One Piece: Hashirama Template

As the whole world was talking about the Puncture Duke Pirates, with Link overshadowing Teach to stand alone as No. 1 of the Worst Generation,

the two protagonists everyone discussed met on Beehive Island.

"Zehahaha… Link, your bounty has skyrocketed again. At this pace, your next poster might surpass Red-Haired Shanks."

Teach appeared before Link with the Blackbeard Pirates, laughing. "By then, you'll be the youngest Emperor of the Sea."

Teach didn't mind being Link's stepping stone.

In his eyes, one victory doesn't decide everything.

His goal was the Pirate King's throne and dominion of the seas; whether he held a Yonko title didn't matter.

Besides, if his strength and influence grew great enough, even if Link became a new Emperor the world would just add a seat and call him the Fifth Emperor.

There can be many Emperors, but there is only one Pirate King's throne. If Link is aiming at that throne too, they can settle it then.

So for now, since they shared interests and his own side couldn't beat Link's, Teach kept things warm and friendly.

"No need for flattery. I'll give you three days."

Link raised a hand; Kuja warriors immediately carried over four bundles of differing sizes, containing the unconscious Wang Zhi and his three chiefs.

Taking a sack of fruit from Karina, Link tossed it to Teach and urged, "Hurry up. I've got things to do."

"Alright."

Teach caught the fruit and stepped toward Wang Zhi.

Link's finger twitched; the branches binding Wang Zhi uncoiled on their own, and a wooden spike extended to pierce the back of Wang Zhi's skull, ending the life of a great pirate who had rampaged across three eras.

Ding! You killed an enemy and gained 4.07% experience.

With the system chime, Link's mood surged with delight.

As expected, Wang Zhi's strength was only a step short of the super top tier.

With the Riki Riki no Mi and master swordsman skill, plus all three colors of Haki and advanced Armament, his gap from the Emperors lay only in Conqueror's infusion and Future Sight.

Had he mastered Conqueror's coating, he could have traded blows with a Yonko for a long stretch.

No wonder that, in the original Loki Harbor incident, even wielding two Devil Fruits, Teach still needed to team up with the diligent Koby to finish Wang Zhi.

Teach's weakness truly is slashing.

The Yami Yami no Mi doubles the pain of any injury.

But elemental damage and Haki damage, so long as it doesn't instantly exceed Teach's limit and knock him out, can be swallowed by darkness and treated as no damage.

Only slashes are different.

Slashes leave scars on Teach that the darkness cannot absorb.

That weakness mirrors the Nika Fruit—light and dark as natural nemeses.

With ample experience, Teach quickly extracted Wang Zhi's Paramecia Riki Riki no Mi.

Then Teach began taking the three chiefs' Devil Fruits.

After Link undid their bindings and granted them quick ends, three more chimes rang in his mind.

Ding! You killed an enemy and gained 0.45% experience.

Ding! You killed an enemy and gained 0.91% experience.

Ding! You killed an enemy and gained 0.57% experience.

Among the three, although Baryk's Sick-Sick Fruit was the most terrifying, he was actually the weakest overall, followed by Peter with the Paramecia Teleport Fruit.

Even so, the experience both provided still exceeded that of captains among the Whitebeard Pirates' affiliates.

Duru, who had eaten the Mythical Zoan, Model: Pegasus and was the strongest of the three—so strong that even Hancock couldn't drop him quickly and had to rely on a group finish—ended up giving Link only the second-highest experience, even less than Peter's.

That was because the first two kills had pushed Link's stored experience past 10%, formally entering the ninth and final difficulty stage.

Host: Link

Inheritance Template: Senju Hashirama

Unlock Progress: 80% (+)

Experience: 11.37%

Summoning the private panel, Link looked at the total and felt even better.

With the last 8.63% remaining, the Senju Hashirama template would reach 100%.

At that point, he would wield power at the extreme beyond Kage.

As long as this world had no Six Paths–class otherworldly force, he would be invincible.

Even if several super powerhouses joined hands, Link could break an old rumor of the original world.

That rumor: no one can defeat two Admirals fighting together.

Admirals and Emperors are both synonyms for top-tier power.

So it can be read as: no one can defeat two top tiers teaming up.

Even Rocks, the pirate overlord two eras ago, fell to Roger and Garp together.

Because no one had ever beaten two top tiers in tandem, that rumor was born.

Once Link attained that extreme power beyond Kage, even two Emperors together wouldn't concern him.

Putting the panel away, Link saw a familiar look on Teach's face again.

Not just Teach—Doc Q in the Blackbeard Pirates wore the same look, and so did his sickly horse, Stronger.

The two stared fixedly at the Byō Byō no Mi and the Mythical Zoan Pegasus fruit; if they weren't afraid Link might kill them on the spot, they would have leapt to gobble them up.

Seeing the green-eyed Teach, Link reminded him, "Wake up. Your drool is about to drip."

Gulp.

Teach came back to himself, swallowed, and asked, "Link, any chance those Devil Fruits are for sale?"

"What do you think?"

Link looked speechless. "There are plenty of great pirate crews in the New World, but how many are like Wang Zhi's? Four Devil Fruits—each top of the top. If it were you, would you sell them?"

That was exactly why Link chose to cut in front of the Blackbeard Pirates.

If not for the rich harvests at Impel Down and the Paramount War, he wouldn't have minded leaving Beehive Island and the Wang Zhi Pirates to Blackbeard and reaping them two years later.

But those huge gains made Link think he might not need to wait two years to push the Senju Hashirama template to 100%.

And with the difficulty spiking, there was no need to raise small fish besides the biggest catches.

So after gathering intel on the Wang Zhi Pirates and learning the fruits held by Wang Zhi and his three chiefs, Link immediately decided to intercept the Blackbeard Pirates and blitz Beehive Island.

"Alright."

Seeing Link wouldn't sell, Teach could only swallow his heartache. Under the dead-eyed stares of Doc Q and Stronger, he handed all four Devil Fruits to Link.

As for tearing things open now—neither Teach nor the Blackbeard Pirates had that kind of courage.

A crew of eleven with ten wanted, their combined bounty just shy of nine billion.

If that pink dragon's identity were revealed and its ability proved similar to Kaidō's, their total would certainly break ten billion.

With a lineup of top-tier Logias, the rarer Mythical Zoans, and "broken" Paramecias, starting a fight with Link would be no different from courting death.

Watching how unbothered Link was about anyone snatching the fruits, Teach felt that old pressure again.

Sure enough.

Even after taking "Dad's" Paramecia Gura Gura no Mi, Link still didn't see him as a threat.

How many trump cards does this guy have hidden?

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