The Marine

Swinging his fist back, Bill hit Kizaru hard enough to send the older man flying back through the canopy.

When Onigumo recognized what had happen, he overcame his fear and struck out with his six spider arms, only to be flung around by Bill, punched so hard in his side that he immediately gasped in pain, and then forced into a state of semi-consciousness when Bill slapped him hard on the side of his head.

For Yoko and the still-awake monkeys, they looked on with their mouths open in a mix of shock and excitement.

However, naturally, Bill hadn’t hit either man as hard as he could.

He didn’t know about Kizaru, but for Onigumo at least, Bill knew he could have torn the Vice Admiral into pieces like he had torn Dice into pieces.

He could do it without that much risk to himself.

But… he didn’t want to rebel, only, when he saw Yoko being mistreated, he understood that he had to let [Marineford] know that he wasn’t just some road to be walked over.

So, with Onigumo essentially limp in his hand, Bill shouted out in the direction that he hit Kizaru: “I told you clearly what would happen if this dog put his hands on my daughter. Did you think it was a joke when I said that?!”

Instantly a glint of light appeared and then Kizaru was standing about twenty paces away from Bill, with a look mixed with surprise, humor, and deadly seriousness.

“Are you sure this is a good idea?” asked the Admiral, but Bill was resolved, and only considered how to handle Kizaru’s speed without the use of his Observation Haki.

With his Observation Haki, Bill could [Time Warp] and could hypothetically fight back even if the Admiral was elementalized.

Without his Haki, Bill could hit Kizaru when he reappeared – after all Kizaru could not casually move the speed of light – but he would be a sitting duck when the Admiral launched any attacks.

Feeling Onigumo stir in his grip, Bill knew he couldn’t wait, and in one swift motion, took the war hammer off his belt and hurled it at Kizaru.

Without Armament Haki on it, the hammer splattered Kizaru into blotches of yellow light, and in that instant, Bill took a step forward and threw Onigumo so hard that the air itself popped and a cone-shaped ring of smoke was produced.

He had said he would throw the Vice Admiral from Monkey Island back to the Marineford ships docked at New Haven… and he meant to do just that.

But whether or not Onigumo would regain himself during that ‘flight’, Bill couldn’t say, because seeing Kizaru’s blotches of yellow light lift upwards, he moved to cut the Admiral off.

Kizaru could truly move at the speed of light, but only when he was attacking.

The reason for this was that despite the Admiral’s advanced Observation Haki his senses simply wouldn’t be able to keep up with that speed – and without him being able to keep up, that meant that he was liable to commit friendly fire if he wasn’t careful.

So, as it was, turning into blotches of light Kizaru moved in ‘slow motion’ and positioned himself to catch Onigumo in the air, but in the second that it took him to rematerialize, Bill was already there.

Bill had never been able to test his speed like he had tested his physical strength, but even as an older teenager he had been able to break the sound barrier.

Now, in his mid-twenties, when Bill moved fast the air itself turned into a watery substance – making him practically ‘swim’ through the air resistance.

But, when he moved ‘very fast’, traveling through the air was akin to digging into the ground. The various particles in the air became rigid and sharp.

Sharp enough to rip even superhumans apart!

Meeting Kizaru with a *bang* Bill’s Haki-covered hand jerked the Admiral back down to the ground, and throwing him some distance away, he looked in the direction that Onigumo was flying in.

Quickly reaffirming his judgement that the Vice Admiral wouldn’t actually ‘die’, Bill looked down just in time to see a flash of light and then felt a kick land on his stomach so hard that he nearly threw up.

That single kick was harder than Bill had ever been hit before, even harder than when he had been pounded by the Whitebeard Pirates [Diamond Jozu].

Knocked back hundreds of yards by a true ‘lightspeed’ kick, he tumbled through the air and felt his abdomen trembling for a moment before he stabilized himself.

Life Return was a powerful ability, but when Kizaru continued to push, striking out with one lightspeed attack after the other, Bill was forced to cover more and more of himself with Armament Haki for defense.

For Yoko and the various species of monkeys who were watching the fight, they only saw one explosion after the next and Bill getting tossed around like a ragged doll.

For Kizaru, he was hitting Bill hard, but for the Admiral it was beyond strange that Bill was able to take his attacks head-on but seemingly unable to sense the attacks as they coming.

After all, even though no one in the world could move at the speed of Kizaru, most people skilled in Observation Haki could react to his direct attacks.

And all experts who had mastered [Future Sight] could even launch counterattacks.

‘Could he not have Observation Haki at all?’ Kizaru thought whimsically as he materialized into human form.

A lot of things weren’t adding up for Kizaru because, despite his lofty character, he had read the reports on Bill.

‘Blackstone’ Bill Ox should be able to [Nullify] Devil Fruits, this was reported by several sources – including the former Fleet Admiral, Sengoku. Nullification itself was an advanced version of Armament Haki, so how was it that the man in question didn’t even seem to be able to coat his body?

But… if that had been a mistake, because clearly Bill Ox’s Armament Haki was weaker than many Vice Admirals, and added to the fact that Bill Ox clearly didn’t have Observation Haki, then how could Bill Ox possibly be strong enough to take his attacks without directly dying?

The great divider in the Grand Line was Haki.

A person could be superhuman and not have Haki, but to become a true powerhouse, Haki was non-optional.

Haki was the physical manifestation of willpower, and it was simply impossible to become as strong as Bill Ox was without great willpower – great Haki.

Thinking this way, Kizaru thought that Bill Ox must be playing a joke on him, and frowning at the thought, he started hitting even harder.

For Bill’s part, getting kicked around like a ragged doll was an experience he had never dreamed of in either of his lives.

After taking the first lightspeed kick he wasn’t about to throw up anymore, at least, but his frustration grew as he wasn’t able to quite situate himself in time to ever catch the Admiral before he was blasted away again.

As his frustration grew, his Haki became firmer, his intentions got sharper, and after Kizaru planted a kick straight on his jaw – and for the first time aimed for Bill’s head – Bill’s frustration turned to anger.

Punched and kicked in straight lines across the skyline of Monkey Island, Bill was like a raw lump of iron that strengthened as it was hammered again and again.

At first his Haki only covered his chest and forearms, but after more than a dozen kicks, a darker gunmetal gray shade covered his entire upper body.

This went on for a long time, and with his Haki solidifying and his body adapting, after nearly two continuous hours of being smashed, Bill was finally able to launch a series of makeshift [Tempest Kicks] when he was knocked back.

Those kicks were not Haki infused, but they disrupted Kizaru enough that Bill could finally get back ‘right-side up’ and finally start trying to fight back.

Of course, he was still too slow when Kizaru elementalized.

Of course, he still couldn’t quite get around Kizaru’s elementary [Future Sight].

But even though that was the case, and even though he was still taking many hits all across his body, he was getting faster.

He was getting stronger.

His body was becoming even more durable.

And even without his Observation Haki, he was getting closer.

In Bill’s heart, he believed that he only needed to get one good hit in. He believed that all it would take was one hit, and that would reset the situation he found himself in.

For Kizaru’s part, after several hours of hitting the Commodore in front of him, he no longer had an aloof smirk on his face.

Tentatively the most ‘easy going’ of the Admirals, that was only relatively speaking.

Kizaru may have been lazy, but he was an arrogant and proud man. It would have been impossible for him to hold his position as Admiral for decades if it weren’t for those things.

In fact, had Bill ever signaled that he wanted Kizaru to stop, Kizaru would have stopped at once. In the same way that Bill didn’t want to rebel, Kizaru was not wanting to kill Bill.

But that fact that Bill had never stopped trying to fight back was something that dug at Kizaru’s bottom line.

He was the fastest man in the world.

He was the Navy’s [Greatest Military Power].

It would simply not do for Kizaru to be unable to subdue a mere 25-year-old Science Division Commodore.

So, without using his Haki, Kizaru started hitting with his full force…

While the two giant men started fighting in the air and crisscrossing the island, from the ground Yoko and the Monkeys were watching horrified by what they were seeing.

None of the monkeys had ever seen Bill get beaten, but for Yoko, who had seen it before, for the first time in a very long time she wasn’t smiling.

The scene made her remember when Bill had gotten sliced open by the Traitor Marine, Gasparde.

Back then it was her fault that he had suffered.

And now, looking up in the air at one explosion after the next, she felt that it was her fault that he was suffering now.

Having been with Bill almost her entire life, in her heart she believed that he was the greatest person in the world.

And while she knew he was very strong too; she knew that Marine Admirals were the peak of power. She knew that they were the Navy’s [Greatest Military Power].

In this fight, she dared not intervene and the shame of those feelings made her want to cry in self-deprecation.

For the 17-year-old girl who could take down Grand Line pirates worth 100m Beli, she suddenly felt as if she was the same little girl who had watched her father go confront the bad guys alone.

Back then her father had never come home, and now the prospect of Bill never coming home lit something within her.

Biting her teeth hard, she didn’t jump into the air and attempt to get in the way of Kizaru. That would be immature, dumb, and reckless.

She jumped in the air and headed towards New Haven.

She told herself that in the future she would pay Kizaru back a hundred times, no, a thousand times! But for now, she had to get the former Admiral.

Out of everyone on the island, Yoko knew that only Zephyr could help.

Unbeknownst to Bill, as he was getting walloped forces around New Haven were in set motion.

His ‘battle’ with Kizaru had gone on for so long that even without Yoko rushing to get Zephyr the former Admiral would have come himself.

This led to a mild stand-off situation when Vice Admiral Dalmatian tried to stop him, which itself led to another mild ‘battle’ when Ain and Binz cut the Vice Admiral off.

Seeing what was happening, Nelson called Sasha and Ricky down from the mountain where they trained, and there was a general confusion about what to do when the rank-and-file Officers – almost all of whom came from either Clockwork Island, Ruluka Island, or Goa Kingdom – rush for orders.

They didn’t know whether they were being attacked or what the situation was, but especially those from Goa Kingdom, they didn’t rightly care if it was Marineford or not.

In this moment Nelson could have ordered the soldiers on New Haven to apprehend the forces from Marineford. He could have taken the ships anchored at harbor off guard and destroyed them with the mini-King Cannons.

But thankfully, the experienced Marine kept his head, and Nelson gave orders that would ensure New Haven’s readiness without it being obvious what the forces under his commander were prepared to do.

All of these things happened over the course of about four hours, and by the time that those matters were taken care of, and Zephyr was enroute, Bill’s body had adapted to a dreadful degree.

His [Armament Haki] was stronger, too, and as a result Bill was no longer really ‘hurt’ by Kizaru.

Of course, Kizaru hadn’t started using Haki in his attacks, but it was all the same that whereas before Bill was getting nicked and cut open here and there, now he barely had a scuff mark on him.

Whereas before Bill was getting launched in whatever direction he was kicked, now he was merely ‘pushed’ back a few dozen yards.

At the end of it all, when Zephyr had appeared on the horizon, he came just in time to see Bill’s hands finally make it into a guard position, and instead of being flung back by Kizaru’s kick, the Commodor’s arms shot out, wrapped the Admiral in a bearhug, and they plummeted to the ground together.

With his Armament Haki not strong enough to keep Kizaru physical for long, as they fell Bill delivered a headbutt that both stunned and surprised the Admiral, only for Kizaru to then grit his own teeth and elementalize away in the second before the two hit the ground.

Bleeding from his nose, Kizaru stood in the air looking down as his body darkened.

And likewise, getting out of the crater that he had formed on impacting the ground, Bill stood up clad in a darker shade of gray, looking up at the Admiral with a ‘how did you like that?’ expression.

About to go for round two, Kizaru moved towards Bill and Zephyr pushed him aside, blocking the lightspeed punch with his prosthetic arm.

Zephyr’s artificial arm was covered in [Armament Haki] black as night, and in that instant showed that while Kizaru’s speed was amazing, it’s linear attacks could be predicted and dealt with by suitable opponents.

Shoving Kizaru back, Zephyr turned to look at Bill and then shouting at both of them yelled: “What foolishness is this?! Do Marines fight each other, or do we fight Pirates?!”

Seeing Kizaru wiping his nose and his Armament Haki fading, Bill followed suit, and even offered a slight apology for the incident.

“It’s just that Onigumo has come after me before, and when I saw what he was doing to little Yoko, how could I do nothing?” he said.

And like it had happened almost 20 years before, when Aramaki assaulted the Giant Marine who had scared Bill, rules were different for those superhumans.

Bill assaulted two higher rank officers, but since there was no lasting harm, and since he was apologetic, plus given his own strength and potential, the matter was chalked up to ‘that’s what anyone would do’.

Not even Kizaru, as proud and arrogant as he was, pressed the issue.

Anyways, the Admiral thought, now Marineford knew what tied [William ‘Bill’ Ox] down.