When the group finished up at the ship yards, J and Marcus were each one hundred and forty million belly richer. Unfortunately it turned out the other massive ship wasn't in the best of shape and needed a good amount of repairs. Marcus didn't waste much time negotiating a better price since he didn't know how much it would really cost to fix. Plus he already had a ridiculous amount of money and an extra twenty million wouldn't matter to him.
Before they left, they had to wait for the marines Nicholas called to collect all the pirates he defeated. Afterwards they headed towards grove thirteen so they could store their loot. As they walked J hesitantly asked, "Are you sure it's safe to go store this on your ship? Won't someone steal it?"
Marcus shrugged as he said, "It should be fine… It's that or we carry all this around with us as we go shopping and eat."
J nodded slowly as he said, "That's a good point…"
Nicholas glanced at the twenty plus treasure chests and bags of money as he asked, "I still can't believe you too… Just what are you gonna do with all this money?"
"Put it towards a new ship… Even though I really wanna meet Vegapunk so he can build me a proper power plant for it."
"To get off this god forsaken island and find a quiet place out of the way to settle down." J said in a hopeful tone as he glanced at his half of the money.
"Good luck with that." Marcus said in a mocking tone of voice.
"Whats that supposed to mean?"
Nicholas glanced down at J as he said, "If you show up anywhere with that much wealth you'll have problems."
Marcus nodded in agreement as he said, "In this world the only thing that can help you live a quiet life is strength."
J frowned as he said, "Strength? Strength is just gonna make you stand out."
"Maybe, but strength is the only thing in this world that will give you true peace of mind and let you live a quiet life. Anything else is just a temporary illusion…" Marcus said as he rubbed his chin in thought before he said, "Even though you could head out to East Blue and probably be able to live a quiet life without needing much strength."
Nicholas nodded in agreement as he said, "From my understanding it's currently one of the safest seas in the world."
"Well we cleared out almost all the major pirates in East Blue before I left and my brothers are still hunting pirates even if they aren't a challenge anymore."
J took a long look at Marcus before they asked, "You're from East Blue?"
"I'm not sure where I was born, but I was raised there for most of my life."
"How the hell are you so strong if you're from East Blue? Isn't that supposed to be a place for weaklings?" J asked in an incredulous tone.
"Because most people don't train to get stronger and are content to just live their lives. Anyone can get stronger, they just need the drive to do it."
Nicholas nodded in agreement as he said, "In the marines we have training routines that could easily make someone powerful. But a lot of marines are content to do the bare minimum instead of pushing themselves to get stronger."
Nicholas pointed to himself as he said, "I'm one of the youngest Captains currently serving, while some people I joined with are still Warrant Officers because they do the bare minimum."
The conversation continued for a while and changed subjects a few times until they made it back to Marcus's ship. Marcus made sure to knock out the few people who tried to follow them before they even reached grove thirteen so they didn't need to worry much about thieves. J was still paranoid but Marcus promised to hunt a few high level bounties for J if the money was stolen which made them agree to store it on the ship. Afterwards they only brought out one larger bag of money so they could buy J some new clothes and eat.
Their first stop was one of the zones for locals that was just next to the tourist zone. J was given some looks from the shop keepers because of how dirty he was, but the large bag of money he carried made them extra friendly. Once J had a new wardrobe which mainly consisted of plain, non descript pants and shirts, they headed to eat. J probably ate a lot if it wasn't for the fact Marcus and Nicholas were with them. J ordered three things off the menu and cleared his plates while Marcus and Nicholas were currently eating their tenth plate of food.
J stared at the two with widened eyes as they both placed orders for five more items each as the server dropped off a few more plates. As they both dug into their new meals J asked incredulously, "How the hell are you two eating so much?"
"Practice."
Nicholas chuckled but nodded in agreement before he added, "It comes from training some much. You need enough food to keep up otherwise it won't be effective."
Marcus picked up a plate of pasta as he said, "Order something else to eat or get a dessert."
J shook his head as he said, "I'm already stuffed, I won't need to eat for a couple of days."
Marcus shared a look with Nicholas who shrugged before they both went back to eating. The both of them ended up eating for another half an hour before they were satisfied. Afterwards they headed back towards Marcus's ship where J was happy to find their money safe and sound. Then Marcus pointed J towards the bathroom and said, "If you're gonna stay here, get cleaned up. You might not smell, but you definitely need a bath."
J frowned slightly but nodded slightly as they said, "Fine."
As Marcus stepped out of the ship, Nicholas smiled at him and asked, "Wanna work off that late lunch?"
Marcus returned the smile as he said, "I was thinking the same thing…"
Marcus left his sword behind before they both headed a few hundred yards from the ship. They could still see the dock and the ship because the ground was completely flat, but their fighting wouldn't accidentally damage the ship or the dock if they got too excited. As both of them stretched a bit to warm up Marcus asked, "Rules?"
"No haki for the first hour, after that anything goes."
Marcus nodded slightly as he said, "Sounds good to me… Hopefully you continued with that training regiment, otherwise you're about to turn into a punching bag."
Nicholas cracked his knuckles as he said, "I'll show you who's a punching bag."
Marcus finished stretching before he took up a boxer's stance as he said, "Whenever you're ready."
Nicholas took up his own stance a few moments later and after a few seconds they both dashed forward. Nicholas towered over Marcus by at least three feet and had an impressive reach to match. But when they clashed Nicholas was still pushed back slightly from Marcus's punch that he countered with his own. Nicholas grunted slightly as a flurry of blows traded between them for over a minute until Marcus smirked as he said, "Alright, the warm up's over."
The next punch pushed Nicholas back over a foot and his fist stung like he punched solid metal. They traded a few more blows like that before Nicholas asked, "What the hell were you doing for training?"
"Getting my ass beat half to death by an old man who was drinking the entire time."
They traded a few more blows as Nicholas said, "That doesn't really sound like training to me…"
"Almost being killed in a fight where you go all out and survive gives you a noticeable strength increase… I'm sure you've noticed it yourself haven't you?"
Nicholas nodded as he attempted to kick Marcus in the stomach. As Marcus parried the attack away, Nicholas said, "I noticed it after a serious fight with a pirate officer when I was still under Hina's command. The fight left me in the infirmary for over a month, but my strength exploded afterwards."
"A month?!? Why did it take you so long to recover?"
Nicholas frowned as he said, "I won the fight, but I collapsed from injury afterwards… The doctor said I was lucky I didn't die."
"Did you follow the doctor's advice?"
When Nicholas nodded, Marcus started to laugh before he said, "Don't listen to those idiots next time. At least when it comes to meals… They probably feed you soup and other bullshit to help you recover."
"Pretty much." Nicholas said with a nod and didn't deny it.
"Unless I'm almost killed, it normally takes me three days or less to recover. A week if it's serious."
Nicholas frowned slightly as Marcus's attacks increased and he could only defend before he said, "That's because you're a freak like your grandfather."
"Maybe that plays a part, but it has more to do with feeding yourself properly afterwards. Eat lots of meat and if you have broken or fractured bones, drink a lot of milk." Marcus said as he increased his attacks even more as he pushed Nicholas back before he added, "It's just like training, your body needs proper nutrition to grow and it also needs it to heal. You eating soup and other shit isn't giving your body enough nutrients to heal properly."
Marcus gave Nicholas some more advice as he kept pushing him back with his relentless barrage of attacks. But once the first hour was up it was time for Marcus to be surprised as Nicholas's haki was pretty strong compared to where he thought it would be. It still wasn't close to his, but it was a massive improvement for not even being able to use it last time they met. As they traded haki infused blows Marcus asked, "How the hell did you get this good at armament haki?"
Nicholas smirked as he said, "My old man taught me how he trained it after I learned the basics. I now train it every day as much as I can."
Marcus grunted in response as they traded back and forth with their haki infused fists. With haki introduced to the fight, Marcus pulled back on his strength to be equal with Nicholas. After a few minutes of going back and forth Marcus asked, "Make any progress on Rokushiki?"
"Yeah, I'm pretty good at soru and geppo."
Marcus grinned before he disappeared from view as the ground cratered and caused Nicholas to stumble. Nicholas barely responded in time to block as Marcus appeared behind him with an axe kick aimed at his head. A moment later they both disappeared as craters formed all over the ground while dust and debris filled the air. J, who was relaxing inside the ship heard sounds similar to cannon blasts going off and panicked as he ran outside to see what was going on.
Once outside J's vision was blocked by the growing dust cloud while more cannon blast type sounds rang out from within it. J, scared something would happen to his money, quickly ran back into the ship as he searched for Marcus and Nicholas. When he didn't find them, he realized they must be fighting pirates who came for revenge and to steal back the treasure they had. With that thought now in mind, J took a single large bag of money and left the ship to hide nearby. If Marcus and Nicholas won, he would come back, but if they lost he would hide and wait for the pirates to leave.
Marcus and Nicholas were unaware of what J was doing or thinking as they were completely focused on their fight. Marcus made sure to stay within Nicholas's strength range and never left it as they traded blows. At some point they came to an agreement and stopped defending as they traded body blows back and forth. The fight went on for over three hours before Nicholas's haki finally flattered and he dropped to one knee.
Marcus paused his next attack before he said, "You've improved a lot, even better than I expected."
"Thanks… So have you, you're definitely a lot stronger than I remember."
Marcus held out his hand and helped Nicholas up as he said, "And your haki is ridiculous, you definitely take after your old man."
Nicholas smiled at that before he asked, "Wanna know the secret?"
"Oh, you're gonna share your dad's training techniques?"
Nicholas shrugged as he said, "It's only fair, you shared your grandfather's training with me."
"I wasn't expecting anything in return, but it would be rude to refuse."
Nicholas chuckled when he saw the eager look on Marcus's face before he said, "Alright, I'll show it to you after I recover. But I can at least explain it now."
Nicholas pointed to his chest as he said, "You concentrate your haki at a single point before you spread it over your body completely."
Marcus nodded in understanding before Nicholas said, "Next you hold it for about a minute before you slowly retract it. The goal is to control it completely as it retracts and to not let it slip away."
Nicholas tapped his chest again as he said, "You bring that haki back into the same point it started at, but hold it and compress it there at the same time. Compress all the haki you can into that one inch spot for a minute before you slowly spread it out again."
Marcus nodded again as Nicholas added, "You basically just repeat that until you exhaust yourself. I normally do it three times a day."
"That's not a bad-"
"Marcus!" J yelled, cutting him off as he ran towards them.
Marcus and Nicholas turned towards J to find him cleaned up and in a new pair of clothes with a sack of money over his shoulder. J looked and the two of them with messed up clothes and covered in bruises before he glanced around nervously and asked, "Where are the pirates? Did they run away?"
"Pirates? What pirates?"
J glanced at them with a frown as he asked, "Weren't you two fighting pirates?"
"No…"
"What?!?" J asked in a confused tone as he glanced around the ruined area before he added, "If you two weren't fighting pirates, then what the hell happened?"
"We were sparing."
J's head whipped back towards them and he gestured towards the battle ground around them as he asked in an incredulous tone, "How the fuck is this a spar?"
Marcus shrugged as he said, "It happens when you reach a certain level of strength."
Nicholas nodded in an agreement as he said, "It gets even worse if someone has a powerful devil fruit."
Marcus glanced at the money bag J was carrying as he said, "Well since you're here, let's go eat."
"Eat?!? You just ate enough food to feed ten people a few hours ago."
"And we just worked up an appetite." Marcus said with a smile as Nicholas nodded in agreement.
J glanced around the area one more time before he said, "You guys go eat, I'm not hungry."