Absolute Justice

"Vice Admiral! They're charging at us!" a marine reported.

Rosinante nervously drew his pistol, his hand shaking badly.

Rayne also "nervously" gripped the hilt of his sword. He had already prepared for a boarding battle, calculating how much strength he needed to use to make his act more convincing while accidentally killing a few more pirates.

However, Sakazuki had no intention of giving them a chance to board.

He merely watched coldly as the pirate ship drew closer and began firing its cannons, though every shell laughably missed.

When the two ships were still nearly a thousand meters apart, Sakazuki raised his right arm, which was coated in magma.

The instant Sakazuki raised his arm, Rayne's Observation Haki sensed a terrifying heat capable of destroying heaven and earth gathering there!

At the same time, however, his Observation Haki pierced through the pirate ship and clearly "saw" deep into its hold—there were not only the presences of dozens of pirates, but also several civilians who had been tortured beyond endurance, their life signs faint and weak!

Alarm bells rang wildly in Rayne's mind.

He abruptly turned to look at Sakazuki.

He believed that with Sakazuki's strength, there was no way he had failed to sense it!

Yet Sakazuki's expression did not waver in the slightest.

Damn it! He's trying to steal my kills.

The thought had barely crossed Rayne's mind before it was replaced by another, far angrier one. He's going to kill the civilians too...!

The next second, a gigantic fist of magma, trailing black smoke and flames, tore across the sky faster than a cannonball.

Before Rosinante could react, the giant magma fist struck the center of the pirate ship with perfect accuracy.

There was no earth-shattering explosion.

There was only a deafening Sizzle—!!!!!

The wooden pirate ship, along with the dozens of arrogant pirates aboard it, was like plastic trash thrown into a blast furnace. Before their screams could travel far, they were melted through, ignited, and vaporized by the extreme heat in an instant.

A few seconds later, only a patch of violently boiling seawater remained, along with several charred wreckage fragments floating on the surface, still burning.

Annihilated.

A deathly silence fell over the deck.

Clang.

Rosinante's pistol fell from his hand onto the deck. His face was pale as paper as he stared at the boiling sea. His stomach churned violently, and he rushed to the side of the ship, braced himself against the railing, and began dry-heaving. "Bleurgh—"

His entire body trembled. There was only one thought in his mind. This... this isn't justice... This is slaughter...

Behind him, Rayne was stunned as well.

He did not vomit, but his body trembled slightly, and his face had turned somewhat "pale."

Rosinante was sickened and terrified.

Rayne, on the other hand, was consumed by rage. He clenched his fists so tightly that his nails nearly dug into his palms. That bastard... He actually wiped out those innocent victims along with them?!

Rayne did not consider himself some sort of saint. For the sake of Crime Index, he could slaughter pirates without mercy.

But to grant the same destruction to innocent victims kidnapped by pirates...

Is this your "Absolute Justice"...?

Sakazuki slowly turned around, the magma on his arm still hissing.

He saw Rosinante vomiting his guts out, and undisguised contempt flashed through his sinister eyes.

Then he saw the other recruit.

Rayne was also "trembling slightly," and his face was somewhat pale—Sakazuki assumed Rayne had been frightened as well, but he gave him some grudging approval for not vomiting on the spot.

He spoke. "Evil deserves neither mercy nor hesitation."

"Your internship has only just begun. Over the next three months, I will teach you what justice truly is."

After saying that, Sakazuki ignored the two recruits, bit down on his cigar, and turned to enter the cabin.

He could not even be bothered to order the wreckage salvaged, because under his Magma-Magma Fruit, nothing valuable would remain.

Only after Sakazuki's figure had completely disappeared did Rosinante shakily straighten up from the side of the ship. He collapsed onto the deck, gasping for air, his face still pale as paper.

Rayne remained where he was. His tightly clenched fists slowly relaxed as he took a deep breath of the sulfur-scented air.

That night, in Rayne and Rosinante's quarters.

The atmosphere was oppressive to the extreme.

Rosinante had not eaten all day. He simply sat blankly on his bunk without saying a word.

Rayne sat calmly at the table, unhurriedly wiping down his sword—a habit he had developed from Gion, one that allowed him to keep his mind absolutely calm.

"Rayne..."

At last, Rosinante spoke in a hoarse voice.

Rayne's hand paused.

"Don't you... don't you think that was too much?" Rosinante suddenly raised his head. His eyes were bloodshot, and his voice was full of trembling confusion.

"He didn't even... even try to board them... He didn't even try to arrest them..." he growled. "He just... burned them all... burned them all to nothing!"

"How was that any different from pirates?!"

At that, Rayne set down his sword and polishing cloth.

He turned around and calmly looked at Rosinante, whose emotions were on the verge of collapse.

"There was a difference," Rayne said flatly.

"Pirates acted for selfish desires. Vice Admiral Sakazuki acted for the 'justice' he believed in."

"That still isn't..." Rosinante tried to argue heatedly.

"Rosinante," Rayne interrupted, "you feel sick, and you think it's wrong, because you're too weak."

Rosinante froze. "...What?"

"Why can Vice Admiral Sakazuki do something like that?" Rayne's tone was cold as iron. "Because he has power."

"He has the power to decide everything. And we are merely two interns. We don't even have the right to vomit in front of him."

Rosinante was stunned by those cruel yet realistic words.

Rayne stood, walked over to him, and looked down at him.

"If you don't want this kind of thing to happen, if you want to save people with your gentle justice, then you need to work hard and become stronger."

"Become stronger than him. Strong enough... that he has to hear your voice."

Rosinante stared blankly at Rayne. There was no emotion in Rayne's dark eyes, yet they seemed to possess the power to see through everything.

"...Become... stronger..." Rosinante clenched his fists, and his trembling body seemed to find a direction.

"I understand..." He lowered his head. "Rayne, thank you."

Rayne patted his shoulder and said nothing more.

He did not tell Rosinante that there had been innocent civilians kidnapped by the pirates aboard that ship.

Rosinante had nearly broken down merely because the pirates had been wiped out. If he learned the truth that even the innocent had been destroyed alongside them, Rayne had no doubt that this big blond fool would draw his pistol and charge straight for Sakazuki's quarters. That would be truly courting death.

Some truths were not things the weak had the right to know.