Garp's words instantly shattered the easy mood on the deck.
He paused, and before Rain could answer, he added, almost like talking to himself:
"Tsuru-chan should've already explained to you what Conqueror's Haki is, right?"
The sea breeze seemed to freeze in that moment.
The sound of waves vanished.
All Rain could hear was Garp's heartbeat—steady and heavy, like a drum.
Lie?
Tell him, "Roger did use Conqueror's Haki, I just tanked it with willpower"?
The idea had barely formed before Rain shot it down himself.
What a joke. Lying about that to a monster like Garp was no different from sticking his neck on a guillotine. With that battle-hardened Observation Haki of his, Garp could probably sense Rain's racing pulse and the tightening of his pores. The moment he got caught, he'd be branded "suspicious," and the end would be ugly.
No. That was a dead end.
Then… tell the truth?
Tell him, "Roger never used Conqueror's Haki, I fainted for another reason"?
Rain's scalp tingled.
That was even worse. That would be openly tearing down the heroic narrative Tsuru had built for him and essentially saying: "By the way, the entire Marine high command got duped by a random private." Garp's first reaction would absolutely not be "Oh, so that's how it is," but "What the hell are you hiding?" Ending up on Vegapunk's operating table would be the best-case scenario.
No. Also a dead end.
Rain's heart felt ice cold.
No… maybe there was a third way. A way where he didn't have to say "yes" or "no" at all.
After a long, suffocating silence, Rain slowly lifted his head.
The panic on his face was gone. In its place was a carefully controlled calm… with just a hint of confusion that he didn't quite manage to hide.
"Reporting, Vice Admiral Garp…" Rain's voice was steady, but a little dry. "I… can't give you a 'yes' or 'no' answer."
Garp's brows lifted slightly.
Rain began his "performance."
"I don't know if what I felt was what you call 'Conqueror's Haki.'"
He seemed to sink into painful recollection. "On the day of the execution… when I stood behind Roger, I didn't feel any killing intent or malice from him. What I felt was something strange… like… like a will as vast as the ocean."
His gaze went a little unfocused, as if his mind had returned to that day on the scaffold.
"And when the execution order was given… maybe it was because I was too nervous, or maybe something else… I felt like my own spirit somehow resonated with his will…"
"Then my head felt like it was going to explode—and after that… I don't remember anything."
When his words fell, the deck sank once more into a long, suffocating silence.
Garp just stared at Rain in silence with those eyes that seemed like they could see through everything.
One second.
Five seconds.
Ten seconds.
Rain could feel the cold sweat soaking his back.
Even with his [Peak] Observation Haki, he couldn't sense a single emotion from Garp under that mountain-like gaze. It was like standing before a bottomless sea.
Just as Rain was about to crack and start planning a "Plan B," Garp finally spoke.
His face suddenly broke into a huge grin.
"Ah-hahaha… ahahahahaha!"
His thunderous laughter shattered the tension on the deck.
"Resonance of wills, huh? Brat, that explanation is a lot more interesting than Tsuru-chan's 'he tanked Conqueror's Haki with willpower' story!"
Garp's words hit Rain's heart like a hammer.
In an instant, Rain understood—Garp had never believed Tsuru's hero story. He'd known it was a lie from the start.
Today's questioning was a trap, a setup designed to drag the truth out of him.
A tidal wave crashed through Rain's mind, but he knew he'd bet right.
He'd gambled on Garp's curiosity about his old rival Roger.
A flimsy "I ate Conqueror's Haki to the face" story couldn't satisfy that curiosity.
But an absurd-sounding yet strangely plausible "resonance of wills" theory? That hit Garp's itch exactly.
Whew… that was close. Looks like I bluffed my way through. Rain let out a long breath in his heart, his back icy.
Garp's serious face flipped back to lazy and casual like a stage mask changing.
He burst into his trademark laughter again and clapped Rain on the shoulder hard enough to make him stagger.
"Ahahaha! Interesting! You're even more interesting than Tsuru said, brat!"
He didn't ask another thing about Roger or Conqueror's Haki, as if that suffocating interrogation just now had been nothing more than casual small talk.
He sat back down cross-legged, grabbed another rice cracker, crunched down on it, and waved a hand.
"All right, go find yourself an empty room below deck. And remember—don't cause trouble on my ship."
"Yes, Vice Admiral Garp."
Rain saluted respectfully—but inside, he let out an even longer breath, his back still clammy with cold sweat.
"Anyone who says Garp's an idiot, I'll fight them first. This guy is sharp as a damn knife…"
He knew his answer had gotten him through for now, but it had also completely hooked this legendary man's curiosity.
The days ahead… probably wouldn't be very "quiet."
…
The next few days at sea were, to Rain's surprise, completely uneventful.
Garp really did seem to treat Rain as just a "picked up along the way" recruit. Aside from eating and sleeping, he spent his days laughing at the bow while throwing cannonballs as training, and never called Rain over again.
Rain, however, didn't dare relax even a little.
He knew he was living right next to a sleeping lion—any hint of "off" could draw attention he definitely didn't want.
So he acted like the most ordinary of Marines: silent, reserved, barely ever leaving his cabin except to eat in the mess.
One day, Rain was sitting cross-legged in his small cabin with his eyes closed, thinking.
Suddenly, he seemed to sense something and slowly opened his eyes.
He walked over to the tiny porthole and looked outside.
On the horizon, a gigantic steel gate loomed, so massive it looked like it could sever the sky from the sea.
Above the gate, two enormous characters radiating majesty and killing intent were carved into the metal:
"Justice."
At that moment, ringing bells and excited shouts from Marines echoed from outside the cabin.
"Marineford— we're here!"