"A Great Man"

In just a few moments, he had finally arrived at Shakky's Bar, so without wasting any time, he quickly jumped down from Earth Eagle's back and told him to stay there and wait.

After opening the door and quickly stepping through, Alexader called for Nojiko as he had started growing worried after having left her for that long, even if he believed that Shakky could take care of her.

"Nojiko, where are you?!" calling out her name, Alexander could hear her voice. "... quickly act normal." hearing her vaguely say that with his trained hearing abilities.

As they could just have talked about a few personal and embarrassing stuff, he quickly dismissed any other thoughts or any curiosity he had.

"Yes, we are inside the art room!" hearing Nojiko's voice, he quickly dashed towards the art room. Once he reached the art room, he opened the door with haste.

The Art room was a little room by the kitchen where Shakky could do her hobby, which was painting and sculpturing.

Entering the art room, he noticed that nothing was out of place there was nothing out of the ordinary, which considerably calmed him down. "Rayleigh and I got into trouble when we helped someone, but that's all I can say for now as telling you the whole story would take too long, so it's just better if you guys wait for them to come here, okay?"

Nojiko and Shakky looked at each other in confusion and nodded without adding anything, which was scary as Shakky is one to voice her opinion on things.

So without saying anything, they continued with what they were doing but before, both started anything again, they remembered that Alexander was still in there, so Nojiko gave him a look which he understood and left to let them do their things.

So sitting by the bar, taking something to drink and paying for anything he had taken, which was a clear rule Shakky had set that they could take anything from the bar, but only if they paid for it, Alexander didn't care as he thought it was fair enough.

It didn't take long before Alexander could hear loud voices coming outside of the bar. "Well then, let's hurry and get inside." Alexander could vaguely hear Rayleigh say.

"I have to stabilize Hachi, or...!" while Choppers only thought was on helping Hachi.

As the door slightly began to open up, Alexander could hear Rayleigh loudly saying. "Hey, Shakky, I'm home." while Alexander also heard. "Hachi's hurt pretty bad. We need the bed prepared."

Shakky, hearing Rayleigh's voice, came with Nojiko out from the Art room and saw Hachi's condition said. "Oh my! What happened, Hacchan?"

As the Straw Hats come inside the bar, they finally noticed two abnormalities that they had almost forgotten, so obviously, Nami and Robin were the first ones to react when she saw Nojiko standing next to Shakky. "Nojiko!!?"

While others like Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp called out. "Alexander!!?" but Sanji and Zoro just put their hands on the forehead while shaking their heads in defeat.

So as everyone settled down, Nami and the others wanted to know how it came we ended up here of all places, so we told them our little story after we left them at Water 7.

"But how did you become so powerful with so little time?" Luffy asked with stars in his eyes as he wanted to know.

"Well, as I told you, we got some help training from this old man, isn't that right, Rayleigh?" Alexander said as he grabbed onto Rayleigh's shoulder.

"Yeah, I was the first mate. Silvers Rayleigh, nice to meet ya." he said with a small smile on his face.

"First mate!?!?" every one of them exclaimed in surprise.

"You didn't tell them, Hacchan?" Shakky said to Hacchin from behind the bar.

"Nyu... all they wanted was some coating anyway..." Hacchin said from his recovery bed.

"Ah, so you didn't notice?" Robin said.

"I know that name so well~~!" Usopp exclaimed with tears in his eyes.

"He's in all the books too----!" Nami said with tears hugging Nojiko.

"How's an octopus get in with a big shot like yourself?" Zoro asked with interest.

"Back 20 years ago, when I was shipwrecked out at sea, Hachi came and saved me." Rayleigh explained.

"He saved this man's life, though he was only a child at the time." Shakky continued his story.

"Since then, up until he joined the Sunny Pirate Gang, we got to be good friends." Rayleigh finished up his story.

"Still, even though Gold Rogger was executed 22 years ago, how come you, his first mate, still have your head attached to your neck...? Everyone was captured by the marines, right?" Sanji asked with great curiosity.

"We weren't "captured"... Roger turned himself in...." Rayleigh said with some nostalgia.

Rayleigh continued to tell the story of how Roger came down with an incurable disease and that Crocus, the Lighthouse Keeper, did what no other doctor in the whole world could do. He made medicine that could ease his suffering.

Which reminded Alexander of his time he spent with it might not have been more than a day he still remembered the wise and caring old man with his habit of really taking his time answering questions.

"...in the end, at his orders, the Jolly Roger Pirates, were secretly disbanded... one after the other, the disappeared... no one knows where the men who risked their lives with him are now, or what they're doing... and one year after the breakup."

"Roger turned himself in... he was arrested... taken to the town where he was born, Logue Town in East Blue, where his public execution was announced.

"That day, in the square... I heard that the young faces of the pirates, who are making names for themselves all over the oceans now, were lined up, watching... the execution of the Pirate King took the world by storm..."

"I didn't go. This is what his last words were to me. "I ain't gonna die... partner..."

"The World Government, the Marines... must have been surprised. They had planned the public execution to be a warning to all other pirates, but Roger's words, before his death, changed the event into the raising of the curtain of the "New Pirate Age"."

"My hidden treasure? If you want it, it's yours... go and find it. I left it all in that place."

"In those last few seconds, he transformed the fire of his life into the raging flames that burned the whole world. There was never a day with so much laughter...! So many tears...! So much free-flowing booze...! He was my captain... and a great man."

Alexander got caught in the story as he had almost completely forgotten how everything went on, but the last words of Rayleigh will be something he will remember for the rest of his life.