A week later, in the waters near the New World summer island, Vini Island.
Under the clear sky, sailboats of all shapes and colors sailed across the sea, converging toward the distant island.
One of the ships was dark red all over, its figurehead shaped like a domineering, ferocious blood-red lion's head biting down on a broken chain.
After another week of sailing, the Freewill finally arrived at Vini Island, the host of the Pirate Expo. Everyone rushed out of the cabin with excited expressions.
"Look, Boss! It's so lively here!"
"So many pirates showed up, hahaha!"
The Nyaban Brothers leaned over the ship's rail with a crowd of crew members, cheering excitedly.
On the balcony, Gin hopped onto the railing and swept his gaze across the sea. Lowering his binoculars, the corners of his mouth curled up as he smiled. "The scale is much larger than I imagined. They say every time this is held, it gathers pirates with a combined bounty of over ten billion. You could absolutely call it the biggest festival in the pirate world."
"A combined bounty of over ten billion?!"
Nami, who had just walked out of the navigation room, was thoroughly spooked by Gin's words. She quickly held up her fingers and started counting. "Doesn't that equal one Allen... two Allens... three..."
"Hey, hey, don't use me as a unit of measurement, you stupid woman."
Allen walked up from behind, a cigar clamped in his mouth, and shoved Nami's head with his hand.
Nami puffed out her cheeks and shot him a glare over her shoulder.
A week ago, the day after Allen's call with Doffy, someone had tracked them down at sea and delivered an invitation to the Expo along with an Eternal Pose for Vini Island.
The distance wasn't too far. On the way here, they had even stopped to rest for two days on a deserted island they passed by.
Stepping up to the railing, Allen gazed out at the island in the distance.
Vini Island looked like a giant yellow swimming ring floating on the sea. Its surface was covered in large and small round holes like Swiss cheese, with columns of water constantly pouring out of them.
Like Water 7, Vini Island was a world-renowned water metropolis.
The difference was that Water 7 was famous for gathering the world's top shipwrights.
Vini Island, on the other hand, was famous for having the world's largest water park and a rich entertainment industry.
"A water park! Piles of bikini-clad beauties! I can't wait to get on the island, yohohoho!"
Sanji's eyes turned into hearts as he stared lecherously at the island. His nostrils flared and snorted like a bull, his mind already filled with all sorts of busty blonde beauties in bikinis.
As the Freewill slowly approached the island, the various pirate ships gathering around drew closer to Allen and his crew.
Among them, a pirate ship slightly smaller than theirs, shaped like a flamingo, deliberately pulled up alongside them.
Allen and the others turned to look and saw about a dozen figures standing along the edge of the other ship. Allen recognized several of the faces.
Pica, Diamante, Senor Pink, Gladius, Buffalo, and Baby 5.
They were all familiar officers of the Donquixote Family; even two of the top executives had come.
"Fuffuffuffu!"
In the air, a figure draped in a pink feather coat rapidly flipped and flew down.
Tap!
"Long time no see. Are these your crew members?"
Donquixote Doflamingo landed in a crouch on the balcony railing. Severing the strings he was manipulating, he looked at Allen with a teasing gaze and said, "Hey, hey, about that joint development of Fish-Man Island we talked about last time, how come I heard the Big Mom Pirates got involved too?"
"Just a minor friction, don't worry about it. Let's talk about the Expo instead."
Allen glanced at the officers on their ship and said in a playful tone, "You brought quite a few people with you. It doesn't look like you're just here to make an appearance. Could it be that you're also interested in the Dark-Dark Fruit?"
"It is the number one pirate festival, after all. It's only normal that my subordinates would want to come and broaden their horizons. As for the Dark-Dark Fruit, we'll just have to see who has the capability to take it. Fuffuffuffu!"
Doffy threw his head back and laughed, then added, "Don't worry, even if I get it, I'll consider selling it to you. However, our competitors are no pushovers. There's no telling whose hands the fruit will fall into."
"Competitors?"
Robin, standing nearby, couldn't help but ask, "Do you already know which pirates are participating in the festival?"
"Nico Robin... It's a wonder you've managed to hide on this ship for so long without being discovered by the World Government."
Doflamingo slowly shifted his gaze to Robin and smiled teasingly. "The ability to read Poneglyphs is far rarer than a Devil Fruit. Fuffuffuffu! Want to consider working under me, Nico Robin?"
"Don't get too arrogant, Doffy. Keep scheming for my people and I'll sink you into the sea right now."
Allen exhaled a puff of smoke, warning him with an unfriendly expression that made it clear he wasn't just making idle threats.
"Fuffuffuffu! Just a joke."
Seeing this, Doffy dropped the joking demeanor and said, "Anyway, as one of the organizers, even though I'm not in charge of the festival's content, I still have a few privileges. Here are the festival rules and the list of participating pirates."
"Although you'll find out later anyway, it never hurts to take an early look."
Saying that, Doffy pulled a list from his coat and tossed it over.
Allen caught the list.
"The festival doesn't start until noon, so you can go have fun on the island first. We'll see each other then. Have a good time, everyone. Fuffuffuffu!"
With that, Doffy leaped away, returning to the flamingo ship and sailing off with his subordinates.
Allen opened the document containing the rules and the roster, and Nami and the others leaned in, poking their heads over to look.
"Pirate Festival Grand Brawl... Four stages of selection... The final winner's prize: the special Logia-type Dark-Dark Fruit..."
"Round one is a team kayak race. Pirate crews with a single member possessing a bounty over one hundred million Berries may advance directly to the second round of selection."
"That's crazy! Only pirates with a bounty of one hundred million Berries qualify for the second round?"
Seeing the first selection rule, Nami couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.
Sanji suddenly thought of something and spoke up. "Wait a minute, how does that work for us? When Allen became a Warlord of the Sea, all our bounties were revoked by the World Government, right? Will the organizers count our original bounties?"
"No, the rules mention that right here."
Robin placed her finger on the rule explanation and read, "The second round of selection is an around-the-island swimming relay race. The top ten contestants from the first round, as well as the Warlords of the Sea, are exempt from racing and may advance directly to the third round."
"So that means we don't have to participate in the first or second rounds of selection."
"The organizers are quite considerate."
"I see the competition rules state that any means necessary can be used. The organizers are probably just afraid that the Warlords would eliminate too many contestants in the first and second rounds."
Sanji and the others chimed in one after another.
After reading through the Expo's details, Allen pulled out the roster and scanned it from top to bottom.
They wouldn't have known if they hadn't looked, but upon seeing it, Nami and the others were all taken aback.
"Basically all the Supernovas are here. Have they all entered the New World?"
"Even the Warlords of the Sea, who couldn't even be fully assembled for the Summit War, are here. To think that guy Hawkeye would actually participate in this kind of competition."
Allen found it a bit unbelievable.
Looking further down, the pirates participating in the Expo were more and more outrageous.
"Big Mom Pirates representative, Katakuri. Animal Kingdom Pirates representative, King the Conflagration. Red Hair Pirates..."
"Wait a minute, the Red Hair Pirates?!"
Allen blinked, widening his eyes to take another look.
There was no "representative" listed; it just said "Red Hair Pirates."
'Are you kidding me? We came all this way just for you to tell me the entire Red Hair crew is participating?!'
'How the hell am I supposed to compete with that?!'