Chapter 2

They had given Alexis a small katana that was kept on a mess room, for her to use while she was with the Red Hair Pirates. It was the perfect size for her: a slender yet deadly sharp sword for her was what she needed and she did miss her kendo classes. As a response to this long awaited practice she managed to convince Shanks to warm her up with a fight on the boat's deck. A lot of islanders had come to the docks asking why they were fighting but they never received an answer so they would just walk away.

The Red Hair Pirates waited patiently for the arrival of Dracule Mihawk with their booze. In the meantime most of the crew members were down in the mess deck while Benn, Yasopp, Roo and Rockstar were sitting at the ship's deck, watching the friendly yet intense fight between their captain and the new girl. It was a surprise to all that she could put up a fight, making Shanks lose balance a couple of times with her agile sword swings and high kicks. It was really good that she could put up a fight with and without weapons. The only problem with Alexis' fighting style was that, although being quick and precise with her blows, she had little stamina. In about 10 minutes of fighting she was breathing heavily. On the other hand so was Shanks: the fact that she could move so quickly pulled off most of his stamina away from him which made her kind of a strategic fighter. As their fight continued the clash of steel became almost lazy at each block made by them. They were slower. The fight came to a stop when Alexis drew a blow against Shanks' sabre, making him fall flat on his back. Alexis followed suit and sat down on the floor abruptly, laughing with the remaining strength she had. Shanks laughed as well in amusement.

-You can definitely fight. – Shanks stated in between chuckles.

-I told you. – Alexis answered back, letting her body fall against the wooden floor of the ship, catching her breath. – Thanks for the warm up.

-You're welcome.

They stood silent for a couple of minutes before this silence was rashly interrupted.

-Let's do this one more time. – She got up in a swift jump, grabbing her katana along the way and placing herself in a fighting stance.

-Are you serious? – Shanks was amazed by her recovery speed. – I'm still exhausted!

-C'mon! Aren't you a Yonko? You should be stronger than this.

-Yeah I know, but that doesn't mean I don't get tired. You can push a person to their limits.

-I can push the limits of both my opponent and myself. – She stated, revealing her obvious weakness.

-We need to train you on your stamina.

-Thank you. – She relaxed a bit. All of the sudden her body was pushed to the ground by Shanks that had quickly got up and pushed her towards the ground. Her eyes were wide open at the sudden attack from him but couldn't help to be amused by the surprise attack. Before she could hit the ground, her hand found the edge of Shanks' sleeve and grabbed onto it, rising her body towards him, sword in hand, aiming at his throat. She found her face a few inches away from him, the steel from her katana glowing next to their faces. He had his own sword glued to her belly, keeping a gap the size of his blade between their bodies. Up close, Alexis took in his facial features: his short and tempting beard, the scars over his eye, his dark orbs, his always present smile that amused her so much since the first moment she saw him on One Piece. His quicken breath warmed her sweaty face, brushing away some red hair-locks that had escaped from her ponytail and had fallen over her face. – Nice play. – She mumbled before pulling backwards, shoving Shanks away from her, making him stumble a few steps back before rushing towards her with a wide smile on his face.

-I'm a Yonko as you said before. – She clashed his sabre against her katana, sparks releasing from the steel. – I need to live up for my title.

Alexis clashed her katana against his sabre once again but not pushing away. Instead she slid the blade of her katana down the blade of his sword, making it clash against the sword's guard. Once it did so, Alexis lunged her shoulder against Shanks stomach, making him stumbled backwards, hence creating an opening for her to rush towards him. She kicked his hand, making the sword fly away from his hand. With her katana, she pushed Shanks sword towards her and took hold of it. It was heavier of course. It was made for the bulky man that she was facing. She rushed towards him, jumping on the air, attempting to hit his chest. Her feet were blocked by his arm so she jumped back, stabbing both swords on the deck's floor before kicking his left side with her foot. He blocked it once again so Alexis shed the swords out from the floor and threw the sword towards Shanks whom took hold of the sword easily.

-I won't fight you if you don't have a weapon. – She commented showing a great amount of respect and swordsman honour.

-I like that. – Shanks smirked in a friendly manner before rushing towards her into another sequence of clash between steel.

As they fought one against another, they didn't notice the mysterious swordsman walk up to the boat and climbing it. Mihawk stood next to Benn Beckman and looked at the two people fighting, analysing every single move they did. Specially Alexis. His golden eyes wondered from Shanks to Alexis, adrenaline rushing through his body: she was fast and deadly, her blows were precise and fatal. The deadliness combined with her scarlet hair that teased his eyes. Her body moved swiftly, slicing the wind at such a high speed, tormenting Mihawk's mind with rather explicit images of her, wrapped on white bed sheets, naked. Quickly he pushed these thoughts aside and focused on Shanks almost lazy moves. He looked exhausted, just as much as Alexis did.

The fight came to a sudden stop when the swords clashed one final time sending both of them to opposite sides towards the floor. They both breathed heavily and let chuckles out whenever they managed to find strength to do so.

Benn got up from the floor and walked over to his captain in order to warn him of Mihawk's presence. It was not necessary: Shanks was fully aware of Mihawk's presence. His energy was well-known to Shanks. Once he recovered his breath, Shanks got up from the floor and headed towards Alexis, in order to help her up as well.

Only when she got up, Alexis noticed Mihawk. The amazing and outstanding Dracule Mihawk, with his majestic beard and melted, golden eyes that pierced a person's soul, reading all its secrets. The impressive Dracule Mihawk, the greatest swordsman in the One Piece universe. The mysterious Dracule Mihawk that always looked intimidating, independently of what he was doing.

-Hawkie! – Shanks cheered towards the swordsman, a broad smile on his face. – Where's the booze? – He rushed to ask. – We need to celebrate the appearance of a new comrade.

-Her? – Mihawk questioned, his eyes looking at Alexis, no emotion passing through them.

-I'm Alexis. – She presented herself, walking towards the men.

-Mihawk. – He rushed to present himself before turning to Shanks. – It's on my boat.

-Thank you Hawkie! You're a life saver. – Shanks called Roo and Benn to help him out with the alcohol.

-Please don't call me that. – Mihawk's eyebrow twitched lightly as it always did whenever Shanks would call him "Hawkie". Mihawk breathed in before turning to Alexis, looking at her from top to bottom.

-Yes…? – She asked, placing her left hand on her hip while her right one grabbed onto her katana.

-I like the way you fight. – He stated. – I want to fight against you.

-That was direct. – Alexis smiled lightly and chuckled in amusement at Mihawk's straightforwardness. They stood in front of one another, analytic stares passing by each other, taking in every small detail that would stand out. His golden eyes; her scarlet red hair; his awesome beard; her brown, purple, red eyes; his relaxed yet attentive pose; her stern and gentle stand. This silent moment was broken with a pat on Alexis' back causing her to lightly stumble forward. – What was that for? – She complained at Shanks that was now smiling widely at her with a barrel of beer by his side.

-Let's go celebrate! – He cheered and puller her to the mess deck.

-Hey! – Alexis complained but it was no use. The only thing she was able to do was to grab onto Mihawk's overcoat sleeve and drag him along with her. They finally reached the mess deck and Shanks called the pirates attention, raising a mug in the air.

-A toast for our newest crew member: Alexis! – The one armed man cheered and all the other pirates followed his queue.

-Wait, what!? – Alexis finally gained her balance and glanced surprised at the red-haired man. Mihawk was standing next to her with an analytic expression, his arm slightly pulled away from his torso since she still had a hold on his sleeve.

-We are declaring you as our new crew member since you have no other place to go and you are pretty skilful. – Shanks stated as he turned to face the young woman.

-Still… I haven't agree on anything! You didn't even warn me. – She commented, scratching the back of her head, deep in thought.

-We'll now you know. – Shanks quickly launched his arm across Alexis' shoulders, pulling her close to his chest. – C'mon! It won't be that bad! Besides, I won't back down until you join my crew. I like you a lot and your skill in fighting. – He spoke out in full honesty.

-You look exactly like Luffy… - She mumbled. "Or maybe Luffy is a lot like Shanks" she thought to herself. She let out a sigh followed by small chuckles as she remembered the moments in the anime where Luffy would do anything to get people he wanted in his crew, never backing down.

-You know Luffy? – Shanks' eyes began to glow in pride and joy as his mind dwelled to his memories with the small kid that he admired so. The energy Luffy always emitted, reminded Shanks so much of Roger. Luffy would be the one to carry Gold D. Roger's will until the end.

-By name and some events that happened and that I heard of. – Alexis stated and looked at Shanks' expression soften as a smile showered his features. – He's grown a lot, you know?

-Yes he did. – Shanks mumbled under his breath. Unconsciously his fingers began to play with some red locks from Alexis' hair. He seemed lost in thought and Alexis was lost in his angelic image. Her grey eyes shimmered with joy and hidden passion for the man before her. He was so pure and honest towards everything and everyone. Shanks snapped from his thoughts and let go of Alexis, walking up towards his crew with cheers and stating that Alexis was officially part of his crew: The Red Hair Pirates.

The red-haired woman let out an amused sigh before crouching down on the floor, looking at the pirates before her and smiling. This was everything she ever wanted: being in One Piece world with the Pirate she had always admired that sadly didn't appear that often as she wanted to, but now… She was part of his crew and that just made her feel comfortable and warm. She felt like she belonged there, in this fictional world created by Eiichiro Oda.

As she dwelled deep in her mind, she didn't notice the swordsman next to her staring intensively at her, waiting for her next move.

-Are you going to join his crew? – He finally asked, capturing Alexis' attention.

-In all honesty… - She began before looking at Mihawk's golden eyes with her grey ones. – I will. – She looked back to the pirates before her, specifically towards the red haired captain, before rising back up. With that being said she rushed to Shanks' side, picking a mug of ale along the way and letting out a cheer as well. – I'll join, Shanks!

-Really!? – The Pirate asked in disbelief and happiness at the same time.

-Yes! – She smiled widely. – And I'll do my best to keep you safe because you – She pointed the mug at Shanks – are my captain.

The men cheered in response and Shanks gave her his signature smile.

Despite the commotion in the mess deck, Alexis didn't fail to see a small smile that danced on Mihawk's lips and she spoke these last words.

A/N:

As usual I do not own One Piece, I only own Alexis and some possible future characters :3

Hope you enjoy this new chapter

And have a very nice day!