A Celestial Dragon had been killed!
The news spread like wildfire, causing panic among the people. Civilian and pirate ships began setting sail for the open sea everywhere.
They knew it; everyone knew it. This went beyond simply offending the Celestial Dragons; this was a clear attack on the world order, and the response would be devastating—and so it was.
From Marine Headquarters, a dozen warships set sail at full speed toward Sabaody.
There was no longer any room for protocol, no room for negotiation, and they could no longer focus on a war that was yet to come.
Even if it was entirely the Celestial Dragons' fault, it was impossible to use that as an excuse. Weren't they the Marines? Wasn't it their job to watch over the World Nobles? Wasn't it their responsibility to protect them in the human world?
It was unfair, it was unpleasant, but that was how spoiled and irrational the Celestial Dragons were. They would never accept responsibility for their guilt or their sins. Everything was always someone else's fault, so to prevent a crisis, the Marines sprang into action.
....
Meanwhile...
Luffy's crew, along with Nami, Robin, and Doll, fought their way through the Marines, who were so numerous that it seemed like they had called in every Marine stationed in Sabaody to stop them.
However...
"NOOO!"
A dozen Marines were sent flying by a punch from Doll. They cried because they had lost one of their goddesses to Allen.
"They're like flies..." Doll said.
"Ahhh!"
Another group of Marines was defeated by a powerful electrical discharge, courtesy of Nami, who seemed to be venting her frustration over having her vacation ruined by these Marines.
"Don't you have any mercy for your former comrades?" Nami sighed.
"Uhhggg!"
Another dozen Marines collapsed to the ground with foam coming from their mouths after Robin gave them an intensive physical therapy session.
"It's funny hearing you say that while electrocuting everyone you see, Nami," Robin laughed.
Seeing the trio of powerful women, Luffy didn't want to be left behind, so he continued punching every Marine he saw. Zoro did the same, while Sanji had hearts in his eyes, throwing compliments at the girls like some kind of cheerleader.
Meanwhile, Rayleigh and Allen stayed toward the back. Allen was carrying Camie on his back, while Pappag was hanging from his belt.
"Is that young lady a mermaid?" Rayleigh asked, glancing at Allen.
"Yes, I found her by chance and rescued her," Allen said, looking at Rayleigh. "I don't know if I can accompany you, old man, so I'd like to ask..."
"..."
"Who is my enemy?"
The man, the legend, the right-hand man of the Pirate King, remained silent. His eyes, filled with decades of stories that would be nothing but fantasy to most people, settled on Allen.
"Revenge?" Rayleigh asked.
"No," Allen replied.
"I see... then that's fine." Rayleigh fell silent again. It seemed as though time itself slowed down. "Nerona Imu..."
"...!" Allen's eyes widened.
He knew. He had never heard that name before, but he knew. He knew who this Nerona Imu was. All this time, the idea of changing this world had been vague. He didn't know what to do, who to destroy, who to ally himself with, or how or where he could change the world.
But at this moment, at that exact moment when he heard that name, he finally understood. If he wanted this world, he had to bring down that Imu!
....
Allen watched the rest of his crew approaching in the distance and said goodbye to Rayleigh and Luffy.
He had to go his separate way so he wouldn't involve this rookie crew, their still-inexperienced captain, and a retired old man who just wanted to drink and spend his time scamming rich people by selling himself as a slave, only to rob them afterward, in his problems.
Luffy didn't want to leave at first, but Allen forced him to go under the excuse that he needed to hear Rayleigh's story. However, deep down, Luffy knew that he was simply too weak to help him.
"Allen, what happened?!" Uta asked with a frown.
"You didn't do it, did you?" Gion asked with an awkward smile.
Allen's gaze swept across his entire crew and their guests. Hina, Tashigi, Nojiko, Kaya, Vivi, Mikita, Conis, and Uta, along with Kalifa, Perona, and Gion.
"I'm sorry," Allen said seriously and sincerely.
There was a moment of silence.
"I think I made a mistake. I let my emotions guide me and triggered something that shouldn't have happened yet."
Allen proceeded to explain everything that had happened, from his arrival at Grove 24 to what happened at Grove 1.
The girls exchanged glances. Among them, Vivi approached him and hugged him.
"Don't worry," the princess said, smiling.
Allen laughed. He knew very well that no one in his crew would blame him for his actions. Even so, he decided to apologize.
As for the guests, Gion had sweat on her face, Perona was pale, and Kalifa's legs felt weak.
Gion couldn't help but look at Doll resentfully. That hypocritical girl had annoyed her endlessly so she wouldn't fall for Allen's charms, but the shameless woman ended up being the first one to fall.
"So, what's the plan, Captain?~" Mikita asked as she spun her umbrella.
"Of course," Allen smiled like a bastard. "We're going to escape."
The girls' eyes widened in surprise before they laughed. Allen's words had lightened the mood, but at that moment, a man spoke.
"B-bastard..."
When they turned around, they saw a Marine with burned clothes and a broken arm crawling toward them. This was the Rear Admiral who had previously led the Marines.
"As expected of a Rear Admiral, you can take a beating pretty well," Allen mocked.
"Dirty, shameless bastard! You think you're going to escape at this point?!" the Rear Admiral shouted.
He was furious. Allen had killed a Celestial Dragon, injured two others, wiped out all the Marines in Sabaody, and now the shameless bastard wanted to escape.
"Yes," Allen answered with complete honesty.
The immediate response left the Marine stunned.
What happened to the war? Wasn't he going to wait for the entire Marine force before starting a conflict?
Forget an Admiral. Sengoku might come personally with all three Admirals. Sabaody was about to be plunged into an unprecedented war, but just like that, Allen had decided to get off the ship—or rather, flee on it.
"Goodbye. Have a nice day." Allen flashed a shameless half-smile, turned around, and walked away, followed by all the women.
The Rear Admiral was left with his mouth hanging open in disbelief. Allen had truly thrown a stone and hidden his hand, doing so without shame, embarrassment, or hesitation.
It was shameless, it was underhanded, it was dishonorable... this bastard was a true pirate!
"Damn you, Allen Walker!"
....
Some time later...
At sea, the dozen Marine warships arrived. Nine carried a Vice Admiral, including Tsuru and Garp! Two more carried Aokiji and Kizaru, two of the Admirals! And finally, the main ship carried Fleet Admiral Sengoku himself!
It was almost the full main strength of the Marines, excluding Admiral Akainu, and all of them were heading toward Sabaody, determined to confront Allen. However, to their surprise, when Sengoku's Den Den Mushi rang, he heard something that made him explode with rage.
"Fleet Admiral, sir, the Black Pearl has set sail!"
"What?! Follow them immediately!" Sengoku ground his teeth. That bastard Allen was far more shameless than he had anticipated.
It wasn't the first time Allen's eccentricity had made Sengoku look ridiculous, but this time he wasn't going to allow it. So instead of trying to set a trap for him, he decided to overwhelm him with sheer power.
"Sir... we can't."
Sengoku's heart tightened. Even with the highest IQ in the Marines, he felt helpless. He knew Allen's abilities were too unpredictable to anticipate what he would do. He practically had every Devil Fruit at his disposal.
"Why?!" Sengoku shouted, even though he already anticipated the answer.
"Because the Black Pearl has disappeared..."
"..." Sengoku fell silent.
"The ship simply vanished. We don't know where Allen Walker and his crew could be, sir. Sir?!"
The sounds around Sengoku began to fade. His face went blank, and his gaze filled with frustration. In all his years as a Marine, there had never been a pirate who had left him feeling so helpless.
"Hey, calm down. There's no need to despair," said a voice that was both familiar and irritating to Sengoku.
When he raised his head, he saw Allen casually sitting on the railing of his ship.
"Hello, Sengoku," Allen said, smiling.
"You!" Sengoku shouted.
A golden flash appeared, followed by an explosion that destroyed one of the masts of the enormous warship.
Everyone turned to see what had happened on the Fleet Admiral's ship, and then they saw him. Allen was standing in the air, staring at Sengoku.
The bastard hadn't escaped!
"Allen Walker..." Sengoku said. "I see. I anticipated that you wouldn't escape, but I didn't expect you to simply let your crew go."
Allen smiled faintly. "Those girls aren't ready yet, but don't worry. They will be in the future."
Sengoku narrowed his eyes. He didn't know whether Allen had done something to his crew or whether those girls were all geniuses with enormous potential, but one thing was certain: in the future, they would each be a terrifying force in their own right.
"If you're here, I assume you're ready?" Sengoku asked as his gaze hardened and he made a signal.
Two Vice Admirals moved past him and leaped toward Allen, both drawing their swords coated in Haki before attacking Allen.
Allen dodged the first slash and kicked him in the abdomen, sending him crashing into the sea. He then extended his hand and caught the second sword.
"Impossible!" the Vice Admiral shouted.
Allen wasn't using Haki, yet his body was durable enough to withstand an attack of this level of Haki and emerge unscathed.
"Nothing is impossible," Allen mocked before punching the man and sending him crashing into Sengoku's ship.
Sengoku didn't move and maintained his serious expression.
"..." Allen simply remained silent with a half-smile.
A flash appeared to Allen's right, followed by Admiral Kizaru's voice.
"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?" Kizaru asked.
Time moved so slowly that it seemed frozen, but before Kizaru's kick could connect, Allen smiled and blocked it, moving just as fast as he did.
"...!"
Borsalino's eyes widened before receiving a punch that sent him flying.
"Fool, I told you not to be reckless!" Sengoku shouted.
He had given Kizaru a complete report on all of Allen's known abilities. Among them was the Light-Light Fruit—in other words, his own specialty—so it was ridiculous that Kizaru had allowed himself to be fooled.
"Sorry, Sengoku-san," Kizaru said, appearing not far away. "It's just that I didn't read it..."
Sengoku was left speechless.
"Just like Rayleigh said, you're lazy," Allen laughed.
"That's cruel, Allen Walker-kun~" Kizaru said before raising both hands, from which two flashes emerged. "Yasakani no Magatama."
A rain of light bullets attacked Allen, who dodged them effortlessly thanks to his Observation Haki.
Kizaru continued attacking until Allen grew tired of it. He teleported in front of Kizaru, and a large amount of red lightning erupted from his hand. It was Advanced Conqueror's Haki.
At its advanced stage, Conqueror's Haki could be used as a weapon and to attack with it.
"Rayleigh was right. You're completely lazy..." Allen said before throwing a punch toward a surprised Kizaru.
"Arara..." Allen's fist was stopped by Aokiji, who created a pillar of ice from the sea to intercept it. "You really make my job difficult."
Allen's arm began to freeze, but far from showing any sign of pressure or feeling threatened, he smiled as his eyes turned cold.
"After what I told you, you have the nerve to appear in front of me again?"
The ice covering Allen's arm shattered, and he grabbed Aokiji's face.
Allen held a grudge against Aokiji, the man who had participated in the destruction of Ohara, the man who had become a nightmare for Robin for twenty years. It could be said that among everyone present, he was the only one who had truly made Allen angry.
"Get away from Kuzan!" Garp shouted as he leaped toward Allen.
"...!"
Aokiji tried to move away, but it was already too late. A transparent sphere appeared, a sign that Allen was about to use the Gura Gura no Mi at point-blank range.
The air around Aokiji's head shattered. That attack wasn't merely the Gura Gura no Mi; it was mixed with Allen's Advanced Conqueror's Haki and Advanced Armament Haki, causing the Admiral to take significant damage and fall into the sea.
"Borsalino!" Sengoku shouted.
Admiral Kizaru caught Aokiji and carried him back to Sengoku. Meanwhile, Allen blocked Garp's punch with his own.
The impact of their fists sent shockwaves in every direction, yet to everyone's surprise, it was a draw. They were talking about a direct fistfight with Garp, and ending in a tie.
In the past, Garp had been famous for training by destroying mountains with his fists, and despite not being in his prime, he was definitely stronger than he should have been at this point in the canon story.
"Bastard!" Garp shouted.
"Shut up. It's your fault for coming to bother a model citizen," Allen mocked.
Both pulled back, and Garp landed back on his warship. Allen remained in the air and didn't attack any further.
"This power..." Garp gritted his teeth. He had been able to feel Allen's current strength during their previous exchange, and then he reached a harsh realization.
Allen was no longer someone who could be defeated without being prepared to suffer heavy losses. Kizaru, Aokiji, and Sengoku came to the same realization.
"What do you want?!" Sengoku growled. "Did you only come here to show off your power?!"
"Yes," Allen said without the slightest bit of humility. "It's a warning for you and the World Government. If you want to fight me, you might win, but I have plenty of tricks and enough strength to take many of you down."
"That's not all, is it?" Sengoku frowned.
Allen smiled faintly. "That's right. I also came to make one thing clear. My enemy isn't you, Sengoku, nor the Marines. It's him, as you already know..."
"Nonsense! You know we can't simply look the other way while you kill the Celestial Dragons!"
"I know... I don't expect you to," Allen said before rising higher into the air. "But I want you to understand that when the time comes for me to face your king, if I end up killing someone who gets in my way, it won't be personal."
Allen disappeared into the air, leaving all the Marine warships in silence.
Sengoku clenched his fists. He could feel it. Allen had matured somewhere along the way, and that made him feel even more helpless. Allen had become harder and harder to deal with.
"What do we do? Do we follow him?" Garp asked.
"No. We're going to Sabaody to retrieve Rosward and his daughter..."
"Are you sure? This doesn't seem like something they're going to let slide."
"I know, but even if we defeat Walker, the losses would make it impossible to face Whitebeard. If we go all out, the entire Marine force could be destroyed." Sengoku then raised his gaze toward Sabaody in the distance. "I will take full responsibility for this failure!"
Garp felt frustrated, but he knew there was nothing he could do. The Fleet Admiral always took responsibility when things went wrong.
"Let's go!" Sengoku ordered.
....
Allen appeared on the Black Pearl. The ship was hidden thanks to a legendary feature: the "ghost ship".
The girls approached him, but when they saw that he wasn't injured, they collectively sighed in relief.
However, Kalifa, Perona, Doll, and Gion were stunned. They knew Allen was strong, but seeing him face so many prominent figures from the Marines without breaking a sweat left them overwhelmed.
Allen, for his part, was glad he hadn't allowed his judgment to become clouded. Letting the girls face an entire lineup like that would have been stupid and dangerous.
"What are we going to do?" Vivi asked.
Nami sighed. "They aren't going to let us reach Fish-Man Island easily."
Uta shrugged. "We can just fly over the Red Line."
The girls agreed that if they wanted to reach the New World, the best option was simply to fly over the Red Line.
But Allen had other plans.
"We should increase all of your power first," Allen said with a mischievous smile.
The girls who knew what he meant blushed, while the others simply looked at Allen in confusion over this talk of leveling up.
"Thanks to Rayleigh, I realized the level of my enemy, so even I am not strong enough. Therefore, before we go to the New World, we should diligently increase our strength..."
[Pervert!]
Allen coughed. "Then where could an almost entirely female crew hide to train?"
The girls exchanged glances. None of them had any idea where they could go to train, except for one.
Gion raised her hand. "It might be problematic, but what about Amazon Lily?"
"Amazon Lily?" Allen blinked before remembering and chuckling. "You mean the island of women? Sure, why not bless that poor place, devoid of masculine charm, with my perfection?"
[Oh shit!]