The Marine

Using his teeth to quickly peel an orange, Bill looked down at the man he interrogated as he ate the peeled orange in one bite.

The taste of citrus was just what he needed.

According to the man, who had been so terrified that Bill almost felt sorry for knocking him out, he learned that this pirate convoy was three different crews being led by a great pirate who went by the name of Demaro Black.

Bill had never heard of this name, but the pirates’ legs only stopped shaking when he spoke about the ‘Gold Rookie’ and how if Bill knew what was good for him, he’d run away.

‘Rookie?’

Bill had never heard of pirates being described in such a way and it didn’t sit well with him. In his mind, these people were robbers and killers, not professional athletes.

Hearing this, Bill became a more aggressive and barely five minutes of physical interrogation later he had learned what he needed.

Apparently, this island was known by pirates to be remote enough for there not to be any Marine presence while being just fertile enough to be a good score for cargo.

When Bill questioned who started the fire, the pirate spat in anger that it was the residents who started the forest fire which ended up killed a portion of their men.

So now they were acting in revenge by burning the town to the ground.

At once, Bill didn’t know whether or not this pirate was stupid for confessing their crimes or just didn’t understand the concept of revenge.

In Bill’s mind, you could not get revenge against a defensive act. People had the right to defend themselves.

This was also the last thing the man said before Bill put him to sleep.

Of course, humans didn’t have on and off switches… unless you pressed hard enough… so Bill made sure to be thorough.

Now that Bill had some information, he had to make the judgment whether or not to wait for reinforcements.

Weighing his options, in the end he decided to continue forward. This Demaro Black may be strong, but if this pirate convoy was out for blood he couldn’t stand by if there was even a ten percent chance to fend them off.

Seeing how easily he defeated these men, and the fact he could run away, he figured it worth the risk.

The man didn’t know how many men the other pirate crews had but claimed his crew to number one-hundred twenty.

Of course, not every single pirate could be on shore at once. Bill quickly figured that each ship would have left crew back on board their boats to protect their treasures.

After all, these crews weren’t bound together and so trust between them would be impossible.

But still, he estimated high and thought that he may be up against over two hundred altogether.

Thinking on his next actions, specifically whether or not he could just run in the group of pirates and subdue them, it was here for the first time Bill thought that he was inexcusably weak.

Bill never had grandiose dreams; it never crossed his mind to be the ‘best’ or ‘strongest’ at anything. However, he had seen firsthand many powerful people and knew in his heart that this world was categorically different from Earth.

On Earth, a strong man would almost always lose against three regular men. Since the difference between individuals wasn’t that great, numbers really mattered.

In this world, a strong man could walk through countless average men. Since one person could be exponentially stronger than the next.

What irked Bill most of all was that simple numbers should be what tied his hands!

He thought about what his father would do in this situation.

Well, that was easy. In Bill’s mind his father would directly confront and capture these wrongdoers. This momentary feeling of weakness was intensified because while Bill knew his father was strong, he surely wasn’t the most powerful man on the sea.

If his father could do it, why couldn’t he?

Things like age or experience was no answer for him here. He was currently standing on an island under attack; his capabilities made it clear he had to help, but they also restrained him in doing so.

Then suddenly shaking his head clear, Bill decided he would do something about that later, for now he would do what he could.

Starting off in the direction these pirates had been walking in, Bill’s plan was to catch as many off guard as he could.

Hopefully he could cut down on the total number by disposing of smaller groups one at a time.

No sooner than he came out of the orange tree grove he found an odd restaurant in the shape of a boat being looted.

As he had no time to waste, Bill rushed forward, and the battle ended much the same as the last. Though perhaps these pirates were worse off due to the Marine being in a rush.

Leaving the restaurant Bill continued to prowl around the village destroying the dispersed pirates one after another.

He didn’t intend to kill but never checked the conditions of any of those pirates he subdued.

At last, he reached the burning windmill, and with a thud a man hit the ground hard. It had taken Bill roughly thirty minutes to work his way here.

Despite the pirates’ claims, Bill had found barely sixty or seventy people. With very few of that number carrying firearms.

Either the pirate lied, which was possible, or he had missed something.

Looking towards the woman who was last pirate left Bill breathed heavily and spoke: “Where are the rest of you?!”

As the lady sneered at Bill, he didn’t hesitate to begin his interrogation.

Though Bill would be more or less gentle against a woman, in a world were biological differences were less pronounced, he would not strictly be a gentleman.

As he looked at the female, who to her credit hadn’t fallen on her butt, Bill inched closer.

Towering over the lady, Bill stood over seven feet tall, looking down he said more forcibly: “I said, Where Are The Rest Of YOU?!”

To drive his point home, he gave her a punch to the ribs. Not hard enough to break anything, but hopefully hard enough for the woman to understand her position.

The lady coughed hard before looking back at him with defiance and speaking with contempt: “So you actually left the people in those tunnels? How typical of your ‘justice’.”

This told Bill what he needed to know, and it explained why he hadn’t seen any civilians.

If this woman would have left it at that he would have been appreciative, but the way this woman spoke irritated the Marine to his core.

He had just caught the woman red handed in trying to burn a town to the ground, but had been spoken to like he was the bad guy?

Gritting his teeth, Bill didn’t lose himself or lash out violently, instead he just barked: “Where are the tunnels?”

?: “You know where they are! In the rocks you f-“

Bill heard what he needed and didn’t let her speak further. In one swift motion he hit the side of her head, dropping her down instantly.

Turning his head towards the large mountain that rimmed most of the island, he jumped high in the sky and scanned its base.

After going above, the tree line he clearly saw a cave opening with figures standing around.

Seeing this Bill didn’t think twice before shouting out: “Sky Vault!”

Flying towards the cave entrance at breakneck speed things became clear.

Bill thought what probably happened was that after setting the forest on fire the people came to hide in the mountain.

It didn’t take but a few seconds for Bill to cross the distance and land softly on the ground. Not attempting to hide now, the pirates gathered together to oppose him.

The crowd in front of the caves entrance was the largest one he’d seen yet, numbering perhaps thirty, the first thing Bill did was scan the group for muskets.

‘fourteen huh?’

Taking the hammer from his waist he watched for another moment before speaking. Thankfully, he noted, the pirates stood in no formation.

Seeing no further action, Bill spoke first: “Drop Your Weapons! You Are Under Arrest For Piracy!”

Hearing his announcement, the pirates all burst into laughter. Even the ones who seen him drop from the sky were no different.

Before he could speak again, a green-haired man wielding a saber stepped forward: “Under ARREST?! YOU’RE Going To ARREST Us? By Yourself?! Uhauhahuha!”

?: “Get’um Captain Manjaro!”

?: “With Captain Manjaro here who cares about the Marines?!”

At this point, Bill didn’t have time to care about the peanut gallery. Instead, he shouted once more: “Do Not Resist! Drop Your Weapons!!”

 Seeing him not move, the pirates became bold. Even the dumbest among them being able to see that thirty was more than one.

None were so bold as Manjaro though, as the green-hair swordsmen closed the distance between he and Bill drawing his weapon.

Seeing this, and a few of the gunmen raise their weapons, Bill didn’t wait and rushed forward to hit the swordsmen with the butt of his hammer.

Even at a time like this, Bill made a mistake he would come to learn to never make and had instinctively held back.

Staggering back with a bloody face, Manjaro shouted: “ill VIS ARINE!”

As soon as the pirate shouted, six muskets fired, and a dozen pirates madly charged at him.

In a flurry of movement Bill swung out with his hammer, dodged, and kicked.

Perhaps due to bravery or to stupidity, the pirates didn’t break and run. Instead for the next ten minutes through dispersed musket fire Bill fought more and more ferociously.

Throughout this entire time Bill had unconsciously limited himself trying to avoid any deaths.

He done so because he wanted the pirates to face justice, but also because despite everything he’d been through, Bill had never deliberately killed a human before.

Fighting so many at once was different than finding a group of five or eight who he could catch by surprise.

For a man who could easily break the backs of huge monsters, for the first several minutes of this fight, he hadn’t finished off a single man.

Until, cornered on all sides, Bill heard a crack and felt a bullet bury itself in his chest.

Looking over, he saw three more puffs of smoke and then felt three more thuds on his left arm and side.

Instead of this slowing the big Marine down, Bill saw red and swung the hammer at the nearest pirate, popping the man’s head like a water balloon.

Before the other pirates could process what had happened, he was a wolf in the middle of a flock of sheep.

Swinging the hammer so fast it directly ripped men apart, the more he swung the more blood flew. As the last pirate raised his musket, Bill threw the hammer hard enough to pierce the man like a spear.

And like that, the battle ended within a minute.

Only after there was no movement, Bill clutched his chest, and realized he had stopped breathing.