Allen and his crew took a different route from Luffy, who was heading toward Grove 13 in the lawless area. It was peculiar, because if they were looking for a mechanic for the coating, they should have gone near Grove 50. However, they had heard rumors that there was someone there who did good coatings.
Luffy recommended that Allen go as well, but he refused. He wasn't in a hurry to set sail for Fish-Man Island; on the contrary, he recommended that Luffy take it easy as well, since he lacked the strength necessary to face the New World.
If it had been anyone else, Luffy wouldn't have taken the advice, but since it came from Allen, he took it seriously, and his response also surprised Allen.
– "It's true, I need to get stronger." –
....
"..." Allen relaxed silently in the Bon Chari, letting Nami drive. Since they were traveling on bubbles, the pedals that powered the propellers didn't require much effort to turn, and even if they did, it didn't matter because Nami was as strong as a 70-million-berry pirate.
"Why?" Nami asked without turning around to look at Allen.
"Why what?"
Nami turned and glanced at him from the corner of her eye. "You know what I'm talking about. Why did we ally with the Straw Hat Pirates?"
"It wasn't an alliance," Allen replied.
"Whatever. Why?" Nami asked once again.
She knew Allen well. He was a man with an enormous ego, with pride and confidence in himself as great as a mountain. Why would someone like that depend on another person?
"It's true... I'll tell you." Allen smiled mysteriously, making Robin, Pappag, Doll, and Camie look at him as well. "Because I obtained one of his abilities... and honestly, it irritated me..."
"Huh? What do you mean?" Robin asked, widening her eyes.
"Not Luffy, but something that seems to be guiding him." Allen frowned with a mocking smile directed at nothing in particular.
Allen was confused, and he had reasons to be, but he didn't know it yet. The people in the chat, however, were aware of the reason.
It was very strange. Allen had taken the same route as Luffy, and although he hadn't gone to Little Garden or the Kingdom of Drum, he had defeated the dangerous enemies before Luffy and his crew arrived.
His journey should have been less perilous and, in turn, less beneficial for his growth. And yet, just like in the original timeline, Luffy had reached the level he was supposed to have upon arriving at Sabaody.
Not only that, even without Hachi or Camie, Luffy had still headed to Grove 13 to make his connection with the man who would become his Haki teacher, the Dark King and Gold D. Roger's right-hand man, Silvers Rayleigh.
Why?
Allen was irritated, but lacking knowledge of the original timeline, he didn't know why. However, after obtaining one of Luffy's techniques, he had learned the true origin of his Devil Fruit.
– Hito Hito no Mi, Model: Sun God –
"Don't you think it's just your imagination?" Doll said mockingly.
"Maybe." Allen gave a half-smile.
Doll snorted upon seeing Allen's smile and looked away. She didn't like this side of Allen, because he always seemed to be trying to seduce her, and that annoyed her. But deep down, she was also worried because she was slowly getting used to this crew, and she disliked that.
"I see, did you want to form a pirate brotherhood with him because he's special?" Nami asked.
"No..." Allen relaxed, this time lying down on Robin's lap. "The real reason is that Luffy can be trusted. Those guys are crazy, stupid, and very naive, but they're the kind of people who wouldn't abandon you even in the worst situation. We'll become the World Government's number-one enemy once we confront them, so having someone on our side can't hurt, don't you think?"
Luffy was indeed special in his own way, and Allen might need his help in the future, but the main reason was simply that Luffy was a kind-hearted pirate—even more so than Allen himself.
The girls couldn't help but smile. Somehow, Allen had matured.
....
Grove 13
Luffy and his companions had reached their destination, Shakky's Rip-off Bar, a name that wasn't trustworthy at all.
When they arrived, they found a short-haired, black-haired woman beating the crap out of some men to take their money. At least the bar was faithful to its name.
Upon seeing them beaten, the first thing Shakky did was ask if they had run into any trouble before arriving. Luffy answered that they had gotten into a fight. Although he accepted that Allen was stronger, he didn't like walking around constantly remembering his defeat.
Just like in the original story, Shakky welcomed them warmly, although she didn't show the same admiration, because unlike the original timeline, it was Allen, not Luffy, who had fought the government and defeated two Shichibukai.
Even so, Shakky told them about her husband, who had been missing for six months. However, if they wanted a cheap coating that wouldn't explode halfway to Fish-Man Island, he was the man they needed. They just had to look for him somewhere between Grove 1 and 29, where he usually stayed.
"All right, let's go to the amusement park!" Luffy shouted.
"Yeah!" Chopper exclaimed.
"Luffy, we need to look for him in the illegal area. We're not here to have fun," Zoro said. He was still frustrated by his defeat and wanted to train.
"Huh? But they're having fun..." Luffy grumbled.
By "they," he meant Allen and his crew.
Carina sighed. "They have that luxury, Captain. We don't."
"Ehhh..." Luffy almost looked like he was about to throw a tantrum when Shakky interrupted them.
"Monkey-chan, I can see you're excited, and I understand, but you should be careful. Things aren't peaceful right now."
Luffy tilted his head. "Huh? What do you mean?"
Shakky smoked her cigarette before continuing. "Right now, there are eleven rookies in Sabaody with bounties of more than one hundred million. Taking you and Roronoa-chan off the list, there are nine."
"Huh?! Nine people like Luffy?!" Brook exclaimed.
"L-lie! Wait, could they be...?" Usopp said, realizing the same thing as everyone else. Soon, they relaxed, since those rookies were their allies.
"Oh, so you already know them?" Shakky smiled. "Looks like I underestimated you."
"Excuse me, but could you tell us who the Supernovas are?" Carina asked.
Of everyone there, only Carina had reservations about assuming that those rookies were Allen and his crew. She had heard from Nami that they had arrived in disguise at Sabaody, and even if someone had discovered them, the information wouldn't have reached this place in the middle of nowhere so quickly.
"Of course. This one's on the house," Shakky smiled. "First, there's 'Big Eater' Jewelry Bonney — 140,000,000."
....
At a cheap restaurant in Grove 24, a pink-haired girl devoured plate after plate of food, creating piles of dirty dishes on the table as everyone else stared at her in astonishment.
"More food! More! It's not enough!" Bonney exclaimed.
A frightened waiter ran to get more food but collided with a man, staining his clothes. Upon realizing he was a pirate, he became frightened.
The pirate threatened him but was stopped by a tall, blond, long-haired man with lifeless eyes.
"Stop. That was the fate of your clothes," the man said as he drew a tarot card.
"The Magician," Basil Hawkins — 249,000,000
Not far away, a short man dressed like a gangster watched Bonney with a look of disgust.
"What a vulgar woman."
For a moment, he wanted to kill Bonney for ruining his appetite, but one of his subordinates stopped him, saying that it was dangerous with a Marine base so close. This earned him a fork stabbed into his eye by the man.
Capone "Gang" Bege — 138,000,000
Elsewhere, a red-haired man with an aggressive gaze watched another man wearing a Chinese-style suit with two elbows on each arm.
Eustass "Captain" Kid — 315,000,000
"Roar of the Sea" Scratchmen Apoo — 198,000,000
"Hey, what are you looking at?" Kid asked angrily.
In response, Apoo raised a finger. This made Kid explode with anger and attack him without hesitation, causing the wall of the bar to explode.
Moving elsewhere once again, a massive monk with wings belonging to the Sky People, carrying a huge metal bar, and a masked man with spinning blades faced each other.
"What a crazy guy," the monk said.
"Mad Monk" Urouge — 108,000,000
The masked man didn't speak. He simply attacked with murderous intent.
"Massacre Soldier" Killer — 162,000,000
"Stop!" someone shouted before intervening. He was dressed in blue with a cape and had an X tattooed on his chest.
"Red Flag" X Drake — 222,000,000
Drake stopped both attacks before throwing them aside. "If you want to fight, do it in the New World!"
It wasn't that he cared, but the fact that this area of Sabaody was called "lawless" was merely an excuse to allow the slave auction houses that supplied the Celestial Dragons to continue operating.
Of course, the Marines had to maintain appearances, so if pirates went too far, they had to intervene. Thus, it was an unwritten rule among pirates to behave themselves while in Sabaody.
Killer and Urouge stopped fighting, and Drake also put away his weapons before walking away.
"Hey, why did you interrupt my fun?" asked a man with the word Death tattooed across his fingers, a hat, and the eyes of someone who hadn't slept in a week.
"Surgeon of Death" Trafalgar D. Law — 200,000,000
"You know perfectly well why I did it," Drake said.
Law smiled before looking him in the eyes. "Tell me, Drake, how many people have you killed?"
Drake narrowed his eyes without answering.
....
Once Shakky had introduced the last of the Supernovas, everyone in Luffy's crew wore the same expression of disbelief, except Carina, who sighed.
"I knew it..."
Shakky was confused upon noticing that. Weren't they supposed to already know them?
"What? And I thought it was Allen!" Luffy smiled.
"Idiot, Luffy! You forgot that he told you not to go around saying it! They're undercover!" Usopp scolded.
"Wait, Monkey-chan, are you talking about who I think you're talking about? No, to begin with, you know him? That albino boy?!"
Luffy blinked, not understanding why Shakky had become so agitated, but answered honestly.
"Yeah. In fact, we just ran into him a little while ago," Luffy smiled.
Shakky sank into thought as a drop of sweat rolled down her cheek.
"How terrifying," Shakky said. "It doesn't make sense."
Allen's ship could fly. This was public knowledge, and for that reason, although everyone knew Allen was approaching the Red Line, nobody was alarmed. Everyone believed he would simply fly over the Red Line, but now Luffy had just confirmed that he was already in Sabaody.
"This is bad," Shakky said before looking at Luffy seriously. "Monkey-chan, I advise you to stay away from that young man. You're not ready for what he can cause, and if you get caught up in it, you could die."
Usopp, Brook, and Chopper turned pale, while Zoro, Sanji, and Franky wore serious expressions. Carina, for her part, was worried, while Luffy simply looked silently at Shakky.
"I can't do that." Luffy smiled. "We're already comrades."
"What did you say?!" Shakky exclaimed.
While Luffy's crew and Allen's crew were two sides of the same coin, they now shared a relationship of mutual support.
This news left Shakky speechless. It made no sense.
Shakky didn't doubt Luffy's potential. After all, he wasn't only Garp's grandson, but also the son of Dragon, the world's most dangerous criminal.
Luffy would definitely become a monster. However, that wasn't something that would happen today!
On the other hand, Allen was already on track to clash with the Yonko as soon as he reached the New World. So why would such a crew want pirates who were still far from having the necessary level for the New World as allies?
'What is he planning to do?!'
....
Grove 24
Allen's group came to this place. They hadn't returned to the ship, and the reason for coming here was the noise. He had "heard" several people fighting around there, and they weren't ordinary pirates. Allen laughed, feeling that this was a good opportunity to earn a few hundred million from the heads of several pirates.
Unfortunately for Allen, by the time he arrived, the fights had ended, and the famous pirates had hidden themselves.
"What do we do?" Allen asked, feeling frustrated. He didn't want to play cat and mouse.
Nami smiled and pulled a bunch of wanted posters from a bag she was carrying. They showed all the Supernovas in Sabaody.
"Well, well, don't get discouraged. Some of these guys have very peculiar appearances. Surely we'll run into some of them~."
"Nami always gets excited about these things," Robin laughed.
Camie and Pappag smiled awkwardly. To them, pirates worth more than one hundred million berries were extremely dangerous, but to Allen and his crew, they seemed to be nothing more than walking sacks of money.
"Watch out!" a man shouted.
"Everyone, get on the ground!" an old man said.
"Come on, kneel, lower your head, and don't look at them under any circumstances!" a woman told her son.
On the streets of the village in Grove 24, everyone began kneeling one after another.
It didn't seem forced, as though they had practiced it many times. However, what caught their attention was the fear and panic in their eyes.
"This is bad. We need to leave!" Doll said with a pale expression. However, neither Nami nor Robin moved.
"What is it?" Camie asked.
"Hey!" Doll gritted her teeth and looked at Allen.
"Hm?" Allen raised an eyebrow as he looked at Doll.
Doll froze. What was she thinking?
This selfish man, this man who feared nothing, wasn't going to obey her. He wasn't going to run from anything. He wasn't going to move, not only because he had no reason to do so, but because she herself had no right to ask anything of him. She was just a hostage on his ship.
"Allen," Doll said gravely, her expression serious. "I'm asking you, please, let's just leave this place. If you do, I promise I'll do anything you want. I'll be your woman if that's what you want!"
Nami, Robin, Camie, and Pappag widened their eyes at such a declaration. It was unthinkable that a woman like Doll would do something like that, but she seemed desperate to prevent what was about to happen.
Allen extended his hand toward Doll and caressed her cheek. She didn't pull away. Instead, she took Allen's hand, relief reflected in her eyes.
"I don't want to." Allen smiled, leaving Doll in shock.
"You!" Doll wanted to shout, but Allen stopped her and covered her lips with a kiss.
"Ah!" Camie screamed.
Doll froze, and because of that, she didn't pull away immediately. As for Allen, after stealing a kiss, he moved away.
"One day you'll be mine, but it won't be because of cheap blackmail. It'll be because your heart belongs to me," Allen teased. "Besides, I know what you're trying to prevent, but it's already too late."
Clink
The sound of chains echoed from the end of the street. There came the unpleasant Charlos Rosward with his entourage of slaves and guards.
Allen silently observed the Celestial Dragon and saw the chains and collars on the man beneath Charlos and the women following him.
The worst possible situation that Sengoku and Doll had imagined had just become a reality.
Allen couldn't care less about Nikka's plans, the destiny, or whatever had been dragging on since the Void Century.
He hadn't been born because of them, and he would live according to his own rules, even if the world didn't like it.
"I'm already here," Allen said.
====
A/N: The only question here is: Who will fare worse—the celestial dragons or the poor rookies caught in the middle of it all?
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