Departure! Amazon Lily

After all, Law had yet to receive the latest newspaper. If he learned that Swain had dared to slaughter Celestial Dragons, he would probably be shocked!

"Hello?"

Seeing the astonished look on Law's face, Swain spoke somewhat uncertainly.

"I really did... save someone extraordinary."

Law spoke slowly.

His tone was neither servile nor overbearing.

At this point, Law's bounty had yet to reach the 200 million Beli it would be two years later at the Sabaody Archipelago.

To him, Swain was practically on the level of an Admiral, but an Admiral would not have the time to arrest an unknown Law.

And pirates did not bother with so many roundabout rules. Swain could kill Law at any time.

The fact that Law could remain so calm was either something he had been born with, or something shaped by his tragic childhood.

But when his companions learned that the man before them had a bounty of 1.6 billion Beli, they could not stay so composed.

"Eh! Ehhh!"

Everyone retreated in shock to the doorway.

Swain laughed. "Don't be like that. I'm not that scary."

Yet inwardly, Swain secretly admired Law.

The more he looked at him, the more pleasing he found him.

What the Neptune crew lacked right now was someone so resourceful and intelligent.

Besides, Swain was still missing a ship's doctor!

In his eyes, Law was the most suitable candidate.

But now was not the time to bring it up. Besides, Law had his own crew.

If Law refused to board his ship, there was nothing he could do.

He could not exactly tie Law up and drag him aboard the Neptune, could he?

Eh!

Thinking that, Swain suddenly felt it might actually be possible...

He rubbed his chin, his head full of sinister schemes for tying Law up.

Poor Law! Before he could gain any benefits, someone had already set their sights on him.

"Where are you going?" Swain asked.

"I'm going to Water 7 first..." He stopped halfway through, seemingly considering whether to say it.

"I'm going to Water 7 to visit an old acquaintance."

Two years later, Law would be twenty-five when he met Luffy.

Swain had calculated it before: he had set sail three years before Luffy.

And Law had gone to sea at seventeen, which meant it took him eight years to finish the first half of the Grand Line!

Luffy had taken only two years!

In less than five years, he had claimed the throne of one of the Four Emperors.

Swain could not help but sigh at that.

Not everyone possessed the talent of Luffy and Swain, capable of crossing the first half of the Grand Line in only two years.

One could even say Swain's talent surpassed Luffy's!

Law was heading to Water 7 earlier than Luffy had, yet they had likely encountered many dangerous enemies along the way, causing their progress to be such that they met Luffy, who had only just set out to sea, at the Sabaody Archipelago.

"Then that works out perfectly. I'm going to Water 7 too."

Swain was obviously determined to stick to Law.

"Captain Swain, there's no need for that."

"If there's somewhere you want to go, perhaps I can take you there!"

Law naturally saw that Swain was not really going to Water 7.

What a joke!

Would a pirate with a bounty of 1.6 billion Beli really not have finished the first half of the Grand Line?

No one would believe it if they heard that!

"Uh... well..." Swain felt a little awkward.

Law had at least spared him some dignity by not exposing him outright.

"Really? Then thank you so much!!"

He said it with a very "sincere" expression.

His terrible acting was so awkward that even Bepo scratched his head...

"Mm."

"Then, Captain, rest first." Law ended the conversation.

Leaving Swain sitting there awkwardly.

He swore!

This would be the first stain on his life.

There had been no humiliation in terms of strength, only verbal humiliation!

But for the sake of his future ship's doctor.

Endure!

However, the next day.

Law took the initiative to find Swain. He had forgotten to ask Swain where he wanted to go yesterday.

"Amazon Lily!" Swain answered.

"Amazon Lily? Why does Captain Swain want to enter the Calm Belt?"

Amazon Lily was located in the Calm Belt.

That put Law in a difficult position. Any other destination would have been fine, but the Calm Belt was the place he least wanted to go.

To him, it was a case of putting the cart before the horse.

Sea Kings over a hundred meters long lived in the Calm Belt. If they rashly entered the Grand Line through the Calm Belt, they would probably be fed to the Sea Kings in no time.

Moreover, for pirate ships driven by wind power, the Calm Belt was a lifeless zone of death.

Only the Navy and the Kuja Pirates led by the Empress could sail there.

That was why Lily Island and Impel Down could be established in the Calm Belt: they relied on the Sea Kings as a natural defensive barrier.

Otherwise, that famous kingdom of women would have long become a playground for male pirates.

Swain naturally noticed Law's reluctance and assured him:

"Don't worry! I'll deal with any Sea Kings we encounter along the way!"

Even after hearing his guarantee, Law remained hesitant.

"I'll need to discuss this with my crew."

Swain was not disappointed by Law's refusal.

This had only been a spur-of-the-moment decision anyway. For now, he could just keep Law by his side!

What he did not expect was that Law really gave Swain an answer that afternoon.

"Captain Swain, we can take you to Amazon Lily first."

"However, you must ensure that nothing goes wrong along the way!"

Although they believed that, with Swain's strength, crossing the Calm Belt would not be a problem.

They feared that he might truly disregard the lives of everyone aboard the ship midway through the journey.

And there was only one reason they could agree to it.

That was because Swain could wipe them all out right now, seize their ship, and leave without a trace!

Rather than refuse him, it was better to befriend him and let Swain owe them a favor.

Perhaps it might come in handy at a crucial moment!

Pirates had to understand social etiquette too.

Didn't the Whitebeard Pirates rescue people on the front lines during the Marineford War while Red-Haired guarded their territory, preventing Kaido from successfully seizing their land?

"Then thank you, Law-san!" Swain said.

In the Kingdom of Sokafia.

A restaurant's business was booming, stealing customers from several neighboring competitors.

"Wow! Miss Roland really has a talent for cooking!" the restaurant owner praised.

"Yeah! She's only been learning for ten days, yet she's already this skilled!"

The young and beautiful owner's wife praised her as well, making Roland blush at once.

"N-No!"

"I just studied harder before I learned it!"

"Boss! Another serving of fried noodles!"

"Me too!"

"I was here first!"

The two customers looked ready to fight over a plate of fried noodles.

Meanwhile, on a deserted island.

Bang! Bang bang bang!

A chain of explosions echoed across the entire island.

After the sounds died down, a soot-covered man walked out.

"Cough, cough, cough!"

"The data is still a little off! This time, the ratio of explosives was wrong."

Jordi immediately began recording it with a pen.

Elsewhere.

Swain finally reached the Calm Belt.

Though there was a saying that without wind, there could be no waves, that did not apply to him.

Although Law's Polar Tang had its own source of power.

The journey to Amazon Lily was still rather long, so Swain simply altered the speed of the seawater to help propel the ship.

When he first displayed that ability, Law and the others had been stunned for a while.

After all.

The ability to freely alter the speed of seawater was nothing short of fantasy.

Swain had his own plans for going to Amazon Lily, but his ultimate goal was still to grow stronger.

His plan was simple: he wanted Pirate Empress Hancock to help him contact Rayleigh!

The previous Empress of Amazon Lily had been Shakuyaku.

The reason she stepped down was because of "lovesickness," which had brought her to the Sabaody Archipelago. The source of that lovesickness was naturally the handsome old man Rayleigh.

As the new Empress, Hancock surely still had contact with Shakuyaku.

Otherwise, when Blackbeard, who would later become one of the Four Emperors, attacked Lily Island to seize the Empress's Devil Fruit ability, Rayleigh would not have been able to arrive in time, save her, and drive Blackbeard away!

Shakuyaku's help had naturally been indispensable!

He wanted to use that connection to lure Rayleigh over so that Rayleigh could teach him how to use Conqueror's Haki Infusion!

As for why he did not seek Rayleigh out himself, even without receiving news from elsewhere.

He could guess that the World Government was probably hunting for him across the entire world right now.

The moment he showed himself, another bloodbath would inevitably follow!

But.

Thinking about this Empress gave Swain a headache.

She was too arrogant, and she hated men.

But once she fell in love with a man, her intelligence would plummet to zero and she would turn into a lovestruck fool.

What could he do?

Could he make her fall in love with him?

Swain sat at the bow, looking at his reflection on the sea's surface.

After giving it some thought, that method seemed workable too.