Marcus and the rest of the band spent a few weeks on Elbaph training and practicing together before Marcus decided to leave. He sparred with Shanks a few times during that period and while he couldn't beat him, the loss of his main hand was noticeable. Marcus also sparred with anyone he could while on the island. It was mostly people from Shanks crew, but he also fought with a few pirates and even a giant. The giant wasn't the strongest of their race, but just their physical strength alone was close to Yamato in her hybrid form.
After the modifications to the ship were fully complete and everyone had their own room, Marcus called a meeting and said, "We're going to leave in two days."
"I thought we were gonna practice more?"
"We can easily practice while we travel since the ship only needs one person to run it."
Yamato's eyes lit up as she asked, "Where are we going first?"
"Punk Hazard to visit someone and then we'll travel to Fishman Island before heading towards Water Seven to have a proper ship made."
"Didn't you say Punk Hazard was off limits?"
Marcus nodded towards Uta as he said, "Technically it is, but Vegapunk said I could visit any time I wanted and I need to grab some things from him."
"Since we're leaving soon, take the next two days to relax and rest. Once we're on the water, we won't have much space to relax, so get it out of your system now." Marcus said as he glanced over the girls for a moment.
They talked together for a while about the trip before Marcus went off to find Shanks for another spar. Out of everyone he could fight with, Shanks was still the one who gave him the most pressure. So whenever Marcus could, he would force Shanks to spar with him. It took a little bit of work each time, but Shanks always caved after a while and Marcus would be beaten into the ground. Shanks never pushed it as far as Mihawk did, but Marcus was normally knocked out for a few hours.
Marcus woke up to the smell of roasted meat and the taste of iron in his mouth. He found himself a small distance from a bonfire at sunset with Shanks sitting nearby nursing a bottle of alcohol. Over the bonfire was a massive whole pig that Lucky was tending to as he happily chatted with a couple crew members next to a table of food. Scattered around the area was Shanks's crew, Uta and the other band members and a few pirates who were friendly with the Shanks's crew.
"Uta said you're leaving in a couple of days."
"Yeah, I have things I need to do and the little nap Doflamingo gave me means I'm behind."
Shanks took a drink before he asked, "You're not planning to do anything that might put Uta in danger, are you?"
"Not anything worse than being related to you might bring. Plus we're not pirates and we're heading back to paradise." Marcus said with a shrug before he reached for one of the bottles next to Shanks.
"What do you thi-" Shanks started to say as Marcus popped off the top and took a swig which he swished around in his mouth before he spat it out.
"I still don't get why you guys like this swill. Almost all of it tastes like crap. At least it works decent enough as a mouth wash."
Shanks snatched the bottle from Marcus's hand as he said, "That's because you're still a kid. You'll like it once you're an adult."
"That crap? Never. But some properly aged spirits, now those I'll drink."
"You better not be drinking with Uta…"
Marcus waved off Shanks's statement as he said, "She's already crazy eno-"
Before Marcus could finish, Shanks's arm whipped out and smacked him on the back of his head as he said, "She's not crazy."
Marcus rubbed the back of his head as he complained, "Yes she is."
Shanks went to smack him again, but Marcus dodged this time as he rolled to the side before he jumped to his feet. Marcus pulled down on one eyelid and stuck out his tongue before he said, "To slow old man."
"I'm not old you brat!" Shanks yelled as Marcus ran off towards the bonfire and the table next to it covered in food.
Marcus pulled a Luffy as he ate at the same time he stacked his plate with food. After he was satisfied with his haul, Marcus sat down next to Yamato and the others who were also eating. Whenever Marcus could, he would always sit next to someone else or he would end up getting sandwiched between Uta and Baby 5. That way he only had to deal with one clingy girl next to him at a time.
During the meal, they discussed a handful of topics. But with the main focus of their group being a band, they always ended up discussing music. Even Yamato, who was a complete novice at this point, joined in the conversations. While maybe not the most interesting thing to discuss with most people, Marcus always found it relaxing to do. Even when they started arguing over what lyrics or cords might sound better in a song.
Uta was the most musically gifted out of everyone though, whether or not it had to do with her devil fruit Marcus wasn't sure. But her ability to create or finish songs was absurd and always made Marcus wonder if it was the fruit or innate talent alone. A few times now as he wrote out a song from his memories trying to piece it together. Uta would lean on him to watch and instantly figure out what came next note wise. The lyrics she created on the other hand didn't match the original much, but they tended to work for the song overall.
But that would always cause issues because Marcus mostly wanted to do the original versions with little to no changes while Uta liked her versions better. Which led to the current discussion they were having as Marcus said, "No way, it needs to be sung with my lyrics or the song will lose its original feel."
"But I don't want to sing that, it's creepy!"
"The song's title is Creep…"
Uta crossed her arms over her chest as she said, "Then let's just change the name."
"If you wanna change the song name and the lyrics, you might as well just make an entirely new song."
"But I like the overall tone and feeling of the music. We should turn it into a love song instead."
"It's basically already a love song… Well a weird, twisted, unrequited love song from a stalker's perspective which makes it perfect for you to sing." Marcus said in a slightly teasing tone which made Uta puff out her cheeks and look away from him.
Marcus and the others burst into laughter except for Baby 5 who just smiled politely before Uta kicked Marcus in the shin and said, "Stupid jerk."
Marcus laughed harder at the comment which caused Uta to huff and turn away again, but she didn't leave. After a little more joking around, the conversation picked back up and Uta finally agreed to learn the song. But she only agreed if Marcus helped make a duet song together with her. Marcus could easily play and sing at the same time, so he agreed as long as it wasn't a love song. The rest of the night passed in a blur as they hung out together and ate. They even played a few songs for everyone at the impromptu party.
The next day was spent preparing supplies and saying goodbye to everyone before Marcus sparred one last time with Shanks. After getting beat unconscious, Marcus woke up the next day well past sunrise and found that they already set sail. They were surrounded by water with no trace of Elbaph and its ridiculous tree in sight when Marcus stepped out of his cabin. Yamato was on the bridge, hunched over as she peddled on the bike that powered the hydro foils. Next to her manning the helm was Jasmine who glanced at Marcus and said in a joking tone, "You missed breakfast, but your wives saved you some food."
Marcus shook his head slightly before he asked, "When did we leave?"
"We ended up leaving last night, Yamato's been on the bike almost the entire time."
"Oh, that makes sense why I can't see any trace of Elbaph then." Marcus said before he glanced towards Yamato and added, "Let me eat and then I can take over powering the ship."
"No, I wanna see how long I can last."
Marcus shared a glance with Jasmine who shrugged in response before he headed towards the galley as he said, "Alright, have fun with that."
As soon as Marcus opened the door he was greeted by the smell of fresh food before two voices said, "Marcus!"
Uta and Baby 5 were both in the kitchen area cleaning dishes as Uta pointed towards the table and said, "We weren't sure when you would wake up, so we only kept that for you. We can make more if you want."
Marcus took a seat and pulled off the covers of a couple plates as he said, "This is more than fine, thank you."
Marcus started to eat as he asked, "Why'd we leave last night?"
"Dad said we should leave since we already said goodbye and the tide was good."
Marcus nodded slightly and stuffed some eggs into his mouth which he quickly ate before he said, "He just didn't want me to try and spar with him again before we left."
"That… Now I know why he beat you so badly yesterday, he didn't want you to wake up before we left. I yelled at him a bunch because of that." Uta said in an annoyed tone.
Marcus chuckled softly as he said, "And why he rushed us off the island. He must have known I planned to fight him right before we left."
"Do you wanna go back?"
Marcus shook his head as he said, "It's fine. I can fight with him next time. Plus this is better anyways, I wanna get back to East Blue before Ace's birthday next year."
"Oh, you plan to celebrate his birthday?"
"Kinda… It's more to see him before he finally sets sail with Sabo. I wanna test them both and see how they stack up."
"All you care about is fighting." Uta said with a huff.
"Of course. If there's one thing I've learned from my grandpa, personal strength is the only thing that matters in this world. That's why you and the others need to get stronger too."
Uta stopped washing dishes and flexed one of her thin arms as she said, "I am strong!"
"Not yet, but you will be."