After Rayleigh's attack was blocked, he didn't make another move. Instead, he looked up at Cudius and his group on the hill, his expression a mixture of fusion and surprise. He couldn't quite uand why Cudius had stepped in to stop him.

  Wasn't this the same guy who spped another Celestial Dragon earlier? By all logic, there shouldn't be any good blood betweewo, so why defend him now?

  "You're the guy from the au house, aren't you? Crowe, right? What's going on here?" Rayleigh asked, his eyes narrowing.

  "Cudius. Donquixote Cudius," Cudius corrected him with a soft smile.

  "So you are a Celestial Dragon," Rayleigh said, grinning. "Makes sense. Only someone like you would dare to hit another Celestial Dragon."

  Cudius chuckled. "And weren't you about to hit him too? It looks like the title of Celestial Drago mean much to you."

  At this point, Roger, who had been quietly the exge, burst into ughter.

  "Hahahaha! We're pirates! Obeying ws isly our thing. Whether we hit your Celestial Dragons or not, the Marines will e after us anyway. If we y a hand on them, it won't make much of a differenbsp;

  We've already got plenty of heat on us, and it's not like we have a fixed base of operations. Catg us won't be easy," Roger said, still ughiily.

  "Fair enough," Cudius nodded. "That logic holds up. But you see, I happeo withe whole thing. And as a Celestial Dragon, I 't just stand by and watch you bully Rothschild like that."

  Rayleigh raised an eyebrow, his surprise evident. "Didn't you just bully him yourself not too long ago?"

  Cudius g Rayleigh, then calmly expined, "That's different. I'm a Celestial Dragon. How I handle him is an internal affair. But you guys? You're pirates. If you attack him and the world sees, it'll be a disgrace to all Celestial Dragons. And if our reputation is tarhat includes me. So, of course, I have to step in."

  Rayleigh blinked in uanding and nodded slightly. Before he could respond, Rothschild, still furious, jumped into the versation.

  "Cudius, you b******! Don't meddle in my affairs! Do you think these filthy pirates actually bully me? I have twice as many servants as they do!" Rothschild spat, pointing an acg fi Cudius.

  "What an idiot…" Cudius muttered under his breath, utterly unimpressed.

  Roger, meanwhile, was ughing so hard he could barely catch his breath.

  "Hahahaha! Exactly, what an idiot! I always thought all Celestial Dragons were like him, but I didn't expeeone like you among them!" Roger said, wiping a tear from his eye.

  But just as his ughter subsided, an intense pressure began radiating from him. It was a force so powerful it seemed to distort the very air around them. Cudius felt the pressure settle heavily on his chest, as if an invisible weight ressing down on him.

  Stussy, standing beside Cudius, gasped in shock, her eyes wide. "queror's Haki! That's queror's Haki!"

  Cudius wasn't particurly surprised. After all, this was Gol D. Roger, the man who would eventually bee the Pirate King. Of course, he would possess the legendary queror's Haki. Still, the force wasn't directly aimed at Cudius, and even Nia, his butler, only felt a slight strain from the pressure.

  However, on Rothschild's side, things weren't so easy. Roger's Haki swept through the area, causing all of Rothschild's servants to colpse unscious, leaving him standing there alone and utterly bewildered.

  "W-what did you just do?" Rothschild stammered in fear.

  Cudius shook his head in frustration. While there were certainly powerful figures among the Celestial Dragons, idiots like Rothschild made Cudius wonder how long he could survive being associated with supetence.

  "See now? Your servants are useless! Get out of here already!" Cudius s Rothschild.

  Rothschild, sensing that the tides had pletely turned against him, no longer had the arrogance from earlier. With Cudius berating him and Roger's overwhelming power looming over him, he hastily ran towards Cudius, leaving his unscious servants behind.

  Cudius turo the Roger Pirates and said calmly, "You've settled your score. No one is stopping you now. Why haven't you left yet? Unless you're thinking of following me baariejois?"

  Roger, still intrigued by Cudius, studied him with curious eyes. While he had crossed paths with Celestial Dragons before, especially during the God Valley I, he had never met one like Cudius. This one was… different.

  After a brief silence, Rrinned and suddenly asked, "You know, being a Celestial Dragon seems pretty b. Why don't you e with us? The world's a big pce, and we're setting out to find its end. It'll be an adventure like no other. What do you say?"

  For a moment, Cudius was taken aback. Did Roger just invite him one of the Celestial Dragons to join his pirate crew? Was he serious?

  Not only was Cudius stunned, but so was everyone else around them. Rayleigh quickly snapped out of it and scolded Roger, "Roger, are you out of your mind? If he gets on our ship, we'll never be able to escape! The Wover and Marines would hunt us down like never before!"

  Rayleigh had a point. If Cudius joihe Roger Pirates, the Wover would undoubtedly bel it as a kidnapping, and the Marines would stop at nothing to destroy the crew. Plus, if wot out that a Celestial Dragon had bee a pirate, it would be an enormous blow to the Wover's prestige.

  Roger rubbed the back of his head with an awkward smile, realizing his mistake, while Cudius finally snapped back to reality.

  Did he want to jer's crew? If he weren't a Celestial Dragon, living a cushy life in Mariejois, he might have seriously sidered it. If he were just some random guy living in Sabaody, he'd probably be begging Roger for a spot on the ship right now. The ce to see the end of the world and us secrets? It was a tempting thought.

  But the reality was, Cudius was a Celestial Dragon. He had power, status, and a life of luxury awaiting him. Joining the Roger Pirates was a fool's errand.

  So Cudius remained silent, and Roger, realizing how absurd his offer had beehe moment pass. The tension in the air became awkward, and the group fell into silence.

  It was at that moment that Copper Jabba spoke up. "Captain, someone probably called the Marines after the se at the au house. If we don't leave soon, things might get troublesome."

  Roger blinked as if suddenly reminded of their situation. "Ah, right! I've got a feeling Garp's already on his way here!"

  With that, the Roger Pirates made a quick decision to leave the isnd before the Marines arrived. But before they left, Roger called back to Cudius with a grin.

  "Hey, what I said earlier still stands! If you ever get tired of being a Celestial Dragon, e find us!"

  Befer could finish, Rayleigh cmped a hand over his mouth, muttering, "Enough with that already. If this guy actually takes you up on that, we'll be in way over our heads."

  And just like that, the infamer Pirates left Sabaody, though Cudius couldn't help but scratch his head in fusion. The whole enter felt… off. This was the future Pirate King? Why did he seem so… casual?

  Still, Cudius knew ohing for sure despite how strahe enter had been, Roger and his crew were not to be uimated. Today, things had gone oddly smoothly, but that didn't mean future enters would be so harmless. These men were dangerous, no doubt about it.

  Just as Cudius was lost in thought, his butler Nija received a phone call. After answering a few questions, she approached Cudius with a serious expression.

  "Yhness, there's been an i at Mariejois."

  Cudius frowned. "What kind of i?"

  "The Homing family has returned, but they were stopped at the port. There seems to be some kind of dispute…" Nia expined.

  After a moment of thought, Cudius remembered. Ah, yes. It had been nearly three months. The Homing family, after realizing they couldn't make it in North Blue, had e crawling back, hoping to recim their status as Celestial Dragons.

  But this was ridiculous. They had left voluntarily, throwing away their le. And now they wanted ba? As if the position of Celestial Dragon was a revolving door.

  "What's more, they left everything behind when they ran off. How do they expect La, who's been managing things for the past three months, to just step aside now that they're back?" Cudius thought, shaking his head in exasperation.

  This was no small matter. The Homing family was essentially trying to re-enter Mariejois as if nothing had happened, expeg to pick up where they left off. But among the Celestial Dragons, their departure had already brahem as traitors. ing baow wasn't going to be as simple as they thought.

  Cudius sighed. "Do they think the other Celestial Dragons will just wele them back with open arms?"

  After a brief pause, he made his decision. "Let's head baariejois and see what's going on."