o-stretch src=/v1.14/blog/2022/merbridge/4.png alt="Same-node acceleration"></a></div><figcaption>Same-node acceleration</figcaption></figure><h3 id=connection-relationship>Connection relationship</h3><p>Before applying eBPF using Merbridge, the data path between pods is like:</p><figure style=width:100%><div class=wrapper-with-intrinsic-ratio style=padding-bottom:60.411311053984576%><a data-skipendnotes=true href=/v1.14/blog/2022/merbridge/5.png title="iptables's data path"><img class=element-to-stretch sr