Three days had passed since Buck's execution.
On the open-air training field of the Marine base, the sun was blazing.
Swish—!
A swift arc of steel sliced through the air, cold and sharp, cutting a falling leaf cleanly in half on the wooden stake ahead—without leaving so much as a scratch on the stake itself.
Rain slowly sheathed his sword and let out a long breath.
In just three days, he'd completely "synced" the [Intermediate Swordsmanship] he'd bought from the shop.
With the system's support, every day of training for him was worth months of grinding for a normal person.
By now, his swordsmanship had firmly stepped into the [Intermediate] level.
"My marksmanship should be up to that level in the next couple of days too."
"And my physique… feels like it's about to hit the next tier as well."
Over the past few days, Rain had carried out two more [Physique Inheritances] from newly captured pirates. Even though they were just N-rank micro-upgrades, he could clearly feel he was only one last push away from his next breakthrough.
"At this rate… could it be that the original owner of this body was actually some buried super-genius?"
He shook his head with a self-mocking smile. Genius or not didn't matter anymore in the face of the system.
Just as he was enjoying the steady high of getting stronger—
BZZZT—!!!
Every broadcast Den Den Mushi in the base suddenly screamed with an ear-piercing top-level alarm!
The shrill siren echoed over all of Loguetown.
Every Marine who had been resting, patrolling, or training froze on the spot, staring in shock toward the source of the broadcast.
A solemn, killing-intent-laced voice rang out from every speaker in the base, announcing in a loud, ringing tone to all soldiers:
"Emergency announcement! The Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, has been successfully captured by the Marine Hero—Vice Admiral Garp!"
After a moment of stunned silence, the entire base erupted into thunderous cheers like a tidal wave.
"So… it's finally happening."
A few hours later, when the first wave of News Coo darkened the skies, the detailed reports spread across the world.
The front-page headline of the paper blared in the largest font—
"End of a Legend! Marine Hero Garp Personally Brings Down the Pirate King!"
But another announcement shook Loguetown even more deeply and threw it into frenzy.
The World Government had decided that three months from now, in the Pirate King's hometown of Loguetown, they would carry out a public execution of Gol D. Roger!
Rain stared at that line of text, his gaze burning hot.
"In three months, the ultimate starter-village loot crate—Roger himself—will finally drop right in front of me."
"As long as I 'take' it, I can soar in one step."
…
Meanwhile, in the basement of a shady tavern by Loguetown's harbor.
A group of pirates crowded around a table in stifling silence. They were remnants of the "Mad Shark" Diago's crew—the same captain Rain had executed before.
"Boss! We got it! Found out who that masked executioner is! I dropped sixty thousand Berries to drag it out of some Marine!" a scar-faced pirate snarled through his teeth.
"Damn it!" The one-eyed captain slammed his fist on the table. "We don't dare touch the officers, and we're not even gonna touch a damn execution brat?!"
"We have to do it! We'll use that brat's head to honor the captain's spirit," another pirate said, fired up. "The papers said it—three months from now this place will be crawling with bigshots from Marine HQ! Once they're here, we'll never get another chance for revenge!"
"But that kid's a total loner. He barely ever leaves the base… we can't even get close!"
A vicious glint flashed in the one-eyed captain's eye.
"Then we sneak in. Tonight is our last shot. We kill him, then sail out immediately!"
…
Late at night, in Rain's single dorm room.
He'd just finished an execution that afternoon and was lying on his bed, about to check today's rewards.
Right then—
Rain's ears twitched ever so slightly.
Ever since his [Physique Tier] had broken through to [Intermediate], his five senses had far surpassed those of ordinary people.
In the dead stillness of the night, he could clearly hear several deliberately muted footsteps approaching along the corridor outside his door—definitely not the patrol.
On top of that, his [Intermediate Stealth], inherited from Buck, hadn't just taught him how to hide himself; in the dark, it had also given him a predator's instinct.
Rain could clearly sense that the "stealth" of the people outside his door was laughably crude, full of openings—and dripping with undisguised murderous intent.
"Assassination?"
The thought flashed through his mind, but he immediately felt something off.
"In this base, I'm just an executioner that everyone avoids. No status, no power, haven't blocked anyone's path, and I don't know any secrets worth silencing. Who would come to kill me?"
As his thoughts raced, his gaze subconsciously swept to the corner of the room—to the freshly cleaned execution rifle that belonged to him.
"…Here for revenge, huh?"
Rain's eyes went cold.
Bang—!
The door to his room exploded inward under a heavy kick! Four figures with blades and guns burst in like wolves… only to find the room empty.
"Where is he?!" the one-eyed captain growled in a low, furious whisper.
The next second, a cold voice whispered behind them like the reaper itself.
"Looking for me?"
The pirates spun around in panic, and saw that Rain had somehow appeared behind them.
"Die, you little—"
The pirate closest to him roared and swung his blade down.
Rain didn't even look at him.
He simply took one step forward and to the side, and his hand chopped down at the pirate's neck like a blade.
Crack.
No scream—the man collapsed silently like a sack of mud.
It all happened so fast the other three hadn't even processed it yet.
Rain didn't want to use a sword, and he definitely didn't want to fire a gun.
Too messy. Especially in his room.
With [Intermediate] physique, his body turned into a blur, a shadow flickering at high speed in the cramped space.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Three heavy blows later, the fight was over in under three seconds.
Rain looked at the pirates knocked out on his floor and frowned slightly. One by one, he dragged them out of his dorm and hauled them to a secluded corner outside the base.
Using one of their short knives, he gave each of them a few cuts, staging them as if they'd killed each other over a loot dispute. Only then did he clap the dust off his hands—perfect cleanup.
He returned to his room and shut the door, as if he'd only gone out to take out the trash.
In his mind, a string of system notifications for completed Sin Judgments chimed one after another.
He didn't check the panel right away. Instead, he sat quietly in the dark for a few minutes, letting his emotions settle after the killing.
"As expected…"
Rain murmured to himself, no hint of surprise in his voice.
"Exactly like I thought."
From the day the system bound to him, he'd had a suspicion: the key to [Sin Judgment] was the "sin," not the form of "judgment."
The system triggering off executions was only because, in his current job, that was the first method of ending sin he'd come into contact with.
Tonight's assassination attempt wasn't just a minor crisis—it was an experiment he'd been waiting for, to see whether his system could trigger outside the execution ground.
Now, he had his answer.
With a thought, he opened the system's "Judgment Records."
When he saw the four new, crystal-clear entries at the top, Rain finally allowed himself a small, knowing smile.
He glanced at the combined Sin Points—nearly a thousand—from the four N-rank pirates, then skimmed over the completely unappealing [Selectable Rewards] attached to them.
Without hesitation, he chose [Physique Inheritance] for all four.
Four faint but additive warm currents flowed into his body, making his already bottlenecked physique a little sturdier once more.