Paradise

Markus pulled the pirate ship belonging to the Iron Flair pirates into the docking port of a small town located on the northern end of Banaro island.

There wasn't much to see from the small town, a few stalls that sold food, a few shops that sold health care items, and a small Marine base. Not a lot at all, but still enough to allow the people that lived there to live comfortably.

Markus marched down the deck of the docked pirate ship and was immediately greeted by the small band of Marines.

There had to be no more than six marines in all, their leader was a scrawny man, but his epaulettes and his stripes indicated that he was a captain, quite a decent rank in the Marines.

" Hold it, Soldier, let me see some Id." The man asked. The captain wasn't being aggressive, but nor was he trusting. It's not every day that a sailor pulled into harbor in a pirate ship, let alone, one belonging to quite a famous pirate.

Markus reached into his pocket, searching for the Id, but soon discovered it wasn't there. " Hang on a sec, I know had it here somewhere." Markus told the man. He grabbed his bag that he had from his boat and dumped its contents onto the ground. " Ho! There it is!" Markus exclaimed. He picked up his issued Military Id from the pile of apple cores and torn up packets of dried meat.

Markus handed over his Id to the man and inspected it. Etched onto all official Marine Id's is a serious of small digit codes. The only ones capable of knowing these codes are the Marine's issuing the Id's, not even the standard officers know the process of embedding the codes into the cards.

" Okay, give me a moment. Private Naval, I want you to take this card back to base and Verify it for me."

" Yes Captain Hongo!" Private Naval took the military Id and started running back to the Marine base located on the outskirts of the town, while Captain Hongo waited with Markus and his remaining soldiers.

" Wanna tell me why you're sailing with pirates?" Hongo asked Markus.

" I'm not a marine just yet actually. I still haven't finished Fleet Admiral Kong's test." Markus told the man.

" Ahhh, a recruit, huh? That brings back some memories. The final exam, huh? So, how much is your catch worth?" Hongo asked.

" I'm not entirely sure actually. I just happened to be floating on by and two pirate crews fighting it out, so I decided to step in. It'd be a good solid if you could identify them for me." Markus told the man.

" Well, if your story does check out, I'll have no problem with that, young man. But if it doesn't then we're gonna have some problems."

Markus laughed at this. It wasn't he wanted to show disrespect, he was just surprised by the captain's threat, even if it wasn't much of a threat.

Markus and Captain Hongo continued conversating for what felt about thirty more minutes before private Naval returned with the information that Captain Hongo wanted.

" Hm, Okay. Seems everything checks out. HQ confirmed your identity. Welcome to Bell town, sailor. We ain't got much here, but what we do have is yours if you need it."

" I appreciate it, Captain."

" Alright, so let's a look at this ship."

" Right. I got two of the pirate crews here. Their captains and one of their vice captains are unconscious and are tied up along with the others. Come on, let me show you." Markus told the man.

Markus made the gesture and Hongo followed him onto the ship with his men behind him.

" Well now, this is really impressive." Hongo muttered. " Kid, do you know who these guys are?"

" Nope."

" Well for starters, this iron like ship belongs to the Iron Flail pirates. And that there is Captain Iron Body Jono, bounty 160,000,000. And his vice-captain strong arm John- worth 134,000,000. And then these guys, Bone demon Hengoku- 165,000,000. and his vice captain Snake blade Tsurin-150,000,000. A damn good catch for a recruit. What kind of monster did old Zephyr create?"

" Well, It's the result of sixteen years of living on Marineford being beaten up by two very aggressive old men." Markus joked. " But no seriously, I just take training very seriously."

" I see that. Damn. Alright, let's call HQ for transport. Good work."

" I appreciate it, now I should get going. I still got a little under a month left and I need to go hunting for more pirates." Markus told the man.

" You sure? I mean with just this, you've already accomplished quite the accolade. You could take it easy for now if you wanted." Hongo told the young man.

" I could yea. But I know he won't. Neither would she. And I can't let them out do me." Markus told the man.

" Well, feel free to shop around town if you need anything. And be careful when you go back out to sea, there's gonna be a storm." Hongo told the young man.

" I appreciate it, Captain." Markus grabbed his shit literally and made his walk into the village, he was gonna need some more water and food if he wanted to get to the next island without dying of starvation. " You know, I do wonder what the others are up to. I bet right about now, that guy's getting his ass kicked. And then he'll come crawling back to me and admit I'm the best... Yeah, that's what's gonna happen." Markus muttered to himself. He pictured in his mind a vision of himself holding a trophy over the heads of both Brago and Gion and flaunting it with hardy style and class. " YAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Meanwhile in another part of the Grand Line on an Island known as Kyuka Island, Brago was walking amongst the bustling town of travelers, as the Island was known for its many extravagant vacation spots. But it was also known to be a hub for some pirates and bandits. A good place to go hunting, and now that he was cut loose, that's what he would do.

Brago was an intimidating man of great size and he had certainly gotten bigger himself over the course of a year. But even more threatening were the two giant swords hanging on his back. The swords were connected together by a long chain that wrapped around his torso. But what was more interesting was the shape of the blades. Instead of being the normal shape of a sword like a katana or a nodachi, or even a great sword, no these blades were shaped like two massive cleavers. And hung down from his back to his hips. They were truly large.

" Hmm, this is quite the conundrum. I don't know where to begin in this place." Brago grumbled. " Guess, I need to take a little more direct role."

Next time! The Swordsmen takes to the stage! Exploding blade of Justice!

Let's go! Moving onto the next! Leave a comment and let me know what you thought of the chapter.