Marcus rushed along the trail that led through Bellemere's mikan grove and to the next town. He was like a ghost as only the rush of wind was left in his wake as he rushed to the sound of distant gunfire and fighting. When Marcus finally cleared the trees he stopped for only a moment to take stock of the situation before he rushed towards the main area of fighting.
He found a handful of people in brown colored uniforms as they fought with a handful of human pirates. Marcus frowned as he realized it wasn't Arlong and his crew. Marcus was disappointed and slightly relieved it wasn't Arlong, since he wanted everyone to train more before they encountered them.
Marcus's fist crashed into a pirate which sent the man flying through the air. When his body slammed into a building with a sickening crunch the entire area froze. Everyone looked at the man who was groaning on the ground before they slowly turned to look at Marcus. Marcus wore a predatory grin as he said, "Surrender now and I won't use you as punching bags."
Most of the pirates paused before one of the braver ones pointed a gun at Marcus and pulled the trigger as he said, "Fuck you!"
As the gun went off Marcus disappeared from view and a moment later the pirate with the gun took off flying. Marcus stood in the man's place as he asked in a serious tone, "Anyone else wanna test me?"
All the pirates in the area threw down their weapons which made Marcus nod before he said, "Do not resist being tied up or I'll be back."
Before anyone could respond, Marcus's after image disappeared as he moved towards a different area of fighting and took out the pirates. While he would like to leave these guys for the others to fight against, Marcus didn't currently have that luxury. Marcus mowed through the pirates like a scythe collecting wheat and by the time the others arrived, there was no one left to fight.
Marcus was seated near the pirates already tied up as Ace and the others arrived. Ace glanced over everything before he asked, "Couldn't even save a couple of them for us?"
Marcus shrugged as he said, "Couldn't help it. Didn't want the villagers to get hurt… But their ship is parked at the dock, you guys can go loot it since you're here."
Luffy took off with Usopp and the others at the thought of treasure, while Ace, Sabo, Tashigi, Kuina and Zoro stuck around. Zeff was also there and he glanced over the pirates before he asked, "I'm guessing these aren't the pirates you were expecting?"
Marcus shook his head as he said, "No, these guys are just some East Blue trash. Their captain couldn't even handle a single punch from me."
"So you think…"
Marcus cut Zeff off as he said, "We can talk later on the ship when everyone is around."
Zeff nodded in understanding before Ace asked, "You think these guys are worth anything?"
Marcus shook his head before he said, "I doubt if these idiots even have a bounty."
They sat around and chatted for a while before Luffy and the others came back empty handed. Marcus raised an eyebrow as he looked them over before he asked, "You didn't find anything?"
Luffy pouted as he said, "Almost completely empty, they didn't even have much food."
Usopp nodded in agreement before he said, "Their ship is barely sea worthy, and would probably sink in rough weather."
Marcus shook his head slightly before he said, "They really are just trash tier pirates."
After making sure the pirates were properly secured, Marcus told Genzo who arrived not long ago to handle everything else and they could claim whatever bounty the pirates might have had. After a few minutes spent chatting, everyone headed back towards the ship to have breakfast. After breakfast was done, Marcus got everyone's attention before he said, "I gave a warning today that we might be fighting Grandline strength pirates… Even though that didn't happen today, there is still a possibility of it happening at some point."
"How do you know that?" Tashigi asked as she looked at Marcus with a nervous gaze.
Marcus shrugged as he said, "I gained some information that a group of lower ranked Sun Pirates are coming to East Blue. As for if they'll come to this island chain specifically it's hard to say."
"But with how big the island chain is and the fact the closest marine base is a couple days away which makes it a good choice for a base." Marcus said with a shrug.
Everyone had different reactions but Tashigi ended up having the biggest one. Her eyes widened and she practically jumped out of her seat as she said, "Sun Pirates?!? We need to call my uncle for help!"
Marcus waved off her concern as he said, "It'll be fine. Only like five or six of them will be an issue and with me and Zeff here it shouldn't be that big of a problem."
"But they're fishmen! Do you have any idea how strong they are?!? They are ten times stronger than humans and even more powerful when under water!"
Marcus nodded as he said, "And yet they can still be beaten by humans. Physical strength isn't everything Tashigi."
Marcus turned towards Tashigi as he added, "Besides, only a handful of these fishmen will even be a threat to us. The rest will just be like normal bottom feeder pirates with a bit of extra strength."
"Marcus is right."
Everyone turned to look at Zeff who rubbed his chin before he said, "I've ran into fishmen a few times and most of them were just strong but could barely fight. Most of you shouldn't have an issue with them as long as you don't get hit by them."
Marcus nodded as he said, "Exactly. So everyone just needs to focus on training until they arrive."
Everyone chatted for a while longer before they split up to go do their own thing for the day. Another month passed by as everyone trained and waited. Marcus was the most nervous since he expected Arlong and his crew to appear by now. Instead there was no sign of them…
The paper didn't have any news of them and he even called his dad just to ask if he had information on them. His dad called back a few days later to let him know he couldn't find anything. As far as Marcus could tell, Arlong and his crew disappeared near the middle of the Grandline and haven't been seen since.
Even though he wasn't nervous, Marcus still focused on his training along with everyone else. His personal skill in swordsmanship seemed to be capped for the moment, but everything else was still improving. Well that wasn't exactly true, his breathing technique he created seemed to be stalled too. No matter what he did, he couldn't improve it anymore and while he was trying to make it an unconscious habit. It was still a work in progress.
If anything it might be more accurate to say he finished creating the breathing technique. Sure it didn't do exactly what he hoped for, but in battle he never had an issue with becoming winded. With that thought in mind he decided to teach it to everyone else, since an extra skill wouldn't hurt. That was if they could get the basics down before Arlong arrived.
Marcus gathered everyone on a day off from training in the galley where he said, "Alright, I know it's a day off. But I wanted to teach everyone something. I'm not sure if you'll be able to learn it, but if you can it will help you whenever you do physical activity."
Sabo seemed to catch on the quickest as he asked, "Is it that weird way you like to breathe?"
Marcus nodded before he said, "Yeah. I'm pretty sure I've taken it as far as I can. I haven't been able to improve it for half a year."
"Finally." Ace said as Sabo nodded in agreement. Out of everyone here, they understood just how good the breathing technique Marcus created was. Luffy might have too, if he didn't think about food most of the time.
Marcus explained it to everyone else before he asked who wanted to learn it. It wasn't a big surprise when everyone asked to be taught the technique, so Marcus took them up to the deck. Once everyone was in place, he started explaining the breathing technique to them and what they should feel when using it. He also explained that if they felt any type of pain to instantly stop and reset their breathing before they tried again. Marcus had learned the hard way not to force the technique and didn't plan for the others to do the same.
Afterwards Marcus slowly moved through everyone giving pointers when needed… Which was a lot with so many people in the process of learning it. A few people made quick progress like Sabo, Kuina and even Gin. But everyone else was just trying to get the basics figured out.
Another month flew by and during that time, Marcus had everyone practicing the breathing technique daily. An hour in the morning, an hour after lunch and another hour in the evening. With Marcus's experience from creating it, it didn't take long for everyone to pick it up… Even Luffy who didn't know how to count properly. Then again, this would help him out during fights so that probably had something to do with it.
Was everyone perfectly skilled in it? No, not even Marcus had mastered it yet. But everyone could at least use it for half an hour in a fight now and with more practice that would only improve. Marcus himself could easily use it all day without issue but he still couldn't do it unconsciously. He'd tested it with help from Sabo who confirmed that once he fell asleep his breathing returned to normal.
Marcus still checked the newspaper every chance he could, but Arlong was still missing. At this point Marcus almost thought the fishman either died somehow, or he took over another village. Whether or not it was in East Blue was another question and while Marcus wanted to find out. He didn't plan to leave the island for that, just in case Arlong arrived while he wasn't here.
It was another rest day and Marcus was relaxing in the crows nest like normal when his den den mushi started ringing. Marcus quickly pulled it out of his pocket to answer it as he said, "Hello."
"Brat, is that anyway to answer your grandpa's call?"
Marcus smiled a little as he said, "It's a lot better than how you answer calls. You sound like some kinda thug whenever you say, "What do you want?"
"You looking for an extra fist of love, you brat?"
"Nope, I was just pointing out a simple fact." Marcus said as he started to sweat a little.
Garp huffed before he asked, "I'm heading to East Blue, where are you at?"
Marcus thought it over for a few moments before he said, "We're currently staying at Cocoyasi Village in the Conomi Islands."
"You better not be leading me on another wild goose chase." Garp said in a lowered voice that promised violence.
"Not this time. We are stuck here waiting for the Arlong pirates to arrive."
"Arlong pirates…" Garp said as he tried to remember who they were and after a few moments he added, "Whatever since it's pirates, you better not lose to them if they show up before I do."
"I don't wanna lose to them either, but I've never fought fishmen, let alone pirates from the Grandline before. So I have no idea how the fight will go."
"If they've left the Grandline for one of the blues then you'll be fighting weaklings. You and your brothers shouldn't have any issue with them."
"If we start losing, I'll just threaten them with your name." Marcus said in a joking manner.
"If you lose to some Grandline rejects and have to use my name to scare them away… That just means you boys have been slacking off on your training." Garp said in a disappointed tone.
"We've been sailing around and fighting pirates. It's kinda hard to do serious training when we might run into danger at any time."
"That's why you were supposed to stay in Foosha Village. You could train without distractions there."
Marcus shrugged as he said, "It's fine, this has helped us learn more than just training alone every could…"
"Well just wait for me to arrive. It'll take a couple weeks because I am finishing something up, but I'll be there… So you better not leave that island."
"I promise we won't leave this time."
"Good. Stay safe brat." Garp said before the call disconnected.
Marcus shook his head as he put his snail away and leaned back in his seat. Marcus smirked to himself as he thought of what Garp would do when he met everyone else… Actually he couldn't wait till everyone else found out who his grandfather was, it would be pretty funny. He was pretty sure Tashigi would lose it when she found out.