"*Slam! " You mean to tell me you punks got beat up, by some kids?" The man speaking was a big and burly, with arms the size of watermelons. He had a long bushy brown beard and a mustache connected to it. His face was full of wrinkles and his brown hair atop his head was shaved down to his scalp.
Even on an island such as Marineford, there were troublemakers thinking to take advantage of things. A bold move to make considering that most of the world's greatest military might's were gathered in this place, not too far away.
" We're sorry, big zeek. But this kid.... He was... was... He was a freak! I mean he dropped Tony with one punch."
" I don't give a damn." Zeek swiped his hand to the side and knocked the greasy haired kid off of his feet. " Do you have any idea how shameful it is that my men are getting beat up by ten year olds? If this news gets out everyone will think I'm a punk. And if I'm a punk, you're all dead. Got it?!"
" Yes sir."
" Good, find those brats, and deal with them. Understand me? I don't care how long it takes; you just make sure you take care of it. For good!"
" Yes sir!"
" Now all of you get out of my sight. Before I bash your brains in." The four boys all bowed their heads to the older man and quickly retreated from his small office. " Gehhhh. Bunch a useless brats. Can't even turn a profit off of this scrap." Zeek lit a cigar and took a long pull from it before blowing out the smoke. " Ten-year-olds... Fucking ridiculous."
.............
A few days later.
*Crash!!! Garp just slammed Markus on the back of his head with one hand, like a helpless child.
" Bwahahahahaha, alright that's enough for today." Garp exclaimed. He finished putting down Markus for the hundredth time and laughed.
Markus lifted himself up off the ground and wiped his brow. He was hurting, but at this point the hurt was beginning to fade a little. He was just getting used to it at this point. " Do you really need to hit me that hard old man? I feel like my head is gonna burst open everytime you do that."
" Bwahahaha! Don't you wanna grow up to be strong like me? Then you gotta take the pain that comes with it, brat."
" Nah, I don't wanna be as strong as you, I wanna be stronger. That's why I'm gonna kick your ass!" Markus lunged at Garp with every intent on doing as much damage as he could. But before his fist could land true, Garp side stepped his punch once again and slammed his fist into Markus' back knocking him into the ground and knocking the wind from his body. Markus gulped heavily and tried taking a breath only to find it hard to even gasp for the tiniest of bits of air.
" I told ya we were done." Garp stated. Markus, grit his teeth. He was angry and despite being seriously hurt, he still managed to push himself up right.
" How did you do that?" Markus asked the man.
" Do what?"
" How do you always manage to dodge my attacks, even when I'm being sneaky. You just slip right out of the way, sometimes without even looking. And it's not just you, Bogard does it too and so does old man Zephyr. What's up with that?" Markus asked bewilderedly.
" Brat, there is still somethings, even you don't know about. It's called Haki." Garp stated.
" Haki?"
" Yeah, but you're not ready to learn Haki. Not yet." Garp grinned. Markus stood up, as best he could, still reeling from Garp's extra hard punch and winced.
" Why not?"
Garp started laughing again. " Because if I taught you everything, you wouldn't learn anything. Now get cleaned up and take the rest of the day off, I'll be heading out soon and I need to get some things together."
" Where are you going this time?" Markus asked. " Reports of the Roger and Whitebeard pirates near Sabaody. Sengoku and I are going to fight them." Garp explained.
" When can I go with you?" Markus asked.
" When you become an official officer in the Marines." Garp responded. " Until then, you're too young. I won't bring a child out to sea." Garp told the boy.
" But you'll beat me up every day and let me roam all of Marineford." Markus muttered under his breath.
" What was that?!"
" Nothing!" Markus started running as fast as he could away from Garp, knowing that any other word would get him a massive fist to his noggin.
.......
For Brago, today was shaping up to be just like any other. He would get up early, go looking for scraps of food to bring home, and hopefully make some money on the side. Thankfully, however, Brago learned how to fish from Markus, so finding food was becoming easier by the day. Though he did still have to be careful not to end up moving too far away from the docks, less he be swept away in the current.
" Ha, alright. This should be a good spot to set up. Markus should be here soon." Brago stated. He always had tried to find the spot in the town with the most people active, that's usually where he found the most opportunities to make money. And this time, he'd have Markus help in offering his services.
However, as Brago was getting in position to start asking around.
" Hiya pal." Brago looked back as a firm hand planted itself on his shoulder and gasped. " We really need ta talk."
..........
After having finally gotten cleaned and dressed, Markus finally started his venture into the city. Garp had departed along with Sengoku and the newest admiral, replacing Zephyr since he retire from the position, Black Bull to face the Whitebeard pirates and Roger Pirates. There were sightings of the two pirate crews close to the Sabaody, but it was unconfirmed whether or not they were still around. Which meant, that Bogard was his guardian until Garp returned. Bogard wasn't as easy going as Garp was, or at least that's what Markus believed. He was still unaware of the fact that Bogard would shadow him every time he left the marine base.
Markus ventured into the city with fervor and joy. Hanging out with Brago was becoming more and more fun each and every day.
But something was off today. Markus just had a feeling.
When Markus walked into the bustling market, of the town behind Marineford HQ, there was a bustling and unsettling feeling churning inside of his stomach.
" Brago! Brago?" For what felt like hours, Markus spent his time walking through the city's market, over and over again, looking for his young friend. But after circling the entirety of the large complex five times, Markus decided to try looking elsewhere, figuring that maybe he just moved on from this spot.
...............
" Brago! Hey Brago, where are you?!" Markus shouted. " Man, I just can't find him. Where is he?" Markus was never one to think about the worst possible case scenarios. But for some reason he just had a nagging feeling in his mind that something bad had happened to his friend. " Or maybe, I'm just overthinking things. Maybe he's just home."
Markus was getting ready to turn around and head back home, but just before he did decide to give up, but a little further away, coming out of a side street near a row of buildings, Markus spotted those group of bullies from a few days ago and they were laughing.
" What are those guys doing?" Markus wondered. He watched as four of the boys walked away and then when no one was looking, Markus walked right into the same side street they came from.
It was like a horror story.
Blood was all over the place. The trash cans were dented with blood smeared on the side of them and lying in the center of the street in a pool of blood, was Markus' friend, Brago.
" BRAGO!"
Markus ran full speed over to his injured friend, but before he could get down to grab him, Bogard suddenly appeared, from the shadows, and snatched up both Markus and Brago and jumped into the air landing squarely on the rooftops above.
" Uncle Bogard?!"
" Hush, Markus, I need to focus." Bogard told the boy, he then started racing across the rooftops at a speed, Markus couldn't believe. Unbeknownst to Markus however, Bogard began sensing the entire half of the city they were in for the four boys who had attacked the kid in his arms. After dropping Markus and Brago off at a clinic, he would go back out to gather the proper forces to arrest the four.
Bogard jumped across Marineford city and landed right in front of Garp's station.
Markus was amazed by the man's speed. It had taken him about thirty minutes to reach where he was in the city, and Bogard crossed the same distance in a few seconds.
Bogard rushed into the central medical area, located in the very back of the compound and placed Markus and Brago down on a gurney.
" I need a doctor to look at these two right now!" Bogard shouted.
The navy soldiers and doctors immediately jumped straight into action and started tending to Brago's wounds. Bogard, however turned and got ready to leave.
" Wait! Uncle Bo, where are you going?" Markus asked the man.
" I'll be back. Rest until I come back and don't go back out." Bogard told the boy.
" Wait Bo-" Before Markus could say another word Bogard disappeared like a flicker in the wind, leaving the boy behind alone, while doctors took to trying to staunch Brago's wounds.
One look at his friend and Markus felt a fire raging in his gut. He would not simply let this go unpunished.
" Mar... Huhhhh! Markus." Markus looked over at Brago as he lie on the bed. The sound of his voice was weak as he called out to the young boy.
" Brago! Hey Brago! What happened?!" Markus crashed through some of the doctors around the boy, and stood at Brago's bedside, sweating bullets.
" I'm sorry. I tried my best, but I wasn't strong enough. I couldn't beat them." Brago muttered.
" Why would you do that? I told you to stay away from those guys! Why would you fight them?"
Brago looked up at Markus and smiled as big as he could. " Because they were laughing at my friends dream." Upon finishing his statement, Brago lost consciousness once again, leaving Markus to look on in shock.
Markus felt angry and upset at the same time, but he was also happy. He was upset that his friend got hurt defending him, but at the same time he was happy to have a friend that would defend his dream without hesitation.
' Bogard told me to stay here.' Markus thought to himself. But in Markus' mind, he knew that wasn't going to happen. On his own honor, as a man and as a friend he needed to avenge his friend. And he would.
Markus waited his time until the doctors were distracted from tending to Brago to slip out of a window located directly in the back of the room.
.................
Markus walked through the side streets of the Marineford. He had one job, to find the people responsible for hurting his friend and punishing them the only way he knew how. With his fists.
" Hahahaha! I tell ya boss, we got that brat good. You should have seen it."
One of the four bullies was retelling the story of how he and his friends had just finished beating up Brago to his boss.
There were a chorus of laughter coming from the many people surrounding big Zeek. Men and children. Teens and up. Their collective laughs filled the docks with nothing but noise. Even the towns people were beginning to wonder what was going on.
" So, you took care of those kids already? Good. Good. Now we can get back to business." Zeek stated without a care in the world. He just ignored the news and continued smoking his cigar.
Then the laughter stopped.
" Well, we got one of them."
" What?! You left the job half finished?"
" We couldn't find the other one, and even if we did, we can't handle him, Zeek. That thing isn't a kid."
" There are four of you! Four fucking teenagers! And you're telling me, you're scared of a kid younger than you?"
" Sir you don't get it."
" No, I don't care. You have until the sun goes down to fix this mistake, and if you don't I promise all fucking four of your head will be hung up on my wall, with a fresh polish of wax. Now, go find him!"
* Bang! Crash!
A barrel suddenly smashed right into Zeek's skull, knocking him over the dock and into the water.
" Zeek!"
" Zeek!"
" Z, you okay man?"
" Bahhhh!" Zeek quickly resurfaced for air. When he had hit the water, he had accidentally swallowed a large amount of water, and it nearly drowned him. " Who the fuck did that?!" Zeek shouted.
Markus slammed his foot on the ground.
There was a dark and ominous aura radiating off of him, that even the fake gangsters could see.
Black shards of lightning emanated from his very being. " You.... You hurt my friend...."
" What are you all waiting for, there are twenty of you! Get this kid!" Zeek yelled.
" Yeah!"
" We're not afraid of some punk!"
" Watch how the grown-ups handle business, boys!"
" We're gonna make you wish you were never born brat!"
Markus listened as the small gang of men ran straight for him. Some were barehanded, some had knuckle dusters and some with knives.
But that didn't matter.
In his short-lived life, Markus had experienced many hardships on a daily basis, especially from Garp, but never had he ever experienced an emotion so raw, so vicious that he felt right now. Despite getting hurt, and beat up daily, Markus felt so angry in all his life.
" You throw around your strength and hurt those who can't defend themselves. NOW YOU'RE GONNA PAY!" Markus let out one very loud shout, releasing all of his pent-up anger in one burst.
...............
After leaving the station, Bogard immediately went to Marine HQ to speak with fleet admiral Kong about the situation in the city and received his permission to apprehend those involved.
Now he was returning to where he had last spotted those four unruly kids. He didn't know where they were going but he now knew their presence. All he needed to do was feel things out until he could relocate the same energy he felt before.
Luckily, it didn't take very long for the seasoned veteran to catch the scent again and when he did Bogard rushed as fast as he could towards the docks.
Bogard was mere moments away from arriving, his hand firmly on the hilt of his blade. He could sense that there were multiple energy signatures all in that one area.
However, before Bogard reached the dock a strong sensation hit him right in the face. Bogard knew it from anywhere. It was the spirit of a king.
" Conquerors haki?!" Bogard was caught off guard by the torrent of raging energy, but quickly rallied himself. He was preparing himself for the unexpected.
However, what he didn't prepare for, was arriving to see that the one standing after that sudden burst of raw conquerors haki was his own student.
" MARKUS!"
[ Luffy's fierce attack]
* DOOM!
Ten-year-old Markus was standing in the middle of the docks surrounded, on all sides, by men all older than him who were severely beaten bloody. And as for Markus, he had nothing but the scrapes and tears of skin on his knuckles and a patch of dirt on his face to show.
Bogard jumped down from the roof and landed right in front of the boy. " Markus, what happened?" He asked.
Markus lifted his face and grinned. " I won!" He declared proudly.
Bogard looked around at all the men lying on their back's unconscious and though he had given him a clear order to remain put, in that moment, Bogard had never been prouder of the young man.
Bogard smirked and tipped his hat downwards.
" Not bad, Markus. Not bad at all." ' Amazing conquerors haki, and not even a single scratch on him. Garp, what kind of little monster have we created?'
" All right, you lousy lot, you're all under arrest!"