The next morning J woke up to the smell of food coming from the kitchen. The night before after they all returned from eating dinner, Marcus gave both J and Nicholas a hammock before he crashed in his room. J ended up sleeping in the main cabin of the helm, while Nicholas picked the galley. J climbed out of his hammock and made his way to the galley where he found Marcus cooking.
J was greatly surprised since he was normally a light sleeper considering he was basically homeless. But for some reason he slept the whole night without waking up and even continued to sleep when Marcus passed by the helm and entered the kitchen earlier. Nicholas was still currently asleep though as he rested in his hammock off in the corner.
Marcus noticed J enter and glanced over his shoulder as he said, "Breakfast will be done in a few minutes."
"I'm not hungry."
Marcus shrugged slightly but didn't turn around as he said, "Doesn't matter if you are or not, you should still eat a little something, especially since you're malnourished."
J rolled his eyes as he sat down at the table and said, "It helps keep people away and uninterested in you if you look like this."
"Yeah, but you no longer have to worry about that. You should get used to eating and start training so you can protect yourself and your money."
J didn't respond to that as Marcus finished cooking a pretty simple breakfast of bacon, eggs, toast, sausage and hash browns. While pretty simple, it was also a large amount of food and caused J's eye brows to raise as Marcus placed large plates piled high with food on the table.
Once everything was laid out, Marcus took a cup of water and walked over towards Nicholas before he dumped it over his face. Nicholas practically jumped out of his hammock only to slam into the ceiling before he crashed into the floor. Marcus laughed at what happened and even J cracked a smile as Nicholas sat up and looked around in confusion for a moment before his eyes narrowed on Marcus.
Marcus pointed towards the table as he said, "Breakfast is done, come eat and then we can have another spar until it's time for lunch."
Nicholas slowly stood up slightly hunched over so as not to hit the ceiling as he said, "I'll get you back for that."
Marcus shrugged as he took his place at the table and said, "You can try."
After eating breakfast together and cleaning up the dishes, J reluctantly stepped outside with the others to watch them spar. While he wasn't really interested in watching, he didn't have anything else to do. J found a spot on a taller tree root next to the boat where he settled down to watch, while Marcus and Nicholas started warming up to fight.
When the fight finally started, J could easily see both of them as they traded blows. But as the fight progressed it slowly ramped up in intensity and J could only see their bodies correctly, while everything else was a blur of motion. Within half an hour everything about them turned into a blur and not long after J could only see where they used to be.
He would hear blows that sounded like thunder claps and see wind kicking up debris a moment later. But Marcus and Nicholas were already gone by the time J could even look in that direction. J tried to keep up and every once in a while he would catch a blur in the corner of his vision. But for the most part J was completely lost and still couldn't believe people could even move that fast.
Marcus laughed in excitement as he traded blows with Nicholas back and forth. Nicholas for his part didn't laugh and was being rather serious all things considered. But then again he wasn't in control of the fight and Marcus pushed him just enough to make him use all of his focus just to defend himself. Over time the fighting picked up until haki was introduced and the blows from it created a large dust cloud like the day before.
Once the large dust cloud formed, J decided he watched enough and headed back to the ship. The friendly spar continued for hours until Nicholas ran out of haki again. Afterwards they cleaned up before all three of them headed out to eat lunch even though J didn't feel like eating. Once finished with lunch, Marcus took the two of them to explore the amusement park and other attractions since Nicholas still needed time to recover.
Just before sunset they returned to the ship so Marcus and Nicholas could spar again. J didn't watch this time and decided to just hang out in the ship and read one of the books Marcus had in his room. While most people would normally look at J and think he was just an uneducated street urchin. That couldn't be farther from the truth, but J learned quickly to never stand out or draw attention after he became homeless.
As for the books Marcus owned, most of them were dedicated to music or navigation, but he also had a few history books and some non fiction books. The non fiction were actually like the history books, but more specific to certain islands or kingdoms than anything else.
J took one of the books about some place he'd never heard about and climbed into his hammock to read. As J immersed himself in the book, Marcus and Nicholas finished their warm up and J could hear them trading blows that sounded like distant thunder. J tuned out the noise as best he could and concentrated on the book in front of him that talked about a country called Alabasta. He'd heard about it before, a long time ago but otherwise knew nothing about it.
Time passed quickly as J read about the desert kingdom somewhere in the first half of the Grandline. After a while the noise from outside disappeared and ten minutes later J heard two people talking as they approached the ship. A minute later Marcus stepped in followed by Nicholas who was forced to hunch over to move through the ship. Marcus glanced towards J in the hammock as he said, "We're gonna clean up and then we'll go eat dinner."
J rolled his eyes since he knew that meant Marcus was going to bring him along even if he wasn't hungry at all. Honestly J had eaten more in the last day or so then he'd eaten in the past couple weeks. It wasn't that J couldn't make enough money to eat, he just knew better. If you were healthy and homeless on Sabaody you tended to disappear, even then it wasn't just homeless people who disappeared sometimes…
Marcus and Nicholas quickly cleaned up and came out in clean clothes as Nicholas asked, "Why couldn't you design your ship with normal people in mind?"
Marcus chuckled as he asked, "You think you're normal?"
"Yup."
Marcus shook his head slightly before he said, "Being over nine feet tall isn't normal… But I have a feeling I shouldn't talk because I'm already six foot and showing no signs of stopping."
"Exactly! That's why you should fix your ship."
Marcus waved towards J as he said, "Come on, let's go get dinner."
As they stepped out of the ship and headed towards the entertainment district Marcus said, "I'm actually planning to build a new ship sooner or later."
"Same single person design?"
"No. I'll need to make it at least twice as big… But it'll affect the top speed so I'll need to think about it more." Marcus said as he shook his head slightly and let out a sigh.
They chatted a bit more before they made it to a grove filled with bars, restaurants and hotels. After searching for a little while they settled for a nice place with a pretty decent sized menu. Nicholas and Marcus both ordered enough food to feed over ten people each while J ordered some pasta. J ended up eating a little more than that since it took both of them almost an hour to eat everything. Once finished everyone walked around the grove for a bit before they headed back to the ship for the night.
The next morning J woke up much the same as the day before by the smell of food. After breakfast J decided to stay on the ship as Marcus and Nicholas went out to spar again. The spar started out like normal but before they could even get serious Marcus sensed a strong and familiar presence entering his observation haki range. Marcus immediately pulled back as he said, "Troubles heading our way."
Nicholas frowned and looked around as he asked, "Where?"
"Coming from grove twelve. If we're lucky he'll leave us alone… But I doubt it. I'm gonna grab my sword."
Marcus disappeared in a blur and reappeared on the ship a few seconds later. J glanced up from his book in confusion as Marcus stepped inside and asked, "You guys finish already?"
"No, an enemy is heading this way."
J's eyes widened slightly and he jumped out of his hammock as he asked, "Should we run?"
"No, I'm getting my sword in case they attack." Marcus said as he quickly entered his room and came out a few moments later with his sword on his hip.
Marcus pulled out his den den mushi and a piece of paper with a couple numbers on it as he said, "If I don't come back and you hear fighting call these numbers one at a time until someone picks up. Then tell them where we are and that I'm fighting Doflamingo."
"Doflamingo?!?" J said in a voice filled with fear.
"I've fought him before, if we're lucky he'll ignore me this time…"
J took the den den mushi with a serious expression on his face while he nodded his head before Marcus disappeared from view. When Marcus reappeared next to Nicholas he said, "He's almost here, don't let your guard down."
"Who is it?" Nicholas asked as a distinctive laughter tinged with anger filled the air.
Fufufufufufufufufufufufufu
A few moments later Doflamingo swung into view before he flew towards them and landed fifty feet away from them both. Nicholas's eyes widened as he asked in confusion, "Why is Doflamingo here?"
Marcus couldn't see Doflamingo's eyes, but he felt the man's heavy gaze on him as he said, "No clue, but I doubt it's for a friendly visit."
Marcus noticed Doflamingo's brow move slightly like he narrowed his eyes before he heatedly said, "I received a report my business was attacked again and what do I find? The little nuisance who stole Baby 5 from me…"
"I didn't steal anyone."
Doflamingo sneered, "She left the family because of you… Where is that useless girl awayways? Did you discard her after you realized how useless she was?"
"She's not useless and where she is doesn't matter, she's no longer part of your crew."
Doflamingo frowned and his fingers started to twitch as he asked, "Are you looking for another beating or should I just kill you this time?"
Nicholas's eyes narrowed as he stepped forward and said in a commanding voice, "Warlord Doflamingo you might be sanctioned by the World Government but that doesn't give you the right to run wild."
Doflamingo's gaze shifted slightly towards Nicholas as he asked, "Another annoying little bug, are you looking to die too?"
"I'm marine Captain Nicholas, second in command of marine base GR 66. Feel free to attack me if you want your warlord title revoked." Nicholas said as he cracked his knuckles and prepared for a fight.
Fufufufufufufufu
Doflamingo's head tilted backwards while he laughed loudly for a few moments before a string shot out and was blocked by Marcus's sword. Nicholas took a fighting stance as his eyes narrowed while Doflamingo stared down at him and asked in a mocking tone, "You think the World Government is gonna care if I kill either of you?"
Nicholas frowned at that comment as more strings shot towards them that Marcus easily cut down this time before he said, "This might be his string clone, don't commit too heavily to your attacks."
Nicholas nodded slightly as Doflamingo burst into laughter again before he said, "Both of you annoying bugs should just die!"
Strings shot out like bullets towards both of them which Marcus intercepted and cut down as he pushed forward. Nicholas trailed behind him for a few seconds before an opening appeared and he dashed forward with soru. He appeared next to Doflamingo's side a moment later and his haki coated fist slammed into his arm which Doflamingo used to block with.
The attack caused a pause in Doflamingo's attacks which allowed Marcus to blast forward himself as he attacked with an overhead slash. Doflamingo's right leg kicked out as strings coated in haki blocked the attack and forced Marcus back a step. Nicholas didn't stop his own attack though as he pressed his own attack from the side with a rain of blows. Doflamingo attempted to block but was forced to retreat and dodge instead as Marcus attacked at almost the same time.
For the next few minutes Doflamingo was forced on the defensive as Marcus and Nicholas used pretty impressive coordination to fight against him. That only lasted until another string attack came from behind Nicholas and Marcus was forced to intercept it. After blocking the attack another Doflamingo dropped down not far away as he snarled, "Enough playing around!"
Doflamingo coordinated his attacks with his clone and forced Marcus and Nicholas on the defensive within seconds but didn't stop. As they were being pushed back Marcus asked, "How are you doing? Think you can hold out against his clone?"
Nicholas grunted as he blocked a heavy blow before he asked, "I should be fine… What about you? Are you gonna be able to handle his real body or should we retreat?"
"J called for help…"
Nicholas raised an eyebrow as he asked, "You think we can hold until help arrives?"
A predatory grin played across Marcus's face as he said, "No clue, but I'm planning to go all out and won't have time to help you… Try not to die."
"Heh, I was gonna say the same thing to you."
Marcus nodded before he sent a powerful air slash at Doflamingo and then moved away from Nicholas. Nicholas also moved himself so that it was hard for Doflamingo or his clone to attack either one of them at the same time. Afterwards as Nicholas prepared to charge in towards the clone he felt a massive pressure pass over him for a moment.
Nicholas knew what he just felt and glanced towards the source to find Marcus with a bubble that had hints of purple lightning around himself. That bubble was currently clashing against a bubble with hints of red lightning emanating from Doflamingo.