With Vivi's arrival, the giant whale had faded into the background and was almost forgotten, despite its ongoing struggle against the Red Line continuing in the distance.
Miss Wednesday, also known as Vivi, as they learned after Allen insisted that she tell him her real name, was an agent of Baroque Works.
As a captain with several years of experience in the Grand Line, Hina already knew what Baroque Works was, so she handled the rest of the explanation.
In short, Baroque Works was a rather large criminal organization in the Grand Line.
Within the organization, high-ranking men were assigned numbers, while women were assigned weekdays or holidays, hence Miss Wednesday and Mr. 9.
As an important detail, nobody knew the identity of Baroque Works' leader, known as Mr. 0, but he was believed to be an extremely powerful pirate.
"I see. And Vivi, what were you doing here?" Allen asked.
Once the explanation was over, Allen was curious about why the two of them had been there. After all, this was the entrance to the Grand Line. There wasn't much reason for someone to hang around here unless they intended to ambush newcomers.
"Before that, could you put me down?" Vivi said.
She was still in Allen's arms, and while she might be a criminal, she was also a young lady who was feeling embarrassed.
Allen laughed but put her down anyway, not only because she asked, but also because Nami and Kaya wouldn't stop staring at him with cold eyes.
Once on her feet, Vivi leaned over the railing and sighed in relief when she saw her pet and friend Karoo still in the boat. Then she turned toward Allen and looked at him pleadingly.
"Please don't eat Karoo. He's an important friend."
Allen blinked for a moment before chuckling.
"That was just a way to make you stop pretending to be asleep. I'm not going to eat your Chocobo."
"Choco-bo?"
"Of course, as long as you behave yourself," Allen added with an evil grin.
Vivi swallowed nervously, remembering that this man was a monster. Not only was he so fast that he seemed to disappear and reappear, but he was also strong, skilled, and could swim so quickly that he looked like a Fish-Man.
"I won't do anything," Vivi replied resignedly.
[...]
'Is something wrong, Lenalee?'
[Well, I was wondering why she didn't ask us to spare her partner, Mr. 9.]
Allen blinked before laughing softly.
'Well, there are two possibilities. Either they're not that close, or she doesn't want us to use him as a hostage against her. Whatever the reason is, it's unfortunate for him. Maybe we'll leave him here.'
[Yeah... It's his fault for not being a cute girl.]
'Of course... I mean, no! That's not the reason. Don't doubt my integrity!'
Vivi watched Allen's every move, trying to figure out his intentions, but she was left speechless. This guy seemed to smile and get angry all by himself.
Of course, the girls in his crew knew he was talking to Lenalee, but to Vivi, Hina, and Tashigi, it must have looked strange.
Vivi carefully observed everyone. Nami, Kaya, and Nojiko looked like ordinary girls, yet Hina and Tashigi seemed oddly cautious. Vivi felt as though Marines were watching her, but that made no sense aboard a pirate ship. Finally, there was Uta. When the beautiful girl with the unusual hair smiled at her, Vivi felt a strange chill and quickly looked away.
"..." Allen blinked while looking at Vivi, appearing to think about what to do with her.
'Are they going to use me against Baroque Works? No, he didn't even know I belonged to that organization until a moment ago. Then is it something else? No! It can't be! But this guy only has women on his ship!'
Vivi blushed, covered herself with her arms, and glared at Allen angrily.
'I don't want to die yet! Damn it... You can take my body, but not my heart!'
"...?" Allen felt confused as to why Vivi was suddenly looking at him the same way Tashigi had when they first met.
...
"Hey, Nami," Nojiko said, leaning toward her sister's ear. "Have you noticed she hasn't recognized us?"
Nami nodded. Although Vivi's obedience was obviously forced, she hadn't reacted the way someone would upon meeting a terrifying pirate worth 300 million berries. And it certainly wasn't because she was strong.
"Well, it really hasn't been that long," Uta whispered.
Allen's journey since meeting Lenalee had only lasted two weeks. Of those, he had only been truly famous for about one week, and what happened in Loguetown hadn't even been a full day ago. It was normal that many people hadn't heard about it yet.
"By the way, you still haven't answered. What were you doing here, Vivi?" Kaya asked curiously.
Vivi looked at Kaya. She didn't understand how such a kind girl had ended up on a ship like this.
"We were hunting that whale to get meat for Whiskey Peak," Vivi said.
Everyone noticed something strange. Vivi seemed reluctant about the mission.
"Organizations like that aren't kind to those below them," Hina said while smoking a cigarette. "If the mission was to kill a whale, then you either did it or got yourself into trouble. Isn't that right?"
"..." She didn't answer, but she nodded.
Vivi didn't want to hurt the whale, but a mission was a mission. Besides, she had already encountered some problems, and the organization was beginning to question her loyalty so she couldn't refuse this assignment.
"Oh? For a member of a criminal organization, you don't seem that evil," Allen teased.
Vivi felt a knot form in her stomach.
"Ugh, I'm a criminal, not a monster."
"Well, now you're a hostage. Welcome aboard, Vivi." Allen extended his hand.
Vivi gritted her teeth. This shameless man was offering her a handshake as if she had any choice but to accept. Of course, even though she recognized the pirate flag and didn't know who Allen was, he was obviously much stronger than her, so she simply obeyed and shook his hand.
"Why don't you tell us more about your organization? Specifically, what you normally do," Uta said with an amused smile.
Vivi felt cornered, and after a moment, she sighed and revealed the truth.
"I see, so your base of operations is on Cactus Island," Allen said with a bastard-like grin. "So there's a fake town called Whiskey Peak, where Baroque Works agents trick newcomers, rob them, and if they have bounties, capture them and turn them over to the Marines for the reward."
"Yes..." Vivi replied with exhaustion on her face.
Not only had she failed, but she had also revealed a lot of information to pirates. If this became known, she was finished.
Baroque Works would kill her!
"What do we do, Captain?" Nami asked, though she already knew the answer.
At Nami's question, Allen looked toward the horizon with an amused expression.
"Of course we'll go. I'm interested in an island full of a criminal organization. Just imagine those poor souls who have never witnessed my glory. They'll be so delighted that they'll hand over all their treasures."
"As expected of my captain!~" Nami smiled as well, berry signs practically appearing in her eyes.
"You two..." Nojiko sighed, knowing her sister had found the perfect captain.
"Hehe~" Kaya giggled while covering her mouth.
"Hmph. Pirates..." Tashigi snorted at Allen's shameless attitude.
"As expected," Uta shrugged.
"..." Hina remained silent. Since they weren't civilians, she had nothing to say about Allen's target.
As for Vivi, she silently apologized to everyone there.
While they were criminals and she didn't have much sympathy for most of them, it seemed she was leading Whiskey Peak straight into the hands of the worst possible person.
"But are you okay with that? That would mean your first island would be Cactus Island, where Whiskey Peak is supposed to be," Hina said.
To travel through the Grand Line, a Log Pose was required, but this wasn't an ordinary compass.
Once it approached an island, it would begin memorizing that island's unique magnetic field. Once the process was complete, it would automatically point toward the next island on that route. That was why one had to carefully choose which of the seven initial routes to follow, and Cactus Island happened to be the starting island of one of those routes.
(A/N: Earlier I made a mistake. There aren't five initial routes, there are seven. I had forgotten.)
"Well, as I said, I'd like to go to the Kingdom of Drum..."
"In that case, you can't go to Cactus Island," Vivi said, her eyes lighting up. Had she been saved?
[Hey, if you want, I can protect your Log Pose and make sure it doesn't memorize the magnetic field of that route. That way you can choose again if you don't like it.]
Allen smiled.
"Don't worry. Lenalee has a way to protect our Log Pose."
'Lenalee?' Hina, Tashigi, and Vivi thought in confusion. Only the girls in Allen's crew knew who Lenalee was.
"The problem is how to get to Whiskey Peak..." Kaya said while tapping a finger against her chin.
"Wait." Uta smiled at Vivi. "Vivi-chan, how were you planning to return to Whiskey Peak?"
Vivi trembled under Uta's amused and penetrating gaze. Unable to resist, she pulled out a Log Pose. Unlike an ordinary compass, the needle floated inside a crystal sphere.
It was a Log Pose that pointed toward Cactus Island.
"Well, that settles it," Allen said.
Vivi sat down on the deck completely defeated, while Kaya and Nojiko approached to comfort her and tell her not to worry. Once Allen stole all their treasures and money, he would let her go.
Vivi didn't feel any better, but at the same time, that was simply how the sea worked. She herself had participated in many robberies, so she couldn't really complain.
Allen brought Karoo aboard and left Mr. 9 drifting at sea. Although he had originally intended to make the man walk the plank like an old-school pirate, Vivi managed to convince him to show some mercy.
After that, they set sail toward Whiskey Peak.
Although there had initially been interest in the giant whale, it became secondary after Vivi's capture and their new destination. As a result, Allen never learned why the whale kept crashing into the Red Line.
Several hours passed before they saw the so-called Cactus Island.
It wasn't an attractive island in terms of scenery. It was gloomy, mostly made of rock with little vegetation, and its mountains literally resembled giant cacti.
...
As the Black Pearl approached, an eye watched them through a spyglass. Upon seeing the pirate flag, the observer quickly grabbed a Den Den Mushi and called everyone.
"We've got another one!"
Around a hundred people came out of their houses in the town and headed toward the shore. Despite appearing to be ordinary civilians, there was a trace of cruelty in their eyes and mocking smiles on their faces, though they quickly replaced them with friendly expressions.
(Shortly afterward)
Standing atop a cliff near the shore, the two main agents in charge of Whiskey Peak observed the ship.
"Those aren't them, Mr. 8?" asked an enormous muscular woman wearing a pink dress.
Mr. 8 was a large man with blond hair. His hairstyle was peculiar, extremely curly like an old-fashioned judge's wig, and he dressed similarly to a butler. His build was equally strange. While his upper body looked large and muscular, his legs were absurdly thin, giving the impression that he had skipped leg day since birth.
Mr. 8 observed the ship through a spyglass. Although it was black like the ship of that monster everyone had been talking about, once he saw the pirate flag, he sighed in relief.
"It's not them. The ship looks similar, but the flag is different, Miss Monday," Mr. 8 said.
Miss Monday sighed in relief. They might have been one of the largest criminal organizations in the world, but they weren't crazy enough to mess with someone who had fought Vice Admiral Garp and lived to tell the tale.
"Good, just like always!" Mr. 8 said while signaling the lower-ranking Baroque Works members known as Millions.
The Millions erased their malicious smiles and replaced them with warm ones before beginning to wave and cheer like NPC spectators at the finish line of a race.
On the surface, they looked sincere. They had practiced this countless times before.
It was always the same.
New pirates would arrive in the Grand Line after crossing Reverse Mountain, feeling as though accomplishing that alone made them incredible.
And it did.
For people from the Four Blues.
But within the Grand Line, that kind of naivety came at a steep price.
Miss Monday smiled, though Mr. 8's thoughts seemed elsewhere.
A week had passed since Vivi left on her mission and she still hadn't returned. While killing a whale sounded easy, the reality was that it was so large that cannonballs barely affected it, and if it became angry, it could easily sink a ship.
'Could it be that Baroque Works already suspects us?' Mr. 8 thought worriedly. 'Please be safe, Vivi-sama...'
"Hey, what's wrong?" Miss Monday frowned at Mr. 8.
He quickly got back into character and smiled toward the new victims.
"Welcome!"
"Great job!"
"You made it!"
"You're amazing!"
Cheers and words of encouragement erupted from the crowd, making it seem as though they were genuinely thrilled to see the newcomers.
Baroque Works' method in Whiskey Peak was simple.
They convinced pirates that they were being welcomed, treated them warmly, offered food and drinks laced with powerful sleeping drugs, and then captured them. Those with bounties were turned over to the Marines, while the rest were thrown into the sea.
It sounded ridiculous.
Who would fall for something like that?
Yet surprisingly, their success rate was incredibly high, perhaps because most arrivals were inexperienced rookies who knew little about the Grand Line.
This time, however, they had bitten the wrong tail.
Mr. 8 stopped smiling when he noticed the ship wasn't sailing toward them. Instead, it began turning.
That made no sense.
This was the Grand Line.
If they didn't wait for their Log Pose to charge, they wouldn't be able to travel to the next island.
Once the ship completed its turn and positioned itself broadside to the island, the man felt a chill run down his spine.
...
"Alright, it's time!" Allen said with an evil grin.
Vivi, who was looking at Whiskey Peak without any way to warn them that they shouldn't try their usual trick this time, was left stunned.
"What's going on?"
The black wooden shutters dropped, revealing the Black Pearl's cannons and answering her question.
"The sea is fair to everyone. You rob? Then be prepared to be robbed. You kill? Then be prepared for someone else to want to kill you. Simple as that."
Before Allen, dozens, perhaps hundreds of ships had arrived at Whiskey Peak, and the fate of their crews had never been pleasant.
There was no need for mercy.
The cannons, possessing firepower comparable to a warship, roared before Vivi could even speak.
The cannonballs slammed into the shoreline where the vultures disguised as civilians screamed as explosions blasted them into the air.
"Fall back, quickly!" Miss Monday shouted before grabbing a portable cannon similar to a bazooka. She aimed and fired at the Black Pearl.
On deck, Tashigi grabbed the hilt of her katana, sprinted forward, leaped into the air, and sliced Miss Monday's cannonball in half before landing gracefully.
Miss Monday smiled outwardly, but inwardly she knew they were screwed.
Even so, she fired again.
This time, Hina destroyed the cannonball.
Meanwhile, the Black Pearl's cannons never stopped firing, and by that point, a third of Baroque Works' forces had already been taken down.
It wasn't a battle.
It was intimidation.
Mr. 8 watched this before walking to the shoreline and raising a white handkerchief.
When Allen saw it, he halted the attack.
While nothing prevented him from attacking until Baroque Works was destroyed, he preferred not to attack people who had surrendered.
Allen turned toward his crew.
"Alright, let's go see our loot," Allen said cheekily.
The girls looked at him with different reactions, ranging from pity for the unfortunate criminals to amusement at his method of doing things. Of course, there was also Tashigi, shaking her head, and Vivi, crouched on the ground with thoroughly depressed thoughts.
...
Puru puru puru.
Gacha...
A man aboard a ship answered his Den Den Mushi.
"Mr. 5..."
"Boss?" Mr. 5 widened his eyes. It was rare for his boss to contact them personally.
"I need you and Miss Valentine to go to Whiskey Peak and deal with Miss Wednesday..."
"Understood."
Mr. 5 didn't ask for a reason. That wasn't his job.
He simply obeyed the order, changed his ship's course, and headed toward Whiskey Peak, which wasn't far away.
====
A/N: Well, given Allen's current strength and the Black Pearl, it was to be expected that the Whisky Peak arc would only last one chapter.
Patreon.com/_Aizen