"Samegawara Seiken!" Jinbe yelled as his armament haki coated fist lashed out like a thunder bolt.
Marcus's own haki covered fist slammed into the incoming fist and they clashed together in a deafening sound much like a hammer blow. But it wasn't just a single attack that rang out as more than a dozen similar blows were traded in moments. Jinbe moved around with a speed and grace that belied his larger size, while Marcus was like a phantom and only left after images in his wake. But even with that speed, Marcus found it incredibly hard to land a solid blow against Jinbe.
The two traded blows for almost an hour before Marcus finally pulled back and Jinbe didn't pursue. Neither one looked any real different from when they started hours ago, except for their clothes being slightly out of place. Marcus smiled at Jinbe and shook out his right arm as he said, "Fishman karate is annoying, it even bypasses my armament haki."
"It's only certain techniques that have that effect, unfortunately it doesn't cause any real damage."
Marcus nodded once before his body disappeared and another shockwave erupted from where he clashed with Jinbe. Blow after blow traded between the two before Jinbe retreated slightly as his right arm pulled back and his upper body tensed. A moment later his feet stopped moving and settled into a stance before his whole body shifted forward from his toes as his fist snapped forward. His movement was almost like a tsunami as his fist moved forward and he said, "Gosenmaigawara Seiken!"
Marcus took the blow with his arm completely wrapped in armament haki but was still blown backwards by the shock wave created from the attack. While the initial impact was minimal, the shock wave reacted to the water inside of his body. At first Marcus only felt slight discomfort, but as the shock wave grew in his body it shook his muscles, then bones and finally his organs. With Marcus's toughness trained through years of fighting there was no real damage, but he still felt extreme discomfort and fought back the urge to puke.
After flipping through the air a couple times, Marcus clamped down on the discomfort and kicked off the air. Immediately his momentum stopped and he dropped to the ground before his after image faded from view. Another round of deafening attacks rang out as Jinbe traded blows with Marcus. While not every attack incorporated fishman karate, about a quarter did and each time Marcus slowly adapted to the shock waves each attack created. Unfortunately Marcus wasn't able to stop it from affecting him, but he was able to ignore the discomfort it caused.
Hours passed as the two fought endlessly without a word until someone yelled, "Dinners ready! Both of you come eat, you already skipped breakfast and lunch!"
The two of them traded another blow before Marcus backed away and looked towards the voice. Uta wore a pink colored apron over her clothes with her hair tied up in ribbons as she waved at them. Marcus shook out the tingling in his arms as he said, "Looks like training is over."
"So you're still planning to leave tomorrow morning?"
"Yeah, we've already stayed longer than expected." Marcus said as he shook his arms again while he added, "But the extra days training against a master of fishman karate was worth it."
Jinbe walked next to Marcus and they moved towards Uta as Marcus asked, "Did you come to a decision yet?"
"Not yet…"
"Well just keep what I told you in mind."
A low laugh rumbled from Jinbe's chest before he said, "Don't worry, after that assassination business with the queen came true, I'm taking everything you say seriously."
When the two of them reached Uta, she happily slipped next to Marcus and took his arm as she said, "We made all of your favorites since you haven't eaten today."
"Thanks, I appreciate it."
Uta beamed and even started to skip as they left the large open area near the port and headed towards the dock where the ship was located. Since the ship was already cramped with just the current crew, a large table was set out on the dock next to the ship covered in food while more was being placed on it. Yamato, Jasmine, Baby Five, Nicholas along with a handful of locals finished setting everything down when Marcus and his group arrived.
Without a word everyone sat down and while Marcus tried to sit next to Jinbe, Baby Five slipped next to him and Uta never left his other side. Trapped between the two girls, Marcus had no choice but to sit there and eat as each of them kept placing food they personally cooked on his plate. Each time he ate a piece, one of them would ask how it tasted, after a while he stopped replying and just ate instead. Jinbe and the others watched the whole thing without a word but that didn't stop them from sharing knowing smiles once in a while.
After dinner Jinbe and his group hung around for a while and talked until Marcus called it a night. It wasn't that late, but Marcus planned to leave before dawn so they would arrive at Sabaody after sunrise. Once Jinbe and the others left, Marcus and the crew double checked the ship before they slept.
When Marcus woke up he found Jasmine already awake and doing one last check of the ship. Marcus joined her and within half an hour the others were up and they were ready to set sail. No one came to see them off since Marcus only told Jinbe when they planned to leave and they said farewell the night before. The port was only lit by some lanterns hung at the docks as Marcus slowly steered the ship towards the harbor and the exit of the island. As they left only a handful of guards on other ships watched as they quickly disappeared from view.
Even though sailing in the dark would normally be dangerous, the area around the harbor had guiding posts set up with lights so ships at night could navigate. Marcus followed the route Jinbe gave him and came to another place similar to the one they entered from. Before they entered the first seal, Marcus and the others prepared the ship and inflated their bubble. Once that was done they quickly entered the seal and the bubble came away with an extra layer of bubble this time and when they passed through the second seal the extra bubble layer didn't break.
Once free from the island, Marcus navigated towards the area Jinbe mentioned would take them up to the surface. It was a little slow going at first with how the currents worked close to the island, but once they passed a certain point the pace picked up. Within a few minutes the ship was pulled along by the current and started to rise as the speed picked up. With the small size of the ship most of them had nothing better to do other than watch the darkness and chat.
Time seemed to pass at a crawl as Marcus kept the ship centered in current and it climbed to the surface. It took the better part of two hours before they finally spotted light above them as the water slowly grew brighter. The higher they climbed the clearer the water around them became and before long they could easily spot sea life swimming around them.
Less than an hour later the ship broke the surface of the water and a few moments later the protective bubble popped. Around them is open water and only in the distance is a small black dot. Marcus studied the dot for a few seconds before he said, "Full sail and someone man the bike, we're going to stop by Sabaody before we head towards Water Seven."
Within moments Yamato is on the bike pedaling as the sail is raised and a minute later they are headed towards the black dot. Once they arrived near the island Marcus ordered Yamato to stop powering the ship and just used its sail to travel towards a familiar spot. As they approached the hidden port and prepared to dock, Nicholas glanced over the area and said, "It feels strange to be back here."
"Why?"
"Because I almost died the last time I was here." Nicholas said as he glanced from Yamato towards Marcus and added, "And so did Marcus."
"It was but a scratch."
"Scratch?!? You had holes in your chest!"
Marcus carelessly shrugged as he said, "Just a flesh wound."
"You were in a coma for a year!"
"I was napping from over work."
Nicholas glared at Marcus as he said, "A coma is not the same thing as a nap!"
"It was for me." Marcus said as he glanced over his shoulder at Nicholas with a wink before he added, "Now go lower the sail and prepare to dock."
It only took a couple of minutes for the ship to be tied off before they all set out for a building in the distance. As they approached the group was forced to detour around large craters, deep slashes and other rubble scattered about the area. While some of it looked like it was fresh, almost all of the dirt covered areas were covered in new grass grown over the past year.
Marcus studied it all as they walked and even found the spot where he fell. It was hard not to miss since it was the spot with the most damage and Doflamingo's attacks still scarred the place. Marcus never stopped, but slowed his pace half a step as he took in the spot where he should have died and the hand on his sword tightened a tiny bit. Afterwards his pace returned to normal and he ignored the spot as he headed for the bar on the hill with his friends in tow.
When they reached the bar Marcus stepped inside and heard from the back, "Take a seat, I'll be with you in just a moment."
As everyone stepped inside a tall woman walked out of the back and the cigarette in her mouth dropped to the floor as she froze in place before she asked, "Marcus?!?"
"Hey Shakky, it's good to see you."
"Good to see me? How are you alive? I saw you after that fight… I saw your heart stop beating in your chest before they rushed you away!" Shakky said as she came around the bar and started to examine Marcus before she pulled him into a hug and added, "It's good you're still alive."
Shakky pulled away and looked over Marcus for a few more moments before she punched his stomach hard enough to knock the air out of him and said, "And that's for never calling and letting me know you were alive."
Marcus took it and after he recovered he apologized and explained what happened and introduced everyone to Shakky. After they talked for a while and caught up, Marcus finally asked, "By the way, where's Rayleigh?"
"He disappeared a couple of months ago and he hasn't called or checked in since."
Marcus nodded in understanding as he asked, already knowing the answer, "And he never bothered to get a den den mushi, did he?"
"Nope, he said it restricts his freedom."
"I guess I'll have to search for him then if I want to say hello." Marcus said with a hint of a smile already thinking about visiting a specific place.