00017. A named sword.

Instead of opening the sack to look at his sword right away, Marcus followed Bogard back to Makino's. Once there and seated at a table, Bogard said, "Before I teach you how to care for your weapon, I want you to know this sword is special to your family."

Marcus glanced at the sack laying on the table before he asked, "Why would a sword be special to my family? Gramps doesn't use weapons."

Bogard wore a sad smile as he said, "This sword originally belonged to a world renowned swordsman. That swordsman trained his only descendant in the way of the sword and before he passed away she inherited the sword from him."

Bogard picked up the sack and slowly pulled the sword out of it as he said, "That same woman was the one who gifted you with your natural talent for the sword, your mother. She was a fearsome swordswoman in her own right and this was her sword, Eternal Rest (Eien no kyūsoku) which is now yours."

Marcus felt drawn to the sword as Bogard set it down gently on the table before him. The tip of the scabbard was capped in metal which was a dark purple color, so dark it almost looked black with an engraved star pattern. The rest of the scabbard was midnight black in color with tiny pin pricks of white in a pattern that resembled the night sky. The hanging cord was the same almost black, dark purple color as the metal end cap, along with the sword's guard piece. The hilt of the blade was double the length of a normal sword and was wrapped tight in that same dark purple colored cord with a metal pummel to match the rest of the sword's decorations. 

As Marcus studied the sword his heart clenched tight as he felt sorrow from the blade before him, after a few moments he cautiously asked, "Where is my mother now and why am I getting her sword?"

Bogard cast a glance at Garp who was at another table playing cards with the other boys before he said, "Garp didn't tell you about your parents?"

Marcus shook his head, so Bogard let out a sigh before he said, "Your parents are troublesome people. Well your father still is, your mother unfortunately passed away after you were born."

Marcus couldn't help himself as tears started to run down his face. While he didn't know the woman and knew he took over his current body after her original son died. His body just responded on its own and started crying. Marcus glanced down at the sword on the table through tear filled eyes and could feel a deep sorrow resonate within the blade.

Marcus reached out and brushed his hand over the hilt of the blade and felt the blade's sorrow even more, which was filled with regret and hidden behind that was the tiniest feeling of hope. Marcus glanced up at Bogard as he asked, "Is that why the blade is so mournful, because my mom died?"

Bogard's eyes widened slightly before he asked, "You can sense the blade?"

Marcus nodded his head as he touched the blade again and felt the deep sadness and regret the blade held. Bogard slightly shook his head to himself before he said, "Master swordsmen say that every sword has its own personality, some of which are a lot stronger than others. As such, to properly use one of those swords, the potential swordsman must first figure out its personality and then bend it to their will."

Bogard stared directly into Marcus's eyes as he said, "Otherwise the sword's personality tends to overwhelm weaker swordsmen unable to handle them, which causes the owner's death. Swords like that can earn a reputation as a 'cursed' sword, but it's not the sword's fault the user was too weak to properly handle the blade."

Bogard gave Marcus a serious look as he said, "I'm not sure of this sword's temperament myself, since I couldn't sense it when I held it… But since you can, replace your training sword with it, figure out its personality and practice with it till it no longer fights you when you use it."

Marcus nodded as he wiped his face clean before he focused back on Bogard and asked, "What if it doesn't fight me?"

Bogard glanced at the blade for a few moments before he said, "It's rare, but if it happens, count yourself lucky."

Marcus nodded again before he asked, "About my parents… Is that why Luffy and I were brought here? Because our parents are… were pirates or something?"

Bogard glanced at Garp before he said, "Something like that. Just know that you were brought here for your own protection. Now enough about that, I need to teach you the proper way to care for your blade before I leave."

Bogard took his own sword and set it on the table before he said, "Pick up your sword and unsheath it."

Marcus reached for the sword and when his hand wrapped around the hilt he felt the sword probe him for a moment. It seemed to be looking for something and after a moment it found it, because its sorrow died down a little which was replaced by the feeling of hope. Marcus slowly removed the sword from its scabbard and studied the hamon for a moment which looked like flames licking the edge of the blade.

Once the sword was out, Bogard took Marcus through the complete process of blade care. He even gave Marcus a case with everything he would need to take care of his weapon. Once finished, the boys walked Bogard and Garp back to the dock and bid them farewell before heading back to Makino's for the day. It was their rest day and they were going to enjoy it.

The next morning Marcus placed his training sword aside and strapped Eternal Rest onto his belt. It sat a little awkward because of his current height and he needed to keep his left hand on the hilt, to not let the scabbard touch the ground. But over all, Marcus was happy with his new sword.

Training returned to normal with the boys implementing some of the new stuff Garp trained them with. The only thing they didn't do was training for two days straight, although they did push each other a little harder each day they trained.

As for Marcus himself, his training with his new sword helped with two key things. His breathing technique was better than before and he was able to use it longer now. The other thing was his new sword was training him.

At first he thought it was the personality of the sword fighting him and not wanting to work with him. But after a few days he realized the sword didn't want to fight him, it was trying to teach him.

While Marcus already perfected his self taught skills and could link them together well. He was never really trained by a proper sword master. The month-long training he did under Bogard wasn't exactly a master teaching their disciple. It was more akin to a master giving another swordsman some pointers.

His new sword on the other hand was like a master teaching him the sword style it knew. It wouldn't force him to do the moves, but it gently guided him into the correct motion of the blade. If his foot placement was wrong it would tug in a certain direction to move him slightly.

It took a few months but Marcus was able to figure out the basics of the sword style Eternal Rest was teaching him. The more Marcus practiced the new sword style, the more the feelings of the sword changed. There was still a hint of sadness whenever he held the sword, but it was mostly replaced with the feeling of being happy and content.

One weird issue with the sword he noticed was when they went to the Gray Terminal. His sword would vibrate a tiny bit and he could feel a hint of something different coming from the sword around certain people. The feeling would become more pronounced around criminals, but whatever the feeling actually was, Marcus couldn't tell. It stayed hidden under everything else he felt from the sword. Marcus was positive the sword itself was hiding those new emotions, but he had no idea why.

The boys also collected more bounties during that time, with a few of them being worth over a million belly. Marcus would help out the others with taking down the bounties but he never used his sword during those times. While these people were criminals, he didn't want to accidentally kill someone. The morals from his old life were still strong and taking another person's life wasn't something he was currently willing to do.

It might be naive, but whenever he thought about the future and possibly having to take someone's life. Marcus would freeze up in thought. While he knew at some point in this world, he might have to kill someone. He secretly hoped that it would be like the show and comic, where the strawhats almost never killed anyone. Then again this was the real world now and not a story, so sooner or later Marcus would have to make a choice his old life didn't want him to make.

Just past Luffy and Marcus's fifth birthday, they were finally able to use the second level of the training harness. Ace and Sabo were able to start using the second level right after Garp left and they dominated the unarmed spars for the past four months. They still couldn't beat Marcus using weapons though and the new sword style he was learning made him almost untouchable.

With all of the boys unlocking the second level of the harness, they also started catching people with bigger bounties. While they were rare, the boys were able to catch a few people with bounties of around two to five million belly. Almost all of them were some type of bandit from the island with a few being pirates who were trying to lay low.

With them coming to collect bounties every other week or so, the marines at the base got used to the boys and would even save a set of bounty posters for them. The captain of the base even offered to spar with them about once a month. Well he made a bet with them, if he won, they would help out at the base and spar with the marines stationed there. If the boys won he would double a bounty pay out for them.

After thinking about the captain's offer, the boys easily accepted since they won no matter what. While helping to spar with the marines might not seem like a win, for the boys they were already a lost cause to Garp's training and thought process. They loved to fight and fighting stronger people was even better. They also started to spar each day as part of their training, which just made them enjoy fighting more.

Besides training, Marcus and the others were learning how to read and write from Makino for one hour each day after breakfast. Well it was Ace, Marcus and Luffy, since Sabo already knew how to read and write he was roped into helping teach the others.

Luffy seemed to be a lost cause though, since he would fall asleep within minutes of the lessons starting. Makino would hit him and threaten him with no meat in his meals if he didn't pay attention, but it didn't help. Luffy just didn't have the ability to learn properly at all.

That being said, Luffy seemed to be a genius when it came to fighting. While he still couldn't beat Ace or Sabo, he was able to tie with Marcus in unarmed fights now and even beat him a handful of times. Which made Ace and Sabo take their personal training more seriously, since they didn't want to lose in a fight with Luffy who was the youngest. Marcus himself didn't care about it, since he knew how strong Luffy would become.

The last big thing that happened, since all the boys reached the second level of the training harness, they were now able to punch a tree down in a single hit. Since that was the case the boys stopped that version of training because they didn't want to ruin the forest just for training. Instead they added more sparring to their training routine and waited for Garp's next visit to show them a new training technique to replace the tree punching one.