"Huff, huff..."
As the sun set at dusk, in an unknown sea, a massive, sentient cloud island descended from the sky, landing on the ocean's surface.
El and Linlin, both having returned to their normal forms, flew in from afar.
"El onii-chan!!"
"El-sama!!"
"Linlin-sama, you're back!!"
Tsuru, Nef, Moss, Lillian, Gerd, and others, who had been eagerly awaiting their return, gathered around to greet them.
Seeing that El and Linlin were unharmed, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. After all, this time was different—the World Government had been prepared, and there was no avoiding the worry.
"Ma-ma-ma-ma~, this time, we scored a huge victory," Linlin said with excitement.
Looking around, she asked in surprise, "Aren't Jien and the others back yet?"
"Barry already went to meet up with them, so they should be back any moment now!" Gerd replied with a smile.
After modifications, the sea beasts, the Homies, had considerable storage space inside their bodies. They even carried large bubble Homies, providing sufficient oxygen and a dry space for survival. Apart from Fish-men, both other intelligent species and Devil Fruit users could live inside. Mirrors were placed inside as well, and once a signal was sent via a transponder snail, Barry, a Mirror-Mirror Fruit user, would use them to pick people up and quickly return via the Mirror World.
"Then let's wait for them!" El set his enormous halberd aside. His towering figure sat comfortably on a chair brought over by Lily, a giantess. Leaning back, arms crossed, he chuckled, "Perfect. We'll take stock of our gains from these past few days while we wait!"
"Linlin—"
"Boss El!!!"
"You're back already!"
"We just got back ourselves!"
"Heh heh, we made a massive haul this time!"
Before long, voices called out from a distance. In a large mirror set up nearby, several figures appeared. "Sea Tiger" Jien, "Flea Man" Rock, and "Mirror Magician" Barry stepped out. With them were three battered and bruised figures, stripped bare except for green cloaks and bound in sea-prism stone handcuffs. All were unconscious and barely clinging to life.
These were the two CP0 senior agents and Saint Howard, the Supreme Commander of the Holy Knights. This precaution was taken to prevent them from hiding Vivre Cards that could guide the World Government to the Fallen Angel Pirates' location. They had even checked certain unusual places for any hidden clues.
"Boss El, you didn't hold back! These guys are badly injured…" Jien, the Fish-man, said as he tossed one of the CP0 agents onto the soft beach cloud.
"No choice. If we weren't ruthless, we couldn't end the fight quickly enough!" El shrugged, then turned to Nef, the ship's doctor, and ordered, "Nef, give them some basic treatment. Don't let them die just yet!"
Whether to dispose of these captives would depend on how well their upcoming plans unfolded. Not only did they intend to claim the souls of these strong opponents, but they also wanted to see if they could acquire their Devil Fruit abilities. As for extorting the World Government? Some things can only be done once—the risk was too high. They had taken advantage of the World Government's unpreparedness a few times, but that didn't mean luck would favor them every time.
After all, the World Government was a vast, deeply-rooted power that had ruled the seas for centuries. The Five Elders weren't foolish enough to keep aiding their enemies by handing over resources. Too much greed could lead to losing everything. Better to fully consolidate this haul before considering the next move.
"No problem, leave it to me!" Nef nodded with a smile as she stepped forward to examine the three prisoners' injuries. There was no need to fully heal them; ensuring they didn't die would suffice.
"So this is the 'compensation' we received this time? Let me take a look…" Lily's eyes lit up as she looked at the bundle in Jien's hands. Uninterested in the prisoners, she eagerly took the bundle and opened it, revealing a strange Devil Fruit.
Tsuru, Nef, Lillian, Gerd, and others also gathered around out of curiosity. To prevent any tampering by the World Government with the cases containing the fruits, they always brought back the Devil Fruits themselves, discarding the cases.
"We hit the jackpot—"
"This is the Logia Woods-Woods Fruit?"
"I heard it can manipulate plant forms and growth…"
"Fantastic! With this ability, Boss El won't have to work so hard in the future!"
"The Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Raijū…"
"Wow, these two are top-tier abilities!"
"What an incredible haul!"
As they inspected the Devil Fruits, everyone couldn't help but express their amazement. This time, their loot was indeed massive. From extorting the World Government alone, the Fallen Angel Pirates had secured a total of twenty-one Devil Fruits, including this additional Logia Woods-Woods Fruit that was added later.
Among them were three Logia, two Mythical Zoans, three Ancient Zoans, and around a dozen various known or unknown Devil Fruits. And from the Navy Headquarters, they had practically emptied the Navy's treasure vault. Setting aside the huge pile of treasure, they had obtained an additional twelve Devil Fruits.
In total, the Fallen Angel Pirates had gained over thirty Devil Fruits from this daring operation over the past few days. This was not to mention the thousands of elite Navy souls they had reaped, along with numerous officers' souls, and the creation of the massive fortress, Atlantis. The risks had been enormous, but so were the rewards—beyond imagination.
Even Tsuru, after calculating the Fallen Angel Pirates' total gains, couldn't help but feel astonished. "This is our haul…"
"Hmph…"
Not long after, Linlin returned from her room. She carried a large bag, which she dumped out, scattering its contents onto the ground.
Over thirty Devil Fruits—dubbed the "Treasures of the Sea," for which countless pirates and adventurers had met their end—were now gathered in one place. Each one was worth at least hundreds of millions of Beli, an eye-popping sight for all present.
"These are all of them…" Grinning, Linlin said, "Excluding the ones eaten earlier by Tsuru—the Mythical Zoan, Model: Ōkuchi no Makami—and by Rufe, who ate a strange, unknown fruit, we have a total of thirty-one!"
"The true Gomu Gomu no Mi?" El smirked, a hint of surprise showing. He had already received Moss's report. It was unexpected; when he'd had Moss accompany Rufe to check and test an unknown Devil Fruit, they had accidentally stumbled upon the actual Paramecia Gomu Gomu no Mi.
This had apparently thrown Saint Mars of the Five Elders off, as the World Government had gone to great lengths to obscure the fruit's true name—the Mythical Zoan Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Nika—rebranding it as a Paramecia with rubber-like properties. Who would have thought the real Gomu Gomu no Mi would resurface at a time like this? How interesting.
"Three Logia types: the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, Cloud-Cloud Fruit, and Woods-Woods Fruit…" Tsuru raised an eyebrow. She started categorizing the Devil Fruits, pulling out a pen and notebook to record them: "One Mythical Zoan type, the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Raijū…"
"Three Ancient Zoans: the Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Velociraptor; the Neko Neko no Mi, Model: Saber-Toothed Tiger; and the Ryu Ryu no Mi, Model: Oxosaurus Form…"
"For the regular Zoans, there are seven: the Neko Neko no Mi: Black Cat Form, Neko Neko no Mi: Ocelot Form, Hitsuji Hitsuji no Mi: Antelope Form, Nezumi Nezumi no Mi: Mole Form, Inu Inu no Mi: Tibetan Mastiff Form, Hebi Hebi no Mi: Black Mamba Form, and Ushi Ushi no Mi: Rhinoceros…"
"Then, we have nine Paramecia types: the Wash-Wash Fruit, Berry-Berry Fruit, Whip-Whip Fruit, Egg-Egg Fruit, Glare-Glare Fruit, Ton-Ton Fruit, Spike-Spike Fruit, Wax-Wax Fruit, and Speed-Speed Fruit…"
"There are eight unknown fruits…"
"Thus concludes the list!"
Finishing her notes, Tsuru closed her notebook and smiled. "Of course, some of the so-called unknown fruits may simply have shapes not recorded in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia, so they might not necessarily be brand-new abilities."
"Tch—"
"The amount is outrageous!" Rock, Nef, Moss, and the others were all taken aback. Even though they had prepared themselves mentally, seeing the numbers laid out was still a shock.
"This one should be a Paramecia with known abilities but an unrecorded appearance—the Bubble-Bubble Fruit…" El smiled faintly.
Based on his memory, he picked out one Devil Fruit from the unknowns, whose abilities were known despite its previously undocumented appearance.
"Oh? Is that so?"