During the couple days it took Marcus and Yamato to reach Elbaph, they ended up talking a lot. Mostly because they had nothing else to do and the fact Yamato almost never interacted with people normally. It also helped that Marcus was a decent story teller and he had plenty of stories to tell. Most of them were about his life with his brother and friends, but he also told stories about his grandpa.
It was over three days after they officially left Wano when they finally spotted Elbaph on the horizon. It was still in the early morning and it looked like a dot in the distance, but it quickly grew larger and they weren't even close to it. The top of a massive tree was the first thing they saw when it was still a dot on the horizon and they only realized that once they were closer. The tree was monstrous in size and Marcus was positive it was taller than the red line.
"Why is it so big?"
"That's what she said…"
Yamato turned towards Marcus with a raised eyebrow before she noticed his smirk and her eyes widened slightly and she burst into laughter. Marcus chuckled too, until he pointed towards the island and said, "Sure the tree is impressive, but look at that."
Yamato turned and followed the direction of Marcus's finger before she squinted as she focused on what he was talking about. It took a few moments, but when she finally noticed the gargantuan sword sticking up out of the island and reaching the clouds, Yamato's jaw dropped and her eyes popped out of her head.
"What. The. Fuck?!?!"
"My thoughts exactly… Like who was that even for and how the hell did it get there.
Yamato nodded along quickly before she added, "Hopefully it's a good story."
"We can ask at the bar and hopefully someone knows."
"We're going to a bar?"
"Yeah, it's the landing spot for most visitors. We can't get to the main parts of the island without help from the giants." Marcus said as he turned the boat slightly to go around the island.
As they approached closer, the tree and the island itself never seemed to stop growing in size. When they were about ten miles or so from the coast, the island and tree were the only thing they could see in front of them. They could also no longer see the top of the tree as it was just too tall and even blocked out the sky above.
Yamato stared up at it in awe along with Marcus before he let out a whistle and said, "That's definitely taller than the red line… Well if you only count where it's above the water."
"What does that mean?"
"The red line goes all the way to the ocean floor, so technically it's over six miles in height before it even leaves the water…"
"And how tall is it above the water?"
"At least a mile or two, but it's supposedly higher at some points… Still, the fact this thing exists is crazy."
Yamato nodded along as they closed in on the island before she asked, "We're fighting today, right?"
"Sure, let's find a place to fight after we dock the ship. Then we can eat a proper meal together to celebrate me winning."
"You think you can beat me in a fight?"
Marcus smirked slightly as he said, "Yup…"
Yamato cracked her knuckles as she said, "I can't wait to prove you wrong."
The two of them bantered as they closed in on the island and Marcus was forced to slow down the ship as they entered a massive patch of fog. While the fog wasn't thick, it still obscured most of their vision after entering it. Marcus kept his angled course mostly by watching the log pose and after an hour the fog slowly cleared and they could see properly again. To their left was the island which looked rocky and covered in snow. But further ahead the snow cleared up and they could see grass filled plains and some gently rolling hills.
It was shortly after that when they finally saw their destination which was a harbor and massive dock filled with ships. It honestly looked bigger than any dock Marcus could remember visiting and he didn't notice any giant ships docked in the harbor currently. But there were definitely a few spots for them by the size of a couple of the docks. The rest were built regular size, only they were completely different.
Instead of the regular size pillars, beams and deck boards you would normally see. The dock was built by giants and they used what looked like massive pieces of lumber driven into the water. They were completely solid as far as Marcus could tell and they were perfectly flat.
Marcus glanced over all of the ships as they approached and didn't recognize a single flag at all. Yamato studied them too as they drew closer, but it was Marcus who spoke first when he finally recognized a ship, his ship which he pointed towards and said, "Look, that's my ship!"
Yamato glanced at the relatively small ship as she asked, "Why is it so small?"
"Because I started out sailing by myself and needed it to be easy to manage alone. But it's also the fastest and most nimble ship on the water."
"Is it faster than this?"
"No. But this is a small boat, not a proper ship like that is." Marcus said as he guided the boat towards the dock and his ship.
The spot where his ship was docked was relatively empty compared to the rest of the pretty large harbor. A few other ships were in the same area, but all of them flew their own flag plus a smaller one for the Redhair pirates. Even Marcus's ship had a small Redhair pirate flag waving at the top of its mast. Marcus pulled his boat up behind his ship as he let it coast to a stop before they exited the ship and started to tie off to the dock.
While they did that, Marcus took another look at the dock and his first impression was correct, the dock was just giant size lumber hammered into the ground below. Afterwards Marcus jumped into his ship as he said, "Come on, I'll show you my ship first."
As Yamato stepped onto the ship, Marcus tested the cabin door but found it locked. Marcus clicked his tongue in annoyance before he moved to the side and started to fiddle with one of the boards. Yamato watched from behind as she asked, "What are you doing?"
"Getting my spare key." Marcus said as a click could be heard and the board opened up to show a hidden compartment.
Marcus pulled out a key before he closed the compartment again and stood up and unlocked the cabin. Opening the door and stepping inside he instantly noticed a few things different from the last time he was on the ship. The first was the entire thing was decorated and looked lived in, it wasn't over done. But compared to his mostly utilitarian style it was a massive difference. The second thing he noticed was the smell. While the boat didn't smell bad before or anything, now it smelled like, girls…
At least that's what Marcus thought when he smelled flowers, vanilla and something else he couldn't place. Yamato was forced to duck down to get inside but afterwards said, "Nice place, but it's a bit small."
"I know, I already plan to change it when I visit Water Seven again and build a new ship." Marcus said as he headed towards his cabin.
When he opened the door he found the place completely changed, even more so than the bridge of the ship. His bed was still there and the storage compartment he used for clothes, but both of them looked different. The rest of the room was completely decorated with flowers and plants while fabrics hung on the walls to give it color. There were also numerous other things that were definitely not his but looked to be either Uta's or Baby 5's. Needless to say, Marcus's room was no longer his.
After taking a quick look around the ship, Marcus let out a sigh as he said, "It looks like I'm homeless now…"
"What are you talking about?"
Marcus waved to everything as he said, "The girls took it over, I have no idea how J even lives in a place like this."
"I like it."
"Of course you would."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Marcus rolled his eyes as he said, "Doesn't matter, let's go find a place to fight."
Yamato's eyes lit up as she said, "Finally!"
Marcus locked up the ship before they moved towards the island and the only visible building they could see. Marcus would have thought it was weird that there was only one building, but it was built for giants and towered above the normal sized docks. For the set of giant sized docks it seemed to fit right in, but for Marcus, Yamato and everyone else it seemed like a wooden monolith. Luckily it was designed for normal people in mind too and had a separate entrance for non-giants.
The two of them ignored the bar for now and headed towards a large empty area away from everyone. While further inland there looked to be grass that was taller than Marcus, near the bar and the docks was mostly dirt and rocks packed tight and mostly flat. After walking about a mile from the bar, Marcus finally stopped and started to stretch as he said, "This should do."
Yamato nodded in agreement as she also started to stretch and take practice swings with her kanabo. As they were limbered up Marcus asked, "Rules?"
"Go till knock out?"
"Sounds good to me." Marcus said as Yamato took a stance with her weapon.
Marcus pulled up his fist and took a brawler's stance similar to his grandpa before Yamato asked, "You're not gonna use your sword?"
"I need to see if you can give me a good enough fight to even use it."
Yamato smiled at that comment before she slammed her kanabo into the ground and let go as she took up a boxer's stance. Marcus smiled back at her before he disappeared from his spot and she barely dodged a blow to the head. She threw a left hook towards Marcus's liver at almost the same time which he blocked with his right elbow. The punch was solid and Marcus was pushed back as his feet dug trenches as he let out a grunt.
Marcus attacked again after the punch landed with a snap kick towards her stomach. Yamato twisted at a weird angle and barely avoided the blow but it caused her to become unbalanced. Marcus pushed his slight advantage as she tried to recover with an uppercut. Yamato leaned back out of the way to dodge, but instead of falling over, a large white tail sprouted from her back. The tail touched the ground and she used it like a spring to flip backwards away from Marcus before she charged towards him as the tail disappeared.
A smile split Marcus's face as Yamato threw a punch and he matched it with his own. Fist slammed against fist and a hammer blow rang out before another followed and then another. For every punch Yamato threw out, Marcus decided to copy with his own and they started to punch each other's fists repeatedly and see who would back down first.