After throwing Zephyr off the vessel, Bill immediately started back down into the ship to where Vergo was being held.
The further he walked, he saw signs of damage caused by the old man who had attempted outright murder, and feeling more and more irritated, he finally made it to the interrogation room.
Bill could smell it before he saw it, and sure enough standing there in cloths three sizes too big, with her blackened longsword still unsheathed, was Sasha who had kept an eye on the still unmoved prisoner.
Focusing for a split second, Bill saw the entity attached to her and with a notion he dispelled it from reality.
Growing back into normal self, Sasha sighed with relief as she adjusted her shirt and gave him a nod.
He wanted to ask if she was fine, but knowing his priorities he quickly undid Vergo’s latches and walked him back down to the cell, ignoring his jeers that Bill should just let him go because ‘it was bound to happen anyways’.
This was not something that he could believe even if Vergo worked for a Warlord, after all, Warlords still were required to adhere to laws. If they didn’t, they would be arrested like anyone else – hadn’t this just been shown half a year ago when Captain Smoker arrested the Warlord known as Crocodile?
And regardless of that, Bill told himself over and over again, that it wasn’t his choice to make. Vergo was a prisoner, who was not resisting, and it was as simple as that.
Doing his best to clear his head after chaining Vergo back up, Bill found Sasha inside her quarters. Sitting alongside Ricky and asked how she was doing.
“I’m fine.” She looked up at him and answered, then after pausing for a moment said: “Bill, I need you to get me the Shave technique.”
Though this wasn’t what he’d come in here expecting to talk about, shrugging to her request he answered without a second thought: “Sure, when we reach the island and get a Snail, I’ll talk to my father…” then by the time he had finished his first reflexive answer, he asked: “But what makes you want to learn it now?”
“I’m too slow.” She said directly and then clarified: “Within the reach of my sword I won’t lose to anyone, but I can’t control distance. I looked at the Wave Step…” then slightly shaking her head she continued: “It’s just too erratic, and my swordsmanship would suffer. Instant, direct, bursts of speed are what I need.”
Saying that he understood, he then spoke about what he’d come for and asked about what had happened after he pulled the former Admiral out of the interrogation room.
“Ain is too skilled for me to subdue without being touched, unless I went directly to kill her.” She started wistfully and then explained everything that had happened. As she recounted the events, Bill wondered when she’d get to the part where Ain’s head was split open.
When she finally got to the part with Yoko, and particularly her seeming willingness to kill someone she had known for weeks, he grimaced and shook his head.
“Man, she’s getting worse.” Ricky said cautiously with his only hand being held in Sasha’s lap.
Of course, Bill had eyes and could see what was happening, but as people often do when it comes to loved ones, he saw her actions in the best – or at least most forgiving – light.
So, answering Ricky statement, his first response was simply: “Well, she did help out a lot in those initial days when we were on the run, and that was despite the fact that she had nearly been killed herself. I think she’s just under a lot of stress and really who could blame her?”
When neither of the two immediately responded, he quickly continued: “Plus, I mean, think of our lives when we were thirteen and then think of her life. Yeah, we ran into the Foxy Pirates that time, but this girl has been subjected to pirate raids her whole life and now she’s running around on a half dead Marine frigate sailing to a prison island in the New World!”
Finishing, he took a seat at the far side of the room and crossed his left leg. Leaning on right elbow he finished by saying: “I know her attitude is getting worse, I’ll do something.”
Taking this moment to jump back in Ricky decided to answer half in agreement and half in opposition: “Listen Bill, we all know how much she’s done, but good behavior in the past doesn’t excuse bad behavior in the present… and if it was just the thing with Ain, then so be it, but she’s starting to do ‘pranks’ all over the ship.”
He knew of this too and mostly agreed with Sasha that the girl’s newfound powers were going to her head. No solutions, as such, were discussed and three continued to speak for a while longer before Bill excused himself, he needed to get back to the deck and figure out what to do next.
The first thing he did when he got above deck was to spot the White Tiger. It had created some distance between them but thankfully Bill could see that Zephyr wasn’t intending to slip away. He knew that if the former Admiral did leave them behind that they would most probably find land anyways, but currently they needed more than just a safe port to dock in.
Bill had never heard of Prison Island, but Marine strongholds would have many critical supplies that they wouldn’t be able to get elsewhere.
Looking around deck he found Pearson with the trio of Denny, Danny, and Donny standing beside wheelbarrows and watching Willy with a bunch of whales jumping in and out of the water. They were holding nets and the wheelbarrows were filling up with finger-size Mini Express Shrimp.
This had become their staple meal since entering the New World. These ‘mini’ shrimps seemed to be everywhere, and Bill had wondered before if these creatures were what made up the diet for the Sea Kings.
If that was the case, he had imagined these weren’t ‘mini shrimps’, instead they were this worlds version of giant Krill!
But for now, he wasn’t in the mood to think about crustations, and seeing that the group was using their on-duty hours effectively he moved on and went to find Nelson standing alone at the helm with human crew spotters in the Crow’s Nest directing him.
“Anything on the sea to report?” He started by asking.
After the last couple weeks, Nelson’s throat had healed enough to talk but according to Miyagi it would still be a while before it was safe to yell, or in Nelson’s case, walk fast.
Answering back with first a ‘nay’, Nelson then added: “Our escort had started to pull further afield, but it seems they’ve maintained distance for now. I don’t think they’ll leave us.”
Saying that he thought the same thing, the two stood there for a moment in silence before Nelson asked gruffly: “So, what the hells happened between you and the Instructor?”
Shrugging, Bill told him, and Nelson’s eyes widened when he heard Vergo was a spy for Donquixote Doflamingo and seemed sympathetic to Zephyr.
Whispering ‘that makes sense’, Nelson spoke up by saying: “Captain, I’ll stand by your orders, but my advice is tha...”
“I’m not having that discussion.” Bill interrupted him, but unlike Ricky, Nelson was not reserved and shot back: “You don’t know what the name Donquixote means, do you?” and when he heard the expected ‘What does it matter?’ Nelson continued on: “You don’t seem to want to listen, but you’ll hear this! ‘Donquixote’ is the family name of World Nobles!”
Seeing that his Captain didn’t react to this, Nelson continued to press: “Aye? World Nobles, Celestial Dragons, any of this ringing a bell?”
“So?” Bill asked to a flabbergasted Nelson who started to spit as he exclaimed: “So?! Donquixote Doflamingo is a member of that family, he’s a family member of the Celestial Dragons!”
“A Warlord is a World Noble?” Bill replied doubtfully to which Nelson said quickly: “No! Thank god no! Or else we’d be in deep trouble!”
After saying this, Nelson told Bill the story of how Doflamingo was no longer a World Noble to the best of his knowledge. Then added that despite all of that, Doflamingo was still allowed to carry around the surname which indicated that the family hadn’t completely abandoned him.
“We need to hand Vergo over to Whitebeard.” Nelson huffed and lightly coughed out a whisper: “for whatever reason we were targeted by Vergo… the last bloody thing we can afford is to have that person after us.”
Still putting very little thought in this, Bill simply answered that “If the ‘Heavenly Demon’ comes after us, we’ll just arrest him.” Which made Nelson groan again.
Putting the back of his hand up to the healing wound on his throat, this time Nelson didn’t shout but spoke slow and calm: “If you arrest Donquixote then you may be the one going to Impel Down. He is connected to Celestial Dragons, Bill. That’s why Zephyr wanted to kill Vergo, because if they get involved then it’s all over.”
Huffing himself this time, Bill looked down at Nelson and said testily: “What does that even matter? Even if some of the World Nobles got involved, so what? We have the law on our side!”
Looking oddly at Bill, Nelson eyes seemed to narrow when he said: “Their word is the law! Even children know that the Celestial Dragons exist on a higher realm! They have their own logic and when they command the lower realms, their commandments are enforced!
And that’s why people like us need to steer clear of them!” *Cough cough cough*
Shaking his head, Bill answered back clearly: “I’ve never read anywhere that the Celestial Dragons are above the law, the fact that Allied Kingdoms even exist points to that not being the case.”
After that, the two of went back and forth for what seemed like a long time. Nelson explained that Cipher Pol worked directly for the Celestial Dragons and even claimed that if a disagreement between an allied King and World Noble took place, that allied King would risk having his Kingdom destroyed.
Through this, Bill could tell Nelson wasn’t ‘lying’, but thought just because he wasn’t lying didn’t mean he was right.
For Bill, the simple fact was that the World Government could not hold together the ‘more 170 civilized countries’ by force alone. Firstly, most Marines came from those allied nations and wouldn’t sit still if they saw their homes being destroyed. Secondly, in an huge archipelago world, having any tyrannical centralized power would be easily dismissed thanks to distance if nothing else.
Throwing in the fact that in this world people could be randomly given awesome powers made it harder for him to believe.
Thinking this through, Nelson finished by saying: “Donquixote will get Vergo freed. Worst case scenario is he’ll have to perform some service to Cypher Pol, but Zephyr wasn’t wrong… I hope you can see that and not judge him harshly, Captain.
In fact, Bill, I’d be willing to bet Zephyr was a lot like you when he was younger. That’s probably why he spent so much time onboard.”
Bill didn’t shrug this last comment off. To him it was a reminder that he could never become bitter. His mind was already old, older than anyone knew, but no matter what he could not become like Zephyr.
Even if the Celestial Dragons were just as Nelson described them, and even if Vergo was freed after killing half his crew. Bill would take responsibility and never again lose his mind like he had back on Hannibal.
Ending his conversation with Nelson there, Bill went ahead and arranged a new schedule and distributed it among the crew.
He wanted to reassert some normalcy, and so classes would be restarting. With most of the former teachers having been killed, that meant he would be overseeing most of them, but it was fine.
He limited his sleep to the bare minimum and when he wasn’t working with the crew he was working on himself. The Mini Express Shrimp were very nutritious, and Bill used it to get stronger by the day.
On the third morning after kicking Zephyr off the ship a call rang out that woke the ship.
“Land Ahoy! Land Ahoy!”
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After throwing Zephyr off the vessel, Bill immediately started back down into the ship to where Vergo was being held.
The further he walked, he saw signs of damage caused by the old man who had attempted outright murder, and feeling more and more irritated, he finally made it to the interrogation room.
Bill could smell it before he saw it, and sure enough standing there in cloths three sizes too big, with her blackened longsword still unsheathed, was Sasha who had kept an eye on the still unmoved prisoner.
Focusing for a split second, Bill saw the entity attached to her and with a notion he dispelled it from reality.
Growing back into normal self, Sasha sighed with relief as she adjusted her shirt and gave him a nod.
He wanted to ask if she was fine, but knowing his priorities he quickly undid Vergo’s latches and walked him back down to the cell, ignoring his jeers that Bill should just let him go because ‘it was bound to happen anyways’.
This was not something that he could believe even if Vergo worked for a Warlord, after all, Warlords still were required to adhere to laws. If they didn’t, they would be arrested like anyone else – hadn’t this just been shown half a year ago when Captain Smoker arrested the Warlord known as Crocodile?
And regardless of that, Bill told himself over and over again, that it wasn’t his choice to make. Vergo was a prisoner, who was not resisting, and it was as simple as that.
Doing his best to clear his head after chaining Vergo back up, Bill found Sasha inside her quarters. Sitting alongside Ricky and asked how she was doing.
“I’m fine.” She looked up at him and answered, then after pausing for a moment said: “Bill, I need you to get me the Shave technique.”
Though this wasn’t what he’d come in here expecting to talk about, shrugging to her request he answered without a second thought: “Sure, when we reach the island and get a Snail, I’ll talk to my father…” then by the time he had finished his first reflexive answer, he asked: “But what makes you want to learn it now?”
“I’m too slow.” She said directly and then clarified: “Within the reach of my sword I won’t lose to anyone, but I can’t control distance. I looked at the Wave Step…” then slightly shaking her head she continued: “It’s just too erratic, and my swordsmanship would suffer. Instant, direct, bursts of speed are what I need.”
Saying that he understood, he then spoke about what he’d come for and asked about what had happened after he pulled the former Admiral out of the interrogation room.
“Ain is too skilled for me to subdue without being touched, unless I went directly to kill her.” She started wistfully and then explained everything that had happened. As she recounted the events, Bill wondered when she’d get to the part where Ain’s head was split open.
When she finally got to the part with Yoko, and particularly her seeming willingness to kill someone she had known for weeks, he grimaced and shook his head.
“Man, she’s getting worse.” Ricky said cautiously with his only hand being held in Sasha’s lap.
Of course, Bill had eyes and could see what was happening, but as people often do when it comes to loved ones, he saw her actions in the best – or at least most forgiving – light.
So, answering Ricky statement, his first response was simply: “Well, she did help out a lot in those initial days when we were on the run, and that was despite the fact that she had nearly been killed herself. I think she’s just under a lot of stress and really who could blame her?”
When neither of the two immediately responded, he quickly continued: “Plus, I mean, think of our lives when we were thirteen and then think of her life. Yeah, we ran into the Foxy Pirates that time, but this girl has been subjected to pirate raids her whole life and now she’s running around on a half dead Marine frigate sailing to a prison island in the New World!”
Finishing, he took a seat at the far side of the room and crossed his left leg. Leaning on right elbow he finished by saying: “I know her attitude is getting worse, I’ll do something.”
Taking this moment to jump back in Ricky decided to answer half in agreement and half in opposition: “Listen Bill, we all know how much she’s done, but good behavior in the past doesn’t excuse bad behavior in the present… and if it was just the thing with Ain, then so be it, but she’s starting to do ‘pranks’ all over the ship.”
He knew of this too and mostly agreed with Sasha that the girl’s newfound powers were going to her head. No solutions, as such, were discussed and three continued to speak for a while longer before Bill excused himself, he needed to get back to the deck and figure out what to do next.
The first thing he did when he got above deck was to spot the White Tiger. It had created some distance between them but thankfully Bill could see that Zephyr wasn’t intending to slip away. He knew that if the former Admiral did leave them behind that they would most probably find land anyways, but currently they needed more than just a safe port to dock in.
Bill had never heard of Prison Island, but Marine strongholds would have many critical supplies that they wouldn’t be able to get elsewhere.
Looking around deck he found Pearson with the trio of Denny, Danny, and Donny standing beside wheelbarrows and watching Willy with a bunch of whales jumping in and out of the water. They were holding nets and the wheelbarrows were filling up with finger-size Mini Express Shrimp.
This had become their staple meal since entering the New World. These ‘mini’ shrimps seemed to be everywhere, and Bill had wondered before if these creatures were what made up the diet for the Sea Kings.
If that was the case, he had imagined these weren’t ‘mini shrimps’, instead they were this worlds version of giant Krill!
But for now, he wasn’t in the mood to think about crustations, and seeing that the group was using their on-duty hours effectively he moved on and went to find Nelson standing alone at the helm with human crew spotters in the Crow’s Nest directing him.
“Anything on the sea to report?” He started by asking.
After the last couple weeks, Nelson’s throat had healed enough to talk but according to Miyagi it would still be a while before it was safe to yell, or in Nelson’s case, walk fast.
Answering back with first a ‘nay’, Nelson then added: “Our escort had started to pull further afield, but it seems they’ve maintained distance for now. I don’t think they’ll leave us.”
Saying that he thought the same thing, the two stood there for a moment in silence before Nelson asked gruffly: “So, what the hells happened between you and the Instructor?”
Shrugging, Bill told him, and Nelson’s eyes widened when he heard Vergo was a spy for Donquixote Doflamingo and seemed sympathetic to Zephyr.
Whispering ‘that makes sense’, Nelson spoke up by saying: “Captain, I’ll stand by your orders, but my advice is tha...”
“I’m not having that discussion.” Bill interrupted him, but unlike Ricky, Nelson was not reserved and shot back: “You don’t know what the name Donquixote means, do you?” and when he heard the expected ‘What does it matter?’ Nelson continued on: “You don’t seem to want to listen, but you’ll hear this! ‘Donquixote’ is the family name of World Nobles!”
Seeing that his Captain didn’t react to this, Nelson continued to press: “Aye? World Nobles, Celestial Dragons, any of this ringing a bell?”
“So?” Bill asked to a flabbergasted Nelson who started to spit as he exclaimed: “So?! Donquixote Doflamingo is a member of that family, he’s a family member of the Celestial Dragons!”
“A Warlord is a World Noble?” Bill replied doubtfully to which Nelson said quickly: “No! Thank god no! Or else we’d be in deep trouble!”
After saying this, Nelson told Bill the story of how Doflamingo was no longer a World Noble to the best of his knowledge. Then added that despite all of that, Doflamingo was still allowed to carry around the surname which indicated that the family hadn’t completely abandoned him.
“We need to hand Vergo over to Whitebeard.” Nelson huffed and lightly coughed out a whisper: “for whatever reason we were targeted by Vergo… the last bloody thing we can afford is to have that person after us.”
Still putting very little thought in this, Bill simply answered that “If the ‘Heavenly Demon’ comes after us, we’ll just arrest him.” Which made Nelson groan again.
Putting the back of his hand up to the healing wound on his throat, this time Nelson didn’t shout but spoke slow and calm: “If you arrest Donquixote then you may be the one going to Impel Down. He is connected to Celestial Dragons, Bill. That’s why Zephyr wanted to kill Vergo, because if they get involved then it’s all over.”
Huffing himself this time, Bill looked down at Nelson and said testily: “What does that even matter? Even if some of the World Nobles got involved, so what? We have the law on our side!”
Looking oddly at Bill, Nelson eyes seemed to narrow when he said: “Their word is the law! Even children know that the Celestial Dragons exist on a higher realm! They have their own logic and when they command the lower realms, their commandments are enforced!
And that’s why people like us need to steer clear of them!” *Cough cough cough*
Shaking his head, Bill answered back clearly: “I’ve never read anywhere that the Celestial Dragons are above the law, the fact that Allied Kingdoms even exist points to that not being the case.”
After that, the two of went back and forth for what seemed like a long time. Nelson explained that Cipher Pol worked directly for the Celestial Dragons and even claimed that if a disagreement between an allied King and World Noble took place, that allied King would risk having his Kingdom destroyed.
Through this, Bill could tell Nelson wasn’t ‘lying’, but thought just because he wasn’t lying didn’t mean he was right.
For Bill, the simple fact was that the World Government could not hold together the ‘more 170 civilized countries’ by force alone. Firstly, most Marines came from those allied nations and wouldn’t sit still if they saw their homes being destroyed. Secondly, in an huge archipelago world, having any tyrannical centralized power would be easily dismissed thanks to distance if nothing else.
Throwing in the fact that in this world people could be randomly given awesome powers made it harder for him to believe.
Thinking this through, Nelson finished by saying: “Donquixote will get Vergo freed. Worst case scenario is he’ll have to perform some service to Cypher Pol, but Zephyr wasn’t wrong… I hope you can see that and not judge him harshly, Captain.
In fact, Bill, I’d be willing to bet Zephyr was a lot like you when he was younger. That’s probably why he spent so much time onboard.”
Bill didn’t shrug this last comment off. To him it was a reminder that he could never become bitter. His mind was already old, older than anyone knew, but no matter what he could not become like Zephyr.
Even if the Celestial Dragons were just as Nelson described them, and even if Vergo was freed after killing half his crew. Bill would take responsibility and never again lose his mind like he had back on Hannibal.
Ending his conversation with Nelson there, Bill went ahead and arranged a new schedule and distributed it among the crew.
He wanted to reassert some normalcy, and so classes would be restarting. With most of the former teachers having been killed, that meant he would be overseeing most of them, but it was fine.
He limited his sleep to the bare minimum and when he wasn’t working with the crew he was working on himself. The Mini Express Shrimp were very nutritious, and Bill used it to get stronger by the day.
On the third morning after kicking Zephyr off the ship a call rang out that woke the ship.
“Land Ahoy! Land Ahoy!”
UberNuber If you enjoy the fanfic hit the heart icon and consider leaving a like!
