A New Member, Norton!

Vice admiral strength was the sole exception in the case of Garp.

Relatively speaking, pirate strength actually far exceeded the navy's, yet powerful pirates simply lacked the cohesion and unity of the navy.

In the New World, the only combat power worth mentioning lay among the admirals.

Otherwise, why was the New World called a pirate's "paradise"? It was because the navy was completely powerless to interfere.

Returning to the battle, both sides were in a standoff.

Swain, however, showed no intention of attacking Vice Admiral Momonga, while the other man kept a close eye on Swain's movements.

"All I want is to take this boy away!"

Swain pointed a hand toward the Lunarian boy—the same race as King.

Onigumo, seeing that Momonga showed signs of hesitation, spoke up: "Never mind me! Complete the Marshal's orders first, even if I die in battle!"

With a swish!

Swain used a tentacle to tear off Onigumo's right arm.

Onigumo let out an immediate, miserable cry, cold sweat breaking out on his forehead from the agonizing pain, and the Devil Fruit he had been keeping on his person fell to the ground.

At that moment, several gazes in the shadows locked onto the fruit, seeming to wait for an opportunity to strike; naturally, they were those pirates with bounties exceeding one hundred million who lurked in the dark, watching for their chance.

Swain could naturally sense them.

With a thought, he released a vast black domain outward!

It was none other than Conqueror's Haki!

The weaker marines and pirates caught within the expanding domain all collapsed to the ground unconscious!

"This is a warning!" Swain said in a chilling voice, without even looking back.

The warning was meant both for Onigumo and for those pirates in the shadows.

Afterward, he pocketed the fruit.

Momonga felt a tremor in his heart upon sensing that overbearing Conqueror's Haki.

Onigumo felt the same, and Gray had even collapsed weakly to the ground, his lips turning a pale blue.

Seeing Swain strike off one of Onigumo's arms, Momonga felt anger rise within him, but for the sake of his comrade's life, he had no choice but to bow his head to this pirate once more!

"Fine! You can take him!"

"But I am taking Vice Admiral Onigumo as well!"

"Very well!"

Swain threw a punch through the air, knocking Onigumo unconscious; he was getting rather annoyed by the spider's incessant screaming.

"You!" Momonga said angrily.

Yet, constrained by Swain's strength, he had no choice but to back down.

Swain felt that the man truly must have been enraged, as his face and neck were flushed a deep red.

"Come with me." He took the still-dazed Lunarian boy and left.

By the time they had left the battlefield several kilometers behind, Swain asked, "What is your name?"

"My name is Hilary Norton." He appeared somewhat timid.

After all, the strength Swain had displayed moments ago, along with his decisive ruthlessness, had genuinely frightened him.

"My name is Swain. You don't need to be nervous."

"I mean you no harm."

Likely sensing the boy's emotional fluctuations, Swain offered some comfort.

The two continued walking until they left Lardo Manor, at which point Norton finally asked, "Why did you save me?"

"I'm actually a monster!" Norton said, as if stating a serious fact.

Seeing him like this, Swain smiled and said, "You don't look any different from me."

He rejected the notion that the boy was a monster.

"But everyone has been telling me I'm a monster ever since I was little!" Norton said with a hint of irritation.

Yet, abruptly remembering that the boy before him was someone who killed without blinking, his voice grew faint by the end of his sentence.

"Who said that? I certainly didn't!" Swain continued, a smile on his face.

He found it amusing that despite belonging to the same race as Kaido's right-hand man King—who presented himself with such fierce ferocity—Norton here appeared so utterly meek.

After all, King was a man who looked incomparably arrogant even in front of Zoro.

Although Norton did not know why he was smiling, through that smile he felt a sense of kindness; it was not mockery!

"Why did you let that marine go just now? Isn't he your enemy?"

Norton was referring to the release of Momonga, as he could tell that Swain's strength was more than enough to keep both of them behind.

"Why?"

Swain pondered for a moment before saying, "Because he's much better than that big spider. He's a marine who genuinely cares for ordinary people, so I won't kill him."

Pirates were already running rampant, but just how many pirates out there—like Swain, Luffy, Roger, and the rest—cared solely for freedom?

Perhaps one in ten thousand.

Most of them chased after money and power instead!

If all such marines were killed, this world would probably descend into true chaos.

After all, the marines at this time were genuinely protecting ordinary people, even if they had already committed numerous wrongs under the World Government's thumb.

That could not erase their service!

Hearing this answer left Norton stunned.

The look he directed at Swain gradually filled with tears; throughout his drifting and unsettled life, he had always remembered the marine who had given him that single bite of food when he was a child.

"Hey! Brat, where is your family?"

"..."

"Alright, I get it then. Come to my house and let me be your older brother! Hahahaha!"

"Looks like I'll have to feed you milk too, lurulurulu!"

The image of that older brother, hands on hips and always smiling, surfaced in his mind once again.

Yet one day, that same brother had been murdered by his companions for money, while those companions claimed his credit and continued to live in ease.

Filled with utter despair, he had hated the marines ever since! He felt that his brother's sacrifice was worthless, and swore to slaughter every last marine in this lifetime.

Yet now, he had learned the answer from the lips of the boy before him.

As it turned out, there were marines like his brother after all.

And the smile on the person before him was just like that of his brother, who was now in heaven.

People who loved to smile always smiled in much the same way.

Seeing Norton's tears gush forth like a spring, Swain understood that this boy—whose clothes were in tatters and whose body stank from a lack of baths—had suffered deeply.

He pulled the boy, whose heart carried such scars, into a simple embrace.

At that moment, Norton could hold back no longer, speaking aloud the thoughts in his heart: "I want a place where everyone is equal! No plague! No discrimination! No war!"

Right then and there, he voiced to a complete stranger the childhood dream he had hidden away for over a dozen years, sharing it with no one except his brother!

Swain faced Norton with a solemn expression.

"Are you willing to board my ship? I'll take you to find a land like that."

"If we can't find it, we'll build such a country ourselves!"

"Trust me!"

Hearing Swain's words, Norton wiped away his tears.

He nodded heavily, accepting Swain's invitation.

This was the promise between these two men! An unbreakable, eternal promise!

Seeing Norton nod, Swain felt a surge of great joy.

He had never wanted the World Government to get its hands on the Lunarian genome and use it to create even stronger cloned weapons.

The boy before him, identical to himself, had witnessed the darkness of this world, which was why he yearned so fiercely for the arrival of the light!

Now, the pact between them had become the bond connecting a captain and his crewmate!

The innate gifts of the Lunarian race made Swain look forward all the more to this boy's rise, and to the day he would roam freely across this vast sea.

Norton's joining elevated Swain's strength to yet another level!

From this moment on, he was a true pirate, gazing sincerely at this new member... a pirate who truly possessed a nakama!