The Marine

Inside the giant vortex and tumbling head over foot down the length of a Marine Battleship caused even Bill’s sense of direction to scramble.

Getting hit from behind by the wrecked Marine Battleship wouldn’t kill Bill like it would have most others, but its weight was amplified by his surprise and so made him unable to fight the strong current created by the island eater.

*Puh!*

Breaching after several minutes, he spat out salty water, and using his hands, slapping side to side, he stabilized himself.

The astonishing amount of water entering the mouth of the island eater was only matched by its speed.

It was like an island-sized drain that had been pulled right out from under them, and now thoroughly inside the monster’s mouth, Bill moved with the flow.

Looking right and left he saw cheer cliffs of ribbed pink walls and looking behind him he saw a giant pink pillar which made him think ‘that’s it’s uvula?!’

Seeing this fleshy pillar, which was much larger than their ship, Bill thought quickly and fighting the current fully jumped out of the water.

He was about to go give that ‘punching bag’ a hard hit in the hope that the island eater would throw them up, but before he could even get halfway there, he heard a cry from behind: “Elizabeth!”

Barely able to hear it over the massive sounds of gurgling water, he turned away and caught a glimpse of the blond-headed girl before she went under.

‘Heh!’ thought he and shaking his head he almost left her to her fate, but after turning around he felt it was wrong.

Grunting with reluctance he turned away from the uvala and sped off in the girl’s direction.

Using Moon Step to be above the water vortex, the island eater was so massive that Bill had a lot of room to spare.

The blond headed girl wasn’t so fortunate though, and after scanning the scene for several moments by the time Bill saw her again, she was being sucked right into the creature’s belly!

Unable to turn back now, Bill darted forward and caught the girl from an absolutely enormous waterfall that was only filling a small area of the island eater’s belly.

With her in his arms, he gasped at the scene below.

Bill had seen a lot of amazing things since he had been reborn into this world, but here in the belly of this beast was two partial islands!

These islands even had greenery and what looked like small rivers!

‘Amazing!’ thought he, and overawed by the sight, he almost didn’t hear the girl who started calling out ‘Elizabeth’ ‘Elizabeth’ despite her eyes being closed.

But thankfully, he did hear her, and scanning the waterfall which was almost drying up he saw the familiar green lizard and snatched it out of the air.

Landing down on a hard rocky beach, he sat the unconscious girl and lizard on the ground beside him.

Knowing that they were alright – just startled – Bill didn’t immediately move to wake them. After being under water his clothes were naturally soaked and pulling off his Coat of Justice, he marveled at the sight above.

Wringing his clothes dry one by one, he moved fast so that the little girl wouldn’t wake and see his ‘shame’.

Laying his Coat of Justice and blue checkered suit on the rocky ground to dry, he had a lot of questions but thinking that surely this girl and her lizard wouldn’t know anything, he sat down beside them with just his undershirt and boxers on.

Looking up at the muted ball of light shining through the island eater, Bill wondered what it was for a short period of time but soon enough realized just how weird he felt.

It was strange, he didn’t feel full of strength, but having mastered Life Return he was naturally very sensitive to changes in his body and could tell that he had entered some kind of stasis.

‘Well, it can’t be stasis…’ he thought, now closing his eyes, and inspecting himself.

For starters, his cells were still using energy – which signified to him that he would get tired and could even starve. Furthermore, since he could think and feel in a linear fashion, there wasn’t a restriction on communications happening inside his neurons.

However, he could vaguely feel that there was some force that was rejuvenating his cells in such a way that though they would process energy and communicate with each other, they somehow wouldn’t die.

Focusing as much as he dared to in this weird environment, Bill was about to see what happened with the waste his body produced when he heard a small voice beside him:

“Huh…?”

Turning his head, he saw the matted yellow hair on the girl’s head pushed aside by a small hand as she woke up.

“Good morning.” Said he, not making any sudden moves.

Hollandaise claimed this girl was 200 years old, but Miyagi had examined her, and Bill could tell that her body was either as young as 6 or as old as 10.

So, not wanting to alarm her, he didn’t move.

“Ohhh?!” she said energetically and crawling over to the lizard continued: “That was a heck of a fall, right Elizabeth?!”

Hearing her speak so clearly, Bill was less reserved but still sat when he asked: “What’s you name girl?”

It was only now that she appeared to hear Bill, and looking at him, she then scanned the horizon and seemed to be talking to herself.

“So, Lord Bonbori didn’t finish off these greedy people. Now he’s trying to be my friend, thinking I’m so stupid to tell him where the treasure is…”

To this, Bill naturally had an incredulous look on his face and was about to temporarily which back to his Observation Haki, but quickly realized that it wasn’t necessary when she continued to think out loud:

“Che-che-che! I can deal with that; I’ll just fake it like I’m a helpless little girl and then escape at first chance!

And if I can’t run? Hmph! Let’s see what happens then!” she spoke with a dastardly expression: “Che-che-che!!”

Looking bewildered, Bill leaned over slightly and asked: “Girl, are you telling me this on purpose?”

“HOHH?!”

Jumping up like a started deer, the girl started waving her hands like a sumo wrestler and seemed to be legitimately surprised that Bill had heard her secret plot.

As for the man in question, Bill had met a lot of strange people in this world and had constantly reminded himself not to judge people by Earth standards, so dropping any follow up questions about her plot, he asked instead: “Well ok, enough about that… what’s your name?”

Not answering him directly, she once again began to plot: “Hmph that’s how he’s trying to befriend me?! Like I’d tell him my name is Olga Myskina… no I’ll tell him a different name, so that I won’t forget what he’s after!”

After that she told him some other name, and Bill had to question whether or not this girl was being manipulative on purpose or whether she was so daft that she really spoke her thoughts out loud.

“I understand” he said, looking down at her despite still sitting down: “Now Olga, do you know where this place is?”

Hearing her name she jumped again, started sweating, and giving him a wary look answered: “We’re inside Lord Bonbori’s stomach of course…”

“And Lord Bonbori is the name for this island eater?”

Nodding her head slowly, she was obviously being very cautious, and Bill wondered if she thought he was reading her thoughts.

Well, he could actually read her thoughts, but he kept that to himself!

“And where is that light coming from?” he asked, pointing to the vague outline of a sun.

“… That’s Lord Bonbori’s esca, or you can call it his lure if you don’t know any better…”

‘Esca?’ Bill thought, then asked to be sure: “So this Lord Bonbori is a giant Angler Fish?”

Nodding her head, now not so slowly, she was about to talk but jumped in freight and ran behind Bill: “We have to run!”

Looking at what had caused her so much panic, there were about two dozen dinosaur creatures coming out from the foliage.

They looked like T-Rex’s, Bill thought, and seeing the girl literally shaking in fear, he asked: “Have you seen those before?”

At this point, Bill hadn’t grasped the full story, and seeing her vigorously shake her head, he said with a slight smile: “Ok, don’t worry about it. With me here, I promise, you’re safe.”

Standing up, Bill stretched his full 9ft frame, and absolutely dwarfing the small girl, he moved as fast as he could without kicking up the ground.

The dinosaurs were strong for beasts, Bill even thought that it would take a Beetleborg to put one down. But to him, he just ran through a few like knife cutting butter which scared the rest of their companions off.

Running up to him, Olga’s eyes were stars and she said quickly: “Oh ho oh! Can we eat them, I’ve always been running away and now I can taste their meat!”

“You’ve always been running away?” he asked confused, to which Olga retorted that she would tell him the whole story but only if he started roasting.

Shrugging his shoulders, he was going to say that there were no cooking tools but glancing across the horizon he saw part of the Marine Battleship sticking out of the wat- rather, sticking out of the stomach acid.

Smirking, he had an idea and sweeping Olga and Elizabeth off their feet he used [Moon Step] to fly over to the wreckage.

Getting all sorts of surprised squeals from the two girls, he just laughed until he sat them down on the bow of the massive ship. He didn’t think that any more dinosaurs would come out, but to be safe he had taken them with him.

“How did you do that?!” shouted Olga who was holding on to the ships railing for dear life.

Not answering her, Bill laughed again and finding the snapped moaring lines he zipped around the battleship in a flash and started pulling the thing up.

Of course, even for him, lifting a Marine Battleship using Moon Step was incredibly difficult, so after getting close enough to shore he splashed down and with the cables over his shoulder, pulled the large ship onload.

“Oh, ho oh!” excitedly shrieked Olga who watched him heave the ship, and when he jumped back on board, she said: “You’re a lot stronger than you look!”

This made him laugh again, of course, by now Bill knew this girl was more than met the eye, but for any man it felt good to be idolized by a kid.

“Come on, lets go see what survived in the kitchen.” Said he with a smile on his face, and after finding a number of pots, pans, utensils, and spices, he grabbed the two girls again and jumped off the ship holding them in one hand and a massive bag in the other.

As he suspected, nothing had touched the slain dinosaurs, and seeing Olga’s eyes turn predatory he asked if she was ok to see him butcher the animals.

“You can turn around, if need be, you don’t need to act brave just for the sake of it. Don’t worry, while we’re together I’ll protect you.” He said but was surprised when the girl turned her predatory eyes on him and replied with a ruthless voice: “I don’t need any help from others!”

He was about to say that it was alright, but she cut him off and shouted: “I’ve lived alone for so long and now I only interact with others to take advantage of them!

So, idiot, don’t get it twisted just because I talked nicely to you, I don’t need anybody!”

To this outburst, Bill paused for only a second before continuing to butcher the dinosaur. Besides saying “I see…” he didn’t talk again.

Using two spits he started roasting a couple meaty legs over some fires he started, and when he heard Olga’s stomach growl, he pulled out a frying pan and decided to cook up a few quick steaks.

For the steaks he just seasoned them in butter and in no time at all he put them on a table he had taken from the beached battleship.

Seeing the food placed in front of her, Olga lost the ruthless expression she had worn this entire time and after swallowing her drool she dug in, not even using the fork and knife that Bill had provided for her.

Watching the small girl eat the steak like she had never eaten anything in her life, he smiled, and that smile must have caught her eye because she looked up and pointing a greasy finger at him said: “Don’t treat me like a kid! I’m just happy that I finally get to eat it!”

Nodding to her, Bill started cutting his steak and asked: “So you’ve wanted to eat one of these dinosaurs for a long time then?”

“Yeah, for 200 years!” she replied, not looking up and still feasting.

Slowly standing up, Bill went and turned the meat that was roasting on the spit, and when he sat back down, he saw his steak was gone.

He didn’t care though, and instead continued the conversation: “So, you’ve been living in this stomach for 200 years? How does that work?”

“Che-che-che!” laughed Olga, licking the buttery meat juice off her fingers before she continued: “Why still play these games? I know what you idiots are here for!

You want the [Pure Gold]!

And you want me because only I know where it is!”

Looking at her with an offput face, Bill questioned: “I’ve heard of [Pure Gold] once before, it’s supposed to let a person live forever, right?”

Then, answering him with a sinister smile on her face, Olga leaned over and said: “That’s right, and I know where it is, don’t you want it?”

Answering her with a disgusted look, Bill spoke without thinking: “No.”

“Che-che-che! Did you think I’d believe that?!

Everyone would want to live forever, and only I can give you the information needed to get the [Pure Gold]!”

Shaking his head slightly, Bill didn’t shout at the small woman, but simply said: “I wouldn’t want to live forever…”

Then thinking about his past life, his wife, and the oath he made to her when he woke up in this world, his words were true to himself.

He may not be 200 years old, but Bill himself was nearing 120 years, and he already could feel that time pressing down on him.

If not for this world being so full and wonderous, his sense of drive may have already been broken into listlessness.

So, speaking to Olga as much to himself, he lightly nodded his head and reaffirmed simply: “… living forever… that would be torture…”

This statement froze Olga’s sinister smile, and though she would never know Bill’s true mental age, in those few minutes of silence, two old souls bonded beyond what words could describe.

It was Olga who broke that silence, she told Bill her story.

Slowly she started to say that she was swallowed by Lord Bonbori 200 years ago.

“I lived on Alchemi Island with my parents. My father…” she sneered slightly but continued: “… was a scientist who created the [Pure Gold] and that’s when everything went wrong…”

Explaining that there was a physical phenomenon on the day that her father created the Pure Gold, the existence of a treasure was known far and wide and when people learned what the treasure was, they naturally had greed in their hearts.

According to Olga, she remembered Alchemi being a wealthy island, it was even called the ‘Island of Steel’ but wave after wave of pirate attacks whittled down the island’s population until their raids even reached her parents laboratory.

“My mother was killed by them… but you know? My father who created the Pure Gold never showed remorse. Not. One. Single. Time.”

She went on to explain that the day she was swallowed, she had given her dad another chance.

She wanted him to show guilt, or show anything, but he didn’t.

“I threatened to throw the Pure Gold into the ocean, I didn’t need it anyway… that was when Lord Bonbori came and swallowed the island.

And since then, I’ve been living on fruits and whatever else washed up on shore… and running from those dinosaurs.”

When Bill asked what happened to her dad, Olga shrugged and said she didn’t know, and it would have served him right to have been eaten.

In this matter, he didn’t feel that she was right or wrong for feeling such a way, and so, they finished eating, and talked about the world and Olga’s adventures to escape the belly of Bonbori.

Finally, after a couple of hours, Bill told her that he was going to scout around the island, and despite her protests put her and Elizabeth on the beached battleship.

“Just wait for me here, if anything stirs just run into the Captains Quarters and lock the door.”

Saying this with a straight face, he only broke out into a smile when she sheepishly asked if he would be back, to which he replied: “Don’t worry, Olga. I’ll be back shortly.”

Saying that, he jumped off the deck and headed inland.

He had been separated from his crew for several hours now, and while he trusted them against the  dinosaurs, he didn’t know if Foxy could hold off an injured Mad Treasure if push came to shove.