"Wooh-hooh-hooh—"

  The massive airborne fortress set sail.

  The samurai, led by Shimotsuki Kouzaburou, were brimming with excitement. They had prepared for this day for so long, even risking execution if discovered by the authorities of Wano try. Yet, after the arrival of El and the Fallen Angel Pirates, this dream had been so easily realized.

  "Aren’t you two going to say goodbye to your father?"

  El smiled as he looked at Shimotsuki Furiko and Ushimaru, the sibling duo.

  "No need. A true ma ears to mark his departure."

  Young Ushimaru, his face still boyish, decred solemnly:

  "This is my samurai way!"

  "You’re just afraid Father will drag you back, lock you up, and forbid you to leave, right?"

  Furiko rolled her eyes and gave her younger brother’s head a pyful knock.

  "Well… the old man is too strict."

  Ushimaru lowered his head, grumbling:

  "Besides, it’s not like we’re never ing back!"

  He gnced down at the furry dog-fox at his feet.

  "Right, Onimaru?"

  This creature, his childhood pet and panion, had been his stant fidant. With their father, Shimotsuki Taro, enf strict discipline, Ushimaru had spent most of his time fi home, learniiquette, acquiring knowledge, and training in swordsmanship. Apart from occasional iions with visiting nobles ional daimyo heirs, he rarely had the ake friends. Even his elder sister, Furiko, didn’t always have time to keep him pany.

  As a result, he often fided in Onimaru, treating the dog-fox as his primary panion and fidant.

  "Woof-woof!"

  The dog-fox nodded enthusiastically, almost as if it uood every word.

  "When you want to return, just let Linlin, Gerd, Streusen, or any of the other officers know," El reassured them with a smile. "They’ll arrange a ship or flying homies t you back."

  El chose not to press further. Shimotsuki Taro’s deih wouldn’t hold out much longer, and El’s formidable Observation Haki had allowed him to glimpse the daimyo’s thoughts during their earlier versation. Taro was already gravely ill, barely holding on, though he had kept this hidden from his children to spare them worry. At most, he might have a year or two left.

  However, El had no iion of intervening. His pns for Wano try would remain unged and wouldn’t waver for the sake of a single individual. Furiko was iable, but Ushimaru, with his signifit potential as a future swordmaster, had no reason to be fined within the small borders of Wano.

  El had already ordered Ruth, who was infiltrating the Shogun’s pace, to prepare. When Shimotsuki Taro passed away, Wano’s gover would accuse the Shimotsuki family of vioting the try’s isotion ws by secretly leaving, using it as a pretext to strip the family of their daimyo status in Ringo.

  When Ushimaru eventually returo find his father gone and Wano uhe oppressive rule of a tyrant, his disappoi would naturally bind him closer to the Fallen Angel Pirates. When El and his crew eventually overthrew the Kurozumi Shogunate uhe guise of heroes “saving” Wano from its suffering, there would no longer be a pce for feudal daimyo in the try’s future.

  As for other parts of the pn? There was no rush. El had no iion of making obvious moves, such as orchestrating the suddeh of the Shogun’s sole heir as soon as they left. That would only invite unnecessary suspi and trouble.

  …

  Ihan two days, the enormous Atntis fortress returo the waters of Totto Land.

  "So, this is Totto Land?" Shimotsuki Furiko looked around, filled with wonder.

  "Is that snow?" Shimotsuki Ushimaru poio the "snowfkes" falling from the sky. "But it doesn’t feel cold at all!"

  "Mamahahaha, no, that’s cotton dy rain—you eat it!"

  Linlin’s t figure scooped a handful of "snow" and brought it to the siblings. "Want to try?"

  "Cotton dy? Really?"

  They hesitated before tasting it, and the sweet fvor instantly overwhelmed their taste buds.

  "Unbelievable…"

  "The sky is snowing… cotton dy?"

  Even the samurai, including Shimotsuki Kouzaburou, were wide-eyed with amazement, some speechless with excitement.

  "Of course! This is Totto Land! Cotton dy as soft and sweet as this… well, it might exist in some Wano markets, but for most oners, it’s a luxury."

  In Wano, only nobles or wealthy city residents could afford such treats. The average person might go their entire life without seeing, let aloasting, something like this. But here, it fell freely from the sky as if it were nothing. The entire sea appeared bed in it.

  It was simply unbelievable.

  "Our decision was right. The world outside is as extraordinary as we imagined."

  "Mamahaha, incredible, right?" Linlin ughed.

  Gerd smiled, her expression filled with pride. "This is Totto Land! Iure, it will bee the most beautiful, advanced try in the world—a Dream Kingdom in the eyes of all!"

  "El-sama!"

  "Linlin!"

  "Gerd!"

  "And Head Chef Streusen!"

  At that moment, Zeus desded from the sky, carrying Lillian, the Three-Eyed Tribe member, along with Moss, Rock, ahey nded on Atntis. Seeing Moss, a Mink, and Rock, a Loribe member, the Shimotsuki siblings and the samurai stared in wide-eyed amazement.

  "Lillian, you’ve worked hard!" El pced a hand on Lillian’s head and spoke warmly. "Now that you’re carrying a child, be more careful. Don’t be so careless like before!"

  "Hehehe, I didn’t expect to ceive El-sama’s child so quickly!"

  Lillian beamed with joy, her crest-shaped eyes sparkling with happiness.

  "gratutions, Lillian!" Gerd smiled, radiating warmth. Only another mother-to-be could truly uand the joy and anticipation Lillian was feeling.

  "Thank you…" Lillian g Gerd, whose already massive belly had grown signifitly. "Wow, Gerd! Your belly’s gotten so big!"

  "Of course. Gerd is a Soul-Soul Fruit user," Nef expined with a smile, arms crossed. "She el her nutrition directly to her unborn children, accelerating their growth. At this rate, it should only be about three more months before she gives birth!"

  "That’s abht!" Gerd nodded, her haing on her belly. Her radiant expression exuded maternal warmth, her eyes filled with infiicipation for the arrival of her twins—her and El’s children, and the firstborn heirs of the Kukulkan family.

  "Mamahaha, a union of the Three-Eye and Lunarian Tribes. I ’t help but look forward to this!"

  Linlin chuckled, her toeasing but without malice. She was genuinely curious. What kind of offspring would result from the union of two such extraordinary races?

  Bleam