One Piece: A Guide for Ordinary Players

The large island at the end of the Sky Island Passage is designated as the core island for export trade. Merchant ships from Qinghai will be taken directly here after leaving the import trade island, and will then leave the White Sea area after loading up Sky Island specialties.

The entire high-speed air trade group is now under Robert's control, and no other merchant fleets can enter the sky islands by high-speed air routes.

The Visalia is currently docked next to the core island of import trade. When Robert arrived with A-San and Da Luo, Nami was loudly arguing with the staff in charge of reception.

Both Ah San and Da Luo had handled important national affairs before, and they knew that this island was the one that Luo Ba had specifically requested. Naturally, they wouldn't allow anyone to clash with them, but they would also never take it upon themselves to buy their food at a high price.

Just then, Robert returned to Skypiea to deliver the Devil Fruit to Drogon; otherwise, they would have simply delayed the people of Visalia, making them wait until Robert returned.

"Who upset Miss Nami?"

Without a second thought, Nami turned around and yelled, "You've all upset me! Before we left, we agreed to buy the grain at one million Berries per ton, which is why we went through all that trouble to transport it. Now you're trying to go back on your word! Let me tell you..."

She was in the middle of her rant when she suddenly saw Robert looking at her with a half-smile, and her eyes immediately welled up with tears.

Nami leaped from the shore into the sea of ​​clouds, stumbling and wading towards Robert on the Waver's small boat, burying herself in his arms:

"You're such a bastard! I thought you were dead!"

Robert didn't know what to say for a moment, so he could only pat Nami on the back and say, "If I hadn't faked my death to escape, wouldn't the Navy have been hunting me down all over the sea? How could I have worked hard to improve my strength then?"

"Back then, when everyone was slapped away by Bartholomew Kuma, I was also desperate. I didn't even know where to find you guys. Later, I did meet up with Luffy, but we couldn't catch up on the battlefield, and eventually we lost contact."

"My original plan was to follow Luffy's message and go directly to Sabaody Archipelago to meet everyone when the two-year agreement expired, but as you know, trouble has been coming my way for the past two years."

"So I decided to cause a ruckus on the high seas and make myself famous enough so you could find me."

"Don't you guys watch the news? Why don't you come looking for me?"

Chapter 20 I'm just a soft-hearted person

Nami was stunned by Robert's question; it seemed that what he said was indeed reasonable, well-founded, and measured.

He was sent flying to Visalia by Kuma, and apart from seeing Luffy safe and sound on TV and making a two-year promise with his crew, he had no idea where the others were.

The only exception was Robert. Although the news initially reported that he was dead, the World Government reissued the bounty a year later, confirming that Robert had faked his death to escape punishment.

Since his involvement in the Dressrosa battle, news about him has been constant for the past six months. Robert has been stirring up trouble in the New World, and his bounty is now approaching one billion.

I had actually guessed long ago that Robert was the real controller of Dressrosa, but for the past two years I had been so focused on learning meteorological knowledge from my masters that I had never thought of taking the initiative to look for Robert.

Upon realizing this, Nami felt somewhat ashamed.

She ran her fingers over Robert a few times: "The news a couple of days ago said you were injured and went missing after your big battle with Kaido. Are you alright?"

Robert would never reveal that he had secretly allied with Kaido. The reason he dared to hand over all his territories to Kaido was because he believed that Luffy would help him take them back in a few months.

If Luffy wants to grow into a god who can rival Im, he must step on one important figure after another to rise to the top.

I've already finished the trials of Dressrosa and Punk Hazard. If I don't leave Luffy and his crew with Kaido and Big Mom to practice against, I'm afraid that if they face Im in the end, they'll find that they can only rely on the power of the Nika Fruit, and Luffy hasn't awakened it yet, which would be interesting.

"What could possibly happen to me? Kaido foolishly thought that defeating me would allow him to seize territory. In reality, it was a strategic retreat. Since I couldn't defend those islands anyway, I simply abandoned them and withdrew all my subordinates to the Sky Island."

Nami's eyes widened: "So all these guys are yours?"

Robert nodded proudly. Before Nami could say anything, an old man dressed as if he had traveled from the Harry Potter world approached, wiping away tears.

"You're Nami's friend? Then you have to stand up for us!"

Robert feigned ignorance and said, "Old man, please don't be anxious. What have my men done to offend you? Tell me, and I will punish them severely!"

Nami, however, became hesitant and weakly explained, "Before, Skypiea was facing a severe food shortage. My teachers and I couldn't bear to see everyone go hungry, so we tried our best to transport a batch of food from Qinghai. Who knew your people would say they weren't accepting food anymore..."

Robert wanted to laugh to himself. Why didn't Sky Island accept grain? Sky Island just didn't want to be taken advantage of.

He had heard Nami's offer: one million Berries per ton, which was equivalent to Skypiea paying nearly 50,000 RMB for one ton of food.

It's important to understand that, based on international food prices in the modern world before Robert's time travel, even a high-quality grain like rice would only cost around three thousand yuan per ton. Even with the low productivity in the pirate world, the normal price of rice would never be more than ten times higher.

Nami and her crew are essentially trying to resell the grain at a price many times higher than the purchase price. It would be suspicious if their own subordinates accepted it.

Robert smiled wryly and said, "Sky Island was indeed short of food before, but that was a man-made disaster caused by the rulers at the time. I have already ousted them from power and then immediately transported food from Qinghai to provide disaster relief."

“As you know, when I was in charge of Dressrosa, food was the least of our worries. We distributed food to the people of the Sky Island for free, so we really didn’t need to buy more food, especially at a premium.”

Once Robert opened his mouth, Nami and the old man were speechless. It was fitting that Nami was sent flying to Visalia, where she could not only learn about meteorology, but they also shared the same obsession with money.

Like Vegapenko, the meteorologists in Visalia have long faced a lack of research funding, so they travel around all day, relying on fees collected from artificial rainmaking on various arid islands to subsidize their research.

As soon as the news of the food shortage on the floating island broke, they swarmed around it like stray dogs smelling blood, and immediately started buying and selling.

At the time, Robert deliberately cut off food supplies to the Sky Island, ensuring that not a single grain of food was transported via the high-speed air route, which actually allowed Visalia to enjoy several meals of meat.

Initially, they had little capital, and could only buy a few tons of grain in Qinghai at a time. When they returned to the Sky Island to sell it to several major countries, they naturally had to exaggerate how much food Qinghai lacked and how difficult it was for them to buy it.

After several such incidents, Nami realized that the food shortage on Skypiea was far from insignificant. The amount of food they could transport was a drop in the ocean compared to the famine, and she gradually became bolder.

These meteorologists don't accept payments from the Sky Island Ik; they only accept payments from Bailey. Every time they sell their food, they immediately use all their money to buy more food, and the selling price is higher each time.

Until this time, when they finally managed to collect enough food to fill a small island in Qinghai, they were told that the island had changed hands and they would no longer collect food from it.

Visalia has already spent all his money on grain. If Robert doesn't want it, even if he brings it back to Qinghai, he can only sell it at a lower price, and there's still a chance he won't be able to sell it at all.

Nami is the kind of person who would consider it a loss even if she didn't pick up money normally. Now, for her to watch helplessly as all the wealth she had accumulated over the past six months slipped through her fingers is worse than death.

But what Robert said makes sense. They are one of the largest grain merchants in Qinghai. Why would they buy their own high-priced grain on the Sky Island?

Nami gritted her teeth, shook Robert's arm, and pleaded, "Please, Robert, help us!"

“My teachers are so pitiful. They finally saved up some money for retirement, and now they’ve spent it all on grain. If you don’t buy it now, they won’t even be able to afford a coffin when they die, and their ashes will just be scattered at sea!”

Robert couldn't help but exclaim, "That truly is the ultimate romance for men of the sea!"

The two of them kept talking back and forth, which made the old man with the white beard next to them quite angry: "I can still live for a long time! Why did you have to dig me up like that!"

Robert feigned a troubled expression: "Nami, it's not that I don't want to help, but you know we suffered heavy losses when we gave up our territory in Qinghai. If I buy up completely useless grain at a high price now, it will be hard to explain to my brothers."

Nami and the white-bearded old man exchanged a glance: "When we bought this batch of grain, we were afraid that a famine would strike the Sky Island and people would starve to death, so we bought it at a premium. Please help us out and at least buy it at cost price."

Robert squinted at Nami: "So, what was your purchase price?"

Nami held up one hand: "500,000 Berries per ton!"

Robert rolled up his sleeves: "Come on, take me directly to those people who sold you the grain. How dare they cheat my friends? I'll beat the crap out of them if I don't! It'll be a shame if their boyfriends didn't develop them properly!"

Nami grabbed Robert's arm and pulled him aside: "Don't think I can't see what you really want."

Robert chuckled and said that Nami was so smart, how could she not know he was teasing her?

“Your teachers are short of money, and I happen to be very rich.”

"All I wanted was to give them a home!"

Chapter 21: A Collection of Retro and Overused Clichés

Robert and Nami were whispering to each other, leaving the white-bearded old man standing aside, anxiously waiting.

Several meteorologists dressed similarly to the white-bearded old man approached with worried expressions: "Harda, you've really gotten us into trouble this time."

The old man named Hareda's beard bristled: "You old fogies, you were all smiles when you were making money, and now that you're stuck, you're blaming me? It was a decision everyone made together, so nobody can pin it on Nami!"

Although Hareda usually finds fault with Nami, no one is allowed to bully his little apprentice.

The other meteorologists didn't actually blame Nami; they were just used to bickering with Hareda after decades of getting along. Hearing Hareda say that, they immediately started teasing him.

"Stop fighting!"

Nami stood aside, feigning helplessness, looking as anxious as Xiaoying in the pouring rain.

The old men weren't really fighting; their pushing and shoving was more like an awkward dance. They stopped when Nami returned.

"Nami, didn't you say that the person in charge is your friend? Would he be willing to accept our grain?"

Nami's tears fell in a steady stream: "I'm sorry, teachers. My friend is also in a difficult position. He has tens of thousands of brothers under his command, and he really can't do something that puts his personal life before his official duties."

Harreda suddenly looked ten years older, but still managed a forced smile as he scolded his old friends, "Why are you all acting like your wives have died? You don't even have wives, hahaha!"

The old men around them understood immediately and chimed in, "You have the nerve to talk back to us? You don't have a wife either. We were planning to take you to the red-light district of Wano Country after we made some money this time, but now that's all gone. You should just focus on your research from now on!"

Harreda was furious: "You're still guarding the children! I'll fight you to the death!"

Nami was genuinely moved this time. She could tell that the teachers were deliberately changing the subject to avoid making her feel guilty.

Although the decision to resell grain was made by everyone, it was Nami who seized the opportunity and came up with this ingenious idea.

Now that something has happened, Nami is the most anxious. Seeing that the old men have tied up all the money they've earned from traveling around to make rain over the past few years in grain, and now they're even worried about making her sad, Nami's fake crying turns into real crying.

After recalling Robert's suggestion, Nami made up her mind.

"Dear teachers, I'm sorry, it was my idea to invest all the money in this business, and I will take full responsibility for it."

Harreda flew into a rage: "What are you talking about? Everyone is responsible for this. Let's see who dares to pin the blame on you!"

"It's just a little money. We've been poor all these years. We can just do more business in the future."

The other old men also said they were fine, and some even said they didn't want to work so hard doing research every day anymore. They said that not having money was a good opportunity to take a break, and that at least for the next year or two, Visalia wouldn't have to spend money on food.

Nami said with a wronged expression, "How can that be? All the teachers' dream is to study astronomy and meteorology. How can we give up just because we don't have money!"

"I've found a way out!"

Harreda's expression froze. He glanced at Nami, then at Robert behind her who had been smiling silently, and suddenly trembled all over.

"I disagree! Even if we starve to death, I will not agree to you selling yourself!"

Robert quickly figured out what Harreda was thinking: he was being treated like a thug.

However, he did not offer any explanation, stating that he had already reached an agreement with Nami, and that she would handle everything.

Nami looked embarrassed and said, "Oh, what are you saying, old man? How could I possibly sell myself!"

Hareda's expression softened slightly, and he was about to say something when Nami added, "I sold you all out!"

Harreda felt like he was on a drop tower, suddenly soaring into the air and then crashing down rapidly.

"You deserve to die, Nami! How could I have taken in such a rebellious disciple!"

Robert was thoroughly amused, but Harreda turned and glared at him angrily: "You deserve to die too! How could you turn down young and beautiful girls and prefer someone like me..."

The other meteorologists around him saw that Harreda was so ashamed and indignant that he was about to faint, so they quickly stepped forward to support him and comfort him.

Hareda roared, "Are you all deaf?! That traitor was talking about you! She betrayed us all! This little bastard wants to share the spoils!"

The meteorologist, who had been able to remain calm, suddenly exploded and joined Harreda in pointing at Robert and cursing him.