Not even an hour passed after the ship left Loguetown's dock before they ran into another ship. Usopp who was in the crows nest spotted the ship first and yelled out, "Ship, port side!"
Marcus quickly confirmed with his own spyglass before he yelled out, "Everyone get ready for combat!"
"Why are we getting ready for combat?" Tashigi asked from her spot on the deck.
Marcus gave a predatory smile as he said, "In case they're pirates."
"Pirates?!?"
Marcus nodded as he said, "Just because they aren't flying a black flag, doesn't mean they aren't pirates. Remember it's always best to prepare for the worst and hope for the best."
Marcus had everyone prepare to reef the sails as they waited for the ship to come closer. Both Marcus and Usopp watched the ship as it approached and noticed they changed direction to come closer towards them as they raised a flag of trade. The ship that approached them was massive in size and had to be completely full since its draught was so low in the water. It was so low in fact that its cannon ports sat just a foot or so above the water line and Marcus was surprised the ship hadn't sunk yet. It even made the deck of the five mast ship almost even with Marcus's ship when they pulled alongside it.
With the trading flag out Marcus had everyone reef the sails before he recognized someone from the original story who stood on the deck. Well he was a little different from the original since the man was about eleven years younger.
He was a large, muscular man, with long, wild purple-gray hair and distinct sideburns that sneered as he glanced over their ship's deck. He wore light purple pants, a navy blue shirt with a brown fur-lined cape and a thick gold linked chain around his neck. After he took in who was on the ship he said in a dismissive tone, "Take the ship, let's see what kinda loot they have. Try not to rough them up to bad, they won't sell well otherwise."
The other men on the deck cheered before they threw out hooks and quickly pulled the ships together. Tashigi was appalled as she asked, "What kinda person waves a trading flag and then attacks someone?!?"
The captain of the other ship heard her comment and yelled out, "What is my number one rule, men?"
"Anything is fine, as long as we win!" They all yelled out as they started to cross over to the other ship.
Marcus smirked as he yelled out, "Ace, take the captain. Sabo, you and Luffy watch his back."
"But I wanted to fight him!" Luffy complained as he punched someone in the face.
"Shut up and let's go!" Ace said and wasted no time as he knocked out a few fodder along with Sabo and a reluctant Luffy as they charged towards the other ship.
The pirate captain sneered as he reached down and picked up a massive spear before he said, "You think you kids can fight me? I'm Don Krieg!"
Kuina and Zoro started to engage the enemy crew on the deck as Tashigi joined them to help. Sanji quickly joined the melee, kicking people as Zeff watched over him and the others. Marcus glanced over the deck before he turned to watch over Zoe and the other women as Usopp began to pick off people from the crows nest.
Ace landed on the enemy ship a few moments later followed by Sabo and Luffy who started fighting in earnest against the pirates. Ace charged Krieg and a shock wave of air spread out from their first clash of weapons. Krieg's eyes narrowed slightly when he realized he couldn't overpower Ace in their first clash and twisted his spear as he tried to slide it down towards Ace. Ace used to Marcus doing a similar trick with his sword, quickly rotated his weapon to push the spear away and stepped forward to jab the tip of his weapon into Krieg.
Krieg disengaged his attack to dodge as he said, "You're pretty decent for a kid, you should join my crew."
"Join a weakling like you? Don't make me laugh." Ace said as he rushed forward to attack again.
"Weakling?!?" Krieg said as he parred the attack before he returned one of his own.
Ace attacked with an overhead slash as he said, "You raised a trading flag to get us to lower our guard and then attacked us. What else could you be besides a weakling with those types of tactics?"
As Ace and Krieg fought, Marcus moved where he could get a better view of the fight and also watch over the rest of the melee. From his new position on the deck he noticed some else from the show, only he didn't have his distinct armor yet. But he was still dual wielding shields along with bucklers strapped to his elbows which he used to great effect to block against Luffy's attacks.
With another of Krieg's main men found, Marcus started to scan the rest of the crew for Gin, since he would potentially be a threat. What he found instead made him do a double take as he took in the boy who would one day become "The man demon" of the Krieg pirates.
Gin was relatively lanky but instead of the muscular figure of a man, Marcus found the thin frame of a boy who was at the back of the other pirates. A boy who Marcus could see was shaking in fear as they held a belaying pin in their hands.
With the amount of people in the crew it would make sense that not everyone could join the fight immediately. But Marcus watched as Gin, even at the back of the crew, would always maneuver to let other people move forward instead of himself. Marcus smirked slightly to himself as he decided to see what was going on with the guy before he disappeared from where he stood.
"Why aren't you rushing forward… Is this your first time fighting?" Some asked from behind which made Gin jump in fright.
Gin quickly glanced at the person behind him to find someone younger than himself with the left side of their face covered in a massive scar. He didn't look familiar to Gin, but then again he was new and couldn't possibly know the hundred plus members of the crew already. Gin awkwardly smiled as he said, "Yeah…"
"You know, most people normally have experience fighting a little bit before they join a pirate crew. Why exactly did you join?"
Gin frowned at the boy as he asked, "Join? I was forcefully conscripted when you guys attacked a ship a couple weeks ago. Did you not pay attention when Krieg killed most of the crew before they surrendered?"
The boy shrugged as he asked, "So you were one of the people who surrendered?"
"What else was I supposed to do? I didn't wanna die…"
The boy glanced over the people close by as he asked, "How many of these people were also conscripted from the ship?"
"Just me. Everyone else is dead." Gin said with a saddened tone.
"If everyone else died, why are you still alive?"
Gin stepped back when he had a chance to rush forward which made the boy laugh before he said, "Oh, I see now. You're a coward."
Gin frowned as he said, "So what? I just want to live."
"What will you do when you can't hide behind the rest of your crew and need to fight to live? Or what are you gonna do when Krieg realizes he has a coward on his crew who doesn't fight?" The boy asked with a smirk.
Gin swallowed hard and he shook a little as he glanced towards Krieg who was locked in battle with a young black haired boy. The boy studied Gin for a few moments before he said, "If you stay as you are, you'll either die… Live in fear of Krieg as long as you are on his crew… Or you could force yourself to change."
Gin turned to look at the boy who smiled as he asked, "So what do you wanna do? Possibly die as a coward? Live in fear under Krieg… Or possibly become something more?"
Gin didn't hesitate as he said, "I just wanna live…" His voice firmed a little bit as he added, "But I don't wanna do it in fear."
"In that case, what are you gonna do about it?" The boy asked in a teasing tone.
"I… I don't know." Gin said as his shoulders slumped and he glanced at the ground.
"You want a hint?"
Gin's eyes lit up as he glanced towards the boy who gave a devilish smile before he said, "You need to break your shackles."
"Shackles?"
The boy nodded as he pointed towards the other pirates as he said, "Krieg and his crew are acting as shackles and the longer you do nothing about it. The harder they will be to remove."
Gin glanced at the men in front of him with a hint of fear as he asked, "How would I do that?"
"Like anything worth doing in this world… You fight for it."
"Fight?!?" Gin asked with fear in his voice.
The boy nodded as he said, "You want to remove your shackles? You'll need to fight to do that."
The boy pointed to a man in front of them as he said, "If you really want to change, this is your best chance."
Gin starred in fear at the back of the man the boy pointed at before his grip slowly tightened on the belaying pin in his hand. It took his a few moments and his eyes were still filled with fear, but he slowly raised the pin up before he smashed it over the man's head. The man cried out and stumbled forward a bit before he turned around with narrowed eyes and asked in an angry tone, "What the hell was that for you little shit?"
Gin locked up in fear for a moment before he heard the boy as he said, "One hit isn't going to break your shackles."
Something snapped in Gin at that moment and he charged at the man in front of him. Marcus watched as Gin got his ass beat, but kept getting back up which made him smile slightly. Other people took notice of the fight but basically ignored it since it was between crew mates. It took Gin almost five minutes before he finally won the fight against the man and he was barely standing at that point. But the smile on his blooded face made Marcus nod in satisfaction.
The rest of the fighting was slowing down as most of the pirates were defeated, with only Krieg and a couple more of the stronger crew still fighting. As Marcus watched the fighting, he glanced at Gin as he asked, "Good job… How do you feel?"
"Like shit…" Gin said with a big smile.
"You should have dodged more."
Gin dropped to the deck with a sigh before he asked, "What now?"
"Depends on you. Do you want to get stronger and live free of fear? Or go back to whatever your life was like before and possibly get conscripted by pirates again?"