After leaving Water 7, Link's group once again began a long voyage at sea.
A long voyage at sea is dull and boring.
Especially when it's one person on one ship, there's a sense of loneliness, of being abandoned by the world.
Because of this, when Link was a lone traveler, he actually preferred not to make a large ship, instead creating a small boat to drift with the wind.
After the four girls joined him, Link never felt bored again.
The same was true for the girls.
With Link's abilities, they were never short on entertainment.
When they were bored, they would either team up for volleyball, pull Link in for a game of mahjong or stud poker, or have a swimming competition.
At their most extravagant, Link even created a maze, and the five of them played hide-and-seek inside.
After they tired of playing, they would each go about their own business.
Robin and Carina liked to read, Nami liked to draw, and Vivi liked to cook.
Or rather, more than cooking itself, she liked to see the look of enjoyment on Link's face when he ate her delicious food.
Whenever Link praised her, Vivi would feel extremely satisfied.
At the same time, Link's intimacy with her grew deeper and more and more bold.
"Ahem..."
One day, while the other three girls were busy with their own tasks, a coughing sound suddenly came from the kitchen.
Vivi's voice, helpless yet fond, followed immediately after: "Satisfied now? Hurry up and get out. If Carina and Nami come in later and see, I'll be too embarrassed to face them."
"You've worked hard, Vivi... Mwah!"
After planting a firm kiss on Vivi's cheek, Link emerged from the kitchen, fully satisfied.
He took a young coconut from the refrigerator, transforming into "Sage Link," ready to go out to feel the sea breeze and commune with nature.
However, just as he stepped out of the cabin, Link saw the sky and sea change color.
The sky, which had been clear with the sun high overhead and not a cloud in sight, suddenly turned from day to night.
This kind of sudden climate change was not uncommon on the Grand Line.
But unlike a normal change from sunny to overcast, these dark clouds weren't rain clouds... they were a dense fog!
Almost at the same moment night fell, a thick fog appeared around the sailboat.
From a bird's-eye view, one would see that Link's group hadn't encountered a sudden climate change, but had entered a shockingly vast area of dense fog.
"What's going on? The sky suddenly went dark?"
"Is it going to rain?"
"That can't be right! I've had the window open this whole time, and the sea breeze hasn't changed. It should be a clear day."
Carina and the other girls, having also noticed the change in the sky, came out from the drawing room and the study inside the cabin.
Even Vivi trotted out, still wearing her apron.
Before Link could speak, Robin, as if she already knew, said with a smile, "This probably isn't the weather. We've entered the Florian Triangle."
"The Florian Triangle?"
Carina and Nami were momentarily stunned. Then, Carina's eyes lit up in realization. "Oh, that's right. That sea is indeed a required passage on this route."
Nami shivered. "The Florian Triangle... just from the name, it sounds like a bad place."
Carina nodded in agreement and, with a mischievous grin, tried to scare her. "It is! They say hundreds of ships go missing here every year. It's a famous sea for ghost ships. Maybe we'll even see ghosts and living skeletons."
Hearing this, Nami's face instantly turned pale.
Link almost couldn't resist giving her a thumbs-up. Carina had hit the nail on the head.
"Alright, stop scaring Nami," Link said, comforting her with a smile. "Those missing ships were actually robbed. This is the territory of a certain government-sanctioned pirate."
"A government-sanctioned pirate?"
The girls were momentarily stunned. They were all too familiar with that term.
Carina quickly asked, "Link, which of the Seven Warlords' territory is this?"
Link didn't keep them in suspense. "'Master of Shadows' Gecko Moria."
"So it's him," Carina said, pinching her chin. "If I remember correctly, this Warlord, like Crocodile, was one of the original Seven Warlords."
"Mhm," Robin nodded, providing more information. "He was one of the rising stars when the Great Pirate Era began, one of the most dazzling rookies. Years ago, he was a great pirate with a bounty of 320 million Belly."
"Hiss..."
Carina and Nami gasped, and Nami's voice trembled. "Three... three hundred and twenty million. Doesn't that mean he's stronger than Crocodile?"
"Don't use bounties to measure a person's strength," Link said with a dismissive smile. "Crocodile wasn't weak at all; he was just unlucky enough to run into me! As for Gecko Moria, he may have been strong once, but now he's the weakest of the Seven Warlords."
Seeing Link speak of the Warlords with such disregard, the fear on Nami's face instantly vanished.
Then, as if on cue, the four girls all recalled the sight of Link's power, which was like a force of nature, and their hearts were instantly filled with a sense of security.
Although the enemy was strong and had a notorious reputation, they didn't need to be afraid. Because they had Link!
Then, as if a lightbulb went off, Carina suddenly asked, "Link, you know so much about this place and Gecko Moria... you used the Eternal Pose to get to Water 7 specifically for this, didn't you?"
Link couldn't help but give her a thumbs-up, praising her sincerely. "As expected of you, Carina!"
Just as Carina had said.
Link had deliberately used the Eternal Pose to go to Water 7. Besides avoiding a potential encounter with Aokiji on one of the islands, his main purpose was to get to the Florian Triangle as quickly as possible.
The Florian Triangle, and Gecko Moria, were both an important part of Link's plan.