Escape! Swain's Promise!

Swain adjusted his state.

He had to use his final move; if he still could not escape this way.

Even with Rayleigh's help, it would be difficult for him to get away.

Pop, pop, pop!

Swain leaped up, standing in the air a hundred meters high.

A circle appeared above his head, gradually expanding.

Until it extended to the very edge of this sub-island.

Madness filled Swain's gaze!

Then he shouted loudly, "Norton! Take Jordi and the others and leave right now!"

"We'll meet again in a year!"

Hearing the previous sentence, Norton thought Swain intended to use suicide to buy a way out for himself.

He was about to refuse.

When he heard the next sentence, he froze for a moment, not understanding what Swain meant by this.

As long as Swain was still alive, it would do.

Then he nodded heavily, flapped his wings, and quickly left this place.

Seeing Norton leave, Akainu and Kizaru chose to ignore him.

After all.

Their target this time was to capture Swain.

The reason Swain said that to Norton was because his injuries were simply too severe.

He could feel that many of his internal organs had probably already failed.

This was the consequence of being scorched by high temperatures.

His promise of a year was also something he had carefully considered.

If he could escape this time, they would naturally meet again in a year, and even if he could not get away, he could still help Norton survive.

A guaranteed win-win deal!

"Uncle Rayleigh, see you another day!"

Then, the bow of a ship gradually emerged within that huge circle, as if a vessel were about to come out from inside.

Looking at the crazy youth before him, Rayleigh also smiled benignly, then retreated.

The giant ship behind Swain had already taken initial shape.

Seeing the two leave, he roared, "Jingtao!"

And then.

From beneath that huge circle, a giant ship made entirely of seawater sailed out!

Its massive scale had already covered one of the sub-islands of this archipelago.

If this were to drop down, it would probably plunge this island straight into the ocean floor.

"Borsalino," Akainu called out.

Naturally, Kizaru understood what Akainu meant.

As comrades-in-arms, his relationship with Kizaru was much better than Kuzan's.

Usually, the two of them would also privately drink tea and trim bonsai.

Naturally, the two shared a tacit understanding.

"Great Eruption!"

"Yasakani Sacred Jewel!"

The two admirals struck simultaneously.

The techniques they unleashed were actually even more powerful than before.

After letting the giant ship drop, Swain hurriedly left the place.

Leaving only Akainu and Kizaru behind to gradually neutralize this huge sea vessel made of seawater.

Spurt!

The Haki supporting the seawater was beaten apart, and the sea vessel was pierced straight through the middle.

The remaining outflowing seawater turned into a flood, directly splitting half the island of the sub-island apart.

Countless people were buried in this flood, which resembled a natural disaster.

Cries and screams rang out one after another.

However, most of these people were pirates and newly arrived Marines.

The indigenous residents had already evacuated to other sub-islands during their battle.

"Damn it!"

In anger, Akainu threw his cigar—which he had barely taken a few puffs of—onto the ground.

"How surprising! That brat managed to get away," Kizaru said.

"Hmph!"

"If that old geezer Rayleigh hadn't shown up, he would have been dealt with long ago!"

Akainu gnashed his teeth in resentment.

"No use complaining now; we had better figure out how to handle the cleanup."

Kizaru suggested to Akainu.

Meanwhile, in the highest authority office of the World Government.

The Five Elders watched the entire video of this great battle.

Saint Saturn slowly said, "What a pity!"

"With Rayleigh's participation, this was an unexpected matter."

"Raise his bounty," Saint Marcus Mars said.

"That's the only way."

Everyone fell silent, each lost in thought.

On the other side.

Norton and the others had already left the Sabaody Archipelago aboard the Neptune.

None of the three spoke, and the atmosphere felt very heavy.

Finally, the older Jordi said, "Don't be sad, we need to pull ourselves together!"

"The captain wouldn't want to see us like this."

They knew.

Swain chose to stay behind and risk his life to buy time solely to cover their escape.

At the mere mention of the captain, Jordi's emotions turned heavy as well, but if he wanted to encourage the others, he had to forcefully swallow his sorrow.

He had spent some time with Swain, too.

Naturally, he knew that this captain was truly protecting his crew.

A friend in need is a friend indeed!

"That's right! We must pull ourselves together."

Roland, at the side, was also encouraged.

She had only boarded Swain's ship a few days ago, but she was deeply grateful to Swain for helping her escape from that den of monsters.

Therefore, she would not choose to quit just because she had just heard that Swain's fate was unknown!

Only Norton remained silent.

Beneath his dense armor, only his eyes could be seen reflecting deep thought.

He was the first crew member to follow Swain; no one understood Swain better than he did.

Their relationship was no longer that of a superior and subordinate, but of true friends and companions!

He believed that man would not simply die like this.

Norton's gaze immediately turned firm as he made a certain resolution.

"I'm leaving for a while!"

"Huh? Why?!" Roland asked in confusion.

The morale that had just been boosted was shattered by Norton's single sentence.

Jordi, too, looked at Norton with a puzzled gaze.

"I'm going to find a way to become stronger!"

Clenching his fists tightly, Norton realized how weak he was during the recent two major battles.

He could not help Swain with anything at all, not even possessing the strength to withstand an admiral for him.

This plunged him into deep self-blame.

In truth, Norton's strength was not weak; at the very least, among pirates with similar bounties, he was definitely at the top!

He might not even be a match for those pirates whose bounties were hundreds of millions higher than his.

Just like Luffy and Kid, the leaders of the Worst Generation later on.

Although they also held bounties of three hundred million, they could not even use Armament Haki.

From this, it could be seen that Norton was already very strong.

It was just that Swain's starting point upon taking to the sea was too high! He had been permitted by Woli to go to sea only after knowing how to use all three colors of Haki.

Coupled with his Logia Sea Fruit ability, all of this would cause his growth rate to leave Norton far behind.

With that said, he bid farewell to the two of them.

"You guys must also work hard to improve yourselves. Hopefully, in the future, neither of us will hold the captain back anymore."

Then he soared away into the distance.

Leaving the remaining two to look at each other in dismay.

"Please drop me off at the Kingdom of Sokafia!" Roland suddenly said to Jordi as well.

"I'm going to earnestly study the secrets of making great feasts! Then I'll cook the most delicious food for the captain."

"That way, he'll be filled with strength all over!" Roland placed her hands on her chest to cheer herself on!

"Alright! I'm planning to go research the charging cannon I designed myself!"

The two of them cheered each other on once more.

Three days later.

At a certain spot on the ocean.

Swain was lying on a small boat, his expression extremely painful.

His injuries had flared up again!