"Heh heh heh..."

  Before long—

  After Gerd had created the reindeer homies ahem up to tinue searg for the Devil Fruit…

  Uhe awe-filled, relieved gazes of the Drum Kingdom’s citizens, the enormous homie isnd-cloud, Atntis, slowly rose from the sea and began to asd into the air. The movement stirred up a massive spray of seawater, ing the waves wildly as it prepared to depart Drum Kingdom aoward its destination.

  "Please wait a moment!"

  At that moment—

  A figure hurried toward them, panting heavily.

  "I am an official of Drum Kingdom, here under orders from the Wovero iate with the Fallen Angel Pirates..." A middle-aged man ed in a thick coat, dressed iively fine clothing, called out in a loud voice, holding up a Den Den Mushi to capture El and Linlin's attention.

  "Oh?"

  El raised an eyebrow, intrigued as he looked down at the man. "Three ordinary Celestial Dragons were worth twenty Devil Fruits. Now, for the highest ander of the Holy Knights, rice the Wover offer?"

  "Well..."

  Under El's t, imposing gaze, the Drum Kingdom official began to srofusely, clearly overwhelmed by pressure and shivering nervously. He whispered into the Den Den Mushi, then quickly replied, "Ohical Zoan or one Logia, along with five regur Devil Fruits."

  "Because," he expined hurriedly, "you’ve already taken so many Devil Fruits, including several rare top-tier ones... Even the Wover doesn’t have that many valuable fruits left to spare!"

  "Tell them," El said calmly, a faint, almost pitiful smile crossing his face, "if they want to save the Holy Knights’ ahey have him back... for three Logia, three Mythical Zoans, six A Zoans, and an additional ten Devil Fruits of any kind."

  He may have sounded like he was iating, but El wasn’t so reckless as to let greed cloud his mind or lose sight of the real risks.

  At this point, the Fallen Angel Pirates didly ck Devil Fruits, nor were there that many uniquely skilled people worth cultivating. Even if they obtaihe fruits, most would likely be stored away for future use.

  heless, the potential threat of a powerful force like the Wover, especially one led by a former admiral-level ander, was serious enough to warrant caution. Especially sihe Fallen Angel Pirates were not yet fully established and stantly faced the threat of a rge-scale Wover siege.

  Releasing the Holy Knight would only strehe Wover’s hand, providing them a formidable on that could endahe Fallen Angel Pirates themselves.

  Furthermore, the Wover would never again make the mistake of handing h-value abilities so freely. Any trade carried great risk, and El had no iion of easily allowing Saint Howard’s return, regardless of whether the Munch-Munch Fruit possessed the rumored power to seize others' Devil Fruit abilities.

  Even if stripping the Holy Knight ander of his Mythical Zoan Angel form wasn’t feasible, Gerd could still use her Soul-Soul Fruit powers to extract part of the ander’s soul.

  That would allow them to create another powerful homie, oh strength well above an average vice-admiral, to bolster their own forces.

  More importantly, there was little ce the Wover would accept such steep terms. Even if they somehow did, El would only sider the release ohe Fallen Angel Pirates had fully established Totto Land in the New World, standing strong and beyond the reach of the Wover’s threats or the Navy’s attacks.

  And even then, it was only a remote possibility. Weakening the enemy while strengthening themselves remained a priority.

  "Hiss—..."

  Hearing El’s demands, the Drum Kingdom official couldn’t help but take a sharp breath, while the Wover representative oher end of the liurned pale with ahe message was quickly reyed to the Five Elders.

  "Bang!"

  "This is ht extortion!"

  "Such greedy bastards... Are they dreaming?"

  "Damn Fallen Angel El, why doesn’t he just e rob us ht?"

  "Why not just open the Gover's vaults a him help himself?"

  A coffee table was nearly split into pieces as the Five Elders’ faces twisted with fury. Already, losing so many top-tier Devil Fruits to the Fallen Angel Pirates had been an excruciating blow. They hadn’t depleted their stotirely, but most of the remaining ones were elite Devil Fruits, some so rare they hadn’t even been made prizes ihree-yearly tests.

  Now El’s demand—three Logia, three Mythical Zoans, six A Zoans, plus ten more Devil Fruits—was impossible, even if they did have such a colle.

  Although the Holy Knights' ander was valuable, he was not irrepceable. If the other side refused to budge, they would tiheir attempts to rescue him, but under no circumstances would they agree to these ludicrous terms.

  "Tell him," Saint Mars said with a stony expression, speaking into the Den Den Mushi, "one Logia, ohical Zoan, and one A Zoan—this is the Wover's final offer. We will not make any further cessions."

  "Yes, sir."

  Back at Drum Kingdom, the official reyed the Wover’s teroffer.

  "Oh?"

  "One Logia, ohical Zoan, and one A Zoan?"

  "Tsk, tsk... the Wover's reserves really are something else," El mused, shrugging as he tinued his workout with his giant dragon hammer, sweat dripping down his face. "After that st deal, I thought they’d be drained, but they still afford more high-level Devil Fruits as ransom..."

  Hearing the Gover’s resposuru, Lillian, Linlin, Nef, and Gerd couldn’t help exging surprised ghe Wover’s resources were indeed more vast than they’d imagined, and there were likely even more elite fruits in their vaults.

  A homie sea swallow swooped down, taking the Den Den Mushi from the Drum Kingdom official and bringing it to El.

  "El-sama," the voi the other end began, "this is the Wover’s best offer. You know the st deal was only made due to special circumstances, but now, give events, you should uand that no matter what you do to Saint Howard, the Wover is beyond threats."

  "We could simply deny his identity—no one in the world even knows of the Holy Knights’ ander... Whatever you try might dent the Gover’s reputation, but it will only provoke our urained vengeance."

  "Spare me the speeches," El replied evenly. He didn’t io push the Woveroo far, at least not now. The ret iations had already achieved his inal goal of stockpiling Devil Fruits, and there was o go to extremes.

  Pushing the Five Elders too hard now might force their hand, leading them to unch a costly, all-out attack against the Fallen Angel Pirates before they had fully secured their pns for Totto Land—a situation that was better avoided.

  "Tell the Five Elders they have him back," El said, calmly adjusting his terms, "for two Logia, two Mythical Zoans, four A Zoans, and six additional Devil Fruits."

  "Not one less. Or there’s no deal."

  With that, he ehe call, tossing the Den Den Mushi back to the Drum Kingdom official. There was o finalize anything now. It was better to keep them on edge, to keep the iations dangling, f both wariness and faint hope.

  In the meantime, he’d have Gerd extract half the Holy Knight ander’s lifespan just in case. As for the CP0 agents, the Wover wouldn’t bother real ransom for mere "loyal hounds." Better to simply take fifty years of their souls and turn them into sturdy homies down the line.

  "Atntis! Move out!"

  "Yes, El-sama!”