Alex nodded before his eyes widened. The corner of his lips arched into a smile that stretched from ear to ear.
"What?" Shanks asked as he followed Alex's line of sight. "Dahahahahaha! I see!"
Alex and Shanks both hopped to their feet and ran towards the beach. Shanks hopped on Alex's back and he used his spring boots to leap through the air and towards the water. The two were hovering in the air at least 150 feet off the ground, the wind flying in their faces, causing both their hair and clothes to flutter behind them. Shanks grabbed Alex's leg and threw him in a certain direction.
Alex pulled out his staff as he plummeted towards the sea. Shanks kicked off the air and followed behind him as the wind beneath his feet solidified and he kicked off like running on the ground.
Alex also used geppo to speed up his fall. Lightning ripped through the air around the two boys as tendrils seemed to be spilling out from their eyes. The black lightning had an outline with red hue's. Alex's was darker and more of a crimson red while Shanks had a lighter and softer red.
Alex's weapon started to shift colours from black back to the original white colour it had and back to black. By the time he reached his goal, his weapon was still white but had black spots on it and a slightly more grey look than before in certain spots.
Alex's staff suddenly clashed with something and a massive shockwave shook the ocean around them, creating huge waves that rippled in every direction. The winds picked up and whirled around Alex.
Out of seemingly nowhere, Shanks flew past Alex's face and attacked the same target, causing even more waves to appear as his shockwave spread from its epicenter. The winds picked up once again and it seemed like a storm was brewing.
Shanks and Alex both landed on a solid wooden surface after both of their attacks failed.
"Rahahahaha! You brats have grown!" A large man said, after he had blocked both of their attacks with a sword.
Alex clicked his tongue. "You're still as big a monster as ever, Rayleigh."
Shanks laughed. "We almost had it that time! We almost fully coated our weapons with the colour of arms!"
Rayleigh laughed. "You two are the monsters! I don't see you for a year and you're already starting to learn haki! You're only 14!"
Shanks and Alex laughed as they received praise.
Roger jumped down from up above and landed next to the three. "Hahahahaha! You two kids aren't half bad now!"
Alex smiled. "I bet we'll be able to kick your old ass anyway now!"
Roger smiled.
Rayleigh's face turned white. "Roger, no!"
Roger laughed. "Divine departure!" He screamed as he slashed his sword over the two kids heads.
The slash continued flying through the air as conquers haki infused into it and black lightning tendrils arched off the slash.
The attack hit the water and parted the seas for hundreds of meters. A few sea monsters were sliced in two as they were unfortunate enough to get caught up in Rogers little game.
The kids faces lost colour.
"Hahahahahaha! Now that's a real attack!" Roger said as he laughed.
"C-captain got even stronger? He even named the attack!" Shanks said in shock.
Alex's mouth hung open. "What the fuck was that?! Did you fuse conquers haki with the attack?? That's possible?????"
Roger just tilted his head back and laughed.
Rayleigh looked out at the ocean and sighed. "Now we'll never be let on the island peacefully."
"Oh, yeah, I forgot we needed to dock! Hahahaha!" Roger laughed again.
Alex and Shanks looked at each other and laughed.
"It's good to be back!" Shanks said happily.
"You old men haven't changed a bit!" Alex said with a smile.
Gaban smiled and walked over. "How did you little bastards run on the air like that?"
Alex smiled. "You think we did nothing in our year of being marines? I found out two of the six powers!"
Gaban laughed. "You're a sneakily little guy, aren't you?"
Alex laughed. "Who wants to learn? It's only 500,000,000 berri a book!"
Rayleigh laughed. "He's a little swindler too!"
Roger laughed. "Why would I need the marines techniques to beat them? I'll just make my own!"
Everyone laughed and smiled, excited to be reunited.
Alex looked around. "Where old man Crocus?"
A man with a flowery head walked up from under deck. "What's with all the commotion?"
He looked over and sighed. "The two little devils are back, eh?"
Alex laughed and ran over. "And I bet I'm a better doctor than you now!"
Crocus smiled. "You wish, kid. I haven't just been doing nothing all year either."
Alex laughed and one of his fingers turned into a little black book. "Wanna see what I learned?"
The crew looked at Alex and laughed. "You got a devil fruit too?" Gaban asked.
Rayleigh smiled. "I bet he got something to help him read better. I still remember when this brat got Whitebeard to steal a whole library for him."
Alex chuckled. "I miss that place! It was so cozy!"
The crew laughed.