Chapter 9

Markus followed the trail leading into the castle. The interior was just as cold as the exterior and filled with snow even. The front door was left open due to a bird's nest on top of it. He smiled at the little chicks chirping away from within it before moving on. He randomly wandered around until he heard two people talking through a door a little further down the hall he was in. He recognized the first voice as Kureha but didn't recognize the second voice. That meant it must be Chopper. He moved off to the side and waited for a while longer. Eventually, Chopper left the room and went to another.

A short time later he heard a loud crash soon followed by Chopper's childish voice shouting, "S-shut up y-you darned human!"

A moment later he heard Kureha shouting, "Keep it down in there, Chopper!"

Kureha left the room she was in and joined Chopper in the room containing Nami. As the two women were talking, there was suddenly the sound of screaming. Luffy and Sanji were trying to eat Chopper. Markus watched events unfold with a smile on his face. When Chopper got fed up with them, he changed from his small semi-human form into much larger more human form and knocked them both on the head. If Chopper wasn't a member of the coward faction, he'd be damned awesome. He was certainly strong enough and smart enough to be a powerhouse.

Shortly after Sanji and Luffy entered the room with Kureha in it. Within moments two loud bangs echoed out as Kureha kicked the two of them into a wall for calling her a granny. Things got louder when Chopper returned to the room and ended up getting chased again. This time even Kureha joined in by chasing Luffy and Sanji while throwing weapons at them. Markus just chuckled from where he was standing. Seriously, for a woman nearing 140 years old, Kureha was still so spry and energetic. He couldn't imagine how she was 120 years ago.

Eventually, the chase led Chopper back to Nami's room. Concerned about how long her recovery would take, she tried to talk Chopper into joining their crew so he could take care of her on the ship. Their conversation was cut short as Luffy and Sanji caught up and continued to chase Chopper. After they ran out of the room, Kureha arrived and gave up her portion of the chase and instead chose to sit down and drink heavily. Markus moved into the room behind the two women and listened from where he was standing. Kureha was explaining the beginning of Chopper's life.

She told Nami about how he was ostracised from the herd because of his blue nose. Then it only got worse when he ate the Hito Hito no Mi and became a whole new kind of 'monster'. With the reindeer abandoning him, he tried to meet with humans. Their fear led to them attacking him. All Chopper wanted was to have friends. Kureha finished by asking, "Can you pirates possibly hope to fix that scar in his heart?"

Markus chimed in, "I'd be willing to bet anything that we could." He turned to smile at Nami, "After all, we helped heal Nami's scars."

Nami smiled brightly at Markus while Kureha tilted her head back to look at him, "I was wondering how long you planned to skulk about. As for your bet..." Kureha gave him a wide grin, "Would you be willing to bet your life?"

Markus could tell she was just trying to scare him but he knew the future and knew he would win this bet, "I'll take that bet. My life against your life."

Kureha froze, she hadn't expected him to reply with such confidence. Nami looked slightly worried but when she thought about everything they'd done together, she just smiled softly. She had confidence in the members of their crew, especially Markus since he was the only strong member with a fully functional brain. Plus, Chopper really did seem interested and was entirely the type of person Luffy would want to recruit.

When she finally came back to herself, Kureha laughed, "You're a bold one! And what would you do with this young ladies life?"

Markus gave Kureha an enigmatic smile, "Oh, I have some ideas."

Kureha started to cackle again and nodded her head, "I hope you're prepared to spend the rest of your life waiting on me and Chopper hand and foot!"

Markus kept the smile on his face, even when Chopper came running into the room. Chopper was in his full reindeer form when he charged into the room shouting, "It's an emergency! Wapol is back!"

Kureha closed her eyes and let out a sigh, "Is that so?"

Kureha climbed to her feet and left the room with Chopper. Markus stayed behind for the moment and turned to Nami. He walked over to her bed and knelt beside it to be face to face with her, "How are you feeling?"

Nami smiled brightly, "I feel a lot better but that old quack won't let me leave for another three days!" She pouted, "I feel good enough to leave now."

Markus pat her on the head, "I'm sure you feel better, you definitely look better. We were all very worried about you. But, you need to listen to the doctor. If you relapse while we're on the sea we could lose you. If that happened we'd never make it to Alabasta." He lowered his hand and rubbed his chin, "When you feel better I'd like you to teach me a little about navigation. Just in case something bad happens again."

Nami nodded, "Sure. I think you might be the only other person on the ship who could do it."

With a nod, Markus climbed to his feet and made his way out of the room, "Now to see if we can recruit a doctor."

As Markus was leaving, Luffy ran right past him while rubbing his arms due to the cold. Markus just smirked and kept going. When he stepped outside he saw Sanji and Chopper playing with big black balls of hair. They looked like afros and stuck to Sanji and wouldn't come off without sticking to someone else. As Markus watched, the Jester looking man loaded an arrow into his bow and pulled it back. When he finished, the arrowhead ignited on its own, "Talk about poor teamwork. Let me tell you beforehand. Those Marimo afros might not be the best taste but they sure do burn nicely!"

Chopper immediately abandoned Sanji and ran in a different direction, "Time for the decoy plan!"

Sanji looked at Chopper while still waving a leg in the air while shouting, "I'm the decoy?!"

The jester, whose name Markus couldn't remember and didn't recall hearing, fired his flaming arrow and hit one of the afros stuck to Sanji's leg. Sanji started screaming, "HOT HOT HOT! Gotta douse it in the snow!"

While he flailed about, Chopper charged at the Jester and prepared to attack. At the moment two things happened simultaneously. First, Wapo pushed the Jester, who was apparently named Chess, out of the way while opening his mouth to a monstrous size in an attempt to eat Chopper. Second, Luffy came out of the castle wearing Nami's coat. Seeing him, Sanji shouted, "Luffy! Grab my leg!"

Luffy looked a little confused, "Your leg? Sure why not."

Luffy threw his arms out and grabbed onto Sanji's leg. Sanji immediately swung his leg in a kick to send Luffy flying at Wapo and Chopper. Just as Wapo's mouth closed around Chopper and he began to chew, Sanji launched Luffy through the air while shouting, "RUBBER SHOT!"

Before Wapo could chew Chopper more than a few times, Luffy slammed headfirst into his stomach. The force of the impact launched Chopper out of Wapo's mouth and sent Wapo flying back. Wapo slammed into his camel-cow thing. They exchanged momentum with Wapo coming to a stop and the camel-cow thing being sent flying out of sight.

Luffy and Chopper gathered back up with Sanji. Chopper looked at the two of them, "T-thanks. You two are pretty amazing."

The other two were ignoring Chopper and having a completely different conversation about Luffy wearing Nami's jacket. Marimo and Chess were tending to Wapol until he climbed to his feet and looked absolutely enraged. He called out, "Chess, list my meals since this morning."

Chess, the jester, pulled out a small notebook and began reading it, "Let's see... one butter sauteed cannon, one raw cannon, a cannonball and gunpowder salad, and one grilled house from the village."

Luffy sweatdropped, "The heck does he eat?"

Sanji added, "Calling him an omnivore would be the understatement of the decade."

Wapol grinned viciously, "Watch closely... the true power of my Baku Baku no Mi can be seen only after a meal! The very things I consume become my flesh and blood! BAKU BAKU SHOCK! WAPOL HOUSE!"

Everyone stared in surprise as Wapol transformed his body into a house complete with a chimney on the top of his head and cannons for his arms. He looked goddamned ridiculous. Naturally, Luffy thought it was cool. Wapol wasn't finished yet, "It's too early to be surprised! Behold my secret royal technique! BAKU BAKU FACTORY!"

His mouth opened wide as he devoured Marimo and Chess, eating them with ease. Once again, everyone was shocked, just for a different reason this time. Wapol held his arms up as steam came out of the cannon barrels, "Witness the miraculous combination!"

The house door on Wapol's stomach opened as a figure began to emerge, "This form of ours is the Drum Kingdom's strongest warrior! CHESSMARIMO!"

Markus facepalmed while Luffy was going crazy with amazement and had stars in his eyes. Markus was willing to admit that the Baku Baku no Mi had some pretty interesting potential. Combining two people into one and making them stronger was definitely something interesting. If the traits that were combined could be chosen then it would be possible to make an extremely powerful warrior. However, if they all turned out similar to Chessmarimo... then it was stupid as hell. Chessmarimo was a freak of nature that looked like Marimo had been cut in half and placed on Chess's head. The new version of them had four arms and looked... dumb as hell.

Kureha chose to speak up at that moment, "Don't let your guard down. If those fellas were actually weak, this nation's citizens wouldn't have put up with the ridiculous doctor banishment so long ago."

Markus just snickered, "No, they are weak. If Sanji wasn't so injured he could knock them out with a couple of kicks. Luffy is the same. Even I could slap them around like a child."

Markus was confident of his assertion. He didn't even need to use his Analysis to be sure of it. He could get a feel for a person's strength with his Observation Haki and found it to be more revealing than just checking their level and hit points. Maybe when Analysis reached a higher level he would be able to see more information but for now, it was less useful.

Kureha looked at Markus with a frown, "It's not good to be cocky, kid."

Markus chuckled, "Just watch and learn."

Markus crossed his arms over his chest and watched as Wapol raised one of his cannon arms while ranting and raving about being the king and the island belonging to him and only him. Frankly, it took all of Markus's resolve to not just walk over and pound Wapol into the ground. Wapol was not strong. Chopper was stronger than Wapol, he was only missing the courage and resolve to put that strength to use. After Wapol finished his tirade, he fired off a cannon shot at a pirate flag fluttering on top of one of the castles steeples.

Wapol laughed as the pirate flag began to fall. Chopper stared at the flag while Luffy watched it begin falling, "The pirate flag..." He turned to look at Chopper, "Hey reindeer is that flag..." He stopped when he saw the look on Chopper's face.

Chopper roared, "HOW DARE YOU DO THAT TO DOC'S FLAG!!!"

Wapol didn't care and spoke to Chessmarimo, "Hurry up and kill these pathetic worms."

Chopper took off in his small semi-human form and ran right between Chessmarimo's legs. When he arrived in front of Wapol he shifted to his much larger and stronger full-human form. He jumped up and grabbed onto Wapol with his fist cocked back and ready to punch Wapol but he hesitated, "I... I won't hit you! But you better get out of this country right this instant!"

Markus shook his head while Kureha spoke and said exactly what he was thinking, "What kinda crap are you spouting Chopper?! Do you really think he can be reasoned with?!"

Chopper made the mistake of turning to look back at Kureha, "I know but..."

He didn't get to finish what he was saying before Wapol lifted his cannon arms and fired them point-blank at Chopper. Kureha shouted his name as he fell to the ground smoking and bleeding. Though his injuries weren't light, they weren't very heavy either. It just proved how tough Chopper really was. Being able to take two cannonballs to the face and practically shrug it off was no joke. As everyone was looking at Chopper, Luffy suddenly shouted from the top of the steeple that held the pirate flag, "Hey you with the big fat mouth! A lying poser like you who only played 'pirates' without even fully risking your life, could never understand the true meaning of raising a pirate flag!"

Wapol didn't care and just laughed before saying, "As if there's any deep meaning behind some stupid fluff that pirates use as decoration!"

Luffy shouted back, "That's why you're just a lying poser! This flag isn't something you pretend-pirates can go around waving!"

Wapol got pissed off at Luffy and aimed one of his cannons at him, "This is my country and I won't allow it to be defiled by some idiotic pirate flag! I'll shoot it down however many times it takes!"

As Sanji and Chopper shouted at Luffy, Markus just yawned a little. Luffy shouted back at Wapol, "I'd like to see you try! A pirate flag is a symbol of conviction!!"

As he was in the middle of speaking Wapol fired his cannon, just as Luffy finished the cannonball hit him and detonated in a strong explosion. The other three were scared or worried because of the direct hit. Markus was fighting the urge to go somewhere and train to pass the time. Wapol laughed like a jackass, "Blown to smithereens, you deluded hippo!"

As the smoke from the explosion cleared, a charred and smoking Luffy could be seen within the smoke and holding the flag in his hand so that it remained waving, "See? You can't break this flag!"

Luffy glared down at Wapol, "I don't know who this flag belongs to but as a flag backed by a man's conviction and will, it's not something you can play around with!" Luffy was truly infuriated, something that rarely happened to the happy-go-lucky guy, as he shouted at the top of his considerable lungs, "A BUMBLING IDIOT LIKE YOU SHOULDN'T EVEN DARE TO TOUCH THIS FLAG!!"

At that very moment, there was a subtle wave of energy that emanated from Luffy. It was primarily focused at Wapol and Chessmarimo but still washed over everyone present. It greatly affected Chessmarimo and Wapol, causing them to take steps back while exclaiming in surprise. Markus looked up at Luffy with a glint in his eyes. Even he felt a slight tremble through his body, weak as it was. He had no proof but he was completely certain that this moment was the first time Luffy showed a tiny hint of his Conquerors Haki awakening!

Markus felt excited witnessing the event. He would need to push Luffy around a little bit to progress his Observation Haki and get him closer to using it. The sooner he got it unlocked the easier it would be for Rayleigh to teach him later. As Markus ruminated over a possibly brutal training regiment, Luffy shouted down at Chopper, "Hey reindeer! I'm gonna start kicking their asses now but what'll you do?!"

In the next moments, several things happened in quick succession. Wapol aimed his cannon at Luffy to fire again. Sanji didn't want to let him fire another shot so he started to charge Wapol. However, his back gave out at that moment. While Sanji was stopped by his pain, Kureha leaped through the air and dropkicked him to the ground. As he hit the ground she sat on his back and firmly locked him in place. Meanwhile, Chopper charged to attack Wapol as well but was blocked by Chessmarimo. Markus... just watched with a smile. He was not needed here at all, he just wanted to enjoy the show.

It wasn't much longer before Chopper and Chessmarimo squared off to fight each other. Chessmarimo looked mockingly at Chopper, "What possible reason could a friendless monster like you have to save this kingdom?! Absolutely ridiculous!"

Chopper shouted back, "Shut up! I can fight just fine without anybody on my side! As long as Doc's flag is waving behind my back..."

Luffy cut him off. He was in the air stretching back as he shouted, "Friendless? Not as long as I'm around!" His stretched arms started to retract launching him directly at Wapol, "I'M HIS FRIEND!"

His aim was a little off and he crashed into the ground between the two opponents sending them flying to the sides. Naturally, Luffy was fine after the rough landing, even laughing in his trademark way. Chopper wasn't really aware of Luffy's strength and abilities so he asked, "S-strawhat are you alright?"

Luffy slowly stood up, "Don't worry about me, I'm made of rubber." He pointed at Chessmarimo while asking Chopper, "Think you can handle them?"

Chopper looked at Chessmarimo and nodded, "I can take care of them without breaking a sweat!"

Luffy turned to look at Wapo, "Then it's decided. I'll take on the big-mouthed hippo then!"

Chopper turned to face Chessmarimo, "My name is Tony Tony Chopper! The world's greatest doctor gave me that name! Even if the Doc would forgive you, I won't forgive you for mocking him!!"

Chessmarimo was unimpressed, "The one begging for forgiveness will be you, you dumb monster! Get ready to die!"

Chopper pulled out a small yellow ball and held it between the split in his hooves, "Rumble Ball."