78 Chapter 14

Markus took a moment to gather his thoughts. He knew what he wanted to gain from spending time with Whitebeard. The problem was articulating it properly. Once he gathered his thoughts he started to speak, "In the beginning of my life all I did was train and survive, my old man put me through hell to make me stronger. I appreciate that... but he neglected to teach me something important. I didn't really understand that until I met Ace's brother and my captain, Luffy."

Whitebeard arched an eyebrow as he studied and listened to Markus who continued to narrate, "When I first met Luffy my first thought was to use him. Originally, I followed him for my own safety and greed. He was strong and only continued to grow stronger through every struggle. Following him, I too grew stronger. I even managed to get my hands on a powerful Logia from an enemy he defeated. Thinking back on it now, that's pretty pathetic right?"

Whitebeard said nothing but Markus could see he'd narrowed his eyes at him, "It took a while but after I gained that power I realized something was missing. Something important. I wasn't raised to be anything but a combatant and survivor." He looked Whitebeard in the eyes and felt determination welling up inside of him, "I want to become more than that. I want to become someone strong, not just someone with strength. I want to become someone like you. Helping save Ace for no reason other than to do something for my captain is one step on that path, I think. Following and learning from your example would be another."

There was silence as Whitebeard and his crew studied Markus. On his end, Markus stayed silent and continued to look into Whitebeard's eyes with determination. The silence dragged until Whitebeard threw his head back and laughed loudly, "Gurarararara!! Well said!"

The other members of Whitebeard's crew seemed to relax a bit when he started to laugh. Marco came over to Markus and smacked him on the back, "Not bad, kid."

Markus wanted to complain about being called a kid but he didn't really have any grounds to do so. His physical body was sixteen, he'd only been alive less than a year, and his mental age was all kinds of messed up. So he just accepted it with a smile. Whitebeard finished laughing and looked down at Markus, "You may stay on my ship but there are two things that need to be made clear. First, you are not one of my sons, you have no authority or rights here. You're below even the rank of a cabinboy. Second, you will do as you're told when you're told without complaint or there will be consequences. If you can't accept this then get the fuck off now."

Markus nodded in acceptance, "I understand."

He didn't like either of the rules, for obvious reasons. He still chose to follow them as it meant he could stay close and learn. This was something he really wanted so he was willing to do anything to get what he wanted. Even if it meant demeaning himself and doing things he felt were below him. Markus looked over to where he climbed up to the deck of the ship, "I just need to collect my boat."

Whitebeard and Marco gave him curious looks and watched as Markus jumped into the air and casually walked through it. During his time on the thunder island, he'd mastered his Geppo still and could now walk in the air as long as he had the Willpower to spend. Once he mastered the skill it became a lot smoother and simpler to operate. He now appeared to simply walk on nothing in a casual manner. He added to this casual look by sticking his hands in his pockets while strolling off of the ship and toward his boat. Whitebeard watched with a bit of interest, "Hou? You mastered Geppo to such a degree while being so young?"

Markus smiled, "I can use all of the Rokushiki. Well, all except Rokuogan. I'm still working on that one."

Given Markus's apparent age, the crew members who heard him looked suitable impressed. The only person who likely mastered the Rokushiki at such a young age would be Rob Lucci. Markus didn't say anything else and walked through the air down to his boat. With his usual flourish, he stored it away inside of his inventory. His action drew murmurs from Whitebeard's crew. Once he was back on the deck, Marco approached him, "That was interesting. How did you do it?"

Markus smiled at Marco, "It took me a while to figure it out but, I can turn items into electricity and store them within my body. Then I can reform them later. Like this..."

He held his hand out and in a flash of sparks a plate of steaming food appeared, "Things even retain their temperature and state from the moment I stored them. This plate of food is months old yet is still fresh and hot like it was just made."

There were suitable exclamations of surprise and a bit of good-natured envy. As sailors, fresh food was always a priority, and being able to indefinitely store something without it going bad meant that fresh food could always be on hand. Though Sanji made it look easy, keeping a good supply of fresh food was a constant issue on the seas. Sanji would be god tier if a certain glutton didn't eat 90% of their food within a day or two of leaving a port.

Marco looked at the food until Markus stored it away once again, "That's pretty interesting. You said you had a Logia and judging from the sparks, the Goro Goro no Mi?"

Markus nodded, "That's right."

Letting Whitebeard and his crew know a little bit about his abilities wasn't a big deal. His owning the Goro Goro no Mi was pretty much a matter of public record at this point. As far as his inventory, well his excuse worked and it would let him use it publicly without being questioned. Just them knowing those few things only gave them a small hint of his true power. With his boat collected and everyone ready, Marco started issuing commands to the rest of the crew. They were going to take a roundabout route to get to Sabaody for a new coating then head directly for Marineford.

Markus wasn't allowed to just stand around and watch. A crewmember that he didn't recognize walked up to him while holding a mop and bucket out to him, "Swab the deck, kid."

Markus could see other members of the crew watching him, to see what his reaction would be. Markus honestly wasn't sure what he should do. His first instinct was to punch the man holding the mop in the face. Then again, Whitebeard had made it clear that he was expected to follow the orders he was given and his rank was the lowest of the low. With that being the case, Markus grabbed the mop and bucket while a grin graced his face, "Got it."

The man smirked at Markus. Being able to order someone with a bounty of over a billion Belly wasn't something someone could do every day after all. Even among Whitebeard's crew, only a dozen or so people had bounties that could compare. That was about a dozen people over his entire fleet. Even Ace, a division commander, didn't have a bounty that high.

Seeing the man smirking at him, Markus smirked back as lightning erupted out of his body and covered him from head to toe. Markus wasn't really aware of it but with his Lightning Armor active, his somewhat spiky black hair became even spikier and stood up while his eyes glowed brightly and emitted sparks. The man who handed him the mop took a defensive step back and raised his guard. He wasn't the only one as most of the crew grew wary of Markus and his light show.

Markus paid no attention to them and instead, abused his lightning armor to begin mopping the deck of the Moby Dick at high speed. The entire crew was flabbergasted to see a bundle of sparks flitting around the deck and mopping it at high speed. No one knew who started it first but before long the majority of the crew were laughing their asses off as they watched Markus working. Whitebeard was the loudest among them.

Markus didn't pay any attention to the laughter around him. He focused on mopping and finished the entire deck of the Moby Dick in less than twenty minutes. That had to be some kind of record. When he finished, he passed the mop and bucket back to the same man that had handed it to him. Markus made sure to have a smile on his face, "All done."

The man laughed and accepted the bucket and mop from Markus, "Good job, kid. Keep up the hard work."

Markus just nodded and found a spot to sit down and meditate. Using his Lightning Armor for so long had nearly drained all of his Willpower. If he hadn't spent the attribute points from leveling up on the thunder island all on his Spirit, he would have run out before finishing. He didn't get to relax for very long before another crewmember interrupted him, "Hey kid, this is no time to just sit around! Follow me!"

Markus resisted the urge to let out a sigh as he climbed to his feet to follow the man. He was led inside of the ship and through the passages until they reached the armory. It was filled to the brim with weapons of all kinds. Markus looked around and was suitable impressed. The weapons were all normal but there were a LOT of them. He was led to a second area where he could see a workbench and items for maintaining weapons. The man looked at him while pointing to a pile of weapons, "Sharpen all those blades until you can shave with them. Though you probably don't know anything about shaving."

He slapped Markus on the shoulder while laughing before leaving Markus alone with a ton of weapons. Markus looked around before picking up a random cutlass and looking it over. The edge really was dull and even had a couple of chips in it from clashing with another blade. He shook his head and carried the sword over to a low grit sharpening stone. The moment he put the edge of the blade against the stone, his body began to move as if he'd repeated this action for years. His Crafting skill was automatically giving him a hand!

Markus had never done any sort of crafting outside of his system, Shodai Kitetsu and The Devil's Flintlock didn't require maintenance. Zoro maintained his own weapons. So, he'd really never had a reason to even try to work on one. Now, he felt like he'd been working on weapon maintenance for years and found the process simple while his movements were perfect and efficient. Within moments he had the dull and slightly chipped blade sharpened to a perfect cutting edge.

After observing his work, he checked his Crafting skill's experience and was pleasantly surprised to see that it had increased a little bit. He smiled happily and picked up the next weapon that needed to be sharpened. At least with this chore, he could relax and let his Willpower regenerate. He didn't have to use his Lightning Armor when mopping but if he hadn't it would have taken hours to mop the whole deck.

Markus worked for a couple of hours to sharpen every weapon that needed it. When he was done, the once dull swords all sported gleaming razor-sharp edges that would slice with ease. He stood to leave the room and get his next chore but stopped when he saw another workroom right next door. Within it, he could see flintlocks and rifles in need of repairs. He paused and looked at them before grinning and heading into the room. He wanted to repair these next!

He started with a flintlock that had a broken hammer spring. Using the tools available, he began to disassemble the flintlock, paying close attention to where each part went. Once the hammer assembly was taken apart, he looked around until he found a replacement spring. With the replacement part in hand, he began reassembling the flintlock piece by piece. His Crafting skill helped him easily do the work and when he was done he checked it. He was pleasantly surprised to find that not only had his Crafting skill gained experience, as expected, but his Technological Knowledge skill had gained experience and even leveled up.

With the Technological Knowledge skill, he could learn about technology and even create his own inventions, eventually. Knowing he could level two skills at the same time filled him with motivation. He grabbed the next broken flintlock and began his next streak of repairs and maintenance. He actually found that he enjoyed working on the firearms more than the swords and other bladed weapons. There was just something more... satisfying about it.

Markus worked for hours and only took breaks when he was hungry or thirsty. He might have a much stronger body than the majority of people throughout the world but he still needed the basics like food. He could probably push his body and ignore the need to eat for a while but why bother doing that when he had a near limitless supply? He still had over 140 billion Belly and a store to sell him food. There was no point in starving himself.

When he finished repairing every last weapon he could get his hands on, he left the workshop and made his way back to the deck. He was surprised to realize it was the middle of the night. He'd been so lost in the enjoyment of the simple work that time just flew by. Looking around he noticed a bunch of people passed out on the deck of the ship with empty mugs laying next to them. It looked like he missed one hell of a party. He could also see that they had docked at one of the groves at Sabaody to get their coating applied. He could sense people around the ship doing the work.

He rubbed his chin as he thought for a bit. It was night so...

He transformed into a bolt of lightning and flashed through the air. He landed a couple of blocks away from a hotel where someone he wanted to know better was staying. He didn't want to meet her tonight though. Instead, he moved down the street and silently snuck into the hotel by phasing through the door. He stopped in front of a specific door and waited for a moment. Once he was certain the individual inside was sound asleep, he quietly phased through the door into the room.

Soundly sleeping inside of the room was a young-looking attractive woman with long pink hair and a small amount of lipstick that was shaped like a heart on the center of her lips. Markus controlled his breathing and moved slowly to approach her. If she were to wake up now it would be rather difficult for him to explain why he was breaking into her room. He didn't have any sinister motives for what he was doing. If he'd thought of it earlier, he would have done this before looking for Whitebeard.

As he got close enough to touch her, Markus reached out and very gently placed the tip of his index finger on her back. That was it. After touching her he carefully and quietly made his way back out of her room and left the hotel. He'd tagged Jewelry Bonney with his Electro-Magnetic Tag so he could track her down later without having to look too hard. Once he was outside, he transformed into a lightning bolt once more and returned to the Moby Dick.

After landing on the deck of the ship, Markus found a comfortable spot on the deck to lay down and get some sleep. There were several people coating the ship so it should be ready to go pretty soon. Their goal was probably to leave at dawn and sail straight for Marineford. He had no problem with that. Once comfortable, Markus instantly fell asleep.

Markus awoke with a yelped while grabbing his thigh. While rubbing his sore thigh he looked up to see Marco looking down at him with a smirk as he slowly lowered his foot back to the ground, "Rise and shine. No amount of beauty sleep is going to help you know."

Markus grumbled but the pain from Marco kicking him awake quickly faded. A quick glance at his HP showed the single kick from Marco had drained nearly 500 points. The man was strong that's for sure. Marco ignored Markus's glare and turned around to walk away. This prompted Markus to hop to his feet and follow after him. As they walked, Marco spoke over his shoulder, "You did good work yesterday. Not only did you perfectly sharpen all of our dull weapons, you even repaired all of or firearms. Nice initiative."

Markus smiled and felt a little proud. He did it out of curiosity and the desire to increase his skill levels but getting complimented felt nice. Marco led Markus to a wide-open area on the deck where he turned to face Markus, "Pops wanted me to test you out and see what your skills are really like in a fight. So, we'll spar now."

Markus smiled brightly, "Well, he picked the perfect person for the job. As long as I don't use Armament Haki, I can't deal lasting damage to you. Smart!"

Marco arched an eyebrow, "It sounds like you know what my power is."

Markus nodded as he slowly took a stance, centering himself and putting up his guard, "Yup. Tori Tori no Mi Model: Phoenix. Honestly, it's scary good. I can't help but wonder if it embodies all aspects of the Phoenix, such as rebirth."

Marco rubbed the back of his head, "Yeah, I wonder about that too sometimes. But I'm not in a hurry to test it out and know for sure. If it didn't work I'd be dead ya know?"

Markus nodded in understanding. Without a system like his, Marco could only learn about his Devil Fruit through experience and experimentation. Who would want to experiment with their own mortality? No one sane would. With his stance set, Marco mentioned a few things, "Let's avoid using our powers, they're too flashy. I just want to know about your base fighting skills."

Markus nodded and the next moment they dashed at each other.