Once he returned to the One Piece world, Allen held his head while frowning slightly. It was as if there was something he needed to remember, but he couldn't figure out what it was.
"Are you okay?" Nami asked.
Kaya also noticed the change in Allen. After all, both girls always kept an eye on him, paying close attention to any change in his behavior.
"I..."
Allen slipped a hand into his pocket and pulled out an old silver coin.
The two girls looked at it curiously. They knew Allen had the habit of carrying gold and silver coins with him, as if it were some pirate captain ritual he had invented, but this coin was different. It was far more worn by time and slightly dented.
"Nine Pieces of Eight..." Allen murmured.
"What?" Nami asked, bewildered.
"What is that?" Kaya asked curiously.
"I guess it's some kind of lucky charm or something." Allen smiled as if he felt a strange sense of nostalgia for the silver coin.
Before either girl could ask anything else, the door suddenly burst open and Vivi rushed inside, breathing heavily.
"We've got trouble. They're here!"
"Who?" Nami asked.
The Marines?
"The members of Baroque Works, all of them!" Vivi exclaimed, leaving everyone stunned.
....
At the entrance to Alabasta, an army of thousands of armed and furious people was marching.
They were led by a large, heavyset blond man. This was Mr. 4, whose real name was Babe, along with a middle-aged woman sporting a red afro hairstyle. She was Miss Merry Christmas.
Both had received orders to gather every available member of Baroque Works and head to Alubarna immediately. They had pushed themselves to the limit and marched all night, but they had finally arrived, ready to seize Alubarna.
"Where's the boss?" Mr. 4 asked with a puzzled expression.
"I don't know," Miss Merry Christmas replied. It was strange; nobody was answering the Den Den Mushi. "Maybe we should... huh?"
Miss Merry Christmas's words caught in her throat when she saw a jet-black ship descending the massive stairway of Alubarna.
The pair and the members of Baroque Works stood there dumbfounded. It was a freaking ship in the middle of the desert!
The Black Pearl crashed down with a bang; it was absurd, but it looked as if the sand had turned into water as the ship hit the surface.
Aboard the ship.
Allen stepped onto the bow.
"Girls, this time I won't interfere unless things get difficult." Allen smiled.
The girls aboard the ship tensed up. They knew Allen wanted them to become stronger, and if he kept protecting them, they would never achieve that.
"Understood!" Nojiko said as she adjusted her rifle.
"Leave it to me~" Mikita said as she leaped into the air and floated above the Baroque Works members.
When Mr 4 saw Mikita, the man cursed the traitor.
"I'll do my best too!" Vivi declared as she drew a pair of knives.
"Khee!" Karoo cried.
"No helping it..." Nami shrugged as she pulled out her staff. Her current strength was almost on par with Alvida's, which already made her a superhuman.
"I'll help too!" Kaya declared with a clenched fist. Despite her cute appearance, she shouldn't be underestimated. She possessed the strength of a pirate worth two million berries.
As for Tashigi and Hina, despite not being part of the crew, they also prepared themselves to fight.
Allen smiled in satisfaction before looking at Robin.
"They're your former comrades. Any unfinished business?"
Robin smiled.
"None. Go ahead."
Allen chuckled and aimed the cannons toward Baroque Works. They felt chills run down their spines, but it was too late. Four explosions tore through their ranks, wiping out several dozen agents.
That was only the beginning. The girls charged into battle, leaving only Allen and Uta watching from afar.
Of course, Allen supported the girls with the cannons of the Black Pearl.
The battle dragged on for an hour before the remaining members of Baroque Works fled with their tails between their legs. Of course, Alabasta's army didn't let them escape and immediately pursued them.
That day marked the destruction of Baroque Works.
Allen walked over and helped Nami back to her feet before congratulating her on her excellent performance.
Allen treated every girl the same way, but it was clear he needed to redouble his efforts to make them all stronger.
[Of course you know the method~]
"..." Allen said nothing, but he knew Lenalee was right. It was time to stop being a coward and become what he was meant to be.
....
A couple of days passed after Crocodile's downfall, and as expected, news of everything had spread.
Crocodile's defeat once again shook the world.
There were tens of thousands of famous pirates across the world, or at least thousands if you only counted those with bounties exceeding one million berries. Yet among all of them, only seven pirates held the title of Warlord.
The fall of one of them was no small matter, especially when he had been defeated by the White-Haired Demon, who had been a complete nobody just a month earlier.
Naturally, this attracted everyone's attention, and the other Warlords were no exception.
....
(Leaving the Sabaody Archipelago)
The Sabaody Archipelago is a crucial island in the Grand Line, made up of enormous mangrove trees.
It is where all the routes of the first half of the Grand Line converge, serving as the gateway to the New World.
From there, a Marine warship departed for Alabasta carrying more than fifty elite Marines and two Vice Admirals.
Gion and Doll...
Both women possessed strength surpassing most Vice Admirals, placing them among the leading candidates for promotion to Admiral. Yet despite their positions, both had abandoned everything else to pursue Allen Walker.
The decision left several people dissatisfied, including Gion and Doll themselves. However, orders were orders, and now they had to carry them out.
Doll stood at the bow, gazing at the horizon as she wondered how she had gone from preparing to command a base in the New World to chasing a rookie pirate.
Lost in her thoughts, she spotted one of the News Coo seagulls.
She raised her hand, and the seagull descended to deliver a newspaper.
The moment Doll saw the front page, she froze and frowned before turning toward one of the Marines.
"Call Gion."
"Yes, ma'am!"
A minute later, Gion climbed the stairs to the bow. The woman appeared calm. While other Vice Admirals might have considered this mission insulting, she had become curious about Allen.
"What is it, Doll?"
Doll tossed the newspaper toward Gion as she sighed.
"Our brat did it again."
Gion caught the newspaper, curious about what Allen had done this time. When she saw the headline, she was surprised—not by the outcome. Something told her the old Crocodile never stood a chance against someone capable of surviving Garp—but by how quickly it had happened.
After opening the newspaper, she quickly found the reason.
—The legendary fantasy ship, the terrifying Black Pearl, has created another legend! It can sail across land! The world is in shock. Is this due to Allen Walker's power, advanced technology, or some unknown magical ability?!—
Attached to the article was a photograph of the Black Pearl in the middle of Alubarna.
"That's ridiculous." Gion smiled.
"Hey." Doll frowned. "Don't forget he's the enemy."
"Of course I remember. It's just that this young man is very entertaining. Regardless, he's still a pirate, which is a shame."
Doll observed Gion's reaction. She knew the woman had developed a strange fascination with Allen, something that made no sense since he was a pirate. Still, the younger sister of Vice Admiral Tsuru wouldn't show mercy to a pirate... right?
"Well, now that the brat defeated a Warlord, at least our mission won't be such a waste of time," Doll said sarcastically.
"Don't say that." Gion laughed.
"But who knows? If he keeps doing things like this, maybe by the time we find him, he'll already be a big shot, and instead of being a waste of time, he'll become the stepping stone that earns us a promotion." Doll laughed.
The Marines who overheard that conversation turned pale. Both women were already Vice Admirals, meaning the next promotion would be Admiral. But there were only three Admirals, and that had always been tradition, so unless one of them became Fleet Admiral, the only other way was for one to resign... or die.
....
(Dressrosa Castle, New World)
Seated upon a stolen throne, a blond man wearing sunglasses and an outrageously extravagant pink feather coat laughed eerily while holding the newspaper.
"Heh, heh, heh!"
This man was the Warlord Donquixote Doflamingo.
"You seem happy, Joker."
Amid Doflamingo's laughter, a shrill voice echoed throughout the throne room.
"Of course I am, Pica." Doflamingo grinned. "Chaos always makes me happy. Besides, seeing Crocodile get his ass kicked puts me in a great mood. Heh, heh, heh!"
....
(Fish-Man Island, Ryugu Palace)
A whale shark fish-man walked through the corridors of the palace on the famous island of mermaids.
He held a newspaper that had been handed to him by the King.
His massive body had blue skin, and he wore a kimono beneath a coat as he walked with the dignity befitting his status.
This fish-man was none other than the Warlord Jinbe.
Jinbe offered no opinion. He simply looked at the news of Crocodile's defeat in silence.
His thoughts regarding Allen were complicated. After all, the news of Arlong's death and everything that had happened in the East Blue had become famous.
Fish-Men and humans had an extremely strained relationship—to call it outright hostility would not be an exaggeration.
On one hand, nobles and the wealthy, especially the Celestial Dragons, constantly sought to capture Fish-Men and mermaids as slaves. But that didn't justify Arlong's actions.
Allen had taken matters into his own hands, and the result was something no one could truly complain about. In the pirate world, people died for far less than what Arlong had done. Even so, Allen killing every member of Arlong's crew was still difficult to accept.
Jinbe sighed.
....
(Egghead, Future Island)
In the middle of the New World stood an island filled with enormous mechanized and futuristic buildings.
Everywhere one looked, robots and autonomous machines were manufacturing countless things, from advanced technology shipped across the world to entirely new inventions still under development.
But the most important thing on the island at that moment wasn't its technology. It was a man standing at the edge of a cliff, staring out at the sea.
He was enormous and heavily built from the waist up. His square jaw and stoic expression alone made him intimidating, yet he also had bear ears and carried a Bible, creating a rather peculiar contrast.
This was Bartholomew Kuma, the Warlord under the World Government's command. Despite his reputation, he was merely one of the Government's weapons, a man whose freedom had been stolen.
"Is something wrong, Kuma?" a girl asked from behind him.
When Kuma turned around, he saw a blonde girl with short, messy hair. She wore a fitted pink outfit beneath a purple coat.
"Punk-02..."
The girl frowned, crossed her arms, thought for a moment, then struck her fist into her palm.
"Call me Lilith from now on! I like it!"
"Understood," Kuma said before returning his gaze to the horizon.
Lilith watched him with a raised eyebrow.
"What are you doing? Stella's waiting for you."
Kuma didn't move immediately. After a brief pause, he turned around and walked away. Meanwhile, Lilith noticed Allen's wanted poster that Kuma had left behind.
"Oh, so this is the Demon Boy~" she said with a mischievous smile. "I'd love to dissect him and learn everything about such a unique specimen~"
Lilith laughed before turning around and following Kuma.
....
(Thriller Bark, Florian Triangle)
Within the Grand Line lies a mysterious place known as the Florian Triangle, a region shrouded in thick fog that makes navigation nearly impossible.
Many mysteries remain hidden there, including the unexplained disappearance of countless ships that enter but never return.
This gloomy place was home to the world's largest ship, Thriller Bark. Comparable in size to an island, it served as the domain of the Warlord Gecko Moria.
Moria was enormous, with a huge belly and comically disproportionate features resembling a mascot costume. His pale skin and appearance were somewhere between a demon and a vampire.
What was a Warlord doing hiding in a place like this?
The man whose bounty had stalled at 300 million before becoming a Warlord had chosen to slowly build his zombie army from the unfortunate souls who wandered into the area.
Naturally, he rarely received news from the outside world, but this time luck was on his side. One of the ships he captured happened to be carrying a recent newspaper.
"Kishishishi! That fool Crocodile got beaten. Serves him right for being overconfident. Losing to a kid has got to be the most humiliating thing that could've happened to him!"
"Moria-sama, since they're coming along the Alabasta route, they'll eventually pass through here. Aren't you afraid the same thing might happen to you? Horo horo horo~" said a pink-haired girl whose laugh was quite peculiar.
The girl wore gothic clothing and carried a parasol while two ghosts floated around her, sticking out their tongues.
Moria clenched his jaw in annoyance.
"Don't compare me to that crocodile, Perona. Let that brat come! I'm not afraid of him! Kishishishi!"
"Horo horo horo!~" Perona laughed as well.
Allen defeating Crocodile wasn't a big deal to Gecko Moria.
....
In the middle of the sea, a man carrying an enormous black sword sailed alone in a tiny boat.
This hawk-eyed man was Dracule Mihawk, the World's Greatest Swordsman and also the strongest of the Warlords.
"Allen Walker... I wonder whether you'll shine briefly like a flash... or become a star at the very top of the world."
Mihawk smiled. He had just returned to the Grand Line after encountering Luffy and Zoro. While he had seen potential in both of them, this young Walker was someone he simply couldn't measure.
....
(Amazon Lily, Calm Belt)
The last of the Warlords was the Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock, also known as the most beautiful woman in the world.
With her long black hair and radiant pearl-white skin, she bit one of her fingernails while staring at the newspaper.
"This man..." the woman growled. "Hey, you."
Hancock called over one of her guards, who approached with a mixture of excitement and anticipation.
"What do you need, Hebihime-sama (Snake Princess)?"
"Look at this man and tell me who's more beautiful."
"Huh?"
The Amazon woman was left speechless by her Empress's request, but she obeyed nonetheless.
The instant she looked at the picture, she froze for several seconds before frantically shaking her head as Boa stared at her with icy eyes.
"You're the most beautiful!" she declared as she dropped to her knees.
Boa raised her hands, forming a heart with her fingers before aiming it at the woman.
"Mero Mero Mero!"
A pink heart-shaped beam burst from her hands and enveloped the woman, instantly turning her to stone where she stood.
"You shouldn't have hesitated..." Hancock said before lowering her arms and elegantly sitting back on her throne while continuing to read the newspaper.
Somehow, the world's most beautiful woman had taken Allen's very existence as an insult to her own beauty.
An elderly woman watching the scene could only sigh. The Empress's heart had become colder and more closed off with each passing year, to the point that even her most loyal subjects were no longer safe from her cruelty.
"I only hope someone appears who can thaw Hebihime-sama's frozen heart," the old woman murmured.
....
Allen sneezed that afternoon while strolling through the streets of Alubarna, shopping with the girls.
"Someone must be talking badly about me."
[You're the White-Haired Demon. The whole world is talking badly about you, hahaha.]
"That doesn't make me happy... I like the idea of the whole world knowing about my glory and greatness, but not like this," Allen grumbled.
[Well, get used to it. You know, you're not just a pirate. People also aren't exactly eager to be conquered by a lunatic who wants to rule the world.]
"Setting aside the fact that you're insulting me, you're right. There'll be time to change the way everyone sees me."
Allen stopped thinking about it and walked over to Nojiko, who was picking out clothes.
As a joke, he suggested she buy a black lingerie set, but unexpectedly, she actually did. Then she walked past him with a teasing look.
This was the same girl who, just a few days ago, had warned him not to provoke her unless he was prepared to face the consequences.
Allen watched Nojiko's figure as she walked away and secretly made a decision. He no longer cared if people considered him a womanizer or a pervert. He was going to stop running away from the possibility of developing a relationship with the girls.
He was no longer the Allen of the past. Now he could protect himself and others. He no longer had to run away from people.
He had to stop merely surviving... and start living.
Allen caught up to Nojiko and, with a confident smile, took her hand.
Nojiko looked surprised before blushing slightly, but she didn't let go of Allen's hand.
====
A/N: Moria has an altered perception of reality 🗿
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