Hearing this, Allen paused in confusion. He looked up and caught the Transponder Snail tossed his way.
*Click*—
"What is it?"
Allen asked as he picked up the receiver. The face of the Transponder Snail gradually morphed into that of a decrepit old man.
"I heard you are in St. Poplar. We need you to make a trip to Water 7 now, regarding a mission to subjugate the Straw Hat Pirates."
"Huh? Hey, don't you know our relationship with the Straw Hat crew? They are good friends with my subordinates, and you actually want me to subjugate them...!"
Hearing this, Allen couldn't help but freeze for a second. A look of dissatisfaction quickly crossed his face as he lowered his voice and said,
"You'll have to pay extra!"
"Enough. I've already sent Kuma ahead. You don't need to do much, just cooperate with Kuma to stall them. The Buster Call led by Aokiji will arrive soon."
Saturn's voice came from the other end of the Transponder Snail.
"..."
Hearing this, Allen immediately lost interest and even felt a bit speechless.
*'Why are they sending nothing but the Straw Hat kid's own people?'*
*'If you've already sent Kuma, what else is there to say? And the Buster Call is led by Aokiji—you're sending Garp's direct disciple to catch Garp's grandson?'*
"I can't go. I've already set sail, and now I can only follow the Log Pose. Find someone else."
*Click!*
Allen impatiently hung up the phone.
*'Isn't this just a complete joke?'*
*'What is Kuma's relationship with Dragon? What is Aokiji's relationship with Garp? Those idiotic Five Elders are truly going senile. Sending those two to catch Luffy is no different from sending Kizaru to kill Vegapunk.'*
*'Kizaru would at least put on a show while fighting, but Aokiji and Kuma wouldn't. At most, Aokiji would lazily watch the spectacle from the sidelines, and Kuma wouldn't even bother acting. If there was a real emergency, he'd just slap them away to safety one by one.'*
Allen couldn't be bothered to go and act in that kind of crappy play with them.
However.
Launching a Buster Call on Water 7 was no small matter. A large number of top-tier shipwrights were gathered there, and at the same time, Galley-La was the World Government's official shipyard.
If it wasn't an extremely important incident, the Marines would never launch a Buster Call on such a place. Using it to deal with the Straw Hat crew was definitely overkill.
The only possibility Allen could think of was that the true target of the Buster Call was probably Franky and Iceburg. More accurately, it should be the Ancient Weapon.
—[Pluton]!
Franky and Iceburg held the blueprints for Pluton. That was the only target that could make the World Government willing to destroy Water 7 by launching a Buster Call.
But this had nothing to do with him anymore.
Allen wasn't very interested in Pluton. Besides, with Kuma and Aokiji there, it was completely unrealistic for him to go and snatch the Pluton blueprints.
Tossing the Transponder Snail back to Sham, Allen picked up a towel, draped it over his shoulder, and got up to head back toward the ship's cabin.
...
Meanwhile, deep within the holy land of Mary Geoise.
"So he refused, as expected."
"I just heard that he struck down both the Kid and Blackbeard pirate crews. I thought he would be an obedient Warlord of the Sea."
"Pirates are pirates in the end. Aside from Kuma, whose situation is special, not a single Warlord of the Sea is truly under our control."
"It doesn't matter. As long as they hold this title, other pirates will naturally seek them out on their own."
Inside the spacious hall, the Five Elders spoke up one by one.
Pirates could never be completely wiped out. Even the World Government couldn't stop pirates from appearing. The sea had its own rules.
Whether it was the Four Emperors born from the survival of the fittest, or the Warlord of the Sea system spurred by the World Government's intervention, they essentially kept other pirates in check, maintaining the sea at a certain point of balance.
Chaos would breed all sorts of hidden disasters. Only a stable sea would not pose a threat to the World Government.
Even the Four Emperors.
...
Four days later, Carnival Town—San Faldo.
"It's another sunny day today."
"Exactly! The climate on a Spring Island is just wonderful, and we even bought so many new clothes."
In the bustling Carnival district, Nami and Robin carried their bountiful shopping hauls, their satisfied moods written clearly in their bright smiles.
Behind the two women, Sanji, Gin, the Nyaban Brothers, and even Killer were loaded down with bags of all sizes, practically being treated like pack mules.
Everyone had an expression of unspeakable misery on their faces, except for Sanji, who wore a look of eager flattery.
"Why do I have to do this kind of thing too? *Tch*, what an utterly boring activity."
Killer turned his face away, his tone filled with dissatisfaction.
As pirates, they were actually strolling around comfortably like commoners. It was one thing for the women to go shopping themselves, but they actually dragged them along to act as manual labor.
It had been four days since they left the City of the Spring Queen, St. Poplar.
During these four days, they first went to Gourmet Town Pucci and stayed for a day. Then, after a day of sailing, they arrived at this Carnival Town, San Faldo, and stayed for two days.
During this time, occasionally some pirates who were crazy for fame tried to challenge Allen. As a result, they were dealt with by the subordinate crew members before they could even see the faces of the executives.
Up until today, when the Log Pose finished storing its magnetism, their journey had basically consisted of eating, drinking, and having fun.
"You're clearly pirates, and a Warlord of the Sea at that. This lifestyle is way too comfortable. *Tch*."
Killer couldn't help but complain.
Up ahead, Allen glanced back at him and chuckled lightly,
"What, don't you like a comfortable life? If you like fighting, you can join Sanji and the others in their training starting today. I wouldn't mind training a little rookie like you."
"What did you say?!"
Killer glared over angrily and said indignantly, "Don't forget that I'm only staying here for Kid's sake. Don't think for a second that I'm actually part of your crew."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've heard that so many times my ears are getting calluses. If you really can't stand staying here, just run away. No one is watching you, yet you still brazenly stay behind."
Allen said with a look of disdain as he picked his ear.
Killer gritted his teeth, his shoulders trembling with anger, but he didn't know how to retort.
Robin smiled faintly and said to him,
"You'll have to stay on the ship for a while anyway. Going on like this isn't a solution. Since you can't leave, you might as well try to adapt."
Her voice was always very gentle. Faced with Robin's persuasion, no matter how much temper Killer had, he couldn't let it out. He could only grit his teeth and turn to Allen,
"Kid will defeat you sooner or later. Just you wait, that day will definitely come!"
Faced with Killer's provocation, Allen didn't mind at all. Instead, he chuckled lightly,
"That guy certainly has a lot of perseverance. Being surpassed by him wouldn't be anything shameful. I look forward to that day."
"You...!"
Killer angrily clenched his fists.
A whole string of prepared arguments was already on the tip of his tongue, but he ended up feeling a sense of powerlessness, like punching cotton.
But hearing Allen's acknowledgment of Kid, he also felt a trace of inexplicable pride in his heart, as if those words were praising him as well.
The group just walked and chatted like this, strolling down the bustling streets. From time to time, they would stop to look at some interesting street vendors they passed by, enjoying this rare leisure time.
By the time they arrived at the port, the crew members had already loaded up all sorts of cargo and ingredients. Each of them was full of motivation, ready to set sail once again.
Boarding the ship, Allen gave the order, and the crew steered the Freewill slowly away from the coast.
Allen bypassed the ship's cabin and arrived at the rear deck.
Under the parasol were two lounge chairs. Nami was wearing a cool, short outfit. Beneath her denim hot pants, a pair of long, fair legs rested straight on the lounge chair.
In her hands, she held a rolled-up newspaper she had just bought from a News Coo. She untied the string, leaned back against the chair, and comfortably unfolded the newspaper to read.
But at just the first glance, it was as if she had seen some shocking news. She immediately sprang up into a sitting position.
"Water 7 destroyed! The instigators are—the Straw Hat Pirates?!"
Nami read the news headline aloud, word by word, in a tone of disbelief.
She widened her eyes and earnestly read the contents of the report. However, there wasn't much useful information in it. There were only irrelevant modifiers that had nothing to do with the sequence of events, describing how heinous the crimes committed by the Straw Hat crew were.
At the same time, several bounty posters fluttered down from between the pages of the newspaper.
Nami bent down to pick them up. Allen happened to walk over at that moment and leaned his head in to take a look.
"A new bounty of 300 million Berries? That idiot is quite capable."
"Even though they weren't caught by the Marines, I still don't really believe that Luffy and the others would do something like this."
Nami said with a frown. While questioning the contents of the report, she flipped through the updated bounty posters.
Besides Luffy's bounty of 300 million Berries, there was also Zoro's bounty of 120 million Berries, Vivi's...
After this incident, every member of Luffy's crew had made it onto the bounty posters. Even that cute talking pet had a bounty of 50 Berries.
Although she didn't know what the point of that was.
And when she flipped to the last poster, Nami's brow suddenly furrowed.
"Huh? Allen, isn't this the guy you fought a few days ago?"
"Blackbeard Marshall D. Teach. The bounty amount is—500 million Berries...!"
When she clearly saw the number at the bottom, Nami's eyes immediately filled with surprise.
"What's going on? Wasn't he beaten and chased away by you? It's only been a few days, how did he suddenly get such a high bounty?"
Seeing this, Allen couldn't help but be taken aback for a moment. Soon after, thinking of a certain possibility, he took the newspaper from Nami's hands.
...