The Will of D. reamers

As the pirates jumped over to their ship, Ace, Sabo and Luffy started to attack them. Zoro being the battle junkie he was, quickly followed suit along with Kuina who trailed a little bit behind. Marcus stayed out of the initial clash so he could observe the situation and also get a proper gauge on the enemy's strength.

Most of the pirates quickly fell before his brothers combined might. But a handful were also dropped by Kuina who put her superior sword skill on full display. Zoro was the only outlier of the group who was still fighting his second opponent. Sure he was going to win, it was just taking longer than it should.

As most of the first batch of pirates were almost dealt with, the next batch landed and attacked with renewed vigor. As the minutes ticked by and the amount of pirates coming over slowed down, someone on the other ship yelled out, "What the hell is taking you idiots so long to capture that ship?"

A moment later a fat man with a captain's hat glanced over the railing of the pirate ship and frowned. Most of his men were on the ground with a good portion of them knocked out and the rest groaning in pain. He glanced to his left as he said, "Ivan, go handle those kids and get me that ship."

Another man grunted in response before everyone heard the loud thud of heavy footfalls approach the edge of the pirate ship. A massive man appeared soon after near the edge of the pirate ship's railing and glanced down at the other ship. He smiled which showed large gaps of missing teeth before he reached out and grabbed a rope to use.

As the man attempted to use the rope to transfer to the other boat the captain yelled out, "You can't use a single rope, you idiot!"

But his warning came too late and the rope Ivan used snapped a moment later when he put all of his weight onto it. Ivan for his part, comically flapped his large arms as if he was a bird. It didn't help and he slammed face first into the deck which caused part of it to shatter. A couple moments later Ivan stood up and spit out a tooth before he turned towards Ace and the others.

There were only a handful of pirates left on the ship still standing, so Marcus said, "Kuina, try out the big guy."

"No fair, I wanna fight him!" Both Luffy and Zoro said at the same time as they both fought with a different opponent.

Marcus ignored them both as he stared at Kuina who just knocked out her last opponent. She looked up at Ivan who was easily four times her height and mostly made of muscle before she gulped as her eyes contracted. She instantly wanted to refuse, to say she didn't think any of them could beat the man. But then she noticed Marcus's and the other's gaze as they looked at Ivan.

They didn't look at the man with any hint of fear, instead they looked at him with a predatory glint in their eyes. As Ivan moved towards Ace who was the closest to him, Kuina's initial fear was replaced with determination. Kuina used her speed and quickly cut off the ponderous man before he could reach Ace. Her first attack was a probing slash to the man's knee with her training sword.

It stuck true because the man was too slow to dodge the blow, but Kuina's hands went numb from the impact. She felt like she had just slammed her training sword into a boulder. As Kuina tried to recover from the attack, Ivan swiped down towards her but missed as she rolled out of the way.

When Kuina recovered she attacked Ivan in the knee again but it was the same result. The blow made her hands go numb and she almost dropped her training sword. Kuina frowned as she quickly moved around the slower man and lightly attacked him a few more times. While the man was too slow to hit her, Kuina also felt that she had no way to damage the man in return.

After a couple minutes of attacking Ivan, Kuina was exhausted and could barely lift her sword. Ivan on the other hand was completely fine, but seemed rather annoyed as he attempted to swat Kuina again. Kuina barely dodged the blow but didn't have the energy to retaliate any more as she backed away from the man.

Ace and the others were finished fighting at this time and the pirate captain was glaring down at everyone before he said, "Hurry up Ivan, you're wasting time."

"She's too fast to catch, cap'n." Ivan said as he barely missed Kuina again.

"Fine, I'll help," The captain said as he pulled out a gun and pointed it towards Kuina.

Luffy reacted before anyone else as he jumped in front of Kuina and said, "Gum gum no human shield!"

The pirate captain sneered as he pulled the trigger of his gun. As the bullet slammed into Luffy's chest both Kuina and Zoro yelled out, "What are you doing!?!"

A moment later as Luffy's body stretched around the bullet, Zoro, Kuina, Ivan and the pirate captain's mouth dropped open and their eyes popped out of their heads. Luffy's carefree laugh as his body returned to normal and the bullet flew off in a random direction brought everyone back from their shock. Kuina, who was closest, grabbed Luffy by the neck before she shook him as she asked, "Are you crazy?!"

Luffy laughed even harder before Marcus said, "Don't lose focus, you're still in the middle of a fight."

A heavy thud stole everyone's attention as the pirate captain landed on the deck. He glanced at everyone else before he drew his sword and said, "I'm not sure what just happened, but that little brat is right."

He swung out at Ace who was closest to him as he said, "Never let your guard down in a fight."

A new battle erupted on the ship as Ace and the captain started to fight each other. Zoro also took the opportunity while Kuina was still holding Luffy to rush in and attack Ivan. Marcus kept a hand on his sword as he watched carefully from the side as the two fights began in earnest. Kuina didn't complain about having her opponent stolen but Luffy said, "Hey, no fair! I wanted to fight him." 

"Just switch with Zoro once he is too tired to fight." Marcus said as he observed both fights.

"That won't happen." Zoro said through gritted teeth after he realized how tough Ivan's body was.

While Zoro was running into the same issue as Kuina had while fighting Ivan. Ace didn't have any problem fighting against the captain and Marcus estimated it wouldn't be long before he won. He was quickly proven right as Ace landed a brutal blow against the man's right knee and with a sickening crunch the man dropped to the deck. As he screamed out in pain, Ace landed another heavy blow on the man's head which knocked him out.

With only the man named Ivan left standing Marcus said, "Luffy, jump in and help Zoro finish him off. Everyone else tie up our loot."

"I don't need any help." Zoro said as he barely dodged another blow.

"Yosh! Gum gum no pistol!" Luffy said excitedly as he attacked Ivan with his powers.

Marcus glanced towards the now two on one fight for a moment before he started to help tie up the other members of the pirate crew. They made quick work of it all and by the time they were finished, Ivan was passed out on the deck. While his body seemed to be incredibly tough, Luffy took him down with a solid punch to the temple that knocked the man out.

With the thirty plus pirates now tied up on the deck, Marcus turned to the others and said, "You know what to do."

Ace and Sabo shared a smile as Luffy threw both fists in the air and said, "Time for the best part!"

Zoro and Kuina shared a confused look before Kuina asked, "Uh, what are we supposed to do?"

"Loot the ship of course." Marcus said with a grin.

Marcus waved them off towards the pirate ship as he said, "Go on, I'll wait here and make sure anyone who wakes up doesn't try anything."

As Zoro and Kuina went to follow after the others Marcus said, "Be careful though, there still might be some pirates on that ship."

Marcus's warning made Kuina cautious and Zoro eager as they climbed up to the pirate ship's deck. It was about half an hour later when Ace appeared back on the deck and leaned over the railing as he said, "These guys suck, there is almost no loot."

Marcus glanced towards the group of pirates tied up on the deck before he said, "It might be hidden, give me a minute."

Marcus went to each pirate and started to smack people awake, all of which started to curse and threatened to hurt him if he didn't release them. Once he had everyone including the captain awake he yelled out, "I am only going to ask this once. The first person to tell me where the loot is stashed on your ship will be set free."

The pirate captain's laugh bellowed loudly for a moment which drowned out everyone else's voice before the captain yelled, "I'll kill the first rat bastard that talks!"

As the captain death glared at the rest of his crew, Marcus watched them all for a few minutes before he let out a sigh and slowly drew his sword. Marcus slowly stalked towards the captain who noticed him but only sneered as he said, "Are you trying to intimidate me boy? It will take a lot more than a little kid with a sword to do that."

Marcus said nothing as he casually swung his sword towards the main mast of the pirate ship before he started to sheathe it. All the pirates including the captain burst into laughter before the captain asked, "What was that supposed to do?"

The sword made a soft click as it was fully seated in its sheath and a moment later the main mast of the pirate ship collapsed. It crashed onto the deck of the pirate ship before it fell into the water a few moments later. All of the pirates were quiet with their eyes popped out as they stared open mouthed at what just happened.

The deathly silence was broken by Ace who appeared on the deck again and yelled out, "What the hell Marcus! Warn me next time you do that! The mast almost hit me!"

All of the pirates mechanically turned to look back at Marcus before they erupted all at once as they each tried to tell him where they hid stuff on the ship. It took about an hour but Marcus was able to find out about every single hidden compartment on the ship. Luffy and the others made short work after that and within a couple hours the ship was stripped of everything valuable.

With the ship already in bad shape, along with the mast now ruined, Marcus used a barrel of oil and dosed part of the ship in it. Afterwards they lit the ship on fire and watched it burn for a few minutes before Marcus checked his map for the nearest marine base.

As Marcus and the others started to prepare to set sail again, one of the pirates asked, "Didn't you say you would set one of us free?"

Marcus glanced towards the pirates as he said, "That was only for the first person who talked, but all of you talked at the same time... So work out amongst yourselves who you want me to set free and I'll do it."

As all the pirates started to argue with each other over who should be set free, Sabo who was close to Marcus said, "You know they'll never come to an agreement over that."

Marcus smirked before he said, "That's the point."

Over a week flew by quickly as Marcus and the others traveled to an island near the edge of the Calm Belt. It was also the closest one with a marine base on it. Well that was if the map Marcus had was still accurate. It wasn't old, but at the same time maps weren't that reliable either.

While the pirates were a slight hassle to deal with, Marcus made sure to feed them each a bowl of stew once a day. It was just enough to help their hunger cravings but never enough to give them strength. Marcus also made sure they stayed lashed together and on the deck of the ship. Which baked them under the harsh sun and made it almost impossible to sleep.

Was it cruel? Maybe a little, but Marcus wasn't going to give them any help in trying to escape. Sure they wouldn't be able to get very far, but Marcus didn't want to deal with the hassle of it all. So he made sure the pirates wouldn't die and that was about it.

On their way to the island and the marine base it possibly held. Marcus and the others didn't run into another ship the whole way. It was a little strange but then again they were going through a stretch of sea most people didn't normally travel through. It was on the tenth day after they captured the pirates that they spotted land in the distance.

Marcus and the others quickly adjusted the ship's course towards the island. It was a little over an hour later when they luckily found the marine base and slowly approached their dock. The marines at the base were already on alert while a small contingent were on the dock and waiting as they watched the ship warily.