As the saying goes, "Where there are people, there are flicts." The same principle applies to the Celestial Dragons in the Holy Land of Mariejois.

  Celestial Dragons don't bother peting with ordinary "untouchables" because they have o tend with such lowly beings.

  Anything they desire, they simply take.

  To the Celestial Dragons, they are ily "superior." There is o fight because the untouchables wouldn't dare to oppose them. Could any lowborn oruly dare to rob a Celestial Dragon?

  Therefore, flicts amoial Dragons are usually restricted to their own css. Only those with equal nobility are sidered their "rivals."

  If you were to ret Donquixote Cudius's experiences, it would sound like a bad soap opera filled with absurdity and irony.

  Don't let his status as a low-level Celestial Dragon fool you his parents were once quite iial.

  They were the inal heads of the Donquixote family, making Cudius, by birthright, a true "Sed Geioial Dragon.

  But as fate would have it, life is uable, and disasters strike even those who sider themselves gods.

  In the end, the Celestial Dragons are merely human, subject to the same cycle of birth, aging, siess, ah.

  Cudius's parents died three years ago from an incurable illness. At that time, Cudius was just seven years old far too young to assume his father's position as the head of the Donquixote family.

  With no oo take up the mantle, trol of the family fell to Dofmingo's father, Donquixote Homing.

  Homing was an anomaly among the Celestial Dragons.

  He was kied and cked the malicious iions typical of his kind. He treated the young Cudius with genuine care, raising him like his own sohe past three years.

  If nothing unusual had occurred, Cudius would have tio grow up under Homing's care, living a life of luxury and indulgeil adulthood, where he could simply ze about like the rest of the useless Celestial Dragons, enjoying all that the world had to offer.

  What more could a wasteful Celestial Dragon want? However, acc to Cudius's memories, Homing had even po return the position of family patriarch to Cudius once he reached adulthood.

  "If I think about it, living su unproductive life while still enjoying everything the world has to offer… It doesn't sound half bad, does it?" Cudius murmured with a wry smile.

  It has to be said, living such a life would indeed be quite pleasant le, o fapleasant matters...

  But thereihe problem...

  For some reason, there seems to be an inexplicable "idealistic trait" buried deep within the Donquixote lineage, causing one or two problematidividuals to appear every so often.

  In Cudius's view, these people are "mentally defit" those who ot prehey. And, to make matters worse, Donquixote Homing, the current head of the Donquixote family, is exactly one of these individuals.

  Over the past year or so, perhaps due to a trip he took with his wife and children to the North Blue where he withe world's true state, Homing's idealistic trait had been fully triggered.

  A promi patriarch of the Holy Land Mariejois, a great man amoial Dragons, was now experieng a sort of mental pse. Every so ofteertaihe bizarre idea that he didn't want to be a Celestial Dragon anymore he wao be an ordinary man living in the "lower realms" with the on folk.

  Within the Celestial Dragon css, such thoughts are sidered ht lunacy the very epitome of mental siess.

  Worse yet, after pting this fantasy for a year, Homing hadn't discarded the notion. Instead, he was more vihat this was the path he should follow.

  As the saying goes, "Longing is the furthest distance from uanding." Homing, fixated on the simple life of ordinary people, believed it to be carefree and fulfilling.

  He dreamt of living a life of farming and simplicity, never once sidering the harsh realities of such a lifestyle. It was truly a cssic example of the naive perspective of those who live above the world's struggles.

  After all, how could a Celestial Dragon, born at the pinnacle of the world, possibly uand the hardships of the on people? It was the same as if a king told a starving peasant, "Why don't you eat meat instead?"

  Due to this delusional fantasy, over the past year, Homing had begun making arras to create a "fallba" for the Donquixote family.

  As the current head of the Donquixote family, Homing did have some sense of responsibility. He wasn't pnning to simply disappear and leave everything behind. Instead, he began anizing the handover of the family's power ah.

  During this process, the previously inspicuous Cudius suddenly found himself in a very unfortunate position.

  Despite his status as a useless waste, Cudius was still the legitimate heir of the Donquixote family acc to both w and bloodline.

  And among the Celestial Dragons, lineage is everything. It's the fual basis upon which their entire power structure and css system are built.

  Thus, when Homing prepared to relinquish his position as head of the family, Cudius was naturally pushed into the spotlight.

  Homing sincerely inteo return the leadership of the Donquixote family to Cudius. Cudius, in his former state of blissful ignorance, had no sense of the danger and eagerly accepted the arra, pletely oblivious to the storm brewing around him.

  Thinking ba it now, Cudius felt utterly speechless. His predecessor was truly a na?ve and inpetent fool. He didn't even stop to sider that, beyond having a more legitimate bloodline, he had absolutely no qualifications to bee the head of the Donquixote family.

  First of all, there was his age. Was everyone else in the Donquixote family dead? Why else would they need a ten-year-old child to bee their leader?

  Sedly, due to his youth and the early death of his parents, Homing being the kied simpleton that he was—had not left Cudius with any capable supporters or advisors.

  Thus, in terms of power and influence, Cudius had absolutely no foundation. He was just a worthless, powerless child.

  If Cudius had been a genius, someone who showed promise and potential, perhaps the other Celestial Dragons might have tolerated his leadership, albeit relutly, in the hopes that he could elevate the Donquixote family to new heights iure.

  But the former Cudius was a true idiot, someone who could aplish nothing except eat, sleep, and waste away.

  So, what did the rest of the Donquixote family think? With a mediocre brat like Cudius leading them, it wouldn't be long before the once-prestigious Donquixote family fell to the bottom of the 19 Celestial Dragon families.

  Thus, for the sake of both the family's honor and their own power, everyoh a shred of intelligehin the Donquixote family secretly opposed the idea of Cudius being the family's head.

  Cudius uood this se perfectly now. If it had been up to him, he wouldn't have chosen such a waste to be the head of the family either!

  But that idealist Homing couldn't see the truth. He believed that returning the family's authority to Cudius was the rightful choice, that it was a moral duty to restore Cudius's position.

  And so, events unfolded oer another. First, Cudius was tricked iing a Devil Fruit prepared as a mere fruit sad, no less being the ughingstock of the Celestial Dragons.

  This alone should have been enough, but Homing's stubbornness remained unmoved, even after Cudius became a joke among his peers. This only made things harder for those rational-minded Celestial Dragons who didn't want to see Cudius leading the family.

  Forced into a er by Homing's stubbornness and Cudius's sheer iude, they had no choice but to resort to drastic measures.

  Thus, the i leading to Cudius's shipwreck occurred. After being poisoned with a Devil Fruit, he was cast out to sea. Given the way things pyed out, Cudius, a useless waste with no special abilities, should have died.

  In fact, he did die in that shipwreck. The inal Cudius's soul perished, making way for the rebirth of a new one.

  Sitting on the rocky shore of this desote isnd, Cudius felt exasperated as he recalled the absurd events that had transpired in his predecessor's life. If that fool had possessed just a bit of self-awareness and didn't arrogantly believe he deserved to be the head of the Donquixote family, he wouldn't have ended up dead at sea. He wouldn't have eaten a Devil Fruit, let alone bee a ughingstock.

  But what's done is dohere was n baow, and Cudius could only focus oure.

  Currently, he was stranded on a deserted isnd. Building a ship by himself was irely impossible, but the problem was that he had no experieh sailing, let alone navigating through the dangerous New World. Attempting to go out to sea would only lead to a quicker death.

  Thus, from the very beginning, Cudius had no iion of building a ship to sail away. He was left with only two choices.

  The first option was to do nothing, accept this damn fate, and wait here until he really died. The previous owner of this body had already chosen this path, resulting in the current situation of having a new soul occupy his lifeless shell.

  The sed option was to find a way to survive on this isnd and wait for rescue.

  Yes, even if this was a spiracy, Cudius was still a Celestial Dragon. Even if it was for appearances' sake, the Donquixote family would definitely send people to search for and rescue him.

  It's just that the process might be deyed. They would likely wait until everyone was certain Cudius was dead and lost forever before making a move.

  But that was enough for Cudius. He believed he could survive long enough for the rescue team to arrive and bring him baariejois.

  "Damn it, when I get baariejois, the first thing I'm going to do is annouhat I'm quitting this nonsense of being the Donquixote family's patriarch. Whoever wants the position take it!" Cudius cursed angrily.

  With his current abilities, even if he now had a different soul, it was impossible for him to immediately gain support and bee the head of the Donquixote family.

  Rather than struggle for a position he wasn't suited for, it was better to just give it up, ge his mi, and alter his approach.

  As for whether he harbored ament towards those who orchestrated the downfall of his predecessor… well, not really. After all, he couldn't stand his predecessor's inpeteher.

  Cudius ractical person. He wouldn't take on the burdens of his predecessor's "debts" just because he now inhabited his body. Swearing to avehe former owhat's simply not going to happen...

  Of course, if someoried to kill him again iure... well, Cudius wouldn't mind dealing with those who thought they could take him lightly.

  "Well, it's useless to think about it too muow. Let's focus on how to survive until rescue es… Damn it, a Celestial Dragon stranded on a deserted isnd? This is just ridiculous..." Cudius ughed at himself bitterly.