Chapter 17

Bonney's eyes widened a little before her surprise quickly turned to anger, "Those bastards! I refuse to be their slave again! I would rather die!"

Markus gently pat her shoulder, "Don't worry. As long as I am around you won't be captured by them again."

Rei, slightly off to the side and feeling like a third wheel, couldn't keep the look of curiosity off of her face. Seeing it, Bonney addressed her, "The government wants to capture and use me because of the power I hold. They once held me prisoner and used me for their own benefit against my will. After I managed to escape from them, I had no other choice but to become a pirate and build strength to protect myself."

Rei looked shocked and her question was written all over her face. This time Markus answered her, "Despite what the propaganda the Marines spew out says, the government is not the force for good it claims to be. The World Nobles, the leaders at the top, are corrupt useless scumbags. For example, slavery is illegal right?"

Rei nodded her head with a look that said 'that's obvious.' Markus smirked at her naivety, "Right? To most people owning a slave would be a quick way to find themselves locked up. Yet, on Sabaody Archipelago, right next to the Marine's main base of Marineford, there is a thriving slavery market. Because the World Nobles want to own slaves, the Marines ignore the illegal practice and pretend like they see nothing."

Rei looked completely shocked at this revelation. Markus continued, "Now, I'm not saying everyone is bad in the Marines but the top echelons of the government are all pretty corrupt. They ignore their own laws, commit mass murder to keep their secrets, and worse. Pirates aren't much better but at least you know a pirate is a bastard and they don't pretend to be righteous and preach false 'justice' all over the world. Frankly, I think the closest thing to a group of 'good guys' in this world is the Revolutionary Army. Then again, I don't know much about them so they could just be a different kind of scumbag."

Rei seemed to be lost in her own thoughts. The information Markus gave her drastically altered the way she viewed the world. She didn't doubt the truth of his words, he'd never lied to her, as far as she knew, and he didn't seem to have a reason to do so. He was a powerful pirate, what use were lies to him?

While she pondered, Markus took over the controls of the ship and got them back on course. He hadn't bothered with killing the Vice Admiral or the Marines serving under him. He'd just blasted the bottom of their ship with his cannonballs and let the ship sink. They'd gotten into their lifeboats and taken off while he returned to his boat.

As he started to drive, Bonney looked over at him, "So, what did they offer you in exchange for me?"

Markus snorted derisively, "They offered to make me a Shichibukai. I can't believe they're trying to keep that stupid system running. Crocodile became a prisoner and is now an escaped prisoner. Boa Hancock is madly in love with Luffy and helped him during the war at Marineford. Jinbe quit. Gecko Moria is dead, along with Donquixote Doflomingo. The only one still active should be Dracule Mihawk."

"What about Bartholomew Kuma?"

"Kuma..." He glanced at Bonney, "Well, he's as good as dead, unfortunately. They turned him into a mindless machine."

Bonney frowned deeply, "Bastards."

Markus nodded in agreement, "That means there's really only one truly active Shichibukai. They're basically trying to rebuild the system from scratch. Seems pretty pointless to me. But hell, if they announce new Shichibukai and I don't like them, I'll just rip them a new one and make the Marines have to try again and again."

Bonney had a vicious smile on her face after listening to Markus's plan. Like the majority of pirates, she considered the members of the Shichibukai to be traitors. Working for the World Government and the Marines? Despicable! Rei, having listened to their conversation frowned. She wasn't aware that the Marines worked side by side with select pirates. Her lowering opinion of them dropped a lot more.

After the small incident, they continued on their journey. They were traveling quickly and were currently between Long Ring Long Island and Jaya. The World Map function of his system let him keep track of their journey. As long as nothing major happened, they would arrive at the Drum Kingdom in just a few more days.

While looking at the map, he spotted Alabasta coming up before much longer. After thinking for a bit, he decided they should stop there for a day or two. Constantly being on the sea was rather boring and annoying in the small boat. Once they added Kureha it would be even more cramped. It would do them good to stretch their legs. It had nothing to do with trying to convince the two beautiful women with him to wear the sexy belly dancer outfits for sale on the island. Nothing to do with that at all.

Their journey continued to remain rather peaceful. The peace was mostly due to the speed at which they were traveling. It took Markus at least a week or more to travel from one island to the next on the Merry or Sunny. On his little boat, it only took a day or two. No one hoping to follow him or attack him could ever hope of keeping up. To add to that, his Observation Haki's massive range meant he always steered them away from other ships. He didn't plan to attack anyone. Not unless they pissed him off first.

During the next week and a half, nothing too unexpected happened. The weather of the Grand Line was as fickle as usual. Sometimes they would pass within fifty or so miles of other ships. Usually either pirates or Marines, rarely was it civilians. Nothing jumped out to catch his attention so Markus allowed them to pass in peace.

As night was falling on the eighth day since he met Vice Admiral Stainless, everyone on the boat could see an island coming into view on the horizon. Markus smiled brightly at the sight of the island. If he kept visiting like this, he might need to buy a house and make this his third home. Why third? His first was that crappy little island he was 'born' on. The second was the Merry, still sitting safely inside of his inventory.

He was still waiting for the day he could use his system to repair her perfectly. Even with the disassembly of the Pacifista's bodies, his level still wasn't high enough to repair the Going Merry. He just had a few more of the Pacifista corpses to disassemble, after that he would go on a crafting spree to grind the skill's level until he could fix Merry.

As far as the materials harvested from the Pacifista that he'd taken apart. He had zero clue what to do with them so they would sit in his inventory for the time being. He might find a use for them if he ever bothered to level his Technological Knowledge skill. It wasn't an easy skill to level and he was coming to the realization that he was more of a muscle head than a genius inventor. A smart muscle head, but still a muscle head.

While Markus was lost in his thoughts, Bonney had guided the ship to the docks at Rainbase. Markus had chosen Rainbase because it was his favorite city on the island. Here they could have fun, relax, and even do a little training out in the desert. The girls really needed to keep up their training to get stronger and start using the skills from the Rokushiki that they enjoyed along with Haki.

After the women gathered their clothing for their stay on the island, Markus stored the boat inside of his inventory and led both of them into the city. He picked a comfortable and large hotel and rented three rooms for the night. Rei was still uncomfortable over Markus spending his money on her but no amount of gesturing got Markus to change his mind. As much as Bonney liked Rei, even she refused to share a room with her. Everyone needed their personal space.

Rei grew even more uncomfortable the next day when Markus took her and Bonney to the casino. He wanted them to relax and unwind a little before he took them out into the desert and pushed their bodies to the limit. Markus and Bonney practically had to force Rei to gamble. Markus took her over to his favorite game, Roulette, and told her how it worked. Roulette was a simple game of chance and the easiest bets with the lowest odds were just picking between red or black.

Feeling uncomfortable and nervous, Rei placed her first bet ever. She set a measly one hundred Belly on red. Seeing the small bet caused Markus to chuckle and Bonney to just shake her head. Bonney had zero issues with taking Markus's money and spending it as if it were her own. She found Rei's reluctance adorable and entertaining. The dealer sent the roulette ball spinning around the edge of the wheel. After a few moments, he called out, "No more bets!"

Rei was exceedingly nervous as she watched the ball rolling around the roulette wheel. She even clasped her hands together as if she were praying. Markus was amused as he watched Rei. She stared fiercely at the rolling ball as if trying to will it to land on red. She was nervous, sweating, and terrified she would lose Markus's money. No matter how many times he told her that he didn't care, she did!

It felt like hours to Rei as she watched the ball slow down and bounce along the numbered slots of the wheel. Every time it bounced into a red slot she begged it to stay put in her mind and every time it would continue to bounce along. In her mind, it felt like it was taking an eternity for the ball to finally come to a stop. She squeezed her eyes shut and actually prayed. The ball finally came to a stop and the dealer called out, "Red thirty-two!"

Rei's eyes snapped open as she witnessed the dealer placing another one hundred Belly chip on top of her original one. The fifty-fifty shot bets only paid out one to one so the money only doubled, yet Rei was jumping up and down in excitement. She grabbed the two chips and looked at Markus with stars in her eyes. She held them out to him as if wanting to give them back. He thought for a moment before taking just one of them, "You won that bet all on your own so the winnings are yours."

Rei had a complicated look on her face for a moment before it became a look of determination. She turned back to the roulette table where the ball was already spinning for the next round of bets. She thought for a moment before placing her chip on black. This time around she was a lot more relaxed since it was 'her' money that she was betting. She still wanted to win but not as desperately as before.

A short time later the dealer called out eight black as the winner. Rei won another one hundred Belly. Markus watched, curious, as Rei continued to place bets on either red or black and win all of them. Within an hour she had won several thousand Belly. Bonney and Markus couldn't help but be amazed at her luck. Markus really wished he could view all of her attributes just to see what her luck was rated at.

His luck was pretty high but even then he still sometimes guessed wrong. Using his Haki he could determine approximately where on the wheel the ball would land after observing it. When just guessing and counting on his luck alone, his odds of winning seemed to be lower than Rei's.

It really was interesting and had him go down a rabbit hole of philosophical thoughts. Things like, had it been her luck that he happened to stumble across her little island just as some pirates were discussing turning them into slaves? What about his misunderstanding of her wanting to sleep with him when she was really asking to join him on the sea? Obviously, there were no real answers to these questions but they were mildly intriguing none the less.

The group spent the entire day playing games inside the casino. Rei never lost a single time at games of chance. The only time she struggled to win was when there was a human element involved, such as bluffing in poker. By the time night fell and they were all heading to a nice restaurant for dinner, Rei had won over two hundred thousand Belly for herself. To the average person, that was a fortune. To Rei, this money was even more important and valuable because she had 'earned' it herself. She even knew exactly what she wanted to do with it.

While sitting around their table, Rei set her money and the money Markus gave her on it and pushed it toward Markus. She gave him a serious look as she gestured to the thick stacks of bills. Markus looked between her and the money a couple of times before getting what she meant, "You want to give it to me?"

Rei nodded her head enthusiastically. Markus was a little confused though, "Why?"

She started plucking at the clothing she was wearing, clothing purchased with the money he had given her in Water 7.

"You want to pay me back?"

She, once again, nodded enthusiastically. Markus smiled a little but didn't reach for the money. What was a few hundred thousand Belly to him? He thought for a moment before he spoke, his words addressed to Rei and Bonney, "I think that you both should know this but, money means very little to me." He lowered his voice so he wouldn't attract unwanted attention, "We have no need to worry about money among us. I could easily give either of you a billion Belly and it wouldn't put a dent in my finances. I have piles of treasure and resources stored within my body. I've taken in entire ships, treasuries, and more. If I sold it all, I would easily be one of the richest men in the world. When I give you money it becomes yours and I no longer care what it is used for. It means nothing to me and I will never hold it over your head or ask for you to return it."

Rei was shocked as she listened to Markus speak. Bonney was slightly less shocked but even to her, a billion Belly was a rather large amount. For him to be able to casually give them each such an amount... Just how much money did he have? Seeing that both women looked shocked and even a little tense, Markus grinned playfully, "I do have quite a lot of money and resources, but it still might not be enough to feed Bonney if it's not food made by me."

Bonney instantly slapped his shoulder while Rei covered up her smile with one of her hands. Bonney turned away from him and pouted a little. What woman would want to be reminded of her 'dark past' like that? Markus grinned at the two of them before gently pushing the pile of money back toward Rei, "Keep the money you won and the money I gave you. You're a member of my crew and as the captain, it's my job to provide for you. This is how I intend to run my crew. If you think that's too much, just remember that once we have a larger ship you will be doing more work than just sitting in a chair and holding a steering wheel. If it helps, consider it as your wages."

Rei still looked a little conflicted but she accepted his reasoning and took back the pile of cash. It helped that Markus wasn't really lying. Cruising the seas in his little boat was infinitely easier and less taxing than it would be to sail a large ship. The ship he was building needed several people to be run properly but, unless he met someone else like Rei, the ship would be understaffed by the time it was ready. Four people running a ship meant for at least fifteen or so wouldn't be easy. Though, the modifications, electric motors, and Jet Dials would make things a lot easier.

Once they finished dinner, they moved toward their hotel room. While walking, Markus casually spoke, "Tomorrow morning we'll be heading out into the desert. It's been over a week since the last time we worked out. I also want you two to work on your Haki some more. The sooner you two can use it, the sooner you two will go stronger."

Bonney let out a long groan while Rei looked happy as could be. Rei wanted nothing more than to get stronger. Bonney, reluctantly, accepted the fact she needed to be stronger. She didn't need to like it though. Once they arrived at the hotel, the three of them split up to their respective rooms. Markus sat on his bed and thought about what he should do to push the two women a little harder.

The next morning, Markus led both of them out into the desert. Bonney was watching him and did not like the smile he had. Once they found a nice rocky area, Markus retrieved the simplistic leg press machines he'd made back at Water 7 and got the two of them working out on them. He used his gravity to make the small weights of the machine heavier than they would normally be. While they worked out, he tried to devise the best way to teach them how to use Soru.

Thanks to his system, he instantly learned how to use the skills and didn't have to train in them at all. He needed to make up a training method for the girls based on what he knew of them. He combined that with things he knew from his last life, especially other anime with similar techniques. His smile grew as he pulled some iron out of his inventory. He looked it over before using one of his free skill slots from his Goro Goro no Mi Control to make a brand spanking new skill. This was going to be fun.