Escape

Since that was the case, there was naturally no need to keep hunting him down.

With his obsession over avenging his friend gone, Kizaru immediately returned to work mode. He had come this time mainly because of Whitebeard and Kaido.

If Whitebeard and Kaido really fought, that would be manageable. There would not be any major problems.

But if those two groups joined forces...

That would be a major threat to the World Government.

As a Marine Admiral, Kizaru's mission this time was to prevent that from happening.

"Saved..."

Lying on the deck of the Thousand Sunny, Rune was nearly drained dry. Only by truly facing a Marine Admiral could one understand what kind of monster one was.

This had been completely different from facing Whitebeard.

Fighting Whitebeard, no matter how they fought, had been sparring and instruction. Deep down, Rune had never felt that sense of urgency.

But facing Kizaru...

That old bastard had really been trying to kill him!

If not for the Dark-Dark Fruit, Rune might not even have survived the first wave of attacks!

Still...

Kizaru had held back in the end.

Had he noticed Kuma's presence?

Rune thought that had to be it. Kizaru had no relationship with him, so why else would he hold back?

"We actually escaped from an Admiral..."

Luffy was also somewhat incredulous. When he had faced Kizaru before, even with everyone together, they had barely had any hope of escaping. But just now, Rune had withstood Kizaru's attacks, buying time for the Thousand Sunny to dock and for Kuma to use his Devil Fruit ability.

Though it had only lasted a short while, Rune had truly endured the pressure Kizaru brought.

And in the instant before being teleported away, Luffy had seen the golden sun shining in the sky. He knew that if it had been him, he absolutely could not have blocked that move.

But Rune had still endured it.

"Kizaru stopped at the end..."

Rune spoke weakly. "Otherwise, Kuma might have found nothing but my corpse."

"Why would he stop?"

Bonney did not understand. In her eyes, Kizaru had no reason to hold back at all.

"Maybe it was because of me."

Kuma smiled. Seeing an old friend again under such circumstances truly made one sigh.

Still...

This could be considered a good ending, right?

"Are we still going to Wano Country?"

Tashigi looked at the people who had narrowly survived, her feelings complicated. During this time aboard the ship, she had realized that Rune could not truly be considered a bad person.

For many islands that the Marines could not protect, and for the residents living on those islands...

Rune and the Whitebeard Pirates were instead their heroes.

This greatly changed Tashigi's view of pirates. It seemed not every pirate was a vicious criminal.

And Rune's way of dealing with pirates...

Seemed even more extreme than the Marines'.

When facing vicious criminals, the Marines generally focused on arresting and imprisoning them.

Rune, however, simply killed them and exchanged their heads for money.

Because of that, Tashigi's feelings toward the man who had forcibly dragged her aboard his ship were extremely complicated.

If Rune had truly been killed by Kizaru just now, it might not have been a good thing for many people in this world.

At the very least, the ordinary people Rune had helped and protected would certainly have mourned for him.

On the other hand, those utterly wicked pirates would have been overjoyed to hear the news.

Justice... what exactly was justice?

Tashigi realized that this world seemed far less simple than she had thought.

"Let's rest first. Kizaru should be heading to Wano Country. He probably ran into us on the way and attacked us while he was at it."

Rune quickly figured out why they had encountered Kizaru. It really should have been a coincidence.

But what was Kizaru going there for?

Was he afraid Whitebeard and Kaido would form an alliance?

And what was Whitebeard doing in Wano Country? Surely he had not gone there to drink with Kaido?

But Whitebeard had no reason to go to war with Kaido.

Unless...

Ace had been captured?

Rune felt a headache coming on. If that was truly the case, the Whitebeard Pirates and Beast Pirates would go to war. That would not be good for either Rune or the world.

But Ace...

Forget it. Nothing that man did would be surprising.

Rune knew exactly how arrogant and stubborn Ace was. If he had really gone to assassinate Kaido again, it was absurd, but not impossible.

But if that was the case...

He could only hope it would not turn into a full-scale war.

He also wondered whether Kaido would show some respect to the big brother who had once guided him.

Rune lay on the deck, resting while his mind wandered. His clash with Kizaru had also deepened his understanding of the Dark-Dark Fruit.

It had hurt terribly, but the Dark-Dark Fruit truly was quite a powerful fruit.

With any other Logia-type fruit, it would have been difficult to protect the Thousand Sunny from Kizaru's attacks.

And Rune felt that his Haki seemed to have improved somewhat as well.

"Conqueror's Haki... refusing to retreat even before the strong, that is the path to improvement."

Rune felt that aside from fighting others who also possessed Conqueror's Haki, the way to advance it was to challenge powerful opponents. If one could remain fearless before the strong, one's Conqueror's Haki would grow.

As for someone like Donquixote Doflamingo, who broke into a sweat whenever he saw anyone...

Rune seriously doubted how he had Conqueror's Haki at all.

"Kuma, where are we?"

After resting for a while, Rune sat up and looked at Kuma nearby. He had forgotten to ask earlier; he did not even know where Kuma had sent them.

"This is near Kuraigana Island."

Kuma could only send people to places he had visited before. Since he had sent the ship along with them this time, they had not landed on the island itself, but near it.

Kuraigana Island...

Wasn't that Mihawk's island?

Then Zoro should be there too, right?

"Luffy, Zoro is on this island. Do you want to go see him?"

When Luffy heard that Zoro was there, his eyes immediately lit up. But he quickly shook his head.

"We'll meet again when the promised time comes. If I show up now, I'll only interrupt his training."

Though Luffy usually seemed rather unreliable, he was not actually an unreliable person. He knew very well that the places Kuma chose were all good for his companions to improve their strength.

If he went over now, Zoro might not continue training on the island.

After all, what crew member would see his captain and not follow him?

"Then we won't go. Let's head back to Wano Country."

Rune smiled. He had rather wanted to meet Zoro and Mihawk. But since Luffy had said so, he would wait until another chance came.

For now, going to Wano Country and finding out what exactly was happening between Pops and Kaido was more important.