Grove 31
Mikita walked out of a clothing store in the large shopping mall of Grove 31.
She looked extremely satisfied after shopping until she was tired, and she headed to meet up with the other girls before returning to the ship.
'This time I'll make it. Just wait until you see the outfits I bought, Darling~,' Mikita thought.
She had taken every opportunity to seduce Allen and get him to go all the way, but Allen resisted every time. However, Mikita was not the kind of girl who would give up easily.
Besides, she was confident in herself. Her level-up sessions with Allen had improved each time incrementally, and all of it was thanks to her efforts.
"Hello," Uta smiled
"Ah!"
Mikita was startled when Uta and Gion suddenly appeared. Both of them were carrying bags and had bought some things as well.
"Yelling when you see someone you know isn't very nice," Uta smiled, but that smile turned mischievous when she saw where Mikita had come from. "Was there some good lingerie, Mikita?~"
Mikita frowned. If there was one girl in the entire crew who had as much or even more enthusiasm for leveling up than her, it was Uta.
This shameless girl wasn't clingy in front of the others, but in private she became quite something. At the very least, the screams and noises coming from her cabin whenever Allen visited her were not normal. Furthermore, her level was very high, the highest among all the girls, indicating just how much she had "worked hard" to level up.
Mikita proudly puffed out her chest and faced Uta. "Of course there was good lingerie. I bought enough to have plenty of variety~."
Uta narrowed her eyes. "Wow, you're really putting in the effort. I hope you get a chance to use it, though. After all, your place in line is pretty far back."
One of Mikita's eyebrows twitched.
She knew how difficult it was to deal with Uta. This girl was a demon disguised as an angel.
Mikita smiled beautifully. "I really don't mind. I know that when it happens, it will be very special, because my heart and body belong to my beloved captain."
Uta formed a dangerous, malicious smile, but before she could answer, Vivi came running over with a flushed face.
"What were you two perverts talking about?!"
Uta and Mikita looked around and noticed that a small crowd was watching them.
Some were jealous of whoever the lucky bastard they were talking about was, others were curious to hear more of the gossip, and there were also plenty of perverts who had already started imagining things.
Mikita and Uta cleared their throats. Being the way they were didn't make them immune to embarrassment.
"Sorry, I got carried away," Uta said, covering her mouth with the sleeve of her sweater.
"Ugh, sorry. I got lost in the moment," Mikita said, smiling awkwardly.
Vivi looked at both girls before sighing. Setting aside the fact that they were talking about things that shouldn't be discussed in public, they were supposed to be disguised. At this rate, it would be strange if nobody had recognized them by now.
"Well, don't worry," Hina said as she approached. She had left the suit behind and was wearing a dress for once. "Sengoku won't make a move. He doesn't have that luxury, right, Gion-san?"
Gion had remained beside them with an awkward smile. Part of her wanted to join the conversation, but her identity as a Marine made her feel that she shouldn't get too close to these girls, or she could end up like Hina and Tashigi.
When Gion was addressed, she was perplexed for a moment before nodding.
"Yes. The Fleet Admiral is very busy at the moment. Something extremely serious would have to happen for him to decide to cause trouble with you."
The girls sighed in relief. The only risk within their crew was their own captain, who could make strange decisions in certain situations. However, he had promised that as long as the Marines, pirates, bounty hunters, or anything similar didn't bother him, he wouldn't do anything excessive.
The atmosphere relaxed, but Gion felt an ominous feeling. For a moment, she wished she had accompanied Allen. After all, unlike the hot-tempered Doll, she had greater control over her emotions and more patience.
'I hope everything is okay...' Gion thought.
Puru puru puru...
Vivi's Den Den Mushi rang. She thought it could only be Allen, so she answered with a smile.
"What's up?~"
"Gather everyone who's with you and go to Grove 1. We'll meet there..."
Vivi was somewhat confused. Weren't they supposed to visit the lawless area today? Had something changed?
"Understood..."
As soon as Vivi answered, Allen hung up, leaving her confused. She raised her head to ask the others, but none of them had an answer. However, that peculiar call made the atmosphere tense, because Allen had sounded calm—not his usual lazy tranquility, but a calmness that felt as though he were deliberately controlling his emotions.
Gion took a deep breath, trying to calm her heart, which wouldn't stop pounding, but she couldn't. She felt that something was very wrong, and all she could do was pray that it was just her imagination.
....
It was red...
Drop by drop, scarlet stained the green ground.
For a moment, no one could process what they were seeing, so there were no reactions, only absolute silence, so complete that there wasn't even the sound of anyone breathing.
How long had it been since one of them had bled on mortal soil?
How long had it been since one of them had suffered beneath the Holy Land?
It was true that even Celestial Dragons could be judged. Depending on the severity of their crimes, they could even be killed by the God Knights, who were the only ones with enough authority to kill them. However, such things never came to light.
The illusion that the Celestial Dragons were gods among humans had to be maintained at all costs, so even if something happened in the Holy Land, no one anywhere in the world would ever learn about it. Thus, for these ordinary people, pirates, and other observers, this would be the first time in their lives they had ever seen a god bleed.
As for Charlos, what was going through his mind?
(A/N: Sorry, I was wrong again—his name isn't Charles, it's Charlos.)
"Ah..."
Charlos looked helplessly at Allen. His face reflected absolute fear, but more than anything, endless confusion. It was so overwhelming that, for a moment, it suppressed the pain of what had happened to him.
He didn't understand. Charlos was a supreme being, someone born to be worshiped. His desires were orders, his impulses were laws, his thoughts were reality. Few things in this world could ever be denied to him...
If he wanted a woman, he got her. If something annoyed him, it disappeared. If he wanted to kill, he killed. If he wanted something, he took it. It had always been that way.
But what was happening now? Obviously, Charlos didn't want to feel pain. He didn't want to bleed. He didn't want to die. So why wasn't this man fulfilling his wishes? Why?!
'WHY?! AHHH, HELP ME, DAD! SOMEONE DO SOMETHING!'
Charlos could only scream in his mind because the words wouldn't come out. The unpleasant metallic taste filling his mouth and preventing him from speaking made him feel the greatest fear of his entire life.
Charlos desperately extended his hands, trying to reach someone, but couldn't move even an inch. That feeling of helplessness sent him into despair, and he lost control of himself.
It was a cruel sight, but compared to all the horrible things this man had done, it was nothing.
The people began reacting when they saw this, as though witnessing Charlos's helpless struggle had finally made their brains start functioning again.
"It's impossible..." Bonney said as she stood up, disbelief reflected in her eyes. She wasn't unfamiliar with death. After all, she was a pirate. But the problem was who was being attacked right now.
This wasn't an illusion!
An untouchable being, a Celestial Dragon, had been injured. No! It didn't matter how it looked; he had been murdered right before their eyes!
"This is insane!" Bege shouted as he grabbed his hat. He couldn't believe it.
"This goes beyond anything I could have imagined," Apoo said, taking a step back.
"What is that man?" Hawkins was in a difficult situation. He was completely incapable of seeing any future for the man who had attacked the Celestial Dragon, as though his very existence wasn't part of anything. That was the problem. Nothing he saw made sense. The future he predicted and what was happening did not match, making him feel vulnerable and lost.
"This is bad," said Urouge. The man known as the Mad Monk felt like a sane person compared to that young man.
The only ones who reacted more calmly were Nami and Robin. They already knew Allen's thoughts and plans. He had told them about them in bed on more than one occasion.
His goals were real, and so was his path. He wasn't a fraud, a loudmouth, or someone who intended to shout that he was going to conquer the world and simply wait for some miracle to happen. Allen was definitely going to oppose the World Government, and this was only the beginning.
Nami and Robin exchanged glances and became serious. They knew their vacation had been canceled, and they needed to focus because they might be going to war against the World Government right now!
....
"Saint Charlos..." the World Government agent gasped, before his expression filled with rage. "SAINT CHARLOS!"
That shout was the trigger that sent everything into panic.
The people stood up and began running and screaming, while the knights accompanying Charlos reacted and attacked in a frenzy.
Both knights knew Rokushiki techniques, so they used Soru to reach Allen in an instant. However, before they could touch him, they were struck by two lightning bolts that fell from the sky.
Both knights fell to the ground, burned to a crisp.
"Do you have any idea what you've done?!" the agent exclaimed.
Kill a Celestial Dragon?! Who in the world would do that? Perhaps a Yonko, but even if they dared, nothing like this had happened in a very long time. After all, provoking the Marines by destroying a base or killing some Marines was one thing, but confronting the World Government was something entirely different. The World Government had been the master of the world for eight hundred years.
"Monster! You're crazy!" the agent shouted.
"Crazy?" Allen mocked as he pulled his arm away from Charlos. The instant he did, flames surrounded it, burning away the Celestial Dragon's blood. He didn't want that filth staining his clothes. "No. Believe it or not, I'm the most sane person in this world."
Charlos fell to the ground like a piece of trash.
The agent stared at Allen in horror. He had no idea who he was, yet he was incapable of understanding his actions.
"You have no idea what you've done! You won't be the only one to die! All of Sabaody will pay the price! You just condemned everyone on this island!"
The agent's shout made the crowd stop their escape. They knew that attacking a Celestial Dragon would bring an Admiral, but destroying Sabaody? Wasn't that unimaginable?
'No, it isn't,' Doll thought. She had experienced the coldness with which the World Government could erase entire nations. If they truly decided to do it, Sabaody could disappear.
The people began falling into despair. Even the pirates present prepared to set sail immediately. The coating for their ships no longer mattered. No one was thinking about Fish-Man Island anymore. They only knew they had to escape.
"Ah! It burns! It hurts!"
Once again, something interrupted the flow of events. Charlos was writhing in pain on the ground, yet he wasn't dead!
But that made no sense. Everyone had seen what had happened to him!
As for Charlos, blue flames mixed with golden light emerged from his wound, and before everyone's disbelieving eyes, it closed.
"Saint Charlos!" the agent shouted and tried to run toward him, but he couldn't because his legs had been frozen. Seeing this, he looked at Allen angrily. "You did this?!"
"Yes..." Allen said mockingly, a flash of anger in his eyes. "Did you think I was going to finish this in one go?"
The people turned pale when they realized that Allen hadn't saved Charlos out of fear of killing a Celestial Dragon. He intended to make him suffer even more.
"Don't come near me! No! Help me, Dad!"
Charlos dragged himself as best he could and got back up before trying to run, or at least attempting to. His weak legs and round body wouldn't allow it, and he stumbled along. Even so, Charlos moved away from the town.
Allen watched him run before walking after him. He moved slowly. He didn't hurry. He simply followed him. It was as if death were advancing behind him, slow but inevitable.
Seeing this, Charlos ran with even greater desperation and panic.
"No! Ahhh!"
Allen stopped for a moment and turned toward the women who had been accompanying Charlos. He moved with his hands, and the slave collars disappeared. He did the same with Charlos's mount before continuing to walk.
The people were stunned and didn't know how to react.
Everything they had seen from Allen told them that he was a monster, a terrifying madman, a dangerous maniac, and yet... what was this?
He had freed Charlos's slaves...
"No one in this world deserves to be someone else's property..." Allen said, not caring about the looks people gave him.
"T-Thank you!" the man who had been freed said in a broken voice. It had been a long time since he had spoken, because he hadn't been allowed to. He was an object, and as such, he had no right to speak.
Allen waved goodbye as if to say there was no need to thank him.
The man and the women began to cry, and this made everything seem meaningless—who was the monster?
"..." Doll let out a sigh before smiling faintly and following Allen.
Nami and Robin smiled before doing the same, while Camie and Pappag were crying.
....
Bonney remained silent while her hair covered her eyes. "..."
Bege dropped his cigarette. "So that man was that kind of person..."
Apoo did not comment. He simply turned around and left.
"Today, we met someone incredible," Urouge laughed before departing.
The impression Allen left on the Supernovas was unforgettable, and they finally understood the difference between themselves and him. This was definitely his era.
....
Charlos ran...
His throat hurt, his lungs screamed, and his legs had gone numb. However, he didn't stop running. He headed toward Grove 1!
To the slave auction!
To where his father and sister were!
"I've thought about it for a long time..." Allen said.
Charlos turned around in terror, thinking Allen was already there, but no. Allen was still far behind him, yet his voice was as clear as water in his ears.
"There was a time when I simply wanted to destroy the entire world and start over, but I'm not a monster..."
"Ahhh!" Charlos tripped and broke his helmet. The shattered pieces struck him, causing him to cry out in pain, but he didn't stop running because the fear he felt surpassed everything else. Besides, the Phoenix flames Allen had given Charlos healed his injuries, although they seemed to cause him even more pain.
"Thinking about destroying the world isn't something the King of the World should do... I don't want to destroy the world. I don't plan to eradicate all the current kings and rulers. The Marines can exist, of course, but they would have to change..."
Charlos kept running, dragging himself forward as best he could, but perhaps because of his fear, he didn't notice that his body had begun slowly swelling.
"I wouldn't hold a grudge against Sengoku or Garp... I wouldn't do something like killing everyone who has offended me... but you know..."
"No!" Charlos felt an immense terror. He didn't want to hear anything Allen was saying, but he couldn't avoid it. It wasn't all desperation, however, because in the distance he could see Grove 1, and hope returned to his face.
At Grove 1, there was only one circular, dome-style building; this was the auction house.
"A..."
He felt that he could be saved!
He had made it!
"Dad!" Charlos shouted, or at least tried to, because his face had become twice as swollen as before.
"But you know, there is one existence I simply cannot forgive..." Allen looked at Charlos coldly. "I've been watching you long before I met you. Not just you, but your father and your sister as well. I searched, I truly searched, for the slightest trace of humanity in you. Something, anything. And all I saw was cruelty, corruption, and a complete lack of human decency!"
"D-Dad!" Charlos tried to reach the doors of the auction house. He was already close, but by that point his body had become three times larger, like a balloon.
"You're right about one thing, Celestial Dragon—you're not human." Allen looked at Charlos indifferently. "So I won't allow it! I won't allow you to exist, Charlos Rosward"
"Dad...–"
The sound of an explosion rang out, and the doorway was splashed with red.
The girls watching from behind looked away from the scene.
Allen stopped and looked at Charlos's blood with disgust, incinerating it. Once he was done, he looked at the auction house doors and prepared to enter.
"If you are gods, then I'll gladly become a demon... but we both know you aren't..." Allen mocked before raising his foot and kicking the door.
....
The entire world was on the verge of descending into chaos!
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