The Marine

Despite the passage of two hundred years the reunion between father and daughter was not an easy one, but when Bill notified the two that he had to go find his crew, Olga called for a truce – a truce that only she needed because Acier had not said one bad thing to her.

Discussing with the father and daughter about where to go next, Olga told Bill that if he didn’t see his crew here then they must be Lord Bonbori’s 2nd or 3rd stomach.

Incidentally, the Pure Gold was in Acier’s lab, and it had fallen into the 3rd stomach, but Bill had no interest in the compound – he was much more interested in Acier’s findings into so-called [Perpetual] humankind.

Even though he would never wish to be a [Perpetual], his curiosity was roused by the biological realities of humans that wouldn’t naturally age.

Figuring that he would have time to talk to Acier about this in the future, Bill didn’t dally around and scooping Olga in his arms and putting Acier on his back they flew over the bay of stomach acid which separated two half-eaten pieces of islands.

Ignoring the exited laughter from Olga and the terrified hollers from Acier, Bill quickly reached a wide fleshy passageway.

“F.fascinating! Is this the tract leading to the 2nd stomach?” Acier asked, apparently having forgotten his fear of heights in front of something that aroused his interest.

“Che-che-che! Of course!

I’ve been here before on Elizabeth, down there it gets darker, and the gastric juice is even more acidic. Don’t fall in old man, not even Elizabeth can stand it down there.

But there could be an accident, and then, who knows what would happen to you? Che-che-che”

Hearing her say this, Bill rolled his eyes in an exaggerated fashion, turned around to see the water lizard which had been doing her best to keep up.

Clearly the water lizard was attached to Olga, groaning despite himself, Bill rushed down, quickly threw the lizard on Acier’s back, and headed into the 2nd stomach carrying multiple bodies through the air as easily as one would carry a couple of grocery bags.

Even in his haste to reunite with his crew, because now he had been away for a lot longer than he intended to, he could only be himself.

The 2nd stomach was immense but very much smaller than the 1st, and even though Bill could see how the Frontier Run could have been sucked down here, he thought that their luck had been bad.

Telling the trio on him to ‘hold on!’ he rose high in the air and despite the dimmer light quickly found his target.

The Frontier Run was half beached, but there was movement all over the place and without waiting to look around Bill rushed over as fast as he figured his ‘passengers’ could tolerate.

Landed down softly, Bill nevertheless did so in the middle of a couple dozen Marines.

Seeing him, men and women one by one stopped doing whatever tasks they were set to, and the atmosphere – which was so oppressive and even Acier felt it despite 200 years with no human interactions – began to lift.

“Commodore!”

The first person to speak to him was naturally Nelson, and after a brief questioning look at Acier – and a scowl towards Olga – the Commander began to tell Bill about the battle and Borodo’s sacrifice.

He didn’t hide anything, there was nothing to hide after all, and as he spoke, more and more Marines gathered around.

The father-daughter combo was astonished by the level of trust these men and women evidently had in Bill.

For Olga, she was originally younger when her isolation had started and had long ago developed a solitary mindset, so it was astonishing that so many people could rely on a single individual, but for Acier it was slightly different.

200 years ago, there were powerful people in the same way as there was today, and even though he had never seen anyone fly through the air as Bill had done, Acier had been around his fair share of outstanding people.

Being the greatest Chemist of his time, and perhaps of all time, he had experienced all kinds of situations where people looked to him for help or reassurance.

And though he had gone slightly mad from his lifetime of living with the dinosaurs, he saw that familiar spark of hope in these Marines eyes and wondered what kind of ‘young man’ Bill was to endear himself to these people.

Hearing Nelson out, Bill nodded his head and looked around before saying: “Alright, we have to trust in Borodo and be thankful that he sacrificed himself for the group. Now, which way did they go? I don’t see how Mad Treasure planned to get to the 3rd stomach without a ship.”

As he had been in the air Bill had naturally been on the lookout for anything that seemed out of place.

But he found nothing and furthermore knew that he had destroyed a good part of the hull on Mad Treasure’s ship.

“Aye Commodore! We saw his ship; it was wrapped up in chains!” said a feminine voice from the side.

Looking over at the speaker, it was Porche who stood there wrapped up like a mummy, and nodding his head, Bill indicated that he understood.

About to say something else, she was cut off by an aggravated Nelson: “Just so, some of the crew left on that wrecked vessel but the villain himself took Borodo and most others into those temple-like structures on the other side of the island!”

Looking in the direction that Miyagi pointed, Bill called over to Acier and asked what those buildings were, and sure enough, they were a part of his old laboratory.

The old Chemist explained to the crowd of Marines that when his island kept being assaulted, it became necessary to store the precious material and his laboratory only in the most secure of locations.

Of course, Acier didn’t know how the structure was still being held up in this island-eaters stomach but reiterated that it was the uppermost level to his laboratory complex.

Hearing this, and thinking of a solution almost immediately, Bill decided that he would go alone with Acier to the laboratory and the rest would head down to the lower stomach, ready to leave as soon as Bill got Borodo back and returned to them.

“Olga, you’ve been to the 3rd stomach, right?” asked Bill thinking that at least she could a be guide and seeing the attention of dozens of people on her, the 200-year-old little girl squirmed before answering: “Che-che-che that’s right!”

Then before she stopped talking, she put her hand up to her chin and kept talking: “I’ll just lie to them and trick them into believing I’ve been there. Then, when the time is right, I’ll snatch the pure gold and run away! Che-che-che!”

“Oi?!” called Nelson, who looking irritated spoke up: “Blimey! Did you tell us all of that on purpose? Bill, this little lady is a bloody scoundrel, an old maid!”

After saying this, Olga once again seemed amazed that they had heard her plan, and Acier quickly jumped to his daughters defense, telling Nelson that he’d “introduce him to some nice carnivores” if he didn’t apologize.

With everyone already on edge after being swallowed by Lord Bonbori and then attacked by Mad Treasure, Acier’s words erupted the entire crew of Marines into sharp verbal jabs aimed at the father-daughter duo.

Even the wounded Foxy and his former pirate followers got in on it, and in a huff, Bill shouted over the din of people: “Enough already!”

Then, ignoring everyone else, he first told Olga that her trying to run away from him ‘wasn’t even possible’ and that if she ever wanted to live a normal life then he was her best chance.

Now that Bill knew her mental age, he would naturally not speak to her in the same way he would a mere child.

“Now how did you get out of here if you never been to the 3rd stomach?” asked he and didn’t even use his [Observation Haki] because by now Olga had been through a lot too, and despite her being 205 years old she was still largely inexperienced in dealing with so much in such a short period of time.

So, hiccupping slightly with her emotions high, she looked down and answered so quietly that only Bill could hear: “Lord Bonbori… can get stomach aches…”

This was a joke, Bill thought.

The idea that an [Island Eater] could even get an ‘upset stomach’ almost made him laugh. Collecting himself though, as now wasn’t the time for laughter, he asked quickly: “And he spits up above water?”

“Lord Bonbori… likes the surface…”

This was another joke to Bill, considering that the so-called ‘Lord Bonbori’ was a giant Anglerfish. Or to put it another way, it was a fish that on Earth lived near the bottom of the ocean.

Ignoring that which made no sense was something that Bill had become very good at in his new world, so not even shrugging his shoulders he continued to speak: “Alright, I understand. Now, Olga, do you know where the passage is to get into the 3rd stomach?”

Seeing her nod, Bill nodded himself and turning to Nelson and the rest of the crowd said loudly: “Alright, start loading everything back on the ship, if Acier and I are not back in an hour then assume that the temple somehow leads into the bottom stomach and follow the passage down.”

“And then what?” Nelson asked, shaking side to side in a sarcastic ‘you’re not making sense’ motion, but unlike something he would have done in the past, he didn’t voice the exact reason.

 “I’ll go collect Borodo then we’re leaving. If need be, I’ll punch this fish’s stomach so hard that ‘Lord’ Bonbori pukes its guts out.”

The reason why Bill wanted the crew off the island was obvious to him, but apparently not to Nelson or the other Marines, and seeing this disconnect, Miyagi spoke up: “Brilliant thought Commodore, the enemy could be laying in wait here still!”

Then as if a light turned on, the normally skilled tactician in Nelson ‘turned on’ and he just repeated ‘Righto then, righto...’ as he started organizing everybody back to the ship.

With the Marines having their orders, Bill turned to Acier and said: “It’s time to go.”

“What about Olga?” asked the chemist, and Bill, turning to glance at the girl whose head was still down – only being comforted by the water lizard Elizabeth, answered calmly: “My people will take care of her and her friend. Don’t worry about that.”

Acier was a tall man, standing perhaps 7ft in height, but looking up at Bill he was small.

Whether it was due to the size difference that made him feel more inclined to agree, or it was because Bill was the first human that he had spoken to in almost 200 years, Acier just nodded and said ‘Ok!’.

With everything taken care of, Bill put Acier back on his and ran towards the ‘temple’ that had been pointed out.

He wanted to ask why the genius Chemist put his laboratory in such a place, but not even a mile from the shipwreck he was forced to come to a stop.

Standing in front of him and just before a large stairway that led into the temple was the dark-skinned swordsmen, the archer woman, and about 60 men who each had their faces painted like Miyagi of all things.

Honestly, he was tired of these people, he was sick to his stomach that he hadn’t used a heavier hand before when dealing with these murderers and thieves in the first place.

Thinking that if he had done so then, Foxy and the other Marines at the shipwreck wouldn’t have been injured and Borodo wouldn’t have had to sacrifice himself for the crew.

Hearing the swordsman start saying something that started with a ‘yo! yo! yo!’ Bill had the mind to simply destroy them all now that they were in front of his eyes.

But even though he wanted to, he held himself back.

Even after everything he had been through, even after all the years he had lived in this world, Bill never forgot the promise he made to his wife when he was first reborn.

He had to live a good life, no matter what.

So, even though he didn’t want to, and even though he knew what the answer would be, Bill called out to give the killers in front of him one more chance.

Cutting the swordsmen off, Bill yelled so loud that the air itself shook, so loud that the Marines back at the ship could hear him clearly: “You are all under arrest for piracy and murder! If you surrender now, you will receive your day in court where you will be judge in accordance with the law!”

Though they were obviously shaken by the sheer sound the swordsmen yelled ‘Shake’m up yo!’ and in that instant the mob rushed forward.

To boost their own courage, men and women started screaming expletives and those with firearms held up their guns.

“Acier…” Bill said, and looking down and to his right, he locked eyes with the chemist before saying clearly: “Look forward and just keep walking.”

Shaken by that tone, Acier instantly complied and started walking towards the charging crowd before his brain could even wonder when it was that he took his first step.

And while he did so, Bill moved about twenty yards to the side.

His movement was so quick that under the eyes of a normal man, Bill would have seemed to have teleported.

Due to his own concerns over the inherent risks Bill had never consciously rebuilt his brain in the same way that he had the rest of his body, but even though that was the truth after being in contact with so many panacea, including the [Elixir of Life] given to him by his father, naturally his brain had benefited immensely and did not function like a normal humans would.

So, to Acier’s eyes the mob of goat face-painted jackals were closing in at an alarming speed.

But to Bill’s eyes, when he concentrated, they were slow.

They were as slow as snails.

So slow, that when Bill finally launched his counterattack, he didn’t first target one of the pirates.

When he couldn’t wait any longer, when he knew it was time to go, Bill went sideways. Arriving about 10 yards in front of Acier, he stopped, and plucked a lead ball straight out of the air.

Then he threw it back to where it had come from.

From the perspective of the attackers, as blood lusted as they were, it took an outrageous amount of time before the gunners who stayed at the back realized that any person that got within forty paces of Acier simply stopped.

Some were blasted backwards, some simply crumpled with fist-sized holes in their chests, and a few unfortunates even had their chests explode.

Bill was not directly aiming to kill his attackers, but without using Haki his fists were akin to cannons and unless his foe had a certain level of strength, they would directly pierce through or even explode a human body.

Not punching out with all his might, or even near ‘all’ of his might, Bill did make sure that this time he was hitting hard enough to stop any further resistance.

Bullets, men, women, and even a bevy of Dyna Stone tipped arrows all were stopped forty paces away from Acier.

Finally, when there were hardly a handful of men left beside the archer woman and dark-skinned swordsmen, Bill stood several yards away – not speaking out loud, but nonetheless asking “What’s Next?”

The henchmen threw down their weapons first, followed by the archer woman, and then finally the swordsman who had a dumbfounded expression on his face.

From start to finish, the ‘battle’ designed by Mad Treasure to hold the Marines back took less than 2 minutes from start to finish.

Restraining the six pirates in front of him with bent iron bars and whatever else was close at hand, Bill casually knocked them unconscious before leaving them and the wounded behind as he and Acier continued up the broken stairway that led into the stone structure.