One Piece: A Guide for Ordinary Players

He wasn't out for a stroll to stop the chaos, but rather because he couldn't stand these petty squabbles and wanted to stir things up even more.

A man wearing a Celestial Dragon bubble headband was yelling at the Marines around him, "Why won't you let me go to the concert? You bastards! I demand you take me to the Bubble Dome right now!"

The Marine, head bowed and face full of indignation, could only stammer, "Sir, it's far too dangerous outside. The Straw Hat crew is recruiting again, and almost all the pirates in the first half of the Grand Line have received the news..."

Before he could finish speaking, the Celestial Dragon interrupted, "Useless! That's your problem! Just arrest all these pirates!"

"And the concert! I demand that you clear the venue immediately, drive out all those peasant audience members, and let Brook sing for me alone!"

A burst of laughter rang out: "Which family are you from?"

The navy was on high alert. They never expected that someone would get so close without being noticed. When they looked in the direction of the sound, they were so frightened that they trembled all over.

There are very few pirates in this world who have ever attacked the Celestial Dragons, and among them, even fewer remain at large. Yet, the person in front of us is one of them.

Robert's smiling expression turned serious: "Why won't you answer my question? Do you look down on me?"

The next second he suddenly appeared in front of the Celestial Dragon who was already terrified, and without making any move, the two of them soared into the sky at the same time.

Amid the exclamations of the sailors, Robert's voice faded into the distance: "You're welcome. I'm taking this guy to a concert. You guys get back to work."

The Marines, who had been relentlessly berated, immediately straightened up and shouted, "Report to G1 branch immediately! The great pirate Robert D. Neru has appeared and captured a Celestial Dragon!"

"No! Contact headquarters directly! Request the General's support!"

Robert, humming a little tune, ignored the screams of the Heavenly Dragon and slowly carried him through the sky.

A domineering aura locked onto him, and Robert turned to the Heavenly Dragon with a grin, saying, "I was originally planning to take you straight to the concert, but something came up, so you'll have to take a detour with me."

He grabbed the Celestial Dragon by the collar, and the two of them simultaneously transformed into their own elements, landing in a secluded forest the next second.

Where is my son?

Upon meeting Robert, Jabba couldn't wait to ask him questions.

Robert looked around: "We agreed on a hostage exchange. You didn't even bring my master. How could I possibly wander around the Sabaody Archipelago with a giant child?"

Jabba took a deep breath: "We've brought your master. He's on Shanks' ship. Come with me."

Robert shook his head: "I already said it's a hostage exchange in the Sabaody Archipelago. What's with you asking me to board Shanks' ship? Are you planning to ambush me?"

"Go back and tell Shanks that since he tricked me with Uta before, I don't really trust him. I'm taking a friend to Brook's concert anyway, so Shanks can take my master to the Bubble Dome. Your son's there too!"

Without giving Jabba a chance to object, Robert teleported away with the Celestial Dragons.

Jabba's anxious expression vanished instantly. He pulled out a Den Den Mushi and said, "He didn't fall for it. Take your men to the Bubble Dome. He demands a hostage exchange there to execute Alternative Plan 1."

At this moment, another farce was unfolding at the King of Souls concert.

Brooke's manager was furious because he made it clear to him that this was the last concert.

Based on the principle that since his cash cow was about to slip out of his control, he couldn't let it go even if it meant destroying it, the agent contacted the Navy.

At this moment, the Navy was on the scene arresting Brook, a member of the Rumbar Pirates, with a wanted poster from back then. The fans in the audience spontaneously confronted and pushed the Navy, while Robert, along with the Celestial Dragons who were already terrified, watched the show from mid-air.

Shanks walked into the concert venue wearing a hooded cape, followed by Redfield, who was still dressed impeccably.

Judging from his complexion, the master did not appear to be seriously injured, but the sea stone handcuffs made him look old again.

Robert cleared his throat, snapped his fingers, and the entire concert hall's speakers came under his control, with all the spotlights shooting into the air and focusing on him.

"Fellow Marines! Brook only has a bounty of 3300 million Berries. How about you consider me instead?"

"Even if you don't come to capture me, shouldn't you at least protect the Celestial Dragons I kidnapped?"

Chapter 3: Capture a few more hostages? We're on the same page!

Robert made a high-profile appearance in the air, while Shanks' face was as black as the bottom of a pot.

How could he not see that Robert was deliberately causing trouble? The more chaotic the Sabaody Archipelago was, the more advantageous it would be for Robert, while it would be bad news for Luffy and his crew who were about to set sail.

Although the Straw Hat crew trained hard separately for two years, apart from Zoro and Luffy's significant increase in strength and Franky and Nami's rapid progress in scientific research, the others practically wasted those two years.

Robin mingled with the Revolutionary Army, but all he did was stir up trouble and didn't accomplish anything of real value.

Sanji spent two years trapped on the island of transvestites, where he received no training except for immense repression. In fact, he gained a huge debuff, to the point of fainting from a nosebleed at the sight of a woman.

Aside from obtaining some rare plant seeds and replacing the Sky Island Shell, whose power was no longer sufficient to handle the intensity of battle, Usopp did not improve in any other way.

Brook was even kept by the Longarm Tribe's agent for two years to run around looking for performances. Not only did he not improve his fighting ability, but he didn't even get a penny.

As a mascot, Chopper's fighting power may not increase, but in the past two years, apart from eliminating the side effects of Rumble Pills, his medical skills haven't improved much either.

On this vast ocean, not increasing strength is tantamount to regressing, because their opponents have not been idle in the past two years.

The bigger the commotion Robert makes, the more marines or pirates will arrive, and the greater the obstacles will be for Luffy and his crew to set sail again.

If Robert were to kill that Celestial Dragon in his hands, the Navy would probably have to send all three Admirals. They wouldn't be able to save face by killing such a big deal as a Celestial Dragon.

Robert grinned as he released the Celestial Dragon he had temporarily bound, and the man instantly screamed as he fell from mid-air.

Shanks shuddered, not expecting Robert to be so decisive, wanting to kill a Celestial Dragon after only two sentences.

His body moved with lightning speed, leaping into the air and rushing towards the direction where the Celestial Dragon had fallen, saving him just before he hit the ground and died.

Robert acted too quickly, and Shanks had no time to think. Almost instinctively, he decided to save the Celestial Dragons, at least to prevent the situation from escalating to an irreversible point.

But when he caught the Celestial Dragon, he realized that Robert had never intended for him to die from the very beginning!

Even people who haven't studied physics have some common sense from observing life: any free fall starts slow and gradually increases in speed, only becoming uniform when the speed reaches a certain level.

However, the Celestial Dragon had been falling at a constant speed ever since Robert let go, which was clearly the result of Robert's deliberate control.

To put it another way, if Robert had a thousand ways to kill this Celestial Dragon, why did he have to kill him in front of everyone?

Upon realizing this, Shanks didn't even look up to find Robert. Instead, he immediately looked in the direction where he had been standing. Sure enough, Redfield, who had been following behind him, was gone!

Meanwhile, Robert was communicating with his men through a walkie-talkie: "I knew that bastard Shanks wouldn't just hand over Master so easily. Execute Plan B!"

The moment Shanks left his spot, Robert flew to the side of the hostage he had brought. A portal opened with Robert as the target, and a hand reached out from inside, immediately pulling the hostage inside.

Robert didn't even need to confirm the hostage's authenticity with the other side of the portal; he had already determined the answer.

Robert dared not be careless in his battle of wits with Shanks, as Shanks might even do something to his master and turn the tables on him.

Therefore, Robert didn't dare to touch the hostages he brought. He only used himself as a locator for Luo to open the portal. The portal was so big that it was not large enough for one person to pass through, to prevent anyone from passing through the portal in the opposite direction and directly attacking his own territory.

This basketball-sized portal not only reduces the burden of opening the door for Ronaldo, but also makes it more concealed and avoids most counterattacks.

As for how the hostages were rescued through this small portal, Robert's choice was to have Sugar reach out her hand, activate her ability to turn the hostages into toys, and then take the toys through the portal.

Waiting for Ace and Marco on the other side of the portal were two burly men. Even if their master was Jabba in disguise, he couldn't possibly defeat these two experts after being ambushed and turned into a toy.

The reason Robert was able to immediately determine that the rescued master was a fake was because even though the hostages had been turned into toys by Sugar, he could still clearly remember every little detail about his master!

The person Shanks brought was exactly the same as his master in terms of physique, appearance, temperament, and even that familiar feeling. He had carefully examined him with his Observation Haki, but he never expected that he was an imposter. He really admired Shanks's connections and skills as a veteran Yonko.

After the hostages were teleported away, Robert left the Bubble Dome without lingering for a second.

Whether the master who was rescued was real or fake, he had no reason to stay there.

Shanks realized he had been tricked, but he felt no remorse, since the hostages he brought weren't real anyway.

Shanks tossed the Celestial Dragon he was holding to the Marines, then leaped up and chased after Robert, pulling out a Den Den Mushi as he ran.

"Alternative Plan 1 has failed! Robert has already left!"

Jabba's voice came from the other end of the phone: "We're on our way to the location where the locator was sent. It's quite a distance. Where did he find so much large-scale teleportation capability!"

Shanks shouted, "Wait a minute! What's this 'Alternative Plan 1' again?!"

Jababie's reminder made him realize something: "Robert rescued them, but who...?"

Shanks said, "It's Sugar's Toy Fruit! That little girl from the Don Quixote family is in Robert's hands! He turned our hostages into toys! That's why we have absolutely no memory of him!"

Shanks possessed a vast amount of information and was among the most intelligent people on this sea. He managed to figure out Robert's methods simply by examining the fact that he had amnesia.

But he and Jabba weren't in a hurry at all; they seemed certain that Robert wasn't the type to hurt the child.

The saying goes that a gentleman can be deceived by his methods. His plan was to use the locators on the hostages to find where Robert's headquarters were located. Even if he couldn't find Jabba's son there, he could at least kidnap a few more of Robert's accomplices to increase his bargaining power.

But when Shanks and Jabba arrived at the designated location, and even Rayleigh, whom they had temporarily recruited, arrived, they discovered that what lay ahead was the 66th tall tree in the Sabaody Archipelago!

"That bastard! He brought someone into the naval base?"

Shanks' Den Den Mushi rang at just the right moment, startling him.

The Den Den Mushi looks exactly like Robert, but this time they are using a special LAN Den Den Mushi to make contact!

In other words, one of their own people with a Den Den Mushi fell into Robert's hands!

Chapter 4 Guess How Many Cards I Have Left

The call connected, and Robert's voice came through:

"Hey Shanks, you're not being honest. Why are you still trying to cheat and shirk responsibility at a time like this?"

Shanks remained completely unmoved: "You didn't bring Cologne with you either, did you? You weren't planning to exchange hostages with us, you were just thinking of unilaterally taking him away, were you?"

Robert wasn't there to argue with Shanks: "That's the biggest problem. Neither of us has a very good reputation in the other's eyes."

“But I’m a little better than you, after all, I really brought Jabba’s son with me. Where’s my master? He’s not even on your ship.”

Shanks frowned: "You're on my ship?"

Robert smiled mysteriously: "Guess?"

This time, Shanks did not travel on the Red-Haired Pirates' flagship, the Red Force, to the Sabaody Archipelago. After all, to sail the ship back to the Paradise region from the New World, they had to take the Fish-Man Island route, which was still Whitebeard Pirates' territory.

When everyone was living peacefully together, they would greet each other and pass by Mermaid Island without a second thought.

But now the Red-Haired Pirates have essentially broken ties with the Whitebeard Pirates, so the danger level of passing through Fish-Man Island has increased dramatically. If they just send a few fish-man warriors to poke a hole in the coating, even the strongest members of the Red-Haired Pirates will perish at sea.

Even if the Mermaid Kingdom didn't make a move, simply informing Robert like the giants of Elbaf would make Shanks very uncomfortable, so they simply didn't go to Mermaid Island.

The ship was an inconspicuous merchant vessel temporarily requisitioned from the Paradise region, and the crew consisted only of the core members of the Red-Haired Pirates.

Shanks personally fought Robert, and even got injured by Robert when he knew himself better than Robert, and was once at a disadvantage.

Meanwhile, Gob, a high-ranking officer and combatant of the Red-Haired Pirates, frankly admitted that he was no match for Robert at all. In their battle, he had no chance to fight back and could only passively take the beating.

Gob isn't the strongest member of the Red-Haired Pirates; he's roughly between mid-level and core members. He's strong enough to overwhelm most pirates, and can barely hold his own against powerful opponents.

The fact that Gob admitted he was completely outmatched shows that Robert has already surpassed the level of a half-master. Bringing ordinary officers along at this point would be tantamount to delivering food to him.