The two made their way to the library and finally entered. When they got inside, Olivia whispered something to the receptionist.
A few minutes later, a man came up to the two. "Olivia! How are you? I heard you had someone to introduce me too?"
Olivia smiled. "I'm good, Clover. I met this kid on my way here and I think you would like him."
Clover stroked his beard. "Hmm. Come with me kid."
Alex followed the stranger into a room alone.
2 hours later, the duo came out.
Clover laughed and ruffled Alex's hair. "Olivia, where did you find this kid? He's a genius!"
Alex laughed. "I can't believe there were so many things I didn't know! This is the best! I can't wait to look around!"
Olivia was a little shocked. "You two seem to be getting along merrily."
Clover smiled. "This kid knows about everything! I don't think I've learned this much in years!"
Alex laughed. "This old man said that he would teach me about history, and how to read the ancient language!"
Olivia raised an eyebrow. "Really? That was quicker than I expected."
Clover chuckled. "He's a good kid. I trust him."
Alex laughed. "Let's go! I can't wait to learn!"
Clover laughed together with Alex and led him away as Olivia was left behind. She smiled and went home.
A few hours later, Clover was watching as Alex soaked up the knowledge faster than he even thought was possible. He was thoroughly impressed.
Eventually Clover had to stop Alex. "Kid, it's getting late. We need to go to bed."
Alex sighed. "Fine, but give me a little longer. I want to start recording the books around here."
"What?" Clover asked.
Alex showed off his archive. "It's my devil fruit power, I can record and store things like books. Or just anything I learn."
The book flipped through hundreds of thousands of pages that were full of text and Clover's mouth hung open in shock. "T-that's incredible! That book is invaluable!"
Alex smiled. "I know. I'm trying to expand it and record every single book in here."
Clover nodded. "Yes! Yes! That's a great idea! Hahahaha! This is perfect! Here, come here! I'll show you to most important books first!"
Alex smiled like a little child as he started recording hundreds of books. Eventually his body started feeling tired and he had to stop. Clover was a little disappointed but understood when Alex told him it would be more efficient to take breaks and recover his stamina rather than burning out.
The next day, Alex showed back up and repeated the process after training with Shanks and Dragon in the morning.
He and Shanks had begun asking Dragon for tips about haki, but they still weren't able to recreate the conquers haki they used once before. And neither of them were sure about armament or observation haki either, as they had never used it before.
Dragon started blindfolding them and hitting them with a bat while laughing. Even though Alex and Shanks had seen some other people on their crew do similar training, they were starting to suspect that Dragon wasn't even trying to train them and just enjoyed smashing their heads over and over.
Other than that, they were both instructed by Dragon to begin punching objects that were really hard to train their armament haki. Alex made two training poles out of a less sturdy metal. Alex and Shanks started out using it but would dent and smash the metal without even using haki.
Dragon told them they were doing it wrong and told Alex to use a harder metal, or wood. He said that if they could make even the smallest scratch on it without haki then it was too soft and weak.
Alex went to work and made new training dummies for the two, he even shaped them like the celestial dragon who had shot the boys when they were younger, figuring it would help them by pissing the two off, and igniting a fire within them.
Dragon was shocked for a bit before smiling. "I never thought of something like that… it's actually a great idea. I'm going to use that in the future."
Alex laughed. "Well, I am pretty smart after all."
Dragon shook his head and smacked Alex over the head with his bat. "Still suck at observation haki though."
Alex clicked his tongue. He looked at the sun in the sky and smiled. "It's time for me to go, Clover is probably waiting."
Dragon smiled and let him go before turning his focus to Shanks. Shanks shivered in fear of facing this monster alone and dragged Buggy into the training session with him. He was concerned he might actually lose all of his brain cells if he faced Dragon's training alone.
Buggy cried as he got dragged into training for something he didn't even think he could do.
Meanwhile, Alex reached the library and met with Olivia and Clover. He was listening and learning things from Clover as Olivia and Clover continuously handed him books that would be recorded in his archive. When he would get tired he would stop them and take a small break. Which was him learning the ancient language from the two. When he felt like he had regained enough stamina he would start recording books again.
The whole time he was burning through healing potions as they were able to boost his stamina slightly. However, they could only give small boosts as they were originally only made for healing.
The days went on and eventually, two whole months had passed, while the two boys followed the same daily routine.
Alex was walking out of the library after recording the last of the books within it. He hadn't learned everything in the library, but only recorded it in his archive. He still needed to read and absorb the knowledge.
Actually, about a month ago, Alex realized that he wouldn't have nearly enough time to record all the books in the library. It was just too exhausting for him to touch a book and have the contents delivered directly into his brain.
He had been doing it for a month and only recorded 5-10% of the books in the library. However, just when he was thinking that. One of the books he touched was recorded into his archive, but he didn't instantly understand the contents.
Alex smiled and rejoiced, he had learned to only record books in his archive and not directly into his brain as well. This meant that he could record books way faster and with less energy. It also meant that he could just read and learn from his archive later.
So, for the next month he would only record the books in his archive and learn the ancient language from his two teachers.