00029. A ploy to change the future.

For the rest of the journey back home, Marcus was lost. He still carried out his duties on the ship but otherwise he was occupied by his own thoughts and didn't really interact with anyone else. Luffy and the others easily noticed something was wrong. They even tried to cheer him up and interact with him more.

When they realized nothing seemed to work, Garp told everyone else to just leave Marcus alone for now and that he needed time to think. At first it didn't work because kids were kids after all. But Garp easily fixed that issue though with some well timed 'fists of love' to the other boy's heads.

During that time Marcus questioned Garp's logic on what happened and what he should do about it. But the more he thought about it, the more he came to one conclusion. Garp was right.

After they had dropped off the pirate crew at a navy base, Garp gave Marcus a navy intelligence report. It detailed every crime that they confirmed the captain and his crew committed. It also contained a long list of suspected crimes, mostly missing ships or raided sea ports in areas that pirate crew frequented.

After Marcus finished reading the report, he understood why Garp told him that he let the guy off too easily. But even though Marcus had the evidence in front of him, his morals still screamed out that it was wrong. That he wasn't allowed to make that choice, to take someone else's life, even though in his heart he agreed with Garp.

When they were almost back home, Marcus was still stuck as he languished in his own thoughts. No matter what argument or idea he came up with to justify his actions, his morals still shut them down. Even though he no longer agreed with those morals like before.

The main problem was he lived too long in his past life compared to this one and they were just too deeply ingrained into him. He needed to break them down and rebuild them before he did anything else. The only issue was he had no idea how he would do that.

After they arrived back at Foosha Village, Garp and the boys unloaded the ship before Garp took Marcus to go have a talk. They walked in silence as they headed to the top of a seaside cliff and then they both sat down under the shade of some trees once they arrived. Garp was the first one to break the silence as he asked, "So what do you plan to do?"

Marcus looked lost as he said, "I have no idea. I understand what you said and even agree with it…"

"But you still don't like the idea of killing someone, even if they deserve it?" Garp asked.

"Exactly." Marcus said with a slight nod of his head.

Garp sighed before he asked, "If you're not ready to kill someone else, how will you be able to protect the people you care about?"

"Do I really need to be ready to kill someone else to protect the people I care about?"

Garp had a far away look as he said, "Yes... Otherwise you might live the rest of your life in regret." 

Marcus turned to look at Garp and saw a hint of sadness in the man's eyes before Garp stood up and said, "Just keep training for now. But if you can't get over your hang up in the next couple of years."

Garp wore a serious look as he glanced down at Marcus and said, "I'll take your sword away and won't let you train anymore."

With that Garp left Marcus alone with his own thoughts. Early the next morning Garp departed the island and left the boys with Makino again. While Marcus was lost in his own thoughts, he still trained properly with the other boys. He just wasn't as talkative as he used to be.

But with Garp now gone, the other boys didn't leave Marcus alone anymore and always wanted to talk with him like normal. Luffy was the one who wanted to talk with Marcus the most, while Ace and Sabo just wanted to make sure he was doing okay. Within a few weeks Marcus was almost back to normal.

He still struggled internally and was in the process of trying to break down his old morals. But with a brother like Luffy around it was hard for Marcus to stay clammed up. Speaking of Luffy, the wound on his face healed and he now had a scar under his left eye just like the one he gave himself in the show.

As for Marcus's progress on breaking down his old morals, it was slow going. He found one way to help though and that was reading the newspaper each day it came. While the newspaper held a lot of fluff articles or stuff that didn't matter much to Marcus. The articles that detailed pirate and bandit activities did.

He used those articles and the details inside them to help him tear down his old morals. Every person who was killed, family that was destroyed, he used that as his focus. He wasn't sure how long it would take, but the more he did that, the less guilty he felt about taking that pirate's life. So he added it into his training routine going forward.

The time passed by quickly after that and within seven months Garp showed up again. He arrived early in the morning as the boys finished their pre breakfast run. As they came up the beach they spotted the navy ship headed towards the village and went to the dock to check it out.

Within ten minutes or so of spotting the ship, Garp landed on the dock and said, "You better not have been slacking off while I was gone."

"We're not like some old man who only knows how to eat rice crackers all day." Ace said before he was kissing the floor.

Garp glanced at the other boys as he asked, "Are you going to greet me or what?"

"Hi grandpa." Sabo said. 

"Hello, grandpa." Marcus said. 

"Why are you back?" Luffy asked before he also kissed the ground.

Garp picked up Ace and Luffy who were knocked out as he said, "Let's go eat, I'm hungry."

After eating breakfast together with the boys, Garp took them out to spar and to see their progress. As he tested them, he didn't make it obvious, but he paid close attention to Marcus. He mainly came back to check up on the boy. While he thought the boy would be okay, he still wanted to make sure.

After he forced the boys to fight against tougher and tougher animals all day. He took them back to Makino's for dinner before he headed out with Marcus for a walk. As they walked through the village towards the beach Garp said, "It looks like you stopped moping around."

"It's kinda hard to do when you have a brother like Luffy around. Ace and Sabo also helped."

Garp nodded slightly in understanding before he asked, "Did you grow up yet?"

"No."

The two fell into silence as they headed to the top of a seaside cliff. Once there, they sat under a tree and watched as the last hints of sunlight slowly disappeared. Before the first stars began to appear in the sky, Garp said, "I'm leaving tomorrow and won't be back for at least a year."

Marcus glanced over to Garp as he asked, "Really? You normally stay for at least a week or two, why the change?"

"Too many pirates are running rampant and they need to be taken care of. Plus my last vacation was too long and Sengoku has been complaining about making up the time." Garp said as he started to pick his nose.

"Whatever happened to that Vergo guy from the training camp?" Marcus asked.

"He's currently being watched, but his background is clean and he hasn't done anything suspicious. So they will probably drop the investigation soon." Garp said before he flicked a booger away.

"That's a bad idea."

Garp glanced at Marcus as he asked, "Why do you say that? Because of your sword?"

Marcus shook his head before he glanced up towards the night sky for a while and asked, "Do you ever have weird dreams grandpa?"

"Weird dreams? No, and what does this have to do with that Vergo brat?"

"I think I have weird dreams about the future sometimes and he was in one of them." Marcus said.

Garp turned to look at Marcus as he asked, "What do you mean, you think?"

Marcus let out a sigh before he said, "I've had a few very vivid dreams before and weeks or months later I'll read about an event similar to that dream in the newspaper."

Garp raised an eyebrow as he asked, "When did this start happening?"

"I've always had these weird dreams, but I just started to read the new paper and noticed similar events happening in the world." Marcus said.

"So what happened in this dream with Vergo?" Garp asked.

"The dream started with a small, red, heart-shaped fruit with a weird swirl pattern on it. For some reason a bunch of people wanted that weird thing and the person who had it was selling it to the highest bidder."

Garp turned his full attention to Marcus as he said, "I know that the marines go to buy the fruit on a snow covered island. But some blond haired guy stole it and force fed it to a little kid who seemed to be sick."

"The blonde guy was badly injured from stealing the fruit and told the little boy to find the marines for help. The boy found Vergo who seemed to be a pirate instead. Then another blond guy in a large pink feathery coat showed up and killed the first blond man. I think they might have been related since they kinda looked the same." Marcus said as he watched the stars.

"What else?" Garp asked.

Marcus shrugged as he said, "That was basically it. At least those are the main details that I remember from the dream."

Garp rubbed his chin in thought before he asked, "And you said these types of weird dreams normally come true?"

"Yeah. But I've only verified a few of them so far. The ones from when I was younger I am not sure about."

Garp stood up as he said, "Alright. Let's head back then."

Marcus stood up and as they started to head back to the village Marcus asked, "Do you believe me grandpa?"

Garp placed his hand on Marcus's head as he said, "Of course."

The next morning Garp left right after breakfast, much to the relief of the other boys. Within a couple weeks of Garp's departure a new ship was spotted on the horizon as it headed towards the village. It was just after lunch and the boys were about to head out to spar when they spotted the ship. It was basically a small black dot at that point, but they made a note of it and decided to wait for a bit before they went to spar.

After half an hour it became clear that the ship was pretty large and on top of its main mast flew a pirate flag. Once the boys realized it was a pirate ship, all of them ran off to warn the town's folks before they gathered up their weapons and moved down next to the dock. The boys patiently waited for the ship to approach and once it reached the dock Ace stepped forward and shouted, "Listen up pirate scum! You aren't welcome in Foosha Village!"

A few people peeked over the top railing of the ship before a little girl's voice said, "Pick me up! I wanna see too!"

A moment later a red and white haired girl appeared and looked down at the boys before she asked, "Who just called us scum?"

"I did." Ace said.

"Well, I think your face is stupid!" The girl said before she stuck out her tongue.

All of the people who leaned over the railing on the ship started to laugh and even the other boys cracked a smile before the gangplank dropped onto the dock. Ace and the other boys went on guard as a handful of people moved down from the ship to the dock. The man at the front stood tall with a smile on his face and a straw hat on his head.

He glanced at the boys lined up next to the dock and said, "It's admirable that you want to protect your home, but we didn't come here to raid your village. We just want to rest for a few days and resupply."

Ace studied the group for a few moments before he asked, "What do you think Marcus?"

Marcus with one hand on his sword said, "They should be okay, my sword isn't responding to them at all."

The man in the straw hat glanced at Marcus and the sword on his waist for a moment before he asked, "So can we stay here and rest?"

"Sure, but it will cost you." Marcus said.

Ace glanced at Marcus as the man in the straw hat asked, "Oh? And how much will it cost?"

"Every day you stay here, people from your crew need to spar with us." Marcus said with a smile as he eyed the group of people on the dock.