Chapter 68: Chapter 58

‘Strong!’

Seeing Ranse block the kick of the blonde headed man, Bill noticed his friend pushed back a half step.

Just as he was about to make his move, his instincts directed his eyes to the doorway leading to the staircase.

There walked out four individuals, Bill didn’t know three of them, but he recognized one from a Wanted poster he had seen a couple months ago.

‘Straw Hat Luffy!’

Bill only knew what the papers said about him, this man had destroyed half an island… could he be allied with Bear King?

It seemed possible!

Without his hammer, Bill readied himself as his knuckles grew thicker and the bones from his forearms, elbows, shins, and knees hardened. Preparing for a savage battle, Bill sternly said over his shoulder:

“Ricky, take Nami to Miyagi and tell him to immediately take her and Yoko back to the ship. Hurry back as fast as you can.”

Before the orange headed girl could say anything, Ricky scooped her up in a princess carry and did what he was told, jumping down the hole Bear King had made.

Seeing this, the green haired swordsman with Luffy rushed forward only to be caught by Sasha.

Focused on Luffy, Bill only noticed until now, but his instincts told him the swordsmen was just as dangerous as the 30m Beli man.

“Sasha, he’s strong!”

Before he could see if she had heard him. Luffy rushed forward shouting out about his ‘Nakama!’ but Bill was in no mind to hear it.

Straw Hat Luffy was small, almost half of Bills size, but he was devilishly fast.

“Gum Gum Pistol!”

‘Devil Fruit?!’

Dodging to the side by a hair’s breadth, Bill didn’t speak but instead grabbed the stretchy arm and tried to flip the smaller pirate.

But it was impossible, and Bill realized as much almost as soon as he attempted the move.

Luffy’s arm stretched, and instead of bringing his body with him, he was able to launch another attack with his feet.

“Gum Gum Spear”!

With his back turned towards the smaller pirate, Bill knew he couldn’t dodge in time and leapt forward.

Since Bill had mastered the Iron Body technique the force of any blow was already going to be weakened, but with Bill jumping forwards the attack was completely negated.

Falling forward, landing on his hands, Bill felt a presence behind him and pivoting on his wrists swung his legs around for a low sweep.

His attack missed, but it afforded him time to readjust himself.

Seeing the pirate back off, Bill pushed forward yelling out: “Three Hit Combo!”

Using the Art of 9 Limbs Bill rushed in and connected with a hard knee followed by a right elbow and ending with a nasty headbutt.

Giving a ‘umpfh!’ the smaller pirate went flying back several meters and Bill quickly turned towards Ranse and Sasha.

Ranse was having a brutal fight, surprisingly the barefooted blonde headed man could keep up with him as the two zipped around the large chamber destroying the building with kicks.

Sasha on the other hand looked infuriated, because the green haired swordsmen was expertly fending her off and apparently hadn’t attacked with either of his blades.

The two other people who had entered the room with Luffy, and brown-haired man and a young boy, stood there with mouths ajar.

Taking this in, he didn’t wait for Luffy to come back on his own and pressed his momentary advantage. Rushing towards the pirate as he stood up Bill was somewhat surprised to see the tenacity of the 30m Beli man.

Going for a clinch, aiming to take the pirate to the ground, Bill was surprised by his opponent’s strength as the two men rolled around punching, kicking, gouging, and Luffy even biting Bill’s iron-hard skin.

After what seemed like a long time, they fought their way back up to a standing position. Standing on a large terrace Bill had no marks on him but was breathing deeper than normal while Luffy had a scuffed-up face but otherwise seemed no worse for wear.

In this moment of stillness, though Bill heard noise from behind him, he shouted: “Straw Hat Luffy, You Are Under Arrest! Stop Resisting!”

Unphased by this demand, looking at Bill angrily Luffy shouted back: “No! Give me back my nakama!”

Looking at the short person confused, then angrily, Bill said back irritably: “Your crew member? I don’t have any of your crew! But it won’t be long until I have all of them behind bars, pirate!”

Bill didn’t know, and even if he did, he probably wouldn’t have cared, but this was perhaps the worst thing he could have said as the prospect of losing his crew enraged the 30m Beli man.

Taking the initiative, Luffy rushed towards Bill and threw his arms far back. Bill who heard rumbling from below, jumped back as Bear King burst through the flour, now not just burning red hot – he was completely on fire.

The huge pirate, who probably thought such a dramatic entrance would give him the advantage of surprise, couldn’t have known that he put himself directly between Bill and…

“Gum Gum BAZOOKA!”

Hit with Luffy’s strongest attack, being on fire didn’t matter as Bear King flew through the air towards Bill who immediately launched his own attack: “Giant STOMP!”

Being kicked down hard, Bear King was once again knocked to the ground level as the entire castle shook once again.

Inside the throne room, Bill heard a breaking clash and then a yell as Sasha had destroyed the green haired swordsmen weapons and Ranse had finally gotten the better of the barefoot blonde headed man.

“Zoro! Sanji!” yelled Luffy as he stretched his arms in their direction, pulling them beside him on the terrace.

It had been a rough few hours, Bill thought, but seeing the swordsmen without a sword and the blonde headed man barely able to stand on his bruised feet, he knew that these pirates didn’t have much left in them.

As Sasha and Ranse appeared on his sides, Bill felt confident as he saw they were still in good shape.

Before he was able to demand surrender again, all eyes were pointed upwards as a man shouted from the water tank on top of the castle:

“Guys! Here I got them!”

No sooner than they looked up, a big nosed scrawny guy threw down three katanas and a pair of black shoes.

The swords were caught but the green haired man who instantly ripped off his jackets sleeves to use as a belt, holding one sword in each hand and one in his mouth he looked ready for business.

The blonde headed guy caught his black shoes and slipped them on, kicking his toes lightly against the ground to get a better fit.

This had all happened so fast Bill couldn’t immediately react and seeing the confident looks on their faces he instantly regretted it.

It didn’t matter though, he thought, and seeing the three pirates getting ready for round two figured to move first. Seeing Bill’s intention, Sasha and Ranse moved beside him as they headed forward and the pirate trio did likewise.

The terrace was large, but for these six superhumans it wasn’t very big at all and in seconds they were nearly within fighting distance again.

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But just as they readied their attacks, a familiar feminine and masculine voice was heard shouting: “HOLD IT!” and “WAIT!”

At once, all nine individuals looked back to see Ricky and Nami rushing in their direction. The sight stopped the six fighters, while the brown headed man and young boy stood up from tying up Pin Joker, Boo Jack, and Stunk One.

It was only at this moment when Bill finally connected the straw hat Nami had been wearing to Luffy, and though he felt betrayed, seeing Ricky’s face made him hold off judgement.

Shouting to Ricky, Bill asked: “What’s going on?” while the blonde headed cook literally skipped towards Nami chanting: “Namiswan!”

Taking her turn to speak first, Nami sidestepped the man skipping towards her and addressed Bill and Luffy.

“This is all a mistake! Luffy, these people don’t work with Bear King, in fact they PROTECTED me from him!”

“Oh, is that so? So, they aren’t like that mousey guy!” replied Luffy, and as if he figured out a great mystery, hammered his right fist into his left palm.

“No, they aren’t even from the East Blue!” said Nami, who Bill thought apparently had spoken to Ricky as they ran away.

Then Ricky spoke up: “Is your name Monkey D. Luffy?”

Alarmed by this name, as the Marine Hero was widely known across the Marines, Bill watched when Luffy nodded his head, and Ricky followed up fast: “Do you know Monkey D. Garp?”

Luffy: “Ah, you know grandpa too?”

This declaration made everyone go silent for a second until the pirate crew shouted in unison: “Your grandpa is the Marine Hero Garp?!”

Obviously seeing that there was more going on than what was on the surface, Bill spoke up cutting through the sound of other questions: “If that’s the case why did you get the highest ever first-time bounty ever issued by the East Blue Marines?”

“Wait! I can explain!” Said Nami.

“Captain Ox, my village was taken over by a vicious pirate named Arlong… our island has a Marine branch, but they were paid off to look the other way!

For years…” the girl shook as she spoke: “They looked the other way as our people were killed for not meeting the rent… those pirates were fishmen, do you know about them?” Nami asked and Bill nodded his head, he knew about fishmen very well.

Seeing this, Nami continued and described the rest of the situation, how Luffy and the others defeated Arlong and then the Marine Captain Nezumi falsified the reports after trying to take credit for the defeat of the Arlong Pirates.

All of this subdued the fighting spirit of everyone involved, but Bill had some questions: “Why are you here then? It seems very convenient that just months after being charged with destroying half an island I find you here where the Trump Pirates have done basically the same thing you claim the Arlong Pirates did.”

This coincidence was not lost on them, but it was the brown-haired man who spoke up: “Uh… Captain Ox, if I can say it, that’s my fault…”

As he said that, all eyes shifted toward him, and he introduced himself as Borodo.

“For years I’ve tried to get help for this island, but because Bear King paid the island tribute the local Marines wouldn’t find anything when they investigated… so I stole Luffy’s ship in order that they may free this island.”

After he said this, the Straw Hats glared at him, but he quickly clarified: “But I didn’t know Nami here would be kidnapped! Really!”

The little boy also got defensive and exclaimed: “Hey, my big brother is a hero! Don’t look down on him!”

After that, Ranse questioned Borodo who was said to be an expert Navigator – as well as a thief – exclaimed the younger boy much to Borodo’s dismay.

If this was true all true, Bill thought, it would be one hell of a coincidence. As he thought this through, Bill heard a familiar yell coming up the stairway.

“Let me go, Miyagi!”

Seeing Yoko’s auburn hair and Marine hat first, she pulled away from the goat Mink who was telling her to stop, when she saw Bill and the others, she ran even harder.

Getting to them, Yoko was exclaiming that they had caught Trump Pirates without her and saying she would help them catch the rest – gesturing the Luffy and the others.

As she did this, Bill was eyeing the goat who looked apologetic.

“Sorry Captain, she tricked me, it was actually quite splendid…”

Not in any mood to hear it, Bill decided he would chastise the girl later but first turned his attention back to the Straw Hats.

“If what you’re saying is true, come with me to Lougetown and we’ll get your names clear. If you aren’t pirates, I assure you justice will be handed out to the people who framed you.”

Saying this, Bill thought he was being magnanimous but was shocked when Sanji laughed saying they ‘were pirates’ and Luffy lifting his arms and shouting: “I’m going to be the Pirate King!!”

Deciding he would have to bring the group in, before he moved a rumbling could be heard as a section of the floor was raised up.

Seeing Bear King laughing sitting inside a weird looking tank, Bill’s instincts screamed as he reached down pulling Yoko and the boy out of the way.

“Have a taste of my ultimate weapon! King Cannon!”

No sooner than he said this, the big pirate fired his massive gun, scattering everyone besides Luffy who caught the shell in his hands redirecting it upwards. In doing so, Luffy’s arms spun and extended far into the horizon.

Then Bill watched in horror as he saw the huge bullet start coming back.

Jumping up, Bill grabbed Borodo and Miyagi, the next nearest people to him over his shoulder and ran to the edge of the terrace

“Ranse! Grab the prisoners!”

The cowboy acted fast and as Luffy slammed the shell back into Bear King they jumped as the castle crumbled into dust.

“They destroyed the Key!! The island is going to collapse!” Shouted Borodo, and no sooner than he said that the island gears started to lock up.

Thinking they had to evacuate, Bill and the others rushed into the town. The island shaking and gurgling was enough warning that they didn’t need to convince anyone to go. But even if the townspeople left immediately didn’t have long to get down to the beach, where Bill had seen over thirty ships in the harbor.

Sending Ranse, Ricky, and Borodo down to clear the ships of pirates and ready them to sail, Bill also sent Yoko and the boy named Akisu down with them to get on Frontier Run.

While most people could only flee with backpacks, some lucky few were able to get suitcases stuffed with various objects. Like this Bill, Sasha, and Miyagi facilitated the evacuation of just over twenty-five hundred people in just three hours.

On one hand, what they did was a miracle, but on the other hand, sailing away from Clockwork Island, the people watched in horror as it fell into the sea.

It had been impossible for the thirty pirate ships to be made ready to sail so Ranse and the others had tied them together creating a floating barge.

Frontier Run was filled to capacity for the first time, with a total of two hundred fifty people on board. The rest of the pirate vessels were small caravels which could each barely hold fifty people.

Seeing the utter hopelessness Bill knew he had to address the people.

But what could he say to them after they had lost their livelihoods, their wealth, and their homes? It had all happened so fast…

Thinking quickly, Bill decided that while he wasn’t able to save their island, he could offer them a new home.

This hadn’t been his plan, and he felt hate towards the Straw Hats who he didn’t see again after jumping away from the castle. Apparently, their ship had parachuted down to the ocean when the island collapsed.

But that was something to think about in the future, for now he spoke to the former residents of Clockwork Island.