The Marine

Erasing his presence, Bill used [Moon Step] more liberally.

Quickly flying over the skyline of [Gran Tesoro], he first checked to make sure that the Frontier Run hadn’t been attacked before moving towards the massive palace in the cities center.

He understood that [Sabo] and Oliver hadn’t been lying about the situation in the city, the reason why Bill hadn’t directly beaten the flower seller was that the man was also in a hard spot.

Sure, Bill thought the man had low moral character, in Bill’s view wrong is wrong and right is right… but that low moral character alone wasn’t enough for Bill to get vicious.

After reading the man’s thoughts, in many ways, now Bill was at a loss for what to do.

Bill’s Commission from the [Science Division] was very broad.

While he was always technically under the direction and potential review of Marineford and Egghead Island, and so could be given orders at any time. In practice, Bill’s Commission gave him a level of executive control unheard of for military leaders on Earth.

He could claim unaffiliated islands, administer business operations without restraint, build revolutionary weapons of war. He could recruit, train, reward, and punish – and that included capital punishment – any new soldier in his Department.

And, with few restrictions, Bill could go after any pirate or law breaker he came across.

But…  it was those ‘restrictions’ which made him pause to think.

In normal, day-to-day, operation those restrictions had meant nothing to Bill or his [Procurements Department].

After all, based primarily in the [East Blue], there was almost zero chance that they would ever run across [Pirate Emperors], their crews, or any bounties exceeding 1b Beli.

The war with Shiki itself had only taken place because that [Flying Pirate] had been the aggressor, attacking first Marineford then the entire East Blue. Under normal circumstances Bill would have had to call Marineford for approval if he had wanted to claim that massive blood price.

And that was, in the end, the source of his confusion as Bill dropped to the ground and slowly infiltrated Gild Tesoro’s pleasure palace.

Bill had understood for a long time that the World Government wasn’t so interested in local governance.

They weren’t so interested in the ebbs and flows of regional powers – if they were then there would be no way that Bill, a mere Science Division ‘Commodore’ would have allowed to recruit thousands of new Marines and have a dozen warships under his command.

No, Bill had understood long ago during the incident at [Clockwork Island] that the World Government really only cared if you paid your taxes.

Or, in harsher language that Bill never used, the World Government only cared whether or not you paid the [Heavenly Tribute].

And to be sure, Bill knew that Gild Tesoro paid that tribute.

And to be sure, Bill knew that Heavenly Tribute had to be absolutely massive.

So massive, that a World Noble personally came to collect.

Using [Presence Erasing] Bill snuck in the front entrance of the palace but kept a low profile.

Unsure how powerful Gild Tesoro was, or how powerful the guards of the World Noble were, Bill played it safe until he decided what to do.

Calling Marineford for permission to seize the city was impossible. In fact, Bill thought that type of request would have him dragged back to another Court Martial.

Moving like a ghost, Bill went through the palace at a fast but not hurried pace.

Shaking his head, he found himself grimacing at some of the scenes he saw.

At this point it was no later than 4 in the afternoon, and though most rooms were filled with baths, spas, and the like, other rooms hosted massive orgies which almost hit him in the face with their smell.

Some rooms looked more like Grand Ballrooms, with crystal chandeliers and chalices, hosting dozens and dozens of people who all were hardly dressed and wearing masks.

The size of the palace complex was akin to the size of Marineford itself, and unbeknownst to Bill at the time, what made Gran Tesoro so profitable was not the Casinos and Turtle Car Racing, it was the more ‘forbidden’ entertainment offered in the pleasure palace.

Still, moving forward, Bill used his powerful [Observation Haki] to act as a scout and direct him where to go.

Moving on and on to more and more secure areas, he took his time to move carefully and came across his first sign of foul play.

“Captain Silver! We have to move quickly; the Lord won’t tolerate waiting another day!”

Peeking his spirit into a luxury suite, Bill saw the same tall lanky man that had shot cannons at Desire a few hours before, and he was talking to who Bill guessed was the so-called pirate ‘Silver Bill’.

The man himself looked like a rockstar from Earth, Bill thought, but waited some more to hear the discussion.

“You think I don’t know what he wants? I know! I also know we need his backing if we’re ever going to move into the New World and find a place for ourselves, I want to find somewhere to call home as much as you do, Peseta!

Along with Desire and Aveyron, too! We’ll get them back too!”

Furrowing his brow, Bill heard what Silver Bill said out loud, but also what the man was thinking.

‘How could I just go and sacrifice myself?! Attacking those Marines is foolish! Should I just ask to have a Bounty put on my head?! No, you go and do it, or just die trying!’

Hearing what the man thought made Bill understand that the reason why he hadn’t known about the ‘Silver Pirate Alliance’ in the South Blue was because their leader didn’t expose himself.

But even if the Captain was a coward, the lanky man was persistent and when Bill finally heard him agree to lead the attack on this ship, he clicked his teeth and moved in.

Swinging the door open, Bill kept his presence erased and delivered a crippling backhand to the lanky mans chin, and then in a smooth movement delivered a devastating punch to the side of the pirate captains head.

For Peseta and Silver Bill, they only saw the door open and then without even enough time to shout, it was lights out.

Bill had hit them hard but held back from killing them.

Earlier in the day these people would have been dead men, but now? Now things were a bit more complicated.

After laying both men in bed and covering them up, Bill kept moving up and up.

The higher up in the pleasure palace the more important the guests were and nearer to the top each floor only had a single room.

This pattern continued all the way up to where the 2nd highest floor would be, which Bill was surprised to see wasn’t a ‘floor’ at all, but instead was a bridge.

The bridge was polished stone and led over to a separate tower which had a huge clock on the top of it.

Wondering if he should go and look, Bill waffled a bit before deciding to do so.

He could tell that people were in the penthouse at the top of the pleasure palace, but something… some urge, told him to go look in that tower first.

Running close to the ground, Bill crossed the bridge in a heartbeat before suddenly stopping in his tracks.

In the time it took to read this paragraph Bill’s [Observation Haki] clearly saw the World Noble, clearly saw scores of slaves – some being humiliated, some standing dejected. He clearly heard the thoughts of so many people, but out of that bedlam, after moving closer to look with his own eyes, only three things stood out to him.

First, Bill recognized the existence of the slaves, and understood immediately from the Celestial Dragon’s thoughts that the ugly man believed himself to be a literal god.

Second, he found Nelson and his missing Marines. And the idea of the slaver Master beside them made his blood boil.

Third, as Bill peeked into the room, he saw a masked man look in his direction. And he couldn’t help but sneer, a part of him wishing that the man made a move and forced his hand.

But the man didn’t move.

After staring in Bills direction for what seemed like a long time, he looked away, and Bill shook his head, looked again at Nelson, his men, and the World Noble before continuing his search.

Because this tower was more than met the eye.

Going down and down Bill saw more and more crates all filled with gold, jewels, Beli notes, and other treasures and immediately understood that this tower was specifically made for the [Heavenly Tribute].

Without taking the time to go through the crates, he judged conservatively that this tribute’s value was over three billion Beli.

A massive number, a number so massive that Bill knew that Marineford wouldn’t help him here.

He doubted that even his father’s [Elixir of Life] could help sway World Government action against both Gild Tesoro and the corrupted Celestial Dragon.

But those considerations were put to a halt because at the bottommost level of the tower Bill found a pit. This pit shined with such a bright golden light that it almost looked like fire, and without emotion, Bill jumped down.

After falling a significant distance Bill entered a world of gold.

Stopping in midair, he looked around and first wondered why he hadn’t seen such a large chamber on the ships schematics, but then, seeing several golden rivers flowing he realized that this should be Gran Tesoro’s keel.

The keel of a ship kept it balanced in water, and whereas Bill had suspected this area to be filled with water, it turned out that Gild was using gold to act as a weight.

And the purpose of the space? Bill didn’t need to guess; it was evident.

The giant space was a hidden [Golden Prison], ironic, Bill thought given that so many people came to Gran Tesoro for wealth... only to be eventually buried by it.

And judging by the countless number of bones that littered the golden sand, this prison must have been operating since the time that Gran Tesoro was first opened.

Slightly shaking his head at the sight, Bill started to attempt to see if he could identify anyone being held here. The place was large but for his ability to fly, his speed in the air, and his Observation Haki, it wasn’t a huge task to complete.

Using Moon Step, Bill went in a circular route expanding outwards until he saw a group of people sitting between a cluster of golden houses.

And with a smile on his lips, he laughed, because there sat Foxy, Hamberg, and Porche with about 20 other individuals.

Looking them over, each person looked worse than the last, but there they were eating handfuls of giant golden bats with smiles on their faces.

“Ze blood is so metallic!” Bill heard Foxy complain with a ‘bleh!’ expression as he drank the golden bats blood out of a gold chalice.

“If you don’t want it, I’ll take it Boss!” shouted over one man, to which Foxy shouted back: “If I told you once I told you twice, Ima not the Boss! The kid is the Boss now and he’ll be coming for us three soon – which means he’ll be coming for us all!”

Laughing as he said this, Foxy looked gaunt, but Bill didn’t immediately so himself because just as he was about to, a short man spoke up in a deep voice: “He’s coming for us here? That’s not a gamble even I would take.

I don’t know the kid you speak of, but in this city, only Gild is Master. As shameful as it is to say, he’s the Master and no one beats him on his own turf.

I learned that, and these fools have learned that too. Don’t get our hopes up, Marine.”

After saying this, the man slowly nibbled on a fist-sized eyeball, sucked it dry, and put his head down to ignore Foxy’s response: “Bleh! Max! don’t get our moods down, you just don’t know our Boss! Even as a little kid he was a little monster, and now? I’ve seen him do things that’ll break your common sense!”

Getting into his boasting, Foxy jumped up from where he was sitting, turned to the group of prison scavengers, and shouted at the top of his lungs: “You all need to believe he’s coming!! He wouldn’t leave a man behind, Gild Tesoro?! *ptu* *ptu*” Foxy spat, showing that even in this golden desert he didn’t wasn’t worried about water.

“Once Gild Tesoro cheated us, framed us, and threw us in this god-forsaken prison, his days were already numbered! That’s the kind of guy our boss -no- that’s the kind of guy the COMMODORE is!”

Hearing Foxy say this, Bill didn’t need to read his thoughts to know that’s what he believed.

So laughing harder, for a moment Bill forgot about everything he had seen over the last few hours and showing himself ‘appear’ behind Foxy he said: “Foxy! Come on, you’re embarrassing me!”

Hearing Bills voice, Foxy froze, looked wide eyed, but then in a sudden move that almost seemed coordinated with Porche and Hamberg, jumped Bill.

Holding on and crying, they all said: “We knew you’d come; this place really sucks!” to which Bill just laughed harder and spoke.

“It does suck! Now let’s get out of here!”

************************************************

Sitting in the uppermost level of the pleasure palace Gild sat surrounded by three beautiful women listening to Tanaka give him a report.

“Silver Bill was found unconscious in his room, and the operation can be seen as a failure.” Said the huge headed man with a smirk on his lips: “There’s also been strange movement in the Gold Chamber recently thanks to its newest residents… in addition to what happened with Silvers, we are watching the Science Division more carefully now.

There seems to be more than meets the eye with the Marines on that ship.”

Waving his hand dismissively, Gild didn’t seem to care that Silver Bill was attacked in his own palace, so smiled and responded: “Those Eggheads are nothing to us, Silver Bill is just a weakling, a slave and nothing more.

Go and stall that ship, whether or not it has the Pure Gold is unimportant at this point. For now we only need to focus on tonight’s big show, after that, those Eggheads will join us…” then talking darkly, but still with a smile on his face, Gild said: “We’ll make them an offer they can’t refuse.”

Nodding that he understood, [Tanaka] said only one more thing before he left: “We’ve also come across some surprising news, news you’d want to know.”

“Oh?” Gild said, looking more annoyed.

“Our informants have given us the list of the Cipher Pol agents who came along with the [Saint Camael] … one of them you’re sure to know of.”

Then, speaking without a smirk for the first time in a long time, Tanaka said: “Escorting Saint Camael is the ‘Massacre Weapon’, [Rob Lucci].”