"Hey, hey, can't you see such a massive flag in town? Look at what you've done, look at how badly you've ruined my money tree."
Allen's expression was displeased as he spoke in a deep voice. He cracked his neck, curled his lips into a sinister smirk, and joked, "I'll set a price. Pay a compensation of five billion Berries each and I'll let you go. Those who can't afford it can work for me for the rest of their lives to pay off the debt."
"Five billion Berries!"
Hearing Allen's exorbitant demand, Bartolomeo was initially shocked, then immediately cursed out loud, "What kind of joke are you playing, you bastard?! How is this street worth that much money? This is blatant extortion!"
Although he spoke tough, he was only objecting to the unfair price. It sounded like he didn't have much of a problem with the idea of paying to settle the matter.
From the first moment he saw Allen, he knew that simply walking away was impossible. If paying money could solve it, that was probably the only price he could afford.
However, Allen had no intention of bargaining, or rather, he never planned to let them resolve this with money in the first place.
"Who cares if the street is worth that much? Don't you know that human lives cannot be measured by money? If you can't pay five billion Berries, then spend the rest of your lives atoning for the people here."
Allen stared at Bartolomeo with a playful look in his eyes and said, "Or, I can give you a chance to challenge me. As long as you win, I'll let you leave unconditionally."
"Challenge you? Heh, should we thank you for generously giving us a chance?" Cavendish said with a mocking tone.
Having spent two years in the New World, he knew exactly what level the Four Emperors were at.
Let alone the two of them, even if the crews of both their pirate fleets attacked together, it wouldn't be enough to fight this man.
"It seems you have some self-awareness. Well, I didn't expect you two to spark my fighting spirit anyway, so the challenge I'm talking about is..."
Allen slowly raised a single finger, his tone teasing, "Once. As long as you can land a hit on me just once, you win the challenge."
"Once? Hey, hey, hey, aren't you being a little too overconfident?"
Bartolomeo was taken aback for a moment, but then he immediately flashed an arrogant, sharp-toothed grin and said, "If I just need to hit you once, then today I'll be the first Supernova to successfully challenge an Emperor."
"Tch, to still have the thick skin to say such things while facing an Emperor... I at least admire your shamelessness," Cavendish sneered. Then, he looked at Allen, hesitated for a moment, and said coldly, "I accept this challenge too. You'd better keep your word."
"Hahahaha! Of course. Who on this sea doesn't know that I am a man who keeps his promises?" Allen chuckled, then added, "If you lose, you'll work under me from now on. The bet is now set."
"Hey! Wait a minute! Who agreed to work under you? You didn't mention that condition earlier!" Cavendish hastily shouted upon hearing this.
However, Allen had already dashed forward, a ferocious grin on his face.
"If you don't have chips, do you think the dealer will let you place a bet? Since it's a challenge, of course there's a price. Don't think you get to take all the good deals, you idiot!"
"Mach Punch: Sonic Soul Blast!!"
Before his voice even faded, Allen's eyes turned fierce. He raised his thick arm and threw a devastating punch!
But right at that moment, an invisible barrier appeared out of thin air!
*Bang!!*
Allen's fist slammed heavily against the barrier, coming to an abrupt halt just ten centimeters away from Cavendish, completely unable to shake it in the slightest.
"Just the thought of cooperating with a pretty boy like you makes me sick, but my ability can't hit him! You'd better brace yourself, you bastard!" Bartolomeo cursed in a low voice, crossing his fingers in his signature pose to prop up the barrier in front of Cavendish.
"Tch, interesting. So this is the power of the Barrier-Barrier Fruit."
*Thump! Thump!*
Allen retracted his fist and backhandedly knocked on the barrier in front of him with his knuckles, looking intrigued.
It lacked concepts like hardness or flexibility, and didn't even have a shape or thickness. It was like an invisible wall made of pure rules, with "No Entry" written all over it.
Calling it an absolute defense was no exaggeration. Although theoretically, a sufficiently powerful Haki could nullify the ability, in practice, it wasn't something easily achieved.
At the very least, Allen didn't think he could break this barrier.
Suddenly, Cavendish, separated from him by the barrier, raised his longsword. Haki rapidly coated the blade as he swiftly thrust it toward him!
At the same time, Bartolomeo immediately deactivated his ability, and the barrier vanished!
"Beautiful Sword: Stardust Flurry!!"
*Clang! Clang! Clang!*
The tip of the sword tore through the air, emitting ear-piercing shrieks. Wielding Durandal, Cavendish launched a continuous barrage of thrusts, creating dozens of sword shadows!
"Paper Art!!"
Allen's body fluttered as lightly and swiftly as paper, perfectly dodging all of the opponent's thrusts and leaving countless afterimages in the air.
*Smack!*
Suddenly, after dodging an attack, Allen seized an opening, grabbed his opponent's wrist, and delivered a brutal front kick straight into Cavendish's chest!
*Bang!*
This heavy, powerful kick sent Cavendish flying on the spot. His back smashed through a wall, crashing heavily into a house.
Allen took a large stride, preparing to follow up on the attack, but Bartolomeo, standing not far away, activated his ability again, deploying a barrier to intercept him.
However, this time...
Allen's figure suddenly vanished!
"Shave!!"
"What?!"
Bartolomeo's pupils dilated in shock. Reacting instantly, he deployed a cylindrical barrier around himself, completely enclosing his body.
Sure enough.
In the next instant, Allen appeared out of thin air right in front of Bartolomeo, delivering a devastating spinning kick that slammed into the barrier!
*Bang!!*
The force of the strike was so immense that it made the very earth tremble.
Despite successfully defending against Allen's attack, Bartolomeo was still breaking out in a cold sweat, seemingly just realizing what had happened.
Fast, too fast.
Allen's speed was so fast that his naked eyes couldn't even track it. Being able to block that just now was purely good luck; his intuition had gambled correctly on the next move.
But if Allen could unleash this terrifying speed every time, he couldn't possibly rely on his intuition to place his bets every single time.
"It's... it's useless... Hehehe... My defense can't be broken, hehe," Bartolomeo forced a smile and said.
But he saw the corner of Allen's mouth curl up in contempt. A cluster of white light suddenly appeared in Allen's hand, floating down to the ground like a dandelion before gradually sinking into the earth.
After doing this, Allen simply turned around and walked away.
"Eh? What's the meaning of this?"
Bartolomeo looked at his back with a curious expression, wondering if Allen was giving up because he couldn't break the barrier.
The next second.
*Rumble!!*
The ground beneath his feet suddenly bulged, and a drill-like rock cone spiraled out of the earth!
"What?!"
Bartolomeo's eyes widened in disbelief. He completely hadn't expected that a rock drill could suddenly shoot out from the ground *inside* the barrier's range!
*Squelch—!!*
The sharp, rapidly spinning rock cone easily pierced into Bartolomeo's abdomen, the drill tearing through and bursting out of his back in a shower of blood!
"Puh-wah—!!"
Bartolomeo spat out a massive mouthful of blood. His face was pale and filled with disbelief. He froze for a moment before processing the sight before him.
"I'm not... cough, cough... going to die... am I...?"
*Thud!*
As soon as the words left his mouth, his body slowly pitched forward and collapsed. The barrier dissipated, and Bartolomeo fell completely unconscious.
"Where is Isshi-20? Hurry up and give him emergency treatment," Allen waved his hand and said casually without looking back, while slowly walking toward Cavendish's direction.
The ground flowed and rose, gathering a large amount of dirt that gradually formed a three-meter-tall clay golem with no arms or legs and a blurry, human-like face.
"Devour him."
"Yes, Master."
Following Allen's command, the clay golem sank into the ground.
The next moment.
*Rumble!!*
The earth began to shake violently. Cavendish, his right arm hanging limply, dragged his injured body out of the ruins in a sorry state.
Under his shocked gaze, massive rocks continuously bulged from the streets around him. The four pillars of rock rapidly took shape, transforming into four ferocious stone lions baring mouths full of jagged teeth!
Each stone lion was five or six stories high, wearing stone yokes around their necks. The muscular limbs sculpted from yellow rock looked incredibly lifelike.
"Roar!!!"
The four ferocious stone lions let out savage roars, opening their bloodthirsty maws as they lunged at Cavendish from all directions, biting down viciously!
*Boom!!!*
The sky seemed to tilt and the earth shook. Cavendish was instantly swallowed up in the attack, the terrifying impact sending a rolling ring of dust and debris blasting outward!
"Captain!!"
"How could this be... just two exchanges..."
"Both of them are Supernovas, yet they have absolutely no power to fight back against an Emperor, not even able to land a single hit on him..."
This scene made many pirates swallow hard, their eyes wide as they stared into the dust, hoping their captains could stand back up and continue the challenge.
Unfortunately, things did not go as they wished. After that single strike, no further movement came from inside. It wasn't until the dust settled that a massive, twisted stone pillar resembling a hemp rope was revealed.
At the top of the pillar was carved a ferocious, vicious lion's head, and a figure was embedded into the surface of the stone.
Cavendish's eyes were rolled back in his head. More than half of his body was tightly bound within the compressed rock. He remained completely motionless, having clearly lost consciousness.
Allen smiled faintly and spoke to the clay golem slowly rising from the ground beside him.
"Good job. From now on, your name is Mogura."
"Yes, Master."
The clay golem bowed its head and replied respectfully.
Allen waved his hand again, summoning Isshi-20 to check on Cavendish's injuries.
With this, the two major captains for the soon-to-be-expanded Sixth Fleet were secured.
"They're both Supernovas from the past three years, yet the gap in strength is actually this massive..."
"What exactly is that guy's ability? He can actually control the power of the earth..."
"Wait a minute, that looks like a Homie, right? The creatures created by the Soul-Soul Fruit, just like Big Mom."
"You mean Big Mom? No way, isn't she dead?"
"Could the rumors about him being able to steal other people's abilities be true?"
The surrounding pirates subconsciously took half a step back. Amidst their terror, they secretly cast wary glances at Allen.