Jester and Alice were having some time together before the crowning ceremony would take place.
What would follow after that would be her first official act of giving out various rewards and declarations.
The two of them had been away from each other for quite some time so they had a lot to catch up on.
Jester talked about how he was rescued by Alyssia and the White Storm, how he gained the Snatch Devil Fruit by luck, and managed to establish himself as a trusted ally of the White Storm becoming one of their top members.
Such a story was long and full of many twists and turns where Jester faced some tough opponents and overcame several difficult challenges.
His travels around the Grand Line and other places were full of many things that he had encountered.
He talked about how he had taken on several jobs as a mercenary and had guarded several people.
It almost reminded him of the time he was by her side always looking out for her safety but each time, it reminded him of how different she was compared to others who were in similar positions as her.
He was able to survive and find someone to hold onto when he thought he lost everything he cherished and that person was Alyssia.
He knew that perhaps he was just projecting his feelings for Alice onto Alyssia at times but he couldn't help but do so.
They were both powerful women who entered his life and helped him to pick up his broken pieces a little at a time giving him the room to grow.
They never demanded anything of him that was too difficult or harmful to him.
They both encouraged him and cared for his well-being.
Alice had her stories to tell too about how she fought as hard as she could.
Just when she thought that it was all over and she had nothing left, the explosion took place causing everyone on board the ship to get taken out with it whether it was her remaining allies that were still holding onto life or her enemies.
Despite being at the very edge of her reserves of strength that she could summon from deep within herself, she still managed to summon just enough to try to protect her body with Haki.
The blast was powerful and caused her to be burned up as she was thrown off the ship into the water.
The small amount of Haki protection was what saved her life and so was the water that extinguished the flames on her body.
The damage had already been done by the time she hit the water and it caused there to be some burn wounds being left on one side of her body.
A lot of the damage had mainly been left on her right arm, shoulder, and the side of her face while other areas had suffered a lot less.
If it was not for her situation then perhaps if she got to a good enough doctor, a lot of the damage could have been treated allowing for a smoother recovery and a reduction of the damage that remained to her appearance.
She went on to talk about her difficulties being taken to be sold off in the underworld of the New World where she did her best to survive and ended up in the No Named District.
She talked about how she eventually managed to overcome various challenges and became Zero.
They went on to discuss what she planned to do next and how Jester was willing to stick around to help her.
The next couple of days would be busy for them both as she would be crowned as the sole Empress of Mercy Kingdom and would begin putting various policies in place.
One such policy was that the Mercy Kingdom would begin accepting certain individuals who were seeking asylum from various places.
From her various challenges in the No Named District taking care of The Asylum, Alice had come to know about the various difficulties many people face in their everyday lives.
One small thing could be what could turn their lives upside down leaving them at the mercy of others.
Alice wished to continue what she had been doing so that she could build a home for those people and make it so that they could be integrated into her kingdom in various ways.
With her taking over and having to rebuild the kingdom, she would need a lot more support from more than those who were left and were willing to put in the effort to provide some form of assistance.
Alice had learned from the ground up about how to make use of every little resource and piece of manpower from her difficulties so she would put that toward rebuilding her kingdom into something that could provide a haven for those that were her people.
She wanted a kingdom that would be flourishing and strong and that would help those who lived in it whether it would be the citizens who had lived there all of their lives or those who had moved in seeking a peaceful place to live their lives.
While there would be some risks involved with such a plan, it would be possible with the various things that she learned from the Asylum and she could still make use of several useful parts like having her citizens partake in the dressing up at times.
That way those seeking asylum would not be so easily distinguishable from the ordinary citizens while they were using various methods to conceal their appearances.
Meanwhile, the hero of Mercy Kingdom that was Jester would be rewarded handsomely by the Kingdom and would be rewarded in front of many the moment that she was crowned as Empress.
His past status as a commoner and royal jester would be removed and he would be forever written about as a hero to the kingdom.
The additional rewards would come with him gaining a proper status within the nobility and he would be granted a first name and a family name by Alice to be used officially.
There were no records of his past as a child or his parents due to poor management of the kingdom so he would be given a name of her choosing.