The Day of Execution

Loguetown, Central Square.

The sky was cloudless for miles, the blazing sun hanging high overhead and baking the stone pavement scorching hot.

In stark contrast to the clear weather was the atmosphere in the square, oppressive to the extreme.

Tens of thousands of civilians, reporters, pirates, and bounty hunters had come from all over the world, packing the place so tightly that not even water could pass through.

They seemed to be attending a grand yet twisted festival. The air was thick with sweat, alcohol, and an almost frenzied excitement.

This was a death spectacle watched by the entire world.

Marine Base, dormitory.

Rayne put on a brand-new Marine uniform.

He wore no mask.

Calmly, he looked at his blurry reflection in the window glass—a handsome, refined young man.

"Dong—dong—"

A heavy bell rang out from deep within the base.

The time had come.

Rayne left the dormitory and joined the escort unit made up of elite Headquarters Marines. Along with another stern-looking Headquarters lieutenant colonel, he followed behind that man, one on each side.

Gol D. Roger.

When he stepped out through the base gates and onto the final road leading to the center of the square, a tsunami of cheers crashed into him head-on, almost tangible.

His senses, far beyond those of an ordinary person, suffered an unprecedented and terrifying impact in that moment.

The distinct shouts, laughter, crying, and curses of tens of thousands of people blended together, making his brain buzz.

It looks exactly like the manga I read in my previous life...

Rayne looked over the sea of people before him, the thought instinctively flashing through his mind.

No... it isn't the same at all.

He immediately rejected the thought.

All of this... was far too real.

The pungent smell in the air, mixed with the sweat of countless people and cheap alcohol, was real.

The faint vibrations beneath his feet from the stone road being trampled by countless people were real.

The twisted expressions on the faces of the surrounding civilians, mixed with fanaticism, greed, fear, and excitement, were real.

Rayne's gaze finally settled on the tall figure walking several meters ahead of him.

He was no longer a legendary symbol on a page, no longer a two-dimensional character on a screen.

He was a "real" person.

Rayne could see the subtle wear on his famous red captain's coat from years at sea; he could hear the dull clack, clack of the custom shackles dragging across the stone pavement; he could see his black hair fluttering slightly in the sea breeze.

That man was wearing handcuffs, smiling as he calmly walked toward his own death.

And Rayne...

Rayne lowered his head and looked at his gloved hands, which would soon raise the execution rifle.

...was the one who would personally send him on his way.

Only at that moment did Rayne truly realize, from the depths of his soul, that he had transmigrated.

He was no longer a "reader" judging the plot from behind a screen.

He was now a "participant" in this real, cruel world filled with limitless possibilities—a participant about to personally kill the "protagonist of the old era."

An absurd, icy, and faintly morbid excitement churned wildly in his chest.

As he looked at the man ahead who he was about to kill with his own hands, every stray thought vanished from Rayne's mind, leaving only an unprecedented coldness and focus.

When Rayne stepped onto the enormous wooden execution platform, more than ten meters high and built specifically for the Pirate King, the clamor of the entire world seemed to recede from him in that instant.

He could see the endless sea of people below, made up of thousands upon thousands of fanatical, twisted faces. He could hear the wind and his own steady heartbeat, suppressed within his chest.

At the edge of his vision, several enormous one-eyed Visual Transponder Snails were broadcasting every image here to the entire world in real time.

He and the stern Headquarters lieutenant colonel stood behind Roger, one on each side, rifles in hand.

On a lower platform beneath the execution stand, Marine Admiral Sengoku held a lengthy indictment, his expression solemn.

Farther away, in the shadow of a building, Marine Hero Garp—the man who should have been standing in the most conspicuous spot, basking in the cheers of the entire world—leaned against a wall alone with his arms folded. The brim of his dog-head hat was pulled low, hiding his expression.

Beside Sengoku, Chief Staff Officer Tsuru had her brows tightly furrowed. Her wise eyes were filled with concern over this overly smooth "ceremony."

Sengoku stepped forward and began reading the Pirate King Gol D. Roger's crimes to the entire world.

"Sea Circle Calendar 1484. Gol D. Roger led his pirate crew across the seas, challenging the World Government..."

Sengoku's voice was solemn and murderous, but Rayne was not listening at all.

He raised his eyes, using his extraordinary vision to carefully inspect the crowd below.

He saw them.

Within that roaring tide of people were the red-haired boy Shanks, wearing a straw hat and crying inconsolably, and beside him, the red-nosed boy Buggy, crying so hard that snot bubbles had formed.

The young swordsman Mihawk, his expression cold and his gaze sharp enough to cut through anything.

Crocodile, a cigar in his mouth and an unruly expression on his face.

The blond young man Doflamingo, wearing sunglasses and a domineering curve on his lips.

Gecko Moria, tall and broad, without a beer belly yet, his face wearing a morbidly excited grin.

And Smoker, a white-haired young Marine among the ranks, looking at the platform with a face full of pride and longing.

And, in the most inconspicuous corner, Monkey D. Dragon—a man in a hooded cloak with strange markings on his face, seemingly nothing more than a cold observer.

All the important figures of the future are here...

Rayne murmured inwardly as he admired the grand drama called the "new era," which was about to begin.

And he was the one responsible for raising the curtain.

At last, Sengoku finished reading the lengthy indictment. He raised his right hand high, then swung it sharply downward, issuing a final, authoritative command that echoed throughout the entire square:

"Execute him!"

In that instant, the entire world fell silent.

As if by reflex, Rayne instantly raised the rifle in his hands and aimed at Roger's heart from behind.

But his mind went buzz, turning completely blank.

Wait? We're doing it now? Rayne's heart jolted. What the hell? The procedure is wrong! Where's the final words part? Shouldn't some random guy jump out and ask where the treasure is, and then Roger gives that speech that starts a new era? Why did we skip straight to the final step?!

This wasn't following the script at all!

Like a statue, he remained standing at attention with his rifle raised, utterly motionless.

That strange "hesitation" plunged the entire square into deathly silence. The lieutenant colonel stared at him in astonishment. Captain Stork below was scared out of his wits. Sengoku's brows twisted into a deep frown, while Tsuru's eyes filled with shock and suspicion.

In the shadows, Garp's folded hands unconsciously clenched.

The entire world was waiting for the gunshot that would end an era, but at that moment, the only sound in the square was the wind.

Rayne's heart pounded wildly as he made the calmest and most insane gamble of his life!

No... not enough! Roger right now is merely a "captured Pirate King."

His [Crime Index] won't be low, but it hasn't reached its peak yet!

Starting a chaotic Great Pirate Era and sending the world's ambitious people rushing out to sea—this sin that will plunge the world into chaos for the next twenty years is your greatest achievement in this life, and my greatest fortune!

Speak, Roger! A man like you won't just accept death so willingly, will you?

Say those words!

As if he had heard the cry from the depths of Rayne's soul, Roger, who had been calmly awaiting death with a smile, seemed to sense the unusual silence as well.

He slowly turned around. Those incomparably profound eyes, which had seen the end of the world, fell upon the young man behind him for the first time.

Within those eyes, Rayne saw neither fear nor hatred. There was only a trace of curiosity at the unexpected pause, and a kind of... understanding, as though he had long seen through everything.

At that moment, Rayne even had the illusion that Roger had seen through the mature soul within his fifteen-year-old body, a soul that did not belong to this world.

He understood the fleeting "stage" this young man had created for him.

Then, with the last of his strength, he gave the entire world the bold laugh and declaration that would usher in an era:

"Want my treasure?"

"If you want it, then go find it at sea. I left everything in the world there!"