Chapter 5

Bonney continued to glare at Markus the entire time they flew through the air. It wasn't long but it felt longer with her staring like that. Their altitude started to drop until they left the cloud cover. They were still more than a mile above the surface of the ocean but both of them could see the raft. Of course, someone as big as Sanjuan Wolf was nearly impossible to miss. A man towering at nearly 600 feet (180m) tall was really conspicuous.

The moment she saw them, Bonney's glare shifted from Markus to Blackbeard and the rest, "It's those bastards! They're the ones that killed Whitebeard!"

Markus nodded, "They are. Now I'll be the one to kill them. But first..."

Markus opened his inventory and retrieved his two crates per usual. This time though, he held them in the air with his Gyro-Telekinesis. He'd realized he didn't need to find them a safe spot on the fire covered island, he could just float them around with ease. Bonney looked shocked seeing the two crates come out of nowhere, "What the hell did you just do?!"

Markus waved his hand dismissively, "Don't worry about it. I'll explain later."

Bonney grumbled, annoyed, but he ignored her and focused on the people below him. He continued to lower them closer to his target to get them in the optimum range. If he could call down meteor's then he would have just done that but since he couldn't... Markus pointed both of his hands at the raft and its occupants as he started to channel more than half of his Willpower into his attack.

Dark purple energy gathered beneath his palms until it started to turn black. No, he wasn't making a black hole. As much as he would like to, and as hard as he had tried to, he couldn't pull it off... yet. Once the energy gathered, he released it all down on the raft. A cylinder of power completely surrounded the raft and everyone on it. Before they could react a powerful force pulled down on them. The raft shattered into splinters as everyone on it was forced deep into the ocean, "Gravity Push."

The powerful move shoved every member of the Blackbeard Pirates thousands of feet underwater near instantly. Those with Devil Fruits were immediately doomed as they lost strength while those without wouldn't be able to swim to the surface before running out of air. Bonney was dead silent while watching what just happened. She remained silent as they floated there for the next ten minutes. She finally turned to look at Markus, "Are they dead?"

He nodded in response, "Yup."

They were definitely dead. He'd gotten notifications of their deaths one after another and even gained two levels. Each of them was worth a pretty good amount of experience. Four more levels and he'd hit level 300. He was looking forward to that, not that he expected anything special. It was just a nice even level.

Bonney stared at him for a while and let the silence linger. When she finally spoke, she did so in a quiet voice, "Thank you."

Markus smiled at her, "No problem. I planned to kill him for what he did to Whitebeard anyway. I would have handled him at Marineford but I wasn't prepared yet."

"Not prepared? You wiped the floor with everyone in front of you!"

"True but he was different. His Devil Fruit was pretty tricky to deal with. If I wasn't careful, he could have gotten me."

That was partially true but he couldn't tell her that he was also after the Gura Gura no Mi at the time. Which ended up not mattering since it was incompatible. Bonney continued to stare at him for a while, "So, what do you want? You didn't just rescue me from the marines for no reason. Also! What the hell is up with your abilities?! You're the 'Thunder Beast,' so where the hell is the THUNDER?!"

Markus laughed, "Can't a man have some mystery?"

"HELL NO!"

Markus sighed, "Fine fine. I'm not going to tell you about my abilities though! Not until I'm sure I can trust you. Got it?"

She growled but nodded, everyone had their secrets. She had plenty of her own, "Fine! But you damn well better tell me what the hell you want from me!"

"What I want is pretty simple. I want you to make someone younger for me."

Bonney looked surprised then narrowed her eyes at him, "Why would you think I can do something like that?"

Markus gave her an askance look, "Because I saw you turn a bunch of marines into toddlers."

"What makes you think that I can turn your friend into anything other than a toddler?"

He didn't have a good answer for that. Even when she saved Zoro she turned herself into a kid about the same age as the Marines she de-aged. So, he just shrugged his shoulders, "Because no Devil Fruit is that simple. I'm sure you can do a whole lot more with it than just make people kids. Just like I can do a whole lot more than make 'thunder'."

Bonney placed her hands on her hips while glaring at him, "Whatever. Just get us somewhere soon! I'm starving!"

As if on cue, her stomach released a loud growl. Given her nickname 'Big Eater' it wasn't surprising for her to be hungry after not eating for so long. Markus didn't say anything and just retrieved one of the thousands of plates of food from his inventory. He barely moved it close to her before she grabbed it out of his hands and immediately started chowing down on it.

"It's still warm! It's so good!! What is this?!"

Markus had to take a look at the plate to know what it was. He'd just picked something random, "It's fettuccine alfredo with shrimp."

"The hell is shrimp?"

Markus pointed to one of the shrimp covered in a white sauce on the pile of noodles. The moment his finger came close, Bonney jerked the plate away and guarded it, "Don't even think about touching it! You gave it to me so it's mine!"

Markus gave Bonney a wry smile, "I wasn't going to touch it or take it."

"Good!"

He shook his head and continued to fly them back in the direction of the Red Line. Although he couldn't fly at extreme speeds, yet, he could fly significantly faster than most ships could sail so it wouldn't take more than a few hours to reach his destination. Meanwhile, Bonney finished the food quickly and held the empty plate out to him, "MORE! ... You have more, right?"

Markus simply nodded and exchanged the empty plate for a plate of lasagna. Within moments she finished the lasagna, gave him compliments on the food, and asked for more. He quickly became a living vending machine, passing out food and accepting empty plates. After her tenth plate, Bonney said something with a shocked look on her face, "I'm... full..."

Markus gave her a confused look. From what he recalled, she was similar to Luffy and capable of eating many times her own body weight in food without gaining an ounce of weight. Hell, the first time she was shown in the anime, she was sitting on a table, surrounded by food, and demanding even more food. How the hell was she full? Was it because the food was system food?

Markus had never actually taken all that close of a look at the food provided by the system. It was just food, right? He took her empty plate and pulled out another one to actually use his Analysis skill on it.

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Pasta Carbonara (Plate)

Quality: Perfect

Description: A plate of simple pasta carbonara cooked to perfection.

Effect: Decreases hunger by 10-100%

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...

Markus put the Pasta Carbonara back into his inventory while Bonney still looked a little dazed. She couldn't remember the last time she actually felt full. She was simply enjoying the feeling that was long forgotten. Her dazed state didn't last long before she snapped out of it and looked at Markus with a complicated gaze, "You said you wanted me to make someone younger, right?"

Markus nodded, "Her name is Doctor Kureha, she's currently 120 years old. I'd like you to reduce her age to around 20. I plan to recruit her as a doctor for my crew."

Bonney's eyes widened, "Your crew? Aren't you one of the Strawhats?"

Markus smiled wistfully, "I was. But it's time for me to go on my own and do my own thing. I won't ever forget my friendship with them though. I plan to found a partnership with Luffy in a few years. Or maybe I'll be the next Yonko by then and he can be under my protection?"

Bonney narrowed her eyes at him, "You plan to replace Whitebeard?"

Markus shook his head, "No one could ever replace him. But, there's an opening and the seas are going to become unstable. Someone has to step in and I'm probably the best qualified, at the moment."

To prove his point, Markus pulled out his latest wanted poster and handed it to Bonney. Her eye practically popped out of her skull when she saw just how big his bounty had grown, "WHAT THE HELL?!"

Markus chuckled at her reaction, "Yup. It's kind of expected with everything I did before and during the incident at Marineford."

He wasn't going to explain every little detail, just the final total of his current bounty was more than enough explanation. After returning the bounty poster to Markus, Bonney fell into silent contemplation. Neither of them spoke for the next few hours while Markus continued to fly them through the air to the Red Line.

His plan was to head to Sabaody to see if he could find an Eternal Poses pointing to the Drum Kingdom and Water 7. He could navigate to either using his map without much trouble. Hell, he could arrive there in seconds, if he was alone. With Bonney coming along though, he didn't have much choice but to sail. Flying would take too much focus and if he lost his focus they would both drown to death.

His plan was simple. He wanted to go to Water 7 first and put in an order for a new, bigger, ship to be built. With his plans to build a real crew, he would need a bigger ship. His boat was nice and comfortable, but only for two people. Once there were three people it would become a little crowded. Any more than that was unacceptable. So his only choice was getting a large ship, preferably about the size of the Sunny. After putting in the order, he would head to the Drum Kingdom. Hopefully, his ship's construction would be complete by the time he returned.

It wasn't like he was in much of a rush either. So a couple of months on the sea, exploring and maybe fighting, would be pretty fun. Maybe he could also put a few islands under his protection while he was at it? There might be some juicy rewards in store for him if he could. As far as tributes... he didn't care. He was a multibillionaire and still had thousands of gold ingots in his inventory that he could sell anytime. If he had any issues, money wasn't one of them.

Finally, the Red Line came into sight. Markus guided both of them down and landed near the cliff. As soon as they touched down, Bonney over dramatically fell onto her knees and acted like she was hugging the ground, "Finally! Solid ground beneath me! I never want to fly again!"

Markus just smirked at that. Though he honestly didn't want to fly for that long again anytime soon. Out of combat, his G-TK might not take any Willpower to work but it still took concentration and slowly built up mental fatigue. Right now, he wanted nothing more than to get some sleep and recover mentally.

While Bonney continued to shower the solid ground with love, Markus went about setting up his camping items for the night. It would be dark soon and they would need somewhere safe to sleep. As he was working, Bonney recovered her sanity and called out to him, "Hey! I'm hungry! Since you kidnapped me, you're responsible for feeding me!"

Markus rolled his eyes and didn't bother arguing about the kidnapping part. He quickly took out ten random system meals and set them out. Since they guaranteed a minimum of 10% fullness then ten is all she would need to be full. Bonney wasted no time and showed zero manners as she greedily chowed down on the food. Though he was loathe to admit it, seeing the look of satisfaction on Bonney's face made her rather adorable.

He barely got any more work done when he heard a loud belch coming from behind. He glanced over his shoulder and saw a very content looking Bonney rubbing her bare stomach. Seeing him looking at her, Bonney grinned, "Alright! I've decided. You can have the honor of being my personal chef!"

Markus rolled his eyes, "If anyone is joining anyone else's crew, then you're joining mine! The strongest one should be the captain you know."

Of course, that wasn't entirely true in his previous crew. After they defeated Enel, Markus rapidly became the strongest on the crew and now he was leagues ahead of his friends. He honestly didn't think that any of them could catch up to him at this point. Even if he just lazed around and did nothing but sleep for the next two years, he would still be the strongest.

"You said it yourself! Glad to be aboard Captain!"

Markus rolled his eyes while smiling. Well, he did want to recruit Bonney so it worked out well. Once he finished setting up the camp for the night, he walked to the cliff of the Red Line and sat down. The sky was slowly darkening and covered in bright reds and oranges. It was really beautiful. Bonney didn't pay any attention to him and instead made herself comfortable inside of his tent and beneath his blanket. He would have yelled at her for it but he'd intended for her to use it anyway.

Markus put on his Seastone Bracelet before closing his eyes and entering his Image Training. For this session, he selected a simple town and chose Bonney as his enemy. He didn't want to beat her up or anything, he simply wanted to evaluate her current strengths and weaknesses. If he was going to make her stronger, he had to know what he was working with.

As soon as the Bonnye clone appeared, she charged at Markus and entered into melee combat with him. She used a combination of kicks and palm attacks. It was pretty clear that the goal of the palm attacks was to touch him to affect his age negatively. She had decent strength behind her attacks, especially from her kicks. If she strengthened her legs some more she could probably learn Soru and Geppo. Soru would be especially good for her so she could get close and use her power.

He also needed to teach her both common forms of Haki. It was clear from how she failed to dodge his attacks that she didn't know how to use Observation Haki. The lack of Armament Haki was pretty obvious too. If he wasn't wearing the Seastone Bracelet, she wouldn't be able to lay a finger on him. While Logia's weren't all that common, Armament Haki was still good for fighting any Devil Fruit user, especially ones with strange bodies like Luffy. Once he felt like he understood her strength and fighting style enough, he exited the Image Training.

He could easily hear Bonney snoring... he was pretty certain the people in Marie Geoise could hear her snoring. Since she was nice and asleep, he pulled out his two crates and started digging through them to see if he managed to snag any Devil Fruits. He dug out two. The first was the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Kyubi no Kitsune. The second was called the Kyojin Kyojin no Mi, Sanjuan Wolf's Devil Fruit. The Yami Yami no Mi was nowhere to be found. Just like the Suke Suke no Mi, it was now out in the wild somewhere. Hopefully, that wouldn't come back to bite him in the ass later.

The following morning, the two of them left after packing up and eating breakfast. They were flying through the air once again and Bonney complained, "I hate flying! Why do we have to fly everywhere? It's weird!"

"We can walk if you want. Might take a long time to get to the other side though. We might also run into people we don't want to meet." He looked at her as she floated next to him, "When we get to the other side, I'll bring out my boat and we can use that to get to Sabaody, alright?"

Bonney growled, "You better! Flying like this is making me restless."

Markus was confused for a moment but he realized why she didn't like it after thinking for a bit. Who would feel comfortable with their life in the hands of someone that was essentially a complete stranger? He knew he wouldn't feel comfortable if he was in her situation. He gave her his best smile and nodded, "No need to worry. We'll be on the ocean soon enough."

It only took a little over an hour to fly completely across the Red Line and begin descending to the ocean on the other side. As they got closer to the water, Bonney looked visibly nervous. The only thing separating her from death by drowning was Markus. Still, despite being nervous she had faith that he had no intention of killing her. If that's what he wanted she would be long dead by this point. Her musing came to a halt when she saw Markus pull out a boat with a type of design she'd never seen before.

Once the boat was lowered into the water, Markus set himself and Bonney down gently in the cockpit. Bonney examined the boat with a glint in her eyes, "What kind of boat is this? I've never seen anything like it!"

"It's a boat I specially designed to work with my Goro Goro no Mi. It can be propelled two different ways and is the fastest boat on the sea!"

Bonney gave him a bland look, "Sure, it looks fast with those flames and whatnot but fastest? I doubt it."

Markus smirked and sat in the captain's seat while pointing to the passenger seat, "I suggest sitting down. We'll be at Sabaody before you know it."

Bonney flopped down in the seat in a very unladylike manner and stared at him. Seeing her settled, Markus switched to the electric engines and started pumping out electricity. The boat motors roared to life launching the boat with enough force to push her hard into the seat. The sound of her scream was drowned out by the whine of the motors and the thumping of the boat jumping from swell to swell.