Chapter 11

Markus looked over the quest and smiled a little. Before, he would have been scared to fight against Kizaru. After all, the man was faster and more experienced than he was. He let the others continue to chat and even ignored an outburst from Luffy. He was keeping an eye on Kizaru while trying to decide what to do to give himself better odds during the fight against him. As he was thinking, he remembered a skill from another anime, one he could easily replicate with his system thanks to having so many free skill slots in his control skill.

While everyone continued to talk, Markus opened his system and used it to create a new skill. He still had four free skills the system could create for him, but he was soon down to three.

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New Skill!

Lightning Armor

[Active/Passive, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]

The user of this skill channels electricity through and around their entire body enhancing every aspect of their body. Attack Power, Defensive Power, Reaction Speed, Reflexes, Strength, Vitality, and Agility are all increased. The constant use of electricity on the user's body slowly increases the Strength, Vitality, and Agility attributes permanently.

[Active]

Increase Attack Power, Defensive Power, Reaction Speed, Reflexes, Strength, Vitality, and Agility by 5%.

Cost: 15 Willpower/Second

[Passive]

+1 Strength/Skill Level

+1 Vitality/Skill Level

+1 Agility/Skill Level

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Markus read over the description of the skill and nodded in approval. The most important parts were the increases in Defensive Power, Reflexes, and Reaction Speed. Especially the faster reaction speed. With it, he could respond to attacks faster and control his Lightning Speed better. At the moment it was so fast that he utilized it more as a short-range teleportation ability than actual speed. As long as he could see where he wanted to end up, he would arrive there near instantly. Now he might be able to see and comprehend more.

Rayleigh grabbed his cloak and draped it over his shoulders, "Your ship is at grove forty-one right? I'll go over and handle that myself. What about you guys? Kizaru is already on the island you know."

Nami was so laid back she suggested shopping. Rayleigh just smiled, "Shaky, you have that, right?"

Shaky nodded, "I have one sheet."

She started to dig around while Rayleigh spoke, "I'm a wanted man myself you know. I'll be taking your ship somewhere else to work on it."

As he was speaking, Shaky pulled out a virve card. Since everyone knew about it, no explanation was needed. Rayleigh grabbed a large bag of supplies, "I'll need three days to finish coating your ship. We'll meet up three days from now. It's up to all of you to survive until then. I don't know what grove I'll end up in. If you just follow the virve card, you'll find me there waiting for you. I'd suggest you prepare yourselves for the underwater voyage to Fishman Island. Gather anything you need."

Everyone said their goodbyes to Hatchan, Camie, Pappagg, Rayleigh, and Shaky before making their way out. Markus was feeling a little melancholic as they left. He wouldn't see his friends for two years, maybe longer. Even when they did meet up again things would be very different. Their relationship could no longer be the same after today.

As the group were walking and chatting with each other, Markus was paying more attention to the chaos unfolding on the island. Kizaru was already here and had begun his fighting while trying to contact his subordinate, Sentomaru. The guy in charge of the Pacifista's. He also heard a lot of commotion thanks to Jewelry Bonney turning a bunch of marines into children. Capone Bege was also causing a ton of chaos as well. His Devil Fruit was perfect for a gang as he could shrink and store them inside of his body, then release them. He was literally a walking army.

As they walked through the mangroves, they came face to face with Bartholomew Kuma. Due to Markus's intervention, the only person to recognize Kuma was Robin. As she began to explain, Markus used his Lightning Speed to move from where he was to behind Kuma's head. With a single touch, he sent a powerful lightning blast into the Pacifista and fried its brain.

It was easy enough to tell the 'Kuma' in front of them wasn't the real Kuma and he gladly took it out. Frankly, he thought it was a service. All of the Pacifista were mindless cyborgs. All semblance of free will removed during the conversion process. He couldn't imagine the amount of suffering the humans went through to be converted to look exactly like Kuma along with all their modifications. Everything about who they were was wiped out of existence.

The moment he killed the cyborg's brain, he covered its body in electricity and stored it inside of his inventory. In the split second after the Pacifista appeared, Markus had decided to take it for himself. Originally, he just wanted to destroy them but why waste the resources? They were made of very strong materials, and he had no clue about the power source, but he could at least disassemble them for parts and materials to make things with his crafting skill.

As he landed on the ground, he saw the entire crew gaping at him. Markus dusted off his hands and smiled, "That wasn't Kuma. It barely qualified as a living thing." He gestured to Franky, "That thing was a cyborg, like Franky, only much more advanced and powerful." Franky looked offended, "Sorry Franky, but it's true."

Franky just harrumphed and look to the side like a kid throwing a fit. Markus just grinned, "I didn't see any reason to fight that toy seriously. It's tough thanks to its metal body and can fight than to its beams, but other than that it's pretty pathetic."

Robin spoke up, "So that really wasn't the real Kuma?"

Markus shook his head, "The real Kuma is a cyborg as well, but there's a big difference. The real Kuma has his own mind and his Devil Fruit power. He, unlike these toys, really is a powerhouse. If we run into the real one we need to be careful."

As they were talking, they suddenly heard the sound of a scream coming from far away. Everyone came to attention and looked around trying to find the source of the sound.

"What is that?"

"Where is it coming from?"

Everyone looked around trying to find the source of the sound. Moments later they looked up and saw two bodies falling from the sky. Both were pretty big but one was significantly larger than the other. Everyone watched as the two men slammed into the ground and sent up a huge cloud of dust. Everyone stared blankly as they wondered what was happening. Their blank looks quickly turned to caution as the two figures stood up. The largest one was another Pacifista. The slightly smaller one was someone they'd never seen before.

The second man was a tall, fat, man dressed somewhat like a sumo wrestler. Standing at over nine feet tall, carrying a large broad axe, wearing an outfit similar to a sumo wrestler with a red tank top, with short black hair and a scar under his left eye was Sentomaru. He was the personal guard of Doctor Vegapunk and in charge of the Pacifista's. Despite looking like a fat idiot, Sentomaru was actually a rather strong individual capable of using the two common forms of Haki.

As they stood up, Sentomaru set his massive broad axe on his shoulder while the Pacifista stood beside him, "Oi, oi. What happened to PX-4? It takes enough funds for a whole battleship to build just one Pacifista, you know?! Ugh, how I am gonna tell ol' doc punk about this?!"

As he spoke, the excitable members of the crew shouted, "AH! It's another Kuma!!"

Sanji lit a cigarette and looked at Markus, "That the real one or one of them Pacifista things?"

Franky was a bit peeved seeing another Pacifista. He considered himself to be 'Super' so seeing so many cyborgs annoyed the hell out of him, "Who the hell are you Broad Axe?!"

Sentomaru puffed up with pride, "There's no point in asking me questions, 'cause I've got nothing to say to the likes of you! I've got the toughest defense of anyone in the whole world! And, naturally, that means my mouth ain't that easy to open either!"

Usopp got annoyed and shouted, "You could at least tell us your name!"

"Like I said, I'm Sentomaru, the guy with the tightest mouth in the whole world."

"..."

"..."

"...So your name's Sentomaru..."

"Oh, by the way, I told you that because I felt like it. I wasn't answering your question or anything. Now, get 'em PX-1!"

The moment he gave the order, the Pacifista lifted one of its hands and fired a beam of yellow light from the palm of its hand. Everyone in the path of the beam leaped out of the way. When it hit the ground it caused a massive explosion that left behind a smoking crater and debris. At the same time, Markus used his maximum speed to appear behind the Pacifista's head and blast its brain hard enough to fry it. At that moment Sentomaru turned to look at Markus. By the time he turned his body and started to move, Markus already had the Pacifista stored inside of his inventory and was back in the position he started from.

Sentomaru turned and gave Markus a deadly glare, "What did you do?! Where's PX-1?! GIVE IT BACK!"

After shouting, Sentomaru took a stance similar to a sumo wrestler, "The doc'll kill me if you don't give it back!"

Markus smirked and dusted some imaginary lint off of his shoulder, "Oh? That thing? I disintegrated it into a fine dust. It's all over the place now."

Meanwhile, Luffy and Chopper still had stars in their eyes and were dancing together merrily, "Beam! Beam! We saw a real beam!"

Sentomaru didn't waste any time and charged at Markus. He pushed off the ground with so much force that it exploded beneath him. He didn't hold back, as he flew through the air his axe turned pitch black, a strong coating of Armament Haki. The marines were aware that Markus had a Logia which meant Sentomaru knew and he had no plan to hold back.

Markus whipped out his Shodai Kitetsu and covered it with his own Armament Haki. The two blades clashed loudly. The force behind Sentomaru's blow caused the ground to crater beneath Markus but couldn't force him to take a single step back, though he did need to use both of his arms to block the full might of the blow. As their blade edges pressed against each other, Markus shouted out, "Everyone, I'll hold him off, you all need to split up and run! He's not someone you can handle right now!"

"But!"

"Luffy! You need to shut up and run! Just look at his weapon, you know what that means. Trust me, he won't defeat me! I'll catch up to all of you soon!"

Luffy looked frustrated but Markus had beaten how dangerous Armament Haki was into him, literally. Luffy nodded his head and shouted out orders, "Everyone! Split up and meet back at the Sunny in three days!"

While Markus and Sentomaru clashed again, the other members of the crew split up and took off. Brook, Usopp, and Zoro ran one way. Luffy, Robin, and Chopper ran another way. Lastly, Franky, Sanji, and Nami ran in yet another direction. As they ran, Markus activated his newest skill, Lightning Armor. Electricity covered his entire body, reinforcing himself to a small degree but every little bit would help for what was coming. Thankfully, all of his friends were still well within the one-mile range of his 'Power of Friendship' skill so his attributes were currently doubled.

His struggle against Sentomaru was greatly overexaggerated. But his need for the Lightning Armor wasn't a joke. This fact was proved seconds later when Markus suddenly disengaged with Sentomaru. He did so by redirecting his axe to the right and slipping past the large man on his left using speed faster than Sentomaru could react. As he passed the man, Markus kicked the back of his left knee causing him to bend it against his will. As Sentomaru stumbled, Markus's entire body spun around at his highest speed and slammed into Sentomaru's back, knocking him forward.

All of that took a single moment, a blink of the eye. The next instant a large yellow beam slammed into Sentomaru and exploded. Blinding light, dust, and debris, filled everyone's vision until Sentomaru came flying out of the smokescreen and slammed into the trunk of a mangrove tree. Sentomaru was heavily injured. His body was covered in burns, bruises, and blood from Kizaru's attempted surprise attack.

Markus looked in the direction of the attack with a frown, "Wow, so brutal Kizaru. If I didn't know better, I would think you were trying to kill me."

The moment she heard that name, Robin began to panic, "Kizaru?!" She shouted loud enough for everyone to hear, "WATCH OUT!! THAT MAN'S A MARINE ADMIRAL!"

Everyone was shocked but Kizaru didn't seem to care, "It's too late for you~~~~"

Even his voice sounded lazy. He looked moved closer and looked down at Markus from his towering height, "Hou? A bounty of 1.25 billion... 'Thunder Beast' Markus! What you just did to Sentomaru wasn't very polite."

Markus gave a mock salute with his free left hand, "That's me, Admiral Kizaru. Probably the only man in the world faster than me... or are you?"

Markus kept an eye on Sentomaru but paid closer attention to Kizaru and the rapidly closing in Rayleigh. Kizaru started to lift his leg while it began to glow with yellow light. He was getting ready to attack Markus again. Everyone began to panic. Usopp attacked Kizaru relentlessly with his slingshot but for obvious reasons, his attacks did nothing to Kizaru. He didn't even blink at the attacks, "No good, I'm afraid... I've eaten the Pika Pika no Mi... I'm a Logia user and a 'Lightman.'"

Everyone wanted to do something to stop Kizaru but it was all useless. Markus continued to stand at the ready with the fingers on his left-hand twitching. The Laser Dial was ready to intercept any attack that Kizaru might attempt to unleash on him from a distance.

Just as Kizaru was about to attack, Rayleigh appeared from the side and kicked his leg out of the way. For Rayleigh, it was a simple feat. Markus let out a sigh of relief. If Rayleigh hadn't shown up, he was already ready to use his lightning speed and intercept Kizaru's attack himself. Kizaru looked down at Rayleigh, at nearly ten feet tall, Kizaru towered over the more average six-foot-tall Rayleigh. Markus looked over the two and got his first good look at Kizaru in person.

Kizaru was a tall, slim, middle-aged man with black hair and a thin beard. He wore a gold and yellow vertical pinstripe suit with his Admiral coat draped over his shoulders like a cape and amber-tinted sunglasses. The two quickly separated and Kizaru was the first to speak, "So it's time for you to take the stage, is it? ... 'Dark King' Rayleigh!"

Rayleigh gave Kizaru a grin, and it wasn't a friendly one either, "Don't go plucking fine sprouts. It's only the beginning of their era!! If you try to attack my grandson again, I'll take it personal."

At those words, Rayleigh's look took on a much darker tone. Kizaru didn't look phased on the surface but Markus could feel his emotions roiling. Having your life threatened by the first mate of the strongest pirate of the last era was not a joke to be taken lightly. Rayleigh might not be as widely known among the populace of the world as Roger was but that didn't mean he was weaker. In fact, considering he was older and lived longer, it was entirely possible that Rayleigh managed to become stronger than Roger after his death.

While Rayleigh engaged Kizaru, Markus dashed back and shouted, "STOP GAWKING AND RUN ALREADY!"

Everyone snapped out of their daze and took off. Luffy shouted once again, "MEET AT THE SUNNY IN THREE DAYS!"

As they took off another Kuma, the real one this time, appeared in front of Zoro, Usopp, and Brook. Usopp instantly panicked, "What the hell is going on here?! I'm sick of this!! Just how many of this guy are there?!"

Markus instantly replied, "That's the real Kuma!"

Kuma ignored Markus and Usopp. He looked down at Zoro, while removing the glove on his right hand, "If you were to take a trip, where would you like to go?"

Zoro looked up at Kuma in confusion but before he could even begin to articulate an answer, Kuma swung his arm and touched Zoro with the paw pad on his palm. With a barely audible pop, Zoro completely vanished from sight. Everyone but Markus was shocked at Zoro's sudden disappearance, Luffy immediately shouted, "ZORO!!"

Luffy turned from where Zoro used to be to glare at Kuma, "You bastard! What did you do to Zoro?!"

Kizaru, who was currently using a sword made of light to clash with Rayleigh, turned to look at what was happening, "Bartholomew Kuma!! But the Shichibukai should be convening at the headquarters!" He muttered to himself, "This is why you can never trust pirates..."

Luffy turned and grabbed Sentomaru who was groaning on the ground. Shaking him violently, Luffy shouted "HEY! What did he just do to Zoro?! Where did Zoro go?!"

Groggy, Sentomaru roughly spoke, "My mouth isn't that easy to open. They say that any man sent flying by those paws will fly through the sky for three days and three nights." He coughed violently but for some reason, he continued to blabber, "As for the destination, only the man responsible can know. But it won't be here on this island. You won't be seeing him again in a hurry."

That was all Sentomaru managed to get out before he collapsed and couldn't speak any further. Frustrated, Luffy turned to everyone who were once more just standing around in shock, "RUN! EVERYONE RUN!"

Brooke and Usopp took off but Kuma didn't let them get far. With a swipe of his hand, he made Brooke vanish. Usopp and Luffy shouted Brook's name. Sanji, infuriated by the loss of two friends, charged at Kuma and sent a flying kick towards his head. Kuma calmly replied by catching and nullifying the kick before tossing Sanji to the side. While Sanji recovered from the toss, Usopp tried attacking Kuma but all it accomplished was him being slapped by Kuma and vanishing. Sanji charged to attack again but vanished with a touch from Kuma.

Markus watched what was happening along with everyone else. He knew his friends would be alright. He knew Kuma had actually sent them somewhere that they could grow and become stronger. Somewhere safe. Still, tears ran down his eyes. Not tears of fear or regret but tears of sadness. In just a few moments, his journey with the Strawhats would come to an end. From this moment on, things would never be the same again.