'I wish this life could last forever…'
From the deep crevices of her heart, Hancock wished. The wind ruffled her hair, cooling the sweat on her forehead as she sat on a chair under an umbrella, watching Alexander train and sometimes play with the trio and the Kuja Pirates.
His laughter, a blessing to her ears, a sound she wished would never cease. He was her joy and love; the days she spent with him were her most precious.
'Everything had changed'
She thought. There was no comparison in her mind between her life before tying the knot with Alexander and after. She was an empress burdened by responsibility to her people; for their protection, she even became a Shichibukai, a title she loathed with her entire being.
A ship without a rudder, at the forefront, shielding her people with her beauty and strength, but her eyes had no lustre to them as she gazed from her throne that shielded the deep-seated hurt on her back, turned into an unforgivable hatred.
Her Alexander knew about it all, and yet he never looked at her with anything other than a loving gaze ever since she met him.
The very thought of him not existing in her life, even while looking him in the face, sent a heavy weight down her being. It was agonizing to just think about it; she felt like she'd cry.
The battle with that monster two months ago shed light on how precious Alexander was to her. She hasn't recovered yet from it, the pain still fresh in her mind that didn't accept what happened, as it shut off everything else and delved into the verge of insanity.
She didn't know if her mind coped that way to ward off the pain or to make it easy for her to rush to her death, hands grasping for wherever Alexander went.
Yet even after all that time, there was no regret in her heart for her actions. The dread in her heart for a life without him made it easier for her to willingly separate herself from life, from her responsibility and her people.
It was an irrational thought, and she knew it as well, but it didn't matter to her; sometimes some actions didn't need explanation or justification, they existed within us, different from the rest, a hint of madness that proved how far we could go and what terrible things we'd do for our loved ones.
She didn't care if Alexander would do the same, nor did she wish for him to do so. This madness hidden within for Alexander was solely her own; she claimed it, distinguishing herself from the rest of the female pirates who went after power and fame.
Hancock was content with what she had. Her love was pure, unembellished by the mundane. She was a woman any man would willingly die for.
She smiled; Alexander's gaze didn't escape her notice; his eyes would always search for her even though she wasn't far from him.
It warmed her heart, and her smile brought joy and tranquillity to the Kuja pirates, such as Daisy, Cosmos, and Rindo.
Her change was most noticeable to them. Even the way she used to treat the Kujas changed. She no longer used her beauty to justify her actions, making her quality as a leader of her people shine brighter.
_______________
A loud thud rang as Axe and Andretta clashed under Alexander's watchful eyes. They had been training under him for the past two months, and he could see the improvements in their strikes, their veiled feints, and their Observational Haki when detecting incoming hits.
Truthfully, he didn't go easy on them; when it was his turn to spar with them, he made sure that his fists would hurt; it was better to suffer under him than under those who would rip the life out of them.
A loud smack echoed, snapping everyone's attention to the duo fight. Alexander had to suppress the chuckle about to escape his lips.
''Ah, Axe, damn it! What did I tell you about hitting my face!'' Andretta put a hand on her reddened cheek.
Axe laughed, "Ha ha, why? You still want to preserve that pretty face of yours? You're a pirate, for god's sake!"
"You better watch your back…" her eyes narrowed dangerously.
"Oh yeah? Why don't you show me?" Axe smirked.
A second later, they threw all that Alexander taught them and started rolling on the ground, fists loudly smacking each other's faces.
Alexander sighed; he wondered if those two were born natural enemies. Then he turned his head, sensing someone approaching.
''Captain, we've close to the Reverse Mountain,'' Alarin, ever walking quietly, closed in on Alexander and spoke, his eyes scrutinizing the two crewmates fighting.
"It seems they need more training…" he commented with an ominous tone.
Alexander patted his shoulder and walked off. "I will leave it to you, Alarin."
"Oh, don't worry; I know exactly what to do…"
Alexander nodded and walked off. A dozen steps later, he heard the sound of bodies hitting shipwood hard and loud yelps of pain.
"Tighten the ropes; we'll ascend the Reverse Mountain shortly…"
He passed by Hancock and gave her a kiss on the forehead, then went to look for Rakyl; he knew he must be somewhere with Salome lazing off.
Thirty minutes later, Perfume Yuda began going up the Reverse Mountain. Behind it, tied together with thick ropes, was the ship carrying the body of the Malformed Star, which was covered with spare grey sails.
Their ascent was rough; the two Yudas were hardly able to do anything as their bodies under the ship were dragged against the mountain rocks. Fortunately, they were tough, and the rock was smooth, weathered by hundreds of years of water streaming upwards.
Alexander had to use the Rakyl, throwing the chain where it pierced the passage walls, then he had to pull against any course deviation.
While the ship behind him was taken care of by Hancock with her strong kicks that maintained the safety of the ship and the corpse.
After another half hour of struggle and a smooth descent, they crossed the Reverse Mountain and stepped on South Blue; however, due to the descent speed, the ship quickly travelled hundreds of meters and then had to slow down.
They came face to face with a strange scene, a pirate ship grappling a regular ship with hooks. From the look of it, they were about to board it.
The pirate ship had a bizarre yellow monster fish skull as a figurehead that covered the entirety of the front hull. A green dark paint and the lateral sides of the ship were protected by ribcage-like yellow spikes.
The deck had two levels, each one supporting two tall masts, underlined by two black sails painted with a Jolly Roger of a traditional skull and bones pierced through the temple with a knife. Atop the skull were rectangular goggles and flaming red hair that covered the top and the sides.
Alexander and the rest of the crew walked to the deck side railing as the ship came to a stop beside the two ships under Hancock's command.
"Are they raiding a passenger ship?" Axe grimaced; he was a pirate, but he had never pillaged ordinary citizens when he could steal from the World Government ships and other pirates.
Alexander looked at the pirates; they wore strange colorful clothing resembling heavy metal bands. He noticed that the lead was a young man of a similar age to him. He had red hair, goggles resting on his forehead, and he had red-painted lips and black nails.
The pirates in question had already drawn their swords, surrounding a group of kneeling sailors and ordinary civilians. Among them were men, women, and children.
The ship came to a stop, and the other party noticed their approach; their eyes widened in recognition at the sight of Perfume Yuda.
And yet the red-haired pirate showed no fear as his eyes gleamed. He put a leg over the railing with an elbow leaning on his knee.
Eustass Kid watched as the Kuja Pirates ship came to a stop. He recognized the former Shichibukai and the two billion recently famous pirate, named Alexander if he remembered correctly.
As for his other crewmates, he recognized none of them; most likely, they were some unknown pirates, he thought.
"It's the Kuja; what do they want?" Killer, the right hand of Kid, walked to his side. He wore a blue-white striped mask, an open black-white dotted shirt, and jeans pants.
"I have no idea, but they have no business in South Blue; this is our sea," Kid replied while narrowing his eyes; he was a cruel, vicious pirate who considered this part of the sea close to his base as his territory.
"What are you doing?" He heard someone speak. Kid turned his head to the bright golden eyes that were calmly looking at him.
He laughed and stomped the railing. "What do you think we're doing? Aren't you a pirate yourself?"
Alexander internally shook his head; he had accepted his title as a pirate, but everyone was mistaken if they thought he was living this life for the sake of pillaging and for the riches.
"Are those ordinary people? I can sense that you have a degree of strength, so why stoop this low?"
"W-What?" Kid felt stumped; a pirate was rebuking him. When all this was what the pirate life entailed, a complete freedom to do what they wanted.
"Hey, hey, are you joking with me?" He gritted his teeth; he felt that he was mocking him.
"Captain, we can't aggravate them…" Killer whispered into his childhood friend's ear. He understood his Captain's reckless personality; moreover, he understood he was facing pirates from the New World, and in his opinion, they weren't a match yet.
Kid looked at his friend with apparent anger on his face.
"Killer, you bastard, can't you see that they are mocking us?"
"When have you ever seen a pirate preaching about morals?" he shouted in anger
"I will ask you only once, leave these civilians alone," Alexander spoke calmly, while his crew beside him dangerously narrowed their eyes.
"Captain, we should leave. This isn't a fight we could take," Killer advised, his hands tightly gripping the metallic cylinder containing his blades.
Captain Kid trembled; he knew that if he insisted, he wouldn't be dealing with your run-of-the-mill South Blue pirates or the usual villagers he used to smash with one hand. A half dozen heartbeats later, he roared in exasperation.
"ARGH! I will remember this…" Kid took one final look at Alexander, imprinting his face in his mind so that one day he could exact his revenge, then turned back and walked away.
"Good choice, captain," Killer sighed in relief and quickly followed Kid.
A few steps forward, they came across an old man, one of the sailors. He was kneeling on the ship floor, trembling and sweating all over. Killer paid him no mind; however, his captain had other thoughts as he angrily stomped his face.
"Move, you piece of shit!"
The old man immediately fell backwards, almost twisting his spine. Blood trickled down from his nose, and a few of his withered teeth were dislodged, barely hanging to his mouth with a piece of torn gum flesh.
Killer didn't react to his captain's outburst and paid it no mind; however, he suddenly felt the hair on his skin stand on its end as he turned around and found Alexander, Alarin, Sabine, Andretta, and Axe standing behind them.
"I told you to leave, they are just ordinary people…and now you've done it." Kid heard Alexander speak, and just as he was about to respond, one of Alexander's crewmates disappeared. An instant later, he saw wild silver hair dancing before his eyes.
Purple lightning crackled on his arms, several swords on the ship rose and headed his way, but before he could do anything, he felt immense pain in his guts as Andretta's coated punch landed squarely on his midsection.
BOOM!
He spat out a load of spit and launched like a bullet toward his ship, then slammed against the mast, making a big dent in it.
"Captain!" Killer shouted, about to jump for the other ship, but before he could do anything, he felt a stinging sensation on his throat, where a cutlass lazily rested, ready to cut off his head.
"Don't move!" He heard someone speak. He turned his head and saw an eerie green burning eye looking at him; then he heard him speak once more.
"I told you to not move…" A black punch landed on his mask, shattering it into pieces and sending him flying back to his ship.
"KILLER!"
"CAPTAIN!!"
The Kid pirates were in shock and didn't react in time, but they recovered quickly and raced off for their captain when suddenly a whistling sound came from above them. Before they could do anything, a sharp searing pain exploded in their thighs as Haki-coated arrows pierced through, crippling their movements.
"ARGH!!"
"MY LEG!"
"YOU BASTARDS!!"
Back on the other ship, Kid shakily stood up; he had never felt a punch this strong. He lifted his head and saw a tall black-haired man looking at him; however, this time Kid was prepared.
Countless metallic junk flew from different parts of his ship and quickly constructed a five-meter-long gauntlet, which he immediately smashed toward Axe.
Axe sensed the immense power this Kid wielded; however, it didn't compare to him, who was born in the New World, nor their monster of a captain.
BOOM!
He sidestepped the heavy smash that crushed the ship floor, then dashed forward. In a moment, he was a foot away, then he swung with the blunt side of the axe.
BOOM!
A heavy metallic sound rang as the axe smashed the metallic arm to pieces, then landed on Kid with such strong force that he immediately flew tens of meters high.
Kid spat out blood; that heavy smash made him feel like he'd spill his guts.
"ARGH!!" He roared high above the ship; he had never felt so humiliated. He had spared the passenger ship, and yet they still decided to attack.
Just as he reached the apex of his ascent, Kid, whilst in pain, felt puzzled; clouds shouldn't exist at this low altitude. But in the next second, his eyes widened as the upper body of a woman formed upside down from the cloud swirls. She sweetly smiled at him, then a long staff came smashing to his face.
He felt like he was about to go insane from nonstop attacks; even someone with his durability felt like he was about to faint.
BOOM! The shipwood crumbled, and he descended into the lower level of the ship.
Alexander walked slowly until he was at the edge of the hole. He waited for a few seconds until he saw an arm grab the edge of the gap.
"YOU BASTARDS!! WHAT DO YOU WANT?" Alexander narrowed his eyes; he didn't like his words, especially when his wife was part of his group.
He sent his arm down the gap and pulled Eustass Kid from the head until he was at his eye level.
"Who're you calling bastards, you rotten runt." Alexander's guttural voice woke Kid from his daze, but it was too late. Alexander, without a warning, bashed his forehead with a strong headbutt. Once it landed on Kid, a sound similar to a watermelon bursting rang out.
THUD! Kid fell to the ground, eyes rolled back; far to the right was Killer, who was already out from Alarin's heavy strike. Alexander expected it; this old captain wasn't one to pull his punches, while the rest of the Kid pirates were crippled with arrows from the Kujas.
"Throw these low lives back to their ship; take every valuable they have; leave nothing."
He gave an order and went to remove the hooks binding the passenger ships. He didn't speak much and waited for his order to be carried out. Once done, he pushed the passenger ship away. The passengers onboard, although looking with gratefulness at Alexander and his crew, didn't wait a second to escape, lest this group turn on them.
A few minutes later, they rounded everything they could from the Kid pirates' ship and left.
"Argh." Kid woke up feeling a massive headache. He groaned and touched his forehead, where a large bruise dripping with blood sat in the middle.
"We were beaten badly…" he said, gazing at the blue sky as humiliation gnawed at his heart.
"Captain…" he heard Killer's voice, but somehow it sounded strange to him.
"What?" he said and sat up; then his eyes widened when he looked at his crew, who were wearing nothing but underwear. His eyes moved to his body, to the only thing he was wearing: blue-and-white striped underwear. Veins popped on his forehead as he roared at the sky.
"BASTARD!! I WILL KILL YOU!!"
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