Chapter 19

Markus, Luffy, Zoro, Sanji, and Chopper all walked up to the door of 'Franky House'. The building was huge and exceedingly gaudy. That wouldn't last long though. As they moved closer, they could all hear the shouts of a party happening inside of the building. The Franky Family celebrating their successful theft of the Strawhat's money. They could even hear comments about Usopp and them beating him. The Franky Family was digging their own grave.

When they got close enough, Luffy knocked on the door and continued to knock on it until someone answered it. Despite the door being many times bigger than a normal door, the man still had to crouch down to answer it. Seriously, was he part giant? Markus also took umbrage with their chosen outfits. Every member of the Franky Family wore an outfit that looked like a diaper held on with suspenders. It was offensive to fashion.

As the large man looked down at the group, Luffy threw his arm back causing it to stretch a great distance. Markus decided to try something fun and placed his hand on Luffy's shoulder before channeling a Lightning Bolt onto him. Luffy was immune so there was no risk of hurting him. Instead, Markus controlled the lightning wrapped around his arm, coating it in flickering purple streaks of electricity. Luffy's arm rapidly retracted and slammed into the large man's face not only hitting him with blunt force but electrocuting him as well.

The large man was launched through the air and landed in the middle of another group. There were exclamations of surprise from the Franky Family as the five men walked through the now destroyed doorway. As they walked in the Franky Family members started taunting them, another especially large man put on a piece of armor that looked like an iron neck brace while laughing, "Are you here for the money? Look at how many people we have! You only have five guys! Five little guys at that! I'll teach you a lesson, then turn in your heads for the bounty money!"

The large man continued to taunt Luffy and the others, though they said nothing in return, before offering Luffy a free hit. Luffy started swinging his fists back and forth instantly creating the illusion that he had hundreds of them. He didn't hit the giant man yet though, he built up power and momentum. The large man laughed and mocked Luffy while the others talked about how 'invincible' his armor was. Luffy ignored him and continued to build up momentum until he finally unleashed the attack. When Luffy built up enough momentum, he slammed the palms of his hands into the man's armor, shattering it instantly and blowing him away.

Following their panic, the Franky Family tried to fire cannons at them. Zoro sliced not just the cannonballs in half, but the cannons as well. When they tried to run away through the back door, Sanji intercepted them while Markus prepared his own surprise. As Sanji kicked the crap out of the Franky Family, Chopper charged and mauled them with his horns, and Markus clapped his palms together with his elbows sticking straight out almost as if he was praying. Power built between his hands causing small bolts of electricity to shoot out and strike the ground around him. After building up a sufficient charge, Markus pulled his hands apart and revealed a pulsing orb of electricity.

As the orb was revealed, it shot up into the air and blasted through the roof until it came to a stop just above the highest point of the Franky House. As it reached its apex, the orb burst open while Markus muttered, "Thunder Dome."

The lightning burst open like a net and fell down to the ground forming a net-like cage of writhing electricity that would electrocute anyone who tried to escape. Just after he finished setting up the dome, a sword came slashing at his head. Markus calmly lifted his left hand and caught the edge of the sword on his palm. Instead of blood gushing from his hand being sliced, there was an odd low sound as all momentum from the blade seemed to fade away.

The attacker looked confused as hell at what he felt but Markus didn't give him time to recover. He moved close to the man and held the palm of his hand against his exposed chest, "Allow me to return that to you."

Markus pressed the apex of the Axe Dial beneath his glove. An X-shaped blast of sharp compressed energy shot out of his palm and sliced into the man's chest sending him flying while blood sprayed the air. From there a one-sided beatdown commenced as the five of them were simply far too strong for the trash they were fighting. By the time Markus and the others had vented their rage and beat down every member of the Franky Family in brutal fashion, the entire house had collapsed into a pile of rubble.

Markus retracted the 'Thunder Dome' back into a sphere of electricity that continued to hover above the ruined house while the others stood or sat in the destruction. Chopper returned to Usopp's side and began to bandage his wounds while the remaining four tried to decide what to do next. As Zoro and Sanji discussed what to do, especially with Robin missing, Luffy finally spoke up, "I've decided. It's time to say goodbye to the Going Merry."

Markus let out a sigh. It seemed that even with him trying to mitigate at least some of the damage that the Merry had suffered, it was still too much. He learned his head back and looked at the blue sky, it sometimes felt that he couldn't change major things. Then again, maybe he just hadn't tried hard enough. There were a few major things coming up that he fully planned to change. With the discussion over, the group walked away from the Franky House, carrying and injured Usopp with them.

As they got out of range, Markus activated the sphere of electricity still hovering over the remains of the house. With a clap of thunder, a blast of lightning using all the remaining energy of the sphere blasted the remains of the Franky House and the people within the rubble. The destroyed house became even worse while a few life signs dropped to dangerously low levels. No one said anything and continued to make their way back to the Going Merry.

They remained silent as they got to the Merry, Nami shouted down at them while leaning on the railing of the ship, "Usopp! Is he alright?!"

She looked at Markus and blinked, "And who's the ugly pig with you?!"

Luffy and Chopper looked at Markus and their eyes widened. Luffy was the first to react as he shouted, "Who are you?! Where'd Markus go?!"

Zoro and Sanji both facepalmed at Luffy's way too late reaction. Markus reached up and touched his face. Feeling the soft pudgy fat he chuckled, "Whoops."

In his rush to get to the fight, Markus had forgotten to return his face to normal. With just a simple thought, he undid his use of Seimei Kikan and returned to his normal looks. Everyone's jaws dropped while Luffy and Chopper had stars in their eyes and muttered, "So... Cool!"

Once they recovered from their shock, Markus was barraged with questions about how he made his face so fat, he just went with his usual 'my old man taught me' and left it at that. He didn't explain the full capabilities of the skill either. Once things calmed down, the group relaxed on the ship while waiting for news from Chopper about Usopp's condition.

Markus was letting things play out here because they were to the advantage of himself and the rest of the crew. A good fight was what they needed to grow stronger and the members of CP9 would provide that for them. For himself, he wanted a stage to step into the global spotlight. Even if Aokiji told the headquarters everything about him, he doubted they would spread the information and would just increase his bounty, something he was looking forward to seeing. They couldn't afford to let the news that one of their Admirals had been humiliated out. However, they wouldn't be able to suppress what he planned to do at Enies Lobby.

While they waited for Usopp to regain consciousness, Markus retrieved Kashu from his inventory and began hacking at his own left hand with it. The crew tried to stop him until he explained he had an Axe Dial on his palm. He didn't mention the Reject Dial as he didn't plan to use it unless he was fighting someone strong. He'd avoided using it in the Franky House because it would have not just killed whoever he hit with it, but anyone near them and then done some serious damage to the land around them. The Reject Dial was seriously overpowered.

As the sun was going down a few hours later, Chopper came charging out of the main room of the ship while shouting, "Usopp is awake!!"

Markus nodded and stayed where he was. He was looking through his inventory and shop to see what he could do to grind his Crafting level up higher. Since he got 'The Devil's Flintlock' he wanted to increase the level of his crafting even more in the hopes of being able to make similar weapons. At the moment, his crafting could only craft Common items and deconstruct items. It wasn't very impressive, yet.

He was brought out of his browsing by the commotion going on inside of the cabin. Luffy and Usopp were arguing over the fate of the Going Merry. Markus tuned it out, it had nothing to do with him. Instead, he moved to the figurehead of the ship and rand his hand over it, "Don't worry Merry. No matter what happens, your journey will not end here. I have a plan, I just hope that it will work. Just know that every one of us loves you and appreciates everything you've done to get us this far."

Markus looked over his shoulder as the door to the cabin slammed open and Usopp came stomping out of it. Markus said nothing and watched the drama unfold as Usopp left the ship and challenged Luffy to a duel for the Going Merry. Markus closed his eyes and sat down at the bow of the ship. There were a few hours left until the appointed time of the duel at ten. He decided to spend those few hours getting stronger. With everything that would be coming up, he wanted to gain the right, the ability, to use Shodai Kitetsu.

Time passed quickly and when Markus opened his eyes, Luffy had already disembarked the ship and was waiting for Usopp. Markus moved to the railing to join the others and watch the coming fight.

As the duel began, Usopp started with his shitty tricks. Lying about having 8,000 men, trying his 'Usopp Spell', and using his Ketchup Star to pretend to be bleeding from internal injuries. Usopp didn't get serious until he pulled out a Flash Dial and used it to blind Luffy. While Luffy was blinded, he shot rotten eggs and hit Luffy with them. As Luffy complained, Usopp shot a Tabasco Star into Luffy's mouth. While Luffy was feeling the effects of it, he scattered caltrops all around.

Markus watched with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. This Usopp, he could like. If Usopp was always this serious and calculating in his attacks, he would be a real fighter, a real man. But even after this, he couldn't really like the future Usopp all that much. Despite going from a scrawny kid to an actual man with a body filled with decent muscles, he remained an annoying coward. He dismissed his thoughts and continued to watch the fight unfold.

Usopp continued to control the fight, maneuvering Luffy into position for his largest attack. A Breath Dial releasing explosive gas that he ignited with a Flame Star. It set off a massive explosion that pushed the Going Merry away from the shore and sent up huge waves and a thick pillar of smoke. It didn't keep Luffy down and the fight resumed soon after. Usopp used a new attack called 'Exploding Cactus Star', which would explode into many sharp needle-like pieces of metal that pierced Luffy. Seriously, where was this Usopp in the future?

The only noteworthy event after that was Usopp using an Impact Dial to negate Luffy's Bazooka and return it. The fight ended shortly after that with Usopp losing. Even so, Luffy was covered in wounds and breathing heavily. Usopp had kept him on the defensive and taking damage for almost the entire duel. With the duel complete, Luffy retrieved his hat and walked toward the Merry, "Do whatever you want with the Going Merry. We'll get a new ship... And we'll go on to the seas ahead. Goodbye Usopp. It's been... fun."

Everyone began to clear the ship of their belonging, some with tears in their eyes. Markus kept everything of his inside of his inventory, but to keep up appearances, for now, he stuffed a few things in a bag. At Enies Lobby, he would reveal his inventory as part of his Devil Fruit so he could stop pretending. With heavy hearts, the entire crew left the Going Merry and found a hotel to stay in inside of Water 7. It was a silent night as everyone was left to deal with their emotions.

Markus chose to spend his time comforting Nami. Luffy and Usopp had been in the crew and her friends since the beginning and she was distraught over the duel. Markus remained a gentleman for the entire time, simply rubbing her back until she fell asleep. Once she was tucked in, he left her room and looked out a window into the city with narrowed eyes. Things were moving in the dark and with a little focus, he could sense it all. Soon things would begin to move quickly.

The following morning the news of someone attempting to assassinate Iceburg in his home spread like wildfire. The group decided to split up to do their own things. Luffy and Nami wanted to go check on Iceburg, Sanji and Chopper wanted to go look for Robin, Zoro and Markus took a 'wait and see' approach. Not that Markus didn't have a good idea of where things were going.

Markus and Zoro remained in companionable silence as they waited. Markus was watching everything happening on the entire island through his active Observation Haki. While he waited comfortably on the roof of the hotel, the wind began to pick up and grow stronger as time passed. Soon the loudspeakers in the city began blaring about the coming Aqua Lagoona. A yearly event where the tide would rise extremely high and cover most of the city in water. It was something the locals were used to so they didn't panic and instead got to work.

The commotion in the city increased when Franky made his appearance to hunt down Luffy as payback for what happened at Franky House. Markus looked Franky over with his Observation Haki and found the experience to be quite... unique. Franky was a pretty tall man with a lean and muscular body. Though his forearms were extremely odd as they were far too large for his frame and kind of reminded Markus of an old cartoon character, Popeye. He also had blue hair done in a pompadour-like style and a metal nose.

None of that was what made him unique. Franky was a cyborg. That meant a lot of his body was made of mechanical parts and therefore not living. It made his life sign rather unique among people. Franky was the first cyborg that Markus and the rest of the crew had encountered but he wouldn't be the last. Kuma was turned into a cyborg by the Marines and then used as a model for the Pasifista robots. He was looking forward to frying the Pasifistas and making the Marines wallets bleed. They couldn't be cheap to make, after all.

As Luffy and Franky fought, the commotion within the city was renewed as another special edition of the local newspaper was released proclaiming the Strawhat Pirates to be behind the attack on Iceburg. The paper included photos of Luffy, Zoro, Kid Robin, and Markus. He shook his head and started to prepare, just in case. He wore Kashu on his left hip and The Devil's Flintlock on his right. He'd also wore his more comfortable casual clothing. Simple pants, combat boots, a v-neck t-shirt, and his favorite hoody with the skull surrounded by blue lightning bolts. One of these days he'd have to find someone to make some custom clothing with a better skull design.

Seeing Markus getting armed, Zoro tilted his head, "Trouble?"

Markus nodded. Zoro adjusted his swords and rested his hand on the handle of the Wado Ichimonji. This was about as 'prepared' as Zoro was going to get for the moment. Markus kept the majority of his attention on dock 1 of the Galley-La company where the shipwrights had started to confront Luffy and Franky. He wanted to make sure that the members of CP9 didn't go too far so he was ready to move at a moment's notice. He could cross the distance between them with as much effort as a single step.

Markus let out a sigh when Luffy and Nami managed to get away thanks to an accidental distraction by Franky. The damage done to the dock was massive but Markus didn't care. He just hoped the old man making his boat didn't work near those docks. Not much later and Luffy had his conversation with Iceburg and confirmed that Robin was really there when he was shot. Markus thought about heading over and telling the truth to Iceburg but the odds were Iceburg wouldn't believe him and it would increase the chances of CP9 assassinating him for sure this time.

As Markus continued to monitor the situation, he watched Franky head into Blueno's bar and refill his 'charge' of cola. Seriously, how the hell did his cybernetics run off of freaking cola? Of all the things that made zero sense in the One Piece world, that one was definitely one of the stranger ones. He shook his head and glanced at Zoro as he got up and decided to take a look around. Markus ignored him and changed his attention to where Robin currently was. She was being forced to return to the scene of the crime to finish the job. Markus frowned and started to move. It was almost time.