Nicholas with his short cut purple hair that matched his fathers was an imposing young man who stood almost nine feet tall and towered over the pink haired woman who wore a captain's jacket in front of him. The woman wore a purple colored dress suit and had a cigarette hanging from the corner of her mouth as she glanced from Nicholas towards Marcus, who smiled at the man as he said, "Hey Nicholas, good to see you again."
"You know each other?" The woman asked as she studied Marcus who was about a foot shorter than her.
Nicholas nodded as he said, "Yes captain Hina. This is Marcus and he's one of Garp's grandsons."
Hina's eyes widened slightly as she took another look at Marcus before she focused on the three pirates behind him and asked, "You captured these pirates?"
"Yup and I came to turn them in for their bounties."
Hina looked over the three men for a few moments before she said, "Hina impressed."
Another marine with a large stack of bounty posters in a book quickly found the three people as he said, "That's captain Slug of the Slughorn pirates and his two lieutenants, they have a combined bounty of one hundred and ten million belly!"
Marcus smacked the captain on the back as he said, "Thanks for your hard work."
The captain stumbled forward as he shot a glare at Marcus who smiled as he handed them over to another marine. Before they could be taken away, Hina stuck out her arm and used her powers to shackle each pirate. Once finished she said, "Take them away and bring Hina the voucher book."
As the pirates were taken away Nicholas approached closer to Marcus and stuck out his hand as he asked, "So what are you doing here and where are your brothers?"
Marcus shook his hand as he said, "They're still in East Blue and won't be leaving for a few more years. As for me, gramps let me leave after I showed him my strength."
"Oh yeah? You wanna spar?" Nicholas asked with a friendly smile.
Marcus wore a cocky grin as he asked, "You couldn't beat me the last time we fought and you're already eager for another beat down?"
"That was before… I've spent years fighting pirates on the Grandline, I'm sure you'll be surprised by how strong I am now."
Hina watched their interaction before she said, "You wanna fight? Go for it, Hina interested."
Nicholas pointed over to an empty area of land away from the docks as he said, "Let's go over there."
As they walked, Hina joined them and asked, "So are you planning to join the marines Marcus?"
Marcus chuckled as he said, "No. I don't want to be someone else's dog on a leash. But I plan to be a bounty hunter to earn money though."
"Hina disappointed."
Nicholas shook his head as he said, "I still think it's stupid none of you want to follow after your grandfather and help people."
Marcus shrugged as he said, "You don't need to be a marine to help people. Besides, I don't wanna be bossed around and follow a bunch of stupid rules."
"Once you reach a certain rank you can do almost whatever you want, like Vice Admiral Garp."
Marcus rolled his eyes as he said, "Yeah, no thanks. I would rather be free to do what I want now."
Once they reached a surprising flat and empty area both of them moved away from each other until they were about ten feet apart. Hina stood off to the side to watch and just before Marcus was gonna ask for sparring rules, cannon blasts roared from the upper level of the city. Marcus shared a look with Nicholas as he asked, "Wanna go check it out?"
"Yeah." Nicholas said before he took off running for the lift leading to the upper city as more cannon blasts went off.
Hina frowned at Nicholas taking off and was about to say something to Marcus when he faded from view. Hina's eyes widened as she caught sight of him kicking off the air rushing into the sky before she stomped one foot and said, "Hina ignored!"
A moment later Hina took off after Nicholas and barely caught up to him before the lift closed. Nicholas glanced around and when he didn't see Marcus he asked, "Marcus didn't follow?"
Hina straightened her uniform and said, "Marcus knows geppo and soru. Hina impressed again."
"Damn it! He mastered those already?!?" Nicholas said as he clenched his fists.
Hina nodded as she said, "He's so young but already knows those skils… Hina upset."
As Nicholas and Hina rode the lift up to the city, Marcus already landed on the city wall and saw fire in the distance of the upper city. Marcus took off in a blur and instead of using geppo, he ran across the roofs as he used soru which was a lot faster. Within five minutes Marcus reached an area where gun fire, fighting and cannon blasts were raging.
He found a bunch of pirates fighting with city guards and what looked like dock workers near a finished ship that was still in a dry dock. Marcus didn't waste much time figuring out what was going on before he shot from the roof like an arrow. He used haki to coat his fist and his legs before he slammed into the ground near the biggest group of pirates.
The haki infused attack exploded the ground and made a six foot deep crater that launched all of those pirates into the air. The entire battlefield froze as Marcus jumped out of the crater and as he glanced around for a couple of seconds, someone yelled, "Die!"
A cannon blast from the ship went off and a moment later Marcus caught the cannon ball with his right hand. His lips curled up slightly as he extended his arm back before he hurled the cannon ball back at the ship. Marcus's aim wasn't great since he never practiced throwing cannon balls before, but he had a pretty large target. The cannon ball blew through the middle of the ship and a moment later Marcus followed behind it in a blur. Everyone outside the ship blinked and Marcus was already gone before people inside the ship started screaming.
Within a minute Marcus appeared through a new hole he created in the ship and at that point some of the pirates had already surrendered. The captain and a few others were still fighting but Marcus quickly knocked them out before he glanced around as he looked for another fight. Unfortunately at that point all of the pirates finally gave up as they looked at Marcus with fear in their eyes.
Marcus was disappointed the fight ended so quickly and let out a sigh as he was approached by a blue haired man in a suit. He smiled at Marcus as he said, "Nmaa, Thanks for your help young man."
Marcus waved it off as he said, "Don't worry about it, I mostly did it to collect the bounty."
The man chuckled slightly before he said, "Feel free to take them all then."
Marcus glanced over the damage to the street and the ship before he said, "I'll leave you one to cover the damage I did."
"If that's what you want, I won't complain, nmaa." The man said before he extended his hand towards Marcus and added, "I'm Iceburg, chief shipwright of dock one."
Marcus shook his hand as he said, "Marcus, part time bounty hunter, explorer and musician."
"Nmaa, Marcus it's nice to meet you. What brought you to Water Seven? Looking for a new ship?"
Marcus chuckled as he said, "I just had a custom one finished about two weeks ago before I left East Blue."
Iceburg raised an eyebrow as he asked, "You made it all the way here in two weeks?"
"Travel time is closer to a week if you don't count the times I stopped to relax."
"Did you pass through the Calm Belt?" Iceburg asked in a surprised voice.
"No, I entered through Reverse Mountain and Twin Cape. Then I headed to Alabasta before I reached here using eternal poses."
"How?" Iceburg asked in a confused tone.
Marcus smirked as he said, "A custom ship I designed for speed over everything else. I can take you out on it if you like."
Iceburg nodded and before he could reply someone yelled, "Marcus!"
Marcus and Iceburg turned towards the voice to see Nicholas and Hina quickly approaching. Marcus waved as he said, "Yo, you guys are slow."
"No, you're just too fast! You also used… Something my dad said would take me another year or two before I'm strong enough to even learn!"
Marcus shook his head as he said, "It's because you don't push yourself enough in training. You would've already mastered it if you started training properly when we first met."
"How old are you?" Hina asked as she looked over Marcus again.
"I turn ten in a few months."
Iceburg and Hina stared at Marcus in shock while Nicholas let out a sigh before he said, "You're a monster just like your grandfather."
"Hina inferior." Hina said with a pout.
Marcus shrugged as he said, "You just need to push yourself past your limits each time you train. That's the quickest way to increase your strength… I'm surprised your dad didn't train you that way."
"He thinks Garp's training will lead to injuries…"
Marcus nodded before he said, "Oh it will. But you just eat more meat and push through it. After a while you just get used to it and your body adapts."
"That doesn't really sound safe or logical…" Iceburg said as he scratched the back of his head.
Hina nodded in agreement before Marcus added, "I've taught all my friends and even Captain Smoker of Loguetown the training routine and within a month or so, all of them had no issues doing it."
Hina's eyes focused on Marcus as she asked, "Smoker is doing Garp-san's training?"
"Essentially… I've modified it a little bit over time to make it a little more friendly to beginners and it quickly ramps up to what my grandpa taught me and then passes it." Marcus said before he turned to Nicholas and asked, "Wanna go back and spar now?"
Nicholas started to nod before he said, "Actually we should help take care of this mess first."
"Alright, just come find me at my ship when you're ready."
Nicholas glanced back at Marcus along with Hina as he asked, "You're not gonna help?"
Marcus chuckled as he said, "I'm not a marine. Besides, I already did the hard work. Just make sure you pay out Iceburg for the captain's bounty and not me."
Iceburg shook his head as he said, "I don't need that much. The damage isn't worth that much, nmaa."
Marcus patted Iceburg on the back as he said, "It's fine, I don't really need the money… But if you know where I can get some high end alcohol that would be appreciated."
"You're a minor, you shouldn't be drinking! Hina disappointed." Hina said with her hands on her waist as she looked at Marcus.
Marcus waved it off as he said, "It's not for me, it's a gift for my sparing partner."
"Who?"
Marcus smirked as he said, "He's someone my grandpa knows really well and has a taste for rare alcohol."
As Nicholas and Hina tried to figure out who that was, Marcus said, "Let's go Iceburg, I'll show you my ship."
Marcus and Iceburg quickly left as Hina started handcuffing pirates with her powers as Nicholas helped keep them in line. After leaving Iceburg led Marcus to a small dock by the water ways and said, "Let's take a Yagara Bull to save time."
The Yagara was indeed fast and they quickly reached the lift area in just a few minutes. The lift itself only took another couple minutes and in less than ten minutes they reached his ship. Iceburg stared at the ship for a few minutes before he said, "A dual hull configuration?"
"I call it a catamaran and it's focused on speed. This is the first test model designed for solo travel."
Iceburg slowly walked around the ship and studied it as he nodded his head. After a minute or so he said, "With those narrow hulls and size it's definitely fast. But to travel here from the start of the Grandline in a week…"
Marcus smirked as he said, "It has a secret hidden under the hulls that you can't see right now."
Iceburg's eyes lit up as he asked, "Your ship has some type of engine?"
Marcus shook his head and led Iceburg onto the bridge before he pulled down a stowaway table and said, "I'll grab the blueprints for you."
Within a minute Marcus came back with the blueprints and handed them to Iceburg as he asked, "Want some fresh fruit juice?"
"Nmaa, sure." Iceburg said already busy looking through the blueprints.
Marcus came back a few minutes later while Iceburg was intently studying the hydrofoils and the connecting drive train. When Marcus set the glass down next to Iceburg he looked up as he asked, "Who came up with this?"
"I did, but it was refined with help from a few different people in Loguetown. It was also adjusted after trial runs on a small ten foot test ship found some issues."
Iceburg turned back to the designs as he nodded slowly and said, "This is brilliant, if you had a proper power source instead of that pedal bike…"
Marcus took a sip from his glass as he said, "I haven't figured out a good power source yet. I've thought about using a steam engine but that would require fuel and that would weigh down the ship."
Iceburg nodded in understanding as he said, "Which would negate any speed increase it gave."
"Exactly… I've thought about collecting and using flame dials for a steam engine power source. But that would require testing and I don't have time for that right now."
"Flame dial?"
"It's a type of shell that can store elements inside themselves. They're normally found on sky islands." Marcus said with a shrug before Iceburg looked up with widened eyes as he asked, "Wait, sky islands are real?"