...
Early the next morning, the Freewill broke through the water and slowly sailed out of the port of the City of the Spring Queen.
Sailing halfway around the coast to the other side of the island, they then followed the floating tracks of the Sea Train, heading all the way north toward Gourmet Town—Pucci.
On the aft deck, Allen was conducting his usual training with Sanji and Gin.
Calling it training was a stretch; in reality, he was just beating the two of them to a pulp again, accompanied by relentless mockery.
"Not enough power, too slow, sluggish reactions..."
*Bam!!*
*Bam!!*
"Your backhands are weak, your forehands lack precision, and your footwork is sloppy. How do you expect to fight me?"
Kicking Sanji and Gin flying with two strikes and sending their backs crashing heavily against the ship's railing, Allen retracted his ability-transformed locust legs, not forgetting to throw in a taunt.
Blood trickled from the corner of Sanji's mouth as he glared at Allen through gritted teeth.
"It's bad enough you beat us, but your mouth is toxic as hell. I really want to slip some crushed glass into this bastard's food."
"Don't say that, Mr. Sanji. The captain is just doing this to motivate us to... *cough, cough*... to train even harder," Gin said, coughing up a mouthful of blood as he lay on the deck, his hands trembling as he struggled to prop himself up.
Sanji shot Gin an exasperated look.
'Is your brain damaged from the beating? If I didn't know what an absolute bastard Allen is, I might have actually believed that.'
'Back when we left the sea restaurant, Allen stole every last piece of cookware from the Baratie. Is that something a decent human being would do?'
"That's enough training for today. You guys are getting more and more durable; my hands are getting sore from beating you," Allen said, shaking his hands. He walked over, picked up a towel hanging on a chair, and sat down.
Although he enjoyed cursing them out, the two had clearly made significant progress over the past few days. By his count, Sanji and Gin had already mastered two or three techniques of the Six Powers respectively.
Sanji had learned Shave, Moonwalk, and Iron Body, while Gin had picked up Iron Body and Paper Art.
Allen wasn't surprised that Sanji, who already possessed incredibly strong leg techniques, quickly learned Shave and Moonwalk, but his mastery of Iron Body was a bit unexpected.
Gin didn't have Sanji's natural advantage for learning Shave and Moonwalk, and since his offensive power was already sufficient, he focused primarily on the defensive Iron Body and the evasive Paper Art right from the start to cover his defensive shortcomings.
In addition, Allen had taught them two techniques tailored to their styles: the Sonic Punch and the Quick-Draw Punch.
To be precise, it was an improved Sonic Whip Kick tailored for Sanji, and a Quick-Draw Tonfa technique adapted for Gin's weapons.
The Sonic Whip Kick went without saying—it was one of Allen's most powerful moves. As for the Quick-Draw Punch, it was his fastest opening strike, and also his most showy technique.
Both of them had practiced well and could barely manage to use them once or twice in actual combat.
Although they were still far from using them with his level of absolute mastery, it was only a matter of time before they became proficient.
Their next goal, aside from mastering these two martial arts, was to develop advanced variations of the Six Powers they already knew and to learn the remaining techniques.
Given their rate of improvement, this goal wouldn't be hard to achieve. Allen's expectation was that by the time they reached the Sabaody Archipelago, both of them would at least be at the level of a mid-tier Super Rookie.
Sanji wasn't really a concern; his talent was simply absurd. He had barely faced any grueling, life-or-death battles along the way, yet his strength continued to grow by leaps and bounds.
In yesterday's battle, he first tangled with Killer, and later, when the Blackbeard Pirates appeared, Sanji went up against Burgess.
Although both fights were brief and ended without a clear victor, Sanji's composed performance was enough to prove his strength.
As for Gin, he was also improving rapidly. His talent was genuinely quite good; it only seemed ordinary when compared to a freak of nature like Sanji.
If Gin's strength could still suppress Sanji back in the East Blue, he had now been caught up to. At this rate, he would undoubtedly be completely surpassed by Sanji in the future.
Unless Gin ate that Ancient Type Devil Fruit, the Prehistoric Devil Flower Mantis model, he could only maintain his advantage as the crew's second... wait, third strongest fighter for a little while longer.
That's right, even if he ate that fruit, Gin wouldn't be able to secure the number two spot anymore. The current second strongest was Nami.
The Teru Teru Bozu's abilities were simply too broken. When it came to area-of-effect destruction, even Allen couldn't hold a candle to her. She was a bona fide walking natural disaster.
Sanji, Gin, and Killer could just tie for the position of the third strongest.
"Speaking of which, Gin, you still haven't eaten that fruit I gave you last time, have you?" Allen asked as he wiped his sweat with a towel, looking toward Gin, who was walking over to rest.
Gin paused for a moment, then nodded in response.
"Yes, I left that fruit in my room."
Allen had given him that Ancient Type fruit a while ago, but he hadn't eaten it yet. After all, he still had some reservations about the price of becoming an anchor in the sea.
Allen didn't say anything about it.
Having lived in this world for so long, serving as a Marine and now a pirate, he knew that many people deeply minded the idea of never being able to swim again for the rest of their lives.
Allen himself felt the same way. It was only because he had encountered a suitable and sufficiently powerful fruit that he ate it; otherwise, he wouldn't have consumed a Devil Fruit so easily.
And while that Prehistoric Devil Flower Mantis fruit was quite good, Allen wasn't going to force Gin to eat it.
Devil Fruits chose their users. If it was truly a good fit, there would naturally be a serendipitous moment to eat it.
For instance, right now, Allen was considering giving that fruit to Killer.
When he saw Killer at the hospital yesterday, he had inexplicably thought of this fruit, which was what prompted his spur-of-the-moment decision to bring Killer onto the ship in the first place.
Looking back on it now, Allen found it hard to say whether this was some sort of subtle twist of fate.
But there was no doubt that Killer, who used dual scythes as weapons and specialized in a swift, reaping combat style, was indeed a much better fit for this Devil Fruit's abilities than Gin.
"*Ahem*, about that fruit... I feel like it might be better suited for Killer. If you don't have a strong desire to eat it..."
Allen felt inexplicably a bit embarrassed as he said this.
Even though he was the one who bought it, he had already given it to Gin. Asking for it back now to give to someone else felt weird, as if he, the captain, was favoring an outsider over his own crew.
"...Killer? I understand. He really is more suited for that fruit than I am."
Gin didn't overthink it. He simply considered Killer's compatibility with the fruit, then couldn't help but express some concern.
"However, that guy doesn't seem to trust us yet. Is it really okay to give him such a powerful fruit?"
As he spoke, Gin turned his gaze toward the top of the ship's cabin. Killer was sitting on the edge of the roof, gazing out at the distant sea alone.
He had been on the ship for a day now, and during that time, he had barely spoken a word to anyone other than Allen. He had even given Sanji the cold shoulder.
"Don't worry, that guy won't try anything funny. Hand the fruit over to him later. I'll find you an even better one next time," Allen laughed, waving his hand dismissively.
In reality, Killer could be considered to have followed him completely voluntarily. He had his own plans in mind—not only to save Kid's life, but also to spur Kid's growth.
Allen had a rough idea of what he was thinking. Killer was turning himself into the driving force for Kid and the others to grow, which required an immense amount of trust.
Trusting that Kid wouldn't give up on him, and trusting that Kid would grow strong enough to defeat Allen. For this reason, Killer chose to sacrifice himself and board this ship.
Whether or not it was a praiseworthy act was another matter, but Allen greatly admired his courage and resolve.
His focus had previously been entirely on Kid, causing him to overlook the many shining qualities of this man who never showed his true face.
Allen withdrew his gaze, picked up a water cup from the nearby table, and took a sip.
Just then, Sham's shout suddenly rang out from the second floor.
"Boss! There's a call from the World Government!"