Chapter 4

After his very loud exclamation, there was nothing but silence. Even the waves gently coming to the shore of the island seemed to go silent. The men on the ship looked at Markus with various looks on their faces. Most of them had bug-eyed looks of absolute shock. A rare few looked at Markus with pity, while wondering if there was something wrong with his brain. One small pink-haired boy looked at Markus with sheer disgust on his face.

Meanwhile, the only woman on the ship, the only very large, very unattractive woman, was looking at Markus with a complete look of shock. He hadn't realized it but thanks to his training he'd become rather attractive. He hadn't reached his full potential yet but he looked good enough to be attractive to many women. She stared at Markus and felt her heart flutter at the sight of the blissful smile on his face as he stared at her.

On his end, Markus was just so happy to see the woman that he inadvertently said something misleading. The sight of her let him know where he was in the timeline of One Piece and seeing her just filled him with absolute joy. He had a chance! Enel's Devil Fruit would be his eventually! The not-gorgeous woman standing on the ship in front of him was Alvida! She was still fat and ugly with Coby cowering behind her. That meant that she hadn't run into Luffy yet! She might not be a physically attractive goddess yet, but right now she was his goddess because of everything meeting her now represented. He continued to smile brilliantly as he ran into the shallow water while waving his hands in the air, "Thank you for coming to save me goddess of the sea!"

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You go you flirt you, CHA +1.

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Hearing the words coming from Markus brought a blush to Alvida's face. She quickly got over it and looked at her men while shouting, "Capture him!"

The men on the ship roared and ran out to grab Markus. He didn't fight them, he had no reason or desire to. Alvida had ordered his capture not his death. He put up no fight and let the men drag him onto Alvida's ship. He maintained a smile on his face the entire time. He didn't know exactly when it would happen but sometime in the near future Luffy would appear and he could begin following on his adventure.

The pirates dragged him before Alvida and forced him to kneel. She stood before him with her massive spiked iron club between her feet with her hands resting on the top of it. She glared down at Markus as he continued to smile happily. Alvida looked at him for a bit longer before shouting, "Who is the most beautiful woman on the sea?!"

All the men, minus Coby and Markus, shouted, "Alvida-sama!"

"That's right!"

She looked down at Markus for a brief moment before gesturing to the cabin of the ship, "Throw him in a room and lock him there! I'll deal with him later..." She looked down at Markus and grinned wickedly, "Personally."

Markus was still happily smiling away as he was carted off to the room he would be locked inside of. Coby watched the 'crazy man' get dragged away before Alvida yelled at him while slamming her foot on a small box nearby, "Coby! Clean my shoes!"

Coby looked away from where Markus had disappeared to and looked fearfully at Alvida. He quickly got to work doing what she wanted. He didn't want to get punished again and after being held captive by the pirates for so long he'd given up hope. He, reluctantly, did as Alvida commanded.

Markus was dragged into the storage room on the ship and tossed inside of it. After doing their job the pirates gave him one last pitying look before they left him there and locked the door. Markus could feel the ship moving beneath him and smiled. It was a unique feeling to be on something that wasn't solid ground. He got comfortable and began to relax for a bit before there were thunderous booms that shook the entire ship. Cannon fire! Had the pirates found a ship to prey on so soon?

He sat comfortably in the shaking ship as cannon shots continued to fire out for quite a while. Eventually, they stopped. He could hear muffled shouts from outside and wondered if they'd taken down the ship already. It didn't matter to him. Instead, he was more focused on what he could see in front of his eyes.

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Quest Complete!

Get going!

Alright, you've lazed about long enough in this safe place. Get the fuck off of the island in the next twenty-four hours. It's time for you to begin your journey. Keep an eye on the horizon.

Requirements: Leave the island within 24 hours

Failure Conditions: Death, staying on the island past the 24-hour limit

Rewards: New system functions

Punishment: Death

New system functions unlocked: System Store and System Map.

New Quest!

Your journey has begun!

Your journey has just begun! Soon you will need to choose how you will proceed forward in this new life of yours. Will you be a pirate and freely move about the seas answering to no one but yourself and maybe your captain? Will you join the marines and work your way up through the ranks while serving the world government? Will you become a bounty hunter and hunt pirates for the prices on their heads? The choice is yours so choose wisely!

To become a pirate you must join or create a pirate group.

To become a marine you must join the marines.

To become a bounty hunter you must defeat a pirate with a bounty and claim the bounty.

Requirements: Choose your path! Pirate, Marine, or Bounty Hunter.

Failure Conditions: Death

Rewards: Weapon Token

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Markus read over the information with a grin on his face. So many new things! He could still hear shouting and sounds that seemed like fighting was happening so he took the time to look over his new quest. He planned to become a pirate on Luffy's crew, at least for a while. He had his heart set on stealing to Goro Goro no Mi from Enel and the time Luffy kicks Enel's ass is the best opportunity he could think of to steal it. It was too risky to try and head to the Grand Line alone and hope he got to the island by following a log pose. He would be safer with company and he knew for sure that Luffy and the crew of the Going Merry would get there as long as he didn't interfere too much. After he stole the Devil Fruit it would no longer matter. Until then he had to play along.

He checked the system store next. It wasn't exactly what he expected. There were a couple of different pages he could look at that had different categories of items for sale. The first tab had food and drinks, the second was weapons and ammo, and the third was miscellaneous items. All of the items listed for sale were mundane everyday items you could buy on a regular island. No Devil Fruits for sale and no legendary weapons either. The only interesting thing was that all the items for sale were being sold for Belly's, the common currency in One Piece. At least funds wouldn't be an issue, as long as he stole a bit.

The last change he could look into was the new map function. When he opened it he had an actual map appear in his vision. He could see the small island he just spent so much time on and some of the ocean around it. In the ocean, he could see the ship he was on but not the ship they were attacking. Curious, he touched the image of Alvida's ship on the map. Immediately the map zoomed in and just showed him the ship. He could look through all the decks on the ship but couldn't see any people. It was interesting and he thought it might come in handy in the future when he could essentially teleport around as a lightning bolt.

As he browsed the map, the sounds of explosions and fighting had stopped. There was silence on the ship which he guessed meant everyone was raiding the target ship at the moment. He just sat back and waited. He could probably smash the door down and make his escape if he wanted to but why would he want to? At some point, Luffy would meet Alvida and until then he planned to stick around on her ship and wait. He'd make his escape with Luffy and Coby.

As he sat there he heard some soft sounds coming from the room next door. Curious, he climbed to his feet and walked over to the wall to examine it. It took a minute but he finally found a crack big enough to peek through. The room next to him was the treasure room and inside of it was a young woman gathering all of the treasure into a large sack. Seeing just a hint of orange hair sticking out of a black bandanna brought a giant grin to his face. Nami was on board robbing Alvida! That meant that the ship they just attacked was the one that had Luffy sleeping in a barrel inside of it! Fuck yes! Whoever sent him to this fucked up world had timed things perfectly for him. It's almost like the watchers wanted to see him interact with the main characters. He'd be more than happy to oblige them!

Knowing Nami was robbing the ship, Markus wasted no more time and made his way over to the door. With a swift kick, he knocked it completely off of its hinges. He walked through the ship until he found his way onto the deck. From there he could see something that got his heart racing. Luffy was already fighting Alvida's pirates. He stood where he was and watched the fight unfold on the ship Alvida and her crew were raiding. Even though he knew to expect it. Even though he knew it was part of what made Luffy, Luffy. Even though he'd seen it hundreds, if not thousands, of times in the anime, seeing Luffy's arm stretch like a rubber band was actually a rather disturbing sight!

It only took him a few moments to take out Alvida's crew leaving just himself and Coby facing her on the deck of the merchant ship. Markus smiled to himself and quietly approached the backs of a few crew members still on the deck of Alvida's ship. He curled his fingers into fists and quickly pounced on the men. With three heavy blows to the back of their heads, one for each, he knocked them unconscious and drew no attention to himself.

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You have defeated one of Alvida's minions, +100 Experience.

You have defeated one of Alvida's minions, +100 Experience.

You have defeated one of Alvida's minions, +100 Experience.

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He decided to watch the showdown between Luffy and Alvida without interfering. As he listened and watched, he heard the soft squeak of a door behind him. He activated his Observation Haki and caught a quick glimpse of Nami making her getaway behind him. He smiled to himself and left her alone to continue watching Luffy. He couldn't help smiling when he heard Coby go off on Alvida. Still, he didn't say anything. He didn't want to ruin the inroads he'd made with her.

He watched as Alvida smacked Luffy on the head with her club, to no effect, followed by Luffy sending her flying into the sea with his Gomu Gomu no Pistol. After she was sent flying, Luffy turned to look at him and said, "Get Cody a boat! He's gonna join the navy! Keep your mouth shut and let him go!"

Markus just laughed and held his hands up in a helpless fashion, "Sorry but I'm not a member of the frog's crew! She just captured me a short time before attacking this boat!"

Coby nodded his head, "That's right! He was stranded on an island and they captured him just like they did me!"

Before the conversation could continue cannon fire echoed loudly before several cannonballs struck the sea around both ships. Luffy just laughed and suggested that Coby could go join the Marines. After his refusal due to circumstances, Luffy and Coby managed to find a small boat and leaped off of the ship with it. As they fell into the ocean, Markus wasted no time and leaped off of Alvida's ship to join them. No way in hell was he going to be left behind!

As the small boat hit the water all three of them were inside of it. Next to them, in a small boat of her own, Markus saw Nami and gave her a bright grin. He knew he would be seeing her again before long! The three of them frantically got to work. Markus and Coby manned the oars while Luffy laughed and pointed to the horizon while screaming, "Let's Gooooo!"

They rowed like mad for a bit before setting the sail and letting the wind push them along. Coby looked around before letting out a sigh, "Looks like we lost them."

Luffy just laughed, "That was fun!"

Markus just smiled and watched the interaction between Luffy and Coby, it was like they'd forgotten he was even there! The conversation eventually made its way to the topic of Zoro. After they argued and Luffy knocked Coby on the head, Markus decided it was time to stop being invisible, "I've heard of Zoro. They say he's a demon but really, he only goes after pirates and bandits. Who cares if he's mean to mean people?"

The two of them stared at Markus for a moment before Luffy asked in a dumb tone, "Who are you?"