"It's no use..."

  The night was dim and serene.

  Seeing Nef, Stussy, and Lillian—all flushed with determination, eawilling to admit defeat and vying to stand out—El folded his arms, rock-solid and steady. With a slight smirk, he closed his eyes and allowed his powerful aura to rise, ready to test their strength. "Very well, let me evaluate your training progress. If your skills fall short, don’t expect me to go easy on you."

  When it came to assessing his subordinates, El was always strict. He would offer no leniency.

  “Yes, sir!”

  The three women exged wary gnces, immediately brag themselves for the trial, each resolved to give their best effort.

  "Who will go first?" After a moment, El opened his eyes, his expression turning serious as he scrutihe trio before him. The air around him greer, den with an iy that bordered on menag.

  "I’ve hit a bit of a bottleely, uo break through to the level…” Stussy, ever fident, looked up at El with an almost teasing smile. She lifted her and ughed, “I’d hoped for just this sort of encement from you, El-sama!"

  "This whole scheme was your idea, wasn’t it?” El regarded her with a knowing smile, notig her pyful gaze. "Very well the’s see if you've actually improved your skills in the Six Powers... Finger Pistol!"

  Without hesitation, he unleashed a rapid, pierg attack. Though he wasn’t angry, he couldn’t let her off the hook for being so bold.

  “Iron Body!”

  Stussy’s expression turned serious as she braced herself to block the attack. Despite her efforts, she could barely withstand the blow. A sharp gasp escaped her as the strike pierced her defenses, leaving a thin line of blood where El’s finger had made tact. Yet, she had traiensively and held her ground, pressing on even in the face of the initial setback, pushing herself beyond her limits.

  El’s smile grew. He didn’t alter his approach, simply intensifying his strikes.

  "Finger Pistol: Gatling!"

  "Aaah! Paper Art: Fsh!"

  Though she tried to evade, Stussy found herself caught in the onsught. She was buffeted, nearly overwhelmed, but her sheer determinatio her in the fight. Like a small boat in a storm, she g to her will, pressing forward with gritted teeth.

  "El-sama, it’s my turn! Medial Fist: Iron Body!"

  Seeing Stussy faltering, epped up without hesitation, ung her own uyle that bined medie and martial arts. Though her strikes were fierce, she toled, battered back by El’s uing assault.

  Blood was drawn as Nef let out a sharp cry, but she pressed on, refusing to give up.

  "Is that all you've got?" El scoffed, flig the blood from his shoulder as he shook his head, his tone dripping with disappoi. "Pathetic."

  "Stussy, Nef..." Lillian’s face turned pale, but she steadied herself. El’s words ignited her determination, and she charged forward with a defiant shout, "Don’t uimate us, El-sama!"

  "Very well."

  With a glint of resolve, El raised his massive axe. His observation haki locked onto Lillian’s every move, predig her steps and anticipating her evasions. His strike came down in a swift, arc—so precise it seemed effortless.

  The axe shot through the air with terrifying force.

  “Aaah!”

  Blood scattered. Lillian’s face fell as she realized she was fully in his sights. Despite pushing herself to the limit, she couldn’t match his strength. Her devil fruit abilities allowed her to read minds, but El’s skills far surpassed her own, rendering her abilities almost useless. Each of her attacks was effortlessly tered as he stayed oep ahead.

  "Pathetic. The three of you—attack together if you want a real ce."

  For a moment, a siletled. Then, as ohey steeled themselves, rising to the challenge. In their eyes burhe fierce determination not only to pass El's test but to meet him at his level, no matter what it took.

  In the end, seeing that Lillian, with her Three-Eye Tribe resilience, was doing her best but simply wasn’t quite strong enough, El finally decided to go easier on her. He smoothly withdrew his menag dragon-headed battle axe, shaking off some lingering blood. With a hint of a smile, he looked down at the exhausted trio and said, “For now, I’ll limit myself to a level close to your strength—no more, no less.”

  “Ugh…how infuriating, El-sama!”

  “Don’t uimate us like that! We’re not as weak as you think!”

  Despite having been pushed to their limits and sweating profusely, the three women couldn’t hide their frustration at El’s rexed attitude. Each gave a determined nod, and together, they unched one final coorditack.

  ‘g… g…’

  Despite their ret progress and breaking their own barriers, Nef, Stussy, and Lillian were ultimately still no match for El. The intense sparring session didn’t st long, and soon enough, the three found themselves lying on the ground, pletely out of breath and out of strength.

  "This level of skill isn’t enough," El said, gng over them with a tohat was both stern and amused. "Don’t think there won’t be sequences. From now on, make sure you’re serious about your training. No more sg."

  The three nodded in exhausted agreement, aowledging the challenge ahead.

  (They make a sex se a fighting se)

  ...

  M came with the sunrise.

  As dawn broke, Linlin slowly woke up, stretg her arms with a satisfied sigh. She’d had the most wonderful dream: in it, after the formation of Totto Land Kingdom, her beloved “El-onii” had bee king. When she finally reached adulthood, they had an incredibly grand wedding, and she became the queen of Totto Land. Gerd had been her maid of honor, and her bridesmaids were young, beautiful women like Tsuru, Lily, Sally, Nef, Baka, Rena, Luna, Stussy, and Lillian. Moss, Rock, Barry, Uthan, Tain, Witt, Hajrudin, and the others served as El’s “brotherhood.”

  In the dream, Linlin and El had many children together. Her first birth had been twins. But then, each year afterward, she seemed to give birth to even more children: triplets, quadruplets, even quintuplets. They were all adorable and incredibly well-behaved, with El ultimately letting her pick their names based on her favorite dishes.

  She stretched again, ughing with joy as she remembered, “What a wonderful dream… all of El-onii’s children were so cute…”

  However, she couldn’t help but wonder why each birth had so many babies. Puzzled, she scratched her head, cheeks growing red as she thought about it. "There’s no way I’d ever let Gerd know about this dream—she’d never let me hear the end of it!”

  Nearby, Gerd was waking up too.

  She, too, felt rejuvenated and was even humming a tune, clearly in high spirits. Remembering her own dream, she couldn’t help but blush. She recalled that in her dream, the Fallen Angel Pirates had established Totto Land—a nation that weled all races, abolished svery, and brought all people together as equals. She, Linlin, and El had a grand wedding together. She remembered being a royal sort and giving birth to a son and daughter for El: a son who grew to be a tall, powerful leader of the giants and a daughter who grew up to be a beautiful, talented warrior.

  Yet Gerd erplexed—somehow, Linlin had seemed to have even more children than she did in the dream. Try as she might, she couldn’t remember exactly how many children Linlin had, but she was heless irritated. "What?! I’m a giant—I should be the oh more children, shouldn’t I?"

  Setting aside her usual petitiveness, she could only chuckle at herself as she thought about the silly dream, deg that it wasn’t worth dwelling on.

  …

  As night faded into day, the mysterious "Blue Fairy" that Nef had shared had spread its effects throughout the crew. It seemed each person was graheir own dream of pead happiness. For the Fallen Angel Pirates, it was the perfect opportunity to revel and strengthen bonds. And for El, it was a well-earned reminder of the loyal, diverse crew he had by his side—eaique, each fier their own way.