The Marine

It had taken no time at all for Bill to discover that the pirate Hollandaise was a stupid and brutal man.

They hadn’t taken ten steps out of camp before the man began to try and corrupt his jailer.

“Heh, ey’ boy, that’s a sweet capt’n ain’t sheh?

Ow’ bout you get with me crew an I gift er’ to ya?”

To this, Bill had swiftly hit the pirate square in the mouth with an open palm.

As the pirate fell to the ground, Bill shifted his attention to the other seventeen. They all held wooden shovels or makeshift picks, but none of them moved a muscle.

Shifting his head back to Hollandaise, the pirate was holding a bleeding nose and kept repeating: “I's jokin, I'z only jokin!”

Walking closer, Bill kicked the shovel a few feet away before lifting the pirate up by his dirty shirt.

Slapping the hand away from his nose, and as blood started to gush out Bill said loud enough for all the pirates to hear: “I do NOT like those kinds of jokes!”

Shoving Hollandaise back a few steps, Bill went over and grabbed the shovel on the ground before speaking up again.

“You pirates only have one thing to do.

You don’t talk, you don’t make jokes.

You will dig how I tell you to dig.

If you don’t, you will not eat.”

When he said this, Bill traced his eyes on each of ragged eighteen pirates.

“If you do a good job, I will put it in writing, so that you may show it while you’re being sentenced.

If you do a good job, you will be fed.”

For men such as these, Bill thought the prospect of food should be said first and last.

Regardless, he didn’t know what their crimes were, only that a 20m Beli bounty on their captain signified that these men had done substantial harm.

Walking back over to Hollandaise, Bill shoved the shovel into his chest and then walked on to the spot they were to start.

Due to the dangers Captain Hina described, the crew would start from the camp and work their way inland.

The first step would be both the easiest and the hardest.

They were first to dig a small reservoir that could hold enough water for the needs of one-hundred fifty people.

Hypothetically this would be the safest part of the job, being so near camp, but would also be the hardest physically due to the fact the pirates were going to dig a swimming pool-sized hole two meters down with picks and wooden shovels.

Getting to the worksite, Bill set up dimensions for the reservoir and told the men to get to work.

As they started to break ground, he would go to the creek and mark their route. He didn’t want any break in the work, and they couldn’t afford to dig a trench in the wrong direction.

Warning the pirates not to run off, Bill headed inland.

As he followed the rough map, Bill was focused on the landscape with his eyes, and his surroundings with his ears.

Everything was quiet, too quiet he thought.

Bill hadn’t spent years in the various woodland climates on Vallipo for nothing. Forests of any kind typically had noise all the time, in fact, the noise was so omnipresent it could drive a person insane.

It wasn’t right, but he also didn’t have time to look around. He only needed to set up rough markers and get back to the pirate crew.

At a brisk jog, it took Bill roughly five minutes to get to the creek then ten minutes back as he marked the pathway they would take.

With the markers set, Bill decided to stake the worksite out and to see which pirates would cause trouble.

Once the site was in view, he was somewhat surprised to see the motley crew actually working and not speaking. Even the pirate Hollandaise was using a wooden shovel and loading up the makeshift wheelbarrows.

Bill hid behind a tree and waited for over an hour. There had been talk between the crew, but it all seemed to be able the digging process.

Calling for the wheelbarrow or for the pickers to loosen up a patch of soil, it all looked on the up.

After a while longer, Bill showed himself, walking from the direction he left in.

Looking at the work already done, Bill just nodded his head.

The reservoir was no great project. After all, they were only digging a two-meter-deep hole about the size of a swimming pool.

After just over an hour and a half the group had gotten over half a meter down. As the ground got harder, the work got slower, it was still an amazing amount done by normal standards.

Still there was a long way to go, and Bill didn’t want to spend a week digging through the woods, so he shouted out: “Hollandaise!”

At his call, the greasy pirate ran over. His shirt nearly completely brown.

“Aye, xcelency?”

Looking down, Bill snorted and replied unkindly: “Don’t call me excellency. Mr. or Sir is good enough for you.

Call over five of your most able associates, two with picks and three with shovels.”

 Seeing the stupid look on his face, Bill urged the man to hurry and after a few minutes the team assembled.

As the five stood in front of Bill, the other twelve working slowed down, half watching.

“Men, I have marked out our path forward. The five of you will work ahead and start digging the trench.”

After telling the five men the exact size of the trench they needed to dig Bill continued: “I would advise you not to run off. If you do, you will most certainly die.”

The five men flinched at this, and Hollandaise interjected: “Ay sir, I’z don’t think these men will run-oft. Cept, is these woodz dangrus?”

Apparently, these men had not seen the cause of the shipwreck, and so Bill decided to not exactly lie but to not burden them with the truth: “Any forest is dangerous. We don’t know all the kinds of animals on this island.

Just stick to the markers and keep your eyes and ears open. You will be fine.”

Then having sent the five men off, Bill picked up a shovel and started working.

Digging was back-breaking labor. As the group dug the reservoir it got worse on the ragged pirates.

On Bill’s side, he just had to be careful not to break the shovel.

As he worked, he kept one mind on the pirates around him, another for the monsters the Captain had seen, then the last daydreamed.

He was imaging having Fia here to blast a hole in the ground when Hollandaise started talking to him.

Through the man’s terrible speech, Bill found it absolutely amazing that he was trying to get free with his story.

At the other men and sit down to rest, Bill asked somewhat exasperated: “So let me get this straight. You mean to say, you never stole a ship?”

Hollandaise: “Aye sir.”

Bill: “And the ship you have, you just found floating on the open ocean?”

Hollandaise: “It'z true sir.”

Bill: “And when you boarded the ship there was no crew, no signs of sickness, and no signs of combat?”

Hollandaise: “It'z how we gots it, sir.”

Bill: “And when you reported the ship as salvage, the local Marine branch decided to rob you of it. Then you decided to run and got a bounty?”

Hollandaise: “Jus like that, sir, on I'z mutters grave!”

After this, he had the urge to give the stupid man another slap.

In Bills mind, this didn’t show corruption by the Marines, it showed how little intelligence it took to be a pirate!

It had to be known, most pirates sat out at sea like wolves just waiting for ships to pass them.

What had probably happened, Bill figured, was that this Hollandaise captured a ship that he fancied, then killed everyone on board.

Someone on board that ship must had been important.

The reason for this assumption was simple, local Marine branches did not assign bounties. For a pirate to have a 20m Beli bounty, they had to have done something outrageous.

After all, in this world, an orange may cost 100 Beli. A cheap shirt may cost 1000 Beli.

For 20m Beli a person could build and furnish a modest house on a big island. There was no government that would casually give out rewards that high!

The fact Hollandaise was Wanted Alive didn’t factor in Bill’s estimation.

Still, Bill needed the brutal man to work and so just said: “Well, you won’t have trial at that island so you can tell them your story.”

He obviously wouldn’t give this man any satisfaction, but something in his tone seemed to have given the man some confidence.

Hollandaise: “Thank u’z sir. I's hoped ery’ Mareenz could be’z like you.”

Just grunting in response, Bill told the thirteen pirates to rest while he was going to check on the five who dug ahead.

Hopping out of the hole, Bill followed the trench.

It had to be said, a trench was easy to concept, but hell to dig. This was because a person would find themselves bending over the entire time, killing their backs.

These pirates weren’t normal men though, another reason for Bill not to believe Hollandaise, and following along nearly a hundred meters through the brush; Bill found at once the end of the trench and the disappearance of the pirates.

There were no signs of any combat, probably after digging a certain distance the men had figured to try out their luck.

Bill had warned them, there was little else he could do.

Still, he had to report the fugitives, so jumping above the tree canopy he then kicked the air and headed back to camp faster than a bullet.

This was the first time Bill had used the Moon Step technique without being in mortal danger.

He found it satisfying.

Once he landed back at camp, he found the work had been going steady. By now the ship had a large part of sand dug out from under it and he could hear the commotion of carpenters and general labor everywhere.

Despite the fort being built, Captain Hina must be getting the ship to launch at any time, he thought.

It didn’t take long to get to the command tent and report the fugitives, Hina told Bill not to worry about it, they had sentries posted already.

Then in the blink of an eye he made his way to the reservoir where Hollandaise and the others were just starting to get back to work.

“Hollandaise, unfortunately your associates didn’t think your story was very believable and they ran off!”

Though wouldn’t blame Hollandaise or the other thirteen pirates here, he did want to imply that the deserted pirates didn’t make those who stayed look good.

The man in question looked confused for a second before denying: “Naw, they not run-oft!! I's said for them's not to!”

Shrugging in response, Bill picked up his shovel and said: “Well, they did. There was no sign of fighting or anything else. I told you these woods could be dangerous. Somehow, I don’t suspect we’ll see them again.”

For several minutes after that, Hollandaise pleaded for the innocence of his men – to which Bill said that he would see tomorrow.

The reservoir was finished by the afternoon, though the pirates were tired, Bill bid them to follow him as he collected sand and rocks.

This was just to kill time; they would not be camping out in the woods and there wasn’t enough time to get the trench dug out, so instead Bill decided to line the bottom of the reservoir somewhat properly.

This may have to last them several months.

By the time they were done, night was falling, and Bill led the pirates to makeshift cells while quietly marveling just how much had been done.

Captain Hina didn’t get her rank for nothing. Exploiting her devil fruit, nearly half of the fort was done in just two days. Every building had a ribbed look, being there were no nails used and instead just bands of iron tubes around everything.

The only major things left was the outer walls and sewage systems.

Before he went to sleep, Bill spoke to Marron and the others who told him they had been digging the ship out of the sand. Interestingly, Marron had reported that today they had also loaded some barrels back onboard.

This was different than what he thought they were doing, but since none of them were harmed, he wouldn’t push the issue.

Bill never slept for long unless he wanted to. It seemed like he could be perfectly functional with only a couple hours of sleep a day.

Walking out of the tent, still dark, Bill didn’t hear the rumbling of two giants fighting.

Moving his eyes from the ocean to the ship he found Captain Hina sitting on the edge facing camp, she seemed to be on watch.

Walking over, Bill hopped up to get beside her.

“I can watch from here, Captain.”

He could see from his side that she gave him a raised eye before replying: “Are you sure you can stay awake?”

Nodding to this, Bill didn’t gesture and just said: “I don’t need to sleep for long, plus, I didn’t see any monsters inland today. I think it’ll be fine.”

Shaking her head to this, the Captain said: “Do you hear that? The bosses have stopped fighting. If I’m right, it’ll be more dangerous from now on, even if we somehow don’t attract their attention.”

Now looking at her, Bill asked: “Is that why you had my men start digging the ship out?”

Looking at the teenager seriously, the Captain said: “Yes, I noticed the bosses fought most of the first day but by this morning their battles were spread out. By mid-day they were barely engaging each other.

The ship shouldn’t sail, but that doesn’t mean it can’t do so. The main mast will probably break, but with the foremast and seastone haul we can at least move.”

When she said that, Hina got up, standing on the edge of the ship she looked at Bill and said: “Be careful inland tomorrow, remember, just leave the others if you have to.”

Then she jumped down.

Watching her go, Bill thought as long as they could get through the next few days everything would be fine.

As he started to meditate, he didn’t have a good feeling.