Chapter 24

Markus and Luffy moved down the stairs quickly and arrived at a large iron door that was locked up like a safe. Luffy started banging on the doors, shouting for them to open. Markus pointed at a control panel, "It looks like you need a key and to push some buttons."

Luffy slammed his fist into his palm, "Get back then."

Markus obliged and walked a little ways back. Once again he was excited! Luffy lifted his hand to his mouth and bit his thumb. He blew air into it and inflated his fist to the size of a giant's. With a single blow, he blasted down the door and opened the path. Markus watched, fascinated by the sight.

However, the moment Luffy deflated his fist, his whole body deflated until he was as small as a child. Seeing chibi-Luffy... Markus covered his mouth and tried to hide his laughing. He did have one odd question, how the hell did Luffy's clothing shrink to fit him?! It wasn't made of rubber and he wasn't a logia user so his clothes shouldn't be affected by his fruit! It was super odd but Markus let it go and followed chibi-Luffy as he ran down the tunnel.

After running for a while, Luffy's body began to expand back to its normal size. Markus grinned and said playfully, "You know, if you went around small like that, women would find you adorable."

The confused look on Luffy's face just made Markus laugh before saying, "You know, women can be pretty awesome. As good, if not better, than a lot of treasures."

Luffy gave him a look that clearly said, 'you're lying'. Markus just shrugged his shoulders and smiled. He tried to give Boa at least a little help. She seemed like a good match for Luffy and it would be nice if the rubber-head could at least return the feelings she would have... eventually.

Luffy quickly ignored Markus and started shouting for Robin. Markus followed while checking on the progress of the fights happening in the tower. The members of the Strawhat crew were doing pretty good. They may not have unlocked their Observation Haki, yet, but they still had excellent scenes and reflexes that pushed the limit. The only exception was Franky. He obviously hadn't trained with Markus at all. He'd change that in the future.

He also worried about Chopper's battle. Chopper's monster form puts a lot of strain on his body and could even potentially kill him. He planned to watch that one closely, just in case. As for the fight between Nami and Kalifa... He wiped a bit of blood that dripped from his nose. Kalifa might be too far into crazy on the crazy-hot index, but that didn't make the images of her rubbing her hands all over Nami's body any less erotic!

Markus could tell they were getting closer and smiled when Spandam, Lucci, and Robin finally heard Luffy yelling Robin's name. Just ahead the two of them spotted a door, Luffy went full bore and attacked the door with a flying kick, blasting into the room. As he landed on the ground, Lucci greeted him, "Welcome."

"Ah! Pigeon guy!!"

Lucci hopped off of the crate he was sitting on and looked over at Markus after he walked into the room, "Oh? Another guest?" His eyes narrowed, "And not just any guest."

Markus laughed, "Ah, kiddo, miss me?"

Lucci practically growled at Markus, "Normally I don't care about who I kill, I just do my job efficiently. But... For you, I think I will make an exception and enjoy torturing you to death."

Markus laughed while Luffy glared at Markus, "He's mine!"

Markus nodded in agreement, "Of course captain. He's not worth my time anyway. He'll make a good partner for you to fight against while I go get Robin. You don't need to worry about her now. I'll make sure she's safe and sound."

Lucci tilted his head to give the two of them a condescending smirk, "Neither of you is leaving this room."

Luffy grinned and cracked his knuckles while Markus casually walked toward the door on the opposite side of the room. Lucci frown as Markus ignored him. As Markus got closer to the door, Lucci used Soru to appear in front of it, "You're not leaving."

He thrust his finger forward in a Shigan to stab Markus in the heart. Seeing Markus not even attempt to dodge at all, his condescending smile grew. At least, it did until his finger pierced Markus's chest. The moment it did, a powerful electric shock blasted through his body and dropped him to the ground. Markus casually walked over the prone Lucci, "I told you that you were no match for me. You should listen to people smarter than you next time."

Lucci gave Markus a death glare, but he didn't exist to Markus anymore. Instead, Markus simply phased through the wooden door and arrived on the other side of it. He slowly walked down the hallway as he listened for just the right moment. He didn't have to wait for very long, he soon heard Spandam yelling, "Hey! Respond, everyone! CP9!! Guys, what are you doing?! One of the pirates marched right in here! Are you listening to me?! Answer dammit!"

Robin spotted the Den Den Mushi in Spandam's hand and screamed, "Wait!! That's!!"

Markus tried not to laugh as Spandam began freaking out. He'd just ordered a Buster Call on Enies Lobby. Though, the worst thing to Markus is that the Marines were so stupid they would happily rain down fire on their own judicial island without a second thought. Fucking morons. Spandam pulled out his second Den Den Mushi, the one really meant for normal calls and started screaming into it. Robin begged him to cancel it, but he refused and started spouting off, "In order to deliver you to the government without fail, I triggered the Buster Call. Ha ha! That's a good cause, isn't it?! So, in case anything does happen here, at least we will certainly slaughter all of the pirates!"

"How foolish! I've told you!! It won't end just there! That attack doesn't involve any human emotion! It'll burn down everything on Enies Lobby! Buildings and humans! Even the island itself! It'll sacrifice everything to call out the goal; a diabolical focus fire! That is the Buster Call! You're like that because you don't know what happened 20 years ago in Ohara!"

Spandam didn't care what Robin had to say and spouted off bullshit about not caring about how many marines died because it was all about his promotion. Spandam really was the absolute worst kind of scum. Markus let the conversation go as Spandam sank himself deeper into the pile of shit he'd created. Eventually, he realized the Den Den Mushi was off the hook and his words had been broadcast to the entire island. Robin tried to get in one final plead, "Everyone, please leave the island! The Buster Call is aimed at Enies Lobby! If you stay on the island, you won't survive!"

Spandam slapped her while shouting, "Don't say unnecessary things!"

The moment Markus heard the Den Den Mushi get hung up, he moved. The next instant he was next to Robin. He crouched down and gently lifted her up with a calm smile. Seeing him, Spandam started freaking out, "What?! You?! How did you get here?! Where's that bastard Lucci?!"

Markus ignored Spandam and gently lifted up Robin so that she could stand. She was looking at him with wide-open eyes, "M-Markus..."

Once she was standing, Markus turned to face Spandam, "Robin, I suggest closing your eyes. Things are about to get rather... ugly."

Spandam freaked out. With a girly scream, he pulled Funkfreed off of his back and aimed it at Markus. Funkfreed was a sword that had been fed a Zou Zou no Mi. Or maybe, it was the only one? It was hard to know if there were various models of the fruit. He slashed with the sword, causing it to extend as the Devil Fruit was activated. The point of the sword became an elephant's head with the trunk replaced by a sword blade. Neither Markus nor Robin were worried about the attack. Spandam was weak, pathetically so, there was no chance in hell he could use Armament Haki.

As the sword stabbed into Markus's chest, Spandam grinned viciously. The next moment, Funkfreed screamed as purple electricity covered it and shot up the handle to electrocute Spandam as well. Markus pat Robin on the shoulder before slowly making his way toward Spandam. At the moment, Spandam was burnt comically black with his hair sticking out in every direction. Yet, miraculously, he was still alive. He barely managed to recover by the time Markus was standing directly in front of him. Before Spandam could say anything, Markus reached out and grabbed him by the throat.

With a squeeze, he prevented Spandam from being able to talk. It was Spandam's turn to listen to Markus, "It's time for you to pay for your sins, Spandam. Do you know your sins? First, you dared to lay your filthy hands on my precious friend. Second, you opened her emotional wounds and made her wish for death. Third, you... PISSED ME OFF!"

With his last words, Markus started channeling his electricity into Spandam. He started at low voltage, painfully seizing up his muscles. Then he slowly amped up the power until it began to burn the nerves in his extremities. The pain elicited a horrendous scream from Spandam. Markus continued to burn his nerves until they were completely destroyed, leaving Spandam a quadriplegic. He destroyed the ability for his body to move at all while leaving everything else fine so he would live.

Originally he planned to just kill Spandam but that was too kind. He'd rather leave the man alive to suffer for the rest of his life. When Markus finished, he tossed Spandam's body onto the stairs, "Punishment delivered."

Robin looked at Markus with a little caution. He wasn't aware of it but the face he made while torturing Spandam was rather scary. However, the moment he faced her he smiled brightly, "Let's head outside."

He carefully escorted Robin up the stairs. He kept an eye on the fights the others were having and smiled. Things were going well. Though Chopper had still transformed into his full beast form, he was stopped by Franky and some ocean water. Nothing unexpected had happened so far so he merely guided Robin outside to the bridge and stopped once they were in the light, "Soon, someone should show up with the key to your cuffs. I'm afraid you're stuck in them until then."

Robin nodded but had a mixture of relief and fear on her face. She was happy to be rescued but, "There's a Buster Call coming! Everyone needs to leave!"

Markus grinned playfully, "I told you before Robin, I will show you that you have nothing to fear as long as we're around."

She looked at him in shock, but he just sat down on the ground, "Sit down, relax, and recover as much strength as you can. The Marine's will be here soon."

He tilted his head, "While we wait... Everyone in CP9 except for Lucci, Kaku, and Jabra has been defeated. Everyone is a little worse for wear but no one is seriously hurt."

While they sat comfortable waiting, Markus kept Robin informed of how the fights were going. As they waited, the giant gates slowly began to open. Markus looked at them and smiled. Around that time, Sanji used his Diable Jambe. It was a wonderful technique and Markus felt a little envious but at the same time, he didn't want to just copy his friend. Besides, he could generate greater temperatures, it just looked damned cool.

Markus glanced at Robin, "You hungry? Thirsty?"

Robin looked at Markus like he was crazy. Maybe if it was someone else, they would be crazy. Finally, she nodded, "My throat is a little dry from all of that shouting."

Markus nodded in understanding. His hand began to crackle with electricity as he pushed it into his chest and 'retrieved' a bottle of water. Robin's eyes widened in shock, "How did you do that?!"

Markus shrugged his shoulders, "I discovered I could turn non-living things into electricity and store them inside of my body. Then I can just pull them out and turn them back into what they were before."

Of course, all of that was complete and utter bullshit. He just used it as an excuse for his inventory. Robin was shocked but she had no real reason to doubt his words. As much as she knew and as smart as she was, she couldn't claim to know everything about the Goro Goro no Mi or its capabilities. With the weirdness of Devil Fruits, what he was saying could be entirely possible.

Markus let her come to her own conclusions and opened the bottle before lifting it to her lips and gently tilting it for her to drink. Her eyes widened as she drank the water, it was ice cold! Once she nodded her head to let him know she was done, she voiced that out loud, "It's ice-cold!"

Markus tilted his head and pretended to be surprised, "Really?! It was cold when I put it in, but that was hours ago! I thought it would be warm by now."

Robin filled in her own reasoning, "Then your ability must keep things in the same state they were when you stored them! That's amazing! If it's the same for food... it would never go bad! Do you know the maximum you can carry?"

Markus shook his head, "I have no idea how much I can carry."

That was actually the truth. He didn't know if his inventory had a limit or not. If it did, he hadn't even come close to it yet and he had a lot of stuff stored away. At that moment Markus smiled, "Sanji just defeated Jabra. That just leaves Kaku and Lucci. Ah, Franky just joined Luffy. He should be here soon with a few of the keys. Maybe one of them will work."

Robin just nodded. She wasn't entirely sure what to do in this situation. The gates were close to opening, the Buster Call was coming, and Markus was just sitting around relaxing and chatting with her. It was... weird, to say the least. Markus glanced toward the end of the bridge, where a Marine ship had just finished docking. He raised his hand a little and casually used his Lightning Rain to knock out all of the Marines on the ship.

Simultaneously, Franky appeared on the bridge and Usopp appeared near the top of the tower. Seeing no one to snipe, Usopp fired a package containing two keys, which Markus caught. Franky looked at the scene before walking up to Markus, "Are you the one that did that to Spandam?"

Markus looked at Franky and nodded, "He pissed me off. It was a 'mercy' that I left him alive."

Franky muttered, "That was mercy?"

Markus ignored him and held his hand out, "You got two of the keys right? Hand them over so I can finally free Robin."

Franky was shaken out of his stupor and handed the keys over. Markus didn't remember exactly which one it was, so he tried them all until he got to the third one and it worked. Once the cuffs fell off, he left them where they were. His excuse might work for normal items, but no one would believe that it worked on Seastone. Markus pat the ground, "You can relax now Franky, I got everything else under control."

Franky looked confused then angry, "What are you talking about?! Everyone is still fighting and the buster call is coming!"

He pointed at the fully opened gates, "They'll be here any moment to kill us all."

Markus shrugged his shoulder, "I know. But I also know that they will fail. The only thing that will be destroyed is the marine ships. Don't worry. Chill. Relax. I got some cola. Oh! Also, your friends are fine. A little worn out and a couple of wounds but nothing too bad."

Franky looked shocked, "How could you possibly know that?!"

"I can hear them."

"Hear them?"

Since Markus was being too vague, Robin spoke up, "He's a power holder."

That seemed to be enough of an explanation for Franky. He sat down and Markus pulled out a few bottles of cola. He'd found them back in Water 7 and had wanted to see what the cola tasted like. It was pretty damned good. He planned to buy as much of it as he could when they returned to the island.

Seeing Markus summoning bolts of electricity and using it to pull bottles of cola out of thin air shocked Franky senseless. He stiffly accepted the cola and changed out the empty bottles in his chest. He was back at full power, not that he would need it anytime soon. As he was swapping empty bottles with full, a large explosion went off and blew a hole in the fence surrounding Enies Lobby. The marines were here!

Markus stood up and stretched lazily as a second shot came flying and crashed into the tower, knocking the already heavily damaged top half off. Markus glanced at it and clicked his tongue, "Annoying bastards."

He cracked his neck and instantly moved from where to was to the top of what was left of the tower. He took a deep breath and shouted with his voice amplified, "LISTEN UP YOU MARINE BASTARDS!! I AM SILVERS D. MARKUS!! RETREAT NOW OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES!!"

Of course, Markus didn't expect them to take him seriously. This was just his vocal declaration to the world. Now the marines would know his full name and he expected that the only other Silvers he knew of, Rayleigh, would hear about him. Markus was honestly curious about what relationship he might have with 'The Dark King'.

As if to reply to Markus, another cannon shot came flying and hit the island. Markus shrugged his shoulders, "I warned them."

Markus instantly became serious and began gathering electricity between his hands. The purple marks rapidly grew in power and size until full-scale lightning bolts started to shoot off of his body. He poured 3,500, or the equivalent of 7,000 Willpower after his discount, into this attack. Well, it was an attack and yet it wasn't. Whatever. Once the charging was complete, Markus threw his hands into the air and fired off a pillar of lighting over two hundred feet wide.

The pillar pierced into the air and flew high above the center of the island. The entire beam of electricity gathered into an even bigger orb, "Electro-Repulsion Net!"

The orb burst apart and transformed into a massive net of electricity that surrounded the entire island in purple light. It completely cut off the island and separated it from the coming marine ships. It was similar to an ability used by one of the Shichibukai but far different in its effect. The net crackled and pulsed with frightening power bringing a smile to his face, "Time for the marines to cry."