Chapter 1

Over the course of the next few days, things were pretty calm on the ocean. Markus once again got into a nice routine with the crew and even started Robin on Observation Haki training. Most of the older crew members were finally showing real signs of being able to use Observation Haki, especially Zoro. His encounter with Mr. 1 had helped push him further than any previous encounter and let him break through a barrier in his growth. Where he could only dodge one or two attacks in a row previously, he could now dodge five to six.

Markus also discovered a way to push Nami to the extreme. Money! He wished he thought of it sooner. He made it a gambling game for her. For every time she managed to dodge more than one attack in a row, he would pay her 100,000 Belly. If he hit her more than two times in a row, she owed him the same amount. By the end of the first day, she owed him 2.5 million Belly. On the second day, she managed to work it down to 1.2 million, the next it was up to 1.7 million. The amount she owed him would vary day to day but she never got out of debt. Her attempts to flirt her way out of the debt were brushed off.

As for the others, they showed some improvement but not as much as the other two. As for Robin, she was shocked when she learned about Haki and what it could do. She immediately became determined to learn both forms of Haki and quickly became his most demanding student. When he wasn't teaching them, he was either working out with Zoro or inside of his Image Training improving the levels of his skills. Beating the simulation of Crocodile until he was worthless only gained Markus an additional four levels. After that, he didn't really have anyone he could safely fight for a decent amount of experience anymore.

With his levels gained, he spent his attribute points to grow stronger. He only had twenty-five but they still added something to his overall power. When his Spirit hit 250 points he was able to finally use the Conqueror's Haki skill book! He used it immediately and was happy he had.

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Conqueror's Haki

[Active, Level 1, 0.0%]

Conqueror's Haki is the rarest form of Haki and cannot be learned in any case but yours. Only one in several million people can possess this skill. Users of Conqueror's Haki can manifest their will and use it to oppress the will of others. This most often renders the targets unconscious. In its rawest form, it is an unconstrained wave that affects anyone within range but when controlled competently it can be used to target specific individuals.

When used this skill will release a wave of Haki that will render anyone with a Spirit lower than yours unconscious.

Less than 25% of your Spirit – Targets rendered unconscious for 10 minutes

Less than 50% of your Spirit – Targets rendered unconscious for 5 minutes

Less than 75% of your Spirit – Target rendered unconscious for 1 minute

Subskill

Haki Clash – When clashing with someone else who possesses Conqueror's Haki, you may spend Willpower to increase the strength of your Haki if necessary. The cost will vary based on the opponent's strength.

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Once he stopped gaining experience his focus was entirely on raising the levels of his skills. A few showed great growth while others slowed down in their growth. The days quickly passed and finally the moment he'd been waiting for had come. Small pieces of something started falling from the sky confusing the crew. When everyone looked up they were shocked to see a galleon falling from the sky. While they freaked out and panicked, Markus had a wide grin on his face. He was so close now!

The falling galleon caused huge waves on the ocean and mercilessly rocked the Going Merry. Once the waves stopped everyone looked around confused at how a ship fell from the sky and was currently sinking next to them. Panic only ensued once more when Nami shouted, "The log pose is broken! It's stuck pointing up!"

Everyone still on the ship looked surprised. Though the reasonable voice of Robin called out, "No, you're mistaken. There must be another island nearby, whose stronger magnetic fields must have caused the Log Pose to switch to a new log. If the needle is pointing upward... that means the Log Pose has locked onto a Sky Island!"

Markus grinned broadly and looked up at the sky. He wished he could grab the Log Pose from Nami and run up there with his Geppo right then and there. The problem was, he couldn't. First, his Geppo was still too weak and second, he couldn't strand the rest of the crew here. He also had a slight fear that he could still lose to Enel in a one-on-one fight. He couldn't nullify his most dangerous attacks like Luffy could. A couple of good blasts and he was as good as dead. He was fast, but he was nowhere close to being faster than lightning!

Markus found a spot inside the cabin of the ship to relax and open his shop menu. He was hoping for an interesting skill to purchase today. When he looked, he was pleasantly surprised to see a genuinely useful skill! He purchased the skill for the price tag of 100 million Belly and instantly learned it. He briefly considered using the discount card he had to drop the price to just 50 million but he decided to save it for something truly expensive. He'd seen skills with price tags reaching half a billion.

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Crafting

[Active, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]

Crafting is a simple skill with infinite possibilities. Learning this skill unlocks a special feature in your inventory that allows you to design and create items using the materials you have stored. The maximum rarity of an item you can create is based on your Crafting skill level.

Can craft common items.

New Store Tab Unlocked!

Blueprints

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With the skill learned his inventory screen did change a little. He now had an option where he could place materials and a design in some slots and craft a finished product. The only materials he had at the moment were wood, stone, and Seastone. Most of that coming from the cage the stole from Crocodile that had acted as a prison for Luffy and the others for a short time. He couldn't craft anything just yet but he would see if he could fix that when they arrived at Jaya. There had to be a blacksmith and supplies or something there right?

He switched to the new tab in his shop while things got loud outside. He ignored it and continued to browse. Honestly, nothing really interesting would happen until they arrived at Skypeia. He could leave dealing with Bellamy to Luffy. There was no need for him to get involved with that weakling. Though, he planned to spot Blackbeard and a few of his crewmembers while on land. He was curious about how strong they were. He shook his head to dismiss those thoughts and instead focused on the shop tab.

In the new tab there were twenty blueprints for sale. Each blueprint detailed how to create a different kind of weapon as well as armor, clothing, shoes, gadgets and a few other things. From the looks of it, anything that could be built had a blueprint available for him to choose from, or would, at reasonable prices too. They were just common tier items after all. The most basic of the basics that anyone could purchase just about anywhere for a fair price.

After browsing around he bought a simple cutlass recipe for 20,000 Belly. It only required steel, brass, wood, and leather to make it. He could probably find plenty of that in Jaya and mass-produce the sword to grind the skill. Once the swords were made, he'd just sell them back to the shop to get rid of them. As he was planning on how to level his crafting skill, the whole ship once again began to rock back and forth violently.

Markus left the cabin and looked to the side and saw a turtle as big as an island that had surfaced next to the ship. Almost immediately after he saw the turtle, the sky suddenly darkened. Luffy came flying out of the ocean and landed on the upper deck of the ship, he was soon followed by Sanji and Zoro climbing out of the water with bags on their shoulders. Nami ran over to Luffy and started slapping him over and over to wake him up since he'd been in the water without protection.

Shortly after a man that looked remarkably like a gorilla came flying out of the ocean and landed on the decks railing while shouting, "Hold it right there you lowlives! You think you can come into my territory, steal my treasure, and just get away!?"

Markus looked at the supposed man and sighed. Even though Masira and the other one looked like apes they were supposedly human. Markus couldn't figure out how they could look so much like apes without being members of the Mink Tribe. Were they throwbacks? Did their mothers have unhealthy interests? He had no idea but they were weird. Then again, when people can grow to be ten feet tall and not actually be called giants... He stopped that train of thought before he broke his brain.

As Zoro went to draw his sword to deal with Masira, one of his underlings shouted over from their heavily monkey themed boat, "B...Boss w-w-watch out!!"

His call caused everyone on both ships to look in the same direction and see the same sight. Everyone, even the giant ass turtle, had their jaws dropped by the sight before them. Five shadows, each bigger than a normal giant by several times, appeared to be standing in the water directly in front of them while holding harpoons in their hands. Everyone screamed, "MONSTERS!" all at the same time.

Markus just smirked while the rest of the crew, minus Robin and himself, plus Masira, grabbed the oars on the Going Merry and started rowing as if their lives depended on it. They rowed like mad until they escaped the darkness cast by the shadow before collapsing on the deck to lament their day so far. The crew took turns recounting the events in order until Masira spoke up. He was immediately and violently kicked off of the ship by Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji.

Markus looked over at Robin with a smirk, "Robin, I'm surprised at you."

she looked back at him confused. He elaborated, "You just got done talking about how there had to be a sky island and to forget what we think we know because that's just how logic works in the Grand Line. Since a sky island must exist, then there must be people on that island right?"

A look of realization dawned on her face as she finished his thought, "If those people happened to stand between the sun and us, then their shadows would be cast down and appear as giants in the right conditions!"

Markus gave her a thumbs up, "Exactly."

Everyone else, except Nami, looked confused by what Markus said. Luffy even went so far as to say, "So they're mysterious giants!"

Markus rolled his eyes at Luffy and didn't bother trying to correct him. Markus left the group on the lower deck and made his way to the upper deck. He was soon followed by Robin and, after yelling at the three divers, Nami came up the steps while sighing. Robin looked at Nami with a smile, "You seem frustrated."

Nami groaned, "Oh, the real frustration will be from hereon! We're surrounded by idiots, honestly. We have absolutely no way of finding land with the Log Pose pointing up!"

Robin pulled an Eternal Pose out and held it toward Nami, "Here."

Nami accepted the Eternal Pose with some confusion, "An Eternal Pose?"

"I nicked it from the ship of those monkeys earlier."

Nami sniffed while tears dripped down her cheeks, "You and Markus are the only ones I can count on!"

Robin sweatdropped, "You look like you've been through some hardship..."

Markus threw his head back and laughed, "Give it time Robin and you will understand her pain."

Nami looked at Markus, "Why is it you never seem to be bothered by Luffy and his idiocy?"

Markus shrugged his shoulders, "I've been with Luffy the longest so I think it's fair to say I know him the best. It's just better if you don't let his momentum catch you and drag you in. Besides, as long as he's leading us, everything just seems to work out alright."

Nami seemed to be pondering what Markus said. While she did, he found a comfortable spot to sit down and relax while they sailed to Jaya... After a roundabout conversation where Luffy had trouble deciding where to go. Once he realized that they had no choice but to go to Jaya, they set sail.

Markus relaxed and enjoyed the ride to Jaya until they got close enough for Usopp and Nami to begin panicking over the large number of pirate vessels docked on the island. Markus sat back and watched as Luffy and Zoro were the first to leave, followed by Nami chasing after them to make sure they didn't get into trouble. Markus snuck off about the same time that Robin did. She had her thing to do and he had his!

Once on the island and alone, Markus started hunting around for a place he could buy the materials he needed. On his way, he saw one of Blackbeard's crew, Jesus Burgess standing on a rooftop shouting for challengers. Burgess was a large man wearing simple pants and a teeshirt, a mask similar to one a luchador would wear, and a giant golden belt around his waist. Markus promptly ignored the man when he saw his level was similar to Mihawks back at Baratie. Burgess was not someone he could mess with yet. The man was way stronger and tougher than he looked and knew both forms of Haki available to the masses.

As he moved through the city he spotted two more of Blackbeard's crew. Van Auger, the sniper and Doc Q, the doctor. Doc Q was the weakest, physically, but still not someone worth messing with when Burgess and Van Auger were so closeby. Picking a fight with any of them meant picking a fight with all of them and likely dying as a result. So, Markus kept his head down and promised himself that he would kill them all at some point in the future. Now just was not the time to go off and die like an idiot.

Markus ignored the constant fighting around him until he found what he was looking for, a blacksmith shop! He walked into the gloomy place and looked around. The weapons on display were slightly above average but only slightly. He wasn't going to be like Zoro and walk in a random shop to find two high-grade weapons and get them for free. As he got to the counter he turned his attention to the ancient-looking man sitting behind it, "I'm looking to get my hands on a large supply of steel, brass, wood, and leather. You got that here? If not can you point me to who would?"

The old man took a puff from his pipe, "How much ya want kid?"

Markus thought about his balance and the diminishing returns of doing the same thing over and over, "How much will five million Belly get me?"

The old man scoffed, "More than you can carry kid. I'll give ya everything I got for two million. Three crates of steel, one of brass, one of leather. For wood yer better off going to the docks."

Markus thought about it and held up a single finger, "One million."

The old man laughed right in his face, "One point eight."

"One point two!"

The old man growled, "One point five, take it or get the hell out brat!"

Markus sighed but reached into his hoodie to retrieve a couple of small gold ingots worth 1.5 million Belly and set them on the old man's counter, "Show me the stuff."

Given where he was, Markus didn't let his guard down for a moment nor did he remove his hand from the gold. The old man looked at the gold and nodded, "Follow me, kid."

The old man hopped off of his stool and led Markus into the back of his shop. He pointed out several crates sitting off to the side, "Feel free to check it all."

Markus did exactly that. He wasn't about to get empty crates for his hard gambled money. He popped open each crate and checked its contents. Seeing that they had what he wanted, he set the gold down and left it alone. Under the astonished gaze of the old man, Markus stored all of the crates inside of his inventory. He didn't care if some random old dude no one would ever see saw him do something like that. The old man took the gold and looked at Markus a bit more warily, "Interesting Devil Fruit you got there, kid."

Markus didn't reply with words, he merely smiled and made his way out of the shop while waving goodbye to the old man over his shoulder. He had most of what he needed. Some wood was all that was left. He took the old man's advice and made his way down to the docks to look for a place that did ship repairs. They should have plenty of wood to spare. If not, he would just cut some down in a forest later... He stopped when that thought crossed his mind. He spun on his heels and started making his way back to the Going Merry. He'd just cut down a damned tree or two and use that wood, forget paying for it!

As he made his way back to the main street, he saw Blackbeard sitting in the middle of it eating pie and drinking while talking to Luffy. He shuddered violently at the sight of the man. Even though his level was 'only' in the low eighties, Markus felt a distinct warning from his Observation Haki that told of only death if he tried to fight Blackbeard at this moment. He quickly turned it to its active mode and felt other members of his crew were close by. If he made a single aggressive move toward Blackbeard, he'd die without even knowing how. Auger would snipe him, Burgess would crush him, and the Doc would poison or detonate him. Blackbeard was untouchable at the moment.

As he made his way toward the Going Merry, avoiding Blackbeard, he spotted a Newscoo and flagged it down. After paying for the paper he stored it without looking at it. Nami would appreciate it when he gave it to her though. She liked keeping up with the news. As he continued to head to the ship, Robin appeared next to him. Together they walked side by side until they arrived at the ship together.