"Click—"

  The office door closed.

  Sally, her cheeks slightly flushed and her appearance radiant, g the newly arrived Gerd with a hint of surprise.

  "Hey, hey, what trouble did you two just stir up?" Gerd asked sharply, casting a disapproving g Sally.

  She hadn’t fottetle “curse” i Sally had orchestrated ba the Deep Sea Prison.

  "Ha ha, don’t put it that way! You’re the one everyone envies, Gerd," Sally replied with a cheerful smile, brushing past her nontly as she left.

  "Knock, knock…"

  "e in!"

  Receiving permission, Gerd ehe office. She closed the door behind her and approached El, who was engrossed in reviewis anized by Tsuru.

  Her t figure loomed over the oversized desk, specially designed fiants, and she leaned down to look at El, her hands resting firmly on the desk.

  "What’s wrong?"

  Finishing the report and stamping it, El looked up with a smile at Gerd, who outing, clearly displeased.

  "Hmph, what bad deed did someone just it?" Gerd asked sarcastically, her eyes flig toward the now-open window.

  "What’s this? Are you upset?" El asked, amusement glinting in his eyes. With his usual keen intuition, he immediately guessed her thoughts.

  Due to her pregnancy, Gerd couldn’t use Life Return, so the two hadn’t had any close, intimate moments for a while. Though she was usually id-bad magnanimous, seeing him with other women occasionally brought out her pyful jealousy.

  "Hmph, pying dumb, are you?" Gerd huffed, rolling her eyes in a way that was both charming and exasperated.

  "Well then, I’ve been w on a ransformation—Body Reinfort!" El grinned, standing up from his seat.

  g his fists tightly, his gaze sharpened, and his figure began to ge visibly.

  "Swish…"

  His muscles swelled, veins bulging, as his body grew rger. In moments, his limbs and torso were covered with glistening scales, and a sed pair of wings emerged from his back. Although he didn’t reach a t height of 20 meters, his size now matched Gerd’s as a giantess. While his face retained a mostly human appearance, he sported resple golden horns, a striking new feature.

  ed in his embrace, Gerd stared in astonishment. "You have a form like this?"

  She touched the shimmering horns on his head, noting that only a few parts of him resembled a Zoan transformation.

  "This special transformation is simir to my Hair Reinfort or Defense Reinfort forms," El expined casually. "It doesn’t give me a signifit boost, but it serves different purposes depending ouation."

  Holding her close, he gently caressed her rounded belly with a smile. "In just one more month, these two little ones will be born."

  "Yes, very soon now…" Gerd nodded happily, leaning against him with a soft hum. "But really, El, you’re incredible."

  Her voice carried admiration as she rested in his arms, a picture of te. Others couldn’t possibly match El’s level of fmboyaransf so casually into a form rivaling that of a giant.

  "This is all thanks to Dr. Kureha’s Rumble Ball. Without it, developing multiple transformation forms wouldn’t have been so easy," El said with a faint smile.

  "Linlin and the others couldn’t pull this off!" Gerd said with a light ugh, blinking her eyes in amazement.

  "That’s why the oting on Totto Land’s throne is me, not anyone else!" El decred fidently.

  "True enough!" Gerd beamed with both joy and pride. He was as self-assured as ever, just as captivating as when they first met. Bold yet tender, precise and measured—perfectly banced. He filled her heart with sweetness and satisfa, an overflowing sense of happiness. She was pletely immersed, uo extricate herself.

  "El, I’m feeling a bit sleepy," Gerd said softly, enjoying this rare moment of intimacy as she let out a gentle yawn.

  "Then go rest for a while," El replied, his gaze filled with warmth, treating her like a precious treasure.

  "No, stay with me, won’t you?" Gerd murmured, her eyes glimmering as she led closer to El, pyfully ging to him.

  Uanding instantly, El effortlessly lifted her into his arms…

  The sun shone brightly overhead—it was midday. After ensuring that the exhausted Gerd rested in the office’s adjoining bedroom, El, who had already returo his human form, looked at her with a doting gaze. Murmuring a few affeate words to the now soundly sleeping Gerd, he quietly left without disturbing her.

  Shrinking his body to a height of three meters using his mastery over Life Return, he ged into a new outfit before leaving the offid stepping outside the castle.

  Waiting for him were Barry, a Mirror-Mirror Fruit user; Lillian, a Gre-Gre Fruit user; and a few Fish-Men, includiiger Jien. They had all received Sally’s summons and were already standing by.

  "El-sama, are we departing now?" Sally asked with a gentle smile, her eyes brimming with amusement. This time, she would be apanying him as well. The pn was to resolve the matter in Wano try before heading to the first half of the Grand Lio Enies Lobby, and infiltrating the CP anization.

  "Yes, it’s time to settle this," El nodded.

  Without ahe group swiftly ehe Mirror World. Ihan two hours, they passed through a mirror that had been strategically pced earlier, arriving directly in Wano try’s Flower Capital. What’s more, they emerged inside a hidden chamber beh the Shogun’s residence.

  "El-sama!" A tall, bearded middle-aged man dressed in luxurious samurai attire greeted El and his panions with a bow, his face filled with a weling smile. This man was her than Kouzuki Sukiyaki, the Shogun of Wano try.

  Beside him was Little Oars Jr., his form reduced to two meters, happily mung on a drumstick.

  Meanwhile, a disheveled, frail figure was bound to a cross, tightly secured with ropes. Nearby, an assortment of small dolls was dispyed, and on a promi on rack y three intricately designed, ornate swords. If Shimotsuki Kouzaburou were present, he would have been stuo see those swords—Ame no Habakiri, Kitetsu II, and even Enma, all among the 21 Great Grade Swords.

  "He’s no longer of any use. Dispose of him," El decred, extending his right hand to press against the head of the man who looked identical to Kouzuki Sukiyaki. In an instant, El extracted the man’s memories, unc knowledge of a scripts, as well as secrets passed down through the Kouzuki lineage ing Zunesha and Pluton.

  With this information secured, El, Sally, aiger Jiehe group further down through the underground passage…

  Bleam