The Holy Land, Mariejois.

  The sun shone brightly over the pristiy, casting its golden glow upon the sacred grounds. Everything seemed as tranquil and routine as ever.

  However, deep within one of the grand paces, the figure of Marshall D. Teach stood outside a vish courtyard. He appeared somewhat anxious, shifting uneasily as if nervous but anyone who truly knew him would reize that this was all an act. Unfortunately, no one here could see through his performance.

  Back when he was aboard the Prometheus, Teach had thought he had witrue luxury. But stepping into Cudius' pace made him realize he had been a frog at the bottom of a well, this ulence beyond his wildest imagination.

  On the way here, he had seen enough to uand the sheer magnitude of Cudius' power, and what shocked him even more was the manner of his escort. The oo pick him up at the port wasn't a knight or a ainer just a maid. But this maid walked through Mariejois as if she owhe pce.

  They had entered two different groups of Celestial Dragons on the way. Teach had seen them from afar and, out of instinct, had already prepared to abandon his dignity and grovel before them.

  Yet, much to his surprise, the maid leading him didn't even slow down.

  The se that unfolded was pletely beyond Teach's expectations. He had assumed that even as a servant of Cudius, the maid would still show defereo the Celestial Dragons. But no—the woman, named Nia, walked forward arrogantly, not even b to aowledge their presence.

  Teach had braced himself for a frontation. After all, a mere maid ign the Celestial Dragons? That was a death sentence.

  Ao his utter shock, the two Celestial Dragoed as if they had just seen a ghost. Instead of expressing e, they stepped aside, avoiding her gaze entirely, as if she were the true aristocrat and they were the untouchables.

  At that moment, Teach became even more vinced, he had truly tched onto an untouchable golden thigh. Ohicker than he could have ever dreamed of.

  A vague memory from years ago surfaced in his mind…

  "Wait a minute… Mariejois' Demon King…"

  Teach's eyes gleamed as he finally pieced it together.

  "So, His Highness Cudius is really a force to be reed with in Mariejois." He muttered under his breath.

  And it was true.

  As Cudius' influence grew, even the Five Elders had begun to rely on him more and more. His power had reached such heights that most of the Celestial Dragons no longer dared to provoke him many even carried a deep-seated fear of him.

  There had been those who tried, of course. Some Celestial Dragons thought that while they couldn't touch Cudius directly, they could at least bully his subordinates.

  One particur fool had tested this theory when Cudius was away from Mariejois. The target? her than his head maid, Nia.

  The result? Nia suffered some humiliation, taking a few sps to the face.

  But when Cudius returned and heard about it…

  He stormed into that Celestial Dragoe and, without hesitatiohe entire family men, women, children, elderly, into hospital beds for over four months.

  The Five Elders? They merely fined him a few hundred million Berries and called it a day.

  From that moment on, no one in Mariejois dared to challenge Cudius again. Even his servants, including Nia, were now untouchable.

  Of course, to the outside world, these is were hushed up, sidered "internal sdals" among the Celestial Dragons. Teach had no way of knowing the full story.

  All he could tell was that Cudius stood in airely different league from the rest of the Celestial Dragons. Those so-called "gods" seemed to treat him as something far more terrifying almost as if they had entered a demon.

  Just as Teach rocessing all of this, a small maid approached him. Her posture was haughty, her tone indifferent.

  "Teach, right? His Highness Cudius has summoned you. You may enter."

  Despite her arrogaeach didn't take offense. Instead, he smiled, bowing slightly as he spoke in a fttering tohank you, my beautiful dy. Would you kindly lead the way?"

  The maid seemed pleased with his attitude. Her air of superiority softened slightly as she nodded with a small smile. "You're quite polite. Follow me."

  Teach followed her into the courtyard, where he spotted Cudius in the distahe man was sitting leisurely by the edge of a pristine pool, a fishing rod in hand, seemingly lost in the simple pleasure of fishing.

  But Teach's attention wasn't on Cudius, it was on Nia. More specifically, on the small box she held in her hands.

  His breath hitched slightly.

  "That box… It has to be the reward for my missiht?"

  Teach had done what Cudius asked. He had taken care of the problem. Now, was this the moment? Was his prize ihat box?

  His heart pounded.

  "The Dark-Dark Fruit…"

  Suppressing his excitement, he swallowed hard, f himself to remain calm and posed.

  The maid led Teach to Cudius and spoke softly, "Yhness, Teach has arrived."

  Cudius didn't even gnce back. He simply nodded absently, his focus still on his fishing rod.

  "Mm."

  The maid, sensing she was no longer needed, bowed and quickly retreated.

  Teach took a deep breath before stepping forward. Then, without hesitation, he dropped to his knees and bowed deeply, pressing his forehead to the ground.

  The sound of his forehead knog against the floor echoed through the courtyard.

  Though Cudius still didn't turn around, he heard the knod smirked inwardly.

  "This guy really knows how to py the game."

  "Rise." Cudius said casually.

  Teach obeyed, but as he got up, he couldn't help but notiething different this time.

  The st time he had prostrated himself before Cudius, the man had barely aowledged his existeoo absorbed in his book to even g him.

  This time, though Cudius was fishing, he at least responded.

  "Does this mean he's starting to value me more?"

  Teach felt a strange sense of excitement at the thought.

  Then he froze.

  "Wait… Am I… getting addicted to knog my head on the ground? What the hell is wrong with me?"

  Cudius, of course, had no idea what was running through Teach's mind. Nor did he know that Teach had nearly died at the hands of Moria during his mission.

  "Yhness," Teach said, keeping his voice steady, "thank you for yenerosity."

  Cudius still didn't reply. He simply reeled in his fishing rod, pulling a filing fish out of the water.

  Teach's eyes gleamed.

  "Yhness, impressive teique!" he praised shamelessly.

  Feeling that wasn't enough, he quickly stepped forward, plucked the fish off the hook, and held it up respectfully as if presenting some rare treasure.

  Cudius chuckled. "You're quite something, Teach. Here, the fish is yours."

  Teach acted as if he had just received the greatest gift in the world. "Thank you, Yhness! I swear, I'll savor every bite, without leaving a single bone behind!"

  Cudius ughed, shaking his head.

  Setting his fishing rod aside, he took a sip of tea before finally speaking.

  "You did well this time," he said. "Moria has been locked away in Impel Down. No one will hear from him again. From now on, he'll simply be sidered another casualty of the Devil's Triangle."

  Teach bowed his head. "Yes, Yhness. I will follow your will."

  "You've proven your worth." Cudius smiled faintly. "And I appreciate valuable people."

  At his signal, Nia stepped forward and opehe small box.

  Teach's eyes burned with greed.

  Ihe Dark-Dark Fruit gleamed.

  ***

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