The Marine

As the boat swayed, a young Captain picked his formal coat up, and seeing its size thought that by now he had grown as large as that ‘huge man’ whose size had scared him so much when he had first awakened in this world.

With that in mind, he thought that he liked the sound of ‘Captain Bill Ox.’

It had been several weeks since Sentomaru had pinned the Captains badge on Bill’s new Coat of Justice, and Bonaduce had presented him two diplomas which signified not only his graduation of the academy, but they were also permits needed to legally establish his own laboratory in those fields of research.

Considering Bill’s diplomas were in ‘Engineering’ and ‘Metallurgy’ he had a wide range of things that he could legally do.

Thinking back to his promotion ceremony, he thought that had been a mostly good day, but despite him not being one to complain, he couldn’t help but to think: ‘It would have been even better if I were given a ship, or a crew… or just some Beli.’

This was the situation Bill had found himself in.

No ship, no crew, no established base for a laboratory, and absolutely zero Beli for funds.

Because he had spent the last two years working day and night, sometimes going days without sleep, this was not something he had been aware of until the day of his promotion ceremony.

Of course, Bill had protested this, but he was told in simple terms that the Science Division simply did not have any spare ships and the MSU was already stretched too thin across the dozen labs that they ran.

The Marine Science Unit was spread so thin in fact, that even newer members like Marron had been promoted to Lieutenant and placed in charge of security of lower-level labs.

During that exchange, Sentomaru also curtly told Bill that given his degree’s he could perform research and create things to sell while at the Marineford Laboratory, and if he were successful that he could build up funds that way.

When the sumo-sized Captain had said this to him, Bill had regretted that they never had to finish their duel.

Bill felt that it was probable that even if he lost he would have walloped Sentomaru after the South Bird procurement mission, but he had never been given the chance and hadn’t pursued it.

Well, there was no use complaining about it now, he thought.

Bill had written his friends and hitched a ride of half a dozen Marine ships to meet them on Vallipo.

What would he do when he got there?

Well, he planned to get a crew and a ship!

This was going to be a tricky thing to sell to the others because in Bill’s original plan he had a ship and small crew. Since he didn’t know exactly how they had been doing after two-and-a-half years in the Marines, he was coming with only dreams and promises.

The only solid thing Bill could offer was Rank.

Under the purview of the Science Division, his current authority would allow for the direct promotions of one Commander, two Lieutenant Commanders, three Lieutenants and Junior Lieutenants, as well as about two dozen additional officers ranging from Ensign to Warrant Officer.

Being its own branch inside the Marines had its pros and cons.

The largest benefit was the independent promotion and commission structure, it allowed for extraordinarily little direct oversight by Marineford when it came to research, development, and the structure of laboratories.

The main oversight from Headquarters was the set limit on the numbers of commissioned officers that could be given out.

Captain was the highest-ranking officer in the division, and it was the only rank that had a parity with their Marineford counterparts. For every level lower than that the Science Division officer found themselves one rate lower than a similarly ranked officer for HQ.

This did still make them higher rank than the Blue Sea officer corps, which was an important concession Marineford made.

All in all, it could be seen how much the Fleet Admiral needed the services of Dr. Vegapunk.

This information had come in a book given by Sentomaru. For Bill’s part, he had never met the Fleet Admiral or anyone else in the higher ranks of the Marines and just assumed it all the better.

He had seen how officers like his dad, Sentomaru, and Hina acted so didn’t consider the workings of the Marines. They were as functional as they could be given this world that they existed in.

Putting his coat on, Bill knew the ship was near Vallipo and wondered if he would have someone waiting for him. He tried to not be vain but also wanted to give a good impression on those who he hadn’t seen in years.

Wearing his Coat of Justice normally, Bill didn’t drape it over his shoulders as was the fashion he had seen by others. For him, the coat was a symbol of status based on principle and duty; it wasn’t for looks.

Fully dressed, he finally grabbed his bulky suitcase.

Currently it and the papers inside were the only possessions he could really call his own, besides his paperwork, the items inside were meager as despite being over the age of eighteen Bill had never gotten any Beli from anything besides his small Lieutenant salary of one hundred-thousand Beli per month.

His salary hadn’t come with any hazard pay or other bonuses that the average Lieutenant would get and so his pay was roughly the amount of money needed to buy one Grade Blade after saving for a year. On most large islands it would be barely enough to live an independent, if frugal, lifestyle.

Walking to the deck, Bill nodded to the ships Commander, a South Blue officer who had big dreams but as far as Bill could tell not much in the way of common sense.

He wouldn’t say that aloud and instead simply thanked the man for the ride to Vallipo.

Standing on deck, the island slowly came into view, first was massive fortress outline followed quickly by the familiar roman-style palace which had ‘MARINE’ etched on it between passive columns.

Even though he had regained his youth and had a long life ahead of him, some habits wouldn’t go away and so as the harbor grew bigger and the ship eased into port, Bill thought about Oliver and the first time he had been told about this world. He thought about the Giant Rear Admiral Lacroix and how he had first seen superhuman strength being used shortly after.

Standing on deck as the harbor came into view, other than thinking how he would convince his friends to join him, simply reminisced about the place where he had spent sixteen years growing up.

He even thought of the Foxy Pirates and wondered where the villains were now and that they had assuredly already entered the Grand Line.

It didn’t take the ship long to pull into port. Vallipo was a shipbuilding island and by extension had great deep-water docks.

Standing by the railing, Bill was both staying out of the way letting the Seaman do their jobs and also looking towards the pier.

He hadn’t known it, but apparently there had been instructions given to the Commander because as the pier came into clear view there stood four familiar faces and two small children in tow.

When the ship anchored, a bridge was raised towards the vessel and after giving the Commander his thanks, Bill grabbed his suitcase and started walking down towards the group waiting for him.

Ms. Angie and Captain Trapano were waving while his mother and father each held one of the two children.

Once he had gotten without easy earshot of the group, the young Captain shouted out with a “Hey!” and proceeded to pick up his pace.

By now Bill had reached roughly nine feet in height, but it didn’t look strange when he first put his suitcase down and first hugged his nanny who was under six feet tall.

After that he slapped Trapano on the shoulder and went to his parents.

“Mom!” He said with a smile, and returning it with one of her own, she set down the little girl in her arms and drew him in to a smothering hold.

After several seconds she let him go, and as Bill motioned to his dad, she pulled him back towards her.

Grabbing back up the little girl, as the docks were too dangerous to allow very little kids to roam, she put her hand on his coat and nicely said: “Good work, William. We’re proud of you.”

His mother had always been caring, but first with her injury and then her personality, she had never been one to give praise. Bill never felt she was a bad parent, but she definitely spoke in a laconic manner.

So, thinking that she was happy he once again turned to his father before she spoke up once again, this time it wasn’t so nice: “Yet why was it that you never contact us during these years? Were we so much out of your mind that it never occurred to you that we, as your mother and father, would need to hear from our son?”

During the last two and a half years Bill had thought of his family, but those days with Vegapunk in the lab were such that he couldn’t think of anything besides the SATELLITE Program.

After that when he had determined to try and make this world a place where Devil Fruits weren’t as important, he had spent his off hours scouring the Science Divisions records of technologically advanced islands and make his own plans.

Seeing her face, Bill knew that no matter what the reason he had wrong his parents.

He may have never had biological children of his own, but he had raised three kids and knew what being a parent was like.

So, as he looked at his mom, he lowered his head a bit and said sincerely: “You’re right, I’m sorry mom. It’s no excuse but… just know that I didn’t fool around… I…”

He was about to go into his reasons, but before he could Aramaki spoke up: “It’s ok Dina!” after he said this, the big man walked to his son and suddenly didn’t seem like such a big man anymore.

He was holding another little girl, but instead of setting her down and giving Bill a hug, he just gave him a powerful slap on the shoulder and said: “Our son graduated with two degrees in just two years! I know for sure Punk didn’t relax the requirements for him.

Here Bill, meet your two sisters.”

Saying this he gestured to one and then the other both little girls had the same flaming auburn hair his mother did: “This is Diana, and here is Mala.

Girls, say hi to your big brother!”

After this, the two girls look at Bill strangely but then went back to looking at everything going on around them.

This was normal for very little kids and so Bill indulgently smiles and introduced himself.

After that, the group began walking towards the fortress. Bill had taken his place next to Trapano and after the fat Captain congratulated him began to talk to Bill about his duties.

“So, you’re given the option of your base? Well then, you’d better choose wisely, remember that the best place is between two good places.”

Of course, Bill knew this concept but nodded along.

He knew Captain Trapano had a lot of knowledge that he would need, so he turned his questions about training and the like.

“Ah, well.” Trapano said

“Once you find a person you find trustworthy and skilled enough, you should immediately rope them in. Offer them to learn one of the Six Powers so they end up serving for longer. Never be stingy with advancements, but never offer too much praise.”

When he said this, Ms. Angie chimed in: "I know that you know, William, but remember that you’re a leader and not a friend. Have your small circle of friends and be very deliberate on who else you let enter.”

Bill agreed with this principle and so thanked his nanny for her reminder.

By now the group had walked to the first service elevator and calling over to Aramaki he asked: “Dad, where are we going?”

He wasn’t given an answer except to say ‘you’ll see’ but the answer was readily available when Trapano hit the highest level on the elevator.

The ride up was fast and full of noise of everyone talking. Ms. Angie had taken Mala from his dad and stood near his mother while the three men stood together in conversation.

Getting to the palace on top of the fortress, Bill saw a number of tables arranged in the central hall, there sat Sasha, Ricky, Ranse, and Fia along with their families.

Ranse had been the first to notice the group by a split second and jumping over the table he laughed and followed by the others, met Bill across the room.

As Bill looked at his friends, he knew that great things were about to start.