The Marine

Looking at the neon lights all around him Foxy couldn’t help but grab Porche by the waist and pull her over.

“Oh, oyabin, isn’t it just beautiful?” said the pretty woman who was looking over this way and that way.

Laughing and nodding his head, the old split-headed pirate-turned-Marine looked at Porche, and then to the people following them and replied: “Fefefe!

z’It sure is nice, that’s right!”

Walking down a lively side street there were food stalls, video display booths, card tables, and even a few curtains which blocked the more adult ‘entertainments’.

What made the small road so amazing was that there was enough foot traffic here to put even the busiest of streets in some large cities to shame!

Behind the stalls themselves were apartments blocks, or rather, the cheapest of hotels that Gran Tesoro had to offer.

But to say ‘cheap’ was only in comparison to the many top-quality hotels that Gran Tesoro hosted.

Glass doors, white marble flooring, and golden pillars were just the beginning of the luxury in this, the cheapest of hotels.

But even this made Foxy and the others marvel!

Having roamed around the [South Blue] and [Paradise], Foxy had naturally seen a lot with his crew during the years that they were pirates, but in terms of pure luxury, nothing in the world was like [Gran Tesoro].

Getting to the far end of the street Foxy told Hamberg and Porche that they would go ‘try their luck’ while they waited at an intersection that none of them had ever seen before.

It was a red light which seemed to indicate for the crowd to stop walking forward, and in the road were Turtle Cars going in either direction.

“How marvelous! Oyabin can we ride on one of those?!” cried Porche, and even Hamberg was stumped.

The average Turtle Car on Gran Tesoro was an impressive T8 model – or in other words, the average car on Gran Tesoro had a team of eight Cylin-turtles which could produce an impressive 500 hors…er rather, turtlepower!

Some elite teams of Cylin-turtles could produce as much as 750 turtlepower!!

Laughing with Porches’ excitement, Foxy was about to respond to her that they would ‘zurely get their own’ when he felt a tug on his coat sleeve.

Dressed in their Marine uniforms, Foxy had on a Coat of Justice that he wore with his arms through the arm holes, and looking down he saw a small girl who was wearing a faded dress and had a straw hat with a pink bow in it.

“Mister… would you like to buy a flower, sir?” she said meekly.

Looking at the little girl, Porche’s eyes lit up and walking over said: “Oh, lil’cutie! How much?”

As if caught off guard by the Marine woman’s enthusiasm, the girl stammered out saying: “15,000…. Beli… Ma’am”

Taken aback by the amount the little girl said, Porche was about to respond but the light turned green, and Foxy, grabbing Porche by the waist again, said to the girl as they walked away: “Fefefe! z’Little girlie, you won’t sell too many of those flowers at that price, I think!”

Not minding the barely audible “oh…” from the child, Foxy and the rest headed towards the casino.

As Foxy, Porche, and Hamberg walked towards the largest Casino on Gran Tesoro, Bill’s Marine crew had started to spread out across the city.

*********************************************************

Only on the Frontier Run itself was there a permanent group stationed.

In this group was naturally the merchant-turned-Wanted man, Hollandaise, there was Olga who was stewing and complaining about being bored, her pet water-walking lizard Elizabeth, and finally Acier who was fascinated with the medical and chemical advancements over the past 200 years and devoured that knowledge at a speed that would make even Vegapunk rase an eyebrow.

All of whom Bill had restricted to the ship.

But they weren’t all, the final member of the crew to be permanently stationed on the ship was Miyagi. As someone who Bill trusted beyond doubt, Miyagi had the strength to watch over Bill’s ship – and most importantly the seastone lockbox that contained not only the Pure Gold, but also the Devil Fruit that they had found in Mad Treasures vault.

The Devil Fruit had been positively identified as the [Paper-Paper Fruit], which was astonishingly a Logia Devil Fruit that would turn a person into a ‘Paper Human’ and was the second of its kind that Bill had come across over the course of his 25 years of life in this new world he found himself in.

But obviously the main treasure, for good or for ill, and the real reason why Miyagi was stationed on the ship, was to keep an eye on the [Pure Gold] – a treasure that could drive the world into a frenzy.

In addition to his Mink senses and naturally born fighting ability, the Goat Mink had a miniature Communication Snail that directly linked to another miniature snail that stayed on Bill’s person all the time.

Walking away from the ships hospital ward, Miyagi had a smile on his face.

Teaching Acier was most fascinating, he thought, and if he hadn’t a need to go back to Mokomo Dukedom and spread the medical knowledge he had learned to his own people, Miyagi would have been thrilled to have Acier as a student of sorts.

Of course, the term ‘student’ could only be used lightly when talking about the man whose own genius created [Pure Gold]!

But though he had a mind like a diamond, Acier was not a medical genius in the same way as he was a genius in chemistry, and it was thanks to that fact that Miyagi could take pleasure in teaching such an astute person.

Turning a corner, he was walking towards the ship deck to get some air when he saw Olga stomping towards him, but also got a whiff of… something.

It was a smell that he had smelled many times over the last couple of weeks, but one that was gone as quickly as it came.

Most importantly, the smell would appear infrequently and was never in only one spot.

Running at full speed, Miyagi sidestepped a furious Olga and slammed open the door to Bill’s office.

Everything was how it had been left; nothing was moved besides the door, but his nose couldn’t be wrong, and he smelled a person.

In fact, sniffing around some more, Miyagi was positive that it was a man.

Cutting his eyes side to side, the good doctor bleated a low threat before leaving the office again.

*********************************************************

Not far away from the ship, just a level down below the docks an enormously huge poked out from ceiling, before taking a breath and rising back up.

With this pattern, once every minute or so the huge head would materialize, take a breath, and then move on.

This was how Tanaka, the Head of Casino Security, moved through the maze-like city of [Gran Tesoro]. By cutting a straight line to where he needed to go, he moved devilishly fast until he finally arrived at a room that was disgustingly opulent.

There were gems of all kinds, some that even seemed to contain storms within them, there were diamond-like bones from one creature that not even Vegapunk would have recognized.

With silk lace strewn over the floor like a carpet, giant rubies incrusted into the arms of the couches and chairs, everything in the giant room was tinted in an almost-nauseating golden hue.

That golden hue emanated from a giant hot tub at the far end of the room, and sitting in the hot tub was naturally the master of [Gran Tesoro].

Knowing that Gild’s [Observation Haki] would sense him, Tanaka waited to be called, and he didn’t have to wait long.

“You’re back sooner than I thought, so, did you find what I sent you for?”

Fully materializing, Tanaka didn’t laugh in front of the man in front of him, and said: “Mad Treasure failed, but as you had foreseen, his failure wasn’t without purpose.”

Not minding the compliment at all, Gild drank his golden wine, caressed the shoulder of the almost-naked woman beside him, and said with a smile: “Of course, now don’t keep me waiting.” But no sooner did he smile, did his face sneer and tone change: “Did. You. Find. What. I. Sent. You. For?”

“Ye…yes.” Stammered Tanaka, who despite having been with Gild Tesoro for almost a decade was still frightened of the man.

Catching himself before he really drew the golden man’s ire, Tanaka quickly continued: “I found out much of what you asked for, and even some things that I wasn’t expecting…”

Seeing Gild’s impassive look, Tanaka continued: “That ship is full of surprises, from the amount of treasure on it, it’s guaranteed that they had defeated Mad Treasure. Furthermore, there’s an area in the Captains Quarters that I can’t pass through, which could only mean that there’s a seastone lockbox!”

Gild Tesoro had a god complex, but he wasn’t crazy, and he understood immediately what Tanaka was saying.

Thinking to himself: ‘Can seastone block out [Pure Gold]?’ he was tempted to order Tanaka to seize the ship when he considered who the ship’s captain was.

The fact that ‘Commodore William Ox’ could defeat Mad Treasure was of no consequence to Gild Tesoro, what did matter though was who the father of that Commodore was.

With an extensive information network, the ‘Casino King’ had made a living in the underworld by understanding what the World Government’s next action would be. His sources were second only to the ‘Joker’ and so of course he knew that Aramaki Ox was on the short list to become the next Marine Admiral.

This made Gild pause before being rash.

Naturally, if Gild knew for certain that the Commodore had Pure Gold, there would be nothing anyone could do to stop him from acting against Bill, but as for now he had to weigh the odds.

It was a gamble.

Seeing Gild not speak, Tanaka smirked and spoke up after several minutes: “Boss, there’s something else I think you would like to know.”

Interrupted from his thoughts, Gild said ‘Speak’ and Tanaka did so: “That Marine ship is harboring two wanted criminals. Both wanted Alive.”

Then pulling out two bounties, he handed them over to Gild.

The first had a picture of Olga Myskina, but not her name. It said: [Suspect, WANTED! ALIVE, 85,000,000 Beli]

The second was a picture of Hollandaise, and it read: “[Tilapia Hollandaise, WANTED! ALIVE, 5,000,000 Beli]

Seeing these posters, Gild burst into laughter and the entire room followed suit.

This would give him a reason to go against the ship whether or not Aramaki Ox became an Admiral, after all, no ‘Marine’ was above the law.

‘With the Celestial Dragon arriving soon I have to be quick…’ he told himself, this was because Celestial Dragon’s always travelled with Marine escorts.

The World Nobles themselves wouldn’t care if Gild executed a couple of Marines, but their escort Marines would!

“Tanaka, get in touch with the [Silver Pirate Alliance] and have them throw that ship upside down. Stay out of sight when they do, only interfere if they look like they’re going to lose. Use the attack as an excuse to search the ship.”

Nodding to his scheme, Tanaka mentioned that it would take a few days to bring the pirates to the city and the Casino King shrugged and said in finality: “The World Government will arrive in 9 days, Tanaka, I’m giving you 6.

Use. Them. Well.”

Nodding his head vigorously, Tanaka didn’t even respond but ran to do the golden man’s bidding.

With Tanaka gone, there were only women left in the room, all beautiful, but there was one particularly stunning.

“Anything for me?” asked the women in a sultry voice, and looking up from his ladies, Gild said: “Baccarat, you’ve been so quiet I almost forgot you existed…” this was both a joke and threat, but Gild continued: “… make sure not a single one of those eggheads win. I want them to all have no luck.”

Blinking with long lashes, the concierge nodded slightly, then slightly bending over asked coyly: “Is there anything else you need?”

“Just go…” answered the man simply.

While he could stand to have some fun, he had work to do.

To welcome the World Nobles, Gild Tesoro decided to put on a show, a show so grand it was rare even in this city of opulence.

*********************************************************

Stepping onto the golden dock several dozen tourists looked all around.

Having booked passage on one of the Gran Tesoro’s main ferries there was nothing at all strange about these people, except their movements… the very way that they walked and spoke and looked around… all betrayed a level of training that was rarely seen even in elite Marine units.

One of these tourists wore a top hat and would have been unrecognizable except for a scar over his eye, a scar he had received many years before.

“Bosa…” called one of his men, a hairy fellow who Bill would have recognized despite the passage of years and the man’s own disguise.

After all, this man was the first person outside of his family that Bill had ever spoken to. He was the first person who ever mentioned ‘pirates’ to Bill and was the first person who ever gave Bill a realistic vision of this magical archipelago world.

His name was Oliver, and he had been a Marine for many years and saw many things before joining the Revolutionary Army.

He did not know that Bill was in the city, if he had, he may have acted differently instead of whispering to his leader in the top hat: “There’s already a Marine ship here, damn hypocrites, we should hurry to sabotage it.”

The standard operating procedure for the R.A. was not to seek out conflict with the Marines, but in this place, where they planned to do something never done before, they knew conflict was to be expected.

Nodding slightly, ‘Bosa’ agreed but reminded his subordinate to not go overboard.

The Marines were a threat, thought the leader, but the real threat was the Cipher Pol members who were enroute.

They were quick and intelligent; he could not let them get word of what was going on before they sprung their trap.

*********************************************************

Standing perfectly still in the water underneath the hull of Gran Tesoro, unaware of everything else, Bill had just quickly removed a massive plating of low purity seastone.

These giant seastone plates were what gave Gran Tesoro the buoyancy and strength to stay afloat, and because they repelled water, the new plate was encased in a bubble.

Breathing heavily, Bill’s eyes were the size of saucers, and looking at the ship through the prism of infrared he popped the bubble, resisted the seastone’s pull upwards, and started snapping it into place.

Pushing up with thousands of tons of pressure, each snap echoed through the water and vibrated the ship.

As these repairs went on, the floating city of Gran Tesoro would experience ‘earthquakes’ for the first time.