Six Months Later

Sea Circle Calendar, March 1499.

Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

In the office of Vice Admiral Tsuru, the Chief Staff Officer, a marine respectfully placed a list on her desk.

"Vice Admiral Tsuru, this is the final selection list for the new elite training camp. Please review it."

Tsuru nodded and picked up the list, scanning it at a glance. The names on it were all Marine prodigies carefully selected from the Four Seas and the Grand Line.

"Smoker... someone Kuzan recommended, huh? A Logia Devil Fruit user. Decent talent, but a complete thorn in the side."

She continued reading and saw several familiar names, immediately understanding.

After finishing the list, she gently set it on the desk. Her fingers unconsciously tapped against the tabletop as though she were considering something.

After a long while, as if recalling something, she picked up a pen and carefully added a name to the end of the elite camp list.

Loguetown Marine Branch, Corvo Rayne.

"That will do." She handed the list back to the marine.

Then she picked up the Den Den Mushi on her desk and dialed a number she had not contacted in some time.

"Buru buru buru..."

"Chaka."

As the call connected, the Den Den Mushi's eyes narrowed into crescents, laugh lines appearing at their corners.

Its mouth stretched exaggeratedly to either side, and a goatee identical to Garp's sprouted beneath it.

From the other end came a carefree voice. "Oh? Little Tsuru? What made you call me?"

"Garp," Vice Admiral Tsuru said, her tone unusually relaxed, "still enjoying yourself in the East Blue?"

"Ha ha ha, of course!" The Den Den Mushi copied Garp's hearty grin. "The rice crackers here are much tastier than the ones at Headquarters!" Crunching sounds came from the other end of the line.

After chatting for a few moments, Tsuru shifted the subject and got to the point.

"Since you're in the East Blue, make a stop in Loguetown and pick someone up for me."

"Hm? Who is it? Someone important enough for you, the Chief Staff Officer, to ask personally?"

"You should remember him—the marine who executed Roger," Tsuru said flatly. "Rayne."

On the other end, Garp's distinctive laughter came to an abrupt halt.

The Den Den Mushi's expression also sank into prolonged silence.

Several seconds later, Garp's voice sounded again.

"Alright."

East Blue, the waters outside Loguetown.

A small fishing boat gently bobbed with the waves on the calm sea.

Roger's death had not ended an era. Instead, with his final declaration, it had ushered in an even more chaotic and frenzied Great Pirate Era!

Countless people carrying dreams and ambitions flooded toward the sea from all over the world.

As the starting point for the Grand Line, Loguetown had become the forefront of this tidal wave of the times.

Every day, countless new pirate crews gathered here, set sail from here, and were captured or lost their lives here.

As Loguetown's only executioner, Rayne's workload had reached an unprecedented peak.

Over the past six months, Rayne had carried out so many executions that he had nearly gone numb.

Only today had Rayne finally received his first full day off in nine months.

At that moment, his gaze sharpened slightly.

At the edge of his vision, a tiny black dot was slowly approaching.

It was a pirate ship flying a skull flag.

Rayne's [Peak] Observation Haki suddenly spread out!

His world instantly became incomparably quiet.

Wind speed, humidity, the rise and fall of the waves, even the paths of dust in the air—all of it was instantly drawn into his perception and calculation.

On that pirate ship several kilometers away, every pirate's heartbeat rang in his ears like beating war drums.

In his "vision," the entire ship's structure became transparent.

With a thought, his senses became like an invisible lens, instantly zooming in through the deck and focusing on the captain's quarters.

A burly-faced man was stepping on a table and laughing wildly with a bottle raised high. A huge, centipede-like scar ran across his thick arm.

"Target... locked."

Rayne slowly picked up the finely crafted black pistol lying by his feet.

He did not even stand up, maintaining his fishing posture as he casually raised an arm and pulled the trigger toward that distant direction.

Bang.

A faint sound, almost imperceptible over the vast sea.

Several kilometers away, the laughter in the pirate ship's captain's quarters abruptly stopped.

One pirate turned around in horror and saw a tiny bloody hole in his captain's forehead. The smile had not yet faded from his face when he fell backward stiffly.

[Judgment Successful!]

[Criminal: "Whipscar" Garl]

[Overall Level: R8]

[Status: Executed]

[Crime Index: 530]

[Execution Participation: 100%]

[Sin Points Obtained: 530]

[Selectable Rewards]: (5 options available)

Even from several kilometers away, he could clearly "hear" the chaos aboard the pirate ship.

He stood up and put away his fishing rod.

Once the captainless pirate ship drifted a little closer, like a headless fly, Rayne placed his hand on the hilt at his waist.

Hummm—!

The blade left its sheath.

He swung it forward in that direction.

A hundred-meter-long, incomparably condensed azure sword aura flew from the blade like a crescent moon. At a speed too fast for the naked eye to catch, it instantly crossed several thousand meters and flashed through the middle of the pirate ship!

The next second, amid the desperate screams of countless pirates and a deafening boom, the entire pirate ship was cleanly split into two from the middle!

A string of "Judgment Successful" notifications frantically flooded his mind.

Rayne calmly sheathed his sword, as though he had merely done something insignificant.

They were all R-rank and N-rank minor pirates. Rayne could not even be bothered to examine the [Selectable Rewards] closely. He casually selected [Body Inheritance] for all of them, and several weak currents of warmth merely stirred nearly imperceptible ripples within the river-like torrent of power in his body before instantly vanishing.

If he had not focused carefully, he would not even have been able to tell whether he had grown stronger at all.

"As expected..."

Rayne sighed helplessly to himself.

"Since my physique reached [Advanced], the 'nourishment' R-rank and N-rank pirates can provide has become less and less."

"If I want to go any further and step over the threshold of [Top-tier], I'm afraid I'll have to judge some truly significant figures."

Thinking of this, Rayne opened his personal panel to take a look.

Name: Corvo Rayne

Age: 16

Rank: Sergeant

[Physique Realm]: Advanced

[Talent]: Voice of All Things

[Skills]: Swordsmanship (Top-tier), Shooting (Top-tier), Stealth (Advanced), Fighting Techniques (Advanced), Cooking (Advanced), Navigation (Advanced)

[Haki]: Observation (Peak), Armament (Top-tier)

[Sin Points]: 150,597

[Equipment]: Skillful Grade Blade x1, Fine Firearm x1, Storage Ring