Rain woke up in a wash of gentle sunlight.
The smell in his nose was no longer rust and gunpowder from an execution ground, but the clean, sharp scent of disinfectant.
Pure white sheets, a soft pillow, and the cries of seagulls outside the window all made him feel as if he'd just lived through another lifetime.
He struggled to sit up and realized he was lying in a quiet, spotless single-occupancy infirmary room. His body still felt weak, like every ounce of strength had been drained from him, but that earlier agony—like his soul was being pierced by billions of steel needles—had eased a lot.
"How long… was I unconscious?"
He remembered that terrifying sensory explosion, and his heart gave an involuntary twitch.
Just then, the door to the room opened with a soft click.
Vice Admiral Tsuru walked in carrying a steaming cup of tea, a warm smile on her face, like an elder looking in on a younger relative.
"How are you feeling, Rain?"
Seeing this Marine big shot, Rain instinctively tried to struggle out of bed to salute.
"Ma'am, I—"
"Lie down, child." Tsuru set the teacup on the bedside table and gently pressed him back by the shoulder, her tone soft but leaving no room for argument. "Right now you're a patient—and a hero."
Rain's mind went buzz and completely blanked out.
"Hero? Me?"
He was utterly confused. Didn't I just crash because I couldn't handle the system's data dump? How did that turn into "hero"?
Seeing his face full of shock and confusion, the appreciation in Tsuru's eyes only deepened.
She assumed this kid still didn't know what an incredible thing he'd done.
She spoke slowly, her voice carrying a hint of comfort. "You don't need to worry, Rain. After you fainted, Sengoku learned the full story. Roger's final burst of Conqueror's Haki was aimed at the executioner closest to him. The lieutenant commander standing beside you was completely stunned on the spot."
Seeing the baffled look still on Rain's face, Tsuru guessed he might not understand the term, so she slowed down, explaining in more common language:
"Conqueror's Haki is a kingly quality that appears in only one person out of a million. It cannot be trained—it's innate. Someone who has it can knock out anyone with a weak will just by their presence. And Roger was the most extreme example of that kind of kingly talent."
"And you…" Tsuru's gaze softened, "you not only raised your gun and completed the order—you even met the Pirate King's Haki head-on with your own will. Everyone in the base knows now: there's a Marine in Loguetown who dared to clash wills with Gol D. Roger and won."
Rain opened his mouth, but no words came out.
Of course I know what Conqueror's Haki is. But "clash"? Clash my ass. I was drooling over his inheritance and got knocked out by my own system! How does that make me a hero?!
But he instantly understood—this Marine Chief of Staff was assigning him a narrative.
So he perfectly played the role of a "simple, upright, maybe slightly dopey" young soldier. He tried to sit up and salute again, his face flushing red with "excitement and embarrassment," and stammered:
"Ma'am, I… I only… followed orders!"
"Get some good rest." Tsuru pressed him back down once more, the admiration in her eyes practically overflowing. "The Marines will not forget the merits of any hero."
She didn't linger. After saying what she needed to say, she excused herself on account of official business and left, never once mentioning his earlier hesitation to pull the trigger.
After Tsuru left, Rain lay alone on the bed, digesting what he'd just heard, his expression turning extremely odd.
"Hero. Just 'cause I passed out?"
He immediately understood: she was turning him into a piece on the board, a counterweight to Roger's influence, a tool to boost the Marines' public image.
"So this counts as a 'battle of wits,' huh? Honestly, it's on par with Zhongli faking his death."
"Well, fine…" Rain chuckled at himself and fully relaxed. "At least I'm definitely not getting blamed for hesitating on the scaffold now."
He lay there, bored, continuing to rest. He didn't know how long he'd been unconscious, but with top-tier Marine medical care, his physical recovery was fast.
A young nurse walked past his door carrying a tray full of medicine vials.
At that moment, without warning, a jarringly vivid "afterimage" flashed through Rain's mind—
He "saw" the nurse slip on the wet floor, cry out in surprise, and lose her balance, the entire tray of medicine smashing onto the ground!
"Huh?"
Rain blinked, stunned, not yet able to speak and warn her.
The next second, reality and the "afterimage" in his mind lined up perfectly.
The nurse's foot indeed slipped. She cried out, her body pitching backward, the tray about to fly out of her hands.
In that split-second, Rain had no time to think.
His body, driven by explosive strength, shot off the bed like an arrow leaving the string.
His figure blurred—and then he was behind her. One arm wrapped around her waist, steadying her falling body firmly against his chest.
His other hand shot upward, leaving afterimages as it moved. First he caught the already-flipped metal tray with perfect accuracy.
Then his wrist began to twitch, tilt, and adjust at a speed almost impossible for the eye to follow, making the tiniest corrections to the tray's angle…
Ting! Ting! Clink! Clink!
The vials and syringes that had burst apart like a spray of scattered petals in midair seemed to be tugged back by an invisible hand—one by one, in the exact order they'd taken off, they dropped neatly back into the tray without a millimeter out of place.
When the last glass vial cap landed with a soft tap and spun twice on the metal before settling, the tray looked… exactly the same as before it fell.
"Ah… th-thank you so much!"
The young nurse, shocked then delighted, blushed as she thanked him and hurried away.
Rain just sat there on the bed, frozen, his heart pounding wildly.
"That was…"
He rushed to the window and stared up at the bright blue sky, locking his focus onto a seabird circling overhead.
This time, he "saw" it even more clearly—
He clearly saw that the bird wasn't trailing just one path, but dozens of blurry golden threads stretching out from it, crisscrossing into a chaotic web of possible futures. Each thread represented one possible outcome.
And among them, only one thread was rapidly turning from hazy to solid, becoming incredibly clear and bright.
The end of that thread pointed to a loaf of bread in a merchant's hands.
Silently, Rain started counting down in his heart.
"Three…"
"Two…"
"One!"
In reality, the seagull's movements matched the "pre-run" scene in his mind perfectly.
Only when the merchant let out an angry curse after his bread was stolen did Rain come back to himself from his shock.
His breathing turned hot and rough.
"This… this is Peak-level Observation Haki?" His voice trembled with excitement. "Not only Roger's 'Voice of All Things'… I can even see the future?!"
After a brief rush of euphoria, the cold corporate-drone part of his brain immediately doused his excitement with a bucket of ice water.
"No… I've got a huge weakness right now."
He calmed down and started analyzing.
"I can 'see' someone shooting at me in the future, but with just an Advanced physique, can I guarantee I'll dodge a bullet I can't even see?"
"I can 'see' an enemy's next attack, but with only Intermediate swordsmanship, can I block their weapon?"
"This imbalance will get me killed in front of real monsters."