Robin was 23, but I gave her five years of my lifespan and made her 18. 'How many abilities do you even have?' she asked in shock, but I just explained that you could eat multiple Devil Fruits and moved on.
Since she'd done it herself, she understood quickly. After that, I tied her hair into a ponytail, gave her non-prescription glasses, and we returned to Merchant's Island together.
"Boss Taejin, who is this woman?"
"This is Chunja from my hometown. She's my younger sister. She came to help with work."
"Ah~ that's why you have the same hair and eye color. Nice to meet you, Chunja."
Robin glared at me. She clearly didn't like the name. Anyway, we'd agreed on the story beforehand, so there shouldn't be any major issues.
"Chunja will be my secretary and help me out. It'll be easier for her to adjust if she's with her older brother she used to hang out with."
"Understood. I'll introduce her that way."
Nico Robin learned the secretary work quickly. And she got close with the other staff. Once she got used to the job and had some free time, she started enjoying revolver shooting as a hobby, so I began teaching her [Gun Kata]. Sadly, she had no talent for long-range sniping.
Now that we had more graduates and more people with talent for swordsmanship and martial arts, I called all the island residents together.
"The reason I called you all here today is to teach 'Haki.'"
I explained Haki to the residents.
"Boss, so all the strong people on the sea have 'Haki'?"
"That's right. Almost every named pirate and Marine has it."
To demonstrate, I called up a staff member who was learning swordsmanship. Then I picked a random long weed growing nearby.
"Watch closely. This is 'Armament Haki.'"
I coated the weed with Armament Haki and had the staff member strike it with a real sword.
Clang!
"No way…"
"See? Coating something with Armament Haki increases its durability, which raises defense, and that reinforced durability also boosts attack power. The important thing is that you can hit the real bodies of Devil Fruit users with Armament Haki. It's a way to fight back against absurd Devil Fruit powers."
Next, to demonstrate Observation Haki, I had two staff members hold stones, covered my eyes with a black cloth, and turned my back. Then I told them to throw as hard as they could.
"Boss, isn't this dangerous?"
"Don't worry. Begin."
The staff hesitated, then threw one stone weakly. I caught it without even turning around and said,
"Throw with everything you've got. Otherwise I'll dock your pay."
"Ugh! Anything but that… got it."
At that, the staff started throwing stones with full force. Naturally, I dodged every single one until they ran out.
Wow~
Clap clap clap!
The residents applauded.
"This is 'Observation Haki.' It lets you sense an opponent's presence much more strongly. The last one, 'Conqueror's Haki,' is something you're born with, so the demonstration ends here. Those of you who've reached a certain level will now train Haki alongside your regular training. Ask if you don't understand anything."
"Understood."
Because of being kidnapped by pirates and losing homes to war, all the residents trained Haki diligently. When I had time, I helped with their training too.
A few days later, Hina came to my office in a hurry.
"Taejin! Big problem. The Marines stationed on Merchant's Island are being pulled back to Loguetown. Apparently security there got really bad."
It was one of the side effects of Loguetown's economy growing rapidly. Casinos had opened, massive hotels were built. Naturally, the underground economy activated too. Of course, I'd warned the residents and staff about the dangers of gambling and banned them from using casinos. I even went to the casino and gave them a warning.
"So does that mean Hina has to go too?"
"Hina… probably…"
"Do you want to go, Hina?"
"Hina, denies it. Honestly, I don't want to go. I've grown attached to the kids, and… and…"
Hina suddenly turned red, fidgeted with her fingers, and couldn't finish her sentence. Anyone who wasn't an idiot could tell by now. Hina liked me. I'd developed good feelings for her too, after spending so long together.
"Hina, how about quitting the Marines and staying on Merchant's Island as a teacher?"
"That's… I'll think about it."
Hina left the office with a troubled expression. Chunja (Robin), who was watching, handed me coffee and said,
"Hee~ Boss is popular with women, huh? I'm jealous. Huhuhu."
"Ahem…"
I wasn't sure if she'd heard it from another staff member or if Robin was just perceptive, but she seemed to understand the situation and teased me playfully.
The next day, the stationed Marines began preparing to leave the island. Many staff and kids had grown fond of them, so everyone came out to help. I loaded barrels of liquor and dried snacks onto their ship as gifts. Hina still hadn't said anything, just had a thoughtful expression, so I approached her.
"Hina, I'll respect whatever choice you make."
"Hina, got it."
And so the Marines boarded their ship and left. Some Marines cried as they left, and the kids who were close to them cried too. Since the Marines were gone, I reorganized and redeployed the island's defense forces.
A few days later, trouble broke out on our island too. Robin was reviewing documents and noticed money was missing, so she reported it to me.
"Someone's embezzling goods bound for Loguetown."
"Hmm… I see. Got it."
I checked the documents and traced where the goods were leaking. A male staff member from the orphanage who was transporting goods to Loguetown had been siphoning them off. I immediately brought him in and interrogated him.
"Why did you do it?"
"It's… my casino gambling debt got too big… I'm sorry, Boss. Sob sob."
I immediately read his memories. The casino had encouraged our staff to gamble despite my warning.
I called in the two other staff members who'd gambled with him. They had racked up some debt too.
"You guys, I definitely told you about the dangers of gambling, right?"
The two exchanged glances, then started making excuses.
"Well, the casino kept tempting us…"
When I read their memories, the casino had ignored my warning and even used women to lure the staff in.
"These bastards, I've let this go long enough."
The next day, in front of all the staff, I exiled the employee who embezzled goods from the island, and gave the other two a warning: two months' pay docked. Then I went to Loguetown and headed to the casino. And I played cards. With [Mind's Eye], I kept winning. And for huge amounts. The dealer started sweating. One of the staff watching hurried off somewhere.
I kept playing for a while, and the casino owner approached me with several burly men.
"Boss Taejin, you've won enough. How about stopping now?"
The burly men surrounded me from behind, and the casino owner spoke to me. I smirked and said,
"I'm having a lucky streak today. Mind your own business."
When I tried to play another hand, one of the burly men grabbed my shoulder and said,
"Hey! Didn't you hear the boss? He said stop!"
I used the [Rumble-Rumble Fruit] to pin all the burly men behind me to the floor with gravity. The men collapsed, unable to get up, and started screaming.
"Aaaaagh!" "Kyaaaagh!" "Uwaaaagh!"
I looked down at them coldly and said,
"Hey~ I said don't interrupt my game. Dealer, deal."
The dealer looked like he was about to cry as he started dealing. The casino owner behind him was trembling and couldn't say anything. I played for about another hour and took every single chip in the casino.
"Why are there no more chips? Hey, boss, tell me."
Only then did the casino owner drop to his knees and start begging.
"Boss Taejin, I'm sorry. I was blinded by money and touched your staff. I won't do it again, please forgive me…"
"Good, then let's play one more game. All these chips, against the entire casino."
"W-what…"
The casino owner had a despairing expression and slumped to the floor.
"Hey dealer! Deal the cards."
At my words, the dealer dealt the cards while trembling. His pants got wet—he'd pissed himself. Naturally, I won again.
"Hey boss, this casino is mine now. No complaints, right?"
"…Yes."
The owner answered with lifeless eyes, like his soul had left him. I stood up, grabbed the owner's head, and read his memories. Then I took all the cash the casino had stored, put it in my inventory, went up to the owner's office, opened the hidden safe, took the cash and gold bars inside, and burned all the debt documents for various people.
The next day, the casino went bankrupt and shut down. The funny thing was, reading the owner's memories, this casino was backed by 'Tesoro.' Sure enough, Tesoro contacted me right away.
Brrring brrring
—Why did you touch my casino? Are you picking a fight with me?
"Hey! That's my line. Was it you who ordered them to mess with my staff?"
—I never ordered such a thing.
"Because of that, I lost a valuable employee. How are you going to take responsibility? From now on, I'm cutting off all supplies going to 'Gran Tesoro.' Just so you know."
There were a lot of liquor and food supplies going from the island to Gran Tesoro. After all, it was a massive ship-casino that had to import everything. And I planned to pressure merchants to block all goods going to Gran Tesoro.
—Wait! Fine. I'll compensate you. And I'll make sure this never happens again.
Tesoro backed down first, realizing how serious it was.
"Good. I'll let it slide this time, but if it happens again, you'd better be ready."
Another day passed, and the casino owner was found dead on the beach. A few days later, a ship arrived from Gran Tesoro. A tall, brown-skinned, red-haired beauty was on board—it looked like Tesoro's subordinate, Baccarat.
"This is the compensation. And 'Tesoro-sama said he hopes to maintain a good relationship going forward.'"
Baccarat handed me a bag and offered a handshake.
Slash!
Thud
"Kyaaa!"
I immediately drew my sword and cut off the hand Baccarat extended for a handshake. Then I pointed the blade at her neck and said,
"Hey, were you trying to steal my luck? Looks like Tesoro wants war."
I knew from the original that Baccarat was a 'Luck-Luck Fruit' user. The 'Luck-Luck Fruit' could absorb a person's luck through contact and make it her own.
Baccarat stopped the bleeding on her severed arm and endured the pain as she said,
"U-ugh… N-no, that wasn't it."
Baccarat turned her head and signaled her subordinates. Then her subordinates brought several more bags. Each looked like it held about 100 million Berries.
"It wasn't our intention. If you were offended, we apologize…"
"You should look at who you're trying to play games with next time."
With that, Baccarat left. Robin watched and said to me,
"I get that she was trying something, but wasn't that too harsh?"
"No, this is exactly appropriate for people like that."
I pointed at the blood on the ground and continued,
"Looking at the casino ledger, they were turning people in Loguetown into debtors and selling them as slaves. If we show mercy to people like that, that blood could become ours."
Hearing that, Robin sighed and said,
"Sigh… I understand logically, but it's still a bit bitter."
The next day, Hina returned to the island with a bright expression.