Over a week passed on the open sea as Marcus and the others sailed towards the next island. Usopp took to sailing pretty quickly and with guidance from everyone else, was now able to help with most things on the ship. He still complained about not being able to do certain things because of some made up disease once in a while. But Marcus would just threaten him with extra training which made him quickly do the task.
As for running into pirates, they haven't had any luck and were still looking. They did pass by a few merchant ships and a cruise ship. But all of them stayed a certain distance from the boys ship and never got within half a mile of them.
On the tenth day out at sea just before lunch, everyone still out on the deck noticed storm clouds approaching on the horizon. Marcus, who was in the middle of training Kuina and Zoro, paused and pulled out his spyglass to better observe the dark clouds. After a few moments Marcus put his spyglass away and said, "Normal training is done for today."
Kuina glanced at Marcus as she asked, "Don't we still have at least an hour left?"
Marcus pointed towards the storm clouds as he said, "We are going to train sailing in that storm."
Usopp who was up in the crows nest heard what Marcus said and stuck his head over the side to look at him as he asked, "You can't be serious?"
Marcus shook his head and moved over to the door that led into the ship. He opened the door and just inside was a bell about a foot wide and a foot and a half tall. It was tucked into the wall and sat inside a shaft that ran down to the bottom of the ship. The shaft itself had openings on each deck and was designed to easily master the crew quickly.
Marcus pulled out a stopper that kept the bell in place before he rang it a few times. Once done he waited a moment before he placed the stopper back in place to silence the bell and headed up to the deck. It didn't take long for everyone on the ship to reach the deck before Ace asked, "Why'd you ring the bell?"
Marcus pointed towards the storm clouds in the distance with a massive grin and said, "We are gonna do some storm training."
Ace, Sabo and Luffy all shared a glance before they smiled, while everyone else except for Zeff looked apprehensive. Zeff glanced at the storm clouds approaching before he said, "That storm looks to be bigger than normal."
"That just means better inclement weather training." Marcus said as he watched the clouds for a few moments before he said, "I want everything secured and properly tied down in the next half an hour."
Usopp who was still in the crows nest asked, "What about me?"
Marcus glanced up at the crows nest before he said, "Collapse the shade and tie it down properly before you come down to help on the deck."
"But the storm… Shouldn't we avoid it." Usopp said with a hint of fear.
Marcus waved off Usopp's concern as he said, "A storm is nothing, we've sailed through worse."
Ace nodded as he added, "Our first time on a ship, our grandpa took us sailing through a hurricane."
"A hurricane? Are you sure?" Zeff asked in surprise.
The boys all nodded before Sabo said, "Grandpa didn't even tie off to anything and just laughed anytime one of us was almost thrown off the ship."
"Just what kinda family do you have? No normal grandparent would ever act that way…" Zoe said in disbelief.
Marcus glanced towards the approaching clouds as he said, "Our grandpa considered that just another type of training. Just like this storm will be training for all of you, now get to work!"
As everyone started going around the ship and securing everything, Marcus headed below deck to secure his swords. While he could probably carry them during the storm, he decided to secure them in his room. Once he was finished he went down to the hold and started to double check everything there. It wasn't really needed because everything in the hold was already tied down properly, but Marcus just wanted to make sure.
Once satisfied he headed back up to the deck where he found almost everyone else. Zeff and Sanji were missing, but he heard them working in the galley on his way to the deck. Marcus did a quick walk around the ship and found everything was secured and ready for the storm so he said, "Nice work, now put on your rain ponchos and start getting tied off to the ship!"
After slipping on the ponchos, Zoro, Kuina, Usopp, Zoe and the other women looked a little confused until they saw Ace, Sabo and Luffy grab rope and start making a harness with it around their waist. After a couple loops around their waist they tossed the rope over their shoulder and looped it back down under the rope around their waist before they repeated it over their other shoulder.
Once finished and tied properly, they wore what looked like a vest made out of rope over their ponchos. Afterwards they tied another rope that was secured to the ship tightly around the rope belt around their waist. It added a lot of weight once the ropes were wet and the length of rope they had connected to the ship would add even more. But it was the best way to ensure they wouldn't be swept overboard. And on the small chance that it did happen, it would be easy to recover them by pulling on their rope.
Zeff and Sanji soon appeared on the deck with a small snack for everyone before they also secured themselves to the ship. Marcus was already at the helm where he had tied off to it already. While they still hadn't reached the storm itself, rain already started to fall and the waves were already choppy as the wind picked up. Marcus studied the storm before them for a little while as they got closer before he yelled out over the increasing noise, "Furl all the sails and wrap them! Then deploy the storm jib!
Everyone quickly got to work to collapse the sails and a few minutes before they entered the storm itself, everything was ready. Zeff was the only other person on the helm deck with Marcus as they entered the storm fully. Even though it should only be just after noon, the clouds overhead were so thick it almost made it seem like it was night time. Only the bright sunny weather miles behind the ship said otherwise.
As they entered deeper into the storm, Marcus deftly steered the ship into the large incoming waves. While most were about half the size of the ship, a handful were easily taller than the railing. Those waves would sometimes crash against the hull and soaked everyone on the deck. Within half an hour of sailing through the storm, the blue sky from earlier could no longer be seen and rain pelted everyone relentlessly.
While the ponchos helped keep everyone mostly dry, it didn't cover everything and most of their feet and legs were soaked to the bone. As Marcus glanced over the deck and everyone below he noticed Usopp. Even though everyone was covered in a poncho, his nose stood out. He was currently hugging on to Luffy as he said something probably about not wanting to die as Luffy laughed like an idiot.
Marcus could only shake his head slightly as he turned back to watch the incoming waves and try to pick the smaller ones to ride into. Zeff who was nearby also watched the bow of the ship and approaching waves. Every once in a while he would point out a better path forward through the storm when Marcus turned in a different direction, but otherwise he was just enjoying the ride.
The journey through the storm lasted a long time and by the time they cleared it, the moon was already past its midpoint. Once out of the storm Marcus quickly had them lower the storm jib and raise the normal sails before he asked Zeff to make something to warm everyone up.
About half an hour later after everyone finished checking over the ship for damage. They changed out of wet clothes, dried off a bit and were treated to a nice hot soup and tea. Which made everyone happy including Luffy who didn't even complain about the lack of meat.
Once everyone finished eating, Marcus told everyone to rest while he took care of the helm. Zeff was the only one who didn't rest and climbed up to the helm deck a little while later. Marcus glanced at him as he approached and said, "I'm surprised you're not tired, old man."
Zeff frowned slightly before he said, "It would take more than a tiny storm to wear me out, brat."
They both settled into a comfortable silence for a while before Zeff said, "You make a pretty decent captain for still being a kid."
"And you make a pretty decent cook for being a pirate." Marcus said before they both chuckled slightly.
After some more silence only filled with the creak of wood, flapping of sails and lapping of waves, Zeff asked, "You planning to be a pirate?"
Marcus shook his head as he said, "My brothers want to be pirates, but I don't wanna deal with all that hassle. I would rather explore the world and fight strong people."
Zeff chuckled again before he said, "If you travel the sea's and keep getting stronger, you might be labeled a pirate one day, even if you don't want to be."
Marcus glanced at Zeff who shrugged and added, "Me and my crew weren't originally pirates. At first it was just a group of friends who wanted to explore and see the world. Each of us had different reasons for going out to sea, but the spirit of adventure is what binded us together."
Zeff glanced up at the stars above for a while before he said, "For years we traveled around, enjoying ourselves and the adventures we had along the way… During that time we fought countless pirates on our journeys and became stronger because of it."
Zeff smiled to himself as he said, "Even made a lot of money doing it too. We didn't really bounty hunt like you boys do, but if we ran into pirates we would dispose of them and loot their ship."
Zeff frowned slightly before he said, "After five years or so, people took notice of us and we were approached because of it. It was someone who worked for the world government and they offered us a job…"
"I refused and so did the rest of my friends at the time…" Zeff said as his voice trailed off and he shook his head slightly. After a few moments he glanced at Marcus and added, "Not even a week later we were labeled as pirates and I was given my first bounty."
Marcus frowned slightly as he asked, "They did it that quickly? What did they charge you with?"
"Piracy." Zeff said with a helpless chuckle before he added, "Within a month we ended up fighting against five Navy ships and a handful of bounty hunters. After that the list of my crimes and the rest of the crew just kept growing."
Zeff glanced towards the stars again as he said, "I eventually just embraced the label and started acting more like a pirate. But I kept my morals and also made sure my friends and crewmates never passed certain lines… It's probably why my bounty never got too crazy."
After another round of silence Zeff turned and started to head towards the stairs as just before he walked down them he said, "Good luck on not being a pirate kid, you're probably gonna need it."
Marcus glanced towards where Zeff disappeared for a few moments before he also glanced up at the stars lost in thought.