32 Chapter 13

It took Markus a little over a day to arrive at Rainbase on his camel. Sure, he could have run from city to city and gotten to Rainbase much faster but what would be the point in rushing? Much like Nanohana, Rainbase was a bustling city filled with life. After he got rid of the camel, he started exploring the streets of the city and looking for anything interesting. It would be a few days before the rest of the crew arrived and he was free to do whatever he wanted to until then. Anytime he spotted a fruit or vegetable he didn't have already, he purchased it and added it to his collection.

As he looked for a decent place to stay for the night he contemplated just breaking into Rain Dinners and kicking the crap out of Crocodile right then and there. He couldn't though. He needed to wait for Crocodile to expose himself to the marines, specifically Smoker, as the crook he was. Otherwise, the marines wouldn't arrest him. He couldn't kill Crocodile either. He had to be arrested and taken to Impel Down. He played a roll in Luffy's escape and the mission to rescue Ace. Since he had no intention of going into Impel Down himself, Luffy would need all that help. Eliminating Crocodile now could trap Luffy in Impel Down or cause something even worse to happen.

What he ultimately decided to do was wait. After Luffy arrived in the city he would run into Smoker and they would end up locked inside of Crocodile's place together. There, like any dumbass villain, Crocodile would blab about his plans right in front of Smoker. Only after that could he stomp Crocodile. Until then, he could rob Crocodile of some of his money by gambling inside of Rain Dinners. With a smile on his face, Markus made his way to a clothing store while slowly making his face look rounder and fatter. Even at such a low-level, Seimei Kikan was really coming in handy for simple disguises.

He picked a clothing store that was displaying robes and suits that looked like they belonged to wealthy people. When he stepped into the shop, his pig-like face drew attention and not the flattering kind. The young attractive woman working in the shop had to work hard to hide her disgust. Markus paid it no mind and started looking for suits in his size. He selected three suits in black, blue, and black and white pinstripes with matching fedoras for each one. He also picked out matching accouterments to go with the clothing. The woman's attitude changed when Markus dumped a pile of cash on the counter to pay for his clothing. She tried to flatter him but he paid no attention to her and left the store.

When he left the store he was wearing a well-fitting black and white pinstripe suit, glossy black leather dress shoes, a red tie, and a matching pinstriped fedora. As long as you couldn't see his bloated piggy-face he looked rather dashing thanks to the suit hugging his well-toned body. He kept the brim of his hat pulled down and his face tilted down to hide it. His figure drew some admiring looks from the ladies. For a bit of fun, he would occasionally lift his head up and wink at a woman. His action would cause the woman to turn away in disgust at the sight of his face. It made him laugh every time.

As he moved closer to Rain Dinners, he moved some 10,000 Belly bills from his inventory into the interior pocket of his jacket. Thanks to the system storing his money, he could pull it out in any form legally accepted and in any denomination he desired. Since he planned to play the 'ugly rich bastard' and do some gambling, he would only use large bills. He planned to make a small fortune off of Crocodile!

Rain Dinners was a lavish building built in the middle of a lake. The interior was tastefully decorated and filled with men and women wearing fine clothes while they played various games. The casino had everything you would expect. Slot machines, card games, roulette wheels, all the classics as well as some games he'd never seen before. Markus walked around the casino trying to decide what game to play. His Observation Haki wouldn't let him see into the future yet so he needed to find a game that it would at least give him an advantage at.

He took his time, ordering drinks and hanging around tables with his Observation Haki active while trying to predict the outcomes. He was pleasantly surprised when he checked the poker tables and found he could easily tell who was bluffing or who had a good hand. The smallest twitch, a slightly raised heartbeat, just a bit of extra sweat, all of it was plain as day to him. So, poker was clearly an option but it still relied a bit too much on having good cards in his hand to win. He couldn't bluff every hand or the other players could catch on. Blackjack was also a no-go since the dealer didn't really have to think about what they were doing and despite his increased memory, he didn't want to count cards.

After a while, he walked up to one of the roulette tables. If he recalled correctly, Fujitora loved playing roulette and used his own Observation Haki to place his bets. Markus stood at the roulette table and watched closely, focusing his entire attention on the spinning wheel and the bouncing ball. Before the dealer called for no more bets, Markus would guess where the ball would land. By guessing three of the numbers near each other, he guessed correctly more often than not. The more he watched, the more accurate his guesses became until every time he guessed three numbers, at least one of them would win.

The rules for the table were simple. The minimum bet was one thousand Belly while the maximum was twenty-five thousand Belly with a payout of 15 to 1 for single number bets. If he placed three 1,000 Belly bets and one of them won, he would be up 12,000 Belly. If he bet the maximum of 25,000 Belly, he would gain 300,000 Belly. With his Haki, his odds of losing were minuscule. It looked like he found his game! He picked the roulette table with the prettiest girl working it, just to mess with her.

After he took his seat, he pulled out 100,000 Belly and had it changed into fifteen chips worth 5,000 Belly each and twenty-five chips worth 1,000 Belly each. He split the fifteen 5,000 Belly chips into three stacks of five and kept all the 1,000 Belly chips together. He started small, placing bets of 1,000 Belly on three numbers each time. Inevitably, two of his numbers would lose while the third would win. Every couple of bets he would lose on purpose. Casinos didn't like people who won too often and it would draw unwanted attention if he continued to win non-stop. So for every two to three wins, he would lose two to three times. Even so, he won far more money than he lost. Ever since his first bet, he was playing with the house's money!

He took his sweet time while playing. He didn't bet on every spin of the wheel and took time to tease the waitresses with his ugly face while ordering drinks and giving out big tips. All in all, he acted like a total buffoon while playing. Anytime he got the chance, he would slip some of the chips into his inventory through his pockets to keep the pile in front of him from growing too big and drawing attention. The first time he did so he was shocked to see that his Belly balance in his inventory had actually increased by the value of the chip. He didn't even have to go to a teller to cash them out! He planned to slowly milk the casino, and by extension Crocodile, out of their money without them even noticing!

As the day wore on and night approached, Markus decided to call it a day. Thanks to his tactics he'd gone unnoticed and managed to rake in a little over 11.5 million Belly. His personal funds had risen to a little over 14.2 million Belly. He whistled a happy tune to himself as he strolled through the streets flashing his fat piggy face at pretty women. He couldn't get enough of their revulsion. He wasn't a masochist, he just thought it was funny as hell to see them acting that way just from seeing his face. It also revealed their character. He wasn't really that ugly, his face was just much fatter than it should be but none of them could see past the surface to what was beneath.

It made him compare the women he toyed with to Nami. Which brought a smile to his face. Of course, not because Nami would see past his ugly mug. No, she'd realize how expensive his clothing was and latch onto him to bilk him dry then ditch him. Her obsession with money wasn't as bad as before he defeated Arlong but it was still there. He couldn't see himself staying with a gold-digger like her in the long term but in the short term? Why the hell not? There was also a chance him being around might change that side of her.

With plenty of money, Markus picked a fancy looking hotel to stay in while he was in Rainbase. He almost felt bad for the rest of the crew having to camp outside in the freezing cold desert at night. Almost. The hotel was extremely expensive and high-class, each night's stay costing a quarter of a million Belly. It didn't matter to Markus though, Crocodile was paying for it. With his comfortable and lavish room secured, Markus reverted back to himself and stretched. As he did, he sensed something and slowly turned to take a look at it while grinning.

On one wall he spotted an ear sticking out of the wallpaper, on another he spotted a beautiful blue eye. He looked directly at the eye and grinned, "Well, hello there. I expected you to catch onto me eventually but not this fast, Nico Robin."

The eye on the wall narrowed at him when the ear on the other wall heard what he said. Markus started unbuttoning his jacket while he continued to smile, "That's right, I know exactly who you are." He shrugged his shoulders while simultaneously removing his jacket, "Don't worry. It's not like I'm going to run off to the nearest marine and report you to them, I'm a pirate after all." He carefully folded his jacket and set it on the bed while the blue eye continued to watch him suspiciously, "You must be wondering why I'm here, what scam I have going or what I plan to do right? Well. For now, I plan to gamble while I wait. Wait for what you ask? That's a secret." He turned back to look at Robin's eye once more, "I suppose you could turn me in to Crocodile but I promise you, if you do you'll never get close to what you seek."

The eye on his wall widened in shock. Markus smirked, "Yes, that's right, I know what it is that you seek on this island Nico Robin, the last survivor of Ohara, the devil child that can read Poneglyphs."

Markus noted a slight shudder from the eye staring at him. He continued in an almost bored tone while he crossed his arms over his chest, "Tell me Robin, did you know there are two Poneglyphs on Alabasta?"

Robin's eye widened in clear shock. Markus laughed, "I'll take that as a no." He sat down on the bed and crossed one leg over the other before he continued, "There's an old destroyed city in the desert, likely the previous capital city of Alabasta long ago. Inside of a chamber long hidden from the world rests a Poneglyph. I'll make you a deal. Stay out of my way while I stay out of yours and I'll show that Poneglyph to you someday. If you find the chance to help Luffy and the others in the near future then I swear to you that no matter what happens, no matter what goes down in this fight, I will get you in to see the Poneglyph King Nefertari is protecting."

He looked at Robin's eye as it stared at him, "Ah, right. You can't talk. Or won't. Whichever. Blink once if you agree and twice if you don't."

Robin's eye gave one long blink before staring at him once more, "Excellent! Now, if you don't mind, I plan to strip down and get some sleep. I don't do peep shows but you're more than welcome to make an excuse to Crocodile and come down here to join me for the night."

The eye and ear stuck on his walls vanished instantly. Markus threw his head back and laughed. Robin might be older than him but he was pretty certain that she was inexperienced when it came to romance. She was usually the one to do the flirting to get her way. A classic case of being able to dish it out but not take it, just like Nami. With Robin gone, he finished getting ready for bed while trying to tune out what was happening next door to him.

Sometimes Observation Haki could be a bit of a problem, as in right now. The room next door was occupied by a rather fat and ugly man being 'accompanied' by a much younger and extremely attractive woman. What two adults were doing in a hotel room at night should be fairly obvious and having front row seats to it was not a pleasurable experience. Markus was also slightly jealous of the man. After all, the woman he was with was a real ten out of ten. However, his jealousy abated significantly when the man handed over a stack of cash to the woman when the deed was done.

Markus didn't see anything wrong with that particular situation and since they wouldn't be disturbing his sleep now, he got comfortable in his nice big fluffy bed. It was definitely a bit mean spirited when he smiled thinking of the rest of the crew sleeping outside right about now. If he thought he could pull it off, he would have tried to convince Nami and Vivi to stick with him. Vivi was definitely impossible while Nami was highly improbable. Ah well, a guy can dream of a flower in each arm, right?

The next day, after a breakfast that made him miss Sanji's cooking, Markus left the hotel and made his way to Rain Dinners. He'd changed back to his piggy face before leaving his room that morning. Today he chose to wear his nice blue suit while he slowly robbed Crocodile of a few million Belly. He hoped to make enough money to purchase any interesting skills that appeared in his system shop. Only one was ever available at a time and it changed daily to something random. He was hoping to get his hands on something truly useful.

As he stepped into the casino he made his way directly to the nearest roulette table manned by a pretty woman. He tossed down a stack of 100,000 Belly to convert to 5,000 Belly chips and began placing bets of 5,000 Belly each. Every time he won a spin of the wheel he'd win 60,000 Belly. He pulled the same tricks he did the day before to keep suspicions about him from building. As he was playing he saw something that brought a bright smile to his face.

A tall man had entered the casino causing a stir as the patrons got excited. The man towered above the majority of the crowd making him easy to spot. Markus recognized him right away, his slicked-back black hair, long fur coat draped over his shoulders, and the distinctive scar running across his face all made Crocodile easy to recognize. Standing next to him was a beautiful woman wearing a white cowboy hat over shoulder length straight black hair and a long white coat that was currently closed. As Markus looked at Crocodile and Nico Robin walking into the casino, her bright blue eyes glanced over in his direction. She gave nothing away but Markus couldn't help winking at her as he placed a bet.

The pair didn't linger inside of the casino's main floor for very long and made their way into the back of the casino. After spotting them, Markus didn't pay any more attention to them. He was tempted to just bolt over and clobber Crocodile into submission but that would ruin the plan and wouldn't put a stop to Crocodile's plan. On the bright side, now that he'd 'met' Crocodile in person, he could pound the snot out of him inside of his Image Training. He could practice against him until he knew all of Crocodile's habits. It would make stomping him in reality so much easier.

After that minor event, the rest of the day was rather uneventful. Markus won just under 20 million Belly without drawing any attention. As he was about to call it a day he spotted several people entering the casino that he recognized instantly. Mr. 1, Mr. 2, Mr. 4, Ms. Double Finger, and Ms. Merry Christmas. Markus grinned as everyone but Mr. 2 was freshly added to his Image Training menu. He was looking forward to getting back to his hotel room now!

Markus returned to his hotel with 33.2 million Belly resting comfortably inside of his system. Now, he just needed to wait for a worthwhile skill to come up for sale. Once he was comfortable inside his room he pulled up his system shop to see what skill was available for sale today. Markus was excited to see that the skill book for Geppo was for sale until he saw the 55 million Belly price tag attached. He almost allowed himself to become depressed until he switched to the tab that allowed him to sell things. He still had everything he'd stolen from Smoker's ship!

He sold anything he didn't feel was worth keeping, 20 cannons, 1,000 cannonballs, all the swords and flintlocks of low quality, all the furniture, and all the clothing. The cannons sold for the most individually at a million Belly each while the low-quality weapons sold for significantly less individually but there were more of them. He'd robbed their entire armory after all. As for the marine uniforms and personal clothing he'd stolen, he was surprised to find that each uniform sold for 5,000 each while personal clothing sold for between 10,000 and 15,000 Belly each. After he sold everything that wasn't worth keeping, he gained a total of 173,209,750 Belly. The marine's personal items were numerous and sold for vastly varying amounts. They earned him the most out of everything!

When everything he didn't want to keep was sold, he had a balance of over 200 million Belly. He immediately returned to the skills tab of his shop and bought the Geppo skill. He wasted no time in learning it. After all, Geppo was one of the best skills in the Rokushiki as it essentially allowed the user to walk in the air!

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Geppo

[Active, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]

The Geppo technique is one of the six techniques of the Rokushiki, the six marine skills. The Geppo technique allows the user to use the strength of their legs to create and step on cushions in the air. This gives the illusion that the user is walking on the air. The higher the level of this skill, the longer the user can keep themselves in the air. A true master can stay in the air as long as they desire.

Walk in the air for 5 steps.

Cost: 5 Willpower per step

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Geppo was a decent skill to have in his arsenal. Though it would eventually be completely outclassed by his ability to actually fly when he obtained the Goro Goro no Mi, it would work as a flight substitute until then. With the new skill and new opponents to grind for experience, Markus quickly got comfortable on his bed and entered his Image Training. Time to have some fun!