10 Chapter 10

Markus made his way over to where their ships were docked. The Black Cat Pirate's ship would dock here sometime before dawn. Markus sighed and found a spot at the top of the cliffs to make himself comfortable. Originally, he'd wanted to get down to the ship where he could sleep in the small bed that Nami usually hogged to herself. That idea was out of the question after he saw the bright stars glittering in the night sky. There was no way he could sleep indoors after seeing that sight.

Once Markus got comfortable he decided to take a nap. The pirates would make a ton of noise when the raid started so he didn't need to worry about oversleeping. He looked up at the sky and smiled. It was really beautiful and covered with stars. In his memories the sky was always covered in a thick cloud of pollution, only a few of the brightest stars could be seen on rare occasions. His old feelings about the memories were gone but even now he could tell it was not a nice world. As dangerous as this one could be, the air was clean and the sky was beautiful. He drifted off to sleep with a smile on his face.

He slept peacefully until he was awoken by the cheering and roaring of the pirates. He sat up and wiped at his eyes for a bit to clear away his sleep. After a bit of stretching, he looked down from the cliff and saw the cheering pirates. He climbed to his feet and walked over to where the path led between the cliffs. It was the only way to get to the village without circling the whole island for the other break in the cliffs. Which is where the others happened to be. Markus stood at the top of the path looking down at the pirates. A quick scan showed that the rabble ranged from level 10-14.

It took a while before the pirates noticed him. Their cheering calmed down as they looked up at Markus. He just smiled mockingly down at them. Taking in just his attributes alone he would need to be level 26 to spend enough points to get his attributes to where they were now. As the pirates looked at him, the arrogant smirk he had pissed them off. One of the rabble shouted out, "Who are you? What are you doing here?!"

Jango jumped in, "Just kill him and go raid the village! If we're late Captain Kuro will be pissed!"

The rabble looked scared for a moment before they all started smiling and laughing. Mutters along the lines of 'It's just one man' and 'We'll kill him easily' went through the crowd. Markus continued to smirk as he pulled out his pistol and fired off three shots in rapid succession. He hadn't had much chance to practice with the flintlock but he had the Basic Gun Mastery skill. He was far from being a top-notch sharpshooter like Usopp but he could manage center mass shots with ease. The three shots took out three of the rabble before the rest had even started to move.

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You have taken out a Black Cat Pirate cadre. Experience deferred.

You have taken out a Black Cat Pirate cadre. Experience deferred.

You have taken out a Black Cat Pirate cadre. Experience deferred.

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They were shocked into silence giving him the chance to reload the flintlock and take out three more. Once again the experience was deferred. It was likely due to his quest. Again he reloaded the flintlock while the pathetic pirate minions cowered. He found it hilarious that all of them had melee weapons and no guns. Markus kept the pirates at bay with just his flintlock. The more he fired it, the more familiar he became with reloading and aiming it. His skill level was likely going up pretty quickly. They all seemed to grow faster in combat than with just practice.

By the time he'd taken out fifteen of the rabble, Usopp finally showed up. Seeing yet another person appear, Jango decided to get involved. He lifted his hand and showed the metal ring dangling from a string, "Take a look at this."

Usopp looked curious while Markus just rolled his eyes. Jango spoke loudly, "When I say 'One, Two, Jango' you will move aside. One. Two."

Before he got to Jango, Nami appeared with her staff in hand and swung it at Usopp and Markus. Markus tilted his head slightly to dodge it while Usopp got clobbered hard and knocked to the ground.

"Jango!", Jango finished.

Markus just shot three more of the rabble in reply while Jango stood off to the side making a polite gesture, "Go on through."

Usopp hopped to his feet and yelled at Nami, "What was that for?!"

Nami pointed at Jango, "Don't look at his pendulum, he's a hypnotist!"

Markus chuckled and continued to reload his gun, "Doesn't work on me."

Nami looked surprised at Markus before looking around confused, "Where's Luffy? Didn't he leave before you Usopp?"

Usopp looked around while Markus chimed in, "That idiot probably ran in the wrong direction."

Nami nodded in understanding while Usopp just continued to look confused. Markus chuckled and shot three more pirates, cowing the remaining ones as more of their group fell down with bullets lodged in their chests. The pirates looked back at Jango, "What... do we do?"

Jango was sweating, "Just... just charge! He can't shoot all of you! The longer you stand around the more of you he can pick off! Everyone charge all at once!"

Hearing the command, Markus smirked. He switched his Observation Haki to its active mode while holstering his pistol. Luffy should be here any minute along with Zoro. Seeing Markus holster his gun boosted the morale of the rabble. With roars, they charged while Markus slowly unsheathed his sword. Usopp fired his slingshot while Nami hid behind the two of them. She was pretty much useless in a fight until Usopp made her weather staff thing.

A group of pirates ganged up on Markus, all attacking him at once. Markus dodged or deflected their attacks while dishing out his own counter-attacks. While he was busy with the ones attacking him, others got the drop on Usopp. He took a heavy blow to the head from a pirate wielding a stone mallet. Stone? Really? Were they cavemen? Markus sliced through two of his four opponents before the remaining rabble ran past. Markus just smiled though. Moments after they passed him they were sent flying back while screaming. Luffy and Zoro had arrived!

Nami immediately turned to yell at the two of them, "What took you two so long?!"

Zoro glared at Nami, "You're the one that kicked me down the hill!"

Luffy glared at Usopp, "You didn't tell me which way north was Usopp!"

Nami at least had the decency to blush but Usopp just looked confused with blood dripping down his head from the earlier hit. Markus, well, he just threw his head back and laughed. Zoro and Luffy glanced at Markus and then at the carnage he'd dealt out to the rabble. Twenty enemy pirates were down. The majority of them had bullet wounds while only a couple had sword wounds. None of them were dead, yet, but none of them would be getting up anytime soon.

Jango was really starting to panic now. Captain Kuro did not take kindly to his plans being disrupted. Not only would he kill the people stopping them, but all of them as well. Jango looked at the downed men and pulled out his pendulum, "Everyone, look over here!"

All the rabble, minus the ones taken out by Markus, crawled up and looked at Jango. He started swinging the pendulum back and forth. Markus glanced at Luffy and smirked. His eyes were locked on the swinging pendulum. Jango spoke, "When I say, 'One, two, Jango,' you guys will become stronger, all of your wounds will heal and you will become even stronger. Stronger, stronger, and even stronger! One. Two. JANGO!"

All of the rabble suddenly climbed to their feet and shouted at the top of their lungs. One of them even walked over and slammed his hand into the cliffside with enough force to crack it and break a piece off. Nami and Zoro were shocked at their recovery and strength. Jango pointed at the group at the top of the hill, "Kill them all!"

Nami and Usopp both started to panic. Zoro started drawing his swords from their sheathes. Luffy... was oddly silent. Markus glanced at Luffy and smirked. He was excited to see this in person. Zoro glanced at Nami, "You two get back." He turned to look at Luffy, "Hey, Luffy..."

Luffy just stood there silently. Zoro looked confused, "Luffy?"

All of a sudden, Luffy threw his arms up and roared loudly. Zoro's jaw dropped, "You got hypnotized too?!"

Luffy and the rabble ran toward each other. Luffy's started throwing his arms back and forth like he was punching, but it did it so rapidly that he generated afterimages of his fists making it look like he had dozens of them, "Gomu Gomu no...." His punches became even faster as he clashed with the pirate rabble, "GATTLING GUN!"

Dozens, if not hundreds, of fists slammed into the rabble and sent them flying back. Even after knocking them back, Luffy didn't stop running. He charged right through the enemy causing them to scatter out of his way. He didn't stop until he came right up to the bow of their ship and latched onto it. From where he was standing, Markus estimated the bow was thirty, maybe forty feet tall. Yet Luffy had grabbed onto it and continued to roar as he squeezed it. Everyone watched confused until they started hearing loud cracking sounds. One of the rabble muttered what everyone was thinking, "No way..."

With a shout and a deafening cracking sound, Luffy ripped the main beam of the bow and the figurehead right off of the ship. Everyone's jaws dropped. Even the ever stoic Markus couldn't help himself. Seeing it in a cartoon was one thing but watching tiny skinny Luffy rip something so massive off a ship and continue to hold it up was shocking. Luffy continued to roar nonstop as he started to walk towards rabble. They all started screaming and running away. One of them seemed brighter than the others as he shouted, "Captain! Stop him!"

As if he just realized that since he started it, he could stop it, Jango quickly lifted up his pendulum and started quickly, "When I say, 'One, two, Jango,' you will fall asleep! One, two, Jango!"

Luffy slowly came to a stop. The heavy weight of the bow slowly started to fall. The rabble and Jango started screaming and running to get out of the way. The entire thing fell down with a loud crash and trapped a now sleeping Luffy beneath it. He wouldn't be hurt but he was stuck asleep for the moment.

Jango was really panicking now. The bow dropping had heavily injured many of the crew, they could barely move. With little choice left, Jango shouted out loud, "Buchi! Sham! Get down here and help us!"

Two men dressed like cats appeared on the wrecked bow of the ship. One of them was large, fat even, while the other looked hunchbacked. One of the rabble looked at the two and exclaimed, "The Nyaban brothers! You're all dead now!"

Markus glanced over at Zoro, "I'll let you have them." He glanced at the two as they hopped down from the ship, "Don't ever underestimate your opponent Zoro. If they come at you then don't ever hold back." He looked back at Zoro with a serious look on his face, "Or you will die."

Zoro looked at Markus in confusion. Still, he took his words to heart. Markus was clearly a skilled fighter who knew how to take care of himself. The pile of wounded that he'd seen when he arrived was a testament to that. As he was pondering Markus's words he overheard the conversation between Jango and the one called Sham. Jango was yelling while Sham was cowering, "Those guys are blocking our way! Go destroy them!"

Sham shuddered and cowered back. He spoke with a stutter, "But... but.... there's no way we can beat them!" He even had tears in his eyes as he shook in his boots.

Jango turned and yelled at him, "SHAM! GO NOW!"

Sham freaked out, "Why me?!"

Jango just yelled furiously, "GO!"

Sham screamed in misery and ran towards Zoro while crying. There was only one way to describe how he was running, 'sissy'. Zoro looked confused and disappointed as he watched Sham. Still, Markus's words were fresh in his mind so he drew his other two swords and got into a proper stance. Sham ran while crying the entire time, but just a few steps away from Zoro his attitude suddenly shifted as he slashed at Zoro with his sharp claws. Zoro was surprised but still managed to block the blow with little trouble.

In the anime, Sham was able to steal two of Zoro's swords but this time he had all three drawn so there was nothing to steal. Buchi, seeing that Sham couldn't get an advantage, charged and joined Sham in his attack against Zoro. Zoro had very little trouble defending against the two of them while everyone else watched on. Markus just smiled. With very few exceptions there was no one who could beat Zoro in the East Blue. Most of his fights were made difficult due to injuries or underestimating opponents like Sham and giving them a chance to do something sneaky. Zoro fended off the two of them with his three blades and when he got annoyed of them, he sent them back with a powerful blow. As they slid to a stop several yards away from him, they froze and looked at something behind him in abject horror. Jango was the first to speak, "I... I can explain!"

Nami, Zoro, and Usopp looked behind themselves and saw Klahadore, also known as Captain Kuro, standing behind them. Markus didn't bother looking. His Observation Haki had picked up Kuro before Jango and the others had seen him. Markus just continued to smile and watch as things unfolded. Though he fully intended to pick a fight with Kuro before much longer.

Kuro adjusted his glasses as he stared down at Jango and the battered pirates. He glared at them all as he spoke in a calm tone... at first, "It's long past dawn. I was wondering why the plan hadn't been carried out. WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING HERE?!" He ended by shouting in sheer rage.

Kuro continued to glare at everyone as he spoke in a severe tone, "I didn't expect you to be held up by mere kids. You all have really fallen. Isn't that right Jango?!"

Jango shivered as he looked at Kuro, "But... you said we could let that kid go because he couldn't affect our plans..."

Kuro just deadpanned at Jango, "Yes. I did say that and he still can't affect our plans. What does Usopp have to do with your uselessness?"

Sham and Buchi, though still looking afraid, seemed to bristle at being called useless. Sham looked at his partner Buchi before turning to Kuro, "You said we're useless?"

Buchi continued, "Don't look down on us Captain Kuro."

Sham and Buchi flexed their claws. The two of them went on a rant about Kuro no longer being stronger than them because he did nothing for three years while they kept raiding ships. After a pointless back and forth, the two of them charged at Kuro and attempted to attack him. Markus watched closely and focused all his attention on the feedback from his observation haki as the two approached Kuro. In a great show of speed, he pulled two gloves from the bag he was carrying and 'vanished' from sight. The gloves had long katana-like blades sticking off of the end of each finger and thumb.

Markus watched closely and carefully with both his eyes and his senses. Kuro used some extremely complex footwork that Markus couldn't follow. The footwork allowed Kuro to move at incredible speeds that couldn't be tracked by eye for most people, even Markus. However, he could just barely get a grasp on his movement using Observation Haki. It would be difficult, but he could keep track of Kuro. Markus shifted his sight to where Kuro suddenly appeared behind Sham and Buchi. He practically growled, "Who did you say you were going to kill?"

Sham and Butchi both shivered in fear. One of the rabble said, "The Pussyfoot Maneuver..."

Markus groaned. That's right, what a terrible name such good footwork had! There was no way in hell he would ever say that skill name out loud. Sham and Buchi quickly turned around but Kuro had already vanished again. Markus's eyes, and only his eyes, moved to where Kuro was heading. He appeared behind the two men and draped his arms over their shoulders with his finger blades dangerously close to their necks, "You know, I think you're right. I do feel a little slower."

Sham and Buchi were terrified, their whole bodies shuddered as they looked at the blades that could easily kill them at any moment. Kuro looked around at everyone. The pirates of his old crew were battered and bruised. Aside from Sham, Buchi, and Jango, the rest were heavily injured, maybe even dead. Kuro slowly let out a breath, "You're right though. I have become a little more generous over the years. Five minutes. If you can't settle this in five minutes... I'll kill you all."

The survivors all started to panic but none of them could do anything. They were all too injured. Their only hope was the three men still standing. Jango started to panic a little but his eyes looked between Zoro and Markus, "Five minutes... we can do this in five minutes! We just need to take out those two!"

Kuro released Sham and Buchi who both deluded themselves into thinking they could take out a completely uninjured and fully armed Zoro. Sham psyched himself and Buchi up, "That's right! He's no match for us! We can take him out in five seconds!"

Zoro just smirked and got into a stance where he held the swords in his hand vertically behind the sword in his mouth, they looked like fangs. The two charged at Zoro recklessly thinking they could overwhelm him together. Zoro calmly spoke, "Tora..."

As the brothers moved in there were flashes of light as Zoro attacked, "Gari!"

The two brothers went flying through the air as blood burst from deep wounds on their bodies. Sham was completely out for the count. Buchi managed to struggle a little and crawl towards Jango. As blood poured from his wounds he looked at Jango, "Cap... Captain Jango... please... hypnotize me!"

Zoro glanced back at the two of them while Jango pulled out his pendulum to hypnotize Buchi. Markus didn't give him the chance. He whipped his flintlock out of its holster and fired off a shot. It flew through the metal ring of Jango's pendulum and drove into his stomach. Jango coughed out a mouthful of blood and collapsed to his knees while holding his stomach. Markus blew the smoke off the barrel of his gun and sighed, "That was getting annoying."

Zoro just chuckled. Without Jango to heal his wounds and buff him, Buchi soon collapsed unconscious. Markus turned to look at Kuro, "Five minutes huh? Didn't even take us thirty seconds. You're next little kitten."