The Marine

With nothing to do out on the open ocean time could be spent either very productively or very poorly.

Given this reality, Bill had structured his crew’s day to be the former.

So, for the past four days he helped teach Masterson how to use Moon Step. He taught the Meditative Pushup to Denny, Danny, Donny, Yoko, and even Carol.

He communicated with Ricky and the others and he learned, much to his bemusement, that helping Nelson lose weight was also beneficial for himself. After all, because Nelson couldn’t stand or walk on his own, Bill had to hold him.

This was hard to do without breaking any of Nelson’s bones, and so as he lifted Nelson up to move his legs, Bill was constantly adjusting himself when he felt the pressure was too much.

It turned out, that helping Nelson walk was the best weightlifting exercise Bill could have hoped for in lieu of hydraulic machines.

Then there was another thing.

Once Bill realized that Nelson hadn’t been speaking under his breath, he focused every time the former Commodore spoke, and to his wonder saw the edges on an outline beyond reality.

He recognized this space as the same one where that Angel, or Devil, that fought behind the Revolutionary Dragon came from.

Without the proper language to describe what his spiritual eye was actually witnessing; Bill had come to call this place Chaos. He had thought to call it the Void or the Warp, but there was just something wrong about that, something he couldn’t put his finger on.

As for what this ‘Chaos’ was, Bill didn’t know, and he refused to make assumptions about it.

One thing that he did know was that the vague outline he saw speaking Nelson’s true feelings was in the same spot where the Revolutionary Dragon’s entity had been.

It was where Smokers much less defined entity had been, too.

What did this mean? Bill hadn’t a clue.

If the explanation he heard from Vegapunk was true, and Devil Fruits were manifestations of desire given life, what did it mean to have that personal outline replaced?

He didn’t know.

Another peculiar thing was that the shadowy outline wasn’t always present, or at least not detectable.

When for example, Bill had tossed Nelson overboard to wash himself the man had grumbled and cursed with no sign of anything coming through from that other place.

It was the same when Nelson was almost eaten by a small eel-like sea king, after Bill came to the rescue Nelson cursed and damned his Captain, but still there was no movement from the other side that Bill called Chaos.

After the third day at sea Bill spoke to Mayor Fabre who was thrilled to have so many new island residents and urged Bill to make island not only the home for his laboratory but also a proper Marine base.

Bill was not surprised by this request due to the frequency of pirate raids, which still happened even after Boss the Beetle took up residence there.

Despite this Bill had replied that he wasn’t sure that was in his authority to make that designation, and while that was true, the reality was that Bill was wary of more power being delegated to himself.

This was because power was as restrictive as it was freeing.

On one hand it was nice to not have direct oversight. Besides sending in monthly reports and quarterly earnings, Bill had a wide range of executive power in the extent of his commission.

On the other hand, Bill already felt the responsibility when he interacted with Nelson for hours on end. He felt it when he asked Captain Maynard to investigate East Blue Branch 16. He felt it when the Clockwork Island engineers contacted him on things as simple as where to place the water towers.

One good thing, Bill thought, was that his friends and Lieutenants were all capable enough to make their own choices at least militarily, and they each had their own strengths and made a good team in the Marines.

Though they lacked knowledge in civil administration, Bill urged Fabre to continue on as town Mayor at least for the near-term future and to take the others into his confidence.

After all, with a population of barely three-thousand Bill didn’t need some great statesman, he only needed people who knew how to settle civil disputes.

At this point, civil disputes would basically be impossible for Little East Blue island. In fact, the only problem they were currently having was with Boss the Beetle.

The creature was incredibly smart, it recognized Frontier Run and when it didn’t see Yoko it caused a stir. The only thing that settled the creature down was when Ranse gave the thing a Snail with Yoko on the other line.

After that it had stayed quiet and stolen the Snail, which according to the others, it didn’t let it out of its sight.

Thinking this, Bill walked out on the deck of the Bluebird and found everything was as normal. They had just passed several whirlpools not long ago and should be coming up on the ruins shortly.

Caravels tended to be faster than frigates, and this held true even despite the fact that Aramaki had personally restored the Frontier Run.

Looking down the ships railing, Bill thought he misjudged the value of the gift Smoker had given him. Even if the vessel couldn’t be used for transport it would be very suitable for ferrying people later on.

Eyeing the horizon Bill saw a speck and decided to get a better look.

Jumping high into the sky he adjusted his eyes and saw the island they had left nearly two months before.

Perhaps due to its location, or perhaps due to its lack of outside presence, the ruins were all there. Slightly rusted but still a mountains worth of iron and steel.

Falling back down to the deck, Bill heard a grumble behind him and didn’t need to look back to know it was Nelson’s stomach.

Deciding to ignore this, Bill called Yoko over and, after she came running with Carol in toe, he asked: “How’re you all doing with the technique I showed you?”

To this question, the young auburn-haired girl sighed deeply and replied: “I still can’t hold myself up for the entire ten minutes… bu... but I think I lasted longer today than yesterday!”

Nodding in agreement with this, the blonde-headed Carol added: “I know that I didn't last as long. It’s like, my arms weren’t sore when I woke up, but they were when I tried to use them.”

Nodding that he understood, Bill spoke to the two girls loud enough that the others on the deck could hear him.

“That’s ok. Just remember the point of the Meditative Pushup isn’t actually doing the pushup. It’s about feeling the way your body is connected.

It’s about feeling the movements of your bones and how they related to your muscles. It’s about feeling your heartbeat and how your lungs expand.

After that, it’s about feeling the interconnectivity between all those parts and discovering how your blood circulates through them.”

Then after pausing for a second, he finished by saying: “The Meditative Pushup isn’t one of the Six Powers, but it’s a foundational tool if those techniques are ever your goal. Like say you want to learn how to use Moon Step, well, the prerequisite would either to be born with superhuman abilities or mastering the Meditative Pushup.”

When Bill stopped speaking, Yoko whose dream had long been to ‘fly’ asked excitedly: “Which one was how you learned?”

Giving a chuckle to the question, Bill answered truthfully: “For me it was the Meditative Pushup, and that led me to comprehending something called ‘Life Return’. Once I mastered that, I was on my way to gaining the strength I have now.”

Before anyone could ask, as none of them had ever heard of Life Return, Nelson started hysterically laughing.

“Squehahaha!”

The former Commodore also didn’t seem to mind when eight pairs of eyes looked at him and continued to talk and laugh at the same time: “Poppycock! You can tell these fools what you will, but I know what it means to have mastered Life Return!”

Taking deep breaths between his laughter, Nelson continued: “The idea that a SCIENCE DIVISION Captain had mastered Life Return is preposterous!

Little bells, I did not know Bill was so shameless, but don’t believe it!”

As Nelson kept talking, Bill didn’t stop him as he saw this to be a good lesson for the kids.

“He may know one or two of the Six Powers, and that isn’t nothing! But to master Life Return? If that was the case our young Captain here would have been sent to Cipher Pol!”

Hearing this, the eyes of the girls shifted back towards Bill, and while Yoko started telling Nelson to “shut up” and calling him “pig breath”, Carol asked Bill: “What’s Cipher Pol?”

Masterson, who was a few steps away started to talk but Bill said first: “They’re just military investigators, no big deal.”

“Squehahaha!!”

“No big deal?!” Nelson started laughing hysterically once again.

“Little bell, Cipher Pol is a group of assassins and worse! They are the World Governments secret police! How can that be “No Big Deal?!”

Bill was a man of patience, but by now his patience with Nelson had nearly reached its limit and he sternly said: “That’s enough from you, Nelson.”

“Squehahaha!

No that will BE enough from YOU! You just wait until I get into contact with my Royal Aunty! I’m going to put Cipher Pol so far up your keister you’ll know what they taste like!”

In the face of Nelson’s obstinacy, the girls didn’t know how to react besides Yoko calling Nelson “butt breath” and other variations of the term.

As for Bill, this was a good opportunity to kill two birds with one stone.

And so, he started to speak: “Remember what I told you about the Meditative Pushup? Well, once you understand the body interconnections there’s another level.”

At this point, as Bill spoke his hair started to grow up thicker and longer. Upon seeing this, Nelson stopped laughing with a dark shadow covering his face.

“If you dedicate yourself, you will feel that there is another part of you. This part of you is your spirit.”

Now as Bill spoke, he was reminded of the feeling he had that morning so many years ago when he first mastered Life Return on the floor of his bedroom.

“You will understand that the physical body is the mirror image of the spirit, and by controlling one you influence the other.”

As Bill said this, on the outside his hair flowed out dozens of feet and wrapped around Nelson.

 But inside, he was coming to a stark realization that the shadow entities he could only see glimpses of was the very soul he was speaking about now.

“Once this enlightenment occurs, you will have complete control of your corporal form. And in this reality that we live in, that will give you the basis for great strength.”

As he finished talking, Nelson was wrapped and hung upside down. Bill’s hair had taken root on the ships deck and became solid as stone.

And while the observers “oo’ed” and “ahh’ed”

And while Nelson screamed “impossible!”

Bill was cementing his understanding of his new abilities.

Life Return was the internal enlightenment of the soul’s existence with its effects on the body, and Haki was the Will of the soul to affect the outside world.

As Bill became surrounded by his crew mates laughing and answering their questions, he was in two places at once.

But if his theory was correct, what happened to the soul when a Devil Fruit was eaten.

‘Can Devil Fruit users also use Haki….? But if Haki could still be used then wouldn’t it be wrong to say that the soul was replaced?’

With his current understanding, Bill didn’t know.

He figured there was an equal chance that the Devil Fruit entity ate the persons soul and that they merged together.

This was because he knew his father before and after eating a Devil Fruit, if Aramaki had become possessed then it was a very good possession.

So good in fact that Bill couldn’t quite believe it.

‘But can a person’s soul mutate?’

Bill reasoned that if it could, then that was the answer. Maybe Vegapunk was correct in saying that Devil Fruits were desires that just wished to exist in the outside world.

As the island came into clear view, the crew spoke about their duties once they made landfall and Bill put Nelson right-side-up, though he was still wrapped in hair.

Coming back to reality, the last thing Bill thought was: ‘But if it’s just mutation why does it feel so…. wrong?’