After leaving Punk Hazard, the Freewill slowly sailed out of the blizzard-covered waters.
"According to news from the Pleasure District, the Flying Blade Pirates, who hijacked a Fish-Man, arrived at Holy Grail Island yesterday."
"Next, we'll have to choose one of the three routes indicated by the Log Pose. They are most likely heading to Cigar Island. Rumor has it there's a slave auction there."
Inside the captain's cabin, Allen and the others sat on sofas around the table.
As Robin finished speaking, Nami checked the sea chart against the routes.
"Cigar Island isn't too far from us. If they stay there for two or three days, we should be able to catch up, but..."
Nami looked up at Allen, her tone laced with concern. "This is Big Mom's territory, and the Marine G-5 Base is nearby."
"G-5... Isn't that Vergo's jurisdiction?"
Allen looked surprised for a moment, then waved it off nonchalantly. "Forget it, don't worry about that. Plot the course and let's get there as soon as possible."
"Alright, I'll go arrange it now," Nami agreed with a helpless nod.
Upon entering the New World from Fish-Man Island, they had to switch to a new type of Log Pose.
Instead of a single needle, it had three. Every time they arrived at an island and fully stored its magnetic field, they could choose one of the three routes to proceed to the next stop.
The more erratic a needle's movement, the more unstable the island's magnetic field, which indicated more abnormal and dangerous weather.
For them, the climate generally wouldn't be a huge problem because they had Nami and her Devil Fruit weapon. The only real threat to them was people.
And Allen didn't care about that either.
Big Mom's territory was perfect; he could just conquer it along the way. Within a year, he planned to launch a frenzied offensive and turn half of the islands in the first quarter of the New World into his territory.
Before the Summit War, the Four Emperors dominated the New World, with the Whitebeard Pirates occupying a quarter of the islands.
World Government affiliated nations and some desolate, uninhabited islands took up another quarter, while the other three Emperors and a few powerful pirate crews occupied the remaining two quarters.
In terms of territory, the Whitebeard Pirates were undoubtedly the true overlords, their domain roughly double that of the other three Emperors.
Now that Whitebeard was dead, the numerous islands that lost his protection were constantly engulfed in bloody conflicts. Naturally, Allen wanted a piece of the pie.
He wasn't too greedy. Half of the islands in the first quarter of the New World only amounted to about one-eighth of the total territory.
...
Two days later.
New World, Cigar Island.
This was a Spring Island. Its coastal ring consisted almost entirely of flat plains dotted with a dozen or so towns. Moving inland, the terrain gradually shifted into rolling mountains where massive amounts of tobacco were cultivated.
Yes, tobacco—which was also the origin of Cigar Island's name.
The island was fairly wealthy, but absolutely not peaceful. It was a chaotic mix of gangs and criminals, essentially an upgraded version of Mock Town.
The Freewill slowly docked.
Standing on the ship, Allen and the crew looked at the port filled with chaos, arguments, and brawls, getting a pretty good idea of what the towns would be like.
If the average bounty in the East Blue was a mere 3 million Berries, the average in the New World was at least 30 million. The overall strength of pirates here was more than ten times greater.
In a place like Cigar Island, running into a few pirates with bounties over a hundred million was nothing out of the ordinary.
"After disembarking, each division is free to move on their own. Gather some intel while you're at it, and meet up with me later. Let's get our main business done first," Allen ordered, then leaped off the ship and headed toward the town.
Sanji and Gin exchanged a glance.
"I'll take some guys to stroll around the market and see if there are any good supplies to buy," Sanji suggested.
"Yeah, then Killer and I will hit up the town's tavern to ask around," Gin replied.
Soon, the group split up to lead their respective teams. Robin and Perona followed Allen.
Walking down the bustling street, Allen glanced at the vendors on both sides and casually asked the two women, "Speaking of which, should I assign you two a few subordinates? It might be handy to have someone to boss around when you want to get things done."
Robin smiled gently. "I prefer staying alone when I'm on the ship, but if you think it's necessary, that's fine too. However, I don't have any particular specialties, so I'm afraid I won't be of much major help."
"Is that so? You seem to have dabbled in quite a lot of things, and you've spent years surviving in the underworld," Allen noted, glancing back at her. He proposed, "How about I establish a new division for you to lead, specializing in intelligence work?"
"Intelligence? That is indeed an important job. I suppose I could give it a try. I happen to have a bit of experience in that area," Robin replied with a faint smile.
From what Allen knew, Robin was skilled in a vast and diverse array of things—from disguise and infiltration to intelligence analysis, dancing, and playing cards.
Aside from archaeological research, she wasn't necessarily at the absolute pinnacle in those other fields, merely "quite skilled."
However, intelligence work required interacting with all sorts of people. Having a broad knowledge base and dabbling in many fields was an incredibly powerful advantage in itself.
Even though she wasn't a professional spy, Allen felt Robin had great potential in this area.
So he finalized the decision. "Then it's settled. I'll leave the establishment of the Sixth Division to you. If you need anything, just ask."
"Understood."
Seeing Allen arrange a commander position for Robin in just a few words, Perona eagerly jumped out, hugging a bear plushie, and exclaimed excitedly, "What about me? What about me! I want to be a commander too! Make a division for me too, Allen!"
"Being a squad leader is enough for you, isn't it? What do you even want a division for?" Allen asked, looking at her in confusion. Although he had no intention of doing it, he still humored her.
Perona's eyes sparkled with excitement as she said, "Hehe, I'll have them specifically collect cute plushies for me, and they can wait on me hand and foot."
Hearing this, Allen's eyes instantly filled with exasperation. "Get lost. Forget about being a squad leader, too."
"Why?! It's just a few subordinates! Lord Moria would have given them to me right away! You stingy jerk!" Perona yelled, puffing out her cheeks in anger.
Seeing Allen completely ignore her, Perona jumped onto his back, angrily grabbing his hair and throwing a tantrum.
"I don't care, I don't care! I want subordinates! Hurry up and give me some subordinates, you bastard! Give them to me! Give them to me!"
"I told you to get lost," Allen replied in annoyance. Reaching back, he grabbed Perona by her pink hair, yanked her off his back, and casually tossed her to the side of the road.
Time passed until noon.
...
In a nicely decorated tavern in the neighboring town.
"Gyahahaha! This is fantastic, boys! I didn't expect Fish-Men to be worth so much here!"
"You said it, Boss! The slave auction house actually bought him for 150 million Berries!"
"It's my first time seeing so much money! Hahaha, we won't have to worry about running out of booze for a long time!"
Roars of laughter and the cheers of clinking glasses continuously echoed through the hall.
At this moment, the tavern had been completely booked out by the Flying Blade Pirates, who had just acquired a massive sum of wealth.
Behind the bar, the owner calmly wiped a glass in his hand.
Across from him, a rough-looking man wearing a yellow cowboy hat and a cross-shaped scar on his right cheek leaned back against the bar. He raised his glass and laughed loudly.
"Gyahahaha! If I had known, I would have grabbed a few more at Fish-Man Island! It's all that bastard Neptune's fault."
"If fighting underwater wasn't such a disadvantage, I would have slaughtered them all right then and there, and then kidnapped the Mermaid Princess."
"She would have sold for at least a billion Berries! Gyahahaha, I really want to go back and pull another heist!"
The cowboy-hat man laughed maniacally, tilting his head back to down his drink in one gulp.
"Fish-Man Island, huh? I heard it was taken over by the Demon Lion Pirates after the Summit War. You guys actually went there to kidnap merfolk? Aren't you afraid of their retaliation?"
Behind the bar, the tavern owner suddenly spoke up, his voice instantly drawing the attention of everyone in the hall.
"Oh? You're quite well-informed, aren't you?"
The cowboy-hat man turned to look at the owner, a mocking expression on his face. "Hey, barkeep, do you know who I am?"
"You're the captain of the Flying Blade Pirates, 'Hunter Eric', with a bounty of 66 million Berries. I don't think I'm mistaken," the owner stated in a low voice.
Hearing this, Eric slammed his large hand on the bar and couldn't help but throw his head back and laugh wildly.
"Gyahahaha! See that, boys? My name has already spread throughout the New World!"
"The Demon Lion crew are just mere Warlords! Our target is the Four Emperors!"
"One day, I'll use my flying blades to slice off their heads and step on their skulls to rise to the top! Gyahahaha!"
Eric's laughter was utterly arrogant.
In the hall, dozens of his subordinates joined in the uproarious laughter, raising their glasses to drink deeply, showing not a hint of fear on their faces.
The owner's eyes grew thoughtful as he muttered, "A Warlord? He isn't one anymore."
"Well, thanks for the business, everyone. But I still hope you'll take my words to heart."
"These days, rookies without a sense of reverence easily stumble in the New World."
The owner shrugged and let out a dismissive sigh.
But clearly, no one was going to listen to him. These pirates, dead drunk in broad daylight, only had greed for money and a craving for good food and liquor in their eyes.
After they continued to eat and drink wildly for a while, two figures suddenly burst in, shouting in panic.
"Boss Eric! The Marines are here!"
"Our ship at the port was destroyed!"
"What did you say?!"
Bang!!
Eric slammed his hand on the table and stood up. Upon hearing this, his flushed, drunken face instantly twisted into anger as he roared, "Isn't this an Emperor's territory?! Why would the Marines come here, damn it! That was a new ship we just traded for!"
Boom!! Boom!! Boom!!
Suddenly, several massive explosions echoed from outside. The shockwaves caused the tavern to shake violently.
Following that came the agonizing screams and the fierce sounds of combat and slaughter from the streets.
"Wipe out all the pirates! Leave no one alive!!"
"Liberate this island controlled by pirates!"
"Justice will prevail! Kill them!!"
Hearing these voices, the pirates in the tavern immediately panicked, sobering up instantly.
"What do we do, Boss?! A lot of pirates are running away!"
"Let's run too, Boss!"
"Are you kidding me?!"
Eric slammed the table and abruptly stood up, shouting with a furious expression, "Grab your weapons and follow me outside to see what's going on!"
"Yes!!"
A large group of men grabbed their weapons and charged out with vicious expressions.
Meanwhile, in the neighboring town.
"Black! Black! Black!"
"Wahahaha! It really is black! We won again, Allen!"
"Look at you acting like you've never seen the world. Before setting sail, I was known as a gambling monster in my hometown."
Inside a casino, Perona sat excitedly at the roulette table with Allen. The chips on the table in front of them had long since piled up into a small mountain.
Robin stood behind them, watching the two who were completely engrossed in the game, a faint smile on her face.
Until chaos suddenly descended.
"Hey! The Marines are here!"
"What?! Why would they be here!"
"Run!"
"Hey! My chips, you bastard!!"
"Hurry up and cash these out! We're leaving!"
Fear spread rapidly. In just a few breaths, the entire casino quickly descended into chaos.
"What's going on?"
Allen looked confused. Although he knew the Marine G-5 Base was nearby, wasn't that under Vergo's jurisdiction?
Who gave them the guts to barge into Big Mom's territory to catch pirates?
"I'll go outside and see what's..."
Robin was about to move, but she paused mid-sentence and suddenly stopped in her tracks.
Outside the door, Nami and the Nyaban Brothers had already walked in.
"They're over here, Nami!"
"Robin, we finally found you!"
After looking around and spotting Allen's location, Nami hurriedly ran over, shouting, "This is bad, Allen! A group of strange Marines is attacking the area!"
"Strange Marines?" Allen's tone rose in slight confusion.
Nami finally reached him, bending over and resting her hands on her knees, panting heavily.
"That's right... Their warships... and their uniform styles are different from the Marines we've encountered before. Anyway, it's just really strange."
"They destroyed a lot of ships at the port and started slaughtering pirates as soon as they landed. Sanji has already gone to move the Freewill."
"Captain!"
Just then, two more figures rushed into the casino entrance.
It was Gin and Killer.
"Thank goodness, everyone is here. I was worried something might have happened to you," Gin said, walking up to them with a worried expression. His eyes revealed a hint of gravity as he spoke to Allen.
"Captain, a group of highly capable Marines has arrived outside."
"On the way here, I heard that several pirate crews with bounties over a hundred million tried to retaliate against them, but they were all wiped out single-handedly by their Commander-in-Chief."
"That even included the great pirate with a bounty of 340 million, 'Skull Splitter Badaski'!"
"They were all wiped out?! Even a Vice Admiral wouldn't be able to handle so many pirates on the island. Could it be a Marine Admiral leading the squad?" Nami asked, her face filled with shock.
This island gathered a chaotic mix of people, including many powerful pirates. To capture so many people, sending only a Vice Admiral was clearly far from enough.
But after hearing Gin's words, Allen frowned.
Commander-in-Chief?
Sengoku had already stepped down to the second line. If the person who came wasn't Akainu, then there was only one person who could possibly be called a Commander-in-Chief.
Combined with Nami's earlier words, a familiar figure immediately surfaced in Allen's mind.
Boom!!
A sudden explosion rang out from the entrance. The front doors of the casino, along with the walls, were instantly blasted into rubble. Wood splinters flew everywhere, kicking up billowing clouds of dust.
Intense white light shone in from outside, and the silhouette of a tall figure gradually emerged from the dust.
"The casino has been surrounded. Unrelated personnel, leave immediately. All pirates will be killed without exception."
Accompanied by a deep voice, a burly, muscular figure wearing a black coat and sporting short purple hair slowly walked out of the dust.
Zephyr wore sunglasses, his right arm replaced by a menacing mechanical prosthetic that gleamed with cold metallic light. He stared over with a stern expression.
"Demon Lion Allen, you are under arrest!"