The Will of D. reamers

After collecting the bounty money, Marcus split up the group a little bit since he didn't plan to have them stay in Shells Town for long. One group was made up of Zoe and the other women along with Kuina and Zoro. Marcus gave them money and told them to go buy more clothes since the women didn't really have any and Kuina and Zoro barely brought any.

The other group was made up of Marcus, Ace, Luffy, Sanji and Zeff. They also went to buy some clothes for Zeff and Sanji, but afterwards they went and found a doctor to check out Zeff's leg and get him some type of prosthetic. Unfortunately the best they could find was a peg leg, which would work for now, but Marcus had a couple ideas to make something different when they had time.

After they finished getting Zeff set with his new peg leg, he still couldn't walk properly and needed to use his crutches for now. But with time and practice he would be able to walk without them. Leaving the doctors they went to the main market of the town where Zeff dragged them around to buy a ton of ingredients. It was during that time that Zoe's group met back up with them and with their help, carried everything back to the ship. Once back at the ship Marcus took over watching the ship and let Sabo take off with Ace and Luffy to go explore the city for a couple hours. Kuina and Zoro ended up tagging along with them also, which left Marcus, Zeff, Sanji and Zoe's group on the ship.

Once Zoe and the others helped put away all the food and organize the kitchen under Zeff's lead, they came back up to the deck and started their daily training that they paused earlier. Marcus, who was up in the crows nest, smiled slightly as he watched them start to run laps around the ship before he adjusted the sun screen, leaned back and got comfortable while he read the newspaper. Marcus only found one interesting point of information in the newspaper and it was news about Garp being in Loguetown and taking down some pirate group. He smiled to himself as he read the article and wondered how mad Garp was at the moment.

After a few hours everyone finally returned to the ship and after eating a late lunch, they set off from Shells Town to their next destination. Well after Shells Town and the surrounding Yotsuba Island Region disappeared from view Marcus's den den mushi started to ring. Marcus pulled it out and noticed the face on it before he decided to answer it as he said, "Good job in Loguetown grandpa."

"Same to you brat. I heard you just turned in some pirate trash in Shells Town a few hours ago."

 Marcus's eyes went wide as he asked, "How?"

Garp's boisterous laugh rang out for a few moments before he said, "You think I am gonna let you lead me all over East Blue on some wild goose chase? I contacted all the bases in East Blue about you and told them to inform me if you brats showed up."

Marcus clicked his tongue before he said, "That… Was unexpected and a pretty smart move, gramps. I'm surprised you thought of doing something like that."

"Huh? What is that supposed to mean? Do you think your grandpa is stupid or something?" Garp asked with a slightly raised tone of voice.

"I would never think that grandpa… It's just that idea sounds more like something Bogard would do."

Marcus heard another man chuckle on the den den mushi before he said, "I told you he would figure it out, Marcus is a lot smarter than you give him credit for."

"Bah, he's still just a little brat." Garp said.

"I'm actually surprised you're with grandpa right now. Isn't grandpa on vacation?"

"He was, but he's spent all of his vacation trying to catch you kids and Sengoku sent me to bring him back." Bogard said with a bit of mirth in his voice.

"Really? You have to go back to work, grandpa?" Marcus asked in surprise.

"Yeah, I've wasted too much time in East Blue and Sengoku needs me to take care of some pirates in the New World." Garp said before the den den mushi's eyes narrowed and he said, "Don't think you're getting off easy though. I'll definitely teach all of you brats a lesson when I come back."

Cold sweat ran down Marcus's back at Grap's tone of voice before he chuckled nervously and said, "What makes you say something like that grandpa? We haven't slacked off in training and if anything, fighting so many pirates is making us stronger."

"Bah! We'll see what happens when I come back you little brat... And you better not lose to some pirates in the meantime either, or I'll really let you have it."

"Unless some pirates come from the grand line, I doubt if we'll have any issues grandpa." Marcus said as he glanced out over the open water in front of the ship.

"Doesn't matter where they come from, you better not lose to some pirates, brat."

"Understood, grandpa."

"Good." Garp said and an awkward silence formed for almost half a minute before Marcus heard the sound of Garp eating which made him frown and asked, "Is that all, grandpa?"

"Eh? This thing's still on? I thought I hung up." Garp said before the den den mushi clicked off. Marcus stared at it for a moment before he let out a sigh and put it away.

Over the next week the ship sailed in relative peace for its trip to their next destination. Training was the one main consistent thing that happened every day, but otherwise it was pretty boring. Sanji was finally deemed healthy enough to join in and started on basically the same training as Zoe and the others. Marcus also trained Zoro and Kuina in swordsmanship each day and even sparred with Ace, Sabo and Luffy once a day. They never got too crazy with their own training just in case they ran into pirates, but they did push themselves a little each day.

It was about ten days into the journey when they spotted an island in the distance. The journey they took from Shells Town was slightly weird since Marcus first went a different direction from where he wanted to go. While he was pretty sure Garp was gone for now, he would rather not get caught just yet, so he was still being cautious. As they got closer to the island, the first thing they noticed was the lack of settlements. As far as they could tell no one lived on the portion of the island they were approaching.

As they got closer, Marcus checked the map he had along with his compass to make sure he was in the right area before he turned the ship slightly to port. As the ship slowly made its way around the island, the dense forest finally gave way to some gently rolling hills and a city on the coast with a small dock. As they approached, Marcus gave orders to prepare the ship to dock as he steered the ship closer and people in the town took notice of the ship.

When they were finally in range of the dock, a handful of people were there to catch the lines and help tie off the ship to the dock. After the ship was secure and the gangplank was lowered, Marcus walked off the ship alone to greet the small welcoming party. Of the people on the dock, only one stood out as recognizable to Marcus, it was an older man with small round glasses on with white hair that was surprisingly stylized into a mullet.

Marcus smiled at the man and the others with him before the man asked with a smile of his own, "Greetings, I'm Boodle, the mayor of Orange Town. This is Henry, Yugi, Natalie and Jasper, who are part of the city council."

"I'm Marcus, it's nice to meet you all."

Boodle smiled again before he said, "Same to you, Marcus… If I may ask, what is the purpose of your visit and would it be possible to speak to your captain?"

Marcus smirked as he said, "You're speaking to the captain. As for the purpose of our visit, we mostly wanted to explore the city, possibly trade a bit and maybe talk to a blacksmith if you have one."

Boodle raised an eyebrow as he glanced over Marcus for a few moments before he said, "You and your crew are free to explore the city. The same goes for trading, just talk to the shop owners to work out a deal."

Boodle glanced at another man in his group as he said, "As for talking to a blacksmith, this is the only one in the city."

The man was large and stood at least a head taller than the others around him. He wore a brown leather apron that was now mostly black from being around fires and metal for long periods of time. His shoulders were wide, while his arms were thick braids of corded muscle. He wore a friendly smile on his face as he looked down on Marcus and said, "I'm Henry. What can I help you with, young man?"

"I wanted to commission something if you were up to the task."

"I would need to have a drawing and dimensions of what you want created first before I'll even think about taking on a commission. But if you have that, then we can talk."

Marcus nodded in understanding before he said, "I don't have that, but I could probably draw something up for you… As for the dimensions, it would take a lot of explaining to understand what I want you to make and probably a lot of testing to get it right."

Henry looked a little intrigued as he said, "If that's the case, follow me to my shop and I can have you draw it out for me and explain it in detail."

"Alright, just give me a minute to get someone else first."

Marcus turned to Boodle afterwards and asked, "Is there a docking fee or anything?"

Boodle shook his head as he said, "We are still a relatively new village so we don't get too many ships that pass through here currently."

"Alright, well we plan to stay at least a week or more, depending on if Henry takes on my commission or not. So just let me know if you want us to pay some kinda docking fee."

Boodle waved it off with a smile before he said, "Don't worry about it. And if you need anything while you're here or have any questions."

Boodle pointed to one of the first houses near the dock as he said, "That's my house, feel free to come find me."

Marcus nodded before he said, "Alright, will do."

Marcus quickly moved back onto the ship and everyone else left except Henry who was gonna take Marcus to his shop. Marcus quickly organized every and told them what he wanted done before he headed back down the gangplank with Zeff in tow. They soon followed Henry back to his workshop where he gave Marcus a blank sheet of paper and a pencil.

It took a few minutes for Marcus to fully sketch out what he wanted made. But after he was done, both Zeff and Henry looked at the design in confusion before Zeff asked, "What the hell did you just draw, brat?"

"Your new leg."

Both Henry and Zeff looked at the design again before Zeff asked, "How the hell would that work for a replacement leg?"

Marcus pointed at the curved design as he said, "This makes it so it is possible to move around easier compared to your peg leg. The tension in the metal would act as a spring that would help you walk or even run if you wanted."

Henry nodded in agreement before he said, "It would be pretty heavy though, especially if it was fully made of metal."

"That's why I said it would take a lot of testing to get right." Marcus said as he glanced over the design again.

"It will cost you a good bit of money too. Just making this will take me a while to figure out and get the quenching process right." Henry said as he pointed at the curved part of the leg.

Marcus smiled as he asked, "We have the money to cover it, don't worry about that. I just wanna know if you'll do it?"

Henry looked up with a smile as he said, "I always like a good challenge, count me in."