It was a one-sided defeat. No one in Whisky Peak expected that not only had their plan been discovered, but that the other side wouldn't even hesitate to attack them despite being dressed like ordinary people.
After Mr. 8 accepted the surrender, the Black Pearl stopped firing and began approaching. At the same time, its pirate flag was lowered and replaced with the original one. Seeing this, everyone's faces turned pale.
It was the Jolly Roger of the most famous pirate of the new generation. At that time, he hadn't even entered the Grand Line before getting into trouble with Marine Headquarters. He hadn't even crossed Reverse Mountain before confronting a living legend.
These kinds of things had caused many people, including Baroque Works, to avoid confronting him directly. Yet the shameless bastard had been capable of using a trick like changing his flag to catch them off guard.
Allen smiled upon seeing Mr. 8's surrender and glanced at Vivi. Strangely enough, the girl let out a sigh of relief when she saw that the middle-aged man was safe, causing Allen to raise an eyebrow, though he didn't mention it.
"As I expected, the flag thing was too effective, wasn't it?" Tashigi said sarcastically.
Allen smiled and shook his head while adjusting a pair of nonexistent glasses.
"You don't understand, Tashigi-kun. You can't rely on strength all the time. If we had come with our flag, they would've run away instead of waiting for us on the shore like 'good people.' Besides, they would've prepared themselves, and who knows, maybe they could've complicated things."
"What do you mean by our flag?!" Tashigi exclaimed.
Allen ignored the girl's anger and prepared for the landing at the port.
....
Around sixty people were kneeling in a line as if awaiting execution. Twenty more lay wounded on the ground, and another twenty hadn't survived, though they had actually been very lucky. In most pirate conflicts, there were usually no survivors on the losing side unless they were captured to be turned in for bounties or sold as slaves.
Among them were also Mr. 8 and Miss Monday. Both were high-ranking agents of Baroque Works, but now they were being treated like ordinary lackeys.
"Well then, ladies and gentlemen," Allen said as he walked in front of them. "The lives of most criminals and pirates tend to have unpleasant endings, but that's life, isn't it?"
No one responded. How could they? They had been defeated, and if Allen was even half as cold as they were with their victims, then this was their end.
"Excuse me!" Vivi said. "I know we have no right to complain about the outcome, but could you show a little mercy?"
She bravely stepped forward. Regardless of whether she had any chance or not, she had to try to do something. Of course, as a hostage, she had no voice here. However, during the hours she spent traveling to Whisky Peak, she had not been treated like a prisoner.
Nojiko had prepared food for her. Kaya had checked whether she had any injuries. Even though Allen called her a hostage, he hadn't put her in shackles or locked her away in a storage room. That made her believe they might be reasonable people.
"Oh, well, since you ask so nicely." Allen smiled mysteriously. "I am Captain Allen Walker... I could throw all of you into the sea as fish food... but I'm a merciful person, so I'll give you three options."
Allen gestured, and Kaya, Nojiko, and Uta stepped forward. Each girl was carrying something.
"I can already tell where this is going~" Kaya said while holding a chest.
"This is all the rope I could find, haha." Uta laughed as she dropped a huge coil of rope.
"This is heavy..." Nojiko sighed as she placed a large barrel on the ground.
The Baroque Works members trembled. They had heard that Allen had killed two Marine captains and had been bold enough to challenge the Marines themselves, so they had an idea of just how much of a bastard he could be.
Allen wore a half-smile somewhere between amusement and mockery.
"You can pay for your offenses in three ways. You can step forward, be tied up, and jump into the sea. It's a miserable end, but it's not exactly unfamiliar to you, is it?"
Those who had intended to beg decided against it after hearing Allen's final words.
"W-What's the second one?" Miss Monday asked with a pale face.
"Well, the second one is simple. Since I'm the one who defeated you, your asses belong to me. But luckily for you, I'm not interested in your asses, so you can buy them back."
Nojiko let out a sigh. Uta laughed. Allen always managed to make any situation funny, even one where the lives of criminals were hanging by a thread. Kaya cooperated by opening the chest, waiting for the "voluntary donations." As for Nami, her eyes practically turned into money signs. Any crazy idea involving money had her full approval.
Hina, Tashigi, and even Vivi were left speechless and blushed upon hearing that. Did that mean Allen was interested in their asses, and that's why he kept them as hostages?!
"It's not difficult. Just bring me everything you own, including your hidden money and treasures. However, it has to be enough to convince me, or there's no deal," he said with a shrug.
It was certainly better to hand over their money than be thrown into the sea. However, that didn't make the Millions feel any better, and even Mr. 8 and Miss Monday exchanged worried glances.
"Captain Walker, what's the last option?" Mr. 8 asked.
"Do you value your money more than your lives?" A mocking smile appeared on his face. "The last one is simple. See that barrel over there? It's full of butter. You're going to strip naked, cover your entire bodies with butter, and then run around the island making animal noises."
What the hell?!
This time even the girls in his crew were shocked. What kind of punishment was that?!
"Why?" Mr. 8 exclaimed. He couldn't understand what kind of sick ritual that was.
"And what is that supposed to accomplish?!" Tashigi shouted with a red face. If it were her, she'd rather die than do something so humiliating.
Allen turned toward the girls and blinked once.
"Well, there's no special reason. Other than ruining people's lives."
Huh?
"You know, since you don't want to pay with your lives or your money, you'll pay with your dignity."
YOU'RE A DEMON!!
[Hey, I'm starting to feel sorry for your future enemies...]
Allen ignored everyone's stares and focused his attention on Mr. 8, who seemed to be the leader.
"So, what'll it be?" he asked with a smile.
Mr. 8 and Miss Monday were pale, but after a moment they gave up. Vivi clenched her teeth. She wanted to say something. She knew she should intervene, but if she did, all her efforts to remain in Baroque Works would be wasted.
A full minute passed before Mr. 8 spoke again.
"We choose the butter..."
This time it was Allen's turn to stare in disbelief. He didn't believe anyone would choose death if there was another option. As for the third option, it was such a complete loss of personal dignity that no one should choose it. It was only there as a joke.
"What?" Allen frowned. "Why not the money? Don't tell me you don't have any. You've done this to dozens, maybe hundreds, of ships!"
Not even Allen would subject himself to such humiliation over money, no matter how badly he needed it.
"We're nothing more than ordinary Baroque Works agents. Most of what we obtain is taken by the higher-ups," Mr. 8 confessed.
That revelation made the girls understand. It wasn't that they didn't want to hand over the money. They simply didn't have it.
"What?!" Allen grabbed Mr. 8 by the collar and shook him. "What the hell?! Who has my money?!"
"W-Wait!... Wait!" Mr. 8 began to grow dizzy.
"Stop!" Vivi could no longer hold herself back. She ran toward Allen and hugged him from behind. "No! Wait! Don't hurt Igaram!"
"Igaram?" Allen stopped, released Mr. 8, and turned to look at Vivi.
Vivi looked at him reproachfully, tears in her eyes. She wore an oddly adorable expression, like an intimidated little girl.
[Here we go again...]
Allen released Igaram, unable to continue troubling Vivi. She let go of Allen and knelt beside him.
"Are you alright, Igaram?"
"Vivi-sama, you mustn't!"
Most people were confused. In Baroque Works, real names were generally never revealed to avoid danger, so the two of them had to know each other very well. However, there seemed to be more to it, since Igaram addressed Vivi with tremendous respect.
'This is troublesome...' Allen thought.
As if the situation weren't complicated enough, two more guests showed up.
"I see..." a man said.
Everyone looked in that direction.
Standing two hundred meters away were a man and a woman.
The dark-skinned man wore a red trench coat and sunglasses. His attitude was cold, stoic, and almost arrogant as he looked at Allen and the others.
"I suppose there are more than enough reasons to take Miss Wednesday's life~" a woman said mockingly.
She was a beautiful woman with short blonde hair and a round yellow hat. Her blue eyes sparkled with amusement. She wore a flower-patterned dress and carried a parasol.
"No way..." Vivi stepped back in fear. "Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine?! Why are you here?!"
"Why? Shouldn't you know that yourself?" Mr. 5 said coldly.
Miss Valentine laughed.
"You already knew you'd been under suspicion for quite a while. That's why they were keeping an eye on you. Perhaps your recent actions were finally the deciding factor in getting rid of you~"
Vivi felt cornered. Even if her identity hadn't been exposed, leading Allen's crew to Whisky Peak was considered enough of a betrayal to eliminate her.
"Kwee!" Karoo bravely stepped in front of Vivi to protect her.
In Baroque Works, the number determined strength, and Mr. 5 was definitely not someone Vivi could deal with.
'Is this the end?!' Vivi thought desperately.
Igaram stood up and faced Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine.
"Please run, Vivi-sama! You are not someone who should die in a place like this!"
"Igaram, no!"
"Just go! I'll buy you some time!"
Igaram pulled two cords hanging from his clothes, and with absolutely no logical explanation, six rifle barrels emerged from his curly hair and began firing like machine guns.
The bullets crossed the distance, and when they reached Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine, an explosion erupted.
[What kind of hair is that?!]
Everyone shared the same reaction. It was the strangest hidden weapon any of them had ever seen.
"Hey," Allen said with a laugh. "That's some incredible firepower. Why didn't you use it against me?"
Igaram stepped back, sweat dripping down his forehead.
"I didn't cause that explosion."
"Hehe."
Miss Valentine's laughter came from within the smoke. When it cleared, she and Mr. 5 were completely unharmed.
"Ugh..." Igaram felt powerless.
"Allen..." Uta murmured as she approached.
It was obvious what she was going to ask. Was Allen really going to remain a spectator?
However, Hina had different thoughts. In the pirate world, it was uncommon to get involved in conflicts without gaining something from them.
Was it worth making an enemy of Baroque Works? Beyond everything else, there was no reason to help people who had been their enemies only moments ago.
Allen smiled faintly.
....
While the conflict with Baroque Works seemed inevitable, what happened in Loguetown spread across the world like wildfire and inevitably reached the very summit of piracy.
The Four Emperors of the Sea, those who ruled the second half of the Grand Line—the Yonko.
All of them had reactions to the special edition of the World Economy News Paper.
— Whitebeard Pirates —
A week earlier, the first reaction of the crew of the World's Strongest Man had been laughter.
A tiny rookie who hadn't even set foot in Paradise—the name New World pirates gave to the first half of the Grand Line—had dared to challenge the Marines.
Everyone thought it would be a miracle if he survived long enough to tell the tale. However, one person had not laughed: the Yonko Whitebeard, Edward Newgate.
Whitebeard was an enormous man, nearly five meters tall. He was muscular and possessed a distinctive upward-curving crescent mustache. His body bore numerous scars from past battles, but none were fatal. He was a monster defeated only by time itself.
Why hadn't Whitebeard laughed?
It wasn't because he believed Allen would survive long enough to reach the New World.
It was because of something else.
— A Pirate with a Code... —
No one understood what had caught his attention about that, but a faint smile appeared on his face.
Returning to the present, the second reaction of the Whitebeard Pirates was completely different.
This was no longer a child speaking big words. He had faced death and survived.
Gasps of disbelief spread among Whitebeard's pirates. After all, they were talking about Garp. Perhaps only Marco, Whitebeard's First Division Commander, could have escaped from that situation.
"You have good eyes..."
That was Whitebeard's second comment about Allen.
But this time he didn't smile.
His gaze remained silent, as though he wanted to engrave that face into his memory.
....
— Kaido's Pirates —
Kaido was an enormous man with long black hair, a beard, and a mustache styled in an eastern fashion. Tattoos covered much of his body, but his most distinctive feature was the pair of horns on his head.
The first time news of Allen circulated, Kaido showed no reaction. Another Emperor of the Sea, he merely glanced at the news, mocked the Marines, cursed them, and immediately lost interest.
The second time was completely different.
He burst into loud laughter while mocking Garp. Yet this time his bloodshot eyes focused on Allen as though he couldn't wait for the day he would crush this new generation.
"Now that's worth something! Wororororo!" Kaido laughed.
The man known as the Strongest Creature Alive was a bastard. Every few years, new famous pirates appeared. These rookies who entered the Grand Line and surpassed one hundred million berries before reaching the end of the first half were given the title of Supernova.
They were the most famous.
They were the most feared.
And they were the most promising punching bags.
At least, that was how the Four Emperors saw them.
Generation after generation of Supernovas entered the New World believing they would finally be the ones to overthrow the old Yonko.
And what was the result?
Death and servitude...
It was always the same. After enjoying glory in the first half of the Grand Line, they crashed into the wall of reality.
Every Supernova was either killed by a Yonko or by one of the Yonko's subordinates, or ended up serving them. There was no other path. It had been that way ever since Roger died.
That is why the first half of the Grand Line is called Paradise.
The paradise of the weak.
....
— Big Mom Pirates —
The third Yonko to react was Big Mom, the only woman among the current Four Emperors of the Sea.
This woman was a gigantic and terrifying monster with pink hair. It hadn't always been that way. In her youth, she had been a stunning beauty. Unfortunately, time had hit her hard, and now she was capable of giving people nightmares just by being seen.
"Ma-ma! Ma-ma!" Big Mom laughed with her characteristic laugh.
Big Mom, whose real name was Charlotte Linlin, had a different reaction from the other Yonko from the very beginning.
The moment she saw Allen, she began breathing heavily.
In all her years, she had never seen such a handsome young man. None of her forty-three husbands could compare.
So she desired him.
She wanted to get Allen to the point of considering sending people after him. However, before she could put those plans into motion, the Loguetown Incident occurred.
After witnessing both his strength and his potential, Big Mom changed her strategy.
She decided to wait.
She was convinced that one day Allen would arrive at her doorstep on his own.
'Come to me, my little cupcake~'
Allen felt a chill run down his spine even though he was on the other side of the world.
....
— Red-Haired Pirates —
The reaction of the last Yonko, Red-Haired Shanks, was different in a way entirely unlike Big Mom's.
When he first learned about Allen's existence, he didn't pay much attention.
However, he did pay attention to Luffy, since Luffy's bounty poster had also been included in last week's edition of the World Economy News Paper.
On one hand, he smiled when he saw that the boy in whom he had placed so many expectations had finally begun his journey.
On the other hand, he regretted that Luffy had such an outstanding rival who had overshadowed him during his debut.
Of course, Shanks wasn't worried.
He knew Luffy possessed a destiny that would take him to the very top of this world.
After all, he was the boy to whom Shanks had entrusted the straw hat of his captain, Gol D. Roger.
"Captain, we have a problem!" shouted a fat man wearing glasses as he ran toward Shanks.
Don't let his appearance fool you. This man, named Lucky Roux, was one of Shanks' officers, fighters, and cooks, making him incredibly strong.
Yet at this moment, he looked desperate and pale.
"What's wrong, Lucky?!" Shanks blinked in disbelief.
Lucky Roux wouldn't flinch even in the presence of the other Yonko.
Yet there he was with an expression Shanks hadn't seen in many years.
"It's that brat! H-he!"
Lucky shoved the special edition of the World Economy News Paper into Shanks' hands.
As soon as Shanks read it, his eyes widened.
"Defeat of Garp... defeat of Bogard... kidnapping of a Marine captain... 300 million..." Shanks gasped.
Only a week had passed since the world learned his name, and now his achievements had already surpassed those of most pirates.
Shanks wasn't stupid.
He understood that those accomplishments had been almost miraculous. One specific condition after another had lined up perfectly.
But that didn't diminish Allen's merit.
He was the one who had taken all those circumstances and turned them into a miracle.
"It seems a dark horse has appeared..." Shanks muttered worriedly.
Would this change things?
What about the plans he himself had set in motion?
What about his mission?
What about Imu?
How would that being react to this crazy young man who seemed intent on claiming the throne?
"No!" Lucky interrupted Shanks.
"What is it?"
"Captain, look at the other poster!"
Shanks had focused so much on Allen that he hadn't noticed the second poster beneath Allen's new bounty.
The moment he saw it, all the dignity and composure left his face.
His eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
"Uta?!"
It was his daughter!
The daughter he had left behind in East Blue.
That little girl had grown into a beautiful young woman, and somehow she had been recruited by the troublesome super rookie.
Shanks' expression darkened.
A week ago, he had laughed and called Allen a rogue when Benn Beckman had pointed out that he had built a crew made up entirely of beautiful women.
But now his daughter was included on that list.
A feeling he had never experienced before emerged.
An overwhelming burst of Haki shook the heavens.
"THAT BRAT!"
Shanks, the Yonko known for being the least prone to violence among the Four Emperors, erupted in anger like never before.
Without realizing it, Allen had become the target of two Yonko just after entering the Grand Line.
====
A/N: *Allen meets Shanks*
Allen: "You know, your daughter calls me 'Daddy' too." 🗿
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