Inside Rear Admiral Gion's office, the atmosphere was… strange.
An aide led Smoker next door and shut the thick wooden door behind him.
Thud.
With that dull sound, the office fell into an almost unbearable quiet—broken only by the wall clock's steady ticking and the faint taps of Gion's fingertip against the desktop.
Smoker had been taken to another room, supposedly for "separate questioning to prevent collusion."
Gion sat behind her broad desk with her hands clasped, wearing a strictly official expression. The phoenix eyes that usually carried a lazy softness were now sharp as blades, locked on Rain.
"Sergeant Rain," her voice was cold, stripped of personal feeling, "sit."
Rain acted as if he didn't feel the pressure at all.
He walked naturally to the guest sofa and sat down—then, as if it were his own office, lifted the teapot on her desk and poured himself a cup of warm black tea.
Gion watched him "take over" so calmly, her brows tightening slightly—but she didn't explode.
She cleared her throat and went straight to the point. "All right, Rain. Report how you went missing. Start from Ohara. Don't leave out any detail."
"Yes, Rear Admiral."
Rain took a sip of tea to wet his throat and began reciting the "script" he and Smoker had already agreed on.
"…And that's what happened."
He delivered the whole "narrow escape from death" story at an unhurried pace.
He described how they were crushed by Clark's overwhelming strength, captured and taken to an unknown island, imprisoned—then how they searched desperately for a chance to escape…
Finally, he summarized with the relieved tone of a survivor:
"…During our escape, we faced death over and over. In the end, by sheer chance, we found and ate a Devil Fruit in the wilderness. That's how we barely gained lightning power and escaped together."
Rain finished, held his teacup, and calmly watched Gion, waiting for her reaction.
Gion listened without expression.
She didn't pursue "Clark." She didn't ask for details about the Devil Fruit.
She simply slid a newspaper on her desk forward with two slender fingers.
The paper glided smoothly across the tabletop and stopped right beside Rain's teacup.
"You just said you obtained lightning power," Gion said coldly.
"Then explain this."
Her finger tapped the striking front-page headline:
["Thunder God" Descends? Mock Town's 500 Pirates Vaporized Overnight!]
She raised her eyes. The pressure in them was crushing.
"Was this you?"
"Oh, that."
Rain glanced at the paper and smiled.
He set his cup down, leaned back into the sofa, and stopped pretending. Meeting her sharp gaze directly, he gave a noncommittal nod.
"They attacked Marines. I'm a Marine. Eliminating pirates… is normal, isn't it?"
"Normal?!"
Gion's voice shot up an octave.
She sprang to her feet, both hands slamming onto the desk as she leaned forward, her beautiful eyes filled with shock—and a trace of absurdity she didn't even realize she was showing.
"Normal my ass! Do you even understand what you did?! That was over five hundred pirates!"
Her chest rose and fell sharply. "Some of them might not have deserved death! When you go back, do you know how many complaints and accusations could land on you?!"
She strode around the desk in a few steps and looked down at him from above.
"And how could you… wipe out that many at once?!"
Rain looked at her and smiled.
He calmly raised his right hand.
"Zzzt—"
His entire right hand turned into a cluster of blinding blue lightning sparks.
Gion's interrogation cut off instantly. Full elemental transformation—proof of a Logia user.
She stared at that crackling lightning, then at the word "Thunder God" on the newspaper, and her expression twisted into something complicated.
The Rear Admiral's stern authority drained from her voice, replaced by an unmistakable sour edge she couldn't hide.
"Your luck is ridiculous… actually eating a Logia…"
"And now," she bit her lip, forcing the words out through her teeth, "aren't you stronger than me—your teacher?"
Instead of backing off, Rain stood up.
He was a full head taller than Gion now.
The distance between them shrank in an instant; Rain could even smell the distinctive fragrance on her—sea wind mixed with faint floral notes.
Her "looking down" became "looking up."
Gion froze under the sudden pressure, instinctively trying to step back—only to find herself already against the sofa's back.
"Rear Admiral, you misunderstand," Rain said, smiling with absolute sincerity. His black eyes looked strikingly bright at this distance.
"Misunderstand?" Gion's heartbeat skipped for no reason.
"The strength I have today," Rain said earnestly, "is all thanks to Rear Admiral Gion's training."
"Without those six months of hellish sparring—without you helping me build my foundation—even if I ate the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, I couldn't have pulled off something like this."
He stared into her slightly widened phoenix eyes and delivered the conclusion as if it were obvious:
"So my strength… isn't it all your credit?"
"You—!!"
Gion's cheeks flushed.
Was this guy praising her? Or teasing her?!
Thunk!
Flustered and embarrassed, she rose on her toes and flicked a hand chop—light but sharp—against Rain's forehead.
"No sweet-talking!"
She snapped, then took the chance to shove him back and retreat two quick steps, restoring a "safe" distance.
Gion turned away, back to Rain, steadying her slightly chaotic heartbeat.
When she turned back, the blush had faded. The Rear Admiral's seriousness returned.
"With what you did, you'll become a nightmare for pirates across the sea…"
Her tone was firm. "But you'll also become a thorn in every pirate's eye. Once word spreads about Mock Town, you have no idea how many lunatics will come for you just to make a name."
Rain rubbed the spot she'd tapped. The smile on his face faded too.
He looked at her calmly. "It's fine, Rear Admiral. Let them come."
"You're right—I'll become the nightmare of all pirates. And if even one pirate in this world hesitates to commit a crime because they fear me…"
"If my existence can save even one village from being burned…"
He met her gaze—again widened with shock—and said each word clearly:
"Then I think it's worth it."
Gion went completely still.
She stared at the man in front of her.
His "justice"…
was blazing, domineering, and absolute.
Silence stretched in the office. Gion could even hear her own heartbeat, slightly out of control.
"Riiiiing—Riiiiing—!"
The encrypted Den Den Mushi on the desk suddenly shrieked, snapping the strangely intimate tension.
"…You," Gion muttered.
At last she looked away, turning her back as if to hide the composure she couldn't quite regain.
"And do you have any idea," she said softly, "that what you just said… was really cool?"
~~~
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