The Marine

Standing motionless for a brief moment, Bill’s blackened eyes fell on Rob Lucci and Gild Tesoro – forcing both men to take a step back.

Unconsciously moving this way felt shameful to them, they didn’t know why had taken a step back, only that a deep part of themselves had made them do so.

But within the realm of Chaos, Bill’s shadowy spirit – or ‘Shade’ – had locked onto theirs and aligned with the intention of the Logos.

 Bill’s spirit was predatory, and he – feeling this change in himself – had a moment of realization.

In that moment of realization, Bill understood and remembered the history that he had read about many years ago during his time on Earth.

As it came to him, he saw that their response was the natural 6th Sense, one of ‘spiritual instinct’.

And he suddenly thought that their response, unrecognized by themselves, would have been well known to the ancient generations of mankind.

Perhaps the earliest supernatural belief that mankind formed was the belief in the soul. That early belief which stemmed from those who were the first to recognize the ‘conscious voice’ inside themselves as being separate from the outside world.

And for ancient man it followed that if the voice inside themselves was indeed separate, indeed ‘divine’, then existence itself must not dissolve at the end of a short life, only change form into something different.

But change into what?

Ancient mankind believed for a very long time that, in this second existence, the soul remained associated with the body; born together, they were not separated by death, and were buried together in the grave.

And so buried with clothing, utensils, weapons, cattle, slaves, and everything else needed to serve them underground, the living would pour wine upon tomb and burn food upon the altar to supplicate and appease the divine dead.

These labors, carried out by families who worshipped their ancestors as gods, were seen as necessary to provide the dead with the libations they needed lest they turn into wandering spirits, and then, unfortunately, malevolent phantoms.

On Earth, across the entire world, primitive mankind had many names for these divine spirits of the dead: Lares, Manes, Penates, Genii, Zao Jun, Tao Quan, Heroes, and Daemons to name a few.

In the world of the Grand Line the shadows that lived in that foreign world, or Chaos, were simply called ‘Ghosts’ or ‘Devils’ and it followed that humanity here, at some point in the ancient past, recognized the same thing that those humans on Earth had.

Of course, naturally, Bill did not know the ancient religion of the world of the Grand Line, but knowing what he knew about the ancient religion on Earth, it made sense to him that primitive mankind would have been similar to each other regardless of the distance apart – as this had been shown on Earth where the same form of religion sprouted up across the planet without any single original source.

Ancestor gods, or ‘household gods’, or ‘kitchen gods’, or ‘hearth-fire daemons’, were all the forbearers of the family which ancient man believed protected them from the whims of the gods outside of the home.

These protective spirits were essential because as ancient man recognized the divine voice in himself, or consciousness, he believed himself to be a free person.

And as he judged external objects from himself, and felt in himself a free person, he saw also in every part of creation, in the soil, in the tree, in the cloud, in the water of the river, in the sun, so many people like himself. He endowed them with thought, volition, and choice of acts. As he thought them powerful, and was subject to their empire, he avowed his dependence; he invoked them, and adored them; he made gods of them, too.

All of these beliefs took hold in a world like Earth where reality itself was still strong, and the separations between the ‘Logos’ – i.e. body and mind – and ‘Soul’ – i.e. consciousness and the divine spirit – was pronounced and mysterious.

But what about in a world where reality was not as strong?

But what about in a world like that of the Grand Line?

Looking at Lucci and Gild with his blackened eyes – infused with Haki from his lesser soul – Bill suddenly recalled when Vegapunk described to him the nature of Devil Fruits: ‘The Devil Fruit comes from a place of imagination and desire…’

With his lesser soul trembling with excitement, roused by conquest and the feeling of dominating another, Bill felt that in the last few minutes his soul had strengthened and realized.

In that place that he called ‘Chaos’ – that foreign world which housed the divine soul, and which held the imaginations, emotions, and desires of mankind – it wasn’t so much different from life in reality.

Indeed, ‘Chaos’ was the shadow of ‘Reality’ in the same way that his soul was the ‘Shade’ of his ‘Logos’!

And like there were malevolent men in the world, naturally there were malevolent spirits inside Chaos.

And like how a man or woman may become stronger by overcoming challenges, naturally the Soul may become stronger by overcoming other Wills, or another’s Haki.

Looking down at his hands, which were bloody but covered in a gun-metal gray Haki, with but a simple intention Bill returned them back to normal.

His soul of three heads: that of a Dragon, a Man, and a Bull trembled again.

That spirit which had never been able to be used freely yet seemed to resonate more with the world of the Grand Line, was undoubtedly much strengthened by him overcoming Dice in such a domineering way.

And looking again towards Gild and Lucci, Bill didn’t need to wonder what would happen when he overcame them too.

If he had any doubts, it was whether or when they had been possessed by some horrible spirit.

And then he wondered if ancient mankind had understood something that was now long forgotten; during the epochs where specific localized deities of family and nature were slowly replaced by abstract and universal God’s.

This was something that he would spend a very long time considering, but at the moment of his epiphany, he knew he had to act.

And so, he did.

Moving like a force of nature, Bill’s legs turned gray and kicking off the ground he shoved the floating city itself sideways, tilting the massive vessel several feet to the side.

Judging both of his enemies to be Evil, Bill hit Gild with a force hard enough to send the [Casino King] deep into the deck of Gran Tesoro, and then, ignoring Lucci’s black cloud and powerful counterattack, through gritted and bloodied teeth, Bill put his hands around the Cipher Pol Agents neck.

Rob Lucci was a powerful man and likewise had a powerful soul.

Standing 6’11” he looked down on most others physically, and after a life of hardship and toil had the strength to look down on others spiritually, too.

Rightly called an enforcer for the World Government, the Cipher Pol Agent had overcome many and conducted much evil in the name of his false-gods and would continue to do so if he had the chance to.

But William ‘Bill’ Ox was different.

No Saint, he could, and did, like most men, adhere to an ‘out of sight out of mind’ mentality.

Don’t talk to him about some badness happening elsewhere far away, for what was he meant to do about it? He had his role, or so he believed, and others had theirs.

A man could simply not right all of the wrongs in the world.

However, if he saw badness, if he saw something in front of his own eyes, then he could never ignore it.

On Earth, when he was just a normal man, he would call the authorities if he felt that situation was too dangerous for him to intervene.

But in this world, where he had benefitted so much from having so many advantages, where Bill felt that there truly were very few situations too dangerous for him, if he didn’t act, how could he call himself a man?

And besides, Bill thought as his vice-like fingers squeezed harder and harder around Lucci’s throat and as he ignored the Cipher Pol Agents every-desperate kick, what authorities could he even ‘call’ in this situation?

The Celestial Dragon who believed himself to be a living god?

The Secret Police, or Cipher Pol, who aided and abetted the Slaver who was Gild Tesoro and played into the god-complex of the Celestial Dragon?

The World Government, who Bill believed must be aware of all of this?

As Rob Lucci’s nose began to bleed, and his eye started to twitch, Bill lifted the man up by his neck and continued to squeeze hard – slowly shaking back and forth.

Bill’s hands were like cold steel.

And even for a man like Rob Lucci who had mastered Life Return, having his neck bones crushed into powder, having his major blood vessels ripped apart, was something hard to survive.

The man’s skin was still strong, blackened by an Armament Haki stronger than Bill’s, it took long minutes to wear down.

But, as the body and soul were connected, and as Bill’s body was so much above Lucci’s, soon enough Lucci stopped fighting back, and when he did so, his spirit itself was weakened.

And Bills spirit, stand tall and strong inside Chaos, grew slightly stronger.

Rob Lucci’s life, after a lifetime of harsh struggle, came to an end almost instantly once his spirit weakened.

When his Armament Haki faded, his grip on his Devil Fruit did as well, and Bill’s hands which were like steel vices clamped down with enough force to split diamonds.

And Lucci’s head was removed from his body.

Blood flowing from his eyes, his ears, and his nose, in that last moment – when his spirit had weakened – Lucci had even lost control of Life Return.

Looking down at the gore, Bill grimaced but didn’t recoil. He had seen too much, had done too much, for a beheading to shake him.

Besides, hearing a rumbling coming up from the ground, Bill knew it was time to resolve the final threat that existed in the city.

Turning his gaze from the gore below him to the sound of the rumbling, Bill’s eyes did not react when he saw a massive sky-scrapper tall golden statue step out from the hole he had punched Gild into.

Looking at the giant robot, which suddenly shined with electricity as the lights went out of the city, Bill pinpointed where he thought Gild would be hiding, and using [Moon Step] flew towards the golden statue.

To his sudden movement, Gild was ready and punching out with a fist many many times larger than Bill he held nothing back.

But for Bill whose [Moon Step] was able to compete with the Fly Pirate in midair combat almost two years before, how could it be weaker now?

In fact, if Bill today fought Shiki from that time, no amount of the SIQ drug would have been able to prevent the Flying Pirates quick demise.

So, without thinking twice, Bill met the golden statues strike with his own gun-metal gray fist, and with a flash of light and a boom that would have deafened anyone nearby, obliterated the golden arm.

Pushing forward in a flash, he aimed for the golden robot’s head, and not finding Gild there, Bill bore into the thing’s massive chest.

And there he found his target.

Wide-eyed and crazy looking, Gild didn’t beg for mercy or call Bill any names.

He fought madly, covered in Haki he fought even more desperately than Lucci had – scratching, biting, and trying to create space as best as he could to use his Devil Fruit.

But in the end, very shortly after Bill pulled Gild’s real body out of the robot, Bill pounded him again and again, beating the struggle out of the Casino King who was strong, but not as strong as the Cipher Pol agent.

Bloodied, broken, and whimpering, Bill saw Gild collapse and didn’t relish what he was about to do.

Walking step by step, now no longer using his massive strength, Bill paused when Gild said: “Y..you’re a nobody… how… a slave… just to be trampled… but… but… where were you then… why is it… you that show up… to stop me? I’m… I’m just a… I’m just a…”

Then, looking down at Gild who was almost unconscious, Bill let the man finish his last words.

“what about… them?”

Naturally, Bill didn’t need to ask who Gild was talking about, and crouching down beside the wounded kingpin, Bill took the man’s head into his hands and whispered: “I’m just starting here. I’m going to do something about them too.”

Not waiting to see the smile fully form on Gild’s lips, Bill yanked his neck hard sideways, and a wet pop was heard.