The Marine

By the time Bill had pulled Bear King out of the rubble, he and dozens of others had been digging for several hours and it was already late into the afternoon. Seeing this, the former residents of Clockwork Island cheered from the ships they had taken from the Trump Pirates.

With most of the rank-and-file members of the Trump Pirates missing or dead, the town residents directed whatever emotions they had against the symbol of their oppression.

Thinking back when he had addressed the crowd, Bill decided to just tell the truth and after that realized the people put the blame on Bear King more than Luffy, him, or anything else for the destruction of their island.

In their minds, even if they had built the weapon that destroyed their home, it was because their enslavers gave them no other choice.

For Bill’s part he thought the destruction was mostly cause by Straw Hat Luffy, even though he saw that the pirate hadn’t destroyed the island on purpose, it was his irresponsibility that caused the fulcrum to be damaged.

In the end, Bill decided he would first find out the truth behind Nami’s claims before officially placing the tragedy Monkey D. Luffy’s shoulders. After all, there was also the fact that the engineers had built the island so high up, but he kept that to himself.

For now, as Bill pacified the crowd and pulled the unconscious Bear King out of the rubble, he knew the coming weeks would be hard.

He had told the former Clockwork Island residents that he knew of an island they could relocate to, and they had accepted in mass, but that island was three weeks sail away and across the Calm Belt.

They had thirty-four small caravels which may sell for 5m Beli each, but they lacked food and other essentials for 2500 people to survive on.

Bill knew full well that just the hours he and the others had spent digging Bear King out were important, because of the whirlpools that surrounded Clockwork Island, they wouldn’t be able to travel at night without a massive risk.

All told there may be four days’ worth of food between the ships and three days’ worth of water. Bill knew they would make it to Lougetown but calculating the food and water costs for 2500 people was massive.

Sighing deeply, Bill lifted the large pirate over his shoulder and thanked heaven that Bear King barely fit in Frontier Run’s holding cell and that there was no risk of jailbreak as the seastone floor would drain the devil fruit user of any strength he had.

With that done, Bill went back to the main deck and found the two engineers who had designed the legendary Diamond Clock, the woman seemed to be crying as she spoke to Borodo and Akisu and when he walked over Bill heard the boy call her ‘mum’ and started crying too.

As it turned out, not long after Akisu was born, the Trump Pirates invaded Clockwork Island. In an effort to save their child the genius engineers sent the baby boy away on a raft that was found by Borodo.

Patting Borodo on his shoulder, Bill asked if he could have a minute and the thief, and after looking back at Akisu and his mother, Borodo reluctantly nodded.

The two walked into Bill’s office and taking a seat behind his desk the Marine Captain spoke first: “So, why don’t you tell me about your past?”

Looking back at the door, possibly weighing his chances to escape, Borodo sighed and took off his backpack and flight jacket revealing a mechanical arm and took the seat opposite of Bill.

Bill could tell at a glance how similar it was to the one in Akisu’s parents trinket shop, which meant it was almost certainly not cybernetic.

“What’s there to tell?” asked the self-proclaimed Thief dejectedly.

Bill: “Why don’t we start with how you entered your line of work.”

Shrugging at this, Borodo explained that he had become a thief at a young age: “Pirates are dumb brutes, you know? I’ve always been good at setting traps and there’s nothing to making a getaway… It’s a big ocean…”

Nodding his head, Bill asked: “Why did you need money that bad?”

Slightly laughing at this question, Borodo shook his head and said: “Well, I didn’t really need the money. I mean sure, I like to have fun, and I needed to have a bit more when I took Akisu in… I guess it was just about the adventure? I’m not too sure.”

Looking at the navigator Bill spoke evenly: “What if I can offer you an adventure?”

At this point, Bill needed to expand his operations. He didn’t think he’d find more trustworthy or capable people than his friends but given the fact he could directly promote six more lieutenants; his department could have ten or so vessels all told before he needed to go back to Vegapunk and ask for further permissions.

Borodo: “An adventure in the Marines? Hahaha, thanks but no thanks!”

Unperturbed by this refusal, Bill used another tactic: “Listen, we aren’t on a normal Marine commission. We’re a part of the Science Division and can offer you things you won’t find anywhere else.”

Rolling his eyes, Borodo said “like what” and Bill knew he had him. His crew needed an experienced Navigator and Bill was ready to use two tactics on the man in front of him.

Bill: “We can offer you a proper cybernetic arm to replace that antique mechanical one you have there. You’ll even be able to keep it after your contract ends.”

Looking down at his arm, Borodo raised his shoulder and the arm reacted by tightening the fist, and Bill saw at once how the thing worked.

It was ingenious he had to admit, but at the end of the day it was just mechanical motion.

Seeing Borodo thinking further, Bill used his last tactic.

“Look, Borodo. Normally, I would let you go for the help you’ve given us today. You’ve more than earned me looking that other way.”

Looking tense at this, Borodo replied: “But?”

Nodding, Bill continued: “But. I can’t let you go and ruin that boy’s life.”

As Borodo started to interject, Bill cut him off: “No, he would follow you. I can see that, and you know it. If you left him in the middle of the night the boy would feel like he’d been abandoned twice.

So, I’d rather just be the bad guy and lock you up. That way even if the boy hates me, he would be removed from those criminal circles.”

To this, Borodo didn’t even try to interject, and Bill finished by saying: “Look, you don’t have to make your choice now. We still have a few days until we reach Lougetown, and you can give me your answer there.”

Saying this, Bill stood up and told the Navigator that he had to see some other people before the day let out and the two quietly left the Captain’s cabin.

Akisu: “No! I can’t! I’m a brave warrior of the sea!”

Turning to see Borodo and Bill the gray-haired boy ran over.

“I told them, we can’t stay right brother?! We have more adventures to go on!”

Seeing this, Bill looked towards Borodo who seemed to have a weight pressed on him, but after a second he smiled and said: “Actually Akisu, this is going to be our next adventure! Captain Ox here just hired us!”

Looking confused, Akisu looked back and forth between Bill and Borodo and silently said: “But the Marines? What kind of adventure is that?”

“One you should be happy to have!”

Turning their heads, Bill saw Yoko come over with her Marine’s cap backwards. She had been helping Miyagi in the medical bay, after all, a small portion of the island’s residents were older folk who needed treatment after being rushed down the beanstalk.

“Kid, you said you’re a brave warrior of the sea? Well, no one’s braver than a Marine!”

As Yoko berated the kid, Bill saw the boy’s face start turning red when she got closer to him. Thinking he didn’t like this; he would advise Yoko to stay clear of Akisu in the future.

After some time though, Akisu’s attitude changed, and he followed Yoko around as she guided him around the ship.

“So, what’s next then?” Borodo asked exaggeratedly.

Laughing at this, Bill put his big arm around Borodo’s shoulder and said: “Good choice! Now, as the Navigation Officer for Frontier Run, oh and that’s technically Warrant Officer, you’ll need to plot a way to either get those caravels sailing or navigate that barge around the whirlpools surrounding the island!”

Nodding his head that he would see it done, Borodo went to the navigation room and started making his plans. Bill didn’t see anything wrong with the rank, after all, Warrant Officers only had authority in their fields of expertise and even then, it was only authority over others in the same field.

Seeing Borodo walk away, Bill turned to Akisu’s parents and brought them in his office.

They expressed their thanks again for Bill helping them resettle and Bill told them about Little East Blue island.

“Currently the island has less than a hundred residents, there are enough natural resources on the island to support roughly five thousand, but currently there aren’t homes ready-made.”

Nodding their heads that they understood, the older man looked at Bill and said: “So what do you want us to do?”

To this question, Bill opened one his desks drawers and pulled out a schematic of the island. Handing it to them he said: “First, I’ll need your help designing the new town. As you can see the island has plenty wood and stone, and a rough levee already built.

Now, the levee will need to be improved if we’re going to supply a town of a few thousand with enough clean water.

But all in all, I think it’s something very possible.”

As the two engineers looked at the islands diagram, they first noted how great the islands natural harbor was.

“Yeah, I think this is possible.” Said the older man as he then continued: “We can get a team of our civil engineers together to start designing a town. But first, what kinds of animals and crops does the island currently rely on?”

Hearing this was music to Bill’s ears, he needed people with good heads on their shoulders as it would be impossible for him to do everything himself.

“Right now, it’s goats and sheep mostly. For crops they harvest wheat and have a tangerine grove that is important to the residents, but for the most part we’re talking about individual gardens.

Even for goats and sheep, they may number sixty animals in total.”

Goats and sheep were the most popular farm animals in this world; besides sea king they represented nearly all the red meat consumed. Even in a place like Clockwork Island they had sheep, and saving their sheep was a top priority for those residents who owned them.

Bill wasn’t surprised this world had the same animals as Earth any more than he was surprised that the nobility spoke English, or that the whole world apparently used Arabic numerals.

After the three continued back and forth about the island, Bill had made clear that the island mayor Fabre would need to sign off on the plans. Even though he didn’t think the old man would dispute anything.

After speaking for several hours, the mother of Akisu asked her final question, one that Bill knew would be coming.

“And Captain Ox, what would you need us to do once we’ve settled on the island?”

Looking at them one after another, Bill decided honesty was the best policy.

“I’m starting a business with the aim to manufacture items people will use every day. Washing machines, ice boxes, time pieces, and those sorts of things.

Of course, at first...” Bill reached back into the drawer and grabbed one of the schematics he made of a crank-powered washing machine.

As he handed the two engineers the drawing he continued: “We’ll just stick to a few items that I’m confident will sell. We won’t have merchants delivering us raw materials at first, so we’ll go around to the less developed islands and trade with them.

In time, we’re going to be large enough that we’ll have other merchants doing that and we’ll just focus on our line of products.”

Then tapping his finger at his desk, he said sharply: “Our goal is to create the environment where any industrious person can see a problem and start a business to address it. Because we will be the first, we will naturally benefit from our starting point.”

As Bill continued his pitch, the two older engineers were eager but didn’t understand that what they were listening to would be the first steps in globalization.

From the humble medium sized island of Little East Blue, Bill was aiming to destroy mercantilism and unknowingly restart a course of action not seen in this world for a thousand years.

And, at this time, as Bill finished his pitch which would start that process, he couldn’t imagine it was the World Government who had destroyed that world.