。
Cotton soaks up water.
Literal
Cotton [topic-は] water [object-を] sucks-into.
The native Japanese compound 吸い込む ('suck + into') used instead of the Sino-Japanese 吸収する. 吸い込む is more concrete and everyday, conveying the physical act of drawing in. The choice between Sino-Japanese and native synonyms is one of the register-shaping decisions Japanese writers constantly make.