Not long after—

  In Ringo, Northern Wano try.

  High above a barren wastend, the massive isnd-cloud Homie hovered in the sky.

  El had deed Linlin’s request to apany him, instrug her to remain aboard Atntis to protect the pregnant Gerd. Redug his body to a pact three meters using Life Return, he spread his wings and soared downward.

  Relying on the memories of the captured samurai, El already khe location of the person he sought: the renowned Wano swordsmith, Shimotsuki Kozaburo.

  Before a dipidated swordsmith's fe stood a young woman dressed in a vish kimono, her lo-bck hair framing her beautiful face. She bowed deeply before a man in his te twenties, his hair tied in a high ponytail, a smoking pipe held between his lips.

  "Kozaburo, I know you’re secretly pnning to leave Wano, but don’t worry—I won’t tell my father... Please, take me with you!"

  "Whoa, whoa, Furiko-sama," Kozaburo said, looking at the dy with an exasperated smile. "You’re the eldest daughter of the main Shimotsuki family, heir to’s daimyo, Shimotsuki Taro-sama. Your status is far too noble for me to accept such a request."

  The young swordsmith, already reized as one of Wano’s fi due to his exceptional talent in crafting bdes, spoke early:

  "Besides, hasn’t your father arranged a perfectly suitable marriage for you? I recall it’s with the heir of the Kozuki family, isn’t it? Why leave sufort to join us in what is bound to be a perilous adventure?"

  He took a drag from his pipe aured at her.

  "The seas beyond Wano are dangerous. One wrong step, and you could lose your life—or end up feeding the o itself."

  For days, Kozaburo and a group of like-minded samurai had beely strug a sturdy ship capable of long voyages to escape Wano’s stifling borders.

  To his dismay, the Shimotsuki family’s young dy had discovered their pn and insisted on joining them, much to his frustration.

  "You already know my dream is to bee a powerful samurai," Furiko said passionately, clutg a katana tightly. "But my father has never allowed me to practice swordsmanship. If not for sneaking lessons with you, Kozaburo, I wouldn’t even know the basics!"

  Her eyes burned with resolve as she tinued:

  "Even if I marry the Kozuki heir, what then? This try is too closed, too oppressive... Why must women from noble families be fio their homes, raising children and epping into the world beyond?"

  L her head, she bowed deeply again.

  "I don’t want to live a predictable life, where everything is decided before it even begins. I want to see the outside world. Please, Kozaburo, take me with you!"

  Kozaburo froze, her words striking a chord in him.

  He, too, yearned for freedom, uo bear the straints of Wano’s endless rules and s. It was this very desire that fueled his decision to leave.

  Seeing the siy in her plea, he softened and was about to agree—

  Suddenly, out of the er of his eye, he spotted something unusual approag in the sky.

  His face darkened, and he shot to his feet, pipe ched tightly.

  "What the...?"

  "Hmm?"

  Furiko, startled by Kozaburo’s sudden shift, looked in the same dire.

  Her delicate features froze in shock, her mouth gaping open as she stammered, "Someone’s flying? Could it be... the legendary tengu?"

  "Huh? What is that...?"

  As they watched, a tall figure appeared in the sky, approag at an astonishing speed.

  This individual had a pair of bck wings—not the decorative kind associated with tengu folklore in Wano, but real, funal wings enabling genuine flight.

  "Whoosh!"

  With a gust of wind, El nded directly in front of the fe.

  Even after using Life Return to reduce his body size to three meters, his t presence, bined with his bck wings and the mysterious fmes dang behind his head, exuded an oppressive aura.

  Both Shimotsuki Kozaburo and Shimotsuki Furiko felt an immense pressure radiating from him.

  "Who are you?" Kozaburo asked, gripping the white katana Wado Ichimonji as he watched El warily. Beads of speared on his forehead as he felt the sheer power emanating from this man—an overwhelming presence akin to a primordial beast that made his instincts scream in fear.

  "A man who fly? Is he a sorcerer?" Furiko asked, visibly shaken.

  "A sorcerer? Oh, you mean Devil Fruit users—your Wano term for them, right?" El raised an eyebrow and smiled at Furiko. "Well, I guess you could say that, but my wings are natural."

  "Natural?" Furiko's beautiful face filled with astonishment, finding it hard to believe. How could anyone be born with wings?

  "o be armed; I mean no harm," El assured Kozaburo.

  He introduced himself: "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Kukulkan El, and I’ve e from the outside world."

  "Kukulkan El?" Kozaburo was stunned, uo suppress his curiosity. "What brings you here?"

  "Wait, you’re from the outside world?"

  Before El could respond, Furiko’s eyes lit up. Believing his cim and sensing no ill i, she hurried to his side, grabbing his coat. Her wide, eager eyes sparkled with curiosity as she asked, "What's the outside world like? Tell me!"

  "The outside world?" El raised an eyebrow and looked at her with amusement. Crossing his arms and stroking his , he began to describe:

  "Outside, there’s a pce 10,000 meters beh the sea called Fish-Man Isnd. There are also isnds in the sky 10,000 meters high. Then there’s the Sabaody Archipego, formed by the roots of the rgest Yarukiman mangrove trees protruding above the water, stantly produg bubbles.

  "Some towns have waterways as their primary means of transportation, requiring boats or sea beast mounts for travel.

  "The world is full of fasating races beyond your kind."

  He paused, then tinued: "There are fish-men with scales, fins, and webbed hands, resembling humans in shape but with aquatic traits, and merfolk with human upper bodies and fish tails. There are Loribe members with legs twice as long as their torsos, and Longarm Tribe members with three-segmented arms.

  "Snakeribe members have long, flexible necks that stretch like snakes, and dwarves who are as small as a human’s palm. Of course, there are giants, standing over ten or twenty meters tall. Then there are rare species like mine, born with wings."

  "Wow! Really?"

  "Unbelievable!"

  Both Kozaburo and Furiko were stunned, overwhelmed by the fantastical wonders of the outside world—the exotids and the diverse races El described.

  "As for why I’m here..." El smiled warmly. But in the blink of an eye, his t figure appeared behind Kozaburo.

  "So fast—!"

  Kozaburo froze. Despite his skill, he couldn’t rea time. His right hand gripped Wado Ichimonji, muscles tense as he prepared to draw. But something about El’s aura stopped him cold—it was as if moving even slightly would seal his fate.

  A cold sweat broke out on his forehead, and his back was soaked.

  "Kozaburo!" Furiko cried out in arm. She uhed her katana and faced El, her expression a mix of fear aermination. "What are you doing? Let him go!"

  "Rex," El said calmly, retrag his hand from Kozaburo’s head. "I told you—I mean no harm."

  Using his advanced Observation Haki, El had already gleaned everything from Kozaburo’s memories. He now uood the swordsmith’s exceptional crafting teiques and the swordsmanship passed down through the Shimotsuki .

  Stepping back, he casually sat on a nearby rock, his demeanor rexed.

  Looking at the air, he chuckled softly. "If I wao harm you, do you think you’d stand a ce?

  "I’m here for one reason: to learn from Shimotsuki Kozaburo, one of Wano’s renowned swordsmiths.

  "Because," he added with a smile, "besides being a swordsman myself, I am also a swordsmith."

  "Huh?!"

  Bleam