Atntis—

  Noon.

  The sun bzed overhead.

  After finishing the m training and a hearty lunch, Lillian—who served as both lookout and navigator—noticed a ge in the weather ahead. She immediately called out to the isnd-cloud Homie, Atntis, “There’s a big storm ing up ahead. We o steer clear…”

  She pulled out a Vivre Card, its slight movement to judge their dire. “Head toward three o’clock, bypass the storm, and we tinue on to Drum Kingdom!”

  “Yes, Lillian-sama!” Atntis responded in a deep, booming void quickly adjusted its course, steering around the approag storm. High above, various flying Homies cirg the sky were also called ba.

  Just two minutes after they had bypassed the area, the previously sunurned dark and ominous.

  ‘Whooooosh—’ The wind howled, lightning fshed, thunder roared, and rain poured down in torrents.

  Ued by the storm, Atntis tis jouroward Drum Kingdom, guided by Lillian. As they traveled, the air gradually grew colder, indig they were nearing the winter isnd climate.

  “El, what are we heading to Drum Kingdom for?”

  Tsuru, her hair tied in a ponytail and looking poised and curious, approached and asked, “I’ve heard it’s a snowy isnd with exceptional doctors, known as a leading nation in medie.”

  Sihe ret days of bonding and teamwork—particurly after the fusion training with Lily, El, Lillian, and others—everyone had grown closer. With El’s approval, Tsuru had started addressing him by his her than “Captain.”

  "13,355… 13,356… 13,357…"

  Standing at the edge of the coast, fag the ining wind, El tinued his afternoon workout, swinging his dragon hammer with rhythmic precision. He barely looked up as he answered, “Two reasons…”

  “First, I’ve heard of a famous doctor there named Dr. Kureha, known as the ‘Witch’ with exceptional skills and loy teiques. I want to see if she’d sider joining us… If she refuses, then at the very least, she must have collected notes on a wide range of medical cases and treatments over her many years in practief could make good use of those!”

  “I’d also like to ask for her help in developing a special medie with hat could alter the transformation wavelength for Zoan Devil Fruit users.”

  “And the sed reason,” he tinued, “is that Sally’s intelligework across the Grand Lily uncovered some information. It seems that a few years ago, someone in Drum Kingdom happened upon a Devil Fruit, which was then taken by the royal family.”

  “If that Devil Fruit is still around and hasn’t beeen, we’ll be taking it.”

  Even if Sally hadn’t uncovered the intel on Drum Kingdom, he had po visit. But he hadn’t expected her work to grow so quickly that it now reached even Drum Kingdom.

  He wondered if the Devil Fruit in the royal family’s possession might be the Paramecia-type Munch-Munch Fruit he was looking for.

  “Is that so?”

  Tsuru was surprised. She knew El had ambitious pns and was always gathering various Devil Fruits to build up his crew’s strength.

  When they returo the New World, he would surely recruit more crew members and expand the Fallen Angel Pirates.

  “For you to be so ied, Dr. Kureha’s medical skills must be impressive!”

  Though she sometimes cshed with Nef and didn’t always get along with her, Tsuru respected Nef’s medical expertise. She had seen firsthand how Nef had kept three critically injured Gover anders alive with ease.

  While Nef hadn’t fully healed them, that was more out of choice than y.

  El’s remarks clearly implied that Dr. Kureha’s skills might surpass even Nef’s.

  "El-sama, we’ve arrived… up ahead is Drum Kingdom!"

  At that moment, Lillian turo El and asked, “Should we head down directly?”

  Atntis was floatihousaers in the air, without any cover from the White Sea or the White-White Sea.

  Anyone paying attention would notice that the massive cloud overhead looked a bit odd.

  “If you all want to go down, go ahead!”

  Seeing everyone eager to desd, El shrugged, uned about exposing their location.

  After all, the Wover was so far away that by the time they received word and made the journey here, the crew would likely have already left.

  Not to mention, at this point, El wasn’t particurly worried about being discovered.

  If they sent a small force, it would just be more targets; if they sent a rge one, he could always retreat.

  With that, El ched his fists, his gaze sharpening: “Life Return!”

  Bones cracked and muscles rippled throughout his body, even his wings quivering as he pressed his form down to about three meters.

  Though the fmes behind his head and his bck wings remairiking, his formidable presence was more tained, making him look less imposing and intimidating.

  “Hey, El Onii, I’m ing too!”

  Linlin strode over with a gri seveer figure scooping up the now “miniature” El and nuzzling him affeately, her eyes smiling.

  “I’m heading to the pace. Tag along if you want…” El rolled his eyes and replied, uned.

  Theuro Linlin, “By the way, how’s your progress with Life Return? I’ve spent a lot of time teag you, after all!”

  Thanks to the powers of the Pile-Pile Fruit and El’s dedicated guidance, Linlin, Lily, Gerd, and others had learhe basics of Life Return with remarkable speed, though each had mastered it t degrees.

  Gerd, in particur, had made great strides retly. With the ability to i her own soul into her body, she had achieved the most refined form of Life Return. Being a giant over teers tall, she could press her massive size to a fra of its inal height, even more dramatically than El himself.

  Linlin, though limited by her age and power, also had extraordinary talent, quickly mastering Life Return beyond the level of most.

  “Hehe, I press down to five meters, but reag the level you’ve achieved is still pretty challenging!” Linlin gave El a quick kiss and ughed.

  For her, this degree of Life Return was already suffit for battle, as sacrifig a bit of power in exge freater speed had both advantages and disadvantages.

  As a Mythical Zoan user with the Vampire form, her speed was already signifitly enhanced, giving her more options in bat depending on her oppo.

  Of course, her size could sometimes be inve, so she po keep w on refining her Life Return to achieve a more human-sized form whenever she wanted.

  “Hey, don’t leave me behind!”

  Gerd’s voice called from a distance as she leaped down from a high ptfracefully nding on bubbles that brought her swiftly to the group.

  But now she looked quite different from her usual giant appearance.

  Instead, Gerd stood at only three or four meters tall, just slightly taller than El.

  Her features were lively and radiant, her demeanor cheerful and eic as she embraced El with a warm smile.

  “Hehe, simply amazing…”

  Seeing Gerd’s form so simir to a human, albeit slightly rger, Tsuru, Nef, Lillian, and the others couldn’t help but be amazed, despite having seen her use Life Return to shrink her size before.

  With her skin and boy intensely pressed, Gerd’s already impressive giant defense was further strengthened. Although she wasn’t as iructible as El or Linlin, and didn’t match the durability of someone like Little Oars Jr., she was still nearly invulnerable to standard ons, an impressive feat in itself.

  While she sacrificed some raw power in her pressed ferd’s strength was still far above that of most giants, let alone humans.

  In particur, her reduced size granted her agility far beyond what she could achieve in her giant form. bined with her Soul-Soul Fruit powers, this greatly boosted her bat abilities.