"Hahahaha! So that's how you people see me?" Cudius ughed, his voice hearty and unbothered. "Well, I 't say I'm surprised, but vicious dog? I suppose it fits in its own way."

  Fisher Tiger watched Cudius, his sharp eyes fshing with curiosity. This man truly was unlike any other. Fisher Tiger had essentially insulted him, yet Cudius ughed it off as if it were nothing. It was clear that this Celestial Dragoed on a pletely different wavelength from the others.

  After his ughter subsided, Cudius shifted his gaze back to Fisher Tiger and said, "Alright, enough with the idle talk. You must be w why I've brought you here."

  Fisher Tiger was, indeed, puzzled. He didn't see himself as someone important. Sure, he was the leader of Fish-Man Street, but in the grand scheme of things, that title was meaningless. Cudius was a Celestial Dragon, and not just aial Dragon—he owerful one. Why would someone of Cudius's stature bother with someone like him?

  "Yes, I am quite curious," Fisher Tiger admitted, his tone calm but wary.

  "Good." Cudius took a sip from his teacup, his demeanor casual yet deliberate. "Fisher Tiger, adventurer of some renown. Born in the chaos of Fish-Man Street, now its unofficial leader. Aly, you were captured and made a sve. Not many people know about that, do they? After all, you've been away from Fish-Man Isnd for years, off expl the world."

  Fisher Tiger frowned slightly, his fusion deepening. Cudius's knowledge of him was ulingly precise, as though he'd been keeping tabs on him.

  Cudius smiled. "Tiger— I call you that?"

  Fisher Tiger didn't respond, simply waiting to see where this versation was going.

  "What do you think of Mariejois?" Cudius asked, his tone light, as though they were discussing the weather.

  This time, Fisher Tiger didn't hesitate. "It's hell oh. A cesspool of filth and cruelty."

  Cudius nodded, seemingly unsurprised by the response. "You're right. For someone like you, it is a dark and evil pce."

  "And for someone like you, a Celestial Dragon, it's not, is it?" Fisher Tiger said, his toter.

  "Naturally," Cudius replied, his smile faint. "But you hate this pce, don't you? You hate it so much you'd burn it to the ground if you could."

  Fisher Tiger was silent for a moment before deg there was no point in lying. "Yes. I'd burn it all to ash if I had the ce."

  "Of course you would," Cudius said, nodding again. "But your hatred doesn't matter, Tiger. The world won't ge just because one person hates something. After all, you're just… a small man, aren't you?"

  Fisher Tiger had yet to escape from Mariejois. He had no way of knowing that one day he would succeed, that he would lead a rebellion, free tless sves, and inspire a geion of revolutionaries. At this moment, Cudius's words stung because they rang true. He was just a single man, and his hatred alone couldn't shake the world.

  "That's right," Fisher Tiger admitted softly, though there was a hint of defian his voice.

  "But I'm different," Cudius said, his tone calm but firm.

  The words were simple, but they carried a weight that Fisher Tiger couldn't ignore. Cudius wasn't wrong. Unlike him, Cudius had the power to effect real ge. Even if that power wasn't absolute yet, it was undeniable.

  Still, Fisher Tiger didn't uand what Cudius was getting at. Was this some philosophical discussion? A veiled threat?

  Cudius reached for a stack of dots oable and slid them across to Fisher Tiger. "I am w to ge the world, Tiger. These are the results of my efforts so far. Take a look."

  Frowning, Fisher Tiger picked up the dots and began reading.

  What he saw left him stunned.

  The papers detailed Cudius's initiatives: CP-X's crackdown on illegal sve traders targeting Fish-Man Isnd, the Wover's pn to establish a Marine base on the isnd to es security, and even a program to liberate mermaid sves from Mariejois.

  There were also letters of cooperation signed by Kiune and Princess Otohime, as well as a personal letter of thanks from Princess Otohime herself.

  Fisher Tiger's mind reeled. He had noticed some ges during his time as a sve in Mariejois, but as a prisoner, he hadn't been able to piece together what was happening. Now, it all made sehe curses and pints he'd heard other Celestial Dragons muttering about Cudius were because of these reforms.

  When he came across a se discussing pns to revitalize and develop Fish-Man Street, Fisher Tiger's eyes narrowed. He was beginning to uand why Cudius had sought him out.

  After reading through the dots several times, Fisher Tiger pced them ba the table and looked at Cudius. This time, his tone was sihank you, Yhness Cudius. Thank you for everything you're doing for Fish-Man Isnd."

  For the first time, Fisher Tiger used honorifics when addressing Cudius, a gesture that wasn't lost on the Celestial Dragon. Cudius smiled, clearly pleased.

  With a wave of his hand, Cudius replied, "There's o tha's just mutual be, after all."

  "Many people have 'is' in Fish-Man Isnd," Fisher Tiger said quietly. "But you're the only one who has approached it this way."

  Indeed, over the years, many pirates, smugglers, and svers had exploited the isnd for their own gain. But Cudius was the first to use a cooperative aively gentle approach, a stark trast to the usual cruelty.

  Cudius chuckled softly. "Well, I'm gd you noticed."

  He leaned back slightly and asked, "Now that you've seen all this, do you uand why I brought you here?"

  "I think I have an idea," Fisher Tiger said after a moment. "I don't kly what you stand to gain from developing Fish-Man Street, but it must be signifit. Otherwise, you wouldn't waste your time on a sve like me."

  Cudius nodded, aowledging the truth in Tiger's words. "You're correct. There's a lot at stake here. I 't afford to fail."

  Acc to Cudius's research, there were at least 100,000 people living in Fish-Man Street, with more orphans arriving each year. It was a chaotid untapped resource. Fisher Tiger, as its de facto leader, was a key figure. A leader of 100,000 people, he might be a "small man" in the grand scheme of things, but in this text, he was indispensable.

  These 100,000 residents represented an incredible bor force. With their natural physical strength, far greater than that of humans, they were ideal for Cudius's pns, whicluded developing the Calm Belt aablishing a foundation of trust between himself and Fish-Man Isnd.

  Faced with the massive potential bes, Cudius had no iion of taking shortcuts. He was determio see this through properly.