Half a month passed quickly.
During this half month, Beltz frequently traveled to One Piece to train.
On this day, he once again arrived at Kuma's church.
Seeing Kuma looking weak, he couldn't help but ask, "Kuma, did you go to the village to treat people again?"
Kuma often used his Paw Paw Fruit ability to remove pain and illness from the people in the neighboring village.
However, that pain and illness were all borne by him instead.
It had to be said that Kuma's will was truly strong, and his nature was incredibly kind.
He was truly the kind of person who lived by the philosophy of 'If I don't go to hell, who will?'
Beltz knew he certainly couldn't do it himself.
He could only say he wasn't a bad person, but helping others so selflessly, even at the cost of his own body like Kuma did, was something he truly couldn't manage.
He could only say 'respect'... Since he couldn't do it, he held great respect for Kuma, who could.
Hearing Beltz' words, Kuma scratched his head and smiled innocently. "Grandma Mackin accidentally broke her leg. If she wasn't treated in time, her life might have been in danger."
"I'm sorry, Lord Beltz. I might not be able to accompany you for training today."
Over the past half month, Beltz had spent most of his time looking for Kuma to act as a sparring partner.
Don't be fooled by the fact that Kuma was still a child; he was of the Buccaneer tribe. The Buccaneer tribe possessed massive bodies and strength, being naturally much stronger than ordinary humans.
Not to mention he had eaten the Paw Paw Fruit, an incredibly powerful Paramecia-type Devil Fruit. In the future, when he became a Shichibukai, the Paw Paw Fruit would be crucial.
Beltz had also set requirements for himself: he would only use basic Quincy abilities and not the Azure Dragon Fruit.
After all, this was all preparation for the upcoming assessment. During the Sternritter Selection, he could not reveal the powers of the Azure Dragon Fruit.
Besides Kuma, he would occasionally head out to sea; whenever he saw pirates, he would go and rob them of their treasures.
In this half month, his progress was very rapid, much faster than he had anticipated.
It had to be said that combat was the best path to improvement.
Of course, the prerequisite was having the potential and the foundation to begin with.
To achieve greatness from a solid foundation, one must first accumulate before they can explode with power.
Beltz wouldn't neglect his daily cultivation because of this.
However, he hadn't come to find Kuma for training this time.
So he wasn't disappointed, merely saying, "I didn't come to fight you this time. I've come to say goodbye."
"Goodbye?" Kuma was startled and couldn't help asking, "Lord Beltz, are you leaving us?"
He sounded a bit dejected as he spoke.
After all, they were all survivors who had escaped that hellish God Valley and had lived together in the Sorbet Kingdom for so long.
Although Beltz didn't live with him like Ginny did, he spent time with them almost every day.
Thus, Kuma had long since considered Beltz family.
But now Beltz was saying he was leaving. Was he heading out to sea, just like Ivankov did back then?
Or was he returning to his own country?
"...I wouldn't exactly call it leaving," Beltz smiled. "It's just that for a fairly long period in the future, I probably won't be staying in the Sorbet Kingdom."
Next, he had to prepare for the Sternritter Selection, and after that would be the time for what Yhwach called the 'unveiling of the truth,' where he might use some method to find the traitor.
Although he had made preparations, he didn't know if he could successfully deceive him.
If he couldn't, then he would have no choice but to flee to One Piece.
To that end, he needed to reserve enough time for himself to stay in One Piece.
For the next half month, he didn't plan on coming to One Piece at all.
If he could successfully deceive him, he also had to head to the Sabaody Archipelago, as he had an appointment to meet Dr. Vegapunk there.
At that time, he would officially begin his journey across the great seas.
So, there really wouldn't be much time to stay in the Sorbet Kingdom.
"Then... please take care." Kuma also knew that someone like Beltz would never be content staying in a small place like the Sorbet Kingdom.
Not just Beltz, but even himself; Kuma had actually always dreamed of going out to sea.
Sooner or later, he would also leave the Sorbet Kingdom like Ivankov and Beltz to chase his dreams across the vast ocean.
Beltz was right; he was the hands of liberation, and he should go save those trapped in misfortune.
But not yet; he still had to take care of Ginny, as well as the two brothers, Shanks and Shamrock.
"I'll leave Shanks and Shamrock in your care."
Beltz waved his hand again and said, "The money I left behind—be absolutely sure not to let it be seen by others."
"Yes, I will!" Kuma's eyes were currently welling up with tears because he didn't know when they would meet again once Beltz left.
"Haha, don't cry. We'll meet again sooner or later. Don't forget, I'm a dragon who can soar freely."
After a wave of his hand, Beltz vanished directly from One Piece.
His strength had grown significantly, and it had been a long time since he felt that sense of rejection caused by staying in One Piece for too long.
The time he could currently reserve in One Piece was at least a week.
In another half month, that stay time might exceed a month.
It seemed the time when he could stay in One Piece permanently was drawing closer and closer.
Currently, the Sternritter Selection had entered the late stages of the second phase. Beltz had watched a few matches, primarily focusing on the bouts involving the Gorosei avatars.
All of the Gorosei had been cloned, and they were named after their respective abilities.
They were Gyūki, Sandworm, Itsumade, Bakotsu, and Fengxi.
Although they couldn't transform into their Beast Forms, their human forms seemed to possess certain characteristics of those monsters.
For example, Itsumade could breathe fire, Bakotsu had freezing air, and Fengxi had a head and bones as harder than nickel alloy... These five initially participated as ordinary Quincies, and at that time their strength wasn't considered great, but they had progressed rapidly over these two-plus weeks. Every time they reappeared, they displayed strength far exceeding the last time.
This Sternritter Selection was very likely a grand show staged specifically for the sake of these Gorosei avatars.
This made Beltz even more certain that Yhwach already had candidates in mind for the six vacant Sternritter positions.
That was why Yhwach had executed BG9 and the others—it was to leave enough room for the new Sternritter.
The Gorosei avatars took up five spots, and the remaining one was likewise already pre-reserved.
That person... who could it be?