When Marcus awoke, his entire body felt like a bruise. Before his blurry eyes cleared, Marcus let out a groan as he tried to move his arm and rub the sleep from them. As soon as he made a noise, a gentle, yet sad voice he couldn't quite place because his ears felt stuffed with cotton said, "Don't move, you'll rip the stitches."
Marcus turned towards the voice and a second later a blurry hand reached towards his face as the voice said, "Here, let me help."
Someone wiped the sleep from his eyes and he found a disheveled Baby 5, with red puffy eyes, a runny nose and flushed face. Marcus took in her appearance along with the small unfamiliar room before he said, "Hey, why are you crying? If it's because of me, you don't need to cry. I'll be perfectly fine in a few days."
Baby 5 gave Marcus a smile filled with sadness as she said, "I know, Shakky and Rayleigh stitched you back together and said you just needed to rest."
"Then why do you look like someone died?"
Baby 5 tried to put on a confident smile but it instantly broke as she said in a trembling voice, "I... I was kicked out of the family… The young master… He… He said I wasn't ne-"
Baby 5's voice completely broke as she burst into tears as heartretching sobs filled the room. As Baby 5 broke down, Marcus gritted his teeth and reached out as he felt some stitches break before he took one of Baby 5's hands. Baby 5 desperately clutched his hand like it was a lifeline as Marcus gently pulled her towards the bed and said, "Come here."
Baby 5 didn't resist at all as Marcus guided her to curl up next to him. It took a few moments and it hurt like hell, but once Baby 5 had her arms wrapped around Marcus with her head buried in his shoulder. He gently rubbed her back as he whispered in her ear, "No matter how much it hurts now, just know everything will be fine. You're not useless and you never were."
Marcus comforted Baby 5 until she fell asleep from exhaustion and after a while he also fell back asleep. Marcus wasn't sure on the time, but when he woke back up Baby 5 was gone, his stitches were fixed and candle light filled the room. As his eyes adjusted he glanced around the room but found it empty and the window behind the closed curtains let him know it was night time.
Marcus first felt his body and when he found it still tender all over he decided not to move. He thought about calling out for someone to bring him food, but after a few minutes he decided to sleep instead. He wasn't Luffy, he didn't need to eat as soon as he woke up. Within moments of closing his eyes, Marcus's breathing leveled out and half an hour later someone opened the door to check on him. Finding Marcus gently snoring, they quietly closed the door to let him rest.
The smell of fresh bacon entered Marcus's nose and his eyes snapped open moments later. Marcus's eyes quickly adjusted to the light and he found the door to the room now open. From somewhere close by he heard the sound of people talking but couldn't make it out as the smell of breakfast slowly made his mouth water. Marcus swallowed the extra saliva in his mouth which helped to coat his slightly dry throat before he called out, "Whoever is cooking, please bring me a plate!"
Marcus heard the clatter of dishes before the sound of feet pounding across the wooden floor filled the air. A moment later two girls burst into the room and rushed towards him as they both said, "Marcus!"
Baby 5 looked a lot better compared to the last time he saw her, but her eyes were still filled with a deep sadness. Uta on the other hand looked a lot better by comparison, but her eyes were filled with disappointment, guilt and fear. They both stopped next to his bed and surprisingly Uta didn't fight with Baby 5 which was a nice surprise. Uta looked hesitant to speak as Baby 5 tenderly held his hand as she said in a regretful tone, "Sorry."
"You don't need to apologize, you haven't done anything wrong."
Baby 5 shook her head as she said, "You tore a bunch of your stitches becau-"
"I tore them myself, you had nothing to do with it, so don't apologize for something I did alone."
Baby 5 looked a little conflicted but slowly nodded as Marcus focused on Uta and asked, "What's wrong?"
Uta's eyes misted over as she regretfully said, "I'm… I'm sorry Marcus… If it wasn't for me… You wouldn't be hurt right now."
Quiet tears streaked down Uta's face as her head was lowered towards the floor, unable to look Marcus in the eyes. Marcus watched for a few moments before he let out a sigh as he said, "While your actions didn't help the situation… I'm pretty sure Doflamingo wouldn't have left without a fight no matter what happened."
Uta slowly looked up at Marcus as surprise filled her eyes before he said in a disappointed tone, "But that doesn't excuse your actions… What the hell were you thinking acting like that?!? I know Shanks spoils you, but you should have some common sense not to provoke someone like that."
Uta dropped her head again as Marcus continued, "And what the hell happened to all your training? As soon as you were attacked you basically froze up and didn't even react? Have you even been training properly to defend yourself?!?"
Tears exploded on the floor like bombs dropped from a plane as Uta's whole body shook. Her already pale hands turned bone white as her nails dug into her palms before crimson drops soon joined her tears while her voice broke slightly as she said, "I'm sorry… I'll… I'll do better, I promise... I'm sorry… Please… Please don't hate me… I'm sorry…"
Marcus watched her for a few moments before he said, "I don't hate you… Come here."
Uta didn't move so Marcus glanced towards Baby 5 and said, "Bring her here, please."
Baby 5 softly placed a hand on Uta's shoulder and found no resistance as she led Uta right next to the bed before they stopped in front of it. Marcus reached out and pulled Uta towards him as he ripped some stitches again. Baby 5 noticed what Marcus wanted to do and helped him lay Uta next to him before she quickly left the room. Uta laid next to Marcus but refused to look at him as he slowly rubbed her back.
"I don't hate you, you stupid girl…"
Uta slowly relaxed in his arms as he added, "I'm disappointed, but I wouldn't hate you because of that."
A few minutes passed as Marcus gently rubbed Uta's back before she finally managed to ask, "You… You really don't hate me?"
"Of course not. You're my friend… You're almost as stupid as Luffy, but still a friend."
"I am not! Take that back!" Uta said as she smacked Marcus's chest and caused him to groan in pain.
"I'm sorry!" Uta instantly apologized as she looked at Marcus in concern.
Marcus shook his head as he said, "It's fine."
"No it's not." An annoyed voice said by the door.
Both of them turned to find Shakky with one hand on her hip, a lit cigarette in her mouth and a small med kit in her other hand. Shakky focused on Uta as she said, "You, get out of here. You made him rip open his stitches again."
Uta carefully extracted herself from the bed and under Shakky's gaze quickly left the room. Shakky shook her head before she took a seat next to Marcus as she said, "If you rip the stitches again, I won't sew you back up."
"I'll be careful from now on."
"Uh, Huh… I bet you will." Shakky said as she started to unwrap where blood was on the bandages.
Marcus could instantly tell two things from the way Shakky quickly stitched back together his wounds. The first was she was extremely skilled and made clean tight lines as she worked. The second was she was upset and wasn't being gentle at all with how she handled him. So even though everything was perfect once she finished, it hurt like hell as she worked and Marcus was covered in sweat from the process.
As she stood, Shakky narrowed her eyes slightly and said, "Now stop moving around until you're healed."
"Yes, doctor Shakky!" Marcus said in a joking tone.
A hint of a smile teased Shakky's lips before she turned towards the door as she said, "I'm not joking, I won't patch you up again."
"Understood… And thank you for doing it in the first place, I greatly appreciate the help."
Shakky paused just outside the door as she said, "Don't worry about it kid."
A few minutes after Shakky left, Marcus's stomach rumbled loudly before he realized he hadn't eaten yet. Before he could even say anything Baby 5 and Uta came back into the room with a couple plates of food. Marcus smiled at them both as he said, "Perfect timing!"
Baby 5 frowned slightly as she said, "We accidentally burned some of it."
Uta, who was more subdued at the moment nodded along as they set the plates next to Marcus's bed. After a moment both girls paused as they realized only one of them could help feed him at a time and both stared at each other. Marcus glanced between the girls for a moment before he said, "If you're careful and help me sit up in the bed, you can both help me eat at the same time…"
The girls thought it over for a few moments before they both nodded and then helped Marcus sit up while being careful not to rip his stitches again. Once in position, they each sat on one side of him and took turns feeding him from the food they brought. Once they were finished, Marcus let out a contented sigh before he said, "Bring me a lot of meat and some milk for my next meal."
"Shakky sai-" Uta started to say before Baby 5 cut her off and happily said, "Okay, dear."
"Thanks Baby 5." Marcus said with a smile before he turned towards Uta as he added, "I'm sure she said lite foods or something like that, but I know my body best. Give me a lot of meat and some milk and I'll be fine in a day or two."
Uta frowned slightly but nodded before the girls laid him back down to rest. Over the next two days they brought him extra meat and milk to eat. On the fourth day after his fight with Doflamingo, Marcus woke up early as sun rays peeked through the curtains and felt mostly fine. Once he was sitting up, Marcus decided to check his body and started with his arms.
He found that most of the holes Shakky stitched together were basically healed, but there would probably be scars from the whole ordeal. When Marcus was finished he found that of the fifty plus holes Doflamingo drilled into his body, less than half remained unhealed. He also had countless cuts from the fight, but besides one major gash on his leg, the rest disappeared.
Marcus stood in front of a mirror naked as he looked over his body and chuckled slightly. Some of the hole shaped scars on his chest made him look like a very convincing cosplay of Kenshiro from Fist of the North Star. Marcus shook those thoughts from his head as he put back on some clothes the girls brought from his boat. After he was dressed he opened the door to his room and found the rest of the building still asleep. So he quietly moved down the hall, after looking around a bit, he found his way to the kitchen where he found Shakky.
Shakky was wearing some pajama pants, slippers, an oversized shirt and an apron as she moved around the kitchen humming. When she caught sight of Marcus she paused as she asked, "Why are you up? Are you trying to rip your stitches again?"
Marcus lifted his shirt to show that he was almost completely healed as he said, "I'm already healed. I just need to eat more today and take it easy. By tomorrow morning I should be able to start training again."
"Good."
Marcus whipped his head towards the voice and found Rayleigh in a pair of boxers as he scratched his stomach. Marcus quickly turned away which caused Rayleigh to laugh as he walked closer to Shakky. He gave her a kiss on the cheek and picked up a fresh cup of coffee she just placed on the counter for him before he took a drink. Afterwards he focused on Marcus as he said, "I've decided, I'll train you."
Marcus's eyes widened as he turned back towards Rayleigh who took another drink before he said, "I'll give you a year… Maybe two depending on how well you do. But don't think it'll be easy, I'm gonna make your fight with Doflamingo seem like a friendly spar."
"That sounds perfect."