In the end, Luffy managed to finish the entire pot of spaghetti bit by bit, relying on the hunger debuff from those nasty rotten flesh strips to reset his appetite every few minutes.
Marcus just rolled his eyes at the whole ridiculous display.
After a while, Luffy sat back rubbing his stomach with a satisfied but slightly confused expression. The hunger debuff from the rotten meat didn't stack with multiple uses, but Marcus noticed something interesting, each time Luffy used it, the duration seemed to be getting longer.
"You know, that's actually more wasteful than just stopping when you're full," Marcus said, tossing a few tropical fruits to his captain. "That rotten stuff isn't giving you better digestion, it's just tricking your brain into thinking you're hungry again. Look, now you're hungry again for no good reason."
Being accused of wasting food, Luffy was silent.
It was torture for him, having delicious food right in front of him but being unable to eat it went against everything he believed in.
Marcus ignored Luffy's internal struggle and turned his attention to Alvida, who was clearly getting ready for their planned sparring match.
"You made up your mind?"
"Yeah. I haven't had a moment's rest these past few days, and I need this."
Alvida hoisted her iron mace. Ever since Marcus had opened her eyes to the reality of their situation, she'd been desperate to get stronger. But when they'd fought Kuro, she'd been completely helpless, couldn't even see his attacks coming. And while she'd gotten to fight some fishmen later, they were all half-crippled and didn't provide any real challenge.
All of their victories so far hadn't been because she'd gotten stronger, they'd been because Marcus had made their opponents weaker.
When Marcus wasn't satisfied with his battles, how could Alvida feel otherwise?
Meanwhile, Sanji stood nearby looking worried.
"Damn you, Marcus! You better not let Alvida get hurt, or you'll have to answer to me!"
Marcus had no words for Sanji's hopeless condition. The guy was beyond help when it came to women.
Ignoring the love-struck cook, he pulled out an iron sword and also retrieved a complete set of iron armor.
"Put this on."
"How am I supposed to wear this?" Alvida looked at the tiny armor pieces with confusion. Even with her new improved figure, there was no way she could fit into palm-sized chest armor.
"Just press it against your body and see what happens."
Alvida picked up the iron chestplate and held it against her chest. The armor piece vanished completely.
"What the hell?!"
She ran her hands over her body, she could definitely feel something was there.
"So it really works like that."
Marcus nodded. He hadn't given her armor before not because he was unwilling, but because he simply hadn't thought of this method. When he'd been experimenting with Kira earlier, he'd discovered that tools like axes, hoes, and swords would scale up proportionally when other people used them.
But the iron armor had always remained miniature, palm-sized pieces that seemed useless.
He'd tried different approaches back then, like using the armor on Kira himself or having her try to activate it through mental focus. Nothing had worked. As for actually wearing the tiny pieces? At that size, it seemed impossible, so he'd given up on the idea.
But just now, watching Nojiko bury bone meal in the soil and still get results had given Marcus the inspiration to try direct contact.
Seeing the iron armor merge into Alvida's body, then watching her pull it back out like taking off a hat, leaving a tiny helmet in her hand, confirmed his theory.
"Amazing. Invisible armor? So this is the secret behind why you're so tough."
"As long as they can't bend or break iron, they won't be able to damage you," Marcus admitted freely.
"Perfect! Then I can finally fight without holding back!" Alvida said excitedly.
Marcus rolled his eyes. "Great, now I can't even scratch you."
Alvida didn't deny it. Instead, she grinned wickedly and shouldered her spiked mace. Her entire aura changed in that moment, becoming more dangerous.
"Then I don't need to be afraid of hurting you!"
They locked eyes, and then both of them charged at each other.
The clash of iron sword against spiked mace rang out across the grove. Marcus could immediately feel the impact vibrating through his hands, making the webbing between his thumb and forefinger throb with pain.
Alvida had always possessed monster strength, and after days of nonstop combat practice on the ship, her physical power had been steadily increasing. She'd been putting herself through brutal training sessions whenever she had free time.
As for himself, while he had been training too, he hadn't pushed himself nearly as hard as Alvida had been pushing herself.
She could feel the difference in their power levels immediately.
"What's wrong? Can't keep up, weakling?"
"Who are you calling weak?!"
Gritting his teeth, Marcus put every ounce of strength he had into his counterattack.
But after several consecutive exchanges, he had to face the uncomfortable truth, his strength really wasn't on par with Alvida's.
Not even close.
What made it worse was that the longer the fight continued, the more fired up she became. Her spiked mace moved faster and faster, and her attacks grew more aggressive with each passing moment.
Eventually, Marcus found himself reduced to pure defense, desperately blocking and parrying just to avoid getting his head caved in.
It was at this moment that Zoro wandered into the backyard and saw the two of them going at it.
Watching Marcus' sword technique, he immediately started shaking his head in disappointment.
"Your grip on the sword is completely unstable, your footwork is sloppy, and you're not using your core strength at all."
Marcus naturally noticed Zoro's arrival, but he was getting annoyed by the criticism. How long had he even been wielding a sword? Two months at most, if he was being generous.
"How do I use core strength?" he asked between blocks, desperately trying to create some distance. He even attempted to use Soru by stomping the ground rapidly, though of course it didn't work. Still, he managed to burst forward with enough speed to briefly escape Alvida's assault.
"Core strength isn't just about twisting your waist," Zoro explained patiently. "You have to twist and simultaneously drive your whole body into the motion. If you only twist at the waist, the power won't transfer properly, it'll actually weaken your strikes."
Alvida was listening too, not bothering to chase after Marcus. Even though she used a mace instead of a sword, the principles of generating power were the same.
"I'll try it!"
Marcus resumed his battle with Alvida while Zoro continued calling out guidance and corrections from the sidelines.
It had to be said, compared to the self-taught brawlers that Marcus and Alvida basically were, Zoro, who had trained under a proper master, was actually an excellent instructor. He could see the flaws in their technique and explain how to fix them.
Just then, Nami returned from getting her tattoo redone, looking refreshed and somehow lighter than before.
She glanced into the backyard, confused by the sight of two people locked in intense combat.
"What are they doing, having a fight?"
Sanji smiled and carried out a drink for her. "Training session. That moss-head is giving them pointers on technique."
"Then what's wrong with Luffy?" Nami looked over at their captain, who was sitting in a chair looking dazed. "Why does he look so depressed?"
"He's sulking because Marcus accused him of wasting food."
"Wasting food? Luffy?" Nami could hardly believe it. From everything she'd seen during their time together, Luffy never left anything uneaten, he was practically a human garbage disposal. How could he possibly waste food?
Sanji explained the weird situation with the rotten flesh strips and the saturation mechanics of Marcus' enhanced food.
"That's... bizarre," Nami said, shaking her head. "Anyway, it's about time we set sail. We need to get these prisoners to Loguetown and figure out our next move."
---
Back on the Going Merry, Hatchan sat quietly with all six of his arms bound with rope.
In the stone prison Marcus had constructed, Arlong's crew had long since regained consciousness and were getting increasingly agitated about their situation.
The ones guarding them were Johnny and Yosaku, though at the moment both bounty hunters were focused on fishing rather than guard duty. They were using the special fishing rods Marcus had crafted for them.
Ever since they'd gotten those rods, their old equipment had felt completely useless in comparison. The difference in performance was like night and day.
"Hatchan! Take care of these two humans and let us out of here!" shouted Chew, pressing his face against the iron bars.
But Hatchan just pretended to be asleep, not making any move to help his former crewmates.
"Don't ignore us, octopus! We're your friends!" another fishman called out angrily.
Hatchan continued his act, keeping his eyes closed and breathing steadily as if he were genuinely unconscious.
This scene had already played out multiple times over the past day, with the imprisoned fishmen growing more desperate and angry each time Hatchan refused to help them. They couldn't understand why their former teammate was ignoring their call for help.
Was he really asleep?