The tall figure lying in the hospital bed heard voices, and his blood-red eyes snapped open.
Five minutes later, a nurse entered the ward from the corridor, and her expression changed drastically.
"Admiral Akainu!!"
"Where is he?"
Chapter 319: Akainu's defection
A sea breeze blew through the white hospital room, stirring the curtains.
But the bed was already empty, leaving only tangled monitoring leads, bandages from his dressing changes, and bloodstains.
The nurse stood there blankly, unsure what to do.
With the Admiral's injuries, he would have needed at least three months to recover even after regaining consciousness.
Yet now he had vanished?
She suddenly snapped out of her daze and ran toward the nurses' station, shouting.
"Admiral Akainu is missing!"
In an instant, the doctors and injured officers in the corridor and wards were stunned.
The news soon reached the Fleet Admiral's Office.
"Akainu is missing?"
Sengoku froze, clearly bewildered as well.
There was little precedent for an Admiral suddenly disappearing. Besides, given his injuries and the mistakes he had made in the recent war, he still had to be held accountable.
What was he playing at, disappearing now?
His gaze involuntarily shifted to Xia Le before him.
In fact, after the Summit War ended and the next Fleet Admiral was confirmed, he had already begun relinquishing authority, whether consciously or not.
This was a necessary process. When Fleet Admiral Kong stepped down years ago, Sengoku had likewise served as acting Fleet Admiral for a time.
Only this way could power be transferred smoothly.
"Sakazuki has defected!"
Without even looking up, Xia Le spoke calmly.
"Defected?"
"You can't throw around accusations like that, Xia Le!"
Sengoku's expression tightened slightly as he spoke gravely.
An Admiral's defection was unimaginably serious. It could even send shockwaves through the world.
Xia Le