Chapter 42: Chapter 37

‘Stupid!’

‘Stupid…’

Holding on his chest, Bill staggered away from the caves entrance as quickly as he could. Cursing himself, he took shallow breaths each step of the way.

Having mastered Life Return, he could pinpoint the location of the bullets in the body.

He had been shot four times – once in the chest, twice in his left arm, and once in his left thigh.

Further, he had been grazed by three other shots which hit his right forearm and shoulder.

The worst by far was the shot in his chest. Whether it was just a lucky hit or not, the bullet had dug itself in Bills lower sternum.

It hurt to breath, and it hurt to walk.

But more than anything, for Bill it hurt most that he had to flee, and for the first time in years he prayed; he prayed that the people in those tunnels would be ok.

It was all he could do because in his mind he had stupidly wasted himself.

Lifting his head up, he groggily looked to where he was going.

Each level on this island had trees, as Bill staggered towards the tree line, he knew he couldn’t stop.

Had it not been for Life Return, he would have fallen.

Though the technique was miraculous, he could only slow the bleeding and will his body to mend one step at a time.

As for the hole in his chest, Bill wasn’t sure. The bullet had buried itself beneath bone.

He walked and walked.

Getting an idea of where the one of the bullets in his left arm was, Bill coiled the muscles around it and rotate it upward.

Thankfully, it hadn’t hit bone.

But while that was good, the thing had deformed on impact, causing it to create small tears as it slowly worked its way to the surface.

Then, as he had cleared the distance halfway to the tree line, Bill used his right hand to pop the bullet from his skin, resulting in a gush of blood from beneath.

After the first bullet was out, he started on the other inside his arm. This one had been stopped by the bone just above the elbow.

His arm ached, but it hadn’t turned numb.

‘Stupid…’

Though this wound was shallower, Bill took more time to extract the shot. It wasn’t until he made it to the tree line when the pancaked lead ball fell to the ground.

Considering the speed which Bill had made it to the caves entrance, he had now barely crossed fifty meters in over two minutes.

He still couldn’t breathe, and now he started to sweat.

Since mastering Life Return, Bill hardly ever sweated due to the fact that he could regulate his bodies temperature.

Seeing drops falling from his noes as he looked at the ground, and feeling his leg go numb, the Marine couldn’t stop his heart from beating a little bit faster.

Getting inside the small woodland, Bill couldn’t help but to stop after half a minute.

Leaning his back against a tree, he lightly touched his leg before recoiling back.

The bullet had hit his upper thigh, almost at the waist.

Since wasn’t able to easily bend over, Bill began to unhook his belt.

This was a delicate process, and one made harder by the fact he was wearing the standard Marine uniform.

Though if someone saw him now, they wouldn’t see the traditional white shirt and blue pants. Instead, his shirt was almost completely dyed dark red, and his pants were the rusty brown color of dried blood.

Undoing his buckle, Bill dropped the hem of his pants and looked slightly down. The bullet had dug itself in the fleshy part of his thigh, but with the hole in his chest any movement was hard.

Breathing heavily, he started the same process as before, shifting nearly all his weight on his right leg and the tree.

After several painful moments, the bullet had worked its way close enough to the surface he could grab it.

Using his left hand was hard, but without bending his right would never reach.

After popping the bullet out with a pained grunt, he slowly continued forward.

He was getting tired now.

After weeks of both mental and physical struggle, of not eating or drinking nearly enough, and now of lost blood; a toll had been taken on his body that he could have hardly imagined just a month before.

As he walked, he swayed with each step, but he couldn’t stop here.

He needed a place to hide, but these trees were too young, they were too small to hide him on the ground or hold him on their branches.

Now his lack of breath had caught up and couldn’t be ignored and as he focused on breathing, he lost his focus on his wounds.

Through hazy eyes Bills bloody feet brought him to a strange place.

He didn’t think he had walked very far, but here he was in a grove where a willow tree covered half a small pond.

Getting to the tree, Bill rested his red hand on it, and with effort leaned back and slid down.

With long legs stretched out in front, he summoned what was left of his Will as he probed the shot in his chest.

It was deep and it had broken bone.

Furthermore, there were no muscles around it to coil and to push.

Bill smelled blood as his head got heavy. He knew that he couldn’t go to sleep now.

In that moment, between life and death, he felt serene. As he recalled something he knew.

He had always trained his muscles by using Life Return. It had made logical sense to do so, because muscled moved and grew stronger.

But then… several times used his hair during a fight…

As his head felt heavy, Bill wondered then by force of Will used controlled his very blood to wrap around the deformed bullet.

Just he passed out, besides the scare above his eye given to him by the pirate fishman years ago, his wounds and old scars began to crater into themselves.

These craters quickly began to fill themselves in, and the bullet from his chest plopped out. Not followed by a drop of blood.

Then taking his first breath in what felt like a long time, Bill blacked out.

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Did he dream?

The man couldn’t answer. Perhaps he had. Perhaps he was still in a dream.

Maybe he was in something besides a dream… the man considered.

It felt comfortable to be where he was. The man thought. He felt… more… more whole?

Sinking deeper felt better. But it was dark… if he could just open his eyes…

Then, the man did.

Opening his eyes wide, he saw a pair gazing back at him.

?: %( %!#*

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*SUUHHHHAAAH!*

?: “AAHHH!!!!”

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

Waking up suddenly, Bill sat up with force.

His mind was addled as he saw a young child run out of the room.

‘A bedroom…?’

In this moment, everything was new and so it was all confusing. Sitting for a few moments, he began to somewhat think.

‘How… did?’

Before he could finish his thought, a man rushed through the door.

As Bill looked at the man he felt a wave of emotions, and without thinking whispered: “D…D..Dad?”

Looking at the man, who had brown hair with a square jaw Bill forgot where he was.

But before he could collect himself the man lifted his palms and replied softly: “It’s OK son, you’re in a safe place.

You did good, you did good. It’s alright now.”

Hearing the man speak, Bill was confused as tears welled in his eyes. Fighting to hold them back was hard.

So, he just looked down.

Perhaps because of this, the man grabbed a chair by the bedside and sat down slowly.

As he sat down and spoke, his voice had a bit more power behind it, though he still spoke soft enough: “I’m glad to see you awake. Everyone will be.” Then with a chuckle he continued: “You really gave’em hell son. You saved a lot of people.”

Seeing the man’s face and hearing his voice was hard, but Bill had to look up once again.

As he looked at the man, a long moment passed.

Bill didn’t speak because he couldn’t.

Whoever this man was looked and sounded just like his father did back on Earth.

Of course, in this life Bill had accepted his rebirth and his new parents. He had done so honestly, but being face to face with this man, an old life rushed out from long cherished memories.

After a while of staring, Bill spoke unsteadily: “Wh..what’s your name?”

He had asked this before even asking where he was or the circumstances with the pirates.

To his question, the man smiled and said: “My name is Ryudo, I’m a Marine Captain who calls this little island home.”

Then without ceremony he stood up and gave a salute.

“And I thank you for protecting my home!”

Bill wanted to respond; he wanted to just say anything… but he knew he wouldn’t be able to hold his emotions in and so just nodded.

After the Captain saluted the Junior Officer, he sat back down and spoke.

It had been a day since Bill was found. Apparently there had been a manhunt for him after Captain Hina had landed on the island.

Using her Devil Fruit and Shave, Captain Hina had made short work of the pirates in the harbor.

 Having gotten bored, the criminals had got drunk on their ships, and so were in no shape to fight.

As Captain Ryudo explained to Bill yesterday’s events, he saw a small child out of the corner of his eye.

Looking towards the door, the Captain followed his eyes and called out with a laugh: “Yoko, get in here!”

The child, who was obviously hiding just at the door came in the room with a curious look on her face.

She looked like her dad, which made Bill feel like if he had any sisters in his last life, this would be what they would have looked like.

Moving in the room, the girl stood just behind the Captain and glanced at Bill curiously.

He reckoned she was six but Bill was never good at telling the ages of young kids.

Deciding to break the ice, he looked at her and said: “Sorry for scaring you, miss. I think I was having a nightmare.”

Hearing him say this, the girl turned talkative and replied briskly: “I wasn’t scared! I’m going to be a Marine when I grow up! And Marines don’t get scared!”

Then stumbling around for a second she concluded with: “A..and Marines shouldn’t have nightmares! You should work on that!”

As the Captain started reprimanding his daughter, Bill let out a laugh and said: “Ok, I’ll try and work on that!”

After this, Bill was able to open up more to Ryudo and the trio spoke for some time before footsteps were heard outside.

Captain Ryudo must had heard them too because he quickly excused himself. Leaving Yoko in the room alone with Bill.

After her dad left, she sat down in the chair he had been and continued to talk: “I heard you beat up a bunch of pirates!”

Bill answered diligently, and the girl kept talking as little children do.

Unfortunately for her, it didn’t take long for Ryudo to come back followed by Captain Hina, Marron, Jerry, and the ship’s Surgeon.

Instantly Marron flew in to give him a hug, Jerry stood by his side, and the girl’s dad ushered her out of the room.

Protesting to being kicked out, Bill waved and promised the child they would talk later.

Then with only the five in the room, Bill stood up at the bidding of Jerry and the Surgeon.

Doing as he was told; Bill hadn’t noticed but he felt great.

Not just great, he realized. Bill felt better than he ever had.

Taking his shirt off, the Surgeon began a basic checkup, and Hina had him report.

He told her all that had happened, and how the last thing he remembered was heading to the forest after being shot.

As he spoke, Bill put his hand to his chest and…

‘What…?’

In the place were there had been a half-dollar sized hole, there was nothing but unblemished skin.

‘Wait… no… that’s right… why would there be a wound?’

Having stopped in the middle of his sentence, Bill didn’t notice as his perception had changed.

Yes, he was shot. Yes, the bullet had went deep in his chest. No, that didn’t mean he would have any wound.

That just made… sense?

Seeing his confusion, Captain Hina dismissed the others, and told Bill to get some rest while food was being prepared.

Then alone in the room, Bill walked to the dresser, which held a pair of scissors.

Taking the scissors, he slit his palm from pointer-finger to wrist.

As expected, he thought.

There was no cut.

He hadn’t lost a drop of blood.

What had come out it had instead pooled itself like jelly before he Willed it back into his body, absorbing it through his skin.

Seeing this effect caused no fear or panic.

Bill knew, he controlled his body, and this was normal.

His body was his to command. He would only bleed when he wanted to bleed.