The Marine

“I doubt it’s going to work.”

“I said I need quiet!”

Snapping back at his rotund subordinate, Bill was about to fire up the fusion reactor for the third time.

It had been six months since Onigumo had sailed away and, in conjunction with being a humanoid piece of heavy machinery during the day, Bill had spent most nights working on the reactor down in the massive cavern he had carved out.

The design of the cavern had come with the help of the head engineers, but he had dug it out with his own two hands.

But this was only one small part of an enormous project.

This project included installing the electric generators and junction boxes into solid stone then running power cords to huge transistors which fed in to high-capacity power cells.

These power cells then supplied power into the islands power system, which all had to be connected via relay stations that had been spread out evenly across the length of the islands electrical grid.

Every single aspect of this was a headache and would have would have been simply impossible without having a capable workforce who was more than willing to bend over backwards.

It didn’t help matters that Bill couldn’t help from trying to understand how exactly everything worked.

On one hand, it was a responsible thing to do but on the other hand he had spent weeks understanding the principles behind the fusion reactor.

This fusion reactor was at it’s base a magnetic generator of incredible design.

Using anti-gravity and ultra-fine lasers, plasma was created and spun into a donut by four colliding laser beams.

This spinning created a powerful magnetic field, and that magnetic field was converted into electricity when a fifth laser shot upwards through the donut and created a reverse current through the magnetic field.

The process was called magnetic induction and was one of the oldest known ways on Earth to create electricity.

Except that unlike on Earth, where power was typically generated through giant turbines turning against magnetic fields, this world had those naturally occurring anti-gravity particles found in the clouds of sky islands.

Thanks to this natural advantage, Vegapunk and his scientists who worked on Energy Systems did not have to worry about any solid barriers for containing the fusion reaction.

And without those physical obstacles blocking anything, lasers could create the induction needed turn magnetism to electricity.

All of this was easy to say but had taken Bill weeks to understand; whether or not he had near perfect recall.

Once he had relatively understood the math and principles behind how it worked, he then found out the incredible difference between understanding it on paper and putting the machine together.

The sheer size of the reactor was daunting. It took up about the size of a basketball court and was forty-feet high in the center.

Its size was due to the fact that it used a total of five ultra-fine lasers, and it was also due to this that there was not a single redundant part.

Everything had to be perfectly clean and perfectly aligned.

That was why right now Bill was going over and over the schematics.

This would be his third time trying to ignite the reactor. His first two attempts failing due to either misaligned parts or dirty lenses.

 But now was the moment of truth, and it had to be done properly because he only had enough power left in his generator for two more attempts.

The generator was also an ingenious device, it ran on crystalline dihydrogen. On top of the fact that it produced no carbon emissions and was safe to operate in any environment, it had solved one of the biggest issues with using dihydrogen as fuel.

Which was that dihydrogen being very heavy was also unstable at room temperatures.

These crystals were hard to produce, but Bill only needed sea water and a lot of energy to make them.

As he did one final check, he hoped to solve his energy problem tonight.

“Did you make sure to wipe the lenses this time?”

Turning around, Bill looked at Nelson said: “What did I tell you about talking when you saw me working, do I need to bring back the stick?”

Nelson: “Oh, no no! Captain, I was only trying to help! You were just speaking to Jenkins and the other engineers about the fuel problems, I just don’t want you to make a mistake!”

Bill doubted this, though he had to admit that over the last nine months Nelson had seemed to change. Or if he didn’t change, he saw Bill as being higher ranked than he and so would naturally listen.

Basically, Bill’s general opinion on Nelson was that he was someone who was strong against the weak but weak against the strong.

This didn’t necessarily mean that Nelson was a coward, he had cursed Bill out numerous times when they had just got together – even after he had received beatings.

No, instead of that, Nelson had an unhealthy relationship to authority itself.

In a weird way, when Nelson had learned what happened between Bill and the Vice Admiral, he imparted some imagined authority to his Captain that he didn’t have before.

So, while he still complained from time to time it was nowhere near as much as before. When Bill told Nelson to act a certain way around the enlisted men and women, he more or less obeyed.

One time, and it had only been one time, Nelson had called himself “Black Stone’s man” after he offered his opinion on how to integrate the new Marines in with those from Clockwork Island.

As expected from a person who graduated ranked 3rd in the Marineford Academy, Nelson’s tactical and operational awareness was very good even by Headquarters standards.

This had made Bill wonder just what would have happened if that Nelson hadn’t become addicted to food while trying to master Iron Body.

Perhaps, Bill thought, Nelson just had a rotten personality. Though whatever that would have happened should have still been better than becoming a 1,000 Kilogram monster who terrorized the people who served under him.

Sighing to this, he stopped distracting himself and got about his work.

Checking for the last time that everything was in its place and secure, Bill turned on the generator.

With a low hum signifying it was turned on, Bill first powered the anti-gravity casing. Then he released the fuel and after waiting just another couple seconds he flipped on the four lasers.

As the four beams collided it with the suspended fuel there formed a pure white ball.

Checking that all systems were working within expected parameters Bill heaved a sigh on relief and activated the casing’s gyration operation.

Seeing the anti-gravity chamber spinning, Bill kept a very close eye the sensors that read the plasma’s shape.

At this point, the particles were beginning to fuse and as they did so the donut shape was formed.

It was now or never, Bill knew, and even Nelson seemed to understand this as he kept quiet with his eyes fixed on the screens reading off various sensor gauges.

Then with the tap of a button the fifth laser shot protons upwards, through the donut and its magnetic field.

Then at the culmination of half a years’ worth of mind-numbing work, electricity sparked through the electric generator, turned the machine on for the first time.

Green lights flashed and in the moment of success, Bill smelled something he shouldn’t smell.

He heard Nelson congratulating him, but he smelled…

‘Oh no…’ he thought, and he virtually teleported from location and made his way to the junction box that led to the batteries.

Smoke hadn’t yet to form but Bill could smell the huge copper wiring heat up past what it should.

Thinking fast, Bill quickly realized he hadn’t connected the breaker which would direct the electricity to the charging stations.

This had been created as they were building out the islands electrical grid so if anything should happen there would be a fail safe.

After all, the fusion reactor was amazing but that was a double-edged sword.

There wasn’t a huge risk for a supernova to occur, the amount of material they were fusing was just too small for that. Instead, the risk had been in unforeseen power fluctuations.

Thinking on his feet, Bill connected the fuses and using his teeth stripped the wires coming out of the breaker, he pulled out a knife and broke its tip off to form a screwdriver.

He worked carefully but quickly, and after barely thirty seconds he flipped the main breaker on, allowing electricity to flow through.

Not knowing when it happened, but he had stopped breathing in those seconds and shutting the panel he breathed in more heavily than he normally would.

If he hadn’t had an enhances sense of smell, he knew he would have ruined the electric generator. Probably the reactor would have been fine, but the generator and wiring would have been destroyed.

Heading back to the computers which read off diagnostic reports, Bill ignored Nelson asking him what had happened and stood there looking at the screen which read: [All Systems Online]

“Ha… Haha… Hahaha!”

Laughing hysterically, seeing this it felt like a weight had been lifted off his chest. After his last two failures he had doubted himself in the back of his mind.

But he pressed through the doubt, and now? He had succeeded.

It didn’t take long for the batteries to fill up enough to supply power to the lab.

First the overhead lights turned on, then the various intricate machines that Bill had ordered which he would need in order to give his officers a surprise.

For the rest of the night, Bill went around the islands relays and then his huge lab, checking over everything twice until he was satisfied.

“Nelson.” Bill said.

After being acknowledged, Bill continued: “Don’t speak to anyone about this, tonight we’re going to have a party and I’ll turn on the relays.

The island still had much that needed to be done, but it had completely transformed from the little agriculture town that exited a year ago.

With thousands of hands working together, the people had created a miracle.

For the last few months, the people had been requesting that Bill change the name of Little East Blue into something more fitting for what the place had become.

Later that next day Bill had arranged for an island-wide party. Through the campfires and paper lanterns the first cries could be heard when he flipped on the relays.

Streetlights turned on, the warehouses and docks lit up and the island’s levels looked like a Christmas tree.

When the people saw the work that they had done unexpectedly light up, it was the greatest moment many of them had in their lives.

The older generations thought about a time before Bear King or a time before they had to live in fear of pirate raids. For the younger generation and the Marines who were still on the island it was a monument to dedication and effort they had put in. For the kids it was just something pretty.

Then, standing at the front of the large banquet Bill stood up and when the people saw him ready to speak the joyful cries died down.

Turn his head from the inner island towards the crowd, Bill looked at them and said in a voice everyone could hear: “Life really has a way to surprise us. I’d suspect that just a year ago none of us here today would have thought any of this would be possible.”

Then gesturing around with his arms, he continued to speak: “And even now! When I look around, I find it hard to believe…”

After pausing for a second, he dropped his arms and continued: “After losing our homes and possessions… our families and friends… how could we have dreamed for anything?”

When Bill mentioned everything that had been lost, the crowds mood turned from amazement of the present to reflection of the past.

He was no master orator, but when Bill saw the mood of the crowd change, he started talking again.

“Yet, even when there seemed to be no hope left, even when it seemed that every door was closed, we stood up!”

When he said this, the crowd seemed to live as a single entity and was hooked on his every word.

“We survived the storm. We don’t know how we did or even if the storm is really over, only that we aren’t the same as we were before.”

“Now let me tell you something” He said in finality.

“The most important things to have ever happened was when people pressed through the storm and came out on the other side with hope.

We have hope, and in this place, we have found a New Haven against the storms that plagued us. This place is our home.

Our neighbors are our brothers, and from our New Haven we will spread hope across the Blues, across the Grand Line, and across the hearts of our fellow man.”

When he finished, there were cries of “down with pirates” and “justice for all” but what he heard most was his name being chanted over and over again.

He didn’t like that, but in this situation, he couldn’t stop it.