"Honestly, two years have passed, and you haven't changed a bit," Nami chuckled, turning back to Allen. "You should go find Doffy and Luffy. Leave these guys to me."
"Whatever," Allen said with a look of indifference. He shrugged and spread his hands. "Fighting pirates of this level would only lower my status anyway."
"Hah?! What did you say, you bastard!" Hearing this, Franky exploded with anger. Veins bulged on his forehead as he prepared to charge forward and fight Allen on the spot. "Are you looking down on us, you bastard?! Who wants to fight a little girl? Watch me beat you into a pulp, you bastard!"
"Wait a minute, Franky! Don't be reckless!"
"How dare he say we'd lower his status! What's so great about a mere Emperor of the Sea?! Come fight me to the death!" Franky roared furiously at Allen, terrifying Usopp, who hurriedly hugged him from behind to drag him back.
Allen turned a deaf ear to the commotion, digging his pinky into his ear before turning around with a look of disdain. "I'll leave this place to you, Nami. I'll go..."
His voice abruptly stopped. The casual expression on Allen's face faded slightly as his gaze fixed on a burly man in a purple cloak walking out from an alley.
The moment the man appeared, the expressions of Usopp and the others drastically changed.
"That's...!"
"Marine Headquarters Admiral, Fujitora!"
"Yohohohoho~ An Emperor of the Sea in front of us and a Marine Admiral behind us. Could it be that I'm really going to die here today..." Brook paused, then chuckled smugly. "Even though I'm already dead."
"That's not funny at all, you bastard!!" Usopp and Franky yelled, rolling their eyes.
Hearing this, Brook squatted in the corner with a disappointed look, sighing sorrowfully. "Ah~ Even my skull jokes aren't funny anymore. I'm so useless."
Nami's eye twitched twice. She looked at Usopp and asked, "What is up with this skeleton guy? Just what kind of weirdos did you guys recruit?"
"Right~? You understand how I feel, don't you~?" Usopp nodded frantically, shedding two streams of moved tears. Whenever Luffy saw some weirdo, he wanted to drag them onto the ship to be a crewmate. God knows what went on in his head, but somehow, things had inexplicably ended up like this along the way.
On the other side.
Allen looked at Fujitora with interest. "This is quite surprising. I thought the Marines would try their best to avoid me, yet you actually came looking for me on your own initiative."
Under normal circumstances, the Marines were absolutely forbidden from clashing with the Four Emperors, and the forces of the Four Emperors similarly wouldn't actively provoke the Marines. This was already considered the unspoken balance of the sea.
A direct confrontation between a Headquarters Admiral and an Emperor of the Sea was a troublesome matter that could easily trigger a war.
"This old man is merely a bit curious. For a dignified Emperor of the Sea to make a personal appearance, could there be something important in Dressrosa?" Fujitora's voice was deep and steady. Without waiting for Allen to respond, he continued, "If I'm not mistaken, Your Excellency must be here for Doflamingo. I've heard you two have a deep business partnership. Are you here to protect him?"
"What does it matter to you if I am or not? Since when did the Marines start interfering in the affairs between pirates?" Allen retorted with an unfriendly tone.
Fujitora held his cane sword horizontally in front of him, his right hand gripping the hilt as he slowly drew the blade. "Then it seems this old man guessed correctly. I apologize, but Doflamingo needs to be arrested by the Marines. The various crimes he has committed must receive their due punishment."
"As long as you don't interfere with him, the Marines currently have no desire to go to war with an Emperor of the Sea. Though, this old man doesn't believe Your Excellency will obediently comply."
*Shing!*
A cold gleam slid across the blade. Fujitora kept his eyes tightly shut, his expression gradually turning cold.
"Old blind man, are you sure it's okay to do this?" Allen's lips curled up into a mocking smirk. "You know what fighting an Emperor of the Sea means, right? Based on my understanding of the Marines and the World Government, this doesn't seem like an action authorized by the higher-ups."
"Indeed, this old man did not receive orders from the higher-ups to attack. But no one told me I couldn't do it either."
Fujitora slowly opened his cloudy white eyes, bending his knees slightly into a half-crouch, and said coldly, "Compromising with evil to avoid war will only lead to greater sacrifices in the future. If we do that, how can the Marines shoulder the justice of the world?"
"Hell's Journey!!"
As he spoke, a ring of deep, dark purple light suddenly emanated from Fujitora's body.
At the same time, a terrifying gravitational force materialized out of thin air around Allen. The air seemed to solidify, becoming as heavy as a cotton quilt suddenly soaked with water.
Facing the crushing gravitational pressure around him, Allen's eyes darkened. He tensed his muscles and met it head-on!
"Hell's Journey!!"
As Fujitora let out a deep, explosive shout, the gravity suddenly surged, and the ground beneath Allen's feet instantly shattered and collapsed!
*Boom!!!*
The earth trembled, and the sky shook.
The ground beneath Allen caved into a bottomless, pitch-black sinkhole, and his figure instantly plummeted into the abyss!
"Allen!!" Nami's expression shifted in alarm as she abruptly turned to look at Fujitora.
This sudden scene stunned everyone present. Fujitora's methods once again made the crowd realize something.
The man standing before them right now was someone who stood at the very pinnacle of the sea, one of the World Government's highest military forces!
—A Marine Headquarters Admiral!!
"What's going on?! Just what kind of trick did this guy use?!"
"Could he be a Devil Fruit user too?!"
Sanji and Nami put their guards up with grave expressions.
Usopp was so scared that two streams of tears streamed down his face, his legs trembling violently. "Even an Emperor of the Sea was taken out in one move... How terrifying!"
*Sizzle—!*
Right at that moment, a piercing, bizarre sound echoed from the abyss.
The next instant.
*Shing!!*
A palm-width blue water blade burst out from the ground! It shot diagonally upward, piercing through the earth and blasting straight toward Fujitora's chest!
Fujitora's expression tightened as he swiftly raised his longsword to block!
*Clang!!*
The pillar of ultra-high-pressure water violently struck the blade, actually sending a few sparks flying. The massive force pushed Fujitora backward, his feet plowing through the ground as he slid back!
*Clack!*
Fujitora stomped his geta-clad right foot heavily backward, stabilizing his posture. Then, exerting force upward with his hands, he deflected the ultra-high-pressure water blade!
From the collapsed sinkhole in the ground, Allen slowly flew out from the abyss, flapping a pair of pitch-black wings on his back.
"You're supposed to say 'start' when you fight. That's a rule even kids know, you blind old bastard," Allen scoffed expressionlessly. He turned his head to look at Sanji, who was hovering in the sky above. "Go to the Royal Palace and bring Doffy back."
"Got it. I'll leave this place to you then." Sanji nodded, his body spiraling into the sky as he flew off toward the Royal Palace.
Seeing this, Franky and Brook's eyes filled with tension. They immediately stepped forward to stop him, determined not to let anyone interfere with Luffy's battle.
However.
*Clang!*
Nami suddenly stepped forward. The Clima-Tact spun a few times in her fingertips before she slammed it against the ground.
"I told you, your opponent is me."