"Huh!?"

  When El returo the coast and revealed Carmel's true identity to Gerd, the giant girl stood frozen in shock, uo believe what she had just heard.

  "Sister Carmel was a human trafficker? Is that true?" she asked, her voice trembling.

  "Yes, that’s exactly the situation..." El shrugged, tinuing, "But now, I’m going to take the children from the Sheep's House away from Elbaf and move them to a nearby isnd."

  "I’m going to lead them iing a utopia, a pce where all races live happily together!"

  "Is that your dream, El?" Gerd asked, filled with amazement, g her hands together, admiration shining in her eyes. "That's incredible!"

  "Really?" Linlin’s eyes sparkled as she eagerly raised her hand. "Big Brother El, I e too?"

  "Of course, Linlin, you’re like my wings!" El chuckled, patting her head with a warm smile.

  "Hehe..."

  "Then I want to e too!" Gerd decred fidently, not wanting to be left behind.

  "Alright, but you’ll have to wait until you’re a bit older. Otherwise, your uncle and aunt won’t allow it!" El teased, pyfully ping Gerd’s chubby cheeks. "In the meantime, you should train hard aronger!"

  "Okay, I’ll do my best, El!" Gerd responded enthusiastically. Then, as if remembering something, she excitedly added, "Oh, El! I think I’ve learned Sister Carmel’s magic! Look..."

  She stretched out her small, white hands toward the flowers at her feet. "All of you, start moving!"

  Swoosh... swoosh...

  To the surprise of both El and Linlin, a strange light emerged from Gerd’s hands, enveloping the flowers. In an instant, the flowers dispyed childlike faces, smiling cheerfully as they swayed and danced.

  "I’m a flower~!"

  "A flower~~~ A flower~~~"

  "Flower~~~ Flower~~~"

  The brightly colored flowers had taken on human-like faces, dang and singing, leaving everyone in shock.

  "Wow! That’s amazing! The flowers have e to life..." Linlin blinked her wide eyes in awe, looking at Gerd with admiration. "Gerd, you do magic like Big Brother El too?"

  "Hehe..." Thrilled by the praise, Gerd puffed out her chest proudly. "Pretty coht?"

  "Is that... the Soul-Soul Fruit's ability?" El was dumbfounded. Carmel had often demonstrated her powers to the children of the Sheep's House, calling it magic. Gerd, having seen it before, naturally assumed it was real magic. However, El reized it immediately as the ability of the Paramecia-type Soul-Soul Fruit.

  He had goo great lengths to search for the randomly reborn Soul-Soul Fruit, only to e up empty-handed. But now, it seemed Gerd had unknowingly ied the ability.

  "Did you eat a strange fruit with special patterns on it?" El asked directly.

  "A strange fruit?" Gerd tilted her head, thinking for a moment before recalling, "ht! Not long ago, Linlin found a weird fruit in the forest, and we shared it!"

  "Yes, the fruit was so pretty, but it tasted awful!" Linlin chimed in happily.

  "You say that now, Linlin..." Gerd, still unaware of her incredible luck, pyfully knocked on Linlin’s head and scolded her, hands on her hips, "If you hadn’t shoved it into my mouth, I wouldn’t have eaten it! It was so disgusting!"

  El: "..."

  He hadn’t expected the power he failed to recim had ended up with Linlin, who then shared it with Gerd. Was this fate, or did the Devil Fruit choose its own wielder? Either way, it was a twist of fortuhat had resulted in Gerd obtaining the Soul-Soul Fruit’s abilities.

  "Alright, Gerd, don’t bme Linlin anymore..." El chuckled, patting both Gerd and Linlin on the head with a smile. "You’ve really lucked out!"

  "That wasn’t ordinary magic; it was the power of the legendary Devil Fruit. Sister Carmel didn’t have some magical ability—she had the Paramecia-type Soul-Soul Fruit."

  He expio Gerd and Linlin, "It seems when I killed Sister Carmel, her power randomly reborn somewhere in Elbaf’s forest, and Linlin ended up finding it!"

  "It’s a power that grants souls to inanimate objects, bringing them to life. It’s an ability many would envy but ever obtain!"

  "You should thank Linlihe one who gave you this incredible power!"

  Although Linlin had missed out on acquiring the Soul-Soul Fruit’s abilities by act, it wasn’t a loss for her. Strictly speaking, the Zoan-type Mythical Beast fruits were far more suited to someone like Linlin, a naturally powerful being. These fruits provided substantial boosts to physical capabilities, as well as additional abilities, enabling users to unleash eveer strength.

  tally, on his journey from the Calm Belt to Elbaf, El had passed by a pce called Fotten Isnd and, after some effort, obtained a rare Mythical Zoan Fruit from an a ruin there. It erfect match for Linlin.

  "Huh!?”