An Encounter with Ace

In the first half of the Grand Line, at the G-2 Marine Base.

It was a colossal structure standing on the sea like a steel fortress. Countless patrolling warships moved in and out of the harbor, and its grim atmosphere was far beyond that of an ordinary Marine branch.

The Bedrock slowly docked. Its hull, covered in Granite Armor, looked solid and oppressive beneath the sunlight.

Rain carried the blood-soaked sack down the gangplank. His dark gray cloak concealed most of his face, revealing only a cold chin. The surrounding Marine soldiers instinctively tightened their grips on their muskets. Even with a bounty hunter's badge hanging from his chest, the killing intent around him made them uneasy.

"Stop! This is G-2 Base. Unauthorized personnel are prohibited from entering!" An officer with the rank of colonel approached, surrounded by a group of Marines.

Rain did not waste words. He directly threw the sack at the man's feet.

"Odel. Bounty: eighty-five million." Rain's voice was dry and harsh, like sandpaper. "I'm here to collect the bounty. Also, my ship was damaged in a storm. I need to remain here for two days for supplies and repairs."

The commodore lowered his head and signaled his subordinates to verify the identity, then examined the lone hunter with a complicated gaze. Anyone capable of killing that madman who had returned from the New World alone was certainly no weakling.

"Identity confirmed. The bounty will be paid within half an hour." The commodore sheathed his saber, his tone indifferent. "You may rest and repair, but you may only move within the designated area near the harbor. This is an important military base. If you overstep your bounds, the gun turrets here will not be kind."

Rain nodded and followed the Marines toward the finance office.

Two hours later, Rain carried a suitcase full of cash through a public corridor inside the base.

As a top-tier hunter who had spent years walking the line between life and death, he possessed instincts and powers of observation nearly as sharp as a beast's. From beneath the shadows, his hawk-like eyes quietly took in the conversations of nearby officers, the patterns of patrol shifts, and even the subtle creases on certain high-ranking officers' uniforms.

His current target was the "maggot" hidden among the base's upper ranks, the one who had accepted Odel's bribes. Through the accounts Odel had left behind and the microexpressions of several officers during the bounty handover, he had already narrowed down several suspects.

Rain entered the base cafeteria. The coffee here was notoriously terrible, bitter as burned coal. He carried a cup to a corner and sat down. He appeared to be resting, but in truth, he was filtering every scrap of information that reached his ears.

At that moment, the Rock-Rock Fruit within Rain suddenly stirred with an extremely subtle agitation.

More precisely, his right arm, which served as the Earth Core Furnace, instinctively detected an exceedingly faint yet immensely dangerous temperature anomaly in the air. It was definitely not heat that an ordinary person or a kitchen cauldron could produce.

The sensation was like a live volcano hidden nearby, ready to erupt at any moment. It triggered an instinctive resonance in Rain's magma, like kind repelling kind.

Rain narrowed his black eyes and turned toward the center of the cafeteria.

A man in a Marine lieutenant commander's uniform sat there. Before him was a mountain of empty plates, while both hands frantically stuffed spaghetti and roasted meat into his mouth. He ate like a starving ghost reborn, utterly out of place among the disciplined Marines around him.

Even stranger, as he ate, his upper body suddenly tipped forward without warning. His face crashed directly into the meat soup before him, and he even began lightly snoring. The surrounding Marine soldiers were unsurprised, apparently assuming that this "colleague" was merely too tired.

A few seconds later, the man jolted awake. He lifted his soup-covered face, wiped it carelessly with his sleeve, and continued chewing in huge bites.

Rain set down his terrible coffee, picked up his suitcase, and walked straight over.

He sat in the empty seat across from the Marine.

"That uniform doesn't suit you, Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, 'Fire Fist' Portgas D. Ace." Rain lowered his voice, his tone icy as he directly exposed the other's true identity.

Ace's chewing stopped instantly. Surprise flashed across his freckled face. He swallowed the food in his mouth and reached up to press down the ill-fitting Marine cap.

"Well, I got recognized." Ace grinned, showing little hostility. "It's you, Grayrock. Back in Alabasta, that terrifyingly hot stone arm of yours left quite an impression on me. We still hadn't settled who was stronger back then."

"A Whitebeard commander sneaking into a Marine base to scam food and drinks." Rain stared into his eyes. "If I tell the guards outside about this, the price of this meal won't be low."

"Don't be so tense." Ace leaned back in his chair and pulled out a letter from his clothes, waving it slightly. "I'm not here to cause trouble. A little girl named Moda took care of me at a farm before, and I promised to deliver this letter to her parents, who work as cooks in this base's cafeteria. And while I'm at it..."

Ace's gaze darkened slightly as his eyes swept over the busy Marine officers around them. "This is one of the largest Marine bases in the first half of the Grand Line, and its intelligence network reaches everywhere. I wanted to look around and see if I could find clues about the traitor who killed my comrades. Unfortunately, I haven't found anything so far."

"Marshall D. Teach?" Rain stated the name precisely.

The instant the words fell, Ace's pupils contracted sharply. The fiery aura he had deliberately suppressed suddenly erupted. The bitter coffee on the table instantly boiled, and fine cracks spread across the cup's surface.

The temperature throughout the cafeteria rose by more than ten degrees out of nowhere.

"You know where he is?" Ace stepped forward, fire blazing in his eyes as he stared fixedly at Rain.

"Not anymore. He was recruiting members on Jaya. If I hadn't encountered that storm, I might have had a chance to meet him. But I do know that the man you're looking for is far more dangerous than you imagine. He endured in silence for so many years. What he's plotting is far beyond what you can see through." Rain answered calmly.

"Since our goals don't conflict, I'll pretend I never saw you. But I'd advise you to deliver that letter and leave quickly. There's someone in this branch I'm after. If you expose yourself and draw in a large number of Marines, you'll disrupt my hunting plans."

Ace stared at Rain for several seconds. In the end, he took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the temperature of the flames radiating from his body.

"Thanks. I'll remember this favor." Ace returned to his carefree demeanor.

Rain stood and turned toward the cafeteria doors.

"Ace." Rain paused and glanced sideways at the youth disguised as a Marine. "Don't die too soon. I want to wait until your head is worth a billion before taking it myself."

"Haha! Then you'll have to wait patiently!" Ace laughed heartily, then picked up Moda's letter and headed toward the kitchen.

Rain pulled his hood lower and stepped into the shadows of the corridor.

Now, it was time to deal with the Marine maggot hiding among the upper ranks of G-2 Base and taking dirty money.