"Man... Goddesses are sure something else!" Alex exclaimed as he exited the room filled with dozens of the aforementioned goddesses, all slumbering peacefully after he thoroughly satisfied them.
Though none of them were pregnant like they had approached him for, every single goddess was willing to wait the few months or years until Alex was ready to impregnate them. They had all lived for hundreds of millions of years, so such a 'short' amount of time was nothing as long as they were able to conceive a child.
Even Alex's condition of joining his ever increasing army of wives was an acceptable condition, not only because they'd be able to have a child, but because Alex himself with his wives, children, and all of Asora, were so 'interesting' to them. The fact that he was such a satisfying fuck was just a bonus to the goddesses at this point, which they could all attest to now.
Unknown to them though, Alex also planned to return their respective divinities to them that had been left in the divine realm.
Every single god that descended to the mortal realm was required to leave the vast majority of their divine power in their own realm beforehand. This not only made it to where they could truly enjoy themselves in the mortal realm, but also that if their 'mortal' bodies were killed, they could return to the divine realm without actually dying.
BUT, if they were to become a part of Asora and join Alex's wives, then they would need access to all of their power.
That was for the near future though, since all of the aforementioned goddesses were currently catatonic, and Alex had more important things to attend to. Like his children.
Departing from the room, Alex transferred himself to the island that was set aside for his children to train on in the space-time orb. And once he was there, he found himself yet again facing a small horde of adults instead of his children.
"Again...?" Alex groaned as he became instantly mentally exhausted, even as he directed a look of blame at Bonney.
"Daddy!" Edith cried as she leapt over to his side, while her lethal weapons bounced noticeably as well to deal a critical hit to her father. Alex then made a mental note to have his wives teach their daughters about wearing bras already if they were going to keep doing this.
...
After returning them all to their appropriate ages, Alex decided to teach his children a new skill to see how well they'd be able to do it.
"Who here has heard about Haki before?" He asked them all, to which none of the children offered to answer. But that was fair, since Alex genuinely wasn't sure if any of them would have heard about it from him or their moms before.
"Haki is like the type of ki energy used in the pirate world I have been exploring the last few days. It is used in a different way than normal ki in that you can't create blasts with it. Instead, it can be used to sense your surroundings, attack those you can't normally attack, and maybe even see the future."
Pausing slightly when he mentioned the more advanced form of Observation Haki, Alex now had the undivided attention of all of the children.
"The first type is Armament Haki, which is often used to fight Devil Fruit users like myself, who have bodies that can't be hurt normally." Stretching himself out as he said that, Alex continued without pause, "It also works as a form of shield that can protect your body at the same time, and can even be applied to weapons to make them stronger.
"Secondly, is Observation Haki. This one can be used to sense people or animals in your surroundings, as well as predicting attacks right before they happen. It can also be used to attack since you can also see how your opponent may plan to dodge your attack."
Alex then went on to explain a bit more about these two forms of Haki, and how he wanted to train them to use them. Before they could start though, Bonney suddenly spoke up as she asked, "What about the third form of Haki?"
Alex looked at her while the rest of his children looked at him curiously, fighting back a sigh as he did so since he hadn't been planning to discuss that one today.
"There is a third form, like Bonney stated. BUT, it is a special type of Haki that only one in a million people can even use, while even less than that many ever actually unlock and master it. So for now, we're just going to focus on the two."
With that said, they then began a unique training session as Alex blindfolded all of the children and randomly tossed rocks at them. He had rubberized them of course, but each time they hit one of the kids it was still followed by a yelp due to the force that Alex would throw them at. Not hard enough to do actual damage, but still enough to hurt and encourage their training.
Mostly Alex wanted to see if his kids were even able to learn Haki, and the tests for Observation Haki were easy enough that he wouldn't need to be there with them to train it. And if they were able to unlock it, then he could give them proper training to learn the more advanced stages.
They kept the training up for about an hour, during which time the vast majority of the children were unable to show any signs of using Observation Haki, not that Alex expected any different. The exception though was Mai, who managed to successfuly dodge several of the rocks Alex threw at her, even when they came from different directions. However Alex figured he should've expected that, since she was a Nekomata like her mother and aunt, and more in tune to the world around her than the others.
"You....haaaa haaaa...are a demon....haaa haaaa...." Bonney panted while glaring at Alex hatefully after their 'light' workout that followed the Haki training.
"Not my fault you're so weak and out of shape." Alex replied with a shrug, making Bonney look at him incredulously.
"Its ok Bonney! You'll get used to it eventually!" Alec declared as he tried to cheer her up. Though Alex noted that his son's cheeks had a tinge of red to them as he tried to encourage her.
!!!
'My little boy has his first crush!' Alex mentally exclaimed, a feeling of pride welling up within him at the realization. A feeling that he would NOT be feeling if it was one of his daughters instead.
"Daddy?" Called Anna, stirring Alex from his thoughts about Alec's first crush as he looked down at his daughter lovingly.
"Yes Anna?"
"Do we REALLY need to learn how to use Haki?" She asked innocently.
"No, not really. But my belief is that its better to have something and not need it, than to need it and not have it." Alex said sagely, though it seemed none of his children seemed to understand what he was saying.
"Basically, what if you end up fighting someone with the power of a Devil Fruit, like me or uncle Bova, and nothing you can do works because they're immune to punching and kicking? Some of you, like Alec, would be alright, but others wouldn't. So thats why I decided to teach you all how to use Haki."
As he said that, Alex glanced at his eldest son pointedly since his abilities as an Omni-Slayer would make him the natural counter to any Logia Devil Fruit users, while he'd also be able to fight against any Zoan and Paramecia users that someone would normally need Haki to fight against. In fact, Alex wouldn't even hesitate to say his son could probably solo all three of the Admirals without a problem since they were all Logia users.
Not that Alex would readily test his theory.
Just imagining Anne's reaction was enough to send shivers down his spine.
BUT, maybe there was someone who could actually help them see what it was like to fight a Logia user. Someone much safer for them to test their skills against than an Admiral, or even Akeno with her Ragu Ragu no Mi.
It wasn't that Alex didn't trust Akeno, but she could often become....passionate in such matters.
Deciding on his decision, especially since he needed to deal with them anyways, Alex sent Hancock a message while transporting himself, and the children, to a different island. And a moment later, they were joined by an excited Hancock along with all of her new recruits, and her top officers, including her sisters.
"DARLING~!" Hancock cried out the second she saw Alex, leaping forward to smother his face within her breasts. If it were anyone else then he would've dodged so that his daughters wouldn't try to emulate her, but then he'd have to deal with a devastated Hancock.
"It's nice to see you too Hancock." Came Alex's muffled voice from within the valley of her breasts.
"Oh my beloved! I counted every second of every minute, hour, and day until you'd return to me!" Hancock proclaimed like a fanatical devotee, which Alex guessed she was. That suddenly raised a question in his mind, did she know about his priestesses? And if she did, would she join or try to fight them?
Questions that would hopefully take a while to answer, especially since Alex had more important things to worry about right now.
When he was finally able to 'escape' Hancock's bust, Alex cleared his throat while looking over the group of women that had arrived with her. As requested, it was only the top warriors of her crew, and the newest recruits from her raid on Marineford.
Though several of the former Marines were still looking at Alex with undisguised hostility, like Tashigi, the vast majority were now looking at him curiously after spending the entire day in the space-time orb. The giantess specifically had a look bordering on reverence as she looked at him.
"Since everyone's here, then lets get started." Alex said, before producing the few hundred stone statues that were the male Marines from Marineford.
"What are these statues dad~nya?" Mai asked curiously as she stepped forward to look at them.
"These are all men that Hancock turned into stone. But now, I'm going to turn them back." Alex said, before doing just that with a wave of his hand as he use Regeneration magic.
"""!!!"""
Instantly every single statue turned into a person that was battle ready, since they all thought they were still fighting back in Marineford. Only a few of the higher ranking officers had the awareness to notice the change in their surroundings.
"Where are we?!" One demanded, before focusing his attention onto Alex.
"The Dragon Emperor!?!"
"AND the Pirate Empress!"
"How dare you attack the Marines!"
In the face of their immediate hostility, Alex just rolled his eyes. Though he did keep an eye on the few that were remaining calm, mostly the Vice Admirals and a few that were lower in rank, like Smoker.
"Humph! Stupid men that can't even see they already lost." Sandersonia sneered in contempt at them, annoying them while also making them realize the difference in scenery, along with the fact that now their female comrades were standing alongside the enemy.
"What is the meaning of this?" Asked another giant on the Marine's side, John Giant.
"After your defeat I drafted these women into the Kuja Pirates." Hanock readily answered, purely for the sake of speeding this conversation up as much as possible. She detested having to speak to these filthy men more than absolutely necessary.
"I see..." John Giant answered slowly while looking over the gathered women, especially his fellow giantess. However, as he did so, he noticed a peculiar look in her eye as she glanced at the Dragon Emperor repeatedly, seemingly trying to tell him something.
That would have to wait though, since the matter with Alex specifically was more important.
"So, can I assume you didn't unpetrify us for no reason?" He asked the emperor.
"Of course." Alex answered, before adding, "But before we get into that, how about a sparring match Smoker?"
Looking towards the man with several cigars in his mouth as he asked that, Alex had a wide smirk on his face to contrast the other man's perpetual scowl.
"I won't say no, but why?" Smoker growled, not trusting Alex or his suspicious smirk. But they needed to know more about where they were and what was going on, so buying time was the best option available.
"Earlier I was teaching my kids a bit about using Haki, and how it was useful against certain Devil Fruit users. As a Logia user, I was hoping you'd help them understand firsthand." Alex explained while gesturing to his kids, who were all looking at Smoker and the gathered Marines curiously.
"Are you serious?" Smoker growled irritably, annoyed that they were only unpetrified because it was convenient for a bunch of brats.
"Completely. But maybe you want the deal to be sweetened a bit?" Alex asked with a business-like smile, as his devilish side bubbled to the surface.
"IF you manage to beat my son, then I will readily release ALL of you to go back to the Marines, including those Hancock 'drafted', along with a detailed report of my numbers, fighters, and how I plan to invade Mary Geoise."
"""!!!"""
Needless to say that every single Marine present was stunned at Alex's offer, before it was followed by immediate suspicion.
"What's the catch?" Smoker asked with narrowed eyes, not at all trusting Alex or his offer.
"How about.... When you lose, then every single Marine present with swear their loyalty to me, join my own Marine corp that is currently being formed, and will participate in the coming assault on Mary Geoise?"
"""!!!"""
Again, stunned silence met Alex's proposal as every single Marine weighed the two possible outcomes. Either they'd be able to return back with valuable intel on the greatest enemy the World Government has ever seen, or they would be forced to join his forces and fight the very organization they once swore to serve.
"He accepts." John Giant declared on Smoker's behalf, which was also an indirect order as his superior officer.
It was too good an opportunity for them to pass up, since they didn't even know what it was Alex planned to do to them to begin with. At least this way they had a shot to return somewhat victorious with valuable intel.
What John Giant didn't know was that there was already a mole within Alex's inner circle that was feeding information directly to the World Government via CP9, Kalifa. But of course Alex didn't care about her leaking their information, or just handing it over to John Giant IF Smoker managed to win, as it wouldn't change the outcome in the slightest.
"Very well." Smoker fought back a groan as he stood and made his way before Alex, running his eyes over the numerous small brats before him as he did so.
Truthfully, he doubted this would be that much of a fight if they didn't even know the basics of Haki, even if they were impressive for a bunch of brats. But all he'd have to do is humor them a little, and they'd be allowed to go free.
"Excellent!" Alex declared happily, before turing towards one of his children in particular. "You're up Alec."
Alex's eldest son stepped forward with an eager smile as he swung his arms to warm them up in anticipation. But as he walked by his father, Alex whispered in voice that only Alec heard while nudging him, "Maybe Bonney will see how cool you are during this fight."
"!!!"
Alec immediately blushed from embarrassment at his father's comment, making Alex laugh at his son's innocence. But his serious expression soon returned as he stood before Smoker.
"I'd take this seriously if I were you Smoker. The first move is yours." Alex warned him while taking a step back.
Though he'd never admit it with his opponent being a child, Smoker fully intended to take this fight seriously from the start with the stakes being what they were.
"White Blow!" Smoker cried out suddenly, his fist launching forward at Alec as his arm turned into a cloud of white billowing smoke.
Shocking! The guy named Smoker had a body made of smoke!
In all honesty it was an attack that had spelled the end of many a pirate unfortunate enough to cross paths with Smoker, but to the SSJ2 Alec, it might as well have been standing still. Even if Alec wasn't even transformed at this moment.
The little boy calmly sidestepped out of the fist's path as it flew right by him, but Smoker wasn't fazed by his speed as he controlled his fist to turn to make a circle around Alec, allowing him to entrap the young boy in a cage of smoke. But then Alec did something incomprehensible, as he GRABBED the plume of smoke with both hands while simultaniously opening his mouth as wide as possible.
"!!!"
Smoker quickly dissipated his arm and fist while reforming them out of his body, having felt chills the moment Alec made to bite him while questions filled his mind. But he wasn't given any time to ponder them.
Though it was no longer a part of his body, Alec STILL grabbed onto the residual smoke that hung in the air before shoveling it into his mouth, stunning Smoker and everyone else present as he proceeded to eat the smoke.
"What the-!?"
"He's an ability user!?!"
"What kind of ability is THAT?"
Exclamations and mutterings persisted amongst the group of Marines from Alec's strange actions, while Alex's smile just widened. They all then watched as smoke began to emit from Alec's body, and whitish scales formed in patches on his skin as his black hair lightned and turned whispy.
The young boy then turned a predatory eye towards Smoker as the vapor surrounding his body began to gather around his hands, which began to shift into draconic claws.
"Smoke Dragon's Claws!" He roared while surging forward at speeds that Smoker couldnt follow, before slashing his body with his newly formed claws.
Despite Smoker's attempt to dodge the attack, his blood sprayed as Alec's craconic claws raked his arm to give him what was probably the most serious wound he had received after eating his Devil Fruit. And then, as if that wasn't shocking enough, Alec pivoted on his heel to deliver a punch right into Smoker's gut that sent him flying.
"What is this?!" One of the Marine Vice Admirals uttered in disbelief as Alec proceeded to use his new abilities to beat up Smoker.
"THAT, is the omni slayer." Alex said, as if that explained everything.
"What kind of Devil Fruit is that?" One of the Marines asked in fearful awe.
"It's not a Devil Fruit, but a type of magic. Like Logia fruits, slayers come in different elements that they are able to control and use. But, instead of turning their bodies intangible like Logia users, their defense and strength is significantly higher than normal. They're also immune to whichever element they use, and able to EAT said element to become even stronger."
Alex's explanation earned him numerous looks of disbelief, firstly at the idea of magic, and then at the abilties he had described. But, with Alec using said abilties right in front of them, it was hard for them to refute him.
What Alex didn't tell them was that Alec, being an omni slayer, usually only had each element that he'd 'eaten' for a short while compared to the full time that typical slayers had. Except, what Alex didn't know was that as Alec used the smoke slayer powers he had obatined, he also received a notification through their new Asoran system stating that he had received them as an active ability.
They all watched as Alec and Smoker continued to fight, with the latter doing all that he could to try and defeat the child, while the former used his newly acquired smoke slayer powers to corner the Marine Commodore.
As the fight went on every other Marine had to swallow the bitter pill of realization that Smoker was NOT going to win their little agreement, and no one was more crushed by that fact than his own protégé, Tashigi.
In fact, all she saw was the criminal and enemy of justice, Alex, using this chance to humiliate them and show how futile their actions were. To her credit, she was partially right in this assumption since Alex was showing them just how strong his children were, to say nothing of his wives and armies. The former of which she had seen in action for herself during her stay in the space-time orb.
"Alright. Thats enough Alec." The Dragon Emperor suddenly called out, right before Smoker hit the ground in front of him HARD, covered in wounds from their fight while there was barely a scratch on Alec.
"Ok dad!" The little slayer replied as he appeared next to Smoker, the smoke and scales on his body vanishing while his claws returned to being hands.
"THAT, is a Logia fruit user." Alex then stated pointedly to the rest of his children, who were all watching with wide eyes as Smoker's body continued to remain smokey as it shifted between tangible and intangible.
"Cool..." Ryuto uttered as he watched the process, while a few other children also seemed really interested in the power of a Logia. Alex made a mental note to see if any of them would want any from the Admirals after he killed them.
Though he COULD keep the Logia fruits for himself if he wanted, Alex didn't really see the point with the powers he already had. With Devil magic he could spam any elemental attack he wanted, and if he truly desired to do so Alex could even develop slayer type abilities like Alec and some of his other children had, and the power of Nika already rendered him immune to blunt force attacks while the power he took from Buggy rendered him immune to blade attacks.
So, if he ate any more Devil Fruits, Alex figured they would probably be gimmick fruits like the chop and invisibility fruits were, ones that he could have fun with.
Instead, it would make more sense to give an ice Logia to someone like Yuki or Aurora, both of which were actual Yuuki-Onna, or a magma fruit to Regal since he was a Pheonix, or the light fruit to Edith as an angel, both literally and figuratively.
"U-Um.... Excuse me..." One of the Marines suddenly spoke, up, drawing Alex from his thoughts as he looked over the crowd.
"Yes?"
"This means....that we are traitors to the World Government now?" The Marine asked hesitantly, making every other person direct their attention to Alex for an answer. After all, his condition was that when Smoker lost they would join him.
"I wouldn't go so far as to call each of you traitors. After all, it was the World Government and the Celestial Dragons that basically claimed ownership of the world while enslaving the entire populace to their whims and to fund their activities. Instead, think of it as 'opening your eyes'." As he said that, Alex used Spirit magic to directly transfer all of the information his wives and agents had been collecting ever since they had arrived in the One Piece world.
Just about every single noble and royal family that actively supported the Celestial Dragons were rotten to the core, which made it extremely easy for Alex's people to turn their own country against them once their more scandalous secrets were revealed for the world to know. Amongst the intel they had collected, specific examples involved poisoning or otherwise sabotaging any possible opposition within their borders, tyrannical laws and regulations that showed no value towards human life, and even numerous examples of mass genocide or enslavement just to appease the Celestial Dragons.
One example was the burning of the Grey Terminal, an area outside the walls of the Goa Kingdom where Luffy had grown up that was where all of the trash used by the citizens was disposed of. Of course, the massive mountains of trash became home to entire communities of people that were homeless or poor. But then, when word spread that a Celestial Dragon was coming to visit, the royal family approved of a plan to burn all of the trash to clear it away, regardless of the lives that would be lost due to this.
Another example was the truth behind the destruction of the island of Ohara that Robin was from, which was reported that the scolars there intended to revive ancient and powerful weapons to use on the world. The truth of the matter though was that they simply wanted to study an unknown section of history, which the World Government intentially wiped out because it was 'inconvenient' to them.
Alex even showed them numerous situations where the Marines, the agents of 'turth' and 'justice', abused their power and position to promote suffering amongst the people. One was the situation that resulted in Zoro joining Luffy, in which he had been branded a criminal solely because he stopped a little girl from being killed for bumping into the son of an officer. Another had been how an entire island was under the control of the pirate Arlong for several years, while a Marine on Arlong's payroll hid his actions from the world.
With how thorough Alex's people were in their information collecting, teams of Devils of course, there was no shortage of examples to show them from just the last several decades of both nobility and Marines abusing their power to oppress, humiliate, and even flat out murder the very people they were supposed to be ruling or protecting. Even the bundle of justice that was Tashigi was at a loss for words upon seeing Zoro's reason for becoming a pirate.
"Thats just a taste of what the World Government has allowed to happen or even caused over the last eight hundred years. Now tell me, can ANY of you truly call yourselves 'enforcers of justice' knowing all that?" Alex asked as they finished processing everything he had shown them.
Of course, they could just try to claim that it was all fake to make them question themselves, but none of them could find it in them to do that. Especially those that had directly participated in some of the things Alex showed them the truth of, like the destruction of Ohara.
Only a few of the Marines appeared unfazed at the info, and Alex made sure to note them for later since they were most likely the type of Marines that were either corrupted, or believed their position granted them the right to kill as they saw fit.
"Just a little food for thought while you're staying here." Alex said to them, before then using magic to create numerous buildings for housing and so on since he wasn't going to have Hancock re-petrify them just yet. Just in case, Alex also added several layers of barriers around the island to ensure that none of the Marines left it, either by sailing, swimming, or by Devil Fruit powers. Smoker wasn't the only Devil Fruit user amongst them after all.
As for why Alex was going through so much to give them a chance, it was because not all of the Marines were bad.
Several, like Tashigi and Smoker, were true believers of justice, and were flexible in how they would obtain it. Others meanwhile were simply unwitting pawns in the machinations of the World Government.
So, having planted the seed of doubt within them, Alex left the Marines to stew for a while on the island as they thought over everything he had shown them, as well as the strength of just ONE of his young children, which would make them wonder about the strength of Alex's entire empire.
Alex meanwhile went to spend more time with his children now that their training was done for the day, which turned into a game of SSJ tag much to Bonney's chagrin.
***
*Meanwhile, back in the New World...*
"They came back?!"
"They've been gone for over fifty years..."
"I wonder where they've been?"
Mutterings followed two figures as they made their way through their home, which they hadn't seen in over fifty years.
Normally they would be overjoyed to be back home, but right now they had a very important mission as they approached the most powerful and respected figure amongst their people. They had to report, that the sun god had returned.