The Marine

With Yoko out of the room, Aramaki was alone standing above his son, and with one finger turning into an IV Drip, his other nine began to spread out with haste.

Turning into all kinds of plants, first he removed Bills cloths to have a better look at him.

With Bill now naked laying on the operating table Aramaki examined the splotches of red, blue, purple, and even brown that covered his son’s body from head to toe.

In front of Yoko and Masterson, Aramaki personality was cool and collected, but how could he have been calm when he had left Marineford just days before the execution of Portgas D. Ace?

The truth was, Aramaki’s heart sank into his stomach when he saw Bill on the slab and he knew as soon as he touched him that if not for his son’s mastery of Life Return, Bill would have long since been dead.

How could he know this?

Because Bill wasn’t even breathing!

Aramaki was not a doctor, as such, but prodding the visibly injured areas he quickly determined that Bill had been getting oxygen through his skin and except for a soft flicker even his heart had stopped beating.

Without better tools Aramaki couldn’t see the extent of damage done inside the body but he knew it was bad.

Standing there in examination for several minutes the more he used his Devil Fruit, the more Aramaki looked like a Treeman, and the more Bill’s hospital room looked like a vibrant forest.

Wooden roots crawled up the walls sprouting multi-colored fragrant flowers. The [Vitalvine] he had gained Bill years before snaked across the floor and ceiling, releasing super nutritious air.

For Aramaki, he could replicate any plants that he came into contact with, and so even without the [Elixir of Life] he was a walking miracle worker.

Once he had been sufficiently satisfied that he knew what he was dealing with, the tip of his vine syringe turned metallic and inserting it into Bills forearm, he diluted a few drops of Elixir with a lite sugary extract from a plant known for healing properties and introduced it into Bills body.

With Bill in a coma, his body worked automatically and absorbing the mixture in seconds, it craved more.

Raising his eyebrow, Aramaki knew that Bill would need more than a couple drops to be healed with the [Elixir of Life], but he didn’t expect that a few drops would result in almost nothing.

The reason for Aramaki’s confusion could be said to be Bill’s fault. As busy as Bill was, he rarely contacted his father and when he did, they would typically talk about his mother and twin sisters’ business instead of their own.

Aramaki knew Bill was a strong Marine, but the extent of his strength wasn’t something that ever really came up.

Adding a few more drops of the Elixir into a less diluted liquid, Aramaki saw no change and added some more, and even more after that.

Now with his eyes furrowed, thinking that there had to be a problem because he had used almost an entire teaspoon of the [Elixir of Life], Aramaki unleashed a significant portion of his ability.

Pushing himself somewhat hard, he willed numerous pink and white Lotus petals to grow out from the Vitalvine’s that had grown across the floor.

Growing at a steady rate, after roughly three minutes numerous pink and white leaves had wrapped around Bill, forming a giant Lotus Bulb which was a breathtaking sight to behold.

Inside of the flower was an intense level of [VitaBoost], and seeing the situation was stable, Aramaki left the room to find Nelson to find out more about his son.

Walking down the laboratory corridors, Aramaki’s pace was neither fast nor slow, but he was surprised that every time he ran into a person, they would inquire about who he was and what he was doing there.

Due to his physical size and intimidating presence this wasn’t something Aramaki was used to but even if he could understand that after the pirate attack these people would be alert – his Coat of Justice clearly had the insignia of a Commodore – and to think they would question a Marine Commodore was unthinkable!

In fact, as he mingled with all sorts of characters there was only one small pink haired old lady who guessed who he was and proceeded to guess that he was looking for ‘that Nelson’ and pointed him in the right direction.

Bills Laboratory was large since it doubled as the islands main electrical plant and producer of the dihydrogen fuel used by the forges, but being stopped by one person after the next a trip that should have taken him 15 minutes ended up taking nearly an hour!

Finally getting to the small communication office inside the laboratory, he realized Nelson wasn’t there and doing his best to not become angry – he walked back to Bill’s hospital room.

It was only then that he ran into the red-cheeked Commander, who, breathing heavily, came and quickly gave him a salute.

“Commodore Ox! Had you called I would have rightly met you above ground, welcome to our little base Sir!”

Nodding his head, Aramaki told Nelson to follow him and ignoring the Commanders shriek when he saw the giant Lotus Bulb, Aramaki began his interrogation.

He began asking about the exact way Shiki was defeated, exactly how Bill had gotten hurt, about his son’s physical abilities, and finally his Haki.

Nelson didn’t know how Shiki was defeated, no one knew that besides Bill, but the answers he gave made Aramaki at once so proud of his son that he wanted to grin ear-to-ear but at the same time so frustrated that he’d be liable to choke Bill for never talking to him about it!

‘He altered the course of a falling island?!’ he thought in silence, continuing to listen.

Describing the hydraulic press machine that no longer existed, the strength of Bill’s physical body didn’t even seem real. Aramaki understood clearly that even the strongest non-Devil Fruit users relied on Haki to augment their abilities.

Be they swordsmen, martial artists, or anything in between, there was an inherent recognition that the human body could only go so far, and the natural way to overcome this constraint was with Haki.

This fact was why Armament Haki was more common than Observation Haki!

Sure, those like the Marine Hero [Garp] could demolish a battleship with just his bare fists, but that kind of pure strength was very rare, and it was that pure strength that made him so dangerous when he used his Haki.

Even for Aramaki, who was an Admiral-level figure in his own right, the idea of getting hit by Garp made his stomach churn.

As farfetched as it sounded, if Nelson was telling him the truth, then it made sense why just a teaspoon of Elixir hadn’t done much!

The discussion back and forth about Bill’s physical abilities went on for some time. Due to Bill’s natural desire to know the specifics about his strengths, Nelson also knew them and so was a fountain of information to the father who had little contact with his son.

Nodding his head in understanding, the last thing Aramaki asked about Bill’s Haki, and forever unbeknownst to Bill, that was what truly changed his opinion.

Before Aramaki would have proudly said his son was a strong and successful Marine, a wunderkind of the organization, but after learning about his Haki, he would have said his son could become the strongest Marine alive.

Why?

Because the details from Nelson’s lips was a story that portrayed Bill as a savant when it came to Observation Haki.

Nelson said that for sure Bill could erase his physical presence from the notice of other people. That even in broad daylight, a huge crowd hadn’t been able to notice him.

That was well enough known to Nelson thanks to Masterson, but besides that, much of what Nelson told Aramaki was just his impressions.

What Masterson hadn’t told Nelson was Bill’s ability to read thoughts, nor did he know of Bill’s ability to [Warp Time] but given the long period he had spent around Bill over the years, Nelson had come pretty close to understanding things that had gone unsaid.

Nelson hadn’t been at the top of his class for nothing!

This, in addition to the ability to [Nullify] Devil Fruits which Aramaki had known about since Bills Court Martial, was exciting for any parent who wanted their children to be the best.

Thinking about the other proteges around Marineford, whether it was Koby under Garp or Grount under Aokiji, wasn’t his son the best?

Of course, when Aramaki asked about Bill’s Armament or potential Conquerors Haki, Nelson had nothing to say about it because as he explained, whether Bill had developed those powers or not, he had never needed to use them while stationed on New Haven.

A little disappointed, Aramaki was still over the moon when he sent Nelson out of the room to put more effort into Bill’s recovery.

Putting aside his desire to call his wife, who months before had gone back home to [Amazon Lilly] to see Angie and the girls, Aramaki put aside his need to brag and looking through the Lotus Bulb like a normal person would look through glass, his body turned green.

Inside the Lotus Bulb, Bill lay covered in droplets of precious tonic dew and was surrounded by a thick fog of VitaBoost.

This alone would have staved off death for almost any injury, but believing his son to need more, Aramaki’s ten fingers turned into viny needles and working through the petals of the lotus, they stabbed into Bill.

Creating ten IV Drips Aramaki placed two on Bills neck, two on his forearms, two on his wrists, two on either side of his hips, two on the back of his knees.

Knowing his son’s mastery of Life Return, Aramaki then set up the drips to only work when the Elixir inside had been used. In doing so, he made it impossible for Bill to get too ‘full’ and explode.

By the time he was finished with his preparations, Bill looked like a monster that the lotus was gestating, covered in dew and vines, ready to burst out at any unknown time.

Taking from inside of his body, the last thing Aramaki produced was three different sized gourds of the Elixir of Life. Each of these gourds represented the entire life energy of the island which were sacrificed to make them, and without a second thought, Aramaki merged them into his creation.

Seeing that a couple drops of the Elixir was being used as soon as it contacted Bill, Aramaki smiled and knew his role here was done.

Leaving the room, intending to look around until Bill woke up, he put a wooden barricade at the door and started to walk off.

“Je Je!”

Turning his head to the familiar voice, Aramaki was surprised to see Yoko headed right for him. That drop he had given her should have taken her at least an afternoon and night to digest.

Barely able to ask if she had eaten the rose petal, the girl nodded and replied: “Je Je, that was some really good stuff! I’ve been exhausted for days trying to make the Monkey Rum but now I feel better than ever, wait, I think I even grew a little bit!”

Shaking his head, because Yoko definitely hadn’t grown even one centimeter, he deflected her request for more and told her that he’d give her some later, but first he wanted to see the islands that Shiki had dropped around New Haven.

Disappointed that she couldn’t get more of the Elixir right away, Yoko nonetheless told Aramaki to follow her, and the duo headed off first to Monkey Island.

For the rest of the day Yoko showed Aramaki around and astounded the man with one treasure after another, he was particularly surprised by the [Compliance Tree] that Yoko had ‘planted’ back in the Martial Forest, and the idea that plants could eat Devil Fruits seemed to be something he had never considered.

Of course, Yoko wasn’t about to let him take away her weapon, and seeing how attached she was to it he didn’t even try, but instead he used a portion of his ability to strengthen the strange martial tree.

Merveille was an absolute treasure trove for Aramaki, and while Bill slowly began to recuperate, he absorbed all manner of strange plants – forever adding them to his vast collection.

The most significant of these plants was obviously the natural SIQ flower.

For Aramaki, this plant was enough to change the other plants collection, and in an incredibly short period of time it gave him the ability to create snapping Venus Flytrap like plants which drooled acid and pea-shooting plants that spat fireballs.

Thinking of when Bill had first sent him the Vitalvine those years ago, Aramaki thought to himself that having a son like Bill really paid off in some unexpected ways!

Having received a significant boost to his own personal strength, met with Yoko’s friends and in a good mood gave them each a drop of the Elixir of Life.

While he would never usually give away the Elixir of Life so nonchalantly, he felt that some of the teenagers under Bill’s command had good prospects.

And it was worth repeating that he was in a good mood after plundering the vegetation held on the former Merveille islands.

That night, before the towns people of New Haven went to sleep Aramaki created rows of temporary tree houses, these living houses could last for a long time but after consulting with Nelson it was decided that they would stick with their current redesigns for the island.

With Bill only now starting to stir within the Lotus Bulb, Aramaki looked over the plans that Nelson and the engineers had made and thought he had underestimated the Commander.

This was because Nelson and the others planned to make the ‘new’ New Haven into an impregnable fortress.

A fortress that could even defend against attacks from the sky.