Allen had captured Hina and Tashigi as hostages, but was that actually a good thing?

Having a lieutenant and a captain on board carried its own risks. Perhaps Allen and Uta would be safe and could stop both women with little effort, but it was impossible for them to keep an eye on them at all times.

'I suppose Allen is going to build a prison for them both,' Nami thought.

A modification like that shouldn't be too expensive. They could even place it below deck or inside the storage hold, which was fairly large. However, Allen had other plans.

"You understand that I can't simply trust your word, right?"

Hina frowned before pulling a pistol from behind her back and tossing it at Allen's feet. Then she looked at Tashigi. The young woman pressed her lips together, sheathed her katana, and placed it on the floor before stepping back.

"I like your initiative," Allen said, "but I'm afraid that isn't enough. Especially with the strength of a captain. I don't want a hole appearing in my beautiful Black Pearl."

"What more do you want?!" Tashigi growled.

"As a matter of fact, I have a perfect ability for this. It doesn't have to be both of you. I'm sure that, with hearts full of justice, neither of you would abandon your companion just to save yourselves. Of course, unless you're exemplary Marines like Captain Morgan and Captain Nezumi," Allen mocked.

Tashigi blushed with anger, but she couldn't refute him. It was a disgrace that two East Blue captains had behaved so dishonorably.

"Fine. Do it to me," Hina said.

The determination in her eyes was worthy of a true Marine captain, unlike Morgan and Nezumi.

"No, wait! I'll do it!" Tashigi shouted.

The girl could be stubborn and despise pirates, but she couldn't allow a superior like Hina to put herself in danger before she did.

"Both of you are good Marines," Uta said with a smile.

Kaya wore a complicated expression. Although she had seen with her own eyes what the Marines had allowed in Nami's homeland, she still believed there were good people within the organization. Of course, after joining Allen's crew, she had already prepared herself mentally for situations like this. Even so, deep down she remained the kindest-hearted girl among them.

"Step back, Lieutenant Tashigi. That's an order!" Hina frowned.

Tashigi had no choice but to obey, though she continued to glare at Allen suspiciously.

"Your name is Hina, right?" Allen asked.

He walked until he was standing in front of the beautiful pink-haired woman, who had the strange habit of occasionally speaking in the third person.

"Yes," Hina answered firmly.

"You're a good woman..." he said shamelessly.

Under everyone's gaze, Allen thrust his hand through Hina's chest. When he withdrew it, he was holding Hina's beating heart.

"Mes..."

All of the girls froze in shock. They couldn't understand why Allen had killed her.

"Bastard!"

Tashigi charged at Allen and, without hesitation, punched him in the face, knocking him to the ground. Due to his defense, however, it didn't even hurt him.

"How could you?!" Tashigi cried.

There were very few women in the Marines, and Tashigi, who aspired to become stronger, admired Hina as a woman who had reached the rank of captain through her own merit.

"Allen?" Nami asked.

The young man simply smiled from the floor, still holding a heart in his hand. Soon, however, they noticed something.

There was no blood.

The heart was inside some kind of transparent cube.

Most importantly, it never stopped beating.

"Calm down... Tashigi..." Hina said.

Tashigi turned around in fright upon hearing Hina's voice and stared at the pink-haired woman in disbelief. She wasn't injured. Her clothes weren't even damaged.

And yet everyone had seen Allen pierce her chest and pull out her heart.

"What did you do?" Hina asked.

Allen stood up while holding the rapidly beating heart, as though it were conveying Hina's thoughts.

"Mes... It's a technique that allows me to extract parts of a person without severing their connection to the body. You can think of it as your heart being here while also remaining in its original place at the same time," Allen explained with a grin.

When his "fight" with Garp had ended, he still had eight million left, which he had spent on one-million-cost abilities.

One of them was the basic freezing skill from the Ice Logia, and another was this skill called "Mes," from the Paramecia-type Devil Fruit Ope Ope no Mi, which allowed Allen to do things like this. However, since it was only a basic skill, he needed to physically touch someone to use it, unlike the original user.

"Impossible..." Hina gasped in disbelief for a moment before quickly calming down. It was strange. She could still feel her heart beating even though it was no longer inside her body.

Tashigi turned pale. Even if Hina wasn't dead, that meant her life was entirely in Allen's hands.

"Come on, don't look so grim. As I said, I have a code. I don't plan on locking you in a prison with chains on a wall. Just understand that Hina's life depends on the two of you behaving yourselves."

Allen gave Nami a nod.

She entered his cabin and returned with a small chest, which she carried over to him. Allen placed Hina's heart inside before handing the chest to Nami, who carried it back into the captain's cabin.

"Hina understands," Hina said before glaring at Tashigi.

The girl had lost control earlier. If she did so again, she could get herself killed.

Of course, Hina wasn't truly angry at Tashigi. She had simply reacted to Hina's "death," which was actually touching.

"I'm sorry," Tashigi said, bowing to Allen.

"Oh, I'm glad you're not as impulsive as you seem."

Tashigi gritted her teeth. Allen made it incredibly difficult for people to apologize to him. His attitude was simply too irritating.

With that settled, Allen asked the girls to lend both women some clothes. It would be strange for two Marines to walk around a pirate ship in uniform.

Neither of them refused, since it was already humiliating enough to have been captured so easily.

Tashigi ended up wearing short denim shorts and a floral shirt.

As for Hina, she wore long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. When she smoked, she gave off the image of a yakuza, but it was an oddly pleasant contrast to have a woman like that on board.

With both women now acting as "hostages" who looked more like new crew members, Allen even built them a room below deck near the side cannons.

He even hinted that if they officially joined the crew, he would give them individual rooms.

Hina politely declined, while Tashigi declared that she would rather jump overboard than join a pirate crew.

Allen simply shrugged at her refusal.

Lenalee had the strange feeling that Allen was trying to seduce—or corrupt—both women into deserting the Marines, which was absurd.

....

(A couple of hours later)

"Captain, there are ships ahead!" Nami shouted.

Allen stepped out of his cabin and walked over to Nami, who looked at him with confidence and a smile.

"What should we do, Captain?~"

Ever since they left Loguetown, Nami had occasionally called him captain, especially during moments like these.

It was no longer a joke as it had been at the beginning, but a title spoken with respect and trust.

"Oh~" A half-smile appeared on Allen's face when he saw the five ships ahead.

"What do you see, Nojiko?" he asked.

The blue-haired girl had climbed to the crow's nest atop the main mast, where she had a better view of the distance.

"They aren't Marines, and they don't have pirate flags!" Nojiko shouted, while looking through a spyglass.

"If they're not pirates or Marines, then they can only be bounty hunters," Allen said before laughing.

He vanished and reappeared on the figurehead at the bow.

"Greed is dangerous. Many have fallen because of it," he mocked.

[I'm not sure we're the best people to talk about greed.]

Allen is raising his hand. This caused Wicked Wench's abdomen to open, revealing the massive cannon mouth within.

In the distance, the bounty hunter ships immediately began moving out of the firing line. Unfortunately for them, they had no idea what they were facing.

Most likely, the news from Loguetown hadn't reached them yet, and they simply saw Allen as a walking bag of gold.

The metallic sound of reloading echoed through the ship, and the girls covered their ears.

Hina and Tashigi heard it as well, though neither understood what was happening and simply watched Allen.

Neither of them believed mere bounty hunters could threaten him. Besides, the ships were still far away.

'What are his plans? And what's that noise?' Hina thought.

A bead of sweat appeared on her cheek.

Looking at Allen, she saw eyes as calm as the depths of the ocean. His upright posture reflected a composure unimaginable for someone his age.

Rather than a rookie, he seemed like a veteran pirate.

'Who is this guy?'

*BOOM*

A deafening explosion shook the sea.

Tashigi and Hina fell to the deck, completely unprepared for the impact.

Not even a second later, the ocean erupted ten km (6.2mi) away along with two ships.

One lost its entire bow. The other lost its entire stern. They weren't ordinary ships. They were galleons.

Massive vessels built to carry crews of more than fifty people.

Two of them had been destroyed without any chance to respond.

"Impossible!" Hina exclaimed.

A ship's cannons had a range of roughly three thousand meters (1.8mi), but their effective lethality was only between three hundred and one thousand meters, (980-3200 ft).

A cannon capable of destroying ships ten kilometers away was absurd.

"What kind of weapon is that?!" Tashigi shouted at Allen.

This black ship was simply impossible.

Its speed was terrifying.

It could move according to its captain's will.

And now it possessed a hidden weapon this destructive?

Allen turned toward the girl, who was staring at him with fear hidden beneath her aggression, and couldn't help but smile.

"This? It's a cannon. A very big one. I like to call it Wicked Wench's Wrath. A true weapon worthy of the future King's ship..." Allen said with a mocking grin as he watched both women turn pale.

They understood the implications of such a weapon.

There was no answer to it.

An ambush with Marine warships?

This thing could destroy ships from such a distance that retaliation would be impossible.

It was a threat to any vessel that dared attack the Black Pearl.

Smiles appeared on Uta's and Nami's faces.

Of course, Allen hadn't told the two women that the cannon had a weakness and could only be fired once every ten minutes.

He also hadn't told them it could be upgraded.

It was better to let their imaginations run wild.

Although Allen was impulsive, shameless, selfish, and proud enough to give everyone headaches, he wasn't stupid.

At the very least, he understood that when these women were eventually released, the Marines would think twice before constantly pursuing them at sea.

Of course, they would still need to be careful whenever they landed on an island.

But at least they could relax while sailing.

After witnessing two galleons destroyed by a ship barely visible on the horizon, the remaining bounty hunter ships immediately turned around and abandoned any idea of hunting Allen and his crew.

In this world, if you want respect, you must demonstrate strength.

That is why, even if the World Government or the Marines consider you the worst scum in existence, they won't provoke you lightly.

That is how the Emperors of the Sea rule the New World without Marine interference.

The Black Pearl didn't bother chasing the remaining bounty hunters and instead continued toward Reverse Mountain, which was already visible in the distance.

Nami, Nojiko, Kaya, Uta, and even Allen were left speechless by the sight of the Red Line.

[It's like a gigantic wall...]

Even Lenalee, perhaps the most mysterious existence in the world, couldn't hide her surprise.

"It doesn't look natural..." Allen murmured.

He couldn't remember why, but he had the feeling that the Red Line was something unnatural.

For starters, it was literally a massive continent that wrapped around the world like a giant wall.

It rose ten kilometers above sea level and extended another ten kilometers beneath the ocean.

As for its width, even its narrowest sections stretched for several kilometers.

At that moment, the world began to slow down, and a familiar sensation returned to him.

....

Allen sat in his chair while a maid Jalter served him coffee with a look of feigned humiliation, as though asking, "Is that really all you're going to ask of me after abandoning me for so long?"

Of course, she would never admit it, being a proper tsundere.

Understanding her body language, Allen pulled her onto his lap.

"What are you doing?!" she shouted.

Jalter's face was red with anger and embarrassment, yet she made no real effort to escape.

Tony – Seriously, brother, stop eating bread in front of the poor.

"Is the great Tony Stark jealous of me?" Allen mocked.

Tony – That was before. You know things have changed...

Rebecca – Pfft. Looks like, unlike Allen, someone got domesticated instead of the other way around~

Tony – Ugh...

Gwen – First of all, I'm glad you managed to get out of that situation. It was extremely dangerous.

Annie – I almost had a heart attack watching you attack that old monster!

Unohana – Ara, I always had complete faith that my husband would get out of it safely~

Nanao – Sure... that's why you almost used your Bankai in the living room...

Unohana – Ara ara~ What was that?

Nanao – Nothing!

Shizuka – Allen-chan, I'm feeling a little lonely. Can I come visit you?~

"Of course. I'll be here for a few hours," Allen smiled.

Once Pandora's box had been opened, more girls expressed their desire to visit Allen's house, though some were frustrated that they couldn't.

Rias – I really thought it would be our turn this time. Sigh

Akeno – Ufufu... what a shame. You'll just have to make it up to us when our turn comes~

Lucy – Ugh, that sounds a little inappropriate, doesn't it?

Akeno – Ara? As his fiancée, haven't you given yourself to him yet?

Lucy – What?! Don't say things like that here!

Erza – Well, a demon's common sense is somewhat different from that of an ordinary person...

Akeno – Oh... that tone of voice. Don't tell me~

Erza – (disconnected)

Allen laughed at the comments.

The girls came from such different worlds that watching their clashing common sense was sometimes hilarious.

Kratos – Hey, what do you think will happen from now on?

Allen leaned back in his chair.

"Well, Garp's 'defeat' was a turning point. Honestly, I would have preferred not to attract so much attention yet."

"At the very least, I wanted to give the girls time to become stronger first. But as always, luck was against me..."

Eve – The Marines are going to become very aggressive toward you. And from what I've seen, I don't think those two women will be much help.

MJ – The Marines have a lot of bastards, but the real problem is the World Government. If they gave the order, the Marines would attack you even if it meant sacrificing Hina and Tashigi.

"That's true. In the end, the Marines in One Piece are just another servant of Imu... I only hope Imu doesn't make a move anytime soon. The Ancient Weapons under his control are still too dangerous for me right now..."

At that moment, Felicia knocked on the door and peeked inside.

To the Chat, she appeared only as a blurry image of a mysterious albino woman.

To Allen, however, a beautiful woman in lingerie stood there looking at him seductively.

"Well... I have something to take care of. See you later..."

Allen stood up and carried Jalter in his arms while walking toward Felicia and sharing a kiss with her.

"What are you doing?! I'm still here!" Jalter growled.

Whether it was jealousy, embarrassment, or both, even she wasn't sure.

Allen laughed and kissed her on the cheek.

"Sorry, but it's been seventeen years..." he said with a look that made both girls blush.

In One Piece, he still didn't have any women.

For the Allen of that world, who lacked memories, it was already difficult living surrounded by beauties.

For the Allen who remembered all of his girlfriends, it was practically impossible not to take advantage of every opportunity when he returned to that world.

At that moment, the interdimensional door opened and Shizuka and Kyoko from HOTD entered.

Soon afterward, Unohana from Bleach arrived through another door, followed by Eve and Amanda from Invincible, and finally, Kimiki and Annie appeared.

Allen snapped his fingers and the doors sealed shut; the women looked at him in confusion before noticing his gaze, which was like that of a dragon in heat.

Without saying another word, Allen proceeded to slow down time in the apartment, which soon filled with women's screams and moans.

====

A/N: The economy is so bad that we have to recruit crew members from all over. 🍷🗿