In the outer waters around G–17, the sea looked calm—but unseen undercurrents churned beneath the surface.
Several "ordinary merchant ships," seemingly unrelated, were scattered in different positions more than ten nautical miles off the fortress, rising and falling with the swells.
They kept a delicate spacing—neither interfering with one another nor drifting too far apart—quietly watching, quietly restraining.
On their decks, sailors in civilian clothes took turns lifting high-powered telescopes, staring hard at the black steel beast squatting on the coastline.
Some were spies from the underworld. Some were eyes sent by New World pirate crews. Some were Revolutionary Army observers. Some were hidden sentries from the World Government's CP organizations.
The news of Golden Lion's fall had detonated like a bomb, shaking the entire sea. Everyone wanted to know what condition the Navy man who had slain a legend was in now—gravely wounded and barely alive, or even more untouchable than before.
"Too quiet…" On a ship flying a West Blue merchants' flag, a scout disguised as the first mate lowered his telescope and wiped cold sweat from his forehead. "The final battle happened out in the open sea, sure—but that man came back after killing Golden Lion. By rights, G–17 should be on full alert, or celebrating like crazy. But right now… that fortress looks like a sleeping beast. Not a twitch."
"Maybe it's relaxed on the outside and tight on the inside," someone murmured. "Against Golden Lion, even if he won he's probably badly injured. This calm might just be a cover for weakness."
…
Top Floor of the Fortress — The Base Commander's Private Suite
Morning sunlight slipped through a gap in the curtains and spilled across the wide bed.
Rain was sunk deep in soft pillows, sleeping like a rock. Lately he'd grown fond of sleeping in, and he blamed it on having overexerted himself fighting Golden Lion.
"Fff…"
Just as Rain rolled over, ready to enjoy his rare lazy morning—
Tap. Tap. Tap.
A light, rhythmic knocking sounded by his ear.
Like a little bird pecking at something?
"Mm…"
Rain frowned, didn't open his eyes, and waved a hand to shoo the nuisance away. Then he yanked the blanket over his head and tried to go back to sleep.
The sound didn't stop.
Tap. Tap. Tap!
Seeing Rain ignore it, the little thing grew even more shameless.
Rain felt something pointy and persistent pecking at his forehead.
Once. Twice. Three times.
It didn't really hurt, but the sensation—like someone tapping a wooden fish right on his brow—was maddening.
"Which bastard—"
Rain finally snapped. He threw the blanket off and opened his eyes, bristling with morning rage.
"Smoker! If this is your idea of a joke, I'll stuff you—"
His voice cut off.
Because floating in front of him wasn't Smoker, and it wasn't a lost seabird.
It was… a pink paper crane.
A palm-sized crane, folded with ridiculous precision, hovered right in front of his nose—defying gravity. Its paper wings even flapped like the real thing. When it saw Rain awake, it backed off a little, then dove at speed—
Tap!
It pecked Rain square in the brow.
Rain: (Ⅱ—Ⅱ)
He stared for two seconds, then sighed in helpless resignation and grabbed the "arrogant" crane.
It struggled once or twice in his hand, then went limp—unfolding into a sheet of pink stationery.
Rain opened it. There was only a single line of neat, graceful handwriting with a sharp edge to it:
[Get up, lazybones. The view up here is nice—come practice your fruit with me. —Gion]
"Float-Float Fruit… and you can use it like this?"
Rain looked down at the paper crane and couldn't help the smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.
To control the power so precisely—giving even a sheet of paper something like "life"—meant Gion was adapting faster than he'd expected.
"Seriously… first thing in the morning and you won't let me rest."
He complained out loud, but the sleepiness in his eyes was already gone.
He washed up and changed at lightning speed, went straight through the window, and shot upward into the sky.
…
Above the Clouds
CLANG!
A crisp metal impact rang out, rippling through the air and scattering the nearby cloudbank.
Two figures met—then separated at once.
Rain hovered in midair, coat on, his lower body partially elementized into lightning. In his hand was an ordinary Navy standard-issue saber. He watched the figure opposite him, moving freely through the open sky, and a hint of admiration flashed in his eyes.
"You picked it up fast."
Across from him, Gion wore her Justice coat. With no foothold, no support, she simply stood in open air—defying gravity.
Her named blade Konpira remained sheathed. Sword and scabbard together circled her like a fish in water, gliding on her will alone.
The Float-Float Fruit.
The ability that once made the sea tremble had taken on a completely different kind of brilliance in Gion's hands.
"It feels… strange," she said, drawing in the thin air at altitude. There was an excited flush on her cheeks, though her posture was still slightly stiff. "When I swung a blade before, I was always bound by footwork and gravity. But now—this whole sky is my pivot."
"Don't get carried away."
Rain blurred and appeared behind her in an instant, reaching out to lightly support her at the small of her back.
"Your center of mass is too far forward. On the ground, that's a good charging posture. In the air, it makes you a target."
"Ah!"
Gion jumped at the sudden touch. Her balance slipped, and her body tilted backward.
"Steady."
Rain didn't let go—he held her more firmly, his voice close to her ear, warm with faint amusement.
"Golden Lion's flight style was domineering. He brute-forced the air into holding him up. That won't suit you."
"Feel the airflow instead of fighting it. Think of yourself as a feather… or a cherry blossom petal."
Guided by his voice, Gion slowly relaxed the tension in her muscles. She closed her eyes, listened to the moving wind, and her posture eased—no longer stiffly suspended, but gently rising and falling with the current.
"That's it."
Rain released her and drifted back a few meters.
"Flight that fits you should be elegant… and lethal."
Gion opened her eyes. When she looked at Rain, there was a faint, almost hidden shyness in them.
She glanced down at the calm-looking waters below. To cover her earlier fluster, she deliberately changed the subject.
"Those 'flies' down there… aren't there a lot of them? They've been circling for days."
Even through the clouds, their Observation Haki already covered the whole sea. Those badly disguised scout ships were as obvious to them as torches in the dark.
"Do we need to deal with them?" Gion asked.
"No need."
Rain put away the practice saber and casually raked back wind-tossed hair.
"If they want to watch, let them watch."
"You really are…" Gion shook her head, exasperated. "Same as ever—reckless."
"Forget them. Come on, Gion—let me see what you can do now!"
"Gladly!"
Gion didn't back down. She sent Konpira streaking toward him like a beam of light.
CLANG—CLANG—CLANG!
Above the clouds, lightning and sword aura tangled again.
They didn't rush to end the training. They spiraled, chased, clashed—fighting from the cloudline down toward the sea, then shooting back up into the sky again.
Only when the sun was already high did they finally lower their weapons and begin to descend toward the fortress.
"By the way—" Rain glanced at her mid-descent. "Has HQ's order come in?"
Gion fell quiet for a beat. The excitement dimmed slightly.
"…Yeah. The ship coming to pick me up might arrive today."
She sighed, her voice edged with helplessness.
"Originally, under Vice Admiral Tsuru's plan, I was supposed to stay here three months as your special inspector. But this time… the noise got too big."
"Golden Lion's fall, and me eating the Float-Float Fruit… either one alone would keep those old men in Mary Geoise from sleeping."
Gion gave Rain a wry smile.
"Kong ordered it personally. I have to return to HQ for a debrief. They need to evaluate my combat power—because this is a legendary fruit."
"As expected," Rain said calmly. He wasn't surprised.
"Then go back," he added. "You're a future admiral candidate. You shouldn't be stuck in a small branch forever."
"You—"
Gion's expression tightened. This idiot couldn't say even one line of "stay"?
Just then, Rain's brows lifted. His Observation Haki caught a disturbance out at sea.
"Looks like there really are some idiots who think we're soft right now."
…
Outer Waters — G–17
A massive pirate ship flying a black skull flag—its figurehead a snarling boar—charged straight at the fortress like a mad bull.
"That's— the 'Rockbreaker' Pirates?!"
Even the lurking scout ships recognized it instantly.
This crew was affiliated under Kaido's banner. Not core officers, but infamous in the "Paradise" half of the Grand Line.
Their captain, "Rockbreaker" Bal, carried a bounty of 120 million berries.
A famous brute—just last week he'd used raw monstrous strength and his heavily reinforced ship to ram and sink a Navy HQ escort vessel. His arrogance was peaking.
"Men! Charge!!"
Bal stood at the prow, swinging a massive two-handed axe. The meat on his face quivered with excitement, eyes blazing.
"That Rain just fought Golden Lion—he's definitely badly injured! This is G–17 at its weakest!"
"If we smash into the port—even if we only cause some damage—our name will echo across the sea! Kaido-sama will promote me to a Tobiroppo!"
"OHHHHH!!!"
The pirates howled, drunk on recent victories and completely convinced by their captain's logic.
Cannons swung around. Black muzzles aimed at the silent black steel fortress.
"Fire!!"
BOOM! BOOM!
Two heavy solid cannonballs screamed forward, ripping toward the outer wall.
CLANG—!!
No stone exploded. No wall collapsed.
The cannonballs struck the fortress—now poured and clad in steel—and rang out like a bell.
Sparks flew.
The solid shot actually bounced off from the recoil and splashed into the sea.
Smoke cleared.
The black fortress still stood—unmoved. Not even a scrape.
"What—what kind of wall is that?!" Bal's eye bulged. His main cannon could punch through warship armor!
…
Fortress Plaza
On the training ground, Smoker's face went dark.
"Bastards…"
He looked at the thin wisp of smoke still clinging to the outer wall. He knew it didn't penetrate, but to G–17 it was a blatant slap in the face.
"All units! Ready counterfire!"
Smoker swept an arm, ready to order a barrage—ready to elementize and personally swat those flies out of the sea.
Then two figures were already hovering above the fortress.
"Since you're leaving anyway—"
Rain stood with hands in his pockets, gazing down at the pirate ship now reloading, looking absurdly pathetic against the steel fortress.
He spoke to Gion beside him.
"Give those rats watching from outside… a demonstration of the new Float-Float Fruit user."
Gion glanced at him. The corner of her mouth rose.
"Fine."
No extra words.
In the next instant, her figure vanished.
Out at sea, Bal was still roaring: "Keep firing! Blow that turtle shell open! I don't believe it!"
Then the light above him dimmed.
Everyone looked up.
A breathtaking figure in a Justice coat floated above the mast like a valkyrie. The two characters on her back—JUSTICE—shone in the sun.
Bal didn't even have time to react.
Gion moved.
Whoosh!
Her silhouette flickered around the hull like a phantom, a pink streak carving through air.
Deck. Mast. Rail.
In a single breath, she became a gust of wind that swept over nearly every critical point on the ship.
When she reappeared, she hovered directly above it, extended her right hand, and—
gently lifted.
In that moment, the entire pirate ship seemed to lose the right to obey gravity.
CRACK—!
The enormous hull tore free of weight—rising into the sky, hauled up by an invisible hand to a height of over a hundred meters.
"AAAAAH! We're flying?!"
"Help!!"
Pirates screamed as they floated and slammed around the deck like insects in a jar. Even Bal couldn't hold the railing—his body drifted, eyes full of terror.
Then—
Gion placed her hand on Konpira's hilt.
"Scatter."
SHING—
With a clear ring, her blade slid free.
Pink sword-light erupted and merged with the air she controlled.
The airflow turned into countless razor-thin "cherry blossom petals," spinning around the suspended ship like a blender.
SSSSSHHHH—!!!
In three seconds.
The ship—once "reinforced" and proud—along with the hundred pirates aboard, silently disintegrated in midair, shredded like tofu.
When Gion lowered her hand—
wood chips and metal fragments drifted down like a grand cherry blossom storm, sprinkling onto the sea.
Where Golden Lion's style was brutal dominance, Gion's was precision and elegance—clean, efficient, lethal.
On the plaza, thousands of Navy soldiers stared, mouths hanging open.
Then the moment the "petal rain" ended, applause and cheers erupted like thunder.
"Major General Gion!!"
"So strong!!"
They understood it instantly: besides Rain, the base now held another top-tier force capable of terrifying the sea.
…
Half an Hour Later — Military Harbor
A Navy HQ ship sent to pick Gion up was already prepared.
Gion stood on deck, wind tugging her Justice coat.
She didn't look back at the cheering soldiers. Her eyes fixed only on the man standing alone on the pier.
Rain didn't salute. He didn't say anything ceremonial.
He simply looked at her—like someone seeing off a friend going far away.
"I'm returning to HQ," Gion said, a trace of reluctance flickering in her eyes before hardening into resolve. "This time… we probably won't see each other for a while."
She smiled—bright and confident, full of anticipation and absolute faith in him.
"Don't turn the sea upside down while I'm gone."
"Relax."
Rain lifted a hand in a lazy wave, confidence unchanged.
"When we meet again, don't let me leave you too far behind, Major General."
"Hmph. Big talk."
Gion huffed, then turned away—no looking back.
"Set sail!"
At the order, the ship's horn blew. It eased out of the harbor and slipped toward the horizon.
Rain stood where he was until it disappeared into the line of sea and sky.
Only then did he slowly lower his gaze.