Before long—responding to El’s summons—the massive fortress of Atntis appeared in the sky.

  Uhe astonished gazes of Shimotsuki Kouzaburou and Shimotsuki Furiko, it desded majestically.

  “Oh my goodness! What is that…?”

  Furiko gasped, her mouth agape as she stared in disbelief at the enormous floating fortress.

  “This is my ‘ship.’ You could also call it a ‘flying vessel.’”

  El smiled warmly as he expined.

  “El Onii—”

  Desding from the fortress, Linlin spread her devilish wings while maintaining her humanoid form.

  I days, through the rigorous use of Rumble Balls, she had refined various transformation states. Thanks to her exceptional talent—rivaling even El’s—Linlin had learo partially transform with great precision. For instance, she could sprout devilish wings or fangs while keeping the rest of her body humanoid.

  “She’s so tall—”

  Furiko stared bnkly at Linlin before exg in surprise. “Is she a Giant?”

  “No, Linlin is a mutated human, just rger than most.”

  El chuckled before Linlin herself grinned mischievously.

  “Mamamama, the real Giants are up there…”

  She poioward Atntis above them.

  At that moment, Gerd—with her enormous frame—desded alongside Streusen on Thundercloud Zeus.

  “Is that… a real Giant?”

  Furiko gasped, taking a sharp breath as she stared at Gerd’s t figure. The sheer size of the Giant woman, who easily stood over teers tall, was overwhelming.

  “Unbelievable…”

  Even Kouzaburou was stunned. Initially, he had thought Linlin’s size was already extraordinary, but seeing Gerd made him realize that Linlin wasn’t a Giant at all.

  “This is Shimotsuki Kouzaburou, a famed swordsmith of Wano, and Shimotsuki Furiko, the daughter of the Daimyo o,” El said, introdug the two.

  “Wano, huh? It’s my first time here.”

  Streusen looked around curiously, his gaze taking in the surroundings with intrigue. Although he had oraveled extensively, he had never dared to enter Wano before. The try’s natural barriers—dangerous currents, hidden reefs, and massive waterfalls—made the risk of shipwreck too high.

  “Mamamama, o meet you…”

  Linlin’s eyes sparkled as she examined Furiko, though her attention soon drifted to Furiko’s kimono, which she found fasating.

  “Is that Wano’s traditional clothing? It looks beautiful! I want to try it on!”

  “Linlin, at your size, you’d need something ade…”

  Gerd teased, ughing. “I’d like to try ooo!”

  “o meet you, I’m Shimotsuki Furiko,” the young woman replied politely, her gaze flittiween the “little Giant” Linlin and the “big Giant” Gerd. “If you’d like kimonos, I could ask a tailor to make them for you!”

  “Really? That’s wonderful!”

  Linlin’s eyes lit up with joy.

  Squatting down, Gerd gently picked Furiko up in her massive hands, her face beaming.

  “Thank you, Furiko! That’s so kind of you.”

  Held high in Gerd’s palms, Furiko wasn’t afraid. Instead, she gazed curiously at Gerd’s enormous but kind fad asked excitedly, “Could you tell me about the world outside Wano?”

  “Of course!”

  Gerd chuckled warmly, readily agreeing to her request.

  And so, the three women—Linlin, Gerd, and Furiko—quickly hit it off, bonding over their mutual curiosity and shared is.

  …

  Time passed. After some casual versation, Shimotsuki Kouzaburou and Furiko gradually lowered their guard.

  El turo Kouzaburou and stated directly, “If it’s ve, I’d like to borrow your fe to craft a on. The on I’m f may be quite rge, so I’ll o make some modifications to your workspace. Of course, I’ll pensate you handsomely for the invenience.”

  “That won’t be necessary, El-sama. You’re wele to use it as you wish.”

  Kouzaburou paused briefly before smiling. “I just finished f Enma for Shogun Kozuki Sukiyaki and crafted the Wado Ichimonji for myself. Those two projects exhausted my stock of rare materials, so I wasn’t pnning to reopen the fe anytime soon.”

  He added thoughtfully, “And since my rades and I pn to leave Wano soon, the fe may no longer serve much purpose.”

  “Then I’ll thank you in advance!”

  El nodded in appreciation before releasing his Life Return teique.

  As his bones and muscles shifted audibly, his body rapidly expanded.

  “Eh?! He’s growing bigger!”

  “El-sama, is this some kind of sorcery?”

  Kouzaburou and Furiko gawked in astonishment as El’s t frame rose to over ers tall, exuding an oppressive presence.

  “Don’t be armed. This is my true height,” El said, smiling. “Earlier, I simply pressed my body using a special teique.”

  At his and, the angelic army stationed on Atntis sprang into a. Uhe stunned gazes of Kouzaburou and Furiko, they began a rge-scale transformation of the fe and surrounding area. Thankfully, the site was remote enough to avoid drawing uention.

  Massive piles of rare and preinerals were transported in, f literal mountains. Even Ryan, the user of the Munch-Munch Fruit, refined vast quantities of minerals into rare alloys, shog Kouzaburou, who had never seen such abundant resources.

  g! g! Bang!

  Over the half-month, the fe was abuzz with activity. The intense heat of the furnad the rhythmic sound of hammering filled the air.

  El openly allowed Kouzaburou to observe the entire f process and even invited him to assist. He melted down his previous on, the Dragon Halberd, to incorporate its esseo the new bde. Occasionally, the two would discuss ways to refiheir teiques, each being greatly from the exge.

  “At st, it’s finished!”

  One day, a sharp and menag glint soared skyward. The atmosphere around the newly fed bde was eerie and chilling, exuding an aura so terrifying that it sent shivers down one’s spine. Even aboard Atntis, Linlin, Gerd, Streusen, and Furiko were shaken by the ominous energy emanating from the fe.

  “Boom! Boom!”

  Unnoticed, the sky had grown dark, and ominous thunderclouds loomed overhead. Fshes of lightning danced across the heavens as if heralding the birth of a fearsome on.

  “Huff... Huff...”

  El’s imposing figure emerged from the fe, radiating a terrifying presence. In his hands, he held a magnifit broadsword, its wide and intricate bde radiating a sinister aura.

  With his right hand, he ihe on with his potent Haki, causing the bde to emit waves of overwhelming energy.

  “Crackle—”

  The bde stood tall, resembling a massive lightning rod. It drew bolts of lightning from the stormy sky, oer another, each strike tempering the bde further.

  “Boom! Boom!”

  Thunder rumbled endlessly as blinding fshes engulfed El and his sword.

  “El-sama!”

  “El-dono!”

  Kouzaburou and Furiko watched in horror, their eyes wide with fear. However, Linlin and Gerd, familiar with El’s strength, remained calm and posed.

  Uhe onsught of lightniood firm. Though the tinuous strikes left him slightly disheveled, he remained unharmed, his presence awe-inspiring. With each bolt, the swreer and more menag, its bde crag faintly with residual energy.

  “If it were an ordinary wielder, they’d be drained dry by your demands for Haki alone.”

  El’s eyes sharpened as he tested the bde’s weight and bance.

  With a calm yet anding motion, he raised the ornate, sinister broadsword high above his head.

  “Now, let me see if you’re truly worthy of standing by my side, apanying me—Kukulkan El—on my campaigns across the seas!”

  In a fsh, he unleashed the bde’s fury.

  “Swoosh—”

  A massive energy ssh erupted, illuminating the darkened sky as it tore through the storm clouds.

  “Boom! Boom!”

  The oppressive bck clouds were cleaved in two, revealing a streak of clear blue sky. From a dista looked as though the heavens themselves had been split asunder.

  There, bathed in lightning, El’s anding figure stood tall in the skies, like a god desding upon the world.

  Bleam