Chapter 16

Lunch in the ship graveyard was actually pretty nice. They ate in a nice companionable silence. Once all the food was finished, Markus looked at the two of them, "So, either of you noticing anything?"

Both women shook their heads. Markus nodded in acceptance. He didn't expect anything but it also didn't hurt to ask just in case one of them happened to be a genius or a natural talent. Rei was already a natural at Armament Haki so there was a small chance it could happen for either of them.

After lunch, he helped both of them work out once again, still focusing on their legs. Bonney's legs were already pretty powerful giving her an edge in the running over Rei. On the other hand, Rei was far more determined to grow stronger than Bonney allowing her to push herself harder. He helped them finish their workout and recover with one of his weak health potions.

The next day they repeated the process of their training under Markus's watchful gaze. He'd stuck around so he could chat with the old man again and make sure all the details of the ship had been covered as well as to give him one hundred of his Jet Dials and some other useful materials for the construction of the ship. The largest piece he gave the old man was the giant Breath Dial he'd received back on Skypiea. His new ship would be the second-fastest on the sea, only slower than his Cigarette Boat.

As the three of them finished their dinner, Markus made an announcement, "Tomorrow we'll start moving on to the Drum Kingdom. I couldn't find an Eternal Pose but I know the way."

Bonney looked surprised, "Oh yeah!" She dug around in her small bag and pulled out an Eternal Pose, "I completely forgot. I found this the first day we were here."

She handed over the Eternal Pose with the words 'Drum Kingdom' engraved into the wood. Seeing it brought a smile to Markus's face, "Nice! That will make things easier."

Bonney nodded, but asked curiously, "How were you planning to find the island if you didn't have the pose though? Navigating the Grand Line is impossible without a Pose."

Markus smiled and fired off his preprepared excuse, "It's a bit complicated but, to put it simply, I can feel the magnetic fields of the islands. As long as I've been to an island once before, I can find it again easily. The problem is, you two wouldn't be able to drive to it properly since only I can feel it."

That was all a bunch of bull. He couldn't feel the magnetic fields of the islands. Which honestly annoyed him. He expected that he would be able to do it eventually but it just wasn't possible yet. After hearing his reasoning, the two women just nodded and accepted his excuse. They were quickly coming to accept that he could do just about anything he wanted with his Devil Fruit. With the new Eternal Pose stored safely away, they finished their dinners and went to bed.

Early the next day, the three of them met in the lobby of their hotel. Bonney wore her usual style of clothing. It was picked so it worked well with her Devil Fruit allowing her to easily change her height without her clothing falling off and leaving her naked.

Rei, on the other hand, was wearing a new outfit that made his jaw drop. Her long hair was pulled back and tied loosely behind her shoulders with a ribbon. She wore a tight short-sleeved shirt that clung to her body which, frankly, looked heaven-defying. Bonney had apparently introduced her to a new style of bra. Her large chest had been pulled up and pressed together making her already large breasts look even larger while exposing a canyon's worth of cleavage.

Over the white shirt, she wore a light blue cropped jacket that only went down to the middle of her back. It seemed to only be there to provide sleeves and add to her looks. Her legs were wrapped in a tight pair of Capri-style jeans that came to an end in the middle of her calves. The tight jeans highlighted her strong legs, wide hips, and firm rear. Lastly, she wore a pair of black strappy wedge sandals on her feet with her toenails painted red to match her fingernails. It seemed that Bonney had introduced her to the concept of a mani-pedi.

Rei hadn't looked bad before but the clothing she wore made from Wallumpus skin hadn't been all that fashionable. Now, now she looked like a tall bombshell ready to kill men with a look. If Sanji saw her, he'd be on the ground drowning in a pool of his own nose blood. Even Markus felt his nose itching a little at the sight of her in her new outfit.

Markus only snapped out of it when Bonney smacked the back of his head, "Stop drooling already."

Coming out of it, Markus noticed that Rei was squirming and blushing bright red. He'd clearly embarrassed her with his staring. Markus quickly bowed his head toward Rei, "Sorry about that Rei. I was just a bit stunned."

Still blushing, Rei pat him on the shoulder as a sign of forgiveness. After the awkward moment, the three of them left the island on his Cigarette Boat. They were soon cruising toward the Drum Kingdom. The three of them kept good company with each other as they drove along. Rei was as silent as ever but Bonney was quickly becoming more and more adept at translating her gestures and looks. The bond between women or something he supposed.

The next three days of travel were pretty peaceful. Though there were a few interesting things. The first happened on their second day out. The sky darkened and rain began to fall. A rainy day on the Grand Line was nothing special on its own. What made it special was Rei's reaction to the rain. She stared at the water falling from the sky with a look of awe on her face. Never in her life had she seen rain falling from the sky.

Her home was a winter island, all she'd ever seen before was snow, hail, and on rare occasions some sleet. Seeing water just falling from the sky as a liquid was a completely new experience for her. Her next new experience came when a massive hurricane came out of nowhere and tried to swallow their little boat whole. She was slightly less surprised when Markus lifted the boat out of the water to fly over the hurricane. She did discover another similarity with Bonney though, she didn't like heights any more than the other woman.

It wasn't until the third day came along that Markus found something interesting. About a hundred miles away from them he could hear the men on a Marine ship chatting.

"Why are we looking for that insane bastard?"

"Orders from above. The new Fleet Admiral wants us to find him."

"So we're being sent to our deaths?! He's killed hundreds, if not thousands, of Marines! This is crazy!"

"I agree but what can we do?"

"At least the orders are only to watch, not engage."

"Do we even know why he's heading back into Paradise?"

"No. His travel pattern is weird as hell too!"

"How is it weird?"

"Well, the reports are odd. First, he was spotted all the way at Alabasta. Then, just a couple of days later, he had a clash with the Fleet Admiral in the New World. Soon after he was spotted in Sabaody, then just recently in Water 7."

"How the hell did he travel so fast?"

"Well, the rumor is he's got this tiny ass boat that's super fast and powered by magic."

"Bullshit! There's no such thing as magic! It's probably just his Devil Fruit. That Gobo Gobo or whatever."

"It's Goro Goro moron!"

"Whatever. I just don't want to meet him!"

Before the groups of Marines could continue their talk, a strict voice coming from the strongest person on the ship shouted, "Shut up down there! Just keep an eye out. We're not the only ones looking for that lightning bastard but I hope we're the ones that find him! I'd like a piece of him."

Markus smirked as he felt a sudden wave of fear pass through the group of men that had previously been talking. His best guess was the strongest person was a Vice Admiral. It was also pretty obvious that they were looking for him. He really wondered why they were looking for him. As for the news of the new Fleet Admiral, his best guess was that Aokiji... or should he call him Fleet Admiral Kuzan? Was looking for him for some reason.

Well, there was an easy way to find out. He turned to look at Rei, "Rei, drive in that direction."

He pointed in the direction of the Marine ship with a grin. Rei nodded and turned the steering wheel in the direction Markus had indicated. Bonney poked her head out of the cabin, "Why are we turning?"

Markus looked down at her from the roof of the cabin where he was relaxing, "I just heard some Marines off in that direction. Seems like they were talking about me and even looking for me. I'm curious about why, so I decided to pay them a visit."

Bonney nodded and turned to move back into the cabin, "Ah, I see."

Just as she stepped inside she stopped when his words sank in. She spun around, "Why the hell are you going toward them if they're looking for you?! Shouldn't we stay away then?"

Markus waved his hand dismissively, "Nah. They pose no threat and you two won't come within fifty miles of them. So, there's nothing to worry about."

Bonney sighed, "Whatever."

Markus grinned and paid close attention to the distance between them and the Marine ship. When they reached about fifty miles away from the Marine ship, Markus turned to speak to Rei, "Alright Rei, come to a stop. We're close enough."

Once the boat came to a stop, Markus slowly rose in the air, "Alright, I'll be back in a few minutes."

He quickly flew through the air and covered the distance between himself and the Marine ship. The boat was a standard blue marine ship, like the many he'd seen before and just like the one he currently had inside of his inventory. The deck was crawling with Marines and standing on the top deck was a large man, the Vice Admiral.

Markus had a vague recollection of the man from Marineford but otherwise knew nothing about him. It didn't take long for a Marine to spot him and shout, "Off the port bow! Someone's... FLYING!"

The shout drew the attention of everyone on the deck of the ship. Seeing that he had everyone's attention, Markus placed his hands behind his back and casually flew toward the ship. He could feel the tension of the Marines rising as he came closer. When they finally got a look at his face, their tension vanished and was instantly replaced with fear in the majority of them. The only one not afraid was the Vice Admiral, though he was definitely nervous. To his credit, he didn't show it on his face.

Markus drifted closer and faced the Vice Admiral. The man was tall, but not inhumanly tall, with a muscular frame, slicked-back black hair, and a glorious handlebar mustache. Like most Vice Admiral's, he wore a nice suit with his Marine coat draped on his shoulders like a cape. He sort of reminded Markus of a younger-looking Garp with how he was built.

As they looked at each other from a distance of around two hundred feet, Markus spoke, "I heard you were looking for me."

The Vice Admiral spoke with a strained voice that seemed to be mostly anger, "Silvers D. Markus, yes, we were looking for you."

Markus smiled, "Well, here I am."

"I am Vice Admiral Stainless. Fleet Admiral Kuzan has ordered us to find you and make contact with you."

"So Kuzan really did become the Fleet Admiral, good for him. What do you want?"

"Does the name 'Jewelry Bonney' mean anything to you?"

"Of course. What about her?"

Vice Admiral Stainless looked stoic, "Fleet Admiral Kuzan has asked us to present you with an offer."

"Oh?"

Markus was honestly curious. He knew the World Government wanted Bonney, likely for her Devil Fruit. He had no intention of actually selling her off for anything they could possibly offer him. Only sheer morbid curiosity prevented him from sinking their ship right then and there.

Stainless cleared his throat, "Fleet Admiral Kuzan wanted us to extend the following offer. In exchange for delivering Jewelry Bonney to us, he is willing to make you a Shichibukai."

Markus waited for the man to continue but seeing that he remained silent, he couldn't help asking, "Is that it?"

Stainless looked confused, "Yes?"

Markus tried his very best, really he did, but the urge was just too strong. Against his will, his right hand came up and slammed against his forehead. He slowly dragged his hand down his face causing it to stretch a bit until his hand slid off of his chin. He gave Stainless a deadpan look, "Really? That's it?" He let out a long drawn out sigh, "Hard pass. Tell Kuzan to get his head out of his ass. Next time he approaches me with such a shitty offer, I'll personally go to Marie Geoise and fry every last World Noble living there."

Stainless' face blanched at the threat. To a Marine like him, the World Nobles were his highest superiors, like living gods among men. Just threatening to kill them was a crime that carried a death penalty. Worse, it was coming from a man who had actually killed the two children of a World Noble. Even now, Saint Rosward was constantly demanding that they bring Markus's head to him on a platter.

The color quickly returned to his face as he became red with rage, "You dare threaten the Celestial Dragons?!"

In the face of Stainless' rage, Markus casually crossed his arms over his chest and raised an eyebrow, "I dare. What are you going to do about it? Save your worthless posturing and send my message to Kuzan."

Stainless unconsciously gripped the handle of his katana tightly as he glared daggers at Markus. Markus was unperturbed and continued to stare at Stainless casually. Even with Haki, Stainless wouldn't even be able to get close to him. If he tried, Markus would have a living test subject for his Gyrokinetic Combat skill.

Silence hung in the air for a few moments until Markus grew bored, "Well since it seems there's nothing else, I'll take my leave."

As he turned away he thought of something, "Oh, something else to add on, Let Kuzan know that if the Marines become too annoying I'll start sinking ships."

Unable to take it anymore, Stainless let his pride get the better of him. His hand gripping his Katana turned black as he used his Armament Haki on it and his sword. With a shout, Stainless drew his sword and unleashed a flying slash with an Iai attack.

Sensing the incoming attack, Markus turned and with an Armament Haki coated finger, deflected the flying slash, "Really?"

Stainless froze with his sword still drawn and coated in Haki. It just dawned on him how incredibly stupid it was to confront Markus on his own. Sweat started to build on his brow as a shiver ran down his spine. Now Markus could feel his fear and it brought a smile to his face. With a wave of his hand, Markus summoned ten cannonballs from his inventory and held them in the air with his Gyro Telekinesis. He smiled playfully down at Stainless while his eyes began to glow and emit sparks of electricity.

Back at the boat, Bonney and Rei were chatting away. Well... Bonney was chatting, Rei was just nodding her head when she agreed or shaking her head when she disagreed with what Boney said. Bonney stopped speaking in midsentence and looked in the direction Markus had flown off in with slightly narrowed eyes. Rei curiously turned to look as well. She froze the moment she did. Off on the horizon, they could both see a thick plume of smoke floating into the air and growing thicker.

Bonney let out a sigh, "They must have done something to piss Markus off. From what I've seen, he's usually a pretty laid back guy but once he's angered... Well..." She gestured at the smoke, "That happens."

Bonney wasn't just speaking about her experiences with Markus in person. She was also speaking about the information she'd gathered on her own combined with what she witnessed happening at Marineford. She did her own research on Markus while they were on Water 7 and that was the conclusion she arrived at on her own. It wasn't exactly accurate but it did fit the image that Markus had projected.

Rei, seeing the black cloud of smoke grew concerned. She turned to face Bonney with a look of worry. She might have followed a pirate in her efforts to grow stronger to protect her home but that didn't mean she wanted to become a pirate. She also didn't want to fight against the Marines. They were the protectors of the people. They might not always be around but on several occasions, the Marines had visited her island and protected it from pirates. She deeply respected them and their strength. She would have gladly joined them but they never understood her silent desire. They always left without her being able to express her desire to join them.

Seeing the concerned look Rei was giving her, Bonney waved her hand in a dismissive gesture, "I wouldn't worry about him. Compared to him, the Marines are a bunch of weaklings. He probably wouldn't attack them unless they provoked him first." She looked thoughtful before she continued, "Though some things do seem to piss him off instantly. Like those guys on your island. When he heard them talking he was furious and went straight there to put an end to them."

Rei seemed curious about that but before she could gesture to try and get Bonney to say more, Markus gently landed on the deck of the boat, "Stupid Marine. He just had to let his emotions get the better of him and attack me."

Bonney looked surprised at that, "Didn't he know who you were? They shouldn't attack you with anything less than they attacked Whitebeard with!"

Markus chuckled, "Well, he won't be doing that again anytime soon. I sank his ship. They'll have to row their way to the next island to get a new one. They should be fine as long as nothing too terrible happens on the way."

"So, what did they want?"

Markus looked at Bonney with a wide grin, "You."