"Huff... huff... well then, until we meet again!"

  "Hahaha! A pleasure doing business!"

  Half an Hour Later

  After Lillian firmed that the Wover forces had fully retreated from the Totto Land seas and the Five Elders had returo the Holy Land, Mary Geoise, two massive Homie birds took flight.

  One carried Rocks, while the other ber's crew—the Gold, Silver, and Copper trio—each clutg their rubbings of the Road Poneglyph, heading in different dires.

  "El-sama, here are the Devil Fruits we recovered earlier!"

  Ryan approached El with a grin, presenting several Devil Fruits in hand.

  During the chaotic battle, not only had Saul immediately brought back Saint Steadfast's ability after his defeat, but Helen and Moss had taken down two CP0 agents. Additionally, with Bangi's help, Rock defeated Vice Admiral Iron Bull, while Bangi personally killed a member of the Holy Knight Corps. Finally, Irene had sin Saint Pegasus herself.

  All these corpses had been quickly delivered to El, allowing him to harvest their abilities.

  The six recovered fruits included:

  1. Fish-Fish Fruit, Model: Azure Dragon

  Resembling a scaly blue dragon fruit, one of the most powerful Mythical Zoan abilities.

  2. Horse-Horse Fruit, Model: Pegasus

  White and carrot-shaped with peculiar patterns, another Mythical Zoan ability.

  3. Cat-Cat Fruit, Model: Leopard

  Bearing speckled patterns resembling wheat stalks.

  4. Dog-Dog Fruit, Model: Jackal

  Gray-bd wolf-head-shaped with spiral patterns.

  5. Bull-Bull Fruit, Model: Water Buffalo

  Gray and bullhead-shaped.

  6. S-S Fruit

  A Paramecia ability shaped like white wings.

  "Even though Rocks snagged a Vulture Zoan ability during the chaos, it wasn't a wasted effort overall!" El nodded with satisfa.

  While the Devil Fruits were a nice bonus, their main objective—seg Totto Land from the Wover—was the real prize. With the Celestial Dragons as hostages, it would be a while before the Wover dared to make another move, giving them valuable time troup and grow stronger.

  Among the recovered abilities, El articurly pleased with the Azure Dragon Mythical Zoan Fruit—one of the most powerful abilities ience. If the Wover hadn't been desperate for reinforts, they likely wouldn't have entrusted such a potent fruit to someone.

  "Hahaha, I did kill a Devil Fruit user, but the battlefield was so chaotic that I smashed the body into paste!" Saul scratched his head with an awkward ugh.

  While his Stoone Fruit teiques were iive against top-tier oppos, they had proveating against ordinary Vice Admirals and soldiers, wreaking havod leaving little behind.

  "Mwahaha, it's good that we recovered the Devil Fruits," Linlin interjected with a mischievous grin. She turo Ryan, asking slyly, "But what about their souls? Did you recover those as well?"

  "Of course, Linlin-sama!" Ryan patted his chest fidently. "Thanks to Gerd-sama's Soul Fragmerusted to me, we extracted their souls right away!"

  However, his tourned more somber as he tinued, "But the Wover's strength is truly daunting. We suffered signifit losses ourselves—three 'Queen-Css' Homies and thirteen 'Rook-Css' Homies were pletely destroyed. While I've mao repair their outer shells, the infused souls are entirely gone. And the remaining Homies have all sustained varying levels of damage, though I've done what I to repair them."

  "This is war, not a game. Such cshes are iable," El said, folding his arms with a faint smile. "As long as everyone made it out alive, these losses are acceptable."

  For El, his early rades were far more valuable than regional Homies. Even though these rades might not yet be strong enough, they were irrepceable pared to the Homies. Sacrifig some Homies to eheir safety was well worth it.

  "There's no other way. If we didn't o recim abilities, we could've spared those people," Linlin said with a toothy grin. "By turning them into Blood Sves, their souls could return to their inal bodies after a Homie's destru, allowing us to extract them again ter."

  While Blood Sves had limited bat ability, powerful Devil Fruits were far too valuable. If a suitable didate was avaible, they'd recim the ability without hesitation to empower their own people.

  "Mwehehe~ All in all, this was quite the haul!" Lady Demon Irene licked her lips and cackled.

  Being turned into Linlin's Bloodborne wasn't so bad after all. Linlin didn't treat her like a servant or sve but as an ally. Though she wasn't as free as before and had to adhere to the rules of the Fallen Angel Pirates, her strength had increased.

  Even if the Vampire Zoan ability didn't grant true immortality, it extended her life signifitly—enough for another tury or two. As long as Linlin, the Vampire Zoan user, remained alive, Irene's lifespan could be perpetually extended, keeping her youthful forever.

  With the massive potential of the Totto Land Kingdom, even if they couldn't overthrow the Wover and seize trol, dominating the New World would still be easily achievable. As a cadre of the Fallen Angel Pirates, she enjoyed substantial power and status. sidering that her time had already been running out before, she saw this as a clear gain. There was little to pin about.

  "And it's not just what we gained here," said Sally, the Shapeshifting Witch.

  She approached with a cheerful grin, holding a small mirror the size of an average human fist. "It looks like Barry and his group had quite the haul, too!"

  "Oh? Could it be...? Did they raid the Wover's treasury?"

  Hearing this, Tsuru, Linlin, Moss, and others were visibly surprised. Their curiosity iqued as they wideheir eyes. Even Francis Bangi, Irene, and Cyril Oka—prisoners of Impel Dowernal Hell—couldn't help but wonder, especially given the Fallen Angel Pirates' previous feat of emptying the Marine Headquarters' treasury i.

  "Not quite," Sally expined with a helpless shrug and a smile. "Because of what happeo the Marireasury, the Wover has beeremely cautious. Their treasury is under stant guard by numerous CP0 agents and even members of the Holy Knight Corps, leaving no ce for infiltration.

  "However, the private treasuries of the Celestial Dragons are a different story altogether."

  "The private treasuries of the Celestial Dragons?"

  "Heh, I was involved in that," Ryan, the Munch-Munch Fruit user, grinned wickedly. "Over the past few weeks, even though the Wover has begun guarding against the Mirror-Mirror Fruit, we've used Uthan's Door-Door Fruit to infiltrate the estates and vils of the World Nobles.

  "We quietly looted their treasuries, stealing their prized Devil Fruits without a trace—around 20 or 30 of them in total. I imagihat during e-scale attaary Geoise, Barry's team seized the opportunity to empty even more Celestial Dragon vaults!"

  "Exactly!"

  Bleam