00004. 2 years later.

To say the last two years of Marcus's new life were easy, would be a vast understatement of how easy it was. Being a baby is a very simple routine that includes, sleep, eat, shit. All of which, you have absolutely no control over.

You pretty much fell asleep whenever your body decided it was time. If your body needed to poop, you pooped. If someone decided you needed to eat… You eat.

Did it suck? Yes.

Did he hate every minute of it? Pretty much.

Honestly being a baby again, when you understand everything that's going on is terrible. Well, except the language. Even though not understanding the language might have been a blessing at the time. He might have died from embarrassment if he understood everyone's baby talk, especially Garps.

The only positive thing about the whole being a baby again, was he seemed to be learning Japanese a lot faster then he thought he would. He could only speak a few dozen words currently, but it was a pretty big improvement over knowing none when he first started. He could even string together basic sentences, which helped him learn faster.

He could also understand what people were talking about most of the time, even if he didn't know exactly what the words meant. That had more to do with already knowing another language though. Which seemed to help him as he picked up the new language faster than he thought he would.

Another more recent positive, was he finally stopped shitting himself. No idea about anyone else, but he thought it was pretty awesome and was pretty proud of himself.

He was also positive about a few things at this point in his new life. He was in the world of One Piece. He was the brother of Monkey D. Luffy. And he was pretty sure he took over this body when the original Marcus died.

Marcus had two reasons why he thought that was the case. The first one was because Monkey D. Marcus never existed in the original story. The other reason was the massive scar on the left side of his face.

The first time he saw himself in the mirror he couldn't help but stare in shock. He should be missing his left eye and from what he could tell, the whole left side of his face. The scar was two years old now, but still looked fresh and angry red in color. It was just over an inch wide at the top, right above his left eye and fanned out in a cone shaped pattern towards the bottom of his jaw.

Marcus let out a sigh as he unconsciously rubbed his scar. It was early in the morning as he laid in bed and thought about his plans for the day. He could now walk pretty consistently, so it was time to start training.

How would a two year old even start training? The plan was to carry rocks around. But he also wanted to start running and possibly start swimming.

He doubted he could do any of that though. Makino watched him and Luffy like a hawk, while also running her bar. Plus she didn't allow them outside of the bar, unless she was with them.

But he would definitely find a way to start training today. He should also force Luffy to start training. But Luffy was still having an issue walking properly. Plus neither he nor Luffy could really talk properly, so explaining how or why they should train wouldn't work.

It wasn't long before Makino came into the room to wake up Luffy and Marcus. Finding Marcus awake she smiled and said, "Already awake I see. How about you get dressed while I wake up your brother."

"Okay, Makino."

After Makino woke up Luffy and dressed him. She took the brothers downstairs and into the kitchen to make them breakfast. As she was cooking, someone knocked on the front door of the bar.

Makino ignored it, since she normally didn't open for another couple of hours. Someone knocked again, harder this time and the door groaned from the force of the blows. Makino ignored it again, but then it sounded like the door exploded from the force of the next knock.

Makino quickly ran out of the kitchen with a frying pan in her hand to find out what happened to her front door. But she stopped as someone laughed loudly and said, "Makino! I came to visit my grandsons."

"Why the hell did you break my front door, Garp!?!"

Garp shrugged as he said, "I didn't, I just knocked on it."

"Because you knocked too hard!"

Garp walked past the broken door and started to go towards the kitchen as he said, "You should invest in a better door, I barely even touched it. Now where are my cute grandsons at?"

Makino let out a sigh as she looked at the shattered front door before she moved back to the kitchen. Inside she found Garp holding both of his grandsons with a wide smile. When he saw Makino he said, "Make us some meat! I have the next month off and I plan to spend it with my grandkids."

Makino held up her frying pan and said, "Go fix the door while I cook, or you won't get any food!"

"Ehhhhhhh? Okay." Garp set Marcus and Luffy down before he walked out of the kitchen to work on the door.

Makino shook her head and moved back towards the fridge as she said to herself, "I better order more food at the market today."

After half an hour, the front door was fixed and Garp was seated at the table eating breakfast with Luffy and Marcus. Makino was still making food, because Garp ate enough food to easily feed ten people.

Makino glanced up from the stove as she asked, "What do you plan to do with Luffy and Marcus while you're here?"

Garp took a bite from a large piece of meat on a bone before he said, "I'm gonna start their training. I need to make them strong so they become great marines like me."

"How are you gonna train them? They can barely walk!" Makino said with a huff.

"Perfect! That means they can run! Bwahahahaha!"

vvvvv

Marcus was covered in sweat as he ran for his life. Seven days ago he could barely walk properly and now he could easily run for almost five minutes straight before he collapsed.

Luffy was right beside him, sweat pouring down his own forehead. Luffy surprisingly learned just as quickly as Marcus, but then again the fear of death was a great motivator.

Did Marcus really think Garp would kill them? Probably not… But the two gators currently chasing him and Luffy said otherwise.

It was after breakfast that first day, Garp had carried Marcus and Luffy into the jungle. Inside they were brought to the middle of a valley next to a river where Garp dropped them on the ground and said, "You both have twenty minutes to learn how to run."

Marcus stood up and looked around for a moment before he asked, "Run? Where?"

Garp picked his nose as he said, "Anywhere you want. You just need to learn how to run."

"How do we run?" Luffy asked.

Marcus helped Luffy stand up as he said, "It's like walking. But faster."

"Bwahahahaha, That's one way to explain it."

Marcus and Luffy spent the next twenty minutes trying to run, but kept failing. They were having a terrible time and we're barely able to move a few steps without falling over.

Garp stood up as he said, "Keep practicing, I need to get you boys some motivation."

Marcus felt a chill run down his spine as Luffy asked, "What did gramps say?"

"Something bad. Let's try to get back to the village, while he's gone." Marcus said as he took a step forward.

Luffy nodded his head as they held onto each other, to help themselves walk a little more smoothly. They walked for a few moments before they heard a snapping sound behind them.

The boys both looked back and froze in fear as a massive gator stared back at them. How they had missed it as they walked past it was a mystery. The gator moved first as it opened its mouth wide and lunged at the boys.

Luffy was surprisingly the second to move and pulled Marcus along with him as they scrambled to get away from the monster's mouth. With its size, it could easily eat both boys at once, if it caught them. 

As the gator slammed its mouth shut, it barely missed the boys. But it also motivated them to move faster. Somehow in about ten seconds, both of them started to walk properly. Some would even call it a fast walk, for a child.

Luckily for both of them, the gator was large and had issues moving through the trees and roots. Luffy and Marcus quickly gained some distance from the beast before they heard movement from their left. This time they didn't stop moving and just glanced to the left.

Another gator was there and it was about the same size as the first one. It quickly moved towards the boys, who were able to use a tree to block its advance. The first gator who was still chasing them changed targets to the second gator and snapped at it. It latched onto its leg and tried to rip it off.

The brothers didn't stick around to watch the animals fight as they moved away from both gators, while they tried to get out of the jungle and back to Foosha village. They only managed to move a few more feet before they ran into another gator.

Garp was hidden up in the trees as he munched on crackers while he watched his grand kids basically speed walking away from a bunch of gators. Anytime a gator almost caught one of them, he would do a small concentrated blast of conquerors haki. It would disorient the animal and let his grandsons escape unscathed.

As Garp watched he couldn't help but smile, it was easy to tell both boys had potential. So he started to plan how he was going to train them for the next month or so. He also thought it wouldn't be a bad idea if he introduced the boys to Ace in the next few weeks.

Ace could use some training himself and a couple of friends wouldn't hurt the boy either. The boy was only five and already had issues. Most of it had to do with who his father was and how people talked about him. But recently the boy started to be broody and didn't like to talk with him or Dadan anymore.

Garp wanted to laugh as he shot another blast of haki at a gator getting too close to Luffy. He had decided his training plan during his last week here. He would take Luffy and Marcus to meet Ace and do a group training session. The monkeys near the top of the mountain should be a good opponent for all of them.

vvvvv

Marcus woke up to Luffy yelling, "What the hell, you shitty grandpa!"

Marcus turned just in time to see Luffy get punched in the head as Garp asked, "Who taught you those words brat? And show respect to your loving grandpa!"

Luffy had two large lumps on his head which he rubbed as he said, "You said them the other day!"

"Oh…" Garp had a surprised look as Luffy said, "And you just hit me! That's why you're a shi…"

Garp punched Luffy in the head again, making another lump appear as he said, "You were sleeping, I had to wake you up somehow. Now hurry up and get dressed. Makino is making breakfast for us downstairs."

As Garp turned to look at Marcus, Luffy jumped out of bed as he asked, "Is she making meat?"

Marcus started to get out of bed as Garp said, "Of course she is. Meat helps you grow up strong and you'll need it if you wanna be strong like me."

Breakfast passed quickly and afterwards Garp easily caught the boys before they could run off. He picked them both up and tossed them over his shoulders like they were sacks of potatoes. Luffy kicked and screamed while Marcus silently accepted his fate.

Instead of going directly into the forest, Garp carried the boys up the mountain from the village and soon arrived in front of a worn down shack. Marcus was surprised, because he had seen the path they used before and didn't realize it led directly here. He also thought it went somewhere else and never had the chance to explore it anyway.

Garp dropped both boys on the ground as he went to knock on the door. Luffy was complaining as he rubbed his but and Garp knocked loudly, making the weak door groan in protest.

Before Garp could knock again, the door opened and a tall, rotund woman with orangish hair answered the door. She glanced at Garp and then the boys before she shut the door in Garps face as she said, "I'm not an orphanage Garp! I'm not taking anymore kids!"

Garp let out a laugh, before he turned more serious and said, "You're a wanted criminal Dadan. If I tell you to watch some snot nose brats, you'll watch them and be happy. Now bring out Ace, I need him for something."

Dadan reopened the door as she said, "You're a jerk, you know that?"

Garp picked his nose as he said, "Yup. Now get Ace."

Dadan disappeared into the shack and a minute later a young boy, not much older than five walked outside. The boy had straight black hair that almost covered his eyes. He had a lightly freckled face and his black eyes seemed to be uncaring as he glanced up at Garp.

Garp smiled as he said, "It looks like you've grown up strong."

"What do you want, old man?" Ace asked in a flat tone of voice.

"Old man!?! I'll show you who's an old man!" Garp slammed his fist into Ace's head before he could even react. Which slammed the boy into the ground.