The Marine

In the blink of an eye four days had passed, and while Bill was braving a hurricane in the [South Blue] with a ship half full of injured sailors, Yoko was still sailing south – albeit aimlessly.

She had finally spoken to him a couple days before, which made her glad, but his reasoning for not calling was what made her irritated!

‘An adventure into an ‘Island Eaters’ stomach… dinosaur islands … fighting off treasure hunting maniacs and taking their gold… he’s sure having a good time without me!’ is what she had told herself.

Bill hadn’t told her about the struggles they had faced nor about the [Pure Gold], he himself didn’t even know what to do with that hot potato.

His reasoning for not telling her these things was obviously due to the danger present in the knowledge of Pure Gold, and the fact that Bill would never pointlessly complain to someone younger than him about his struggles.

So, without the full understanding about what had happened, Yoko couldn’t help but silently complain and agonize over the fact that she would have to soon give the order to turn around.

After all, now that Bill had contacted her, she couldn’t justify sailing to the South Blue for a so-called rescue operation.

Wanting to avoid that at all costs, for the better part of two days she had sat on top of the foremast of her ship, scanning the horizon for any signs of anything.

Only slightly distracted by the Howler Monkey Marine’s 30th rendition of the song ‘Where Am I to go M'Johnnies’, Yoko shrunk the [Compliance Tree] down to the size of a toothpick and fiddled with her hair, which she had made up into a single long braid.

Like this, time passed by like the sands in an hourglass, and by midday she was just about to give in, when suddenly she saw a speck on the horizon.

By now, after just over four days of sailing fast, the crew had entered a sea lane that would take ships towards Sabaody Archipelago.

Despite having never been there herself, as a Marine, Yoko naturally had knowledge of the Archipelago due to it’s unique property of being a mangrove forest, and thus not reactive to Log Pose of any kind.

Besides that, she had memorized all the Marine Bases remotely near [New Haven] and knew quite a lot about Base GR-66, including its commanding officer who was a Rear Admiral.

With the deck that had a couple dozen Howler Monkeys singing in a choir, with Rapanui playing cards with Akisu, with a few huge Del Kong sunbathing, and with Carrot shoveling steamed [Mini-Express Shrimps] into her mouth, if it wasn’t for the giant ‘MARINE’ written on the sails of her frigate, Yoko’s ship would have easily been mistaken for a Pirate Ship.

But though her ship was wild, and though the Minks wouldn’t have cared either way, Yoko herself was no pirate but a true believer in Justice.

Seeing the speck on the horizon, she jumped into action.

‘Just in case…’ is what she told herself, and after her split-second decision she called for the Spotters to get to their stations, ordered the Helmsmen to be ready, and finally got Roule to work.

Now being 16 years old and having spent almost half her life in the Marines, Yoko could do pretty much every profession needed to sail a ship – though not as well as the best of professionals could.

For this, she had Roule start measuring wind speed plus direction, and then had Akisu hand her his special binoculars that he dubbed the ‘Megalookers’.

Like all of his inventions, the Megalookers had their issues, expanding out like a long telescope they had the tendency to snap shut at the slightest jostle, but since she knew what the problem was, there was no way she was going to get her eyelids clamped down on again!

Changing course towards the specks, the choir of Howler Monkey Minks quieted down, but didn’t completely stop, and looking carefully, in the distance, Yoko saw a Marine ship that appeared to be sailing away from pursuers.

Slowly counting up ‘One…two…three…four…five…’, it took the better part of an hour before she was finally confident enough to call out: “Oh-o-oh! There’s eight in total, an….d! it looks like we have a chase on our hands!

Hey! our allies need help! We aren’t going to leave them hanging out to dry, now, are we?!”

After Yoko said that howls of joy and support rang over the splashing of waves and boom of cannons in the distance.

Arming themselves up quickly, 60 Marines stood by the railing of the Nimbus and waited as patiently as they could.

With 20 Marines needed to control the ship, and 20 more set back for emergency support detail, these 60 were the main fighting force of Yoko’s crew.

No doubt set by her example, rods and quarterstaff were the most common weapons used by the monkeys, but there were a half dozen Spider Monkey Mink sharpshooters too, each holding scoped .50 caliber rifles, which were longer than they were tall.

They took their positions on the ships masts to have a wider view, and after loading cartridges which were larger than their hands, they waited like silent death.

Homing in, the Nimbus sailed south-west, and when the foreign ships all came into view, Rapanui wondered out loud: “That’s a strange looking Marine ship, isn’t it?”

Yoko had once seen a ship like that before, but before she spoke up, Akisu beat her to it.

He spoke loudly enough for the surrounding sailors to hear: “It’s genuine! That is one of them old fat-bellied Galleons that the Marines used to use, they’re outdated ships that aren’t made anymore, but it’s a genuine Marine ship!”

When asked ‘why weren’t they being built anymore’ by Carrot, Akisu continued: “Before seastone hulls were invented by Dr. Vegapunk, large ships could only be made out of treasured timber, but if you didn’t have treasured timber, those fat-bellied Galleons were bout as big as you could make a combat ship to be… over there…” he pointed at the Marine ship “… you see those bands that run alongside the hull? Those are seastone straps, not normally used, but I’d imagine that’s why that ship is still seaworthy.”

After a few more back and forths, they were getting almost within cannon range when the ships Logistics Officer ran to Yoko holding the short-range Transponder Snail.

“Commander!” started Akibi with a salute, unwittingly showing the difference between the human and non-human crew, before saying: “The Marine ship has contacted us and wanted to speak to you right away!”

Nodding her head, she introduced herself as “Commander Ox of the M.S.S Nimbus” before the other side paused for a moment.

Den Den Mushi did not give mirror images when used, but they tended to give good facsimiles of the person on the other side.

For example, Yoko knew she was talking to an older mustachioed man.

And likewise, the that mustachioed man knew he was talking to a teenage girl who had braided hair.

Speaking only after a several second pause, the Marine on the other side asked: “Commander… Ox, are you a part of a larger detachment?”

“Negatory!” Said she, and then added: “We’ve been tasked to patrol the waters surrounding our base, and so here we are!”

After another pause, which was made to seem longer with the cannon’s being fired off, the mustachioed Marine seemed to consider something, before saying: “Commander Ox, I am Captain Leipon under the direct command of the former Admiral, Zephyr.

Thank you for your offered assistance but the ships chasing me have three unknown and strange Devil Fruit users. Without further reinforcements, there’s no need to risk yourself or your crew at this time.

We will somehow make our way to Sabaody, and you will turn around to warn your home base of these developments. Tell your commanding officer to no longer send out single patrol ships and to only move in squadron formation.

Godspeed, Commander Ox.”

After the mustachioed Marine said this, the Transponder Snail stopped transmitting and Yoko was dumbfounded.

Of course, had any sane adult been on the Nimbus, they would have easily understood Captain Leipon’s intentions.

After the devastating Whitebeard War, there were not enough professional Marines left to patrol the entire ocean, and while there was still an ongoing world-wide draft to fill those shortages, it would take another year or so for the ranks to be filled.

Therefore, in the eyes of Captain Leipon, Yoko was just an unfortunate kid who had been pushed into the rank of Commander. Whether or not she was worthy was not even a question in the mind of the experienced Marine, and he didn’t want to see such a young person throw her life away.

After all, over the last year and a half, the pirates had become nasty, and pirates that hung around the Red Line were nastier still.

But while these were the man’s intentions, Yoko only heard that he was a subordinate of ‘Zephyr’, and she remembered clearly what had happened years ago in the New World.

At that time Bill had to retreat in the face of Jozu, Whitebeard’s 3rd in Command, and not only did Yoko dislike that – in her eyes Bill should never lose – but she disliked that she was so little.

At least in her own mind, she told herself, that if she was 16 back then things would have been a lot lot different!

Looking at her crew, and then at the pirate ships which were assorting themselves in a ‘wooden wall’ – apparently in order to barrage the newly arrived Marine ship – Yoko decided to show that Captain Leipon the skills of her Department and shouted out.

“Once the Nimbus gets in range, Konger’s! You’ll be the first to jump over! Aim for the middle ship and move as you see fit! Break everything in your path!

Rapanui, you’re tasked with making sure no cannon balls hit the Nimbus!

Howlers, break into to two teams of 30 and commandeer the first ships we sail by!”

Shouting out these orders, Yoko waited just a few more moments before expertly using the Moon Step, and, aiming for a ship roughly 200 yards away, with her long hair flowing behind her she extended the [Compliance Tree] into gargantuan size and crashed it downwards!

*daBOOOM!*

Due to the weight of the martial tree-turned-weapon and the unexpected action which made it impossible to defend against, her hit completely split the pirate ship in two pieces, and yanking up before it touched water, she shrank the [Compliance Tree] down and aim for the next one.

*daBOOOM!*

And the next one…

*daBOOOM!*

And the next one…

*daBOOOM!*

From her high vantage point, her destroying the pirate ships was easy.

Had it not been for the long history of the Procurement Department seizing pirate loot, she may have gone ahead and sank the whole lot of them, but instead, she thought that it would be a good excuse to not go directly back to New Haven.

After all, how could Sasha be mad if she came back with a few tens of millions of Beli?

Thinking this, Yoko was about to destroy one last ship but quickly halted.

‘Hm?!’

Dodging her head left and right, two coconuts flew by at incredible speed, and then amazingly exploded behind her.

‘Oh?!’

Not looking back at the explosions, Yoko quickly found where they came from – it was a middle-aged pirate who had green leafy hair and rugged leathery skin.

With coconuts being created from his hands, she stood there in the air for only a split second, and while he started throwing them her way, with a notion, the [Compliance Tree] turned the size of a regular quarterstaff and she swooped in.

Spinning the [Compliance Tree] like the blade of a helicopter, Yoko hit the Devil Fruit user causing a brown husk to fly everywhere.

Then extending the rod out, she beat back the devil fruit users crew, knocking many of them into the sea, before dodging another set of mini coconuts that exploded at her feet, only to then be smashed upside the head.

*thunk!*

Instantly woozy, Yoko extended her weapon, pole vaulting away fast.

She didn’t know how the rest of the battle was going, but by now the four Del Kongs had jumped on one pirate ship, causing mayhem, the first team of Howler Monkeys boarded another ship, and the fat-bellied Marine Galleon had quickly turned back.

At this moment, on the other side of the ship, she only knew that the coconut man in front of her was stronger than she had supposed.

One had to know, even with her Devil Fruit greatly suppressed, it wasn’t totally gone – and the strongest defense of the Monkey King was naturally that he was hardheaded!

This defense was so strong that it had saved her life from a Finger Gun launched by the traitor Vice Admiral Vergo those years ago, and even then, she didn’t feel woozy!

“What’s the matter little Marine?” taunted the green haired man, obviously recognizing her pain.

Steadying herself she ignored the gaunt fellow as he started saying the bad things he would do to her, and in just a few seconds, spun her weapon around again and went back for round 2.

The green-haired pirate was strong, and his defenses were awesome.

Yoko was fast, agile, and even though she didn’t have access to her own powers, she could use the [Compliance Tree] as well as any Devil Fruit user could use their abilities.

Jumping around she was too focused to realize that a few ships away there was a blond-headed, dirty, middle-aged man, who, in a fit of fury turned his arms into towels and began wrapping up the Del Kongs – which up to this point had been unstoppable.

And these towels, which started absorbing the moisture out of their victims, would have succeeded in killing those EvoBeasts-turned-Marines, had it not been for the interference of Akisu and his ‘Detach-and-Dispatch Bracelet’, which were seastone handcuffs that he wore on his own wrist, but could be snapped on a bad guy in an instant.

Normally, they just never came off, and more often than not, they would handcuff the user instead of the target.

Unfortunately, in this rare win for his inventions, nobody saw what happened and it was more likely to believe that the Del Kongs had done all the work in subduing the ‘Dirty Towel’ Pirate.

The fighting continued for the next several hours as the ‘wooden wall’ of pirate ships split up, and by the time the ships converged on Yoko’s battle, she was exhausted.

But while she was just tired, the ‘Coconut Pirate’ had large gaps missing from his coconut-husk skin and couldn’t stop the bleeding from his face and hands.

The coup de gras moment occurred when a combination attack between Rapanui, Carrot, and Captain Leipon gave Yoko the opening she needed to get a clear hit with all her strength.

This hit was as hard as the first hit she gave him, but this time there wasn’t any husk to take the blow, and the green haired coconut pirate was finished.

*Huff*

*Huff*

Not falling to her butt, though she was tired, Yoko suddenly lifted the [Compliance Tree] over her head and with her arms uplifting with each sound, she shouted “Ah-ah-ah!!”

And for her crew, this was infectious as the Howler Monkey Minks started bellowing their victory cries and the Del Kong smashed the ship deck.

This happened across every ship that Yoko’s crew was on, scaring the daylights out of the pirates and startling Captain Leipon and his men just the same.

Looking at the teenage girl in front of him, the Captain had no idea where she came from. The Coconut Pirate that had been chasing them was an unknown man, but one that had the strength of a 250m Beli pirate.

Thinking about the strength of the entire fleet of pirate ships, Captain Leipon came to a quick decision. No matter what, he had to get this young Marine Hero to support his Leader’s cause.

Then, much to his surprise, getting Yoko to follow him to Sabaody turned out to be far easier than he had imagined.

And that was good, because over the last year the Archipelago had turned into a lawless wasteland, and figuring that even if she didn’t join them, having a crew of strong Marines could only do the area good.

Far down to the south, while Yoko and her spoils sailed with Captain Leipon west towards Sabaody, Bill was sitting in his office going over figures from their East Blue operations when Borodo came to update him on their progress.

They were only two days away from [Gran Tesoro].