It took Alex less than six minutes to deal with the thirty or so marines on the warship.
Earlier, when Ajin — who was tied to the ship's mast — saw Alex sweep more than a dozen marines into the sea with a single strike of his staff, he glanced at him in slight surprise before lowering his head again, saying nothing.
On the Going Merry, Usopp saw how easily Alex sent the marines packing and quickly pulled out a loudspeaker to shout toward the enemy ship:
"Listen up, marines! I only sent one person to deal with you! If you don't want to die, stay far away from us! And no more cannon fire! Or else I, Captain Usopp — feared for my ruthlessness and famed for my strength — will personally lead my eight thousand elite troops to teach you a lesson!"
Alex, in the middle of smacking people around with his extendable fishing rod, almost facepalmed when he heard Usopp's words. Without realizing it, he even started holding back his strength.
Once all the marines had been knocked into the sea, Alex strolled leisurely around the warship. Since it wasn't every day he got to board a marine vessel, he figured he might as well make the most of it. After all, he hadn't come here just to beat them up.
"Wait!"
Ajin, still tied to the mast, called out as Alex walked past him.
"If you're hoping I'll save you, forget it," Alex replied flatly.
He glanced at the man in front of him — a pirate with a light gray headscarf striped with blue. For Alex, not kicking him while he was down was already an act of mercy.
"You're strong, and you're a pirate. In the East Blue, that should mean you're at least somewhat known. Who exactly are you?" Ajin's eyes were dull from days without food, but his gaze was still sharp as he stared at Alex.
"Who knows? Maybe the marines are all on vacation lately. That's why I don't have a bounty yet," Alex shrugged, retracting his rod and storing it in his arm brace.
He thought of Fullbody, a low-ranking marine captain who could take soldiers and a warship out just to flirt with women. If all marines were like him, the World Government would be doomed.
Ignoring Ajin, Alex finished his little tour, grabbed a sack, and returned to the Going Merry.
"You idiot! Why did you have to go pick a fight with the marines?" Nami scolded the moment he stepped on deck.
"They wouldn't let me leave and even tried to arrest me. Of course I fought back."
Lowering the sack from his shoulder, he answered her curious glance with:
"Treasure. From the marines' ship."
The instant the words left his mouth, Nami's eyes turned into berry signs. She snatched the sack from him, beaming.
"Treasure! Amazing!"
"You should go back and search their ship properly. There might be more," she said, rubbing her cheek against the gold coins she pulled out. "So the marines keep treasure on board too… next time you run into another marine ship, do the same thing — beat them up and bring the treasure to me!"
"Get lost! Are you trying to get me killed?" Alex snapped. If he followed her advice, a run-in with a stronger marine officer could end him.
Truth was, this haul was pure luck — Fullbody had taken it from small-time pirates he encountered while chasing the Krieg Pirates, who had fled back from the Grand Line in defeat.
"Is it really okay for a pirate like you to steal treasure from marines?" Usopp whispered.
"No choice. Going back empty-handed isn't my style."
Usopp's jaw nearly hit the floor. This guy would even rob marines just to uphold his 'principles' — what wouldn't he dare do?
Johnny and Yosaku, bounty hunters who'd dealt with marines many times, stared at Alex like he was some kind of monster. They'd never heard of a pirate in the East Blue actually targeting a marine ship.
"Where's Luffy?" Alex asked, scanning the deck for their loudest crewmate.
Zoro, leaning against the railing, briefly explained that Luffy had been taken by people from the floating restaurant.
"What? He's such an idiot! He could've just explained what happened, apologized sincerely, and asked for forgiveness. Did he really have to make a mess out of it?" Alex grumbled.
"That's exactly what he did… and then he didn't come back," Zoro replied, a vein popping on his forehead.
"Uh…" Alex coughed awkwardly under everyone's stares. Thankfully, Nami was too busy with the treasure to hear that.
A few minutes later, they decided not to wait for Luffy and headed to the floating restaurant to eat.
When they reached the entrance, they heard a commotion inside, along with a man's voice shouting:
"Don't waste food!
In the middle of the ocean, picking a fight with a chef is the same as looking for death! Remember that!"
They pushed open the door to see a man in a black suit with blond hair covering his left eye and a distinctive curled eyebrow on his right. His expression was tinged with anger as he held Fullbody by the bloodied head with one hand, lifting him clean off the ground.
Blood dripped from Fullbody's iron-knuckled hand to the floor — he had clearly been beaten badly.
"Sanji, it's you again! What did you do to this customer? Don't you know he's a marine captain?" a large-faced man dressed like a cook shouted.
"Oh, it's you, Patty. And who said you could call me by my name so casually?" Sanji tossed Fullbody aside and turned to face him.
"This is a customer-first restaurant! You injured an important guest — what's your problem?" Patty barked.
"So what if he's a customer? He disrespected the food, insulted the chef, and was rude to a lady. I had to teach him a lesson," Sanji retorted.
Earlier, Fullbody had pretended to be a wine expert, only for Sanji to serve him a different kind of red wine and embarrass him. In petty revenge, Fullbody had dropped a bug into a soup Sanji had spent days making.
Sanji defused the situation with humor, humiliating Fullbody again — so the marine captain smashed a table, shoved a woman, and even stepped on Sanji's hand. That was the last straw.
Now Fullbody threatened to call the government to shut the restaurant down, which only made Sanji angrier. Other cooks held him back before he could beat the marine again.
"I can't stand arrogant jerks like you! Money can't fill your stomach — only real food can!" Sanji shouted, glaring at Fullbody.
The marine captain broke out in cold sweat, convinced Sanji was a madman.
Just as Alex's group was looking for seats, two figures fell from a hole in the ceiling — one was Luffy, the other an old man in a tall chef's hat with a peg leg: Zeff, the restaurant's owner.
"Luffy, what are you doing here?"
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