"Whoo—whoo—"

  Two days ter.

  Responding to El's erd and the others arrived aboard Atntis from Totto Land.

  Saul, the "perfeaker," had also temporarily paused his work on strug giant bridges at El’s and. He had begun quietly creating a massive new isnd in a remote area of the Totto Land archipego, far from the other isnds.

  "Is this Skypiea?"

  Standing outside Tethys’s garden, Toki gazed up at the sky, staring in disbelief at the massive isnd clouds that b. She felt as if her mind were spinning. Everything she had seehe past few days had pletely overturned her worldview.

  "El—"

  "El-onii!!"

  Linlin and Gerd desded from the sky, riding on Thundercloud Hera and Zeus, respectively.

  "Oh my, Gerd, your belly is getting even bigger!" Tethys teased, fshing a bright smile as she looked at Gerd's signifitly swollen abdomen.

  "You vile Tethys, you didn’t do anything to El, did you?"

  Gerd was visibly wary of Tethys. She knew all too well the dangerous allure of a mature, voluptuous giantess like Tethys and the "threat" she posed to El.

  "We’ve done everything we o do!" Tethys narrowed her eyes with a sly smile. "If you don’t believe me, ask El-!"

  "Vile Tethys!"

  "You’re too devious! I won’t accept it!"

  Linlin and Gerd gred at Tethys in unison.

  Tethys had never hidden her ambitiarding El, and because of that, Linlin and Gerd were always on guard against her. Even during El's previous recruitment trip to Elbaf, they had iionally overlooked Tethys’s potential. But this time, when El came to Elbaf, Tethys wasted no time joining the group.

  Suddenly, Linlin and Gerd noticed Toki. They asked curiously, "Who’s this?"

  "Oh, just someone I picked up along the way," El replied casually before introdug her. "This is Toki, a Time-Time Fruit user from over 700 years ago."

  "The Time-Time Fruit?"

  "From over 700 years ago?"

  Both Linlin and Gerd were stuheir gazes filled with disbelief as they looked at Toki.

  "Hello, I’m Toki. o meet you!"

  Although she mustered her ce, Toki couldn’t hide her nervousness. Being stared down by the t and imposing Linlin and Gerd—who had moments earlier been gring daggers at Tethys—made her feel immense pressure.

  "Alright, enough nonsense," El said, tapping Linlin lightly on the head. "We o head into the forest arieve those bee ies!"

  Turning to Linlin, he added, "By the way, Linlin, yht along the Mythical Zoan Onyudo-form Devil Fruit, right?"

  For this trip, El had specifically asked Linlin t the Onyudo-form Devil Fruit from Totto Land. He inteo cultivate a uhical Zoan user.

  "Of course!" Linlin replied with a grin, pulling the peculiar-looking fruit out of her pocket and tossing it to El.

  "The Onyudo form?"

  Both Toki ahys were astonished, but El didn’t offer any further expnation. He simply ordered Atntis to fly toward Elbaf’s dense forests.

  "Buzz—"

  In the depths of a forest filled with t arees, a horrifying burst of queror’s Haki erupted. The overwhelming energy rippled outward, instantly rendering the giant hors in a massive hive unscious.

  "Are you sure you tame these venomous s?" Gerd asked skeptically, staring at the colossal hive, which had a diameter of at least one or two kilometers.

  "How will we know if we don’t try?" Tethys responded with a fident smile. "I’ve already captured and tamed a smaller group of them. I’m sure it’ll work!"

  "Advent of a World of Fl Trees!"

  At that momeepped forward and activated his powers. His eyes gleamed sharply as he acted decisively.

  Uhe stunned and wide-eyed gazes of Toki ahys,

  "Swish...swish..."

  Massive vines greidly, iwining and weaving into an enormous he holes i were just small enough to prevent the giant bees from esg, securely enclosing the entire hive.

  With a mighty pull, the massive hive was torn from its pd hoisted onto Atntis.

  "Boom...boom..."

  Using the same method, El located several other massive hives of unimaginable size. With his powerful queror’s Haki, he incapacitated the swarming bees inside eae. Employing his mastery over pnts, he enveloped each hive in vines and transported them one by oo the vast sky isnd.

  Thanks to the size of Atntis, it mao aodate all the hives. Had it been any smaller, the task would have been impossible.

  "Alright, that’s done!" El pulled out the Mythical Zoan Onyudo-form Devil Fruit and said with a grin, "Now, there’s only oarget left!"

  "Maa-ma-ma-ma, a giant creature with a Mythical Zoan ability? This should be iing!" Linlin chuckled, her sharp teeth fshing iement.

  Shortly afterward—having scouted his target in the forest over the past two days—El led the group to a massive ant y.

  "This is it," he said, narrowing his eyes as he poio the ant swarm ahead.

  "Are those... on ants?"

  Linlin, Gerd, ahys all wideheir eyes in reition.

  Before them was a swarm of massive ants, each roughly the size of a human foot. Their bodies were jet-bck, with a metallic sheen and an ominous, predatory aura.

  "Tch, don’t be fooled by their small size," Gerd said, crossing her arms. "These creatures are unbelievably strong! Their venom is extremely potent. Even a giant would feel as though they’d been struck by a onball if bitten. It’s an experiehey’d never fet!"

  "Aha-ha-ha, and that’s not all!" Tethys pressed her arms against her impressive chest and smiled. "The exoskeleton of a on ant is incredibly tough. Sure, a giant could crush them with enough force, but for an average human, even swinging a sword at full strength might not pee their defenses!"

  "Maa-ma-ma-ma, creatures like these, bined with the Mythical Zoan Onyudo-form ability, could indeed bee a formidable force!" Linlin remarked, visibly excited.

  "The most important thing," El added, "is that even if it doesn’t reach the desired level of power, it’s no big deal. We always recim the ability!"

  El walked forward without hesitation. Ign the swarm of on ants rushing to attack him, he tore into the y. From its depths, he uhed the stro ant—easily identified by its size, several times rger thahers, and its fiercely aggressive behavior as it lu him.

  Without ceremony, El fed the Mythical Zoan Onyudo-form Devil Fruit to the massive ant.

  "ROAR—"

  A ferocious bellow erupted as the ant king’s body transformed. In an instant, it grew to a height of eight or ers, morphing into a half-human, half-ant hybrid with four arms and razor-sharp mandibles.

  With predatory instinct, its fearsome jaws soward El at lightning speed.

  "In such a hurry to test yourself?" El said, his expression unging.

  With a casual flick of his finger, "BANG!!"

  The bck behemoth was sent flying like a onball, crashing through tree after tree before kig up a massive cloud of dust.

  Moments ter, the earth rumbled as the massive creature regais footing. To the astonishment of evehys—who, as a giant, was ner to immense power—the mutated ant king lifted a colossal boulder, rger than the Navy’s most advanced battleships, as if it were nothing.

  "Its strength is incredible!" Toki’s jaw dropped, while Tethys broke into a cold sweat. "To think it possesses such terrifying power..."

  "Whoosh...whoosh..."

  The massive boulder was hurled through the air like a missile, hurtling directly toward El.

  "BOOM!!"

  The hundred-meter boulder shattered instantly as El struck it with a single punch. But mere moments ter, the monstrous figure of the ant king charged forward, wild and frenzied, its limbs tearing through the air like battering rams as it attacked El.

  "Crack...crack..."

  El stood his ground, allowing the creature’s blows to nd. "Your strength isn’t bad—strohan most giants. Your exoskeleton’s defense is also impressive; ordinary swords, guns, or ons probably ’t harm you..."

  He regarded the six-limbed monstrosity with a faint smile. "But let me teach you how to properly wield your power in battle!"

  In a fsh, El disappeared, moving too fast for the eye to follow.

  "BANG!!"

  The ant king’s massive form was sent flying like a rubber ball, its body pummeled relentlessly by El’s blindingly fast attacks. Painful cries echoed through the forest as the ant king was battered again and again.

  "Boom...boom..."

  "AAAAHHH!"

  Bleam