Chapter 18: Past
Mark aggressively ran towards Saturn; although Saturn was shocked when Mark ignored his attack, he decided to try and attack him once more.
He was pretty sure Mark hadn't used Haki but still managed to tank his attack somehow; he wanted to know how Mark did it.
_Boom_
_Boom_
_Boom!_
Saturn hit Mark's head three times back to back, and after each attack, Mark paused for a second before he kept moving forward.
_Rush_
Saturn stepped back instinctively; Mark was fast, and he had appeared before him quickly.
"Have a taste of this!"
Mark exclaimed and jumped up high; he pulled his fist back and prepared for a powerful punch.
"Attacks of that level do not work on me; you need Haki to do any damage."
Saturn commented slowly and got ready to catch Mark's attack.
But just as his palm was about to connect with the punch, Mark smiled internally.
'Life return, muscle balloon!'
_Puff_
Mark's hand abnormally bulged and became full of muscles; his arm was five times its previous size with this technique.
"How!"
Saturn didn't see this coming and was hit with way more strength than he was prepared to block.
_Skid_
His giant body skidded back from the large amount of force; his spider legs stabilized him but left deep cuts into the ground.
"What was that…?"
Saint Saturn asked with confusion; this looked like a devil fruit ability, and he wasn't sure how Mark was doing this.
'Mark definitely didn't eat a devil fruit; is this an inherent ability he unlocked due to his mutation?'
Saint Saturn thought silently.
Mark soon landed back on the ground and looked at his hand with a smile.
"This? It's something I learned to do a while ago; this is also why I could ignore your attack before."
_Puff_
Changing his hand back to normal Mark lied with a straight face; he was not going to tell Imu's puppets that he did it with life return; there was no need to make his enemies stronger.
Still, he had to tell Saturn how he blocked his technique before.
_Knock_
Knocking on his forehead, Mark told Saturn.
"I made the bones of my skull significantly harder when you attacked; your attack did hit me, but it couldn't break through my skull."
"That's why it looked like I was ignoring your attacks."
Having a strong skull was an easy way to ignore Saint Saturn's ability; other people before Mark had survived this attack because of this.
Durable races like the buccaneer race, for instance, should be able to ignore Saint Saturn's ability using their tough bodies; they had the blood of the giants flowing inside them after all.
One piece had a lot of such hardy races.
Mark, on the other hand, artificially made his skull durable enough to survive this attack; life return was one hell of a skill.
"You made your skull harder? Amazing, I assume you bulked up your muscles the same way."
"Your inherent ability has a lot of potential; you could give Saint Garling a run for his money. At your age he wasn't as good as you."
Saint Saturn said something cryptic, which only a celestial dragon like Mark could understand.
'Garling? He's Shank's father and the man who gave Whitebeard his scars. He is comparing me to him?'
Mark frowned a bit. While Garling was strong, really, really strong, strong enough to stand against the entire Rocks crew without losing his cool and picking a fight with Whitebeard, that didn't mean Mark liked the guy.
Garling had gained his fame in God Valley during the slave hunting tournament; he even killed Saint Mjosgard in cold blood because Mjosgard was a good man.
Mark was not very fond of this man, to say the least.
"I am honored to receive such praise, Saint Saturn."
But Mark knew his position well; he was a celestial dragon and a smart one at that. He would not show dissatisfaction until he was capable enough to do so.
"You deserve it; I could grant you a temporary elder authority right now, but I assume you have other plans?"
Saint Saturn transformed back into his human form and tapped his cane on the ground.
"I heard you wanted to visit Marine headquarters before you accept Vegapunk's knowledge."
"What are you going to the lower realm for?"
Saturn asked with a soft voice. Mark rolled his eyes, he knew he couldn't hide his decision from the elders; CP agents were everywhere and must have ratted him out.
"I want to roam around the lower realm a little, take over some kingdoms that aren't affiliated with the world government."
"Maybe fight a few strong men, get some capable people for entertainment; that's about it."
Mark shrugged and said his plan in a very careless way, but in reality he was going to do none of that.
His plan was actually to build his own power and fight against him Im particular.
The kingdoms he wanted to take over were going to be his base of operations; the men he would recruit weren't going to be for entertainment but would be his personal guards and crew.
He had a very different plan from what he was telling Saint Saturn.
"You want to take over kingdoms, huh? We expected this from the owner of Conqueror's Haki, such as you."
"Go ahead, we allow it; as you know, we hold a tournament every 3 years to kill an island's population with some problematic slaves; we usually take over the island after that."
"The islands you conquer during your time at the lower realm will be put under your command. Go ahead, conquer them in the name of the world government."
Saint Saturn gave Mark the go-ahead; he acted as if he had already expected Mark to make such claims.
Which made Mark vigilant, but he didn't show anything out of the ordinary.
"Thank you, Saint Saturn."
Mark nodded with a smile; Saint Saturn nodded back and continued to speak.
"You aren't the first one to think of going down to the lower realm; in fact, many others have done so before you."
"All of us elders back in the day individually went down to the lower realm; we fought, we killed, and we experienced everything we needed to experience."
Touching the scar on his forehead, Saturn looked as if he was remembering the old days.
"I got this scar from someone back then; all of us elders have our battle scars. Experiencing the lower realm is an important part of becoming an elder."
"You can't rule the world correctly if you haven't experienced it personally."
Saturn said with calmness, then he tapped his cane on the ground, and a magic circle appeared below him.
"If you are looking for a fight in the lower realm, I suggest hiding your identity as a celestial dragon; no strong man would fight you if they knew your identity."
"This is how we Elders did it back in the day: we went down, we started from scratch, and we made a name for ourselves. When we had enough, we came back, and our name was erased from the world."
"You can decide to act any way you want; the world is our playground; go ahead and play as much as you want."
Saturn muttered softly, then he vanished into a burst of fire and electricity.
Only Mark was left alone on the battleground, thinking about what he should do.
He was given a free pass to do whatever the hell he wanted; when his journey was over, he could come back and take the elder position, and his adventures would be erased from the world's history.
'The world government is hardcore.'
In the end that's all Mark could think, for now he had a much more important decision to make.
What side should he choose for his adventures? Marine, pirate, bounty hunter, or revolutionary army?
Chapter 19: Doll
The next morning had arrived. It was time for Mark to leave the Holy Land and go on an adventure.
Mark was currently packing his bags—no, Mark's servants were packing his bags for him.
"Have you made your decision? What do you want to be during your journey?"
Saint Saturn asked his successor about his plans.
"Yes, teacher, I have decided to become a pirate."
"As a pirate, I can experience this filthy world more deeply."
Mark spoke to Saturn on a denden mushi; he had decided to head out of the holy land and become a pirate.
His plan seemed logical to Saint Saturn. Pirates were definitely more in touch with the lower realm.
But pirates and celestial dragons were opposite forces; he couldn't let Mark become a regular pirate.
"I will allow you to become a pirate during your journey."
"But you must not be a no-name pirate; you will become a warlord of the sea."
Opening two wanted posters Saturn looked at the two criminals on it.
"A few days ago the warlord Hanafuda was defeated by Portgas D. Ace."
"Hanafuda is no longer a warlord; I will recommend you as the next warlord."
This was the arrangement Saint Saturn had come up with. As a warlord, Mark can be a pirate while also staying connected with the holy land.
Mark himself had no issues with this arrangement.
He will hide his identity during his travels; having a warlord status meant the marines would ignore his actions.
"Seems like you agree."
"Then I will call Sengoku and recommend you as the next warlord."
"Sengoku will know your identity, but nobody else will."
Saturn smiled.
"This way you can experience the sea in its true form."
"You will understand how filthy the lower realm is and how insignificant the insects living there are."
"Go Mark, fight who you want, kill who you want, enslave who you want."
"Tell us when you have had enough; we will welcome you back to the holy land."
After giving his blessings, Saturn cut the call and started communicating with Sengoku.
Mark sighed and rubbed his hair. He could finally leave the holy land; he had a few years until they called him back.
'I will use this time to build my army; when I return, I will capture Im's throne.'
Mark's dream was to sit upon the empty throne; he was going to backstab Im the first chance he got.
But before attacking Im, he needed to build a massive army. So massive that it puts the void century war to shame.
Joy Boy had lost to Im even after he awakened Nika and had every race on the planet fighting against Im at the same time.
Defeating Im was going to be extremely difficult. To beat Im, Mark had to gather the strongest people in this world under him.
'The first step to building my army is to get a position of power.'
Warlord of the Sea was such a position, and a marine ship should be arriving soon, to make him an official warlord.
_Tick_
Mark's fax Denden mushi suddenly spit out a paper. Taking it out of the snail's mouth, Mark read the instructions.
"A marine vessel is waiting for me just below the red line."
"They are here to make me an official warlord; I should meet them."
Pocketing the instructions, Mark took one last look at the Rose residence and left his house.
From the moment he steps out of this house, his identity as a celestial dragon will be hidden.
He felt emotional, but he moved forward regardless after waving his parents goodbye.
Mark walked alone for a while before he reached the edge of the red line and looked down.
'The marines are waiting for me down there, but I can't take the elevator.'
'I am no longer a celestial dragon; I don't have the authority to use it.'
Looking down from the edge of the red line, Mark noticed just how high up this place was.
Holy Land was built on top of this giant red rock, which was around 10 kilometers above sea level.
If Mark wanted to go down, he had to climb around 10 kilometers before reaching the ocean.
"That's far too long; I am not climbing that much."
Mark cracked his neck.
"I have a better idea; I will fly down."
"Life return, hair glider technique!"
The hair on Mark's head grew at an astonishing rate; it stretched and contracted until it was in the shape of a hand glider.
Taking a step back, Mark ran and jumped off the edge. Yet instead of falling off the cliff, Mark started gliding down.
The hand glider made of hair stiffened and took Mark flying like a bird; the cold winds were rapidly hitting his face.
"!!!"
Adrenaline coursed through Mark's veins as he zoomed through the air, quickly approaching the ground.
Mark had taken a leap of faith. His self-made hand glider had no brakes, and neither did it have a control system.
It ran on only one thing: Mark's faith in his abilities and his confidence in the technique of life return.
"Vice Admiral Doll, somebody just jumped off the red line."
Down on the ocean, a marine ship was parked, and the sailors onboard had noticed Mark jump off the cliff.
They quickly notified their captain, Vice Admiral Doll, about this situation.
Doll climbed on top of the observation deck, picked up a telescope, and took a closer look at the man.
"That's the newly appointed Warlord we are supposed to meet."
Doll recognized Mark from the poster.
"Get ready to save him."
She commanded her men. But after knowing who this was, some of her men were hesitant about following her orders.
That was a warlord, which means he was a legal pirate. He was someone who could loot, murder, and burn when he wanted.
Many justice-filled marines hated the existence of warlords.
"Vice Admiral Doll, sorry, but I don't think we should save him."
A scarred marine said with his head down.
"We can't kill him, but we can let him fall to his death."
"That way, there will be one less scum in the sea."
Weekly Power Status
200+ Power
Ranking 
27 Power
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