Markus looked over the quest and smiled a little. Before, he would have been scared to fight against Kizaru. After all, the man was faster and more experienced than he was. He let the others continue to chat and even ignored an outburst from Luffy. He was keeping an eye on Kizaru while trying to decide what to do to give himself better odds during the fight against him. As he was thinking, he remembered a skill from another anime, one he could easily replicate with his system thanks to having so many free skill slots in his control skill.
While everyone continued to talk, Markus opened his system and used it to create a new skill. He still had four free skills the system could create for him, but he was soon down to three.
--------------------------------------------------
New Skill!
Lightning Armor
[Active/Passive, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]
The user of this skill channels electricity through and around their entire body enhancing every aspect of their body. Attack Power, Defensive Power, Reaction Speed, Reflexes, Strength, Vitality, and Agility are all increased. The constant use of electricity on the user's body slowly increases the Strength, Vitality, and Agility attributes permanently.
[Active]
Increase Attack Power, Defensive Power, Reaction Speed, Reflexes, Strength, Vitality, and Agility by 5%.
Cost: 15 Willpower/Second
[Passive]
+1 Strength/Skill Level
+1 Vitality/Skill Level
+1 Agility/Skill Level
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Markus read over the description of the skill and nodded in approval. The most important parts were the increases in Defensive Power, Reflexes, and Reaction Speed. Especially the faster reaction speed. With it, he could respond to attacks faster and control his Lightning Speed better. At the moment it was so fast that he utilized it more as a short-range teleportation ability than actual speed. As long as he could see where he wanted to end up, he would arrive there near instantly. Now he might be able to see and comprehend more.
Rayleigh grabbed his cloak and draped it over his shoulders, "Your ship is at grove forty-one right? I'll go over and handle that myself. What about you guys? Kizaru is already on the island you know."
Nami was so laid back she suggested shopping. Rayleigh just smiled, "Shaky, you have that, right?"
Shaky nodded, "I have one sheet."
She started to dig around while Rayleigh spoke, "I'm a wanted man myself you know. I'll be taking your ship somewhere else to work on it."
As he was speaking, Shaky pulled out a virve card. Since everyone knew about it, no explanation was needed. Rayleigh grabbed a large bag of supplies, "I'll need three days to finish coating your ship. We'll meet up three days from now. It's up to all of you to survive until then. I don't know what grove I'll end up in. If you just follow the virve card, you'll find me there waiting for you. I'd suggest you prepare yourselves for the underwater voyage to Fishman Island. Gather anything you need."
Everyone said their goodbyes to Hatchan, Camie, Pappagg, Rayleigh, and Shaky before making their way out. Markus was feeling a little melancholic as they left. He wouldn't see his friends for two years, maybe longer. Even when they did meet up again things would be very different. Their relationship could no longer be the same after today.
As the group were walking and chatting with each other, Markus was paying more attention to the chaos unfolding on the island. Kizaru was already here and had begun his fighting while trying to contact his subordinate, Sentomaru. The guy in charge of the Pacifista's. He also heard a lot of commotion thanks to Jewelry Bonney turning a bunch of marines into children. Capone Bege was also causing a ton of chaos as well. His Devil Fruit was perfect for a gang as he could shrink and store them inside of his body, then release them. He was literally a walking army.
As they walked through the mangroves, they came face to face with Bartholomew Kuma. Due to Markus's intervention, the only person to recognize Kuma was Robin. As she began to explain, Markus used his Lightning Speed to move from where he was to behind Kuma's head. With a single touch, he sent a powerful lightning blast into the Pacifista and fried its brain.
It was easy enough to tell the 'Kuma' in front of them wasn't the real Kuma and he gladly took it out. Frankly, he thought it was a service. All of the Pacifista were mindless cyborgs. All semblance of free will removed during the conversion process. He couldn't imagine the amount of suffering the humans went through to be converted to look exactly like Kuma along with all their modifications. Everything about who they were was wiped out of existence.
The moment he killed the cyborg's brain, he covered its body in electricity and stored it inside of his inventory. In the split second after the Pacifista appeared, Markus had decided to take it for himself. Originally, he just wanted to destroy them but why waste the resources? They were made of very strong materials, and he had no clue about the power source, but he could at least disassemble them for parts and materials to make things with his crafting skill.
As he landed on the ground, he saw the entire crew gaping at him. Markus dusted off his hands and smiled, "That wasn't Kuma. It barely qualified as a living thing." He gestured to Franky, "That thing was a cyborg, like Franky, only much more advanced and powerful." Franky looked offended, "Sorry Franky, but it's true."
Franky just harrumphed and look to the side like a kid throwing a fit. Markus just grinned, "I didn't see any reason to fight that toy seriously. It's tough thanks to its metal body and can fight than to its beams, but other than that it's pretty pathetic."
Robin spoke up, "So that really wasn't the real Kuma?"
Markus shook his head, "The real Kuma is a cyborg as well, but there's a big difference. The real Kuma has his own mind and his Devil Fruit power. He, unlike these toys, really is a powerhouse. If we run into the real one we need to be careful."
As they were talking, they suddenly heard the sound of a scream coming from far away. Everyone came to attention and looked around trying to find the source of the sound.
"What is that?"
"Where is it coming from?"
Everyone looked around trying to find the source of the sound. Moments later they looked up and saw two bodies falling from the sky. Both were pretty big but one was significantly larger than the other. Everyone watched as the two men slammed into the ground and sent up a huge cloud of dust. Everyone stared blankly as they wondered what was happening. Their blank looks quickly turned to caution as the two figures stood up. The largest one was another Pacifista. The slightly smaller one was someone they'd never seen before.
The second man was a tall, fat, man dressed somewhat like a sumo wrestler. Standing at over nine feet tall, carrying a large broad axe, wearing an outfit similar to a sumo wrestler with a red tank top, with short black hair and a scar under his left eye was Sentomaru. He was the personal guard of Doctor Vegapunk and in charge of the Pacifista's. Despite looking like a fat idiot, Sentomaru was actually a rather strong individual capable of using the two common forms of Haki.
As they stood up, Sentomaru set his massive broad axe on his shoulder while the Pacifista stood beside him, "Oi, oi. What happened to PX-4? It takes enough funds for a whole battleship to build just one Pacifista, you know?! Ugh, how I am gonna tell ol' doc punk about this?!"
As he spoke, the excitable members of the crew shouted, "AH! It's another Kuma!!"
Sanji lit a cigarette and looked at Markus, "That the real one or one of them Pacifista things?"
Franky was a bit peeved seeing another Pacifista. He considered himself to be 'Super' so seeing so many cyborgs annoyed the hell out of him, "Who the hell are you Broad Axe?!"
Sentomaru puffed up with pride, "There's no point in asking me questions, 'cause I've got nothing to say to the likes of you! I've got the toughest defense of anyone in the whole world! And, naturally, that means my mouth ain't that easy to open either!"
Usopp got annoyed and shouted, "You could at least tell us your name!"
"Like I said, I'm Sentomaru, the guy with the tightest mouth in the whole world."
"..."
"..."
"...So your name's Sentomaru..."
"Oh, by the way, I told you that because I felt like it. I wasn't answering your question or anything. Now, get 'em PX-1!"
The moment he gave the order, the Pacifista lifted one of its hands and fired a beam of yellow light from the palm of its hand. Everyone in the path of the beam leaped out of the way. When it hit the ground it caused a massive explosion that left behind a smoking crater and debris. At the same time, Markus used his maximum speed to appear behind the Pacifista's head and blast its brain hard enough to fry it. At that moment Sentomaru turned to look at Markus. By the time he turned his body and started to move, Markus already had the Pacifista stored inside of his inventory and was back in the position he started from.
Sentomaru turned and gave Markus a deadly glare, "What did you do?! Where's PX-1?! GIVE IT BACK!"
After shouting, Sentomaru took a stance similar to a sumo wrestler, "The doc'll kill me if you don't give it back!"
Markus smirked and dusted some imaginary lint off of his shoulder, "Oh? That thing? I disintegrated it into a fine dust. It's all over the place now."
Meanwhile, Luffy and Chopper still had stars in their eyes and were dancing together merrily, "Beam! Beam! We saw a real beam!"
Sentomaru didn't waste any time and charged at Markus. He pushed off the ground with so much force that it exploded beneath him. He didn't hold back, as he flew through the air his axe turned pitch black, a strong coating of Armament Haki. The marines were aware that Markus had a Logia which meant Sentomaru knew and he had no plan to hold back.
Markus whipped out his Shodai Kitetsu and covered it with his own Armament Haki. The two blades clashed loudly. The force behind Sentomaru's blow caused the ground to crater beneath Markus but couldn't force him to take a single step back, though he did need to use both of his arms to block the full might of the blow. As their blade edges pressed against each other, Markus shouted out, "Everyone, I'll hold him off, you all need to split up and run! He's not someone you can handle right now!"
"But!"
"Luffy! You need to shut up and run! Just look at his weapon, you know what that means. Trust me, he won't defeat me! I'll catch up to all of you soon!"
Luffy looked frustrated but Markus had beaten how dangerous Armament Haki was into him, literally. Luffy nodded his head and shouted out orders, "Everyone! Split up and meet back at the Sunny in three days!"
While Markus and Sentomaru clashed again, the other members of the crew split up and took off. Brook, Usopp, and Zoro ran one way. Luffy, Robin, and Chopper ran another way. Lastly, Franky, Sanji, and Nami ran in yet another direction. As they ran, Markus activated his newest skill, Lightning Armor. Electricity covered his entire body, reinforcing himself to a small degree but every little bit would help for what was coming. Thankfully, all of his friends were still well within the one-mile range of his 'Power of Friendship' skill so his attributes were currently doubled.
His struggle against Sentomaru was greatly overexaggerated. But his need for the Lightning Armor wasn't a joke. This fact was proved seconds later when Markus suddenly disengaged with Sentomaru. He did so by redirecting his axe to the right and slipping past the large man on his left using speed faster than Sentomaru could react. As he passed the man, Markus kicked the back of his left knee causing him to bend it against his will. As Sentomaru stumbled, Markus's entire body spun around at his highest speed and slammed into Sentomaru's back, knocking him forward.
All of that took a single moment, a blink of the eye. The next instant a large yellow beam slammed into Sentomaru and exploded. Blinding light, dust, and debris, filled everyone's vision until Sentomaru came flying out of the smokescreen and slammed into the trunk of a mangrove tree. Sentomaru was heavily injured. His body was covered in burns, bruises, and blood from Kizaru's attempted surprise attack.
Markus looked in the direction of the attack with a frown, "Wow, so brutal Kizaru. If I didn't know better, I would think you were trying to kill me."
The moment she heard that name, Robin began to panic, "Kizaru?!" She shouted loud enough for everyone to hear, "WATCH OUT!! THAT MAN'S A MARINE ADMIRAL!"
Everyone was shocked but Kizaru didn't seem to care, "It's too late for you~~~~"
Even his voice sounded lazy. He looked moved closer and looked down at Markus from his towering height, "Hou? A bounty of 1.25 billion... 'Thunder Beast' Markus! What you just did to Sentomaru wasn't very polite."
Markus gave a mock salute with his free left hand, "That's me, Admiral Kizaru. Probably the only man in the world faster than me... or are you?"
Markus kept an eye on Sentomaru but paid closer attention to Kizaru and the rapidly closing in Rayleigh. Kizaru started to lift his leg while it began to glow with yellow light. He was getting ready to attack Markus again. Everyone began to panic. Usopp attacked Kizaru relentlessly with his slingshot but for obvious reasons, his attacks did nothing to Kizaru. He didn't even blink at the attacks, "No good, I'm afraid... I've eaten the Pika Pika no Mi... I'm a Logia user and a 'Lightman.'"
Everyone wanted to do something to stop Kizaru but it was all useless. Markus continued to stand at the ready with the fingers on his left-hand twitching. The Laser Dial was ready to intercept any attack that Kizaru might attempt to unleash on him from a distance.
Just as Kizaru was about to attack, Rayleigh appeared from the side and kicked his leg out of the way. For Rayleigh, it was a simple feat. Markus let out a sigh of relief. If Rayleigh hadn't shown up, he was already ready to use his lightning speed and intercept Kizaru's attack himself. Kizaru looked down at Rayleigh, at nearly ten feet tall, Kizaru towered over the more average six-foot-tall Rayleigh. Markus looked over the two and got his first good look at Kizaru in person.
Kizaru was a tall, slim, middle-aged man with black hair and a thin beard. He wore a gold and yellow vertical pinstripe suit with his Admiral coat draped over his shoulders like a cape and amber-tinted sunglasses. The two quickly separated and Kizaru was the first to speak, "So it's time for you to take the stage, is it? ... 'Dark King' Rayleigh!"
Rayleigh gave Kizaru a grin, and it wasn't a friendly one either, "Don't go plucking fine sprouts. It's only the beginning of their era!! If you try to attack my grandson again, I'll take it personal."
At those words, Rayleigh's look took on a much darker tone. Kizaru didn't look phased on the surface but Markus could feel his emotions roiling. Having your life threatened by the first mate of the strongest pirate of the last era was not a joke to be taken lightly. Rayleigh might not be as widely known among the populace of the world as Roger was but that didn't mean he was weaker. In fact, considering he was older and lived longer, it was entirely possible that Rayleigh managed to become stronger than Roger after his death.
While Rayleigh engaged Kizaru, Markus dashed back and shouted, "STOP GAWKING AND RUN ALREADY!"
Everyone snapped out of their daze and took off. Luffy shouted once again, "MEET AT THE SUNNY IN THREE DAYS!"
As they took off another Kuma, the real one this time, appeared in front of Zoro, Usopp, and Brook. Usopp instantly panicked, "What the hell is going on here?! I'm sick of this!! Just how many of this guy are there?!"
Markus instantly replied, "That's the real Kuma!"
Kuma ignored Markus and Usopp. He looked down at Zoro, while removing the glove on his right hand, "If you were to take a trip, where would you like to go?"
Zoro looked up at Kuma in confusion but before he could even begin to articulate an answer, Kuma swung his arm and touched Zoro with the paw pad on his palm. With a barely audible pop, Zoro completely vanished from sight. Everyone but Markus was shocked at Zoro's sudden disappearance, Luffy immediately shouted, "ZORO!!"
Luffy turned from where Zoro used to be to glare at Kuma, "You bastard! What did you do to Zoro?!"
Kizaru, who was currently using a sword made of light to clash with Rayleigh, turned to look at what was happening, "Bartholomew Kuma!! But the Shichibukai should be convening at the headquarters!" He muttered to himself, "This is why you can never trust pirates..."
Luffy turned and grabbed Sentomaru who was groaning on the ground. Shaking him violently, Luffy shouted "HEY! What did he just do to Zoro?! Where did Zoro go?!"
Groggy, Sentomaru roughly spoke, "My mouth isn't that easy to open. They say that any man sent flying by those paws will fly through the sky for three days and three nights." He coughed violently but for some reason, he continued to blabber, "As for the destination, only the man responsible can know. But it won't be here on this island. You won't be seeing him again in a hurry."
That was all Sentomaru managed to get out before he collapsed and couldn't speak any further. Frustrated, Luffy turned to everyone who were once more just standing around in shock, "RUN! EVERYONE RUN!"
Brooke and Usopp took off but Kuma didn't let them get far. With a swipe of his hand, he made Brooke vanish. Usopp and Luffy shouted Brook's name. Sanji, infuriated by the loss of two friends, charged at Kuma and sent a flying kick towards his head. Kuma calmly replied by catching and nullifying the kick before tossing Sanji to the side. While Sanji recovered from the toss, Usopp tried attacking Kuma but all it accomplished was him being slapped by Kuma and vanishing. Sanji charged to attack again but vanished with a touch from Kuma.
Markus watched what was happening along with everyone else. He knew his friends would be alright. He knew Kuma had actually sent them somewhere that they could grow and become stronger. Somewhere safe. Still, tears ran down his eyes. Not tears of fear or regret but tears of sadness. In just a few moments, his journey with the Strawhats would come to an end. From this moment on, things would never be the same again.
Just a self-plug! Read ahead, if you want.
pat.reon.com/playingnovels (remove the . duh)
Seeing four of their comrades vanish so easily made everyone distraught. Nami and Luffy both fell to their knees in shock while Chopper had tears streaming from his eyes. Markus slowly sheathed Shodai on his waist while doing nothing to hide or cover up his tears. Real men could cry without feeling shame, any male who said otherwise wasn't a man.
Rayleigh grumbled, "It looks like they're in serious trouble... I'd like to lend them a hand but I'm not as young as I used to be."
Kizaru almost seemed offended by Rayleigh's remarks, "You're holding off a Marine Admiral and you still want more? Come now, you're embarrassing me here!"
As Rayleigh and Kizaru continued to clash swords, Kuma appeared beside them, "Dark King Rayleigh..."
Kizaru looked at the large man, "Kuma!"
Kuma completely ignored Kizaru and proceeded to have a whispered conversation with Rayleigh. Markus wasn't sure how Kuma did it, probably with his Devil Fruit, but even he couldn't hear what the two said to each other. A moment later, whatever Kuma was doing stopped and Markus, along with everyone else listening, could hear Rayleigh speak once more, "And you expect me to believe what you say?"
Kuma's expression was as unchanging as ever, "That is up to you... Even I have doubts about this matter."
Kizaru didn't look happy as he questioned Kuma, "What are you up to?"
"We have no obligation to cooperate with the marines save where the government is directly involved. Your question shall remain unanswered."
Luffy became enraged at Kuma's indifferent attitude, "YOU BASTARD!" Steam erupted around him, "Gear Second!"
Luffy dashed at Kuma, but the big man was even faster. Before Luffy could get close to him, he had already appeared in front of Franky and Nami as they tried to get away. Not one to go down without a fight, Franky launched his cybernetic right hand at Kuma's face. Kuma blocked it without even straining. The Pacifista's might be tough and durable, but they really had nothing on Kuma when it came to absolute strength.
Luffy dashed at Kuma once more and fired off a Jet Pistol but Kuma easily deflected it, and Luffy, to crash into the ground. One swipe later and Franky vanished just like the others. As Luffy tried to recover, Kuma closed in on Nami. Desperate, Nami turned to look at Markus covered in electricity, "Markus..."
The next moment she was gone. Markus grimaced and hoped Nami would forgive him. Where she was going was the perfect place for her. He couldn't take her with him, maybe when they met again he would be a true man worthy of being her friend. He could only hope. Chopper and Robin soon followed the others leaving only Markus and Luffy behind. Luffy punched the ground and looked over at Markus. A mixture of anguish and rage on his face, "MARKUS! YOU'RE STRONG! WHY DIDN'T YOU STOP HIM?!"
Markus sighed and placed his hand on the sheath of his katana, "Because I couldn't. I hope... I hope one day you will understand... We'll meet again soon Luffy..."
As the last word left Markus's mouth, Kuma pat Luffy on the back and caused him to vanish. Markus looked up at the sky while lifting his right arm and using his sleeve to wipe the tears from his face. Aside from Luffy, it would be a long two years before he could meet his friends once again. When he lowered his arm and head, Kuma was standing directly in front of him, "Silvers D. Markus... I wish to claim my favor."
Markus nodded. This was the last chance Kuma would have to cash in that favor before losing the last vestiges of himself. Doctor Vegapunk would soon lobotomize him and turn him into nothing but a human-shaped weapon. Kuma looked down at Markus and whispered just two words, "Help Dragon."
The sparks surrounding Markus vanished as he canceled his Lightning Armor. Without his friends around anymore, he could no longer use it permanently. His Willpower regeneration simply wasn't enough to keep up with its expenditure for long. Markus let out a small sigh and nodded, "I promise. Now... I suppose it's my turn?"
Kuma didn't say anything. Instead, he reached out and placed his hand on Markus's shoulder. With a soft sound, Markus joined his friends in flying through the air to a new destination. Markus felt... weird. That was the only word he could use to describe the sensation of flying through the air under someone else's power. He was trapped in a transparent bubble shaped like a paw flying through the air at a respectable speed. Still, the speed was nothing compared to his own.
A few moments into his flight he got something he'd been expecting.
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Quest Complete!
Escape!
Admiral Kizaru and a small army of Pacifista's are on their way to capture or kill you and your crewmates. The deaths of two World Nobles has raised the stakes. They won't stop coming for you until you are dead and buried.
Objective 1: Defend against or Defeat Admiral Kizaru. (Completed!)
Objective 2: Destroy Pacifista's. (Completed!)
Objective 3: Escape from Sabaody Archipelago. (Completed!)
Failure Conditions: Death, Capture, Death of a crewmember, Capture of a crewmember
Rewards:
Objective 1: Reward TBD (Black Den Den Mushi)
Objective 2: Skill Book: Technological Knowledge
Objective 3: Blank Eternal Log Pose
Your Item has been placed on your wrist.
Your Item has been deposited into your inventory.
Your Item has been deposited into your inventory.
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Markus first looked at his wrist where a new bracelet, which looked much like a large watch, had appeared with a small black snail resting within it. The black Den Den Mushi's were special among their species. Instead of being used as a telephone they intercepted calls between other Den Den Mushi. Basically, it was good for wiretapping and eavesdropping. Not a bad prize at all. Though calls could be encrypted rendering the black snail useless. However, the encrypting snails were rare.
When he finished examining the snail, Markus opened his inventory to look at his spoils from the events on Sabaody. He'd gained quite a bit, two nearly perfect Pacifista's, a 'Blank' Eternal Log Pose, and a new skill book. There was also the skill book for King Punch still sitting inside of his inventory as well. He hadn't used it yet because it was practically useless in a real battle so the odds of him ever using it were minimal. But... What the hell? Why not? He pulled out both skill books and the Blank Eternal Log Pose. He used the skill books first.
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New Skill!
King Punch
[Active, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]
The signature technique of King Elizabello II, the King Punch is a punch of exceptionally concentrated strength. It is capable of releasing an immense amount of air pressure that can cause massive damage to the surroundings. However, this power comes at a cost. The user is required to warm up for a specific amount of time before the attack can be released at full power. Though it can be released earlier, the effect of the skill will be drastically reduced.
[Minimum]
+500% Damage
Cost: 250 Willpower
Charge Time: 5 Minutes
[Maximum]
+5,000% Damage
Cost: 2,500 Willpower
Charge Time: 1 Hour
New Skill!
Technological Knowledge
[Passive, Level 1, 0.0% Experience]
This skill gives the user information on technological devices such as how to create, repair, and deconstruct them properly. As the level of the skill increases, the information in the user's mind will increase allowing the user to improve existing items or even create all new ones. The more technology the user studies, the more experience this skill can gain.
-----
Blank Eternal Log Pose
All Eternal Pose's come from somewhere right? This Eternal Pose is currently blank and can have one island's location stored within it. To store a log withing this Eternal Pose you must simply remain on an island until it would normally store a log within a Log Pose. However, instead of pointing to the next island in the chain, the location of the current island will be permanently stored.
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Markus looked over his gains and nodded in appreciation. Though King punch was extremely powerful, even more potent than his Railgun skill was at level one, it took way too much time to charge. Even five minutes was too much time in real combat. Hopefully, leveling it up would reduce the charge time, and if it didn't then he would never use it in real combat. Simple as that.
Markus looked around but he could only see the blue sky with white clouds above him and the cold blue ocean below him. With nothing to do but pass the time, he closed his eyes and entered his Image Training. It was yet another way the system had taught him and molded him into who he was. He was constantly killing people within it. Image Training had made him callous toward life and lowered its value to him. He shook his head as he stood in an empty space. If he didn't need to push his skills to the limit to prepare for the war, he would avoid using this skill.
For the moment, he wanted to push his new Lightning Armor to higher levels. He would need the boosts it provided to him when the war came. Those boosts would come in especially handy against the Admirals, Sengoku, and some of the Shichibukai. If he could drastically boost his reaction time and reflexes it would give him just the edge he would need to defeat them. For that, he summoned a plain marine private with a rifle as his opponent.
Once the private appeared, he sat down with his legs crossed and activated his Lightning Armor followed by his Meditation. Stacking both skills would allow him to keep the Lightning Armor going for longer but he would still run out of Willpower, eventually. To keep up with the expenditure of Lightning Armor, he needed to regenerate at least 450 Willpower every thirty seconds. At the moment, he could only regenerate 190 Willpower every thirty seconds, though Meditation upped it that to 337. Still not nearly enough. It wasn't all bad though. He could keep it up for a full forty-three minutes in this state.
Even after he mastered his Meditation skill and maxed out the bonus to 100%, he could still only keep Lightning Armor active for 70 minutes before running out of juice. For the three days of his flight, Markus only ate, slept, and trained his Lightning Armor skill. There really wasn't much else to do and the slow flight would be boring otherwise.
On the third day, he sensed something from within his Image Training so he canceled it and opened his eyes. After looking around he found the source of the feeling. He was approaching an island, one he didn't recognize. The entire island was dark due to the thick black cloud cover hanging over it. Lightning constantly flashed in the sky and struck the island as if the lightning itself were regular rain. What really drew his attention was the color of the lightning, purple!
A short time later he was certain that the island before him was his destination. The three days were almost up and he was drawing closer and closer to it with every passing moment. As he moved nearer to the island, the weird feeling became stronger. He felt... attracted to the feeling. He liked it and it made him feel... good. The closer he got to the island, the better he felt.
Once he arrived beneath the storm all hell broke loose. Every lightning bolt nearby suddenly diverted course and blasted toward him. Markus wasn't the least bit afraid of the lightning, he was living electricity, what possible harm could the lightning do to him?
Apparently, a lot.
The first few strikes didn't bother him in the least. They felt quite good, energizing even. That's where the problem began. His Willpower had been low from practicing his Lightning Armor and each strike of lightning refilled a portion of his Willpower, similar to drinking a Willpower potion would. But once his reserves were full...
As bolt after bolt of lightning slammed into his body he suddenly had sympathy for water balloons. When they were empty they could be easily filled but if you filled one too much, it would burst. With the excess energy flowing into his body, Markus felt like he was about to burst. The image of his body exploding into pieces flashed through his mind. He didn't want to die in such a stupid way and instantly arrived at a solution. If the lightning was going to refill his Willpower, he just needed to drain it!
Observation Haki, Armament Haki over his whole body, Tekkai, and Lightning Armor were all activated simultaneously to immediately begin to drain his Willpower. Having those four skills running actively drained over 1,600 Willpower a minute. He felt some relief, for the moment. But as he came in for a landing on the island more and more lightning began to strike him nonstop. Even with such a huge drain on his resources, he was beginning to recover faster than he could drain it. He was in trouble and he needed a solution, fast, or he was going to explode!
Markus quickly opened his list of skills and started scrolling through them to find one that could add even more of a drain to his Willpower. If he couldn't find one he would have to use his Quick Travel option to get the hell out of dodge and pick another spot to train at. Given the approach of Ace's execution, he only had a couple of days. Originally, he planned to leave the island Kuma sent him to right away to find his goal but how could he resist the dangerous allure of overflowing power? He needed to spend at least one day here. Just one!
As he browsed his skills he found the perfect one to save his life. A skill he'd never used before because its cost was so absurdly high. But here? On this island? He could use it as much as he wanted! Raiju! The skill fusion between his footwork and his Lightning Speed. It allowed him to combine the two together for unparalleled speed but at the drastic price of 250 Willpower per second. The moment he saw the skill he activated it. His consumption jumped from 1,600 a minute to 16,600 a minute!
The moment he activated the new skill, the lightning surrounding his body went berserk. Bolts blasted off of him and scoured the ground leaving behind small craters and carving trails. He felt... invincible. Raiju and Lightning Armor both enhanced his body but the feeling coming from the Raiju skill felt unparalleled.
He quickly calmed down to keep the power from going to his head. Without the lightning on the island, he could only keep Raiju going for about twenty seconds on his own. Fortunately, activating Raiju brought him into a sort of balance with the island's lightning. His Willpower was draining but doing so ever so slowly. If the lightning wasn't so attracted to him it wouldn't be much of a problem but as long as it was he would need to continue to drain his Willpower constantly.
His first order of business, find a place of safety. He could easily stay up for 24 hours straight but he didn't want to if he didn't have to. His mind could grow dull resulting in accidents. He couldn't risk that at the moment. He was going to do something supremely dangerous soon so being even slightly dull was not an option. He looked toward the mountains of the island and decided to head there. Hopefully, he could find a nice deep cave to protect him from the loving embrace of the lightning on the island. Even now he was being struck by one or two bolts every second.
With what felt like a step, he teleported from where he was to the base of the nearest mountain. It took no effort, he barely even felt like he was moving. It was a surreal experience. He looked around trying to find the entrance to a cave, even using his Observation Haki to try and find any clues. Unfortunately, the lightning constantly striking his body made it difficult for him to sense anything beyond a few dozen feet. He'd had his Observation Haki so long that he almost felt blind without it. On the other hand, it was rather nice not to be actively preventing sensory overload.
He took another 'step' and ended up traveling thousands of feet to a new location. The speed he moved at was staggering but he was slowly becoming used to it. His enhanced perception from Lightning Armor was playing a big part in that. He looked around and when he found nothing, he moved to another location. He repeated this process several times until he finally spotted the gaping maw of a large cave in one of the mountains.
Not wanting to get lost or slam into a wall at supersonic speeds, he deactivated Raiju and ran into the cave as fast as he could under the other buffs he had active. His Willpower was filling quickly but he made it into the cave before it became too dangerous. He didn't stop running until he was a good fifty feet or so inside. Thankfully, the lightning didn't do anything crazy to follow him inside. Though, it did continue to rain down on the mountain just above his location.
Markus let out a sigh and collapsed to the ground while deactivating all of his buffs. He felt exhausted. He couldn't let himself rest, though. After digging through his inventory for a bit, he retrieved his Devil Fruit Locator. The item was small and looked just like a compass, only with a button on the side that could be pressed. He did exactly that while saying, "Gura Gura no Mi."
As soon as the words left his mouth, the needle of the compass spun and faced a certain direction. Markus followed the direction with his eyes to stare at a cave wall, "Just hold on, old man. I'll be visiting you soon."
Just a self-plug! Read ahead, if you want.
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