“Gahahahaha, kid Allen, do you want to join my fleet?” Seeing that Allen had agreed to join the Rocks Pirates, Golden Lion Shiki spoke up, wanting to recruit Allen into his own crew.
“Shiki, you’re dreaming.
If Allen is going to join anyone, it’s going to be my Whitebeard Pirates.” Upon hearing Shiki’s words, Whitebeard immediately got agitated.
Allen was truly to his liking, so he also stepped in to invite him.
“Newgate, this kid is a Great Swordsman.
Under my guidance, his strength could improve by leaps and bounds.” “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 exists.” “What did you say?
Newgate, do you want to fight?” “Bring it on.
Who do you think I am?
I am Whitebeard.” Newgate and Shiki continued to undermine each other in their struggle to win over Allen.
Seeing that both sides were about to come to blows, Rocks intervened.
After all, they were on a ship, and it couldn’t withstand those two causing a ruckus.
“Kid Allen, whose crew do you want to join?” Rocks threw the question to Allen.
“Let’s go with brother Newgate.” Allen pretended to think about it for a moment.
In truth, there was no need to think at all.
Having read the original work, Allen knew that Whitebeard was the only normal person on the entire ship.
As for the others, Big Mom and Shiki—one would destroy a country for sweets, and the other, after Rocks died, spent his days trying to imitate him to become the King of the World.
Even though Shiki was a Great Swordsman who could provide more help with swordsmanship, as Whitebeard had said, Golden Lion had tens of thousands of subordinates.
Between all the backstabbing and infighting, he wouldn’t have the energy to improve his strength.
As for Ochoku, Silver Axe, and John, the original work didn’t mention much about them, so he didn’t know them.
Therefore, joining Whitebeard’s crew was currently the best choice.
Besides his Devil Fruit Ability, Whitebeard was also a master of Haki, and what Allen lacked most right now was the method to awaken Armament Haki.
As for becoming an officer?
Sorry, he hadn’t thought about it.
Aren’t officers just wage earners anyway?
Besides, it was currently the year 1483 of the Marine Calendar.
The God Valley incident would break out in 1484, and wouldn’t everything just disband after the battle ended?
“Since you’ve decided, you can go with Newgate for now.” Upon hearing Allen’s thoughts, Rocks agreed immediately.
He likely felt that Shiki’s crew was too massive and feared it might pose a threat to him.
Whitebeard was different; he had never been keen on recruiting subordinates.
His entire fleet only consisted of about a hundred people, so even with Allen joining, it wouldn’t threaten him.
“Tch, short-sighted brat.
Be careful when you go out to sea; don’t die!” Seeing that his recruitment attempt had failed, Golden Lion threatened him as if joking.
“Shiki, are you saying that I’m not good enough?
Once we get back to Hachinosu, I’m going to hammer you into a golden cat.” Whitebeard said angrily, seeing Shiki threaten the crew member he favored.
“Bring it on.
Do you think I’m afraid of you?” …
And so, after sailing for another three days, they finally arrived at Hachinosu.
Allen’s sword had broken during the battle with Shiki, so he couldn’t do any sword swinging training for these three days.
As for his injuries, they were mostly healed by the second day after he woke up, so he was able to do some physical training.
The rest of the time, he was able to chat and shoot the breeze with Whitebeard, gaining some understanding of the people and events within the Rocks Pirates.
As for the other pirates, he didn’t have much interaction with them.
Allen couldn’t help but feel fortunate that he hadn’t followed Luffy’s example and set out to sea alone; drifting on this ocean by himself would have bored him to death.
After arriving at Hachinosu, the personnel from this voyage disbanded on the spot, each returning to their respective division’s base.
Allen followed Whitebeard to the team’s base, a multi-story building located on a street not far from the sea on the south side of the island.
“Boss, you’re back!
Our pirate crew has shown our might again this time.
The news has even started calling us the Kings of the New World.” Several unknown pirates ran out of the house to welcome Whitebeard.
“Gurarararara, isn’t that to be expected?
With Sengoku and Garp not around, the Marine branch was simply vulnerable.” Whitebeard answered with a laugh.
After entering the base, Allen looked around to observe the place where he would be living for the coming period.
Hearing that Whitebeard had returned, more and more pirates came to his side to greet him.
Seeing Allen by Whitebeard’s side, these people cast curious gazes at him.
Allen looked around and realized there were no members of the Whitebeard Pirates from the original story; he supposed those division commanders were still just little kids and would need some time before they could meet Whitebeard.
“This is Allen.
From now on, he will be the captain of my Third Division.” Seeing that most of his crew had arrived, Whitebeard introduced Allen to everyone.
“Hello everyone, I am Allen.
Please take care of me from now on.” Allen looked around and noticed that some people were wearing expressions of dissatisfaction.
He wasn’t too surprised; after all, it was normal for people to be dissatisfied when a newcomer became a division captain right after joining, especially when that newcomer was so young.
This was something Allen and Whitebeard had agreed upon while on the ship.
Allen didn’t care about the status of 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.
One must never overestimate the character of pirates.
In the eyes of the vast majority of pirates, strength is everything; if you don’t have the strength and get bullied, you have no one to blame but yourself.
“Boss, I don’t agree!
Why should a newcomer become our captain?” A person over three meters tall with well-developed muscles protested to Whitebeard.
This man was named Frien, a member of the Third Division.
If it weren’t for Allen, he would have been the most likely candidate to become the Third Division captain.
Now that his hope was dashed, Frien was naturally dissatisfied.
“Gurarararara, it’s simple.
Defeat Allen, and you will be the captain of the Third Division.” Whitebeard had clearly anticipated that someone would object, but he believed Allen could handle it.
Proposing this directly might also have been with the intention of helping Allen establish his authority and integrate into the crew faster.
“Are you serious?
Kid, do you dare to accept my challenge?” Frien asked Whitebeard, pleasantly surprised, and then looked at Allen.
“Of course.
If I lose, I don’t deserve to be your captain anyway.” Allen smiled confidently and then stood up, looking around.
“Could that brother over there lend me a sword?
My sword broke during the previous battle.” Allen asked a member who was holding a sword.
“No need.
Ross, go and bring that sword from the storeroom.” Whitebeard interrupted Allen.
“Yes, Boss.” A man beside Whitebeard responded and ran out of the room.
Before long, this person returned holding a double-edged sword that was entirely snow-white and handed it to Allen.
“This is the Snow Goose, one of the 50 Skillful Grade Swords.
It was a trophy from our last voyage, and it currently doesn’t have a suitable owner.” Whitebeard introduced it to Allen.
Allen picked up the sword and gently stroked it, feeling the patterns and texture of the blade.
It was indeed a fine sword.
“Then let me be its owner.” “Although I obtained this sword, it is a trophy belonging to the entire team.
Is it alright if you don’t participate in the share of the spoils from the next voyage?” Whitebeard asked when he saw that Allen liked it.
“No problem.” Trading the spoils of one voyage for a suitable weapon—Allen felt it was a very good deal.