...
Two days after leaving the resort island, in the morning.
After passing through waters where torrential rain abruptly shifted to scorching heat, the sky was now dropping goose-down snow.
The *Freewill* sailed slowly across the freezing sea.
Looking out, the view was a vast expanse of white, as if even the ocean itself would be buried beneath the blizzard.
"Ugh, I'm exhausted. I hope the weather doesn't change again. Even if it just keeps snowing like this, that's fine."
After directing the crew's sailing operations and returning to her room to change into a thick yellow winter coat, Nami sighed in complaint.
Just as she stepped out the back door of her bedroom, she spotted a News Coo flying overhead.
"Hey! Over here!"
Nami waved her hand and loudly called the News Coo over.
She pulled out a 50-Belly coin, then paused, grabbed a second one, and dropped them both into the small pouch on its chest.
*Clink, clatter.*
The News Coo pulled a newspaper from its backpack with its beak and handed it to Nami. With the transaction complete, it spread its wings and flew off in search of its next customer.
*So even becoming a bird doesn't mean you're free, huh...*
Below, Allen, who was training on the aft deck, sighed inwardly.
Nami unfolded the newspaper and read it as she walked downstairs, descending level by level to the aft deck before sitting at the table and chairs set up along the ship's rail.
"It seems a civil war is breaking out in Alabasta. The voices of revolution have been getting louder lately."
Reading the news report and realizing they would be heading there in a few days, a hint of worry inevitably crept into Nami's eyes.
"None of that matters. We aren't getting involved anyway; we're just going there to record the magnetic log," Allen said dismissively. Bare-chested and half-squatting in the snow, he threw a punch into the air, the resulting gale blasting away the falling snow in front of him.
He added, "At most, we'll just challenge a Warlord of the Sea, loot some wealth, and make a name for ourselves while we're at it."
"Don't joke around like that, I'm being serious. Who in their right mind would want to provoke the Warlords?" Nami said in exasperation, assuming he was just running his mouth.
Allen didn't respond, simply continuing his punching drills in silence.
Originally, he hadn't planned on crossing paths with Sir Crocodile. Although the man was wealthy, it was nothing compared to the gold of Skypiea.
While Skypiea wasn't a place one could just go to on a whim, that didn't stop Allen from yearning to stroll among the clouds.
But things were different now. After clashing with X Drake, he had used his Demon Brain yesterday to simulate their unfinished battle multiple times.
Gradually, he had managed to touch upon the threshold of Armament Haki.
Allen pulled back his left fist and closed his eyes, feeling the various powers hidden within his body in a space of total darkness.
Countless floating motes of light slowly emerged in the darkness. He focused his mind, carefully searching and identifying the power he had felt when he was attacked earlier.
Slowly, his consciousness approached one specific mote of light. He concentrated even deeper, drawing similar surrounding motes of light toward it.
As they continuously condensed, that cluster of light gradually grew larger...
Allen snapped his eyes open and threw a heavy punch at the empty air in front of him!
*Boom!*
Snow blasted outward! Carried by the frantic shockwave of air, it carved out a near ten-meter vacuum tunnel right in front of him, extending all the way to the aft railing.
"Thirtieth attempt, success. The success rate per ten attempts has increased to seventy percent..."
The corners of Allen's mouth curled up in satisfaction.
Doing sets of ten, his success rate had gone from an initial twenty percent, to forty percent, and now to seventy percent. As his experience grew, the rate of improvement naturally increased as well.
He was confident that with a few more sets of practice, he could get infinitely close to a hundred percent success rate.
He aimed to achieve this goal today, and then the next step would be using his Demon Brain for practical combat training.
If he could successfully master the basic usage of Armament Haki over the next few days, Allen still planned to go poke the bear that was Crocodile.
If he couldn't master it, he would drop the idea. Although the rewards were high, the risks were even higher. While he could rely on dousing him with water for offense, his defense was still lacking.
But if he mastered Armament Haki, with both his offensive and defensive capabilities drastically improved, the rewards of challenging Crocodile would outweigh the risks.
Moreover.
Aside from wealth and fame, challenging a Warlord of the Sea held another very important purpose for him...
And that was the opportunity to usurp the position of a Warlord.
Allen's lips curved slightly, a sharp glint flashing in the depths of his profound eyes.
That's right. Whether it was Crocodile or Gecko Moria... or Boa Hancock... never mind, he probably couldn't afford to mess with her anytime soon.
Regardless, dragging a Warlord down from their pedestal and taking their place was his goal. He needed the title of Warlord to accomplish a few things.
If all went smoothly, another plan could also be set into motion ahead of schedule.
All in all, it was well worth a try.
Of course, this also meant he couldn't slack off over the next few days. As he had said, if he didn't master Armament Haki, the plan would be delayed.
Allen sank into a half-squat, pulling back his fist to continue practicing time and time again.
A moment later, Sanji's shout suddenly rang out from above.
"Allen! We're almost at the agreed-upon trading spot!"
"Yeah, got it."
Allen called back up, dropping his stance and stepping aside to grab a towel, draping it over his shoulders.
The island they were about to arrive at was uninhabited, covered in snowy forests year-round, with nothing particularly novel about it.
When they left the resort island the day before yesterday, Allen had returned the call to the Devil Fruit seller who had contacted them the moment he got on the ship.
After pressing for more information about the fruits and confirming a location both parties could reach in a short amount of time, they ultimately chose to conduct the trade on this uninhabited island along Allen's route.
Interestingly enough, the other party really hadn't cross-referenced the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.
The only reason he could confidently guarantee they were Zoan-type fruits was purely because the two fruits were shaped like animals.
Allen had slammed his hand on the table and immediately started chewing the guy out over the Den Den Mushi, using the opportunity to slash the price by a hundred million Berries.
The seller refused to go any lower; after all, he wasn't entirely spouting nonsense.
Allen knew that the appearance of a Devil Fruit did indeed have some correlation with its corresponding ability.
Zoan-type fruits didn't necessarily look like animals, but if they did look like animals, nine times out of ten, they were definitely Zoan-types.
But this wasn't a hundred percent guaranteed rule, after all.
What if a dog-head shape wasn't the Dog-Dog Fruit, but the Sniff-Sniff Fruit? What if one with bird wings wasn't the Bird-Bird Fruit, but the Fly-Fly Fruit?
In short, anything was possible.
There was a slight risk of eating a garbage fruit, but a high probability of getting a Zoan-type. If the Nyaban Brothers were willing to accept that risk, he'd just give the fruits to them.
...
Soon, the ship docked.
The people they were trading with hadn't arrived yet. Seeing that it was nearing noon, Sanji had the crew carry supplies off the ship, planning to have a snowy picnic.
After bobbing around on the sea for two days, everyone couldn't wait to jump onto the island and feel the stability of having their feet on solid ground.
Buchi and Sham excitedly charged into the snowy forest.
"Woohoo! Let's have a snowball fight, Sham!"
"That's too vulgar, Buchi. Let's have a snowman-building contest, boys! First place gets a prize of one million Berries!"
"Whoa!!"
Hearing about the one million Belly prize, the pirates immediately erupted in excitement.
Soon, the Nyaban Brothers were having the time of their lives playing in the snowy forest with a bunch of pirates who had nothing better to do.
"Those two idiots..."
Allen cast a disdainful glance in their direction.
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