"Yes, it's truly uhical. It feels wrong to use it—it's dangerous."

  Sengoku nodded in agreement. "Yes, we Marines are champions of justice. How could we use such a on?"

  "Right, Marines 't use it, but pirates ," Cudius said with an evil grin.

  Sengoku wasn't a fool; he immediately uood Cudius's meaning. The first thing to rule out was selling this poison gas to random pirates, that was impossible. However, if the poison gas was hao a pirate group aligned with them, like the Seven Warlords of the Sea…

  "Yhness, are you referring to the Seven Warlords of the Sea?" Sengoku asked softly.

  "Yes, the Seven Warlords of the Sea," Cudius replied with a smirk. "Think about it: if this oo be used by one of the Warlords to deal with Kaido or Whitebeard, wouldn't it be quite effective?"

  Sengoku fell silent for a moment. The thought of a on like that being used to strike at Whitebeard's ship souempting, he might even wake up ughing from his dreams. But the reality of pulling off such a pn was far less likely.

  "Even leaving aside its practicality, if someone from the Seven Warlords of the Sea uses this on, it won't reflect well on the reputation of the Wover," Sengoku said after careful thought.

  "That's simple to resolve," Cudius replied with a wicked smile. "Whoever uses it, we deal with them afterward."

  Sengoku froze for a moment before muttering, "Yhness, you're truly ruthless…"

  "I don't hold pirates in high regard," Cudius said nontly.

  Before Sengoku could reply, Cudius tinued, "Of course, the timing isn't right for now, but we let Caesar tio develop and manufacture this on.

  Moria already has a personal grudge against Kaido. If, one day, the opportunity presents itself and we un offensive against Kaido, and Moria happens to have this on in his possession, do you think he'd hesitate to use it?"

  "Of course, he would use it. Moria isly a paragon of morals," Sengoku replied without hesitation.

  "Exactly. And once he uses it, it harm Kaido and simultaneously give us the perfect excuse to Moria up. Then, we'll have an open slot in the Seven Warlords of the Sea, aplishing several goals at once," Cudius said slyly.

  Sengoku was momentarily stunned. Yhness, does Moria have some personal grudge against you? Why would you go out of your way to set him up like this?

  But upon further thought, Sengoku realized it wasn't a bad pn. After all, the burden of bme would fall on Moria, not Marine. Why should they object?

  "It does make sense," Sengoku murmured thoughtfully.

  Cudius chuckled. "I think Caesar has potential. Why don't you let me train him for a few years? Once I've reformed him, I'll return him to Marine Headquarters. Keeping him locked away in Impel Down feels like a waste of his talents."

  Sengoku immediately uood that Cudius saw more value in Caesar than just this pn. But it wasn't Sengoku's pce to question him, Cudius had been a sistent ally to Marine, and there was no reason to dig deeper into his motives. Still, Sengoku had to make ohing clear.

  "Yhness, the verdict has already been handed down. Caesar has beeeo eight years in Impel Down. If you want to take him, that's fine, but…" Sengoku trailed off, hinting at what he o hear.

  Cudius, familiar with these unspoken rules, smiled and said, "Don't worry, he won't be free. I'll have him locked up and focused on research. On the surface, it'll look like he's serving his senten Impel Down. I'll make sure he doesn't show his face publicly."

  Seeing that Cudius was handling this properly, Sengoku nodded. "Very well, Yhness. Send someoo Impel Down to fetch him, and I'll inform the relevant authorities."

  Although both Marine Headquarters and Impel Down were part of the Wover's system, Impel Down was administratively subordio Marine Headquarters. The director of Impel Down even needed Marine approval to assume the role.

  So, with Sengoku's word, Impel Down would have no choice but to ply.

  Ohe topic of Caesar was resolved, Cudius ged the subject. "Alright, let's put that matter aside. I actually have something else to discuss with you."

  Sengoku nodded. "Yhness, please go ahead."

  "You've heard about the developments in the Calm Belt, haven't you?" Cudius asked.

  "Yes. It's said that a rich iron ore deposit was discovered on an isnd near Amazon Lily. After such a long survey, we've finally found something of value.

  Fifteen warships have already been dispatched, aually, twenty warships will be statiohere to oversee operations," Sengoku replied enthusiastically.

  Although Punk Hazard had resulted in signifit stific equipment losses, the potential in the Calm Belt made up for it. In time, those losses could easily be recovered.

  Cudius nodded. "Twenty warships will suffice for now. But Sengoku, our development in the Calm Belt won't stop with just one isnd. This first site will aodate 30,000 Fish-Man workers, which is only about a fifth of the bor force we brought from Fish-Man Isnd.

  In other words, our initial pn involves five such isnds for operations. With tinued development and iment, there may be even more iure. Eventually, even the workforce of Fish-Man Isnd won't be enough."

  Cudius wasn't exaggerating. Fish-Man Isnd's popution was barely 150,000, even with annual growth. It couldn't keep up with the scale of development Cudius envisioned. Additional bor would have to e from elsewhere.

  The first group Cudius had in mihe workers from the Tequi Wolf bridge, a pce where sves had toiled for turies. With the right approach, these workers could transition from building bridges t in the Calm Belt. Cudius envisioned them proper employment ditions, with fair pay, weekends off, and bes.

  But the bridge project was a Wover uaking, and Cudius couldn't simply order it to stop. A suitable justification would be o reallocate the workforce.

  For the time being, Cudius po use his personal authority to discreetly take some sves from the project, while ensuring he didn't draw too much attention.

  Another potential bor source was the giants. Marine had maintairong ties with the giants, and several Vice Admirals were of giaage. However, not all giants wao join Marine. Cudius believed hiring them as borers for mining and other heavy work would be a good alternative.

  "Let's not get ahead of ourselves," Cudius said. "If we calcute for five mining isnds, with each requiring twenty warships, that's 100 Marine warships in total. Sengoku, Marine mahat?"

  One hundred warships would be enough to unch a major campaign in the New World. Staffing them would require hundreds of thousands of Marines. Could Marine bear such a burden?

  But before Cudius could eborate further, Sengoku fidently replied, "What's there to sider? As long as the bes are proportional, Marine ha. Not just one hundred warships, if needed, rovide two hundred. Don't worry."

  Cudius, who had been gearing up to deliver an impassioned speech about why Marine should support the Calm Belt sea train project, suddenly found himself at a loss for words.

  After sidering Marine's global presend extensive resources, he begrudgingly admitted, "I'm sorry. I uimated you, Marine…"