The Yonko!

Alex smiled as the two charged back at their foe.

Shanks and the man's swords clashed and Alex punched him in the face. The man waved his hand at Alex missing his body but grabbing his shirt.

Alex's shirt shattered into tiny cubes as he planted one hand on the ground and used his momentum to spin and kick at his foe's leg.

Shanks blocked the man's sword as it aimed for Alex's neck. Alex's kick made contact with his leg and he lost balance allowing Shanks to knock his sword out of his hand.

The man reached out for Shanks and tried to grab him by the throat but Alex jumped up and grabbed his arm.

Alex tried to kick the man but his foot was stopped by a fist. Alex spun and kicked with his other leg, hitting the man in the face before being thrown into the mast. Alex spat out blood as his back bent backwards.

Shanks used this opening to attack the man and was able to leave a deep gash on his right wrist.

Alex wiped the blood off his mouth as he stood up, staining his white glove. Alex smiled with bloody teeth and took his marine hat off, tossing it to the side.

Shanks backed off until he and Alex were side by side. The ship shook and the two looked over to see the marines finally start boarding the ship. The charge was led by three boys as a barrage of lasers, magma and ice were incapacitating pirates way faster than Shanks and Alex were a moment ago.

Alex looked at Shanks and whispered something, Shanks thought it over for a moment before nodding.

The two once again charged at the captain. He met the two with a flurry of punches and kicks that were either deflected or dodged as the boys jumped around him. After each exchange the cuts and bruises on the man slowly grew in number.

A new recruit attempted to join the fight, likely hoping to gain a devil fruit. He was instantly caught and turned into hundreds of perfect cubes. The cube with his mouth on it screamed as the rest of the cubes bounced around in a panic.

Alex used the minimal distraction to jump on the Captain's back and put him in a headlock. The pirate reached up with both his hands to cube-ify Alex.

"Now!" Alex yelled.

Shanks dashed forward and plunged his sword into the pirate's heart. His arms stopped moving a few inches away from Alex as he fell to his knees and Alex jumped off of him.

Alex landed beside Shanks and the two smiled and fist bumped before both fallin on their asses, exhausted.

Both of them were fairly injured after the exchange and Alex was still missing his shirt, revealing the scar on his abdomen.

They watched as Kizaru, Akainu and Aokiji decimated the pirates with ease.

They looked over in another direction and Buggy was crying and running away. He dodged a group of three pirates who all tripped over each other and landed on their own swords. Buggy yelped when he saw the blood and jumped backwards, accidently stabbing a man who he didn't even know was behind him.

Buggy dropped his weapons and scrambled backwards, accidentally dodging a bullet that hit another pirate that was about to kill him.

Alex and Shanks laughed. Buggy took out just as many guys as they had!

None of them on purpose of course!

Alex and Shanks stood up and jumped back into the fray, determined to not let Buggy outdo them!

They ran in opposite directions, Alex grabbed another loose plank and started to bonk people over the head. He even hit a recruit once and knocked him out. Alex laughed and ran away to bonk more pirates without even the slightest bit of concern.

Shanks was slicing pirates' clothes to shreds and kicking them in the face while laughing. Alex noticed that he had started to avoid slashing anyone directly and only trying to hit clothes or other swords.

Alex wasn't afforded the ability to look away as two more pirates approached him and Alex was dragged back to reality.

A few minutes later the fight ended with all the pirates in handcuffs. Well all of them that were still alive of course. The captain was killed by Shanks and if you looked around at least 20 had a hole in their chests with burns around it. Some of the ones fighted Buggy had also killed themselves.

Alex and Shanks were sitting down together, leaning their back against the mast that Alex had been thrown into and leaning on each other's shoulders.

Shanks looked glum.

"How do you feel?" Alex asked.

Shanks looked down at his hands that now had blood on them, both figuratively and literally. "It feels… weird. Knowing that I stole someone's life. That he can no longer experience this world or make any new memories… It's sad."

Alex nodded and put his arm around Shank's shoulder. "You didn't have a choice. If we didn't kill him, we would have ended up like that." Alex said as he pointed at the cube-marine.

Shanks gave a weak laugh. "But… I still just stole everything from him. Maybe I need to do it… heck maybe he even deserved it… but now there's nothing left for him… maybe he could have done something else, but I robbed him of that… it doesn't feel good."

Alex tried to reassure Shanks with a smile and by pulling him closer. "Next time, I'll kill them so you don't have to."

Shanks smiled and shook his head. "No way. I can't let you do that. We're friends, we do everything together… and this is no different. We'll get stronger together, so that we don't have to kill more people than necessary. And one day, we'll rule these seas along with my Captain and your Pops."

Alex laughed. "We can be the four emperors! The Yonko!"

Shanks gave a genuine smile. "Dahahaha! That sounds good! We'll become Yonko, the strongest in the world!"