The Holy Land, Mary Geoise.
Inside a luxurious villa, Saint Mjosgard quietly looked at everything around him.
Saint Mjosgard was completely different from before.
If White Ghost and the others saw him now, aside from that obvious green hair, they would find almost no resemblance.
The old Saint Mjosgard had been short and fat.
The current him was covered in lean muscle. His hands looked powerful at a glance.
His face was no longer full of fat like before either. No one knew how he had trained, but now his face seemed carved by a blade, with a high nose bridge and slightly cold eyes.
Compared to the past, it was simply the difference between heaven and earth.
What had changed over the years was not only Saint Mjosgard's appearance, but also his heart.
No one knew whether Queen Otohime's Observation Haki had been too strong and influenced him, or whether Saint Mjosgard had truly awakened his conscience.
In short, over these years, he had rescued countless slaves from the Holy Land of Mary Geoise.
At first, he had freed all his own slaves and even tried persuading his fellow Celestial Dragons to stop keeping slaves, saying that they were all living humans.
But what he received in return was only mockery and disdain.
Those Celestial Dragons looked at him as if he were an idiot and even asked whether he had run out of money and could no longer afford slaves.
Later, Saint Mjosgard remembered something White Ghost had said.
"Sometimes, treating the illness with the right medicine is what works. As they say, the right medicine cures the disease."
The more Saint Mjosgard thought about it, the more reasonable it seemed.
After that, he spent a huge sum buying many powerful slaves.
It was not to protect himself.
With CP agents protecting him, he was not worried about safety at all.
His reason for buying those slaves was very simple.
Treat the illness with the right medicine.
Didn't his fellow Celestial Dragons like making slaves fight?
Then he would bring his fighters and play with them.
In any case, these were all pirate slaves who had committed countless crimes. If they died, he would not feel bad.
At first, Saint Mjosgard's goal was simple.
The wager would no longer be berries.
It would be slaves.
That was right.
Slaves.
Through this method, Saint Mjosgard won many slaves. It could be said that he was undefeated.
His slaves had been carefully selected by Doflamingo, which was why they could sweep across the Holy Land.
Afterward, he freed all those slaves.
All of them.
Only the pirate slaves remained with him.
Of course, he did not release people carelessly either.
If he freed them in front, only for human traffickers to snatch them back later, wouldn't that be a slap in his face?
Saint Mjosgard remembered another thing White Ghost had said.
"Let the right people do the right things."
He personally made a trip to Marine Headquarters and visited Zephyr, who had already stepped back from the front line.
At first, Zephyr did not want to deal with a Celestial Dragon.
But Saint Mjosgard was an exception, so the two of them talked for a long time.
When Zephyr learned why he had come, he agreed without hesitation.
From then on, the two began working together.
Saint Mjosgard was responsible for saving people from the Holy Land, while Zephyr was responsible for sending those people home.
The Five Elders were helpless.
After all, Saint Mjosgard had not gone to Sengoku. He had visited Zephyr in a private capacity, so they could not easily suppress the matter.
Sengoku also closed one eye and pretended not to see it.
After all, with just a little handling, these matters could greatly increase the Navy's reputation.
On top of that, quite a few slaves chose to join the Navy.
One had to understand that slaves in the Holy Land were not ordinary civilians. Most of them were physically strong people.
Although those people could no longer approach Celestial Dragons, and it would be impossible for them to climb into the core of power, that did not stop them from increasing the Navy's strength.
There were even Devil Fruit users among them.
Of course, some chose to go out to sea and become pirates.
That was something impossible to eliminate.
Sengoku could do nothing about it.
Just as White Ghost had said, the human heart was the most complicated thing.
As time passed, Saint Mjosgard's reputation on the sea grew louder and louder.
People on the sea said he was an oddity among the Celestial Dragons.
Those who had seen how Celestial Dragons acted all spoke up.
"We suspect he's a fake Celestial Dragon."
Some believed the World Government was putting on a show, trying to restore some of the Celestial Dragons' poor reputation across the sea.
Of course, the Five Elders did indeed do that.
They did not waste the opportunity and heavily publicized it.
Morgans even wrote a special report on Saint Mjosgard.
It included many of Saint Mjosgard's personal views, as well as some of his own life experiences.
"I used to be an unforgivable bastard. I do not expect people to have any good impression of a bastard like me.
"I only feel that what that person said was right.
"Do what your ability allows you to do. Do not care about other people's eyes. As long as your own heart feels at ease, that is enough."
Those words caused a huge storm across the sea.
Do what your ability allows you to do.
Pirates went mad.
Marines also went mad.
In any case, the sea was noisy for a while.
Saint Mjosgard looked at the empty room around him.
In the past, this place had held countless servants and slaves.
Everything had changed since he returned from Fish-Man Island.
Saint Mjosgard walked around the room alone.
He was about to leave this place.
From now on, he would never return to this place that disgusted him.
While he still could, he might as well take a few more looks.
After Saint Mjosgard finished looking, he picked up two large cases and walked out with a large box on his back.
Those were the trophies he had won over the years.
He did not look back again.
It was as if he had already cut off his past.
When Saint Mjosgard reached the halfway point, an old man stood quietly there, watching him.
Saint Mjosgard smiled faintly.
"Saint Figarland Garling? Waiting here for me specifically? Are you planning to punish this oddity?"
Saint Figarland Garling looked at him calmly, his eyes holding no emotion.
"Have you truly decided? Once you step out of the Holy Land, the title of Celestial Dragon will be stripped from you forever."
Saint Mjosgard met his gaze firmly.
"I've had enough of this place. So I want to go somewhere else and live a life I've never tried before."
Saint Figarland Garling said nothing more.
He merely looked at him as if looking at a dead man.
Saint Mjosgard faced him without fear, as if he already regarded his own life and death lightly.
In the end, Saint Figarland Garling still did not act.
Those five had spoken to him about this matter.
Letting this man leave would also be useful to them.
"I hope you do not become like a certain former member of our race and do something disgusting."
After saying that, Saint Figarland Garling left without looking back.
The road that had been blocked moments ago reappeared.
Saint Mjosgard watched his back disappear and took a deep breath.
"My new life is about to begin. I wonder what benefits these things can exchange for."
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