Chapter 17

During the three days Luffy was sleeping, not much interesting happened. Markus kept an eye on his skill page in his shop for anything interesting. The first day the skill was Okama Kenpo, the martial art that Mr. 2 Bon Clay used. That one was a hard pass. There was no way in hell he was going to fight by performing ballet moves. The second day the skill that appeared was plain Boxing. Markus didn't feel the need to buy it since he already had Brawling and he could get taught Boxing pretty easily if he wanted. On the third day, the skill for sale really caught his interest but he still didn't buy it, Electro.

Electro was a skill that should have been exclusive to the Mink tribe, a race of humanoids with animalistic appearances. They could use the Electro skill to generate shocks of electricity to attack with. Markus found it interesting not because he thought of buying it, but because it showed that the system would allow him to have skills that were normally exclusive to a specific race. The skill itself seemed extremely pointless to him since he was only a week or two away from gaining the Goro Goro no Mi and would be able to generate far more current.

The only other thing Markus did was tear off a piece of Ace's Virve Card that Nami had stitched to Luffy's hat. He planned to spend a little time away from the crew after he got the Goro Goro no Mi and the Virve Card would let him know when he needed to rejoin Luffy in saving Ace. He had a lot of plans that revolved around the upcoming war.

Once Luffy woke up the peace and quiet vanished and things immediately became rowdy. With Luffy awake, the castle finally celebrated the end of the conflict in full swing with a banquet. It was not a quiet affair and soon became a classic Strawhat party that filled the castle with noise and revelry. The party lasted for hours with Luffy stuffing his face for almost the entire time. Everyone joined in the party, even Markus.

After dinner, everyone decided to relax in the royal baths. All the men of the crew, plus the king and Igaram, went to one side of the bath while Nami and Vivi went to the other side. Markus had zero knowledge of his bathing habits in his past life so he had no hangups about getting naked with a bunch of other men. Still, he wrapped a towel around his waist for at least a little modesty. As soon as they got inside of the bath, Luffy and Usopp instantly became annoying. Markus sat off to the side with Zoro and Chopper cleaning himself off while those two played around.

Eventually, Sanji asked Igaram the single most important question, "So... Where're the women's baths?"

Igaram instantly yelled at him, "As if I would tell you, you bastard! The princess is in there right now!"

Contrary to Igaram's protest, the king himself pointed to the wall, "It's right on the other side of this wall!"

Igaram yelled at him, "Your rotten highness!"

Every man in the bath climbed the wall, even the ones that didn't really seem to care much about women like Zoro and the protesting Igaram. As they peeked, Nami noticed them and brought Vivi's attention to the peepers. Vivi immediately yelled, "W-WHAT'RE YOU ALL DOING?!"

Nami turned to face the peeping men and said, "If you want to peek that will be 100,000 Belly each."

Before anyone could say anything, she pulled open her towel and flashed everyone, "Happiness punch!"

Every man on the wall but Markus got a comical nose bleed and was knocked off of the wall. Markus wasn't as affected as they were, though for whatever reason he did get a nose bleed. Instead of falling off the wall, he gave Nami a thumbs up which caused her to blush furiously and wrap the towel tightly around her body. Markus dropped from the wall before embarrassing her further and actually pissing her off. He'd managed to avoid her fist of fury so far and he intended to keep it that way.

As the king lay on the ground with blood leaking from his nose he said, "Thank you."

Everyone immediately replied with, "Pervert!"

He sat up and shouted, "Not for that!! ... For the country."

The king bowed his head to everyone in the bath while thanking them profusely for saving his country, despite weak protests from Zoro and Igaram. They continued their bath for a while longer before calling it a night.

When the crew returned to their shared room, they immediately discussed what to do next. It didn't take them long to decide that it was time for them to leave. They made an offer to Vivi for her to join the crew and planned to give her a chance to join them. Their decision was prompted by a call from Mr. 2 Bon Clay. He'd saved their ship and hidden it from the marines that were currently surrounding Alabasta. Getting out was not going to be an easy task.

Together the crew snuck out of the palace and joined with the Duck Squad to head into the desert and meet up with Bon Clay at their ship. As they were riding the ducks through the desert, Nami was unusually silent and looked concerned. The others tried talking to her to see what was wrong with her. Markus just grinned and watched the show. Finally, Nami spoke, "I guess... I should give up, for Vivi's sake at least... On the 1 billion Belly."

Usopp was so shocked that he fell off of the duck he was sharing with Chopper while everyone but Markus shouted, "YOU DAMN WELL BETTER!!"

Markus just laughed out loud at the sight. They rode through the rest of the night and just as dawn arrived, they found their ship sitting in the Sandora river with Bon Clay sitting on the railing waiting for them. Bon Clay immediately shot to his feet and shouted, "I've been waaaaitiiiiiiing for youuuuuu all! Nice to see you all again!!!"

Markus groaned internally. He just couldn't handle Bon Clay's voice. The crossdressing and ballet weren't an issue but his voice was just so damned grating. Everyone ignored Bon Clay and focused on unpacking their stuff from the ducks and saying goodbye to them. After the ducks left, Markus joined Sanji and Zoro in loading their items on the ship while ignoring Bon Clay. He let Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper deal with him. In the end, Bon Clay and those three became good friends again for god knows what reason. Markus didn't fight it and let it go. Besides, there was someone more interesting relaxing in one of the ship's cabins.

Soon, everything was set and the Going Merry along with Bon Clay's swan themed ship left the river together. Shortly after that, they were surrounded by eight ships and came under heavy fire. Normally that wouldn't have been much of an issue but the ships surrounding them weren't firing normal cannonballs that Luffy could bounce back. The ships were firing massive iron spears that impaled the ship. Every time one of the spears hit the ship, Markus felt a shudder run down his spine. The poor Going Merry suffered so much.

Markus helped out by pulling out the iron spikes and patching up the holes with Chopper below the deck. As they worked, he heard a cannon on their ship fire and miraculously destroyed two of the ships surrounding them. With that happening, Chopper went above deck while Markus stayed below and kept working on the repairs. He didn't care about what was going on outside. Things would work out in the end and Bon Clay needed to be captured. Like others, Bon Clay would help Luffy when he journeyed into Impel Down.

Markus kept working on hasty repairs while things outside progressed. Bon Clay chose to become a decoy by taking on Luffy's appearance while other members of his crew used disguises to look like everyone else. Bon Clay pulled attention away from the Going Merry and let the Strawhats escape. Bon Clay's sacrifice allowed the crew to get far away from the marines, for the moment. Soon they arrived at the meeting point where they were supposed to find Vivi.

Markus joined the crew on the deck for this moment. The mood was down as most of the crew was depressed that they couldn't find Vivi as their noon appointment passed. As they turned the ship to leave they heard Vivi's voice, amplified by the Den Den Mushi she was using, "Everyone!"

The crew was instantly excited. Usopp said to turn the ship around while Chopper warned that the marines were quickly approaching. Vivi continued, "I've come... to say goodbye!"

The whole crew froze. Vivi started her speech, "I... can't come with you! But I want to thank you for everything until now! I'd love to go on another adventure but I can't! Because, you see, I LOVE MY COUNTRY TOO MUCH! THAT'S WHY I CAN'T COME!"

The crew listened and understood what Vivi was saying. She continued, "Although I'll remain here now, if we meet again someday... Will you call me your friend one more time?!"

Luffy immediately tried to shout out but Nami clamped her hand around his mouth, "You can't reply! The marines are watching her right now. If they have proof she has connections with us they can label her a criminal."

Everyone understood and turned their back on Vivi as she watched from the shore. Everyone, including Markus, lifted their left arm into the air displaying the black X they'd put on their arms as a sign of their friendship in countering the abilities of Bon Clay. The group held the pose even as the marines opened fire and cannonballs splashed into the sea near them. Only when Vivi was too far away to see anymore did the crew begin to move.

Markus went back below deck to continue helping with repairs while the others smashed the marines ships after them. Soon enough there were no more marine ships near them and the crew suddenly became mopey. They all missed Vivi. Markus found a seat on the deck and relaxed. He didn't have to wait for very long before two wonderful things happened. First, Robin came out of the cabin shocking the entire crew, minus Markus. The second was he finally completed his quest!

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Quest Complete!

Journey to Alabasta Part 3!

The journey to saving Alabasta is nearing its conclusion. Crocodile's plans are in full swing. Baroque Works is gathering. Civil war is on the horizon. Destroy Crocodile's plans and bring him to his knees!

Objective 1: Defeat members of the Millions. (Failed)

Objective 2: Defeat members of the Billions. (Failed)

Objective 3: Defeat one or more officer agent. (Complete)

Objective 4: Work to prevent the civil war from happening. (Complete)

Objective 5: Defeat Crocodile! (Complete)

Failure Conditions: Death, death of any crew members

Rewards:

Objective 1: +10% Experience per member of the Millions beaten

Objective 2: +20% Experience per member of the Billions beaten

Objective 3: 50,000 Experience, Choice of 1 Rokushiki Skill Book

Objective 4: +1 Experience per person not harmed, -10 Experience per person harmed.

Objective 5: Rewards TBD (Epic Rarity Weapon Token)

You have gained 50,000 experience.

Your item has been deposited into your inventory.

You have gained 2,456,783 experience.

You have leveled up! Hit Points and Willpower fully restored. You have gained 5 attribute points. (x16)

Your item has been deposited into your inventory.

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Markus didn't have time to check his gains before Sanji was grabbing him by the collar and shaking him violently, "What did you do to Robin-chwan?!"

Markus hadn't been paying attention to what was going on around him. Gaining 16 levels in one go had completely distracted him so he had no idea what Robin had said. He could guess that it was something misleading, "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. What happened? Did I do something?"

Robin relaxed on a chair as she said, "How could you forget what you said to me while you were stripping?"

Sanji started shaking Markus even more violently, "How dare you violate Robin-chwans eyes like that?!"

Markus ignored Sanji and looked at Robin, "Stop saying such misleading things." He didn't care what Sanji thought of him but the death-glare he was getting from Nami hurt a bit, "She's talking about the deal I made with her before taking down Crocodile. It's nothing lascivious. I just need to show her the Poneglyph you guys ran into in the desert. You know, that big cube with the weird writing on it? There was one beneath Alubarna as well. She just wants to see that and read it."

Robin smiled playfully, "Until then..." She looked at Luffy, "I want to join your crew."

Markus pried Sanji's hands off his collar and tuned out of the discussion once more. He had things to look at! He moved off to the side and opened his inventory to check his gains. From killing Mr. 11, he gained yet another Rokushiki skill book. That gave him four out of six. He immediately cashed it in for Rankyaku. He needed an attack with a wide range and Rankyaku could provide that. Kami-e was yet another defensive skill so it wasn't really valuable at the moment. As for Soru... it would be his last pick since he had Kuro's footwork at his disposal. He did plan to get all six of them so he could gain Rokugan, eventually.

The other item he received for defeating Crocodile, which he got zero experience for, he received another weapon token. Only, this one was for an Epic rarity weapon. He was looking forward to seeing what he could get with it. It needed to wait until he had some privacy. Other than that, he had gained 85 more skill points that he could spend to make himself stronger.

He started by spending 19 points on his Strength to increase it to an even 200. He was still hoping to meet the requirements for using his Conqueror's Haki skill book. After that, he spent 14 points to increase his Vitality to 160. His increased his Agility by 9 points, Wisdom by 14, and poured the rest into his Spirit increasing it to 245. When he was done he looked over his updated status with a smile.

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Name: Silvers D. Markus

Age: 16

Class: Noob Pirate

Level: 67

Exp: 5,522,783/5,611,250

Hit Points: 1,600/1,600 (+96/minute) [2,240/ 2,240 (+134.4/minute)]

Willpower: 2,450/2,450 (+69.2/30 seconds) [3,430/ 3,430 (+96.8/30 seconds)]

Strength (STR): 200 [280]

Vitality (VIT): 160 [224]

Agility (AGI): 175 [245]

Spirit (SPT): 245 [343]

Wisdom (WIS): 130 [182]

Charisma (CHA): 89 [124]

Luck (LCK): 78 [109]

Attribute Points: 0

Belly: 136,074,350

New Skill!

True Strength

[Passive]

Your Strength has grown to an impressive degree giving you insight into how to use it best.

+50% Melee Damage

-50% Willpower cost for melee skills

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While he was busy with increasing his attributes and checking his status, Robin had brought most of the crew around. She easily entertained Luffy, Chopper, and Usopp into accepting her. Bribed Nami into accepting her and had to do Zero work with Sanji since she was pretty and that's all it took for him. Only Zoro seemed to remain on guard around her. The day passed like that and when night came it was time for Markus to claim his final rewards.

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Rankyaku

[Active, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]

The Rankyaku technique is one of the six techniques of the Rokushiki, the six marine skills. Rankyaku is a powerful projectile technique. By using a fast and powerful kick the user is capable of launching a sharp compressed air blade. With enough practice, it's possible to launch the compressed air blades from almost any part of the body with any length.

+5% Damage out to 10 feet in up to a 1-foot wide arc

Cost: 25 Willpower

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Markus read over the skill and smiled brightly. One thing he'd been lacking is something he could use to deal long-range wide area damage. Once he leveled up the skill a bit it would come in very handy against other ships. With the skill learned, he pulled out the weapon token and took a look in his shop. Like with the Rare token, a new shop tab opened and showed a selection of rare and powerful weapons on the level of Kashu. Unfortunately, all of them were swords. He looked at them for a bit before putting the token away. He didn't want another sword so he'd check back later. The last thing he had worth checking was his Conqueror's Haki skill book, which was still a failure.

With everything taken care of, he found a comfortable spot to get some sleep. Soon they would be on the path to Skypeia and he would finally reach his first major goal! He had trouble falling asleep that night as he imagined just how much stronger he would be once he got his hands on the Goro Goro no Mi!