Chapter 111: New World 101

Seeing the Bluebird sail in to Marineford harbor the next morning was a sight for sore eyes to Bill who hadn’t seen his friends for nearly a year. The small Caravel only had a crew of some 15 Marines in total, but in those were several figured whom he had missed.

Firstly, there was Sasha, who was the best swordsmen in their Department and besides Ranse was the one Bill could most trust to anchor any combat engagement. Then there was Ricky who was the closest thing Bill had to a second in command when it came to the Departments organizational efforts.

Besides his childhood friends, the caravel had taken the goat Mink doctor Miyagi and the three would-be co-captains Danny, Denny, and Donny.

Besides the crew Sasha had taken with her to the East Blue, there was another Marine who Bill had only associated with via Snail, it was a Swordsmen who was trained in a Marine Dojo ran by one of Sasha’s rivals at Marineford Academy.

The teenager’s name was Toma, and despite being only nineteen, he was qualified enough to be sent out to gain worldly experience by his Dojo Master, Saga.

Bill didn’t know the fully history on how it came to be, but apparently after suffering a defeat, Saga had become enlightened and then dispersed his top pupils for them to gain experience, and in the East Blue Sasha had run across a single Marine swordsmen who was traveling by raft.

That Marine had naturally been Toma who was extremely gifted and for Sasha who had long wanted a group of swordsmen in their Department, it was an opportunity she didn’t allow to pass.

Since she have the time to do it herself, Sasha had recruited Toma to be the swordsmen Instructor for the new recruits at New Haven.

Though he didn’t say ‘no’, Bill was mostly dispassionate about this.

While he clearly saw the power of swordsmen in the world, he also knew that for the great majority of Marines longer-range rifles were going to outperform blades, and that’s why he had placed so much importance on their sniper Instructor, Masterson.

But whatever the future held, Bill knew they had the money, and even if only 1-in-50 swordsmen became powerful it would be worth the investment to try and find that ‘one’. After all, while gunners were worth more than swordsmen, capable swordsmen were worth incomparably more than capable gunners.

With all of this in mind, Bill and the crew first saw the Bluebird off before leaving themselves.

The small Caravel was now carrying a skeleton crew of just ten Marines and after resupplying was directly headed back to New Haven. Including Toma, there were nine others who deserved some time off and were going back home.

It was just a couple hours before noon when they had all made their arrangements and were ready to sail towards their destination. While the ship was being put underway on the deck of the Frontier Run stood Bill, Sasha, Ricky, Nelson, Yoko, Boss, Pearson, Miyagi, Willy, and Vice Admiral Vergo.

The small Frigates crew consisted of some 112 Marines in all, and more than half that number were the whale Fish-men. The other forty or so members were a mix of old New Haven enlisted and the transfers Bill received from Vice Admiral Onigumo.

This was perhaps not the strongest force his Department could muster, but Bill felt assured that they would be fine in the New World because if nothing else the Frontier Run was a fast ship, and with a complement of Fish-Men in addition to Boss they had a number of tactics that would not normally be used by the Marines.

“I was confused when you said you were headed to the island of Zou, but now I see why.” Vergo said as the group was watching Marineford’s harbor shrink in the distance.

Their first destination was naturally the Red Port, where they would cross the Red Line and enter the New World. It was only a few hour sail away, but then it would take nearly a week to go through the various channel locks that were carved into the Red Lines tough stone.

Turning his head to the Vice Admiral, Bill answered simply: “Yes, Miyagi here has some business to take care of on his home island.”

Despite agreeing to give the Vice Admiral a lift to G-5, Bill hadn’t spent much time around the man and wouldn’t thoughtlessly speak.

His caution was realized when the Vice Admiral replied back: “A Mink, a huge flying beetle, and scores of Fish-men. Captain Ox, you have a peculiar assortment under your command.”

Shrugging his shoulders, Bill just said that his crew came one at a time, and turning to Miyagi he said: “Doctor, are you sure you’ll be able to find the island? I read reports that it moves.”

Getting an excited nod, Bill could tell Miyagi was excited to see home when he replied: “Absolutely! Don’t you worry, Captain. I’ll certainly know the way!”

Bill noticed that Vergo pushed his sunglasses up, but since the Vice Admiral didn’t speak, he dismissed himself and called his officers into his office to go over the particulars.

Thankfully, Bill thought, the journey into the New World shouldn’t take more than a few months in total. Perhaps half a year at most.

Their plan was simply to drop Vergo off at G-5, then make their way to the former-Admiral who was reported to be at a resort on Secon Island, followed by a quick stop at Zou for Miyagi to hand over his completed ‘Miracle Drug’ to the islands Duke, and finally they would head to Egghead Island for Bill to have the Devil Fruit examined.

All the while, Bill would be in near constant contact with New Haven as they got their business up and running. After all, even with the hundreds of millions of Beli they had, the Department was losing close to 12m Beli a month just to salaries.

Added with the costs of other supplies, some months they would be paying out nearer to 15m Beli.

The reason for this was despite the fact that Bill didn’t pay high wages, he provided and replaced all uniforms and a standard kit at no charge. This was very rare in the Marines, usually it was up to the individual sailors to buy their own bedding, extra food, and replacement uniforms.

These extra expenses coupled with gambling and other vices would have the majority of sailors living nearly as hand-to-mouth as the pirates they chased.

Sitting down at his desk, Bill saw the group assemble in front of him and spoke concisely: “As you all know, Vice Admiral Vergo will be with us for the next few weeks. I’ve detailed his oddities to you all before, but lets try and make an effort to keep him from needlessly bothering the rest of the crew.

Willy, we’ll be relying on you particularly to keep the new recruits out of trouble.”

To this, Willy gave out a toothy smile and said back: “We know how to deal with the likes of him. Unless he comes looking for trouble, we’ll stay well clear.”

Before Bill could reply, Ricky cut in: “He shouldn’t have any authority on the ship, we’re not his subordinates and he doesn’t have any authority in the Science Division.”

This time, it was Nelson who answered, twirling his mustache with one finger he said: “That’s why our spectacled comrade should have stayed in the Academy.” Then turning to Bill, he continued: “We’re headed to the New World and once we enter G-5 territory he’ll have the authority to command any navy vessel in times of an emergency.”

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Once this was said, there were incredulous side comments coming from several people.

This was news to them, and it could hardly have been their fault. The New World was considered the same as an active war zone and the difference in regulations between it and ‘Paradise’ was stark. In fact, these regulations even somewhat bled into the North and West Blues since those Blues were connected via Calm Belt.

So, for the crew here who had lived and worked only in Paradise and the South and East Blues it was understandable.

Bill: “Are you sure about that?”

Nodding his head affirmatively, Nelson replied: “Righto, unless of course there is an official commission or similarly ranked Officer, the Vice Admiral has the authority to command the ship in times of crisis.

The whole sea surrounding G-5 is under his purview.”

Finally, it was Sasha who spoke and when she did, it was in her characteristic sharp tone: “You knew he would be joining us for a week, did you not understand that it was important to mention?”

Shrugging his shoulders, Nelson just said with a slight sneer: “How could I have known, I’m not a part of every meeting and weren’t you also in the Marineford Academy? Perhaps, instead of going around and swinging swords you may have studied better.”

When he said this, Nelson eyed back and forth to Ricky, and Bill rolled his eyes before saying: “Thank you for the information, but that’s enough from you Nelson.

Thankfully, he won’t be with us for long. We’re headed in a straight line to G-5 and then we’ll be leaving.”

After that the rest of the meeting was just getting the daily schedules set out. With the extra hands Bill would be able to go back working on new inventions and adapting gear for the hundred Special Operators they were going to train.

With Henzo now going to New Haven, Bill had a lot of hope on this front. After all, even if the Ruluka Island battle suits were impractical, the fact that they were made with nothing except trash and spare wires was a demonstration in of itself.

After the meetings, Bill went out on deck and saw the Red Line fast approaching. It was the first time he had ever seen it up close, and the scope of the thing was incredible.

It was a sheer cliff that extended so high into the sky that the red wall began to blur in the distance. Even using his augmented eyes, Bill could only give a rough estimate of around a dozen kilometers.

As far as anyone knew, there were only two ways to pass the Red Line, and that was either legally through the Red Port, or illegally through Fish-man Island.

As the minutes turn to hours, Bill stood watching the Red Port entrance come nearer and after hearing someone approach, a voice sounded beside him.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?”

Nodding his in agreement, Bill glanced at Vergo who had some wet noodles stuck to the side of his face.

“But what’s most amazing is up there.” And he pointed to the top of the red wall: “That’s the home of the Gods.”

To this Bill didn’t nod back, the notion of the World Nobility being divine was something he could never subscribe to. Even back years ago when his father told him that they were ‘descended’ from gods, Bill didn’t like the implication.

He had never seen a World Noble, but Bill had come across various other levels of nobility.

He knew by the nature of aristocracy, that nobles tended to see themselves as more important than the common person, but in his mind that was one gigantic step below actually viewing yourself as divine.

So, shrugging his shoulders, he just answered: “Yeah, I’m sure it’s pretty.” And looked at the Vice Admiral who’s mouth just replied: “Yes.”

But with his third eye Bill heard the Vice Admiral say: ‘The Holy Land must be perfect.’

Once this was said, Bill excused himself and went to get his paperwork. Being a Marine gave him toll-free access to the Red Port, but he would have to go through Customs like anyone else.

Aesthetically the front facing entrance to the Red Port was the same as any other, except that there were giant lifts that would position ships into the channel.

Going through Customs didn’t take long, and they were even somewhat lucky in not having to wait.

“A small size Frigate?” the official had asked and then after checking replied: “We can just fit you in as the final in the row.”

After Bill gave his thanks, he returned to the Frontier Run and the giant red doors were open to the port and there, Bill saw a sight he and his friends would never forget.

The red doors opened into a large bay surrounded by red walls. On those walls were huge lifts they called Bondolas carrying passengers and ships alike and seemed to go all the way to the top of the Red Line.

This wasn’t all, there were bubbles floating up carrying impossible amounts of water, and after asking Nelson, he was told that those bubbles would go up and create a freshwater river at the top.

Looking off to the side with the entire crew, Sasha nudged Bill in the side and subtly pointed.

There Bill saw two of the Seven Warlords of the Sea boarding ships.

They were both noticeable, one was clearly Bartholomew Kuma who was holding a book titled ‘Holy Bible’ and the other was Donquixote Doflamingo, who despite wearing glasses, Bill could have sworn was looking in his direction.