Three days ter.

  In the calm and windless Calm Belt, a tall figure desded from the sky, his wings carrying him gently down to an uninhabited isnd.

  "El, where are we?"

  Perched on El’s shoulder, Gloriosa g tightly to him. Her eyes sparkled with curiosity as she surveyed their surroundings. She noticed the scattered remnants of wild animal skeletons and signs that someone had once lived there.

  "I drifted here when I was three," El said, his voice filled with nostalgia as he looked over the barren isnd, "and I stayed until I was eight. After that, I left the Calm Belt."

  This was his first time returning sihose early years. Though he had long since fotten the isnd’s exact location, he had rediscovered it by ce while searg for Amazon Lily in the Calm Belt to return Gloriosa home.

  "I see..." Gloriosa houghtfully, a tender look in her eyes as she gazed at El. She couldn’t imagine how a three-year-old child could have survived in such a pce; it seemed miraculous.

  "El, we stay here for a few days?" she asked, holding his neck more tightly. Her voice was filled with transparent affe and infatuation. "I don’t want to leave you!"

  "Silly, I’m not going to leave after bringing you back," El reassured her, l both her and the giant sword on his back. "Besides, you always take a break from your duties and e see me in the New World."

  He activated Life Return, causing his muscles and boo tract, redug his t frame to a height of just over three meters. With a gentle smile, he touched Gloriosa’s face. "There’s no rule saying the Empress of Amazon Lily ’t take a little vacatiht?"

  "Mm!" Gloriosa nodded eagerly, her eyes brimming with joy. "I’ll listen to you!"

  For her, falling in love felt like a sudden storm in the Grand Line—uable and overwhelming. Whether it was love at first sight or an ear desire to repay his kindness, her upbringing in the warrior culture of Amazon Lily had taught her to love and hate without hesitation. And now she knew her heart truly beloo this man. The thought of El leaving and never seeing him agaied an ag longing inside her chest. She was certain this was what it meant to truly fall for someone.

  Her predecessor, the former Empress of Amazon Lily, had once warned her about the mysterious "love siess" that pgued the Empresses. It was caused by falling for a man they could not be with, a longing so inte could weaken aually kill them. She had been warned o fall in love with a man.

  Yet, when Gloriosa—trapped and hopeless—had been rescued by El, who desded like a hero to save her, she couldn’t help but surrender her heart pletely. She had even offered herself to him without hesitation.

  "Since you want to stay here for a few days, we’ll dey our return to Amazon Lily," El said, smilily. "Besides, it’ll take some time to pinpoint its exact location."

  "Really?" Gloriosa’s eyes lit up with excitement. She threw herself into El’s arms, her joy overflowing. "That’s wonderful!"

  This was the pce where the man she adored had once lived. She was eager to learhing about him and his past.

  "Oh, by the way, I have a gift for you," El said, smiling at the beautiful, gy Gloriosa. As she looked at him in surprise and anticipation, he produced a mirror.

  Fag the mirror, El called out, “Barry, yht the item, right?”

  “Of course, El-sama!” a voice responded from within the mirror.

  From the mirror’s surface emerged a mysterious treasure chest, causing Gloriosa’s eyes to widen in astonishment. “What is this?”

  “o be surprised. This is the ability of the Mirror-Mirror Fruit. I had someone bring the item from the Mirror World,” El expined briefly.

  Although he could use the Mirror World to locate Amazon Lily, it was uain how long that would take. His incredible flying speed made it more practical to search the nearby seas directly.

  El hahe treasure chest to Gloriosa. When she ope, she found a peculiar, entirely green fruit is strange shape and magical allure made her gasp. “Is this… a legendary Devil Fruit?”

  She had never seen a Devil Fruit before but had heard many tales of these mysterious treasures of the sea.

  “Your potential is han Sengoku’s,” El said with a gentle smile, caressing Gloriosa’s beautiful face. “He possesses queror’s Haki, and so do you. The only reasoshines you is because he ate the Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Model: Buddha, which grants him immerength.”

  “For the Kuja Pirates, all of whom use Haki, the foes you’ve faced in the first half of the Grand Line—aside from the Navy—have been too weak. Because of this smooth journey, you’ve cked the challenges necessary to fully develop your potential.”

  Gloriosa, one of the rare Kuja Empresses born with queror’s Haki, had always been a promising leader. At just sixteen, she had assumed the mantle of Kuja Empress during a time of crisis. In an era when a bounty exceeding 100 million berries was remarkable, her bounty had already surpassed 200 million. This reflected her extraordinary talent and potential.

  “What kind of ability is this?” Gloriosa asked, examining the strange fruit with curiosity.

  “It’s the Woods-Woods Fruit, a Logia-type Devil Fruit,” El expined. “By eating it, you’ll gain the power of nature. You’ll be able to manipute pnts, create various flora, and even transform your own body into vegetation. You draw sustenance by abs nutrients and moisture from your surroundings through vines.”

  “And most importantly, it will grant you the ability to fly by creating massive flowers, enabling you to cross vast os. With this power, you journey directly to the New World and find me whenever you want.”

  “A power that lets me fly long distances?” Gloriosa’s face lit up with joy. Uanding how valuable this gift was, she initially felt hesitant to accept it. But the thought of being able to fly straight to the New World to see El banished any lingering doubts.

  Her heart overflowing with affe, the Kuja Empress threw her arms around El and kissed him fiercely. “Thank you, El!”

  “Why say something so silly?” El chuckled, gently ping her cheek. “There’s no need fratitude between us.”

  “But if you want to fly to Totto Land in the New World on your own, you’ll o learn some navigation skills first,” he added, amused. “Otherwise, running into a massive storm without knowing how to avoid it could be a real problem.”

  inally, El had inteo reserve the Woods-Woods Fruit fiant or future children of a giant bloodlio oversee Totto Land’s vast pntations and eic crops. However, a few months prior, Ryan and his team had discovered another Devil Fruit: the Grow-Grow Fruit, a Paramecia-type. El chose a heavily traumatized giant sve—an individual stripped of identity by the Celestial Dragons—to i that fruit and mahe pntations, ensuring the Hell Trading pany’s stable trade of food and medial supplies.

  With the Grow-Grow Fruit fulfilling that role, he decided to give the Woods-Woods Fruit to Gloriosa instead.

  This gift, bined with her ialent, El’s guidance, and the occasional excursions to the New World to face strong oppos, promised Gloriosa a future of limitless potential.

  Bleam