The Marine

Over the next couple of weeks Bill set out to get ready for his voyage back into the [South Blue]. It had been 6 years since he had seen those waters, and though he wanted to go, he had a bad feeling about the entire thing.

New Haven was at a critical juncture, and even to this day he was integral to the seemingly ever-ending reconstruction process.

Then there was the new class of recruits which he had taken great efforts to oversee along with Toma, Masterson, and Pearson.

And besides that, and frequently checking up on a number of other projects that were ongoing with their own teams of dedicated Engineers, Bill was especially hesitant about leaving Dr. Indigo unattended.

But he had to do what he had to do.

Vegapunks’ project involved sealing a large portion of the hull underneath the floating city of [Gran Tesoro] and refurbishing a good portion of the ballast pumps which drained the massive water tanks that the city used to keep balance.

This kind of job either required the city to be floated on giant pontoons and worked on at a nearby island which would double as a shipyard, or it could be done by someone with the expertise and physical strength to oversee an at-sea repair.

Given these realities, naturally the city had contacted the [Science Division].

Or so Bill had been told.

With the project known, it was then up to him to decide how New Haven would be handled in his absence and for the first time ever he had to consider personalities.

For example, Nelson and Sasha didn’t get along very well.

Nelson and Foxy didn’t get along very well.

Yoko would listen to Nelson, begrudgingly, but she did great with Sasha.

Foxy’s relationship with Sasha and Ricky – and thereby many of the Marines who had been with Sasha and Ricky on their voyage during the war – was abysmal due to the former kidnapping attempt, and Bill had already stopped at least one fight between them.

These considerations, and others, had him thinking for the first couple of days but finally decided to leave Sasha in charge of New Haven.

Ranse, still in charge of their operations in the East Blue, was out of the picture and Bill needed someone strong enough to handle Dr. Indigo to stay on the island.

Given all of this Nelson, Miyagi, Foxy, and Borodo would be his primary Lieutenants on the voyage.

Miyagi was chosen since his contract would soon be up, and Bill decided to have this last voyage with the Goat Mink in order to spend more time together.

Outside of the original friends, Miyagi had been the Departments first recruit, and had been there through thick and thin.

It was regrettable that he’d be leaving within a year, but Bill would never fault the Mink for that. Miyagi had done his best, risked his own life on a few occasions, and generally had been a friend to everybody.

Because of all this, Bill wanted to spend more time with him before they parted ways.

As for the others, Nelson and Foxy were coming with him to avoid causing trouble at home, but Borodo would be able to provide actual mechanical help in addition to his skills as an expert Navigator.

It was reported to him by Sentomaru that Gran Tesoro had already been delivered the parts needed for their repairs, and since that was the case, Bill decided to go out on his most familiar vessel, the small frigate he had received from his father 6 years ago, Frontier Run.

The ship itself had a seastone hull and had been reinforced by Aramaki before it was given to Bill, despite that, it could have been said to be a miracle that it had survived the giant tidal wave that destroyed half of New Haven.

But it had survived, and over the last year its mechanical parts had been repaired enough to set sail.

As for the rest of the crew, Bill decided that since he was going personally it would be good to have the new recruits finally go out to sea and, on the ship designed to hold a 250 sailors, Bill selected 150 new recruits – most of whom had come from [Goa Kingdom], but a few others included the likes of Hamberg, Porche, and old South Blue merchant-turned-Wanted man Hollandaise.

There would be no Iron Wardens installed on the Frontier Run for this voyage.

Since they had temporarily lost the ability to produce them it was important to keep the remaining war machines where they were needed most, which was stationed on [Inferno Haven].

Rounding out his crew manifest was naturally Yoko, and her inability to believe that he intended to leave her on New Haven again.

But this time, he would give her no chance to sneak onboard and planned to thoroughly search the ship before setting sail.

His reason for not having her go was simply due to the fact that he felt the girl needed more formal education.

She could read and write and knew a lot about Marine procedures, tactics, and leadership, but she had never taken to things like mathematics, problem solving, rhetoric, and humanities.

Now being 16 years old, it wouldn’t take a psychic to notice that Yoko would become a powerhouse in her own right and Bill worried that if these inadequacies persisted for much longer then nothing would be able to change her ways.

This didn’t mean he expected her to become a Saint or to become a scholar, only recognizing that with great power came great responsibility, he believed having broader knowledge offered by the schools on New Haven would help her more than tagging along on another Marine voyage.

And he had naturally tasked Sasha to make sure Yoko wouldn’t play hooky or become truant.

Finally, it was the day to set off, and after checking and rechecking the manifests and searching for stowaways the Frontier Run pulled away from New Haven’s natural harbor with scores of newly graduated young Marines waving to the crowd on the shore.

Given the vast new land around New Haven the tides had changed and a current continuously flowed in correlation with whatever the tide was doing.

With the ship picking up speed standing at the prow of the ship was Bill, Nelson, and Miyagi as they looked ahead.

“The first day of a ten-month sea tour, and I bloody well thought I’d go deaf from those new recruits shouting their goodbyes.”

“Stupendous excitement from the lads-gara is only a good thing, Commander Royale!”

“Yes, it is...” Agreed Bill, then added: “For them, this ten-month period could change their lives if they use it wisely.”

Speaking loud enough that anyone nearby could hear them, Bill nevertheless did believe what he said.

After all, during the 4-month journey to Gran Tesoro these new recruits would be stuck on a ship with access to not only the best doctor in the Department, not only some of the best exercising equipment in the Department, but also the close contact with Bill, Borodo, and even Hollandaise if they wanted to learn to fight, build, or make money.

*Fuehfehfehfeh!*

“Vat’s right!”

Coming up from behind them, the three turned to see Foxy approaching with Hamberg and Porche. All dressed in Marine uniforms.

 Porche and Hamberg still wore small masks, but instead of being black they were navy blue.

Seeing the trio approaching them, Nelson scowled slightly and asked: “What is it this time, Foxy?”

Stopping with his hands on his hips, Foxy laughed again and said: “I vink you’d better to show your nakama better manners!” then with his own snide side showing continued: “Oh, I realize you didn’t last very long as a Captain, so take it from me, your senior in vis, good etiquette on ve sea is very important!”

Seeing Nelson not immediately respond, Foxy and his followers laughed and continuing fast he said: “Commodore, I came over to see if we could stop by Water 7 for resupply. Ve dates on what we have in store should be able to last us until ven.”

Foxy was primarily a Special Operator for obvious reasons but given how long he had Captained such a large crew, his technical position in the Marines was Logistics Officer, First Class.

The only reason why he wasn’t a Warrant Officer or even higher ranked was due to his background, not due to his skill.

It was also due to this skill that Nelson didn’t immediately berate Foxy and waited for Bill who said: “We’ll get with Borodo, Water 7 is a good idea for resupply if it’s not too far out of the way.”

“Very good!” Foxy exclaimed and then added: “Once vere I will show you my favorite bar, I vink you will like it very much, look forward to ve best drink of your life, Commodore!”

Watching the trio walk away, Nelson said: “I wouldn’t put it past the ker to run off at first clip.” And when Miyagi agreed, Bill spoke out and said: “I doubt that.”

He doubted that Foxy would run because he had read Foxy’s thoughts enough to know that the ‘former’ pirate wasn’t a ‘former’ pirate at all!

Foxy believed that since he lost the Davy Back Fight, until he could beat Bill, Bill would be his Captain and would never show disloyalty.

In fact, this thought process was common to all the former Foxy Pirates!

Turning back around to view the ocean, the two men and Goat Mink continued to sporadically talk to each other, and things like that continued for the following days and weeks.

It had been said many times, but life on the open ocean was boring and tedious.

Even with their daily routines, these new recruits were getting antsy from only seeing blue water and so when over a month had passed and they were nearing Water 7, Bill decided to allow for a three-day shore leave and resupply of various spices they had burned through while at sea.

Of course, the Frontier Run could easily hold more than a month’s worth of rations, but when nearly every member of the crew was training hard day and night, naturally the amount of food they needed grew in proportion.

Following the Eternal Pose, they made their way to Water 7’s harbor and furling the sails Bill switched on the seastone propellers they had installed on all their refurbished Frigates.

The engines which powered these propellers were fueled by di-hydrogen fuel cells, and they were why a journey that should have taken over a year had been estimated down to 10 months.

Now none of the main vessels of the Procurement Department had to simply ‘glide’ through the Calm Belts. Given their frequent crossings in and out of the East Blue, this modification was a critical time saver.

Getting in position using propellers was simple and after mooring lines were attached to the sides of the ship they were towed to the dock.

“Evening, Sir!” called out a port official when he saw Bill walking down the bridge.

It was now a couple hours after noon and returning the man’s greeting with one of his own, Bill looked down and said “How do you do’ with a smile and handed over his documents.

For smaller docks such things weren’t necessary, but for large shipping ports like those in Water 7 it was required to call in ahead before docking and to have any documents they may need depending on where you wanted to anchor at.

Since Bill would naturally anchor in the Marines section of the port, he naturally needed to show his Marine documents.

Giving the papers a quick but full check, the port official handed them back and said: “It’s our pleasure to have you here, Commodore Ox, is there anything specific you require?”

Shaking his head, Bill replied that they came for resupply but didn’t figure he’d need help from the dock workers, to which the port official said he understood, and went about his business.

In this world it had to be said that civilian authorities would not poke around Marines or pirate business without good reason, and given that reality, this port official had done an exemplary job.

Walking back onboard the ship, standing in front of a couple hundred eager sailors, Bill reiterated the rules they had pertaining to shore leave.

Go in groups of at least four.

Don’t drink to excess.

Don’t start fights.

Be back on board the ship before 10pm.

If a sailor broke any of these rules, they would be lucky for their punishment to only be not seeing shore leave for the rest of the voyage.

After he said his piece, he dismissed the men and women in front of him and watched as they grouped up and went out into the city.

As for himself, he got together his shopping list, left Borodo and a few other unlucky sailors on the ship for first watch, and went into town alone.

Walking through the maze-like canals of Water 7 was as interesting today as it was six years before.

With all shapes of small boats being pulled by all kinds of Yagara Bulls, kids running back and forth, and shouts from water-side merchants piercing the air, the city bustled as much as ever and taking his time Bill walked on the ground like any normal person would.

Still, his legs were long and since he didn’t stop anywhere except the stores he needed to go to, in just a couple of hours he had nothing left to do and since by now it was almost sunset, decided to go to the bar that Foxy had told him about.

The place was called ‘Blueno’s Bar’ and it took him some time to find it because it had been apparently renamed ‘Moki’s Bar’ and if not for the help of an old man Bill may would have just returned to the Frontier Run and called it a night.

However, he did find the place, and walking into a bustling scene where scores of Marines – mostly not even his people – were mingling around with civilians.

Drinks poured liberally, some rough looking men were passed out at the bar, bikini wearing girls danced on tables, and in general the place seemed lively enough to ‘catch a charge’ in.