The Marine

Dropping down at the front entrance of Gild’s pleasure palace, Bill didn’t mind the surprised looks from the cities ‘employees’ and let himself in.

Walking through the front entrance Bill made his way to the central elevator and noted the frantic running around by workers setting up for the gala that night.

Being an entertainment city, or rather, being the largest entertainment city on the planet, Gran Tesoro had set the bar quite high and the fact that Gild Tesoro himself was the headliner – naturally the Gala was to be a spectacle.

But to Bill none of this mattered, willing his Observation Haki upwards he could make out the figures of Gild and several others still in the penthouse and so pushing aside a security officer, he pressed the appropriate button to be sent upwards.

Since he wasn’t trying to hide his presence, he wouldn’t take the stairs.

And since he wanted to be seen, he wouldn’t Moon Step directly to the highest level of the palace.

Heading up almost 70 floors, 69 to be exact, the central tower of the pleasure palace was a marvel of engineering and Bill knew just how awesome the mind of Vegapunk had for having designed this city-ship with the structural support to hold this amount of weight.

In fact, Bill knew that Gran Tesoro was very similar to aircraft carrier in that the hull was made up of numerous water-tight seals, which in addition to the seastone hull itself, made the vessel nigh-unsinkable.

But alas, Bill wasn’t coming to see Gild to talk about engineering.

In fact he wasn’t coming to ‘talk’ at all, in any case, he was sure that Gild wouldn’t be interested in him either.

Glancing at the surveillance Snail before looking back at the door, for several minutes he patiently rode the elevator upwards until a ‘Ding!’ signified that he had reached the top floor.

Rubbing his eyes and face with his right hand, Bills expression changed into a smirk as he stepped off the elevator and into what looked like a waiting room.

Ignoring the dozen armed guards he walked towards the main door as if it was the most natural thing to do.

Whether it was due to his size, or the fact that he had on his [Coat of Justice], the armed guards just looked at each other before one had the courage to try and stop the Marine.

“This is a restricted area, Sir…” said the man cautiously.

Turning his head to look at the man who had stopped him, Bill looked down and even somewhat praised the guard in his mind.

After all, even if the guard was used to seeing tall humans and even giants it was brave for a 5ft 10inch tall man to try and halt a 9ft tall man.

Thinking all of that Bill didn’t react badly but instead smiled and answered: “My name is William Ox, Commodore of the Marine Science Division. I’ve been repairing the city, and the governor knows of my arrival.”

For this, Bill wasn’t quite sure about, using his Observation Haki he could make out the figures in the penthouse and none of them seemed to be reacting to the fact that he was right outside the door.

But figuring that they must have gotten a notification considering the sheer amount of Surveillance Snails, Bill didn’t think he was lying and still spoke with a slight smirk.

Watching the man process what he had been told, Bill saw the guards face change as he thought about what to do and then did something he never lightly did.

Willing his Haki, Bill read the man’s thoughts.

‘I can’t let him through… or… but…’

The guards thoughts were jumbled, like any man who has ever been put in an impossible position his brain pointed each and every direction trying to find a way out.

Listening to a series of ever more desperate ‘pros’ and ‘cons’, Bill stood there and recognized that the people working for Gran Tesoro were absolutely terrified of their master.

And, when the man started thinking about the Gold Chamber, that prison which held all the wealth a person could ask for but not a drop of water, Bill finally stopped him by saying: “There’s no need to worry, that will not happen.”

Looking up confused, because the idea that his thought had been read hadn’t crossed his mind, the guard was somehow more relaxed, and was positively stunned when he heard what Bill had to say next.

“You know, I’ve been looking to recruit some new sailors. If you’ve ever wanted to sail the [Grand Line], go down and wait on my ship, now it has MARINE written on the sails so you can’t miss it.”

Then, patting the guard on his shoulder, Bill finally added that he was going to talk to Gild now, and that if he wanted to join the crew then he’d better hurry…

Hearing this, all the frantic thoughts turned in one direction and the only guard who was brave enough to try and stop Bill nodded, threw down his holster that held his golden gun, and ran towards the stairwell.

Seeing no one else make a move, Bill reached down and grabbed the holstered gun, admiring it slightly due to the fact that it was solid gold – which would normally make for a terrible weapon – then putting it inside his coat he walked into the penthouse.

Finding Gild leaning on a bar surrounded by three beautiful women, Bill smiled slightly and instantly began reading the governors thoughts.

The room was filled with gold dust, but that wasn’t so worrying.

After all, gold was one of the weakest metals and Bill believed that even if he was placed inside a block of it, it would still be unable to hinder him.

In fact, due to his sheer strength. Bill believed that even if he was encased in solid steel that he would be able to free himself rather effortlessly.

Plopping down hard on an armchair barely 25 feet away from the bar, the two big men looked at each other for several moments, but whereas Gild could only wonder what Bill was thinking, Bill was able to get a clearer idea of the so-called Master of Gran Tesoro.

With incredulous words like ‘eggheads’ and ‘arrogant slave’ swirling around his head, Gild wondered if he should just kill the idiot in front of him before the gala started but only held back due to the presence of the Celestial Dragon.

Not that the Celestial Dragon would care about a mere Marine, Gild knew that they wouldn’t, but that a fight here would risk disturbing the World Noble, and that would be unthinkable.

‘No, I’m wealthy enough now…’ thought he, and Bill was able to get a clear idea on what was going on in Gild’s head thanks to that surprising line of thought.

Of course Bill could not actually ‘see’ memories, but he could infer a lot from reading a person’s thoughts, which were by their nature an unfiltered source of information.

Sitting there for what seemed like both a short and long period of time, when he had finally ‘heard’ enough about Gild’s insecurities and regrets that the man surprisingly held like a chip on his shoulder, Bill spoke first.

“The repairs are done, by tomorrow I figure everything will be settled.”

Smirking at Bill’s words, Gild thought to himself that he needed to punish the slave in front of him, but before he could respond, Bill cut him off and continued: “Another thing, some of your guards have decided to serve the [World Government] by joining the [Marines], I didn’t ask because I knew you’d support the idea.”

Knowing now that Gild hated the World Government, Bill was being somewhat immature by saying this, but having not slept at this point for almost a week, and having done hard physical labor all the while, he was just tired enough to not be polite.

Besides, he figured Gild should be grateful that he wasn’t already dealt with. After all, Bill wasn’t a man who let anyone hit his face, nor was he a man to let anyone touch his people without facing consequences.

Sitting in the chair with his right leg crossed over his left thigh, Bill continued to cut Gild off time and time again and dug at the man’s insecurities little by little until the Master of Gran Tesoro just burst out laughing, thinking that the ‘Commodore’ in front of him must had lost his mind.

‘This mere, low level, insignificant Marine worm! Talk while you can! Leaving tomorrow? No! You’ll never go anywhere ever again!!’ Gild laughed and laughed, and Bill, hearing what the man was thinking, started laughing too.

Having always kept to his own matters and his own business, Bill had reaped many benefits in this new world.

But despite all that he had gained, due to his lack of desire for fame and tendency to keep to his own pursuits, it was certainly a fact that the kinds of benefits that he had reaped were not the kind that were obviously evident.

Even in the East Blue, where almost all of the Procurement Departments work had been done, ‘William Ox’ was only a name signed at the bottom of documents – it was instead ‘Ranse McGrew’, who actual went, oversaw operations, and was the face of the organization.

It was Ranse who had assembled and led almost all of the Procurement Departments battle fleet during the EvoBeast attack in the East Blue, who had personally destroyed 4 of the 5 so-called ‘Monarchs’, and who had met with various island leaders after the crisis.

So, hearing what Gild Tesoro was thinking, Bill wasn’t mad.

Would a lion be mad if he was laughed at by a hyena?

No… if Bill judged correctly, Gild Tesoro was no ‘hyena’.

‘More like a wild dog.’ was Bill’s estimation of the Master of Gran Tesoro.

There was no doubt that Gild was a bigger dog than Mad Treasure was but, Bill figured based a gut feeling, Gild Tesoro was equivalent to Shiki before that flying pirate had been mutated by the super mutagen - SIQ.

With all of that in mind Bill just laughed along with Gild, who was becoming more and more crazy, before standing up and dropping a name that cooled the man off almost immediately.

“Well, I can’t stay here. I’m on my way to meet Saint Camael…” Listening to Gilds thoughts, Bill laughed again before turning around and saying: “… oh yeah, put on a good show tonight!”

Ignoring Gilds rage at the command, Bill walked out of the penthouse and noticed that there were far fewer guards than before.

These men weren’t complete fools and would rather try their luck with the big Marine over the madman they ‘worked’ for.

Walking quickly, because by now it was late into the day – merely hours before the gala started – Bill ignored the security detail and didn’t stop until he was blocked by a trio of completely armored soldiers.

‘God’s Army, eh?’ he thought.

Talking to him with an intercom-like voice, the armored man was the first to speak: “Identify yourself immediately!”

Commanded by the armored soldier in a tone that brokered no dissent, Bill did as he was ordered. Answering one question after the next, his face hardened by one simple, glaring realization.

‘They have no thoughts?!’

Holding himself back, though now he desperately wanted to rip the helmet off the soldiers heads, Bill mind was a whirl of possibilities.

The most obvious reason for them having no thoughts was that they were machines.

Of course another reason, and it was a thought that Bill couldn’t shake, was that they were humans which had been either brain washed, lobotomized, or altered in some other way.

But keeping his cool, Bill answered their questions as he ‘looked’ inside the tower, finding Nelson and the rest of his men, until he was finally allowed into the tower.

It was regulation that Marines had to offer support to World Nobles so the God’s Army soldier had no reason to stop Bill from approaching and in a scene that must have happened a thousand times, or whenever the Celestial Dragons came down into the ‘mortal world’, the trio of God’s Army soldiers formed a triangle around the Marine as he went to offer whatever assistance could be needed.

Walking unhurriedly, almost instantly Bill was surprised to see that the inside of this part of the tower was designed almost like…

‘… a spaceship?’

Every surface was either glass or sterile white, almost every object was circular with no hard edges besides, strangely, the corners of the walls which all had slight shadows cast over them by seemingly random curtain rods, bookshelves, and other common items.

These shadows somehow weren’t contrasted with the white floors, walls, and ceilings – all of which had an almost plastic polish to them.

In fact, if Bill hadn’t been so focused on his surroundings, he could have overlooked such a minor detail.

Walking down a curved hallway Bill looked into one room after the next thinking that this could be a set of the ‘Jetsons’, if not an outright copy of a stereotypical UFO, until they finally reached a chamber about halfway into the tower.

It was a massive domed room, a sterile white throne room, Bill noticed at a quick glance.

But almost as quickly as he entered, his sight shifted towards three things.

Firstly, there Nelson stood holding up Miyagi whose fur was matted with dried blood.

Secondly, the Celestial Dragon’s were wearing what could only be described as space suits.

And finally, and almost most importantly, as soon as Bill stepped into the room, he felt a threat coming from one of the masked men standing near the sitting Noble.

It had to be noted again, but a key factor to staying alive in a world of superhumans was the sense of danger represented by another person.

Some people, people powerful in their own right but who had years of being ‘on top’, had forgotten that 6th sense despite of any amount of ‘Haki’ they could wield.

This was true for the traitor-Marine Vergo, it was true for flying pirate Shiki, it was true for Master of Gran Tesoro.

But for others, powerful people who stayed hungry and endeavored forwards, they never lost the ability to assess others. And as Bill assessed the masked person, he knew that person was assessing him too.

Bill momentarily felt like he was staring down a wild cat. A primordial predator whose existence had threatened humankind from the beginning.

As for what the masked person sensed, he would never know.

Because while threatened, the condition of Nelson, Miyagi, and his other men made Bill more thoughtless than he had been in a long time.

Still surrounded by the Gods Army soldiers a triangle formation, Bill didn’t even glance at Nelson who was looking wide-eyed at his sudden arrival.

He didn’t even glance at the dangerous masked man, who was likewise stepping in his direction.

Instead of all that, Bill had his left hand in his pocket, and after a few more steps stopped barely fifteen feet away from the World Noble.

Going seemingly unnoticed, Bill looked on as the man in the spacesuit was so occupied with a puzzle that the entire world around him seemed to disappear.

The entire room was silent, deathly so, and Bill noticing the World Nobles thoughts on the puzzle couldn’t help but to say somewhat loudly: “You’ll never solve it like that.”

“Eh?” answered the Celestial Dragon, seemingly startled by the noise, and then noticing the speaker started ticking his head: “Eh, Eh, Ehhh?”

Listening to the mans thoughts, Bill was amazed but just how jumbled the man seemed to be.

To be sure, Gild was also jumbled – but at least his twisted head seemed to have a logic to it. Albeit a logic stemmed in brutality, resentment, and ultimately insecurity.

But for this person, this ‘Celestial Dragon’, Bill noticed something else.

‘His thoughts are… impulsive?”

Jumping from one idea to the next, in a matter of moments the Celestial Dragon looked at Bill and thought of a dozen commands.

Commands ranging from solving the cube all the way to ordering his death.

Ignoring the latter, because Bill was sure that regardless of what happened today would not be the day that he died, he was also fascinated – and somewhat horrified that all the Celestial Dragon’s thoughts were in English.

English that sounded very, very, American.

“I said, the cube won’t be solved that way. I remember they were popular with the kids back then, they were called them Rubik’s cubes where I came from, and there’s a trick to solving them.”

Verbally speaking in English for the first time in roughly 25 years, Bill seemed to surprise many of the people in the room.

Looking at him with wide eyes, Nelson gasped.

The Gods Army soldiers shifted their grips on their spears.

The masked men, particularly the dangerous one, also shifted their stances.

And then Bill realized without even having to read their thoughts – though he was reading all of their thoughts anyways – that the ‘herd’ were to never, ever, speak out loud in the so-called gods ‘own language’.

But at this point after seeing his friends hurt and knowing that the spacesuit-wearing man in front of him believed himself to be a true god and understanding now what had to be done…

Bill decided to throw the ball in the Celestial Dragons court, because now it didn’t matter.

It had only taken a brief moment, but at that moment of seeing the World Noble’s thoughts, Bill judged the Celestial Dragon and determined that he – and all of his guards – would have to share the same fast as the Master of Gran Tesoro.

Of course, ideally, that fate would wait until later on.

After all, for what Bill had set in motion, the dye had already been cast.