The Marine

Entering the structure Bill walked forward for a little bit, looking side to side at the walls before turning back at Acier and asking incredulously: “Is this the right place?”

Bill was used to seeing things that didn’t make sense, but the inside of this building looked like something out of an ancient history textbook.

There was no ‘writing’ per say, but the walls were covered with Egyptian-style hieroglyphics telling a story about some person which took the form of the Sun and, after defeating what could only be described as a feathered-serpent dragon, shined over people all over the world.

To Bill it looked like an important place for worship rather than a laboratory, and after looking around himself, Acier shrugged and said in almost questioning tone: “No… no… I don’t believe this is my lab?”

Hearing Acier say this, Bills eyes narrowed and in a split instant he appeared in front of the scientist, threw him over his shoulder, and ran to the exit.

And not a moment too soon, for the moment they had cleared the doors the entire structure exploded!

Ignoring Acier’s screams, Bill focused his senses and looked around.

Despite wanting to do so he was not using his [Observation Haki] due to the fact that the strain on his 3-headed soul was a little more each time he freed up his soul of many eyes.

Bill reckoned that Haki was like a strange spiritual muscle which needed to be ‘worked out’ in order to get stronger.

For anyone else that that wasn’t a problem since they only had one spirit, but for himself, he had to balance the strength of two souls and the inherent imbalance of his two souls was only made worse by the fact that the stronger soul somehow grew in strength faster than the weaker one over the same amount of time.

By what he could estimate, Bill’s soul with many eyes could grow almost twice as powerful in the same amount of time as his soul with 3-heads, and he was sure that if he continued to use the enormously powerful abilities he had through [Observation Haki], there would be a time where he may lose his [Armament Haki] entirely.

With that said, Bill’s natural senses were already far beyond human, and looking around he looked over the ‘battlefield’ and saw no strange movements nor any bodies that had disappeared.

‘It must have a timed detonation…’ thought he.

He and Acier had been in the temple-like building for just under 10 minutes before he dashed outside and escaped the blast.

Shaking his head that this had all been a diversion, one undoubtedly orchestrated by Mad Treasure to stall him, Bill turned to the jittery, panicked chemist and said coolly: “Acier, calm down, we’re fine.”

Seeing this not working, Bill put his hand on the mans shoulder and said ‘it’s ok’ several times.

There was abject fear in Acier’s eyes, and it struck Bill – who had wanted to demand an explanation why he couldn’t recognize his laboratory – just how much the chemist had been through.

Acier Myskina was roughly 34 years old when he synthesized [Pure Gold], and roughly 37 years old when his island had been swallowed by Lord Bonbori.

Those three years had been tumultuous, as by Acier’s own account of events his island had come under repeated pirate attack which eventually led to the murder of his wife.

And if that was bad, then the worst was yet to come because when the island was swallowed, Acier had spent nearly 200 years living with carnivorous dinosaurs.

Bill himself had been alive now for almost 115 years, and he understood just how long of a time that was. Spending 200 years alone with nothing but a herd of t-rexes for company wasn’t something that he would wish on his worst enemy.

The fact that Acier was coherent at all, and not reduced to being a raving wild-man, was a testament to just how brilliant of a mind he was.

So, calming the chemist down with as much delicacy as he could manage, Bill asked the man whether or not he could try and remember what his laboratory looked like.

“I… I think so …” he started, then continued: “… but Commodore, my labs entrance really is a structure with all sorts of hidden traps. I had to design it that way… because of all the thieves that came to attack us…”

Nodding his head, Bill said ‘alright’, but stopped just before he started heading back to the [Frontier Run]. Figuring that Alchemi Island did exist in the 3rd stomach, Bill didn’t know if he’d ever be in this place again, and though he didn’t want to do so, he started sifting through the dead and wounded laying all around.

Of the 60 individuals who lay in wait to ambush him 23 had been directly killed and 15 others severely wounded. That didn’t mean the other 22 got off lightly, only that their injuries were almost certainly not life threatening.

Of course, that was before Bill started quickly estimating which were the strongest, piled them up like logs on a huge boulder, then lifted the rock over his head and jumped through the air towards the ship.

As for the Marines, it had been barely 30 minutes since Bills departure but after hearing his shout and then seeing an explosion, they were primed to panic when they saw a giant boulder flying their way.

But that panic was quickly forgotten, when in a move they all would remember, they saw Bill standing in midair holding up the huge rock before he tipped it over and, like food being scraped off a plate, 37 men and women dropped on the deck below.

Seeing the mangle of bodies and hearing their groans of pain, the newer Marines from East Blue had their mouths opened wide.

They had all been trained on [I.N.F.E.R.N.O Haven], Shiki’s former main island, in survival against monstrous animals.

They had naturally been exposed to the technological wonders of [New Haven], including the [Iron Wardens] and Field Technologies used by the Special Operators known as [Beetleborgs].

They had taught about the [Meditative Pushup], and even seen a few demonstrations of the [Six Powers] made by Instructors Masterson and Toma.

They had even seen the island eater [Lord Bonbori] which itself could be considered a wonder of the natural world.

But despite all of that, despite all of the stories they had been told, none of the recruits that came from the East Blue had ever seen such a casual display of superhuman might.

Nelson was naturally the first to react with a “Blimey, Bil-er, rather, Commodore! what in the hells happened over there?!”

Landing down on the ship deck with Acier on his back, Bill simply said that he was ambushed before yelling out orders to the slack-jawed crew.

“Stow the prisoners away, take those severely injured to the Medical Bay!”

Miyagi wasn’t on deck, so Bill only assumed that he was seeing his patients. After all, they still had dozens of injured Marines from the Battleship that Mad Treasure assaulted.

Though clearly confused by Bills orders to treat the prisoners, which he himself had obviously hurt so badly, the Marines did as they were told and, in that moment of action, perhaps only Nelson thought to himself that it was Bill’s moderation, patience, and justice which had won so many people over to his side.

Though that was the view of Nelson and many others of him, Bill himself knew he was not a Saint and would never admit to being another other than an imperfect man.

He could dispense death with vigor when need arose, only in his heart he tried to carry on the Christian virtues that he had been raised to believe and prayed that he would stay true to himself regardless of how powerful he became.

With the crew running back and forth he motioned to Acier to tell Nelson everything that had happened and went over to Olga who was standing on the front of the ship.

“We’ll be relying on you to steer us right...” said he, and only got a ‘tch’ as a response.

Hearing this, Bill didn’t fret but continued evenly: “Don’t be sore about what happened before. I know you’re under a lot of stress, but don’t worry, soon you and your father will finally be freed from this place.”

Still seeing that she wouldn’t respond, Bill decided to try one more time before getting to work and said: “If you’re worried about being pursued, don’t be. I know a couple of islands where you and your da- ““Stop speaking to me you fool; do you have water in your brains or somethin’?!”

Looking up at Bill, who was many times taller, Olga didn’t seem to have any fear and like a burst dam, flooded him with her true feelings: “I don’t care where you send us, because as soon as I get there, I’m going to sell him out!

Did you think I was just joking when I said I hated him? Che-che-che! Well, you don’t know the half of it!

So, I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care what happens!” then pointing her finger towards Acier who, along with every Marine on deck, had heard what she said: “Until he dies for what he did!”

Heavily breathing Olga's face twisted in anger, and she was about to charge Acier until Bill caught her by the back of her shirt and lifted her into the air.

“Gha! Let me go!” she cried in fury before launching a series of punches and verbal assaults on Bill, calling him ‘water brains’, ‘lizard breath’, ‘big ugly’, and a lot more until she wore herself out.

Naturally, being in the body of a 6-year-old her arms were much shorter than Bill’s, so none of her hits landed, but that hadn’t stopped her from trying.

With her outburst halting the entire crew, Acier was just about to tell Bill to put her down, when Bill spoke first, asking what could have possibly happened to make her hate her dad so much.

Having lived two lifetimes, Bill had loved both of his fathers, and even knowing what little he did about Acier, he believed the man hadn’t done anything to earn so much hatred.

“He..He Killed My Mom!

So He Has To Die! To Die! Die! Die!”

As if letting out 200 years of frustrations and pain, Olga shouted so loudly that Bill recognized a touch of oppressive [Haki] in her voice.

But that was over almost as fast as it came, and seeing her becoming still, Bill put her down and said seriously: “I don’t know how much you suffered, but you’re wrong about that- “I’m not! I’m not wrong!”

As if Bill’s voice gave her something to oppose, she started shouting again with renewed energy: “He created the [Pure Gold], Greedy just like the rest of Them! And then to save himself and HIS TREASURE…” she said, emphasizing the words: “… he gave up Mom and let her Die!”

Hearing her say this, Acier stood dumbfounded and didn’t know where to begin.

Olga’s account of events was completely wrong but given her age at the time before being swallowed by Lord Bonbori, and then having spent almost 200 years dwelling on it, it would have been strange if she had a clear account of things from way back then.

Shaking his head, Bill stepped in and told her the truth of what Acier had told him, shocking Olga and the crew.

By now, the Marines had all more or less realized that the Pure Gold was real, but the fact that the crazy-looking fat guy in front of them was the original creator was mind blowing.

As for Olga, how could she not be emotional when she heard the reason for everything that had happened to their family was because she contracted the deadly illness [South Blue Emperor Fever].

Though it was a start, naturally it would take some time for the daughter to reconcile years of perceived hatred, and so while they sailed to the 3rd stomach, Bill allowed the two to use his office for some privacy.

With the sails of Frontier Run furled, they turned on the seastone alloy propellers and made their way to the next passage.

By now all of the mainline ships of the [Procurement Department] were electrified and had propellers installed.

Of course, with the destruction of [New Haven] by Shiki and his flying armada they were currently limited to how much they could repair, but for the [Frontier Run] itself, a seastone-hull ship whose timbers had been revitalized by Aramaki, it wasn’t an exaggeration to call the small-sized frigate one of the sturdiest ships in the entire World Government.

Though Bill had put Olga in charge of directing the ship to the 3rd stomach, in truth it wasn’t completely needed, because whereas the 2nd stomach was large it was nowhere near the size of the 1st.

And with him presently onboard, the need for a guide was even less.

Sailing around huge bones and half-eaten carcasses of who-knows-what kinds of animals, it took only another 15 minutes before the Frontier Run halted in front of a huge intestine-like tunnel.

“Have the wounded been secured?” he called out over the intercom system, and after several minutes when he was given the green light by Miyagi, Bill told everyone on board to ‘hold on tight’.

A creature the size of Lord Bonbori had an actual current when it came to the movement of its stomach acids, and while not as dangerous as the fall into the 1st stomach, the way into the 3rd became very dark, and after a short period of time, the only light that could be seen looked like starlight.

Splashing down into the bottom most layer of Lord Bonbori, the acidic smell was almost overpowering.

Immediately wrapping wet cloth around their faces, the Marines looked side-to-side in awe of their surroundings.

Strange bubbles wafted into the air before popping and sizzling creating odd colors in conjunction with the starlight background. There was land down here as well, but no greenery or anything resembling life.

Finally, there in the distance illuminated with a dull glow was Alchemi Island, still mostly intact.

With gears and a windmill just visible Bill didn’t have to give additional orders as the Spotters began relaying information back to the Helmsmen.

Soon enough, the entire crew saw a familiar metallic ship wrapped up in chains.