Become my family!

Whitebeard smiled. "Become my family!"

The entire crew started sweating. What the fuck did that mean??

Whitebeard didn't clarify as he waited for a response.

By this point, Alex had made it up to the deck. "Pops! You're gonna scare them all away!"

Alex clicked his tongue before walking up to Thatch. "He meant to say, join our crew."

Thatch looked up at Alex. "Do we have any choice?"

Whitebeard was about to speak up when Alex cut him off. He smiled at Thatch. "No, join or die."

Thatch sighed. "Nice to meet you… captain."

Whitebeard laughed and walked back to his ship. "Gurarara! Call me Pops!"

Alex smiled. "You know what this means?"

Thatch stood up and looked down at him confused.

"Time for booze! I get to drink!" Alex cheered happily.

Thatch looked at him with narrow eyes. "How old are you?"

"Like 12." Alex replied.

Thatch looked at Alex, then at Whitebeard, then at Alex.

He sighed. "Can't go against the captain… I don't wanna die just yet."

Alex laughed before a hand smacked him in the back, sending him into a wall. "Gurarara! I told you, it's a party! Not just a chance for you to drink! You little alcoholic!"

Alex got up and shrugged. "Same thing."

Whitebeard laughed and poured a glass for Thatch and himself.

The containers were made by Alex and had the word, family, engraved on them. Whitebeard and Thatch gave a toast to one another, officially becoming family.

The moment they finished Alex swooped in and grabbed a bottle for himself, drinking straight from it.

He let out a relieved sigh. "Still tastes like shit."

Thatch chuckled and took another sip.

Alex started chugging the bottle he had and Thatch started panicking. "Kid! Slow down! You'll kill yourself!"

"Gurararara! What are you so scared of? The brat can probably outdrink you!"

The rest of Thatches crew looked at Alex with doubt. Alex finished the bottle and burped loudly.

He laughed and threw the bottle into the ocean. "Another! I haven't drank in a week!" He called out gleefully as he stole another bottle from Thatch's ship.

The entire crew minus Whitebeard was taken aback by this kid.

"What's wrong with that kid?" Thatch asked Whitebeard.

He laughed. "That's the smartest kid you'll ever meet! Nothing's wrong with him!"

Alex ran over to his new crewmates and started challenging them to drinking competitions.

Within the hour, half of Thatch's crew had passed out and Alex was laughing at them. The rest of the crew joined in and the laughter spread like a disease. Even Thatch was laughing at his crew for losing to a kid.

Alex ran around, talking to everyone while a little tipsy. He had dozens of different conversations with people about different things, cooking, cleaning, swords, ships, navigation … the list went on and on.

The crew all loved the kid, he was charming and knowledgeable enough to talk about any hobbies they had, what's not to love?

Thatch smiled at the scene. "If you had told me this would happen a week ago, I would have sent you to Impel Down for being crazy…" He shook his head and laughed. "The kid's really starting to make me like it here."

The rest of the crew enjoyed the evening as the party continued on. Alex was somehow one of the last to drop even though he drank just as much as anyone else there.

Whitebeard picked him up before throwing him into his bed and continuing to talk to Thatch for the rest of the night.

The next morning, Alex was laughing at all his victims who were complaining about their headaches after losing to him last night.

He went into the kitchen and came back half an hour later with a tour of food for everyone. Everyone's mouth started watering as they saw the food. Even the chefs on Thatch's ship wolfed down their shares while admitting Alex had some pretty decent skills.

Alex ate breakfast with everyone before going back into the library and reading.

One of the new crewmates pointed to the building that was just sitting on the deck of the ship. "Soo, what is that?"

Whitebeard laughed. "The library! I stole it!"

The crew erupted into laughter at the thought of someone uprooting a building and tossing it on a ship… and for a library at that! What kind of pirate reads???

Anyway!

Time passed and the cycle repeated, Alex was reading, making things, training, drinking. The crew was laughing, drinking, meeting other pirates, either getting them to join the crew or beating them up and leaving them.

Just like that, a year had gone by.

The size of the crew had grown at an astonishing rate. They now had 4 divisions. The captains of these divisions were: Marco, Thatch, Jozu, and Vista.

The crew was on their ship and messing around as usual. When a ship was spotted in the distance.

Alex looked out from the library briefly, just to confirm that it was another ship they had to destroy.

However, when he saw the ship his eyes lit up.

"Ahahahaha! Everyone! Get your asses ready! We got a big fight!" Alex screamed as he ran around the ship.

Whitebeard looked at the ship and laughed along. "Gurarararara!"

The crew members started going below deck to ready the cannons but Alex stopped them. "Are you guys idiots? No cannons!"

They were baffled, but listened to Alex.

From across the sea you could hear the other ship erupting with laughter. "Hahahahaha!"

Alex smiled and ran to Whitebeard. "Send me over!"

Whitebeard laughed and picked him up, throwing him at the other ship.

Alex was laughing as he flew through the air. He landed on the ship with a thud and bounced right into a fighting position.

A kid with a red nose shrunk back in fear and Alex kicked him off the ship with a smile. "Come at me, bastards!" Alex yelled with a smile.

He apparently forgot his own words as he charged at one of the men and tried to punch him in the face only to be swatted away.

"Rahahaha! Kiddo, you're 100 years too early!"

Alex spit out blood with a smile. "Fucking old man. I hear they call you the dark king now."

Rayleigh smiled. "I hear you still don't have a bounty."

"Dahahaha! What kinda pirate doesn't have a bounty?" A kid with red hair asked while laughing.

Alex jumped at the red head. "Yours is only 100 belli! You're practically a mascot, Shanks!"