Here we are, chapter 2! We've seen Marek's origins and his relationship with Dadan, Marines, Ace, Shanks and his little brother Luffy. What we will find out this one is how Garp will react to Luffy eating a Devil Fruit while it happened under Marek's eye, and Sabo gets introduced! Yay! Amongst other secrets that I have chosen not to reveal quite yet!
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN LUFFY ATE A DEVIL FRUIT MAREK?!" came the voice from the little snail, the Den-Den Mushi that Marek owned as he flinched, knowing that was how his grandfather would react.
"It's like I said Gramps, Luffy ate one while I wasn't paying attention. There was this bandit, Higuma or something, he threatened Makino." Marek tried to explain, but he heard a sharp slam on a table, paling as he knew Garp was furious.
"Bullshit Marek! How can you not be paying attention to your 7-year-old little brother like that! I'm coming down there and I'm straightening this shit out!"
Marek paled even more, "I-if you do, b-bring the book of devil fruits so we can figure it out."
The mushi just narrowed its eyes and nods. "Of course I am, I'll be there in a week. Just make sure that Luffy and Ace are ready to greet their grandpa got it!"
"Yes sir!" Marek replied before hearing snoring on the other end of the mushi, making him deadpan before hanging up.
"Shanks, you got a week at most to leave before Garp comes back." Marek said, looking at the red-haired captain who himself paled at the back and forth conversation between grandfather and grandson.
"Yeah, we'll be out in a bit." He replied before Luffy interrupted. "Take me with you Shanks! I wanna be a pirate, not just a pirate but the Pirate King!"
Marek groaned softly before tapping Luffy on the head. "Don't let Gramps hear that talk, he's already mad at me for not being able to convince Ace to be a Marine, I don't want him angrier with me."
Luffy yelped, holding his head as Shanks chuckled. "Besides Anchor, you can't come with us! You can't swim anymore, and we can't look over your sorry behind falling off our ship!" Shanks replied teasingly.
"Oh yeah?! If I beat big bro, I can definitely go with you!" Luffy declared, making Marek sigh softly. Luffy, being the unpredictable but stubborn bull that he is, shot his arm out to try and nail Marek, whom just sidestepped the stretched-out arm and caught it with one hand.
Luffy, upon not feeling any contact, looked up and gasped comically, seeing Marek gripping his arm before sweating. "B-big bro, I was only kidding!"
Marek just had a deadpan on his face before pulling on Luffy's arm and clobbering him in the face, dropping the rubber boy. "Sorry about that Shanks, he's a bit enthusiastic."
Shanks just laughed out loud. "That's alright! If I remember correctly, you were like that too!"
Marek just grumbled softly before picking up Luffy and carrying him on his back. "It was nice to see you again Shanks." He said with a smile, looking back at them. "Take care, you're one of the few pirates I've met that's actually a good person."
"Oy, before you leave Marek." Shanks spoke up, making the young marine captain turn back. Shanks took off his hat and placed it on Luffy's head. "Tell Anchor that I'll be waiting for him to become a great pirate, and I expect the hat back."
Marek smiled softly, shaking his head with a chuckle. "Now you're encouraging him more, you know Gramps is going to have my ass."
Shanks just stuck his tongue out. "You stay safe Marek, the only time I want to see you in the papers is if you're catching pirates or if you're being promoted."
Marek just nodded and shook Shanks' hand. "You got it, Red-Hair. See ya around and good luck."
Meanwhile, after the Mushi call
Monkey D. Dragon, father of both Marek and Luffy and son of Garp, kicked open his father's door. "How, how could they?" He asked lowly, a fierce glare on his face.
Garp, frowning softly at his son's attitude, especially one for a rear admiral as himself, just looked at him. "What do you mean son?"
Dragon just slammed papers on Garp's desk. "I'm talking about Ohara pop. How? How could the world government just okay this! Wiping out people for looking into history?! Sentencing a 90M bounty for an 8-year-old girl!" He roared angrily, his own Conqueror's Haki leaking.
"The kid is barely older than Luffy damn it pops! How could they dare damn a little girl to such a fate? Calling her a devil's child, for what?"
Garp read the reports, the official ones and not the fake ones that were documented to keep the World Government in the grace of things, narrowing his eyes. "Son, how did you get these?"
Dragon just growled, "Does it matter? I'm done with this government. Things need to change pops. You're either with me or against me."
With that, Dragon took off his rear admiral's coat and everything to do with the World Government, leaving it there in Garp's office, the older man sighing softly, not bothering to try and talk to him as he knew that he had inherited his own stubbornness.
"Things are just going from bad to worse huh?" Garp asked himself, drumming his fingers on his desk as he ate a rice cracker, narrowing his eyes at the report.
"Kuzan, Sakazuki….. it doesn't help that Dragon was best friends with Saul either."
One week later at Fooscha
"Hehe, looks like the pirate trash left." Higuma gloated with his men, arriving at Makino's bar as Luffy sat with Makino.
"Good, lets us have all the good stuff now that they're gone!" One of his thugs said, all the men cheering.
Marek, who sat at the bar, just sighed softly as he held onto Luffy with a tight grip, reinforced with Haki. "Don't Luff, they're not worth it." He smiled softly.
"If you behave, I'll tell you of how I took down the Hyena pirates." Marek sang softly and hopeful, praying that Luffy didn't do anything stupid.
That all went down the drain when Higuma slammed his hand on the bar beside Marek, causing his drink to stumble slightly, but not enough to spill.
"Come on honey, get us those drinks and we'll show you a real good time~" He said lecherously, looking at Makino's well-developed curves, causing Marek to growl softly, but not enough for the stupid bandit to notice.
"That's enough you jerk!" Luffy exclaimed, punching Higuma in the face. "How dare you badmouth Makino and Shanks like that!"
"Oi, Luffy that's enough!" Marek sternly warned him. "No! You and Shanks may not stand up for yourselves, but I will! I'm not going to let this jerk badmouth my friends in front of me!" Luffy exclaimed, causing an unnoticeable smirk to cross Marek's face.
"Why you brat!" Higuma growled, rubbing his face before grabbing Luffy and pulling him out of the bar, the other bandits drawing their swords and guns.
Marek's eyes narrowed dangerously as Makino pleaded for them to leave Luffy alone. He drank his drink, a strong cider but nothing alcoholic, as he followed them and Makino out of the bar. He started to crack his knuckles as he watched the town gather.
"Oy, shithead." Marek stated, causing Higuma to glare at him. "You've got my little brother; I'd like him back please."
"Fool boy! My bounty is 8,000,000 beri! What can you do?" Higuma stated smugly before Marek burst out laughing. "What's so funny damn it!"
Marek just wiped an imaginary tear from his face before growing serious. "8 million huh? I've taken down pirates with 100 million beri bounties before. Not to mention that kid you're holding, as am I, are the grandsons of the Hero of the Marines, Monkey D. Garp, who happens to be on his way here right now."
Higuma and his bandits had comical fearful expressions before Higuma calmed down before smirking. "Oh, you're bluffing. Why would he be coming here now?"
"You want to take that chance? Sure, a kid is no problem, as is the town for a bandit of your caliber. But tell me something Higuma." Marek slammed his fist into his palm, a silver gleam (1) covering his hand.
"Can you stand up to a Marine captain? And not just any captain, but "Silver Hand" Marek? Especially when you're looking at where he was, and not where he is?" Marek said, the last part coming from behind them as the bandits with pistols fell to the ground, knocked out from Marek.
'H-how?! I didn't even see him move!'
'Whoa! Big bro is so cool!' Luffy thought with mental stars in his eyes as he tried squirming out of Higuma's grip.
Higuma just growled as Marek ducked and dodged the sword swings, taking his time in knocking out the bandits until it was only Higuma left.
"How? How are you so strong?!" Higuma demanded, scowling.
Marek just smirked, "It's simple really, a bunch of juice, and a whole lot of push-ups."
Higuma just growled, "You're mocking me!"
Marek just laughed, "Oh you're just realizing that now huh? Let me tell you something, little bandit." Higuma growled again, getting angrier. "Those pirates you mocked a week ago, those were the Red-Hair pirates, led by Red-Haired Shanks."
"So?" Higuma questioned.
"Oh you see, you may think your tough shit here, but out there? You're nothing out there. Shanks didn't respond to your threats, or took you seriously, because you're not a threat to him. You're as big of a threat as a gnat biting a giant. It even shows with how easily I took out your men."
Marek smirked, crossing his arms. "25 men, taken out by a 15-year-old boy with only his fists. Your face is even bruised when Luffy punched you!"
Higuma growled angrily before throwing down a smoke bomb.
Marek coughed slightly trying to clear the smoke. 'Damn it a smoke bomb?! I underestimated him only slightly and now Luffy's in bigger danger. The obvious choice would be the mountains, but knowing him, he'll think I think he went there. Where else….'
Marek's eyes widened. "The sea! Damn it Luffy can't swim!" Marek took off running before jumping into the air. 'Geppo, we may not get along very well, but please don't fail me now! Luffy is in danger and he needs us to save him!'
As if responding, he jumped in the air, starting to moonwalk towards Luffy's direction, following them with his Observation Haki, only being able to sense Luffy after being around him for so long.
Meanwhile
"Hahaha! That fool! He'll never think of looking for a mountain bandit at sea!" Higuma gloated in his small rowboat, holding onto Luffy tightly.
"Damn it let me go! Marek will be here, and he'll kick your butt!"
Higuma sneered, "Insolent brat, maybe I'll just drop you into the ocean and let you drown!" He lifted him up about to drop him before the Lord of the Coast arose from under the water, scaring Higuma and shocking Luffy.
Not too far away, Marek saw the sea king rise and had a panicked look on his face as he hurried to get to Luffy.
"I-it's massive!" Higuma shouted before the Lord of the Coast ate him and the boat, leaving Luffy to try and keep himself afloat.
"Gah! Big brother! Grandpa! Help me!" He flailed wildly, keeping himself afloat as long as he could as he felt himself becoming weaker due to the sea trying to claim him from his devil fruit. Not like Luffy understood that, mind you.
It just stared at Luffy, menacingly, before a faint voice could be heard. Luffy looked around as he flailed. 'What is that sound?'
"Mine mine mine mine mine mine" 'It's getting louder' Luffy thought.
The Lord of the Coast looked up and its eyes widened in shock and surprise as it saw a human, flying almost, right at him.
"Mine, mine mine mine MINE!" It was Marek as he just punched the Sea King between its eyes, knocking it back as he landed beside Luffy in the water.
"Luff, get on my shoulders and stay there okay!" He grabbed Luffy and pulled him close, letting him climb up onto his shoulders.
He glared at the Lord of the Coast. "I'm sorry my friend, but you cannot eat my little brother." The Lord of the Coast just glared at the boys challengingly before a battleship comically ran it over, knocking him out and sending him to the bottom of the ocean.
Luffy just laughed while Marek sighed softly in relief. They both shivered as they heard a yell. "LUFFY! MAREK! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING?!"
They both gulped and trembled in fear "Oh no, not Grandpa!" They both exclaimed.
Later, in town
They both sat there, being scolded by Garp. "What the hell were you two thinking?! Luffy, you ate a devil fruit, that wasn't even yours mind you, and now you can't swim! Add onto the fact that you got it from that red-haired brat when he stopped here, and you tried to pick a fight with a bandit!"
He looked at Marek, "And you! I love you to death Marek since you became a marine, but damn it, you let Luffy eat one of those fruit!"
Marek looked down until he felt a hand on his shoulder from Garp, who was smiling. "But, you did save your brother from the bandit, like a responsible older brother would. And if what you told me was right, you finally mastered Geppo to save him! All things considered Marek, I'm proud of you."
Marek teared up slightly and hugged him. "T-thank you grandpa!"
Luffy just picked his nose. "Eh old man, I don't want to be a marine. I want to be a pirate like Shanks!"
Marek just paled as Garp had a furious, yet comical, expression on his face. "No, you're not! You're being a marine just like me and Marek!" He yelled, punching him in the head as a welt formed on it.
Marek just sweatdropped, 'Not if you keep hitting him like that, is he.' He realized something. "Wait, like me and you? What happened to dad?"
Garp was steaming but turned his attention to Marek's question and calmed down and sighed softly, taking a seat. "He left the Marines. He heard about what happened to the people of Ohara and was furious about it. The truth, not what the World Government said. I'll tell you about it when you reach Rear Admiral Marek."
He nodded softly before being handed a bounty poster. "This is Nico Robin, she's the only survivor of what happened there." Marek felt his heart pound softly at the woman. It was an updated picture, of her current age and she was beautiful in Marek's eyes. He felt a tug in his mind as his eyes glazed over.
Future Vision
Marek stood there in his suit; arms crossed as his eyes were closed. He felt his brother standing a few inches beside him, and the rest of his crew on a tower, looking up at the infamous Enies Lobby. At the top, CP9 led by Spandam and Rob Lucci.
"Sogeking, shoot down that flag." Luffy stated calmly, looking up at them.
"Roger" Came the reply from Sogeking as he readied his slingshot.
"Hissatsu Firebird Star!" He yelled as he launched his firebird star at the flag of the World Government, going through and burning the flag, causing Spandam's eyes to widen at the audacity.
Other marines in the area were also surprised and murmured about it as Marek opened his eyes, glaring straight at Rob. "Luffy. I cannot support you if I am a Marine and you doing that."
Luffy nodded his head, "Hai. So what's the issue?"
Marek just smirked, his eyes leaving Rob to look at Nico Robin who had begun to tear up. "Looks like I'm going to have to stop being a Vice Admiral and save your sorry ass this time. Rob is mine, I've got a score to settle with him."
"You idiot! What do you think you can hope to accomplish by declaring war on the World Government?!" Spandam exclaimed, enraged. "You're just a crew of six, you morons can't challenge the world and expect to win!"
"Oh yeah? Bring it ON!" Luffy yelled back, making Spandam take a step back in fear.
"Robin! I still need to hear you say it! Tell me, tell me you want to live!"
The strawhats just looked up at her as Robin started tearing up, remembering her past as everyone told her she didn't deserve to live, besides one. One Jaguar D. Saul.
"Robin!" Marek called out. He just smiled the infamous D smile at her as he uncrossed his arms. "We're getting you out here so you can live your life the way you've always wanted. So say it, shout it to the whole world! You're no longer that scared little girl, running for her life. Reclaim your life, tell the whole world that you want to live damn it!"
Robin, shocked by such touching words from a marine, a vice admiral nonetheless, just openly sobbed as she thought about Saul's last words to her.
"I WANT TO LIVE! TAKE ME OUT TO SEA WITH YOU! I WANT TO BE FREE!" Robin shouted at the top of her lungs, crying horribly.
Luffy and Marek just smirked as Marek smashed his fist into his hand as everyone else got ready for the incoming fight, Frank sobbing in the background. "Let's go."
Vision over
Garp ended the vision by punching Marek in the head as he dropped to the ground. "D-damn it Grandpa what'd you do that for?!" Marek shouted, rubbing his head.
"You stared off into space Marek, I was bringing you back. What happened? You were fine until I gave you that bounty of Nico Robin." Garp asked curiously.
"Gramps, I know you've told me about how Observation Haki works and all, with some users like Charlotte Katakuri being able to see into the future by mere minutes. I think I just had a vision of the future…" Marek admitted, still confused by what he saw. Him, a Vice Admiral? What was Luffy doing at Enies Lobby, near the end of the first half of the Grand Line? Who were the other 5 there? Why did the orange-haired girl look like Bellemere's daughter, Nami?
Garp sighed softly and placed his hand on Marek's shoulder. "Don't think about it too much, the future isn't set in stone. Stuff comes and goes, anything can happen to change what you saw."
A week later
"Oy! Ace! Where'd ya go! Gramps left already!" Marek called out, wandering through the forest. He knew he could just use Observation but it seemed as if he relied too much on that as of late. Speaking of his skills of observation, or lack of, they learned that Luffy ate the Gomu-Gomu no Mi, the Rubber fruit. Seems like that would do Luffy some good, no blunt attacks would harm him and he was immune to electricity and lightning.
"Get him Sabo!" "Right Ace!" He heard the boys coming from above, curious as to how they got up there as they lept down at him with steel pipes. He chuckled softly (where did they get the steel pipes from anyway?) as he stepped back slightly as he saw Sabo's eyes widen, going right into the ground.
Meanwhile, he saw Ace change his trajectory, as if he planned for Marek to do that as he proceed to avoid his swings. "You've gotten better Ace, but you probably shouldn't alert your enemy of your whereabouts before you land the blow."
Ace merely grinned. "Well yeah! You didn't think it was just me and Sabo though right?"
Marek's eyes widened as he saw the grin before jumping, looking down as he saw Luffy's stretched out arm nail Ace in the face instead of him. He laughed a bit, hearing the indignant shout of "Hey!" coming from Ace as he gripped Luffy's arm while he was up in the air, causing Luffy to panic and try to pull it back.
Marek just smirked and proceeded to throw Luffy into Ace, Luffy's head being buried into Ace's stomach as they launched back into Sabo, causing all three boys to land on the ground in a heap, dazed and dizzy.
Marek crossed his arms, smiling. "Not bad boys, you nearly got me there. But who's your friend? I haven't seen him around before."
They laughed nervously as Sabo sat up and held his hand out with a smile. "I'm Sabo sir! I'm…." He looked down in shame. "I'm the son of the World nobles here."
Marek just smiled softly, placing a hand on his shoulder instead of shaking his hand. "It's nice to meet you Sabo, I'm Marek. I'm those two idiots' older brother." He laughed, as did Sabo, hearing the shouts of Luffy and Ace being called idiots.
"I have to leave tomorrow morning early, and I won't be back for a while. So while I'm gone, keep those two knuckleheads out of trouble alright?" Sabo nodded while Marek smiled.
"Big bro!" Ace called out to him, to which Marek turned. "Hmm?"
"W-we're doing a thing later to symbolize that we're brothers. C-could you come too, since you are our big brother and all?" Ace stammered out, clearly unsure about it. Luffy just grinned and shouted, "Yatta! Come on big bro, you totally should!"
Marek just shook his head, chuckling. "Sure boys, I'll come along. It'll help me get to know my newest little brother." He said with a smile. Sabo teared up but grinned happily.
Later
"Ace, this isn't what I thought you were doing!" Marek exclaimed, still wondering how the hell the boys managed to get a bottle of whiskey. He's blaming Shanks for this, because he did see Shanks hand Luffy something before the Red-haired pirates left.
"Oh come on, this isn't going to hurt us!" Ace said, pouring the glass of whiskey into their bowls.
"Yes it is! It's exactly what it's going to do! It'll stunt your growth, and on top of that, Dadan and Gramps is gonna kill me when they find out!" Marek shouted with a big head, clearly afraid. Not to mention what his grandmother, Tsuru, would do. Garp's training he could handle, but he's only ever seen his grandmother mad once, and that was when his dad dropped Luffy off with them.
"They'll only find out if you tell them big bro!" Luffy exclaimed, clearly excited and impatient to become true brothers with Ace and Sabo. "You just don't tell them, that's all!"
Marek just stared at his brother, full brother mind you, and pinched his nose, sighing. "Why do I get the feeling that this is what Uncle Goku has to deal with when he's yelling at gramps for something."
Meanwhile, at two different areas of Marineford, the two men mentioned before both sneezed at the same time. Sengoku fixed his glasses after so, 'Why do I get the feeling that Garp did something stupid, or allowed something stupid to happen?' While Garp was thinking along the lines of 'Did I forget something? Or is Sengoku thinking about yelling at me again?' He started to sweat, "Or is Tsuru coming to yell at me again?"
Back with the boys
"If anyone asks, I'm not involved in this, and had no knowledge of it. You two are still my brothers, but I'm not going to be responsible for three young kids drinking alcohol." Marek said with a stern deadpan.
All four tapped their bowls together and downed the whiskey, Marek sighing softly as he felt the burn as the other three started to choke at the horrible taste. Seeing this made Marek laugh heavily. "You punks didn't even think about how bad it was going to taste!"
Luffy shook it off first, "Crap! That tasted almost as bad as the devil fruit I ate!"
They just laughed it all off before they went back to training until nighttime came around. They sat around the fire that Ace and Sabo made, as Marek was cooking the meat, smacking Luffy's hand every time he tried to reach for it.
Little did the three boys and one teen know, this would be the first, and last time all four of them were together. Luffy, Ace and Sabo would be protecting each other for the few months to come, while Marek took care of what could potentially be the big fish of the four smaller seas.