The Marine

Ducking and weaving through back alleys, Bill was somewhat surprised to see just how fast that familiar figure moved.

Still, he was confident that he could snatch the person up at any time, after all, even though Gran Tesoro was the size of a city, it wasn’t so large that he’s lose his target.

If there had been any issues during the chase, it was the result of the fact that Bill was unwilling to use either Moon Step or his Observation Haki, so while tailing the fast-running person he had to keep his distance.

Having gone in a zigzag pattern, Bill realized his target was headed for the docks, and after barely more than 15 more minutes, the person, running close to the ground and sticking to the shadows, dashed onto the hold of a rugged looking cruise ship.

Standing there for a brief second, Bill wondered if he should wait.

But then thinking that his crew could still be attacked, he knew he couldn’t do so, and moving faster than before, he seemed to vanish from his spot and appeared on the large ships deck.

Without using his Observation Haki, Bill’s 9ft tall frame was far too large to be ‘sneaky’, but at least he could be fast and quiet, and after blowing over the cruise ships deck, he realized that this ship was more than met the eye.

It was too solid, which meant that it was too heavy to be a real cruise liner.

He came to this conclusion by pushing his fingers into the timbers and realizing that it wasn’t wood at all; the entire ship seemed to be some sort of metal alloy that he didn’t immediately recognize.

Frowning at the discovery, Bill thought that surprise would be his greatest asset, and with that in mind, he rushed down below deck to suppress whoever he found.

Directly breaking through two hidden bubble-shields, Bill had no time to waste.

If the bubble-shields had been surprising, Bill would be double surprised when he reached the foot of the stairwell.

The ceiling was tall, about 20ft in height, but that was only one small detail of what he was seeing.

Locking eyes with dozens of people who gasped at the sight of his Coat of Justice, Bill was looking at a command room with dozens of people who were all sitting at computers, holding Communication Snails, and standing over tables with charts on them.

It felt to him like he had just walked into a conspiracy.

It was shocking to see the difference between the outside of the ship and the inside, but it wasn’t so much to leave him speechless.

“Put Your Hands Up!” he was about to call when his instincts told him to move, and doing so, he swerved to the side.

Bringing his fist around on pure instinct, his fist met with the hand of a blond headed man who shouted: “DRAGON’S TALON!”

It happened in the time it took to blink.

From the time that Bill broke through the two bubble-barriers, to when Bill’s gray fist collided with a jet-black hand that took the shape of a claw, to when that collision caused a small explosion.

It had only taken a blink of an eye for all bedlam to break out.

With an alarm sounding, bright lights were flashing and the assortment of people standing at the terminals on the far side of the room began hitting buttons, deploying stronger and thicker bubble-shields, before jumping down escape hatches to who-knew-where.

For Bill who had only seen that tangentially, he was surprised, though not flustered, that the blonde headed man in front of him could stall him.

But stalling him was about all the man could do.

In such a confined area neither man used their full strength but as Bill punched, kicked, and defended himself, slowly but surely, both men were putting more and more effort into the fight.

And after barely a minute had passed, Bill could undoubtedly tell that he had more in the tank than the person in front of him.

“Stop. Resisting!” the Marine shouted, and upping his effort a notch, Bill practically teleported to the mans blindside, throwing a punch to his ribs that would surely break whatever it hit.

But this was not to be!

In a move that made Bill realize what he was dealing with, the blond headed man contorted his body in such an unnatural way that Bill’s fist barely clipped him.

Jumping away from Bill while holding his side, the mans chest was bruised but not broken, and Bill looked at him and thought: ‘Armament and Observation Haki?!’

To say nothing of the South Blue, even on the Grand Line, finding a person who could use just one form Haki was rare.

Finding a person who could use both was very rare.

But finding a person who could use both at a high level? Well, that was like finding a needle in a haystack.

Pausing for barely a breath of time, Bill considered using his own Observation Haki to erase his presence and counter this rebels ability to sense him, but ultimately decided against it.

Knowing that it wasn’t good for him to keep switching his souls back and forth, Bill decided to make do with his weaker Armament Haki and to use his own physical strength.

But unfortunately, that meant that this ship and whoever was on it probably wouldn’t survive the fight.

Bending his legs slightly, Bill looked at the blond man and said laconically: “Hands. Up! Last. Chance!”

By now, barely a minute and a half had elapsed from the time that Bill entered the ship, and with the muscles in his legs bulging, with bone spurs slowing growing out from his knuckles, Bill was about to let loose when he heard his name called from another direction: “Hold on! Bill! Stop!”

Not immediately looking away from the blond headed man, Bill thought about that voice for a moment before finally standing up straight and asking: “Oliver… Oliver Barba?”

Bill hadn’t known the man for very long, but he was one person Bill would never forget.

After all, it was Oliver who had first told Bill about pirates and explained more about this world than anyone had back when he was young.

Seeing Bill loosen up, the blond-haired man did the same, but before he could speak, Bill saw another figure behind Oliver.

It was a Cat Mink, but not just any Cat Mink, Bill recognized the face instantly.

[Wanted DEAD or ALIVE: Lindbergh, 316,000,000 Beli]

This Cat Mink was the Revolutionary Army’s Commander in the South Blue, so naturally, Bill knew his face well.

Sighing, and ignoring whatever Oliver was saying, Bill cut him off by saying: “So, you’ve joined the Revolutionary Army, then?”

Gulping at Bill’s tone, Oliver didn’t know exactly how strong Bill had become, but he had clearly seen that the kid he had met by chance nearly 20 years ago now was able to suppress his boss.

Unsure what to say, Oliver kept quiet, but Bill continued: “I remember you very well, I remember thinking that you were bitter… you had said that you were at the top of your training class and should have been made an Officer bu- “No! That’s not it!”

Seeing Oliver shaking his head fervently and gritting his teeth hard, Bill didn’t continue talking.

Call it arrogance, but even if Bill had never traveled the world, he had seen enough superhumans to gauge his own self.

He knew that while he probably wasn’t the strongest person on the planet; he knew there wouldn’t be too many people more powerful than him if he really went all out and fewer still could stop him from withdrawing from combat.

So, call it arrogance, but Bill didn’t cut Oliver off because in Bill’s mind there was no need to cut him off.

Bill had come here, he had seen these people, so they were as good as captured.

“I didn’t join the Revolutionary Army because I was upset with the Marines, far from it..” protested Oliver seriously.

“I had joined the Marines to actually help people, to make a difference… Yeah, I wasn’t happy back then, but so what? Do you have to always be happy in order to see value in the work that you do?”

Shaking his head again, Oliver continued, and Bill realized that while he may not have been lying, at some point, Oliver’s goal was to persuade him: “I left the Marines because I saw the truth, I saw the power structure, kid-no… Bill, I saw the inhumanity and cruelty of the very people that the Marines are obligated to protect!”

“Ah, I see. That makes sense!” now Bill did speak, because he felt like he had heard the line that Oliver was spewing before.

That cynical line, that dishonest and manipulative line, was simply: “Since X person did Y bad thing, the entire organization that X person belongs to is evil!”

This argument held very little weight with Bill, he even despised it, and so he continued: “So the Revolutionary Army has attacked Marines for no cause, supported provocateurs, overthrew entire nations, and has killed whoever they deem necessary…” then pausing for a moment he looked at the 3 individuals in the room before continuing sarcastically: “But I guess that’s only because the World Government is bad, no, it’s inhumane and brutal as you call it!”

After he said this Bill just shook his head, laughed, and added: “And so today, you attacked a Science Division shi- “No! that’s not true!” objected Oliver, and at this moment he was really glad that his boss had objected to them attacking that ship a few days before.

Nonetheless, he continued: “We did not attack your ship, that’s absolutely a fact, we were watching your ship, but only for reconnaissance because we didn’t expect any Marines to be here!”

“Reconnaissance for what?” Bill asked bemused, to which, the blond headed man finally spoke up: “We’re here to free these people, all of them who are being held as slaves! And we’re going to do so no matter what!”

Turning his head, Bill looked down at the man, who must have been just under 30 years old, and said: “And you are?”

Puffing up his chest, the man deviously smirked and said: “I’m in Command of this operation, but you can just call me Sabo! and we’ll succeed no matter what!”

When Bill heard Sabo’s exclamation, he thought that this person must have been touched in the head.

So, looking at Sabo like he was ‘touched’ Bill asked skeptically: “You’re going to free these slaves, uh?

And what slaves would they be?”

Hearing Bill say this, the three men in the room cut eyes at each other for a moment before looking back at Bill.

Now it was their turn to look skeptically, and it was Sabo who spoke up: “We’re going to free the slaves being held here, don’t you know what kind of place Gran Tesoro is?”

Suitable to his age, Bill tended to be set in his ways of thinking, but that didn’t mean that he was a dullard.

Seeing the looks on the three criminals’ faces, Bill didn’t need to use [Thought Reading] to understand what they were thinking. And he didn’t need the obvious implication of his missing men pointed out, either.

Calming himself down, he didn’t show any outwards emotions when he responded: “No, I don’t know what kind of ‘place’ this is. Explain it to me.

Slavery is outlawed, so explain ‘this place’ to me like I’m 5 years old.”

Looking at each other again, for these Revolutionary men, they all thought of the same thing.

Even though none of them knew the degree of power held by Commodore William D. Ox they all knew he was strong and so thought: ‘If he could join us…’

And so, over the next two hours the three revolutionaries took turns explaining the workings of Gran Tesoro.

They explained who Gild Tesoro was in the Underworld, and how he wielded power in the entertainment city.

They explained the workforce of the city, and in doing so answered Bill’s own question as to just why the city had so many maintenance workers.

They explained what the term ‘Demilitarized Zone’ actually meant, in that, it was a place under the protections of the World Government but without any laws inside its borders.

Finally they explained the position of the Celestial Dragons to Bill, who had heard such rumors before, but not to the extent that Sabo was willing to talk about.

Of course, naturally, they didn’t mention their mission to kill the World Noble.

No, in their eyes, even if they didn’t know fully about the Marine in front of them, they knew that he could fight against Sabo, and given the Marines age they would rather have him join them then to alienate him by telling him about an assassination mission.

All the while, as they spoke, Bill’s eyes narrowed.

He didn’t believe he could trust them fully, but he knew that they weren’t outright lying.

Too much of what they said matched comments made by Nelson in the past, too much of what they said matched what he had seen himself!

The gold dust that Bill had seen everywhere, it was used by Gild to kill whoever he wanted, anyone who couldn’t see it would be covered in the stuff, now it made sense!

But how could he fully trust them?

After a while of listening, Bill waved Sabo to be quiet, and said solemnly: “I’m going to go into the city, Oliver, go and tell my people that I will return soon.”

When he said this, Oliver and the Cat Mink broke out into the smile, but Bill ignored them and continued to speak as if they were his subordinates.

He had been in charge for so long that when he decided something Bill couldn’t help but talk ‘at’ people, and so said: “Until I come back, you won’t do anything… wait, no, Lindbergh, you can go ahead and start rerouting the fountainheads just in case…”

After explaining Gild’s ability to manipulate gold, the trio had told Bill their plan to reroute the huge fountains to spray seawater over the city.

The seawater wouldn’t be enough to weaken a Devil Fruit user, but it would be enough to wash Gild’s power away from much of the cities gold.

Hearing himself being ordered around by a stranger, Sabo wasn’t happy, but he knew his purpose enough to just nod.

After all, and Bill knew this too, but the fact that the Marine didn’t immediately try to capture or kill a Revolutionary Army member was already enough to be arrested for.

Getting agreement from them, Bill internally sighed and hardened his heart as he left the ship and walked out on the dock.

Standing there, looking at the excessively rich city in front of him, he wondered where he should start when he noticed a little girl, no older than 6, approaching him.

She was walking a little ways in front of a group of slightly older kids, none of whom older than 10, and held a single slightly wilted flower.

Holding the flower up, the girl looked way up at Bill and asked meekly: “Excuse… me… Sir?”

Though he had a lot on his mind, Bill still looked down, gave the girl a questioning ‘hmmm?’ and listened to her ask: “Would you like to buy this flower?”

Shrugging his shoulders he asked her ‘how much?’ and the girl replied: “5… 5,500 Beli, Sir…”

Now looking at her fully, Bill then looked at the flower which probably costed no more than 10 Beli, and said: “That’s too much, you won’t sell many for that price.”

Hearing him say this, the girl nodded her head and started lowly crying.

 And Bill, despite knowing he had things to do, and despite hearing the other kids rushing over, asked her: “Alright, well, let’s think about this. How much did you pay for flower?”

Hearing him say this, the girl flinched, but then dug her hands in her pockets and took out a dirty and crumpled 5,000 Beli note saying: “For this many… a..an…and this is why I just can’t sell it for any cheaper!”

By now the other kids had run over, including a boy that Bill suspected was the girls brother.

Yelling at the big Marine to ‘be nice’ and ‘help them out for their parents’, Bill half ignored the boy talked to the girl again, asking her to take him to the man that sold her the flower.

Agreeing to do so, Bill followed the kids as they went to the flower seller, who was lanky a man working for Gran Tesoro.

To this man, Bill didn’t touch him.

He didn’t beat him.

He didn’t berate him.

Instead, after meeting with the flower seller, he showed the kids a magic trick.

Bill reassured them with a smile, waved, and then directly disappeared.