Mirror Domain! The Draenor Island!

— — — — — — —

Joey had a massive headache.

Some things could be compromised. And some things absolutely couldn't!

Joey was never the type to settle for less.

Building Totto Land?

That was just because of his mother's dream.

But what Joey truly wanted was to create a divine kingdom.

Right now…

His younger brothers and sisters were obviously struggling with their studies.

This meant he had to find suitable teachers.

"Hm—" Joey rubbed his temples, deep in thought. "Sigh! Looks like I'll have to take my time researching this. It's not something that can just be done overnight!"

"The best approach would be to hire teachers from other worlds… but the real question is—who would even sell such strategic resources?"

Joey's headache only worsened.

Strategic resources.

Teachers!

People!

Elite warriors!

All of these were vital resources.

After all…

A family doesn't just compete against other families—they go up against everything. Anyone with half a brain would know that these things weren't up for sale.

Didn't they see?

Even combat techniques weren't casually traded!

"Sigh!"

With another sigh, Joey rubbed his temples. "Forget it! I'll take my time researching. For now, I need to focus on Totto Land's reconstruction and our second voyage after the new year."

Totto Land needed reconstruction.

The new year was just around the corner.

The second voyage would begin after that.

— — —

This year!

At the start of his journey, Joey had already handled matters with the nations of Elbaf, Tontatta Kingdom, Ryugu Kingdom, Dressrosa, Alabasta, Germa Kingdom, Kano Kingdom, and Adam Kingdom.

All of these were now secured.

And they would be central to the upcoming World Conference.

At the same time…

There was another pressing issue—races from other worlds.

Oni, Dwarves, and Beastmen.

Joey had purchased all of these from other worlds.

The Oni and Dwarves weren't too expensive.

But the Beastmen? That was a different story.

Acquiring 10,000 Beastmen had cost him 20 Devil Fruits.

Then, there were the Giants and Tontatta he had brought back, along with the Fishmen and Merfolk who would soon arrive.

As for the others?

He still needed to bring in the Longarm Tribe, Longleg Tribe, Three-Eyed Tribe, Snakeneck Tribe, Mink Tribe, and Angel Tribe.

Most of these weren't a problem.

But the Snakeneck and Three-Eyed Tribes?

They were on the verge of extinction—there might be fewer of them worldwide than the Tontatta!

As long as Totto Land was powerful enough, bringing them under control would be inevitable.

And the Angel Tribe?

They would be easy to handle. The Longarm and Longleg Tribes wouldn't be too difficult either.

The real problem was the Mink Tribe.

They were a race that had serious issues with outsiders.

In the original timeline…

Big Mom had forced some of them to live in Totto Land.

Joey needed to change that.

Because he didn't just want a fraction of the Mink Tribe—he wanted them all!

"And besides…?" Joey narrowed his eyes in thought. "King is supposedly the last of the Lunarians… but is he really? There could still be survivors at this timeline."

If that was a possibility then he needed to keep searching.

Joey looked up.

Opera and Gala had already left.

They had to continue their defensive duties.

And spread their orders throughout the ranks.

Broye had also left, leaving only Perospero waiting for the ships to arrive.

Perospero noticed Joey had regained his focus and quickly asked, "Big Bro! Have you decided?"

"Yeah," Joey replied with a gentle smile. "There's still a lot to do. We'll take it one step at a time. But Perospero, do you think it'll be easy to find the Lunarians and the True Dragons?"

"Hm?"

Perospero frowned. "Big Bro! The Lunarians might still have some clues left behind… but the Dragons? That's way too troublesome! They've been extinct for centuries—we don't even know if they still exist."

Joey nodded.

That was true.

And these weren't the so-called 'Millennium Dragons' from the original timeline.

These were true Dragons.

They had dragon horns, dragon claws, humanoid dragon bodies, and dragon wings.

To be precise they should be called Half-Dragons.

(A/N: OG by the author)

They had terrifying dragon-like strength, similar to Kaido's hybrid form.

And this race had been wiped from history for nearly 300 years.

Finding them was almost impossible!

Whoosh!

"Over here!" Joey watched as Perospero started giving orders.

A massive mirror, 30 meters tall and 10 meters wide, was being transported carefully by members of the Beastmen.

Before long they reached the center of Tanega Island, where Perospero instructed, "Set it down here! This is the spot!"

Boom!!!

Slowly, the enormous mirror was placed down. Perospero then turned to the nearby craftsmen. "Modify the area around this mirror. Make it look like a portal."

"Yes!" The craftsmen immediately got to work upon receiving their orders.

Joey walked over and asked, "Perospero, whose idea was this?"

With just a glance, he already knew what this was.

A Mirror Domain!

Or more precisely…A Mirror Portal!

Custard's Mirror-Mirror Fruit allowed her to create mirrors.

However, the internal mirror world had size limitations.

It wasn't like he could place a mirror on the other side of the world and connect it instantly.

That would be absurd.

But covering the entirety of Totto Land? That was completely doable.

The size of the Mirror World wasn't something Custard could expand through training. It was a fixed size, much like the Castle-Castle Fruit.

So unless Custard awakened her Devil Fruit to a higher level, the Mirror World's size wouldn't change.

Still…

It was more than enough for now.

By linking all the islands through various mirrors, and then carefully placing these mirror portals in the most strategic locations, Custard ensured they became permanent fixtures.

Perospero spoke directly, "Compote came up with the idea. Since you weren't around, big bro, she just went ahead and took action."

"Heh heh heh—"

Joey chuckled. "You guys are finally learning. That's great! You need to think outside the box. Don't always cling to the same old ways."

He was genuinely pleased.

It meant his younger siblings were growing.

And that was the most important thing.

Their growth mattered the most.

Then, Joey said, "Perospero, take your time handling this. I'm heading back first."

Perospero nodded. "Got it, big bro! No problem!"

Joey stepped through the mirror and entered the Mirror World.

Meanwhile, Perospero continued his work.

For the next period, the entire Charlotte Family entered a phase of stable development.

Joey kept searching for worthwhile trades.

Unfortunately, finding good deals was getting harder and harder.

After so many years, any clan leader with half a brain already knew exactly what could and couldn't be traded. Under these circumstances, getting what he wanted purely through business deals was no longer easy.

That said…

The Charlotte Family's growth hadn't slowed down just because of that!

"Roar!"

"Screech!"

The Azure dragon and massive beasts roared in the skies.

Countless invaders were slaughtered.

And every single one of them was dealt with in the shortest time possible.

By then, some people had already boarded the enemy ships, taking all the treasures and capturing non-human slaves.

Honestly, the spoils weren't much. But small gains added up.

And there was no shortage of attackers!

With such a ridiculous number of enemies coming in, there was always something valuable to take.

In a short period, they had captured longarm clansmen, longleg tribesmen, and even fish-men.

Not to mention, Joey had also brought back a batch of slaves from the Celestial Dragons.

However…

That batch didn't include any rare races like the Mink Tribe.

Even the Three-Eyed Tribe and the Snake-Neck Tribe were incredibly scarce.

"Huff—"

Opera landed and asked, "How's the situation?"

Cabaletta replied, "Opera bro, don't worry! I've got this under control. No problems at all."

Opera gave him a long, silent stare.

After a moment of silence, he still didn't say anything.

It was precisely because Cabaletta was handling things that he was worried.

That short temper of his was a huge liability.

But…

There was no point in saying that out loud.

It would just hurt his brother's feelings.

Cadenza rubbed his forehead. "How many invaders have we dealt with so far?"

Opera thought for a moment. "Roughly over 300 by now. And that's not even counting Katakuri, who alone has wiped out nearly 100 underground factions outside."

"Seriously… what a hassle," Cadenza sighed.

"Yeah…" Opera agreed, shaking his head.

The three brothers sighed together. There was nothing else to do but accept reality.

At the very least, until the World Conference began…

This situation wasn't going to change.

Wanting things to be different?

That was basically wishful thinking.

"Over here!"

"This way!"

"Keep moving!"

Amidst the loud shouts, Daifuku and Oven had fully embraced their roles as construction bosses, leading architects and craftsmen across various islands.

The Hundred-Arms Island of the Longarm Tribe.

The Sun-Chasing Island of the Longleg Tribe.

The Giant Whale Island of the Fish-Men.

Atlantis, home of the Mermaids.

Memory Island of the Three-Eyed Tribe.

Paradise Island of the Snake-Neck Tribe.

Of course, these islands' renovations were part of later projects. The real priority right now was Draenor Island, the homeland of the Beastmen.

Other races didn't have large enough numbers to require urgent action.

But the Beastmen?

Now they were a major tribe.

And when Joey had struck a deal with the Shadow Moon Clan's leader, he couldn't help but be impressed.

That guy was ruthless!

A full 10,000 Beastmen had been offered up.

And they weren't just any Beastmen—he had handed over seven entire clans, covering all of the Beastmen's seven most important lineages.

Which meant…

More work for Daifuku and Oven.

With blueprints in hand, they had no choice but to follow them to the letter.

"Arghhh!" Daifuku groaned in frustration. "We have to be close to finishing by now, right? This is way too exhausting!"

"Huff—" Oven panted heavily. "Yeah… Draenor Island is pretty much done. Just a few finishing touches left. We'll wrap it up before the year ends and enjoy the New Year!"

"Sigh…"

The two brothers exchanged a look and sighed helplessly.

It was such a tedious job.

And the worst part?

They couldn't afford to slack off.

As younger brothers, they knew how much of a perfectionist their big bro was. If they made even the slightest mistake?

Heh…

No need to explain the consequences.

Forget just redoing the work—they would be the ones suffering the most.

Still, at least Draenor Island was almost done.

The hard part was finally over.

Stepping through the mirror portal, Perospero arrived and spotted the two exhausted men.

"How's it going over here?" he asked.

Daifuku groaned, "Perospero bro, we're basically done. Not much left to worry about."

Perospero chuckled. "Good! Don't stress. Big bro already said that starting next year, you two won't have to do this kind of work anymore. Amande isn't going anywhere, she'll be managing Draenor Island from now on."

Oven's eyes lit up. "For real? Amande's taking over?"

Perospero nodded. "Yep. That's what big bro said."

"Oh hell yeah!"

"Finally!!!"

The two brothers cheered instantly.

They felt like they could finally breathe again.

After all…

Daifuku was cold and calculating.

Oven was violent and short-tempered.

These two were not suited for construction work.

Did Joey know that?

Of course he did.

As their big bro, he knew exactly what kind of personalities his siblings had.

And that was precisely why he made them do it.

It was all part of their training—to help them develop patience and self-control.

Joey had never been lax when it came to teaching his siblings to grow stronger.

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