Roger Captured

Three days had passed since Buck's execution.

The naval base's open-air training ground blazed under the fierce sun.

Whoosh—!

A swift flash of steel carved a cold arc through the air, precisely slicing a fallen leaf from the wooden post ahead without so much as shaking the post itself.

Rayne slowly sheathed his blade and exhaled a breath of turbid air.

In just three days, the [Swordsmanship] he had redeemed from the store had been completely "synchronized."

With the system's support, each day of his progress rivaled months of grueling training for an ordinary person.

His swordsmanship had now firmly entered the [Intermediate] realm.

"Two more days, and my Shooting proficiency should be there too."

"My physique... seems close to reaching the next realm as well."

Over the past few days, Rayne had carried out [Body Inheritance] twice more by executing newly captured pirates. Though both had only been tiny N-rank improvements, they had let him clearly feel that he was only one step away from the next realm.

This rate of progress... could the original owner of this body have actually been some buried super genius?

Rayne immediately shook his head with a self-deprecating smile. Whether he was a genius no longer mattered in the face of the system.

Just as he was immersed in the pleasure of steadily growing stronger—

Bzzzz—!!!

Every broadcast Den Den Mushi in the base suddenly sounded a top-level alarm shrill enough to pierce eardrums!

The piercing alarm echoed across the skies over all of Loguetown.

Every marine who had been resting, patrolling, or training abruptly stopped what they were doing and stared in shock toward the broadcasts.

A solemn, murderous voice announced to every soldier in the base through every loudspeaker, its tone ringing and forceful:

"Emergency announcement! The Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, has been successfully captured by Marine hero Vice Admiral Garp!"

After a brief deathly silence, the entire base erupted into thunderous cheers!

"So... it's finally here?"

Several hours later, when the first wave of News Coos descended in overwhelming numbers, more detailed news spread across the world.

The newspaper's front page bore a massive headline—

<The End of a Legend! Marine Hero Garp Personally Ends the Pirate King!>

Another piece of news sent everyone in Loguetown into even deeper shock and fervor.

The World Government had decided that, three months from now, Gol D. Roger would be publicly executed in Loguetown, the Pirate King's hometown!

Rayne stared at those words in the paper, his eyes burning hot.

Three months from now, the ultimate starter-village gift package, Roger, had finally fallen into my lap.

As long as I devour it, I'll rise to the heavens in a single step!

Meanwhile, in the basement of a gloomy tavern at Loguetown Harbor.

A group of pirates surrounded a table, the atmosphere oppressive. They were remnants of the pirate crew led by "Mad Shark" Diego, whom Rayne had executed earlier.

"Boss! We found out who that masked executioner is! I spent sixty thousand Beli getting the answer out of a marine!" a pirate with a scar across his face said through gritted teeth.

"Damn it!" The one-eyed man slammed his fist onto the table. "If we don't dare touch those officers, are we supposed to be afraid of some brat who carries out executions?!"

"We have to act! We need that brat's head to console the captain!" another pirate said excitedly. "The newspapers said that in three months, this place will be packed with big shots from Marine Headquarters! By then, we'll never get another chance to avenge our captain!"

"But that kid's a loner. He almost never leaves the base... We have no chance to make a move!"

A vicious glint flashed through One-Eye's eye.

"Then we'll sneak in! Tonight is our last chance! Kill him, then put to sea immediately!"

Late at night, in Rayne's private dormitory.

He had just finished an execution that afternoon and was lying on his bed, preparing to check today's rewards.

Then—

Rayne's ear twitched slightly.

After his [Physique Realm] broke through to [Intermediate], his five senses had long surpassed those of ordinary people.

In the dead silence of the night, he could clearly hear several deliberately softened footsteps approaching from the corridor outside. They definitely did not belong to the night patrol.

Furthermore, the [Intermediate] Stealth techniques he had inherited from Buck had not merely taught him how to conceal himself. In the darkness, they had also given him a beast-like instinct.

Rayne could clearly sense that the concealment skills of those people outside were laughably crude, riddled with flaws—and filled with undisguised, violent killing intent.

"Assassination?"

The thought flashed through Rayne's mind, but he immediately felt that something was off.

"I'm only an executioner shunned by everyone in this base. I have neither power nor influence, I haven't blocked anyone's path, and I have no secrets worth silencing me over. Who would want to kill me?"

As his thoughts raced, his gaze unconsciously swept over the execution rifle in the corner, freshly polished and belonging to him.

"...Are they here for revenge?"

Rayne's eyes instantly turned cold.

Bang—!

The dormitory door was kicked open with tremendous force! Four dark figures wielding blades and guns charged in like wolves, only to find the room empty!

"Where is he?!" One-Eye let out a startled, low roar.

The next second, an icy voice rose behind them like Death's whisper.

"Looking for me?"

The pirates whirled around in terror, only to see that Rayne had somehow appeared behind them.

"Brat, die—"

The pirate closest to him roared and swung his blade down.

Rayne did not even look at him.

He merely stepped forward, turned sideways, and delivered a precise knifehand strike to the man's neck.

Crack.

There was no scream. The pirate crumpled silently to the floor like a heap of mud.

It all happened so fast that the other three did not even have time to react.

Rayne did not want to use a blade, much less a gun.

He found them dirty, especially in his own room.

With his [Intermediate] physique, Rayne's body became an afterimage streaking through the cramped space at high speed.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

After three dull impacts, the fight came to an abrupt end within three seconds.

Rayne looked at the unconscious invaders sprawled across the floor, his brow furrowing slightly. One by one, he dragged them out of the dormitory and dumped them in a secluded corner outside the base.

Then, using one of the pirates' short knives, he cut each of them a few times, staging it as a fight over unevenly divided loot. Only then did he clap his hands, bringing everything to a perfect close.

He returned to his room and shut the door, as though he had merely gone out to take out the trash.

A string of notification chimes for completed Sin Judgments rang in his mind.

He did not immediately check the panel. Instead, he spent several quiet minutes in the darkness calming the emotions stirred up by having just killed people.

"As expected..."

Rayne murmured softly, without the slightest surprise in his voice.

"Just as I thought."

From the first day the system bound itself to him, he had held a suspicion: in the name [Sin Judgment], the key was "sin," not the form that "judgment" took.

The system had activated through executions only because he happened to hold a position that gave him his first contact with a way to end sin.

Tonight's assassination attempt had not only been a minor crisis for him, but also an experiment he had long anticipated—to verify whether his system could function outside the execution ground!

Now, the experiment had yielded its answer.

With a thought, he opened the system's "Judgment Archive."

Only when he saw the four unmistakably clear new records at the top of the log did the corner of Rayne's mouth finally curve into a smile that said everything was under his control.

He glanced at the nearly one thousand Sin Points provided by the four N-rank pirates in total, then swept his eyes over those [Optional Rewards] that held no appeal for him whatsoever.

With a thought, Rayne chose [Body Inheritance] for all of them without hesitation.

Four faint yet cumulative streams of warmth flowed into his body, making his physique—which had nearly touched its bottleneck—even more solid.