Over the next week, Garp started training everyone almost nonstop and even forced the pirates he captured to spar against everyone. Marcus honestly wasn't sure who had it worse since Garp would make the pirates fight till they collapsed everyday. At least Marcus and the others could still limp back to the ship each night while Garp had some marines carry the pirates back.
As for the pirate from the New World, he was allowed to walk back and forth himself and only fought with Marcus. He wasn't much of a talker and only did the bare minimum under threats of violence from Garp. But the man was definitely strong and skilled with a sword, so Marcus couldn't complain.
Marcus didn't use his 'attempt' at Divine Departure on the man like he did with Mihawk. Since he was using this as an opportunity to polish his swordsmanship more than anything else. Plus the attack drained him completely most of the time, and he couldn't afford to lose time being weakened when Garp was around ready to train him.
About ten days after Garp arrived, he finally gave everyone a proper rest day. Marcus took that opportunity to go to his spot on the cliff as he practiced guitar as he talked with Uta. As they were in the middle of practicing a song Garp showed up out of the blue and sat down before he started eating rice crackers loudly.
Marcus ignored him at first but then Uta spoke up as she asked, "What's that sound… Is Luffy eating next to you again?"
Marcus smirked slightly as he glanced at Garp before he said, "No, it's my grandpa. He's eating rice crackers."
"Ohhh! Hi grandpa, I'm Uta!" Uta said in her sing-song voice."
Garp finished the crackers in his mouth before he asked, "Uta, huh? Are you my grand daughter?"
Marcus stared at Garp with a dead pan face as Uta happily said, "I'm Shank's daughter… But if Marcus asks, I'll gladly marry him and take up the family name, grandpa."
Garp's eyes narrowed as he asked, "You're the little red hair brats daughter, huh? Are you a pirate too?"
"No! I'm a musician and my dream is to spread my music all over the world and hopefully change the world with it!"
Garp slowly nodded to himself before he said, "As long as you're not a pirate, you have my permission to marry my grandson."
Uta squealed in delight before she hurriedly said, "Thank you grandpa! I'll be a proper wife and granddaughter and give you lots of great grandchildren!"
"What the heck! It's the girl who is supposed to be given away, not the guy! And I still haven't agreed to anything yet!" Marcus said in disbelief as Garp raised an eyebrow as he looked at him.
Garp snorted before he asked, "A girl wants to marry you and you want to refuse? What's wrong, is she ugly? Or are you gay?"
Uta went completely silent and even the area around them seemed to dim as all other noise faded away as if the world itself waited for Marcus to answer. Marcus pinched the bridge of his nose as he said, "It has nothing to do with that, I'm nine and she's eleven. We're kids and shouldn't be worrying about marriage or anything like that right now!"
Garp picked his nose as he said, "Oh, I forgot about that… She still has my permission to marry you when she's older as long as she isn't a pirate."
"Don't worry grandpa, I'll make sure he says yes!"
Bwahahahaha! Garp's laugh rang out loudly as he smacked Marcus on the back with his free hand. Marcus frowned slightly before he shook his head as Garp flicked a booger away. As Garp pulled out another package of rice crackers he said, "Go back to practicing, that song was pretty good."
Uta and Marcus ended up practicing for another hour as Garp loudly ate snacks nearby and listened. Once finished they chatted for a few minutes and Marcus promised to call on his next free day before they ended the call. As Marcus sat there with Garp he decided to bring up a topic he'd meant to ask about. He glanced towards Garp as he asked, "Do you grow faster after life and death battles?"
Garp glanced towards Marcus for a moment before he asked, "You noticed, huh?"
Marcus nodded as he said, "For a month or so after my fight with Arlong my strength quickly increased for a while until it leveled out."
Garp placed his crackers down and leaned back against the tree behind him as he said, "I didn't really write about it in my training journal. But the more you push yourself in a fight and the closer you come to death…"
Garp's voice trailed off as his eyes became unfocused for a few moments before he said, "If you survive those encounters, that's when you truly unlock your body's potential, like you did with that fishman."
Garp turned towards Marcus as he said, "But it's also a double edged sword and you could easily die from doing it."
"Is that how you got so strong?"
Garp chuckled for a moment before he said, "Partly… But I also trained a lot too. Even now I still train to keep my body in shape."
Marcus nodded slowly as he said, "I've been thinking about leaving to get stronger."
Garp frowned slightly as he focused on Marcus and asked, "You're still so weak and you want to leave East Blue?"
"Both Shanks and Mihawk said my talent is being wasted here…"
"Those pirates don't know shit." Garp said in an annoyed tone before he grabbed his rice crackers and started stuffing them into his mouth.
"Maybe… But I've felt it myself, I'm stuck at a bottleneck and haven't been able to break past it no matter what I try." Marcus said as he looked out at the sea before he added, "Sure I've barely even touched on haki training and I haven't maxed out my training harness yet. But you're making me spar against a pirate from the New World."
Garp frowned and finished off his crackers before he said, "If I let you leave, those other idiots will want to leave too."
Marcus nodded slowly before he said, "Maybe, but I have an idea that might stop them."
Garp stood up as he laughed before he said, "I wanna see this."
"Right now?"
Garp picked up Marcus by his shirt collar like he was a kitten as he asked, "Why not?"
"Hold on! Let me gather up my stuff first!" Marcus protested as Garp started to carry him away.
Garp glanced back at Marcus's guitar, case, blanket and other things before he dropped him and said, "Hurry up, I wanna see what your idea is."
Within an hour, Marcus had gathered everyone who sailed on his ship and brought them to their training area. He didn't explain anything but he had them bring their weapons. Once everyone arrived, Marcus glanced over them for a few moments before he focused on his brothers and said, "I wanna make a bet with you three."
Ace stepped forward with a slight frown as he asked, "What kind of bet?"
"About when we leave East Blue and truly go out to sea."
Luffy smiled happily as he said, "Let's just go now. Then I can go find Shanks!"
Marcus shook his head as he said, "You guys are still too weak… But I'm not."
"You're only better with your sword, if not I can easily beat you in a fight." Ace said as he leaned on his training naginata and Sabo slowly nodded in agreement.
Marcus smiled as he said, "And yet I didn't bring my sword for this."
Ace frowned as he asked, "And what exactly is this?"
"A bet… If I can beat all of you without a sword, I can leave East Blue whenever I choose." Marcus said before he pointed at his brother's as he added, "And you three can't follow me until you're at least seventeen."
His brothers frowned and Luffy was about to speak up when Ace clamped a hand over his face and asked, "And if you lose?"
"I'm not going to lose." Marcus said with a smirk.
"And if you do?" Ace asked with narrowed eyes.
"I'll stay here till I'm seventeen too." Marcus said with a helpless shrug.
"We don't get anything if we win?"
Marcus glanced at Sabo as he asked, "Do you want anything?"
After a few moments of thought Sabo shook his head, but a moment later Luffy broke free from Ace's grip as he yelled, "I want meat!"
Marcus shook his head before he glanced at Ace as he asked, "And you? What do you want?"
"I don't really need anything."
Marcus smiled before he reached down and picked up a rock as he said, "We start whenever this hits the ground."
"You're gonna fight all of us without your sword?" Kuina asked with a frown.
Marcus tossed the rock high into the air as he said, "It's the only way to really show these guys how strong I am."
Everyone tensed up as they followed the rock through the air and right as it hit the ground, an overwhelming force slammed into all of them. They knew what it was since they've felt it every day for months now. But the problem was it was a lot stronger than normal and people quickly dropped to the ground. After a few seconds Marcus's concentrated haki faltered and only a handful of people were still up. Ace, Sabo, Luffy, Kuina, Zoro, Zoe and Zeff were still up, some in worse shape than others, but all of them were on their feet.
Before anyone could recover from Marcus's opener, he already disappeared and Zoe crumpled to the ground. Marcus flicked towards Zoro next and as he raised up his bokken's to block. Marcus just shattered them before he hit Zoro in the face and sent him flying. Marcus twisted out of the way as another bokken slashed down at his head from the side and after it passed he kicked forward.
Kuina barely dodged the blow to her stomach as Ace charged in with his training weapon and swung towards Marcus's legs. As the weapon passed through his legs as they faded from view, Ace sensed something from behind and tilted his head just in time as a fist brushed past his hair. A moment later everyone heard, "Gum gum, pistol!"
Ace stumbled forward as he was hit in the back as Luffy said, "Sorry! Marcus dodged my attack!"
Ace's lower back was numb as he shot a glare at Luffy and said, "Marcus is too fast, don't use telegraphed attacks!"
As that happened Kuina flew past them and rolled on the ground a few times before she came to a stop and didn't get back up. A moment later Marcus appeared next to Luffy and his haki coated fist slammed into his head from above. Luffy's whole body hit the ground from the blow before his rubber body bounced him back into the air. Marcus didn't stop with that single punch though and he quickly rained down a handful of attacks that almost made it seem like he was dribbling Luffy like a basketball.
When Sabo and Ace finally swung around to attack Marcus, he disappeared again and Luffy made no attempt to rise back up. Sabo was targeted next and even though he dodged a few blows, Marcus was like a ghost that couldn't be touched. Not even a minute later Sabo dropped to the ground and Marcus focused on Ace.
Ace gritted his teeth as he said, "You're only winning because you're too fast to hit!"
Marcus smirked as he said, "Not my fault I mastered soru… But to make you happy, I won't use it anymore."
Marcus confidently strode towards Ace, who took a defensive stance and attacked the moment Marcus was in range. Marcus dodged the attack but was forced to step back at the same time. Without the speed boost from soru, Marcus couldn't close the distance to Ace fast enough and ended up blocked by him repeatedly.
After a few minutes of back and forth Marcus overextended slightly and Ace took advantage. Ace viciously swung an overhead attack towards Marcus who didn't panic but smirked instead. Ace instantly understood it was a trap and tried to redirect his attack, but Marcus parried the weapon towards the ground. Just before it hit, Marcus stomped on it and buried the tip deep into the ground. Marcus then launched forward off the weapon and Ace's observation haki helped him dodge a knee to the face.
Ace rolled to his feet a few feet from his weapon and Marcus who now stood in front of it. Ace attempted to get past Marcus a few times so he could recover his weapon, but Marcus blocked him every time with an attack. Marcus smiled slightly as he forced Ace back again and said, "This brings back memories."
Ace smiled slightly as he also remembered back to their first real fight where Marcus didn't hold back before he asked, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
Marcus slowly nodded as a grin spread across his face before he said, "It would only be proper to finish it how it started."
A moment later both of them rushed towards each other and ignored their observation haki as it told them both to dodge. Their fists both slammed into the other person's face a moment later and it didn't stop as both of them traded blows repeatedly. While Ace was older, Marcus was now stronger than him and already used the fifth level of the training harness. Ace, Sabo and Luffy on the other hand were still on the fourth level and it showed as the fight dragged on.
Even though they both traded blows equally at first. Marcus's heavier blows caused more damage to Ace and it quickly showed as Ace's hits became less frequent. Within five minutes Ace could hardly fight back anymore and with one final swing, Marcus knocked him to the dirt.
Marcus glanced down at his brother and the others for a few moments before he turned to the last person standing. Zeff stood off to the side with his arms crossed over his chest as Marcus focused on him and said, "I'm surprised you waited for us to finish our fight."
Zeff studied Marcus who was bruised and slightly bloody from his fight with Ace but still ready to fight. Zeff shook his head as he said, "Even though I've mostly recovered and you helped me with this leg… I can't beat you."
Marcus frowned slightly before Zeff laughed and added, "Besides, I don't feel like getting beaten up."
Marcus shook his head slightly before he glanced at Garp and said, "They won't be able to leave now."
Garp nodded as he asked, "They better not… But when do you plan to leave? You wanna join me?"
Marcus stood there for a few moments before he asked, "Could we take the long way through the Grandline and then you drop me off at Sabaody Archipelago?"
Garp nodded slowly as he said, "If we go the long way I could train you more along the way…"
Garp frowned slightly before he asked, "But why do you wanna go to Sabaody?"
"There's someone there I'd like to meet and possibly train with."