Chapter 15

Markus took a few steps away and faced the women with a grin, "Now, pick up the balls and throw them at me. Don't hold back at all! I'll dodge them all with the blindfold on."

The two women looked at each other and grinned before grabbing a ball in each of their hands. Markus had pushed them to their limits working out, now it was time for some payback! Sure, the balls were soft cloth ones stuffed with cotton, but it would still be a cathartic release to hit him with one!

Both of them started lobbing the balls at Markus as fast and hard as they could. Rei was so enthralled with trying to hit him that she accidentally started using her Armament Haki on the balls. She still wasn't experienced in using it so it was extremely weak, barely enough to qualify as Haki. Still, it seemed like even using it in the weakest invisible state was enough to hurt a power holder.

Markus could sense that she was using her Haki. He didn't tell her to stop. The more she used it, the more she would be able to feel it and eventually make it a conscious decision to use it. When the thrown balls neared him, he casually moved his body to dodge them. He wanted to make his dodging look graceful to inspire the two women but they had other things in mind. They were practically shotgunning the balls at him forcing him to dodge around erratically. While he wanted to make Observation Haki look more appealing, it was more important to prove it could be used to dodge even when he couldn't see.

The two women emptied the bucket of the little balls and despite their best efforts, failed to hit Markus even once. They felt they had come close a few times but Markus had simply chosen to dodge those 'close calls' with minimal movement. As the last ball plopped on the ground behind him, he pulled the blindfold off and smiled at both of them, "And that is how Observation Haki can help you in a combat situation."

Both of them nodded and despite their grievances about not hitting him even once, they understood how helpful Observation Haki could be in a combat situation. Markus glanced at all the balls laying on the ground behind himself, "Collect the balls, we'll start your training after that."

Bonney grumbled under her breath while Rei silently went about the job. Once all the balls were collected, Markus looked between the two of them and changed his mind on how the training was going to go. Originally he planned to blindfold both women and throw the balls at them himself. However, he doubted they would even come close to dodging any of his throws, no matter how casual they were. It would be better if they practiced against someone with similar strength.

After putting away one of the blindfolds, he held up the other, "This is how we'll do your training. One of you will wear the blindfold while the other throws the balls. Once they're all thrown, collect them and trade positions. Keep going until you both had thrown and tried to dodge ten times each."

The two women turned to face each other, the air grew tense as they both lifted their hands. As they stared defiantly into each other eyes, their hands moved quickly. Bonney's hand changed into a fist while Rei struck out with her hand flat like a blade. Their hands stopped near each other and Bonney fell to the ground defeated while Rei showed a victory pose. Paper covers Rock.

Markus chuckled at the overdramatic display between the two women. Clearly, they had become fast friends. He had no idea how and he wasn't going to guess. Despite living two lives, the minds of women were still a complete mystery to him. After their roles had been determined, Bonney accepted the blindfold from him while Rei took the bucket of small balls and took some distance.

Their training in Observation Haki went as expected, neither of them managed to dodge a single ball on purpose. They only ever managed to dodge when one of them happened to be moving in the right direction. Of course, Markus didn't expect them to learn Observation Haki instantly, it would take time and effort. They had plenty of time. Markus didn't plan to reveal his whole crew until they were strong enough. When he eventually decided to head to Dressrosa to recruit Baby 5 and destroy the rest of them, he would do it alone.

As far as recruiting Baby 5, he chose to do so simply because he knew he could make her far more powerful than she currently was. Her Devil Fruit had near limitless potential and frankly, he would have picked it for himself if it had been a Logia. Just picturing the weapons he knew from his previous life and combining them with the Buki Buki no Mi... It would be devastating. He could just waltz into Marie Geoise, turn into a nuke, and boom, the whole place would become rubble. That was just a simple example. He could replicate just about any move he currently had, related to electricity, using that power. He fully intended to educate Baby 5 about them and increase her arsenal to a ridiculous degree.

He didn't spend all his time while the girls were practicing just thinking about some future steps he wanted to take. He had his own practicing he needed to do. His control over the Zushi Zushi no Mi was still far below his control over the Goro Goro no Mi. He also wanted to think of a few more abilities to use with it. The ones he'd thought of were too devastating to use in the real world, his Image Training would need to be used.

He found a comfortable spot to relax and 'meditate.' As soon as he was inside his own mind, he picked an island as his training ground. He took to the air and looked down at the island from the sky. He took a deep breath and began to use his gravitational power. He pointed his palm at the ground while his fingers curled into claws. The atmosphere around the island instantly changed as gravity shifted. A condensed black ball of extreme gravity formed in the center of the island. It wasn't a true black hole. As much as he would like to make one, just the thought of actually doing it kind of terrified him. That would be a world-ending attack.

Even so, he could still create an area of powerful gravity without going to the extreme of creating a black hole. As the black sphere formed, the trees, rocks, and ground nearby began to shatter as they were ripped to shreds by the powerful waves of gravity emitted by the orb. Everything gathered together into a sphere of solid matter. He kept the power going until nearly half of the island had been ripped to shreds creating a barren crater and a large lump of solid matter floating above it.

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Due to showing proficiency in a skill, you have gained the 'Planetoid Creation' skill.

Planetoid Creation

[Active, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]

The user of this skill creates a sphere of extreme gravity that attracts everything around it and crushes it into a compact ball of mass. The more power used, the large the area of effect and the more material that can be captured and used to create the planetoid.

[Minimum]

Gather all material in a 10 foot radius of the sphere

Cost: 50 Willpower + 5 Willpower per second

Extra:

+1 foot radius per 5 Willpower + 0.5 Willpower per second

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As the skill was created, the gravity that had been somewhat loose around the planetoid he'd created became more rigid and well structured. The mass of land and trees made a loud crunch as the gravity increased and compressed it even further. With the freshly solidified massive object created, Markus released the new skill and activated another, Gravity Lift. The moment he did, he regretted it. The cost of Gravity Lift was based on the weight of an object and the object he just made weighed several tens of tons at least.

His Willpower pool plummeted more than seventy-five percent. The only good news is that Gravity Lift didn't have a per-second cost, once he used it the object would keep floating up until he stopped using the skill. He quietly watched as the large mass began floating higher into the air. He let it go up for a couple of thousand feet. It took some time but once he felt it was high enough, he canceled Gravity Lift and activated Gravity Press.

The instant change in the pull of gravity on the giant mass of earth caused it to groan in protest, though it didn't crack or break up. Due to the size of the object, it appeared to be moving slowly. Markus didn't care but started spamming Gravity Press on it over and over. Gravity Press was a basic skill, like his Lightning Bolt, and didn't cost anything to use. So, why not spam it? Judging by what he was seeing, spamming it actually stacked.

Every time he used Gravity Press on the planetoid it accelerated a little more. Even though the large mass wasn't all that high up, relatively speaking, the sheer speed using multiple instances of Gravity Press induced caused the bottom to begin glowing orange. The friction generated by the speed it was falling was heating it up rapidly.

Seeing what was happening, Markus made what he felt to be a wise decision. Retreat! He spun around and flew away from the falling planetoid as fast as he could. He didn't know the exact physics behind what was about to happen. What he did know was that a massive object at least 150-200 feet in diameter (45-60 meters) was moving rapidly toward the ground. The impact would definitely be terrible.

Moments later he was proved right as the huge planetoid impacted with the existing crater on the ground. The deeply terrifying sound of the impact was the first thing to reach Markus but it was quickly followed by a powerful shockwave that sent him tumbling through the air. Dust and debris exploded into the air and covered the sky. The island was gone, completely obliterated by the impact.

Where the island used to be, there was an even bigger crater that replaced the smaller one he'd made previously. He could hear and see the ocean water rushing into the crater to fill it up and finish erasing the small island from existence. Markus wiped some cold sweat from his forehead and observed the devastation he had wrought.

"Right... Better not use that one unless I REALLY need to destroy an entire island..."

He quickly changed the scenery to a normal town. He had one other thing he wanted to give a try. From what he understood, weight was generated by mass within gravity. By changing the strength of gravity acting on an object its weight increases. So...

He curled both of his hands into fists and generated gravity bubbles around each of them. His fists appeared similar to Whitebeard's when he was using the Goro Goro no Mi except they were colored a dark, nearly black, purple. The idea for what he was about to attempt came from two sources, Whitebeard and a cute, if annoying, blonde he met a long time ago.

With his prep done, he summoned a punching bag in the form of a Marine private. He was trying to generate a new skill, not harvest experience points. He just needed something to hit. The peon immediately charged at Markus while brandishing his sword. In Markus's perception, the peon was moving at a snail's pace. As soon as his target drew close, Markus dodged a pathetic sword swing and countered with a punch aimed at the man's stomach.

As his fist approached the Marine, he modified the gravity within the bubble around it to drastically increase the weight of his fist. His goal was to increase the power of his physical attacks by increasing their weight, similar to the users of the Kilo Kilo no Mi or the Ton Ton no Mi. The weight of his fist instantly increased from just a pound or two to several hundred pounds. Just as the weight increased, Markus was pulled down to the ground, fist first.

Markus quickly canceled the gravity increase and normal punched the Marine into oblivion. He immediately understood the problem since it was pretty basic. Increasing the weight of just his fist had caused it to weigh too much and pulled him off balance. He needed a counterforce to keep his balance. The users of the previously mentioned Devil Fruits didn't have that issue since they increased their entire body weight and were unaffected by their own powers. He didn't want to increase his entire weight as it would cause issues on delicate surfaces, like the deck of a ship. He could also potentially bury himself in the ground if his weight was too high.

The answer was pretty simple then, create a second bubble around the first to counter regular gravity. The exterior bubble would make his fist feel normal in his perspective while the interior bubble would drastically increase the weight of his fist. He quickly created the double-layered bubbles around his fists then summoned the same peon to punch.

The Marine peon did the exact same thing as before, he charged at Markus while swinging his sword to slash him. As the Marine closed the distance between them, Markus amped up the gravity around his fist while simultaneously amping up the counterforce. As the Marine slashed at him, Markus dodged and counter-attacked once more. This time things played out a little differently. Markus's fist firmly connected with the Marine's stomach. The extreme force of the blow blasted the Marine's stomach apart, ripping his body into two gory pieces that collapsed onto the ground.

Markus grimaced at the sight, "That... was a bit dangerous..."

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Due to showing proficiency in a skill, you have gained the 'Gyrokinetic Combat' skill.

Gyrokinetic Combat

[Active, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]

The user of this skill can fluidly weave gravity into their offense and defense. When used offensively, the user can manipulate the weight of themselves or their weapon. When used defensively, the user can manipulate the weight of their opponent's physical attacks. All physical attacks can have their weight increased or decreased as the user sees fit.

[Minimum]

+10% Damage

Cost: 15 Willpower

Extra:

+5% Damage per 1 Willpower Spent

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Markus read over the description of the new skill and nodded to himself. He could fight in melee with his bare hands even better now. Not to mention all the bonuses he had to melee fighting thanks to things like his Brawling skill. He was developing this skill specifically for when he encountered Kaido in the future. He had no memories of Kaido in the anime from his previous life, but he remembered discussions and information on Kaido, his reputation, and his supposed 'immortality.' He didn't know how far Kaido's strength actually went but he could make preparations before they met.

With the skill created, Markus summoned some slightly stronger Marines, all of the Vice Admirals he'd met. He quickly found himself surrounded by the Vice Admirals while they launched attacks at him. Some moved to fight him in melee while others attacked from afar. Markus drew Shodai and used his new Gyrokinetic Combat skill to reduce its weight to nothing. With his strength, Shodai already felt as light as a toothpick in his hands but now it literally weighed nothing. The lack of weight further increased the speed of his attacks.

As Shodai neared one of the dozen swords being wielded by Vice Admiral Onigumo, Markus reversed the effect of his Gyrokinetic Combat and drastically increased the weight of Shodai. As the blades clashed, Shodai sliced through Onigumo's sword as if it wasn't even there. Markus reversed gravity on the blade once again and brought it around to slash at Onigumo's chest. Again he increased its weight easily cutting through Onigumo's defense and cleaving through his chest as if it was butter.

After nearly slashing Onigumo completely in half, Markus spun around and held Shodai up to deflect an incoming bullet. The moment the bullet touched Shodai, its gravity was increased redirecting it to the ground. He continued to practice his Gyrokinetic Combat against the Vice Admirals while ripping them apart piece by piece.

By the time he finished with all of them, he'd managed to gain a single level. This brought him up to level 297. More importantly, the skill level of Gyrokinetic Combat had risen to level eighteen as he'd grown more accustomed to using it in combat. Now, he could instantly switch between increasing and decreasing the gravity of attacks, whether his own of his enemies. The confusion and chaos of messing with his enemy's attacks would be pretty powerful in real combat.

With his practice done, he exited his Image Training. Opening his eyes, he looked over at Bonney and Rei as they practiced their Observation Haki. He quietly enjoyed the sight of two bombastic beautiful women running around and throwing things at each other for a while. Eventually, he was going to have to call an end to their practice. It was a little after noon and it was time to eat something.

While they continued, he started to set up a nice picnic for the three of them. It wasn't anything special, just a blanket and a little over a dozen plates of food. After setting out the last plate, he looked up to call over both women only to find both of them staring directly at him. Bonney was even wiping drool from the corner of her mouth. He laughed lightly and waved them over, "Come on, lunch is ready."