Chapter 5: cursed energy
The loud laughter of the pirates mingled with the unfamiliar motifs of a song, came from the ceiling. The dark room welcomed the cold floor and the damp, dank air. These sensations surrounded Allen as he slowly came to his senses after a deep sleep.
He struggled to open his eyelids, which didn't want to open, as if resisting the possibility of seeing a new reality. He looked around the dark room for a few fleeting seconds, hoping that everything he'd been through lately was just another nightmare. But the reality was cruel.
The cold floor beneath him was a reminder of the cruel truth. There was no cozy couch here, no soft warmth of home. The room, steeped in darkness, was drenched in a heavy, foul odor, and the air was permeated with cold. His hands whimpered with the pain of the iron handcuffs. Home, his native place, filled with warmth and loved ones, now existed only in his memories.
A bitter sigh escaped his lips. He accepted this new reality with terrifying swiftness, and the weight of despair came over him like a heavy stone. Grudgingly, he shifted to a sitting position, and the chains attached to his handcuffs jingled softly.
"Are you awake?" A quiet voice reached him from the shadows. It was the voice of a boy, soft yet strained, as though he had grown accustomed to speaking in whispers.
"Who is that?"
"Eden," the boy replied. The sound of chains followed his words as he shifted slightly in the darkness. "I'm in captivity too."
A humorless chuckle escaped Allen's lips. "Lucky us," he muttered, shaking his head faintly. "How long have you been here?"
"I don't know, I haven't counted the days, but probably more than two weeks," he answered quietly.
This answer surprised Allen.
"You got here from one of their past raids?
"Yeah," Eden murmured, his voice tinged with resignation.
Allen sighed, leaning his head back against the rough wooden wall. The pirates' laughter from above seemed even more mocking now, a cruel contrast to the misery below. "Do you know who they are?"
"The Red Apple Pirates," Eden said softly. "They're strong—dangerously strong. The bounty on their captain… I don't remember the exact number, but it's over fifty million."
At those words, a shockwave of realization swept through Allen's body. His thoughts raced frantically. Fifty million? Many images of the knowledge he had gleaned from One Piece immediately appeared in his mind, desperately trying to make sense of the situation.
Fifty million... His heart pounded in his chest as he tried to realize the reality of what was happening. What sea am I in? Could I be on the Grand Line? The thought sent a chill down his spine.
Memories of One Piece flashed through his mind, of the cruel Arlong with his sharp teeth and brute strength. What was Arlong's bounty? Allen tried to remember, but his thoughts were jumbled. No more than thirty million, right?
He remembered how while watching the anime, Arlong seemed too strong but was eventually defeated, but soon enough, Arlong's strength seemed no more than average. But now, in this harsh reality, he realized how powerful he and his kind were. Arlong could lift entire houses with ease and shoot water droplets like bullets.
At first, Allen hesitated to ask, fearing it might make him sound strange, but his need for information outweighed the risk. "What sea are we in now?"
Eden blinked, caught off guard by the question. "What? Well, the pirates haven't left the island yet."
"Yeah, but do you know what ocean we're in?"
Eden shot him a quizzical look, his tone skeptical. "Have you been living here all this time and never wondered?"
Allen waved the question away with a sigh. "It's complicated. Just answer."
"We're in North Blue," he replied, though his voice carried an undertone of suspicion. Allen's strange questions clearly piqued his curiosity.
Allen was silent again for a few seconds, trying to recall information about this ocean. And he was immediately able to realize that this ocean was far more dangerous than the one Luffy had started with. This ocean is the home of Sanji, Doflamingo's pirates, and many other incredibly dangerous guys.
"Do you know who they want to sell us to?"
"Nope," Eden replied softly. "They don't tell us anything. But whoever it is, I doubt they're the sort of people you'd want to meet."
Allen sighed heavily. Although the pirates had no intention of killing him, the prospect of being sold as merchandise kept him in a state of anxiety. His thoughts were focused on revenge - he wanted only one thing: to escape and destroy as many of these monsters as possible. But he realized that escape would not be easy, and if he were to fight the pirates now, he would simply die
He closed his eyes, deep in thought. He didn't have much time. The pirates would most likely keep him alive, but they would feed him so that he simply wouldn't die. It would be useless to train his body under these conditions, but Allen had another advantage, something that set him apart from ordinary captives. He knew about haki. Moreover, he possessed a gift - cursed energy. He had already used it once, albeit unknowingly, when he had slew a pirate.
His face, hidden in the shadowy room, was set in fierce determination. Allen knew that haki had taken Luffy and the others over a year of grueling training to master, and they had trained with some of the best masters in the world. He couldn't expect to reach that level of mastery so quickly. But cursed energy… that was different. He had already used it, if only briefly. It was a power he could call upon—he just needed to learn how to control it.
Allen's mind replayed the scenes from Jujutsu Kaisen, focusing on what Gojo had explained in the manga. Cursed energy is born from negative emotions. And if there was one thing Allen had in abundance right now, it was negativity — fear, anger.
Eden's voice broke through Allen's concentration. "What's your name?" the boy asked.
Allen blinked, momentarily distracted. "What?"
"You never said your name," Eden repeated.
"Allen," he replied, his thoughts already drifting back to his inner focus.
Suddenly the floor beneath them shook slightly, and a shout came from the deck: "Bastard!" The sounds of drunkenness didn't stop, there was shouting and laughter.
"What was that?" - Allen asked.
"They get drunk after a successful raid. Sometimes someone starts a fight—it's nothing new."
"Figures," Allen muttered.
A few moments passed before Eden spoke again, his voice thick with fatigue. "I'm going to sleep."
"Yeah, okay," Allen nodded, though he doubted Eden could see him in the dark. He heard the clinking of chains as Eden shifted into whatever position he could manage, then silence as the boy drifted into a restless sleep.
Alone with his thoughts, Allen felt the darkness of the room close in around him. But instead of despair, something else stirred within him—resolve. He had no intention of letting the pirates sell him off like livestock. If anything, this was his opportunity. His mind returned to the cursed energy. Slowly, he raised his hand in front of him, closed his eyes, and concentrated.
In his mind, Allen went over the fundamentals of cursed energy, again and again, recalling every detail from Jujutsu Kaisen. He drew from his negative emotions—the fear, the anger, the hatred that bubbled within him—and tried to summon the cursed energy to his hand. But each time he tried, he failed. The energy eluded him, slipping through his grasp like smoke.
He wasn't discouraged. He recited the principles again, reaffirming his understanding of how cursed energy was supposed to work. Then he tried again, and again, each time pushing past the frustration that threatened to cloud his focus. Hours passed in this dark, silent battle, with only the occasional sounds from the deck breaking the stillness.
Finally, after what felt like an eternity, he felt it—a flicker of cursed energy. It was faint, like a whisper at the edge of his senses, but it was there. The sensation was strange, foreign, but exhilarating. He concentrated harder, guiding the energy into his hand. It grew stronger, more substantial. Allen gritted his teeth and continued practicing, molding the cursed energy to his will.
By the time the faint light of dawn began to creep into the room, Allen had achieved something remarkable. The energy was now more familiar to him, easier to summon. It wasn't yet second nature, but it was progress—a step toward mastering the power he would need to survive.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone