Pirate Alliance's Boss

Who knew how long had passed.

Lin Nuo finally felt his body being dragged out of the water, away from the sea.

Then someone began patting his back.

"Cough, cough—"

He coughed once, then opened his eyes.

Kokoro's enlarged face filled his vision.

Her wet blond hair clung to both sides of her cheeks, and her eyes were full of anxiety.

One hand supported his shoulder while the other remained raised in a patting motion.

Then she froze.

"Y-you didn't swallow any water?" Kokoro blinked.

"No, I was holding my breath."

"Hmph, I was wondering why you didn't spit out any water—turns out you'd been holding your breath the whole time!"

After taking two seconds to recover, Lin Nuo sat up and smiled at Kokoro. "Yeah. Thanks for pulling me out. Even if I could hold my breath all day, I couldn't have withstood those Sea Kings messing around."

His tone carried a hint of helplessness. "That's the downside of being a Devil Fruit user. Can't be helped."

"Seriously."

Kokoro's concern swiftly turned into anger, and her tail flicked unconsciously behind her.

"If you weren't drowning, you should've woken up sooner. You had me worried for nothing."

"Sorry, sorry." Lin Nuo readily apologized, then shifted his gaze to the side.

Gunko lay on her back on the ground not far away, soaked from head to toe, her chest rising and falling faintly.

Her eyes were half-open as she stared blankly at a section of rock wall above.

Noticing Lin Nuo's gaze, she braced herself against the ground and slowly turned onto her side. "Cough—cough, cough—"

After spitting out several mouthfuls of seawater, she spoke calmly, though her voice was weak.

"I'm fine too. Let me rest for a while first."

Seeing that she could still spit out water and speak