The pirates are here!

The next morning.

Alex woke up next to his roommates, Shanks and Buggy. The three got ready for another day of helping out the villagers.

Surprisingly, there wasn't much work left to do. With everything Alex did yesterday, plus everything the rest of the marines did for the villagers, the village was already running pretty smoothly.

Suddenly, someone ran into the room. "P-pirates! They're here!"

Alex got up quickly and grabbed his pouch, which he had named Lugh.

He and Shanks ran out the door together while both still buttoning up their shirts. They arrived at the arranged meeting place and looked in the direction of the commanding officer. However, instead of the man who was supposed to be leading them, Dragon stood in his place.

Dragon looked over at the group of marines and shouted. "The pirates have arrived! Everyone get into position!"

Murmurs could be heard from the croud of marines.

"Silence!" Dragon commanded. "Our commanding officer is out of commission, so as I have the next highest rank, I'm in charge! Everyone get ready! The pirates have already docked and are on this island as we speak!"

The marines quickly accepted their fates and listened to Dragon. Following him as Dragon led them across the island to where the pirates were.

Alex and Shanks were marching at the front of the line, directly behind Dragon, when they spotted the group of pirates. They were scandaly dressed with many shirtless and some even neglecting to put on pants. The jolly roger waving over their heads adorned a skull with large horns protruding from the top of the skull.

Leading the group was a man with blonde hair and a mask covering the lower half of his face. He was massive, even taller than Whitebeard.

Many of the marines froze in their tracks. Unwilling to move any further forward.

"T-the beasts pirates!"

"T-they are Kaido's crew!"

Dozens of marines began to run away, too scared of fighting one of the strongest crews in the grandline.

Alex scratched his head. "Kaido isn't even here. Why are they so scared?"

Shanks laughed. "Captain said he used to slap Kaido around for fun when he was part of the Rocks pirates."

Dragon shook his head with a smile when he witnessed the two boys' reactions. "You two kids are just insane. Even our commanding officer ran away."

"Ohhh. That's why he's 'out of commission'." Alex said in understanding.

Shanks chuckled. "These guys have nothing on our crews."

Alex smiled and pulled out a bo staff from Lugh. "Let's show these guys what a real crew looks like."

Dragon nodded. "And show them what happens when they lay their hands on civilians."

The three all smiled and charged at the pirates. "For justice!" They all yelled in sync.

Most of the marines who didn't flee before gulped and took a deep breath before following the trio. "FOR JUSTICE!" They echoed.

Two marines led them and followed directly behind Alex, Shanks and Dragon.

Maya and Sarah smiled as they ran at the pirates.

The two groups met in the middle of a field and Dragon swiped his arm. Ferocious winds blew and a small grey cloud formed above him. 10 beasts pirates were hit by the attack and went flying through the air.

Shanks jumped over Dragon and slashed his sword down. The slash flew off his blade and into a sea of pirates hitting 5 as they spewed blood and fell over. Shanks landed on the ground before running at the marines and clashing swords with one of the pirates.

Dragon held up his hand and Lugh's tongue shot out, latching onto it. Dragon swung his arm down and Alex flew through the air. He curled up into a ball and smashed into 10 pirates who were standing side by side like a bowling ball. The pirates all toppled over and Alex landed on his feet. The soles of his boots released ice and he continued gliding along the ground, smacking pirates in the face with his staff.

One of the pirates in his way transformed into a giant wolf. Alex jumped up and hit him with the tip of his staff. The wolf instantly turned back into a human and fell to the ground, weakened by the seastone that Alex had coated the tips of his weapon with. Alex lost his momentum when he took down the devil fruit user and was surrounded by a group of pirates. He lifted his staff over his head and spun it in a circle. The ends of the stuff shot out, extending its reach and hitting all the pirates around him in the face.

Alex then sprung 30 feet into the air with his boots. He looked down and saw Shanks take out 3 more pirates before a massive sword slash flew from his sword and took down 5 more. He looked back at Dragon and saw him taking down at least 5 pirates with each punch.

Alex smiled as he plummeted to the ground. He grabbed one end of his staff with two hands and smashed it to the ground with all his might. When he hit the ground a shockwave knocked down pirates in a circle around him as the blow left a dent in the earth.

Alex looked around. Three pirates ran at him together from the front and one came at him from behind. Alex used his staff to block the three men in front of him's swords, leaving himself open to the man attacking from behind.

Just before Alex was hit, Lugh's tongue shot out and wrapped around the man's torso before pulling him into his mouth and swallowing him whole.

Alex pushed forward and the three men fell backwards before Alex swung his staff like a baseball bat and sent all three of them flying. Two more devil fruit users from the crowd transformed and charged at Alex.

A massive grasshopper and a rat jumped at Alex together. Alex twisted his staff and it split into two. Alex hit both of the devil fruit users at the same time with both his staffs. They both fell to the ground unable to fight because of the seastone.

Alex looked up in front of him, another group of pirates looked at him with fear before they began to charge. Alex readied his weapons and squatted down.

Out of nowhere the pirates all went flying as a sword slash hit them, cutting most of them in half. Shanks landed beside Alex and sheathed his sword again with a smile. The pirates he had just defeated landed at the leader of the enemy's feet.

The man looked down at the two kids and scowled. "Who do you think you are? I'm one of the all stars, Jack the drought. Are you two trying to die early?"

Alex looked up at the guy and started tapping one of his staves on his shoulder. "I'm the first mate of the Whitebeard pirates."

Shanks smiled. "I've seen my captain slap Kaido into a mountain before, you think an all star is going to scare me?"