As foolish as he was, Alexander Fieldsman was not that dimwitted in connecting the dots as he stirred to a cold embrace before he groaned, pulling himself up and dragging his whole body from the cold and onto the hot sands, the process slow for some reason on his right side before he pushed and toppled over, hissing as something entered his body as course and rough.
Pain lanced through his body before he quickly rolled over and the pain subsided to his relief before he slowly got up and moved to raise his right arm to find out what just started to hurt... except he could only move the shoulder blade and turned his eyes to see what the problem was before he turned to the other side and hurled, starting to dry heave for a few moments before he looked back.
There was no right arm, all there was was a bloody stump, blood now laced with sand as he slowly reached over to touch the missing limb and hissed to the pain, but he used it to focus and figure it out.
'Okay, life-threatening injury treatment later...' He turned his radiant blue eyes to the coast of the island he must be on now, gathering facts for what happened and where he now was. 'I am on an island, NOT sleeping off a hangover from eight bottles of soda and juice in my room; I am missing an arm from who knows what, and I can't, for the life of myself, figure out what happened to cause this...' He tucked the left arm in to emulate a sense of folding his arm, making him feel a bit awkward as he pieced it a bit more. "Yes, hangovers are alcohol in nature, but I was groggy, so I used the restroom, returned to my 'dorm room' and...'
That's when he stopped, his phone... he had opened up a chatroom by himself to vent about the latest One Piece games, carrying some beef with the 'unlimited' series, when something joined, the name 'B.R.O.B' rang a bell in his skull. The being commented and was interested with Alexander's own rants and wanted to give him a hands-on time and experience in the series.
Alexander... didn't rant against the possibility, but he was doubtful of the idea which lead to something happening, the final words being 'Good luck living' before everything went black. Now, that was a cause of panic, but Alexander took it back a bit as he rubbed his temples. "I am a part of the One Piece series..." He huffed as he slowly got up. "Wonderful..." He turned his gaze up as he called out. "Hey, Goda or whoever is listening, I could use some help here, where am I!?" He blinked with blocking the sun out before a light shadow came falling from the sky and he waited before it was right on him before he took it carefully and started to read.
'Good to know you are still alive, I know that you are a bit out of it, but the gist of it is that you can do whatever you want in this universe and I will not have a problem with it, compared to others. I should inform you that, as a circumstance of the Devil Fruit I forced into your system, a toll has been taken from yourself, but as a reward, I am dropping a unique piece of tech in to give you a bit of fighting chance.' Alexander blinked before looking again and yelped as a large crate came falling toward him and he rolled to the side as it impacted with a blast of sand and he blinked before reading the rest.
'It's yours to figure out in full, do take care! Loves, B.R.O.B'
"DARN IT ALL!" Alexander roared with shark teeth as he hurled the letter into the sea with the crumpling. "WHAT PART OF THIS IS OKAY!?" He roared before he tired out and groaned before he sat back up and looked at the wooden crate that survived being dropping a thousand feet up or something. "...It... I guess it wouldn't hurt to see what's up..." He got up and searched the crate before he looked for the top or side and tapped on it with his foot, the shifting giving him the top as the loose part and he opened it up to something interesting.
"An... arm...?" He picked it up from the stuff and turned it about a few times before he moved to place onto his shoulder, it about the right size as his normal arm before cables, cords, and wires shot out and ripped into his exposed flesh, he groaning in pain for a few seconds before it subside again and he moved it...
He stopped and did it again, the new arm moving like him willing it and moving it like a normal limb, despite the more-pointed fingers and plating, it cracking like his bones had reformed under the metal before he took a closer look to notice a mesh of materials as he spoke. "Sea Prism Stone and a highly durable steel material..." He rested it as he questioned. "If this IS Seastone, then what Devil Fruit would I have that I don't feel sick or weak to it...?" That... REALLY threw him off, as always confirmed, Seastone emulates the effects of the sea on Devil Fruit users, weakening them and sealing their powers inward, turning them mortal and physical enough for real attacks to affect them. To have a Devil Fruit NOT be effected was a stretch, like the Being didn't want the Stone to affect them, so went with a Fruit that could either negate the effects, use a sizeable amount to turn the arm powerful, but still keep the Devil Fruit active, or, and he was not liking the actual sound of it, the Devil Fruit actually CAN'T be affected by the sea and give him full power whether he is in the water or not.
He liked the first two, the last one scared him badly as he shook the idea out and focused, checking the arm over once more to find that the whole of his arm, inward, was mounted and readied like a piston from the hand, so he tested it, gripping a fist and swung, the elbow popped out for a second before slamming back in with a shockwave before he tried a palm strike and the same happened, only a stake popped a foot out of the hand with him blinking before speaking with the look about, the stake popping back in casually. "Huh... didn't know it could do that..." But it did not sway him to act differently, in fact, he started to use that to his advantage.
Fighting with no style was a sure way to get killed, so he practiced on learning through self-taught the ways of Boxing, Muay Thai, and even some Zulu stick-fighting before confirming that he had it under control, now for his own internal skills.
First up was Haki, if he was going to hit up the Grand Line, Haki is the must, but while his Armament was pretty good, his Observation was abnormal, so much so that he counted five seconds before a Marine spotted him and shot, the event happening right then and he had quickly learned how to predict attacks five seconds before the strike or event, a terror to be sure and a good rival to Big Mom's Katakuri's own Future Sight as he took down the Marine within seconds, checking his uniform to figure out that he was attached to East Blue's Shell Town.
Next, with leaving the unconscious moron in the sand with shattered gun, Alexander practiced the Six Powers, just to piss off the CP agents if they ever meet. Moonwalk was decent, Iron Body was a mess as his body didn't seem to have enough strength to it, his mind connecting it to calcium supplies lacking for the big skill, but he still willed it to work, Finger Pistol was a real issue, Tempest Kick was just as easily done, Shave shared the easy motion, and Paper Art was just weird, but worked.
He contemplated trying to do Six King Gun, but decided against it after one try, the impact was too much for his body to handle and not keep fighting, so he relaxed with the fact that he could do three of seven of the Powers and left it at that as he turned, Shell Town was where Monkey D. Luffy took down Captain Morgan and left Coby behind for his dream of a marine.
With this in mind, he decided to investigate, see what has happened, any trace of his location crumbling to pieces as the crate finally died to the tested skills...
The town was nice, interesting even as he quickly picked up the concepts of Beri, bargaining, and a lot of other things before he tested the waters in walking by an alley and throwing his voice, the name 'Morgan' echoing and causing the people to jump in fear, so that confirmed that Luffy hasn't come and that Zoro was still imprisoned as he headed up to the base and took a look, expecting to see Zoro tied up, but his eyes widened in shock before diving down in shock before blinking and looking again...
The man was there, tied up and beaten with black bandana adorned, green sash around his wrist and white shirt with black trousers on, his boots sprawling out. No, the difference in picture was the phantom of a girl in a pink top, brown shorts, and uselessly slapping through him that grabbed his attention, the spirit of Kuina was trying to get him to get up and live, tears stubbornly boring from her eyes as Alexander dropped back down as he counted the facts, normal hand counting off on the machine hand.
"I can see the dead, I can use Seastone attached to my body, and I can hear her crying in this area..." It pressed him, but he didn't give up on figuring it out. "So I have a Devil Fruit that is like the Reapers or a Death God, could that be causing the abnormality of my body?" He hummed before huffing and looking out, spotting a small boat on the way, the straw hat a given as he decided something else. "I better take a back seat for now." He Moonwalked away and located himself on the roof of the Marine base to watch it all, watched as Luffy made his claim, watched as Zoro took up arms to fight, watched as the reign of a corrupt Marine came to an end, and watched as the girl Kuina cheered in relief for Zoro's safety, but that was nothing compared to the spirit of freaking GOL D. ROGER hovering around freaking Luffy.
That made him jump and sent a shudder down when Roger noticed him and winked, leaving Alexander agape to what just happened before a flame boiled up, like Roger was taunting...
"Death..." Even after his death, even after everything that has happened, Roger still had the guile to taunt Death before Alex resolved himself and stood up before he breathed and spoke to himself. "I suppose I could change a few things, Orange Island is good to go, could hit Syrup, but that is dorky, the Baratie is a good idea, but not feeling it, no..." He beamed as he readied to overdrive his legs and body to the limit. "Conomi Island sounds perfect..."
But he stopped, he didn't jump or Moonwalk, a shadow passed his heart before he rested the mechanical hand to his chest and breathed in realizing it. "Of course..." As much as he wanted to slaughter Arlong and make him regret his long near-decade reign, the fact that he was BEING invited to follow Luffy was something of a interest and he wanted to change things up a bit for the heck of it now, so with Moonwalk kicking him off and Shave to speed him up, he made for Orange Town faster than the stalling duo in a boat.
As bare and deserted as can be, Orange Town offered little in resources and loot, but it was the firing ground of 'Buggy the Immortal', bearer of the Chop-Chop Fruit, and his posse of clowns, but moreover, as Alexander landed, was the site where Nami would be stealing the map to the Grand Line from that messed up clown.
It was even easy, just look for the girl being haunted by a military-trained fushica-head with the chelsea hawk who looked less than pleased with her daughter's actions, but understanding the meaning behind it.
Nope, not that hard at all, totally easy...
'IF ONLY!' Alexander had barely even honed his power with whatever fruit he has and so, finding a redhead thief being followed by a freaking ghost was a needle in a oceanic haystack! He rubbed his temples with his new arm by instinct and still felt no weakness somehow as he peered about and spotting the stupid Big Top for the clown, so he hasn't packed up yet before spotting the runaway with three convicts behind her... and the ashamed mother looking concerned as Alexander huffed. 'Well then, time to make an entrance.' He breathed before he jumped and landed in the space between thief and pirates, surprising all of them as he straightened up and spoke to the pirates. "Mind telling me what exactly you think you are doing to my member, you three?" Nami was quick to capitalize on that statement while Bell-mere just shook her head at the sheer level of foolish her daughter was doing or thinking.
"Whoa, thanks boss, I am so glad you came along, I hope you can keep them of my back while I get back to the ship!" She took off running as she cheered. "Catch up when you can!" She booked it out of there as the pirates reacted.
"She's getting away!"
"Forget her, we got her boss now, let's show him what the Buggy Pirates can do!" Alexander tilted his head as he spoke.
"You have two options." He spoke with raising a pair of fingers. "A: You fight me and lose badly or B: You turn tail and tell Buggy that I don't give a damn about his looting here and to pack up."
"How dare you!"
"We are going to rip you apart, piece by piece!"
"We'll show you our power." Alexander groaned as he huffed.
"I tried..." A cutlass came down, but Alexander just shifted and threw a punch, the metal shattering to his metal fist to the surprise of the lead before the young man spun to the side and swung again, the pirate getting his side caved before he was launched into a house and the other two were no better as Alexander closed the gap and domed the both of them before hurling them into the leader, knocking them out hard before he rolled his neck. "Now, I'm waiting on the rubberized moron to get shot." He didn't wait long before Nami returned in awe.
"Whoa! You took them out with nothing more than your fists!"
"You REALLY didn't think your 'boss' was going to get wasted by these scrubs of flotsam, did you?" Alexander sassed back as she just shrugged, ticking him off a bit as she spoke with leaping down with Bell-mere floating on with a hand to her face.
"Now that you mention it, how about we become partners?"
"And what sort of reward is saving your butt from getting butchered by pirates being part of joining up with you?"
"Oh, don't worry about that." Nami made a smug face with rubbing her fingers together. "You get all of the gullible morons and fights and I get all of the treasure from them before they even noticed what happened!"
"And you're a local?"
"Oh, just a run-of-the-mill thief, Nami the Cat Burglar." She took on a dark look as she started to rant. "And I HATE pirates, I despise them and hope they all just died!" She resumed a playful face as she continued. "Now, there is the matter of fees that we can..."
"You know what..." Alexander grunted as he popped his neck. "...I'm running this train short." Before Nami could ask, Alexander snatched her left sleeve with his left and ripped it off, exposing the mark of the Sun Pirates, to her shock, before he smacked hard on it with his right, METAL hand and she screamed in pain as she was sent to the ground with hand gripping her now-bruised arm as he spoke. "You dare make such a claim in my face, and don the brand of a fishman pirate which is mocking enough that I don't give a darn about your weakness or your pathetic struggle of serving a backstabbing slaver of a fish!" The air started to drain and Nami found herself starting to choke as the day started to turn to darkness while Alexander's bout of rage started to seep into the air and even suck the life from stone as under his feet was turning dead and decayed, Bell-mere even feeling it as she was gripping her throat in pain.
"You want to play the victim and thief card, FINE, but you are not my problem, you are just a bother who can't do anything, but whine and complain that all the money you are collecting is for a cause doomed to fail! Why haven't the Marines dealt with a toss out of the Line, because the sixteenth branch is allowing themselves to get paid for their troubles in hiding the bloody slavers!" Alexander scuffed as frigid, icy fumes surged from his mouth and caked the ground in ice as Nami vainly tried to get away. "You want a pirate who will break you first, to make you wish for death over the disgrace of mortal sin." His smile glowed bone white as he spoke. "Then get down with Buggy, that's all you're good for here... a bother and just another body to the count." Alexander breathed and the air returned, both of the exposed members getting their air back in coughing up and gulping in the air, the stone remained bedrock, but Alexander didn't pay heed to it as he turned his back to the navigator. "There are fates far worse than death, but I don't have the time to list them, I am going to deal with the clown and all that wealth and treasure will be mine by right as conqueror, you... stay out of my way, beri-digger." With that, he walked away, Nami, heedless of his departure, started to tear up as she reached up and held her battered arm before tears started to fall to the ground as she bit her lip and moaned with planting her forehead into the ground.
"I'm s-s-sorry... s-so s-s-so-o-orry...!" Bell-mere couldn't comfort her daughter, but she did what she could in trying to hold her as the girl wept on the street, the explosion that rang out behind her far from their minds as they tried to let the sun heal them from the cloak of death...
Alexander felt terrible, rolling his neck and going through the motions of what had just been done before he opened his eyes with closing in on the Big Top. 'I shouldn't have lost my temper to that annoyance, she is just trying to save her home, just trying to preserve them and free them from eight years of pain and suffering, but... she didn't tell anyone, burdening her own shoulders with the weight of it all, distrusting others... throwing them under the bus... a pirate without morals would do that, not a thief with a good sense of hope and belief...' He huffed with continuing before he looked up and called out.
"I am looking for Buggy, former cabin boy of Gol D. Roger, who now dubs himself as 'Buggy the Clown', 'Buggy the Immortal', and to ask him if the big, red nose on his face is his actual nose or a prop!" That got a reaction as a voice called out in anger.
"WHAT FLASHY BASTARD DARED TO MAKE SUCH ACCUSATIONS ABOUT ME AND MY NOSE!" From everything that Alexander could understand, it was not fully sure if he wanted to laugh at the fact that Buggy looked as silly and funny as a common clown would often get or that Buggy just told him to keep his past shut about his time with the Roger Pirates as Alexander spoke again with crossed arms, the 'said' clown looking from his high seat in broad daylight.
"I am asking if the nose on your face is real or if it's a prop, and the fact you think that I am lying about you being the cabin boy on Roger's ship alongside Red-Haired Shanks is outlandish." That caused quite the stir as the crew and members were actively mumbling amongst themselves while Buggy looked downright scared with sweat bucketing down his body before Alexander cupped his mouth in amuse. "Wait, don't tell me... you're afraid of the Marines learning that you once sailed with THE Pirate King and WAS a friend of one of the Four Emperors? You're scared?" That caused an uproar as so many shouted.
"Captain Buggy is not afraid of any Marines!"
"He is the greatest on the seas!"
"None can amount to him!" Alexander just left a smirk on his face as he heard the ranting before another voice spoke.
"Captain Buggy, allow Richie and I to trample this mocking fool." The young man simply stepped to the side as a large creature leapt and landed with a heavy thud and he turned to the huge lion of light green and violet and the man on top of the creature as he spoke. "I am Beast Tamer Mohji, no animal can resist my prowess of taming!" The young man blinked with looking at the lion then the man before he spoke.
"First off, that is a unique style of hair that I thought that it was your actual head. Second, if you claim to be a beast tamer, then why does your lion look half-famished?" Both mount and man looked at each other as Alexander strolled over with taking in the lion. "I mean, look at this mane, riddled in lice, fleas, and grime, no sign of clean to this once-proud beast and I can barely make out ribs." He spoke with gripping with the normal hand as the lion looked embarrassed to Mohji's growing shame and rage. "You call a beast tamer, but you can barely maintain such a proud beast, in short..." He suddenly flipped over and, before either could react, Alexander flattened Mohji and Richie in a blast of air pressure, knocking them both out. "You're fired..."
"Ah man!" Alexander jolted up to see the last face he was actually expecting, Monkey D. Luffy, to be on time to the blast as he gape in awe, but no Nami and only Zoro with him with how the swordsman was carefully gripping his katanas, though the image was being ruined by the spirits of Kuina being just as wary and Roger wearing a ashamed face toward Buggy, like he was both sorry for the clown and disappointed at the low that Buggy had fallen. "That was so cool, how did you do that, are you a robot!?"
"Uhh..." Alexander blinked to the gleeful captain and wary first mate before he answered. "I'm pretty sure I am human, so I guess just training in martial arts and combat, nothing fancy or techy like being machine." Which was true as he had, in fact, taxed his legs to overdrive to get to Orange Town, so he couldn't use any of the fancy legwork of the powers, but that didn't stop him from seeing trouble and turning just in time as the cannon rolled out.
"FIRE THE BUGGY BALL!" The fuse was lit and the cannon fired, the level of ruin apparent, but Alexander didn't let it happen as he rushed to the position where the Ball would hit and lashed out a hand, the pirates laughing at the sheer stupidity while the other two nearly rushed to save Alexander before a massive cloud of dust was kicked up as Buggy gloated. "Fool, no one can survive a flashy death by the Buggy Ball!"
"You bastard!" Luffy growled and Zoro moved to joined the fight before a voice spoke.
"That could have killed hundreds and destroyed more of the town, you big nose..." All stopped as the dust cleared up and Alexander was left standing, but in his right hand was the Buggy Ball, unexploded and gripped like a softball, sweat gushing down the Buggy Pirates while Luffy and Zoro were in shock before Alexander spoke again. "You want to play pirates, fine, then you can take the punishment..." With that, he turned and curled the pitch as he shouted, his target being the rubber moron. "Give me a balloon!" Without pause, Luffy inflated as the ball was hurled like a fastball.
"Gum Gum Balloon!" Any slower and Alexander would have been at fault for destroying the town, but Luffy inflated his body just in time as the ball slammed into him, he actually grunting from the sound of impact before his body bounced back and the ball shot faster than any cannon as Buggy barely got a word out.
"Inco-!" The inferno consumed the Big Top and clearly left a debris field of a building as Alexander relaxed and turned to the mess as Zoro and Luffy joined before the swordsman asked with a raised brow.
"Did you know that my captain was rubber in the first place...?"
"Lucky guess... I was surprised to see his body inflate like that." But that didn't explain it, Zoro clearly saw and knew that Alexander had winded up to hurl the ball at Luffy, like he was planning to use Luffy's rubber features to not only reduce the force, but also angle the throw to hit the Big Top and Buggy Pirates in such a way that the blast would flare into the air and not dig into the ground anymore. He shrugged to keep his knowledge on the down low for now as he glanced to spot Nami, she must have witnessed what happened and what was going on as Alexander spoke with shifting. "Now, be on guard, we still have a blade-immortal clown and a acrobat sword fencer to contend with."
Neither argued as the smoke of the rubble faded and both Buggy and Cabaji, having survived with using meat shields of the crew and were perfectly intact before Alexander leapt backwards with dodging a hail of daggers from a fired hand, but that didn't stop the budding Strawhat Pirates from taking on the pair of captain and chief of staff for the Buggy Pirates, but for all of Buggy's posture and Cabaji's tricks, things didn't happen like in the books or the anime, far from it.
Alexander signed it off as his own words as Zoro was quick in cutting Buggy and focusing on Cabaji, but he also had the foresight to evade as a hand shot out to plunge a dagger into his side while Luffy had tossed his hat to him in a catch and struck with Bullet, Rifle, even Gatling and dodging Buggy's attacks as best as he could, the fight being so much easier then expected as Buggy was set flying without the majority of his pieces and Cabaji was laid out while Nami could get the chance to steal the treasure, a series of bandages binding her arm as Bell-mere lightly glared at him before he suddenly found himself pinned between a rubber captain, a three-sword-wielding fighter and a...
"Hold up, are you seriously with the rubber man right now!?" Alexander questioned with pointing at Luffy while glancing at Nami who took a position behind Alexander.
"What can I say, he wants a navigator and I know how to be the best."
"That... doesn't help with him looking like he was trained in a jungle on how to be just a all-around brawler and not a captain of any ship." Alexander spoke and Luffy flinched before whistling such a ridiculous idea, both Nami and Zoro taking their eyes off Alex to stare at Luffy before they quickly whipped back to the phantom of Alexander as he was booking it away with a jump out of the pin and running. 'WHY AM I TAUNTING THESE GUYS!?' A brief glance told Alex that Roger was laughing with Bell-mere and Kuina slapping Zoro's skull in falling for a ruse.
Now, he had to locate Syrup Village in his mind and get there before he was really pinned down, proving that only Luffy could rocket for him in the first place as he heard the rocket and slid, Luffy slamming into a building and sticking as Alexander took a sharp turn and rushed his way out before spotting an average boat, APART from the stolen Buggy boat and Marine rowing boat, and quickly got it out of it's bindings before he took off and cheered as he spotted the three 'pirates' reach the harbor just in time to see him gone. "Remember this, as this is the day that you will always remember as the day you almost captured... the Death's Ward!" With strength and passion, Alexander struck fast and sailed away with a compass, a barrel of fruits picked up, and a random jug of water at his side as he pressed on...