Robin was 23 years old, but I gave her 5 years of lifespan, making her 18. She was amazed, asking 'how many abilities do you have?', but I explained that she could eat multiple Devil Fruits and moved on. Since she had also eaten multiple, she understood quickly. After that, she tied her hair in a ponytail, wore non-prescription glasses, and returned to the Merchant's Island with me.
"Boss Taejin, who is that woman?"
"This is my hometown younger sister 'Chunja' (Robin). She came to help with work."
"Ah~ that's why the hair color and eye color are the same. Nice to meet you, Ms. Chunja."
Robin glared at me. It seems she doesn't like the name. Anyway, since we had coordinated in advance, there shouldn't be a big problem.
"Chunja will work as my secretary and help with work. Since she's with her older brother who she used to play with, she'll adapt quickly."
"Understood. Then I'll introduce her that way."
Nico Robin quickly learned the secretary work. And she became friendly with other employees. As Robin became more familiar with her work and had more free time, she enjoyed revolver shooting as a hobby, so I started teaching her [Gun Kata]. Unfortunately, she had no talent for long-range sniping.
Now that graduates increased and more people showed talent in swordsmanship and martial arts, I gathered all the island residents.
"The reason I called everyone this time is to teach 'Haki'."
I explained about Haki to the residents.
"Boss, then all the strong people on the sea must have 'Haki'."
"That's right, almost all named pirates and Marines have 'Haki'."
To demonstrate, I called one employee who was learning swordsmanship. And I plucked a long weed that was growing randomly nearby.
"Watch carefully, this is 'Armament Haki'."
I coated the weed with Armament Haki and had the employee strike it with a real sword.
Ting!
"How can this be..."
"See? By coating with Armament Haki, durability increases, raising defense, and with enhanced durability, attack power also rises. And importantly, with Armament Haki, you can hit the real body of Devil Fruit ability users. It's a means to counter the absurd abilities of Devil Fruits."
Next, to demonstrate Observation Haki, I gave stones to two employees, covered my eyes with black cloth, and turned around. And I told them to throw with all their might.
"Boss, isn't this dangerous?"
"Don't worry. Start."
For a moment, the employees hesitated and threw one stone weakly. I immediately caught it without even turning around and said.
"Throw with your best. Otherwise, I'll cut your salary?"
"Ugh! Not that... I understand."
At those words, the employees started throwing stones with all their might. Naturally, I dodged all of them until the stones they had were all gone.
Wow~
Clap clap clap!
The residents applauded.
"This is 'Observation Haki'. It's Haki that allows you to sense the presence of others more strongly. The other one, 'Conqueror's Haki', is innate, so I'll end the demonstration here. Residents who have reached a certain level should now practice 'Haki' alongside their training. If you have any questions, ask."
"Understood."
Perhaps because they were kidnapped by pirates or lost their homes due to war, all the residents practiced Haki diligently. When I had time, I also helped with their training.
After spending a few days like that, suddenly Hina urgently came to my office.
"Taejin! Big trouble. The Marines in charge of security on the Merchant's Island are being pulled to Loguetown. It seems public order in Loguetown has worsened a lot."
It was one of the side effects of Loguetown's economy rapidly growing. Casinos appeared, and very large hotels were built. Naturally, the underground economy also became active. Of course, I informed the residents and employees about the dangers of gambling and prevented them from using casinos. And I went to the casino to warn them.
"Then does Hina have to go too?"
"Hina... might have to..."
"Hina, do you want to go?"
"Hina denies, honestly, I don't want to go. I've grown attached to the children and... and..."
Hina suddenly blushed and fidgeted with her fingers, unable to continue speaking. At this point, anyone who isn't a fool could understand. That Hina likes me. After spending a long time together, I also had good feelings for Hina.
"Hina, how about quitting the Marines and continuing teaching work on the Merchant's Island?"
"That... I'll think about it."
Hina left the office with a troubled face. Watching that, Chunja (Robin) gave me coffee and said.
"Heh~ Boss is popular with women? Am I jealous? Huhu."
"Ahem..."
I don't know if she heard from other employees or if Robin is quick-witted, but she knew roughly what was going on and spoke playfully.
From the next day, the Marines who were stationed began preparing to leave the island. Since there were many employees and children they had become attached to, everyone came out to help. I also loaded barrels of liquor and dried snacks onto the warship as gifts. Until then, Hina was silent with a thoughtful expression, so I approached and spoke.
"Hina, I'll respect whatever choice you make."
"Hina, I understand."
Thus, the Marines boarded the warship and left. Some Marines cried while parting, and the children they were close to also cried. Since the Marines left, I reorganized and operated the island's defense forces.
A few days passed, and an incident occurred on our island. Robin, while examining documents, noticed that money was leaking and reported it to me.
"It seems someone is embezzling goods going to Loguetown."
"Hmm... I see. Understood."
I traced back where the goods were leaking from the documents, and found that one male employee, an orphanage graduate, who was transporting goods to Loguetown, was embezzling the goods. I immediately caught him and began interrogating.
"Why did you do it?"
"It's because the casino gambling debt became too much... I'm sorry, Boss. Sob sob."
I immediately read the employee's memory. Despite my warning, the casino was encouraging Merchant's Island employees to use the casino.
I gathered two employees who enjoyed the casino together. When interrogated, they also had some debt.
"You guys, I clearly informed you about the dangers of gambling, right?"
The two looked at each other and began making excuses.
"It's because the casino side tempted us so much..."
Reading their memories, the casino ignored my warning and even used women to seduce the employees.
"These bastards, seeing is believing."
The next day, in front of all employees, I exiled the employee who embezzled goods from the island, and the other two were warned and had their salaries cut for two months. And I moved to Loguetown and went to the casino. And played card games. Since I had [Eyeballing], I started winning continuously. And with very large amounts. Then, the dealer started sweating. One employee who was watching that hurriedly went somewhere.
While playing cards for a while, the casino owner approached me with burly men.
"Boss Taejin, now that you've won that much, why don't you stop?"
The burly men surrounded me from behind, and the casino owner said to me. I smirked and said.
"Today, luck is on my side, and the cards are sticking well. I'll play a bit more, so mind your own business."
When I tried to play cards again, one burly man grabbed my shoulder and said.
"Hey! Can't you hear the boss? He said stop!"
I used the ability of the [Gura Gura no Mi] to press down all the burly men behind me with gravity. The men fell to the ground, unable to get up, and started screaming.
"Aaaah!" "Kraaah!" "Uaaah!"
I looked down at them with cold eyes and said.
"Hey~ don't disturb while I'm playing cards. Dealer, deal the cards."
The dealer started dealing cards with a face that seemed like he would cry. Behind, the casino owner was trembling and couldn't say anything. After playing for about an hour like that, I won all the chips in the casino.
"Why are there no more chips? Hey boss, speak up."
Only then did the casino owner kneel and beg earnestly.
"Boss Taejin, I'm sorry. I was blinded by money and messed with your island's employees. I won't do it again, so please forgive..."
"Good, then let's play one more game. Betting all these chips and the entire casino."
"Such..."
The casino owner made a despairing expression and slumped down on the spot.
"Hey dealer! Deal the cards."
At my words, the dealer trembled and dealt the cards. Seeing his pants get wet, it seemed he wet himself. Naturally, I won this time too.
"Hey boss, now this casino is mine. No complaints, right?"
"...Yes."
The owner said with lifeless eyes, as if his soul had left. I got up from my seat, grabbed the owner's head, and read his memory. And I took all the cash the casino had stored, put it in my inventory, went up to the owner's office, opened the safe he had hidden, took more cash and gold bars, and burned all the debt documents of various people that were there.
The next day, the casino went bankrupt and stopped operating. Interestingly, reading the owner's memory, this casino was supported by 'Tesoro'. As expected, I immediately received contact from Tesoro.
Pururururu
-Why did you mess with my casino? Do you want to fight me?
"Hey! That's what I should say. Was it you who told them to mess with our employees?"
-I never told them to do such a thing.
"Because of that, I lost a precious employee. How will you take responsibility? From now on, I will block all goods entering 'Gran Tesoro', so know that."
There were many liquors and groceries entering Gran Tesoro from the island. Since they operate a casino on a very large ship, they had to rely on imports for all goods. And I planned to pressure merchants to block all goods entering Gran Tesoro.
-Wait! Fine. I'll compensate. And I'll instruct so that such things don't happen in the future.
Perhaps realizing the seriousness of the situation, Tesoro was the first to back down.
"Good, I'll let it slide this time, but if the same thing happens again, you better be prepared."
Thus, another day passed, and the casino owner was found dead on the beach. And after a few days, a ship came from Gran Tesoro. On it was a slender beauty with brown skin and red hair, who seemed to be Tesoro's subordinate, Baccarat.
"This is the compensation. And Tesoro-sama asks to convey that 'he hopes to maintain a good relationship in the future'."
Baccarat offered a bag and suggested a handshake to me.
Slash!
Thud
"Gaaah!"
I immediately swung my sword and cut off Baccarat's arm that was extended for a handshake. Then, I pointed the sword at her neck and said.
"Hey, were you trying to steal my luck? Tesoro seems to want war."
I knew from the original that Baccarat is a 'Lucky-Lucky Fruit' ability user. The 'Lucky-Lucky Fruit' is a fruit that allows the user to absorb the luck of others upon contact and make it their own.
Baccarat stopped the bleeding from her cut arm, endured the pain, and said.
"Uuugh... Ah, no."
Baccarat turned her head to her subordinates and sent some signal. Then, her subordinates brought a few more bags. Each seemed to contain about 100 million Berries.
"That wasn't the intention. If you were displeased, please forgive..."
"In the future, you should play tricks based on who you're dealing with."
Baccarat left like that. Robin saw that and said to me.
"I understand she was trying to pull something, but wasn't that too harsh?"
"No, for bastards like that, it's just right."
I continued, pointing to the blood on the floor.
"Last time, when I looked at the casino's ledger, they were making people in Loguetown into debtors and selling them as slaves. If we show mercy to such bastards, that blood could become our blood."
Hearing that, Robin sighed and said.
"Sigh... I understand logically, but it's a bit bitter."
The next day, Hina returned to the island with a bright face.