Chapter 21

It was a week later that Markus got a message from the old man letting him know to come to the drydock. After sending the women off to train in the ship graveyard, he made his way to the drydock to see what the old man wanted. When he arrived he saw that the ship was much closer to completion but still needed more work before it was completely done.

The entire group of five guys working on the ship was old men, not the superstars from Galley-La so it took them longer to build a ship than the younger guys would need. Still, Markus figured they worked faster than normal humans in his old world would and did an even better job on top of that. He had no complaints and his ship was looking spectacular.

After he arrived, the old man spotted him, smacked another old man on the shoulder, and both of them came over to his direction. When the two old men arrived, the one Markus was familiar with spoke first, "Good, you came. This is my 'genius' friend I told you about."

Markus could hear the emphatic sarcasm on the word genius. He looked over the second man and immediately thought that he didn't look like a stereotypical mad scientist. He stood at around six feet (180cm) tall, had a thick full head of white hair, and an even thicker beard of legendary proportions. His eyes were bright green and glittered with excitement as he looked Markus over and spoke with a bright tone, "So, you're the young man that brought that fascinating machine to Garvin! It's a pleasure to meet you, I'm Doctor Loki."

As he spoke he stuck his hand out and Markus shook his hand, "Nice to meet you as well. You really did a great job on the motors in the boat and I can't wait to see what you did with the ship."

Markus happily breezed over the fact that the man's name was the same as the nose god of mischief. Even if he was a little crazy, he would be worth having around. Just as long as he didn't explode the entire ship on accident. After they shook hands, Markus turned to the old man, "So, your name is Garvin eh?"

Garvin looks up at Markus, "Yeah. What? I never told you?"

Markus shook his head, "Nope." He popped the 'P' in that nope and continued, "But I never asked so it's not a big deal."

Garvin gave a grunt and a nod while Doctor Loki spoke up, "Your motors are fascinating and it's been a privilege to learn about them and so much fun experimenting with them! I haven't been this excited about something in decades!"

Just one look at Doctor Loki was enough to see his excitement. He was practically bouncing on his feet and the gleam in his eyes just became more apparent. Markus gave Doctor Loki a polite smile, "I'm glad you're having so much fun. Did Garvin mention the offer I made to him and extended to you?"

Doctor Liki nodded, "If what he said is true it's really a fascinating offer. Do you really have someone capable of reverting the age of people?"

"I do. She was the first person I recruited and has already reverted the age of another crew member by over a hundred years. She could easily revert the two of you to any age you desire."

"Amazing. I assume it's a Devil Fruit power? Well, it would have to be so that seems obvious. However, why would you want two old-timers like us running around on with you?"

"Easy. You're both experts in your fields. Garvin is making this amazing ship so I want him as my Shipwright to help maintain it and perform any repairs. As for you, you're just as amazing for everything you've done with the motors." Markus grinned and decided to throw out my bait for the Doc, "I've got even more ideas for taking advantage of my Devil Fruit."

"I'm in! Age reversal or no, I'm in!"

Gavin sighed and slowly shook his head, "If this crazy bastard is in, then so am I. Someone has to keep him from blowing up the greatest ship I've ever built!"

Markus grinned broadly and stretched his hand out to both of them. Not only was he getting a great shipwright and an excellent engineer/mad scientist, but he was also getting two more men on the crew! That was the most important part! He didn't really care about some roles on the ship as he could easily fill them himself. He was more than happy to be the chef, sniper, and captain. Other roles he just didn't have the energy or drive to perform such as a doctor, shipwright, or engineer.

Both men took turns shaking his hand. The three of them talked for a bit longer with Doctor Loki promising a few surprises when the ship was finished. Markus was looking forward to seeing the ship in action. Once their little meeting was over, he turned and left to find the women and help with their training. He also needed to see about finding a good fight for them too. The training was fine and all but they needed more practical experience using the abilities they were developing. With the Marines scared to come within a few hundred miles of him, that meant looking for stupid pirates.

As he was walking toward the ship graveyard, the latest newspaper had been released. As people were reading it, he heard some of their discussions over it. He furrowed his brows and went to the nearest store to buy a copy for himself. The front-page story was about an attack on an island in the East Blue and the destruction of that island. He frowned deeply as he read over it. He knew about this but it didn't make sense to him.

This incident never happened in the canon story, it was one of the movies, Strong World. Shiki. He tossed the paper in a trashcan and tried to understand what was going on. So far he'd not encounter anything non-canon in his life in this world. None of the other movies had appeared or happened, so why? Why was Shiki's plan for destroying the East Blue beginning? Also, the timing seemed off to him. If Shiki was somehow in this world and wanted to destroy the East Blue still, it should have happened sometime between after the Florian Triangle and before arriving at Sabaody.

Shiki definitely existed in canon. He was mentioned as the only person to ever escape Impel Down until Luffy went and wrecked the place. Yet the incident involving him was a non-canon movie. It was a weird position for a character to be in where they are both canon and yet not. Then there was the timing. If he was going to show up, why didn't he show up sooner? Why the hell did he show up so late?

No matter how much he thought about it, he couldn't know the answers to his questions. All he knew was that he needed to get moving. Shiki had to be stopped. His plan was to completely destroy the East Blue, killing everyone there. That included the friends and family of the Strawhats, his friends. It simply couldn't be allowed. There was a problem though. Shiki's base was a bunch of flying islands and he had no clue where they were. He needed to start hunting for Shiki right away.

He immediately transformed into lightning and moved to the location of the women. As he touched down something that had never happened before caught his attention. The small watch-like item on his wrist wiggled as if it was vibrating. He flipped the lid open letting the little black Den Den Mushi pop out. The three women were looking at him, his entrance wasn't exactly subtle. As all four of them looked at the little guy on his wrist, it began to speak, "Bzzzzt... gency... pirate... Bzzzzt... Emergency... arineford... Bzzzzt... SHIKI!"

Markus put the pieces together, it was an emergency call that seemed to mention Marineford. If he was remembering right, Shiki attacked Marineford to make a show of his return. It was a short time after that incident that he found the Strawhats. Markus quickly put it together and looked at the women, "I'll be back before the ship is done."

Before they could ask him anything, Markus transformed into lightning and blasted through the air toward Marineford. He needed to move fast. Shiki had to be moving away from Marineford and in his general direction. For Luffy and the others to encounter him, he had to be somewhere between Marineford, Sabaody Archipelago, and the Florian Triangle.

With his current top speed of around four thousand miles per second, he arrived at Marineford in just a few seconds. He came to a stop and hovered above Marineford and shook his head at the sight. The place was completely trashed. They'd barely been able to do any reconstruction and Shiki's visit had undone it all. Add in the ships he could see trashed and barely floating on the surface of the ocean and the losses to the Marines were astronomical.

Markus only glanced over the scene, even ignoring shouts coming toward him from the Marines as he flew in the air. He wasn't here for them. He expanded his Observation Haki to its maximum range and started a high-speed flying pattern to locate Shiki's flying island ship. He was surprised at how long it took for him to register a strong life force. He flew directly to it and spotted Shiki's flying ship. He'd managed to get damned far in what must have only been a few minutes.

Without wasting time, he flew rapidly over to the ship and placed an Electromagnetic Tag on it. With that done, he vanished in a flash of lightning and returned Water 7. In his rush to find and defeat Shiki to protect the homes of his friends, he'd gone straight for him. Now that he'd found Shiki though, he changed his mind. He was just thinking how his crew needed some people to bash, this was an excellent opportunity for them to grow and he wouldn't waste it.

A few seconds later he landed back on the ground of the ship graveyard where the ladies had just gone back to practicing after he vanished. They clearly didn't worry about him in the least. Not that they had any reason to. As soon as he reappeared, all three of them stopped their practice and looked at him quizzically. He cut to the chase, "Sorry for disappearing like that with no real explanation. I'll explain it now."

All of them gathered together, "Even though we couldn't understand the whole message from my interceptor Den Den Mushi, I understood enough and had to check on it right away. A pirate from the era of Roger appeared and attacked Marineford. His name is Shiki the Golden Lion."

As soon as he mentioned the name, Kureha looked interested while the other two looked confused. Rei clearly had no idea who he was but Bonney blurted out, "Didn't he disappear after escaping Impel Down? I thought he was dead."

Kureha nodded in agreement, "He was a big deal a little over twenty years ago. He was a big-time rival of Gol D. Roger. They had completely different philosophies and clashed every time they met. When Roger was captured by the Marines, Shiki invaded Marineford but not to free Roger. He wanted to be the one to kill Roger, he went crazy and fought them until they finally managed to subdue him and locked him up. It was sometime after Roger's death that Shiki escaped. No one knows how he did it to this day."

Markus chimed in, "He cut off his own legs to escape the Seastone shackles then used his Devil Fruit to escape."

All three looked surprised but Kureha also had a hint of a suspicious look and asked, "How do you know that?"

"It's more a guess. When I found his flying ship I saw he was missing both of his legs and had them replaced with swords. I'm guessing he took off his own legs. It seems less likely that he lost them in battle since he's been in hiding for so long."

Kureha thought for a bit and nodded. She still had her suspicions but didn't voice them. It didn't matter though. Instead, she asked, "So, why did you come back?"

Markus grinned, "I came back for you three. We're going to kick the crap out of Shiki and his people."

The shock on their faces was priceless. He kept going, "I don't expect you all to fight someone of Shiki's strength, or even his lieutenants, I'll take care of them. Instead, I want all of you to fight the other members. It will be a good experience for the three of you and help you grow stronger."

The three of them looked between each other before facing him with looks of determination. Rei was the most determined. She might become a pirate in the future but it didn't mean she had to like other pirates. If Markus was going to beat the crap out of pirates she was all for it. Bonney wanted to test out her growth. It'd been weeks since her last real fight and she'd started to improve faster and faster. Now it was time to see how she held up. Kureha seemed more ambivalent about the whole thing but still determined to fight.

With everyone in the mood for a throwdown, Markus walked to the edge of the island and summoned out his cigarette boat. Most of the combat gear for the women was on the boat still. He didn't feel like personally carrying it all in his inventory and being their bag boy. They only kept essentials on themselves. Once the boat was out, the three of them raided it for their gear. Meanwhile, Markus retrieved Shodai and the Devil's Flintlock from his inventory to strap both of them to his waist.

Once the women were geared up, Markus looked them over. Rei had a spear in her hand and a couple of spares strapped to her back. Bonney had a pair of flintlocks hanging from her hips. Kureha... She looked like an overzealous Rambo wannabe with weapons of all kinds strapped to her back. It was like she planned to fight a one-woman war.

As they started to disembark the ship, Markus held a hand up, "Stay on board. I'll use the ship to carry us where we need to go since it's in the air."

Once everyone was settled in, Markus used his Gyro Telekinesis to lift the entire boat, set the Jet Dials, and took off. They blasted through the air like a jet fighter as he guided them toward the tag he left on Shiki's ship. It wasn't hard to tell which one it was since he'd been focusing on it since he'd placed it.

As they flew through the air, something he hadn't seen in quite a while appeared in front of him. A new quest!

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New Quest!

Save the East Blue!

Shiki the Golden Lion intends to wage war on the East Blue and utterly annihilate it. Stop him and protect the homes of your friends in the Strawhat crew!

Objective 1: Defeat Shiki's minions and send them scattering.

Objective 2: Put an end to the threat presented by the mutated animals.

Objective 3: Save the villagers from the rampaging mutated animals.

Objective 3 (Bonus): Get the cure for Daft Green poisoning and give it to Xiao's grandmother.

Objective 4: Defeat Shiki's Lieutenants Scarlet and Indigo.

Objective 5: Defeat Shiki.

Bonus Objective: Retrieve the Kopo Kopo no Mi from Indigo and give it to Doctor Kureha.

Failure Conditions: Death, Death of a crewmember, failure to complete Objectives 2, 4, and 5.

Rewards:

Objective 1: Experience based on the number of defeated enemies.

Objective 2: Choice of 1 perfectly safe SIQ vial.

Objective 3: The Villagers become loyal to you and their new home automatically becomes your territory.

Objective 3 (Bonus): Learn an old secret.

Objective 4: (Got ideas?)

Objective 5: Rewards TBD

Bonus Objective: Increased Reputation with Doctor Kureha, Random Level increase token for the Basic Medical Knowledge skill.

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After reading over the quest, Markus wasn't too thrilled. There were some intriguing things for the rewards. He was especially curious about this secret he could learn and wondered what it might lead to. The SIQ reward didn't seem all that important to him. SIQ was only used on animals so what good did it do him? ... Maybe he could give it to Chopper. He was technically an animal so maybe it would work on him and give him something special?

Markus shook his head and dismissed the alert. Maybe the unknown reward for defeating Shiki would give him something worthwhile. Honestly, he was looking forward to fighting the old pirate. His use of the Fuwa Fuwa no Mi was impressive and bordered on perfect telekinesis. Then again, what could you expect from someone who has used their Devil Fruit for over twenty years? If he wasn't a master at using it, then he would be an utter fool.

He also couldn't help wondering how Shiki's ability and his own gravity manipulation would work if they tried to affect the same object. The more the thought about it, the more interested he was in fighting Shiki.

The flight to the location of his tag took nearly three hours. By his standards, that was slow as hell. By any other standard, it was ungodly fast. As they approached, everyone had a look of awe on their faces. Before them, floating serenely in the air, were multiple islands with a variety of environments on them. It was a breathtaking sight. Markus had a wicked grin, he planned to trash it all.

A/N: Yes, I'm bringing Shiki into the story slightly out of the realistic timeline he would have appeared in the movie. I also plan to amplify his strength beyond what appeared in the movie. There's no way in hell that someone who could fight against Roger would be as weak as he was in the movie. So expect him to be a LOT stronger.

Kopo Kopo no Mi: A name I made up for Indigo's unnamed Devil Fruit. Kopo Kopo is the Onomatopoeia for 'bubbling loudly.' I chose it for the sound of bubbling chemicals.