"Hahahaha! That felt good! I finally got my payback today!"
Saint Charlos toyed with the golden key in his hand, a deeply satisfied smile plastered across his face.
He'd suffered plenty of humiliation at Saint Charlmark's hands before.
Charlmark loved collecting powerful slaves and pitting them against the slaves of other Celestial Dragons. And truly strong slaves were incredibly hard to come by—most real powerhouses in this world were proud and unyielding. The moment they realized they were about to be captured, many would rather take their own lives than be enslaved.
Because of that, the "strong" slaves most Celestial Dragons owned were often mediocre at best.
The last time Charlos had faced Charlmark in a slave match, he'd lost badly. It had been a massive blow to his pride.
But today—
Chenos had finally let him hold his head high again.
"That unkillable one—yeah, you! Come here!"
Hearing himself called, Chenos felt a flicker of irritation, but he had no choice. He obediently walked over.
"Saint Charlos-sama, my name is Chenos."
Charlos waved a hand dismissively.
"Names aren't important. I'm in a good mood today, so I'll grant you one reward. One request. Say it."
I want to leave this place.
The words nearly burst out of Chenos's mouth.
He wanted out of this hell more than anything.
One wrong move here and he'd be dead—and the reasons for dying could be absurd beyond belief.
But he knew better.
There was no chance Saint Charlos would ever let him go.
So his mind spun rapidly.
What could he ask for that would actually help him survive here?
Right now, in Charlos's eyes, he was an "unkillable toy." That meant, sooner or later, he'd be thrown into more fights.
Which meant only one thing mattered.
Strength.
To grow stronger, he had only two real paths:
Develop his Devil Fruit
Learn Haki
Fruit development could be done gradually.
But Haki?
That wasn't something you could just decide to learn on your own.
If he'd had a system, maybe a random quest would've handed him all three types of Haki for free.
Unfortunately, reality was cruel.
So Chenos bowed his head slightly and said,
"I want to learn Haki. I want to become stronger, so I can fight better for Saint Charlos-sama."
Saint Charlos blinked.
He'd expected requests for better food, a softer bed, maybe a private room—after all, slaves here lived in cages and survived on leftovers.
Those were the things slaves usually begged for.
As for slaves who asked to leave?
They all had the same ending.
Death.
A slave who didn't want to stay by his side was useless—no matter how valuable. There were always replacements.
But Chenos's request…
That was different.
This toy understood things.
It brought him prestige.
It knew to improve itself.
It wanted to keep fighting for him.
A model toy.
Saint Charlos felt extremely pleased.
With a grand wave of his hand, he declared,
"Approved! CP0—assign someone to train this unkillable one. Turn him into my personal ace!"
CP0: "..."
"…Yes, my lord."
Privately, the CP0 agents thought Charlos was an idiot.
This slave didn't want to grow stronger to serve a Celestial Dragon—he wanted strength so he could eventually escape.
But they didn't care.
Even if Chenos became stronger, there was no way he'd escape CP0.
The gap was absolute.
In high spirits, Saint Charlos lost interest in further "games." He left to boast to other Celestial Dragons about his victory, sparing the remaining slaves for the time being.
CP0 soon escorted everyone back to the cells.
Before leaving, the CP0 agent with the long sword at his waist turned to Chenos.
"From today onward, unless it's Saint Charlos's game time, you'll train with me. We'll continue until you learn Haki."
Chenos immediately bowed deeply.
"Thank you."
He knew this man was only obeying orders—but how much he learned would depend entirely on how seriously the man taught him.
After CP0 left, Hancock rushed over at once.
"Chenos! You scared me to death just now—I really thought you were going to…"
She stopped herself, relief flooding her face.
Seeing the faint blush on Hancock's cheeks made Chenos's heart pound hard.
Hancock was already beautiful. With the Love-Love Fruit enhancing her charm, her presence was downright lethal.
Even someone like Chenos struggled to stay composed.
"I'm glad you were worried about me," he said gently, then lowered his voice.
"But there's something you need to be careful about. Your Devil Fruit makes you even more attractive now. In a place like this… that's dangerous."
He glanced around the cell.
"You need to make yourself look less noticeable. As much as possible."
Hancock's face burned red. She nodded rapidly and hurried back to her sisters.
But when she reached them and tried to whisper, she noticed something wrong.
Her sisters were staring past her, tense and alert.
Hancock turned around.
Several male slaves were staring at her with naked desire, slowly closing in.
"Heh heh… this place isn't all bad. Didn't expect to find a top-tier girl here."
"Yeah. Life's hell anyway—might as well have some fun."
"No one outside cares what happens inside the cage. As long as nobody dies."
Then—
A not-so-tall, slightly thin figure stepped in front of her.
"Get back."
The voice was calm.
Cold.
The men froze.
When they realized it was Chenos, their expressions changed instantly.
The image of him kicking a three-meter giant into two pieces was still burned into their minds.
One of them forced a smile.
"Hey, little bro. You're strong, sure. How about this—let you go first, we'll just—"
Chenos didn't answer.
He walked forward.
"She's mine," he said flatly.
"No one touches her. Understand?"
Then—
The energy stored from gunfire surged.
Chenos stomped.
Crack—!
The stone floor shattered.
In the next instant, his body flashed forward and passed straight through the man who'd spoken.
The slave was split in two.
The rest screamed and scrambled backward, pressing themselves into the corners, not daring to even breathe too loudly.
A perfect warning.
Chenos, however, muttered under his breath as he looked at the ruined floor.
"Damn it… controlling this power is a pain."