Aiden woke up in a wash of soft sunlight.
No longer was his nose filled with the rust and gunpowder smoke of the execution ground; instead, there was the clean, crisp scent of disinfectant.
Pure white bedding, a soft pillow, and the intermittent cries of seagulls from outside the window gave him the feeling of being in another world.
He struggled to sit up, finding himself lying in a quiet, white, single-occupancy medical room. Although his body was still as weak as if all his strength had been drained, the previous agony—which felt like his soul was being pierced by countless steel needles—had subsided significantly.
"How... how long was I unconscious?"
Recalling that terrifying sensory explosion, his heart skipped a beat involuntarily.
At that moment, the ward door was pushed open gently.
Vice Admiral Tsuru walked in, carrying a cup of steaming tea. She wore a gentle smile, looking at him as if he were one of her own juniors.
"How are you feeling, Aiden?"
Seeing this high-ranking Marine figure, Aiden instinctively pretended to struggle out of bed to salute.
"Reporting, ma'am... I..."
"Stay down, child." Vice Admiral Tsuru placed the teacup on the nightstand and pressed him down by the shoulder with gentle but firm authority. "Right now, you are a wounded soldier—and a hero."
Aiden's brain let out a buzz; he was completely stunned.
"A hero? Me?"
Aiden was utterly confused. Didn't I just freeze and pass out because I couldn't handle the system's data dump? How did I become a hero?
Looking at Aiden's face, which was written over with shock and confusion, the look of admiration in Tsuru's eyes deepened.
She assumed this child simply didn't know what an incredible thing he had done.
Tsuru spoke slowly, her voice carrying a hint of consolation: "Do not worry, Aiden. After you lost consciousness, Sengoku already investigated the situation thoroughly. Roger's final Conqueror's Haki was aimed precisely at the executioner closest to him. The other Commander present was intimidated to the point of being unable to move on the spot."
Seeing Aiden's still-dazed expression, Tsuru assumed he didn't understand the term, so she slowed down and explained in a more common way:
"Conqueror's Haki is a trait of a king that appears in only one in a million people. It cannot be trained; it is innate. Those who possess it can cause people with weak willpower to faint through sheer spirit alone. And Roger was a possessor of the highest level of this trait."
"And you..." Tsuru's gaze softened. "You didn't just raise your gun and complete the order; you even used your will to face the Pirate King's Haki head-on. Now the entire base knows that there is a Marine in Loguetown who dared to clash wills with the Pirate King, Roger, and ultimately triumphed over him!"
Aiden opened his mouth, but not a single word came out.
Of course I know what Conqueror's Haki is, but clash? Yeah, right! I was just greedy for his reward and got knocked out by the system's backlash! This counts as being a hero?!
But he reacted instantly—this Vice Admiral was setting the story for him!
Thus, he perfectly played the role of a "simple, upright, and slightly dim-witted" young soldier. He struggled to rise again for a salute, his face flushing red from a mix of "excitement" and "shame," stammering as he spoke: "Reporting, ma'am... I... I only... completed the order!"
"Rest well." Tsuru pressed him down again, the admiration in her eyes nearly overflowing. "The Marines will not forget the contribution of any hero."
She didn't stay much longer. After speaking, she cited busy official duties, told him not to overexert himself, and turned to leave. From start to finish, she never mentioned his hesitation before firing the shot.
After Tsuru left, Aiden lay in bed alone, digesting the information. His face twisted into an incredibly strange expression.
"A hero? Just because I fainted?"
He understood immediately. He was being used as a piece on the board to offset Roger's impact and build a positive image for the Marines.
"Is this what they call a battle of wits? It's like faking something big to steer the whole story."
"Well, whatever..." Aiden laughed self-deprecatingly and relaxed completely. "At least the charge of hesitating during an execution is definitely gone."
He lay back on the sickbed to continue resting, bored. Although he didn't know how long he'd been out, his body was recovering rapidly with the help of the Marines' top-tier medical resources.
A young nurse carrying a tray full of medicine bottles walked past his room.
At that moment, a sudden afterimage flashed through Aiden's mind without any warning—
He "saw" the nurse cry out as she slipped on the wet floor, losing her balance and sending the entire tray of medicine crashing to the ground!
"Huh?"
Aiden froze, having no time to call out a warning.
In the next second, reality perfectly overlapped with the "afterimage" in his mind!
The nurse indeed slipped, let out a cry of alarm, and her body jerked backward. The tray in her hands was about to fly out!
In that lightning-fast moment, Aiden didn't have time to think!
Relying on his explosive strength, his body sprang from the bed like an arrow from a bow!
In a blur, he appeared behind the nurse. One hand wrapped around her soft waist, steadily stabilizing her off-balance body against his chest.
His other hand shot up, first precisely catching the metal tray that had already completely flipped over.
Immediately after, his wrist shook, tilted, and adjusted its angle at a frequency barely visible to the naked eye...
Clink! Clank! Clatter!
In mid-air, the medicine bottles and syringes that had scattered were pulled back as if by an invisible hand, landing onto the tray one by one in the exact order they had flown off, without the slightest mistake!
When the last glass cap settled onto the tray with a soft click after spinning twice, the entire tray looked exactly as it had before it fell.
"Ah... th-thank you!"
The young nurse was both shocked and delighted. After blushing and thanking him, she hurried away.
Aiden, however, sat back on the bed, his heart pounding uncontrollably.
"That just now was..."
He rushed to the window, looked out at the azure sky, and locked his attention onto a sea bird circling in the air.
This time, he "saw" it even more clearly—
He clearly "saw" that what extended from the sea bird's body was no longer a single trajectory, but several—dozens of blurred golden threads interwoven into a chaotic web of the future! Every thread represented a possibility.
And among them, only one thread was transforming from illusory to real at a visible speed, becoming incredibly clear and bright!
The destination that trajectory pointed toward was a piece of bread a merchant had just bought.
In his mind, Aiden began a countdown.
"Three..."
"Two..."
"One!"
In reality, the sea bird's movement matched the scene previewed in his mind perfectly!
It wasn't until the merchant—whose bread had just been snatched—let out an angry curse that Aiden snapped out of his state of immense shock.
His breath came fast and hot.
"This... this is [Peak] level Observation Haki?" His voice trembled slightly with extreme excitement. "It doesn't just come with Roger's 'Voice of All Things' talent; it can even predict the future?!"
After a brief rush of excitement, Aiden's logical mind—the mind of a former office worker—immediately poured a bucket of ice water over his fiery excitement.
"No... I have a massive shortcoming right now!"
He began to analyze calmly.
"I can 'see' that someone will shoot me in the future, but with my [Advanced] Physique, can I guarantee I'll 100% dodge an invisible bullet?"
"I can 'see' the enemy's next attack, but with my [Intermediate] Swordsmanship, can I actually block the enemy's weapon?"
"This imbalance is too dangerous against truly strong fighters!"
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Sorry, everyone — I had the posting schedule set up incorrectly over the last four days, which is why the latest chapters didn't go up. I apologize for the mistake, and thank you for your patience. The uploads should be back on track now
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50 early chapters are available here.