The Marine

Overlooking a vast Marine training complex, Bill led a small group of individuals towards a state-of-the-art Armory.

As they walked, musical bells could be heard chiming across the island from the Diamond Clock at its center indicating that it was now noon.

Looking over his shoulder, down at the Marines running fire drills and assault tactics, Bill appreciated the last year.

Since completing his fusion reactor, the island, now dubbed New Haven, had completely changed.

It could be safely said now that every resident on the island was a person related to the Science Division, even though not everyone had actually signed up.

After electricity could be safely supplied at nearly any voltage Bill had a select group follow him as he built his lab, teaching them about the fusion reactor in the process, and the head engineers designed a large manufacturing hub near the port.

The hub was large and consisted of two broad buildings that lined each side of the harbor, the first held the furnace and machinery needed for assembling the watches, machining machines, water pumps, and other industrial merchandise and the second held the Armory.

The Armory was not very large, it could only produce three or four cannons at a time with perhaps forty rivet rifles per month.

But what it lacked in size it made up for in quality.

Bill had given it a lot of thought before deciding to produce ‘King Cannons’ for sell to various Marine Bases, the first being Vallipo Island.

He had never imagined that he’d get into the arms business but in order to have an Armory there needed to be a valid reason.

Thankfully, there wasn’t need to get approval directly from Marineford as one of the mission statements for the Science Division was to supply weaponry to the navy.

The only condition was that all the weaponry produced had to be stamped where it was made and thus [New Haven Armory] made its first appearance on the high turrets of Base SB-T.

He still hadn’t heard anything about the Court Martial he was going to have to face, and a year after the incident it hardly weighed on his mind, but sometimes it still hit him that at some point he would be called to Marineford then perhaps to Enies Lobby depending on how it went.

Shaking his head Bill looked back towards where he was leading Sasha, Borodo, Fia, and Ricky.

The ceilings were high inside the Armory and inside the main factory there were a dozen conveyor belts which moved around parts for the assembly of the weapons.

The system was pretty good, Bill thought, only that it was slowed down by the manufacturing of ammunition used in these weapons.

The King Cannon required high velocity shells that weighed over a thousand pounds each and there wasn’t anything that could be done about it, then it had been decided that the Rivet Rifles would use the equivalent of .30-06 cartridges.

To use this caliber of ammunition, the Rivet Rifle had to be slightly redesigned, and it ended up looking bulkier than a M1 Springfield.

On the whole this was a huge upgrade, not accounting true superhumans these caliber shells and ammunition would turn wooden ships and lightly armored pirates into Swiss cheese.

Of course, true superhumans were the main thing that needed to be accounted for in this world, and when doing tests Bill found that being shot by the .30-06 caliber only resulted in a scuff mark on his skin, it was decided that despite these new more powerful weapons; range was still their best tactic.

No matter what, Bill learned, in this world it took a superhuman to fight a superhuman.

With that in mind he had began to develop systems for his Lieutenants.

He counted himself lucky to have so many people around him who could be reasonably called superhuman. From what Bill had seen from Captain Hina, Maynard, and even his father, having more than one strong subordinate was rare in the Marines.

Even Captain Smoker, who had a top tier Commission as the leader of the Lougetown branch, only had Tashigi before he pressed Gin and Pearl into his service.

With this in mind, Bill crossed the factory floor with the others. Receiving several “Hello” and “How do you do” Bill greeted the workmen as he walked with his small company of followers.

Past the factory floor, there was an underground firing range.

The space was very large and over the months had turned into where Bill would test the equipment he made in his lab. His designs were genius but still experimental, and he hadn’t wanted to risk damaging the barracks or anything else above ground.

Walking into the chamber, which could have doubled as a bomb shelter, Ricky whistled.

“Every time I see this place, I can’t quite believe it.”

This area had bright lights and the doorways had been built large enough to accommodate anyone under 25ft tall, and so nodding his head in agreement, Bill turned his head and said: “You think this is hard to believe just wait till you see what’s coming.”

Then with a laugh he led the group over to a weapons rack on same wall as the doorway.

Standing there was Carol and one of the younger men originally from Clockwork Island, his name was Hugo Hutchings, and he was one of the few who signed up to be a part of the Science Division almost immediately.

Thanks to mastering Life Return, Bill had an incredible memory. It wasn’t quite total recall, but it was close enough that he could firmly remember the things he put his mind to.

Hugo had been born with essentially the same ability. His life on Clockwork Island was one of highs and lows as those who have such mental acumen's usually experience.

When he was young, he would sometimes be stimulated to the point of inactivity, living for weeks inside his own head. Conversely, when he got older, he would become bored, and that boredom led to depression.

It was only when he came in to contact with the Science Division that the intelligent young man seemed to have a path set for him, a path that Bill was happy to route.

After all, despite everything Bill knew he couldn’t stay in his lab as much as he’d like to. The seas were just too dangerous and setting up contracts would require his direct negotiations, at least until he was sure that Ricky or someone else could do so.

“Everything here, Hugo?” Bill asked once he and the others were near enough to start talking without having to shout.

Nodding his head, the man who stood beside Carol said: “Ye..yes Captain, the, uh, Burst Boots and Gloves are fully op.operational, charged, a.and ready to go.”

“Good.” Replied Bill, nodding his head as he inspected the gear on the weapons rack.

After he did this, he turned to Sasha and the others and said: “When we’re together not many out there would be able to take us down, and I know that our collective strength is growing by the week.”

Pausing for a moment on Ricky and Borodo he continued: “But as our operations grow we can’t always be together. Hopefully we wont ever be forced to break up into small groups, but you never know…

I’m sure you’re all aware of news coming out from the Whitebeard Pirates, but it’s unknown exactly how the Marines will deal with them if Whitebeard loses his mind.”

Thinking this, the group grimaced.

It had been reported just a couple weeks before that a crew member of Whitebeard named ‘Edward Teach’ killed one of the Division Commanders, that Commander was called Whitebeards son, and so Bill had kept an eye on the situation.

To make matters worse now that pirate wanted to seek protection with the World Government by becoming a Warlord.

Bill had never met any of the Emperors, but he did know that their titles were not honorary.

Each of the four Emperors controlled a large swath of the New World, encompassing several kingdoms each, and Edward Newgate, or better known as Whitebeard, controlled more territory than any other two Emperors combined.

Putting his personal strength aside, which was said to be the strongest in the world, he could command fleets of pirate and kingdom ships alike.

Bill didn’t know what it meant to be the strongest person in this world, but he knew what it meant to have a pirate lord controlling armadas with superhuman Commanders.

This was also a main reason why he put the King Cannon back in production, it hadn’t been easy to assuage the tempers of the former Clockwork Island residents when the choice was made.

The move seemed prophetic in some ways, as the matter with Whitebeard hadn’t been known months previously, but in other ways it just seemed like the most likely outcome that some friction would appear between the World Government and those set opposite to it.

Picking up a pair of boots, he tossed them to Sasha and told her to put them on. The material was light and had a certain bit of elasticity.

They looked like ninja footwear that had lights circling the wearers ankles. When the light shown blue it was ready, when it was red it was recharging.

Bill was happy with how they turned out, but there were some drawbacks, one being the lack of heat instillation. He could have addressed this, but the only way he figured it to be possible was to turn the shoes into essentially brick shape.

The reason for their poor insulation was because he used anti-gravity particles in the design. Whenever the burst was fired it caused an anti-gravity field for a second while pulse thrusters kicked upwards.

The result of this combination somewhat mirrored Moon Step but in doing so blew away any heat from the wearers shin down.

Explaining all of this to Sasha as she put them on, Bill told her how they activated.

“Just bend your big toes hard in when you jump.” He said to her and watching her succeed on the first try got the others involved.

He enjoyed watching them each use the device in their own ways. Sasha immediately had pulled out her longsword and began practice swings while in the air.

Ricky had bounced back as fast as he could until the sensors turned red, and he crashed to the ground.

“Ah, I forgot to mention.” Bill said with a laugh: “One charge lasts about twenty kicks.”

Falling to the ground as he said this, Sasha landed on her feet and asked: “How’re they recharged?”

“Good question! Hugo, care to explain?”

When Bill said this Borodo, Sasha, Fia, and Ricky gathered back around the weapons rack and Hugo started stammering.

“I..it works on the principles of k.kinetic energy.”

“Does that mean they recharge depending on how fast we move?” asked Fia, who despite not trying to be a Special Operator was constantly finding herself put in the most dangerous position with Ranse.

Bill didn’t do this to spite his friend, but the old ‘Fruit Ninja’ really was suited to protecting the people around her. This was made even more so now that her Devil Fruit had evolved, and she fired smaller versions of the King Cannon out of her arm barrels.

This process had been fascinating, and Bill could see the wraith behind her had changed somewhat.

If she wasn’t his friend, he would have pried deeper. Though since no Fruit user appreciated having their ability messed with, he wouldn’t do it unless he felt there was no choice.

 “Y.yes” answered Hugo who then added: “The d.design works that way b.but they don’t re.recharge easily when being u.used.”

Nodding his head, Bill added what he could see Ricky wanting to know: “That means they can’t recharge themselves while you’re in the air. The best my testing could do was squeeze out three additional bursts.”

This was the definitive answer, because as Bill had mastered the Moon Step few others would have been as good in the air as he.

“R.right.” Hugo added with a nod.

“And what’s the range you had?” Asked Sasha who was eyeing the blue light.

“About a kilometer or so starting from the ground. If your first jump is strong enough, then you may go further.”

Nodding her head, Ricky then asked about the gloves.

“These work on the opposite principle of the footwear.” Said Bill as he put on one of the stretchy gloved.

Holding his palm out, he suddenly bent his fingers into claws and an invisible field burst forward.

It didn’t look like much, Bill knew, but the science behind the gloves was far more advanced than the shoes.

The shoes were made with anti-gravity particles naturally found in addition to pulse technology that Vegapunk had theorized decades ago.

The gloves on the other hand produced a field that manipulated gravitons that held the user’s hand in place.

This was Bill’s first actual discovery and his first introduction into ‘Field Theory’ as he called it.

Field Theory had the potential to be truly magical. From wormholes to forcefields, harnessing forces could be used for pushing, cutting, pulling and in the far future he could even see it used for even fine manipulation.

If Field Theory was more advanced, it could hypothetically have the answers to harness the elemental forces themselves.

“That doesn’t look very strong though.” Added Ricky, not shy to tell Bill the truth.

Nodding his head to this, Bill said he agreed but added: “What makes these gloves powerful is that they can only be blocked with Haki.”

Hearing this the others looked at themselves then back to Bill, and Sasha was naturally the first to speak: “How do you mean?”

“Carol, would you like to explain?” Bill asked the eleven-year-old.

The girl wasn’t a genius like Hugo, but Bill had promised Masterson that he would educate his daughter and in addition to normal schooling the girl would hang around the lab whenever Bill wasn’t working on anything to sensitive.

*Eh Hem* The girl cleared her voice.

“The reason is due to the graviton field. Without the outside force of Haki, the real body must be moved back.”

Thinking that this was a good enough explanation from an eleven-year-old Bill didn’t expand his thoughts.

After this, the group started blasting themselves with the gloves. Bill knew that Sasha could use Armament Haki but was surprised when Fia also resisted the push.

Ricky and Borodo couldn’t help but be thrown back several feet and in conjunction with the boots had started playing a game of tag.

After a while, Bill ended his demonstration and told the others that within four months they would have thirty pairs of gloves and boots.

They would all be going to his Departments elite group of Special Operators.

‘Well, elite may be too much.’ He thought.

There had been good progress made, out of the twenty man group a whopping ten had some small success with Iron Body.

Of course, Iron Body was never going to be as flashy as Shave, but it was a key step into turn someone with a regular physique into a superhuman.

Bill knew he would never have a group of twenty Sasha’s and Ranse’s, that’s why he developed the technology. He just needed to have a few teams of specialized combatants that could operate in the Lower Seas without the need for worry.

With five men per team, he had already started to develop what he believed he needed.

The reason for this was that there simply wasn’t much time left.

After building the factories, hiring the workers, and taking in those Marines from Onigumo, Bill’s current expenses were 2.6m Beli per month in salaries.

That number would grow to be roughly 12m Beli per month by the end of the year as the recruits from Clockwork Island ranked up to 1st and 2nd Mates and as he started paying the eight-hundred workers an actual wage.

“Ah, Borodo.” He said as if he forgot.

“Yes Captain?” answered the Departments head navigator.

“Come to my lab tonight, the diagnostics on your new arm should be done.”

When he said this, Borodo’s eyes lit up.

Bill had promised the man a new arm to replace the old mechanical one he had; and the limb he created was a biocomputing work of art. Perhaps it wasn’t as striking as Edison, Vegapunks Satellite, but Bill was just as happy with the arm as he had been with the shoes.

Getting confirmation from Borodo, Bill knew he had about nine months left until he ran out of money.

‘One step at a time.’ He told himself as he left with Hugo and Carol, back into the lab.