The so-called "Velvet Suite" was luxurious to a frankly absurd degree.
It took up most of the base's top floor. The floor was covered in expensive velvet carpeting, the furniture was all made from precious rosewood, and beyond the massive floor-to-ceiling windows was a harbor glittering with night lights.
The suite was divided into an inner bedroom and an outer sitting room, separated only by a carved archway and a hanging gauze curtain.
"You sleep in the outer room. If you're going out, you report to me first."
Gion entered, removed the Justice cloak from her back and hung it on the rack, then unfastened one button at her collar and let out a long breath. After an evening of forced politeness and empty smiling, she was mentally and physically drained.
Rain, on the other hand, looked perfectly at ease. He went straight to the sofa in the outer room, sat down, tested the softness, and commented, "Nice place. Way better than sleeping on the ship."
Gion walked to the window and pulled half the curtains shut, blocking the outside view.
Then she turned, looking at Rain lounging on the sofa. Her expression hardened—none of the banquet's surface politeness remained.
"There's a problem here," Gion said bluntly.
She sat down in the single chair across from him, hands clasped. "Nelson is a problem. A big one."
"I deliberately observed on the way back," she continued, brows drawn tight. "On the streets here… I didn't see a single beggar. Not even one poor person in patched clothing."
"I noticed too."
Rain sat back. At some point a crystal ornament—snagged from the banquet—had appeared in his hand, and he was lightly tossing it between his fingers.
"Rear Admiral Gion, in any normal port town, a wealth gap is inevitable. How can everyone be so well-off and presentable?"
Rain's motion stopped. His fingers closed around the crystal piece.
He lifted his head. In the lamplight, his dark eyes flashed with a chilling gleam.
"Unless… the people at the bottom who aren't 'presentable' enough have been forcibly cleaned away."
"Cleaned away?" Gion's face changed.
"You know my fruit gives me… slightly better perception than ordinary people," Rain said, voice lowering. In the sealed room with only the two of them, every word sounded sharper.
"Under the glossy floors of this base, there's a massive underground space."
"And—" Rain frowned slightly, as if recalling the sensation, "there's something down there that makes me… uncomfortable."
"An underground space? What exactly is making you uncomfortable?" Gion pressed.
"I can't explain it." Rain shook his head. "But it doesn't feel like a warehouse or a prison."
He remembered the "crystal statues" he'd sensed, and the strange echo from below—like something was growing down there.
"The island's secret is probably all in that underground space."
The room fell into dead silence.
"We need to confirm it," Gion said decisively. She stood, hand resting on the hilt of Konpira at her waist. "Tonight."
"No."
Rain stood as well—but gently shook his head, stopping her.
"Rear Admiral Gion, you have to stay here."
"Why?" Gion's eyes sharpened. "Don't forget Vice Admiral Tsuru's order. I'm responsible for supervising you. I can't let you out of my sight."
"If we don't do this, we won't find the truth tonight," Rain said.
Seeing how serious she was, Rain spread his hands helplessly, tone turning lighter. "You still don't trust me? Vice Admiral Tsuru's task—let's just treat it as a formality for tonight."
When Gion looked like she still wanted to argue, Rain's smile faded and he switched to calm analysis.
"Did you notice Nelson's reaction after the banquet? He's like a startled bird right now. His attention is entirely on you."
"If you disappear—or even if you just leave this room—he'll notice immediately."
Rain gestured toward the brightly lit base outside the window.
"You need to stay here. Keep the lights on. Maybe even call a servant to bring late-night snacks—make it look like we're resting."
"As for whatever secrets are lurking in the gutter—"
Rain's body began to shimmer, gradually turning into blue-white current. His voice carried absolute confidence.
"I'm the one who can go without anyone noticing."
Gion fell silent.
She stared at Rain's partial elemental form. Rationally, she knew he was right.
"…Fine."
She finally released her grip on the sword hilt, but her gaze remained strict.
"Recon only. No acting on your own. Confirm what it is and come back immediately to report!"
Rain's mouth curved slightly. He didn't answer directly—only said, "Relax. I know my limits."
With a soft zzzt, Rain dissolved into a tiny arc of electricity, slipped into the ventilation duct in the corner, and vanished instantly—leaving only a faint ozone scent in the air.
…
The underground space was deeper than Rain expected—and, surprisingly, quiet.
The air smelled cold and dry, mixed with a strange mineral scent.
Rain re-formed in a patch of shadow.
Before him spread a vast underground storeroom.
Several wooden crates sat in neat rows, half covered by dust cloths. And on shelves were "art pieces" displayed openly.
Rain frowned and stepped closer.
Dozens of transparent crystal statues, glowing with faint cold light, were arranged throughout the warehouse.
Rain stopped at the nearest one.
It was a burly man frozen in the moment of falling backward, arms raised instinctively to shield his face, as if trying to block some unseen horror.
Up above, Rain had only sensed vague fluctuations with Observation. But standing here in front of them—seeing them with his own eyes—an indescribable dread rose up.
"This craftsmanship…"
It was too real.
Not just the natural body movement, but the microscopic details that made your skin crawl.
In the dim light, Rain could clearly see bulging veins on the statue's arm, the natural folds of fabric, even messy strands of hair rendered down to the finest thread.
Most horrifying was the expression.
Eyes protruding. Mouth wide open. Features twisted in raw terror—the physiological fear that explodes in the instant before death—captured perfectly.
This didn't feel like carving.
It felt like time itself had been forcibly frozen in a single second.
Rain reached out, his fingertip touching the statue's arm.
Ice-cold. Smooth as glass.
He pressed harder.
It didn't budge.
The hardness was extreme—far beyond ordinary stone, almost like steel. Micro-carving something like this by hand was pure fantasy.
Rain started to apply more force, trying to probe its internal structure—then immediately pulled back.
He didn't dare use full strength. If he cracked it, even slightly, he might alert whoever was behind this.
"Even the greatest sculptor in the world couldn't reproduce the instantaneous muscle contractions of a living body… on a crystal this hard."
Rain withdrew his hand and scanned the room.
It wasn't just this one.
In the corner was an old man kneeling, begging. Farther away, a woman holding a child—
A grotesque, horrifying thought began to take shape in Rain's mind.
"What if… this isn't sculpture?"
"What if… these are real people, transformed in an instant into this shape by some kind of power?"
Rain's gaze sank.
He drew a slow breath to steady himself.
An invisible wave of perception—like a gentle, warm breeze—spread soundlessly through the dead warehouse, wrapping around the crystal statues.
In this sensory world, there was no sound, no image—only the most essential "breathing" of all things.
Then—
Rain's eyes snapped open.
A cold killing intent flickered through them.
He had heard it.
Beneath the dead silence—inside those hard, cold crystal shells—
were faint, chaotic, but undeniably real life-fields.
The residue left in the world as life was stripped away in an instant—like a ghost image on photographic film, recording the final terror and despair.
These statues…
They were dead.
Their flesh had been converted into crystal—but proof that they had once existed as "people" had been forcibly sealed inside these immortal coffins.
This wasn't craftsmanship that human hands could achieve.
Rain stared at the statues—still trembling in frozen fear even in death—and made his conclusion immediately.
"To change matter's molecular structure in an instant—to turn living flesh and blood into cold crystal…"
"On this sea, only one kind of power can do that."
"A Devil Fruit."
~~~
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