One Piece: A Guide for Ordinary Players

"That would cost at least 17 trillion Berries... I didn't mean to objectify the merfolk as slaves, I just... wanted to tell you that even if we were rich, we couldn't buy Fishman Island..."

Karina burst into laughter: "Look at how stingy you are, I'm not spending your money."

"And don't play math games with me. When you claimed you were going to buy the Sky Island, did you actually pay for it with real money, one head at a time, calculating the price?"

"The so-called purchase of Fishman Island is just talk. Do you think the World Government would actually sell such an important place to a pirate if we actually put up the money?"

Even though Karina couldn't see, Robert scratched his head awkwardly. He knew for sure that Karina wasn't just saying she wanted to buy Fishman Island; she simply didn't want Karina to shoulder such a heavy burden.

Karina asked mysteriously, "Do you know where I'm going now?"

Robert sighed and said, "How am I supposed to guess? You wouldn't tell me when I asked you earlier."

Karina said smugly, "Stusi and I secretly took out that guy named Guernica in CP0, and now I'm Guernica."

"The Indians have completely blocked the food supply to Mary Geoise. The World Government is now in a terrible predicament, and some Celestial Dragons are already starving to death due to lack of food."

Robert frowned. He knew that when the food shortage plan was launched, although some low-level slaves and guards would certainly starve to death at first, sooner or later it would be the Celestial Dragons and other so-called world nobles who would suffer as well.

However, he really didn't expect that less than a month after the World Conference ended, there would already be cases of Celestial Dragons starving to death due to lack of food.

"Has something unusual happened? According to our previous calculations, even if not a single grain of food could be transported close to Mary Geoise, there shouldn't be Celestial Dragons starving to death so early."

Karina reminded him, "Robert, this war has never been our sole responsibility. Don't put so much pressure on yourself. The Revolutionary Army is our ally, after all. Shouldn't they do something?"

Robert immediately realized that the plan to cut off supplies was actually orchestrated by the revolutionary army, and he had simply taken on the task voluntarily.

Now that they had taken charge of the Revolutionary Army's affairs, they certainly couldn't be idle. They weren't the only ones who declared war on the World Government in Mary Geoise; the Revolutionary Army had also stepped out from behind the scenes and into the limelight.

Moreover, during the chaos at the World Conference, I only attracted hatred, while the Revolutionary Army took all the benefits.

The Celestial Dragons' slaves are all highly skilled, and many slaves who are bought simply because of their good looks are very likely to be fed Devil Fruits for their amusement, thus becoming powerful overnight. The Empress is a living example.

At that time, he almost held back the vast majority of the Holy Land's defense forces, including the Knights of God and the Five Elders. He also arranged for Uta to help rescue people using the Song-Song Fruit. These slaves, who hated the World Government and the Celestial Dragons to the bone, were all taken away by the Revolutionary Army.

With just a little training, they can quickly form a powerful team driven by hatred!

What did they do?

Karina said, "I learned from CP0's internal database that in the days following the World Conference, our sea supply routes were cut off, and Mary Geoise could only transport food up to the island in small quantities through some Devil Fruit users."

"But those Celestial Dragons are used to being extravagant and decadent. They usually only eat a bite or two of their food before throwing it away. When you were rescuing the slaves, you also burned down a lot of warehouses. With all these factors combined, the food consumption in Mary Geoise is even more serious."

"The revolutionary army probably felt a little embarrassed that they hadn't done anything, so they did something particularly insidious."

Robert wanted to hear what other insidious schemes existed besides cutting off food supplies, so he heard Karina say:

"Mary Geoise is located at the very top of the Red Line. It is fed by a segmented pumping system designed by Dr. Vegapunk, which pumps water from the sea surface and purifies it into fresh water for Mary Geoise through a series of filtration and separation processes in the Red Line pipeline."

"The revolutionary army completely destroyed the water pumping system that sustained the entire Mary Geoise, and in such a way that it was absolutely beyond repair."

"To exacerbate the water shortage in Mary Geoise, they also set several large fires in the so-called Land of the Gods, causing the already scarce freshwater reserves to be depleted several times over."

“Mary Geoise is on fire everywhere right now, and there’s not even water to put it out. We had to bring in some Devil Fruit users from the Navy to help put out the fires.”

"I heard that even Fleet Admiral Aokiji has been ordered to guard Mary Geoise and act as the fire brigade leader."

Robert couldn't help but laugh at the thought of Aokiji's poker face in a red firefighter's uniform, leading his men around putting out fires every day.

However, upon closer examination, only Aokiji could counter the Revolutionary Army's ruthless tactic.

His Frozen Fruit can extract moisture from the air and freeze it into ice, which can extinguish flames and melt to provide water for the water-scarce Mary Geoise.

It's just a pity for this Fleet Admiral; I wonder if he regrets fighting so hard with Akainu for this position.

Robert snapped out of his thoughts: "By the way, you still haven't said where you're going. The World Government isn't going to send you to figure out how to solve the food and water problems, is it?"

Karina said, "It's not about me, it's about having Guernica and Stusi from CP0 solve the food problem!"

Robert was taken aback: "They really expect an agent to solve such a big problem?"

Karina smiled mysteriously: "The underworld is known for being able to buy anything. Isn't it a perfect fit for our expertise to send our agents to deal with the king of the underworld?"

Chapter 2 It still has to be you, Karina.

Robert understood the logic immediately; those old political types in the World Government really do have clear thinking.

The food shortage in Mary Geoise was caused by one of the Four Emperors of the New World, and both sides have already made this clear, so there's no need to hide it.

However, the way he cut off food supplies to Mary Geoise was not through the simple and brutal method of highway robbery used by the Revolutionary Army. He had long ago used money to open up food markets around the world.

If I had to name a name, I could be considered one of the kings of the underworld, the King of Grain.

The reason Mary Geoise can't get food is that it can't get food from the most basic food-producing areas. No matter how much money the World Government offers, Indian business teams will buy it at a higher price.

Moreover, "grain" is a very broad term, including vegetables, fruits, meat, eggs, milk, and all other food-related supplies from animal husbandry—all of which fall within Robert's strike range.

To achieve this, firstly, Robert was indeed wealthy, and secondly, Robert controlled the distribution channels.

Whether it's the cultivation of grains and vegetables, the whole world now uses the scientific system summarized by the Tontatta botanical masters like Greenbit. This system cannot be learned in one go, but includes a series of supporting services such as subsequent fertilizer formulation and pest and disease control.

Of course, some countries or individuals may choose to stand against Robert due to coercion from the World Government or monetary temptations, but the consequence will be that they will never be able to enter Robert's list of partners again.

Robert's plan for food took two years from planning to implementation, and most of the money stolen from the City of Gold was invested in it. It hijacked the global food system, so how could it be easily broken by the World Government?

Now, I am like the four major international grain traders, such as ADM and Bunge, in the world before I traveled to this world, but I am more centralized than them. The scientific level of this world is also lower and easier to manipulate.

Aside from the economic hardship of food shortages, Robert, as one of the Four Emperors, was not lacking in military strength. The grain he bought at a premium could be exchanged for a large number of laborers, or even outlaws, in many places where food and clothing were scarce!

With these reckless men, Robert only needs to provide some ships to completely stop the remaining few grain ships that are still trying to transport grain to Mary Geoise. If you don't listen to me and stop transporting grain, then don't blame me for using pirates to rob them directly.

If they just robbed a few times, who in the world would dare to help the World Government transport food? Not selling food to Robert would only cut off their future path to wealth. If they were determined to become loyal dogs of the Celestial Dragons, they wouldn't even be able to save their lives!

With the Revolutionary Army now able to focus all its efforts on attacking Mary Geoise's infrastructure, the World Government is truly at a loss regarding the food shortage.

These officials were quick-witted. They couldn't beat Robert in an economic war, and their naval forces were stretched thin when it came to defending supply lines. So they simply used underworld forces to deal with the underworld.

Stussy, the triple agent, has not yet been exposed and remains one of the World Government's most trusted CP0 agents. In fact, due to his successful execution of all the Punk clones during the Egerhard incident, his position is likely to be promoted.

Stussy is secretly a spy planted in CP0 by Vegapunk, but his identity in CP0 is only second-tier. On the surface, he is one of the emperors of the underworld and the queen of the pleasure district!

She took the lead in contacting several other underworld emperors to use the power of the black market to purchase and transport food to Mary Geoise. This was the solution the World Government had come up with to break the deadlock!

Stussy was authorized to choose any agent to cooperate with her, and of course, she immediately targeted Guernica, who was actually Karina in disguise.

At the tea party hosted by Charlotte Linlin, Robert met with the other underworld kingpins, including Morgans, the King of News, who was Robert's close friend, and Gibson, the King of Shipping, and Yumit, the King of Warehousing, who were also close business partners with Robert.

At the time, Stussy, the queen who was involved in pornography, deliberately distanced herself from Robert, while the funeral king, Dorrag Piecrow, had no way to get close to Robert.

Only Dufield, the king of black money who lent money at exorbitant interest rates, stubbornly insisted on fighting with Robert, and was directly killed by Robert in public. Only his soul was extracted and protected by Charlotte Linlin, and his current fate is unknown.

The world governments are aware of these things, but in their view, as long as they use both threats and inducements, these so-called underworld emperors will surely recognize reality and know whose side to stand on.

Karina smiled and said, "So, how confident do you think I am in my plan now?"

Robert pretended not to understand: "You guys are basically pulling the rug out from under me this time. Do you expect me to thank you?"

Karina said smugly, "Remember that tea party? I pretended to break up a fight and touched that idiot Dufield."

Robert's eyes lit up: "You're going to impersonate Dufield?"

Karina laughed and said, "Stusi's mission always needs a breakthrough. Is it more appropriate to directly contact the King of Warehousing and the King of Shipping, two guys with whom you have a close relationship, or would it be more convincing to the World Government to find the King of Black Gold, with whom you have a mortal feud?"

"Dufield was killed by you in full view of everyone, and his soul was taken by BIG MOM. CP0 has very certain intelligence that Dufield has not been able to return to take control of his underground kingdom to this day."

"But since Charlotte Linlin said she had saved his soul, and no one dared to gamble that he wouldn't be able to return, his men are still observing the situation."

"If Stussy were to step in at this point and offer to help him crack Mary Geoise in exchange for rescuing Dufield, wouldn't that be a reasonable move?"

"But Dufeld was, after all, a cunning and treacherous man. On the one hand, he agreed to cooperate with the World Government, and on the other hand, he demanded control and management rights over Fishman Island."

"The price is to collect a large amount of food for Mary Geoise that is unknown to your system, and to promise to send it to the Red Line through some underground means. Do you think the Navy will agree to this, and the World Government will agree to this?"

Robert felt that bringing Karina into the team in its early stages was the best investment he had ever made. Whether it was taking over the City of Gold or now substituting one thing for another to seize the Black Gold King's assets, these were all opportunities that Karina created with her brains.

"You must be careful. It's okay if we can't get Fishman Island back. Don't force anything."

Before Karina could answer, Stussy's voice came from the side:

"You don't seem sad at all right now, so the Doctor shouldn't be dead, right?"

Robert: "Can't it be that I'm the cold-blooded one?"

Chapter 3 Shanks becomes the Prime Minister's son while lying down

Robert initially communicated with Stussy entirely through York using the Vegapunk Records as a medium, and the memories of York and his companions were interconnected with Vegapunk's.

Since Vegapunk was determined to die, Robert naturally couldn't tell York and the others about the plan to save him. Even when he talked to Stussy, they only discussed the details of how to put on a show so that the World Government would believe that all of Vegapunk's clones had been executed.

But Stussy was very clever, not in the way Vegapunk and his six clones were sensitive to all scientific research, but in his ability to read people's expressions and moods.

As a triple agent, even with the high-tech support provided by Vegapunk and the resource allocation from the World Government, it is still quite an achievement to become one of the emperors of the underworld.

Having spent years in the world of entertainment and dealing with all sorts of intelligence, Stuart knew exactly how to analyze the meaning behind subtle details in words.

The more Robert deliberately avoided mentioning rescuing Vegapunk's main body when discussing various rescue plans, the more confident he seemed.

So when Stussy was in Egerhead, she closely examined Robert and his men's actions and immediately discovered many suspicious points. She also cleverly used her CP0 identity to cover up all the loopholes that might have been discovered by postwar analysts.

It hadn't even been a day since the Eghead incident ended. Admittedly, Robert portrayed the grief and indignation of a colleague and old friend who had failed at the last minute quite well on the island, but how could a person recover from such grief in such a short time?

Even if, as Robert himself said, he was an extremely cold-blooded person, he was now one of the Four Emperors. A person in such a position, even if not swayed by emotions, should still feel some anger at the failure of his plans, and could not possibly be so nonchalant.

So Stuart already had the answer: the seemingly failed rescue plan was actually a great success, which is why Robert was so relaxed and chatted with Karina about the future.

Robert knew he couldn't hide it from Stussy, a spy who had been involved in the entire rescue plan and was extremely adept at reading people, so after making up a story, he readily admitted:

"I did a pretty good job, didn't I? Those self-important Five Elders must think they cleverly thwarted all my schemes."

"Even if someone noticed something amiss and went to them to say that Vegapunk wasn't dead, they would absolutely not believe it."

“I know these kinds of people best; they don’t trust anyone but themselves.”

Stussy's last bit of worry vanished, and he chuckled as he echoed, "You really know these old folks well. They've been in high positions for too long, and they've built up thick cognitive fortresses for themselves, so they can't listen to any dissenting opinions."

"And don't worry, no one will report this to the Five Elders."

"First, I used my authority to plug almost all the loopholes. Second, even if someone did notice something amiss, they wouldn't tell the Five Elders."

Robert was a little confused: "Why?"

Stussy laughed, "You don't actually think that even you can figure out the Five Elders' temperaments, while those CP agents who serve them every day are too stupid to understand them, do you?"

"Whether the Doctor lives or dies, the responsibility will be borne by the Five Elders. Why deliberately provoke the Five Elders and take on risks that you don't have to bear?"