The Marine

Over the next two days Bill found himself almost constantly in the company of Mayor Wetton.

He had been invited to rest at the Mayor’s Mansion, and thinking to avoid alarm, Bill had spent each of the last two nights there.

Of course, he would find excuses to return to the ship for a few hours each day and there he would collect the reports the Mates had to give; but he found them to be of mixed importance.

The Special Operators had tallied an estimate on the number of soldiers on the island, a whopping minimum of 400, but it seemed that none of the citizens had anything to say.

Bill could easily understand why they didn’t talk, since the so-called ‘guides’ were always in earshot, but he didn’t have anything concrete to justify his suspicions.

Right now, his best guess pertained to the giant tower on the edge of town. It was completely out of place and the resources to build it must have been staggering.

He knew that Wetton and his family wanted them gone, but whenever he tried to bring up anything regarding the huge tower, the old man expertly changed subjects and limited Bill’s ability to read his true intentions.

The most incriminating thing Bill had heard from the old man’s spirit was ‘what does he know?!’ and while that line virtually guaranteed foul play, it didn’t give Bill the assurance he needed to arrest the Mayor of the island.

‘Even if I could just simply arrest him.’

Sitting in his office, Bill had declined staying at the mansion for the third night, he was waiting on Ranse to contact him.

While he waited, he thought about the reports given by his Special Operators.

‘400 soldiers on an island holding roughly 3000 residents… hm.’

This was not a normal ratio, and each of these soldiers were armed with rifles that seemed more capable than flintlocks. Furthermore, according to one of his Beetleborgs, there was an eccentric scientist roaming around with a mechanical device strapped to his back.

Bill had been interested in this man’s details, but his Special Operator only had his name, which was ‘Henzo’.

Either there was nothing going on and these were just strange people who wanted no Marine presence, or a heavy militarized island with a mad scientist running around was up to no good and thus they wanted no Marine presence.

It was hard not to jump to the obvious conclusion, but Bill knew that since he had the authority of Law Enforcement, that was precisely what he couldn’t do.

Sitting there in his office, Bill started doing the routine managerial work that he usually pawned off on Ricky, thinking he desperately needed a good secretary when the Snail started going ring.

*Purururu* *Purururu*

Answering, on the other line was a familiar voice.

Ranse: “Hey partner, we’ve just come up on those pillars you mentioned, we’ll sit here for the night and sail in at daybreak.”

Hearing that his Lieutenant was near was a great sense of relief but after having given it some thought Bill decided on a plan.

“Just in time!” said Bill before started before explaining to Ranse what he had learned about Ruluka Island, once he finished giving Ranse the hard details, Bill told his childhood friend what he needed him to do.

“Listen, something is probably wrong with this island, but there’re too many soldiers around for us to start acting without thought.”

Bill knew that even if he could subdue 400 or more armed men he couldn’t do it instantly, and that many soldiers could cause a huge amount of damage before they were all rounded up.

If his suspicions were correct, the goal was to limit as much bloodshed as possible.

Having Ranse and Fia arrive was a huge boost in his reach, but even still, Bill wasn’t prepared to rashly risk the lives of either his people or the islanders.

The he had plan was simple but should be enough to get the information he needed.

“Ranse, you and Akisu will dress in civilian clothing and take a rowboat to the island. Your story will be that the two of you were the only survivors of a shipwreck.

You’ll need to have 10,000 Beli with you to pay the harbor tax and to get some drinks in the bars, mingle around and see what you find. You’ll only have two days, by then the Mayor will be wondering why my Lieutenant hasn’t arrived.”

After that, Bill told him that they’d meet in the bar at the end of night on the second day and offered some more details on the city and particularly on the large tower.

After their call, Bill slept for a few hours before waking up early the next morning.

This was his third day anchored at the island and, whereas before he thought to fly over the tower, now he wanted to speak to the scientist named Henzo.

Bill had given some thought on before deciding that it wasn’t the scientist that was strange, it was a scientist using advanced technology on an otherwise rustic island that was the issue.

The technological level in this world was mostly uniform but there were some stark outliers.

Why those outliers occurred was interesting because in places without real manufacturing it was a mystery how kids even got exposed to high technology.

‘Unless it was all just random,’ he thought to himself as he quietly passed by the morning watch and jumped into the air.

Adjusting his eyes, Bill went high into the sky and did some rounds back and forth over the town.

It’s stone buildings blending most significant visual markers in with each other, even the torches outside of the taverns were mostly uniform.

Thinking militarily, Bill knew that these features would make assaulting the town a nightmare if there was a dedicated defensive force.

‘Well, if it was regular humans.’ He corrected himself, after all there was a point when stone fortifications were little impediment to forward action.

Besides the military aspect, the only other thing he could think was that the town was poor. There was nothing like cloths lines or washing bins and there oddly seemed to be no garbage anywhere.

He couldn’t dwell on any given street since he was on the lookout, and sure enough his efforts paid off after half an hour of flying around in circles.

The man he assumed to be Henzo came out of a small stone structure wearing goggles and a metallic device on his back which had a satellite dish on it.

Jumping into action, Bill decided that speed was the best policy and dove down on the man.

From several hundred feet in the air Bill reached the man before he had taken three steps, grabbed him by the collar, and with great care avoided breaking anything, pulled the man back into the house.

This tactic would have been pulled off brilliantly, except Bill hadn’t seen the odd man lock the door and, in his haste, he broke the wood doorknob.

After a loud cracking sound Bill stood dumbly for a split second before dropping the old man and, using some of the broken pieces as a wedge, closed the door.

Turning around coolly, trying to not make it seem like he hadn’t meant to do that, Bill looked down at the old man he towered over.

“Sir, you and I have some things to discuss.” He said in a neutral voice.

“M.M.MARINE?!”

The old man spoke while staggering backwards and Bill understood that try as he might, he still stood over nine feet tall and compared to this sixty-something year old man was a virtual giant.

“Calm down, Sir.” Bill said with his palms slightly outstretched: “There’s no need to be alarmed, I just want to talk.”

“T.TALK?!” said the old man, who despite steadying himself looked like he was about to run at any moment: “You’ve kidnapped me and broke my house! Is this the kind of ‘talking’ you Marines do?!”

Still with his palms slightly raised, Bill spoke clearly: “That was an unfortunate accident. I have been trying to find you, but I’ve been accompanied day and night by the Mayor.

Your property will be repaired. I’m only asking for some of your time.”

As Bill spoke, the old man seemed to calm down a bit, even snapping back his next question: “The Mayor, Wetton? Yes, that’s right! How are you even here, where the hells did you come from?!”

Smiling a bit to this, Bill put his left hand down and pointed up with his right finger: “I decided to take a few passes over the town this morning, and just hoped I’d run across you.”

“You came from the sky?!” the old man said, and when Bill nodded and claimed that it wasn’t such a big deal he replied: “Son, flying is a big deal around here!”

“Well, I’d bet this world has stranger things then flying Marines.” Bill said with a laugh, and to this the old man simultaneously loosened up and grimaced.

“Yes… Yes it does.” He said, pulling off the metallic device off his back and saying: “Alright, what did you want from me?”

While Bill started asking his question, the old man walked to a chair in the corner of the room and took a seat.

“… - and it doesn’t fit in with the rest of the town, so just what is that giant tower?”

Letting out a sigh, the old man replied back: “That tower is Wetton’s dream for the next time the Rainbow Mist appears.

That tower is basically just a hollow tube, I won’t bore you with the specifics, but the next time the Mist appears it should give his people a pathway out. Just after they collect the vast riches inside.”

“Wait, what Rainbow Mist?” asked Bill in confusion, this being something far afield from anything he had hypothesized.

“Oh, you don’t know?’ asked the old man with some surprise before waving a hand and continuing: “Well, whether or not you know about it, Wetton will believe that’s why you’re here.”

When Bill asked him why, the old man explained: “It’s because you aren’t the first Marine to have come over those rumors, in fact not long ago there was a Marine fella bigger than you who came.

G.Gas something, I can’t remember, but that fella really didn’t want to leave and ended up forcing Wetton to pay another tribute. He really didn’t like that.”

Hearing this, Bill frowned.

It wasn’t in his commission to go after corrupt Marines, but he would do what he had to. Bill knew he couldn’t fight corruption around the world, but he would stop it if it happened in front of his face.

After that, Bill first asked about the Marine who came, but Henzo had no information about that and so the discussion went back to the Rainbow Mist.

“Forget about it.” Said Henzo before continuing: “The last time the mist appeared was fifty years ago. Don’t be a fool like me and waste your life on trying to find it.”

Shaking his head to the suggestion, Bill said back: “This is just what I don’t understand. Why would anyone care about this ‘Rainbow Mist’ in the first place?”

Letting out another sigh, Henzo shifted in his chair and answered: “It’s all for the treasures.

Wreckers Reef, Ape’s Concert, the Sargasso Sea, whatever you call it, it’s real. Not only is it real the only way to get there is through the Rainbow Mist.”

Having heard of none of these places, Bill looked confused and asked why this was connected to treasure.

“Because.” Said the old man: “It’s the ships graveyard. All of those treasure ships from ancient times to the future wind up there. I don’t know how or why it is, but I’ve seen it myself and that’s why I can never give up!”

Looking at Henzo in silence, Bill didn’t judge the old dotard. Whatever this Rainbow Mist was, or whatever the tower existed for, he could tell that the old man wasn’t lying.

But not lying did not mean being correct, and as if to answer his suspicions, after Bill asked how the man knew he had gone, he responded nearly crying: “Of course I’ve been THERE! My friends… my best friends were on that ship that disappeared!

I Know what I saw! And the Rainbow Mist must come again, it will! And there I’ll find what happened to them, I’ll save them then!”

Not letting his pity show, Bill had heard of this before.

If the old man had been younger, Bill would have tried to help him, but this man was so old the fantasy of the Rainbow Mist was probably all he had left.

So, nodding his head, Bill said that he was sorry and that he hoped the old man would find his friends.

“When you find them…” Bill paused before continuing: “If you need any help you can come to me. I’m a Captain in the Science Division, and though I don’t think I can help you now, I’m more than willing to do what I can.”

Hearing this, Henzo, nodded his head and as Bill knew he didn’t have much time he asked about the weaponry used by the soldiers.

He was surprised that all of the armament on the island came from Henzo, including things Bill hadn’t seen like the so-called ‘battle suits.’

Whether or not it was because Bill earned his trust, or it was the old man being thankful for not being ridiculed, before he left the old man had given him a stack of schematics detailing the firearms, battle suits, and grenades the island soldiers used.

Saying his goodbyes, Bill listened to what was outside, and after he was sure the coast was clear he vaulted high into the air and back to the ship.

He had spoken to Henzo for the better part of four hours, and by now it was past breakfast and nearing lunch.

The rest of the next two days was as per usual, Bill saw Ranse and Akisu a few times but none of them acknowledged the other.

 Akisu was twelve by now, and it shocked Bill just how much the former ‘thief’ had grown. He followed in Borodo’s shadow and was already more skilled at Navigation than many of the grown Marines in their Department.

On the second night after Ranse’s arrival, they were set to meet at one of the taverns.

Due to his size, Bill couldn’t readily go unnoticed, but he was able to sneak thanks to what he had learned from Fia over the years.

Inside a tavern on the outskirts of town, Bill met Ranse and Akisu sitting at a table in a corner of the bar and taking his seat beside them, the two old friends discussed what Ranse had discovered.

It was all bad news; Bill would have classified Wetton as a dictator rather than a Mayor. The soldiers were his personal army and not residents, and he used his power and created taxes on just about everything.

This was all bad, however, as Ruluka Island was an allied government, Bill and his Marines couldn’t legally remove the man from power without some kind of referendum by the population.

Every allied island that wasn’t directly controlled by the World Government had certain rights as long as they paid the tribute. One of those rights was that the local governments couldn’t be overthrown by the power of the World Government.

As the trio sat there, Ranse and Bill discussed what to do.

They could take temporarily enforce martial law, but if the citizens wanted to keep Wetton, then they’d be in deep trouble with Marineford.

“Partner, I’ll stay undercover and get the feel of the residents, as long as you can keep Wetton occupied, I’ll see what we can do.”

Just as Bill was about to agree to this, a man wearing a yellow jumpsuit started walking over.

Bill knew the movements of everyone in the place, and seeing the man walk towards them had him hold his tongue.

When he had gotten close, the big Marine looked over his shoulder and asked if there was a problem, and to his surprise he got an answer.

“My friend, we both have problems. How about this, I’ll help you if you help me?”

Turning his head slightly more, Bill eyed the young man.

He appeared to be no older than twenty and had a sickle tattooed on his face. Looking him over, Bill asked: “And who would you be?”

Then, letting out a devious smile, the man said slowly: “Shuraiya Bascud, but you may have heard of me by another name, they call me the Pirate Executioner.”