"This world?"
Being asked such a question for the first time, Alvida hesitated for a moment, then frowned. "What do you mean exactly?"
"You could just give me a simple answer about what you think of this world. For example: 'The world is beautiful.'"
"Ha! Of course it's rotten to the core!"
"What exactly makes you feel like the world is rotten?" Marcus pressed on.
Alvida fell silent for a moment, searching through her memories. But no matter how hard she tried to think back, she couldn't pinpoint a specific moment or event that had made her feel the world was corrupt. It just... always had been.
Seeing her silence, Marcus offered his own explanation. "You can't come up with anything specific, can you? The reason is simple, because at every moment of your life, you've always felt the world was rotten."
His words made Alvida nod slowly. Indeed, ever since she was born, she'd never had a full meal as a child, and from growing up to now, she had never truly felt safe or secure. But ever since meeting Marcus, the world had seemed different somehow.
It had not only become more beautiful, she had also gained wealth and comfort she'd never imagined possible.
This made her want to experience true luxury, and she often fantasized about becoming nobility. That way, she could live in beauty and elegance, escape the muddy pit of constantly hiding and running as a pirate, and never worry about going hungry again.
"You're right about that," Alvida acknowledged, then asked with genuine puzzlement, "But what does this have to do with you becoming a pirate?"
Although Marcus' question had made her think from a completely fresh perspective, she still didn't understand how it connected to his decision.
But Marcus didn't answer her question directly. Instead, he posed another hypothetical.
"If I became a Marine, with my current abilities and background, how high do you think I could rise in the ranks?"
Alvida started thinking seriously about it. Up to this point, Marcus' actual combat ability remained a mystery to her. But judging from his build and appearance, he clearly wasn't the fighting type.
"Marine Captain, maybe? Commodore if you got lucky?" That was already her generous evaluation, considering his apparent lack of physical prowess.
"And if I became a noble instead?"
"Then you could be the greatest noble in whatever country you chose. If you wanted to, you could even directly found your own nation. And with your weird abilities, even facing down pirates wouldn't be a problem."
Seeing that Alvida thought so highly of the noble path, Marcus shook his head with a wry smile.
"What's wrong?"
"Why did your crew abandon you?"
"What does that have to do with this?" Alvida frowned.
"Think of a country like a pirate ship. You were the captain, meaning, you were essentially a king. Luffy was like the king of another country. He defeated you in battle, but he didn't destroy your 'country' or kill your 'citizens.' Yet your crew abandoned you anyway, your people sold out the country and prepared to live under new leadership."
"Even though your ship wasn't destroyed and you weren't killed, why were you abandoned by everyone?"
"Because... I was defeated?" Alvida answered hesitantly.
"Exactly. In other words, the foundation of your 'country's' existence was pure military power. But once your military strength was proven inadequate, your people left you for someone stronger. On a larger scale, what do you think is the foundation of any great nation's existence?"
"..." Alvida couldn't answer, because this was beyond her education or experience.
"Also military power," Marcus said simply.
"What?!"
"You know about the Big Mom Pirates, right?"
Alvida nodded.
"If Big Mom suddenly declared she was retiring from piracy and promised to pay the Heavenly Tribute like any other World Government member state, what do you think would happen to her 'country,' the Totto Land?"
"Shit..." Alvida's eyes widened.
"Nations are founded by force and maintained by money. The gold we have now does look like real wealth, but it's like a child who's been given a crown to wear, do you think the adults around them won't try to trick or steal it away?"
"They absolutely would. Of course they would."
"So founding a country or becoming nobles is basically impossible for people like us without the strength to back it up. We'd just be that kid walking around the streets with a crown, waiting to get mugged."
"Then we could stop being pirates, for example... become merchants."
"What did you used to rob when you were a pirate?"
"Merchants..."
"So you need force to protect yourself no matter what path you choose."
"Damn..." Alvida felt like Marcus' arguments were so logical she couldn't dispute them. Her entire view of what it meant to be a pirate had been elevated to a new level.
She also realized something else: the reason she'd never seen any beauty in the world was because she was way too weak to appreciate it from a position of strength.
Suddenly feeling enlightened, she stood up and moved closer to Marcus.
"What are you doing?"
"I think I get it now," Alvida said. "The reason I always felt the world was rotten is that I wasn't strong enough, I didn't stand high enough to see the bigger picture. Once I become a great pirate like Big Mom, the world will look beautiful to me too."
"You could put it that way," Marcus agreed, though he was starting to worry about Alvida's strange behavior.
Oh no, did I put too many radical ideas into her head?
A fire had ignited in Alvida's eyes, and he could practically see the gears turning in her mind.
In that moment, she'd regained her confidence and found a new goal to pursue.
Before, her objectives had been relatively simple: to be called beautiful, like a hungry person just wanting a full meal. Her method had been brute force intimidation. She'd been praised for her looks after the transformation, but she'd known deep down that it was largely due to fear rather than admiration.
After eating the Slip-Slip Fruit, she'd achieved her immediate goal of beauty, but in doing so, she'd also lost her sense of purpose. All that remained was enjoying the benefits of being attractive while figuring out what kind of man Marcus really was and what he was truly capable of.
She hadn't minded the idea of following this man like a crew member for a while, at least until he was defeated by someone stronger, just like she'd once been. At that point, she might leave him the same way her old crew had abandoned her.
But now... her entire perspective had changed.
The man in front of her thought on a completely different level than anyone she'd ever met, and she was certain that he was someone truly worth following to the very end.
The moment she made up her mind, Marcus witnessed something extraordinary.
Countless glowing experience orbs suddenly burst out of Alvida's body, floating in the air around her like tiny stars.
The sight left him completely stunned and confused.
He had no idea what was happening or why, but the experience orbs didn't wait for him to react. They surged straight into his body in a steady stream of light.
In a matter of moments, his level jumped from three all the way to eight.
He wasn't far from reaching Level 9 at this rate.
But this development puzzled him.
What the hell was going on?
Why had Alvida suddenly produced experience orbs?
How had she done it?
Would it keep happening?
He began thinking through the problem, trying to understand the logic behind this. He also found himself wondering about how he'd gained his first level in the first place. Was it really that boar?
Or was it because he'd given her the Devil Fruit?
Was there something in common between that and what had just happened with Alvida?
Looking at her now, she seemed to be regarding him with something like... acknowledgment? Respect? Had she truly accepted him as her leader on an emotional level? Was this some kind of psychological submission that the system recognized?
If so, had his first encounter with Alvida back on the island also caused her to submit to him in some small way? Maybe that initial submission hadn't been complete, so it had only produced enough experience to push him up to Level 1, and he simply hadn't noticed the orbs at the time, assuming the boar was responsible.
This needs more investigation, Marcus thought.