After the first day on the island, Marcus put everyone into training mode and pushed them to the limit. He wasn't sure how strong Arlong was, but he didn't plan to underestimate the fishman. With that thought in mind he pushed everyone to the point of collapse each day. Most of them complained about the new training schedule, but none of them stopped training.
Genzo and the other villagers found it strange when they saw everyone training near the beach. But otherwise left them alone and didn't interfere or even really question why they were doing it. A week passed quickly as they trained and on their rest day, Marcus bought a newspaper. Inside the newspaper he found information about Arlong and his crew that made him smile. They were apparently spotted near Sabaody Archipelago a few days ago.
Within that information in mind, Marcus checked his maps and determined how long it would take Arlong to make it to the island. If Arlong and his crew went through the calm belt, it would take them at least a month and a half before they reached the Conomi islands. And that was if they went in a straight line and didn't stop anywhere along the way. If they went a different way it would take even longer.
Marcus quickly made the decision to rush towards Loguetown once he knew he had a buffer before Arlong arrived. Sure they would lose a couple weeks of solid training, but if they could get more combat experience against real pirates, it would be better in the long run. With that in mind, Marcus headed into the village to inform everyone about the change in plans.
He was able to find about half the crew easily, but Luffy, Usopp and Zoro were nowhere to be found in the village. Marcus ended up heading towards Bellemere's place to search for them, since it was close to the village. When he approached he found Zoro asleep under a tree so he kicked his leg and said, "Wake up."
Zoro groggily sat up as he asked, "Huh… What happened?"
"Why were you sleeping under this tree?"
Zoro yawned while stretching before he said, "It seemed like a good place to take a nap."
"So you got lost again."
"I'm not lost." Zoro said as he stood up.
"Okay, then point in the direction of the village."
Zoro instantly pointed away from the village and deeper into the island. Marcus looked in that direction for only a moment before he looked in the direction he just came from. Behind him down the path he was currently on, houses could easily be seen in the distance. Marcus slowly turned back to Zoro as he asked, "If the village is that way… What are those buildings behind me?"
Zoro glanced in that direction and frowned slightly as he said, "I don't know…"
"Are you sure it's not the village?"
"It could be… But I'm positive I came from that direction earlier." Zoro said as he pointed towards Bellemere's farm this time.
"Well head back towards the ship, we are setting sail in a couple of hours."
Zoro's eyes lit up as he asked, "Are we going to fight more pirates?"
"If we're lucky… So don't get lost again and head to the ship." Marcus said as he started to head up the path again.
After a couple of minutes he arrived at a small house in the middle of an orchard. All around the area were mikan fruit trees that gave the area a pleasant smell. As he was walking up to the house he heard Luffy as he yelled out, "Ahhh, don't hit me!"
Marcus came around the corner of the house to find Nami punching Luffy over the head while Usopp was on the ground laughing. A moment later Bellemere walked out of the house with Nojiko and quickly separated Nami from Luffy before she asked, "What the hell is going on? Why were you hitting him?"
"He said mikan's are stupid and he doesn't like them."
Bellemere glanced at Luffy with narrowed eyes as she asked, "You don't like mikan's?"
"Who would like mikan's when you can have meat instead?" Luffy asked with a smile.
"You little brat!" Bellemere said as he started to punch Luffy over the head and was quickly joined by Nami.
"Ahhh, don't hit me just because meat is the best!" Luffy said as he was being beaten up, while Usopp laughed harder and Nojiko chuckled softly.
Once Bellemere and Nami were satisfied and Luffy's head was covered in lumps, Marcus finally stepped forward as he said, "No matter how much you hit Luffy, he'll never change his opinion… Or get smarter. Trust me, my grandpa has been trying for years."
"Marcus!" Usopp and Luffy said at the same time.
Nami saw Marcus and jumped behind Bellemere who turned to Marcus with a slight frown on her face. Marcus just smiled at the woman as he said, "The answer is still no."
"You little brat." Bellemere said as she cracked her knuckles and started to step towards Marcus.
Marcus smirked as he said, "Don't mind me, I just stopped by to find these idiots."
Marcus glanced towards Luffy and Usopp as he said, "Be at the ship in two hours, we're going to Loguetown."
"Loguetown?" Everyone asked at the same time.
"Yeah, I wanna offload our loot and hopefully take out some more pirates on the way." Marcus said before he added, "Plus you wanted to see where the pirate king was executed and Zoro needs some decent swords."
"I need new swords?"
Marcus's eye twitched as he glanced at Zoro who was just behind him and asked, "Didn't you head back to the village?"
"Yeah… Isn't this part of the village?"
"This is in the opposite direction of the village…" Marcus said before he turned to Usopp and added, "You're in charge of making sure Zoro and Luffy make it back to the ship."
"I don't need help!" Zoro and Luffy said at the same time that Usopp asked, "Why me?"
"Because compared to them, you at least don't get lost."
Marcus then turned to Bellemere who was now almost in front of him and said, "See you later, obaasan."
"Obaasan?!?" Bellemere said as she rushed forward to punch Marcus.
As her fist passed through his after image she said, "Don't run away again you stupid brat!"
"Sorry, but you're really not my type." Marcus's voice drifted on the wind as Bellemere looked around for him.
About an hour later everyone was on the ship so Marcus decided to set sail. After an hour the island disappeared from view and Marcus double checked the ship's course before he handed the helm over to Sabo and headed below deck.
Marcus went down to the hold to sort through things before they reached Loguetown. While most of it was already separated into different groups, Marcus wanted to double check everything and possibly keep a couple things for himself.
As Marcus was going through the assorted goods section that was near the hulls entrance, he heard someone rushing down the stairs. Marcus turned towards the stairs to see Kuina as she missed a step about halfway down and started to fall.
Marcus's body froze in place and his eyes widened as he watched Kuina falling forward. Kuina let go of her sword as she attempted to catch herself on the railing, unfortunately it didn't work and she flipped head first down the stairs. Marcus's body finally started to respond as Kuina was already flipping towards the bottom of the stairs.
Instead of trying to stop or catch Kuina as she slammed into the ground, Marcus moved towards the other objects still in the air. Kuina's sword had hit one of the stairs at the perfect angle to somehow launch her sword out of the scabbard. The scabbard clattered to the floor harmlessly as Marcus caught the sword by its blade just before it pierced Kuina's chest.
As blood started to run down the blade from his hand, Marcus looked down at Kuina and asked, "Are you okay?"
Kuina nodded numbly as she stared with wide eyes at her sword. Marcus grabbed the sword by its hilt with his other hand and placed it on the ground as he asked, "Why the hell were you running down the stairs with your sword?"
Marcus pulled off his shirt and wrapped it around his injured hand as Kuina said with relief and a hint of embarrassment, "I was coming to grab my sword cleaning kit."
Marcus stared at Kuina for a few moments before he said in a flat tone, "You running around with your sword not properly secured almost got you killed."
"What would have happened if you died? What would I tell your dad or even Zoro? The poor kid would be heartbroken."
Kuina completely missed Marcus's teasing joke as she hung her head and said, "I don't know… But thank you for saving me."
Marcus's eyes narrowed as he said, "You don't need to thank me. Just don't do something stupid like that again. Someone might not be around to save you next time."
"Okay." Kuina said as she slowly stood up from the floor.
"Good, now go clean your sword and afterwards I want you to go do five thousand overhead swings while wearing your training harness so you don't forget it." Marcus said as he started for the stairs.
Kuina slowly collected her sword and scabbard as Marcus disappeared up the stairs. As Kuina was cleaning her sword, Marcus went to the galley to clean the cut on his palm before he had Zeff stitch it closed. Once his hand was taken care of he headed back down to the hull to finish what he started.
Over the next few days, Marcus made sure to clean his wound properly each day even with the stitches in place. It didn't affect him much since he could still do most things with one hand. But it was slightly annoying when steering the ship, training or eating.
Kuina was a lot less cheerful over the following week or so after her near death experience. She also tried to help out Marcus with stuff at first, but he rejected her help and said, "I appreciate the offer, but I'm fine. I consider this to be just another form of training for me."
By the end of the week they were only a day or so away from Loguetown and finally ran into a pirate ship. The ship itself was also headed in the direction of Loguetown, but when they noticed Marcus's ship. Well, they turned around and tried to get some more loot.
Everyone made pretty short work of the pirates and after looting the ship, Marcus had Zoe and the other women take it over. Since they were so close to Loguetown, there was no reason not to try and make money by selling the ship. Especially since it was in such great shape compared to other pirate ships they normally ran into.
Over the next day, both ships stayed close together as Zoe's ship followed behind Marcus. Just before noon the next day, they spotted their destination on the horizon as a black dot and just before noon they docked in the harbor.
Once they were docked and before people took off, mostly Luffy and whoever he dragged with him. Marcus delegated out tasks that needed to be done while they were on the island. The first one was turning in the pirates and claiming their bounties. The second was selling the ship they just acquired and last was finding places they could sell off all of their loot. With everything settled, Marcus asked Zeff to watch over the ship until he came back. Then he headed into town with Zoro and Kuina to see if they could find some decent swords for Zoro.