00028. The harsh truth of this world.
After they left the calm belt, they ran into the edge of a storm. While they didn't try to sail through it, Garp taught them how to use it to their advantage. They sailed on the outside edge of the storm and used the wind from it to help speed up the ship. It was a lot more work but they easily traveled twice as fast.
When the storm finally cleared their path, Garp took the other boys below deck to check for any damage and left Marcus at the helm. After about ten minutes or so, Marcus spotted a small dot on the horizon. He studied it for a while, but from the current distance he only knew it was a ship and not much else.
"Grandpa! I see a ship and it looks like it's heading towards us!" Marcus yelled out when he was sure the ship was heading towards them.
"Just stay on course, we'll be up in a few minutes!"
About five minutes later Garp and the others came up on deck and by that time the ship in the distance could be seen better. It was a pirate ship and it was headed straight for them. Garp smiled as he watched the other ship approach and said, "Looks like you boys will get some physical training today. Raise the sails and then go get ready to greet our guests!"
The boys quickly followed Garps commands and within minutes they were back on the deck with their weapons in hand. While the others still only had training weapons, they would still work well in a fight. As the ship approached closer, it was easy to tell that it was three times the size of their own ship.
Garp and the boys waited patiently for another twenty minutes before the other ship raised its own sails and pulled up next to their ship. Some grappling hooks flew out from the other ship and caught theirs before they were pulled tightly to the larger ship.
After a moment they saw a bunch of people lean over from the taller deck and look down at them. One of them was a very fat man with a faded black sailors hat and a disappointed look on his face. He glanced at Garp and the boys before he said, "I like it when the prey knows not to run… But I hate it when there's no women on the ship."
"There better be some women below deck or I might have to take out my frustrations on all of you boys." The fat man said before he looked at his men and said, "Kill the crippled old man and capture the kids."
As the pirates started to jump onto the ship, Garp narrowed his eyes slightly but held himself back after reminding himself this was practice for the boys. Plus he was still slightly injured from his spar with Zephyr. Worst case he would step in if any of the boys might be killed.
As the pirates started to move towards them Marcus felt his sword almost vibrate with anticipation. But hidden behind that anticipation was hunger… No, that wasn't correct.
The closer the pirates came to Marcus the more he realized it wasn't hunger, but a thrust for blood. Marcus gripped the hilt of his sword tighter as he cast a worried glance at it. Before he quickly focused back on the men walking closer to them.
The closest pirate moved towards Ace as he said, "Put down your toy… Or don't and make this fun for me, boy."
A moment later Ace charged forward and attacked the man. Within a few seconds the man was incapacitated on the deck of the ship which made all of the other pirates freeze. The rest of the boys on the other hand took that as the signal to charge forward and attack. Within a few seconds more pirates were jumping onto the smaller ship to help their comrades, while Ace, Sabo and Luffy demolished anyone who came close.
Marcus was the only one who didn't rush forward to attack, too afraid of the bloodlust he felt flowing from his sword. While he was confident in his sword skills, he wasn't sure if he would be able to control the sword properly at the moment. His instincts told him whoever he attacked with his sword would end up dead, which caused the morals from his past life to flare up.
While he knew at some point he might have to kill people in this new world. It was something he put off because he was still a kid and hoped that maybe he wouldn't have to kill anyone. His past life and worldview told him not too, that it was wrong and he shouldn't take another person's life. But at the same time this world had monsters that wore human skin…
Marcus stood completely frozen, as the sword's bloodlust and his old morals clashed together. While he thought about it many times before, he always put off dealing with it. He also secretly held out hope that he would never have to worry about it, because Luffy and his crew never really seemed to kill people in the story…
But this was the real world now and his sword was razor sharp. Marcus also realized that the pirates in front of him wouldn't hesitate to kill him. As the fight went on, Garp glanced down at Marcus and noticed the boy's white knuckled grip on his sword.
As Marcus and Garp stood next to each other and watched the fighting, it became clear within minutes that the pirates were outmatched as more fell before the boys. That was until the fat captain landed on the ship and fought with Ace.
After a minute of fighting, it was clear that the pirate captain was only toying with Ace. While his second in command fought evenly with Sabo and the last of the grunts fought with Luffy. After a few more minutes of fighting, Sabo and Luffy won their fights but were completely worn out and wanted to collapse.
Ace on the other hand was laying bruised and bloody at the feet of the captain. The captain glanced around the ship before he clicked his tongue and said, "Useless lot of trash, beaten by a few kids."
The captain glanced at Sabo and Luffy before he looked down at Ace and said, "You boys should join my crew. If you do, we could live like kings in East Blue. No one would be able to stand against us."
Ace spit up some blood before he said, "I would rather die than be a bottom feeder like you."
Ace screamed out as the man stepped on his injured arm and said, "Looks like I'll have to break you first, but you'll come around soon enough. Or you'll die in the process."
"Let go of Ace!" Luffy said as he charged forward with Sabo to attack the pirate captain.
Sabo was easily swatted away with a lazy back hand and it sent him flying into the ship's mast, which knocked him out. While Luffy was caught by his shirt and lifted into the air as the captain said, "You should show your new captain some respect, boy. I could easily snap your neck if I wanted."
As the captain held up the struggling Luffy, he kicked Ace in the head which knocked the boy out as he slid across the deck. Before he glanced over to Marcus and Garp as he said, "While these boys could be useful, I have no place in my crew for an crippled old man and a coward who won't fight.
Garp watched the pirate captain closely as he placed a hand on Marcus's shoulder and said, "I know why you didn't attack. But if you don't attack this time, your brothers might die."
Marcus turned to look up at Garp in shock as he asked, "You'd let him kill them?"
Garp shrugged as he said, "No. But what happens next time, when I'm not here to help? You need to save them this time, or you won't be able to save him or anyone else next time."
Marcus's voice was low as he asked, "But what if I have to kill someone to save them?"
Garp removed his hand from Marcus's shoulder as he said in a dark tone of voice, "Then you kill them."
"I don't know if I can." Marcus said as Luffy was able to bite the captain's hand that held him.
The pirate captain let out a yell as he said, "You stupid little brat!"
The captain pulled a knife from his belt and jammed it into Luffy's face as he said, "This will be your first lesson in obedience, boy!"
Luffy cried out in pain and went to grab his face as blood started to pour down the side of it. Marcus was only stunned for a fraction of a second before he unconsciously drew his sword and took an attacking stance. The pirate glanced at Marcus and with a voice filled with contempt he asked, "Oh, did your balls finally drop boy?"
The pirate knocked Luffy out before he tossed him to the side and held up his knife as he said, "Come on then. If you put up a good enough fight I'll let you live, so you can join my crew like the others."
Marcus's mind and morals struggled to hold his body in check, but his body reacted on its own as it casually swung his sword in a downward slash. When the captain saw the slow and lazy swing he laughed out loud before he asked, "Do you even know how to…"
The captain stopped talking as an invisible air blade passed through him and continued into the pirate ship behind him. A moment later his body seemed to slide apart as blood and internal organs splattered all over the deck. Marcus stared blankly at what just happened, his morals admonished him for taking another person's life as his body automatically sheathed his sword. Afterwards Marcus dropped to the deck unconscious as Garp started to laugh, this training camp turned out even better than he hoped for.
Garp quickly gathered up the boys and gave them first aid before he collected all the pirates. He made sure they were all secured before he checked the other ship for more people. When he didn't find anyone, he explored the ship for a little while to find anything interesting. The only thing he found was the air slash Marcus made, it ended up going completely through the entire ship and out the other side. While it wasn't large, it was still impressive that the slash traveled so far.
He couldn't help but smile to himself as he tied the two ships together with ropes so they could tow the larger ship behind them. Once he was back on the ship, he cleaned off the gore left by the pirate captain and then woke up all the pirates. It took a few minutes to get them in line, but afterwards he used them as labor to row the ship. He planned to let the boys rest while he took this scum to the nearest navy base.
Marcus ended up being the last person to wake up about a day later. He was slightly confused about what happened but when he arrived on deck and noticed the blood stained deck and railing sliced in half he froze. A large hand landed on his shoulder a moment later as Garp said, "Don't waste your time thinking about people like that, they don't deserve your compassion."
"But I..." Marcus started before he was interrupted by Garp who said, "It was better than he deserved. If anything you let him off easy."
Marcus looked up at Garp in shock as he asked, "How could you say that? I took his life."
"And how many lives did he take? How many more would he take if you didn't stop him?" Garp said as he let out a sigh.
"But."
Garp's voice was harsh as he said, "I told you before, you need to grow up. If you can't handle something like this, then you should quit while you're ahead. You should stop training, give up your sword and live a quiet life in Foosha Village. Otherwise you'll never last in the real world."