00052. I chose you Luffy!

"Yosh! Let's fight!" Luffy said as he cracked his knuckles.

Zoro frowned as he pointed his sword at Marcus and said, "I want to fight him, not you."

Marcus then patted Luffy on the shoulder as he smiled and said, "You can't fight the end boss, without clearing the minions first."

Ace and Sabo smiled at the comment as Luffy nodded his head in agreement before he said, "Yeah, so let's fight!"

Zoro settled back into his stance as he said, "Fine, I'll fight him then. But he doesn't have a sword."

"He doesn't need a sword to beat you." Marcus said as he stepped away from Luffy.

Zoro wore a savage grin as he said, "Fine, this just makes it easier for me."

"Are you both ready to fight then?" Marcus asked before both boys nodded their heads.

Marcus pointed towards Zoro as he said, "Luffy use gum gum no pistol!"

As Zoro started to rush forward Luffy threw his arm backwards as he said, "Gum gum no…"

Luffy's arm stretched backwards some as Zoro closed the distance and was almost within attack range. A second later Luffy's arm stopped moving and snapped forward as Luffy said, "Pistol!"

Zoro swung his training sword down on Luffy's head as his eyes went wide and he attempted to dodge at the last second. The speed of the punch was too much and within a split second Luffy's fist slammed directly into Zoro's nose. Zoro was lifted off his feet and thrown backwards before he hit the ground and rolled backwards a few times.

"Luffy used gum gum no pistol, it was super effective!" Marcus said with a smile.

Zoro slowly stood up from the ground with blood pouring down his face from his busted nose. He glared at Luffy as he asked in a somewhat muffled voice, "What the hell was that?"

"A punch."

"Of course it was a punch… Why the hell did your arm stretch?" Zoro asked as he pointed one of his swords at Luffy.

Luffy grabbed his cheek and stretched it out to the side before he let it go as he said, "I ate the gum gum fruit. I'm a rubber human."

"Gum gum fruit?... Whatever, it doesn't matter. You won't be able to do that again." Zoro said before he started to charge towards Luffy.

As Luffy prepared his attack and stretched back his right arm, Zoro quickly moved towards the left side of Luffy. Luffy attempted to adjust his attack but was still not used to his powers. As Luffy's attack missed, Zoro closed in and hit him with a double overhead slash with both swords. The attacks both hit Luffy on his left shoulder but bounced off his rubber body. The force of the rebound caused Zoro to stumble a bit and Luffy was able to punch him in the face because of it.

Zoro was sent flying again but jumped back up instantly and yelled at Luffy as he asked, "What the hell was that? How are you still standing?"

"Are you an idiot? He already told you he was made of rubber." Marcus said with a smirk.

Zoro gritted his teeth before he charged at Luffy again. As Luffy attacked, Zoro dodged it easily and came in swinging. He didn't go for overwhelming powered attacks this time, but fast and quick attacks with both swords. Luffy, unused to fighting someone with two weapons, found it hard to dodge all of the fast pace attacks, but his rubber body made it easy to tank them. He would still work in a blow from time to time, but Zoro would manage five or six blows compared to Luffy's single attack.

Marcus watched the fight from the side and could only shake his head in disappointment. Luffy seemed to be lazy and not trying to dodge any of the attacks that looked slow to Marcus. After five minutes or so, Zoro was having issues catching his breath and his attacks were slowing down. Luffy used that opportunity to start raining down attacks on Zoro and within a minute the boy was knocked out on the ground.

Marcus focused his gaze on Luffy as he asked, "What the hell was that? Why didn't you dodge or try to parry any of his attacks once you figured out his rhythm?"

Luffy turned around as he picked his nose and said, "He didn't hit hard enough for it to hurt."

"What would have happened if that was a real fight, with a real sword?"

"I would have dodged." Luffy said matter of factly.

"You should've used that opportunity to train dodging against someone who dual wields swords." Marcus said with a hint of annoyance.

"But it didn't hurt."

Marcus pulled out his bokken as he asked, "So you'll only dodge if it hurts?"

"Yeah."

Marcus picked up one of the bokken's Zoro dropped as he said, "Okay, I understand…"

"Good." Luffy said before Marcus smacked him in the head with one of the bokken. Luffy grabbed his head and was about to ask what was going on before Marcus hit him with another attack.

Marcus kept hitting Luffy with both swords and the more attacks he performed, the smoother he was able to do it. Luffy was attempting to dodge and run away, but Marcus went for his legs to slow him down as he asked, "What happened? I thought you would dodge if it hurt?"

"It does hurt! But you're too fast!" Luffy complained as he was hit again.

"You think I'm too fast? I am still getting used to wielding two swords. Just give me a little while and I will show you how fast I can be." Marcus said and he continued to beat Luffy with both training swords.

"Help! It hurts! Help! I'm Sorry! Help!" Luffy cried out as he tried to run away from Marcus.

Ace and Sabo who were off to the side watching both laughed as Marcus treated Luffy like a pinata. Marcus heard both of them and glanced towards them before he said, "Just wait, you're both gonna have to learn how to defend against this too."

Ace and Sabo stopped laughing and shared a glance as Luffy ran towards them for help. Marcus didn't let him get far as he hamstrung Luffy and then proceeded to beat him more as he said, "Why are you running? You should be practicing how to dodge these! This is your problem and why you are so weak! You never take training seriously! How are you supposed to be the pirate king if you are so weak?"

"I'm sorry! I promise I'll train properly from now on!" Luffy said with a lisp because his face was swollen.

Marcus stopped his attacks and rested both bokken on his shoulders as he asked, "You promise?"

Luffy nodded his head quickly as he said, "Yes! I promise!"

"Since you promised, I guess I will let you go this time… Have a good nap."

"Nap?" Luffy asked before Marcus used all of his strength to slam both bokken into his head.

With Luffy laid out on the ground along with Zoro, Marcus turned to Ace and Sabo as he said, "Let's make a bonfire and cook our food out here, so we don't have to carry these two back to the dojo."

Ace shrugged as he said, "Fine with me, I'll go collect some firewood."

Sabo nodded in agreement as he pulled out a knife and said, "I'll start preparing the meat then."

"I guess I'll set up the fire pit and get a fire started." Marcus said as he dropped the extra bokken on the ground.

Marcus quickly found an okay spot for a fire near the river bank and set up some stones around it before he went to search for some kindling. Within ten minutes he had a small fire going before he turned towards Zoro and Luffy and decided to move them close to where the fire was. A few minutes after he placed them near the fire, Ace returned with a large pile of wood and started to build up the fire. Once the fire was going, Sabo set up their food on spits around the fire to cook.

Zoro awoke to the delicious smell of meat being cooked. He sat up from the ground a little groggy as he tried to remember what happened. After a few seconds he noticed the other boys around the fire and remembered he was beaten by a boy who didn't even use a sword. That's when he noticed someone next to him, someone with lumps all over their face. It took him a few moments to realize it was the boy he fought and then he was confused. Did he actually win the fight?

Zoro shook his head to himself, he knew he didn't win the fight… But he at least injured the other boy during the fight, which made him feel a little better about losing. As Zoro was lost in thought, someone said, "Oh, you're finally up."

Zoro glanced over to see the boy who started the fight in the first place with a smile on his face. The boy waved him closer as he said, "Come join us, the food is just about ready to eat."

As Zoro stood up and moved around the bonfire the boy said, "I'm Marcus by the way. That's Ace over there, Sabo is the one who is cooking and you fought with Luffy."

Zoro sat down as he said, "I'm Zoro."

Marcus nodded as he asked, "Do you train at the dojo?"

"Yes." Zoro said as he glanced at the other boys before he asked, "Did you come here to train at the dojo as well?"

Marcus shrugged slightly as he said, "Kinda. We will be training a little bit, but we mostly came here to spar with people."

Zoro frowned before he asked, "If you came to spar, then how come you didn't want to fight with me?"

"Because my brother needs to train more than I do." Marcus said as Sabo handed him a piece of meat.

As Sabo was handing out food, a hand snaked out and grabbed one of the pieces of meat on the fire and pulled it away before Luffy cried out, "Ahhhhh, it's hot!"

"Don't just grab the meat you idiot, hold it by the stick." Marcus said as he glanced over to Luffy who was juggling the hot meat in his hands.

Once Luffy finally grabbed the stick, instead of the meat directly he smiled and said, "Thanks." Before he tried to take a big bite out of the meat and failed as he said, "It's so hot, I can't eat it!"

Marcus rolled his eyes as he mumbled to himself, "How come he doesn't have common sense most of the time?"

Zoro watched Luffy as the boy kept trying to eat the overly hot meat over and over again before he asked, "Did I really lose to him?"

Marcus smiled and patted Zoro on the shoulder as he said, "Yup. You lost badly too."

"At least I beat him up and made him look like that." Zoro said as he pointed towards Luffy's swollen face.

"Oh, I did that." Marcus said, which made Zoro wipe around to look at him.

Marcus gave a shrug as he said, "He didn't take your fight seriously, so I needed to teach him a lesson."

Zoro ended up spending a while with the boys eating and chatting as the sky started to darken. While there was still light out, but just past sunset as the meal was done, Marcus asked, "Do you stay at the dojo or do you live somewhere else?"

"I live at the dojo mostly."

Marcus nodded as he stood up and said, "We are staying at the dojo too. Do you want to head back with us?"

Zoro stood up himself as he said, "Sounds good to me."

After the boy put out the fire and prepared to leave, Marcus glanced towards Zoro as he said, "Since you're the local, how about you lead us back."

Zoro made sure both of his bokken were placed into his belt before he said, "Sure."

Marcus and the others watched as Zoro turned in the opposite direction of the dojo and started walking away. After a moment Marcus asked, "Isn't the dojo in the opposite direction from here?"

Zoro glanced around in confusion for a few moments before he said, "But I always go this way to reach the dojo."

Marcus glanced over his shoulder towards the dojo as he said, "But if we follow the river that way, we will easily reach the dojo in like ten minutes."

Zoro glanced in the direction of the dojo as he said, "Really? It normally takes me an hour or more to get there."