Chương 38: 00038. A change of fate.
Sorry for the delay, I was debating how I wanted this chapter to go and if I wanted to show the events in detail. But I ended up doing it this way. I feel pretty happy with how this turned out, but let me know what you think about it.
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Over the next couple weeks as they traveled back home a few things happened. The first and best one was Marcus healed completely and was allowed to roam the ship. Hongo still kept him from training and doing actual work, but otherwise he was free from bed rest.
The second was Uta took her promise seriously and spent hours each day as she learned how to cook from Lucky. A plus side to her being taught by Lucky, was Marcus wasn't forced to taste anything she cooked yet. Mainly because she wasn't allowed to actually cook anything yet.
Lucky wanted Uta to learn the very basics first and had her watch him for hours as he explained things. Then she was taught how to do food preparation, cleaning and chopping vegetables along with meat. Marcus actually joined them in the kitchen half the time because he was bored and had to admit that Lucky was a really good teacher and cook.
While Uta was still being trained to cook by Lucky, she still found ways to feed Marcus. The main way she did it was by cutting up fruits, since apparently that counted as cooking to her. Marcus didn't mind though, since she never fed him at normal meal times and he didn't need to be the test subject for cooking experiments.
Once they arrived back home, the boys went back to full time training again, along with Uta. Well except for Luffy who skipped out on training because he wanted to hang out with Shanks and his crew. Something that happened basically every day now.
Sure Marcus forced Luffy to train for a few hours each day, but it was only until lunch. Then he would spend the rest of the day hanging out with Shanks. At least until Shanks and some of his crew sparred with the boys, then Luffy would join in for that.
That was one of the nice things that changed since they came back from Elegia, Shanks would spar with Marcus every day, which helped him improve drastically with his swordsmanship. That happened for about a month before Shanks and his crew took off to go explore around East Blue again. Then Luffy came back and trained full time again.
Another interesting thing that happened during that time was Uta decided to stay and train with the boys. So for almost two months while Shanks was gone, Uta stayed at Makino's to train and also learned how to cook from her. Something Marcus was grateful for, because Makino also didn't allow Uta to cook by herself yet.
When Shanks and his crew arrived back on the island the first thing that happened was a spar between him and the boys. He was mostly interested to see how much Marcus improved, but still tested the other boys as well.
It was about a week after that when the incident Marcus was waiting for finally happened. He was out training at the time with Ace, Sabo, and Uta when it happened, so he didn't get to witness it himself. But when they arrived back at Makino's for dinner, they found a strange sight.
Luffy was laughing like an idiot as a couple of Shanks crew attempted to stretch his arms as far as possible. Marcus watched for only a moment before he decided to ignore it and head inside to eat.
Ace, who hadn't moved yet, asked, "Are you really just gonna ignore that?"
Sabo nodded in agreement as he said, "Luffy definitely couldn't do that this morning…"
Marcus shrugged as he said, "He must have eaten a devil fruit."
"Yup." Uta agreed as she followed Marcus inside.
As Ace watched, one of the crew men lost their grip on Luffy's arm. With nothing holding him in place, Luffy rocketed into the other crew man before they both slammed into the side of a building. The crew man and Luffy popped up a moment later while they laughed like idiots.
"You know what, I don't care anymore." Ace said before he turned to head inside himself.
As he headed inside Luffy noticed him and said, "Wait for me Ace!"
During dinner Luffy excitedly explained what happened and Marcus could only shake his head. Everything occurred exactly as it should have. Sure he thought Luffy might try to fight the guy, but apparently Luffy wanted to see Shanks beat the bandit up. Instead Shanks didn't bother to fight the guy and it pissed Luffy off, which made him eat the devil fruit in anger.
After dinner Marcus went outside to train some more and Shanks decided to follow him. Once they were alone outside down by the beach Shanks asked, "Did you know he would eat it?"
"It was a possibility, but I wasn't completely sure." Marcus said as he drew his sword and took a stance.
"Why didn't you warn me then?" Shanks asked with a frown.
Marcus went through a few moves before he said, "Because it didn't matter, it's just a devil fruit."
"That devil fruit wasn't meant for him, I planned to give it to someone else."
Marcus stopped his next attack and glanced at Shanks as he asked, "Really? Who?"
"It doesn't matter anymore, the plan is ruined now anyways." Shanks said with a sigh.
Marcus chuckled slightly before he said, "So you really planned to offer it to Ace, uh?"
Shanks's eyes widened as he looked directly at Marcus who smirked and said, "And that confirms it."
"Did you see that in one of your dreams too?" Shanks asked as he took a seat on a rock.
"It was just a guess… But it does make me wonder how you know about Ace and who his father was."
"I was one of the last people to see him before he turned himself in…" Shanks said with a sad smile on his face as he looked out towards the sea.
"You know he found me in a treasure chest and raised me like his own son…" Shanks's voice trailed off as he became lost in thought for a little while.
Marcus sheathed his sword and moved closer to Shanks who pulled himself out of his thoughts as he said, "The last thing he told me was, I would have a younger sibling at some point and to help them out if I ever met them."
"So you planned to give Ace a devil fruit and then what? Have him join your crew?"
"That was one of the ideas I had. But they don't matter now." Shanks said as he let out a sigh.
Marcus smirked as he said, "Don't worry about it too much. I'm positive everything worked out the way it was meant to be."
Shanks turned to study Marcus for a few moments before he let out a sigh and said, "Maybe you're right…"
"You know you don't talk or act anything like a kid." Shanks said before he pulled out a flask from his pocket and took a drink.
Marcus leaned against one of the rocks as he said, "My grandpa said the same thing."
They both fell into a comfortable silence and just listened to the waves lap against the beach for a while until Marcus said, "You should talk to Ace about his dad and point him to other people who knew him."
Shanks took another swig from his flask before he asked, "Why?"
"Because he thinks he's the child of the devil and questions whether he should have been born…"
Shanks whipped his head around and his eyes were filled with confusion as he said, "What are you talking about? He looks completely fine."
"Well, he's definitely better now compared to how he used to be. But he still has issues with who his father is. Heck just mention the pirate king around him and watch how he reacts."
"Okay, I will." Shanks said before he lifted his flask up and finished it off as he stood up. Shanks then headed back to the bar as Marcus went back to training.
Over the next week Ace ended up going off with Shanks after dinner each night. Marcus saw them a few times as he trained, they normally sat alone next to a bonfire on the beach and talked till late in the night. Whether it would help Ace overcome his issues, Marcus had no idea but at least he tried to help.
It was a few weeks later where the second incident happened between Luffy and the bandits. Shanks and his crew had taken their ship to the Goa Kingdom to get some repairs done in the dry dock there in preparation for leaving the island. While they were gone, Luffy hung out in the bar with Makino because he currently had issues with his training.
Sure he could do the normal morning warmup routine, but with his new rubber body he couldn't fight at all. He had no control currently and decided to just hang around Makino's as he waited for Shanks and his crew to come back. It was during that time that the bandits showed up and Luffy got into a fight with them.
Marcus was waiting for this to happen for the past few weeks and had patiently waited near the bar each day. He didn't slack off though and trained his swordsmanship during that time. When he heard the commotion inside the bar, he easily jumped onto the roof and watched the situation unfold as they carried Luffy outside.
Marcus watched with wide eyes as one of the defining moments of the series played out before him. Marcus would be a liar if he said he didn't enjoy being a spectator to the events that unfolded before him. But that was overshadowed by the worry in his heart for his brother. He had a white knuckled grip on the hilt of his sword the entire time he watched. When Higuma finally used smoke bombs to escape with Luffy, Marcus was able to follow them from above and watched as they boarded a small boat.
It wasn't long afterwards when Luffy was tossed into the sea and Lord of the Coast showed up. Marcus's grip on his sword tightened even more as he watched as Shanks jumped into the water to save Luffy. After the sea king finished Higuma and turned its attention to Luffy, Marcus shifted his body slightly and focused completely on the sea king. Shanks was almost next to Luffy when the sea king opened its mouth wide and moved in to strike at Luffy.
Shanks reached Luffy just before the monster and attempted to pull him out of the way of the attack, as a compressed air blade sailed above their heads. A moment later the sea king's head crashed into the water as a spray of blood covered both of them and dyed the surrounding water red. While Luffy was busy crying in Shanks arms, Shanks glanced to the roof of a building. Marcus stood there covered in sweat and panting for breath as that single attack took everything out of him.
Marcus slowly recovered as Shanks brought Luffy back to shore and it wasn't long before they were surrounded by a bunch of people. Marcus glanced down at Shanks and his brother. While Shanks didn't lose his arm this time, it still looked like it had an impact on Luffy as he was still busy crying.
Marcus himself settled onto the roof of the building and watched the sea as he wondered if what he did was the right decision. It was now the third time he intervened directly in the story and started to wonder how those actions would affect the coming events and what would change. Good or bad, Marcus planned to face them head on.
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