Whoosh.
Bellamy launched another attack.
This time, his speed was so intense that a white shock wave formed in front of him. The air itself seemed unable to withstand the velocity, distorting and rippling around his body.
Marcus noticed it immediately. That visual distortion meant Bellamy had pushed himself right to the edge of breaking the sound barrier.
You had to give the guy credit, when he went all out with maximum stored energy, his speed was impressive.
What a shame it didn't matter.
"Seven."
Against someone with Observation Haki, straightforward attacks like this were essentially useless. No matter how fast Bellamy moved, as long as Marcus could predict the trajectory, dodging was almost effortless.
BANG!
"Guh!" Bellamy coughed up blood.
"Not... enough!" he gasped.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
He began pushing far beyond his body's safe limits, storing more energy with each compression than his body could handle.
Every time his spring-loaded legs hit the ground, a fine mist of blood exploded from his wounds.
You really had to marvel at the ridiculous durability of people in the One Piece world. Back on Earth, with this much blood loss, forget fighting, just staying conscious would be a medical miracle. Most people would already be dead from shock.
Yet here was Bellamy still persisting through sheer rage.
"Six."
Only Bellamy's crew members remained on the street now, watching the one-sided beatdown of their captain.
Sarquiss stared at Marcus, his body wanting to rush forward and help his captain, but his legs refused to move. The instinctive terror overrode his conscious thoughts.
Especially when that ghostly aura emanated from the sword at Marcus' waist, his arms trembled uncontrollably. He couldn't even draw the large cleaver from his belt, let alone actually use it.
"Five."
"Bellamy! Don't lose! You're our captain!" The shout came from Sarquiss' girlfriend, one of the women who'd been hanging on the crew earlier that evening.
Even though she could see how badly things were going, emotion drove her to yell encouragement.
Her words seemed to break through some of the paralysis affecting the other crew members.
"Three."
Sarquiss found his voice again. "Bellamy! Show him the power of North Blue pirates!"
The rest of the crew took up the cry, shouting encouragement.
"Two."
"This punch!" Bellamy roared, blood spraying from his mouth with every word. "I've been charging for five seconds past my limit! If you've got balls, don't dodge it!"
Marcus just sighed and shook his head slightly.
"One."
This time, he didn't move. He simply stood there calmly, arms at his sides, and let Bellamy's maximum-power, five-second-charged attack land directly on his chest.
CREEEEAK.
Time seemed to slow down at that moment.
The springs in Bellamy's arms and legs began to fracture.
Bellamy stared as his attack failed to even scratch his opponent's defense. It was like he'd punched a solid wall of diamond. Marcus didn't budge. The only visible effect was a slight wrinkle in the fabric of his shirt where the impact had landed.
SNAP!
CRASH!
The springs shattered completely, unable to withstand the rebounding force of their own stored energy hitting an immovable object. And as his springs broke apart, so too did his pride shatter into pieces.
The rebound from his own technique sent him flying backward through the air. He crashed through the remains of a damaged storefront, landing in a heap of broken wood and shattered glass.
This time, he didn't have the strength to stand back up.
The other Bellamy Pirates stood frozen, mouths hanging open.
What just happened?
Bellamy had thrown his technique, and ended up being knocked away by his own rebounding force against an opponent who hadn't even bothered to defend properly?
Meanwhile, Marcus just stood there looking completely unbothered.
He brushed the dust off his chest. Then he walked toward the collapsed storefront where Bellamy had landed.
Experience orbs were floating up from Bellamy, drifting toward him.
His level jumped from 60 straight to 61.
Not a massive gain, but not insignificant either. If he'd been level 1, this amount of experience would've been enough to boost him to around Level 15 or 16.
So this is what defeating him was worth?
Looking at the barely breathing Bellamy, he pulled out a splash potion of healing from his inventory and tossed it at the broken pirate.
The glass bottle shattered on impact, coating Bellamy in regenerative liquid.
I can't let a decent source of experience just die like that, he thought. I might need to farm him again someday.
Bellamy, whose consciousness had been fading to black, suddenly felt life flooding back into his body. The shattered springs in his limbs began miraculously repairing themselves, knitting back together.
After handling that little bit of business, Marcus looked around at the street.
Though quiet and seemingly deserted, he could feel countless pairs of eyes watching from windows, doorways, and alleys.
He frowned.
He'd planned to stay on this island for about three more days waiting for the Knock-Up Stream. If people kept secretly following him or tracking his position, he didn't want to deal with constant harassment from idiots testing their luck.
He placed his hand on the Shichiseiken's hilt.
Suddenly, a wave of ghostly energy exploded outward.
The sword, which had been restraining itself throughout the entire fight, finally released its suppressed violent aura.
Everyone who witnessed it felt their minds go blank for a split second.
Then they collapsed unconscious where they stood.
Was that Conqueror's Haki?
No, it was merely the shockwave of concentrated ghost energy, but the effect was remarkably similar.
This was a new characteristic the Shichiseiken had developed recently, ever since he had enchanted it.
A sword now had traits that mimicked one of the rarest abilities in the One Piece world.
But this manifestation was fused with the blade's inherent ghostly energy, making it far more sinister than true Conqueror's Haki. While Conqueror's Haki could knock out the weak-willed, the Shichiseiken's ghost energy left a deeper mark.
Those overwhelmed by it would forever bear the brand of defeat in their hearts. If they were ever shrouded by that ghost energy again, fear would rise from deep within them, giving them the illusion that resistance was impossible.
Of course, if he wished, he could directly enslave them, just like Saga did to the Marines, turning them completely into slaves bound to his will. But he had zero interest in that. If he wanted labor, he could mass-produce iron golems. They were more reliable and didn't require feeding.
After clearing the area of conscious observers, Marcus looked down at the street.
Countless experience orbs were gathering toward him from the bodies of knocked-out pirates.
Ding, ding, ding.
Moments later, his experience bar had filled another ten percent.
"Better than nothing, I guess."
He turned and walked away into the night, leaving a street full of unconscious pirates behind him.
Those who'd been knocked unconscious by the ghost energy slowly began waking up as dawn broke over Mock Town.
Sarquiss was among them, naturally. He came to with a headache, shaking his head as fragmented memories came flooding back.
Then he bolted upright, looking around for that terrifying man with the cursed sword, but Marcus was long gone.
All around were ruins and debris, and pirates lying sprawled across the ground.
"Shit!" he cursed.
"Bellamy!"
He immediately started searching for his captain among the wreckage.
Soon he found Bellamy buried in rubble from the collapsed storefront.
A vicious scar ran from Bellamy's neck down to his right hip, but thankfully, the wound had already scabbed over. He was still breathing.
Sarquiss let out a huge sigh of relief and quickly called the other crew members who'd just regained consciousness to help him.
Mock Town did have doctors available, though they charged ridiculous prices for their services. Fortunately, their crew had plenty of money from their various pirate activities.
They carried their unconscious captain to the nearest medical practice.
The doctor who examined Bellamy looked confused as he checked the wounds.
"Strange... did you already take him to another doctor before bringing him here?"
Sarquiss frowned. "What do you mean? You're the first doctor we've seen."
"Well, if you'd come even an hour later, this wound would've healed completely on its own." The doctor prodded at the scabbed-over gash. "Whatever medical treatment he already received was exceptionally effective."
"What?" Sarquiss blinked in disbelief. "We didn't take him anywhere! This is the first medical attention he's gotten!"
The doctor gave him a skeptical look but shrugged. "If you say so. Regardless, my services still cost money."
He grabbed his medical kit and got to work, though his "treatment" really just involved some basic disinfection and bandaging. The heavy lifting had clearly already been done by whatever mysterious healing Bellamy had received.
"That'll be 100,000 berries."
He held out his hand.
Sarquiss' forehead twitched with irritation. "That's it? You're not going to stitch the wound? Or give him some medicine?"
The doctor's mouth twitched in response. How was he supposed to stitch a wound that had already scabbed over and was growing fresh tissue underneath? And medicine? The guy was built like an ox, his body was already doing the work.
"Oh, right. Almost forgot." He scribbled something on a piece of paper. "Here's a prescription. Get this filled at the pharmacy."
Sarquiss finally relaxed a bit and took the prescription slip, handing it off to one of his men without bothering to read it.
None of the pirates could actually read the medical script anyway. They just took it straight to the pharmacy to get it filled.
Had they actually looked at it carefully, they would've realized it was just a basic energy-restoring tonic, the kind you could buy pre-made off the shelf at an exorbitant price, like LaVita.
The doctor collected his high fee and left, whistling cheerfully.