The slave was a burly, muscular Catfish Fish-Man, with several long, slender whiskers drooping from the corners of his mouth beneath his broad catfish head.
Blue-green scales covered his torso and limbs.
His exposed skin was covered in densely packed whip marks.
Some had already scabbed over into dark brown scars, while others still gaped with fresh, raw flesh, tiny beads of blood seeping from their edges and slowly sliding down between his scales.
At that moment, the Catfish Fish-Man was down on all fours, his hands braced against the ground, his weight resting on his knees and palms as he crawled forward at a slow, steady pace.
The noble riding on his back swept his gaze over the commoners who had stopped to watch on both sides of the street, his vanity thoroughly satisfied.
"Munch, munch, munch~~~"
Kaido gnawed on a piece of bread, leaning against the outer wall of a shop beside the street with Ron and Annika.
His gaze followed the retreating back of the Fish-Man slave as he said indistinctly, "Ron, tell me, is there something wrong with these people's heads? How can riding some ugly freak make them so smug?"
Ron sipped the juice in his hand and gave a slight nod of agreement. "If they really wanted to look impressive, I reckon they'd have to ride you after you turned into an azure dragon."
"Oh, screw you."
Kaido paused in the middle of gnawing on his bread and retorted with his mouth still full, "What are you talking about? I'm not a mount."
"I didn't say you were a mount. I just said riding you would look impressive." Ron chuckled.
"..."
Kaido chewed a couple of times. What do you mean, riding me would look impressive? Me riding you, now that would look impressive.