Chapter 4
(A month later)
Link is flying over the massive ship that is Thriller Bark even from above it looks dreary, sad, cold, and dreadful the unnatural mist that hangs over it blocks out the sunlight, and given what the information Link had acquired from a broker has said about how Moria's devil fruit works it made perfect sense for this to be his base of operations.
He flies downs to Thriller Bark passing through the unnatural fog, it takes a minute then he lands on the outskirts of a creepy forest shrouded in fog, Link shifts back to his normal form dressed in his armored red tunic, rough black leather gauntlets, rough black leather pants, and boots, as Link is walking around he is attacked by a group of undead who is eliminated in an instant, he sees shadows being released from the zombies he has set on fire from his sword, he looks around for a moment then raised his hand in the air a bright green wind surrounds it then the wind spreads out obstructing his surroundings for a moment when it clears there are twenty cloaked individuals behind him having been warped to the location by Link.
"There should not be anything really threatening to you guys here so let me see how you do in a hostile environment, little tip use fire, haki, or seawater to permanently put the zombies down," Link addresses the group receiving a few nods or grunts of acknowledgment.
They remove the cloaks revealing a group of twenty men, of various heights, builds, ages, some had hair from black to red, they all wore similar clothes, leather pants, and open vests, no gloves or shoes, some had two large water skins strapped to their backs, with an unofficial signal all the men start to change before Link's eyes.
Ten of the men grew two or more feet in height, skin color turned to a pale blue, skin replace with streamlined miniature scales, amphibian head with long appendages extending from the head the blue shifting to green the further it went, down to its waist, streamlined muscular arms and legs, blue eyes of various shades, two large silver-colored fins with razor-sharp yellow end, small tattoos with their names written in Hylian on their shoulders, these men are new hybrid Zora-human soldiers created from Links own hybrid Zora DNA by Dr. Mito.
The other ten men grew three to five feet in height, growing massive bulging muscles all over their upper and lower bodies, short light brown spiky beard and hair, their names tattooed in Hylian on their shoulders, these men are the new hybrid Goron-human warriors created from Link's hybrid Goron DNA by Dr. Mito.
Link looked at all of them seeing that they are fine after transforming, Link turns to the largest Goron hybrid in overall height and muscle mass, he was seventeen feet tall, his hair was a long spiky light brown mane of hair reminding Link of Darunia, his name is Titan he has been a slave from he was five years old, due to his large size he was thrown into the fighting pits from he was twelve years old, where he fought for fifteen years until he broke free in Mito's revolt, he is extremely talented in armament and observation Haki from fighting his whole life, he was the leader for all the fighting slaves due to him being level headed and the strongest fighter there, he has pledged his loyalty to Link only after Link had proven himself superior through combat, they became good friends with Link teaching him how to read and write, allowing Titan to finally to do something other than fighting all the time, Titan found out he has a talent for architecture, woodworking and metalwork, he was the first to volunteer for the procedure as he wanted to whatever it takes to be stronger so he can never be chained again, he inspired all the others to volunteer as well as they still see him as a leader.
"Titan you call the shots, and if you see Moria you can kill him if you want to," Link tells him.
"Got it, boss, you heard him let's go wild boys!" Titan shouts getting enthusiastic shouts back and they were off to destroy anything that crosses their paths.
With all his men gone Link equipped a katana called 'Bloodlust' (from DS3) then starts heading in a specific direction, he walks for a while occasionally he would hear the sounds of fighting but if his observation Haki was anything to go by Titan and the men were literary tearing the zombies apart, piling up the bodies together then setting them on fire with either bio-electricity of the Zoras or the fire fists of the Gorons, most of the zombies are focusing on Titan's group only one of them are headed in the direction Link is going, it is the zombie that Link sensed a strange aura from with his observation haki.
An hour later Link stands in a clearing with the zombie with the strange aura standing opposite to him, he had white hair, bandages covering a part of his skeletal face, he had no eyes, he wore a blue scarf partially covering his mouth, he wore a samurai gi with intricate designs with a blue stomach band with a swirling design, he wore geta sandals and had a beautifully crafted katana strapped to his waist.
"You are trespassing on this island, and I must kill you," he stated drawing his blade, it was a black blade with a reddish-purple reverse wave-like pattern running along the blade.
"That is a very impressive blade, may I have its name and that of its wielder?" Link asked looking at the sword.
He raised the blade to show it to Link more clearly, " You have a good eye. This is one of the twenty-one Great Swords, it is the Meito Shusui, it is a sword not seen by many, and my name is Ryuma the last master, if you are able to win against me in a duel the blade will be yours," Ryuma said to Link shifting into a ready stance.
"You are dead right?" Link asked.
"Yes I am, why do you ask?" Ryuma questioned.
"I have a way to make this fairer, just trust me," Link says then takes out his ocarina then starts playing the song of time.
Ryuma is confused by his behavior, then he feels his body start to change, slowly his body was restored to the way it was when he first died, he got his flesh back along with his eyes, ears, nose, skin, and muscles, Ryuma tests his body and finds he is much stronger now compared to his skeletal state before.
"You will start to decay all over again in a day or two because you are still dead but I wanted to fight you at the best you could be in the circumstances," Link said with an excited grin on his face.
"Thank you, now I challenge you anew to a duel," Ryuma said getting back in his stance.
"Then I accept your challenge," Link says drawing his blade and getting into a ready stance.
Both swordsmen circled each other with slow methodical movements looking for weaknesses in their respective defences but they find none, meaning they will have to create on themselves they make slight movements of their stances or their blades then return to circling each other, from the outside it looks as if they are doing nothing but they are both visualizing real clashes from the small movements of their opponent, this happens for a few minutes then they both stop then launch themselves at each other both haki coated blades meets in a collision sending gusts of wind through the clearing, they step back Link attacks with a horizontal slash that is parried upwards, Ryuma brings his blade down in a diagonal counter which Link halts with the butt of his blades sheath, Link slashed his blade parallel to Ryuma's but with a small shift he blocks it with Shusui's hilt, they both jump back then renegade their duel with a flurry of strikes from both sides, none of their attacks pass the others defense all the attacks are blocked, parried, or nimbly evaded, they break away again and start to circle once more, they have both learned much from their clashes, Link has Ryuma brat in overall physical ability, Ryuma has more expensive in one on one duels than Link so he is using it to anticipate Link's moves, neither party are using haki one because they can not and the other because he wants to defeat Ryuma without it aside from coating his blade so it matches Shusui he hasn't used it, Link has the edge in skills thought that might have more to do with the shadow currently powering Ryuma than his actual depth of skill.
They were off again, Link took a half step forward releasing a blinding slash at Ryuma's neck, he takes a half step back Link's blade passing two inches from his neck, Ryuma steps in sending a slash of his own to Link's midsection, Link lets the momentum of his blade drag him along pivoting on his right foot evading Ryuma's slash by mere centimeters then counterattacks with a heavy downward swing with a crimson tinted wind following the blade, Ryuma attempts to block it but his guard falters when Link's left leg sweeps his legs from beneath him, the force of the blow plus the power of concentrated wind blade met without solid footing launched Ryuma out of the clearing crashing through trees, Link knows he hasn't actually cut Ryuma given the crimson wind blade soaring up in the sky, though he hopes that the power behind his attack plus crashing through the trees has done some damage.
Meanwhile, Ryuma is picking himself up from the wreckage of the trees he crashed through, he was only just barely able to redirect the wind blade upwards due to having no solid footing, he had no actual damage but he can feel the strain in his hands from deflecting the attack.
'I don't have a lot of time to fully enjoy this duel, if the strange beings I saw tearing through Moria's zombies get to Moria he won't last long, so we should up the ante,' were the thoughts of Ryuma.
His battle-honed instincts warned him of immediate danger he moves instantly, not a second later a large crimson wind slash tears through where he was only a second ago, as soon as he gets his feet under him sent off three green-tinted wind slashes of his own to the direction that the previous attack came from, it's met by another large crimson wind slash causing them all to explode creating a dust cloud, seconds later Link bursts out of the dust cloud crimson air ripples following the trail of his blade, Ryuma speeds off to meet him green-tinted air ripples trailing his blade, they clash in a hurricane of crimson and green, their blades clashing with unrivaled speed and power creating shockwaves through the forest, their figures become blurs only the colors crimson and green being clear meeting with destructive force shredding the forest around them as they continue the fierce duel.
(Meanwhile with Titan and the others)
Titan looks on with disinterest as the men continue to destroy the zombies with ease, it was akin to child's play though it might have more to do with how strong he and the men are not how weak the zombies are, using the advice the boss gave us made sure when we put them down they stay down.
He hears the shockwaves in the distance meaning that the boss is actually having a fun fight unlike him, he and the men tore their way through the undead swarms an hour later they reached the central mansion, the tall imposing structure looming over them, tall reinforced double doors barring entry to the interior.
With a grin Titan steps forward to the tall doors, he squared his shoulders, spreads his legs, took in a long breath, drew back his left fist, raised his right arm in a guard position, his left fist blurs forward as he released the breath a sonic boom sounds out as it hits home on the doors, turning it into sawdust that rains down around him.
This was a technique that Link taught him, Titan was still not good enough at it for if he was he would have destroyed most of the mansion in one blow especially in his hybrid form.
Titan walks through the now open entrance, he sees a swarm of animated furniture, suits of armor, and zombies all attacking with reckless abandon, he signals his men to attack they surged past him and started tearing the enemy apart, Titan stands still watching all this unfold until he sensed a presence behind him he feels something touch his back, sounds of broken bones echo through the mansion it takes but a moment for Titan to realize that he was attacked, and his attacker seems to have shattered the bones in their hand on his back, Titan turns to the still invisible enemy, raised his right hand in a fist then brought it down with casual force, caving in the floor where he crushed his invisible enemy, he lifts his hand revealing an utterly unrecognizable mashup of limbs and organs, Titan takes a curtain to wipe off his bloody fist utterly disgusted by the weak enemy he just killed.
He and the men made their way through the hallways of the mansion, occasionally taking out any enemy that pops up, a while later they reached a wide circular room furnished with bright lamps that cast deep shadows due to the furniture and columns lined the room.
Suddenly a vortex of shadows stretched over the center of the room, it rose then starts changing into a solid shape fitting the description of the warlord Gecko Moria, he was staring down at Titan and the men with a murderous look obviously trying to intimidate them, after the life they lived he might as well be a kitten with claws.
Titan observed the Shichibukai, Moria was an abnormally large humanoid creature with very distinct, devil-like features. He was around seven feet tall, he had two horns protruding from the sides of his forehead, he has red hair, sickly pale blue skin, matching lips, stitches running vertically from the top of his face and down his neck, which was extremely long and thick in comparison with his body, he had pointed ears and teeth, his body was fat and stubby, he wore a black coat and gloves, his pants were bright orange with pale window shapes imprinted on them, he wore a fishnet shirt underneath a cravat, a necklace, and a blue crucifix-like ornament with claw-like appendages sprouting out from three of the cross's points.
"Kishishishishi, do you know who's territory you have invaded?" Moria says with a superior tone of voice.
"The soon-to-be-dead warlord Gecko Moria," Titan says casually.
"How dare you!! I am G-" Moria was cut off by a burst of water hitting him from all the Zora hybrids present.
"Who are you to int-" he is once again cut off by the electrical current now coursing through his body thanks to the Zora hybrids bioelectricity.
While he is writhing in agony on the ground, the Goron hybrids walk to him coating their fists in haki, they proceed to beat Moria to death, the large haki coated fists hammering down on Moria's body breaking bones, crushing ribs, tearing flesh, pulverizing organs, this went on until there was only a puddle of human paste on the floor, the Zoras wash off the Gorons hands and the floor with a burst of water, making it seem as if there was not a murder mere minutes ago.
"Secure the area, the boss will be back now that Moria is dead," Titan orders the men.
(With Link fifteen minutes ago)
Link stands over his defeated enemy, with only a few nicks and cuts covering his body he had a relaxed smile on his face, Link truly enjoyed the duel he just had a pure test of skill, only our bodies, and our blades, it was an exhilarating experience though now it was over, with a sigh Link walks over to a fallen tree and sat down.
He lifts up the prize he won to take a good look at it, Shusui was a black blade with a distinctive reddish-purple reverse wave Hamon, its tsuba had flower-like edges, it had no accessories on the hilt, it's Kashira, tsuba, and kojiri end cap was golden, it's sheath was black decorated with red circles split into even thirds, other were two half-circle holes each side of the blade, a saw Hamon pattern adorned the sides of the blade in shining dark magenta.
It was a masterpiece, worthy of its title, Link flexed his haki he could feel the presence of the blade, he seems to have gained its loyalty.
"Beautiful isn't she?" Ryuma asked from his position on the floor.
"Indeed, she is beautiful, so what about my offer?" Link asked.
"Leave behind my body, thoughts, skill, knowledge, and memories, in the form of a mask, and you will free my country from the tyranny it is suffering from if you mean that offer, I will accept only if you leave my mask in Wano when you are finished with it, so that future generations might benefit from it, and if necessary use it to defend their country." Ryuma said to Link.
"I accept your terms, now I shall begin," Link says then pulls out his ocarina and started to play the song of healing, the magic washes over the area, resonating with their souls.
Ryuma's body begins to fade slowly as the melody plays, when the music stopped all that was left of Ryuma was a mask with his face on it, Link picks it up happy for the boon he has just gained even more so than the blade Shusui.
He placed it into his pouch, strapped Shusui to his waist then made his way to his men, it took him an hour to reach the mansion, he walked past the destroyed doors continuing onwards to where he sensed his men congregating, he reach a circular room to see his men enjoying themselves with food and drink, they were back to their human forms, a large horde of treasure is left in the center of the room most likely by the men now partying when they saw him they raised their drinks shouting their greetings Link just laughs and tells them to continue enjoying themselves, they cheer then return to partying while Link makes it to the side of the room where Titan is drinking by himself.
Titan was in his human form but there wasn't that large a difference from his Goron form, he was still massive twelve feet tall mass of chiseled muscle, his long hair was black now as it was his natural hair color, he had silver eyes, tanned skin, scars littering his body, his handsome face was without a scar, he had told Link that in his teen years they would make him have sex with pleasure slaves on a stage for his master's entertainment and if he had an ugly face his master would consider it an insult to his pride, so special care was shown to his face to make sure it never scarred.
Link sat beside him and started drinking as well, no one said anything for a few minutes then Link broke the silence.
"Was the enemy that weak?" Link asked.
"They were, the foot soldiers were basically children, the only other devil fruit user I saw died in an instant, Moria was strong for paradise but I had no interest, the men killed him on their own, if there was anyone else loyal to him they ran when he died," Titan says while he continues drinking.
"I see, well I would be drinking too if I had to beat on weak people," Link says taking a drink himself.
"Hmm, all that we could find of value we brought here so that we can leave this disappointing place behind," Titan says still unhappy about the lack of challenge.
"Well, I might have something that will lift your spirits," Link then recounts his meeting of Ryuma, restoring his dead body, the sword duel that ensued, Link's victory, Ryuma reaction to news of his country's suffering, Link's offer, and Ryuma and Link making a new deal.
Many emotions played across Titan's face, surprise at the name of Link's opponent, respect for Link restoring Ryuma's body, envy for the battle they fought, respect for Link's victory, understanding for Ryuma's reaction to the news, surprise at Link's offer having no idea that Link could do that, excitement when Ryuma and Link made the deal.
"So you are saying we are going to be going to war with Kaido?" Titan asked calmly but the fire in his silver eyes betray his excitement.
"Exactly, but he has an army so I will need one of my own, an army that can stand toe to toe with Kaido's, this kind of army will take time, dedication, resources, and effort to build it into what I need it to be, I am going to be working under the time limit of three years as the earliest and five years the latest," Link says seriously.
"That might not be enough time, I am a fighter first and foremost, so I don't know much about building an army, but I know how fighters are trained, and if the stories of the Yonkos are real then we may need more time," Titan shared his thoughts on the matter.
"You might be right if we use normal methods but after a year of knowing me, you should be aware that I don't do anything the normal way," Link says with an ominous chuckle.
"I am going to guess you won't tell me of your plans yet," Titan said.
"You will know as soon as a solid foundation is made for the army, so let's drink shall we," Link says raising his glass to Titan, then down the alcohol.
Several hours pass with the party still going, some new faces joined the party, they were people whose shadows Moria stole they heard he was dead and came to celebrate their renewed freedom, they didn't cause any trouble aside from one or two who had to be disciplined when they tried to steal from Link's treasure horde, there was also a walking, talking skeleton musician who keeps asking women to see their underwear, resulting in him being punched, kicked, or shot at.
Link signaled Titan with a tilt of his head to join him outside, they both slip out of the room with no one the wiser other than their men, they end up on a balcony overlooking the island.
"So why did you bring me out here?" Titan asked.
"I have been going through my objectives all night long, and I think I have a solid plan for the future," Link said.
"And?" Titan inquiries.
"One of the first parts is you, so take this," Link says pulling a small chest out of his pouch, passing it over to Titan.
Titan takes the small chest, and opened it finding a strange fruit with the color of solid earth, he looks to Link who simply nods his head at him, without so much as a moment of hesitation Titan eats the devil fruit, it tastes revolting still Titan swallows it, he feels the change instantly his body feels a new energy rushing through his veins, his skin takes on the texture of solid earth for a moment then he concentrates and it turned back to normal, he turns to Link who was watching him.
"That's the Logia type devil fruit, the Earth-Earth fruit, it transforms you into a Earth human, allowing you to become earth, control earth, create earth, and assimilated earth," Link tells him.
"So how is this the first part of your plan?" Titan asked.
"One of the most essential parts of warfare is controlling the battlefield, and with you now having that fruit we can mold almost any battlefield to our advantage," Link revealed his reasoning.
"Hmm, I can see the applications of this fruit now," Titan says.
"Good, let's go back to the men we leave in the morning," Link says walking back inside.
"Ok," Titan says following him inside.
(Next morning)
Link and Titan gathered all the men plus the treasure outside, then once they were sure they were not being watched Link warped them all back home.
The people that were freed from Moria would wake up to find the people who saved them gone along with almost all the resources Moria has gathered over the years including the preserved remains of Oars gone as if it was never there in the first place.
(A few days later, Ohara)
Mito was not happy having a gigantic corpse dropped in her lab's storage freezer luckily Link had enchanted the storage spaces for the lab, hospitals, and emergency bunkers to be several times larger on the inside than on the outside, Mito had hounded him constantly when he first did it trying to get him to explain to her how to do it, Link never answered but one day Mito, Shay, and Shari found three new medical bags with their names on them that were enchanted to be weightless and could hold twenty times more things than it could before, no more questions were asked after that.
She did like the detailed reports on how the men did in their first hostile situation, she wanted to make sure there were no issues before she makes any more hybrids, she has been nagging Link to go to one of those sky Islands so she can get samples of the people that live there before she starts making avian hybrids when he told her he gave Titan a logia type devil fruit so he can't be used as the baseline for the monitoring of the Goron hybrids anymore Link and Titan found themselves dodging multiple haki laced surgical knives courtesy of an enraged Mito. After she calmed down Link started to tell her about the cause he has committed them to, at first she wanted to kill him for agreeing to do anything cause of a dead man, but she started thinking about all the things that they would need to pull this off which means more opportunities for her challenge herself and showcase her genius to the world, so she decided to hear him out.
"Why? And don't tell it's just for some promise with a dead man," Mito said.p
"While the deal I made has some sway in my decision, I am mostly doing it for my own interests," Link says.
"What interests are those?" Titan asked.
"My interests are obvious; the Country of Wano is this world's foremost pioneers in smithing and metallurgy, we all know of the legendary blades crafted by the legendary swordsmiths Kotetsu, Shimotsuki Kozaburo, and Tenguyama Hitetsu, the weapons produced in Wano are of among the highest of quality, the Beast Pirates' monopoly of Wano Country's supply of high-quality weapons is one of the main pillars of support that ensured Kaido's power in the New World, there are also rumors that Wano is the only place that Seastone can be processed into any type of weapon, and I want it all," Link said with a gleam in his eyes.
"I don't think switching one outsider for another will go over well with the people of Wano," Titan says with skepticism lacing his voice.
"Titan, I won't be just another outsider, I will be the man liberating them from Kaido and Orochi's tyrannical rule, and I have a plan to gain the people's trust before I liberate them," Link says sounding confident.
"Okay," Titan said.
"To take on Kaido we need an army as I told Titan before and I think I have an idea of how to fill our ranks with soldiers aside from the hybrids," Link said.
"That would be?" Mito asked.
"You said you worked for Dr. Vegapunk, so are you familiar with the work of Vinsmoke Judge?" Link asked.
"Well of course, but I don't see the…" she lets her voice trail off as realization hits her, "you can't be serious you want to use human cloning to fill up the ranks," Mito deduced.
"It's the most practical solution to our numbers problem, and I don't want to risk an information leak if we decided to start gathering various people from different backgrounds to create an army to take down Kaido the regular way," Link shares some of his reasons for his decision.
"There are several issues with cloning, the clones are blank slates that we have to train, otherwise they can't cope with the fact they are clones if they have all the memories of the original, and depending on who is used as the original they might not even be worth cloning in the first place, plus just because I know how cloning is done doesn't make me an expert we would need information from experts at Germa 66 which is not feasible at the moment," Mito argues.
"I have a transformation mask made from the national hero of Wano Ryuma, which give us access to his body, skills, memories, and knowledge of Wano in great detail, I have magic that can imprint knowledge on others especially if they are a blank slate, and I see no reason I can't infiltrate Germa 66 for the information or resources we need even if it comes down to a full-on confrontation with Germa 66 they will simply be destroyed by me even on my own," Link says calmly to Mito.
"So you have the samurai Ryuma as a mask?" Link nodded, "I guess with him as the base genetic material creating soldiers based off him could make it worth it, but we should not do cloning instead genetic reconstruction using Ryuma as a blueprint will give you what you need in an army," Mito suggest.
"So like how you created the hybrids, you want to take the physical conditioning of a master samurai to give it to volunteers then put them through a process of retraining the skills that the body should know due to muscle memory, and if I allowed them to wear the mask they would literally be learning by doing," Link asked her.
"It is more complicated than that, but that is the gist of it, plus if we used you as the blueprint for the army things would go much easier," Mito replied.
"I told you once before Mito that I will never allow a clone of me to exist, I have bad experiences with people that share my face, using the Zora, Goron, and Watarara DNA is one thing my Hylian DNA is off the table." Link said in a cold voice.
"Okay, I won't bring it up again," Mito said.
"Okay, we will do it your way, now I think we have an opportunity with the corpse of Oars, I would like at least two or three clones of Oars each individually modified by the DNA I gave you from the three races," Link said shocking Mito.
"Didn't we just agree to not use cloning, now you want a gigantic version of a Watarara, a Zora, and a Goron," Mito says sounding annoyed.
"We agreed cloning was unnecessary for building a reliable fighting force, the modified Oars clones are tactical weapons for pure destruction nothing more, nothing less, I speak from personal experience tactical weapons used correctly can decide any war, so get it done," Link says with a hard edge to his voice.
"Okay, then I guess I can have them ready in the time frame you gave me, so any other business?" Mito said.
"I was planning on mastering the blade I earned from Ryuma and helping Titan learn to master his devil fruit abilities, and maybe expand our number of allies," Link said.
"Who are you thinking about?" Mito asked.
"Alabasta the king there seems to be in dire straits, his people are dying due to the abnormal weather patterns, rural villages are dying out completely from lack of water and support from the crown, and with the people of the capital city still living comfortably, it gives the image that the king, nobles, and rich people are keeping all the resources to themselves letting the lower class citizens suffer if this continues for a few more years his own people will overthrow him without the need of someone telling them to," Link said.
"So, how will you help him fix his country?" Mito inquiries.
"It is quite simple really, his country needs their normal weather patterns restored, I can manipulate the weather at will so that solves that easily, then all that I need to do is expose Crocodile's actions, take him down by request of the king making it so it was the king hiring a mercenary to take down a warlord not an individual person taking action against a warlord of the world government," Link explained.
"You will be seen as a hero to his citizens, the king will be in your debt, and you could create a public headquarters for the company in Alabasta giving our people some breathing room from the interested parties that keep trying to find our main headquarters, the benefits certainly make it worth it, and it should be a simple walk in the park for you, for all his strength Crocodile is no match for you," Mito said happily with an easy plan, not an overly complicated one.
"You don't have to look so happy, the insane plans are always the fun ones," Link said with a grin on his face.
"I like to keep insanity in an environment that I can control," Mito retorts.
"So have you thought about eating that fruit?" Link asked.
"It is very tempting, but I don't think I will anything soon," Mito replied.
"Well, let me know when you decide, I am going to do some work before I decide to leave for Alabasta," Link said as he left the room.
(Training grounds)
Link looks at the men and women hard at work training themselves so that they can defend themselves and never be a victim again, he was the one that set up their training regimes so they are all making great progress, more than what would be natural if not for the use of potions, Link has been racking his brain to create a safe but effective method to make them unlock the ability to use Haki, technically everyone should potentially be able to use it but only a small number of people ever do learn how to, thought the warriors of Amazon Lilly all can use haki that means it is definitely possible to teach a large number of people to use haki you just need a proper method.
"What is on your mind boss?" Titan asked, he had seen Link looking at the men training with a thoughtful look on his face so he chose to approach him.
"Just an issue that has been nagging me for a while, Titan how did you awaken your haki?" Link asked.
"They put a few of us against a few wild beasts that could use haki, it was either awaken haki or die and here I am that's all there is to it," Titan says simply.
"My teacher ran me through with his sword missing my heart by inches," Link said.
"Well that's one way to do it," Titan says sounding impressed by the method.
"I just need a way that would work for them without giving to the extremes we did," Link ponders.
"Hey, don't you have that mask with all of the memories of the samurai Ryuma, maybe he knows of a method that would work," Titan suggests.
"Ugh, I feel like an idiot for not thinking of that sooner, I should give you a raise Titan," Link laments on his oversight.
"You don't pay me," Titan says dryly.
"How about a million a month, with medical insurance," Link offers.
"Make it two million a month, plus add an alcohol budget," Titan counters.
"Done," Link agrees then shakes his hand.
"Now I am going to enjoy the benefits of my employment, see you later boss," Titan says then starts walking off.
"Now, I have a samurai's memories to sort through, better return to my place so I have privacy," Link says leaving the training grounds and heading to his private quarters.
Link makes it home, then he sits cross-legged on his lavish carpet, then he pulls out Ryuma's mask paused for a moment then puts it on, there is a bright flash that shrouds the room.
'Let's do this,' Link thought-feeling Ryuma's mask transforming him.