"Whoa, Enel, did that shake you?"
Faced with Lin Yuan's teasing, Enel, for once, didn't talk back. Instead, he stared at Lin Yuan with a serious expression.
Although Lin Yuan and Golden Lion Shiki had exchanged blows only twice, both their attack power and the aura they had displayed still awed Enel, even half a day later.
"Is there a way to get stronger quickly? Ten years is too long!"
Hearing this, Lin Yuan's gaze shifted slightly as he looked at Enel, and a smile appeared on his face.
"There is, but I don't know if you can stick with it!"
Excitement appeared on Enel's face, and he immediately stood up.
"As long as it makes me stronger, I can accept any method."
Enel's horizons had broadened considerably by now, and his arrogance had been crushed. Hearing Lin Yuan's words, he immediately made his pledge.
Lin Yuan smiled and waved a hand, signaling for him not to rush.
"You're not ready yet. Wait until you've fully awakened Armament Haki and spent some more time tempering your body."
"Uh, how long will that take?"
Lin Yuan thought it over. Enel now had the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and had awakened Observation Haki ahead of time. As long as he trained hard from here on, awakening Armament Haki wouldn't be difficult.
But that still depended on Enel's awakening. If he could steel himself to train, his strength could increase greatly in a short time with the help of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's power.
By Lin Yuan's estimate, reaching the strength of a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral would be fairly easy. Breaking through to the level of an Admiral, however, would require painstaking, gradual effort.
"Don't think too much about it yet. You'll need to train for at least a year and build a solid foundation before you'll be qualified for special training. But I need to tell you this in advance."
Lin Yuan glanced at Enel, a faint smile on his face.
"Once you start improving, there'll be no chance to stop. By then, it'll be too late even if you want to back out."
Looking into Lin Yuan's eyes, Enel felt his scalp tingle. But when he thought of the fight between Lin Yuan and that Golden Lion fellow, his resolve immediately hardened.
"No problem. It's just training, isn't it? As long as I can get stronger, nothing else matters."
Enel spoke with absolute conviction, but he never imagined that because of what he said today, he would later face several dark years of his life.
Over the next few days, they encountered no further obstacles and returned safely to Cocoyasi Village.
By the time they reached Cocoyasi Village, it was already evening, which spared Lin Yuan the trouble of hiding himself. Even so, he still wrapped all the gold blocks in Flame Clouds.
As he lowered the Flame Clouds, Stella was the first to notice. With the power of the Swift Fruit, her Observation Haki was among the strongest of the group.
Right after her, Tesoro, Erza, Emile, Bellemere, Genzo, Olvia, Robin, Nojiko, and Nami all came out.
It was worth mentioning that over the past three years, Bellemere and Genzo's relationship had made a breakthrough, and they had married with the village chief and Olvia officiating.
Genzo had moved in here as well. Neither Nojiko nor Nami had rejected him, and they were all living well together.
"Brother Lin Yuan, you're finally back!"
When Robin saw Lin Yuan and an unfamiliar man land in the courtyard, she rushed over without a second thought and threw herself straight into Lin Yuan's arms.
Sensing the delicate fragrance coming from the girl in his arms, Lin Yuan smiled dotingly and gently stroked Robin's smooth hair.
"Mm, I'm back. Has everything been all right in the village?"
"Everything's fine. Everyone's doing well!"
Robin held Lin Yuan for a while before shyly letting go. Lin Yuan looked at everyone in turn and said with a smile, "All right, since everyone's here, let me introduce you. This is our new companion, Enel."
As he spoke, Lin Yuan also introduced everyone to Enel, one by one.
Tesoro and the others came forward to greet Enel warmly. Having never interacted with so many people before, Enel was a little at a loss at first.
But his Observation Haki could sense their goodwill toward him, and a trace of warmth welled up in his heart.
"All right, we're all companions from now on. While everyone's here, it's time I told you about our plans going forward."
Lin Yuan then told everyone how they had taken a Sky Island and discovered a large amount of gold.
Tesoro and the others all stared at Lin Yuan in shock. They hadn't expected him to accomplish something so big on this trip.
"Last time, Tesoro and I discussed it. Although we have quite a bit of money now, it's still nowhere near enough. This time, I brought back ten billion Beli's worth of gold. It's time we stopped holding back and did something big."
At those words, Tesoro was the most excited person present. Lin Yuan had forced him to spend most of the past three years training, but he was very interested in commerce.
"Boss, since you've put it that way, let me say something too!"
Lin Yuan had no objection. He naturally had confidence in Tesoro's business acumen.
"Now that we have so much gold, we can't limit our sights to the East Blue. I think that if we're going to do this, we should do it big."
"Mm, tell us more."
"All right. The East Blue is stable now, but we can't make much money there. The New World, on the other hand, is especially chaotic right now. Without overwhelming strength, we wouldn't be able to protect our business."
"So I think we should establish our headquarters on the Grand Line. It borders both the New World and the four seas, and it's more prosperous too."
"As long as we can gain a foothold, we can earn countless Beli and bring in plenty of powerful people."
"But at the beginning, we'll need you there in person. Once our strength improves, everything will be able to run on its own."
Tesoro then went through his plans one by one: the casinos, factories, and plantations he wanted to establish, the routes he wanted to open, and his plans for recruiting people.
A smile appeared on Lin Yuan's face. He couldn't help marveling that Tesoro was simply a business genius.
"That works. But in that case, we'll have to move to the Grand Line. Still, this place is our home too. Genzo, Bellemere, what do you think?"
Genzo and Bellemere exchanged a glance. They had known about Lin Yuan's plans for a long time and had already made their decision.
"We don't mind. No matter where we are, as long as Nojiko and Nami can grow up happy, that's enough."
"Mm, the village is very wealthy now. Through our business, we've also recruited quite a few capable people from nearby to guard it. They can do without me as patrol officer, so let's go."
Though he was somewhat reluctant to leave, Cocoyasi Village was already very wealthy, and its security had been taken care of. Genzo knew it was all thanks to Lin Yuan.
Now that he had strength, his thinking had also changed, and he wanted to see the world.
"All right, then. After a while, Tesoro and I will go to the Grand Line first and look for a place."
Everyone discussed the details a little further, and so the Grand Line's most distinguished chamber of commerce began to take shape.
"Brother Lin Yuan, is that the gold you brought back?"
Just as everyone finished talking, a soft, sweet voice rang out.