The Five Elders' decision once again won Im's approval. No matter how strong Charlotte Katakuri was, he was still a mortal who would die sooner or later. As long as he did not cross the bottom line, it did not matter if they tolerated him for a few decades. Once he died of old age, the territory they had lost could be reclaimed, just like every strategic retreat in the past.
However, the World Government had not done nothing. For instance, they had deployed more spies than ever before. Besides confirming whether Totto Land harbored greater ambitions, they also wanted to uncover the method it used to safely strip away Devil Fruits.
Unlike his relatively unknown younger siblings, Charlotte Katakuri was already famous throughout the world. The moment he switched Devil Fruits, the World Government learned of it and naturally became intensely interested.
The World Government also had powerful individuals whose growth potential had been hindered by eating the wrong Devil Fruit. If there were a way to let them choose again, the World Government's strength could naturally increase considerably.
But the Five Elders did not know that Totto Land's method of safely stripping away Devils hinged on Mousse, the Book-Book Fruit user. It could not be replicated at all.
Furthermore, Totto Land's counterintelligence capabilities grew ever stronger after Mousse took over its intelligence network. In the end, countless CP0 agents merely became Homies. The latter came with intelligence-gathering abilities and knew CP0's inner workings intimately, so they in turn further strengthened Totto Land's counterintelligence capabilities, creating a virtuous cycle.
In the end, not only did the Celestial Dragons lose a large number of loyal and capable servants, but CP0 was also infiltrated until it was riddled with holes.
Stussy, who had always felt conflicted about being forced by the