At the center of Merveille Island, everything was rubble.
The lush primeval jungle was gone, replaced by a colossal crater several kilometers wide. The bottom of the crater was scorched black; the soil had been vitrified by lightning heat and reeked of sulfur.
Golden Lion Shiki's corpse lay quietly in the middle of the ruins.
The flying admiral who had once clashed with Roger and nearly ruled the seas now lay with eyes shut, the charred hole through his chest still curling with thin wisps of smoke. His signature golden mane sprawled across the dirt, dulled and lifeless.
A legend had fallen.
Rain stood beside the body and drew a deep breath, settling the turbulent blood and heat inside him.
Just then—
"Ding—"
That familiar mechanical chime rang inside his head.
[Judgment Successful!]
[Criminal: "Flying Pirate" Golden Lion Shiki]
[Overall Rank: UR5]
[Status: Executed]
[Sin Index: 190,000]
[Execution Involvement: 100%]
A list shining with brilliant golden light unfurled across Rain's vision.
[Selectable Rewards]:
[Physique Inheritance (small amount)]
Description: Inherit Golden Lion Shiki's "Peak" physique.
[Skill Inheritance: Lion-Style Swordsmanship]
Description: Inherit the lifetime sword insights of a dual-blade grand swordsman, including all ultimate techniques such as "Lion: Senkiri Valley" and "Lion: Rashomon." Already at "Peak".
[Skill Inheritance: Navigation]
Description: Experience commanding a vast flying armada, plus top-tier navigation through the New World. Already at "Peak."
[Haki Inheritance: Observation Haki]
Description: Inherit Shiki's Observation Haki, already at "Top-tier."
[Haki Inheritance: Armament Haki]
Description: Inherit Shiki's Armament Haki—exceptionally hard and fluid—already at "Peak."
[Haki Inheritance: Conqueror's Haki]
Description: Inherit Golden Lion Shiki's Conqueror's Haki—an ambition to dominate the world—already at "Top-tier."
Conqueror's Haki!
Rain's breathing instantly turned heavy.
This was his one remaining shortcoming—his final ticket to the emperor-class. If he'd had Conqueror's coating in that fight, he wouldn't have needed to go through all the trouble of hand-forging a "heat-melt sword." He could've just wrapped his blade in it and gone head-to-head.
All it took was one tap—
And he'd possess the "kingly qualification" found in one in a million… maybe even grasp the "coating" technique that countless people could never touch in their lifetimes.
How could that temptation not be overwhelming?
Rain lifted his hand, hovering over the option, trembling slightly.
And yet—
One second. Two seconds. Three seconds.
He didn't press it.
The feverish light in Rain's eyes cooled, replaced by self-mockery—and a deeper, colder pride.
"Picking this would feel amazing, yeah," he muttered inwardly. "If I were still the weak me from before, I'd probably choose it without hesitation."
"But now…"
Rain looked down at Shiki's corpse, his own words from moments ago echoing in his head.
Your era is over.
You're just ashes of the old age.
He had just defeated Shiki and mocked him as a failure who'd lost his ambition.
"Conqueror's Haki is kingly will—the ambition to stand above all else. If I have to inherit something like that from someone else… then my 'capacity' ends right there!"
Rain clenched his fist so hard his knuckles cracked. "This Conqueror's Haki—I'm going to awaken it myself!"
"If I want to conquer this sea, I can't rely on borrowed courage!"
Snap.
Rain waved his hand and closed the system interface without hesitation.
He didn't choose anything.
The rewards were too massive—he needed to go back and decide calmly, based on his future plans.
But Conqueror's Haki? He'd already made up his mind.
With the system matter settled, Rain exhaled and turned around.
Off in the distance, Gion had arrived too, standing beside a broken slab of stone.
Her coat was dust-streaked, her pink shirt torn in several places, making her look a bit worse for wear—but her eyes were unnaturally bright, locked on Rain with a look too complicated to name.
"Did you win?" Her voice came out dry.
"Won," Rain shrugged, casual as if he'd just gone out to buy groceries. "Got lucky. Golden Lion's legs weren't great—his last move didn't hold."
"Don't change the subject."
Gion didn't take the joke. She stepped through the debris, straight up to Rain, and asked the question she'd been holding in for ages—one she'd only truly confirmed during that fight:
"The Island…"
"That beached warship, and those dozens of Skull-Crusher Pirates…"
"It was you who killed them, wasn't it?"
Rain's smile stiffened for a split second. He instinctively tried to play dumb. "Huh? What Island? That day I—"
"Stop lying to me!"
Gion's voice rose sharply, cutting him off. "The swordsmanship you used against Shiki—that level of swordsmanship—isn't something I could ever teach!"
"Back then, on that island, the only one with that kind of strength was you!"
She bit her lip hard, her face flushing from sheer embarrassment and fury. "So the 'mysterious swordsman' I looked for for so long… was right next to me the whole time, pretending to be a rookie?!"
"You were stronger than me from the start, and you still acted like you didn't know anything! When I said I'd tutor your swordsmanship, you didn't refuse—"
The more she spoke, the more she shook. "Watching me like an idiot, seriously teaching you how to swing a sword, teaching you fundamentals… You must have been laughing at me!"
That was what she couldn't stand.
Not that Rain hid his strength—but the humiliation of realizing she'd been "teaching the master." Thinking back on how she'd patted his shoulder and encouraged him—You're talented. You'll become a swordsman someday—made her want to crawl into a hole and die.
Rain looked at her, flustered, rubbing his nose awkwardly.
Yeah. He'd really overplayed it.
"Uh… Gion, let me explain," Rain said, dropping the teasing grin. "Back then I didn't want attention. And also… you didn't exactly give me the option to refuse."
Seeing her expression grow dangerous, he hurriedly pivoted. "Even if my swordsmanship is… yeah, 'special'—when you taught me, you were serious about it. I actually liked that."
"Liked my ass!"
Gion raised a fist like she meant to hit him—but when she saw he wasn't dodging and was stepping closer instead, her sharp aura faltered.
Rain closed the distance until they were nearly breathing the same air. He could smell the faint scent of her hair beneath the dust and soil.
"Don't be mad, Instructor," he said softly.
He reached out and brushed dust off her shoulder. His fingers didn't immediately pull away—drifting near her collar in a way that made her body go rigid.
"You taught well. Didn't you?" Rain murmured. "Your student just beat Golden Lion."
He lowered his head slightly. His black eyes—calm now that the storm had settled—were deep, intense, and a touch more invasive than usual, locking onto hers.
Gion's breath caught.
Normally, any man who dared this would've been kicked into the sea.
But this time she didn't dodge, and she didn't draw her blade.
Her cheeks burned. The panic of being read so easily… and that strange, electric closeness… made her turn her head away, unable to meet his gaze.
"...Bastard," she muttered, so softly it was barely audible, glaring at him with all the bite of a kitten. "This debt—we'll settle it when we get back! If you ever hide something from me again, I'll— I'll go tattle to Vice Admiral Tsuru!"
She was still huffy, but the corner of her lips lifted despite herself. Relief and reassurance—after surviving and after finally knowing the truth—melted into something harder to define.
The barrier between them was gone.
Rain felt the mood getting way too dangerous, way too fast—this was rubble, not a date spot.
He cleared his throat and yanked the topic elsewhere. "Before it gets dark, let's loot what we can and get out. This island might sink or something."
"Hmph. Greedy," Gion shot back, but she steadied herself and began searching the ruins.
Rain returned to Shiki's corpse and shamelessly pulled the two famous blades from the dirt.
"Oto," "Kogarashi."
The legendary 21 Great Grade Blades. Even after that brutal fight, both swords were still icy-bright, their presence razor-sharp.
"Good swords," Rain praised, hooking them at his waist. "The system can sell me blades, sure—but free is better."
"Ow!"
Gion's yelp sounded from nearby.
Rain turned. She was by an uprooted giant tree, one hand on her forehead, annoyed and confused.
"What happened?" Rain strode over.
"Something hit me—hurts like hell," Gion grumbled. The tree had fallen but still had fruit tangled in its branches. A gust must've knocked one loose, and it had pegged her right between the eyes.
"Seriously unlucky…"
Still complaining, she instinctively looked down for the "culprit."
The moment she saw it, she froze.
Her expression snapped from irritation to stunned disbelief.
"Th-this is—"
Her voice trembled.
Rain followed her gaze and his pupils tightened too.
Lying quietly among shattered stones wasn't an ordinary fruit.
It was a bizarrely shaped fruit, deep gray-white like a stormy sky, covered in eerie spiral patterns.
"A Devil Fruit?!" Gion blurted. As an HQ elite, she recognized it instantly.
And it had appeared out of nowhere—so suddenly that even Rain, whose Observation Haki had been covering the entire island, hadn't sensed a Devil Fruit's "presence" until this instant.
If it had been here earlier, it couldn't have escaped him.
Unless—
It had just "become" one.
Rain stared at it, then at Shiki's corpse, and understood at once.
"Devil Fruit respawn," Rain said, half impressed, half amused. "When a user dies, the power leaves the body and sometimes attaches to a nearby normal fruit and reincarnates."
He pointed at the fallen tree. "That tree probably had normal fruit. Shiki just died, and the Float-Float power found its way here and respawned."
"And you…" Rain looked at Gion and actually laughed. "You just happened to be under the tree. You just happened to get bonked."
"That luck…" he shook his head. "You're basically heaven's chosen."
"The Float-Float Fruit?!" Gion picked it up, feeling an odd warmth in her palm.
This was the Float-Float Fruit—Shiki's foundation for decades.
"Yep." Rain nodded, casual as if offering an apple. "Eat it."
"What?" Gion blinked. "For me? That's Shiki's power!"
"You know I already have the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. I can't eat a second," Rain cut in. "And you're a swordsman. Float-Float plus your swordsmanship is insane synergy."
He looked her in the eye, already mapping the future. "Imagine it—an aerial swordsman who can fly freely over the sea. An aerial swordsman who can drop islands."
"Gion… you could end up with power on Shiki's level."
She stared at the fruit, then at Rain's unwavering trust.
Gion was decisive. If Rain was saying this, refusing would just be petty pride.
"Fine."
She inhaled, eyes sharpening.
"If you're not afraid I'll get stronger and bully you later… then I won't hold back."
She raised the Float-Float Fruit and took a fierce bite.
"BLEGH—!!"
Instantly, her gorgeous face crumpled like she'd swallowed poison.
"This tastes like rotten socks dipped in spoiled fish guts—"
"You should eat it all," Rain said, grinning wickedly—then immediately gave the worst advice possible.
Gion, fighting back nausea, actually listened and forced the whole thing down.
A moment later—
A strange sensation flooded her body. It felt like her weight vanished—like she'd become a feather, a gust of wind.
"Hm—"
Without thinking, she reached out toward her blade, Konpira, and made a grabbing motion.
The heavy named sword really did defy gravity, floating up to hover beside her hand.
Then, with a thought—
Her feet lifted from the ground.
No Moonwalk. No air-step.
She rose naturally, like a mythic fairy drifting upward.
Her Justice coat fluttered in the still air.
"So this is… what flying feels like?"
She stared down at the ruins, awe and novelty shining in her eyes.
Rain watched her hover and nodded in satisfaction.
"Feels good, right?"
He turned into a flash of lightning and floated beside her. "Let's go. Smoker's probably losing his mind waiting."
~~~
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