26 Chapter 7

As Markus looked for a spot to stay out of the way, Nami came stumbling out of the ship's cabin. The moment she stepped outside she knew something was wrong and immediately began to yell at Zoro, "What were you even looking at?!"

Zoro looked nonplussed as he answered, "What do you mean what? We're still going straight."

Nami groaned, "Yes, but you need to be looking at the Log's needle."

Zoro pointed at the sky, "I can still tell the direction we're going by that cloud over there."

"Clouds can move and change shape you know!" Nami groaned and held her head, "Ugh, my head hurts."

As she stumbled away from Zoro she started mumbling to herself before looking at Zoro, "Call everyone here!"

As soon as everyone gathered, Nami started issuing out orders. Even Markus went to work doing as he was told. As everyone was working, Vivi came out of the cabin and addressed them all, "I have a request to ask all of you. I know it's not my place to ask for favors after you all let me on your ship but with the emergency happening in my country, I want to get there as soon as possible. Not even a single moment can be wasted anymore. That's why I want to ask for this ship to head for Alabasta at the fastest speed."

Nami smiled through her clear signs of sickness, "Of course, just like we promised."

Everyone else remained silent. It was clear to even Luffy that Nami was extremely sick. Vivi continued, "Thus, we need to find an island with a doctor immediately! We have to see to it that Nami gets better as fast as possible and then head for Alabasta! That'll be the only way this ship can sail at the fastest speed right?!"

Markus just chuckled at the subtle jab that Vivi probably did unintentionally. Luffy smiled up at Vivi, "You bet! Can't get any faster than that!"

Everyone else agreed with Vivi, even Markus. Despite the slight jab at them, he couldn't argue. He sure as hell didn't know how to navigate. He should have taken some time to learn from Nami at some point. He'd spent too much time inside of his Image Training getting stronger. At the moment, all he could really do was raise his skill levels, none of the opponents he had in his Image Training were worth much experience anymore... Except maybe Mihawk, but he'd die instantly if he tried to fight that guy!

As the group continued to chat, Luffy suddenly screamed while pointing, "AHHHH! WHAT IS THAT?!"

Everyone looked and was shocked to see a massive cyclone had appeared out of nowhere where they had been just a few minutes ago. Once the excitement calmed down, the ship continued to sail. Nami was moved back to her room and forced to stay in bed. It didn't take much effort as she quickly became too weak to move. Everyone was worried about her and constantly kept a lookout for any signs of an island while ignoring the Eternal Pose.

Markus found a spot to sit down and use his Image Training. He wanted to increase the levels of his Shigan and Hasshoken skills so they would become more useful in upcoming fights. Once he was inside the skill, he looked through his list of opponents and pulled out his favorite punching bag, Smoker. Until he met Ace and Crocodile, Smoker was the only Logia user in his system. He'd get a ton more people to fight once the battle of the strongest happened at Marineford in the future. There would be tons of people there, many of them crazy strong.

As for the location, Markus just picked a townscape as usual. When the simulation of Smoker appeared, it immediately began to summon thick clouds of white smoke. Markus used his base speed and passive Observation Haki to maneuver around Smoker's attacks and get within melee range. Once he got in Smoker's face, he curled his hand into a fist with his index finger sticking out. To make sure he could hit Smoker, he coated it in the weakest Armament Haki field he could generate. He was ready in an instant and launched his attack while aiming at Smoker's shoulder. An instant kill would be pointless.

The feeling of his finger stabbing into Smoker's shoulder was a bit uncomfortable and disturbing but the damage dealt was impressive. Shigan naturally combined with the unarmed bonus of his Brawling skill and the damage bonus from Armament Haki. It felt like the system was pushing him toward a hard-core melee fighter. Then again, the majority of fighting in One Piece was melee battles. Very few people fought using ranged means. He didn't mind, even after getting the Goro Goro no Mi he still planned to fight in melee a fair amount. Just with more options.

Markus focused on practicing his Shigan against Smoker until he defeated the copy. After that, he switched to regular opponents like Arlong to practice his Hasshoken skill. He found that the skill was pretty interesting. He could use it when hitting with any part of his body. The results weren't all that great at the moment, after all, 1% of 100 damage was only 1. But if he ever got it up to level 100, then anytime he used the skill it would convert 100% of his melee damage into true damage. It'd be a pretty broken skill at that point. The only downside was the high Willpower cost that came with the skill. Hopefully, that would decrease as the level increased.

Markus practiced until it was time to get some sleep. When he woke up the next morning, there was snow falling from the sky. He smiled as he looked over the snow on the deck of the ship. The snow should mean they were closing in on the Drum Kingdom. He needed to step lightly during the events here. Though he didn't care much about events after Skypeia, he didn't want to deliberately screw Luffy and his crew out of power later on down the line. He planned to be at least an ally with them if he wasn't a member of the crew later on.

He was thinking along these lines because of what happened next. Zoro, up in the crows nest, called out, "Do you guys think a person can stand on the ocean?"

Usopp looked up at Zoro, "What kind of dumb question is that?"

Zoro looked through his binoculars and pointed to the front of the ship, "Then how do you explain that?"

Everyone looked in the direction Zoro indicated and soon saw a man standing on the ocean. He was a weird looking man with a large bow hanging from his back. His outfit looked somewhat like a jester's. The crew and jester just stared at each other for a while before the Jester asked, "Quite cold today isn't it?"

Luffy, wearing nothing but his usual vest-shirt, shorts, and flip-flops, looked at Usopp next to him, "Yeah, it is pretty cold today."

Usopp, bundled up in a thick blanket, nodded his head, "Y-yeah, it's freezing today."

The jester slightly tilted his head, "Is that so?"

Silence followed as everyone returned to staring back and forth. The silence dragged on for a moment before something massive burst out of the water. A giant round ship with a dome of metal surfaced from beneath the water directly in front of the Going Merry. As everyone was looking at the sight before them in shock, the metal sections of the dome began to open and revealed a pirate ship within. As everyone stared in shock, an annoying voice spoke, "Surprised?! Has my submersible ambush ship "Tin Can King" left you speechless?!"

Usopp was scared because it was a pirate ship, Luffy was just plain impressed, and Zoro was annoyed. Markus just double-checked that his two revolvers were loaded and ready to go. Thanks to the shoulder holster he stole from Mr. 5 he carried one under his shoulder and the other on his hip, opposite his sword. Groups of minion level pirates jumped from the Tin Can King and boarded the Going Merry. Everyone had rifles pointed at their heads. Sanji came charging out of the cabin of the ship and stopped when multiple gun barrels were pointed at him. He calmly placed a cigarette in his mouth and lit it before asking, "What happened here?"

Markus yawned before answering, "I think we were ambushed. It's hard to tell."

Luffy looked at the guys pointing rifles at him, "We're in a hurry you know."

From off to the side a short fat man with metallic-looking mouth ate some meat off of a knife as he looked over the crew, "Hm, so that's five. There can't only be five people on this ship." He ate what was left of the meat and the blade of the knife, chewing on the metal loudly, "Well... whatever. Let me ask you something. We wish to head to the Drum Kingdom. Do you happen to have an Eternal Pose or Log Pose on you?" He finished by tossing the handle of the knife into his mouth and chewing on it.

Sanji calmly answered while puffing on his cigarette, "No. And we've never even heard of that place before."

Luffy shouted over at the man, Wapol, "If you're done asking, hurry up and go away!"

Wapol was dismissive of Luffy, "There's no need to rush through life like that." He started stroking the side of the Going Merry with his hand, "Well, if you don't have it, then I might as well take all of your treasure and your ship instead." He turned to his side, "But hold on... I'm feeling a bit peckish."

Suddenly his mouth opened unnaturally wide and he literally took a huge bite out of the Going Merry. He chewed on it while everyone from the Strawhats looked on in shock. Markus shuddered at the sight. It was downright creepy! Wapol's Devil Fruit was interesting but that was about it. He wouldn't want to be eating random objects like Wapol did. Luffy got pissed off and shouted, "Don't eat our ship!"

One of the minions pointed his rifle aggressively at Luffy, "Don't you dare move! His highness is in the middle of his meal!"

Luffy just punched the guy and knocked him out, "Shut up!"

Markus, Zoro, and Sanji all grinned. A rather one-sided beatdown ensued. Zoro slashed, Sanji kicked, and Markus shot all the little peons that made up Wapols invading crew. They were seriously weak and took little effort to defeat. Markus only earned a hundred experience for the dozen men he shot down. It felt like shooting them cost him more than he gained. While he was busy shooting losers, Luffy somehow got himself stuck inside of Wapol's mouth. Luffy's arms could be seen stretched out of his mouth. Vivi came out of the cabin and looked around, "What's going on?!"

Luffy's arm suddenly retracted and slammed into Wapol while he was shouting, "Get off my ship!"

Wapol was blasted off into the distance. His crew panicked since Wapol couldn't swim due to his Devil Fruit. They made some lame threats and took off to find Wapol. The crew just got on with their lives and continued to sail. The minor incident not mattering to them in the least, aside from the damage Wapol did to the ship.

As night fell, most of the crew fell asleep in the room Nami was resting inside. Markus stayed outside with Sanji to help keep a lookout and get some more practice in with his Image Training. With the use of his Meditation skill, he didn't need much sleep but he still liked to do so when he felt like it. Right now he was more interested in getting stronger while there was downtime between islands.

While he trained, Vivi explained a bit more about how the Grand Line and it's climates worked. On the Grand Line, there were four main kinds of islands with each one representing a season. Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter islands were the most common with a few exceptions here and there. Each type of island also had its own four seasons from the summer of a summer island to the winter of a winter island making for a total of sixteen different seasons on the Grand Line. These extremes are what led to the crazy weather they experienced between islands. Hitting an area of the sea where the weather was stable meant they were closing in on an island, in this case it was likely to be a winter island due to the cold weather.

Once Vivi finished her explanation of the different climates, Sanji looked through his binoculars and shouted, "Land ahoy!"

Luffy came running out of the ship's cabin and jumped up to sit on the figurehead of the ship, his favorite spot. Markus shuddered as he looked at Luffy sitting there in his usual outfit. Even he had put on a thicker jacket and pants to combat the cold. Seeing Luffy in shorts and his sleeveless shirt made him feel colder just by seeing it. Luffy was clearly excited but Usopp was once again worrying about monsters and making up a fake disease as an attempted excuse to not land on the island. Even in the face of Nami's worsening condition, he couldn't pull up even an iota of confidence. This was a prime example of why Markus didn't like Usopp's character.

As they grew closer to the island, everyone could see the straight cylindrical mountains that gave Drum Island its name. Luffy was gushing over seeing the snow when Usopp asked the question on everyone's mind, "Aren't you cold wearing only that?"

Luffy looked back at Usopp, "Huh?"

Luffy suddenly wrapped his arms around himself and started shivering violently. Sanji and Usopp shouted, "Could you be any slower?!"

Markus threw his head back and laughed. Once Luffy was dressed more appropriately for the weather, the crew found an inlet on the island where they could dock the ship and begin their search for a doctor. As they got closer a large crowd of people appeared standing above them. The apparent leader of the group shouted out, "Stop right there pirates!"

Usopp looked around, "Judging by the mood, this doesn't look good."

The leader continued, "Turn around and leave this island immediately!"

Luffy called out, "Wait! We came here for a doctor!"

Vivi added, "We have a sick person on board!"

Markus looked at the events unfolding from the side while looking at his system and the quest he just received.

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New Quest!

Journey to Alabasta Part 2!

The journey to save Alabasta from Crocodile continues. Nami is in danger of dying from an unknown sickness. Help save her life!

Objective 1: Save Nami! Ensure that Nami gets cured of her sickness.

Objective 2: Sickness on the sea is a deadly problem. Ensure Tony Tony Chopper joins the crew.

Objective 3: Protect the Drum Kingdom, Defeat Wapol!

Failure Conditions: Death, Failure to complete Objectives 1 and 2.

Rewards:

Objective 1: Improved relationship with Nami, 50% System Shop discount card

Objective 2: Improved Relationship with Tony Tony Chopper, Skill Book: Basic Medical Knowledge

Objective 3: Rewards TBD

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Markus crossed his arms over his chest and left dealing with the locals to the others. He had to think about what he was going to do. Defeating Wapol was entirely out of the question. It wasn't a matter of strength or not being able to. Later on, Wapol would create a sort of super metal that Franky would put to good use later. He didn't know how much influence Luffy's defeat of Wapol had to do with the creation of the metal. The metal Wapol would invent was a type of memory metal that could be programmed to become pretty much anything. Franky used it to make mechs, why couldn't he do the same thing or even better things? Especially since he would have nearly limitless electrical energy to power something like a mech with! Who wouldn't want to pilot a mech at least once?

The other two objectives weren't an issue for him though. He'd just need to take Nami and Luffy to the castle where they could meet Chopper and the old doctor lady. He couldn't remember her name, only that she was ungodly old and an alcoholic. He was forcefully pulled out of his thinking by the sound of a gunshot. When he looked up, Sanji was being held back when another shot rang out and grazed Vivi's arm. Markus's hand twitched toward the revolver on his waist. Luffy was instantly infuriated and began moving toward to edge of the ship to leap off, "HOW DARE YOU?!"

Vivi lunged off the ground and wrapped her arms around Luffy's waist to hold him back, "Wait! This isn't a problem you can solve by fighting! The bullet just grazed my arm!" She released Luffy when he seemed to have calmed down a bit and bowed toward the villagers while kneeling on the ground, "I beg of you! We won't set foot in your country! So could you please just call a doctor, our friend is very sick and in pain! Please, help her!"

Luffy looked down at her, "Vivi..."

Vivi tilted her head to look up at Luffy, "You're failing to live up to your responsibilities as captain, Luffy. If you were to start a fight now, what would happen to Nami?"

Luffy had on his rarely seen serious face. He looked up at the villagers, "Sorry! I was wrong." He got down on his knees and bowed to the villagers, "We only ask for a doctor. Please, save our friend."

Markus watched from the side with a smile. This was a lesson Luffy really needed to learn. No everything could be solved by violence. Sometimes it was best to be humble. Proof of this was immediate as the leader spoke up, "We'll lead you to our town. Follow me."

Vivi smiled at Luffy, "See? They understood us."

Luffy smiled, his lesson learned... for now anyway, it remained to be seen how long it would stick, "Yeah, you're amazing."

The leader turned to walk away but called out over his shoulder, "Let me give you one warning. There is only one doctor in our country... and she's a witch."

Most of the group disembarked the ship, the only members left on board were Zoro and Carue. Markus took responsibility for taking care of Nami. He gently carried her princess style to keep her close and warm. The cold really didn't affect him all that much. While he did feel it and felt the need to bundle up a bit more, but just an extra layer was enough for him while the others were wearing thick coats. They followed the leader of the town through the snow. As they walked, a large bear appeared from the snow walking on two legs with a pickaxe in hand. Usopp being Usopp started screaming, "AHHHHHHHHH! A bear! Everyone, play dead!!"

Following his own words of advice, Usopp flopped onto the ground to play dead. The man leading them looked nonplussed as he said, "It's just a hiking bear. It poses no danger. Just mind your hiking manners and don't forget to bow."

He and the others from the island bowed to the bear, Markus and the other Strawhats followed suit. The bear gave a polite nod in return and continued on its hike. Markus smiled as he looked over his shoulder at the departing bear. Some of the monsters in One Piece were pretty terrifying but some of them were also pretty interesting.

A few minutes later they arrived at a nice little town. The man leading them made a simple gesture, "This is our town, Big Horn." After introducing the town to the group, he turned to the other townspeople, "Good work everyone. Those not on guard duty can now return to their normal jobs."

One of the people asked, "You sure you can handle them all by yourself, Dalton? They are pirates."

The man leading them, now identified as Dalton, nodded, "They should pose no harm. Or at least, that's what my reliable gut instinct is telling me."

Vivi looked around with a bit of concern, "This country doesn't have any professional soldiers does it?"

Dalton shook his head, "No, they're all normal civilians. For the time being, come to my house."

As they made their way to Dalton's place, an old man called out, "Dalton! I'll be looking forward to the election in two days. Everyone says they'll be voting for you."

Dalton didn't seem pleased hearing that, "That's preposterous! I bear too many sins for such a position."

Markus watched the interaction and focused more on Dalton. He had some minor recollections of him but they weren't very deep. He couldn't remember anything of Dalton's past but he could guess. Ex-soldier, did soldier things, thinks that makes him a bad guy. As he thought over that, Dalton lead them into a decent house, "You can use the bed over there. I'll go heat up the room right now." He started taking off his helmet and disarming. Dalton was a decent looking man with short-cropped black hair and a goatee. He was well built and looked like he could fight well. As he was removing his large shovel-like sword he spoke, "Sorry for the late introduction. My name is Dalton and it's my job to guard this island. Sorry for the hostile welcome."

Markus carried Nami over to the bed and made sure she was comfortable. She was in pretty bad shape. He was just glad that he knew there were two world-class doctors on this island.