On January 11 of the Sea Circle Calendar year 1521.
That day, Link took a noon nap and only then woke on the ten-meter bed.
On his left and right lay several bare figures.
Besides Karina, Nami, Hancock, and Vivi, there were two new faces—Nojiko and Margaret.
After returning from Egghead, Link had been busy for a time, and finally, while his wood clones went to the black market to purchase materials, his true body took a proper rest.
During that time, to celebrate Link becoming the new strongest man in the world, Hancock held a grand feast on Amazon Lily, a carnival for all.
Link, who rarely drank much, got tipsy for once with Karina and the others.
While playing games, Link took full advantage, and his feelings with several girls who already held great fondness for him warmed further.
As those tabloid slanders of Link claimed, although he didn't madly meet every beauty and study the precise strokes of the character "kun" on the spot with them
he brought no male members aboard, and Karina and the others could see his ambition.
Karina and the rest felt no dislike and no jealousy.
First, they all regarded one another as family, on the same side, which only drew them closer.
Second, it was the world itself.
In a world of slaves and nobles, those in high positions keep concubines.
Raised with such ideas since childhood, the women felt no rejection at all.
As Link gradually realized this, he too slowly relaxed.
On one chance encounter, studying calligraphy in a corner with Nami, Link successfully pulled Nojiko into the water, achieving a result countless men would envy.
Afterward, hooked, Link called in the absolutely obedient Margaret to form a mistress-and-maid duo with Hancock.
Adding Hancock the Empress and Vivi the Princess as another duo, three teams in all struck Link until his head spun, and he suffered a rare defeat.
Tasting defeat, Link, for once, felt scattered in spirit, with a hint of laxness.
If a wood clone hadn't notified him to receive the materials, he might have forgotten his proper business.
Fortunately, the kingly will of Conqueror's Haki steadied him. He gathered himself, left the great bed, and called Shirahoshi to set out and receive the goods.
Had his will been less firm, had he not kept sprouting new wings, had he chosen the Red Count's lone-wolf path, he still wouldn't have lost to a Four Emperors crew.
Because he didn't need a network—he himself was a top-tier power.
With the Hashirama Senju template unlocked to ninety percent, Link could now perform the Wood Clone Technique in numbers that outstripped the original Naruto's battlefield-spanning shadow clones.
In fact, Link truly did so.
Only, he did not personally cast the Wood Clone Technique each time. Clones imbued with vast chakra split themselves.
Link needed only, once a month, to pour himself out and produce a few wood clones with massive chakra reserves.
Even Link himself did not know how many wood clones were out there now.
All those clones used Wood Transformation—some turning into strangers, some replacing others, infiltrating every faction.
If they gathered good intelligence, they immediately shared it with Link.
When Link issued a command, those wood clones did their utmost to carry it out.
Thus Link needed no relationship web. With a single order, the clones embedded in the black market procured the materials for cloning.
From one such clone, after receiving a sailboat packed with materials, Link returned to Amazon Lily, transformed into a scientist, and began building the cloning machine to prepare for cloning Hancock.
Before cloning, Link also asked Hancock's opinion.
As Link's first fervent admirer, Hancock certainly minded nothing; her thoughts even began to turn wicked, imagining teaming up to overstep their station and punish Link.
Hearing that Link would clone Hancock and have her eat the most precious Paramecia in their stock—the Float-Float Fruit—Karina and the others were full of curiosity and expectation to see what the clone would be like.
An independent individual, or a special double?
Whatever the case, it had to wait until the cloning succeeded.
Thus Link went into seclusion and focused on research.
As Link shut himself away, the New World's new chapter was in full bustle.
When the Marines moved Headquarters to the New World and announced that two admiral seats were filled, the World Government also announced a new replacement among the Seven Warlords of the Sea.
Originally, two people took seats—Edward Weevil, Whitebeard Jr., and Buggy the Thousand-Ryō Clown.
But since prisoners from the lower levels of Impel Down had been swept up by Link in one net, Buggy lacked the capital to rise as in the original events, had not made a splash at Marineford, and had slipped out from a lower level of Impel Down. No one knew which corner of the world he was now digging for treasure in.
So this time there was only one replacement—Edward Weevil, Whitebeard Jr.
As for Weevil's identity, Link had guesses.
Either the true son of Whitebeard, or a success or failure among clones made by Miss Bakkin and Stussy using Whitebeard's lineage factor.
If successful, Edward Weevil would be similarly strong; if failed, he would be nothing like Whitebeard—a dull-witted child.
With Headquarters moved to the New World, the Marines began to exert strength. Together with the long-defensive G-5 branch, they struck hard at pirates around allied nations, giving the New World's pirates a show of force.
But only that.
On the open sea, if the Marines encountered a Four Emperors crew, they could not start a war without Headquarters' permission. Marine commanders likewise could not engage a Four Emperors crew without approval from the Fleet Admiral and the World Government.
So the crackdown targeted pirates below the Emperors; even the great pirate crews occupying a corner were not casually provoked.
After all, great pirates are no weaklings. Many lack only a chance; their strength is just a shade short, which is why they cannot become Emperors.
Even so, there were still monsters on the level of Ochoku.
As the Marines began to act, thanks to Link and Teach's upheavals, the long-overlooked Worst Generation finally grew familiar with the New World and began to show themselves.
<><><><><><>
Read Advanced Chapters on : patreon.com/Kaizo247
~ Every 150 PS = Bonus Chapter!
~ Push the Story forward with your [Power Stones]