44 Chapter 8
Markus got comfortable as he assumed this next part was going to suck. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and activated his Observation Haki. Instantly his senses expanded to a massive degree. The radius of his Haki was close to 142 miles meaning his haki covered a diameter of 284 miles. That was more than enough distance to cover the entirety of Skypeia and it... sucked.
The moment he used the active mode of his Haki a torrent of information rushed into his mind. It was completely overwhelming and after only a few moments he turned it back off while panting heavily and holding his head between his hands. For a brief moment, he was almost jealous of Enel as he only had to hear so much. Seeing, hearing, and even feeling so many people was downright painful. The only thing he could be thankful for is that almost every being within his range had been elated and happy. Otherwise, he feared it might have been a whole lot worse.
Just the thought of feeling a ton of negative emotions sent a shiver down his spine. It hadn't been an issue before, after all only so many people could fit in a 750-foot range and he had been spending most of his time in lightly populated areas, like the Going Merry on the open sea. The sudden massive expansion along with being in a pretty populated island was overwhelming. He needed to learn how to control his Observation Haki much better, something he'd done nothing to practice before. The only fortunate thing was that he'd detected which direction the Arc Maxim needed to move in to get closer to a milky road leading back up to Skypiea.
Why get closer to the milky road? Because he couldn't carry Enel and use his Lightning Speed at the same time. He also couldn't use his Geppo to run very far. So he needed to get closer first. He moved over to the main controls of the Arc Maxim and frowned. Enel seemed to be able to remotely control the Arc Maxim and guide it as long as he was on the ship. Perhaps he could do the same?
He started by mimicking what Enel had done, he placed his hands on the two golden orbs that Enel used to channel energy into the ship. He took a deep breath and started sending his Electricity into the orbs. The moment he did he felt an odd connection form between himself and the power he was feeding into the ship. He realized why a moment later. The lightning was an extension of himself. Through it, he could feel the internals of the ship and though he didn't understand everything about it, he could 'feel' the different things he could do. It was strange but he grew used to it as he poured more power into the ship. Lucky for him, it seemed like non-combat things done with the Goro Goro no Mi didn't cost him any Willpower.
Once he felt that the ship was fully charged, he used just a thought to activate the flight function and relieve the Jet Dials currently holding the ship up. They could only do so for two hours and the time limit would be reached before too much longer. With his connection to the ship, it only took another thought to get the ship to begin lifting off and moving in the direction of the milky road.
As the ship flew, he sighed in boredom. The ship was just too damned slow for his tastes. With his giant breath dial and the two hundred jet dials on the Maxim he could make an extremely fast ship that could move in the calm belt. Before that though, he would need to get his hands on a navy ship. Why? To steal the seastone covering the bottom that keeps the sea kings from attacking. He wasn't scared of them or anything, it would just be annoying to have to fight against them constantly to get somewhere.
Thinking about propulsion for his ship, he smiled. What better source of energy than his own devil fruit? Would make it damned hard for anyone to take his ship as well. As for propulsion, he could easily make some simple electromagnetic motors as long as he got his hands on some copper. If he couldn't find it for sale he could probably buy it from the materials tab of his shop. Maybe he could get his hands on rare earth magnets as well, which would make the process a lot easier. They weren't strictly necessary though.
As he pondered the power systems of his future ship, the Arc Maxim got closer to the road. The place was deserted but he could see that the milky road was newly made and lead up from the White White Sea back to Skypeia. It looked like all the residents of Angel Island had already made it back up. That was good news for him. He wouldn't have to explain what he was about to do to them. To start with, he grabbed Enel by the ankle with his left hand while he placed his right on the deck of the Maxim. He just hoped this would work.
After a moment of concentration, the Arc Maxim vanished from sight. At the same time, Markus and Enel began to fall through the now empty air. Markus reacted quickly and used his Geppo to run over to the milky road. As he got close he opened his inventory and pulled out the wakeboard style waver he stole earlier. After slipping his foot into one of the straps on it, he landed on the milky road. The waver started to sink, after all, it was designed for just one person. He immediately tapped on the switch that pressed the apex of the two breath dials. With propulsion, the wakeboard began to move forward and stop sinking.
Markus grumbled to himself, "Avoiding the sea is going to be a pain in the ass... Worth it!"
Thanks to his Agility helping with his balance, it was pretty easy for him to control the waver without risking falling over. His main complaint? Too damned slow! Even though the wakeboard had two breath dials, it was slowed down a fair amount because of the extra weight provided by Enel. Markus wished he could take the time to swap them out for some jet dials but there was nowhere for him to stop and do so.
The ride up the milky road was boring so Markus opened his inventory with a bright smile. Sitting in one of the slots was the entire Arc Maxim. Before trying to store it, he had no idea if he could or not. Either way didn't matter but storing the whole thing at once saved him a lot of time. One way or another, he wasn't leaving a scrap of gold from the ship behind. Since he could take the whole ship, it saved him a lot of effort. It also meant that he could take the pillar of gold that the Skypians planned to give the crew.
He touched the Arc Maxim's slot in his inventory and was presented a list of options. Ever since he got the crafting skill he could do more with items inside of his inventory than just putting them in and taking them out. One of those options was the glorious 'Disassemble' option. He pressed the Disassemble button without hesitation. The Ark Maxim was placed into the crafting slot of his inventory and a timer appeared.
"A week? Well... guess that makes sense. It is pretty big."
Markus shrugged his shoulders and switched to his store tab. He moved to the materials tab to see if there was anything worth picking up. He still had thirty-seven million Belly and no reason to save it anymore. He was about to be one of the richest men in the world. He browsed his options of various metals, such as iron and steel, along with a few he didn't recognize the names like 'Wootz Steel'. He didn't recall what it was exactly but judging from the price tag, it was good stuff. There was also wood, leather, and other things that could be used as materials like herbs for potions. Nothing really caught his attention though.
The regular weapons and armor were of no use to him, aside from basic ammo for his revolvers, so he ignored that tab along with the food tab. He scanned the miscellaneous tab and found nothing. On the techniques tab, he was surprised to see something he actually coveted! Beginner Sword Mastery. He quickly checked its description.
--------------------------------------------------
Beginner Sword Mastery
This skill can only be learned by someone who has their Basic Sword Mastery increased up to Level 75. Once learned it allows the user to continue to increase the level of their skill to 150.
--------------------------------------------------
Markus immediately came to a conclusion. Every time his sword or gun mastery reached a certain level he would need to buy the next rank of the skill to continue to level it up. He wasn't sure what the exact number of ranks were but he understood that this put Mihawk's power on a whole new level. Mihawk was at least a Grand Master swordsman, how many ranks that was from where Markus was is unknown, but it should be quite a few.
Markus didn't hesitate and bought the skill for twenty-five million Belly. Even though he wasn't a huge fan of swords, he wasn't going to say no to gaining more strength. He wanted to be able to fight with anything and everything. He never knew what was going to happen in a fight so being able to use swords, guns, fists, and feet meant he would be able to fight in just about any situation. He didn't plan to over-rely on his new Devil Fruit to the point he became useless without it. Unlike a certain 'god' he had slung over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes.
After using the skill book, his "Basic Sword Mastery" changed to "Beginner Sword Mastery" with a slightly different description and a new subskill.
--------------------------------------------------
Beginner Sword Mastery
[Passive, Level 75, 0.0% Experience]
As a beginner in the path of the sword, you have some minor skill with a blade. As you walk down the path of a swordsman you will become stronger and strive to become one with the sword.
+75% Attack Speed with Swords
+37.5% Damage with Swords
Subskills
Breath - Feel the breath of the world to be able to cut, or not cut, whatever you desire.
[This skill can evolve.]
--------------------------------------------------
After the small rush of information, Markus smiled brightly. He was still far behind Zoro when it came to mastery of the sword but he didn't care. He had no interest in working hard to become a Grand Master Swordsman or anything. Hell, he could probably become one in no time if he really wanted to. He would just need to grind the skill in his Image Training and buy the upgrades when they were available. He just hoped he would get the next rank of his Gun Mastery soon! Guns would pair up with his Devil Fruit so much better than swords.
As he got about halfway up the milky road, Markus groaned. He could already feel a bunch of people within range of his passive Observation Haki. A range of fourteen miles was nothing to joke about. Even in just its passive mode, he probably had the longest range for Observation Haki of anyone. As he continued to follow the road more and more people entered his range. He was forced to concentrate on ignoring the excess information that he didn't need.
He spent the last half of the journey just focusing on lowering his sensitivity to non-threatening things. He didn't want to ignore everything, that could come back to bite him in the ass later on. Instead, he focused on trying to ignore 'positive' and keep the 'negative'. Anyone attacking him should, theoretically, show up as a 'negative' in his senses. As he focused he managed to filter out more and more information. Soon he was only sensing people with negative emotions. Despite the victory against Enel and Skypiea being saved from destruction, an entire town had been destroyed. Some people lost everything when it did and were in mourning over their losses. They were a minority though.
By the time he reached the end of the milky road and could see the fleet of ships the Skypian's had escaped on, he had moderate control over his Observation Haki. Though he had to maintain his focus on it. If he slipped, the excess information would flood into his mind once again. With so many people nearby it would become painful.
As he moved closer to the ships on his waver, he started hearing voices exclaiming in shock at his unconscious 'passenger'. Enel was a bit of a recluse so few people knew what he looked like, they only knew his power. However, all it took was one or two people to recognize him and spread the information to the rest. Soon everyone was shouting to each other about Markus scooting along with an unconscious and defeated Enel. Markus focused on ignoring the noise. He hadn't really noticed before but his hearing had become exceptional. He could hear every conversation the people were having all at the same time. He couldn't wait to leave the island and get to the empty sea!
As he arrived at the Upper Yard, he easily spotted where everyone else would be. There was an enormous bonfire going in the forest sending up a giant smoke cloud that screamed 'we're here!'. As soon as he got to the land of the Upper Yard, he jumped onto the solid ground and tucked the waver beneath his arm. He didn't want to store it in front of witnesses that might be hanging out with the rest of the crew. He waited until he was hidden by the large trees of the forest to store it.
Markus had been able to hear the excitement and joy of the victory party since before he landed and the closer he got, the louder it got. Especially Luffy. He was clearly having the time of his life with the party. Markus just grinned and made his way to the large clearing filled with a mixture of Skypians and Shandians. Technically people of the same race. When he first stepped into the clearing, no one noticed him. But once one person noticed him, more and more people began to notice him and soon the party became silent. Well... not entirely silent. It took Luffy a few moments to realize he was the only one shouting still.
Once Luffy finally realized everyone was quiet, he quieted down and looked around confused until he spotted Markus, "Markus! I knew you were alive!" He turned to look at the rest of the crew with a look of victory, "Told you he was fine!"
The others in the crew nodded in agreement with what he said, but they were more focused on Markus's luggage. Markus continued to walk forward until he saw Gan Fall and Wyper sitting next to each other. He walked over to them and dropped Enel right in front of them. They and his crew said nothing but they could see that Enel was still alive and looked worried. Markus decided to relieve their worries a bit, "He's lost his power. He's nothing but a regular man now."
Instantly, everyone was shocked. Except for Robin, she narrowed her eyes in suspicion at Markus. She was smarter than most people and knew that there was no way to permanently remove the power of someone's Devil Fruit. It could only be suppressed by certain things and lost on death. What Markus said didn't make any sense at all. Markus could feel the negativity of Robin so he turned to look at her and gave her a nod, he would explain to her and the rest of the crew soon.
Wyper, seeing Enel laid out at his feet, was instantly enraged. Not at Markus of course, but at Enel. The bastard was still alive and Wyper wanted nothing more than to kill him right then and there. As he made a move toward Enel, Markus stepped back. What they did with Enel had nothing to do with him. Wyper only stopped when Gan Fall and his tribe's leader stepped up to stop him. His leader spoke first, "No Wyper! He is defeated and weakened. To attack him now would be murder. He must be judged for his crimes. He WILL be judged for his crimes!"
Gan Fall nodded in agreement, "He is right Wyper. We have won but what we do as the victors will show the difference between us and Enel. We must not give in to hate anymore. We must move forward on the correct path."
Wyper still looked pissed off but he relaxed and didn't fight against his chief or Gan Fall. He looked up at Markus but didn't say anything. Still, judging from his aura, he seemed thankful to Markus so Markus just nodded back to him and walked away. It only took a few moments for chains to be found and Enel to be locked up. Wyper even used the little bit of Seastone he had on Enel, just in case Markus was wrong or lying to them.
With that over and done with, Markus walked towards his crew. They instantly surrounded him and barraged him with questions.
"Where were you?"
"What happened?"
"How did you find Enel?"
"How did he lose his Devil Fruit powers?"
"Did you find any gold?!"
The last two came from Robin and Nami respectively. Markus could only smile and shake his head, "I'll tell you all everything, from the beginning. Let's find a quiet spot to talk at."
Markus didn't even need to look around to find a spot off to the side where there wasn't much of a crowd and a nice private spot for them to chat at. Once they arrived, Markus flopped down and soon the rest of the crew sat with him. They were all curious about what had happened. Markus took a moment to get his story straight, "So, I guess I'll begin my story from the point when we got separated."
