Shiki's gaze swept across the Straw Hat crew, lingering on each face before settling somewhere in the middle of the group.
"Following such a weak captain must be frustrating. Shihahahaha! Submit to me now, and I might consider letting your captain live."
But the only response was silence.
His amused expression faded. "So you really need to see how outmatched you are."
He'd always had patience for talented people, it's why he bothered making offers instead of just killing them outright. But patience had limits.
He lifted one hand, and the countless cloud-swords hovering around the Going Merry began to tremble.
One shot forward.
Straight at Luffy.
Crack!
Luffy's Haki-coated fist shattered it on impact. Without a solid physical form, the cloud-sword couldn't hurt him as long as his arm was protected.
But Shiki's smile returned. The destroyed sword split into two. Then those two became four.
The more Luffy destroyed, the more Shiki created. The number kept climbing exponentially.
When the count hit one hundred active cloud-swords, blood began trickling down Luffy's arms.
"One hundred is your limit?" Shiki sounded disappointed. Behind him, even more cloud-swords materialized, forming a seemingly endless arsenal. "Then tell me, can you protect your friends like this?"
The swords changed direction.
All of them.
Kira, who'd been carrying Luffy in her bird form, suddenly felt every single blade lock onto her. The killing intent hit her so hard her wings stiffened mid-flap.
She finally understood what Luffy had been dealing with. The swords came from every angle, completely unpredictable, and she had no idea how to defend against them.
Luffy noticed immediately. Steam exploded from his body as he pushed Gear Second even harder, trying to cover more angles with wider, more desperate attacks.
"Losing your composure? That just opens bigger gaps."
The cloud-swords, which had been flying in straight lines, suddenly began weaving erratic patterns.
Shunk.
Kira cried out as two swords punctured her wings from directly behind.
Luffy's eyes went red. "Come at me if you've got the guts!"
"When did I say I'd spare you?"
Shunk. Shunk. Shunk.
Three more swords drove through Luffy's torso. He coughed blood, but his hands shot out and crushed the cloud weapons before they could do more damage.
"Luffy!" Multiple voices shouted from the Merry.
Four holes went clean through his body. The wounds weren't fatal, his rubber body could take punishment that would kill normal people, but blood was pouring out.
Luffy looked back at his crew. His expression was complicated. He didn't say anything, but something passed between them anyway.
The crew's faces twisted through various emotions before they all seemed to reach the same conclusion.
Then Kira just... stopped flying.
She dove straight down toward the White Sea, carrying Luffy with her.
The sudden suicide dive caught Shiki completely off guard. But then the rest of the crew followed, every single Straw Hat jumped off the Going Merry and plunged into the clouds.
Suicide?
That was Shiki's first thought, but the coordinated timing made it obvious this was planned.
"Scarlet!"
The gorilla that had been hiding on the ship finally made its move. Its speed was incredible as it lunged for its target.
"Robin!"
Sanji, already in the water, exploded upward with a blast of Geppo. His leg slammed into Scarlet's jaw, but the impact felt like kicking solid steel. The gorilla barely budged.
"HOHO!"
Its segmented arm whipped out like a chain, catching Sanji across the chest and launching him toward the cloud sea below.
Shing!
A blade of compressed air sliced toward Scarlet's extended arm. The gorilla sensed the danger and tried to pull back, but the angle was perfect... whoever threw that attack had seen exactly where it needed to go.
The arm separated at the wrist.
"ROAR!"
Pain and fury mixed in Scarlet's bellow. Instead of retreating, it attacked even more viciously, swinging its remaining arm in a haymaker toward whoever had cut it.
"You idiot!" Shiki called out, but there was no time to intervene.
Marcus didn't dodge. He held the Shichiseiken steady, edge pointing directly at the incoming fist. Haki coated the blade.
He didn't swing or move. Just let Scarlet's momentum do the work.
The gorilla's fist hit the edge and split open. Flesh, muscle, and bone parted cleanly as the sword cut deeper with every centimeter of forward motion.
By the time the cut reached the forearm joint, the gorilla's battle rage had finally given way to fear. It tried to pull back.
But that moment of hesitation had cost crucial seconds.
Marcus was the only Straw Hat still above the White Sea. Everyone else had already vanished into the clouds below.
Shiki stared at the empty water where his targets had disappeared.
"You think you can escape me that easily?" He descended to the White Sea's surface, placing one palm against the clouds. "Rise!"
The sea lifted like a blanket being torn off a bed. Massive waves of cloud material shot upward, revealing... Nothing.
The Straw Hats had sunk at an impossible rate. Even Robin, who Scarlet had grabbed just moments ago, was already gone beneath the layers Shiki could control.
"What the hell?"
The White Sea had the same effect on Devil Fruit users as regular seawater, it sapped their strength and mobility. Drowning in it should have been inevitable.
"Fishmen? But they don't have any fishmen."
To drag an entire crew deep into the clouds that quickly, you'd need the swimming ability of a fishman. But the Straw Hats' roster was well known, and there wasn't a single fishman among them.
He refused to accept it. He unleashed more power, and the White Sea itself seemed to obey his will. Countless waves hung suspended in midair. A massive section of the cloud ocean simply vanished, as if a giant had taken a bite out of it.
And still... nothing.
Not a single trace of the Straw Hat Pirates remained.
"Good. Good. GOOD." A vein bulged on his forehead.
Prey that should have been secured had slipped through his fingers at the last second.
His gaze fell on Marcus, the only Straw Hat still within reach.
Run?
Hell yes, he wanted to run. But countless waves of cloud-sea surged toward him from every direction, responding to Shiki's will.
Even with the Luck of the Sea protecting him from the worst effects, being wrapped in this violent maelstrom of clouds made movement impossible. The currents were too strong. He tried launching a few flying slashes, but they just got swallowed by the raging torrents.
This was Shiki's real power. If he'd wanted to, he could have smothered the entire Straw Hat crew in an endless ocean of clouds from the very beginning. Any normal Devil Fruit user wrapped in this much cloud-sea would have lost their abilities immediately. Resistance wouldn't even be an option.
The Straw Hats' escape plan shouldn't have worked. Falling into water like this was supposed to be a death sentence for most of the crew.
But they'd gotten lucky, or maybe it was fate. Having both Alvida with her Slip-Slip Fruit and Marcus with Luck of the Sea meant they could pull off an escape that should have been impossible, right under Shiki's nose.
"So your choice is to sacrifice yourself for your captain?"
Shiki studied Marcus, who was completely wrapped in his power. But something felt off. The prisoner wasn't panicking. He wasn't struggling or desperately trying to break free.
The lack of resistance bothered him more than he wanted to admit. Devil Fruit users should be helpless in seawater or cloud-sea, that was natural.
His eyes narrowed. "How ironic. Your sacrifice bought your friends time to run. But that's fine, at least I get to keep one of you."
He waved his hand casually, and a section of cloud-sea lifted Scarlet's severed hand into the air, carrying it toward his fortress.
"Rrr..." Scarlet let out a low, pained growl. One hand was completely gone, and the other was split open from palm to forearm. The bleeding had stopped thanks to the gorilla's powerful regeneration, and the torn arm was already starting to heal. But the severed hand wouldn't grow back.
"Don't worry," Shiki told his injured subordinate. "I can have it reattached."
Marcus watched all of this without reacting. Not because he'd given up or accepted his fate, but because he simply didn't need to resist yet.
Trapped? Not really. He had ender pearls. He could leave whenever he wanted.
That's why he'd stayed behind while everyone else escaped at maximum speed. Someone had to buy time.
The crew had made their plan in the mental group chat. Once it became clear Luffy couldn't win, they'd execute an emergency retreat. Some people had suggested Marcus fight instead, but he'd shut that down immediately.
That terrifying slash he'd used against Blackbeard? It wasn't something he could just pull out whenever he felt like it. That kind of attack required preparation time and stacking buffs.
Trying to charge up an ultimate move in front of someone like Shiki? He wasn't stupid. He'd just interrupt it.
And even if Marcus went all-out and somehow managed to fight Shiki to a standstill... then what? The rest of the crew would never let him shoulder everything alone. He wasn't the captain, that wasn't his role.
Because of Marcus' presence, the Straw Hats had definitely grown faster than in the original timeline. But there was a flip side to that coin. Because they'd faced fewer death-or-glory situations, their unity and resolve weren't as ironclad as they should be.
They hadn't experienced that moment in Arabasta where they thought Luffy had died and completely broke down. They hadn't clawed their way back from the brink of death over and over again.
Mental fortitude and the ability to handle real danger, those things developed slowly, through trial by fire.
Like earlier, when their combined attacks failed to immediately solve the problem, their morale had collapsed way faster than it should have.
Maybe my changes haven't been leading things in a better direction after all, Marcus thought.
He'd originally believed his presence would prevent tragedies and make things easier for everyone. But the truth was, the Straw Hats stuck together through thick and thin in the original story, even after two years apart, they reunited without hesitation, because they'd been forged in blood and fire.
And he had essentially put them in a greenhouse. Protected them from the worst of what this world could throw at them.
Greenhouse flowers might look beautiful, but they're fragile. The moment real hardship hits, they wilt and lose their luster.
Flowers that grow in storms, though? Those develop real resilience, and strength.
"You don't seem very worried." Shiki's voice pulled Marcus from his thoughts. "Do you think your friends will come back for you? Or have you already decided to submit?"
Marcus just smiled at him. He didn't feel any particular hatred toward the man. When he'd watched the movie, he'd actually felt bad that Shiki lost.
The legendary pirate had been done dirty by appearing too early in the story, back when Haki wasn't even properly established in the series. His defeat to Gear Third, one attack, that stupid giant foot stomp, had been pure plot armor bullshit.
If Luffy had fought Shiki after unlocking Gear Fourth, with proper Haki techniques and everything? Then yeah, Shiki losing to age and accumulated injuries would have made sense. There'd be tragedy in it, a hero's twilight years, watching the new generation surpass him.
Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world, died because of age and battle damage. Shiki had a ship's rudder stuck in his skull, so his peak strength being diminished was reasonable. Add in Roger's death breaking his spirit, his Haki not what it used to be...
With all those debuffs stacked up, losing to a rising star like Luffy would be acceptable.
But getting taken out by one Gear Third stomp? That was just lazy writing.
"I trust my friends," Marcus said calmly. "And I trust your dignity and tolerance."
Shiki's mouth quirked up at the flattery. "You're an interesting kid. Among all of them, you're the one I think has the most potential. But do you understand the situation you're in?"
"What, the fact that you've captured me?"
Shiki didn't mind chatting. After all, he had nothing but time, and the prisoner clearly wasn't going anywhere. "Let me educate you on something. Do you know what it means when a pirate has 'Capture Alive' on their bounty poster?"
Marcus frowned. He'd never really thought about it.
"You're still in Paradise, so you probably haven't felt it yet. But once you reach the New World? The Marines become more active. Cipher Pol agents are everywhere. What awaits you is endless harassment, maybe even assassination attempts. And your enemies won't just be Marines and pirates anymore. Slave hunters will be after you too. Have you ever wondered if one of your own crewmates might secretly be a CP agent?"
"That's impossible."
"Is it?" Shiki's smile widened.