Chapter 10

Markus left Madam Pomfee's shop with everyone else while he drifted off into his thoughts. He didn't have much to do and wasn't used to just wasting time lazing about. Before he would spend most of his time doing image training but with his current strength, there really wasn't very much point to that. He could push for level three hundred and probably achieve it with ease, but what was the point? He was probably the strongest person in the world at this point.

As he was pondering, he felt Rei looking at him once again. Annoyed by it, he finally turned and looked directly into her eyes. Blue and grey orbs stared intently at each other. If Rei's eyes were intense, Markus's were apathetic. He could feel her strength and while she was pretty strong by normal standards, by his she was weak.

As they stared at each other, Jacob cleared his throat, "Uh, Markus."

If Markus acted like Luffy or a normal protagonist he would have ignored Jacob or told him to shut up, instead, he looked away from Rei and focused on Jacob, "Yes?"

As he looked away he very clearly heard a 'tch' from an annoyed sounding Rei. Jacob cleared his throat and sounded a bit nervous as he spoke, "Ah, well, it's just... It's kind of a tradition around here that if two warriors stare into each other's eyes for too long it means they want to duel." He seemed a little panicky as he waved his hands defensively, "Of course it's not a duel to the death or anything like that! More like a friendly spar to determine who is stronger!"

Markus straightened up a little bit with a sly grin on his face, "So what you're saying is, Rei here wishes to duel me to see who is stronger?"

Jacob, still looking nervous, slowly nodded his head, "Uh, yes, it would appear so. Please forgive her. She's very headstrong and is determined to be the strongest warrior on our little island."

"Is that so?" He turned to look at Rei, "Why not just ask me for a friendly spar and go about it in such a roundabout way that I'm unaware of?"

Rei just stared at him with determination written all over her face. Jacob sighed at the sight and explained in her place, "Rei doesn't really speak all that much... well... she doesn't speak at all. She hasn't said a word or made a sound since her parents were killed by pirates when she was six."

Markus nodded in understanding. Rei's story wasn't exactly something uncommon in this world. For decades, pirates had been sailing the seas. Even before Roger started the last pirate era they weren't exactly uncommon. He glanced at Rei and estimated her age to be around her late teens. Maybe eighteen or nineteen, twenty at the very most. As he looked her over she continued to stare at him.

He let out a sigh before asking, "You're just going to stare at me until I either accept the duel or I'm forced to. Right?"

Rei gave him a determined nod. After shaking his head, Markus turned to look at Jacob. Since Rei didn't talk his only option was to speak to him, "What are the rules for these duels of yours?"

"There's not much to them. Just no killing or crippling, that sort of thing. The winner is determined when one person is either knocked out, admits defeat, or simply can't continue." He cleared his throat a bit, "Uh, while it's not against the rules or anything... I'd like to ask that you refrain from using your power in the duel. It... uh..." he blanched a little, "Seems kind of deadly."

Jacob was recalling the sight of the crushed pirate bodies and Captain Ruff with a gaping hole burnt through his chest. Markus had been a model guest, even helping them out with their hunt. Yet, he was still a little afraid of the man. He was clearly very powerful and deadly. There was no doubt in his mind that Markus would easily defeat Rei. He just wanted to minimize the risk of her accidental death. After all, if Markus killed her what were they going to do? Fight him? What a joke.

Markus nodded in understanding. If he used either of his powers, he would destroy Rei in an instant... Not that he couldn't do the exact same thing without them. To keep from using them on accident, he pulled out his Seastone bracelet and slipped it on. Actually, he should probably keep it on most of the time now. He could work on leveling his resistance. Once it was at its maximum rank he would have very little to fear from the mineral.

Jacob watched him put on the bracelet and couldn't help asking, "Why are you putting on jewelry?"

"It has some Seastone in it. That will prevent me from using the power granted by my Devil Fruit."

Rei's eyes practically glowed with anticipation. According to her understanding, once he put that bracelet on he lost his ability to use his Devil Fruit and would be at least somewhat weakened depending on the strength of the Seastone. Jacob made a 'follow me' gesture, "We'll go to a clear area for this."

Bonney had been silent the whole time but as the small group followed Jacob, she finally spoke up, "Are you really going to fight the girl?"

Markus shrugged his shoulders, "It was either that or have her continue to stare at me until we finally leave the island. Besides, I don't think you can call her a 'girl' when she's probably older than me."

Bonney looked a little surprised and couldn't help asking, "How old are you?"

Markus looked at Bonney with a bright grin, "Sixteen."

Bonney froze in mid-step and stared at him with her jaw hanging open. Markus just smirked at her and continued to follow Jacob and Rei to where they would be dueling. It wasn't too far away, just outside of the village so that buildings wouldn't be damaged in the process of the duel. A couple of people had noticed what was going on and followed to watch. It wasn't a crowd, just a few dozen people.

Rei stood off on the opposite side of the area and faced Markus with her spear in hand. Markus didn't bother getting any of his weapons, his unarmed skills would be more than enough for the duel. Jacob stood between them and would be acting as the referee. He looked between the pair as he asked, "Are you both ready?"

Rei and Markus both nodded without taking their eyes off of each other. Jacob lifted his hand into the air and swiftly brought it down, "Begin!"

Rei instantly pushed off of the ground and charged at Markus with her spear aimed directly at his heart. Rei's speed was actually a little impressive. She was at least as fast as Luffy, in his base state. Still, it was nothing compared to his own, even if his abilities were currently reduced by half. As she closed in, he calmly batted the tip of her spear to the side with his left hand and casually threw a punch with his right.

Rei came to an abrupt stop and jumped backward to get out of range of his punch. Pretty impressive as even his casual punch would be enough to hurt her. After landing, she planted her feet firmly and started thrusting rapidly with her spear. To counter her, Markus covered his finger in a layer of Armament Haki and used it to parry her thrusts. He wasn't trying to demean her or anything but she was the one who wanted to duel, not him.

Seeing him use his black finger to counter her thrusts, Rei narrowed her eyes and gripped her spear tighter. To his surprise, he could feel a very faint amount of Armament Haki around the spear. It was still very weak and in the invisible state but it was there. It would only take her some more practice and she would likely be able to bring it up to the blackening state. Perhaps she was a natural Armament Haki user. With his interest in the duel increased, he decided to push her a little to see if she could have a breakthrough.

Rei was determined to do something and pushed herself harder. Her spear became a blur in the eyes of the observers. Meanwhile, Markus continued to use his finger to parry all of her attacks while occasionally throwing out his own counterattacks. Each attack from him forced Rei to move into a new position to continue her assault. After a bit, he stopped using his finger to counter her spear and instead used his Observation Haki to casually dodge all of her attacks.

Clearly, his plan was working because Rei was quickly growing frustrated and angry. However, she didn't let her anger cloud her judgment. Instead, she focused even more on her attacks causing them to become sharper and deadlier. The one-sided duel continued for several more minutes before Rei let out a wordless shout. With her shout, the entire spear turned black as she violently thrust it at Markus.

All of the observers were shocked as the spear slammed into Markus's chest. An instant later they were astounded as the haft of the spear snapped in half. Of course, Markus wouldn't just let her stab him. He predicted where the spear would hit him and used his Tekkai and Armament Haki to counter the thrust. It didn't even leave a scratch on him, through his clothing now sported a fresh hole.

Rei fell to her knees while panting heavily and covered in sweat. Her purple hair clung to the sides of her face while she stared at him with her bright blue eyes. Markus smiled down at her, "Congratulations on growing stronger. Are you satisfied now?"

Rei, obviously, didn't speak but she slowly nodded her head with a bright smile. However, she turned to look at her broken spear and then back to Markus. She had a questioning look on her face. He seemed to understand what she was trying to ask, "You want to know why your spear turned black like my finger?"

She nodded vigorously with a look of expectation. Markus chuckled a little at her antics, "It's called Armament Haki. It's a special skill that can be learned by strong fighters. When it's used it increases the offensive and defensive power of your attacks. The most important aspect, in my opinion, is the ability of Armament Haki to counter the powers of Devil Fruit users and deal damage to even Logia users."

Seeing the confused look on her face, Markus expanded on his explanation, "A Logia us a type of Devil Fruit, the rarest of them all. It allows people who eat them to turn in to an element. For example, I have the Goro Goro no Mi. It allows me to turn into electricity making me a Lightning Human. Normal attacks with normal weapons can't hurt me at all, they simply pass harmlessly through my body."

To demonstrate, he took off his Seastone bracelet for a moment and picked up the upper half of her broken spear. Without any hesitation, he stabbed the spear through his chest. There were gasps of surprise at the act and further gasps when they saw the sparks of electricity around it. Markus left it there for a moment before pulling it out and showing that nothing had happened. Not even to his clothing, "See? Now if the spear was black like before, then that stab would have actually hurt me." He smiled playfully, "Well, if I didn't dodge or block it."

Rei looked enlightened as she stared at the broken half of her spear still held in her hands. Jacob finally shook off his shock and decided to end things here. Without her trusty spear, Rei wasn't all that great of a fighter, "I pronounce Markus as the winner of this duel! Congratulations!"

Most of the onlookers began to cheer while a few of them walked over to give Rei some words of comfort. Markus left the area and joined Bonney. She gave him a bland look, "Was it really necessary to explain one of your weaknesses to a stranger?"

He just shrugged his shoulders, "Explaining it won't help her hurt me. She's a decent fighter, even stronger than Luffy and the others when I first met them. Still, she's no threat to me. She may have instinctively learned how to use Armament Haki but she's far from a master. Even if she was a master at using it, she wouldn't be able to harm me with it using her current strength."

Bonney gave him a skeptical look the entire time he was speaking and only withdrew it when he finished. From what she'd seen, he wasn't wrong about his evaluation of Rei's capabilities. Then again, he was just a monster among men so if he wanted to teach someone something or help them get stronger it wasn't any of her business.

Seeing her off in her own world thinking, Markus spoke up, "Don't worry. There's no need to be jealous. I plan to teach you a thing or two to help you become stronger as well."

Bonney turned her head to glare at him, "That's not what I was thinking at all, asshole!"

Markus gave her an 'understanding' look as he waved his hand in a placating manner, "Sure, sure, I understand."

Bonney reached out to slap him with her hand only for him to swiftly dodge to the side. With the Seastone bracelet on, her hand wouldn't phase through his body. The last thing he needed was to be back in diapers or so decrepit he could barely walk. Bonney might not be very fast or strong but the power of her Devil Fruit was terrifying for anyone. Naturally, it had it's upside as well. Bonney effectively had eternal youth until she was killed by someone. She could be any age she wanted for as long as she wanted. Markus would also be able to freeze his age later when he started using the Pure Gold he received. That wouldn't be for a few more years though.

As he mused to himself, they arrived at their little inn and picked a table to relax at. Markus wasn't used to having so much free time. He was used to spending most of his time either within his Image Training, on an adventure, or hanging out with his friends. Without the old crew around and only Bonney to accompany him, he was finding ways to spend the time difficult to come by. At this point, he was starting to hope to find an adventure of his own to have. Unfortunately, without any knowledge of where to go to find such adventures, he would have to look for them. He had no hope of just stumbling on one.

Coming out of his thoughts, he ordered himself an ale to sip for a while. He kind of wished he had Aokiji's ability right now so he could easily keep the drink cold for hours. Or, at the very least, a dial that dealt with cold. Thankfully, this place was a winter island so there was plenty of ice around, it just sucked that it melted and watered down the drink. He wasn't a big fan of liquors like rum. They were too strong and burned his tongue and throat. Then again, he was still sixteen, maybe he would like them more later on.

As he sipped the ale, the door to the inn opened and Rei came walking in. The moment she spotted Markus, she walked right up to him and began to stare again. This time was a little different though. Instead of a look of determination, she had a look of expectation. Markus didn't stare back and instead asked, "Are you here for another duel? If so, I'm not interested."

Rei shook her head and pointed in a specific direction. Markus looked where she was pointing and saw that her finger happened to be aimed at the stairs leading up to the second floor. He slowly turned back to look at Rei. She was older than him, gorgeous, and had the potential to be a powerful fighter. Still, he didn't know her all that well, "I don't think it's a good idea. We just met. I think we should get to know each other better before we do anything like that."

Seeing the look of absolute disappointment on Rei's face made him feel bad for rejecting her. She gave him what could only be described as a 'pitiful' look as if pleading with him. Markus wavered a bit before letting out a sigh. He stood up from his chair and gave her his most charming smile, "Alright, alright. Don't look at me like that. Let's go."

Rei suddenly had such a bright and happy smile that it would warm anyone's heart. Markus smiled back and held his hand out toward her. Instead of taking it, Rei spun on her heels and charged out of the inn. Markus watched her leave with a confused look as Bonney broke out into raucous laughter while slapping the table. Markus scratched his head, "If she didn't want to go up to my room, why did she point to the stairs?"

He turned to the lady that ran the bar of the inn, "Do you know what that was all about?"

She should know Rei better since they lived in the same village but all he got was a shake of her head, "Sometimes Rei is difficult to understand since she never speaks. It took us months to realize she wanted to be a warrior since all she did was point at a spear."

Markus sighed and sat back down to take a large gulp of his drink. Though he didn't love Rei or even feel all that much attraction to her, yet. She was still a beautiful woman and he would have greatly enjoyed losing his virginity with her. Markus grumbled to himself while Bonney continued to laugh happily. After finishing his drink and ordering another, he faced Bonney, "We'll leave tomorrow and continue to Water 7. I never intended to stay here this long but it was a nice little diversion. By the way, do you, by any chance, know any good ship designers at Water 7?"

Bonney wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and continued to smile mirthfully, "I don't. I'm sure we can find one easily enough though. There are tons of them on that island."

Markus accepted his new drink and continued sipping on it. He just hoped it wouldn't be too late in the day tomorrow when they could leave. He actually missed being on the sea. That wasn't really so surprising since he'd spent most of his new life sailing on the ocean. He smiled to himself and calmly enjoyed the rest of the day at the inn with Bonney. Rei didn't return that day.