He accepted Hina's suggestion and signed up for the Youth Training Camp, but Rayfa had no intention of simply waiting around for the results.
According to Hina, there was still some time before the camp officially began.
He decided to use this window to complete the preliminary tasks of the Gourmet System.
"If I don't have at least one real skill," Rayfa muttered, "I won't be able to keep those kids in line."
"And if I get pushed around in the Youth Training Camp," he added with a shake of his head, "that would be humiliating."
The original owner of this body had been short-sighted. He had never realized just how dramatically the world would change over the next twenty or thirty years, nor that even Marineford, the Navy's headquarters, would one day cease to be an absolutely safe haven.
Rayfa, however, understood this clearly.
He knew that among people his age, there were already many youths with frightening potential.
He was not a Devil Fruit user.
He had never received formal foundational training.
Relying on mental maturity alone would not be enough to convince others.
He had no intention of joining the Youth Training Camp only to be bullied by a group of brats. That would be unbearable.
Ten days later, Rayfa had visited every restaurant in Marineford, sampling each establishment's signature dish. To his growing frustration, despite tasting countless specialty meals, not a single one met the Gourmet System's definition of "cuisine."
Bang!
Rayfa slammed his fist into the table in irritation.
"Thirty-four restaurants. Over a hundred dishes. Not a single one qualifies. What kind of joke is this?"
For ten days, he had pushed himself to the limit, only to achieve nothing. Anyone would have been angry.
He had assumed that if even the simple roasted meat he made casually could be judged as "gourmet," then finding two more qualifying dishes would be easy.
Reality proved otherwise.
"Little Ray Ray, why are you so grumpy?"
"Did someone bully you?"
"Tell your big brother and I'll get revenge for you."
A cheerful voice suddenly rang out behind him.
Rayfa had heard no footsteps, no sign of anyone approaching, until that bright, teasing voice spoke.
"Corazon, you bastard," Rayfa muttered. "How many times have I told you not to call me Little Ray Ray? My name is Rayfa."
Aside from Sengoku, the owner of that unmistakably cheerful voice was the person closest to the original Rayfa.
Strictly speaking, he really was Rayfa's older brother.
Both of them were Sengoku's adopted sons, and he was a few years older.
Even now, Rayfa felt no sense of unfamiliarity toward him. After all, this man had been mentioned repeatedly in the original manga's storyline.
Corazon, whose real name was Donquixote Rosinante, was the user of the Calm-Calm Fruit.
His biological brother, Donquixote Doflamingo, would later become one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, known across the Grand Line as the "Heavenly Yaksha." He also operated as a broker within the underground world under the codename "Joker," earning infamy as one of the era's most notorious pirates.
Few people knew that Corazon and his brother shared another hidden identity.
They had once belonged to the Donquixote family, one of the founding lineages of the World Government.
Years earlier, Corazon's father, Donquixote Homing, had made a radical decision. He believed that even those born into privilege should live as ordinary people. Acting on that belief, he left Mary Geoise with his wife and two young sons, hoping to raise them among common citizens.
He underestimated the resentment that had accumulated over generations.
Idealism alone could not erase long-standing anger.
The Donquixote family lost their former status and were subjected to hostility and persecution. After Corazon's mother later died from illness, the pressure that had long been suppressed within Doflamingo finally exploded.
He blamed everything on his father, believing that abandoning their former life had condemned the family to suffering.
That day, something inside Doflamingo shattered.
He killed his own father and attempted to use the severed head to regain acceptance from others of his former world. The attempt failed, and he was cast out completely.
From that moment on, Doflamingo walked a path of darkness.
Corazon, who witnessed his father's death at his brother's hands, fled. Fate eventually led him to Sengoku, who took him in.
Corazon was older than Rayfa and was now a fully enlisted Marine, holding the rank of Second Lieutenant.
Yet regardless of rank or strength, in Rayfa's eyes, he was simply an older brother who loved pranks and carried a mischievous smile.
Beyond what he knew from the manga, Rayfa could also feel Corazon's kindness.
From the memories of the original body, Rayfa saw that the boy had once been withdrawn and frequently bullied.
The worst part was that his tormentors were also children of Marine officers. Even Sengoku, a Marine Admiral, could not directly intervene in such childish conflicts.
Corazon never tolerated it.
Whenever he discovered Rayfa being bullied, he would rush in without hesitation, even knowing he might lose, even if he ended up bruised and battered. He refused to allow his little brother to be mistreated without cause.
Because of that seemingly playful yet fiercely protective brother, Rayfa's troubles gradually diminished, and fewer people dared to provoke him.
Strictly speaking, the one Corazon had protected was the original Rayfa, not the soul that occupied the body now.
But having inherited those memories completely, Rayfa still felt that bond deeply.
So even though he cursed Corazon aloud, he was not truly angry.
Hearing Rayfa's frustrated tone, Corazon sat down across from him, utterly satisfied, and grinned.
"I get it, Little Ray Ray. Don't be mad."