The boys following her started to panic. "Princess Maya!"
Alex scratched the back of his neck. He pat Shanks on the back and started to walk away. "Good luck with that, pal." He said as he waved over his head without looking back.
Shanks was a little dazed by what was going on and watched as Alex walked away until he was pulled to the ground by one of the boys. "You hurt our princess!"
The fake princess, Maya, kicked the man off of Shanks. "How dare you hurt my Darling!"
Shanks was laying on the ground when the girl slipped and lost her footing, falling on top of him while facing down. She had her hand on the deck beside his head and they were staring each other in the eyes.
Maya slowly closed her eyes and leaned in. Shanks started panicking and looking around frantically.
"Look! A pirate!" Shanks called out as he pointed in a random direction.
The marines all looked in the direction Shanks pointed while he slipped out from under Maya and ran away. Shanks ran past Buggy and tossed him into the pit of marines. "Hold them off for me."
Buggy landed in the middle of the group and Maya kicked him out of the way before running after Shanks while proclaiming her love.
Meanwhile, a man with the Clear-Clear fruit was shocked! A kid saw through his devil fruit! He started running around the deck while invisible. He had just barely managed to escape from the prison on board the ship and he didn't want to go back!
He ran under the deck and found an empty room before stowing away there for the time being.
However, a moment later, a young boy entered the room. He walked over to the desk in the room and pulled off a few tools from the wall before whistling to himself and setting something down on the table.
Alex was currently trying to improve on his healing concoction. He decided to call it a 'cure' even though it ironically didn't help out with diseases, only injuries.
Alex had the brilliant idea of using himself as a test subject; he had found out nearly a year and a half ago that his body could heal at miraculous speeds from Crocus. He also assumed this was the reason for his high tolerance to alcohol and his immunity to hangovers.
Alex took out a vial and cut his finger. He let the blood from his finger seep into the vial before his wound naturally healed in about 2 minutes. Alex found it mildly annoying that his ability wasn't a little stronger, if he was able to heal quicker then it would be a useful ability when he was fighting.
It was still useful, but if it took 2 minutes to heal a small cut on his finger then the fight would be over before any real injuries could be healed, like what happened with the gunshot.
However, that was a separate issue. Right now he was dedicated to trying to figure out if he could find something different about his body that allowed him to heal faster and replicate that within his cure. Then maybe he could even boost the effectiveness of the cure and heal faster than he could right now.
Plus it might work on others. Then Alex thought, what if there were other things… may be increased lifespan, eternal beauty. Alex smiled, this could be huge! He could become the richest man in the world!
Now you might be wondering, isn't Alex's goal to become the smartest and not the richest. If you thought that then Alex would look at you like an idiot. Obviously it costs money to learn new things! You think you can just steal libraries and use state of the art facilities for free? Of course not!
Wait a minute…
Ahem… anyway!
Alex went to work on his blood, he started testing and mixing it with other things. He was so focused that he didn't even notice the door opening behind him.
He was analyzing his test results while starting another new test as he felt a heavy weight on his back and two squishy lumps on either side of his neck.
Alex leisurely craned his neck up, coming face to face with a cute lady. "Can I help you?" Alex asked.
The girl smiled. "I'm Sarah, nice to meet you."
Alex went to scratch the back of his neck out of habit only to be stopped by one of the lumps. He slowly put his hand back down and pretended that nothing happened. "I'm Alex."
Sarah smiled at him and grabbed his hand before pulling it back. "It's okay if it's you~."
Alex chuckled in a dry voice. 'I'm in danger.' He thought.
Sarah leaned in and whispered in his ear. "My sister Maya has no taste, going after that silly red head. You're much better~."
Alex smiled. "I'm also 13."
Sarah put a finger to his lips and shushed him as she winked. "You can't be on this ship if you're not 18+ right?"
Sarah giggled. "If you aren't 18… I'd be obligated to report you for forgery. I hear Impel Down can be quite harsh this time of year."
Alex started sweating. He was panicking and unsure of what to do, additionally his tic he usually has that helps him think was blocked by her boobs! He couldn't even scratch his neck!
Sarah smiled sweetly. "You're just my type~ You should become my toy!"
Alex put on a fake smile. "What does that entail?"
"You'll belong to me. All you need to do is everything I tell you to do! I'm so excited, my first human toy! The animals never listened to me so I had to part with them."
Alex fake laughed. "It must have been hard to give them away."
Sarah giggled. "Who said anything about giving them away, silly?"
Alex felt a shiver down his spine, every inch of his being shouted that this woman was dangerous, and not just to his chastity.
Alex quickly pointed out the window. "Hey look! A pirate!"
Sarah smiled. "I just watched your friend pull the same trick, don't think that will work on me."
Alex felt like this was the end, he thought he was screwed, until a loud bang came from the windowsill where Alex had pointed.
The two turned their heads to see a man standing in the windowsill with a panicked expression. "How did I get spotted twice?! Is this fruit broken???"
The two looked at the man in shock, not expecting an actual pirate to be there. The man instinctively backed away when he met their gazes, only to realize that there was nothing behind him! He toppled backwards out the window and down towards the ocean.
Alex and Sarah ran over to the window and looked out, watching the man flail in the water, unable to swim. Sarah looked back up at Alex and tried to say something only to realize no one was beside her as she watched the door slam behind Alex.
Alex was running through the halls when he picked a random door and jumped inside before slamming it shut. He was breathing heavily and looked around the room. Shanks was sitting on the floor with his back resting against the wall and also panting heavily.
The two looked at each other and smiled. They were like brothers in arms.