Marcus flipped through the air, drifting in and out of consciousness while his mind tried to form a coherent thought. In the haze of his clouded mind he heard a slow sarcastic voice as it asked, "Tell me Marcus-kun, have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"
Something about the voice caused Marcus's half closed eyes to snap open and his arms crossed over his chest coated in armament haki a moment later as a foot slammed into his defense and a lazy voice said, "Oh, you actually blocked it."
That was all Marcus heard as he was blasted towards the ground at incredible speed. Just before he slammed into the ground, Marcus managed to flip over and coat his legs in haki which created a massive crater. A second later the ground exploded under his feet which doubled the craters size as he blasted into the air with a fist cocked back. He quickly threw a punch with everything he had at his opponent, but a second before it landed the man turned into a flash of yellow light.
The shock wave from the punch snapped trees in half and up rooted smaller ones completely as that same voice said, "Oh, that was scary, good thing I dodged."
Marcus frowned and focused on the figure in the distance as he dropped to the ground and said in a frustrated tone, "I paid for a fight! Stop running away and actually fight me!"
"But this is how I fight Marcus-kun, it's not my fault you're slower than me." Kizaru said as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a watch before he added, "Times almost up too, unless you want to add more time to the spar."
"Why, so you could just run around again?"
Kizaru only responded with a slight smirk before Marcus added, "Yellow monkey… More like a yellow bellied chicken, too afraid to have a proper fight."
Kizaru's eyes narrowed behind his glasses and he stored his watch away as he said, "Ohhh, you have a mouth almost as bad as Vice Admiral Garp."
Kizaru flashed in front of Marcus and kicked towards him, Marcus didn't dodge and even moved towards the incoming attack. As it connected, Marcus coated the impact spot and his arms in haki as he latched onto the leg. While Marcus took a little damage, he wasn't sent flying and with his arms coated in haki, Kizaru couldn't remove his foot from Marcus's death grip.
Kizaru frowned slightly as he glanced at Marcus who gripped his leg tighter with one hand and raised his free hand up coated in haki and said, "I'm gonna enjoy this."
As Marcus swung down on Kizaru's leg, the man in question tried to jerk his leg back as he reached out to block. It was awkward, but he managed to block the attack with his haki coated arm. Unfortunately his leg was still trapped in Marcus's death like grip as the boy in question released an onslaught of attacks at his leg and arm. Kizaru fought back, but he was limited in what he could do, hopping around on one leg while being constantly attacked.
After a few rounds of attacks, Marcus's fist flattened out and aimed straight for Kizaru's hand. Kizaru didn't react until he felt Marcus's palm slap against his and their fingers interlocked. Marcus's hand coated in haki locked into place like a vault door and he finally released Kizaru's leg as a feral grin spread across his face. Marcus immediately used their locked hands as an anchor to pull himself towards Kizaru while his right arm whipped out towards the man's face.
Kizaru used their connected hands to move the attack off course while at the same time blocking with his free hand. Marcus didn't let that discourage him as his right leg whipped out towards Kizaru's left knee. Kizaru again used their connection to force the attack off course, but Marcus didn't care. Now that he had Kizaru somewhat pinned down, he planned to extract his pound of flesh from the man. Marcus repeatedly attacked Kizaru and while most were thrown off course and blocked, a few made it through.
After numerous attacks Marcus planted his feet firmly before he yanked Kizaru towards him with all his strength. Caught off guard, Kizaru couldn't in time to the incoming punch from Marcus's fist which slammed into his face. The sound of steel rang out along with the shattering of glass as Marcus's fist impacted the middle of Kizaru's face. Marcus didn't stop with a single attack though and quickly pulled back his outstretched arm to throw another attack.
Kizaru's eyes narrowed as his broken glasses fell to the ground as Marcus pulled back for another strike before his free hand lashed out. Before Marcus could fully pull back his arm for another blow, Kizaru's own fist slammed into his face. Marcus didn't try to block or dodge but took the blow with a crazy smile on his face as he returned a counter punch. Two hammer like blows rang out before both sides reared back and swung again. After a moment the immediate area sounded like a busy blacksmith's shop as the constant hammer blows rang out repeatedly.
Minutes passed and the sound never stopped but actually grew in speed. Marcus's head started to feel a little fuzzy from the repeated blows and he could taste iron in his mouth. But the crazed look in his eyes and the manic grin on his face only grew more intense as the fight continued. Besides his broken glasses and a slightly split lip, Kizaru looked fine for the most part. Only his deepening frown and narrowed eyes that were now like slits said otherwise.
"Let go." Kizaru said in a voice no longer filled with his usual sarcastic tone.
Marcus spit out some blood and threw another punch at Kizaru as he taunted, "Make me."
Kizaru traded another blow with Marcus before he pulled back his hand and pointed a finger at Marcus that started to glow yellow. Marcus laughed in response and as the glowing orb of light condensed, he yanked on Kizaru's arm at the same time he dodged. A yellow beam of light shot into the ground near his feet and created a one inch hole in the ground that looked burnt and glassy around the edges.
Marcus glanced at the hole then back up at Kizaru with a smirk as he said, "Looks like you're a quickshoot, I heard one out of five men suffer from the same condition. I wonder if that started before or after you ate your fruit…"
Kizaru's left eye started to twitch as he raised his finger and aimed at Marcus again while it gathered energy. Marcus didn't wait this time and yanked Kizaru towards him as he punched the man's arm. His arm jerked upwards from the blow and the laser beam shot harmlessly into the air as Marcus's leg shot out in a vicious kick towards Kizaru's left knee.
The kick landed but Kizaru protected himself with haki so it barely affected him and he yanked Marcus off balance almost causing him to fall. Marcus stomped his feet into the ground to brace himself again before Kizaru's whole hand started to glow as it condensed power. It wasn't his free hand though, but the one Marcus had in a death grip. Marcus's eyes widened as he focused more haki into his hand and arm before an overwhelming blast forced their hands apart. As soon as that happened Marcus and Kizaru were launched away from each other, while the area they were just standing turned into a glass filled crater.
Marcus flipped through the air before he planted his feet on the ground which created trenches through the ground. When Marcus finally stopped, he was over a hundred meters from Kizaru who glanced at him for a moment before he disappeared in a flash of light. Marcus stared at his retreating figure and clicked his tongue before he started to shake his left arm that was completely numb. While there was no real damage, that last blast was extremely painful even with haki protecting him.
Instead of chasing after Kizaru who obviously didn't want to fight anymore, he headed towards the sound of fighting. Actually, it didn't really sound like fighting but cannon blasts repeatedly going off in the distance. Marcus approached the sound and after a while found two people relentlessly throwing punches at each other. Yamato was in her hybrid form trading punches with Nicholas who was being pushed back from her raw strength. Skill wise they were about even, but if Yamato used her weapon then Nicholas would probably lose the match instead of being at a slight disadvantage.
Marcus watched the two of them fight for a while until Yamato finally reached for her weapon. At first Marcus thought the battle was almost over, but Nicholas surprised him and apparently Yamato as he held his own even with the new disadvantage. The fight barely changed with the inclusion of the weapon and what Marcus thought would be a one sided beat down, seemed to be completely even now. As for who would win, Marcus still had his money on Yamato. She was older, more developed and fought daily since she could walk. Just in terms of experience alone, she outclassed Nicholas in every way possible and that didn't take into account her devil fruit that enhanced her strength either.
Hours later when the sun started to dip near the horizon, the fight ended with Nicholas laid out on the ground like a star fish. He was battered and bruised all over along with a bit of blood, while Yamato leaned over him with the help of her weapon. While Yamato wasn't as badly injured as Nicholas, she was still drained from the drawn out fight that lasted almost half a day. Yamato wiped the bit of blood from her mouth and glanced at Marcus who was sitting on a boulder not far away.
Marcus nodded at her before he hopped down and walked over as he said, "Looks like you two had more fun then I did."
Yamato studied him as he approached before she asked, "What happened? Was he weak?"
"No, he was strong. He just didn't really fight and loved to run away after attacking… Worst fifty million I've ever spent."
"I told you he wouldn't be fun to fight against." Nicholas said from his spot on the ground before he let out a groan as he sat up.
"Not fun? More like annoying with his run away tactics. I had to latch onto him just so we could finally fight properly, even then it only worked for about ten minutes before he ran away again…" Marcus said in an annoyed tone as he reached down and helped Nicholas to his feet as he added, "Whatever, let's go eat."
The three of them bantered back and forth as they headed back to the laboratory. Once inside they headed for the cafeteria to eat and quickly ran into the rest of their group. Uta, Baby 5 and Jasmine were already there eating with Sentomaru and Vegapunk while Kizaru was strangely absent. After getting a couple plates of food from the buffet, Marcus moved towards the table and ignored the open spot between Uta and Baby 5 before he sat down next to Vegapunk. Uta and Baby 5 both pouted at that but before they could change seats, Nicholas sat down next to him only to earn anger filled glares from the two girls.
Marcus chuckled at the whole thing while Yamato happily took the open seat between the two girls without a second thought. The two girls turned to glare at Yamato too, but she seemed oblivious to the whole thing as she shoveled food in her mouth. Marcus and Nicholas quickly followed suit and after eating their fill he turned his attention to Vegapunk as he asked, "Got time to check out my ship and the small boat you made me?"
"I have some ongoing projects, but nothing pressing. Why, what's wrong?"
Marcus gestured to girls as he said, "We need a bigger ship and are heading back to Water Seven to have it made. I wanted you to check it out and the blueprints I have to see what could be upgraded or changed. I also wanted to see if we could get an electrical system running on the ship and maybe a refrigerator."
Vegapunk nodded along as he said, "I'm not a ship builder by trade, but I'll take a look. As for electricity, that might be an issue, since it would require some type of…"
Vegapunk trailed off as Marcus placed his sword on the table and tapped its hilt for a moment before the man started to smile as he said, "I just thought of something, but it might not work correctly. We would need to do some testing first, but I could possibly make you a generator that also provides clean drinking water and salt…"
"That would be perfect."