The Marine

After the interviews Bill left the ship and knew he still had a long day ahead of him as he went around to look for temporary housing for the people they would need to leave behind.

Before, they were looking at a situation where they would need to leave behind more than a thousand people, but now that number had dropped to roughly five hundred.

This would consist of most of the elders, nearly every pregnant woman, and those few others whose conditions were not amenable to long stays onboard ships.

About thirty adult relatives would also be staying to provide whatever help may be needed. These people would also be the last to arrive on Little East Blue, staying on Lougetown until the last ship.

Having first checked the realtor agents, Bill was told that there was simply not enough housing in the city to for five hundred people but that they could build apartments on the outskirts within six months.

Since this was not acceptable, Bill found himself walking down the street looking down and thinking about what to do, when hearing a commotion ahead, he looked up.

Even without seeing anything, he could tell there was a Devil Fruit being used since he could smell it. It was like tangy ozone that would get stuck in the back of his nostrils.

This smell was common to every Devil Fruit that Bill had come across, from Smoker casually using his ability to move around to Fia transforming her fingers back and forth into cannons as she lay in bed at night.

Taking a breath, he decided that he better go and see what it was.

Hopping into the air, Bill shifted his eyesight and adjusted his hearing. He didn’t go up too high, only just above the buildings all around him.

Going forward at a moderate pace, he saw the source of the commotion and smell.

It was Captain Smoker, who Bill saw grimacing at some rough-looking saber wielding man.

Whatever this man had in bravery he lacked in brains as he stabbed at Smoker over and over again, resulting in only white puffs of smoke.

Behind the man was six others who held three women hostage. From the looks of it, the women appeared to be waitresses at the ‘Gold Pint’ pub where this scene was taking place in.

Seeing this, Bill didn’t immediately act to save those women but instead vaulted at speed, going around in a big circle, ending up behind the bar in a matter of seconds.

Keeping his senses on high alert, he was sure that he was not noticed as he quickly opened the pubs back door and slid inside.

Bill was not as adept at using Fia’s movement technique, but he had seen it enough to understand the basics on how to erase his presence.

Going unnoticed through the kitchen he peeked inside the bar. Seeing the panicked patrons and the bartender speaking amongst themselves, he knew he could act without fear of more hostages.

Moving back the way he came; Bill jumped to the buildings roof and took seven 100 Beli coins from his jacket.

This entire process had taken Bill some twenty seconds since he arrived, and he was mildly amused that the saber wielding man was still stabbing at Smoker with abandon.

Shaking his head, Bill flicked his wrist seven times and a coin hit the back of each man in the back of the head.

With Bill’s strength, he could easily throw a coin through a man if he wasn’t careful. If he didn’t have complete control of his body, he wouldn’t have been so confident in this tactic.

But there was no suspense as the seven men first looked cross-eyed then toppled over. Seeing this, Smoker looked up and after seeing Bill falling to the ground, he relaxed.

“I had it covered.” Said Smoker with his usual tone.

Hearing the curmudgeon speak, Bill laughed not taking it to heart, and reached down to help one of the ladies up.

When that was done, he turned around and said with a slight smile: “I don’t doubt it! I just happened to be passing by on some business.”

Saying this, the Marines at the scene began to rush forward and cuffed the men, and so Bill quickly collected his coins and moved off to the side with the grateful waitresses, followed by the Lougetown Captain.

“There was something I needed to say to you.”

After Bill said goodbyes to the ladies, and refused any gifts, he looked at Captain and said: “Oh?”

Smoker: “There’s a warehouse at the Marine dockyard those refugees could use if needed. It isn’t perfect but there’s a fresh water supply.”

Mildly surprised to be offered a warehouse at no charge, one of the things Bill had seen in this world was there no such thing as ‘just-in-time’ deliveries and everywhere carried large inventories.

This had been the case in Vallipo where over half of the warehouses in that grand shipyard were dedicated to spare timber, fittings, nails, linens, and other essentials for ship construction.

What this meant was that warehouses never tended to be empty since their space came at a premium.

After talking a bit more, Bill was further surprised to find out just how often pirates came to this island despite there being a Marine branch just a few blocks from the city’s main port, but eventually he asked directions and said he’d go look at the warehouse.

Walking into the Marine dockyard he was in uniform and so was naturally not stopped. He didn’t normally wear his Coat of Justice but had seen it’s usefulness on unfamiliar islands.

Thinking about the types of renovations he would need to have done, it didn’t take much time for his long legs to reach the spot that Smoker had told him.

The warehouse was situated about a hundred meters from the nearest docks and was the last in a long line of other such buildings.

‘Well, he wasn’t lying’ thought Bill looking at the huge building, clearly seeing how aged the thing was.

Going around the structure, he found normal sized doors not far from the huge bay doors where cargo would be stored. These doors didn’t lift up but instead opened wide like those on a barn.

Heading inside, he found a small office space which held empty desks, cabinets, and shelves. There was a bathroom, which contained a single chain-pull toilet. This would obviously not be enough for over five hundred people, but it showed that the building had a functioning water line.

From there he went inside to the main warehouse floor, the place was clean enough for Bill to think Smoker had just had the place cleaned out – something he appreciated.

Making mental notes about what would go where, Bill thought that it would be possible to have everyone stay here, if a tight fit.

The office would be converted into a medical bay, and he would extend the water line to accommodate thirty or so sinks and toilets.

Getting a bath installed would be impossible, though he decided to have a shower washing station in the medical bay.

Noting all of this down, it was still midday which gave plenty of time for him to collect the tools and materials needed for the job, but first leaving the warehouse Bill took to the air and quickly arrived on Frontier Run.

Upon seeing him, dozens of people came forward wondering what would happen now, the people of Clockwork Island were industrious but had obedience beaten into them for years by the Trump Pirates.

Like a prisoner who once freed still can’t go to the bathroom without permission, Bill knew it would take time for them to be independent.

Lifting his hand up, the murmurs instantly stopped, and Bill told them to be ready to leave the ship in the morning. Then finding Borodo and Miyagi he had them spread the news to the rest of the caravels.

With that done he grabbed the ships carpentry gear and headed to the ‘Walk the Plank’ hardware store where he purchased the plumbing equipment he needed, along with a million Beli worth of lumber.

Holding on to these tools really took Bill back to the time when he was a young man, but then laughed at himself as he looked at the youthful hand holding the equipment.

Thankfully, he thought to himself, he had always been a good handyman and even though he hadn’t worked in plumbing for seventy years he could still remember the ropes.

‘Just like riding a bike’ he told himself as he pulled a lumber cart just barely large enough to go down the Lougetown streets.

Bill and his crew had become popular over the last couple days due to having spent millions of Beli, the news of them had spread and so local merchants were rushing to bring in additional supplies.

Not knowing this, Bill just pulled the cart to the warehouse and got to work.

He decided the most important thing to build was the half bathrooms, and after he cut the water off from the building started mapping out where he would lay the new pipe.

Normally this process would be time consuming, but with his memory he just took things one step at a time. Late in the afternoon Ranse and Sasha had come, but he told them he would be working through the night and gave them general instructions.

Firstly, Ranse was to stay on the ‘Victory’ until the repairs were done. He would be given authority to sell any cannons or modify any schematics as he saw fit. The only thing Bill stressed was to not make the ship a floating village.

Sasha would have two jobs, firstly she would start organizing the food shipments and see they got to where they needed to be. She could call on Fia for help with that. Secondly, it was she who would have to manage the refugees until the galleon was ready.

They would mostly stay at the warehouse, but Bill didn’t want to completely restrict their movements.

Ricky and Miyagi would take the few doctors from Clockwork Island and requisition medical supplies they needed from the Lougetown Marine branch, once they had them, they would bring a suitable number to the warehouse.

With those instructions, the others left, and Bill stopped noticing the passing of time. Working through the night with only a few dim candles he did the job of several crews of men.

By morning he had ran out the new water and sewage piping along the same wall where the office bathroom was located. It didn’t look pretty to have a long row of several multi-toilet bathrooms, but it was practical.

He had decided to arrange them this way because he knew the people would have to use lanterns at night. Those were a fire hazard, but Bill wanted to offer a bit of privacy to those people who had to do their business at night.

So, at night lanterns could be lit by the bathroom sinks, and so even though the stalls would be nearly pitch black at least a person could see as soon as they opened the stall door.

Bill personally disliked candles, fireplaces, lamps, and other open-flame light sources but Lougetown did not have the infrastructure to have electric appliances so he did the best he could manage.

Late into the morning, Bill heard a thousands of footsteps as he was tacking on the rooves of the bathroom stalls, just a linen cover directly over the toilets which would prevent anyone from looking down at a person on the commode.

Jumping down from the makeshift walls he had built inside the warehouse, Bill greeted the former Clockwork Island residents: “Welcome, Welcome!” said he, pushing his voice louder than the thousand plus people.

Hearing the big man speak, the islanders quieted down and he spoke further.

“In order to help those who are staying I ask you to not just lay your bedding anywhere. We plan to set sail in several days, in this time we need to turn this warehouse into the best apartment that we can.”

Then after inquiring who had practical woodworking skills, Bill was heartened to see a few hundred raise their hands.

Ranse had taken the most experienced people to help refurbish the ‘Victory’, but Bill knew that these individuals in front of him would be invaluable to building the town on Little East Blue.

Thinking this, Bill decided to stop doing all of the work alone and start being more of a manager. A few days wasn’t much, but he hoped to see the rough skill level of these people who would now be so important to his Departments success.

His first job was to get the men and women into crews. Breaking them down into teams would not only be faster but it would also offer comradery.

After that was done, he micromanaged the first part of the work to be done.

He drew the schematics for the beds and shelves and gave them to a few teams to start making the parts. He placed the dividing lines between the rooms and showed several teams how to brace the walls properly. He showed the assembly teams how the beds and tables fit together, they didn’t have the budget for nails and so everything had to be pegged or jointed.

First was the bathrooms, then the bedrooms, then the kitchens and medical bay, and finally the dining areas.

After the first day, Bill had been approached by several old timers who asked to help, and he assigned them to teams to offer their experience to the younger people working hard.

After the second day, Miyagi and Ricky had come with the few Clockwork Island doctors and they set up the medical bay.

After the third day, with hundreds of beds and cells made, he moved a few teams to start working on the kitchens where they ran new piping.

After the fourth day, with the kitchen coming along nicely and the storage area filled, Bill started on the communal dining area.

In this way several more days passed, and even though the ship was taking longer than expected to refurbish, the amount of work several hundred people could do was amazing and the large warehouse looked more and more like something people could live in.

One day Smoker’s Lieutenant, a woman named Tashigi, had even come over and after seeing the work done claimed that when the refugees left that branch would have gained a new barracks.

To this, Bill just laughed and thought it what she had really come for was to ask when they would be taking Nelson away.

After that day, another week passed when Ranse finally had come over to tell Bill the ‘Victory’ was done. A job that he thought would take four days ended up taking two weeks.

But Ranse had been sure that it was worth the extra time and every-other day had come to inform Bill on the progress made.

The ship still had three towers, but the giant cannon had been completely removed. What Bill appreciated most was the real reason why the renovation took so long.

The Clockwork Island engineers redesigned the mechanical system in the ship to raise and lower the massive sails with mechanical crankshafts.

It would still take a hundred normal men to sail the ship, but now he didn’t need to worry so much during the trip across the ocean.

He would still Captain the large vessel, leaving ‘Frontier Run’ to Sasha and Ricky, but he would not be required to stay onboard at all times less there be an accident.

With everything set, they had decided to depart around midday and that night had an absolutely giant meal that lit up the entirety of the Marine docks.

Watching as Yoko and Akisu led around groups of kids playing “Marines and Robbers” Bill went around to speak to as many people as possible. At the end of the night, he gave a speech thanking Fia and the cooks, and spoke about the things to come.

This was a further expense, but Bill thought it was worth it. So far, the former Clockwork Island residents had lived frugally after their homes were destroyed and he knew the next several months weren’t going to be a picnic for anyone.

After he was done talking, young adults one after another came to sign up with the Department.

From the beginning there had been a portion of the residents who resented the Trump Pirates and were ready to fight if they had the chance.

Then after Bear King was arrested, instead of their fighting spirits being diminished it was further inflamed since they saw it as weakness in themselves that had allowed that tyrant to rule over them.

Ashamed of themselves, they turned that emotion against piracy and that night eighty-seven men and women and signed themselves up – many asking to learn Shave or Moon Step, though Bill persuaded them against it.

Though they had the will, Bill knew they didn’t have the way and so told them only after rigorous training would they have the chance to learn those superhuman martial arts.

The next morning was cloudy, but the people had woken up and in good spirits moved to the refurbished ‘Victory’.

Around noon, Bill knew he couldn’t wait anymore and made his way towards the Marine branch to pick up his burden, or ‘Nelson’ as he was called.

Yoko had begged him to take her, and he didn’t refuse. Though it was cloudy the weather wasn’t nearly bad enough for him to say no. His biggest fear was her passing out when she saw the size of their new crewmate.

Since he didn’t relish this task, Bill took his time walking slowly and laughing at Yoko’s proclamations about how Akisu would cry when he met Boss the Beetle, but as he neared the execution area, he started to smell that familiar twisted ozone.

For some reason then, Bill stopped before he turned the final corner and held Yoko by the shoulder.

Looking up at him, she asked what was wrong and had nothing happened he wouldn’t even had remembered.

But his heart started to thump in his chest. Recalling the time when his father tossed him that vial he called the 'Elixir of Life'. Just like then, the world disappeared for a moment and Bill's very soul urged him to fight back.

“Yoko” Bill said looking down and holding on her shoulder tighter than he meant to.

Not waiting for her to reply he continued: “Go back to the Victory, now.”

Yoko: “B..” “Now.” He said again cutting her off, his skin darkening as he spoke.

With tears welling up in her eyes, the girl turned and ran back the way they came.

Watching her for a second, Bill knew he couldn’t stay still and after turning the corner he barely saw Captain Smoker sitting on top of a familiar figure.

With his adrenaline involuntarily starting to rush, Bill was dead set focused on was the figure behind Smoker holding onto his jutte.

This time when Smoker spoke Bill didn’t hear the curmudgeon in his voice. He only heard alarm and somehow felt the fear behind the proclamation.

“D…Dragon!”

With that, Bill advanced.