A bounty of 5,540,000,000 Berries—just over ten million less than Pirate King Gol D. Roger's 5,564,800,000 Berries.
It exceeded the previous "World's Strongest Man," Whitebeard, by a full 500,000,000.
This bounty had reached the pirate ceiling.
After all, the reason the Pirate King held a one-of-a-kind bounty was because he found the final island and claimed the throne of the pirate world.
Now, through the strongest personal combat power in history, Link had muscled his way to the summit just beneath the throne—an uncrowned king surpassing even Whitebeard.
There was no doubt: if Link, like Gol D. Roger, were to find the final island and seize the throne, his bounty would surpass Roger's, he would become the new Pirate King, and reach an unsurpassable peak.
But only Link knew the bounty's limit.
He would not go to Laugh Tale, so his bounty was fated not to exceed Roger's. Once he became Six Paths level, he would be the one placing bounties on others.
When the "god among men," Superman, becomes Homelander—how terrifying is that?
When Link reached the Six Paths tier, he would stage it himself.
After bringing Kaido's corpse and the unconscious Yamato back to Amazon Lily, Link and Karina found that Hancock, Shirahoshi, and Nami had already returned ahead of them.
"Link, I brought back the ones you wanted."
Hancock dove straight into Link's arms. Thanks to her heels, she was a few centimeters taller, her pale arms resting easily over his shoulders as she pointed to two new recruits behind her.
New members were, of course, women.
Before Link, perhaps only Rayleigh had ever set foot on Amazon Lily as a man.
After Link, the only men allowed on Amazon Lily were corpses—like Kaido's beside them.
The two new female members were a mature beauty and a girl.
The mature one had long dark-brown hair, light-brown eyes, a red flower in her hair, a tall, voluptuous figure—Violet, who had eaten the Paramecia Gaze-Gaze Fruit.
The girl had pink hair, delicate features, and wore a white princess dress—Violet's niece, Rebecca.
Looking the newcomers over, Link smiled at Hancock. "Good work, Hancock."
"It was only what I should do."
Hancock's cheeks reddened as she answered, then explained, "By the way, I did not kill Doflamingo. He chose to surrender."
Link's interest stirred. "Oh? Tell me."
"This is what happened…"
As soon as Hancock and the other two arrived in the Kingdom of Dressrosa and learned Link wanted Doflamingo, they lowered their posture to the minimum, accepted his surrender, and he offered everything—including his heart.
It was the first time Hancock and Nami had encountered someone like that.
During expeditions, the pirates who were not conquered by Hancock's charm and voluntarily offered their hearts were beaten into submission by Karina and the others without Hancock needing to act.
But a New World powerhouse like Doflamingo showing not the slightest intent to resist, immediately choosing to submit and attach himself—this was their first time seeing such a thing.
For a moment, Hancock and Nami couldn't decide what to do.
Especially after hearing that Link wanted to take Violet and Rebecca, Doflamingo immediately promised that, at Link's word, he would restore Dressrosa's throne to King Riku at once.
After hearing Hancock's account, a trace of appreciation appeared on Link's face.
Indeed—appreciation.
There was no question that Doflamingo's behavior was extremely cowardly. For someone like that to possess Conqueror's Haki felt absurd.
But one had to admit: Doflamingo was a clever man.
In Link's eyes, he was even smarter than Benn Beckman.
After all, in the original story, although Benn Beckman was touted as having top-tier intellect on the seas, he never truly showed it.
By contrast, Doflamingo was one of One Piece's most successfully crafted villains.
Once among the most noble bloodlines on the sea, he fell from the heavens because of his father's foolish decision, becoming a vagrant at only a few years old.
Yet by sheer talent, he clawed his way back to the first rank of the sea.
Had the Paramecia String-String Fruit not locked his growth, and had he possessed a famed mentor like Luffy or Yamato, Doflamingo—who awakened Conqueror's Haki at age eight—completely had the qualifications to become a pillar of the sea.
At that point, he might have become one of the most inspirational men on the ocean—reclaiming the Celestial Dragon "chip" with overwhelming strength and even joining the God's Knights who judge the Tenryuubito.
But there are no ifs.
Doflamingo never reached the pinnacle of power. He could only survive by his wits.
Having offended Link in Mary Geoise, then witnessing Link's true might at Marineford, Doflamingo had likely slept poorly for two straight years.
With Violet's long-range "surveillance camera," he knew even better than his subordinates how powerful and terrifying the Piercing Duke Pirates were. He must have long realized this day would come.
To surrender and submit to Link was by no means shameful; it was an exceedingly wise decision.
No matter how fearsome Kaido was, he did not possess both the feats of defeating and killing emperors and legends.
No matter how strong the Beasts Pirates were, they did not have two super-powerhouses like the Red-Hair Pirates.
But the Piercing Duke Pirates had all of that.
So long as he could live, Doflamingo was very willing to betray Kaido and become Link's underling.
If he could curry favor with Link, he might even retrieve his heart one day and take his career further—perhaps even, with Link's world-shaking strength, help fix the world the Celestial Dragons had turned into a mess.
Compared to that, what were Violet and Rebecca, or even the Kingdom of Dressrosa?
It was precisely this decisiveness that made Link appreciate this man—who seemed like a supervillain before the weak yet became utterly humble before the strong.
Like Teach, Doflamingo was a patient schemer—just without Teach's level of strength.
Such an outstanding schemer, offering himself up as a chess piece and his heart as tribute—Link did not mind setting past grudges aside and sparing his life.
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