"Tsk—"

  "So powerful..."

  "Is this the kind of strength a special Homie have, created from the soul of such a strong figure?"

  On the deserted isnd, Tsuru, Moss, Rock, Lillian, and the others narrowed their eyes ihough they had anticipated its strength, they couldn’t help but feel asto the power of the newly created six-winged Fallen Angel Homie, Lucifer.

  The sheer force of its massive strikes and incredible flying speed made it a serious challenge for any of them if faced head-on.

  Most of them were fident they’d surpass it in time, but they couldn’t deny that the Soul-Soul Fruit was a remarkable power. In the right hands, it could create such a formidable warrior with ease.

  However, it would take someone like El—a freakishly strong, natural-born moo capture a powerful figure like Saint Howard and provide Gerd with the opportunity to seize his soul. Few other pirates could even dream of such a feat; even if they could defeat him, capturing him alive was another matter entirely.

  "Not bad, this power should do," El said, nodding in approval as he watched Lucifer’s performance. After all, this high-level Homie was created from the soul of a Navy admiral-level warrior. It retained part of its inal memories, specifically those of its former master, Saint Howard, and had ied his bat skills. Though its strength had diminished pared to Howard’s full abilities—or even Linlin's uural-born strength—it still packed a punch. Built with Baldimore’s advaeology, the memory-shaped metal body gave it real bat power on par with Little Oars and the advantage of versatile nd, air, and sea capabilities. It feared her seawater nor fire—impressive for a single unit in their forces.

  "If it were a plete soul, it’d be even strerd added with a smile. "But for now, we o keep him alive to use as leverage against the Wover."

  "El-sama, these past few days, I’ve gotten a pretty good handle on the powers of the Munch-Munch Fruit," Ryan said after a moment’s hesitation. "Though I 't guarantee success, it might be worth a try."

  "Go ahead and give it a shot," El replied with a grin. "If it doesn’t work, it’s no big deal."

  Success could bring enormous potential, after all.

  "Perfect! I’ve been wanting to create two more advanced Homies!" Gerd said, a glimmer in her eyes, clearly ready to put their pn into a. Saint Howard, the ander of the Holy Knight, wasn’t their only high-value captive; two other senior CPO agents, particurly the oh the A Model Pterosaur, were also worthy targets. With their souls, the resulting Homies could be formidable additions to their forces.

  Soon after, Barry passed through a massive mirror into the Mirror World arieved one of the senior CPO agents—handcuffed with Seastoraints—who possessed the power of the S-S Fruit. The Seastone he had previously swallowed was removed, so his limbs now o be secured with specially-made Seastone cuffs.

  "Fallen Angel El—"

  The CPO agent, pale and weakened, stared at El, Gerd, and the others with growing dread.

  'Swish'—

  Gerd stepped forward, her massive form looming over him, her Reaper’s scythe gleaming menagly. Wearing a fearsome demon mask with a monstrous face, her pierg eyes stared him down. Her voice, hoarse and chilling, rang out, "Life...or death?"

  The agent’s blood ran cold as if he were staring into the eyes of a death god from the depths of the underworld.

  All at once, his soul seemed to separate from his body, rising out of him like ahereal mist. His face drained of color, fear and fusioched across it as he looked at Gerd in shock. "What... what did you do to me?" he stammered.

  "Heh, wrong answer..." Gerd’s voice was menag as she ughed darkly from behind her reaper mask, enhang her sinister appearance. Swiftly, she seized his soul, gripping it firmly and giving a harsh pull. "I’ll take forty-six years, three months, and twenty-two days of your lifespan!"

  As a Soul-Soul Fruit user, Gerd could easily see her target’s expected lifespan under normal ditions. Without mercy, she drained every remaining sed, stripping his spirit entirely.

  "Ahhh!" The CPO age out a chilling scream as his body rapidly withered into an elderly, lifeless husk.

  "Not bad... high-quality soul indeed, just as expected from a CP0 elite," Gerd murmured, her voice returning to normal as she smiled and Ryan. “Your turn, Ryan.”

  "No problem!" Ryan grinned as he stepped forward, opening his mouth wide. He swallowed down a rge bag of various fruits he had prepared, then immediately ed the lifeless body of the agent, jaws snapping down and g with ease.

  "ch... ch..."

  "Do you think it’ll work?" Linlin asked, her voice filled with anticipation. Everyone else looked on, eyes fixed on Ryan, hardly daring to blink.

  If they could truly extract a Devil Fruit power from another user, it would be a game-ger for the Fallen Angel Pirates.

  El, meanwhile, leaned casually against a t tree, watg with an amused smile. Whether Ryan succeeded or not, the Fallen Angel Pirates’ ast was unstoppable. Success would be a bonus, but failure wouldn’t disappoint him.

  "So," Ryan grinned mischievously, “guess what? Did it work?”

  With a smirk, he activated his Munch-Munch Factory power. From an open partment in his abdomen, a fruit with strange spiral patterns emerged, now ready for El and the others to i.

  "Tsk—"

  "This is..."

  "A Devil Fruit?”

  "It actually worked?"

  Everyone present couldn’t help but gasp, eyes wide with amazement.

  They khat once a Devil Fruit user died, their powers would randomly ma elsewhere in the world. Even the Wover had never figured out a way to reliably seize a Devil Fruit power directly from its user. Yet, incredibly, the Munch-Munch Fruit had made this possible, allowing them to retrieve the user’s Devil Fruit ability.

  “Indeed, it’s the Paramecia-type S-S Fruit!” Tsuru excimed, reizing it immediately from her memory of the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.

  "S-S Fruit, huh? Amazing!" Linlin said, taking the fruit with fasation.

  "The power to extract Devil Fruit abilities..." Dr. Kureha murmured, astonished. "Tsk, truly incredible."

  "Well done. Now things will be a lot easier." El raised an eyebrow, smiling with satisfa. "Barry, bring out the Pterosaur Zoan user !"

  “On it!” Barry responded excitedly. With the ability to extract powers from Devil Fruit users, they could now hunt down ability users across the sea and colle arsenal of powers, enabling them to train a massive number of powerful recruits.

  With this, the Fallen Angel Pirates’ strength would grow expoially, like a snowball gaining momentum, eventually being an unstoppable force—even the Wover itself would struggle to deal with them.

  Soon, the CP0 agent was brought out, and Gerd performed the same procedure, draining his lifespan. Surprisingly, this one had fifty-five years remaining.

  Afterward, Ryan ed the corpse aracted the Zoan Dragon Fruit, A Model: Pterosaur form.

  "El, this is quite a find," Moss said with a grin. "This A Model: Pterht even outpace my own Zoan A Model: Pegornis in speed!"

  "Yes, quite a valuable addition." El nodded, pleased as he accepted the newly extracted Devil Fruit from Ryan. So far, their colle included few fruits with flying abilities. The Dragon Fruit, though an A Zoan, was likely unmatched in flight speed—far superior even to Logia Fruits like the Cloud-Cloud or Smoke-Smoke varieties.

  In fact, El thought it would be ideal to give this Pterosaur power to a giant. With the sheer size and strength of a giant, they could fully harhe Pterosaur’s power. They wouldn’t even need close bat; a single fp of their wings would seating gusts that could scatter most foes.

  Sihe Fallen Angel Pirates nolenty of Devil Fruits in their possession, recruiting several powerful giant warriors to enhaheir mid-tier forces seemed like an excelle step.

  Bleam