It was late at night as Uta sat on her bed. She had the gift Marcus gave her, laid out on the bed in front of her and she currently wore a shirt she borrowed from him to sleep in. Well she didn’t tell him she borrowed it, but he shouldn’t miss it since he has a bunch of shirts. As for why she did it? Makino told her it was what women do with their boyfriends, borrow clothes and never give them back.

That thought made Uta blush a little as she looked down at the gift she was given. It was a large, thick book designed for musicians. It acted like a diary and songwriting notebook. Well it was mostly meant to help record songs, sheet music and any special notes for the songs themselves.

It was actually something Uta wanted to buy herself when she was in Elegia and even pointed this book out to Shanks and the others on the first day. But then the accident happened and she forgot all about it, along with everyone else…

‘But he didn't forget about it.’ Uta thought as she picked up the book and hugged it tight to her chest for a bit.

After a little while she got up from bed and moved to her desk where she placed the book down. After she sat down, she opened it up to the first page and paused as she studied the inside cover of the book again. It was a message from Marcus which read.

Dear Uta,

Thank you again for taking care of me and feeding me a bunch of delicious food. While I don't like being coddled like a child. I appreciate the time and effort you put into my care when I was still bedridden in Elegia and the trip afterwards. You will forever have my thanks for that.

When we were still in Elegia, I secretly asked Gordon to buy this for me. I originally planned to give this to you as a thank you gift for taking care of me. But the timing never seemed right to me, so I decided to turn it into a going away gift instead. I hope you like it and it's useful to you.

I wish you a fun, safe and happy journey ahead. I also hope you create a lot of great songs and look forward to hearing you sing them for me one day. But don't forget to train and become stronger, you need to be able to protect yourself. You also need the stamina which comes from training to be able to perform longer and sing an entire concert.

~Till we meet again.

Your friend,

Marcus

Uta smiled to herself as she read over most of the message until the end. She looked at it with a slight frown before she pulled out an ink jar and a quill. Because of the way Marcus wrote, Uta was able to add to the message. So she very carefully added a single word to the end of the message and nodded in satisfaction once she was finished. She read over the message one more time as the ink dried and blushed a tiny bit when she got to the end.

~Till we meet again.

Your boyfriend,

Marcus

vvvvv

The day after Uta left Marcus looked through his dresser as he got ready for the day. After about a minute of looking through it he asked, “Has anyone seen my favorite shirt?”

“That light blue one you like to wear?” Ace asked.

“Yeah, did you see it?”

Ace and the others shook their heads before Marcus said, “Maybe it’s in the laundry Makino is doing.”

Like that a week passed by and Marcus never found his favorite shirt…

vvvvv

Marcus was shocked awake as he was covered in ice cold water and the sound of his brothers apparently getting the same treatment.

Luffy cried out the loudest as he said, “Ahhhhh, help! I can’t swim! Help!”

Marcus opened his eyes to find himself in his bedroom along with his brothers and above them stood Garp with a large bucket in his hand. He looked down at all of them as he said, “Shut up you idiot, I taught you how to swim last year.”

Luffy suddenly sat up and glanced around as he said to himself, “I'm not drowning?”

Garp’s eyes twitched before he slammed his fist into Luffy's head and said, “Of course not!”

Luffy grabbed the massive lump forming on his head as he said, “It hurts! Why does it hurt!”

“Because it's my fist of love.” Garp said matter of factly.

“But I'm made of rubber!”

“Doesn't matter, my fist of love… WHAT!” Garp said as his eyes went wide and his mouth hung open for a moment.

“I'm made of…” Garp punched Luffy in the head again as he said, “I heard you the first time, brat.”

“Why do you keep hitting me!” Luffy complained as he rubbed both of the lumps on his head.

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“Because you left the island with pirates!”

Garp breathed on the top of his fist before he started to polish the top of it with his other hand and said, “All of you brats left the island with pirates.”

Marcus glanced at Ace and the others before he said, “Run!”

Marcus and the others couldn't even make it out of the room as Garp easily blocked them from the door. As Garp attacked everyone else, Marcus attempted to jump out the window by his bed. Before Marcus even reached the window, Garp snatched him by the back of the neck and asked, “And just where do you think you're going?”

“Umm, for an early morning walk? Marcus said as he glanced at his brother's knocked out on the floor.

A moment later pain exploded on top of his head and the world faded into darkness. Garp glanced around at his grandsons passed out on the ground as a sigh escaped his mouth before he said, “Stupid brats, making me worry about you.”

Marcus and the other boys woke up a while later just outside the village near the forest. Garp stood over them with a grin on his face as he said, “Get up, I wanna see if you've improved.”

Over the next few hours Garp beat each boy senseless before he took them to eat a late breakfast at Makinos. Each boy looked like they were run over by a truck as they ate breakfast in muted silence and shared pain. Once finished, Garp took them back outside to test them some more until dinner.

After dinner Garp took the boys to the bath house to relax and clean up. As they rested in the main bath area Garp said, “I hope you brats learned your lesson.”

Marcus glanced at Luffy as he asked, “And what lesson would that be?”

“Don't hang around pirate scum.”

“Shanks isn't scum! He's a great pirate and I wanna be just like him one day!” Luffy said.

Garp punched Luffy over the head which made him disappear into the water for a few moments. When Luffy reappeared he had a new lump on his head and glared at Garp. Garp frowned back at Luffy as he said, “Quit that dumb talk about being a pirate! You're going to be a big strong marine like me.”

Luffy stood up and said with confidence, “No! I'm never gonna be a marine, I'm gonna be the king of the pirates!”

“King of… YOU STUPID BRAT!” Garp said as he launched himself at Luffy.

“Ahhhhhh! Someone help! Someone save me from this gorilla!” Luffy yelled out as Garp repeatedly punched him over the head.

“Don't call your grandpa a gorilla, you little monkey!”

Marcus smiled at their interactions before he leaned back against the edge of the tub and placed a towel over his eyes. Ace and Sabo followed suit not long after.

Early the next morning Garp took them out for more ‘training’ and only brought them back around lunch time. As they were gathered around the table eating, Marcus asked, “Grandpa, do you have any sea stone cuffs we can have?”

“Eh? How do you know about sea stone?”

Marcus shrugged as he said, “Same way I know about other things. So do you have any or not?”

“Why? What do you want them for?”

Marcus pointed at Luffy who was in the process of stuffing his face like a chipmunk and said, “So he can train without his devil fruit getting in the way.”

Garp studied Luffy for a few minutes before he said, “It's a good idea… But it doesn't really work that well.”

“Why not?” Marcus asked.

“Because we've tried it in the marines. It can help, but it will never get rid of the overall weakness and it doesn't help that much on the physical side of things.”

Garp pointed at Luffy and said, “He'll have growth issues because he ate a fruit that changed his physical body. It's the main reason the marines don't like people eating those types of devil fruits so young.”

Marcus glanced at Luffy who wasn't paying attention and asked, “So we'll look different when we're older?”

“You'll definitely be taller… Luffy will be lucky if he doubles his current height.”

“What did you say grandpa?” Luffy asked through a mouthful of food.

Garp smacked Luffy as he said, “Don't talk with your mouth full!”

The rest of lunch passed pretty quickly and once they were done, Garp took the boys to the dock where his ship was currently docked. When they reached the ship he said, “Prepare to set sail.”

“You're leaving already?” Marcus asked.

“I'm too busy this time and can't stay long. But next year I should have at least a month of free time.” Garp said as he moved up the gangplank.

Once he was on the ship he said, “I'll be back in a minute.”

Garp disappeared into the ship and after a few minutes came back into view before he tossed a sack to Marcus. Metal clanking together sounded out from the sack as Marcus caught it. He glanced inside before he asked with a smile, “Is this what I think it is?”

Garp nodded as he said, “It is. Use it and see if it helps. But don’t expect much from it.”

Marcus nodded and the boys bid farewell to Garp as the ship departed. Once Garp left, the boys decided to take the rest of the day off. While the other boys went back to Makino’s to play cards, Marcus went to the black smith in the village. It wasn’t a fancy one who made swords, but they produced all the essentials the village needed like nails, hinges, horse shoes, tools, cookware and other things.

He talked with the blacksmith a bit and placed a custom order. He gave the man one of the three pairs of handcuffs he was given by Garp and asked him to cut it up into pieces, round the edges off and drill holes into each one. It took about a week and Marcus was charged a good amount of money for the labor, but in the end he had what he wanted.

Marcus then took those round pieces and basically created a necklace out of them before he gave it to Luffy to wear. The first time Luffy put it on he collapsed on the floor and couldn’t get up at all. He couldn’t even remove the necklace and complained as he asked, “Why do I have to wear this stupid thing?”

“Because it’s a weakness people can use against you in a fight. Besides, if you can train while you wear this, you will end up being stronger once you take it off.”

“But I can barely move with this thing on!”

Marcus nodded in understanding as he asked, “Does it hurt or is it uncomfortable?”

“No, not really. It just makes me weak.” Luffy said as he thought it over.

Marcus reached down and removed the necklace from Luffy as he said, “Good, then you’ll go to sleep with it on each night to help you get used to the feeling of being weak.”

Luffy complained about it, but it didn’t stop Marcus from forcing him to use it each night. With that, the boys settled into their routine again and started to train in earnest once more. It took a few months, but Luffy was able to train properly again. He still couldn’t train with the sea stone necklace on, but he could do their normal routine because he grasped the very basics of his powers. Just enough that his arms and legs didn’t stretch at random anymore.