The Marine

On the dock waiting for several Marine battleships to sail into New Haven’s natural harbor, Bill stood beside Zephyr and in front of Ain, Nelson, and a squad of Marines who were ready to welcome the arrival of an Admiral and accommodate any subordinates he brought on shore.

Already a portion of the forces sent by Marineford had flooded into Gran Tesoro, securing the now empty floating city of gold.

Of course, they didn’t ‘know’ it was empty – even though he had reported it to be – and so Bill could only imagine thousands of Marines kicking down the doors of empty hotel rooms and ‘boldly’ navigating the massive labyrinth of service tunnels that crisscrossed the underdeck of the floating metropolis.

These imaginations didn’t entertain him though, because over the past week Bill and Zephyr had spent hours and hours together talking about almost everything under the sun which gave him more than enough to think about.

Truthfully, when Bill asked Zephyr about the Celestial Dragons, he didn’t know how the former Admiral would react.

Bill wouldn’t read the old Marines thoughts, or anyone’s thoughts without reasonable cause, so he truly did just wing it and hope for the best.

Thankfully Zephyr hadn’t acted out severely, though he was surprised, and once the old Marine had entertained such questions, he was no longer able to rid himself of any associated guilt.

Because as Zephyr explained clearly to Bill, the harsh fact was that any Marine could be detained and investigated if it was known that they questioned the legitimacy of the Celestial Dragons.

The fact was that for Marineford, questioning the Celestial Dragon’s was akin to questioning the World Government itself and the Marines were established primarily to secure the World Governments prestige and authority around the world.

That prestige and authority wasn’t necessarily bad, protecting the oceans and allied governments was a part of the role, but it held true that Marineford’s interests and the World Governments interests were one in the same.

Naturally, the organization wasn’t a joke or a caricature – they wouldn’t wantonly persecute Marines for being curious – but as Zephyr had explained to Bill, there was a difference between just asking questions which could be innocent and ‘just asking questions’ which could be subversive.

And there was no doubt to Zephyr that Bill’s question was subversive.

And there was also no doubt that Zephyr and many other Marines also held such subversive ideas…

After talking for days, Bill had learned that according to Zephyr there were four types of Marines when it came to questions about the World Government.

The first type, which represented the vast majority of Marines, simply never thought about it. These Marines never came into contact with the Celestial Dragons and naturally had no inclination about how the world was ordered except that they were the good guys.

The second type were true believers. These Marines truly believes that the Celestial Dragons were gods, or at least demigods, and their word was Law – and how could mortals question the Laws of the heavens?

To this point, Bill was surprised that even Zephyr claimed that ancestors of the Celestial Dragons had come down from the heavens.

Unlike his own father who had once explained to Bill that the Celestial Dragons were demigods because they were descended from gods, Zephyr said he didn’t think that they were divine but was committed to the belief that their ancestors had descended from the heavens and united the world.

Furthermore, according to the old former Admiral, he had seen the history of it and nothing else could explain how the world was united in less than a hundred years.

The third type of Marines, as Zephyr explained, were those like himself and Garp. They didn’t believe in the divinity of the Celestial Dragons but believed despite their individual evil, the overall good of the World Government outweighed the bad.

And to that belief, men like Zephyr and Garp aimed to make the Marines better than they were and steered the younger generations into more and more of a force for good and peace rather than being the World Governments sledgehammer.

To this point, Bill didn’t say anything but would have pointed out that neither hero had been very effective, and that was because bottom-up approaches were almost never successful. The case and point were Zephyrs own protégé’s that included hardliners like Fleet Admiral Sakazuki and Vice Admiral Onigumo.

Finally, the fourth type of Marines were those who came into contact with the Celestial Dragons – were appalled by what they saw – and rebelled.

According to Zephyr, records of these events were not kept by Marineford, but he had seen four such cases with his own eyes, yet only a single case had resulted in anything significant.

That single case was the Marine Hero Garp’s own son, Monkey D. Dragon.

This was what Zephyr feared had happened to Bill and like with the young Monkey D. Dragon who had so much potential, Zephyr did not want to see Bill follow the same path.

Of course, this fear was unfounded because Bill didn’t aim to overthrow the World Government.

As he had clarified the Zephyr, who listened with a serious expression…

He only wanted to make one single change, a change that he believed could be made and that would ring popular with the Kings and leadership of the Allied Governments.

“Equality under the Law.”

Naturally, Bill did not mention that this one single change would undoubtedly have multiple unattended consequences – for example, once the idea of ‘Equality under the Law’ took root then the idea that the World Nobles were divine beings would naturally collapse over time.

If the Celestial Dragon’s wanted to stay in Mary Geoise and hold their noses up at the people of the Blue Sea’s, thinking themselves as superior beings, Bill said leave them be!

He didn’t aim to take their palaces, their wealth, or even their independence. He didn’t even want to change the World Government tax structure, the so-called ‘Heavenly Tribute’.

Only, when those World Nobles came to the Blue Seas, they would have to understand that they were subject to the Law like everyone else!

On the face of it, Bill had always liked the confederate system promoted by the World Government.

The archipelago world of the Grand Line was too spread out and individual islands were too diverse for there to be a single powerful central authority, but, having a confederate system meant that be it for trade, defense, or international laws the otherwise sovereign islands could get together to decide the best course of action for the entire global organization.

The Levely was not simply window dressing either, the international laws set by that assembly of Kings and Governors were in a very real sense what held the world together and prevented anarchy.

Having explained his ideas to Zephyr over the last week, the former Admiral was almost convinced of the viability of the reform but made some pointed comments about it.

“Even if a few allied nations support the reform, Mary Geoise will definitely not. If done poorly, it’ll see you and a few Kings dead and that’ll be the end of it…”

For such a reform to be implemented Zephyr made it clear that Bill would need the majority of Allied Nations, as well as the Fleet Admiral Sakazuki, to support it.

Anything less would result in several assassinations at best or a full-blown civil war at worst.

Adding to this, the old Admiral claimed that the only way to get such an overwhelming amount of support would be to become an overwhelming entity inside the World Government itself.

“It would be dangerous… Mary Geoise has more than Cipher Pol at its disposal. When it comes down to it, even the Five Elders can be mobilized, and it doesn’t have to stop there…”

Not knowing what Zephyr had been thinking about in that moment, Bill only knew about the Five Elders vaguely, and besides the Gods’ Army, he didn’t know what power Mary Geoise had behind it.

But the old man was certain, and speaking to Bill with a matter-of-fact tone, he had added: “What will make it dangerous is that you’ll have to be mostly above board with your intentions. It’s impossible to hide your proposal, trust me, the World Nobles will find out, and that’ll have you shipped off to fight in whatever theater they think you’ll be most likely to die in.

And even if you don’t die, all it’ll take is a single disaster. At that point, they’ll strip you of your rank and take this island from you, or they’ll trump up a charge to have you directly imprisoned in Impel Down!”

While Bill began thinking this through, Zephyr finally brought up what he had wanted to, which was that Bill could gain a name for himself if he opposed the crusade into the New World.

Sensibly, Zephyr didn’t believe Bill could oppose the Fleet Admiral outright – that would be counterproductive, but with Bill’s personal strength, organization, and the tools at New Haven, Bill could quickly become the face of securing the worlds ‘lesser’ oceans.

Seeing Zephyrs’ point, Bill couldn’t help but nod slightly. Being known as a ‘Marine Hero’ would open up many doors, after all, in a world of superhumans, being famous for strength was different than being just ‘popular’.

After that, Bill and Zephyrs conversations veered off into other topics.

Whether it was about the Seven Warlords of the Sea or the Summit War or about the Pirate Emperors, they spoke unfiltered and in general enjoyed each other’s company.

All of that had led to today, waiting on the docks for Admiral Kizaru’s battleship to come into port, Bill and the others spoke lightly, while at the same time, Kizaru stood on the foredeck of his ship beside Tensei and in front of Onigumo.

They had initially planned to come in very commanding and very harsh in order to gauge Bill’s reaction. Probing for any small indication of guilt, owing to the assassination of a Celestial Dragon and several CP0 Agents, anything could be permitted.

These tactics would still be used to a degree, but were slightly altered because unbeknownst to either man, the former Admiral Zephyr was on New Haven.

Of course, Zephyr’s presence wouldn’t change the need for the investigation, but, if the old Instructor stood on Bill Ox’s side, then it was indication enough that the Science Division Commodore probably didn’t rebel.

“First, we should see exactly what we’re dealing with…” said Tensei.

As the Head Director for the Marine Bureau of Investigation, Tensei had read the dossier on Bill Ox and his career as a Marine, but besides the wild report about Shiki – a report that hadn’t been verified, nothing truly stood out as extraordinary.

According to the files he had, Bill Ox had first come into view of Marineford when he and a Captain from the East Blue came into conflict with the [World’s Worst Criminal], Monkey D. Dragon.

Having almost been beaten to death by all reports, William ‘Bill’ Ox had faded back into obscurity until almost six months later when he ‘arrested’ Vice Admiral Onigumo.

This event could be seen as extraordinary except that the Vice Admiral in question had always held to the explanation that Bill had attacked him first over a misunderstanding and caught him off guard during a delivery.

Since there wasn’t any real harm done nothing immediately came out of it.

This matter was followed up in the documents when Bill claimed the Bounty for the Traitor Marine Gasparde.

Gasparde was known to have the Candy Logia, which wasn’t nothing, but all in all was a minor character who was smart enough to keep his activities off the soil of the Allied Nations and away from Marine patrols.

After dealing with Gasparde, the records showed Bill Ox beating the Court Martial which resulted from him ‘arresting’ Vice Admiral Onigumo and then finding his way into the New World where he was betrayed by Vice Admiral Vergo, but then saved by the former Marine Admiral, Zephyr.

This report was strange enough for Tensei to have it rechecked, and had it not been vastly overshadowed by the later report pertaining to the Flying Pirate Shiki, he would have weighed it heavier.

However, at face value, the report read that after being betrayed the Marine Bill Ox used his proficiency with Life Return to drag Vice Admiral Vergo down into the depths of the ocean and subsequently subdued the traitor.

This was verified by Zephyr who happened to find the younger Marine running for his life, being chased by the 3rd Captain of the Whitebeard Pirates and stepped in to rescue him.

All of these things led Tensei to judge Bill as a promising talent among the younger generation of Marines, but only a ‘promising talent’.

Being promising didn’t mean that a young Marine was weak, or was to be taken for granted, only that they weren’t seen as ever being potential cornerstones for the organization.

It wasn’t until the last report that his eyes were raised, and he wondered if Marineford hadn’t missed an emerging powerhouse, a future Admiral-level candidate.

If the report was accurate – that Bill Ox and his retinue had taken down Shiki, his flying armada, and the EvoBeast Tide – then Tensei knew that Marineford had to know what they had here.

Of course, that was assuming that the man was innocent… because if he wasn’t, nothing could save his life.

Thinking all of this, Tensei stood beside Kizaru as their ship entered the natural harbor of New Haven and seeing the young Marine standing beside Zephyr, Tensei said:

“Admiral, I think a small test is in order.”

Hearing Tensei say this, Kizaru chuckled and pinching his fingers, replied: “A Small One?”

“A little bigger than that.” Nodded Tensei with a serious expression on his face.

Back on the docks, Bill stood beside Zephyr quietly and watched the first and largest Marine Battleship smoothly glide into port.

Then, from nowhere, he saw a flash of light.