Marcus cut off his yell as he gripped his sword tighter and braced himself as best he could. As the boat started to slowly flip in the air, Marcus prepared to max out his sword's power. The boat started to rotate faster as it flipped forward, sending Marcus into the roof. But he held onto his sword for dear life as he was thrown around the cabin.
When Marcus thought the boat was in the right position, he force fed his sword stamina. While the boat was technically in the right direction for what Marcus wanted to do. He didn't take into consideration that the engines were only on the underside of the boat. While his momentum was temporarily halted by the release of power… It was only temporary as the boat was flipped backwards.
Below Marcus could see the water flash past his vision as the boat quickly rotated doing backflips before Marcus cut off the power. Unfortunately that jolt of power caused the boat to rotate like it was sonic the hedgehog and Marcus was turned into a pinball inside of the cabin. Luckily he held onto his sword the entire time, so it was only his legs and waist that were slammed into things.
It was at that point Marcus knew he was fucked so he went for broke and pushed all of haki into his sword. His goal wasn't to coat his sword though, but the ship it was connected to. Marcus couldn't see if it worked properly because his eyes were closed from the boat spinning.
Five seconds later the ship hit the water like an elephant doing a belly flop. The wind was knocked out of Marcus and he almost lost consciousness as his entire skeleton rattled from the impact. The ship didn't explode apart but the wood groaned in protest as it sank deep into the water from the momentum while his haki slowly retreated.
Luckily Marcus asked for a sealed cabin which prevented water from flooding the boat. As he tried to catch his breath, he glanced out the windows of the boat to see some fish swimming in the distance. After a few moments the air in his boat started to lift it towards the surface, while it was upside down and Marcus was standing on the ceiling as he held his sword. Marcus fed stamina to his sword to help rotate the boat and was able to get the boat right side up just before it resurfaced.
Once the ship was above the water, Marcus collapsed onto the seat to rest. Over half his body felt like one giant bruise and his stamina was drained from coating his whole boat in haki. As Marcus laid there he reached over to the storage compartment to find it a complete mess. He didn't bother to fix it as he grabbed some rations and started eating.
Marcus didn't bother with anything else for the next two hours as he let his boat slowly drift with the current. After Marcus recovered, he visually checked where he was before he powered up his boat and set off. He didn't need to travel for long before he saw a massive skull off in the distance.
It was the afternoon and the sky was overcast as Marcus slowly approached the island with its unique landscape. Instead of heading towards the massive torii gate and the sea fortress it sat on. Marcus headed towards the rear of the island and the dangerous whirlpools that surrounded it.
Like the whirlpools that surrounded Wano, Marcus's small boat and speed made it easy to navigate the treacherous waters. Even the few times he was dragged into a whirlpool that formed beneath his boat. Marcus just over powered the water current and shot out of the danger without issue.
It took a while, but Marcus was able to make it to the back of the island and found a small spot in the cliffs to store his boat. He had to get in the water and partly lift it onto some rocks before he tied it off. Getting into the water also allowed him to check the ship over for damage. While he wasn't an expert, Marcus found no real damage to the ship and while it was made of wood. The hull itself, power system and the hydro foils were made out of metal so they could withstand the flames and heat.
After his boat was secured, Marcus used his sword to help dry off and then wrapped up his face to hide his identity. Afterwards he strapped his sword to his back before he started to climb. Marcus could have used geppo, but he'd been traveling for a few days and wanted to stretch his muscles so he free climbed up the massive wall. The wall wasn't a straight cliff, but it was close to an eighty degree angle.
While the climb didn't push Marcus too much, it did take time because of the sheer scale of the mountains surrounding the island. By the time Marcus crested the top, the sun had already set below the horizon as it painted the quickly darkening sky in shades of red, yellow and orange.
Marcus marked the top of the mountain by cutting some boulders in half before he headed down into the island itself. With the way the island was laid out, Marcus needed to climb down through the mountains to reach it properly. During his descent he marked a few other places and he changed his route because he sensed people. He wasn't sure if they were part of the Marys or not, but Marcus didn't want to take any chances.
It took longer than expected, but Marcus finally reached the back of the skull and cut a large X into it. Satisfied he would be able to get back to his boat easily, Marcus confidently headed around the skull towards the front of the island to find his target.
Marcus had no clue where Yamato was on the Onigashima currently, but he at least knew they never left the island and possibly stayed in the Forbidden Storeroom. While Marcus was on a time crunch, he didn't rush around drawing attention. Instead he walked with purpose and acted like he belonged on the island. The couple people he ran into as he walked towards the front of the island didn't even stop him as he passed them by.
It was late when Marcus finally reached the front of the skull only to find the area full of people. It wasn't jammed packed, but groups of people were loitering around as they drank, while other people were moving about. Marcus moved through the crowd as he headed towards the main entrance. By that point Marcus started to notice some of the Marys in plain view, along with a few animal Marys he noticed hidden away.
As Marcus moved up the steps into the Skull Dome, he carefully used his observation haki as he tried not to draw attention to himself. Luckily everyone seemed to ignore him since he walked with purpose and didn't look around at everything like a tourist. Marcus easily made it up the entrance stairs and then walked around the stairs leading to the Forehead Floor as he looked for the Forbidden Storeroom.
The building wasn't hard to find at all since it was in an area off to the side were no one was. Marcus knew he wouldn't be able to hide from the Marys being inside the Skull Dome, so he didn't. He confidently headed towards the area like he needed to do something there and moved towards the back of the building. Once there he found a back door and headed inside as he flared his observation haki.
Unfortunately he didn't feel anyone's presence in the immediate area. After searching the storeroom, Marcus also didn't find any real trace of someone living there. Since his first stop was a dud, Marcus left the building and headed upstairs into the first real floor of the castle. Marcus easily reached the Live Floor without issue before he finally ran into his first bit of trouble.
As Marcus passed a group of men drinking on the deck infront of the Pleasure Hall entrance, one of them reached out to grab him. Marcus instantly swatted the man's hand away before he spun around and nailed him in the face which laid the man out cold. His companions reacted a moment later and within moments Marcus stood over six men he easily knocked out.
As Marcus calmly walked away from the bodies, he instantly noticed a handful of Marys now watching him. Marcus ignored them for the most part, unfortunately that didn't stop them from actively watching him or the fake someone started following him. Marcus only sensed them with his haki and never turned around to check who it was, but he was positive it was one of the Marys.
Marcus walked around the live floor somewhat aimlessly as he searched for Yamato. But unfortunately he had no luck at all even after the moon reached its peak. He also had his tag along that hadn't stopped following him the entire time and Marcus had no way to really lose her.
As for how he knew it was a womanr, he saw her over an hour ago when he stopped on a staircase overlooking the Live Floor. She was a short young woman with light blonde hair wearing a red colored low cut furisoda with a flower pattern that ended mid thigh. Her face was covered with one of the slightly creepy Marys masks and she had a large bow on her back along with a massive Uchiwa style fan.
Marcus only glanced at her from the corner of his eyes once, but he instantly new who it was. Her name was Bao Huang and she was one of Kaido's Shinuchi.
Marcus did one more circuit around the live floor before he headed for one of the bars to eat. As he stepped inside, Bao stopped outside and didn't enter. But Marcus easily noticed the reason, inside the bar hidden up in the rafters were a couple of Marys. After taking a seat at an empty table, Marcus waved down a waitress before he asked, "What do you have to eat?"
"Do you have any money? This place isn't cheap, you know." The woman asked as she eyed Marcus who was dressed in plain clothes with his sword on his waist.
"I have more than enough money." Marcus said as he patted at his pocket that was empty.
The woman handed over a menu as she said, "I'll be back in a few minutes."
Marcus quickly decided on what he wanted and ordered an entire table's worth of food including some fruit juice and tea. As the food came out, Marcus quickly ate it and started to draw attention because of how much he was eating. When the second half of Marcus's order was brought out, a couple of pirates approached his table as one of them asked, "Hey brother, that's a lot of food you have there. Why don't you share some with us?"
Marcus glanced towards the man and the other two people with him as he said, "Share if you can answer a question for me."
"Sure, what is it?"
"Do you know where Yamato is?"
The man froze along with everyone else in ear shot that heard Marcus's question. People at other tables turned to look at him as the man cautiously asked, "Why are you looking for them?"
"I'm new and I heard they're strong. I wanna test my strength against them."
A couple people nodded in understanding as the man chuckled before he slapped Marcus on the back and said, "You got some guts new guy, wanting to fight that little monster!"
Marcus stuffed a dumpling into his mouth before he asked, "So do you know or not?"
The man and his friends took a seat at the table as he said, "Yamato is normally in the mountains by the southern mountain path around the gate."
"How do I get there?"
The man pointed towards the south of the island as he said, "You go out of the Skull Dome and take the left path. Once you reach the mountain gate you'll be in the right area."
Marcus smiled at the man as he said, "Since you were so helpful, eat up and order whatever you want!"
"Now that's how rookies to the crew should be!" The man said as he reached over and patted Marcus on the back again as he laughed loudly.
Marcus reached over to shake the man's hand as he said, "I'm Rocks, what's your name?"
"I'm Jean, that's Skip and Ringo." Jean said as he pointed at the other two men.
Marcus nodded towards the men before he grabbed a massive chunk of meat as he stood up and said, "I'll go talk to the waitress and make a tab for you guys, so order whatever you want when she comes over. I'm going off to find Yamato."
The three men were already digging into the other food at Marcus's table as Jean said, "When you lose, come back and I'll buy you a round!"
Marcus chuckled slightly before he headed over to the waitress and said, "My friends over there offered to pay my bill, but they're also gonna add to it."
"You think you can get out of paying?"
The woman glanced from Marcus to the table with narrowed eyes before Marcus yelled, "Jean, you guys are good to go!"
Jean and his friends waved back as he said, "Good luck Rocks! And come back when you're done and I'll cover your drinks!"
Marcus smiled at the waitress as he said, "See, they got it covered."
"Fine."
Marcus quickly left the bar and outside Bao was calming waiting off to the side. Without missing a beat, she started following him again as he headed out of the Skull Dome and towards the southern mountain path which was the opposite of the one he used.
Once outside the path was basically deserted besides him and Bao who calmly followed behind him from a safe distance. She never made a move to hide her presence with her geta sandals loudly clicking against the ground. While Marcus carried the large roasted chunk of meat over his shoulder without eating it.
After a while Marcus finally saw the southern gate in the distance and started to flare his observation haki to maximum. Within moments he felt a few people in the area but none of them felt that strong so he kept moving. As he approached closer to the gate he kept sensing for a powerful presence and just before he reached the gate he found one. They were past the gate and up in the mountains on the right side of the pass.
Marcus didn't even bother to deal with Bao once he sensed the presence. He just disappeared from his spot with soru and rushed towards the presence he felt. Marcus could sense Bao moving faster to try and catch up but without soru, Marcus left her in the dust. Within a few minutes of running Marcus closed in on his target and they also seemed to notice him.
Within another minute Marcus stopped at a small campsite hidden up in the mountains and found Yamato. Yamato looked almost the same from when she showed up in the story. Maybe a little bit younger, but it was kinda hard to tell in the light of the campfire she had lit. Marcus stopped just outside of her camp before he held out the roasted meat towards her as he said, "Come with me if you want to live."