King of the Forest

A year into the seclusion of the two boys, Alex and Franco made their own treehouse in the forest and that is where they were living until the end of their seclusion.

It was currently the middle of the night and as they were laying on in their treehouse, they started to remember how their first few weeks and months were like when they first entered the forest.

(Flashback)

When they first went in the forest, they did not know what to do and were just walking around the forest looking for food. For the first few weeks they were looking for caves or when they couldn't find any caves they would just sleep on the trees and spend the night there. After having no luck with spotting a cave, they just built their own house on one of the trees since the trees were big and they could be safe from wild animals.

The next few months were hell for them since they encountered numerous wild animals that could easily kill them with their current strength.

"Pops was right. Our skills should be honed in dangerous battles whether against a person or a wild animal." said Alex after they took down a sabretooth tiger.

"Yeah we should take this opportunity to grow more and not disappoint him when we finally get out of this forest." said Franco as he agreed on what his captain said.

(Flashback end)

"Franco, do you think I can become the Pirate King?" asked Alex

Franco, not expecting this question from his best friend, was startled, and remembered the people his uncle told them before they went into the forest. Seeing his captain and his best friend losing confidence in himself, Franco stood up and told Alex. "Alex you're an idiot."

"HUUUH! WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! YOU'RE THE IDIOT!" said Alex as this was the first time Franco called him an idiot.

"If you continue to talk like that, I will leave your crew because I don't want a wimp as my captain. I joined your crew because I believed in your dream and your ability to achieve your dream. Do you remember what you asked me five years ago?" said Franco and Alex nodded

"Now I will ask you the same thing today. Captain, DO YOU WANT TO TURN THIS WORLD UPSIDE DOWN WITH ME?" shouted Franco while reaching out to Alex.

Alex who heard this was surprised as Franco rarely showed any emotions but then looked at his best friend and first mate's hand while thinking 'If Franco believes in me this much, then I won't let him and my future crewmates down'

"ALRIGHT WE WILL TURN THIS WORLD UPSIDE DOWN, PARTNER!" shouted Alex as he shook hands and bumped his fist with Franco as they watched the sun rise. With this a brand-new day and a strengthened will brought the two boys together as their bond has been strengthened. To seal their bond, they both cut their palms and shook their hands while drinking the sake they sneakily took from Vincent before they went in the forest.

(Timeskip)

The two-year seclusion is almost coming to end as the twelve-year-old Alex and Franco were preparing to fight the King of the Forest which was a 4-armed ape who was residing in the deepest part of the forest. These past few years have been beneficial to them as they have grown taller and stronger as they have been through a lot of battles together. Alex now stands at 5'6 and Franco stands at 5'2. They have not slacked on their physical, weapon, and Haki training to prepare themselves to beat the King of the Forest and to go home to their families.

As they reach the deepest part of the forest, they saw the ape currently sleeping on top of a rock. They readied their weapons as they attacked the beast. But the beast immediately woke up and defended itself from the joint attack of Alex and Franco.

Seeing that their attacks have been blocked, Alex switched to his guns and began to shoot the ape, while Franco split his double-bladed scythe and wielded the two blades separately and jumped towards the ape. Franco slashed the ape's arms continuously as he looked like a wheel while slicing the ape's arms. Franco continued his nimble steps as this was part of the technique he got from Vincent.

The ape seeing the damage done to its arms got it enraged as he first attacked Franco by repeatedly trying to punch him and Franco who was trying to dodge all of the ape's punches couldn't react to one punch as it was fast and was thrown away and he hit the tree and was knocked out. Alex saw this and was mad as he switched to his swords and jumped towards the ape while dodging the ape's attempts of trying to hit him. Alex kept slashing at the ape and dodging the ape's hits as he was trying to look for an opening for the final strike. After a while he saw an opening and jumped towards the ape's head as he slashed the eyes of the ape to blind it.

After being blinded, the ape went on a complete rampage throwing rocks and trees everywhere and Alex was about to land the final strike, but then saw a rock going towards Franco's unconscious body. Alex ran towards Franco to save him but knowing that he couldn't get there before the rock would hit Franco, quickly slashed his sword towards the rock and unconsciously emitted his haki towards the rock and the rock burst into pieces.

Alex was surprised as he finally broke through the emission stage of Armament Haki quickly calmed down as he hid Franco behind a tree then continued his assault to the ape.