The corridor leading to the Fleet Admiral's office was laid with a thick crimson carpet, with portraits of past Fleet Admirals hanging along both walls. This was one of the centers of world power; even the air seemed saturated with a suffocating pressure.
Creeeak.
The heavy mahogany doors were pushed open.
The room inside was dimly lit. Only the enormous plaque bearing the word JUSTICE at the center seemed to radiate an authority that made people unwilling to look at it directly. It was said to be inscribed by Sengoku "the Buddha" himself—presented as a congratulatory gift when "Steel Bone" Kong became Fleet Admiral.
Seated around the long conference table were several of the most powerful men on the seas.
At the head sat the commander-in-chief of the entire Navy, the current Fleet Admiral—"Steel Bone" Kong. He looked like a living volcano that might erupt at any moment, thick arms folded across his chest. The knots of muscle on his body nearly tore the Fleet Admiral's uniform apart. A distinctive, mountain-shaped beard framed his broad jaw.
On his left was Admiral Sengoku, wearing a seagull cap; the round lenses of his glasses caught the light with a cold gleam. On Kong's right was the legendary "Hero of the Marines," Vice Admiral Garp, who was brazenly stuffing senbei into his mouth—crunch, crunch—the loudest, most discordant sound in the room.
Across from Sengoku sat a man in a red suit with a Marine cap pulled low, revealing only the sharp, merciless planes of his face. Heat seemed to shimmer off him, restless and oppressive, and the cigar between his fingers still curled with smoke.
Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral—Sakazuki.
Vice Admiral Tsuru entered with Rain and Gion.
As the heavy doors slammed shut behind them with a bang, every gaze in the room snapped onto Gion and Rain.
Especially Rain.
It was scrutiny from the highest echelon of power—suspicion, probing, indifference, pressure—countless emotions woven into an invisible net meant to strip this young sergeant to the bone.
Shiki's escape from Impel Down meant the fever of the Great Pirate Era would flare again, and the Navy's authority would suffer another catastrophic blow.
And at this moment—when everyone was already drowning—G-17 had exploded into scandal as well…
They'd hit the trigger at point-blank range.
"So this is the rookie?"
Kong spoke first. His voice was deep and booming, echoing through the office and making the teacups on the table tremble slightly.
His tiger-like eyes locked onto Rain in the center of the room—no admiration, only a harsh interrogation.
"Rain. I've read your file. You're an orphan raised by the Navy."
Kong leaned forward. A huge shadow fell over them, and his tone sharpened like a blade.
"If the Navy raised you, then you should understand discipline better than anyone. So I want to know—"
He slammed his palm on the table.
BANG!
"A full three months ago, after the Ohara Buster Call, you disappeared. For three months—no sign of life, no sign of death. Where did you go? What did you do? And why, the moment you return, do you get tangled up in a catastrophe like G-17—something big enough to tear the sky open?!"
It was the most lethal question of all.
A Marine who vanished for three months and came back carrying terrifying strength—that alone was suspicious.
Faced with an anger that would have reduced most officers to shivering wrecks, Rain merely stood at attention calmly.
No panic. No rushed defense.
He responded according to the script he'd rehearsed in his head countless times—steady, deliberate.
"Report, Fleet Admiral."
Rain's voice was even. At just the right moments, his eyes showed a thread of pain and hatred.
"Three months ago, during the chaos at Ohara, Smoker and I encountered the wanted criminal—'Devil Clark,' with a bounty of five hundred million."
At the name, a white flash slid across Sengoku's glasses. Sakazuki crushed the ember of his cigar.
"We were defeated and captured," Rain continued, his tone dropping. "Clark didn't kill us. He took us to an unnamed deserted island. There, he was conducting some kind of… human experimentation related to Devil Fruits."
Rain lifted his head, gaze open and straightforward.
"Until half a month ago, something went wrong with his experiment. Smoker and I seized a Devil Fruit in the confusion. To survive, we had no choice but to gamble and eat it. Fortune favored us—I gained an ability, destroyed his laboratory, and escaped."
"We drifted at sea for several days, until we encountered Rear Admiral Gion's ship on patrol."
Sengoku pushed his glasses up slightly, his stare sharp. "A coincidence."
"Too much of a coincidence," he said coolly. "You escape and immediately run into Rear Admiral Gion. You gain your power and immediately manage to bring down a pirate worth three hundred million."
He called it coincidence, but everyone in the room knew: on a sea full of monsters, in an age like this, improbable things happened.
More importantly, they didn't have the time to dissect the details of a single fugitive's story.
Because the other report on the table—G-17's collapse and the Warlord scandal—was the political bomb that had to be defused now.
"As for your disappearance," Kong said, waving a hand, forcibly dragging the discussion back onto the rails, "Headquarters will conduct a thorough follow-up investigation."
His eyes hardened again, fixed on Rain.
"Even if you truly escaped. Even if it was self-defense. But Rain—"
Kong jabbed a finger at the report concerning CP0's disappearance, voice freezing solid.
"The investigation of G-17 indicates two CP0 agents under World Government authority died to an extremely sharp cutting attack—killed inside the core area under Marine control."
His voice rose, heavy and furious.
"Victor is dead. Nelson is dead. Fine. But CP0 are different! They are the Celestial Dragons' direct agents! They were beheaded inside our base. Saint Charlmaco is raging in the Holy Land, and the World Government is demanding an explanation!"
He leaned forward.
"Tell me—who did it?!"
A question designed to kill.
Answer wrong, and Rain could be seized on the spot.
Rain stayed calm.
"The battle was extremely chaotic," he said smoothly. "Victor Hugo possessed the Paramecia 'Crystallize Fruit.' He could refract light and attacks at will. When cornered, he launched indiscriminate assaults to erase evidence."
Rain's tone remained natural, unforced.
"As for the two agents… they were standing with the pirates. In a melee at that level, I truly couldn't see how they died."
"Couldn't see?"
Sengoku snorted, clearly unimpressed.
He was about to press harder—
Smack.
Tsuru, who had been silent until now, suddenly dropped a thick stack of papers onto the center of the table, cutting Sengoku off mid-breath.
"Enough. Look at this first."
Her voice wasn't loud, but it carried the authority of someone who could seize the entire room with a sentence.
She pointed to the bundle—black roster books and wax-sealed letters: the hard evidence Rain had brought up from the basement.
"Before we ask how they died," Tsuru said, eyes sweeping the room, "shouldn't we be asking why two CP0 agents were on a pirate ship in the first place?"
With one sentence, she tore away the fig leaf.
"Victor and Nelson colluded for years—kidnapping civilians along the Golden Route, turning them into living crystal 'statues,' and selling them to Saint Charlmaco. Those two CP0 agents were the middlemen responsible for escort and inspection."
For the first time, Garp stopped chewing.
"That rotten garbage…" he muttered, senbei crushed in his fist. "Turning civilians into merchandise… I'd like to give every one of those bastards a punch."
Kong's face darkened. A stiff, unnatural tension flickered across his features.
As the Navy's supreme commander, he was not ignorant of "dirty dealings." In truth, to preserve the delicate balance with Mary Geoise, he had chosen to tolerate certain things.
But now—when Tsuru ripped the veil off in front of everyone and slapped proof on the table—his expression carried more than anger.
There was irritation, and the ugly edge of being exposed.
"This isn't just human trafficking—" Kong started, forcing a line through clenched teeth.
Tsuru tapped the tabletop twice.
"Kong. Calm down."
~~~
Patreon.com/Weze_
— You can read more Chapters in my Patreon Page! please vote, comment, share this, or visit my Patreon Page and join the Free Membership!