flowing flashback sequences, or the later, more exaggerated plot points like the entire cast searching for their fathers or the rubber-to-Nikka transformation. Rather, it was the fact that the Devil Fruits, which originally underpinned the One Piece world's power system, began to be taken over by Haki.

The entire story of One Piece is originally built on a fantasy system constructed from Devil Fruits. The reason Robert likes Luffy is that he enjoys watching how Luffy uses his boundless imagination to develop the seemingly weak Gum-Gum Fruit to its fullest potential.

Back then, it took two or three months to get a new comic book. What Robert looked forward to most was what new Devil Fruits would appear and what interesting skills these Devil Fruits could use.

But when domineering became popular, everything changed.

After a version update, the sky fell first for the Logia type. Armament Haki, a common type of Haki that anyone can master through hard training, directly rendered the Logia type's supposedly invincible elemental transformation useless.

Next, Observation Haki can not only dodge the next attack, but also predict the future and interfere with it.

Finally, to highlight the unparalleled prestige of Conqueror's Haki, the ability to temporarily nullify Devil Fruit powers was added.

Since then, all magical power in the One Piece world has been greatly weakened, leaving only hand-to-hand combat to prevail.

After all, what's the point of having all that wind, fire, thunder, lightning, sound, light, and electricity if you can't deal any damage?

Enel's lightning strike couldn't kill Usopp, and Akainu's great fire breath could only melt Aokiji's Ice Age. To kill Ace, you ultimately had to get close and land a punch.

Robert firmly believes that the romance of pirates lies in the endless development of Devil Fruit abilities, and that only imagination can form the cornerstone of combat power in the pirate world.

So although he also practices Haki, he has never stopped secretly developing his Devil Fruit ability.

Besides the initial high temperature and shock wave, the most significant killing mechanism of nuclear weapons is the radiation that follows.

Early nuclear radiation contained a large amount of gamma rays, which are essentially a type of ionizing radiation.

Robert's Devil Fruit ability is unrelated to the core, but he can certainly create ionizing radiation.

When Robert heard that those people were plotting against him, he gritted his teeth and used his attack skill, which was still in the experimental stage.

After witnessing Blackbeard's devastating black hole attack during his last battle with him, Robert resolved to develop his own powerful attack skills.

Blackbeard's move truly embodies the principle of equality for all beings; no matter how strong you are in your Haki training, you can hardly escape the punishment of the black hole.

Robert realized that his Rumble-Rumble Fruit could never rival a black hole simply by increasing voltage and current output, so he quickly turned his attention elsewhere.

Whenever an outer electron of a particle undergoes a transition from a high to a low energy level, it releases energy, which is mostly emitted as gamma rays.

Just now, Robert pushed his awakened Devil Fruit power to its limit, using the patriarch of the Pullminger family as a nuclear material, triggering the electron transition and decay within his body. In just over ten seconds, his body had already reached the critical point of collapse.

Killing an ordinary person wouldn't require much effort. Robert's target was never the unfortunate patriarch, but rather Saint Satan and Saint Garin, who were in the same room with him!

They are all Im's loyal dogs. Saint Satan is certain to have the highest-level Abyss Mark, while Saint Garin, based on his future position as the successor to the Five Elders and the position of the leader of the Knights of God, even if he doesn't have an Abyss Mark, he must at least have a Deep Sea Mark.

If Jabba's explanation is correct, the only way to counter Im's mark is to continuously use Conqueror's Haki to wear down its power. In that case, Robert would be completely helpless against these two.

Although his strength increased extremely quickly, he had only trained in Haki for a short time. Haki itself is an even more abstract ability than Devil Fruits, and even Robert himself did not believe that his Haki could defeat these two high-level villains.

So Robert has been thinking about how to deal with the enemies who have made a pact with Im. Now he's going to try and see if the radiation, like a leech, can achieve impressive results against these people who claim to be immortal.

Radiation sickness can cause organ failure, cell carcinogenesis, tissue abnormalities, and other problems. Moreover, these problems can spread like a virus. Even if they have unlimited regenerative abilities, radiation will continue to infect newly formed cells.

Chief Pulming, who was the source of the radiation, had long since died. His body was as if it had been melted away. After Robert stimulated most of the energy in the particles in a very short time, his physical body no longer had the ability to reassemble. He was as if he had evaporated into the air.

But the crisis for Saint Garin and Saint Satan has only just begun!

Their skin began to swell and turn red, and all their internal organs seemed to go on strike, showing signs of failure.

Having been famous for many years, the two had long forgotten what it felt like to be weak. They both pushed their domineering aura to the extreme, but they still couldn't change the malignant changes in their bodies.

Satan let out a desperate roar, his body suddenly growing larger, taking on the form of a Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit user, the Gyu-oni. However, even with the powerful physique gained from his awakened Zoan-type Devil Fruit, he still couldn't stop the onset of acute radiation sickness.

Without a Devil Fruit, Korin was in even greater pain, coughing up large amounts of blood. His skin was festering, and his meticulously styled blond hair fell off like a shell.

Robert was thrilled. Even with his current strength, stimulating particle decay would require a lot of energy, and he was feeling completely exhausted after using that move. But the effect was just too good.

The two powerful opponents were so thoroughly defeated that they didn't even realize when they had made their move.

As he watched as a black, gelatinous substance began to appear on their bodies, attempting to repair their broken forms in vain, Robert was so excited he almost jumped for joy.

He finally got ahead of everyone else, and when everyone was helpless against the unkillable regenerative abilities of Im's subordinates, he found a way to deal with them!

Suddenly, a devastating mental shock spread out from between the flowers, precisely enveloping the entire Pangu City. Robert's electromagnetic control ability was instantly swept away as if it were garbage.

Karina noticed Robert's pale face, as if he had suffered a severe blow, and quickly stepped forward to help him up, asking with concern, "Are you alright?"

Robert wiped the blood from his nose, his eyes fixed on the direction of Pangu City, and shook his head.

"Im has made his move!"

Chapter 16 A life without cross-dressing is incomplete

Karina looked conflicted. She really didn't want to give up her identity as a member of the Mantalli Palace, because it was the only way she could get close to Uta and confirm her safety.

Robert had previously advised her to give up her identity and leave, but Karina refused resolutely because she didn't care about her own safety.

Karina felt guilty because Uta had been kidnapped. Uta was living a good life on the secluded music island, and it was Karina who brought her out.