After breakfast the next morning, Marcus and the crew sailed out of the harbor to hunt more pirates. On the dock stood Tashigi's uncle and Smoker who was apparently taking over as the new base commander of Loguetown. Tashigi's uncle was finally stepping down and planning to retire in the next couple months. Which meant Marcus and the others had two months before they had to come back to Loguetown so Tashigi could attend the ceremony. That worked out since Zeff's restaurant would be done close to the same time and Frank said he would have a small prototype ready for Marcus to test.
Once they left the harbor, Marcus set course for the Redline again to patrol for more pirates. Sure they could patrol the area around Loguetown and catch pirates, but the pirates going towards the Redline would probably be more of a challenge. With that in mind they spent the next day traveling towards the entrance to the Grandline. Once there, Marcus let Nami set the course as they searched for pirates and it took over a week to find some.
The ship was slightly bigger than their own and when Marcus made it clear they were headed towards them, the ship opened fire. With Nami at the helm, Marcus took up protection duty against cannonballs. But with how terrible the other crew's aim was, he only needed to deflect a handful of them before they pulled alongside the ship. As they lashed the ships together the pirate captain yelled out, "Kill every last one of these bounty hunters men! They're the last obstacle between us and riches beyond our wildest dreams!"
Marcus, who was standing near the helm, pushed Nami towards the other ship as he said, "Go on, you won't get any stronger standing around here."
Nami wanted to protest but then Nojiko shot someone with a rifle before she jumped to the other ship and impaled another person with her bayonet. She had apparently been training with Bellemere and took up some kinda marine combat style that revolved around a rifle as a close combat style. Nami watched for a few moments before she tightened the grip on her staff and rushed over to join the melee next to her sister.
Marcus watched carefully from behind and would only intervene when someone could be seriously injured. It was mostly the inexperienced people like Nami and Nojiko who needed the most help. Since their situational awareness was underdeveloped for large scale melee battles. Which gave Marcus an idea to include large scale sparring sessions going forward to help everyone gain better awareness in fights…
It could possibly work as a precursor for learning observation haki sooner. Well that was just a theory, but it wouldn't hurt to try it out. Even if it didn't work, better situational awareness was never a bad thing. So Marcus made a mental note to test it out himself.
The fight only lasted twenty minutes before everyone was either subdued or killed. While Marcus didn't encourage people to kill, he wasn't against it like he used to be. And the longer he lived in this world, the less he cared about it. That didn't mean he would just go around killing people at random, but if people he cared about were in danger…
Well his enemies would quickly end up like Arlong or the first pirate he ever killed.
After cleaning out the enemy ship, Marcus took over the pirate ship himself and both ships set course for Loguetown. Along the way they luckily ran into another larger pirate ship and while it was slightly harder to take because he left Zoe and the other women on the first pirate ship. It just gave everyone else more experience in fighting pirates. With the new ship captured and looted, Marcus split the crew up some more to sail all three ships back.
Ace was left in charge of their ship, while Sabo took command of the first pirate ship and Marcus took command of the largest ship. It took over three days to make it back to Loguetown where they were greeted by Smoker and a whole contingent of marines. As the marines started processing the pirates, Smoker approached Marcus and asked, "Were you patrolling the area around Loguetown?"
Marcus smirked as he said, "No, we were near the entrance to the Grandline. I figured we would find tougher opponents there."
Smoker took a drag of his cigar before he asked, "You sure you don't want to be a marine?"
Marcus shook his head as he said, "If my grandpa can't convince me, you have no chance…"
Smoker grunted in response as he continued to watch his men process all the prisoners. After half an hour a marine approached with a large bag of money and handed it to Marcus as he said, "Here you go sir, just over fifty eight million berry."
"Does that include the price of the ships?"
"No… The ships are being confiscated because they were used for piracy." The marine hesitantly said as he looked at Smoker.
"Yeah…" Marcus slowly said as he glanced from Smoker to the marine who just paid him as he dropped the bag to the ground.
"I don't think so. Those were both captured by my crew and according to maritime law, those ships are my rightful legal salvage. So you either pay me for them or I'll sell them to someone else." Marcus said as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked up at the marine who was over a foot taller than him.
The marine glanced at Smoker for help and after a moment Smoker said, "I'm not aware of that law… But I am aware of one that says any ship that was used in the act of piracy is supposed to be confiscated."
"Well it looks like we're gonna have a problem then, because if I'm not paid for the ship I captured… I'll just have to sink them since they're apparently not worth any money."
Smoker narrowed his eyes slightly as the marine next to him said, "Those ships are now considered marine property, if you try to sink them you'll be labeled as a criminal and arrested."
Marcus drew his sword which caused the marine to tense as Smoker raised an eyebrow wondering what exactly Marcus was doing. Marcus didn't even take a stance and just casually swung his sword aimed next to one of the ships. A large air blade flew from his weapon and cut a deep grove in the water almost twenty meters long before it dissipated. The marine and surrounding people who witnessed it almost had their eyes pop out of their head while Smoker's mouth opened just enough for him to drop his cigar.
Marcus let out a soft chuckle as he said, "Oops, looks like I missed…"
"But I guess that's a good thing since I forgot some marines are still on the ship. I wouldn't want to injure anyone on accident."
The marine was sweating like crazy as he stared at Marcus in fear, while Smoker frowned slightly at dropping his cigar. As Marcus raised his sword back up he said, "You should probably have your men exit those ships, I don't want to hurt any of them accidentally as I dispose of some ships not worth any money."
As Smoker pulled out a new cigar he said, "One million each, it's the best I can do."
Marcus happily sheathed his sword as he said, "It's not far market value, but I know you marines are tied up in regulations, so I accept."
Smoker glanced at the marine who was still focused on Marcus before he said, "Go get him another two million."
The marine jumped before he said, "Yes, sir!"
After the marine left and Smoker took a long pull from his new cigar he said, "I've only seen high ranking marines back at Marine Ford perform air slashes like that…"
Marcus shrugged as he said, "If you think that's impressive, wait till you see someone cleave a mountain in half."
Smoker's right eye started to twitch as the marine came back and quickly handed Marcus two million belly that he stuffed into the sack with the rest of his money. Marcus then tossed the sack over his shoulder and flashed the peace sign as he said, "Pleasure doing business with you…"
After Marcus walked off, the marine next to Smoker let out a sigh of relief before Smoker said, "Make sure you have the men thoroughly sweep those ships and then send them to the base's docks to get retro fitted and painted."
"Yes, sir!" The marine said before he took off.
After taking the money back to the ship, Marcus had Zeff go restock the kitchen as Marcus sold off the valuables and weapons they collected. A little after lunch Marcus and the crew set out again to hunt pirates and within another week easily found another pirate ship. They weren't that tough and Marcus was starting to wonder if maybe he should take them to the Grandline to find pirates…
He quickly gave up on that idea since some of the people on the ship were still struggling against the pirates in East Blue. That and he was pretty sure Garp would beat him till he couldn't walk anymore if he tried. Since that was the case, Marcus decided that they would hunt pirates till Zeff's ship was done. Afterwards they would go do some extra hard training and Marcus would take time to help each person improve their skills as he waited for his ship to be built.
The next two months passed in a flash and they averaged one pirate crew every week or so. It wasn't bad and they now had a ton of money to spend on food and other necessities. Marcus also handed out another bonus to everyone to spend however they liked. Most people bought a few things with it, but the girls like Nami, Nojiko and even Kuina and Tashigi ended up buying a bunch of new clothes with the money.
Marcus also found Smoker to be pretty likable over all since they ended up chatting every time Marcus came back to turn in bounties. While not exactly friends, Marcus found he respected Smoker. Even though he was a little too strict about his views of pirates, marines and making sure justice was upheld for the people. Marcus wouldn't fault that man for his beliefs, but he definitely didn't agree with them.
When they arrived with another captured pirate crew a few days before the retirement ceremony, Smoker was at the dock waiting. And by this point Marcus was positive Smoker had some marines specifically stationed to look for his ship, since the man always greeted them at the dock.
After tying off the pirate ship he was on, Marcus walked down to the dock where Smoker stood and asked in a teasing tone, "Slow day, base commander?"
Smoker mentioned his men towards the ship as he said, "I'm not the base commander yet…"
Marcus shrugged as he asked, "Eh, you're basically already it, in everything but name that is… Speaking of, when exactly is the ceremony?"
"Three days from now, first thing in the morning." Smoker said before he took a big pull from his cigar.
"Morning? I thought it was in the afternoon?"
"The afternoon is for Kohariko's retirement party, I'll be sworn in long before that."
Marcus slowly nodded before he said, "If I'm free I might stop by to watch."
Smoker glanced towards Marcus for a moment before he grunted in response. They both talked a bit more before a marine arrived with the bounty payout and Marcus quickly said goodbye before he headed to his ship to store it. Afterwards he headed out to sell off the valuables they collected before he gave everyone time off to rest. Since the ceremony was only a few days away, there was no point leaving until after it was done.
Over the next few days, Marcus let everyone have free time to relax with no training. While it wasn't the most efficient use of time, the past few months were packed with training and sailing as they hunted pirates nonstop. So a few days break was over due for everyone.