When the marine ship closed to within a few hundred yards a voice called out, "Attention ships, come to a complete stop and prepare to be boarded! I repeat, come to a complete stop and prepare to be boarded!"
Marcus, who was at the helm of the pirate ship yelled out to his ship, "Slow down and let's tie the ships together first!"
Sabo who was at the helm gave a thumbs up and had their ship reef its sails first. Once Marcus's ship pulled up alongside it they did the same thing and both ships were quickly lashed together. Marcus then headed back to his ship and found Zeff in the kitchen where he said, "Stay below deck, we might be getting boarded by marines and I don't want any issues."
"Whatever you say, captain." Zeff said as Sanji looked up in concern.
"What if they want to search the ship?" Sanji asked as he glanced at Zeff with worry in his eyes.
Zeff placed a reassuring hand on Sanji's shoulder as he said, "Don't worry about me little eggplant, I'll be fine… Now get back to work and clean those dishes."
Marcus arrived back on the deck to see the marine ship slowing down and about to reach them. He quickly headed back to the pirate ship since they were headed towards that side to dock. Once on the ship he said, "Zoe, you take the others and head back to our ship. I'll handle the marines myself."
Within minutes Marcus was left alone with the pirates as the marine ship came to a stop and started tossing out lines. Marcus made no move to help as he sat on top of the railing closest to his ship. A few marines were forced to jump across before they were able to tie the ship off properly. Within a few moments of the ships being secure, marines started to cross over and near the front stood Smoker.
Smoker glanced over the tied up pirates for a few moments before he focused his gaze on Marcus and moved closer. He stopped a few feet away from Marcus and asked in a gruff tone, "We received a report about two pirate ships being in the area and you're the first two ships we've found… What's going on here? Why are these people tied up?"
Marcus pointed towards the two pirate captains as he said, "Those are the pirates you're looking for, but I'll need payment for their bounties before I hand them over."
Smoker took a moment to study Marcus before one of his men ran over holding bounty posters as he said, "Captain Smoker look at this!"
The man handed the bounty posters to Smoker who glanced at them for a few moments before he turned back to Marcus and asked, "Where's your captain?"
"You're looking at him." Marcus said with a smirk.
Smoker frowned as he studied Marcus for a few moments before he said, "You expect me to believe some kid took down a pirate with a bounty of over fifteen million belly?"
"My grandpa would call those rookie numbers and then complain that he could do better when he was my age." Marcus said as he gave a helpless shrug.
Smoker frowned as he said, "I wasn't joking kid, go get your captain."
"Neither was I, you're talking to the captain."
Smoker narrowed his eyes as he said, "Either get your captain or I'll send someone to find him."
Marcus shook his head slightly before he glanced over his shoulder and yelled, "Who's the captain of our ship?"
Everyone yelled back, "You are!" except one person who yelled back, "I'm the captain!"
Marcus's right eye started to twitch as he yelled, "Shut up Luffy or I'll ban you from eating lunch today!"
"Noooooooooo! You can't do that, I'll starve!" Luffy cried out in a horrified voice.
Smoker frowned at the interaction and stepped closer towards the rail where he found a crew of kids on the other ship. He frowned even more as he asked, "Where is the crew of this ship?"
"You're looking at my crew, and I'm the captain."
Smoker bit down on his cigar and took a deep drag before he said, "Look kid, I don't have time for jokes. Now go get the ship's captain and the rest of the crew."
"And I told you, you're talking to the captain. Now pay me for my bounties so we can get out of here."
Smoker grabbed the stub of his finished cigar and tossed it into the sea below before he pulled out a new one and lit it. After he took a long pull from it, he focused his gaze on Marcus and said, "No more jokes kid… Either you get your captain or I'll send someone to get them."
"No one is allowed on my ship unless I give them permission." Marcus said in a relaxed manner as he flashed a challenging smile.
"Someone go find the captain of this other ship." Smoker called out to the marines on the deck.
"Yes, sir." Someone responded and moved towards the rail to hop down to the smaller ship.
Just before the man reached the railing, Marcus appeared in front of him and grabbed his wrist as he said, "I didn't give you permission to board my ship."
Smoker's eyes widened slightly and the marine Marcus grabbed had his mouth drop open in shock as Marcus pushed him back gently. Marcus then turned back towards Smoker as he said, "Can you pay me my bounties now?"
Smoker narrowed his eyes as he asked, "Where did you learn that from kid?"
"I figured it out myself after watching my grandpa use it a few times."
Smoker waved off the still stunned marine before he asked, "Who's your grandpa?"
"Monkey D. Garp." Marcus said with a cocky smirk.
Smoker took another look at Marcus before he asked, "Vice Admiral Garp has a grandson?"
"Four of them to be exact."
Smoker glanced over to the marines on the deck and said, "Tally up the bounty total and bring me the voucher book."
"Yes, sir!" One of the marines said as they saluted.
Marcus calmly walked back towards Smoker as he said, "Thanks, it would have been a hassle if I had to beat you guys up and go collect the bounties in Loguetown."
"Don't get cocky just because you beat up some low tier East Blue pirates, kid."
"First of all it's Marcus, not kid. And secondly, I didn't fight any of these weaklings, my crew beat them all." Marcus said with a smirk.
"You didn't fight them?" Smoker asked in surprise.
Marcus shrugged as he said, "My brothers need the experience more than I do, so I let them and the rest of my crew handle it."
"Are you training to join the marines and follow in the steps of your grandfather?"
Marcus laughed so hard he was forced to grab his stomach as he bent over, while Smoker frowned. When Marcus recovered he wiped a fake tear from his eye as he said, "And be someone else's dog on a leash? Fuck that, I would rather be a bounty hunter and do what I want while I make a great living instead."
Smoker frowned a little more but didn't comment as a marine approached with a booklet in hand and said, "Here you go sir, the total is a little over seventy five million."
"Seventy five million?" Smoker and Marcus asked at the same time.
The marine nodded and pulled out the bounty posters for everyone they found. While most of them were only five or six million, a couple were ten plus and with ten bounties it added up fast. Smoker double checked everything before he wrote out some information on the booklet he held. Once finished Smoker tore off a receipt and handed it to Marcus as he said, "Here you go ki… Marcus, now get out of here."
Marcus happily took the receipt and double checked it before he jumped up on the railing and said, "Pleasure doing business with you."
As Marcus jumped down onto his ship and started giving out orders the other marine asked, "Shouldn't we search their ship before they leave, sir?"
"No… Let's hurry up and get this settled. We were supposed to be in Loguetown by now." Smoker said as he watched Marcus and the others skillfully disengage from the ship and then pull away under full sail.
Marcus set the best course for Loguetown and by sunset they were anchored at the main dock. After eating dinner on the ship, Marcus told everyone to go explore for a couple hours besides Tashigi who already left to visit her uncle Kohariko. Marcus himself went off to talk with a few people and make arrangements to sell the loot they collected sometime tomorrow morning. Once he was done he headed to the marine base to turn in the receipt voucher and collect the bounty for the pirates they captured before he returned to the ship and practiced playing guitar until Uta called him.
Early the next morning, Marcus woke up and met with everyone to offload the goods they collected. Afterwards he paid out everyone on the crew except Luffy one million belly and told them to go shopping for whatever they needed. As for Luffy's share, he gave it to Ace and had him handle it. Since Luffy tended to waste money on food or other stupid things. Sure it was Luffy's money, but he still wanted his brother to be a tiny bit responsible.
With all of that out of the way, he let Zeff go check on his boat as Marcus himself went to give Tashigi her share of the money. When he arrived he ran into Smoker who was talking with Tashigi and her uncle Kohariko. Marcus gave a friendly wave as he approached and said, "Good morning everyone."
Tashigi's uncle narrowed his eyes at Marcus as he said, "You little brat, you let Tashigi get hurt!"
"She looks fine to me." Marcus said as he eyed Tashigi up and done as he rubbed his chin.
Kohariko lifted Tashigi's arm up to show off a six inch long cut that was still healing. It was a fresh wound from the fight the other day. Marcus shrugged as he said, "I said I would protect her, not baby her. If I don't let her fight, she will always be weak."
Smoker nodded in approval while Kohariko frowned and as he was about to say something, Marcus pulled out a stack of cash and handed it to Tashigi as he said, "This is your split, buy some new clothes, glasses and whatever else you need or want. We are leaving tomorrow morning after breakfast to hunt more pirates."
Tashigi took the money as she said, "Understood, captain."
Marcus nodded towards Kohariko and Smoker as he said, "Later."
Smoker started to talk with Tashigi and Kohariko again as Marcus went to get some new clothes. He'd had a growth spurt since he last visited and definitely needed them. It also didn't help that Uta stole everything that didn't fit him correctly before she left, which turned out to be over half his clothes…
So Marcus went back to the Golden Thimble he visited before and picked out a whole new wardrobe that was slightly bigger than he currently needed. While he was at the shop he ran into Nami and Nojiko who were getting clothes themselves. When he noticed they were also buying stuff for their mom, he handed them an extra bit of money and told them to buy their mom a whole new wardrobe. He also told them to buy Genzo a few things, since the guy almost always wore the same police outfit everyday.
Once he finished at the Golden Thimble, Marcus took his clothes back to the ship and rested for a little bit before he headed off to the shipyard where Zeff's ship was being built. After his training with Mihawk he'd almost left with them when Uta asked, but in the end held off. He knew he was being held back staying in East Blue, but he liked hanging out with his brothers along with his friends and also knew Garp would be pissed if he left now…
But that didn't mean he couldn't make some plans in advance and get a small ship built for himself, since if he left East Blue it would be alone. Sure he could probably take some of the others, but half of them weren't ready for the Grandline yet and Marcus wasn't completely sure if he would come back. So with those thoughts in mind he went to see about getting a custom ship built.