Hearing this, Cudius raised an eyebrow and asked curiously, "Lucci? By the way, where's the kid? Isn't he always with you? Why don't I see him around?"

  For the past few years, Lucci had been under Spandine's care. Spandine knew how important Lucci was to Saint Cudius, so he didn't dare mistreat him. Occasionally, he eve Lucci go on missions to train him as a potential successor.

  inally, Spandine had inteo groom his own son, Spandam, as his successor. But Spandam was, frankly, hopeless. If they were still in CP-9, it wouldn't have mattered as much, Spandine was the top figure there and could manipute things however he wanted.

  But now, under Saint Cudius, his position was signifitly higher, and his influence much greater. Former colleagues in the CP anization, who oood on equal footing with him, now bowed their heads and called him "sir" at every turn. Spandine relished this newfound status.

  The key to his success was that Saint Cudius trusted him immensely and gave him plenty of autonomy. Cudius left the handling of most small- and medium-sized matters within CP-X to Spandine, who so far had not disappointed him.

  In terms of actual petence, Spandine was a bit mediocre, but his political instincts were exceptional.

  The more time Spandine spent under Saint Cudius, the clearer ohing became: loyalty and utility were all that mattered.

  Cudius appreciated capable subordinates, but what he valued most was loyalty. Spandine had e to realize that, at this point, he cared less about the Wover's is and more about what beed Saint Cudius.

  Spandine also uood that if he pushed his inpetent son into his position and Spandam ended up making some catastrophic bluhat angered Cudius, there would be hell to pay. He couldn't risk it.

  So, Spaopped eaining the idea. He had tested his son thhly, only to clude that Spandam was utterly useless.

  Spandam had only two "strengths": he was blindly loyal to Cudius, thanks to Spandine's influence, and he excelled at fttery.

  Spandine, ever resourceful, decided to lean into these "strengths." If his son couldn't excel in other areas, he could at least be an errand-running ckey for Saint Cudius. With Cudius's magnanimous character, he would ehat even a loyal dog like Spandam would live a fortable life.

  As long as their family maintained Cudius's favor, their future seemed secure. And who knew? Maybe a more petent heir would emerge in the geion.

  Setting those thoughts aside, Spandine quickly respoo Cudius's question. "Yhness, Lucci is currently locked up in Mariejois's prison..."

  Cudius was momentarily surprised. "What? Mariejois? Who in Mariejois dares to imprison one of my men?"

  "What happened? Expin clearly," Cudius demanded, his brow furrowing.

  Spandine quickly unched into an expnation. "Yhness, not long ago, in the first half of the Grand Line, a try was attacked and taken over by pirates."

  Hearing this, Cudius sighed. The Age of Pirates was rife with chaos. It wasn't unheard of froup of powerful pirates to overthrow a nation's capital.

  "The higher-ups assigned CP-X to hahe situation, so I sent Lucci," Spandine tinued, carefully reting the events without beating around the bush. Soon enough, Cudius grasped the full text.

  "So that's what happened? And this is sidered a big deal?" Cudius said with a wry smile.

  To summarize, a group of pirates had captured the capital of a nation. The king had fled early on, leaving behind many hostages, including a young prince who had failed to escape.

  This prio his credit, had cealed his identity and blended in with the other hostages.

  When the king learhat his son was among the captured, he panicked. Lag the resources to pay the pirates' ransom, he turo the Wover for help.

  As a member of the Wover's allied nations, the situation couldn't be ighe task of resolving the matter fell to CP-X, and Cudius, busy with other affairs, left it to Spao handle.

  Spandine, in turn, delegated the mission to Lucci.

  Lucci, however, had a temper and a sense of pride. As a member of CP-X and a subordinate of Saint Cudius, a Celestial Dragon, he had no iion of bowing to pirates otiating with them.

  Instead, he unched a direct assault, killing all the pirates along with the hostages they had taken, including the unfortunate prince.

  When news reached the old king, he pletely lost it. His son had died, and more than 500 hostages were sughtered in the process. He accused Lucci of reckless sughter and demanded justice from the Wover.

  As a result, Lucci was arrested and imprisoned in Mariejois. Spandine, meanwhile, was reprimanded. Since Cudius had been occupied with matters on Fish-Man Isnd, he was unaware of the situation until now.

  "It's no big deal," Cudius said casually. "It's just a minor issue. They put on a show, act like they're punishing someone, but in the end, it'll all blow over."

  "But, Yhness," Spaerjected nervously, "the atmosphere in Mariejois hasn't beeely. After the noise you made there earlier, it seems the Five Elders are looking for an excuse to punish CP-X. Now with this i, I'm worried it might cause trouble for you."

  Cudius immediately saw through Spandine's words. The man was trying to py the victim, hoping to shift the bme while seeking reassurance.

  Cudius smirked, kig Spandine lightly. "You think I don't see through your little act? Cut it out. As long as you don't disappoint me, I won't treat you badly."

  Hearing this, Spandine rexed. Smiling ingratiatingly, he got up and asked, "Yhness, how should we hahis? There's also the matter of the 500 million Berries fine. What should we do about that?"

  "Ah, that's just a face-saving move," Cudius replied dismissively. "The Five Elders need something to show for it after all the ruckus I caused in Mariejois. Five hundred million? That's nothing. I could pull two billion out of thin air if I wao. Just go ahead and pay it. Ohat's dohe matter will be over.

  "As for Lucci, it's no big deal. When this is all settled, bring him out to see me," Cudius instructed.

  Spa out a sigh of relief. While he didn't know the full details of the situation, Cudius's fident tone assured him that there was no real danger.

  "Uood, Yhness. Your wisdom never fails. I was overthinking things," Spandine said, quickly following up with fttery.

  Junkdog