The next week turned into a grueling routine for the boys. Garp would wake them up early in the morning and make them run for an hour to loosen up their muscles. Afterwards they would eat breakfast made by Makino before Garp would take them up into the mountains and force them to fight groups of monkeys until they passed out. If it wasn't near sunset, he woke them up and made them keep fighting until it was sunset.
Afterwards it was dinner time at Makinos, followed by a hot bath and then bedtime. It was absolutely exhausting, but Marcus had to admit it showed results. Both him and Luffy, only being around two years old, were stronger than any kid had the right to be. He could probably beat up a teenager if he fought one… Maybe. Ace also gained a lot of strength this week and could probably fight a normal adult without much issue at this point. It was kinda scary how this world worked, anime logic was crazy.
During this week Ace even seemed to lighten up a little. He still didn't want help from anyone, but he also wasn't frowning all the time. He even talked a tiny bit to Luffy and Marcus, so pretty big steps for the emo kid with daddy issues.
It was evening, dinner was finished a little while ago and everyone was now relaxing in a big steaming bath. Garp was near the edge of the bathtub, his head laid back while a towel covered his eyes as he said, "Just ask whatever you want brat."
Luffy and Marcus glanced towards Ace who had a weird look on his face. Garp lifted the towel from his eyes and looked Ace directly in the eyes as he said, "It's just us here, speak your mind Ace."
Ace glanced at Luffy and Marcus before he asked, "Why… Why was I allowed to be born?"
Garp raised an eyebrow as he said, "Ehh?!? What are you talking about? You were born because your parents wanted you."
Ace's normal frown returned as he said, "But I'm the son of the devil. Should I really be allowed to live?"
Garp let out a heavy sigh before he lowered his voice a little and said, "You're alive because I agreed with your father. A child shouldn't be judged by the actions of their parents."
"But he was…" Garp waved his hand in the air as he said, "No matter what people might say about him, he was one of the most honorable men I'd ever met. It's why I made him a promise to keep you safe and give you a chance to live your life."
Ace's frown deepened before he said, "But everything they said he did…" His voice trailed off as he looked at Garp.
Garp shook his head lightly as he said, "Don't believe what you hear from random people, his only real crime was he went against the world government. If you wanna know more about him and what he really did, you would have to find and talk to his old crew."
Luffy couldn't hold it in anymore as he asked, "Gramp's, who was Ace's dad?"
"Gol D. Roger, the pirate king." Garp noticed the slight flinch Ace had at the man's name being said and couldn't help but let out a sigh.
Luffy smiled as he said, "He sounds like he was strong."
Garp nodded as he said, "He was considered one of the strongest men in the world at one point and I used to fight with him all the time."
Luffy's mouth dropped open in shock before he asked, "You're strong?"
Luffy disappeared into the water with a splash as Garp moved his hand away from where Luffy's head just was. When Luffy popped out of the water Garp said, "Of course I'm strong brat! I'm the strongest marine to ever wear the uniform!"
As Luffy rubbed his bruised head, Garp turned his focus back to Ace as he said, "I'm not sure what kinda weird ideas you have in your head. But never question why you're alive. Two loving parents gave their lives, so you could have a chance to live. Never question that, understand?"
Ace's face softened slightly and he nodded his head as he said, "Thanks, grandpa."
Garp smiled wide before he said, "Good, now let me rest. Training you brat's was hard work."
"You threw us at monkeys! How did you do any work?" Marcus asked with an annoyed look.
The next second two people could be heard snoring. Marcus glanced at Garp and Luffy before he let out a sigh, both of them were asleep. Marcus glanced at Ace who just shrugged before he leaned back to relax in the tub again. Marcus followed suit and within a few moments four people could be heard snoring from the bathtub.
vvvvv
It was just after dawn as Marcus was standing on the village's dock with Ace, Luffy and Garp as they watched a large navy ship approach the island. Garp smiled widely as he said, "It's been fun you brat's, but I need to go back to work."
Garp turned to look at each of his grandsons before he said, "I'll be back in six months to a year. Make sure you train hard while I'm gone, because I'll test you when I get back."
Before any of them could respond Garp disappeared from their view. Marcus was the first to find him and pointed him out to the others. Garp seemed to be kicking the air and flying towards the ship in the distance. Luffy had stars in his eyes as he asked, "Grandpa can fly?!? I wonder if he'll teach us how to fly?"
Marcus patted Luffy's shoulder as he said, "Just ask him when he comes back to visit."
Marcus glanced at Ace as he asked, "You wanna go train?"
"Training? Can't we take a break?" Luffy asked.
Marcus shook his head as he said, "No, we should train whenever we can."
"Why?"
Marcus glanced back at Garp who was still flying through the air as he said, "Because one day I wanna be stronger than grandpa."
Marcus then looked at Ace as he said, "And your dad."
Ace had a soft smile as he said, "First you have to get stronger than me."
"It's on the list."
Ace shook his head before he said, "Whatever. If you wanna train, we should head to Gray Terminal."
"Gray Terminal?"
Ace pointed to the mountains as he said, "It's on the other side of the mountains and where I normally train. Plus I need to check in with someone there."
Luffy glanced at the mountains before he said, "That's so far."
Marcus slung his arm over Luffy's shoulder as he said, "Then let's get Makino to make us lunch for the trip and we'll eat it once we're in Gray Terminal."
"Okay! But I want meat!"
Marcus shook his head before he took one last glance at Garp who was now on the navy ship. Then they headed to Makino's to get some lunch made for their trip. After half an hour and telling Makino they were going out to play, the boys left for the mountain trail. Each one of them carrying a backpack full of food. It took them a couple hours to climb the mountain path and reach the halfway point.
It was a couple hours before noon and in the distance they could see a massive walled off city. Luffy smiled and pointed at it as he asked, "That's Gray Terminal?!"
Ace pointed below the wall to an grayish area that seemed to be lightly filled with fog as he said, "No, it's that area down below. That place up above is called Goa Kingdom and they dump their trash into Gray Terminal."
Marcus smiled as he looked out over the beautiful view before him. This was one of the perks of being reborn in this new world, he could see stuff like this. The cartoon and manga never did this view justice, it was completely breathtaking. Also the wall for the Goa Kingdom was absurdly tall, it looked to be at least a mile high.
Marcus was pulled out of his thoughts as Ace said, "Come on, the path is pretty straight forward from here. We should be able to make it down before noon."
Ace was right, the trip down the mountain was quick and easy. They were already in Gray terminal and the sun was just about to reach its zenith. Ace moved through the place with sure footsteps until he reached a small shack. He stopped at the shack's door and knocked on it.
After a moment the door opened and a blonde boy with a top hat was standing there. He smiled widely as he asked, "Where've you been? It's been a week and you just disappeared out of nowhere."
Ace smiled as he said, "I was kidnapped by my grandpa."
Ace pointed to Marcus and Luffy as he said, "This is Marcus and Luffy. They were also kidnapped and we were forced to fight monkeys for the week."
Luffy nodded as he said, "Grandpa is a jerk. He was letting us get chased by gators before the monkeys."
Sabo glanced at Marcus and Luffy before he said, "I don't think normal grandparents do stuff like that." Sabo then stuck his hand out to both boys as he said, "I'm Sabo, it's nice to meet you."
After shaking hands, Luffy said, "Can we eat now?!"
Sabo glanced at each of them before he said, "I have a little bit of salted fish, but it's not enough to feed everyone."
Ace patted Sabo on the shoulder as he led him inside the shack and said, "Don't worry about it, we have food."
Inside the shack was pretty bare, a small bed, broken table with a cobbled together chair. There were also some clay pots and jars that stored some food and water. Once everyone found a spot to sit, the boys opened up their backpacks. Sabo's eyes almost popped out of his head at the sight.
There was easily enough food to feed maybe ten people and it was all freshly cooked. As Luffy started to dig in, both Ace and Marcus handed some of their food to Sabo. Sabo smiled and said, "Thanks." Before he started to eat with the others.
After lunch, Ace and Sabo took the boys on a tour around Gray Terminal. They showed them all the hot spots in the place, including where certain gangs liked to hang out and other important things. By the time they were done, they had about three hours of sunlight left. With that they said goodbye to Sabo for the day and left for Foosha village. If they stayed out too long past dark, Makino might not let them out the next day.
With Ace leading the way and them already traveling the whole way early in the day. They made it back a little after sunset, which made Makino scold them a little as she fed them dinner. After eating dinner and taking a nice bath, the boys all headed to bed, since Makino had given Ace a bed to use whenever he wanted to stay in the village.
While Marcus laid in bed and listened to Ace and Luffy snoring. He thought about his new life and how it's already affected the original story line. He knew Luffy, Ace and Sabo never met this early in the story. The only question he had thought was… Why? Was it because of him being alive? Or was it because of something else?
Also Garp seemed to notice an issue with Ace and tried to fix it by talking about his dad. He thought Garp ignored Ace until he took Luffy to live with Dadan in the story… It was weird and just gave Marcus more things to think about. But it also gave him some ideas. If the worlds already changed from the original story line, why not change it more.
They now had fifteen years to train and Marcus didn't plan to hold back at all. Also the world seemed to work on anime logic. He might as well abuse the hell out of that, while they were at it and also make some other anime or manga skills work in One Piece. Maybe he should try out Saitama's workout routine or the demon slayer breathing techniques. For about an hour Marcus laid in bed thinking about different things he could use to make everyone stronger before sleep finally overtook him.