00030. Romance Dawn.

The man in the straw hat glanced over at the boys before he asked, "What do you think Benn? Should we let them spar with one of the apprentices?"

The man studied the boys for a moment before he said, "I think Uta would be a better match for them, captain."

The man in the straw hat turned to look at Benn in shock as he asked, "What? I'm not gonna let Uta fight them!"

"Uh? Why can't I fight them, dad?" Uta asked as she came down from the gangplank.

"Because you're too strong." The man in the straw hat said as he started to sweat.

Uta placed both hands on her hips and looked up at the man as she said, "You're just trying to protect me again!"

"I wasn't! I really think you're too strong for these boys and I don't want you to hurt them." The man hurriedly said.

"You think we're weak, old man?" Ace asked as he stared down the man with the straw hat.

"Of course you are. That's why I'll fight all of you at once!" Uta said as she struck a pose and made a victory sign with her right hand.

Marcus glanced at the others as he said, "Is it me or is she kinda like Luffy."

Ace and Sabo nodded along before they said, "She's an idiot."

"What?!" Luffy and Uta said at the same time.

Everyone around them started to laugh before Uta teared up. Then the man with the straw hat instantly stopped laughing and went to comfort the girl. The girl tried to push him away as she said, "Idiot Shanks, leave me alone."

Shanks tried to comfort her as he said, "Hey, hey, it's okay. It was just a silly joke, no need to get upset over it."

Marcus shook his head as he said, "How is she going to fight us if she cries at a simple joke? Isn't she a little too weak?"

Uta pushed Shanks away with tears still in the corner of her eyes as she said, "Don't look down on me! I can easily beat you up!"

"Uta, you don't…" Uta glared at Shanks and cut him off as she said, "You laughed at me too, so don't talk to me right now."

Uta wiped her face clean with the sleeve of her shirt as she moved closer to the boys and said, "Come on, I said I would fight all of you. Let's go!"

Marcus glanced at the other as he asked, "Who wants to go first?"

"I don't want to beat up a little girl who cries." Sabo said as he shook his head.

"Neither do I." Ace said.

Marcus looked at Luffy who watched the girl approach before he said, "I don't think fighting her will be fun."

Uta stopped in place and puffed out her cheeks as she stared at the boys who basically insulted her. Marcus let out a sigh before he removed his sword from his waist and handed it to Ace as he said, "Even if she's weak and cries over nothing. We should still show her proper respect and fight her if she wants."

Uta felt insulted and happy at the same time. Even though Marcus basically called her a cry baby, he still planned to fight her. Normally no one wanted to fight with her since she was the youngest on the ship and Shanks tended to baby her. But this boy Marcus, he didn't seem to care.

As the boy in question started to move in front of the others, Luffy said, "Didn't big sis Makino say it's not polite to hit girls?"

"Yeah, she did." Ace said.

Marcus shrugged his shoulders before he punched out a few times to loosen up his muscles as he said, "Boy? Girl? It doesn't matter to me. If someone wants to fight, I'll fight them."

Marcus had a serious look as he glanced over to Shanks, Benn and the others on the dock as he said, "Don't blame me for what happens next."

Uta pulled up her fists as she said, "Bring it on!"

A short distance separated the two and a moment later Marcus was in front of Uta. Uta flinched back in surprise with how fast Marcus was and closed her eyes unconsciously. A moment later someone gently patted her head and said, "You lose."

Uta opened her eyes before Marcus pinched her cheek which made her flush red. Then Marcus smiled at her as she stepped back and stammered out, "W-what do you mean I lost?"

"You let your opponent inside your guard and closed your eyes. If this was a real fight you could be seriously injured or worse."

Uta was about to respond when Benn said, "He's right Uta, you lost."

Marcus glanced at Benn as he said, "Now send out someone who can actually fight."

"But I didn't." Uta was cut off as Shanks stepped forward and put a hand on her shoulder. She looked up at Shanks as he said, "Since you held back against Uta, I'll hold back against you. Get your sword and we'll spar."

"No."

Some of the crew laughed before Benn said, "Looks like he doesn't like you captain."

Marcus shook his head as he said, "I don't use my sword for sparring."

"Really? Then how do you train your swordsmanship? Is your sword just for decoration?" Shanks asked.

"I have a training sword I use for spars. I'll go grab it, while you spar with my brothers."

As Marcus turned around Shanks said, "If we're going to spar, just use your real sword."

Marcus glanced over his shoulder as he said, "I'm not allowed to spar with my sword. Plus I wouldn't want you to lose your arm in an accident."

Most of the crew started to laugh as Uta said, "Just because you beat me, doesn't mean you could even touch Shanks in a fight!"

Marcus received his sword back, placed it on his waist, then drew his blade. He walked past his brothers before he causally swung his blade at one of the small boulders sitting off to the side of the dock. As he slid his sword back into its scabbard the boulder split evenly in half.

Ace, Sabo and Luffy smiled like idiots as Shanks and the rest of his crew stared slack jawed at the boulder. Uta was the only one confused as she asked, "What happened to that boulder? Why did it fall apart?"

As Marcus walked back to Makino's to collect his training sword, he couldn't help but smile to himself. While he still had issues with the fact he killed someone. He had to admit it helped him overcome one of the barriers he had in his swordsmanship.

While he still couldn't do consecutive air slashes in a row, he had no issue with doing at least one. They still lacked size, power and could only travel around fifty feet. But they looked awesome when he wanted to show off and could easily catch an opponent off guard.

When Marcus arrived at Makino's he collected his training sword before he ran off into the forest. It didn't take him long to find the villagers and let them know that it was safe to return. As they walked back, Makino asked, "So they only came here to resupply uh?"

"That's what they said, but I have a feeling they might stay here for a bit."

"I doubt that. Pirates normally don't stay in one place for too long, it makes it easier to get caught." Mayor Woop Slap said.

Marcus shrugged as he said, "Well whatever happens it should be fine."

The Mayor, Makino and a few others joined Marcus to go meet the pirates at the dock. Once they arrived they found Ace, Sabo and Luffy knocked out as the man called Shanks talked with his crew.

Marcus glanced at his brother's for a moment as Makino said, "Looking at your brother's like that, makes me feel like your grandpa is here."

Marcus smiled as he nodded in agreement before he pulled out his training sword and said, "Alright, let's do this old man."

Everyone in Shanks crew laughed at that comment while Shanks himself smiled slightly. He picked up a belaying pin as he said, "Your friends lasted about a minute, do you think you can do better?"

Marcus slid his right foot backwards and took up a defensive stance as he said, "Maybe, it depends how strong you are."

Shanks didn't raise his guard as he approached Marcus. Instead he raised his empty hand and waved at Marcus to come closer as he asked, "You were the one who wanted to spar, so why aren't you attacking?"

Marcus focused on Shanks as he said, "Unlike my brothers, I like to test my opponents before I rush headlong into a fight."

"That's a good idea, but that doesn't always work out in a real fight." Shanks said and he moved into Marcus's sword range.

Marcus used a fast attack as he tried to test Shanks out. Shanks easily parried the blow and went into a counterattack, which Marcus dodged with a backstep as he brought his sword back up. The next moment Marcus lashed out with another attack, this time aimed at Shanks's hand that held his weapon.

Shanks moved his weapon slightly to intercept the blow as he said, "You should be more aggressive when testing an opponent."

As Marcus attacked again he asked, "If I'm too aggressive it could open up flaws my opponent could use against me."

Shanks finally went on the offensive as he aimed a blow at Marcus's head as he said, "You either put enough pressure on them that they can't exploit it. Or you purposely make flaws appear that are actually traps."

Marcus and Shanks stopped talking as Marcus switched to an attacking stance. With his new stance he doubled his attacks and also pushed Shanks back slightly. Shanks smiled to himself slightly as he tested the boy's skills.

The boy was definitely skilled and whomever was training him should be a master swordsman. The longer they fought the more Shanks wanted to spar with the boy's master. He glanced at the people of the village who gathered around to watch them fight. But couldn't find anyone who gave off the aura of a trained fighter.

'Maybe his master didn't live in the village.' Shanks thought as he counterattacked the boy again.

Shanks took his time as he slowly applied pressure to Marcus. Once Marcus was used to it, he increased it again. At first he wanted to see how skilled Marcus was, but after a while he realized Marcus just kept improving the more he pressured him. It just motivated him to see how long Marcus could hold on for.

Time seemed to pass in a blur for Marcus as he focused his complete attention on his spar with Shanks. It was the only thing that seemed to exist at this moment in time. He wasn't sure how much time had actually passed when he finally missed a parry and Shanks was able to land a blow on his head. While his vision started to blur from the blow, he noticed that Shanks had a large smile on his face as he fell backwards.

After Marcus collapsed on the ground, Shanks glanced over to Benn as he asked, "What do you think?"

"None of those boys seem like they are from East Blue."

Shanks glanced down at Marcus as he said, "I wonder who trains this kid in swordsmanship. Whoever it is has to be from the grandline, at least."

Makino walked over to Marcus as she said, "He's basically self taught. His grandpa show's up every once in a while to test the boys and force them into some weird type of training. But they mostly learned everything they know on their own."

Shanks turned to Makino in shock as he asked, "He really doesn't have a master?"