Best Friend and First Crewmate

The morning after the bandit raid was chaotic since there were a lot of damages to the villages' buildings. Thankfully, no one in the village died and the villagers only got away with injuries that are not serious.

Alex groggily woke up to his mom crying beside his bed. His mom saw him waking up and hugged him while saying "Why did you go out yesterday?! Did you know how worried I was when I saw you weren't in the house?!"

Alex's heart was hurting when he saw his mom like this, so he said "Sorry mom, I won't do it again. I just wanted to help pops and to see if my training is bearing fruit. I guess even if I train, I am too weak to protect anyone."

He saw his father going inside his room and told him "Son, your training is a long-term commitment and it won't produce immediate results. Although, I am proud to see that you stood up for the girl even if you were up against 2 bandits. That alone speaks a lot about your heart and will to protect the ones who are close to you. To me, a person who protects and stands up for the oppressed no matter who they are up against is a strong person. Besides, there are people here who want to thank you."

Behind him came out a teenage girl and a boy who is the same age as him. He quickly recognized the teenage girl as the one he saved yesterday but he couldn't recognize the boy. While he was thinking, the teenage girl spoke while bowing "Thank you for saving me last night. Without you, I don't know what would've happened to me."

The girl then nudged the boy beside her as he also spoke while bowing "U-um thank you for saving my sister. I really don't know what I would do if I lost my sister. So, thank you again for doing so."

"Don't worry about it. I just did what anyone would do in that situation. I am Alexander D. Great may I know your names?" said Alex, while reaching out his hand, as he was uncomfortable talking with them when he doesn't know their names.

"My name is Stephanie D. Hill, and this is my brother Franco D. Hill. Pleased to meet you Alexander." said Stephanie while shaking his hand and Franco doing the same thing.

After that Franco shyly spoke up "A-Alexander c-can we be f-fr-friends?"

Alex was surprised since he had no friends as he was always in the house or garden or training in their training grounds, but he told the shy boy "Of course we can be friends, but I can't play so much since I have to train to become the Pirate King. And the both of you can just call me Alex."

After saying that Alexander suddenly had an idea pop into his head as he suddenly asked "I KNOW! FRANCO DO YOU WANT TO BE MY FIRST CREWMATE AND WE WILL TURN THIS WORLD UPSIDE DOWN! SO, WHAT DO YOU SAY FRANCO?"

Franco not knowing what to say since he thinks he is not fit to be a pirate much less to be the first mate of a pirate crew and said "I'm sorry Alex, I don't think I'm fit to be a pirate so I'm going to have to refuse."

Alex who heard this was not gonna give up and said "Franco, the world is a big place don't you want to explore and see the world?"

Franco just said "I want to see the world, but I think I'm too weak to be a pirate-"

Alex didn't let him finish as he stood up and held the boy's shoulders and look into his eyes as he said "Franco, you may be weak now, but we can't say you will be weak 5, 10, or even 15 years from now. You will never know if you won't try. You just have to believe in yourself as there are other people who believe in you. Don't be the first person to give up on yourself because I believe in your potential. So, what do you say Franco? Do you want to turn this world upside down with me?"

Franco, as he listened to Alex's speech, he was going through lots of emotions, but one thing was going inside of his head 'If Alex believes in me, then I'm going to believe in myself. I will not be weak anymore and I will support Alex's dream. I will be his sword and shield.'

Finally, after being silent for a while, Franco looked into Alex's eyes and said "I will do it. I will become your first crewmate. Please take care of me now, Captain."

Alex hearing this smiled brightly and said while reaching out his hand towards Franco for a handshake "YOSHA! We will train with my pops every day until we can set sail when we are 17 years old."

Franco sees his hand and grips it for a handshake. And the pair that will shake the world formed their bond in this small house, in a village on Momon Island in the East Blue.