Upon entering the shop, Linda examined the various things inside. There were plenty of spooky costumes, some perfumes that smelled like dead corpses and there were even a couple of armors, presumably fake.

Overall, it looked like your normal and boring shop that sold dumb little gimmicks. However, Linda was not so easy to fool.

"You have 5 seconds to come out before I erase this store from the face of this planet." She said in a relaxed tone as she gathered energy in her hand. After her barrage of the island, she had been quite drained, but after eating up the corpses near the beach, she had replenished her energy. She had also found out a useful property of Haki, but she wasn't bothered with it for now.

"... 5... 4... 3... 2... 1..." She slowly counted down, and right before she hit 0, an extremely skinny man with an even skinnier face jumbled out from a closet at the edge of the store.

The man was extremely pale and malnourished. He was trembling so heavily it looked like he was having a seizure. Linda sized up this skeleton of a man, judging him as either the owner of the store or one of the things they sold.

 "W-who are you? Wh-why are you here?" The man asked as he edges back from Linda until he had his back against a wall.

Linda narrowed her eyes and dashed towards the man extremely quickly, her fist raised and aiming at the man's face. The man's eyes widened as she approached and he threw himself at the side. 

When her hand hit the wall, it made a loud exploding sound and that part of the wall was completely pulverized. Thankfully, the store didn't collapse.

"Yes... Now I know why I felt something strange in this building..." Linda smiled from ear to ear as she grabbed the man's collar and dragged him to his feet.

The man had fainted, so Linda shook him a bit and slapped him twice, forcing him awake.

"Wake up. I know you're not just a random dude. Not even the captain of the ship I captured, who is supposedly as strong as 10 men, could see my punch, much less dodge. Who are you?" Linda questioned.

"I-I'm just a store owner! I know nothing!" The man cried, begging to be let go. Linda slapped him again, leaving on his cheek an angry red mark. 

"I'll only ask one more time, who are you?" Linda asked again.

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This time, the man held nothing back. Under the promise that Linda would release him and let him live, he was like a fountain of information.

Apparently, this guy had been a very famous pirate from the grand line who had the misfortune of being cursed. He told Linda of many, many wonderful things.

"So... You're saying that the Pirate King was only executed 15 years ago?" Linda questioned. The man nodded and took a breath of relief when Linda walked away from him, pondering something.

'I'm not an expert on this world, but it does seem like this might not be the best time to make an appearance. I'm sorry, Ren, but I feel that your ambition will have to wait.' Linda sighed. Her gut was shouting at her that right now was not the time to start making trouble.

She knew basically nothing, and although she was far more powerful than anyone she had ever met, she didn't dare think she could match up to the marines, who in this time of relative peace, appeared to be extremely powerful and influential.

She needed more opportunities to grow. She had almost reached the limit that regular training could bring her, and she was somewhat at a loss. The only way she could see herself becoming powerful enough to achieve her desires was one built upon millions of corpses, all of them inside her.

She felt she should feel disgusted by the idea, but she wasn't. This scared her a bit, but there was nothing she could do. She didn't have much choice, and to be honest, perhaps attacking an island like this and wiping it out wasn't the best idea.

Nonetheless, she needed money, information and fame. Furthermore, the corpses she had absorbed before had provided a nice boost to her energy reserves, so it wasn't a complete failure.

When she turned around, the skinny man had run off. That pissed her off a bit, as she had been occupied with her thoughts and didn't pay attention to where he was. However, she took no action to pursue him.

For the next three days, she ravaged the island like a passing tornado, destroying resistance after resistance. It seemed as though no help was coming on the island, hence, every day she would send out her men to scout for places where people had gathered and to collect anything of worth. 

At the end of the third day, she had gathered around 10.000.000Beli [https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/onepiece/images/d/de/Beli.png/revision/latest?cb=20141206091723] (beri symbol) in loot and hard cash. Finally, in the morning of the fourth day, their ship set sail, filled to the brim with treasures and a battle-hardened crew who had fought against an entire island. Only 6 people had died during the assault on the island, so now the ship carried 18 people, not including Linda.

Within her cabin, Linda studied her own powers. She could feel an almost infinite potential, body-shifting, godly regeneration, teleportation... She could feel that she had the potential for almost anything, but as of now, she only had her massive strength and artillery capabilities, paired with abnormal regeneration and a natural shield. 

As she left the cabin and all her men looked at her, she put a black mask on her face, leaving only her eyes exposed. The mask had the eyes outlined in red, making her look extremely fierce.

"Men, I announce the birth of the Demon Pirates. Raise the sails, for our destination, lies ahead, Maionese Island...