The correct answer is Connections are established through the gateway so that all subsequent requests continue to flow through the gateway and individual calls can be handled by different nodes in the cluster.

This means the proxy keeps the gateway in the request path so that individual requests can be routed to different backend nodes and load balanced as needed. The gateway handles or forwards each request rather than allowing the application to talk directly to a single database node after the first handshake.

Keeping the gateway in place provides connection management, routing flexibility, and resiliency when backend nodes change. That is why subsequent calls can be handled by different nodes in the cluster while still flowing through the gateway.

After the initial connection the application sends all traffic straight to the database and no longer uses the gateway is incorrect. That option describes a handoff model where the gateway is removed after setup and traffic goes direct to the database, which is not how a proxy connection policy operates in this context.

Cloud SQL Proxy is incorrect because it is just the name of a proxy product and does not by itself describe the specific connection policy behavior asked for. The question asks about how connections flow under a proxy connection policy rather than naming a product.

All connections are validated centrally to confirm they originate from trusted clients is incorrect because central validation may be part of security, but it does not describe the key behavior that subsequent requests continue to flow through the gateway and are routed to cluster nodes.

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