After obtaining the data on the perfect clone and the cloning machine, Link released the Spirit-Form Technique, and his soul returned to his body.
The moment he returned, a mass of memory fragments flooded Link's mind.
Those fragments were all the materials just transferred.
After digesting them all, Link instantly went from a layman in science to an expert in cloning.
So long as he built the cloning machine, Link would only need to take lineage-factor samples and gather the needed materials to mass-produce clones—perfect clones on Stussy's level.
While Link was digesting the fragments, Pudding also regained control of her body, but she murmured blankly, "W-what just happened?"
Although her body had been taken, Pudding's soul and consciousness had not fallen asleep. In a mental—or soul—space, as if watching television, she saw how Link controlled her body.
That viewpoint felt so uncanny that Pudding hadn't yet come back to herself.
Just then, Link laid a hand on Pudding's head and said with a gentle smile, "Sorry about just now, Pudding. I… accidentally saw into your heart. I'm very—very sorry."
"From now on, in front of me, you don't need a mask, and you don't need to hide your third eye—just be your true self."
"That you… is very cute."
On that last line, Link lifted Pudding's bangs, looked at the three-eyed Pudding, and praised her with a smile.
His tone and gaze were utterly sincere. In Pudding's eyes, which could see through to the essence, there was not a trace of falseness or perfunctory play in Link.
So the just-awakened Pudding took a clean hit straight to the heart; dazzling light finally shone into her dark inner chambers.
She could not describe the feeling.
But her eyes misted over of their own accord, tears beading and falling.
The reason Link hadn't killed Pudding to seize a Devil Fruit—spending no small effort instead to win her from Charlotte Linlin via the Pirate Game—
was that what Pudding envied most was the simple, kind Charlotte Lola, because Pudding's true nature was the same.
Bullied for years on end, she had had no choice but to blacken herself.
In truth she was of a kind with Nami and the other girls—just as easy to reach.
And Link's praise was not perfunctory.
Three eyes are indeed ugly—disgusting—on one condition… that the person is a plain-faced ghoul.
But on the pretty, cute Pudding, just like Karina in human-beast form, Link not only found it not ugly; it brought a thrilling sense of novelty—a bit exciting.
In any world, looks are justice!
As the saying goes: sincerity is a finishing move!
With this round of praise—like Sanji's in the original—Link easily won Pudding's favor.
Seeing Pudding bow her head and cry, and trusting Link, with Robin and the others as examples, Nami and the rest—who had no ill will toward Pudding—stepped forward with tender hearts.
Nojiko was the first to hug Pudding, silently comforting the girl.
In Pudding, Nojiko saw Nami's shadow.
Both forced smiles, both hiding behind masks.
"Waaah…"
Feeling Nojiko and the others' care—and, just like Link, no disgust for her three eyes—the Pudding spurned even within the Charlotte family could no longer hold back and bawled.
Ten-odd years of negative emotion began to pour out.
When she finished venting, she completely set down her guard toward Link's crew.
Once Pudding blended into Karina and the others' circle and became her true self, even if Charlotte Linlin played the mother-daughter card, or pressed and threatened Pudding, she would not betray Link and the rest.
Thus, the Impaling Lord Pirates gained yet another member.
Two days later, the Sea Circle Calendar 1520 finally turned its page, entering January 1 of the Sea Circle Calendar 1521.
A brief summary of 1520 guaranteed its place in history—the most legendary year of the Great Pirate Era.
In that year, Enies Lobby—forming an iron triangle with Marineford and Impel Down—was destroyed.
In that year, the Seven Warlords of the Sea—maintaining balance among Marines, Headquarters, and the Four Emperors—changed out two members in succession.
In that year, the number of Supernovas shattered into double digits, making Paradise the most watched sea.
In that year, the uncrowned king who had ruled the throne of "strongest in the world" for decades since the Great Pirate Era opened by the Pirate King fell, and the era ran wild.
In that year, the Marines entered the era of the Red Dog.
In that year, two newcomers climbed upon the uncrowned king's corpse to the summit, tying for Worst Generation No. 1.
If nothing major had happened afterward, then the year would have belonged to the Impaling Lord Link and Blackbeard Marshall D. Teach.
But in the last few months of the second half, the Impaling Lord Link kept pressing forward, defeating in turn the great pirate Wang Zhi, the legendary Golden Lion, and the current Emperor of the Sea—the Pirate Queen Charlotte Linlin. Having been in the New World only a few months, he became the youngest Emperor of the Sea in history—and the strongest man of the new era.
On the last day of 1520, Morgans specially listed the year's great events in the World Economy News Paper, and in the end defined the year as the Year of the Impaling Lord—
the Year of Link—winning recognition from the whole world.
With a new strongest man born, pirate arrogance peaked.
Countless newcomers took Link as an idol, harboring the thought that if someone as young as Link could do it, then they could too, and they put to sea as pirates one after another.
The Four Seas—once peaceful and rotten—threw the Marines into busyness, and morale seemed at its lowest ebb.
At the start of 1521, the Marines immediately announced they would move Headquarters to the New World and strike evil with full force, raising Marine morale again.
The former G-1 branch became the new Marine Headquarters.
The former Marineford became the new G-1 branch.
At the same time, with Akainu taking office as Fleet Admiral and Aokiji departing, the two vacant admiral seats were filled.
The two new Marine admirals were not admiral candidates but civilian masters recognized by the World Government and Marines through a world military draft, men of monstrous strength.
Code-named Fujitora—Issho—a Paramecia Gravity-Gravity Fruit user.
And code-named Ryokugyu—Aramaki—a Logia Wood-Wood Fruit user.
The most dazzling among them was not Fujitora Issho with his top-tier Paramecia, but Aramaki, who had eaten a lower-tier fruit to the Mori Mori no Mi yet was terrifyingly strong—further highlighting the gold content of Link as the world's strongest man.
So much so that Aramaki won high recognition from the World Government and was often dispatched to stand watch at Mary Geoise.
Since they could not recruit the world's strongest man, then at least they would recruit a subordinate fruit user beneath him!
Aramaki also zealously supported the World Government and the Celestial Dragons, gradually beginning to molt into their lapdog.
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