Chapter 26

Markus returned to the deck of the ship with a large smile. He knew exactly which Devil Fruit he wanted to go for next. He wouldn't even need to use the extraction serum to get it, Whitebeard's Gura Gura no Mi! It was perfect! A paramecia Devil Fruit that was considered to be able to destroy the whole world while also being 'invincible' like his current Goro Goro no Mi. Combining the powers of both of them would truly make him invincible!

He didn't even need to do anything special to get his hands on the Gura Gura no Mi either. Whitebeard was scheduled to die soon enough and Blackbeard would extract his Devil Fruit similar to how the serum did. All he would need to do was swoop in at the last moment and snatch the fruit before Blackbeard could get his hands on it!

It might seem cold to think of Whitebeard's death as a good thing. Some people might even want to 'save' Whitebeard. Markus couldn't do that, no, he wouldn't do that. Whitebeard was the world's strongest man and he chose to go out as the world's strongest man. He went to Marineford knowing he would die but as a true man of the sea, as the strongest man, he wanted to die fighting for his sons, protecting his precious family. It would be a disservice to the legendary man to save his life and let him die in a comfortable bed. Hell, Whitebeard would probably be pissed at him if he even tried to do that. So, he would let Whitebeard have his moment and swoop in at the last second to steal the Gura Gura no Mi from Blackbeard. That piece of shit didn't deserve Whitebeard's legacy.

When he pulled that off he would still have a dose of the serum he could use later. There were so many Devil Fruits worth taking from people! Pulling out his crates of fruits and vegetables was a risk and he didn't have a 100% chance of getting the Devil Fruit of whoever he killed. He was lucky in the case of the Doa Doa no Mi but that luck might not hold if he goes for an important Devil Fruit in the future. One example would be a member of Doflomingo's crew, Sugar, and her Hobi Hobi no Mi. The eternal youth was nice and all but the really terrifying part of the fruit was turning living people into toys. Once turned into a toy all memories of that person are erased from other people's minds as if they never existed in the first place.

He could think of so many applications for that power. The most basic being, turn someone into a toy and then break them into pieces. The people turned into toys had no power and were nothing but living dolls that could be broken with ease. Of course, the ability to form contracts with the toys and turn them into loyal slaves was just the cherry on top of the broken pie. That was just one example of a Devil Fruit he would like to claim from his future enemies and keep out of the hands of other people.

So many possible Devil Fruits to steal, many of which he knew where and when to find. He just shook his head and got comfortable on the main deck of the Merry. As he sat down, he saw a still weak Luffy riding on Chopper in his small form looking for Usopp... Usopp who was right next to him but wearing his Sogeking mask making him unidentifiable to the two of them. Markus shook his head with a smile and looked to the horizon. He could feel a large number of life signs moving toward them that wasn't very far away. In just a few minutes the others noticed a large ship sailing toward them with 'Galley-La' proudly displayed on the mainsail.

As they got closer, the Strawhats could hear the members of Galley-La shouting and cheering at seeing them. As everyone was greeting each other, there was a loud CRACK as the bow of the Merry cracked apart and leaned forward. The Merry... was at the end of her road. Luffy turned to shout at Iceburg, "Ice-dude! We've got trouble! Merry's in danger! Please do something! You're all shipwrights, right? Please! Please do something! She's a nakama that's traveled with us all this time!"

Iceburg, still covered in bandages had a serious face as he said, "Then... let her sleep already. I'm seeing a miracle right now. A miracle from a ship that reached its limit long ago. I've been a shipwright for many years, yet I've never seen such an amazing pirate ship. It lived a very admirable life."

Everyone was silent as a maudlin atmosphere filled the area. Luffy, as the captain, was the one who had to make the choice. He slowly let out a breath, "I understand."

Markus couldn't stand to let Merry's journey end here. As everyone disembarked onto longboats, he stayed until he was the only one left. He stepped off of Merry and used Geppo to move to the bow and place his hand on her figurehead. He spoke loud enough for everyone to hear, "Merry may no longer be able to carry us but that doesn't mean her journey has to end here."

Everyone looked at Markus shocked. Before anyone could ask what he meant, Markus stroked the lamb's head figurehead and smiled warmly, "I'll carry Merry within me."

Everyone started to question what he meant, but Markus didn't answer them. He used a visual trick to surround the merry in bright purple sparks that did no damage before storing her inside of his inventory. Silence filled the area as everyone looked at Markus in shock. Usopp was the first to recover and shout at Markus, "What did you do to the Going Merry?!"

Markus walked over to the longboat everyone was on, using Geppo, and landed gently. He looked around and picked up one of the oars, "This is what I did."

Purple sparks covered the oar and he stored it inside of his inventory. Everyone gaped and their mouths only opened further when he pulled the oar back out of his inventory with another show of sparks, "I don't know exactly how it works but, I can turn things into electricity and store them inside of my body, then pull them back out later. See?"

He set the oar down and pulled out a cannonball, before storing it away again. He made sure that everything was accompanied by a harmless show of sparks to keep the facts about his Inventory a secret. Everyone's shock only grew at his demonstrations. Once he recovered a bit, Luffy walked up and placed his hand on Markus's chest, "So... the Merry is inside of you?"

Markus nodded, "She might not be able to sail anymore but her journey doesn't have to end here and now. She can continue to travel with us as a part of me until the day I die."

Tears started to stream out of many people's eyes. Usopp had collapsed to his knees and was sobbing like a child. Chopper and Nami were helplessly wiping tears from their cheeks. Zoro, Sanji, Luffy, and Robin were all smiling brilliantly. The tears were tears of joy, not sadness. Even people who didn't know the Merry very well began to shed tears seeing the emotional scene among the Strawhats.

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Your relationship with all members of the Strawhat crew has greatly increased.

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Things quieted down and the crews sailed back to Water 7. As they sailed, Luffy passed out. He was still severely tired and heavily wounded from overusing his techniques and taking internal damage from Lucci's Rokuogan technique. When they did arrive, Iceburg brought them all to Galley-La and set them up with a place to stay where they would be out of public sight so they could recover.

While the others recovered, Markus found a comfortable spot to sit down and enter his Image Training. Before he summoned someone to fight, he opened his status page and looked at his 50 free attribute points. Currently, his two lowest attributes were his Agility and Wisdom at 267 and 261 respectively. He felt zero desire to spend points on his Agility at the moment. His speed was already off the charts with his Lightning Speed skill and his footwork was closing in on level 100 which would give him +1,000% speed when using it. So, he split the points for a smaller increase over a wider range while skipping his Agility.

Once the points were spent, he started to battle summoned people to increase all of his skills. He wanted to push them as high as he could in his free time to grow stronger. By the time the war came around, he wanted to be as strong as he could. He also expected a new bounty to be placed on his head thanks to his recent antics. The Marines could hide his 'defeat' of Aokiji but there was no way they could hide the loss of ten of their biggest ships. His bounty was bound to increase drastically soon. Once it did, everyone would be after his head and he would become a huge enemy of the Marines.

Everyone continued to rest for the next two days, except for Markus. While he did sleep, he wasn't hurt or even really tired from the adventure at Enies Lobby, unlike everyone else. He continued to grow stronger and focus on his skill levels instead of his personal level. During the two days, he kept an eye on the old man building his boat and was pleased to see him working hard. The old man was working alone in a small building that was just big enough to build the boat within.

Soon enough, the rest of the crew began to recover and went about their own business. Chopper and Robin went out together so Chopper could take a look at the Franky Family. Zoro went out on his own. Markus only recently remembered that Zoro had lost his Yubashiri sword during Enies Lobby in the canon but that event had been prevented. Sanji started to cook and Luffy started to eat... while still sleeping. It was weird as hell to see in person.

Nami... She was extremely depressed and sulking at a table with a deeply gloomy atmosphere around her. All of their belongings had been in the backstreets which had been severely flooded by the Aqua Lagoona. Their belongings, money, and her precious tangerine trees were all gone. Markus sat next to her and calmly stroked her back to try and help her calm down. While he was taking care of her, Kokoro, Chiminie, Gonbe, and Yokozuna arrived at their place.

Markus smiled when he saw them arrive. It meant things were about to get interesting and he was about to meet one of the greatest people in the One Piece world, Garp! With his memories, he could tell that Garp led a complicated and complex life. He was also one of the most powerful people within the Marines and he didn't even have a Devil Fruit. 'Iron Fist' Garp, the man credited with bringing down Gol D. Roger. A man who refused to be promoted to an Admiral because he didn't want to directly serve the scumbag Celestial Dragons. As far as Markus could remember, Garp was a wonderful and kind man... who may or may not have tried to kill his grandson multiple times.

A few moments later, some of the locals arrived with all of their belongings bringing joy back into Nami's life. She leaped from her chair and grabbed the Immortal Tangerine Tree to hug it lovingly. As she snuggled the tree, Chopper and Robin returned from their outing. Sanji enthusiastically greeted Robin while Chopper reported to him that he kept on eye on her the entire time they were out. Nami also gladly showed off the return of their belongings. Markus leaned back in his chair with a broad smile, things were about to get really hectic.

As expected, moments later, Franky burst through the door along with Kiwi and Mozu, the two women with square-shaped hair. Markus listened as Franky told the rest of the crew about the origins of the Adam Tree. The treasured tree is known as the strongest tree in the world. It's rare and getting wood from it is difficult but not impossible thanks to the black market. Wood from an Adam tree was even used on the construction of Gol D. Roger's ship the Oro Jackson. Franky wanted to use the wood to build a ship for them.

While the rest of the crew was excited about Franky building them a new ship, Markus looked out the window and became excited for a different reason. While the others were still talking, the wall on the opposite side of the building suddenly exploded. Everyone was shocked and looked at the exploded wall. Well, everyone but Luffy, he was still sleep-eating.

As the dust cleared, they could see a tall, tan, and muscular old man with grey hair and a short beard standing in the newly made opening. He wore the standard white uniform that all marines above a certain rank wore with a long coat draped over his shoulders similar to a cape. On his head, he wore a dog mask that somewhat hid his identity. As everyone stared at him, he spoke, "So... this is the Strawhat crew?"

The old man grinned in an almost menacing way. If Markus didn't know any better, he would have been as worried as everyone else looked. The old man continued, "I brought someone I want Monkey D. Luffy to meet..."

Sanji and Franky got into fighting poses while shouting, "Marines!" Everyone looked nervous as the old man's eyes swept over them until they landed on a happily snoring Luffy. His lips twitched before he instantly used Soru to bypass Franky and Sanji. He jumped through the air and clenched his hands into fists. With a loud 'BANG!' he slammed his fist into Luffy's head, "WAKE UP!"

Luffy instantly woke up and started screaming while holding his head, "IT HURTS!!!"

Sanji crouched down near him, "Ouch?! What are you talking about?! It's just a punch! It wouldn't hurt you!"

The old man smirked and slowly pulled off his mash, "There's no way anyone can escape the fist of love!" He looked down at Luffy who was now sporting a large bump on his head, "I heard you've been doing reckless things, Luffy."

Luffy looked up at the old man and stuttered, "G... GRANDPA!"

Markus tried not to laugh at the shock and surprise that everyone else experienced. Family drama unfolded as Garp revealed his methods for 'training' Luffy. Things like throwing him in bottomless pits, tossing him into the jungle, and tying him to balloons to float in the sky. The secret of Luffy's seemingly endless life-force had been revealed! Garp had 'trained' Luffy to become a Marine. They ended up fighting over that though when Garp grabbed Luffy to give him another 'Fist of Love', the two of them fell asleep simultaneously.

Everyone stared, unsure what to do, until Garp woke up with a little drool at the corner of his mouth, "Oh crap, I fell asleep."

He looked at the still sleeping Luffy held in his grip and narrowed his eyes. Everyone nearby could hear the sounds of Garp's fist slamming into Luffy's head over and over as he shouted, "WAKE UP, LUFFY! How can you display such an attitude while I'm scolding you?!"

The people watching were slowly becoming numb to the whole affair. Garp began to speak about Shanks, the man responsible for Luffy wanting to become a pirate, and explained to the crew about the Yonko. The four pirate emperor's in control of most of the second half of the Grand Line. The Marines and the Shichibukai stood on the opposite side of the Yonko. If the balance of power became unstable it could be a disaster for everyone. Marus intended to disrupt that balance soon enough.

As Garp was talking, a commotion could be heard coming from outside. One of his underlings reported that Zoro had arrived. Garp's grin grew as he spoke, "Luffy's nakama huh? Well guys, try to stop him!"

Two young men shouted in reply, "Yes, Sir!"

One of the young men charged in the direction of Zoro. He wore a white shirt under a green vest and purple pants. On his back rested the sheaths of two large kukri styled knives... Though they were large enough to be swords. He also had long blonde hair and wore a pair of sunglasses that looked more like a visor. He quickly engaged in a battle with Zoro.

Luffy charged out of the building shouting to tell Zoro he didn't need to be so violent. As he did, the other young man intercepted him with a kick to his chin. The second young man wore a more standard Marine uniform. His only extra accessory was a yellow bandana with red circles on it that held his pink hair out of his face. Resting on the bandana was a pair of round-framed glasses.

Markus watched while leaning out one of the windows as Luffy and Zoro fought the two 'strangers' from the marines. He smiled warmly while watching. The fight didn't last very long at all as the two marines were quickly defeated. Though the one with pink hair impressively used Soru while fighting Luffy. Seeing his two men defeated, Garp started to laugh, "They are no match!"

The young man pinned to the ground beneath Luffy smiled brightly, "You're strong after all! Amazing! I give up." As Luffy let him go, he stood up and dusted himself off while speaking, "Luffy, Zoro, Long time no see. Do you know who I am?"

Luffy and Zoro had deadpan expressions. Luffy was the one to speak, "Who are you?"

Markus decided to jump in at that moment. He appeared behind Luffy and smacked the back of his head, "It's Coby numbskull!"

Unaffected by the slap, Luffy tilted his head to the side, "Coby?"

Coby looked at Markus and had a complicated expression on his face. Markus laughed as he watched the confusion clear up followed by the shock on Luffy's face. Coby and Helmeppo had really changed a lot since the last time they'd met. Markus walked away from them and let them get reacquainted with each other. As he walked back into the building, Garp was staring at him with a look similar to the one Coby gave him. Garp didn't like having to get serious but he did as he spoke to Markus, "We need to talk."