Frenzied Feeding

Outside Alubarna, capital of Alabasta.

The blazing sun hung overhead, and heat haze warped above the endless sea of sand. In this dead-silent desert, an exceptionally muffled rumble suddenly echoed, as if it had risen from the depths of the earth.

"Rumble—"

The flat dune suddenly bulged upward. Then, the sand within a radius of more than ten meters was violently torn apart from below by some terrifying force.

A dark crimson pillar of fire, mixed with scorching magma and black volcanic ash, violently burst through the thick crust and shot into the sky.

Amid the flying sand and dust, a figure in a tattered black coat stepped over rolling magma and slowly emerged from a fissure deep underground.

Rain took a deep breath of the long-missed air, dry and filled with sand.

He lowered his head and looked at his right arm. The withered arm that Sand Crocodile had drained dry was completely gone, replaced by a right arm tightly wrapped in thick bandages.

Yet even specially made fireproof bandages could not fully conceal the destructive heat that seemed capable of burning everything to ash. Blinding dark red firelight seeped through the gaps, and an occasional drop of liquid magma fell onto the sand beneath his feet, instantly letting out a sharp, sizzling burst.

The instant the sand touched that drop of magma, it skipped even the process of weathering and was directly melted by temperatures of several thousand degrees into a tiny, crystal-clear piece of glass!

"The nemesis of sand is, in the end, a more absolute form of destruction."

Rain clenched his right fist. Though he had successfully pushed the [Rock-Rock Fruit] into the extreme form of [Magma, High-Pressure Obsidian Symbiosis], he now faced an extremely awkward problem.

He could not perfectly restrain this violent power.

It was like someone accustomed to firing a pistol suddenly being handed a heavy grenade launcher. His severely depleted stamina had reduced his mental control to its lowest point, and the temperature of his right arm remained above five hundred degrees.

"Hungry..."

An unprecedented hunger swept through Rain's nerves like a tsunami. Over the past few days since crawling out of hell, he had frantically squeezed every bit of energy from every cell to rebuild his arm. Now, he desperately needed tons of protein and calories.

Rain raised his head, his bloodshot gaze locking onto the magnificent city built atop a massive circular plateau in the distance.

Alubarna, here I come.

Half an hour later, inside Alubarna's largest restaurant, the Spice Bean Restaurant.

With news that the rebel army would soon attack the city already spreading, most of the capital's civilians had shut themselves indoors, leaving the entire street somewhat desolate. But when Rain pushed open the restaurant doors, absurdly loud chewing and the sharp clatter of plates came from within.

"Owner."

Rain dragged his exhausted body, radiating astonishing heat, to the counter and slammed a money pouch he had casually stripped from some unlucky desert bandit onto the table.

"Bring me every bit of meat in this place. Roasted, boiled, even raw. Bring it all out. Now." Rain's voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping together.

The owner was a plump middle-aged man. Wiping cold sweat from his brow, he pointed with utter terror toward a large round table in the corner of the restaurant.

"Sir... sir... it's not that I don't want your business, but the meat we stocked for half a month has already been... almost eaten up by those two customers..."

Rain followed the owner's finger, his dark eyes narrowing slightly.

It was an utterly absurd scene of eating.

On the left side of the round table sat a black-haired youth wearing a straw hat and red vest. His arms stretched like rubber, turning into afterimages as he frantically stuffed a bone-in roasted Sea King cut of meat bigger than his own head into his mouth. Even as he stuffed it in, he shouted indistinctly, "Meat! Tasty! More meat!"

On the right side sat a black-haired young man with his upper body bare, red beads around his neck, and "ASCE" tattooed on his left arm. He had his face buried in a huge plate of seafood fried rice. Not only was he eating quickly, but... he had actually fallen asleep while eating! A huge snot bubble grew and shrank with every breath.

At the feet of the two men and around the table, mountains of empty plates had nearly reached the ceiling.

The East Blue's super rookie, Monkey D. Luffy. The Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division Commander, "Fire Fist" Portgas D. Ace.

What an... entirely unsurprising encounter.

Rain smiled inwardly. Under normal circumstances, he would definitely have asked his favorite pair of brothers from his previous life for a photo. But extreme hunger made him put aside all other thoughts.

Without another word, Rain strode over, pulled out a chair beside the straw-hatted boy, and sat down with imposing ease.

He reached into the "mountain of meat" in front of Luffy, yanked out a gigantic roasted desert turkey, and, too lazy even to use a knife and fork, opened his mouth and began swallowing huge mouthfuls like a savage beast tearing into prey.

"Huh? My meat!"

Luffy had been eating happily when he suddenly noticed that the roast chicken he had picked out had been snatched away. His clear eyes instantly widened. Driven by his instinct to protect food, he stretched out his rubber arm without hesitation, trying to snatch the meat back from Rain.

Smack!

Without even raising his head, Rain's bandage-covered right hand shot out with extreme precision and grabbed Luffy's outstretched rubber wrist.

"Ahh—hot, hot, hot, hot, hot!"

Luffy jerked his hand back as if electrocuted and wildly shook his wrist. Looking down, he saw a ring of bright red scorch marks around it.

As a rubber man, Luffy was nearly immune to blunt attacks, but he was extremely sensitive to intense heat and slashing attacks.

"So hot! Why is your body so hot?!" Luffy blew on his wrist while glaring indignantly at the black-clad man beside him, who was crazily stuffing himself.

"Oh dear, I'm terribly sorry. I still don't have enough control over my power."

As Rain spoke, he mechanically stuffed large amounts of meat into his stomach, frantically converting it into energy for his body.

But as his eating accelerated, the newly awakened and still uncontrollable magma power within him began leaking out across the surface of his body.

"Sizzle..."

The pure silver dining knife in Rain's right hand began turning red and softening at a visible rate the instant it touched his palm. Finally, it melted directly into several drops of liquid silver, which fell onto the solid wooden table and instantly burned several smoking black holes through its surface!

In the brief minute after Rain began eating, the entire restaurant's temperature abruptly rose by more than ten degrees, as though everyone stood inside a volcanic crater on the verge of eruption.

"Whew—"

Just then, the enormous snot bubble of Ace, who had been sleeping with his face buried in his plate on the right, burst with a pop.

Ace suddenly raised his head and casually wiped rice grains from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand.

He did not look at Luffy, nor did he look at the mess covering the table. The black eyes that had once held a trace of easygoing drowsiness became exceptionally deep and sharp the instant he woke, like two leaping flames, locking tightly onto Rain seated across from him.

As a Flame-Flame Fruit user, Ace's perception of temperature was keen to the extreme.

Not only did he sense the terrifying heat capable of melting silver, but from Rain's bandage-wrapped right arm, he also detected an immensely dangerous, violent "aura of hell," as though it could devour even his flames.

Magma was above fire. Though Rain was still nowhere near Akainu's level of pure magma fruit power, this ultimate earthfire produced by melting rock still made the Flame-Flame Fruit within Ace feel an unprecedented trace of vigilance and excitement.

"Yo, mister in the black coat."

Ace casually tugged at the orange cowboy hat atop his head, a sunny smile carrying immense pressure curling across his lips.

"The temperature around you is scary hot. You nearly burned my little brother."

Rain threw the last bone in his hand onto the scorched table and swallowed the meat in his mouth. With the replenishment of food, a trace of color finally returned to his pale face.

He slowly turned his head, his dark eyes meeting Ace's without yielding in the slightest.

"I just can't hold back my strength properly. Sorry about that." Rain's voice remained cold. "What, does the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division Commander have to interfere even when someone else is having a meal?"

Upon hearing Rain expose his identity in a single sentence, Ace's eyes grew even more interested.

"In the first half of the Grand Line, there aren't many people who can recognize me and give off such an interesting level of heat."

Ace stood up, casually sliding both hands into the pockets of his shorts. As he rose, intensely pure orange-red flames began dancing across his shoulders and fingertips.

Half the restaurant's air was shrouded by Rain's oppressive, destructive dark crimson magma aura; the other half was occupied by Ace's wild, explosive bright flames.

"Since we're basically done eating..."

Ace looked at Rain, blazing battle intent belonging to a top-tier fighting man igniting in his eyes.

"It's rare to meet a new face with such high temperatures. Mister, want to go out into the desert and help me 'digest' a little? Let me see whether your temperature is higher, or whether my flames burn hotter."

An invitation to spar from the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division Commander!

Faced with this sudden challenge, the dark crimson magma within Rain's bandage-wrapped right arm seemed to sense the provocation of a powerful enemy. It surged madly through his veins, releasing a low roar like muffled thunder.

He had been worrying that his newly awakened [Magma, Obsidian Symbiosis Form] lacked a sufficiently hard whetstone to test its limits.

"Gladly." Rain slowly rose to his feet, his black coat stirring without wind.