"Are you really not going to usurp this kingdom?"
As Shinra and Robin were on their way to the capital of the Arabasta Kingdom, Alubarna, he tried to use the power of Suna Suna no Mi to detect the inside of the deserts, and somehow, he happened to find gold, or other mineral resources, and naturally, oils and gas reserves in many areas along their trip.
Still, he didn't feel surprised, since the Arabasta Kingdom was like one of the Middle East countries in his previous life, so it, of course, had rich oil reserves.
Unfortunately, if he wanted to make money from oil, he had to develop the technology, which he was lazy about, even though it was possible for him.
His goal was to become stronger, after all, and wealth was only a secondary problem, since without power, it was impossible to protect all of his wealth.
Then again, in this world, he wanted to live comfortably, and to live comfortably, he needed money, so instead of abandoning and destroying the Baroque Works, it was better to develop it well, especially when this organization could help him with many inconveniences.
Fortunately, the Suna Suna no Mi allowed him to make money by searching for resources in the desert and selling sand as a construction material.
Finding resources aside, unexpectedly, in his previous life, the total market for sand as a construction material reached 146 billion USD, and as he could produce as much sand as he wished, could he not sell his own sand?
Regardless, as he thought about his Suna Suna no Mi, Robin's words brought him to a reality.
"Do you think I want to conquer this kingdom?"
"Aren't you?"
"Not really, but a business just happens to be like this, so it might appear that I plan to acquire this country."
Shinra only wanted money; as for the rest, he didn't care much.
"If you try to become a king, then it will be wonderful."
However, Robin saw a different answer for this world, which had always been clouded by dark clouds due to the wars and tragedies. To live in this world was hard, and everyone had to fight for their lives, but Shinra showed a different method: using trade.
With trade, many unnecessary wars could be avoided. If one country lacked a resource, it could obtain it from somewhere, and when it needed money, it could sell its resources or specialties.
Unfortunately, the world was blocked by Red Line, a vast ring-like continent that wrapped around the entire planet, which separated the East and South Blues from the North and West Blues on both sides, as well as separating the two halves of the Grand Line so while many countries existed in this world, they couldn't be connected together.
However, Shinra somehow believed that he could monopolize the entire trade in the first Grand Line.
Still, before that, he had to uphold his promise to Robin to search for the Poneglyph, the record of the lost history, and according to his guess, the king of this kingdom should have known where it was, so he decided to infiltrate the palace, hypnotize the king to search the location of the Poneglyph.
As expected, everything was easy, and besides Crocodile, nothing was strong enough to stop the two, especially when Hana Hana no Mi could also work as a surveillance, creating copies of her eyes on various parts, and walk toward the king's chamber. More importantly, as Shinra was a ninja and also possessed a talent for infiltration, everything went smoothly, and they were able to meet the king of the Arabasta Kingdom, Nefertari Cobra, directly.
"The Poneglyph is located at the Tomb of the Kings..."
Under the power of his Sharingan, Cobra, who was being hypnotized, told everything, to which Shinra nodded, then looked at Robin. "What's wrong?"
"No." Robin shook her head and said, "I am just glad that I followed you at that time."
The Poneglyph that she sought so much was discovered so easily by Shinra, and at the same time, she also had much more confidence in him, and even fully depended on him as if he were her everything.
"Should we go now?"
"Okay."
As they had gathered the information, they left, but Cobra, the old king, woke up before looking around, sighed, and thought about what he should do with his kingdom, which had grown chaotic.
While Shinra didn't plan to conquer this country anymore, Crocodile left a lot of mess in this country, and naturally, it wouldn't be easy to clean up, especially when the people in this kingdom were hardly capable.
On the other hand, Shinra and Robin, who had arrived at the location where the royal family of the Arabasta Kingdom kept the Poneglyph, finally came upon it.
While Robin quickly gazed upon this historical record with disbelief, as everything seemed so easy, Shinra also drew closer and examined it, which had the shape of a cubic stone with an identified material and a dark blue color.
"Can you read it, Shinra?" Robin asked curiously.
"No, but I am just curious what kind of material they used to make this thing."
Tapping the Poneglyph with his fist, Shinra could feel how hard it was. Its density was incredible, and it felt like a giant mountain that had been compressed so that it wouldn't budge or break, no matter how one tried to smash it.
Then again, if Whitebeard, the strongest man, came and smashed this object, Shinra wondered whether it would crumble to pieces.
"Do you want to learn to read it from me?"
"No." Shinra was speechless and said, "Just read it, okay? We can go back soon, after that."
"What are we going to do when we go back?"
As Robin showed her naughty smile, Shinra was speechless and looked away, making her giggle, then started to read the Poneglyph with great focus. Then, as expected, what was contained within was the record of Pluton, one of the three Ancient Weapons, alongside Poseidon and Uranus, that was capable of destroying whole islands in a single shot.
"As expected, what is written here is about Pluton."
"Pluton?"
"It's an ancient weapon that is capable of destroying whole islands in a single shot. It is said to be the strongest battleship yet, but also the worst."
Unlike in the original story, Robin hid nothing from Crocodile; she didn't hide it from Shinra and told him everything.
"Oh." Shinra nodded, but Robin was speechless. "Is that it? Don't you feel curious about it?"
"Like how we need to eat food, so we can live, or a ship that needs wind to move. To move such a dangerous weapon, it naturally needs a certain type of energy, and do you think such an energy exists in this world?"
"..." Robin.
"Even if I somehow get this weapon, do you think it can be used? Even if it can be used, how much do you think I will have to spend on it?"
"Hmm..." Robin rubbed her chin, thinking that Shinra's explanation wasn't wrong, and even if one gained this ancient weapon, whether one could use it or not was a different matter.
"Unless there is an unlimited source of energy, it isn't practical to use this weapon."
Instead of such a weapon, Shinra might as well make himself stronger.
"Well, that's true." Robin nodded, feeling that this ancient weapon was too expensive to use, which was impractical, and after one use, there was a high chance that the weapon would be useless.
Instead of using this weapon, it would be better for them to focus on the Batto Batto no Mi, Model: Vampire.
"Okay, let's go back."
"Good."
That said, when they planned to go back, Robin suddenly clung her arm against his as she whispered, "So... what do you want for a reward? I can do anything, you know~?"
"...."
Blinking his eyes, Shinra was speechless, but it made her laugh and pushed him before they had this immoral exchange in this place where they weren't supposed to be, yet without a doubt, the pleasure was greater than they had imagined to be.
---
NOTE:
I have been thinking about going back to the world of Naruto, but I wonder whether any of you have any ideas on how to defeat Shiki Fujin, "The Dead Demon Consuming Seal", the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen.
Frankly, except for soul manipulation, running away to another world, or anti-magic, I can't think of any methods.
If you have any ideas, please let me know.