The crew picked up the pace to the Conomi Islands, Nami warning them that there may be some patrols and even a Sea king nearby, but upon arriving, the crew came to the conclusion that the Ward had gone to the Conomi islands himself and it was a massacre, her own village answering the questions that they had about what was happening.
A strange figure, wielding sticks in hand, fought against the fishmen, and when the fishmen tried to take prisoners to force the stranger to give in, they were instead met with a curved blade through their torso, some even catching the words said to them.
'Reap what you have sown, you are not innocent and will be judged as such.'
Some survived as they had been judged and left alive to face their collective sins, but others... Nami didn't tear her eyes away from the bodies that had their hearts pierced or their bodies dried up, Fishmen were different in species and appearance, but they acted the same as humans often were. Morbid as that often was, nothing compared to the words, the messages scripted on the upturned buildings and Luffy found himself angry at them as they pointed to one thing, especially one exact message.
'You are the same as the noble who shot a boy for sailing in front of him, the difference being you killed her, he never died...'
"...Let's go..." Luffy needed answers, fast, as the band made for Arlong Park, listening as even the Marines were put down, but they were exposed as corrupt, having been paid by Arlong to make sure that Nami never got her home back and to keep HQ from finding out that Arlong was enslaving a village chain. They arrived, just as three fishmen crashed into the wall and collapsed with blood, Nami recognizing them as Hachi, Chew, and Kuroobi, before they turned to the final foe, a foe that was severely missing an arm and looked fearful as the robed figure stalked him like a hunter on prey, said missing arm being carried as he spoke.
"I believe you were ranting about being the 'superior' breed on the ocean, just because you evolved and grew up in the Grand Line doesn't make you worth note, just makes you look stupid, real dumb." Bloodlust filled Arlong's eyes as he was more feral beast than ruling power as he lashed out, trying so hard to bite down and hit the Ward, but for each try, his teeth sank into the missing arm and the Ward dodged with ease before he leapt back, skidding far enough to be a foot from the crew as he huffed. "Really taxing me here, losing his mind to a blood frenzy and losing consciousness in it." He shook his head as he tossed the arm behind, Usopp catching it before yelping and tossing it to Nami as she yelped before tossing it as well for Sanji to catch it as Luffy kept his eyes on the Ward as Arlong roared and growled before tearing into the building to pull out a jagged blade that were a line of triangle blades on a rod as Nami recovered to scream.
"It's the Kiribachi! Don't fight it, run!" But the Ward smiled as Arlong charged and swung, before the face fell and he shifted into a stance, feeling it flow through his body, feeling its flow of control and left his emotions behind to strike as he punched, it pluming out a shockwave, just as the blade nearly tapped him before Arlong's torso collapsed inward and he went flying, smashing through the wall as the Ward breathed and relaxed as he thought to himself.
'Fishman Karate... a bit harder than I was expecting, but that is fine, the Arabesque Brick Fist worked...' He breathed as he pocketed his hands and stepped over to the rubble, keeping a distance from it and even ensuring that there was no escape into the water. "We are done here..." He spoke in picking up the Shark Saw with his foot before tossing it into the air and snatching it with his normal hand, whirling it about before slamming it on the edge toward the water. "No more delusions, no more empire, no more superior race. Conomi Islands and its villages are no longer under your reign, they are freed from this tyranny, and they will live on past your insolent temper, should have just listened to Jinbe and focused on that." He turned with slapping the weapon onto his back and walking toward the gate as he greeted the awed-members. "Straw Hats, except Zoro, you're a little late." Luffy didn't reply as the other three were on the edge on how dangerous this guy was before a raspy voice spoke.
"Foolish human..." Nami froze as the Ward breathed as all eyes rested on the rubble as it shifted to Arlong getting back up. "You think you have won, I am the superior breed, and I will show you that I will not..."
"For Goda's sake..." The Ward rubbed his temples as he spoke. "You want broken, I will show you broken, if violence will not answer it..." His eyes glowed teal-blue as he finished. "Then trauma it shall be..." He dashed for Arlong as the shark laughed as he mocked.
"Trauma by being on top of a weaker human." But a vice-grip snatched his jaw shut as Ward spoke.
"Of losing the one thing you kept under lock and key, of losing the very life of your ambitions, of losing the direction and positions of the world itself..." He turned and hurled with a jump across the roof as Arlong impacted into the room that Nami noticed was the destination as Luffy saw the same spark and asked.
"What room is that one..."
"... The Map Room, my prison..."
Arlong crashed into the room and he growled as the foolish human entered the room too, catching something in the air on impact and holding it up to the bold daylight. "For eight years, you have imprisoned a human girl for her map-making skills; For eight years, you were lax in believing that once you had all of the pieces, you would win a war that you lost the moment Tiger Fisher perished, you have lost, and here is proof, simple and clear." The pen fell to the wood, caked in died blood before the Shark Saw came free and he spoke. "I will give you trauma..." Instead of striking the fishman who roused himself in eager belief that he would win, the blade swung, slicing through a cabinet of maps and charts and bring it back to send the rubble and pieces flying through the structure as Arlong shouted.
"My maps!" Arlong staggered to get up before his knees was pinned with a sharpened wooden plank as the youth spoke.
"You are nothing, period." The ruin of the room continued as pieces, fragments, and furniture were sent flying outside, for all to see and all to know. "This empire you built on the blood of humans, this resentment made toward them because of fear of the unknown, it ends here, that is the final note, Arlong." With the last of the room destroyed, he shouldered the blade and turned his back to Arlong as the fishman growled in bloodlust again.
"DIEEEE!" But the blade swung and the pair plowed through the building to the second floor as Arlong coughed blood as he tried to hold strong. "You will... not..."
"Oh, there it is..." The youth spoke as he left the pinned Arlong to the floor and strolled over to a table before picking something up and dialing something in as Arlong growled at the casual nature of this weakling before he spoke. "Hello, don't mind me calling..." The figure turned and Arlong paled as a devilish grin was spread across his face with a Transponder Snaill active. "...Can you connect me to Jinbe, First Son of the Sea, and tell him that I want to ask if he knew about his old pal Arlong running an island chain into the ground for eight years and that they are all humans, inferior beings under his superior 'Arlong pirates'?"
The pirates outside waited when the the pieces came flying, seeing the torture that was inflicted on Nami all those years be destroyed before a voice, powerful and gruff, shouted with the second story of the slightly trashed building. "YOU DID WHAT, ARLONG!" All tensed to the sound before Sanji spoke.
"He... clearly did something that involved a big shot and exposed Arlong." They all nodded as the Ward came right back out, with hands in his pockets before he waved.
"See ya!" Luffy quickly charged, but he passed right through as the Ward laughed into an echo as his figure disappeared and left Conomi to celebrate the defeat of Arlong, who was found utterly defeated on the second floor and a Transponder Snail sitting right close...
Alexander chuckled as there was both a party to celebrate that Arlong had been defeated, crippled badly, and groups of people to search for their unknown ally among the island chain, little noticing that when he escaped, he had just popped up on the Going Merry like a mole or a meerkat, before he turned his thoughts inward in figuring out an actual plan.
With the East Blue cleared up, it was a matter of time before the Strawhats hit Loguetown and then the Grand Line and, while he had given them the chance to speak with Merry and see about preserving her, the Grand Line was a terror among sailors alike, it was chaotic in nature, and it was going to be rough on the caravel, how the crew made her last as they did was pure and devoted love and care, they would double down, but still... it was a losing battle.
He wanted to set up shop and just wander alone, an independent operator, but knowing Luffy and his luck, he was going to be a part of the crew and be with them through the whole journey as he turned his gaze up to the stars. "Hey, B.R.O.B, I don't know if you can hear me, I have been trying to stay under the radar, but I got pulled in and exposed Buggy, destroyed Kuro, revealed the Merry, and crippled Arlong. I was just wondering... was I right in doing that?" He didn't know if that was going to bring a reply, but it did as a slip of paper fell from the night-filled sky and he grabbed it to read.
'You also teased on Sabo's survival, you involved Jinbe with the Arlong affair, the crew hasn't obtained the experience for the Grand Line just yet, so it would be wise to teach them, show them how to fight on the Grand Line and how to move through it.' Alexander hummed before turning it over to write, a quill plucked from the air on instinct.
"So I should follow my gut about it, help them prepare for the Grand Line?" He shook the parchment and flipped it over as more writing was more.
'Yes, to know how to do so will incur the wrath of the Marines, but it will better prepare them for the fights to come, your puppet of the negative emotions is also just part of your imagination, you choose the path you use your powers for.' Then came a question from Alexander as he asked for something that was reckless and lethal to himself.
"Could I use two Devil Fruits at the same time...?" He waited the writing shifted, it weaved and bent before it scribed itself out.
'Your fruit enables you to muster the power of any other Devil Fruit you may consume or even replicate, Death is a being older than time and even older than gods, he can safely use those powers with ease, but I would advise that you only use one power at a time, the time restraint being one month, it is after all one in ten trillion for there to be users of the same Devil Fruit.'
"But my fruit is a Death God model of Human."
'Death gods are an extension of death, it only depends on how you use it.' Alexander hummed before finishing up.
"Thanks for clearing that up, I'll see what I can do." He then tossed the parchment for the wind to carry as the final words were written.
'Any time.' And the parchment flared in green and disappeared as Alexander laid back and rested, the cheer of a party continuing on into the night...
Nami's sneaky farewell was joined by the arrival of another Warlord, Jinbe who was a whale shark fishman and he was pissed, proving that he was the better by thrashing Arlong and and apologizing for the trouble he had made before leaving with Arlong Pirates in tow. The Strawhats didn't linger long as they made for the next town on the map before hitting the Grand Line, Loguetown, before Merry, popping out to see the same direction, paused and spoke. "There's someone else on the ship..."
"A stowaway?" Zoro breathed as he readied the Wado for action.
"Can't be, we checked before we left the Island, there shouldn't be anyone else aboard." Usopp yelped as Nami, now having a new tattoo to symbolize her new home and life, kept her staff on hand for action with Sanji also keeping his guard before Luffy spoke.
"Yeah, but he is kinda being weird, I mean..." He then pointed and all followed his finger to the man actually standing on the bottom of the main mast. "How's he standing like that...?"
"Very preceptive of you, Monkey D. Luffy."
"Just Luffy..."
"Okay..." He fell and landed with no sound to the members near moving to fight as he walked past them in speaking. "New tattoo for your navigator, heading to the Town of the Beginning End, and grabbed yourself an exile, quite the small crew you have here, Strawhat."
"Who are you...?" Ward folded his arms as he spoke.
"I can't answer that on account of your own interest to keep the adventure unknown, that would reveal some things and change them for the better or worse, that only depends..." Luffy hummed before he spoke again with an edge to his voice.
"Are you going to take the Merry from us!?" Usopp shifted to protect the Wood Sprite with the other forming to do the same with captain on one side and their stowaway in the middle. Ward hummed before he spoke.
"No, I may have that power, but I didn't come to kill any, nor cripple the crew in such a way. I came on the behalf of powers FAR more powerful than even the Five Elder Stars, leaders of the World Government..." That only increased the tension as he continued. "I am here... to train you all in readiness for the Grand Line, where every island possesses a magnetic core, where compasses are mere toys to be replaced with a Log Pose, where pirates adventure in to find their skills and resolves tested in the place called Paradise because the second half, the New World, is like Hell itself compared to the first half." Nami and Usopp screamed in fear while Zoro and Sanji were still on their guard as Luffy turned back to the sea and spoke.
"...Where can I find him...?"
"You can't, not right now, not until we speak with your older brother first, fill him in and explain to him first as trying this and you bolting off to find him will be painting me as nothing more than a con artist, we need to explain this... to Ace." The crew watched as Luffy tensed and Merry gave a small groan before she relaxed as Luffy spoke.
"...Fine... I'll believe you..."
"Good..." Ward turned to the crew and spoke. "Rononoa Zoro, I believe you wanted a fight?"
"...Yes..." Nami wasted no time in clocking him as she screeched.
"Idiot! You can't just be trying to fight after just getting patched up!?"
"Don't worry, Nami-swan!" Sanji cheered as he took up the step. "I'll show you that marimo can't contest with me with taking this guy down a peg." Ward just folded his arms and spoke.
"So, you want to play, fine with me." Sanji moved to strike before Ward lashed out the same, surprising them as his leg took it against Sanji's before he smirked. "You got strength and technique, taught by Zeff no doubt, but Zeff didn't teach you everything..." They watched as Sanji engaged in a luckless fight as the air was Ward's advantage in striking, slashing, and moving freely before leaving a battered Sanji on the deck before he spoke, still standing on the air somehow. "You are many things, a excellent chef, a masterful student of the Black Leg Style, and gentleman to any woman you meet, but you are hardly an equal here... Vinsmoke." Whatever that meant, the band noticed Sanji getting back up with rage flowing off him.
"Don't you dare..." He dashed with a flurry of kicks at the ready. "...MENTION THAT NAME AGAIN!" Ward released a 'tch' before he combated the flurry with his own footwork, it a mere blur between the two before Sanji moved with a dropkick and he got pinned again the mast with a hand to the throat as Ward hissed.
"I allowed your captain to grip Merry's neck, but I will not condone you smashing your foot in rage through her body." He struggled to escape as Ward raised his other hand to punch Sanji's lights out to which the captain and the crew knew to stop, but paused as an ethereal being formed and lightly gripped the readied hand, a woman of radiant golden locks and a pleasant disposition as she spoke, Sanji's eyes flashing open in surprise to her.
"Please... let my son go, he doesn't need to be harmed anymore, nor should you continue this façade." Ward glanced to the being as she spoke. "You came to train them, this is nothing but torture and beatings."
"Then how else am I expected to get through to them...?"
"Patience and time, give them reason..." The moment built before the hand loosened and Sanji slumped against the mast with a shocked stare as the other hand fell as she spoke. "Thank you for hearing me out..."
"Yeah, well..." Ward huffed as he turned with hands behind his head as he spoke. "You're the most mature person here, I can't really get advise from a Marine, a village inhabitant, a child, or even the former King, now can I?" That sent shivers up their spines as Ward finished. "Wake me up when you actually FEEL like training, not before, and I will help the best that I can..." He disappeared to rest on the cabin again and dozed off, snoozing quietly as the woman bent over and kissed Sanji's head as he voiced.
"...Mom...?"
"My ever-cooking boy, how you have grown..." She rubbed his head as she beamed. "And such a gentleman, though still as perverse, but you have a valiant heart, we will speak once again... soon..." She hugged him as she disappeared to his shock before Zoro cleared his throat and Sanji readied to fight when the swordsman spoke.
"Your mother is a very kind woman, Sanji, I will not badmouth her or you for a while, even then, I will not mock her..." He then walked away to train as Luffy blinked before he spoke.
"Whoa... I thought you two were going to ring each other's necks just then, that was so... casual."
"Luffy, if I wasn't in shock, I would be screeching on how calm and collected you just acted right then."
"Ah, don't worry about it, Nami, I will be back to just munching meats and foods and being dumb, being all epic in savant and disciplined with thinking isn't really my style..."
"I'll say..." Usopp voiced under his breath, wondering if he could get a meeting with his mom too soon, that was spiritual, the good kind...