The East Blue, somewhere at sea — Alex and the others were sailing on the Going Merry, bound for the Grand Line.
When they left Syrup Village, the crew had toasted — celebrating Usopp's joining and the new ship. Three days had flown by since they set off.
Alex was on deck fiddling with the collapsible fishing rod and its accessories that Kaya had given him. Yesterday, when Zoro and Usopp learned Alex called the telescoping rod the Golden Titan Staff, their reactions almost made Alex snap.
"Do you even know what color my hair is?" Zoro asked, watching Alex handle the silver-gray rod with a serious face.
"You take me for an idiot? You green-haired goof," Alex shot back — he couldn't stand being treated like he couldn't even tell colors.
"If you want to copy my bluffing style, you can't do it like that — it's too obvious," Usopp said proudly, wagging a finger. "I've spent decades perfecting my one-of-a-kind trickery. People call me the Great Captain Usopp. You've got a long way to go."
Before Usopp could finish his brag, Alex scowled and walked away. He thought wasting time trading nonsense with them was beneath him.
"Hey, listen to me!" Usopp called, left standing alone as Alex and Zoro drifted off. Alex had been examining the rod accessories when he noticed another identical-looking rod tucked in the kit. That meant he actually had two telescoping rods — and to his surprise, they could be combined.
At first Alex assumed the extra rod was just a spare, but now that theory seemed unlikely. He lined up the ten or so parts, inspecting each. Two of them looked like small watch-like devices, and they grabbed his attention.
That night Alex found Usopp and talked for a long time before handing over the two rods and the accessories to him.
Days passed quietly. Alex's sprained right foot healed almost entirely, and he returned to intense training. He spent time on the deck doing a thousand frog hops, then over seven hundred one-arm push-ups, switching hands until his muscles nearly cramped. Exhausted, he collapsed on the deck — until Nami, stern-faced, came over and fed him.
Luffy had wanted to help too, but Alex refused. Luffy's version of assistance had been stuffing a mountain of food into Alex's mouth until he nearly choked — not the kind of help Alex welcomed.
After Alex had his fill, Nami smiled and offered her hand. "Pay up — ten thousand Berries," she said.
"You know I have no money," Alex replied in surprise.
Nami, unperturbed, pulled out a small notebook and briskly began to record everything Alex had done for her that day — his debts to her. Alex peeked; the pages were full of tiny entries:
Walked past while sweating and stunk up the place — 500,000 Berries.
Loud snores at night — 700,000 Berries.
Didn't defend Nami during a morning quarrel about the route — 300,000 Berries.
Did not help with the hot water when she needed a bath — 1,000,000 Berries.
Was on deck doing special training while she needed someone to watch the ship — 2,000,000 Berries.
Alex was stunned. He'd racked up so much debt without noticing.
"Why are you snooping through my private book, you idiot?" Nami snorted, a flush crossing her face — then she punched Alex and sent him sprawling.
A few days later was an important day for the crew: they finally had an official flag.
"Come see — I drew it! This will be our mark from now on," Luffy announced proudly, showing the freshly painted Jolly Roger. He beamed. "I thought about this design for a long time. Don't you like it?"
Alex looked at the flag — a skull wearing a straw hat, one eye socket bigger than the other, the mouth lopsided, the teeth all wrong. It looked grotesque.
"What is that?" Nami asked, curious when Alex immediately covered his face.
"I'd rather hide my face than be seen with such a flag," Alex muttered, pulling fabric over his head.
"That's rude to say… but yeah, it's kind of terrifying as art," Nami said, gently punching Alex's arm. She studied Luffy's flag before admitting, "It's true — that guy has no artistic talent. Maybe I should cover my face too."
Usopp stared at Luffy's flag, jaw dropping. "A Jolly Roger should symbolize death, but in some sense, that flag really does inspire fear."
Zoro, arms folded, added nothing but a dark line of exasperation on his forehead.
Luffy, affronted by the snark, demanded, "If you think mine's bad, then make one yourself."
"No problem," Alex said confidently; he'd studied sketching briefly and figured a flag would be easy.
Minutes later Alex presented his version. A hush fell over the group as they all examined it.
"Did you really draw a flag?" Nami asked, skeptical.
"Of course," Alex replied. "Can't you see it?"
Nami tilted her head. "Isn't your flag just a big black sheet? I can't see anything."
Usopp blinked, rubbing his eyes. "Are you joking?"
"Where's the skull symbol you drew?" Zoro asked, doubtful.
Luffy grabbed Alex's seemingly blank flag and searched; there really was nothing obvious.
"You people have terrible eyes. The skull is right here," Alex said, pointing to the upper-left corner. When they leaned in, they finally made out a tiny straw-hat skull in the corner, the size of an index finger — finely detailed.
Usopp put on his sniper goggles and could fully make out the miniature emblem. "Wow — you actually made a detailed little straw-hat skull."
"But why so small?" Nami asked. "It'd be perfect if it were larger."
Alex was embarrassed. He had tried enlarging it, but it distorted the image. He'd shrunk it down until it looked right.
"Don't be so picky. Your design's garbage, but at least you made something legible," Luffy said, stroking his chin.
"You're the one who looks terrible," Alex shot back.
"You're dumb. Who makes a flag that tiny?" Luffy and Alex immediately started arguing, and then rolled into a fight.
"Both of you are hopeless. I'll try," Usopp said. Fifteen minutes later, a brand-new flag was complete — Usopp's straw-hat skull design, larger and bold, earned everyone's approval. (Usopp had earlier proposed a long-nosed skull flag, which had earned him a beating.)
Soon the emblem was painted on the sail as well. At last they had a proper Jolly Roger. With their straw-hat skull flapping in the wind, they'd officially become a pirate crew — unmistakably pirates now.
"To celebrate the birth of our flag, I'm going to have a feast!" Luffy declared.
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