A week later.
Sabaody Archipelago
"BIG NEWS!"
"BIG NEWS!"
"What happened?"
"Look at the new issue front page."
"W-Who's this?"
"It's the new pirate rookie, Alexander."
"What's this monster he's fighting?" a man working at the docks asked, eyes wide at the giant Malformed Star opening portals from which countless meteors descended.
"Did he beat it all by himself?"
"Alexander…" Belamie, who had aged greatly through the years, picked up a newspaper. He immediately recognised the son of his friend or rather workmate.
"Ray! It's your son again," He said and looked at the grey-haired Rayleigh who had stopped working on the ship and now was looking at a bounty poster and a new issue of the World Economy Newspaper.
"He has grown a lot," murmured Rayleigh, then smiled, feeling proud and relieved at his son's safety.
"However, what's this creature?" he frowned. In all of his travels, he had seen all kinds and forms of life, but this being his son fought was something he had never heard of.
"It doesn't matter, does it?" Belamie replied and flipped the newspaper. "They said the island was destroyed and countless Marines died as a result of their fight."
Rayleigh looked thoughtfully at the news of the casualties. He didn't believe it; his son wasn't the kind to go out of his way and hurt people weaker than him, unless the situation was already uncontrollable, and he had to fight at full strength with his life on the line.
"They said he's the leader of the Kuja pirates with his wife Boa Hancock. They make a devastating duo, and they have three pirate captains under their command," Belamie couldn't believe his eyes; Rayleigh never told him about Alexander getting married.
"Isn't she a bit older for him?" he couldn't help but ask.
"Tell him that yourself and see what he'll do to you, Haha!" Rayleigh laughed and then looked at the bounty poster.
WANTED
DEAD OR ALIVE
ALEXANDER
2,000,000,000 berries
It puzzled him greatly; the Marines wouldn't easily issue a bounty in the billions unless the pirate was deemed to be a massive threat to not just the civilians but also to the Marines and the World Government.
'Something must've happened and they hid it!'
He sensed something; in his opinion, they must've covered some other facts.
He narrowed his eyes. 'And they won't do that unless it tarnishes their reputation.'
"Their combined bounty of his crew is close to four billion," Belamie sucked in a deep breath, then turned to Rayleigh.
"Hey, where are you going?" He asked as he saw Rayleigh packing up his tools, about to leave work.
"I need to bring the news back home," Rayleigh smiled slightly as he hoisted the bag over his back and began walking away.
"Ah yes, you need to…" Belamie replied. "Then tell Shakky I said hello."
"I will, Belamie," He replied without looking back.
Fifteen minutes later, he arrived at Shakky's bar. He directly opened the door and found the inside empty as usual, save for Shakky who held two posters in her hand.
Noticing who arrived, she turned the two bounties toward him and smiled.
"Say, don't they look good together? Fu fu fu."
Rayleigh looked at the new poster depicting Alexander carrying a strange spear while looking at the camera, and the other poster showing Hancock.
"Haha, it's true, and it seems you miss your son a lot," Rayleigh laughed as he sat down. Ever since Alexander had left after his marriage, Shakky would sometimes become sad, and to cheer herself up, she'd recall every funny memory she had of him as a kid, and Rayleigh had to sit through it all.
"How can't I? He left directly after his marriage. I want a grandson, Rayleigh!" She slammed the table, shaking up a few bottles.
"Alright, alright, one day you'll get your grandson, but at least let the boy have some freedom for now," He patted her shoulder, trying to placate her; to her, the boy was her world.
Shakky seemed to calm down a bit, but a second later she smiled, picked something from under the counter, and slammed it in front of Rayleigh.
"Let's call him now!!"
Rayleigh looked at the two snails, one was white and the other was brown; an ordinary specimen.
He shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "Alright!"
then dialed the number Alexander left for them.
____________________________________________
Dalness Island
Amidst the ruined Island, before the bundled body of the Malformed Star, the three captains under Alexander could be seen, moving at extreme speed trying their best to land a hit on Alexander.
However, as hard as they tried, they couldn't touch the hem of his clothes as he laughed and dodged every attack that came his way.
"That's a weak attack, Axe," He said and sidestepped a flying axe strike, then ducked as Andretta passed a few centimeters above his head, her claw catching empty air.
"And you too, Sabine," He unleashed a wave of Conqueror's Haki on the wave of clouds enclosing him; black and golden lightning flashed, pushing the clouds back, and in a second, they reformed back into the woman's figure, who was dripping with sweat.
"Don't rely too much on your devil fruit power. If you don't have a strong base built on Haki and physical strength, then you'll be doomed," He replied, then suddenly stretched his arm to the left, catching the head of Andretta who had been sneaking up on him.
"Ah! Captain!" She screamed as she felt Alexander's big palm tighten around her head, and then she felt the world spinning as she flew at high speed.
"ALEXANDER!!" She shouted miserably then collided with Axe who had a dumbstruck look on his face.
BOOM!
They collided against a boulder and then fell on top of each other on the ground.
"Get off me!" Axe groaned and pushed Andretta off of him.
"Can't you be a bit gentler, you brute," Andretta winced; she felt her injuries from the battle a week ago hurt.
"Get up, don't dawdle," Alexander narrowed his eyes; he knew how hurt they were, but he needed to be tough on them; he couldn't protect them all the time.
"Easy, easy, we are getting up!" Andretta replied and shakily stood up with Axe.
The trio's eyes looked at Alexander; his new bounty had arrived today, but they saw no joy on his face; he carried on his day like he usually did, without taking a rest even after that massive fight.
What they saw yesterday made them realize that their strength wasn't of any help to Alexander, much less their pirate crew who could be obliterated by a single aftershock.
They felt desperate and inadequate, to follow Alexander with the weak pirate crew they had. This realization made them feel gloomy; they knew they couldn't continue like this.
Most of his time was spent on them, training them, teaching them about Haki and battling against him ana Alarin who also made a short work of them.
"Alexander," suddenly a sweet voice called, freeing them from their thoughts.
Hancock entered their view; she was wearing a white dress with purple insignias of the Kuja Pirates. In her hand, she was holding a den den mushi, with white hair and round spectacles.
"Rayleigh-san is calling for you," She smiled and handed him the snail.
Alexander lifted the snail and spoke with a rather joyous tone, "Good to hear your voice, Father."
"Haha, you've racked up quite the bounty, son," The snail spoke, mimicking Rayleigh's voice.
"Still haven't surpassed you yet," Alexander laughed.
"I know that you don't care about that."
"Well, that's true," Alexander never cared about the amount the Marines put on his head.
"Rayleigh, let me talk to my son," An annoyed voice rang out, causing the snail to instantly change appearance to short black hair.
"I haven't finished yet!" Rayleigh's voice sounded helpless.
"This den den mushi is mine," Alexander looked with sympathy at the snail who looked dizzy from the constant costume change.
"A bounty higher than the captain…" Axe's eyes twitched.
"Who do you think his father is?" Sabine whispered to Andretta, who in turn shrugged her shoulders.
"Who knows… but for him to have a bounty higher than Captain means that he is a well-known powerful pirate."
"Alexander, are you eating well?" Finally, after wrestling the snail, Shakky softly spoke to her son.
Alexander, on the other hand, smiled. He felt warm inside; he put a hand on Hancock's waist and brought her close to him.
"Hancock is taking care of me well; I couldn't ask for anything more from her."
"Oh is she? You've chosen well, Alexander. Fu fu fu."
Hancock's face reddened as she spoke. "Hello, Shakky!"
"Hancock, when will I be able to hold my grandson?" Shakky replied with a disgruntled tone.
''I-I don't know…''
Hearing her response, everyone could visually see her face reddening, then all of a sudden, she fell over Alexander.
"She fainted, Mother," Alexander felt helpless as he held her tightly with his arm.
From the side, the trio of captains looked stupefied at Hancock. They had never seen this side of her; most of the time, she was glaring at them, and now she easily fainted from embarrassment.
"See what you've done? Now let me talk to my son."
"Wait, I didn't finish!"
"Alexander, I heard you fought that monster and destroyed an island in the process," Rayleigh's sombre voice cut off any resistance from Shakky as she waited to hear what happened.
"That's false, most likely the work of the Marines," Alexander shook his head.
"What happened then?"
"The beast fell from the stars, father… When I arrived, the island was already flattened."
"The stars, you say?" Rayleigh asked, doubting what he was hearing. He knew about some races that once lived on the moon, but he had never heard of an alien being such as this one.
Alexander took a moment to organize his thoughts, his near-death experience still fresh in his mind. "Trust me, father. It's a terrible monster that came from the stars… I almost died to it…"
A heavy silence descended on the other side of the call. Then Shakky spoke, her voice carrying her worry.
"How are you feeling now, Alexander? You aren't injured, are you?"
Alexander gently tightened his hold on Hancock and smiled, trying to comfort his mother.
"I'm fine, Mother. I bear no injuries, and I'm completely healed."
"That's good… That's good… but do remember to take care of yourself."
"I will."
"I wonder how his mother looks," said Andretta while sizing up Alexander.
Sabine gave her a strange look. "Any weird ideas going through your empty head?"
"None!" Andretta replied, completely poker-faced.
Sabine looked at her suspiciously for a second, then turned her attention back to Alexander and heard his father ask.
"As long as you're fine, but why did they raise your bounty so high? Beating that beast wouldn't warrant such a reaction from the Marines; at most, they'd pay more attention to you."
"Ah, I think they increased it for another reason," Alexander scratched his head.
"What did you do then?" Rayleigh felt extremely curious about how it happened.
"I might've given that Marine Admiral Kizaru a slight injury and chased him off the island."
"You did what!" He could hear Shakky shouting and Rayleigh's laughter.
"Hahaha, well done. Tell me exactly how it happened."
Alexander went on detailing what happened, although he didn't mention when his body got almost obliterated.
After a while, Rayleigh satisfied his curiosity and asked again.
"What are your plans for now?"
Alexander looked at Andretta for a second then replied.
"I'm heading to Sorbet Kingdom. I'll have to cross the calm belt and sail through North Blue until the Reverse Mountain, at which we will enter South Blue."
"That's a few months' journey. Why are you going there?"
"I'm planning to make a new ship, so my crew mate mentioned a skilled Shipwright in Sorbet Kingdom," Alexander replied.
"Hmm, good. And if that Shipwright doesn't meet your expectations, you can go to Water Seven, although you'll need to fork out a lot of berries."
At the mention of money, Alexander laughed. "Don't worry about that. I have enough on my hand, and I even saved you and mother's share."
"Well then, I think that's it, take care of yourself," Rayleigh replied with gratification.
"Remember to visit!" Shakky said gently from Rayleigh's side.
"I will… take care… both of you."
A moment later, the call ended just in time for Hancock to wake up. Alexander turned to his crew mates and found them staring at him.
"What's the matter?" He asked.
"Who's your father, Alexander?"
"My father?" Alexander smiled. "You might've heard of him before; he used to go by Silvers Rayleigh, the Dark King."
Axe's eyes widened noticeably. "You must be joking, right?"
Alexander chuckled. "And why would I do that?" He looked at Sabine and Andretta, who seemed to be under the same shock as Axe, but soon their eyes started shining.
"Then…" Sabine seemed to hesitate a bit but soon gathered her courage.
"The ONE PIECE, do you know where it is or what it is?"
"The One Piece, huh?" Alexander looked at Hancock, who had an amused expression on her face, then he looked at the sea as if he looking at some place beyond the horizon line.
"The One Piece…" he murmured.
"ALEXANDER!!" Andretta shouted at the suspense he was putting them through.
Then he smiled a rather playful smile. "I never bothered to ask."
He took Hancock's hand and walked away, leaving the trio dumbstruck.
Sabine quickly chased after him while shouting desperately.
"Captain, please don't play games on us…"
"I'm not."
"How can you not know when your father knows its exact location?"
"I'm not curious… moreover, he told me that the One Piece awaits someone… which is clearly not me."
"WHY? WHY DIDN'T YOU ASK?"
"Prepare to sail; a long journey awaits. And settle your crew matters; we won't be taking them with us."
He then had to quicken his steps as the trio started chasing him with red eyes.