In the Cudius Pace, within the rge pond in the courtyard, two incredibly beautiful mermaid women were swimming gracefully. They seemed quite happy ier.

  These mermaids were sves, a gift from Dofmingo to Cudius when he left Mariejois two months ago. Cudius had kept them here mainly for the sake of appearances.

  Over the past two months, the two mermaids had begun to adjust to their new surroundings. They'd e to realize that their new master wasn't someone who e sves for amusement. He was even somewhat handsome and treated them with more kihan they had expected.

  pared to their previous lives, though they still hadn't gaiheir freedom or left Mariejois, things were much better. They no longer had to wear the colrs of sves, weren't locked in giant fish tanks on dispy, and no oossed vicious piranhas into the water to torment them for sport.

  At that moment, not far from the pond, Cudius arring with a few men wearing sve colrs, as if he was honing his bat skills against real oppos.

  The two mermaid girls y by the edge of the pond, watg the se with curiosity.

  "Mero, why do you think His Highness Cudius is doing this?" one of the mermaids asked her panion. "Isn't he one of the Celestial Dragons?"

  Sori, the other mermaid, shook her head in fusion and replied, "I have no idea. Maybe he's just bored. When I first came here, I was terrified. I never imagined a Celestial Dragon like Cudius could be se. Not only does he not torture us, but he even removed our sve colrs…"

  A glimmer of hope fshed in her eyes as she asked quietly, "Lenny, do you think there's a ce he might let us go home someday?"

  Lenny was silent for a moment, hope also flickering in her gaze. "I don't know, but… I have a feeling there's a ce."

  "If we could go home, that would be wonderful," Sori said softly. "I miss Fish-Man Isnd."

  In the past, when they were in Dofmingo's hands, simply staying alive had been their only hope. But after two months here, the idea of going home no longer seemed like an impossible dream. If Cudius knew about their secret hopes, he might even find it amusing. Could they really be mistaking him for a kied man?

  At that moment, Cudius threund sent one of the gdiator-like sves flying. His expression darkened.

  "I told you, you don't o hold back," Cudius said, frowning. "You're not going to get in trouble if you hurt me, so why are you still being so cautious? Do you think I'm just pying games here, pretending to fight?"

  The sves, trembling in fear, k down in the courtyard. Their bodies were drenched in cold sweat, too terrified to respond.

  Watg this, Cudius felt a wave of disgust.

  These sves had been broken stripped of their ce and hope. Especially the ones with some fighting ability, they'd been rigorously trained for Celestial Dragons, ditioned o resist or show aggression. They'd been taught to fear causing any harm, lest they pay with their lives and bring ruin upon their fellow sves.

  Even though Cudius had promised rewards, even their freedom, if they could defeat him, none of them dared to truly fight. They treated it like a game, perf fshy moves before deliberately leaving themselves open to be easily defeated.

  On the one hand, they didn't trust Cudius. He was still a Celestial Dragon, after all. They couldn't believe that beating him in a fight would lead to freedom. More likely, it would end in their deaths. Oher hand, they thought that pying along, making their master happy, might earn them a slightly easier life.

  Cudius, seeing them act like mindless drones, felt even more bored and frustrated. He waved to his steward, Nia, and said, "Take them to the arena. I don't want to see these pathetic creatures anymore."

  Nia nodded quickly. After a few orders, the guards came and escorted the group of trembling sves out of the courtyard.

  Nia then approached with a cup of tea, it to Cudius. "Yhness, why waste your energy on these sves? You've already given them a ce, but they're too broken to make use of it. They deserve to be sves."

  Cudius took the tea, sipping it to moisten his throat. He shook his head. "Pitiful people are always so detestable. It's not that they're weak that bothers me; it's that they're so useless that they have no value at all. No matter how many times I fight them, I 't gauge my own strength."

  Cudius had been training for about six months, making signifit progress. But there was no one around who could provide him with a real challenge. inally, he thought sparring with the sves might help, and he'd even sidered freeing them if they impressed him. But the whole thing had been a massive disappoi.

  He'd ohought about sneaking into the arena in disguise to fight, but when he mentiohis idea to Nia, she was so shocked that she immediately summohe arena's owhe poor man had nearly fainted from fear.

  The mere thought of Cudius, a Celestial Dragoing injured in his arena terrified the man. If Cudius were hurt, his entire family would likely face execution. And if the other Celestial Dragons found out that Cudius had been fighting sves, the sequences would be even worse.

  Cudius didn't want to cause unnecessary deaths over something like this, so he ultimately abahe idea.

  Handing the empty teacup back to Nia, Cudius rubbed his in thought. "If there's no other option… maybe I should visit the Naval Headquarters."

  "Naval Headquarters?" Nia repeated, surprised.

  "Yeah... why didn't I think of that earlier? I could go in disguise and ask Zephyr to set me up with some promising Marine recruits. It's such a simple solution," Cudius said, his eyes lighting up at the idea.

  While Nia found the notion a bit far-fetched, her duty was to serve. If His Highness had made up his mind, all she had to do was carry out his wishes.

  "Very well, Yhness. I'll fetch the phoransponder so you tact Admiral Zephyr," Nia replied.

  Meanwhile, at Naval Headquarters in Marineford, Fleet Admiral Kong was reviewing some dots in his office. A few months ago, a fierce flict had erupted in the New World between the pirate fleets of Ochoku and Golden Lion Shiki. The battle had been chaotic, but it now seemed like Shiki's forces were gaining the upper hand, while Ochoku's power had nearly been wiped out.

  "Maybe in a month or two, we'll see a winner between them," Kong mused, gng over the reports.

  Just then, there was a kno the door. Admiral Zephyr walked in, wearing an odd expression.

  "What's going on, Zephyr? You look… unusual," Kong remarked, raising an eyebrow.

  "Something strange has happened. A Celestial Dragon from Mariejois is ing to visit us here at Marineford," Zephyr said, still sounding puzzled.

  Kong blinked, searg through his papers. "What? I didn't receive any notice about that."

  While it wasn't unheard of for Celestial Dragons to visit Naval Headquarters, it was a rare occurrence, often happening only on a decade. And when it did, it was usually with a lot of pomp and ceremony, something the Fleet Admiral would definitely be aware of.

  Zephyr chuckled. "No, this isn't an official visit. He tacted me privately."

  "Privately? You have a direct lio a Celestial Dragon?" Kong asked, surprised.

  But then he paused, a thought crossing his mind. "Wait… is it that Cudius from the Donquixote family?"

  Zephyr nodded. "Yes, that's him. He called me out of nowhere, saying he wao visit, but asked that we not go overboard with preparations. He even said he'd be ing inito and didn't want ao know he was a Celestial Dragon."

  Ko out a slow breath, shaking his head in disbelief. "A private visit, disguised? This Cudius really is unlike any other Celestial Dragon I've ever heard of."

  Zephyr scratched his head. "I knht? He said he wants me te for some Marine recruits to spar with him. Apparently, he wants to test his skills."

  Kong stared at him, speechless. "A Celestial Dragon wants to e here, to Naval Headquarters, just to fight? What happens if he gets hurt? We'll be the ones in trouble!"

  "This is definitely ued," Kong finally said, still trying to his mind around it.

  After thinking for a moment, he sighed. "Alright, pick a couple of recruits who put on a good show, but make sure they don't embarrass the Celestial Dragons. If we make them look bad, it'll cause us all sorts of problems."

  Zephyr smiled and shook his head. "I don't think that's the best approach, sir. You don't know Cudius like I do. He's not like the others. I think he genuinely wants to test his abilities. If we hahis seriously, it could be beneficial."

  Kong gave Zephyr a strange look. "Why do you say that?"

  Zephyr didn't hold back. He nodded and said, "Well, for one, he's sort of like a disciple of mine. I've been w with him on some bat teiques, and I'd like to see for myself how far he's e i six months."

  Kong sat in silence for a moment, then finally nodded. "You've always had a good eye for people, Zephyr. I'll trust your judgment on this one. But if anything goes wrong, don't expect me to go to Mariejois to up the mess."

  Zephyr chuckled. "Don't worry. Leave it to me."