Luo

"Room!"

Luo transported Swain onto the ship.

"Captain, he's badly injured!" Bepo said from the side.

Luo stared solemnly at the "person they had picked up" before him.

He fell into deep thought.

Judging from how torn his clothes were, it should have been... fire?

Moreover, the more Luo examined Swain's body, the more wrong things seemed.

His injuries were far too severe.

"Operating Room!"

He took out Swain's lungs, heart, and spleen.

You never knew until you looked—and once you did, it was a shock!

"Why is this man still alive?"

He really couldn't make sense of it.

"Captain, can he still be saved?" Bepo asked curiously.

Looking at the man before him, he was barely recognizable as human!

"He can." Luo spoke after thinking it over.

"To still be alive after suffering injuries like that... he must be someone formidable."

"Isn't that perfect? After we save him, we can make him one of our crew!"

Bepo naively thought.

"But what if he's an enemy? With his strength, if he wanted to eat bear paws, it would certainly be easy for him!"

Luo rarely made a joke.

"Then let him eat them?" Bepo replied.

Clearly, his reaction time was a little slow.

Hmm? When everyone turned to look at him, he finally realized something was wrong.

"Huh?! Then don't save him!" Bepo was startled.

So he wants to eat my paws! He hurriedly pulled them behind his back.

Seeing his embarrassed appearance, the other crew members nearby burst out laughing.

"The captain was just scaring you!"

"Besides, who eats polar bears? People eat brown bear paws!"

"Huh?" Bepo seemed to be asking Luo.

But Luo ignored him, once again putting on his usual aloof expression.

"(・∀・), Captain!!"

"All right, stop fooling around."

"Carry him to the Operating Room!"

When the people around him heard that, they lent a hand and carried Swain to the Operating Room.

"Bepo, keep watch! Submerge the ship to a depth of one hundred meters."

He arranged everything in an orderly fashion.

And so... time passed second by second.

Two hours later.

Luo walked out of the Operating Room.

"Put him on an IV drip of saline and glucose."

"Also, give him some meat broth. He probably hasn't eaten for several days."

Luo found it strange. From the moment he first saw Swain to the long surgery afterward,

he felt as though he had seen Swain somewhere before.

But he was certain they had met once!

He simply couldn't remember who Swain was.

That was why Luo wanted to save him.

Perhaps he's an old acquaintance? he thought.

Luo's plans also changed with Swain's appearance.

He had originally intended to go to Water 7, then pass through Enies Lobby, and finally enter the New World through the Sabaody Archipelago.

However.

Luo looked at Swain, who was still unconscious.

I'll slow down the journey for now...

After bidding farewell to Roland and the others, Norton also set off on his own journey.

He changed out of his armor, put on a high-priced human-skin mask to conceal his true appearance, and then cut off the conspicuous white hair at the back of his head.

This was to prevent anyone from recognizing him.

That day, he arrived at a small town.

However, he ended up having a conflict with the gang in the town.

"Hey! Who are you?"

"How dare you trespass into our Qinghei Gang territory!"

The two men at the front asked menacingly.

Norton did not answer them.

"Oh? Pretty arrogant, aren't you? Let's see if you're still this arrogant after taking a few bullets!"

They were accustomed to running rampant. In this place, who would dare ignore them?

They fired several shots in succession!

Yet none of them caused Norton any harm, merely sending sparks flying in several places.

The wings behind him had long since become as hard as iron.

The scene they had expected—blood splattering everywhere—never appeared!

Seeing Norton unharmed, they knew they had kicked an iron wall.

The moment they saw Norton's eyes, they were gripped by fear!

They turned and ran without a second thought.

"Don't kill us! Our boss is—"

However, two flaming blade slashes cut the two men in half at the waist.

They did not even get the chance to beg for mercy.

After the Qinghei Gang noticed the commotion outside, they all came out, pointing guns at Norton.

"Since you've pointed your guns at me, that makes you enemies, right?"

"Hmph! I hope you can keep talking tough!"

"Sir! Grandfather! What do you want? I'll give you all my money."

The Black Tiger Gang leader did not even dare breathe too loudly.

"Who is the strongest in this area?"

The gang leader hurriedly replied, "It's someone named Jason Finn!"

"Take me to him."

The gang leader found it somewhat strange, but he had no choice.

Norton was desperately in need of an opponent.

He would grow stronger through battle!

He even had an even crazier idea.

He would challenge the Shichibukai one by one!

A week later, a ship sailed against the wind across the sea at night.

Swain finally opened his eyes.

He looked at the unfamiliar surroundings.

"Where is this?" Swain asked, clutching his head.

He had been unconscious for too long! His head was dizzy and his vision blurred.

"Captain! He's awake!"

Swain's voice startled the crew member who had just changed his bandages.

He hurriedly ran outside, shouting as he went.

"Captain? Was I rescued by a passing ship?" Swain wondered.

He then looked at his injuries. Aside from his head, every other part of his body was wrapped tightly.

He looked just like a mummy.

He moved his arm and found only a slight sting.

There was no serious problem anymore, which meant he was about to recover.

This filled Swain with delight.

Surviving by sheer luck left him deeply moved.

He wanted to say something, but his vocabulary was limited.

"Holy shit!"

After holding it in for a long while, he still felt better after shouting it out!

He had survived a disaster! Now he understood the joy of escaping death.

As for the captain who had saved him, he secretly decided that he would definitely thank him properly!

Just as he was getting up,

a burst of footsteps came from outside the room.

Then three people walked in.

One of them was the crew member who had just gone out to report.

When Swain saw the other two, surprise appeared in his eyes.

"Luo! Bepo!"

Swain called out.

The other two were equally stunned.

He knows us?

Bepo was impatient and spoke first. "Why do you know us?"

At that moment, Luo was on guard, his hands seemingly ready to fight at any time.

Swain's expression made him feel that Swain was not their acquaintance.

From certain details, he could tell that Swain's expression was one of surprise, not delight.

If they were acquaintances, why would he look surprised?

Since he also knew Luo's name, the only possibility was that he had seen it on a wanted poster.

Swain naturally noticed Luo's subtle movement.

His surprise came from encountering Luo and the adorable Bepo here.

"Don't! I mean you no harm!" Swain explained.

Bepo was confused. He turned to look at Luo, then at Swain.

It felt as though they were speaking in riddles.

"Thank you all for rescuing me in time!"

Swain stood up and bowed in gratitude.

Luo also lowered his guard.

With the other party acting like this, he was even less likely to be an enemy.

He then asked, "Who are you, sir? Why were you unconscious at sea?"

"My name is Rocks D. Swain."

"As for why I was unconscious at sea, I had a falling-out with a good friend and got beaten up."

"You had a falling-out with a good friend...?"

Hearing Swain's perfunctory explanation, Luo found it utterly absurd!

Who would beat someone half to death just because of a disagreement...

What was more!

It was his good friend?

Wasn't that complete nonsense!

After hearing this, Luo stared gloomily at Swain, seemingly unwilling to accept the explanation.

But Swain only grinned, showing a full mouth of white teeth.

Luo, who had just been about to speak, was immediately choked into silence.

He was practically shameless!

The Luo Swain knew was a calm pirate who was both brave and resourceful.

If he spoke in a normal manner, he would probably be led around by Luo at every turn.

That was, if he had not met Luffy, that idiot who only cared about eating and fighting (not that he was insulting Luffy; this was just teasing).

If it had been Kid who allied with him instead, he probably would have been used as a pawn.

Seeing Luo's expression, Swain also found it amusing.

Then Luo's expression suddenly changed.

He exclaimed in surprise, "Wait! You're Swain?"

He finally remembered why Swain had seemed somewhat familiar.

He had seen Swain on a wanted poster.

1.6 billion Beli.

A pirate who could fight Aokiji to a draw!

However, he still hadn't seen this issue of the newspaper.

If he had, he probably would have been even more shocked.