On January 2, Sea Circle Calendar 1518.
Yesterday were Karl and Carina's birthdays.
Starting today, the boy and girl are sixteen.
Since Karl truly reached the summit and became one of the world's highest peaks—the fifth Emperor of the Sea—more than a month has slipped by without us noticing.
For more than a month, Kaido hasn't come to make trouble for Karl.
Whether it's because the Goro Goro no Mi plus the Float-Float Fruit let Gran Tesoro fly so his rage would be useless, or because of Yamato...
In short, Kaido tacitly accepted defeat and, with the prestige of the "Strongest Creature," helped crown Karl's ascent.
Over that month, besides adding the title of Emperor of the Sea—which made countless tycoons and nobles even more willing to play in Gran Tesoro—Karl's cooperation with Donquixote Doflamingo also became far closer.
To curry favor with Karl, Doflamingo practically took over all the manpower and part of the materials; Karl's crew only needed to do a little and could sit back and collect money.
Knowing why Doflamingo does this—to make Karl dependent on his resources—Karl was happy to oblige.
He only needs to extend a hand at Doflamingo's critical moments, pull him up in time, and he gains the fruits of years of network and logistics—why not?
Once their relationship improves a bit more, Karl won't hesitate to borrow Viola.
With the Glare-Glare Fruit and the Lucky-Lucky Fruit, Karl will use them as tools to search for the legendary Lantern Fish.
So Karl didn't worry about anything else and handed all of Gran Tesoro's affairs over entirely to Robin, Carina, Nami, Nojiko, and Baccarat.
He himself stayed home to look after Tama, trained with Yamato at home, and every day pushed the homebody Perona through physical conditioning.
Right now, Perona is the strongest in the crew beneath the three pillars of Karl, Blue-Eyes White Dragon, and Yamato.
Although before this she was already third after Karl and the Blue-Eyes White Dragon,
without using her Devil Fruit, she might not have beaten Robin.
Now, the others are no match for her.
Shut-ins have shut-in advantages.
Perona isn't good at handling affairs, so she trains several times longer than Carina and the others.
Add Karl's "electric-current method" at home to accelerate how fast supplements are used, and Perona's one day of training equals several days of Carina and the others' work.
At this rate, Karl thinks Perona may be the first among the girls to master Rokushiki.
Realizing that Gran Tesoro's workload might slow the girls' growth,
after his birthday Karl decided that in a few days he would take Yamato to sea on an adventure.
Not just Yamato—Carina and the others too.
Karl decided to pick two or three of the girls to go with him, and on the voyage they would undergo hell training from him and Yamato.
The rest would stay in Gran Tesoro to train while handling daily affairs.
After discussing it, Karl decided to take Yamato, Tama, Carina, and Perona to sea.
Robin, Nami, Baccarat, and Nojiko would stay in Gran Tesoro to manage things.
In addition, for the girls' safety, Karl left the Blue-Eyes White Dragon behind.
And so...
A few days later, at the Golden City's private port, the large three-masted ship that had been berthed for months quietly departed Gran Tesoro.
Since Nami wasn't coming along, the ship could only ride the winds, with Carina serving as navigator.
To let Yamato explore to her heart's content, Karl's crew had no set destination; they treated Gran Tesoro as the starting point and a certain "origin island" in the New World as the terminus—then from the terminus they'd return to the start.
In short, Karl's crew planned to first loop the New World, then rotate people and head to the first half of the Grand Line.
...
After entering the New World, Karl's crew hadn't actually toured the "strongest sea."
They had flown over the Red Line to a certain origin island, bought Eternal Poses for Gran Tesoro and the Kingdom of Dressrosa, swiftly took down Gild Tesoro, and occupied the world's greatest entertainment city.
Then came the Buster Call, and the Golden City reopened.
At last year's end Karl went to Wano and Onigashima,
while Carina and the other girls, aside from that origin island, hadn't gone anywhere else.
So Karl decided that while broadening Yamato's horizons, Carina and the girls would also get to relax.
Time flew; in a blink, months passed.
June, Sea Circle Calendar 1518.
Sailing their large three-masted ship, Karl's crew made landfall on island after island.
There were uninhabited isles with no people, small poor backward islands, mid-sized islands ruled by pirates and the underworld, and even large islands that were World Government member nations.
Besides ordinary islands, they went to dangerous islands with overwhelming magnetic fields and permanent climates.
For example, an island of endless snow and ice; and a sky-island always wreathed in thunderclouds—practically a holy land for Karl, Raijin Island; and so on...
On her first voyage, every time Yamato landed on one of these wondrous islands she'd light up like Kozuki Oden just after he first went to sea, dashing about and causing Karl's crew no small amount of trouble.
But before Karl and Yamato's absolute power, those troubles were easily resolved.
And just like Kozuki Oden...
Every island Yamato visited, she recorded the exploration in her journal.
The "Yamato Voyage Log" was being born.
On the road of adventure, Karl and Yamato didn't forget to train Carina and Perona.
Tama was exempt because of her age, but Carina and Perona spent half a year regretting following Karl and Yamato to sea countless times.
The two monsters simply didn't treat them like ordinary people.
Because Karl's electric-current method prevents hidden injuries, for the first time he steeled himself and put them through hellish training.
Karl took charge of willpower, conditioning, and Rokushiki.
Yamato took charge of Haki.
Under the inhuman regimen, aside from one or two days to catch their breath when landing on a new island, Carina and Perona spent all remaining time—training, training, and more training.
They begged Karl for mercy more than once, only to be ignored.
Because Karl's sacrifices were huge too.
In half a year, he almost became an ascetic heartthrob—could've shaved his head and become a monk.
To make them capable before the main story begins,
Karl refused who knows how many times the two girls' coaxing and little requests over these six months.
"I've paid so much already—can't you show a little more promise?!"
Karl wore a "hate-iron-for-not-becoming-steel" look on his face, while inside he was in tears.
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