One Piece: A Guide for Ordinary Players

Robert could only attribute it to the exceptionally talented individuals among the giants of the Great Hammer Legion who had lived for hundreds of years, while York spoke with pride:

"Why can't it be me who can understand the little tree? I'm Vegapunk!"

Robert never imagined York had such an ability, but he believed that York was definitely not the kind of person who would boast. Since she introduced herself as someone who could understand trees talking, then it was almost certainly true.

"You can actually communicate with plants? That's amazing!"

York laughed heartily: "What's so special about that? We've even figured out how to make inanimate objects eat Devil Fruits. Communicating with plants is just child's play, okay?"

York, having received a great deal of emotional value from Robert, continued his story with great excitement.

"It is a natural keel. Most trees grow straight, but this little tree growing at the foot of the World Tree is crooked."

"In order to receive more sunlight, it constantly bends its main trunk toward the sea during its growth, bending its more than 100-meter-long branches into an amazing arc."

The image of a crooked tree came to Robert's mind, and he was even somewhat moved by the tree's inspirational story.

"But even so, its life is actually coming to an end."

"As it grows taller, it needs more and more nutrients. Watering it with the giant's excrement is no longer enough, and its roots are completely unable to compete with the World Tree for nutrients. If we don't come, it will wither and die in a few more years at most."

"So it asked us to take it away, hoping to feel the warmth of the sun at the end of its life, instead of growing by relying on the reflection of the sea for the rest of its life."

If things had only progressed this far, York wouldn't have been talking so enthusiastically; indeed, her voice grew even more excited:

"But I am Vegapunk. I promised to let it see the sunlight. How could I only satisfy its basic request to see the sunlight before it dies?"

“I’ve got a brilliant idea. What if a ship’s keel was alive? Even if it was severely damaged, it could repair itself through growth. Wouldn’t that ship never sink?”

Robert's eyes lit up. He hadn't thought of the idea of ​​using a living tree to repair battle damage through growth, but after York's suggestion, he also felt that it was indeed a promising idea.

York described the ship as if it were his own child, filled with pride: "So now not only the keel, but also the ribs of this ship are made from the crowns and roots of small trees!"

"We built the main structure of the ship around it using metal and clay. While those guys from the Red-Haired Pirates were attacking us, we were studying how to take care of this living ship so that it could meet all the facilities on the Pluton blueprints without hindering its future growth."

Robert was also excited by York's introduction; anyone would be thrilled to hear that they were about to own an invincible warship that could grow stronger.

"Since it has life, why not grow those facilities?"

York paused for a few seconds, then shouted excitedly, "That's right! Why do we build those facilities instead of growing them?! Robert, you're a genius too!"

It seemed that the problem that had been troubling her for a long time had finally found a direction. York even stopped paying attention to Robert and began to calculate the feasibility of the matter.

"The sapling is very clever and can control its roots according to my instructions, so we first need to find a place with fertile soil to replant it, and then find some farmers who are good at cultivating to help shape its branches and trunk!"

Robert patted the gunwale: "Can it still be started?"

York replied, "Of course, there's no reason why a ship can't move, it just won't be fast..."

This enormous warship had no masts or sails, but instead had multiple propellers like those on the Ark.

York steered the ship in the direction Robert indicated, heading towards the sky island.

"Where do we go now? Ordinary soil can't meet the growth needs of saplings."

Robert stood on the bridge and pointed ahead: "I promised Dr. Vegapunk that I would occupy the entire Sky Island to provide him with a safe research environment, and now I have fulfilled my promise."

"In the sky island, there is a magical land where all the plants and animals grow many times larger than elsewhere, and it is called Apayado!"

"And for the farmer you just mentioned who is skilled in farming, I have a better candidate."

"The world's most skilled crop-growing race—the Tontatta tribe!"

Chapter 38 Declaration of War!

The reason why Pluto is known as the most evil warship in history is not because of its huge size, but because of its weapon system that is said to be able to destroy an island with a single shot.

The electromagnetic railgun that Robert Bausch tricked Kidd into developing was based on the secondary cannon in Pluto's blueprints.

Even if it's just a secondary cannon, its power is incredibly exaggerated. To this day, Robert still can't fire such a powerful high-energy ion beam without relying on external objects.

Therefore, when York mentioned the unfinished product, he was not referring to the fact that he hadn't completed the various functional areas of the ship for fear of affecting the growth of the sapling, but rather that it was currently just an empty shell.

It wasn't that York deliberately didn't build the weapon; she had actually already set up all the wiring for the main cannon and was just waiting for the Indians to provide the alloy so that she could install this world-destroying weapon at any time.

However, how to launch it became a problem. The parameters on the blueprints of Hades were clearly marked, and the energy required to start the main cannon was staggering.

If powered by electricity, unless Robert could stay on the ship and do nothing but eat and recharge the main power system every day, it would take him a week without sleep to barely fire a shot with 30% of the power threshold.

So the problem now is not that the warship's weapons are not strong enough, but that they are too strong for Robert to use!

The only redeeming feature of this enormous warship is its ability to briefly fly through the sky, crossing from one patch of cloud to another without falling into the Qinghai Lake due to a break in the cloud cover.

However, this advantage becomes negligible once it reaches the vast cloud sea region of the White Sea; it can only be considered a huge and sturdy ship made entirely of the precious tree Adam.

So for now, we can only hurry to the Sky Island to at least solve the problem of the sapling's growth.

Robert casually gave the small tree a name along the way, which also became the name of the warship.

The three ancient weapons each have their own names. The name of the king of the gods, Uranus, is taken from a god-king in Greek mythology. Gaia, the earth goddess, was both his mother and his wife, which laid the foundation for the chaotic male-female relationships in Greek mythology.

Poseidon, the god of the sea, also derives his name from Greek mythology. He is the grandson of Uranus, and this family has a tradition of patricide. Uranus was killed by his son Cronus, who was then killed by his son Zeus and a group of his brothers and sisters.

Of the three ancient weapons, only Pluto, the god of the underworld, is not named after a Greek deity, but rather after the Roman god of the underworld, not Norse mythology.

Robert felt that his ship certainly couldn't be called Pluto, so he originally wanted to name it after Odin's steed, the eight-legged horse Thoripnir, but York told him that the little tree didn't like the name.

Robert then tried to name it Jormungandr, the giant serpent capable of devouring the entire Nine Realms, but this was also rejected by the little tree.

When Robert rattled off seven or eight candidates in one go, the name Hela instantly caught Little Tree's eye.

In Norse mythology, Hela is also the goddess of the underworld.

She is not the daughter of Odin, the king of gods, as depicted in Marvel comics, but rather the daughter of Loki, Odin's sworn brother.

Perhaps because the little tree grew up eating Rocky's poop and was practically raised by him, it naturally felt a strong affinity for the name Hela. York also thought Hela sounded nice and was easy to remember, so he decided on that name.

Such a massive warship arrived in the White Sea and was spotted by patrolling White Group members without even getting close to any island. Fortunately, Robert had spotted them earlier and had given prior notice, which prevented a disturbance.

Even so, all the members of the White Team, along with Robert's confidants such as Ah San, Karina, Uta, and Da Luo, all rushed over to see this legendary ancient weapon.

Robert was a little embarrassed. Back in Punk Hazard, he confidently presented the blueprints for Hades and declared in front of Marco, Ace, and Carina that he would build his own Hades. Now, all he had to show was a half-finished product without any weapons.

"Let me introduce this to you. This is the super battleship that York and his team built. I named it Hela."

"However, some minor problems have arisen. Hela's construction is not yet complete and requires..."

Before the words were even finished, the little Dongtata people, who had been excitedly running around on the big ship, exclaimed in surprise: "My God! This ship is alive!"

Robert hadn't even had a chance to tell everyone about Hela's tragic childhood when the Tontatta tribe had already discovered it.

“That’s right. York used a living tree called Adam to build this ship. This warship is alive.”

Robert envisioned that everyone would be quite disappointed to learn that the long-awaited invincible warship was only a half-finished product.

Unexpectedly, everyone was captivated by Hela's enormous size and sturdiness, as well as the fact that she was alive, which drew everyone's attention.

"Robert Lando, can we take care of it?"

Leo, holding the little hand of Princess Mansherry of the Tontatta tribe, led several little people to look at Robert with pleading expressions.

Robert smiled kindly: "Of course, I brought Hela back to trouble the Tontatta tribe. You are the best botanists in the world, so I'm entrusting Hela's care to you."

The Dongtata tribe erupted in cheers, no longer caring about what Robert was saying, and scattered to different parts of the ship to start planning how to cultivate them.

Robert cleared his throat: "Gentlemen, I have another important announcement to make."

The group, who had been laughing and joking, stopped smiling and looked at Robert when they saw his serious attitude.

"I'm going to war with the Red-Haired Pirates!"

Robert's own crew was fine, but the members of the Whitebeard Pirates were all stunned when they heard this.

There are no so-called allies among the Four Emperors, because they are all meant to check and balance each other. If two of them were to unite, it would pose a huge threat to the other four Emperors. Therefore, they all tacitly agree to go their own way, and there are even some harmless minor frictions between them from time to time.

It wasn't until Whitebeard's death that Shanks, under immense pressure, announced a temporary alliance with Whitebeard. But by then, everyone knew that Shanks was protecting Whitebeard's remaining crew from being purged.

Big Mom and Kaido were both Whitebeard's old teammates, and out of consideration for their past friendship, they turned a blind eye to the matter. Their attitude greatly influenced other pirate forces that wanted to take advantage of the situation.

The tacit approval of the Four Emperors was actually a disguised statement. The fact that the Whitebeard Pirates were able to overcome the most difficult period was actually the result of the joint efforts of the other three Four Emperors.

But if we're talking about who contributed the most, it's definitely Shanks.

Now Robert is actually saying he wants to go to war with Shanks!

Chapter 39 Let me teach you what modern warfare is!

Ace was the first to speak, asking, "What happened?"

Robert had already made his decision on the way back, so of course he wouldn't hide it now: "I was furious when I kidnapped Uta and took her to sea. Later, when she was captured by the Knights of God, I had a huge argument with Shanks on the phone."

Although Uta harbored resentment towards Shanks, the root cause was her anger at him for leaving her on the island of music, feeling abandoned. Now, upon hearing Robert say he was going to war with Shanks, she immediately became nervous.

She hadn't seen Shanks for many years and didn't know his current strength, but Uta knew perfectly well how strong Robert was.

She even considered taking the initiative to trap Robert in the world of music to calm him down, but she quickly dismissed the idea after Robert said something next.

"Shanks believes that Uta was captured by the Knights of God only because I took her out to sea. He told me not to interfere in Uta's affairs anymore, saying that Uta would be safe in Mary Geoise."

“But I didn’t agree. In my opinion, since I was the one who caused Uta to be captured, I must personally rescue her.”

"So Master took York to Elbaf to build a super battleship, Karina infiltrated Mary Geoise to gather information, and I led everyone to occupy the Sky Island as a safe zone to avoid retaliation from the World Government."

Uta actually knew all of this. Karina had told her everything during their trip to the Sky Island to relax. Robert bringing it up now was just setting the stage for what he was about to say.

"Everyone only knows that I broke into the Celestial Dragons' hunting tournament and rescued Uta, but I haven't told anyone what I actually went through there."

There were no fools present. Since Robert brought this up when explaining why he was fighting the Red-Haired Pirates, it's highly likely that he had a bigger conflict with Shanks when rescuing Uta.

"Red-haired went to rescue Uta too? Did you two get into a fight?"

Ace was still thinking about how to make peace, while Uta stared intently at Robert.

"No, I was ambushed by Shanks and the Knights of God. They reached a consensus to lure me into a trap with Uta and then ambush me."

There was an uproar on the deck, but no one raised any questions. Robert had already established enough authority within the team that no matter how outlandish his words were, no one would dare to question them rashly.

Uta almost burst into tears. When she grew up, she learned that Shanks had left her on the island to protect her, and that the truth behind the destruction of the Kingdom of Music was that she had released an ancient demon.

So her resentment towards Shanks only stemmed from the fact that he didn't say goodbye to her and didn't tell her the truth.

Now, upon hearing that he had become Shanks' bait to lure Robert into an ambush, he felt dizzy and his faith crumbled.

Robert comforted him, saying, "Shanks probably used capturing me as a condition for the World Government to release you. He also wanted to save you, but we chose different methods."