Nicholas brought Marcus to his ship for breakfast and they ate together in the galley with Hina and some other marines. Once they were finished and preparing to go train more Hina asked, "You mind if I join you two with the rest of my crew?"
Marcus shrugged as he said, "Doesn't matter to me, but this isn't a normal workout… I doubt even Nicholas will be able to finish it."
Hina nodded as she said, "That's fine, Hina curious more than anything."
Within ten minutes Hina had all of her troops from her fleet lined up and ready for training on the large open area next to the docks. Once everyone was there Marcus just dove into his warmup routine but without his training harness on. Technically he would be doing more advanced stuff, but that wasn't gonna happen with almost five hundred people. So Marcus decided to do his warm up routine again since that would clear the field of almost everyone in an hour or two.
Within half an hour people already started to drop from the pace of the workout that they couldn't even match. At the one hour mark, over half were forced to drop out and by the time they finished, only ten people remained standing. Besides Nicholas and Hina a few more higher ranked marines and a couple seamen were left standing. Marcus glanced over all of them and while most were winded, they still looked fine so he smiled and said, "Great job, you passed the warmup."
"Warmup?" Hina asked with a frown.
Nicholas nodded as he said, "Marcus had me do this before we ate breakfast."
"I wanted to weed out the weak ones before we started the real workout. Now follow me."
Marcus led them over to a large junk pile of broken ships and other trash. He let them rest for ten minutes while he dug through everything and found ten large logs about seven feet long and about three feet thick. He used his hands coated in haki to carve out holes in each piece to make it easier to hold before he placed them in front of everyone. Once he was finished he picked up the largest one himself as he said, "Pick that up and follow me."
A few struggled to lift their piece, but still managed to do it and followed at a slower pace. Marcus took them to the large staircase that snacked back and forth to the upper level of the city before he said, "Alright, place that wood on your shoulders like this."
Marcus easily tossed the wood over his shoulders and held it by the holes he made. It took a minute for everyone to do it and once they were done he said, "Good, now follow me to the top and copy what I do."
"The top?" One of the marines asked as he glanced upwards at the massive wall next to them.
"Yup… But you can quit whenever you want." Marcus said before he started jogging up the stairs.
Nicholas, Hina and the others started to follow him and once they reached the first landing, Marcus smiled as he said, "Good job, now copy me for this set."
Marcus started doing lunges as he moved towards the next set of stairs. At the stairs he would gap at least one step with his forward leg as he dropped his body down slightly. Then he would use his forward foot and pull himself up with it as he gaped to the next step with his other leg repeating the process. They were a decent exercise normally but with the added weight while going up stairs it turned into something brutal and every person was shaking once they reached the next landing.
Marcus was completely unfazed and waited for everyone to arrive before he said with a smile on his face, "Alright next set, let's go."
Marcus moved to the stairs and started squat jumping up them one at a time. This exercise took even longer for everyone to complete and a couple people collapsed on the landing once they made it. Marcus smirked slightly as he said, "Like I said before, you guys can stop whenever you want, for everyone else, follow me."
The next set Marcus sprinted up the steps and waited for the others to catch up. Nicholas, Hina and four others made it, but everyone else gave up. Marcus nodded to them before he said, "Keep up the good work, now this one is sidesteps."
Marcus altered through each exercise and a few others as they kept climbing and once they reached the top of the stairs and the upper city, everyone but Marcus collapsed. Marcus studied the three people who made it to the top and smiled brightly as he said, "Great work everyone! Take a ten minute break and we'll do the next part."
Nicholas groaned as he laid face down on the cobble stone while the seaman who made it whimpered and Hina's eyes widened. Marcus took in their reaction before he said, "I'm actually surprised all of you lasted this long. If you repeat this for a month you'll be able to do this easily."
Nicholas slowly rolled onto his back as he asked, "What's next?"
Marcus smirked as he said, "Some upper body and grip strength training."
After ten minutes Marcus and the others took the lift down to ground level where Marcus had them approach the city wall. It was a section that could use some work to patch the stones and grout as there was a lot of damage. It was mostly superficial and didn't affect its integrity, but it was perfect for Marcus's next exercise.
Marcus moved to the wall and using only his hands pulled himself up about ten feet before he hung from one hand and turned towards everyone down below. He pointed at the gaps in the wall as he said, "Your task is to climb up to at least to here using only your arms."
"That… Seems easy." The seaman said, which made Marcus smile as he added, "It is, but afterwards you need to climb to the left for a hundred feet as you stay at the same height. Then come back here and repeat."
"How many times?"
"Until you can't hold on anymore. Then you either jump to the ground, climb down if you can or fall off whichever comes first." Marcus said which caused the seaman to swallow hard.
"Alright get to it and I'll be back in a bit."
"You're not gonna join us?" Nicholas asked with a slight frown.
Marcus smirked as he pointed to the top of the wall and said, "I'm doing the advanced version."
The others watched as Marcus quickly started to climb up the wall and within moments he was over fifty feet above them. Nicholas shook his head as he said, "He's definitely a monster."
Within a few minutes they were all on the wall at different heights as they shimmied across it. Marcus on the other hand was scaling up the wall like it was nothing as he hummed to himself. When Marcus reached the top he pulled himself up before he jumped off and enjoyed the wind on his face as he plummeted towards the ground.
Just before he reached the ground Marcus kicked off the air to slow his fall. Once he landed everyone was still on the wall which made him smile before he started his climb again. Marcus ended up climbing to the top of Water Seven seven times before everyone else dropped off the wall. As they were all laid out on the ground Marcus approached and said, "It's a little early, but let's eat lunch and you guys can rest a while longer before we start the afternoon training."
"We're not done?" The seaman asked with fear in his voice.
Marcus smirked as he said, "Not even close. Honestly I've barely felt anything this whole time. Normally I'd use something like heavy training weights while I workout."
The three of them just stared at Marcus incredulously for a few moments before he waved them towards the ship and said, "Come on, eating a bunch of meat will help you recover. Then we can train more."
Marcus was full of energy while the others were almost dead on their feet as they ate lunch. Marcus gave them extra time to rest before he forced them to go back to training, but as they walked down from the ship two more marine ships approached the dock. Hina let out a sigh of relief when she saw it before she said, "Marcus your sparring partner is here."
Marcus glanced towards the ship and was surprised by who stood on the bow of the ship. He knew it wouldn't be Bogard because he was in the New World with his grandpa, but he didn't expect Gion to show up. Then again he didn't remember she was a swordsman, but the blade on her hip said otherwise. As Marcus watched the ship approach he quickly noticed another ship following close behind it.
Marcus didn't see who was on the second ship, but he hoped it was another swordsman he could duel with. Instead of going off to train again, Marcus and the others headed towards the first ship and waited for it to dock before Gion stepped off the ship and approached them.
The first thing Marcus noticed about her was she was one of the tallest women he'd ever met in person. She easily stood over seven feet tall and her slender waist accentuated her wide hips and thighs. Those features paired with what Marcus could only really describe as dark brown booty shorts made it look like she had legs for days in her black heels. The only blemish to those gorgeous legs was on the side of her left thigh where a large black spider tattoo rested.
Her marine coat was draped over her shoulders and included a hood that was currently down with her curly black hair resting partly inside of it. Her short sleeved pink shirt with its open neck line proudly displayed her cleavage as she confidently walked towards them with her full red colored lips that wore a playful smirk. While just below her mouth on the right side of her face rested a small mole that only added to her beauty.
She looked over everyone as she approached but her eyes focused on Hina. When Gion stopped in front of everyone she folded her arms under her chest which pushed her shirt almost to its breaking point as she asked, "I'm here. Now where is the person you wanted me to duel with?"
Hina pointed at Marcus as she said, "He's right here."
Gion glanced down at Marcus for a few moments before she frowned and said, "You can't be serious, he's just a kid."
"He beat me in a duel yesterday and didn't touch his sword at all since he didn't think it would be fair."
Gion whipped her head back towards Hina as she asked, "You're joking right?"
Nicholas shook his head as he said, "I sparred with him first and he just toyed with me the entire fight."
Hina nodded as she said, "It was the same for me… Hina depressed."
Gion took another look at Marcus and the sword resting on his waist before she asked, "Who trained you in swordsmanship?"
"Mostly self taught, but some nice seniors have given me pointers over the years and even trained me once or twice." Marcus said with a friendly smile.
"Gion!" A voice rang out from behind and everyone turned to see a man rushing over with a handful of other marines.
The man was broad shouldered with an angular jawline, large mouth and high cheek bones that gave him a very unique face. Combined with his thin eyes, thick eyebrows and sharp nose, it was a face that only a mother could truly love.
He wore a marine jacket with a unique grid line pattern design that rested over a long sleeved blue shirt that was tucked into a yellow haramaki around his waist. His trousers were brown that were lighter in color then his dark brown fedora and his outfit was completed with a pair of geta sandals on his feet.
Gion frowned slightly as she glanced at the man and asked, "What is it Tokikake?"
The man stepped forward as the marines behind him spread out with a banner that read, 'Wishing you a lifetime of love and happiness!' as they threw rose petals in the air. Tokikake stopped in front of Gion and dropped to one knee as he said, "Gion, please go out with me!"
"No." Gion said flatly before she turned back towards Marcus and said, "Let's go spar, I have the sudden urge to hit something."
Behind her Tokikake was frozen in place as the marines flipped the banner over and it read, 'Congratulations on thirty attempts! Keep your head up! You can do it next time!'
Marcus watched everything with a smile before he said, "Sure, sounds good to me."