"Whoosh—whoosh—"

  High above the sea, the enormous cloud isnd Atntis, or Homie, drifted steadily into the distance. Besides Dr. Kureha—the newly joined "Witch" who was already quite advanced ihe members of the Fallen Angel Pirates were all hard at work with their m training. Even the ship’s doctor, Nef, articipating.

  "Tsk, tsk, young people really do put in the effort," Dr. Kureha remarked, one leg crossed over the other. Sipping from a bottle of sake, she sat fortably on an open patch of ground, casually helping herself to fresh ingredients from the newly installed ice chest. She selected some choice cuts of meat, seasohem, and had Prometheus, the sun Homie, ignite a fire as she leisurely roasted the meat to pair with her drink.

  The aroma of roasti filled the air, causing the crew—who hadn’t yet had breakfast—to swallow hungrily and shoot envious, jealous g her.

  "Hey, Kureha, are you doing this on purpose to make us hate you?"

  Smelling the savory st, even Linlin couldn’t help but swallow, her eye twitg and brows furrowed as she gred at the older woman. "Be careful, or my eating disht fre up, and I’ll end up swallowing you whole, old dy!"

  "Wouldn’t that be ve?" Dr. Kureha chuckled, taking another sip as she looked Linlin up and down, admiri, intimidating figure. "I’ve treated patients with strong pulsions to eat—ditions simir to hyperphagia or food addi. But I've never entered a case like yours, where only exceptional food snap you out of it. I’ve yet to see you in a full eating frenzy, and holy, it firsthand would really help my research."

  She had already heard from El and the others about Linlin’s "eating disorder," and her curiosity had only grown. In fact, she'd even requested funding from El to buy rare medical and boratory equipment from the Drum Kingdom, hoping to analyze Linlin's blood. Nef, who had previously tried to diagnose Linlin but was stumped, had shared her earlier mediotes with Kureha. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough data yet to make any real progress.

  If Linlin did experience a full-blowing fit, Kureha would be thrilled—it would be a ce to observe the disorder up close and take samples of Linlin's blood and saliva during the episode. paring these with samples taken while Linlin was calm could yield new insights into the disorder's ins and perhaps lead to a treatment.

  "You rotten old dy..."

  Linlin gripped her sword, Napoleon, g her teeth as she shot the cold-blooded doctor a fierce gre. "’t you at least pretend to care, instead of looking so detached and ued?"

  The st thing Linlin wanted was for her eating disorder to fre up and cause chaos in the dreamy paradise of Atntis. Most of the time, she carried a piece of Seastoh her to restrain herself immediately if her disorder emerged. And with El around, things would probably stay under trol.

  "Alright, Linlin, calm down..."

  Gerd, ag like an older sister, stepped forward aly patted Linlin’s head, smiling as she forted her. "Dr. Kureha has a point, and besides, El is here, so there's nothing to worry about."

  "Hmph, who knows if she really do anything..." Linlin turned her head away, but the anger in her voice had already dissipated.

  She wasn’t naive—she khat Kureha was most likely hoping to provoke an episode of her eating disorder to observe it firsthand. After all, with such a unique dition, witnessing an episode and colleg data would be crucial for making a proper diagnosis.

  he ship’s doctor, had ducted simir tests before—paring saliva, blood, and hair samples taken when Linlin was calm with those from when she was experieng an episode. Some abnormal indicators had been discovered, and Nef had even tried using medie to normalize those indicators during an episode. But when Linlin's disorder fred up, it was as if she were immuo all medications—they had no effect whatsoever.

  "To think there's such a dition... it's unbelievable," remarked Tsuru, Mad, Tom, Rufe, and Lillian, the newer members of the crew. Even though they had never witnessed an episode themselves, they could tell it was a major issue that had troubled the Fallen Angel Pirates for a long time.

  sidering Linlin’s strength, which they had all witnessed, bined with her terrifyingly powerful Devil Fruit ability, the sequences of her losing trol in a rampage were unimaginable.

  "Alright, that's enough for now. Everyoake a break a some breakfast," El, slightly sweaty from his workout, called out loudly, putting down the enormous dragon hammer. "We'll resume training afterward."

  "Ohhh—"

  "El-sama/Boss is the best!!"

  Haviraining since early m, the crew was sweaty and starving, so they were thrilled to finally take a break. Despite the hard work and monotony of their daily training, no one piheir boss, was out there training just as hard, leading by example.

  Even for those like Lily, Linlin, and Gerd, and especially for newers like Baka, Rufe, and Sak, they’d all e to uand that in this cruel world, strength is the ultimate means of survival. Their enemy was her than the Wover—a force that had ruled the seas for turies with unfathomable power.

  Joining the Fallen Angel Pirates had given them a ce to ge their fates. Not only had they gained access to Devil Fruits, but they also had skilled teachers guiding them in martial arts, swordsmanship, and Haki. Driven by determination, they threw themselves into their training.

  Time passed quickly. After breakfast, they rested for a while, then resumed training, w up a sweat under El's watchful eye.

  "Moss is back!"

  Suddenly, Lillian’s sharp eyes spotted something in the distance. She poio the sky, exg loudly.

  "Whoosh—whoosh—" A massive Pegornis bird approached, fpping its wings. The crew of the Fallen Angel Pirates looked up, surprised.

  The night before, after dinner, Moss had bee on a mysterious errand by El, and no one knew where he’d gone. Now, he was back—so soon—and there were two figures riding on the bird's back.

  "Back already?" El couldn’t help but grin.

  "Moss!" The Pegornis bird soon reached Atntis, nding in front of El, Linlin, Gerd, and the others.

  Two figures, one male and one female, hopped down from its back. The woman was tall aiful, dressed in a pink dress with a white shawl, and wore a white flowered hat. She appeared to be around the same age as Tsuru, the so-called "Flower of the Navy." The man was a young, slightly chubby guy eared to be around 18 or 19 years old.

  "Stussy!!"

  "Ryan!!"

  "Wele back!!!”

  Bleam