The Kunpeng Squad

"Now there's no way to keep a low profile, even if I want to," Lind murmured as he looked at the newspaper in his hands.

"But as long as the bounty updates can't keep pace with how fast I get stronger, I won't have to worry about being unable to hide my strength."

Looking down at Beast Island below, Lind knew these bounties would soon be outdated.

Once he had trained his Kunpeng Squad, the Seventh Division's power would far exceed what their bounties suggested.

"It's my own strength that's still the weak link." Lind rubbed his head, troubled.

The biggest weakness in Lind's division was now Lind himself. The forces under his command had essentially reached the standard of a Yonko's crew.

Yet Lind's own strength was still at the level of a Yonko First Mate. Against someone like Zephyr, who truly possessed Admiral-level strength, he could basically only rely on taking enhancers.

If he relied on his own strength alone, he could only hold out for a day, about the same as Marco.

"There's also the matter of top officers. What I have is enough for this period, but once I leave Rocks, I'll need at least three Admiral Candidate-level officers."

"Right now, only Axel has reached that level. The others still fall a little short!"

"If there's no other way, I'll have to ask Allison to put up with a little more hardship and use first-generation Dragon Bananas to boost Calvin and the others' physiques."

"That way, by the battle of God Valley, Calvin, who ate the Ancient Zoan Titan Python Fruit, should comfortably reach Admiral Candidate level."

"Rex and Liana have a chance too. As for Allison, it'll depend on how far she develops the Grow-Grow Fruit!"

Lind considered his subordinates' strength, thinking about what would happen after Rocks died.

Lind was certainly a competent boss, but not necessarily a competent subordinate. What kind of subordinate spent every day thinking about when his boss would die and how to arrange things afterward?

If only there were a fruit that could improve comprehension. Come to think of it, now that I control so many islands, I could experiment more with temperate fruits.

Both the deserted island from before and the current Oran Island are summer islands, so most of the mutated fruits have been tropical ones. Trying other kinds might bring some surprises.

And with my territory expanding so much this time, could my luck soar and produce a legendary gold-tier fruit?

The master architect Zhang Yang introduced will be here soon too. Should I have him build an altar or something first, to gather some luck?

Ideas about mutated fruits kept popping into Lind's head. He remained rather tight-lipped on this subject, thinking about it without saying anything aloud.

Lind had always been fairly good at putting his ideas into action.

On the third day of the Kunpeng Squad selection trials, the master Zhang Yang had mentioned arrived.

Lind made a special trip back to welcome him and asked him to build a Temple of Heaven first.

Fortunately, the master lived up to his reputation as an imperial architect. With just a few brief descriptions from Lind, he understood his requirements perfectly and produced a design.

It was essentially identical to the Temple of Heaven Lind remembered from his previous life, leaving him very satisfied.

After entrusting the Temple of Heaven project to Master Lin Yong, whom Zhang Yang had introduced, Lind returned to Beast Island to continue watching the trials.

But with his mind full of the Temple of Heaven, Lind clearly lacked his earlier enthusiasm for the selection trials on Beast Island.

He merely went through the motions of rescuing pirates whose lives were in danger and offering a few words of guidance, nothing more.

Previously, he had covered the entire island with telekinesis, observing everyone's battles, picking out promising individuals, and devising plans to improve their strength.

Now, all Lind wanted was to finish the selection trials as soon as possible, then gather luck and use that great fortune to help his mutated fruits produce a legendary gold-tier result.

Lind had a feeling that this attempt would yield something pleasantly surprising, just as he had foreseen the outcome before mutating the Dragon Banana.

As Lind waited impatiently, the selection trials finally ended.

Perhaps influenced by Lind, most of the pirates under his command were fairly cautious, and the trials did not end ahead of schedule.

Even on the seventh day, more than three hundred people remained on the island. Lind wondered whether he should introduce something like a poison zone for the next selection.

Without a gradually shrinking playable area like in a battle royale game, it seemed difficult to eliminate enough people.

Since too few people had been eliminated, the final results could only be decided by the points they had earned.

That meant the results were essentially determined by strength. All one hundred people who joined the Special Operations Team possessed the strength of a Marine captain, and they were basically the strongest hundred participants.

As a competent boss, Lind still delivered a proper speech to encourage the pirates joining the Kunpeng Squad, even though he wanted to get back as soon as possible.

He told them what joining the Kunpeng Squad meant and urged them to work hard.

To demonstrate it through his actions, he had the new Kunpeng Squad members sail back to Oran Island with him aboard the Wanderer.

From then on, the Kunpeng Squad would also serve as Lind's personal guard and be permanently stationed aboard the Wanderer.

The other pirates could only return to Oran Island aboard ordinary ships. Afterward, ships would be arranged to take them back, one group at a time, to the islands they were assigned to garrison.

After returning to Oran Island, Lind first brought a few people to the Kunpeng Squad's newly built base.

"Zhang Liang, from now on, you'll be the Kunpeng Squad's adjutant. You'll be primarily responsible for managing the squad's day-to-day affairs."

Zhang Liang was Zhang Yang's son, and both his strength and talent were exceptional.

At twenty-four, he already possessed the strength of a Marine Vice Admiral. And that was without eating any of Lind's various fruits or receiving any specialized guidance from him.

Anyone who could reach that level at such a young age was unquestionably a top-tier genius.

When Lind saw Zhang Liang arrive with Lin Yong, he had immediately thought of recruiting him.

Upon learning that he was Zhang Yang's son, Lind had brought him into his ranks without hesitation.

The Kunpeng Squad happened to need an adjutant. Lind had been agonizing over which officer to assign, but now he no longer needed to.

After all, Zhang Liang's coming with Lin Yong this time must have been discussed with Zhang Yang, and he clearly intended to serve under Lind.

Since Zhang Yang trusted him so much that he had staked his entire family's future on him, Lind naturally chose to trust him in return.

Thus, Zhang Liang became the Kunpeng Squad's adjutant as a matter of course, with a bright future ahead of him.

At the Kunpeng Squad's base, Lind did not rush to begin training.

He planned to give them two days off first, letting the squad members rest properly and familiarize themselves with the base.

After a few brief remarks, Lind left the Kunpeng Squad in Zhang Liang's hands and hurried off to find Lin Yong, who shared his surname from his previous life.

The Temple of Heaven was located south of Oran Port, just as the one in his previous life had been.

Lind knew nothing about feng shui and similar matters, and Lin Yong was no expert in that field either.

Although the Flower Country had traditions relating to it, much of that knowledge had been lost.

With no better option, Lind could only imitate his previous life and build the Temple of Heaven to the south.

Thanks to the powerful physiques of this world's humans, construction of the Temple of Heaven had progressed rapidly under Master Lin Yong's guidance.

The basic structure of the Temple of Heaven was already complete. Only some time-consuming finishing details remained.

Now that Lind had arrived, those details were naturally no longer a problem.

His powerful telekinesis surpassed any craftsman. Perhaps it fell a little short in creativity, but when it came to following blueprints, it could do an absolutely flawless job.

In just half a day, Lind finished all the details and cleared away the construction debris while he was at it.

Had anyone in the trade seen him, they would certainly have praised him as a born worker.

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