"Still as reliable as ever..."
"Click."
After hanging up the Den Den Mushi, Austin smiled.
For some reason, whenever he heard Mihawk's promise, he instinctively believed it. It was as though, so long as Mihawk said those words,
the seas truly would not fall into chaos during Austin's absence.
At the very least, nothing would happen to the territories under Austin's control.
That was the charm of a reliable King's First Mate~
Next, Austin called Crocodile, Sammy, Enel, Doflamingo, Tesoro, the underworld bosses... one after another.
Officially, he said he would be taking a vacation for a year or two and that they should go to Mihawk if anything came up.
Aside from a select few like Little Sand, he did not tell anyone else the truth. After all, none of those people were particularly honest.
He had to give them the illusion that Austin was watching them from the shadows at all times.
Of course, he believed that even if he was gone for a short while, none of them would dare rebel.
"Seagull King, go train out on the seas for a while."
Austin looked at Seagull King perched on his arm, stroked his head, and released him back into the sea.
With Seagull King's ability to fly over the sea and control the wind, along with his own Two-Colored Haki, there was generally no way anything could happen to him.
It would be good for him to train. After all, only battle could make one's strength improve faster.
Watching Seagull King fly toward the distant sea while looking back three times for every step, Austin stood there gazing after him for a while before his figure slowly vanished.
He arrived at Vegapunk's laboratory.
"I'm ready. Begin."
"The timing is about right. Let's go to one year before