“Gahahahaha!
Kid Allen, do you want to join my fleet?” Seeing that Twilight Allen had agreed to join the Rocks Pirates, Golden Lion Shiki spoke up immediately, hoping to recruit the young swordsman into his own crew.
“Shiki, you’re dreaming,” Whitebeard interjected, instantly getting agitated.
Allen was truly to his liking, so he stepped in to invite him as well.
“If Allen is going to join anyone’s crew, it’s going to be my Whitebeard Pirates.” “Newgate, this kid is a great swordsman.
Under my guidance, his strength could improve by leaps and bounds!” Shiki argued, gesturing with his hands.
“Tch!
Your crew has nearly ten thousand members, Shiki.
Can you even handle guiding them all?
Don’t let it get to the point where you forget someone like Allen even exists,” Whitebeard scoffed.
“What did you say?!
Newgate, do you want to fight right now?” Shiki bared his teeth, his temper flaring.
“Bring it on!
Who do you think I am?
I am Whitebeard!” Newgate and Shiki continued to undermine each other, bickering back and forth in their struggle to win over Allen.
Seeing that both sides were about to actually come to blows, Rocks finally intervened.
After all, they were on his main ship, and the vessel simply couldn’t withstand those two causing a massive ruckus.
“Kid Allen, whose crew do you want to join?” Rocks asked, throwing the final question directly to Allen.
“Let’s go with Brother Newgate,” Allen replied, pretending to think about it for a moment before making his choice.
In truth, there was no need to think about it at all.
Having read the original story in his past life, Allen knew that Whitebeard was practically the only normal person on this entire ship.
As for the others, Big Mom and Shiki were completely unreliable—one would literally destroy an entire country just for sweets, and the other spent his days trying to become the King of the World after Rocks died.
Even though Shiki was a legendary Great Swordsman who could technically provide more direct help with swordsmanship, Whitebeard’s point was entirely accurate.
The Golden Lion had tens of thousands of subordinates under his command.
Between all the backstabbing, infighting, and chaos, Shiki wouldn’t have the time or energy to help him improve.
As for Ochoku, Silver Axe, and Captain John, the original work never mentioned much about their personalities, so he didn’t want to risk joining them.
Therefore, joining Whitebeard’s division was currently his best choice.
Besides his massive Devil Fruit ability, Whitebeard was also an absolute master of Haki.
What Allen lacked most right now was a proper method to awaken Beginner Armament Haki.
As for becoming a major officer?
Sorry, he hadn’t even thought about it.
Aren’t officers just glorified wage earners anyway?
Besides, it was currently the year 1483 of the Marine Calendar.
The legendary God Valley incident would break out in 1484, meaning this entire pirate group would just disband after the battle ended next year anyway.
“Since you’ve decided, you can go with Newgate for now,” Rocks agreed immediately upon hearing Allen’s choice.
The captain likely felt that Shiki’s fleet was already getting too massive, fearing it might pose a threat to his own absolute authority.
Whitebeard was different; he had never been keen on aggressively recruiting subordinates.
His entire personal fleet only consisted of about a hundred people, so even with Allen joining, it wouldn’t threaten Rocks’s position.
“Tch, what a short-sighted brat.
Be careful when you go out to sea; try not to die!” Seeing that his recruitment attempt had failed, Golden Lion threatened him with a sharp grin, acting as if he were just joking.
“Shiki, are you saying that I’m not good enough to keep him alive?
Once we get back to Hachinosu, I’m going to hammer you into a golden cat,” Whitebeard said angrily, stepping in front of Allen to protect the newcomer he favored.
“Bring it on!
Do you think I’m afraid of you?” Shiki snapped back.
Part 2 And so, after sailing for another three days, the ship finally arrived at Hachinosu.
Allen’s sword had broken during his brief clash with Shiki, so he couldn’t do any standard sword swinging training during these three days.
Fortunately, his injuries were mostly healed by the second day after he woke up, allowing him to at least do some basic physical conditioning.
The rest of the time, he passed the hours by chatting and shooting the breeze with Whitebeard, gaining a much better understanding of the different personalities and events within the Rocks Pirates.
As for the ordinary pirates on deck, he didn’t have much interaction with them.
Allen couldn’t help but feel fortunate that he hadn’t followed Luffy’s example by setting out to sea completely alone; drifting on this endless ocean by himself would have bored him to death.
After arriving at the shores of Hachinosu, the personnel from this voyage disbanded on the spot, each returning to their respective division bases.
Allen followed Whitebeard to his crew’s personal base, which turned out to be a multi-story wooden building located on a bustling street, not too far from the sea on the south side of the island.
“Boss, you’re back!
Our pirate crew showed our might again this time.
The newspapers have even started calling us the Kings of the New World!” Several unknown pirates ran out of the house, cheering loudly to welcome Whitebeard back.
“Gurarararara!
Isn’t that to be expected?
With Sengoku and Garp nowhere near the area, that Marine branch was simply vulnerable,” Whitebeard answered with a booming laugh.
After entering the base, Allen looked around to observe the place where he would be living for the foreseeable future.
Hearing that Whitebeard had returned, more and more pirates gathered around to greet him.
Seeing Allen standing right by Whitebeard’s side, these crew members cast curious, sizing-up gazes at him.
Allen looked around the room and realized there were no recognizable members of the Whitebeard Pirates from the original story yet; he supposed those future division commanders were still just little kids right now and would need some time before they finally met Whitebeard.
“Listen up, everyone.
This is Allen.
From now on, he will be the captain of my Third Division,” Whitebeard introduced Allen to the crowd as soon as most of his crew had arrived.
“Hello everyone, I am Twilight Allen.
Please take care of me from now on,” Allen said, looking around.
He instantly noticed that quite a few people in the room were wearing clear expressions of dissatisfaction.
He wasn’t surprised at all.
After all, it was perfectly normal for veteran pirates to be upset when a complete newcomer became a division captain right after joining, especially when that newcomer looked so young.
This rank was something Allen and Whitebeard had actually agreed upon while still on the ship.
Allen didn’t care about the status of being an officer, but he couldn’t have zero standing either.
Otherwise, he would be annoyed to death by every small fry coming to cause trouble for him.
One must never overestimate the moral character of pirates.
In the eyes of the vast majority of outlaws, strength is everything; if you don’t have the power and get bullied, you have no one to blame but yourself.
“Boss, I don’t agree!
Why should a newcomer instantly become our captain?!” A man standing over three meters tall with massive, well-developed muscles stepped forward to protest directly to Whitebeard.
This man was named Frien, a veteran member of the Third Division.
If it weren’t for Allen’s sudden arrival, he would have been the most likely candidate to take over as the Third Division captain.
Now that his hopes were completely dashed, Frien was naturally furious.
“Gurarararara!
It’s simple, Frien.
Defeat Allen in combat, and you will be the captain of the Third Division,” Whitebeard laughed.
He had clearly anticipated that someone would object, but he fully believed Allen could handle the challenge.
Proposing this directly was his way of helping Allen establish absolute authority and integrate into the crew much faster.
“Are you serious, Boss?
Kid, do you actually dare to accept my challenge?” Frien asked, pleasantly surprised by Whitebeard’s response, before turning a glaring gaze toward Allen.
“Of course.
If I lose, I don’t deserve to be your captain anyway,” Allen said, smiling confidently as he stood up and looked around the room.
“Could that brother over there lend me a sword?
My own weapon broke during our previous battle.” He asked a nearby crew member who was holding a blade.
“No need for that.
Ross, go and bring that specific sword down from the storeroom,” Whitebeard interrupted, stopping the crew member.
“Yes, Boss!” A man standing beside Whitebeard responded instantly and ran out of the room.
Before long, Ross returned holding a double-edged sword that was entirely snow-white and carefully handed it over to Allen.
“This is the Snow Goose, one of the Fifty Skillful Grade Swords.
It was a major trophy from our last voyage, and it currently doesn’t have a suitable owner,” Whitebeard introduced, watching Allen’s reaction.
Allen picked up the weapon and gently ran his fingers along the blade, feeling the beautiful patterns and perfect texture of the steel.
It was indeed an incredible sword.
“Then let me become its owner.” “Although I obtained this sword, it is still a trophy belonging to the entire team.
Is it alright with you if you don’t participate in the share of the spoils from our next voyage?” Whitebeard asked when he saw how much Allen liked it.
“No problem at all,” Allen replied smoothly.
Trading his share of the spoils from just one voyage for a perfectly suitable, high-grade weapon—he felt it was a fantastic deal.