Chapter 67: The fist is eternal
It had been quite some time since Markus had had the chance to walk through the simple stone streets of Marineford. The smell of the salty sea nearby, the sound of bustling people flooding the market, and the smell of good food in the air. Of yes, it was certainly a warm and welcoming feeling to Markus.
" Marineford.... Ahhhhh! It hasn't changed a bit since I've been gone. It's good to see that things are as lively here as ever." Markus exclaimed.
The wind blowing his hair out of his face, carrying the smell of the sea and food straight to him, flooding his nostrils with all kinds of smells.
" Yeah, it is. But I can't say I missed the crowded streets. Getting around is always such a pain."
" Oh, don't be like that, Gion. I find it rather endearing, moving through the crowd of people like this. It gives them a sense of protection."
" Yeah, but not all of them are so endearing. Some of these people need to learn how to bathe." Gion told the man.
Markus couldn't find a way to refute her words, as it was true to a degree.
" Yeah, well, try not to let the bad outweigh the good, eh. What's the fun in thinking like that all the time?" Markus gave Gion a little shove on her shoulders and winked at her.
" Ugh. Whatever."
" See, there you go. Now! Where to first? I'm thinking the BBQ hut. I haven't eaten in days, and I am starved."
" I guess, I could go for BBQ-
Without getting a chance to say another word, Markus hoisted Gion up into his arms and carried the woman off, causing her to scream in surprise.
.............
A little while later, Markus and Gion arrived at a small restaurant located right at the very boarder of Marineford, resting between the marine base and the town hidden behind the bastion.
Markus walked into the restaurant, bleeding from his nose and covered in bruises. He turned back to the door of the restaurant and held it open as Gion walked in behind him. " Did you have to hit me so hard?" He asked the woman.
Gion stepped past him and shrugged her shoulders. " You shouldn't have picked me up so suddenly. Be grateful I didn't punch you in your stomach."
" Oh man, no mercy. That's cold, Gion."
Markus and Gion walked into the restaurant and were quickly greeted by the one of the few waiters.
He approached them with a smile on his face and noticing the young man, whose name had been spreading quite quickly in the world, happily sat the two of them down at a nearby table.
His enthusiasm when treating Markus didn't go unnoticed by Gion, nor did it go unnoticed by Markus himself.
" Hey, that guy is practically falling over from meeting you." Gion muttered.
Markus smirked just a little bit.
" Yeah, I noticed." He said. He looked over at the young man and chuckled.
" Feels nice, huh?" Gion asked.
" A little bit, yeah. Can't say I'm not enjoying it." Markus admitted. Markus looked over to Gion and saw the slightest look of disappointment on her face. " What's wrong, Gion?"
Gion looked at him and quickly her expression changed.
" Nothing"
" Now, I might not be the smartest person alive, but I can tell when you're feeling down." Markus told the woman.
" You can?"
" Of course, I can. I'm always watching you."
Such a simple statement carried with it such a powerful meaning. Gion did her best to hide the giant smile spreading across her face, by raising her hand over her mouth. But even she couldn't stop the bright red color spreading across her cheeks.
" Hey what's wrong, Gion? You feeling okay?" Markus asked. He noticed the red on the woman's cheeks and leaned in to see if she was alright.
Embarrassed, Gion quickly backed away, to hide her face.
She threw one of her hands up and quickly pushed Markus back into his seat.
" Get back, you idiot." Gion shouted.
" Huh? I was just seeing if you were okay, gee." Markus complained.
" I'm fine. I'm fine.... I just need a moment." Gion muttered. She took a few deep breaths and just a moment to collect herself, and then looked back up at Markus and noticed the look of concern still on his face. " I'm good. See? Just needed a moment."
Markus was still confused, but he decided not to press the matter too much.
" Okay? So, how are things going with Tsuru? She treating you alright?" Markus asked the woman.
" Yeah, everything's going pretty good so far. We recently got wind of this new mafia group, popping up calling themselves the Donquioxte crime family. They're a group of vicious pirates, that go around plundering and stealing from whoever they can. It's getting quite out of hand. We're trying to see if we can get their location pinned down now, but it doesn't look like it'll be anytime soon, where we can find them. They are quite elusive." Gion told the man.
" Yeah, that does sound like a problem. But Aunt Tsuru's pretty damn smart. She'll come up with something sooner or later. Just make sure to keep your head on a swivel, trust me, these pirate groups and these mafia families are getting more and more dangerous every single day." Markus told the woman.
" Yeah, no kidding." Gion muttered. " Hey, do you have any advice on training?"
" What for?" Markus asked. " You're plenty strong as it is." He stated.
" Yeah, but I can't stay where I am now. If I want to be able to compete against these strong pirates, I need to get stronger, and learn how to use my sword better." Gion told the man.
" That's true. I guess, I could show to my old training ground, see if you can get a handle on what pops used to train us. Though I will admit, it's harder than anything else you might have experienced." Markus told the woman.
" Oh, really? How bad could this little exercise be?" Gion asked.
As soon as she finished asking the question, she regretted it as the biggest, nastiest, most evil smile spread across Markus' face.
" Markus? You're scaring me." Gion told the man.
" HAHAHAHAHA!"
Markus laughed maniacally, scaring Gion even more as she watched the man cackle.
" Well, then, when we leave, I'll show you what I meant. But... You asked for it."
.................
A little later.
Ship Scrapyard.
" What in this world is this?!" Gion shouted as she looked at the beaten and broken battleships, sitting in front of her.
" BATTLESHIP BAGS!" Markus exclaimed.
" Battleship bags?! You mean like punching bags?!"
" That's right. This is where my father trained, where Vice Admiral Kuzan trained, and where Brago and I trained." Markus told the woman.
He pointed out the four ships that had holes punched into them, that looked like wood and steel had been turned into sand.
" The biggest one belonged to my pops. The next one down was Kuzan's, the one after that mine, and finally, Brago had the smallest." Markus pointed each ship out individually by the size of the hole in them.
Garp of course had the largest, of course. Next was Kuzan, who had made a pretty large dent in his as well. Markus came close to Kuzan, but still came up short on the bag, but he'd catch him... Sooner or later he would catch him. Brago unfortunately came up the shortest, putting quite a sizeable dent in his ship, but nowhere near as much as the others.
It was just a fact, that Brago, despite his amazing skill, was still physically weaker than Markus by quite a margin. A margin he more than makes up for in other areas.
" So? What, you guys just punched these things over and over again?" Gion asked.
" Yup. We punched these things over and over again for years. The only rule was, you could only use your fists. That meant no Haki and No devil fruits. Just pure unadulterated strength." Markus explained. " You want to get stronger, then Battleship bag is the way to go." Markus explained.
" That's insane! Who would do something like that?!"
" Heh!" A slick smile spread across Markus' face. " A Hero!"
Markus smiled as he thought back to the younger days, watching as Garp pounded away at the ships with a smile on his face.
" YAHA! Come on, Gion! Let's get too it!" Markus exclaimed.
" NOOOOOOOOO!"
............
TO BE CONTINUED!
Hi guys, it's back. One Piece is back as well.
Now, some are still questioning why this has been on hold for a bit, so I'll address it again, a little while ago, I had an unfortunate accident occur and my time has been consumed with work and other priorities. Just to reiterate, this is not going to be dropped, though chapters will be released on a certain basis. I'll work on getting a routine back down, until then just know these will be coming out sparingly. Thank you for the continued support.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone