Information gathering.

Alex tiled the gun down, so it was no longer pointing at Lucky, but just below his feet. "Oh? Now we're getting somewhere."

Lucky let out a breath of relief. "I was forced to do everything!"

Alex pointed the gun back up at Lucky. "Don't repeat yourself, what did you do?"

Lucky quickly rambled, fearing the monstrous kid in front of him. "I-I…" He trailed off as his eyes shifted from side to side, under the gazes of the people he was meant to protect. He looked away from the gazes filled with confusion and trust. "... I gave some of the protection tax money to someone, so they wouldn't attack…" He mumbled.

Shanks acted before Alex could. He stepped forward and drew his sword before slashing at Lucky's hand. Only attempting to sever a finger as a warning. However, Lucky instinctively morphed his hand into armour to defend.

Shanks's sword harmlessly bounced off as sparks flew in the air. Shanks was surprised for a moment before his heel turned black as haki coated it and he stomped on Lucky's hand and shattered the armour and his bones.

Lucky cried out in pain and the audience looked horrified, many of them looking away.

Shanks coldly looked at Lucky. "I don't know if my friend had already told you this, but we are pirates and we also aren't idiots. So, if you value your life, or if you don't want to feel more excruciating pain than you can even imagine, you shouldn't lie to us. We've seen some… unique… methods of coercion in our days."

Lucky nodded as he clenched his teeth tightly to suppress his wimpers.

Alex sighed and shook his head. "You didn't have to be that harsh… you're scaring our audience away!" Alex said as he smacked Shanks in the back of the head.

Shanks laughed and sheathed his sword again. "More importantly, how did you even beat him? I couldn't even damage his armour with my sword, and you don't even have a weapon!"

Alex snorted and bent over, pouring a vial of green liquid down the trembling man's throat. Lucky's injuries started to heal as Alex spoke up. "My body is a weapon. I'm just a different breed. I guess you could say… I'm just better than you."

Shanks's eyebrow twitched and he looked like he was about to attack Alex next. Alex looked back and saw Shanks's expression before giggling like an idiot. "Maybe I'll show you right now…" Alex mused.

Shanks smiled and grabbed the hilt of his sword turning it black in its sheath. Alex smiled and bent his knees as he got ready to use soru and his hand turned black, infused with haki. Shanks saw this and gasped.

The moment he lost concentration, Alex used soru and reached Shanks in an instant hitting him in the face with his haki, infused fist. Shanks hit the ground and created a crater that was a foot deep in the stone and dirt, before coughing up blood.

"You bastard. When did you learn that?" Shanks grumbled.

Alex smiled and tossed him a healing potion. "About 5 minutes ago."

Shanks chugged the drink and started laughing. Alex reached down and helped him up as the duo laughed together.

Shanks sighed after a while. "Took you long enough."

Alex was about to reply when someone cleared their throat loudly. Issho looked at the two and scolded them. "Did you two forget what you were doing?"

Alexj scratched the back of his neck and flashed an innocent smile. "No! We were about to torture this guy!"

Shanks nodded sagely. "Show him the depths of hell. Rip out his nails and teeth before healing him and doing it again!"

Issho's face turned black and he mumbled. "Maybe I was wrong about these kids…"

Alex laughed and ran over to Issho before slapping him on the back. "I told you we weren't good guys!"

Shanks chuckled as he joined. He jumped up and landed on Issho's shoulders. "We're the most vicious pirates in the world!" He turned and pointed to the person beside Issho. "And so is he! His bounty is even higher than ours!"

Buggy, who was beside Issho, panicked. "DON'T DRAG ME INTO THIS!!!"

Alex and Shanks laughed at his reaction before turning their attention back to a now mostly healed Lucky.

Alex skipped over to him before looking down and stroking his chin. "Sooo… where were we again?"

The crowd around them was shocked and half of them fell over. What kind of crazy people were these kids?! They must have split personalities! How can they be so innocent looking and goofy one minute… then total merciless killers the next?!

Alex sucked in a breath and exhaled the smoke from his cigar as he started pacing in circles around Lucky.

He paused when he was right in front of Lucky after walking three circles around him. "No, seriously. I don't remember. Had you already admit to the human trafficking? Or not?"

The other half of the crowd fell over in shock at this point. He really forgot?! Also what was that about human trafficking?!

Lucky gulped. "W-what are you talking about?"

Alex nodded like a wise old man. "I see. So you didn't admit to it. Yes, yes, I remember now."

Lucky looked around as a frenzy of emotions overtook his rational brain and he tried to run away again. Issho simply pointed his finger down and Lucky face planted again.

Alex looked at him and laughed with Shanks. Alex took a deep breath. "You really are an idiot, did you already forget about that?" Alex sighed. "He's just proving my point, the bad guys love to waste time for no reason."

Lucky turned around and kowtowed at Alex's feet. "I-I only did what I was forced to! That man! It was that man who said that I needed to sell him enough goods to protect the island! He said that he would kill me if I didn't and give the position of godfather to someone else!"

Alex scratched the back of his neck. "Give the position of godfather away… hmmm." Then he shrugged. "So, what did you do then?"

Lucky gulped. "I-I had to!"

Alex touched the cold barrel of the gun to the back of Lucky's head. "I told you not to repeat yourself."

Lucky started to sweat. "I… I kidnapped some people on this island and sold them to that man! But, it was for the greater good! To save everyone else! You have no idea how powerful that man is! You shouldn't be doing this! If he finds out that you killed me, he'll have your head on a stick!"

Alex pulled the gun back and yawned. "Yeah, yeah. Some big scary dude will come after me if I touch you."

Shanks chuckled from on top of Issho's shoulders. "Do you have any idea how many times we heard that exact line when we were marines? I think you're reading off the wrong script, Mr. Gangster. That's usually the pirate's line."

Alex smirked at Shanks's remark.