Chapter 15

Everyone stared at Markus with their jaws dropped. Nami was the first to speak, "Markus?! What are you doing here?!"

Her question was immediately followed by a growl from Smoker, "You! I've been looking for you!"

Markus gave Nami a wink while he ignored Smoker for the moment, "Well, I saw you guys coming here and thought you might need a hand." He looked around the cell and smiled, "Looks like I was right." He turned to face Smoker, "Smokey! Good to see you again. Having fun?"

Smoker bit through his cigar as he growled threateningly at Markus, which was promptly ignored. Given their situation, Smoker let out a sigh, "What do you all know about Crocodile's plan? That woman with Crocodile, she's been on the run from the government for over twenty years. If I remember correctly her bounty is around 70 million. The moment those two joined hands it became more than just taking over a country. If left alone this could develop into an incident involving the whole world!"

Luffy shouted, "I don't need another reason to kick that bastards ass!"

Smoker relaxed and sighed, "I see. So then, how do you plan to get out of here?"

Luffy looked at the constantly rising water that had reached their thighs. Usopp started screaming that they were going to die while Luffy started losing strength from being submerged in water. Markus looked around and cracked his knuckles, "I think it's time to get out of here."

Smoker scoffed, "The bars are made of Seastone, there's no way you can break them with your bare hands, even with Haki."

Markus looked at Smoker like he was an idiot, "Who said anything about punching the bars?"

He clenched his fist tightly and coated it in a pitch-black layer of Armament Haki. Seeing what Markus did caused Smoker's jaw to drop. Armament Haki at the level Markus was displaying put him on a level similar to vice admirals in the marines! A young kid like Markus showing so much talent while being a pirate was dangerous in the extreme. If he was allowed to grow he could become a real threat! Markus looked at Smoker with a smile, "Even if the bars and some of the walls are made of Seastone, the rest of the wall is just stone or concrete. I'm surprised none of you realized that."

Markus cocked his arm back then slammed it into the wall while using his new Hasshoken subskill Shatterpoint. The entire cage shook as the shockwaves from his fist reverberated through the wall causing it to crack. The reverberations caused more of the windows in the area to shatter and more water to flood in. As the reverberations faded, the wall Markus struck shattered and collapsed leaving an outline of the Seastone used around the section.

Everyone stared, before Luffy laughed, "Way to go Markus!"

As everyone was looking at the hole Markus made, there was a loud boom as Sanji appeared and kicked one of the huge gators sitting outside of the cage in the stomach and caused it to spit out rubble and some other things. The Bananagators lived in the lake surrounding Rain Dinners and seemed to be crocodiles pets. The gators were massive creatures with an odd growth on their head shaped like a banana. Markus hadn't paid them much attention as they posed little to no threat. Crocodile had left a trapdoor into the lake open to let them inside to eat Vivi, though she managed to escape before Markus arrived and found Sanji. Sanji, trying to look cool, turned to everyone in the cage, "'Sup, did I keep you waiting?"

Markus ducked out of the hole he'd made in the wall and stepped out of the cage, "Not really."

Sanji's jaw dropped while Vivi shouted, "Markus?! When did you get in there?!"

Markus smiled while everyone else walked out of the cage, "Just a minute or two ago."

As Markus was talking to Vivi, more and more Bananagators came piling into the crumbling room bringing more water with them. Luffy, Sanji, and Zoro beat the crap out of the gators while sending their bodies crashing all over the place, which didn't help the structural integrity of the building much. Out of one of the gators, a giant wax ball was vomited into the air. When it crashed to the ground a dehydrated Mr. 3 popped out and started drinking water to recover. After drinking the water, Mr. 3 exclaimed, "Ahhh I'm back! I thought I was a goner!"

After a moment he realized there were people around him. When he saw Markus he gasped, "Ah! It's you!"

Markus shrugged his shoulders and punched Mr. 3 right in the face and knocked him out. Sanji chuckled and quickly put a note on Mr. 3's chest and arranged it so he would lay on some floating wood. Just as he finished, what remained of the windows shattered while the underwater passage leading out collapsed causing water to flood in rapidly. As the water flooded in and washed over Luffy, he shouted, "Markus! Save Smoker!"

Smoker had lost all of his strength and was stuck underwater drowning. Markus dove into the water and grabbed not just Smoker, but the bars of the cage they'd been trapped in as well. For whatever reason, the cage was separate from the rest of the room allowing it to be moved around. That being the case, Markus stored the entire thing inside of his inventory while rescuing Smoker. Seastone was an excellent material and he had some plans for it! With how much Seastone comprised the cage, he would be able to make a lot out of it.

The whole group swam through the water and came out on the outer side of the lake surrounding Rain Dinners. Markus gave Smoker a solid smack to the chest to get him to cough out water that had made its way into his lungs while Sanji did something similar with Luffy. While the others discussed what they should do next, Sanji had Nami put on some of the perfume he bought her. At that moment, Smoker recovered enough to thrust his jitte at Markus. Markus casually raised his hand and caught the thrust on his palm, "Markus! What reason do you have to save me?"

Markus smiled playfully, "The boss told me to. He must like you. Not that I blame him, you're an honorable man after all."

Smoker lowered his jitte and frowned, "Then... you won't mind if I arrest you all right now?"

Sanji waved his hand, "See?! This is what happens when you rescue a marine!"

Shouts started coming from a short distance away. More marines were on the way to their location. Luffy recovered at that moment and hopped to his feet, "Where's Crocodile?!"

He looked around and spotted Smoker standing off to the side. Completely serious, Luffy spun around and held his fists up, "Ah! Smokie! You want a piece of me too?!"

The two stared at each other in silence for a few moments before Smoker let out a long sigh, "Go." Luffy looked confused so Smoker elaborated, "Just this once... I'll look the other way... The next time we meet consider your life forfeit Strawhat Luffy." He turned his gaze to Markus, "And you Markus, I will relish taking you down personally."

Everyone but Luffy took off instantly while marines shouted behind them. Luffy looked confused and had to be chased off by Smoker swinging his jitte at him. Everyone ran through the city with the marines hot on their tail. As Luffy and Usopp were asking about how to get to Alubarna, Chopper appeared in front of them riding a giant crab with a pervy look on its face. After some talking, and Luffy drooling over the 'tasty looking' crab, everyone got on board and the crab took off at an impressive speed.

As they moved through the desert, Markus felt something coming toward them and smiled. He moved over to Vivi and wrapped his left arm around her waist. He pulled her close and spun around while reaching out to grab something with his right hand. Crocodile's golden hook. Markus held it tight and looked at Luffy, "Luffy, your ride is here."

Everyone looked shocked at Markus holding the golden hook in his hand. Luffy grinned broadly and cracked his knuckles, "Finally I can beat the hell out of Crocodile!!"

Luffy grabbed the hook and Markus let it go. Luffy went flying through the air. Everyone stared at Markus in shock while Luffy shouted from the air, "Go on ahead! I'll be fine by myself!"

Sanji grabbed Markus by the collar and was about to start berating him when Luffy continued shouting, "Make sure to keep Vivi safe and get her to the palace!!"

Zoro called out to Chopper, "Chopper keep the crab heading toward Alubarna!"

There was confusion as some people wanted to go back. Markus cut everyone off, "Have faith in Luffy. He'll be just fine and we'll see him again when we get to the city."

Nami added, "If anything, we should feel sorry for Crocodile! There hasn't been a single person to piss off Luffy and get away with it."

Zoro continued, "Listen up, Vivi. Luffy will hold Crocodile down here. When the rebels decided to march on the capital the time-limit for this countries life was set. This country will fall once the rebels clash with the royalists! If you're the only hope of stopping all of that... Then you have to survive no matter what! So no matter what happens to anyone here... YOU HAVE TO CONTINUE ON!"

Everyone started giving Vivi words of encouragement. Once it sank into her thick skull she looked behind them and shouted, "LUFFY! WE'LL BE WAITING FOR YOU AT ALUBARNA!"

Still in the air, Luffy shouted back, "ALRIGHT!"

Markus sat on the crab and started to relax. He could have taken the lift from the hook himself and beat the snot out of Crocodile but he had a couple of reasons for not doing so. First and foremost, if he did that Luffy would probably get pissed off at him. Luffy being mad at him wasn't that big of a deal usually but in this case, it could potentially cause Luffy to push him out of the crew. Even if the odds of that were minuscule he couldn't risk it, not when they were just a few islands away from Skypeia! Second, he'd made a lot of changes when he met with the rebel army and he needed to be at Alubarna to make sure they stuck. If they did he needed to make some changes to the way the group split up so they would all get their appropriate opponents.

The coming fights were especially important to Zoro and Nami. Zoro would learn how to cut steel and Nami would have her first real fight and victory. The other two fights weren't as important but they still needed to happen so there could be some development with the crew. Markus couldn't take down everyone by himself. His last reason for letting Luffy fight Crocodile was simple, Luffy needed to learn an important lesson regarding Logia devil fruits.

As they moved further away from Luffy's fight they saw a giant sand tornado appear on the horizon. Markus watched silently. Any moment now Crocodile would severely hurt Luffy but fail to kill him. Later, Robin would save Luffy and Pell would come across the scene. Markus had nothing to worry about. By the time Luffy and Pell arrived at Alubarna, everything would be taken care of.

While everyone was talking, Markus moved closer to Nami with a grin. His smile caused her to blush a little. He leaned close and whispered, "You know, while I was in the casino I won a bit of money." He instantly had her attention, "So I was wondering, how about we find a nice place to have a meal, just the two of us once all of this is over?"

Nami's light blush immediately became a full-on blush leaving her cheeks crimson, "J-just the two of us?" She turned her head so she wasn't looking at him, "I suppose we could."

Markus smiled brightly, "It's a date."

Nami immediately scampered away and spent time with Vivi on the other side of the crabs back. After a couple of hours, they were getting close to the river that ran through Alabasta. It was only then that the group learned that the crab they were riding on couldn't swim. As everyone was panicking, Chopper shouted, "That's right! The crab loves dancing girls!"

Nami and Vivi pulled off their robes revealing the skimpy dancer outfits they had on underneath. The eyes of the crab turned around to look at the girls and instantly turned into hearts. Markus got Sanji's attention and gave him a thumbs up for doing such a good job. Sanji gave Markus a knowing smile in return. Markus took a mental snapshot of the moment and filed it away.

With the girls filling its sight, the crab immediately picked up speed and charged full speed ahead at the water. The crab managed to run an impressive distance on the water before it started to sink. In the end, the entire group had to start swimming while giving their thanks to the crab. As they swam, a large catfish popped out of the water and towered above them. Vivi started screaming in a panic, "It's a Sandora Rarecat Fish! It's extremely rare to see!"

Usopp yelled, "Save the living planet narration for later!"

Vivi continued undaunted, "And it loves to eat humans!!"

"SAY THAT FIRST!!!"

Everyone swam away in a panic to get away from the huge fish when it started acting funny. It started bouncing in the water as little creatures that looked like seals with turtle shells came out of the water and beat the snot out of the fish. Usopp shouted, "Kung-fu Dugongs!"

The little creatures turned the big fish into a boat of sorts and started dragging it through the water while the crew rode on top of it. One of the Kung-fu Dugongs made animal noises and Chopper translated, "'We can't abandon our fellow disciples' it says."

In less than an hour, the dugongs brought the crew to the shore. After giving their goodbyes, everyone looked around trying to figure out what to do. As they were discussing the issue, a cloud of dust appeared on the horizon and rapidly closed in. Nami pointed to it, "Look over there!"

Vivi looked and shouted in surprise, "Carue! It's the Super Spot-Billed Duck Squad!"

Markus shuddered at the name of the group of ducks. Seven ducks that looked similar to Carue but with distinct differences came to a stop in front of the group. The group all got on a duck, Chopper shared the largest one with a camel the group had recruited and named Lashes. Markus had noticed the camel but completely ignored it. It was beyond a minor character. They took off and ran toward Alubarna. With the help of the ducks, they should arrive on time!

Between the crab, Rarecat Catfish, and ducks they'd been traveling all night long. It took a few hours for the final leg on the ducks but they could soon see the city of Alubarna before them. The group came to a stop to decide what to do. The plan they came up with was simple. Everyone but Vivi would put on a similar cloak provided by the ducks and act as a distraction for the Baroque Works agents. To decide who would go with who, lots were drawn. Markus let things play out but just as everyone was getting ready to depart, he spoke up, "Alright. I'm making a few changes."

Sanji scoffed, "We drew lots if you don't like it..."

Markus cut him off, "Shut up. You're going to go with Lashes the camel. Usopp you're going with Chopper." He glared at Sanji, "Sending two weak people together is a recipe for disaster. You six go to the city and distract or defeat the agents from Baroque Works. I'm going to go with Vivi and protect her. I can keep up with her and Carue on my own. No arguments!"

When everyone saw how serious Markus looked, they didn't argue. It was clear to everyone who the strongest person in the crew was and without Luffy around, Markus was clearly in charge. Even though Luffy had never officially stated Markus was his first mate, his strength was more than enough authority. Everyone put on their cloaks and took off on their ducks. With this everyone should meet their proper opponents. Chopper and Usopp would be fighting Mr. 4 and Ms. Merry Christmas. Zoro and Nami would be fighting Mr. 1 and Ms. Doublefinger. Sanji would be fighting Mr. 2 Bon Clay.

Vivi watched as the others left then turned to looks at Markus, "Are you sure this is the right thing to do?"

Markus smiled, "Yup. Everything will work out perfectly, I promise."

The two of them fell silent as they watched the others split up and were chased by the top tier members of Baroque Works. They waited for a few moments before Vivi urged Carue forward. Markus followed behind easily as she ran out to get in front of the charging army of the rebels. As they ran, Markus looked at the charging rebels and grinned when he heard what they were shouting. Man was Crocodile going to be pissed! When Vivi could finally understand the shouts coming from the army, tears started flowing from her eyes. They were all shouting, "Protect Alabasta! Protect Alubarna!"

Markus took the lead and called out to Vivi, "Follow me! We need to get further from the walls of Alubarna!"

He led her toward the army, specifically toward Koza leading them. As they got closer, Markus could see that Koza was wrapped in bandages, it seemed that he'd gotten hurt somehow. As Vivi and Markus got closer to Koza he started shouting out orders for everyone to stop. Within moments the entire rebel army came to a halt with a mere ten feet separating Koza and Vivi. Vivi was overly emotional as she looked at Koza with tears still streaming down her face.

Before Vivi and Koza could begin talking, a single cannon on the walls opened fire. Markus wasn't about to let a Baroque Works member mess with the moment. He leaped into the air and coated his hand with Haki just before punching the cannonball and shattering it into pieces. When he landed he looked at Koza, "Baroque Works infiltrated the royal army just like they did yours."

Koza nodded, "I figured. After we spoke I did as you suggested and postponed the attack. A few people became outspoken about attacking right away. When we caught them they confessed to being members of Baroque Works."

Vivi stepped into the conversation, "Y-you know, Leader?"

Koza looked at Vivi with a smile, "Your friend there told me everything a few days ago."

Vivi turned to look at Markus with a look of shock. Markus gave her an innocent look, "Oh? Did I forget to mention that I met Koza? Well, so much has been going on."

Vivi didn't know whether to be enraged or relieved and her face clearly showed it. Markus just smiled and turned to Koza, "Agents are still in the royal army so it's not safe for you to move closer or misunderstandings could happen. For now, my friends are dealing with the higher-ranked agents of Baroque Works. You keep your men here and I'll escort Vivi into the city to start rooting the agents out of the royal army."

Koza nodded, "I'll have my men stay here and make sure no one who tries to flee can get away. But I'm coming with you."

Markus thought for a moment before warning Koza, "Alright, but be wary. The agents hidden in the royal army might attempt to assassinate you. I'll do what I can to protect you but my priority is Vivi!"

Vivi sniffled off to the side while Koza nodded, "Good. I wouldn't want it any other way."

Together, the three of them along with Carue made their way to the city. They made it to the city without much issue. Chaka, the second head guard of the palace, was manning the walls and watched as three people in robes and Carue approached the stairs leading to the top of the plateau where the city of Alubarna stood. Chaka was a tall muscular man with short black hair and a tanned skin tone. He rushed over to meet them along with several of the royal guards. When Vivi saw him, she ran over to him shouting, "Chaka! Don't fight the rebel army! They're not here to fight!"

Chaka looked surprised, "Princess? Who..."

Before he could ask who was with her, Koza and Markus pulled down their hoods. Chaka instantly recognized Koza and moved Vivi behind him to protect her. Vivi stepped around in front of him, "Chaka! No! He's here to help protect the city from Crocodile!"

Chaka turned to look at Vivi, "What?"

Markus cut in, "The rebels know what's been going on just like you do." He looked at Vivi, "Get him to clear the Baroque Works agents out of the royal army. They can't be allowed to cause issues like the asshole that fired the cannon at us."

Chaka looked shocked and then angry. He didn't wait for Vivi to give the order. He had guards he knew were loyal immediately begin checking others for Baroque Works tattoos. It wasn't long before arrests were being made. Markus made sure everything was going well before he vanished. He made his way toward the palace where Crocodile would appear with the King and Robin. It was finally time to put Crocodile down. Markus grinned viciously while finding a comfortable spot to wait in.