Chapter 3

Markus looked over the unconscious Absalom for a bit while pulling the crates that contained his fruits and vegetables out of his inventory. Once they were set out, he sent a powerful jolt of electricity through Absalom's body and burned his heart until it became charcoal. As Absalom died, he focused on the crates and tried to sense any changes within them. A couple of minutes passed but nothing changed, "Damn!"

He stored Absalom's body inside of his inventory along with his two crates. Whatever fruit the Suke Suke no Mi came from was one he didn't currently own. That meant it had reincarnated somewhere else and there was no telling where that would be. Markus was really annoyed but he didn't let it get to him and started to scan the whole island in detail. He hoped the Suke Suke no Mi had reincarnated somewhere on Thriller Bark.

All he found was Chopper, Usopp, and Nami riding in a carriage and talking about someone named Doctor Hogback with a weird freak that had a short body and extra-long arms with wings. A weird combination of human and bat complete with long fangs. They weren't in any real danger so he continued to move his focus around while trying to not lose hope. Though it wasn't super powerful or even that great against people with Observation Haki, the Suke Suke no Mi was every healthy man's romance!

However, he was completely unable to locate even a hint of the Suke Suke no Mi anywhere on the island. He sighed in defeat and made his way back to the deck of the ship. He knew it was always a risk that he wouldn't get a Devil Fruit from killing someone for it. This time it was just his bad luck to not get it. As far as guilt over killing Absalom? He had none. Absalom was scum of the worst order. The kind of man that would assault a woman. The world was better off without him.

Markus arrived on the deck and looked over the situation. While he was below deck, the Sunny had started rocking due to violent artificial waves. Currently, those waves were moving the ship toward a giant spiderweb suspended between the island and the wall surrounding it. Markus looked around before calling out, "I'm gonna go exploring!"

When he finished talking he leaped into the air and used Geppo to move swiftly. As he took off he could hear Luffy screaming, "NO FAIR! I WANT TO GO TOO!"

As Markus entered the island he listened to a conversation between Dr. Hogback and a ghost. They were trying to figure out where Absalom was and worrying over the price on not just Markus's head but the other high-value targets on their ship. It seemed they were a bit worried that their prey might be more than they can handle. Markus just grinned. Even without him here they would be doomed to an ass-whooping.

As he looked around, he could still hear discussions going on with the two halves of the crew. After a run-in with some zombies, Nami, Usopp, and Chopper were invited into Dr. Hogback's mansion where Nami was currently taking a peaceful bath. Thanks to Absalom being taken out, she was free to enjoy her bath without being assaulted.

He found a comfortable spot in the forest and took potshots at a few of the zombies with his Railgun skill on a low setting. He felt complicated about shooting them. Honestly, he hadn't felt right since Enies Lobby. He'd done his best to ignore it but shooting the zombies brought it to the forefront of his mind.

He'd lost himself on Enies Lobby for a short time. No matter how mature or together he acted, the fact was he was still less than a year old. He liked to think of himself as cool, calm, and collected but his shameful display at Enies Lobby showed otherwise. He knew what would happen to Robin and he, in fact, deliberately let it happen. Yet, he still lost his temper and took it out on the Marines around him. He knew that not all of the Marines were bad people. Many of them just wanted to protect people and serve real justice against real villains. Most of the corruption and evil resided at the top with people like Akainu.

He sighed and leaned his head back against the tree he was resting in. It seemed that knowledge didn't equal maturity. His knowledge helped him grow up faster but it didn't help so much with his emotions. It took children years to get their emotions under control and that was without having to deal with difficult adult situations. He couldn't help thinking that his immaturity was a part of why he didn't truly pursue Nami or Robin as a potential partner. Aside from the obvious issues of dating a crewmate.

He needed more experience to grow and mature into a real man to no longer be the manchild he currently found himself to be. Morals? He knew about them but hadn't been raised to have any. Mercy? What's that? Can you eat it? Honor? He'd learned about that from his companions. Yet, he still besmirched his own honor at Enies Lobby and let his emotions control his actions. Markus knocked the back of his head against the tree and tried to figure out how to solve this issue of his. For now... he could swear off killing anyone whose emotions weren't 'evil'. It was the best he could think of at the moment.

As he tried to ignore his growing depression, he heard a cheerful childish chant coming from around him. He looked around and found he was surrounded by simple looking white ghosts that had their tongues hanging out while they chanted, "Ne--ga--tive, ne--ga--tive"

Instead of being scared of worried, Markus smiled and waved at the ghosts, "Hello, Perona-chan!"

The ghosts showed no reaction to his words but he knew their master, Perona, would when she got the information. He wasn't one hundred percent clear on how exactly her ghosts worked as scouts, he just knew they did. The only thing he could really remember about them is that if they passed through someone, that person would instantly have their mood turn to depressed. Perhaps even depressing them enough to become suicidal. It worked a lot like his own Dominator's Haki with its depression aura.

Markus watched, curious, as one of the ghosts flew directly at him and passed clean through his body with no resistance. He let it happen because he wanted to see what would happen. As the ghost passed through him he felt a will that wasn't his own tried to invade but was instantly repulsed and crushed. Markus wasn't surprised but he was confused.

He'd felt a similar sensation the first time he'd drawn Shodai Kitetsu when its will tried to take him over. However, Shodai hadn't been repulsed as the ghost had. Instead, it was his own will and spirit that had tamed Shodai, at least for now. The first skill his system gave him, "Life is but a Game", gave him an 'indomitable' mind. So, supposedly Shodai shouldn't have been able to try and influence him, especially once he met the requirements to wield it. The only thing he could think of was that the sword was special because it was a reward from his system.

The ghosts hung around him for a bit more before flying away. Markus didn't pursue them and once they were out of sight he couldn't find them with anything but sound as they continued their chant. If the ghosts were silent he wouldn't be able to track them with his Observation Haki. They weren't living, didn't have physical forms of any sort, and were completely silent as long as they didn't talk. Kind of scary when you thought about it. Perona's ghosts could sneak up on even an admiral.

As he pondered that, he looked toward the location of Gecko Moria and watched as he cut the shadow off of Sanji and placed it within a penguin with a dog face. Markus watched it happen and couldn't help wondering why he let it happen. He had more than enough power to completely decimate everything on this small island without breaking a sweat. So, why didn't he? Letting his friends grow? Well... that was a part of it. Zoro would have a good battle against a master swordsman on this island. Luffy would face Gecko Moria, another Shichibukai, and Usopp would even face Perona.

All of that... was just an excuse. He didn't want to admit it, especially to himself but... Even with all of his power, all of his knowledge, every advantage he had... He was a coward. He wasn't afraid of fighting or even dying. He wasn't scared of the marines or other pirates. He was terrified of being alone. If he found a spot, sat around for a year, and just trained like a madman, he could become the most powerful being in the world. He could crush all resistance in his path with ease. He could become a god!

Yet, he didn't want to do that. He was terrified of what he might become if he had all of that power at his disposal. Even with the power he currently held he was one of the strongest people in the world and he could still grow stronger without limit, as far as he knew. Except... why? Why should he get that strong? To protect his friends? They didn't need his protection. They would grow strong on their own. In fact, if he interfered he might even weaken them and cause their deaths. Something he truly wanted to avoid.

Markus closed his eyes and let out a long sigh. Back on his little island life was so simple. Wake up, work out, get stronger, sleep. He didn't have friends or anything else to worry about. He callously planned to use the Strawhats, especially Luffy, to steal power and grow stronger. But as the saying went, 'No plan survives first contact with the enemy'. Not that Luffy and the others were his enemies but the point still held. He'd grown close to them and couldn't bear to leave them even after getting his desired Devil Fruit. Now, here he was multiple times stronger than his friends and contemplating the meaning of his life and his decisions while they struggled against a powerful Shichibukai.

He honestly didn't know what to do at this moment. Should he end it all now? Should he kill Gecko Moria, thus destroying all the zombies and ending this farce? Should he let his friends fight and grow stronger but simultaneously let them suffer? He honestly had no idea what he should do at this moment. So... he decided to distract himself for a while and just watch how things went. He needed time to calm his emotions and decide his path. It made him think of a few gifts he could give out.

He opened his inventory and pulled out a Thunder Dial. He planned to gift this, along with some of his Jet Dials to Nami so she could build a much more powerful Clima Tact. He held the Thunder Dial between his hands and started channeling Thunder Bolts into it over and over again. He wanted it to have a powerful charge before giving it to her. He only stored the Thunder Dial away after charging it with somewhere around a thousand bolts. He didn't need to charge any Jet Dials for her, those were easy enough to charge.

After putting them away, he withdrew his Reject Dial along with his fingerless gloves. He wore the Reject Dial on his left hand and wore both gloves. He didn't want to interfere with his right hand where he planned to wield Shodai Kitetsu. Once he was geared up, he turned into a streak of purple lightning and moved instantly back to the Thousand Sunny.

When he reformed, he was standing in front of Perona and a group of zombies heading for the Thousand Sunny to plunder it. Markus had no intention of letting them do that. As soon as he appeared, everyone froze in place in fear. Perona started to shiver in fear as she looked at him. She had plenty of reasons to be afraid. She knew who he was, and his bounty was over 900 million more than her boss's. Everyone was worried about him since the moment they decided to capture the Strawhats. Still, they wanted not just his shadow but the shadows of every member of the crew. They took the risk.

Seeing the fear on their faces brought a smile to Markus's own. However, he realized he shouldn't be happy that people fear him, even if they are enemies. Fear could be a good tool, but he shouldn't revel in it. He wiped the smile off of his face and looked Perona in the eyes. Perona was a beautiful young woman with large, round black eyes, long light pink hair tied into a twin-tails style, and red lipstick. She wore a cute outfit that consisted of a red crown with a black cross, a white long-sleeved shirt that exposed her stomach, a red mini cape on her shoulders, a miniskirt, black and white horizontally striped leggings, and red strapped boots.

Markus gave her a kind smile, "Hello Perona-chan! I'm sorry but I can't allow you to loot our ship. You see, we don't have much money anyway and if you steal all of our food then our ravenous captain will starve to death. With that being the case, I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

Perona and the zombies with her continued to shiver in fear even as he smiled warmly at them. Markus crossed his arms over his chest, "I really don't want to hurt a beautiful young woman for no reason. As long as all of you leave, I won't do anything to you. Alright?"

Perona, fully believing that his immunity to her negative hollow before was a fluke, lifted her hands and summoned a horde of hollows that all flew at Markus. He just arched an eyebrow and let them pass through his body without doing anything. Perona flinched and took a step back when her attack was ineffective. Markus just continued to smile as he spoke, "Is that a no on my kind offer? You can still leave but if you try to attack again..."

He left the threat unsaid. Perona was a complete weakling compared to him. Her biggest advantage was her use of negative hollows and with them having zero effect on him... She turned and fled. He'd given her a chance and as much as she hated running away and doing what he told her to do, she wasn't about to stick around and pick a fight with a man that had a billion Belly bounty on his head!

Seeing Perona flee, the zombies weren't sure what to do. They looked back and forth between Markus and Perona before deciding to follow her example and flee. Markus nodded his head at their decision and boarded the Thousand Sunny. He planned to let things play out somewhat as they had in the canon story, however, he also planned to mess with it a bit. The others needed a chance to grow and he'd already weakened Moria's forces by killing Absalom. How things played out now was up to them.

He found a comfortable spot to relax and pulled a meal out of his inventory to snack on. As he was snacking he listened to a conversation between Brook, Franky, and Robin. He heard a bit of information he didn't remember and smiled, "Salt huh?"

He stood from where he was sitting and searched the ship's stores until he found their supply of salt. He took some of it and stored it inside of his inventory. Now defeating Oars would be a piece of cake. He could easily get to Oars' mouth and toss in a bunch of salt to purify him. He wouldn't even need to fight. Then Luffy could enjoy his fight with Moria. Markus would kill Moria and try to get his Devil Fruit after that.

Killing Moria was quite alright according to his new rule about killing. Moria was a real bastard and deserved death for his crimes. Dr. Hogback fell under the same ruling. His experiments were inhuman and monstrous. Perona... she was just a nieve girl with a childish personality. He couldn't kill her and he didn't want to.

With his salt secured, he returned to his seat and enjoyed his meal while watching events on the island. Things were going rather different from the canon story, yet many were the same. Sanji and Zoro both had their shadows stolen and installed into zombies already. Luffy had been captured and was going to have his own shadow cut off soon enough. Chopper, Usopp, and Nami were inside of a stuffed bear zombie watching events and unable to do anything about them. Soon Oars would be revived and the final battles would happen.

As Markus enjoyed his snack, little spiders with the heads of mice came scampering to the ship carrying the unconscious bodies of Sanji and Zoro. When the spider-mice saw him, they froze, unsure what to do. Markus just smiled at them, "Place them in the male dorm. If you do anything but put them down and immediately leave, I will destroy you."

The spider-mice squeaked in fear but did exactly as Markus told them to. Once Sanji and Zoro were placed in beds, they scurried away in fear without looking back. Markus nodded in approval and continued to watch the situation. As Moria took Luffy's shadow into a special freezer, more spider-mice appeared with an unconscious Luffy. They were given the same instructions and quickly left after doing their job.

Soon enough, Moria placed Luffy's shadow within Oars and brought the monster back to life. Only... like all other zombies, Oars obtained Luffy's personality and instantly let our a roar that could be heard on the entire island, "MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAT!!!"