Chapter 4

Markus flew toward the ship with his tag on it until it fell within the range of his active Observation Haki. He spotted the familiar aura of Jewelry Bonney and knew he had the right ship. That was all he needed to confirm before spinning around and flying back to his campsite on the Red Line. He could follow her from a distance until he found the right time to offer her his aid.

His flight speed when using his Gyro-Telekinesis had increased drastically as its level went up. Thanks to his passives and high Willpower pool, leveling his skills for the Zushi Zushi no Mi was actually a lot easier than it was to level his Goro Goro no Mi skills. All of them had risen to somewhere between level 20 and 30.

He'd also focused on leveling up his Haki skills, he wanted to use the legendary skill books to upgrade them to something new. The problem was, the higher they got, the harder they were to level. His Armament Haki was stuck on level 99 and refused to level up further. He wasn't sure what he was missing to get the final bit of experience to level it up. Probably some level of comprehension or something that he lacked. As for his Observation Haki, it had reached level 93, allowing him to sense out to 176 miles (283 kilometers). His Dominator's Haki was the lowest level since it was reset but he managed to grind it up a little bit to level 33.

Leveling skills was rather easy but mastering them was something else entirely. There wasn't much he could do about it so he stopped thinking about it and finished packing up his camp. Once everything was stored away, he jumped off of the cliff once again and enjoyed his free-fall toward the ocean. He caught himself with his G-TK and floated above the waves.

From his position in the air, he summoned his Cigarette Boat from his inventory and gently set it on the water. With the boat ready, he sat in the captain's chair and relaxed. He powered the boat with his electricity while guiding it in the direction of his tag. As he increased the output, the boat rapidly increased in speed until it was bouncing from swell to swell. He found it annoying to constantly be bouncing around.

After thinking for a bit, he slapped his forehead and slowed the ship down to a stop. Once he came to a halt, he used his G-TK to lift the boat out of the water while activating the switches for the Jet Dials. He used the switches to open both sets. One to propel him, one to gather wind while he was moving. The boat rose a good fifteen feet above the water. He carefully pushed the throttle forward to activate the Jet Dials. The boat immediately accelerated through the air. The speed was amazing, the only downside was, he couldn't control the boat with the steering wheel. He had to use his G-TK to control it.

On the bright side, his speed skyrocketed. It was like flying a cigarette boat-shaped fighter jet. Without much weight to push, the dials easily accelerated the boat. He pondered making something to take advantage of that fact. In a world where very few people could fly, with no flying machines, air superiority would really be superior.

While flying through the air, a Sea King popped out of the water with its mouth wide open. It clearly wanted to try and devour him and his boat whole. Not surprising given the average size of a Sea King, Markus was like a speck of sand compared to one. Yet, all the Sea King had going for it was its size and big sharp teeth. Without a single care, Markus stretched his hand out toward the Sea King. The next instant, the entire head of the creature was surrounded by a transparent sphere of dark purple.

As soon as the sphere formed, gravity within it warped and became a powerful crushing force. The monster's head was instantly turned into mashed pulp, "Collapse."

The body of the now very dead Sea King collapsed into the water. Markus continued on his way, unbothered by the event. As for the skill he used, Gravity Crush, it was a skill he developed while trying to make a classic bad guy move to choke someone with an invisible force. Unfortunately, his control over the Zushi Zushi no Mi wasn't nearly high enough for such a delicate move. Instead, it became a big violent move that crushed everything within the sphere that formed.

He'd tried to make a move that did the opposite of Gravity Crush but it was exceedingly difficult. Gravity was inherently a 'pulling' force, meaning that it liked to pull things closer together. Even his Gravity 'Push' skill was really a pulling skill. The only difference between Gravity Push and Gravity Pull was the direction that gravity was pulling in. For Gravity Pull, it affected the side facing Markus and pulled. For Gravity Push, it affected the opposite side and pulled. Either way, it was pulling the target in one direction or another. Pulling in all directions at once was extremely difficult but he didn't think it would be impossible, he just needed to level his control some more to succeed.

Something else he found difficult, or rather impossible, to do inside of his Image Training was calling down a meteor. He didn't know if they simply didn't exist in his Image Training or if he simply wasn't good enough with his power yet. Either way, that was an ability he craved for its simplicity and devastating effect. Once the world knew he could call meteors down whenever he wanted to, they wouldn't think about messing with him too much. At least, no one sane would.

He stopped his musing after Bonney entered the range of his Observation Haki once more. He didn't want to be spotted yet so he slowed down and landed on the water. Being able to track someone from so far away made his life a lot easier. It wouldn't be good if he had to get much closer since a bright red boat would be easily spotted.

After switching which set of dials was being recharged, he used the electric motors to keep the boat moving slowly behind Bonney's ship. He still wasn't one hundred percent sure when Bonney would be captured, he just remembered it was shortly after entering the New World. So it should be the first or second island. He estimated it would take anywhere from a week to a month to accomplish his goal.

Thankfully, he only had to follow Bonney for two and a half days before they came upon the first island. It was two and a half very boring days, but he did some crafting and practiced some of his non-violent skills to help pass the time. So, it wasn't all bad.

As he got closer to the island, the name of which he didn't know, he swept his Observation Haki over it and smiled a little wryly. He really didn't remember much about Bonney's capture in the new world. Frankly, she was only a side character in his memories so he really didn't know huge amounts about her, unlike Luffy and the others. So, when he sensed Blackbeard and his entire crew on the island she was heading to, he was pleasantly surprised.

He avoided directly confronting Blackbeard back on Marineford for one simple reason. He didn't have a counter for his ability to control gravity and pull people to him. Though Markus was definitely stronger, Blackbeard's Yami Yami no Mi gave him several tricks that could potentially trouble Markus. Blackbeard's ability to negate the power of Devil Fruit's combined with his physical strength and durability would make him a very difficult opponent.

Blackbeard is what a Chinese novel would call a 'hidden expert.' He never showed his full strength when he was under Whitebeard so he could bide his time while being protected. He only showed his true strength once the Yami Yami no Mi appeared before him. His durability was especially high. He took two full-powered attacks from Whitebeard and only showed minor injuries. Even after Whitebeard sliced him with Murakumogiri, Blackbeard only rolled around on the ground to complain for a while before acting like it didn't even really bother him.

Now though, none of that mattered. Markus had a simple plan to kill not just Blackbeard, but his entire crew as well. It would be quite anti-climatic with no long drawn out fight or quips between them. Markus would just end him and his crew then be done with it.

While Bonney and her crew docked at the island, Markus floated into the air and stored his boat safely away. The island was covered in pillars of stones and flames. A very inhospitable place indeed. The heat didn't really bother him but he was forced to use the pillars of stone for cover. He'd never practiced, or even seen, a skill that could hide his presence. No stealth skills for him! Well, technically his unmentionable footwork skill made him 'invisible' but that was only because he was moving at extreme speeds. Same for Soru, he just moved super quickly between two locations. No, he really didn't have a real 'stealth' skill.

With that being the case, he stayed out of sight and simply used his Observation Haki to keep an eye on the situation. While he paid attention to everything happening and waited for the conflict between Blackbeard and Bonney. He was planning to end Blackbeard and his current crew, several of whom had Devil Fruits. It was worth trying his luck obtaining them, he just needed to find a safe place to put out his two crates of fruits and vegetables. He knew for sure that three of them currently had Devil Fruits; Teach had the Yami Yami no Mi, Catarina Devon had the Inu Inu no Mi, Model: Kyubi no Kitsune, and Sanjuan Wolf had an unnamed Devil Fruit that made him bigger.

Sanjuan Wolf's Devil Fruit was most likely a Paramecia and seemed to have an effect that was opposite of the Mini Mini no Mi. Markus wasn't interested in his Devil Fruit at all. In fact, none of their fruits held any real appeal to him. Mostly because he couldn't use them himself. However, he could give them to future crew members to increase their strength. Though, two of the three people he wanted to recruit currently had a power already, Perona and Bonney. Only Doctor Kureha currently didn't. Well, if she wanted one he would have a nice selection to choose from for her!

As Markus relaxed where he was, he saw Bonney and her crew come into conflict with Blackbeard and his crew. Needless to say, it was a very one-sided 'battle'. Frankly, it was more like Blackbeard and his crew were playing around and teasing the other crew. Unsurprisingly, Bonney lost and ended up shackled with chains while her crew was tied up. There wasn't really a need for Bonney to be captured with Sea Stone cuffs, she could only activate her power by touch. As long as you were wary of her hands, she was pretty powerless.

Markus didn't feel bad watching all of this happen. He had zero obligation to save them, they weren't his friends and he knew nothing about them. His only concern was Bonney. If it looked like her life was in danger, he would intervene, otherwise, he was just going to sit where he was. It might seem cold but that's just how the world of pirates was. Even Luffy wouldn't intervene in a fight between pirates. Not unless he was close to one of the crews in the battle. Or... if it looked like fun.

After capturing the members of Bonney's crew that they didn't kill, Blackbeard, surprisingly, contacted the Marines. He offered a trade, Jewelry Bonney for a battleship. The marines agreed to the trade. Blackbeard was still traveling around on a simple raft made from wood, massive as it might be, it was nowhere near big enough to hold Sanjuan Wolf. They needed a bigger ship. For Markus, it just made the prospect of killing them all a lot easier.

Blackbeard and his followers raided Bonney's ship taking everything of any value or use to them. They basically stripped it bare. If her ship wasn't so small, they probably would have taken it and left. Instead, they had themselves a little party, eating and drinking all of the foodstuffs they stole. Markus sighed and pulled out some food of his own. Now he had to wait, again. It was getting pretty annoying and felt like he was wasting time.

Then again, he had as much time as he wanted. With the Pure Gold, he could make a ring or something and would have eternal life. Even if he didn't have it if he became a good friend of Bonney, she could revert his age any time and it would basically be the same thing. In fact, Markus was pretty sure her ability is why the government was so interested in her. Imagine forcing her to use it to revert the ages of people like Sengoku, Garp, Aokiji, Kizaru, the Celestial Dragons, and more. They could basically rule forever. Not a pretty thought.

As time passed, Markus quickly became bored. He didn't do anything that might draw attention to himself, such as practicing his skills. Neither did he enter his Image Training, which would cut him off from the outside world. He was doomed to sit around doing nothing for the rest of the day and the entire night. It wasn't until near noon the next day that Blackbeard started to get impatient with waiting for the Marines.

He watched closely as Blackbeard taunted Bonney for being weak then offered to make him one of his women. All his efforts earned him were a knee to the chin and a kick to the face that left a distinct boot mark. Markus smirked at that. It seemed like Bonney wasn't quite as weak as he had imagined. It was only then that Van Augur, Blackbeard's sniper, informed him that the Marines were approaching.

From his report, it was clear the Marines had no intention of keeping their end of the deal. There was only one ship coming and Aokiji was at the forefront. The current Blackbeard was weaker than the canon version and even in canon he'd taken off, why would it be any different now? Markus watched as Blackbeard and his crew took off on their little raft while the Marines made landfall.

As the Marines drew close, Markus made his move. Lightning wrapped around his body when he dashed out from his cover. He was practically a bolt of lightning as he instantly arrived behind Bonney and sliced through the chains binding her with Shodai. It was like cutting through butter. With her freed, he grabbed her with his G-TK and launched both of them into the air. Bonney started screaming, she had no clue what was going on. Meanwhile, the sight of Markus and Bonney flying through the sky shocked the Marines.

Aokiji recovered quickly and ordered the Marines to open fire. Not exactly a smart move if they were supposed to be trying to take Bonney alive. Aokiji should know he was immune to bullets and she would die if she got hit in the wrong, or right, spot. Well, maybe he had some sort of plan or something that Markus was unaware of.

As the order was issued, Markus erected a small Electro-Repulsive Net in front of Bonney and himself to block the bullets. Meanwhile, Aokiji launched himself into the air and flew at the two of them like a rocket. Easy enough to deal with, Markus waved his hand again causing gravity around Aokiji to warp, Gravity Crush. Aokiji's eyes widened as he felt a sudden pressure wrap around his entire body and slam him into the ground brutally.

While Aokiji was recovering from the fall, Markus lifted Bonney and himself further up into the sky and only stopped after a couple of miles. They became little more than black dots that vanished into the clouds. Out of sight of the Marines, Markus slowed his ascent and began to trail behind Blackbeard. The man had never left his range so he was easy to track. It was only now that he slowed down that Bonney stopped screaming, "What the hell is going on?! Who the hell are you?!"

Markus shifted their positions so they were face to face while flying. As soon as she saw his face Bonney's eyes widened, "You! Why are you here?! Why did you kidnap me?! Bring me back to my crew!"

Markus hadn't remembered just how abrasive Bonney could be. She pummeled him with questions while he took the time to get his first proper look at her in person. Jewelry Bonney was a slim and curvaceous young-looking woman with long pink hair and dark-pink eyes. Judging her real age was simply impossible since she could change it at will but at the moment she looked to be in her early twenties. She was currently wearing a white low-cut tank top, orange and black striped shorts with suspenders, dark red and hot pink stockings with a sun motif, and calf-high black boots.

At the moment she looked dirty, ruffled, and a little injured from the battle and subsequent capture by Blackbeard. She still looked pretty attractive despite her currently ruffled state. The only thing he didn't really get, or like, was the small bit of lipstick in the middle of her lips that looked like a heart. Once she stopped shouting questions at him, Markus calmly answered her, though he ignored most of her questions, "I was in the area. Also, I didn't kidnap you. I rescued you from Aokiji and the Marines. Consider it a thank you and payback for saving the idiot swordsman on my ex-crew."

Bonney's eyes widened, "That right! You're the bastard that caused all that trouble on Sabaody! Let me go so I can beat you up!"

Markus deliberately looked down while asking her, "Are you sure you want me to let you go right now?"

Bonney looked down and her face instantly paled, "Ah, no, no need for that right now."

Markus looked back up at her and smiled, "Besides, you're going to want to see what I'm about to do."

Bonney gave him a suspicious look, "What are you about to do?"

Markus smirked and didn't answer her. Instead, he picked up speed and made his way closer to Blackbeard. She was going to enjoy seeing what he was about to do. Of that, he was sure.