'I mean I could steal or plunder, but I'm not really that type of person, well at least I couldn't do it like regular people.'
'From the show most of the people in this world live hard lives.'
'But Marine is a no go, I ain't getting sent to the New World when those guys will be around.'
'Well most fanfiction I've read would have their character go for the rumble fruit in a Skypiea train on some island where they are strong enough to fight the world going the pirate route.'
'But fighting on a moment's notice is not really my cup of tea.'
'But I want to live a life of luxury, wait! I should just take over a village and expand it and have them pay me tax. Shit, this is real life not just another minecraft save.'
'But expanding a village doesn't sound bad, but why not create my own? Are there even rules for settling on an island?'
'I'll just ask around later, but even if I can I have to find people willing to move, and an island to start with.'
Walking around the market area, he's only ever seen people hold a bag of firewood asking around.
He learned most people don't know about charcoal, but coal is too expensive and is usually only bought by the wealthy, or those in the smithery business.
Not only that a bag of firewood sold for 200 berries
With a plan to make some money, Carnes made his way outside of town, where a sprawling forest lay.
Carnes quickly took out his axe and got to chopping his way to the inside of the forest. Once a good distance away from the town, he chopped the surrounding trees.
Place a furnace and chuck the wood inside the downside. Carnes wasn't sure it would as this was real life and not a game.
After all, through a bunch of novels he knew that to make charcoal one had to tightly pack it with wood and make sure no oxygen would get inside as it burned.
At least something along those lines luckily the furnace defied common sense as the wood in the top and bottom kept its miniature size, and burned perfectly into charcoal.
At least that's what the text box guaranteed him when he looked at the charcoal.
But unlike the furnace in the game this furnace kept burning through the fuel even if the top was already cooked.
With the charcoal in hand, it looked exactly as the logs except more charcoally, Carnes decided to let it expand.
Once it did he compared it to a perfectly sliced log he noted that the charcoalized log lost around half its size.
Though Carnes wasn't sure if that was supposed to happen but he didn't care, trees grew again anyway.
Once nightfall hit Carnes ended with over ten stacks of charcoal. Though now wasn't time for rest he needed to give the island a thorough examination.
He pulled out his glasses, and put them on for now he hid leaves, and wood.
Carnes was munching on some leftover fish he still had while he was exploring the last bits of wilderness this island had.
Unfortunately he didn't find anything to make up for his bruised face running into trees.
Looking at the map zoom out it seems Red Leaf Town's island was smaller than the island he had been on.
Though mapping the wilderness took him the afternoon of the next day.
Carness sighed as he got to work to give the beach a thorough examination which unfortunately made him waste the afternoon.
'I mean what kind of pirate would leave treasure on the beach of some town?'
Carness found a spot in the beach and lay down staring into the starry before turning and falling asleep.
The next morning he got up and went into town and went to a street vendor to ask if he needed a permit to set up shop and sell items?
Luckily he just had to pay a fee of five hundred berries to some guy in an official uniform at one of the entrances of the market street.
With the slip of paper Carnes sat down at an empty spot and casually pulled out his charcoal lining them up in front of him.
Carnes wasn't really sure how to price them but considering how a bag of firewood was around the size of four of these half logs and they sold for 200 berries.
He decided to sell the charcoal pieces for 50 berries each.
Unfortunately the introvert guy he was, he wasn't willing to yell to sell his items, instead he pulled out his furnace and bought some fish from the vendor next to him and cooked it.
Fortunately some people saw him tossing a piece of charcoal into the furnace as it lit and came to inquire.
"Young man did that rock just light itself?" An older man asked Carnes.
Carnes lied through his teeth, "No the flame was just about to die so I threw a piece of charcoal in to prevent the fire from going out.
And this isn't a rock, it's charcoal, unlike fire wood, it doesn't need much fire to properly ignite, there's less smoke, it burns hotter than wood, and longer."
The old man showed skepticism, "Young man, how much are you selling it for?"
"I'm selling one charcoal for 50 berries non-negotiable."
"For what you're telling me 50 berries seems rather cheap for it being better than firewood."
"Well you saw me toss in a piece of charcoal earlier so it's up to you to believe it or not."
The old man stared at the strange furnace, seeing not much smoke compared to when he lit his fireplace or stove there indeed seemed to be less smoke.
The old man looked at the charcoal piece size, 'I could probably carry two.' "Alright young man let me get two pieces."
The old man handed over a hundred berry notes and grabbed a piece of charcoal, but as he did, "It's light. You sure you aren't cheating me young man?"
Carnes sighed, "Old man I'll be here all day."
"Very well." The old man carried the charcoal piece and walked away.
Afterwards until early evening Carnes had only sold around twenty pieces of charcoal, making a five hundred berry profit.
Carnes couldn't help but think he was wasting time.
But hey it's just the start, a slow one at least.
Unlike the other vendor, Carnes didn't have anything blocking the sun, and blasting a furnace so close led to him sweating hard.
Which reminded Carnes that most islands in One Piece usually only had one type of climate, he had to make sure that the island he settled had a cool but warm climate at least.
Carnes daydream of the future, where he was the boss in the mansion watching as the sla—the villagers worked repeatedly, wait, that's minecraft.
He was brought out of his stupor, when the first buyer, the old man, had returned this time with an entourage of elderly people.
"Young man, that charcoal I used in my stove to make lunch, that was a long time ago and it's still burning."
Carnes raised a brow, the furnace he's already placed ten pieces inside, maybe the furnace burns through the fuel faster because of its nonsensical cooking time?
But it's not like he has a clock so he could tell how long a piece burns in the furnace.
"I wanted to buy some more but this time I brought some friends."
"Alright, how much are you buying?"
"I brought a bag with me so I'll buy as much as the bag can carry,"
In the end the old man bought ten pieces and his friends bought thirty.
By mid evening more people started passing by buying the charcoal in bulk. By late evening he sold the majority of his stock leaving him with half a stack left.
Leaving him with around 37,176 berries. Luckily the berries didn't seem to have a stacking limit in his inventory.
He picked up his furnace and made his way to the dock, tomorrow would be the third day, and they were leaving at dawn.
Carnes already left a waypoint marker in the forest if it was ever necessary.
Carnes made it to dock boarded the ship, and found not everyone was on board, and made his way to his hammock turning in for the night.
---------------------
The next day he was woken up by a sailor, who told him they had to load cargo before leaving.
When Carnes made it out onto the deck the sun still hadn't appeared on the horizon. 'Damn too be woken up this early, well time to work I guess.'
It appeared that during the day off the crew would go spend their money on whatever they wanted, while the Captain would make deals in town searching for the next deal to be had.
Box after box were loaded into the cargo.
By mid morning they were ready to set sail.
Carnes' look at the island as it fades into the horizon.
Once it was gone he continued mopping on the deck.
When all chores were done Carnes would stare off into the horizon hoping for land to appear anything but the damn Sea!
On the fifth day Carnes decided to do push ups, and sit ups in his spare time instead of staring off into the distance.
It earned strange looks, but none laughed at him, as some even opted to do the same, though eventually they realized no one did it as consistently as Carnes.
One thing Carnes did learn was that his stamina was abnormal, if he was walking he could walk nonstop and he wouldn't feel tired nor would his feet hurt, though he would feel slight hunger.
He could swing his tools nonstop as long as he was chopping trees, mining stone, or shoveling dirt and all it earned him would be hunger, no sores.
The only time his stamina went down drastically is when he's jumping, running, and when he's injured.
The times he X-rayed the island in search of devil fruit, his face and body was pretty bruised after running into trees.
Though whether he had the physique of Steve or because his body is from One Piece, or maybe both.
But his bruises would fade quicker than his other life, during that time he remembered having some snackish moments.
Today was like any other day, mopping the deck, cleaning the railings, polishing the canons, assisting the shipwright, or helping in the kitchen.
Carnes was about to go into his routine of push ups aiming to break his two hundred record in the small break he was given when the Barrelmen shouted,
"All hands on deck, South East Pirate inbound."
Garnet burst out of his Captain quarter, "You heard the man arm yourselves and prepare the cannons we're blasting to the bottom of the sea."
'Damn Pirates talk about unlucky.'