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FoJ: Chapter 1
🕑 Added 2024-04-13 18:53:46 +0000 UTCHe dreamed of growing amidst jungle beasts, tussling with tigers and brawling with monkeys. He was like Tarzan, carefree and unfettered, living through life doing whatever he wanted.
Then the first injustice, pirates attacking his village, so he beat them up. The righteous anger was a first for him, the desire to fight, to battle for the sake of saving people was something that was addicting, striking evildoers down with his formidable fist!
So, he joined the marines, he was a hellion in his younger days and chafed under the strict rules of the law enforcement structure; his higher ups quickly got frustrated with his uncaring attitude. But he was good, and he was strong, stronger than most people in the sea, and when he met someone stronger, he just caught up to them, the Fist of Justice was inescapable, it was as inevitable as the sun rising.
Then it was Roger’s era, for once, there was a pirate who could escape him, so he chased him from island to island, going on crazy adventures along the way, all of it culminating at God’s Valley, the day where for the first time, instead of catching pirates, he worked with them in order to defeat a much more dangerous threat.
He’d admit that he lost some of his resolve that day, his will to enforce true justice across the land never diminished, but he found himself grappling spiritually with himself, was the justice he fought for worthwhile? Were his actions helping the innocent, or was he just another puppet?
With his new fame, he was allowed basically unfettered access to do what he wanted. Obviously, he still chased Roger and cracked heads with a smile on his face, but he did what he wanted to when he wanted to, and he fought against those who he thought to be truly evil. No one could say otherwise to him, not the Fleet admiral or the celestial dragons, not after what he did.
And then came Roger’s surrender, his son’s revolution, his foster grandson’s death, and the other one’s damned stubbornness. His aging body could no longer fight as it could, and his once vibrant smile got tinted with regret, so he martyred himself, fought with his best efforts to exhaustion and died with a smile on his face, an unfettered, joyous smile, not unlike the one he had when he was a child looking out to the world.
‘All for the next generation.’ He vowed.
And then came the honk.
“Hey, you imbecile!” An Indian man screamed from the driver’s seat of his taxi. “Get out of the way!”
Alexander lifted his head up in disbelief, he found himself in the middle of a crowded highway, the sound of moving cars and the busy footstep of people echoing in his ears.
“I…uh. Sorry!” He exclaims, quickly moving out of the road into the crosswalk.
The taxi driver gave him the bird as he drove in front of him, but Alex was unconcerned.
His mind was too blown away by the deluge of information coming to it; he had to instinctively flex his Observation Haki, as Garp always had it on, only to find himself sensing a sea of malevolent energy all around him.
In that flood of negative energy, there were sparks, millions of them, all across the city, each one a flame of mixed emotions, desires, and actions, most of them were small, the size of embers, but some were larger and burning brighter.
And amidst it all was himself, like a sun amidst the stars; he shone in his sixth sense like a beacon in the darkness.
He flexed his arms, feeling a sense of strength that was unfamiliar. He stared up at the tall skyscrapers dotting the sky with their peaks, knowing beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could topple most of them with a single punch.
That realization was more earth shattering than anything, we all thought once about what we would do if we had so and so superpower, or if we won the lottery, or had the chance to time travel. But seldom do we actually find ourselves in a situation like that.
He stood there, letting the sounds of the hubbub of the city wash over him for a while; he doesn’t know what to do now in a not so familiar world and a strange body.
So, he slapped himself, earning strange looks from the passersby.
‘Alright, goals!’ He thinks. ‘I’m in another city, in another body, with nothing but some change of clothes and…’ He rummages through his pocket. ‘A hundred dollars.’
‘I have to find somewhere to settle down; the question is where, with no house, no car, and barely any money, I’m a highschool graduate with no apparent experience nor skills.’
Alex starts to aimlessly walk along the street.
‘I have to be smart about this, what do I have that other people my age doesn’t? Apart from the fact that even if I look like a hormonal teenager, I’m not actually one? I guess customer service experience, my strength, and my knowledge of the supernatural.’
As he walks, he begins to channel his Observation Haki, trying to find something that could help.
‘Any usual establishments are not going to simply hire anyone off of a please, and any who do don’t pay enough for any basic necessities, not to mention that it could take days in order to find jobs. I could go for construction work, but even if I’ll be able to do it with ease, I really don’t enjoy it.’
It was as he walks along the street that he spots an interesting place. It was a bar, called “The Lucky Lounge” from the outside, it seemed like your typical high-end bar, it spanned two floors, with elegant lighting and a sophisticated looking entrance.
But what was notable for him was that the people there had much higher levels of life force. The bar was visibly empty; it’s eleven a.m. after all, so whomever are inside aren’t customers, but owners or employees.
In fact, out of the three signatures he could sense inside, one had quite a bit of life force, while the two others have a lot of another sort of energy that is quite distinct from life-force, which he bets is actually mana.
‘You know what? Fuck it.’
Alex abruptly turns around to cross the road, heading toward the strange bar.
He ignores the closed sign and opens the door, causing a jingle to echo in the establishment.
The bar itself was what he expected, expansive space, luxurious décor, and pleasant music. He found the three occupants quickly, as they stared at him in turn.
The first was an (objectively) handsome fellow; he had pitch black hair and eyes and looked very muscular in a lean kind of way. He looked up from the table he was cleaning at Alex with an almost disinterested stare and judging from his gait and life-force amount, Alex had him pegged as a swordsman.
The second was a bartender, she also had very dark hair and eyes, she didn’t wear a bartender outfit per se, but he could tell that she was one as she mixed something in a cocktail shaker. Her body figure was neither slender nor voluptuous, but somewhere in between, and her slightly slanted eyes gave her a little sinister aura.
The one that made Alex sure he was looking at people from the moonlit world was the last one; she sat at a chair in front of the bartender in a luxurious suit. She was an elegant dark skinned beauty, with piercing green eyes and bitch black hair that turned bright green at their ends. When he entered she was in full conversation with the bartender woman, but as he entered she looked at him with temporary surprise before her expression turned… predatory would be the correct way to say it.
Oh, and she had ethereal green faerie wings made of what he could only call glass and pixie dust.
Oh sure, he could feel a measure of what he could only call mana covering them in some sort of glamour of some sort meant to hide them, but it had a pitiful amount of energy that couldn’t hide her from his Haki.
“How can I help you, young man?” Her voice was silky smooth and vibrant at the same time, it provoked a strange reaction from his tummy; one could even say that he had –heh- butterflies in his stomach.
“I uh…” He began. “I wanted some work?” But his answer turned into a question.
The woman fully turned toward him, a mischievous smile on her face.
“Oh?” Not an ara-ara, but he’ll take it. “And what job would that entail?” She asks.
“I can clean, serve, or tend the bar, although I prefer the latter.” He visibly stares at her wings. “And I uh… I can fight, really, really well.”
Her eyes widen at his comment, while her two companions abruptly turn their gaze back at him.
The old Alex would have flinched at the sudden attention, but with the recent changes in him he found himself smiling at the prospect of a fight.
‘Must be the Garp in me (pause!)’ He thought.
After an unusually long period of silence, the woman finally comes to a decision.
“Alright, let’s see what you can do.” She waved at the woman behind the counter. “Aiko, would you be a dear and give some space to our new guest please.”
The woman –Aiko- abandons her current task to move somewhere else, leaving space for Alex.
Alex quickly catches the drift and drops his briefcase next to the door, quickly moving in front of the faerie woman.
“What’s your name? I can’t keep calling you young man…” She asks.
Aiko hands him and apron on the way, which is strange, since she isn’t wearing one. But Alex just puts it on and stands in front of the woman.
“Alexander Roberts, ma’am.”
“Alex then, doesn’t ring a bell…” She says. “Hello Alex, I’m Thellsa, the proprietress of this establishment. You can call me Thell.”
“Hello Thell.” He gives his hands a quick wash and wipes them on the apron. ”What do you want me to make for you today?”
“An old fashioned please.” She says. “Say, Alex, I can’t place your accent, where are you from?”
He grabs a mixing glass from the side. “From everywhere really, Syrup?”
“Yes, and orange bitters please.”
He nods and pours a half ounce of simple syrup, before adding some dashes of bitters. “I’m an orphan you see, spent my time moving from foster home to foster home, so I picked up a lot of accents along the way.”
He shows her a bottle of bourbon, which she nods at, so he pours a couple of ounces in. “It wasn’t an easy life per se, but it had its moments.”
He fills the mixing glass with ice before stirring it vigorously, he makes sure to not put too much strength into it so as not to crush the whole glass.
“What about you, Thell?”
She smiles. “I come from good ol’ Ireland.” She affects a heavy Irish accent to the last word. “The land of leprechauns and lucky charms, that’s where the name of the bar comes from, actually.”
He grabs an empty glass from the counter and puts a strainer over it, pouring the mixture from the mixing glass into it. “Interesting, I wouldn’t have clocked that at all.”
“Really? I’d have thought you’d have gotten it in first glance…” Her words are filled with a certain undertone to it, hiding another meaning behind their surface.
He knows what she’s getting at, but he’s got an act to play, so he plays the fool.
“I certainly thought you looked… exotic, but your accent was so good I just thought you were from here…” He answers. “Where’s the orange peel?”
She points to a container next to his foot. Alex bends down and grabs one or two peels, and twists them over the glass in order to express the oils into it, before putting them in the glass as garnish. “Ice?”
“No thank you.” She says and grabs the drink, taking a sip out of it.
“Mmm… Great old fashioned. Where’d you learn bartending?”
“Well, I worked part time as one in a shady bar for a couple of months, but I kept my skills up even afterwards, you never know when you might need them.”
“Well, you definitely seem experienced behind the counter…” She smirks. “Now let’s get to the meat of the matter.”
