In the past six months, the endless stream of rookie pirates had provided Rain with plenty of "nutrients."
Thanks to the start of the Great Pirate Era, most of the pirates showing up in the East Blue were small fry with weak strength—but there were just too many of them. Over these six months, Rain had still been lucky enough to run into a few who'd at least grasped the basics of Armament Haki.
Once he successfully unlocked Basic Armament Haki through executions, he didn't hesitate for a second before pouring Sin Points into it, pushing his Armament all the way up to the limit his current [Physique] could support—[Top-Tier].
Even after exchanging for Top-Tier Armament Haki, he still had over 250,000 points left, all thanks to the countless pirates he'd judged over the past half year.
The only thing that left him dissatisfied was his [Physique Tier].
After reaching [Advanced], his progress slowed to a crawl.
Even Rain had lost count of how many N- and R-rank "nutrients" he'd absorbed, and there had even been a few SR-rank targets among them—but no matter what, he still hadn't broken through to [Top-Tier].
That said, six months of insane growth had shot his height up to 2.6 meters. Compared to the "perfect" three-meter stature that most top-level monsters in this world seemed to have, he wasn't far off now.
"Even if it's only [Advanced] for the moment…"
Feeling the power inside him—already incomparable to what he'd had six months ago—Rain silently did some math in his heart.
"I should be roughly at the average level of a Headquarters vice admiral now."
"But…" Several faces from the manga in his previous life flashed through his mind. "I wonder what positions Akainu, Aokiji, and Kizaru hold right now."
"Compared to those real 'monsters,' I've still got a fair gap to close."
Thanks to Tsuru's "he withstood the Pirate King's Haki and saved the Marines' honor" narrative, Rain hadn't just escaped punishment for his hesitation after recovering from his injuries—he'd become a hero of the Loguetown branch.
Not long after, a symbolic commendation came down from Headquarters, promoting him straight from Seaman Second Class to Sergeant.
However, at Rain's own insistent request, he was not transferred away from what everyone else saw as the cursed job of executioner.
He didn't care much about rank, and the meager sergeant's allowance was nothing but pocket change in his eyes.
For him, nothing mattered more than having the official right to continuously "judge evil."
After all, executions were a bloody job, but they paid in clearly defined returns. Every time he took action, he was rewarded with Sin Points and Selectable Rewards.
As for fishing…
Thinking that, he lifted his rod and glanced at the completely empty bucket by his feet, sighing in irritation.
"As expected, I have absolutely no talent for fishing."
He got up, packed the rod away, and made a mental note. "Another day, I should keep an eye out—see if any pirate I run into happens to have a [Fishing] skill."
With that completely unrealistic hope in mind, Rain steered the little boat back toward Loguetown's harbor.
In the main central berth—the spot normally reserved only for big shots from Headquarters—a massive Marine warship was sitting quietly at anchor.
"A Headquarters vessel? At that size… which vice admiral is here?"
A flicker of doubt moved through Rain's eyes. When his gaze followed the warship's hull upward and finally landed on the extremely recognizable figurehead—
It was a massive, imposing dog head carved at the bow.
In the entire Marine fleet, in the entire sea, only one warship bore that symbol.
The ship belonging to the man known as the Hero of the Marines.
Rain guided his boat in slowly.
He noticed that all the Marines on the docks were staring at the dog-head warship with expressions mixing "worship," "excitement," and "awe." Even routine patrols were sloppy; just being able to glance a few extra times at that ship seemed like the greatest honor.
Rain's confusion deepened. "Garp… what's he doing in Loguetown?"
He quietly moored the boat in an inconspicuous corner and slipped back toward the base.
As soon as he stepped through the gate, his direct superior, the scar-faced Captain Stock, came scrambling out of nowhere like he'd seen a ghost.
"Y-you brat! You… finally came back!" Stock grabbed him by the arm, his voice trembling. "Where did you go?! We've been looking all over for you!"
Rain pointed expressionlessly at the fishing rod in his hand. "Fishing."
"Fishing?" Stock exploded like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. He snatched the rod from Rain and smashed it to the ground. "Do you have any idea what time it is?! You still have the mood to fish?! Move it, now! Vice Admiral Garp… he called you out by name!"
…
Under the envious, jealous, and resentful stares of what felt like every Marine in the base, Rain walked alone up onto the deck of the dog-head warship.
He saw the legendary "Hero of the Marines" sitting cross-legged on the deck in a white suit, shoveling rice crackers into his mouth and waving him over impatiently.
"Had this old man waiting for you forever, didn't you, Rain!"
Garp's voice, like the man himself, was loud, casual, and completely unconcerned with decorum.
"Reporting, Vice Admiral Garp! Sergeant Corvo Rain of the Loguetown Marine Branch, reporting in!"
"Yeah, yeah… Tsuru-chan said you're an interesting brat." Garp waved his hand, yawned, and spoke around the rice cracker in his mouth. "Something about the Elite Camp starting soon, told me to swing by and pick you up. Anyway, just come with me, that's all you need to know."
"Elite Camp? Vice Admiral Tsuru? So after I refused the promotion last time… I still got scheduled in anyway…" Rain thought to himself.
But he responded immediately, snapping to attention with a mix of earnestness and "terrified honor" on his face. "Reporting, Vice Admiral Garp! I'm very grateful for the trust you and Vice Admiral Tsuru have placed in me! But I believe I still need to temper myself further in Loguetown! I hope to continue serving the Marines here!"
Garp's finger, which he'd been using to dig his nose, paused. He glanced sideways at Rain—then suddenly burst into loud laughter.
"Cut the crap! Even this old man has to listen to Tsuru-chan sometimes! She said go, so you're going. Pack your things—we leave in ten minutes!"
All the lines Rain had prepared died instantly in his throat, crushed by Garp's completely unreasonable decree.
He stared at the carefree, nose-picking hero of the Marines in front of him and felt a wave of helplessness.
"I'm doomed… I've met my hard counter."
"The whole act I used on someone clever like Tsuru is totally useless on this guy!"
"He doesn't argue, doesn't listen to speeches about 'loyalty.' He just says one thing: you go because I said so."
Rain sighed inwardly. He knew there was no dodging this one.
"Yes, Vice Admiral Garp." He had no choice but to salute.
With no excuse left to refuse, Rain could only trudge back to his dorm to pack.
All his important belongings were in his ring, so he just grabbed a few changes of clothes and stuffed them into a bag for show. Then, under the burning stares of the entire Loguetown branch, he boarded the dog-head warship.
The ship slowly left the harbor, sailing away from Loguetown.
Rain stood alone by the rail, watching the "Town of the Beginning and the End" shrink into the distance. He felt no attachment—only a sudden sense of unreality.
"With only an [Advanced] physique, getting yanked out of the starter town like this really doesn't feel safe."
He sighed to himself, but quickly forced the unease down.
"Still… if I look at it from another angle, being forcibly 'job-changed' may not be entirely bad."
His [Physique Tier] had been stuck at [Advanced] for a while now. The pirates around Loguetown were almost all N- and R-rank small fry; even SR-ranks were rare. The "nutritional value" they offered was practically negligible.
Staying in the East Blue any longer would've been the real waste of time.
"At Marine HQ… the Elite Training Camp will at least teach the Six Powers properly. Even if they're not that useful, there's no harm in learning. More importantly, once I graduate, I'll most likely be stationed at some branch on the Grand Line."
"When that happens, the pirates I execute will be on a whole different level."
Thinking of the monsters on the Grand Line with bounties in the tens of millions, Rain couldn't help but feel a heat rising in his eyes.
While he was lost in thoughts and mentally mapping out his future "growth route," at some point Garp had wandered over to stand beside him, wearing a half-smile.
The older man clapped a hand on Rain's shoulder and started chatting casually. "Brat, I heard from Tsuru-chan you're an orphan, huh?"
Every alarm bell in Rain's head went off, but his face immediately shifted to a look of gratitude and "Marine-faithful" devotion as he answered, standing straight. "Yes, sir, Vice Admiral! The Marines took me in. Without the Marines, I wouldn't be who I am today!"
"Mm." Garp grunted noncommittally and didn't push that topic further.
He turned and stood shoulder to shoulder with Rain, both facing the wide, calm sea.
"What a peaceful ocean," Garp said suddenly, his voice stripped of its usual energy, tinged with complicated emotion instead. "But it's this weakest of all seas that produced the biggest pain in my ass."
Rain stayed silent. He knew exactly who Garp meant.
Garp seemed to sink completely into his memories, talking more to himself than anyone. "That bastard spent his whole life making trouble for this old man. And even dead, he left a mess this big for me—and the world—to clean up."
It sounded like he was complaining, but Rain could hear a hint of something even Garp himself might not have noticed—a mutual respect shared only between monsters.
"The whole world calls this old man the hero who captured him," Garp said, a self-mocking edge creeping into his tone. "But to this day, I still don't really understand him."
"Hey, brat." Garp suddenly changed his tone and asked a question that seemed unrelated. "When he died, you were the one closest to him. In your eyes… what kind of man was Roger?"
It was a trap.
Call Roger a hero and you betray the Marines; call him a villain and you sound shallow and foolish.
Rain stayed quiet for a few seconds, as if organizing his thoughts, then spoke slowly:
"Reporting, Vice Admiral Garp. I… can't judge him."
"On a personal level, he might have been a successful adventurer who reached the end of his dream."
"But if we look at the outcome," Rain paused, "he used his own death to pry open an era even more chaotic and evil than before. His sin isn't in what he did while alive—but in what his death will set off afterward."
Hearing that, Garp's ever-carefree face grew serious for the first time.
He turned his head sharply. The usually sleepy-looking eyes were now razor sharp, as if they wanted to peel Rain apart and read his soul.
He finally understood why Tsuru had said this kid was "interesting."
"Come to think of it, brat…"
Garp's expression turned very serious.
"Right before he was executed… Roger didn't actually use Conqueror's Haki on you, did he?"