Chapter 110: Marineford 100

The sun had set, and now that Sasha was due to arrive in the morning, Bill went over the events of the last week in his mind.

In the end, he had told Sengoku that he wanted to remain with the Science Division because he truly believed that it was the best way to help people but said that if things ever got too bad, he would answer his call to join SWORD.

Then as he waited for the Bluebirds arrival to begin his next journey, he trained in the morning, mingled around Marineford during the day, and did Department work in the afternoons.

All in all, he had used his time fruitfully while waiting for Sasha to arrive and had received absolutely unbelievable news about Ruluka Island from Ranse.

How this news came about was uncomplicated, but even after everything Bill had come to learn, the ramifications were staggering.

Going back several weeks, after the majority of the contraband was sold off from the operation at Hannabal the Procurement Department found itself flushed with money yet greatly lacking in personnel.

When Bill had left for Marineford, Ranse was left with some 420 men and women under his command. This was a huge increase on what they had but with the Salamander joining their fleet, it put them in a position where they now had two flagship-class vessels.

Although the M.S.S Victory was larger than the Salamander, their new ship was a first-rate battleship and would need a normal crew of 450 to fully operate its 80 cannons.

Because of this, the immediate goal was to bring the Departments number of effective personnel up from around 550 to around 800 in total.

However, with no large island to call home base, finding 250 additional recruits was easier said than done.

Ranse had two massive ships but was left with only Fia and Borodo as capable and trustworthy commanders, due to that, it seemed unlikely that going from one island to the next recruiting a handful of people at a time would be worth the effort.

This issue had culminated in several all-hands-on-deck meetings between Bill and his childhood friends via Snail. After several meetings it seemed that their only option was to rely on troop transfers.

Transferring personnel from one branch to another was a common occurrence in the Marines, except that Captains would typically be charged a ‘processing’ fee, and that fee could be worth a year or more of a Marines salary.

They had a lot of money but had to be tightfisted until the Department began turning a profit, and that would never happen so long as their main source of income was selling King Cannons to various Marine bases.

Big successful raids like on Hannabal weren’t something to be counted on, and Bill had no plans to go after New World pirates at least until his Department was running smoothly.

So, these debates had lasted for weeks during Bill’s travel to Marineford. All options were put on the table from doing the transfers to heading towards the South Blue and recruiting from Vallipo Archipelago or Sasha’s original home, Roshwan Kingdom.

Eventually during the voyage, the situation had been relieved when Bill brought Pearson into the meetings with Ranse and the other Lieutenants.

Pearson was nothing if not shrewd, and after some time talking to the new Mayor, it was agreed that Ruluka would supply another hundred island soldiers to become Marine recruits.

Even though they needed more than that, the destination had been made clear and for weeks Ranse had continued to work selling off contraband and training the new recruits at Ruluka before they finally went back to New Haven.

As things began to settle down into the normal progression of affairs, just several days before Sasha arrived at Marineford, Bill received an outrageous report from his old buddy.

The ‘Rainbow Mist’ that the old scientist Henzo raved about was very real, this phenomenon was attested to by not only Ranse, but also Fia, Borodo, and all of the islands’ residents.

When it was seen Ranse decisively made the choice to go inside with Henzo, Borodo, and half of the Beetleborgs, and there they reported seeing a massive ship graveyard and uncovered ships never before seen.

If that wasn’t enough, they brought out Henzo’s friends from fifty years ago… and those kids hadn’t aged more than a week.

The entire scenario was mind blowing, but Bill did believe it.

In this world existed Devil Fruits, Psychic Powers, Giants, Sea Kings, and even allowed the direct manipulation of the soul, so who was to say that separate dimensions were impossible?

If anything, instead of questioning the report, Bill questioned if other dimensions would have been possible on Earth.

Then Bill recalled what that eccentric scientist he met on his first day in the Science Division had said, maybe all of perceived reality was an illusion – and the ‘real’ world was hidden away by some force beyond human comprehension.

One thing was clear though, after fifty years these kids had lost their parents and their homes, and so Ranse decided to bring them along with Henzo back to New Haven.

Not surprisingly, the kids hated pirates as much as Yoko, it was Wetton who destroyed their homes in the first place which led to them into the Rainbow Mist and getting trapped there.

They had lost everything, but even though they wanted to, Bill had decided to not enlist them as Chore Boys. They would have Henzo as their guardian on New Haven and would need a period of time to stabilize themselves to get familiar with their new surroundings.

If they wanted to join the Marines after that, he would allow them.

While unbelievable things were happening to the others, Bill had found himself spending a lot of time around Garp’s proteges Koby and Helmeppo at Marineford.

Though he found Helmeppo to be somewhat was a braggard, he thought that if Koby and Ranse ever met they would be best friends.

And that notion made Bill warm to the Lieutenant Commander more then he normally would to a stranger.

There wasn’t just Garp’s proteges either, Bill met with the three boys who Admiral Aokiji had taken under his wing. The oldest was fifteen and the youngest was ten, but they were all extraordinary.

You are reading story The Marine Part One at novel35.com

He had met them several days ago around mid-day as he made his way up to the citadel.

Since Boss couldn’t be made to sit idle for a week, there had been a permission given by Sengoku that the beetle could fly over the harbor, and naturally, Yoko frequently rode on its back.

The girl, despite only being thirteen was a natural morning person and when she didn’t have other duties often times a buzzing could be heard just before breakfast.

Marineford was used to all sorts of sights, but even still, a car-sized beetle was bound to draw attention, and that time, it was the attention of the Admirals three proteges.

Bill didn’t know exactly what had happened, but from the gist of it, the boys wanted to ride Boss and when Yoko refused them, they started to make fun of her.

The girl had a mouth that could run with the best of them, but when the youngest boy, named All-Hunt Grount, saw Yoko’s heart-shaped locket and began to laugh at it, all bets were off.

The girl always had a temper, and truthfully Bill was happy in his heart that he found her walloping even the fifteen-year-old, but still there had to be punishment doled out.

Due to the vast differences in rank, and the fact that the kids were not ‘just’ kids but also Marines, he hadn’t taken it immediately upon him to begin to discipline the group more than just giving a stern speech about comradery and about not fighting a fellow Marines.

Afterwards was the first time Bill had ever come into direct contact with Admiral Aokiji.

Bill’s estimation of the Admiral was one of caution yet disappointment.

The caution was obvious, Bill knew the Admirals reputations as the strongest single combatants in the Marines and given their vast authority even if they were in the wrong Sengoku would be hard pressed to discipline them over a Science Division Captain like himself.

The disappointment came while he tried to discuss punishment with the tall dark-haired Admiral. Simply put, Bill didn’t think Aokiji had the mentality to be in his position.

His reasoning for this had been the total lack of regard the Admiral had given the incident. Sure, Bill readily admitted that besides some scuffs and bruises nothing terrible had happened, but that wasn’t the point.

And when he pointed out that to the Admiral, the man just lazily ignored him and told him to ‘do whatever you please.’

That answer was disappointing, but in any case, that was exactly what Bill did.

At first, he made them start cleaning the decks of ships in the harbor. This worked well until out of the blue the tall thirteen-year-old, named Zappa, proposed to marry Yoko. When she proceeded to pummel him, Bill knew that they needed more exhausting work.

Bill could never have been said to be cunning, but his plan to make them friends was shaped through hardship was genius.

Getting to the training yard one morning Bill had the group of four follow him to the harbor and said: “Today, we’ll be training Moon Step. Any questions?”

Instantly, four bright smiles were shown, and Bill said: “Good! Alright Bonham get over here, since you’re the oldest today you’ll go first!”

With a smile on his face, the long-armed tribe member walked to Bill unassuming, and in one quick motion he was scoop up and launched into the sky.

Bonham: “HUUUHHHH!?!”

Going higher and higher, Bill waited until they were hundreds of meters above Marineford and started talking: “Alright! remember to stay feet first, you understand? Feet first and kick!”

All he got was a frightened shout for a reply, but Bill directly let the teenager go.

Needless to say, Bonham didn’t learn the Moon Step on that try, and so Bill went down the list one after another.

He heard all sorts of pleas, from Zappa feigning feinting and Yoko asking him to remember when she was there for him after his battle with Dragon to Grount growing a literal beast arm and trying to hold on for dear life.

Of course, none of it worked, and for the morning he took turns taking them up high and dropping them low just before he caught them. Whether or not they really started to like each other, after that they at least didn’t fight again.

Thinking about it, Bill thought about the golden banana he had and about Grount’s transformation.

Grount had eaten the Mythic Animal System, Ape Ape Fruit, Model: Abominable Snowman and it was stronger than what his young body could handle.

Even still, and even though he had no proof, that spirit didn’t feel as strong as the golden banana.

Sitting up from his chair, Bill decided to end the night early. Sasha would be there in the morning and after that they would be heading into the New World.

Although he did not have any personal ties to the former Admiral, Bill knew that it was important to Nelson and the others so he would accompany them.

Though they had several tasks to complete, Bill hoped it wouldn’t take that long until he was back in New Haven.

He wasn’t worried about their safety, as long as they didn’t cross paths with any of the Emperors Bill figured he could at least escape, and plus Vice Admiral Vergo needed transportation and would be joining them until they reached G-5.