After dropping the giant ball at the marine base, Alex flew back toward the village where everyone had begun to prepare for a feast.
Seeing him coming, everyone began to thank him to which he simply nodded. The children inside the village were happy and excited about talking to him as he was the coolest person in their eyes.
Genzo was among the villagers as well who informed him that Nojiko had gone back to her house.
Alex walked toward her house, not paying much attention to the feast. He had a lot of things to think about right now as they were essential for his future.
Inside the house, he looked for Nojiko, however, he didn't find her there as he was sure that she was in the backyard with her tangerine trees.
"Hey, Nojiko. Why are you not with the villagers?" He curiously asked and stood beside her, looking at the tangerine trees which looked very delicious.
"I was thinking about my little sister," Nojiko replied with a sad smile and walked toward the tree before plucking a tangerine. She began to peel it slowly and then handed it to Alex. "Can we first meet her before leaving East Blue, Alex?"
Alex had to say that the tangerine was quite delicious compared to the one he had eaten in his previous life. "Do you want to take her with us?"
Her smile widened slightly when she heard his words. "Mmm. She is very good, no, she is the best navigator you can find in the East Blue." If she can, she obviously would want to take her sister with her. After all, it would be much safer as she saw the capability of her captain.
Alex put another piece of tangerine in his mouth and began to chew it slowly then asked. "What if she had joined another pirate crew? A pirate crew which treated her fairly?"
"Another pirate crew….?" Nojiko murmured with a troubled expression. Though she immediately shook her head to calm down her thoughts. "If she can find such a good pirate crew then I'll leave her alone. I don't want to control her life and take away her newly found happiness."
Alex nodded at her words and didn't ask anything anymore. If he could get Nami as his navigator it would be good, however, even if he couldn't, he won't think much of it.
The two of them stood there in silence, enjoying the cool breeze which was occasionally coming towards them. During this time, Nojiko peeled another tangerine and gave it to him, acting like a good wife.
The sun was going down and the stars were gradually coming into their view.
"Nojiko? Alex?" From the other side of the house, Genzo's voice came.
"We are here, Genzo," Nojiko shouted and walked inside the house, followed by Alex.
"Come with me, you two. Everyone is waiting for you so they can start celebrating." Genzo spoke with a small smile to which both of them nodded.
The father and daughter kept talking to each other, occasionally adding Alex to their conversation. They could tell that he wasn't very interested so they didn't bother him much.
In the middle of the village, two huge tables were placed. The first table was filled with different kinds of food, mainly meat while the other table was filled with booze for the adults.
There was a chair reserved for him along with a small table. The ladies immediately began to serve him food along with the best booze that they had.
Only when he took a bite of the meat, did everyone begin to eat and drink without any hesitation. There was a campfire a little away from him where everyone was singing and dancing happily.
Nojiko sat beside him with her plate of food and a bottle of booze while her father was dancing among the villagers. "How's the food, captain?" Nojiko took a sip of booze and asked him with a smile.
"It's quite good compared to what I had before." Alex took another bite of the grilled meat and said with a smile. When he was with the Golden Lion, he was never able to eat such delicious things as most of the time, it was reserved for people in the higher position.
Since his physic has upgraded to a higher level, his intake of food has increased as well. He kept slowly drinking and eating with the villagers for 2 hours while looking at the happy villagers who were dancing.
When he was done, his hand was suddenly grabbed by Nojiko who motioned him to follow her toward another place. Genzo had noticed their departure however he didn't pay much attention to it.
Nojiko was drunk, which he could tell easily. By the way, she was constantly talking to him. She was crying sometimes while laughing right after it. Though she still has her consciousness otherwise she wouldn't have maintained a certain distance between herself and him even though she was holding his hand.
They both walked on a hill and only stopped when they saw a tree with a stone beside it. Alex knew that this was the place where the 2 sisters had buried their mother.
"Her name was Bellemere. She was a very kind marine and had adopted the two of us even though she didn't have much money to feed us." Nojiko suddenly began to talk while walking toward the stone. "Even though we didn't have much to eat, we were happy because we finally had a family. However, 8 years ago when Arlong came to this village, he killed her because she was trying to save people." Her eyes began to get misty, she was trying to stop herself from crying out loud.
"Since then, we never had a good day in this village but now…." She turned to look at him with a happy smile. "Because of you, we are finally free and happy once again. I'm sure that even my mother must be feeling grateful toward you, right now."
Alex nodded at her with a small smile and then closed his eyes. Silently, offering a prayer for the deceased mother of those 2 sisters.
Nojiko looked at his face for some moments before she began to walk toward him. Her eyes seemed to get brighter and brighter as time went by.
Standing near him, she tiptoed and gave him a quick kiss on his lips. Alex opened his eyes and looked at her with a surprised expression much to her embarrassment.
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"C-Consider this as my t-thanks, captain….." Nojiko meekly tried to explain her previous action with a crimson face. She wouldn't have done this normally however today her emotions were very unstable. She felt happiness and sadness and with the work of booze, she made the rash decision.
"You took away my first kiss, Nojiko," Alex spoke with a playful smile before he grabbed the waist of Nojiko and pulled her closer to his body.
Before she could even say anything, he pressed his lips on her causing her eyes to widen in shock. She initially showed a little bit of resistance however it was immediately suppressed by the effects of booze.
Placing her arms around his neck, she also began to kiss him back aggressively. Though because of her lack of experience, she was quite clumsy.
They both kissed each other for 2 minutes before he separated himself because Nojiko needed to breathe.
"This is how you show your gratitude, Nojiko." Chuckling at her embarrassed expression, he grabbed her hand and began to walk toward her house.
As if thinking of something, she turned to look at him from the corner of her eyes. "I-It is very soon for u-us to do that, A-Alex….!" She shyly muttered under her breath.
Alex turned his head to look at her with a raised eyebrow. "I never said that we are gonna do something. Did you perhaps imagine something to happen?" His playful words made her embarrassed. She immediately lowered her head and continued to look at the ground under her feet.
"I need to sleep now so I'll be taking one of the rooms in your house. It won't cause you any trouble, will it?" Alex said with a chuckle, making her lower her head even more in shame.
"Umm. It's okay, captain."
~~~~~~~~
The next morning, Alex leisurely woke up and went to the bathroom to clean himself. There was a new packed toothbrush there for him.
Quickly taking a bath, he once again wore the same clothes and headed toward the living room from where he could feel two familiar presences.
"Morning, Captain." Nojiko greeted him with a smile while serving breakfast on the table.
"Morning, Nojiko." He replied calmly and took a seat next to Genzo who simply nodded at him.
"Are you leaving now?" Genzo asked with a serious expression.
"Yeah." Alex nodded at him and began to eat his share of breakfast.
"I see…." Genzo muttered under his breath. "Please take care of Nojiko on the sea. She has never left the village." With a worried expression, he said to Alex.
"Don't worry, Genzo. The next time you'll see her in the newspaper." Alex replied with a chuckle to which the father and daughter duo nodded. They understood what he was implying here by saying appearing in the newspaper.
The breakfast was finished in silence as only Nojiko and her father were talking sometimes. Genzo was mainly telling her to keep herself safe as the world outside was very dangerous.
After breakfast was done, Nojiko washed the utensils and asked her father-like figure to take care of this home in the future.
She initially wanted to take some clothes for herself however she dropped the idea as Alex suggested buying some new clothes on the next island.
Coming out of the house, Nojiko began to say goodbye to every villager even if the person was a kid. She has lived here for a long time so it was quite depressing for her to leave the village. Though she wasn't against the idea of going out of the village to see the world.
At the shore of the island, Nojiko and Alex stood together. Behind them were villagers who were almost crying at the departure of their daughter-like figure.
"Captain, are you sure that you don't want to take any money with us?" Nojiko once again asked with a serious expression.
"I have more than enough money to use on myself and my crew members. So you shouldn't worry about something like that." Alex simply waved off her worries regarding the money. Since he was saying that he had money, Nojiko didn't say anything more.
"We might see each other again in the future, everyone. Till then be safe." Saying that with a small smile, he waved his left hand at them while grabbing Nojiko's hand with his right hand.
Slowly, they both began to levitate in the air. Nojiko was previously calm and began to feel scared so she instantly pushed her body near him.
"I asked you to remember the map of Orange town. Did you memorize the pathway?" Alex asked with a small smile to which Nojiko nodded. He asked her to remember the pathway yesterday before he went to sleep in the room. One of the maps that she has taken from Fish-men base had the pathway which was made by her little sister.
"Good. Let's go there. I need to meet someone there and if lady luck is with us then we might be able to see your sister there." Alex instantly increased his speed and flew towards the direction where he was going to meet that clown with such a good devil fruit.
Nojiko tightened her grip on his hand as the sudden increase in speed made her worried as well as excited. It was the first time she had experienced something like this in her entire life.
As for how he knew about Nami being there, Nojiko didn't see it necessary to ask him.