After returning home, Lin Yuan introduced Tesoro and the others to Olvia and Bellemere, telling them that Tesoro and his three companions would be staying there for the time being.
Olvia and Bellemere welcomed them. The place was rather secluded, so having a few more people around for company was nice.
"Oh, right, Genzo, Bellemere, I got two Devil Fruits while I was away. You should eat them."
"Devil Fruits? Those legendary treasures of the sea? Kid, you actually got two of them? But you should keep them. They're too valuable."
"That's right, Lin Yuan. I can't accept one. You worked hard to get them, and I just want to live a peaceful life here."
Genzo and Bellemere both refused, and Lin Yuan smiled.
"Take them. Think of them as an early wedding gift from me. Besides, Genzo, the village will need you to protect it in the future. What can you do with your current strength?"
On the way back, Lin Yuan had heard that Genzo had confessed his feelings to Bellemere and was surprised that the blockhead had finally come around. Bellemere hadn't accepted, but she hadn't turned him down either. She only wanted to see what Nojiko thought.
As for Nami, she was still a nursing baby and had no say in the matter.
Even so, Genzo was overjoyed. He brought gifts for Nojiko and Robin every day, earning countless eye rolls from Bellemere.
At Lin Yuan's words, Genzo and Bellemere both turned bright red. Though embarrassed, Genzo was secretly grateful to Lin Yuan.
"Ahem, kid, don't talk nonsense. Genzo and I aren't together yet."
"Um, soon, soon."
Bellemere had barely finished speaking when Genzo chimed in with a foolish grin, making her so angry that she pinched him.
"All right, the world isn't peaceful right now, and I won't be staying in the village often. If you run into pirates in the future, you'll at least be able to deal with them."
Lin Yuan wasn't talking nonsense. In the original story, Cocoyasi Village had been attacked by the Arlong Pirates, leading to Bellemere's death and Nami's miserable childhood.
Now that Lin Yuan was here and had saved Fisher Tiger and the others, Arlong might not come. But even without Arlong, some other Darlong or Erlong might show up.
At Lin Yuan's request, Genzo had already begun training. As for Bellemere, she had been a marine and already had some fighting ability.
If they ate the Devil Fruits and trained for a few more years, they would at least be able to handle ordinary pirates. After all, there were hardly any particularly powerful pirates to be found in the East Blue.
As for Olvia, Lin Yuan had told her before that she couldn't go out to sea for the time being. If she wanted to study the Poneglyphs, Lin Yuan would help him find them in the future.
At worst, once he was strong enough, he could send a group of powerful fighters specifically to escort Olvia out to sea. But for the next few years, she had to stay in Cocoyasi Village.
Olvia didn't object. On the contrary, after the Ohara Incident, she knew she couldn't bring trouble upon Lin Yuan.
After all, the World Government had her on its wanted list. If she were discovered, it would definitely hunt her down.
In the end, at Lin Yuan's insistence, Bellemere and Genzo accepted the Devil Fruits and ate them on the spot.
"Oh, right, you have to eat the whole thing."
Bellemere and Genzo nearly threw up everything in their stomachs before they managed to finish eating them.
In the days that followed, two more small courtyard houses were built on the empty land beside Bellemere's place. They were the new homes of Tesoro and Stella, and Erza and Emile.
After overcoming countless hardships, Tesoro and Stella had finally come together. With Lin Yuan as their witness, they got married.
They didn't invite the other villagers, holding only a simple family banquet.
Three years later, a figure stood by the sea, slashing at the water again and again. Every strike split the sea, exposing the sand and silt on the seabed before the water slowly closed over it.
"I finally broke through. I didn't expect that I'd have to use brute force to overcome finesse and break the final shackle. It seems my talent for swordsmanship is still a little lacking."
That person was Lin Yuan. For the past three years, he hadn't gone out to sea again, instead training on the uninhabited islands nearby.
He had a great deal to train in. Besides the Three Types of Haki and swordsmanship, he also had to train his physique and develop his Devil Fruit.
There weren't many uninhabited islands near Cocoyasi Village, but over three years, Lin Yuan had sunk three of them through training alone.
Captain Nezumi had covered it up. Ever since Lin Yuan taught him a lesson, he had never dared offend anyone from Cocoyasi Village again.
He had even become much more polite to the surrounding villages. Lin Yuan left him alone. After all, in the original story, Captain Nezumi was merely an experience pack for Luffy before being dealt with by the marines.
If Lin Yuan didn't still need him as an informant, he would have cut him down with a single stroke long ago.
Over those three years, Lin Yuan's strength had improved tremendously. His physique in particular had grown extremely powerful with the Zhu Jiuyin Fruit's help, and he had grown to 2.2 meters tall.
His Armament Haki had reached the advanced level and his Observation Haki the intermediate level. His Conqueror's Haki, however, hadn't changed much, aside from its presence becoming more imposing. He still couldn't get the hang of Conqueror's Haki Coating.
Then there was his fruit development. Besides Flame Clouds, fire, and ice, he had developed another divine ability: One Eye Covers the Heavens, Zhu Jiuyin's innate divine ability.
Finally, there was his swordsmanship. For three years, he had swung his sword ten thousand times a day, gradually leveling every mountain on the uninhabited islands.
But it had taken him a full five years to break through to the realm of a great swordsman. He had practiced the sword for nearly ten years, and though he had reached the level of a swordsman quickly, going from swordsman to great swordsman had taken even longer than going from a complete novice to a swordsman.
Thinking of how Zoro had gone from below the swordsman level to a great swordsman in less than three years, Lin Yuan had made that remark.
Talent in swordsmanship didn't necessarily determine power, however. Lin Yuan was strong, extraordinarily strong. Splitting mountains and seas with a single slash was child's play to him. He confidently believed that if the current Mihawk faced him, he would be no match for him even in swordsmanship alone.
"It's been three years. My strength is in no way inferior to an Admiral's now. Even if my Armament and Observation Haki are a little weaker, my overall strength is definitely no less than theirs."
"But the World Government and the marines are too powerful. I could fight one Admiral to a draw, but I probably wouldn't be a match for two. Against three, I could only run."
Feeling the immense power coursing through him, Lin Yuan was entranced for a moment. It was the kind of power that made him feel as though he could destroy a small island with one punch, something he could never have experienced in his previous life.
"With my current strength, I could probably withstand a cruise missile in my previous world. Other than that ultimate weapon that makes all beings equal, I doubt anything could destroy me. But I can never go back."
A trace of nostalgia appeared in Lin Yuan's eyes, but his gaze quickly grew resolute again.
"Hahaha, since I can't go back, I'll reach the pinnacle of this world. Then this trip won't have been for nothing, and I'll set an example for those transmigrators in the pirate world."
"Boom..."
His terrifying Conqueror's Haki shook the sea into hundred-meter waves as purple lightning thundered across the sky!