The Marine

After briefly standing beside the bed, Bill dressed in a uniform brought by Marron and chose to leave the room.

He concluded that while he would like something to eat, he felt too good to stay resting. Furthermore, he wanted to see the situation on the island.

Surely Captain Hina would have tied up the pirates, but their crew barely had sixty able bodies, it seemed impossible for that many to hold the two hundred or more pirates down unless Captain Hina intended to never sleep.

Leaving the room with this thought, the first thing Bill found was the house he was in to be very basic.

It wasn’t small, per se, but it had the style of a 18th-century manor house. Complete with candle holders on the walls, a fireplace, wooden furniture, and no bathroom that he could find.

One thing Bill could never get accustomed to was the technological disparities he’d seen in this world.

Walking around the house, he thought that it looked very fine, but it could have been in a museum back on Earth.

To think that the same culture which could create cyborgs and lasers would also have most of its population living with technology related to the Age of Sail was very strange for him.

It didn’t take long to inspect the house and head out the door.

The house had a nice porch, but one that didn’t wrap around the house. From the front door Bill could see down to the islands amazing natural harbor.

Squinting slightly, he could make out the four vessels and the first thing he took note of was the high level of movement and then just the terrible damage inflicted on Captain Hina’s ship.

Even from this great distance the ships damage was evident. It seemed that while he had been in the thick of it, he hadn’t had time to appreciate just how roughed up the ship had become.

Now he thought that even with the seastone haul it was a minor miracle for the thing to still be floating.

Turning his head from the active harbor, Bill jotted down the steps thinking he wanted to get down there soon.

Looking side to side, he looked around the house where he found there were three small buildings, one of the buildings had a chimney and so given the condition of the main house determined it to be the kitchen.

Sure enough, as Bill walked to the door Yoko came out holding a tray of sausages and fruits nearly as big as she was.

“Mister! Dad said you should be resting, I was coming with your food! You’re a Patient, so be Patient!”

Seeing the energetic child, Bill relented and as she talked and talked, they went back inside the house to eat.

The amount of food was basically the same as a normal-sized large meal. Though for a person who could eat his weight even before his change, it was a snack.

“Hey! My dad said you beat those pirates really good! When I grow up, I’m also going to be a Marine!”

As the girl spoke, Bill continued to eat and humor her. Perhaps his decades of being a grandpa had ingrained something in him when dealing with children.

The meal was small but if anyone could see what was happening inside his body they would have been shocked.

Previously, Bill could direct nutrients around his body. Back then he had to actually detect and think about it, but now his body seemed to have a mind of its own.

Because he didn’t know the full situation, he wanted to maximize the energy he would get from this food, and so his body stored the carbohydrates and other nutrients in super dense fat cells.

On the outside he looked no different, but on the inside, he was altering himself at the cellular level!

Finished with his meal he stood up with his dishes while Yoko kept talking about the island.

“My dad is the best, and he’s super strong! When the pirates come, he protects everyone in the tunnels!”

When the girl said this, Bill remembered the cave he had been headed to, and as they walked towards the kitchen he said: “Oh, are there tunnels in that cave?”

Seeing her nod enthusiastically, Bill turned his head to see Captain Ryudo leaving the kitchen with another tray, this one holding a good-looking bread pudding.

Looking at the thing, a smile appeared on his face as memories of his last life surfaced.

Bill had been born in the Great Depression, and as his family was poor, they had to economize. One way they did so was that for months at a time they seemed to live off of Mac-N-Cheese for dinner and what Bill’s dad joked was ‘Poor Man’s Pudding’ for breakfast.

It was a simple breakfast of stale bread stacked together with a little bit of milk, some brown sugar, and a few raisins.

Once the concoction was baked for a time it formed a bread pudding that while cheap tasted good.

As Bill looked at the tray in Ryudo’s hands, he thought of a meal he hadn’t had in a very long time.

And so once again, he was prevented from leaving as he went back inside and spoke to Captain Ryudo.

Eating the pudding slowly, Ryudo didn’t speak as much as Yoko, but the trio spoke like they had known each other for years.

Chatting for longer than he meant to, Bill had learned that the Captain had attended the Marineford Cadet Academy and after getting his rank found the love of his life on this little island while on his way to the East Blue.

The Marines tended to give a lot of freedom to their officers and so Ryudo’s petition to be reassigned to this island was easily done. To make things even easier for him, the islanders welcomed the idea of having a Marine Captain reside there and so everyone pitched in to build their house.

Ryudo hadn’t mentioned his wife again, and Bill didn’t ask. Some people liked to talk about their lost ones, but for others it was a landmine better left untouched by strangers.

After some time, Bill said goodbye to his hosts and promised Yoko he’d play with her later. After leaving the house his first stop was the beach, where there should be hundreds of pirates being held.

Because he had eaten, and felt amazing, Bill didn’t hold back and after jumping twenty feet in the air launched himself forward.

He was moving quickly, and the rate of his fall coincided with the natural levels on the island.

A short period of time later, the beach came into clear view Bill and was surprised to see what was happening.

Work was going on everywhere.

Despite the fact that there had been wooden stockades built up holding many pirate prisoners, there were at least as many out of the stockades walking without restraint.

Landing with a soft thud a distance away from the labor Bill recognized that there was one Marine per group of three or four.

Wondering about this development, Bill called out to the nearest sailor, a man who had the faded marking of a Chief Petty Officer.

“Hey you there!”

Hearing his shout, the Marine and his three followers turned their heads.

Seeing Bill walking over, the man did the same and as they got closer, he replied with a smile: “Lieutenant! I’m glad to see you up and around! How can I help you sir?”

Hearing the man respond like this made Bill reflexively smile because it wasn’t easy for a sixteen-year-old to gain admiration from older men.

This had been something Bill had considered and so he’d never once brought up rank; he had simply outworked everyone around him. And now after everything that had happened, the entire crew knew who he was and respected him despite his youth.

With a slight smile, Bill motioned with his hand and questioned: “Mate, what’s going on here?” Then while putting his hands down continued: “Where are the Warrant Officers and Captain Hina?”

 At the hand gesture, the 2nd Mate had turned his head to the mass of people and when Bill finished responded: “Sir, yesterday when we got to port Captain Hina detained every pirate she could find while the others in the landing party gathered them together.

Once that was done, work was immediately put to building those stockades.”

As 2nd Mate said this he gestured to the rough stockades, which were little more than open-topped animal cages, then continued: “Well I’m not sure the whole story, but after the Captain got into contact with the Marine on this island, I heard she offered a bunch of the pirates written pardons if they agreed to do a ten-year stint with the navy.”

When the man spoke, Bill nodded slightly, he knew that the Marines used impressment but had never actually seen it used.

Continuing to listen, he made a note to ask Captain Hina about it when he found her.

“Lot of them agreed… about half or maybe just over… anyways, for now they’re just Seaman so they broke them up in work crews, as you see.” Pointing to the men behind him: “That’s why its one Mate leading a small crew.”

After that the Mate didn’t have much useful information, he and his group were apparently charged with replanting some section of the woods that were burned down.

 He pointed Bill to the pirate ships and said last he heard Hina was on the big one, then after saying their goodbyes, he left with his small crew.

Eyeing the three pirate ships Bill recognized there was activity on them, then jumping into the air he made his way to the largest ship at a moderate pace.

By the time he had crossed half the distance, he was spotted by one of the senior Special Operators in Hina’s crew. It was a man named Makko whom Bill had only slight knowledge of.

Landing on the deck, Bill looked up to find that Hina was standing in the doorway to the captain’s quarters and despite her questioning look simply said: “Lieutenant Ox, Hina didn’t think you’d be out of bed so soon.

Well, come on inside.” Then turning around without waiting for a reply she went back inside.

Without nodding his head, Bill quickly followed and Makko shut the door behind them. In the center of the medium sized room was a round navigation table. On top of some crudely drawn maps were lists of names, equipment, and other forms of cargo.

Around the table stood Hina and a few other officers of her crew. Taking his place at the table, Hina started talking: “Captain Ryudo didn’t dispute the bounties, and so we’ll also have forty-eight million Beli coming in, in addition to what the rest of the cargo will sell for – which is estimated to be fifteen million.”

Listening Hina speak, Bill reached over to grab some of the forms on the table.

‘Hmmm…’

What he had picked up was a simple expense report.

Technically speaking, Marine Headquarters did not pay individual wages. Instead, each Base and commissioned ship were allotted operational funds that were determined by the threat level that would probably be faced.

For the many Bases around the world this was a relatively simple process because the seas around them were relatively well-know.

As a result, these funds were often handled by the stationed Purser.

But for those commissioned vessels whose location would necessarily change, the funds were typically at the discretion of the highest-level Officer on board.

As Bill looked over the expense report, he had instantly recognized the game Hina was playing.

The Grand Line had no recruit Seaman out on the water. Every sailor had to reach the rank of Mate 3rd Class before being stationed on a ship.

This was because of the wide range of sea kings and climates that were found in the Grand Line, an unsuspecting dispatch of Seaman would easily take it on the chin.

This practice was standard across the Gran Line, and so Hina’s way around this was to have the pirates-turned-Seaman assigned to her for training.

Not to her ship, but to her personally.

This meant that even at their rank it was silently accepted to have them onboard an active-duty ship.

Not only that, but Recruit Seaman were only paid about eight thousand Beli per month.

When a beer could cost five hundred Beli, it could be seen just how little eight thousand was.

Even if these pirates turned over a new leaf and strived to prove themselves, it could be a year before they received the rank of Petty Officer, or rather, Mate 3rd Class.

As Bill thought about all of this, he had other questions.

Unfortunately, the expense report he picked up wasn’t so inclusive. The only thing he could say with any certainty was that, despite the deaths of some forty Marines, Captain Hina could had actually benefited from this disaster.

He didn’t have time to look at whether or not the HINA could be repaired without having to visit a shipyard; the seastone haul would definitely be fine so it was hard to say if carpenters could do the whole job.

Hina: “So, its decided. We’ll keep one ship and rename her. Makko, you will be the senior Officer on board, this is your shot, make Hina proud.

The other ships will be scrapped to repair and refit the HINA---

“Wait, Captain.”

Interrupting her in the middle of speaking wasn’t comfortable. However there had been one thing left out and Bill could not let it pass. When he spoke all the eyes around the table looked up towards him.

Then he surprised them by asking: “What about the shares for the Science Division?”