"WOW!" Alec exclaimed excitedly, as the sea breeze rushed into his face and ruffled his hair. From his and Alex's current position at the top of Zenith's center most mast, they could see miles in any direction as the great ship charged through the ocean waters below.
And it truly was a great ship as, after Alex's recent string of power ups as he unlocked SSJ3 and 4, the familiar ship had grown to equal even numerous cruise ships in size and luxury, even while retaining its original wooden charm. Zenith was so large now that it had no problem holding as many people as were currently on it, allowing Alex and the others to spend the next three days comfortably during their fishing trip.
This was also of course the first time Alex brought along Alec on one of their 'guys only' trips, and the little Saiyan was loving every moment of it so far. Of course though Alex had to promise the girls and younger boys that he'd do something with them as well soon, not that he minded at all.
Along with them was the usual group of guys that Alex invited, as well as new attendees like Azazel, Zeoticus, Michael, Sirzechs with several members of his peerage, Cao Cao, Tobio Ikuse, Dulio, mini Tannin, Wukong, mini Yu-Long, and even Odin along with several other gods. If someone saw them then they would would probably mistake them for the greatest war party ever assembled, instead of simply a group of guys hanging out as they did guy things.
Currently they were all relaxing down below while Alex was showing Alec the crows nest, any formalities forgotten as they drank various types of alcohol and chatted amongst themselves, the scent of grilling meat wafting through the air as Sona's 'Rook', Loup Garou, prepared some of the meat from his stock.
"Are you hungry?" Alex asked his son, to which the little boy nodded excitedly while Alex was sure he saw some drool working its way down Alec's chin as the smell of grilling meat drifted up to them.
Making sure to hold the little Saiyan tightly, Alex leaned back against the edge of the crows nest before he let gravity take over, and dropped straight down to the deck below where he landed firmly on his feet.
"Let's do that again!" Alec cried out excitedly, to which Alex asked wryly,
"Weren't we going to get something to eat?" With the reminder of food, Alec's stomach roared as the little boy jumped down, and raced over towards Loup to request some meat.
"WAHAHAHAHA! When I gave you this familiar before I knew it grow to be something interesting, but seeing this even I can't help but to be amazed!" A giant of a man suddenly boomed as he approached Alex, none other than one of Sirzechs' 'Rooks', Sutr Second. Next to him was a man dressed in a crimson robe that gave from a creepy aura, who said with undisguised exasperation,
"You really need to fix that loud voice of yours Sutr, how are we supposed to even catch anything on this trip if you scare everything away just by talking?" Rather than take his companion's advice, Sutr simply issued another thunderous laugh as he remarked,
"I don't know about you Macgregor, but I only plan to try and bring up the monsters from down deep on the ocean floor! Not the puny little minnows under the surface!" Macgregor, Sirzechs' 'Bishop', only sighed while shaking his head at his companion, before saying to Alex,
"Sorry about him, and thank you for inviting us as well. This is a nice change of pace after the last few years for us." Alex however waved away his thanks and replied,
"Don't mention it, I always try to do one of these trips at least once a year and I'm never one to turn down good company. If you want to 'thank' me, then relax and enjoy yourselves to the fullest over the next few days, that's what this trip is for anyways." Bowing his head in response to Alex, Macgregor and Sutr Second left a minute later to find something to eat, while the latter promised to have another drinking match against Alex later. Naturally Alex didn't mention to the giant that he couldn't get drunk anymore, and simply decided to use the chance to wipe the floor with the behemoth of a man after their previous match.
Alex was then distracted from any thought of his impending drinking match when Alec finally came back from getting something to eat with several skewers in his hands, his cheeks puffed up from how much food he had in his mouth while gristle covered his mouth and chin. Alex had to restrain his laughter from his son's appearance, even as the little boy held out the skewers he had in his hands for him to accept.
...
Later Alex was sitting at Zenith's front as they neared their destination, where Azazel joined him before asking,
"So where are we headed?" Alex conjured a map and pointed to a certain area on it before saying,
"We're headed to a place far off of the Japanese coast where there's a string of islands so small, they don't even show up on maps. I figured there we can dock for a day so that everyone could spread out a bit and walk around someplace besides on Zenith's deck." He the directed his attention towards Alec and said mischievously,
"Maybe we'll even fish up Godzilla while we're out here?" Immediately the little Saiyan became excited at the idea of getting to see the infamous creature, before Tannin suddenly said,
"If we do end up seeing him then I would suggest you use his actual name, Gojira hates the westernized version of it." That caught Alex's attention as he immediately asked,
"Wait, he actually exists in this world? Not just the movies?" Both he and Azazel nodded as the former said,
"Yep. He lives in some of the caves on the ocean floor, and comes up every few centuries to stretch his legs and terrorize the humans. Naturally the legends began, and they were eventually turned into movies for modern entertainment. Though they did get the part about him mostly living off of radiation correct." Alex was struck dumb when he heard this, as he never expected one of the most famous monsters to appear on the big screen to actually be real in this world, before Azazel suddenly said,
"Wait a minute..... I just remembered that bastard owes me money!" This earned him several raised brows as Azazel began to contemplate the best way to get Gojira's attention, before finally deciding,
"I've got a few hundred nukes stashed away.... Maybe they'll get his attention if I used them as bait!" Then, before anyone could stop him, Azazel promptly vanished to leave them all gaping at the spot he had just been in.
"Anyone else hear that he had a few hundred nukes hidden away?" Alex asked with a deadpan, to which nearly everyone present on deck raised their hands, including Alec, to which he said, "Ok, I just wanted to make sure I heard right."
Naturally, when Azazel returned a few minutes later Alex immediately confiscated all the nukes he had, storing them in one of his storage rings for later disposal. Then, ignoring the sulking Fallen Angel, Alex asked Tannin,
"So are you planning to fish as well?" The miniature dragon however shook his head as he replied,
"I've never really had the patience for such things, I just thought I'd tag along for the ride." Nearby the miniature Yu-Long nodded in agreement as he added,
"Yeah! Now I have a reason not to do any work for the next few days!" Tannin simply groaned when he head that, as the green dragon was rather infamous for his laziness. Alex then looked at the other dragon present, who was currently in their delinquent looking human form, and said,
"I'm surprised you came though Bova, try not to make us have to save you from drowning too much, ok?" While Bova looked away in shame from recalling the times Alex had to save him after eating the Devil Fruit, Tannin cocked his head to the side in confusion as he asked,
"What are you talking about? We may not be water dragons but it's nearly impossible for a dragon to drown even in the ocean." Alex cocked a brow at this as he asked Bova with a smirk,
"You didn't tell your father?" Bova's human ears reddened slightly as he replied,
"I didn't see the point, and I don't want to spread that particular fact if I can help it..." Alex couldn't help but to snicker at his response, before explaining to the confused Tannin,
"The ability Bova has that lets him turn into and control magma came from something called the Devil's Fruit, something native to another world that can grant those who eat them a variety of powers, but at the cost of their ability to swim." Tannin's expression turned into one of a complete deadpan when he heard that, before looking at his son as he said,
"Really?" Bova slowly nodded as he replied,
"Yes..." For moment Tannin didn't say anything, before remarking to Alex,
"That's a very strange cost for an ability, isn't it?" Alex just shrugged though before responding,
"Maybe, but that particular world is covered mostly in oceans, so it kinda makes sense."
"Ahhh." Tannin said in understanding, though he still found it hard to believe that a simple fruit could do such a thing. Regardless, he would get the chance to see it for himself as numerous people around them were listening in, many of where now tempted to throw Bova overboard to test this for themselves.
...
A day later Alex was sitting on Zenith's side railing, fishing pole in hand while Millicas and Alec similarly sat on either side of him, with Sirzechs sitting on the other side of Millicas. Though things had been strained between them due to what happened with Grayfia, both Alex and Sirzechs endeavored to maintain a professional relationship with the other for the sake of those around them.
Currently they were all sitting in silence(though Alec was humming and kicking his feet out of boredom) as they waited for the next fish to take their bait. For several minutes no one said anything, until Millicas suddenly asked,
"Can I ask you something Alex?"
"You just did, but shoot." Alex replied as he took another drink of alcohol, finishing off the last of his current bottle. Millicas hesitated for a moment as he tried to figure out how to word his question, before saying,
"I was wondering if you knew how I can get the girls in my peerage to take me more seriously..." Both Alex and even Sirzechs cracked a wry smile at the question, while Alec looked up in confusion until Alex directed him to focus on his line.
Turning his attention back to Millicas, Alex said seriously,
"Well, in all honesty I don't think there's much you can do until you're older. Most of them probably still see you as a kid even if you are their 'King', and if you try to act otherwise then they'll just see it as you being 'cute'." On the other side Sirzechs nodded in agreement as he added,
"Also don't just give in to their desires and demands, even if they just see it as being 'cute', try to take a stern hand with them." Though he gave Sirzechs a pointed look, as the Crimson haired Maou had been infamously whipped by Grayfia when they had been together, Alex nodded in agreement with what he said.
For several minutes there was silence as Millicas digested what his father and step-father/older brother told him, until there was a sudden shout,
"I GOT ONE! I GOT ONE!" Alec's shrill voice rang out, alerting Alex and the other to the jerking of his fishing pole.
"Quick! Set the hook like I taught you!" Carefully controlling his strength, Alec jerked the pole back slightly, setting the hook in the fish's mouth to prevent it from spitting it out. The little Saiyan then looked at his father questioningly, both panic and excitement in his eyes as he wondered what to do next.
"REEL IT IN!" Alex roared urgently, causing Alec to start spinning his reel in a frenzy as the fish he hooked struggled to get away.
What followed were several tense minutes as Alex, Millicas, and Sirzechs all cheered Alec on or tried to give him advice, while the little Saiyan anxiously tried to bring in his first fish. Soon however he was able to bring it close, as a massive swordfish suddenly leapt out the water.
"There he is! You almost got him son!" Alex cried out, spurring Alec on even more as he fought the fish with everything he had, as brute strength meant next to nothing here compared to technique and skill. However, with his father there to guide him, Alec finally managed to drag the large fish up onto Zenith's deck, before leaping up and down as he shouted,
"I DID IT! I DID IT!" Alex knelt down and gave his son a hug as he celebrated the first ever fish he caught.
***
*Three days later*
"That was a lot of fun, wasn't it Alec?" Alex said as they returned to the manor from their trip, to which the little Saiyan nodded excitedly as he said,
"Yeah! I can't wait until the next time we get to go!" Alex smiled affectionately at his son, happy that he had enjoyed their trip together with the rest of the guys.
"It sounds like you had fun you two." A new voice suddenly said, prompting the duo to look up to see Anne approaching with Anna at her side. Immediately the twins ran to each other to give them a big hug, having never spent so long apart before in their lives. Anne meanwhile approached Alex and gave him a quick and tender kiss before saying,
"Welcome home." Alex however smirked and remarked,
"Hey, that's Hestia's job." Anne smiled wryly as she replied,
"And she would've been the one to say it, if she weren't busy looking over some of the plans that were drawn up for Ingvild's new stadium." As she said that Alex looked through his 'Domain', and found the goddess as Anne said going over a series of blueprints that some of the architects had brought for her. As he did that Anne picked up Alec and Anna, taking them into the manor as she asked him,
"Did you have a lot of fun with daddy on the fishing trip?" Alec immediately lit up as he began to recount every little detail of the trip to his mother and sister, from all the people he got to meet, to the fish he caught. Anne of course had already received several pictures from Alex of their son with his catches, but she didn't say this as she listened to him tell her everything.
Alex meanwhile, knowing that everyone had their own duties to worry about until they returned later in the day, decided to enter the space-time orb to check on those within. After placating everyone that hadn't seen him in so long, since three days outside the orb was vastly different compared to three 'days' within, he then made his way into one of the different sub-orbs where a certain duo were.
"HA!" One of the women cried out as she swung the massive battle axe that was her volt-weapon, her shoulder length blonde hair tied back in a short ponytail while the only clothes she wore were a skintight set of shorts and sports bra.
Meanwhile her opponent, a woman with long light purple hair that wore a maid outfit, barely even reacted as simply held up a single finger. The moment the battle axe collided with her finger though, it shattered into a million pieces that faded around them, making the blond grit her teeth in frustration.
"Again!" She cried while summoning her volt weapon a second time, however the maid simply shook her head before looking towards Alex and saying,
"We have company." The blond, Beth, whirled around suddenly to spy Alex standing there watching them, to which her upper lip lifted in a snarl as she growled,
"Enjoying the show, perv?" Though there had been nothing remotely pervy about his gaze, Alex then made a point to look Beth's body in her skintight clothes up and down, from the shorts that wedged so deeply into her crotch that you could clearly see her pussy lips, while the outline of her nipples were similarly visible.
Realizing that Alex was blatantly staring at her unmentionables, Beth became pink in the face as she brandished her battle axe threateningly and said,
"Keep looking and I'll cut them off!" Despite how serious she was acting, Alex couldn't help but to smirk in response to her threat.
Even Elaine had a hard time taking Beth seriously, as, if she was compared to even the Pandora that had arrived with her so long ago now, the reincarnated girl had fallen desperately behind in terms of strength. With the Stigma that granted the Pandora their strength and volt weapons taken from her when she first arrived, and only recently returned to her, Beth had been unable to adequately train until recently.
Now it appeared that she was trying to use Elaine to try and become stronger like Alex had, but the results were drastically different due to the fact that she didn't possess the same inherent abilities Alex did. Knowing this, and seeing how much Alex didn't take her threat seriously, Beth took a threatening step forward to seriously carry out her threat, when Elaine stopped her and said,
"Don't bother, you'll only be humiliated in the end." Rather than being deterred though, Beth snarled at him,
"Come on, fight me!" Alex however shook his head as he flashed right by without any discernible movement or effort, and asked Elaine,
"Are you ready?" Elaine simply bowed her head to him and replied,
"Of course." Seeing the both of them completely ignoring her, Beth was about rage at them when an indescribable feeling stopped her.
The next thing Beth knew an incredible shockwave sent her and their surroundings flying, as rocks, first, and branches all pelted her with enough force that a normal person would've been shredded. Thankfully though it was only her clothes that were truly affected, while Beth herself only receives some minor scrapes and cuts.
Not yet registering how her clothes no longer protected her shame, Beth was instead dumbfounded as she watched Alex and Elaine disappear, before reappearing as they clashed time and again. Each clash though would cause an exceptional amount of damage to their surroundings, uprooting or even tearing entire trees apart, while even on mountains hundreds of miles away avalanches and rockslides were triggered that rearranged entire landscapes.
The thing that Beth couldn't believe the most, once Alex and Elaine clashed once more and paused very briefly, was that she could tell Elaine's hand was shaking very slightly as she held back Alex's punch.
"How...?" Beth uttered out loud, as she too had seen just how powerful Elaine was, and couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. No matter how slightly, someone like Alex could never possibly match up to someone like Elaine, could he?
But the truth was right before her eyes as Alex and Elaine continued to clash, and while Alex was never able to actually get the upper hand on Elaine, it was incredibly obvious that Elaine had to take him more seriously than she did her.
***
As the days crawled by the time until Anne took them to Spira dwindled down, the only exciting thing to happen amongst Alex's family was the birth of its newest member, Hisui's daughter, Jade. Naturally the birth of the new princess sent all of Fiore into a frenzy, while in Asora the people similarly celebrated the birth of another of Alex's children.
After that though there had been nothing of note until the day finally arrived, and Anne gathered with Alex and the members of his peerage at seaside city of Hargeon. It had been here that they first arrived in Earthand, which seemed so long ago now, and now as they prepared to journey to the next world the city couldn't look any more different.
Where before there had been closed and boarded up shops and buildings in severe disrepair, the people were beaten and ragged, and would cower from others as they walked by, the streets were filled with debris and trash, and the children suffered the worst of all they struggled just to survive.
Now it was like an entirely different city.
People were shouting everywhere too and fro as they tried to attract customers and conduct business, children ran up and down the streets as they happily played, each of the buildings around looked brand new, and overhead gulls cried out as they watched the ground for food.
Next to him, Alex spied Lucy, Mirajane, and Erza in particular looking exceptionally happy to see those around them full of life and energy, as compared to a year ago when they were all still under the hand of Darius.
"You all look happy today." He remarked offhandedly to them, to which Lucy replied,
"Of course, Hargeon looks even better than its old self and the people are happy again. Plus this is the place where we first met!" This comment earned a wry smile from Alex and the others, as that meeting in particular would be hard pressed to considered a 'good' one, since Lucy had been stripped naked and imprisoned until Alex rescued her.
While Alex and Lucy were reminiscing about the day they met, the other girls were also having conversations amongst themselves.
"So are you really ok with leaving the little ones behind while we go on?" Kurumu asked Shizuku, Mirajane, and Grayfia. The white haired demoness responded however,
"Of course. I'm sure that Elfman and Lisanna will do a wonderful job of looking after little Mochi for me while we're gone." Next to her both Shizuku and Grayfia nodded in agreement, as the former sent her daughter, Saya, to stay with her parents for the next couple days, while Grayfia sent Lana to stay with the Gremorys alongside her brothers, Millicas and Ryuto. Things may be tense between her and Sirzechs still, but Venelana and Zeoticus both still treated her like their daughter.
While they were discussing the children, Erza was talking with Yami regarding the process to transfer world's, as for her, Lucy, and Mirajane it would be the first time. It appeared that after talking a bit with the others about it the trio of mages decided the same as the rest of them, that as members of Alex's peerage, the ones he chose to go into battle alongside him, it was their privilege and responsibility to go with him whenever he transferred world's, though this time Anne was the one doing the transferring.
First however was the leisurely walk through the revived city of Hargeon as they slowly made their way to the docks where the various ships came and went, while Kurumu used her Illusions to disguise all of them to avoid a scene. When they finally arrived there was no putting it off any more as Anne stepped forward, Alex having already told her the time and place to transfer to if someone hadn't already beaten them there.
After closing her eyes and taking in a brief breath, Anne opened them before saying in a clear voice,
"Jenny, take me to Spira." The moment the final word left her mouth, a portal opened up before them.