“Surrender?”

Bill said, then paused to muse for a moment at the pirates demand, wondering if these people had lost their minds.

Granted physical size in this world didn’t always equate to strength, but for people who lived a life of violence, surely, they should have some inkling of who to mess with and who to leave alone.

In a world of monsters and superhumans, such an ability was almost a prerequisite for survival.

Taking a closer look at the man who demanded his surrender, Bill felt no such apprehension, and even thought the fellow looked comical with that big barrel strapped on his back.

But quickly clearing his mind of distractions he spoke again: “And who exactly would I be surrendering too?”

“Chu-chu-chu!” laughed the portly fellow upon hearing the Marines question: “You’d be surrendering to us! The [Silver Pirate Alliance], now now, come quietly and we may just let you all live through this!”

“Oh, the Silver Pirate Alliance? I’ve heard of you all…” naturally Bill had never heard of these fools.

He only said so because he didn’t recognize any of them from the Bounty Posters, and while they thought they were in control of the situation, they may give up more information.

It was a dumb cultural tendency that Bill had learned after living in this world for 25 years, but it was a fact nonetheless that villainous people tended to be rather boastful.

“… but which member of that Pirate Alliance are you? you’re surely not *him*!”

Of course, there was specific ‘him’ in Bill’s mind, and the portly fellow didn’t disappoint him when he said: “Chu-chu-chu! No, I’m not our great leader, Silver Bill! I’m the Rolling-Human Aveyron! And this is…- “SHUT UP!”

Finally unable to take it anymore, the gangster looking lady spat on the ground, turned to her companion, shoved him, and then said coldly: “He’s just getting information out of you, you fool!”

Seeing the ‘rolling man’ about to argue, the gangster lady said icily: “I’m the leader of this raid…” and that look scared the man into place.

Turning back to Bill, she then said: “We don’t want to hurt you, we don’t HAVE to hurt you, we’re only taking the ship.”

Looking at this lady, who he could tell wasn’t a day older than 18, Bill looked confused, but said: “You don’t want to hurt us? What, is this a game to you?

You have attacked a Marine vessel; you could have potentially killed soldiers of the World Government.

Girl, this is not a game. I have it well within my rights to kill you all where you stand!”

“You Dare?!” the gangster lady yelled back in response, and though he was bewildered, the scene to him was like a rabbit threating a bear, the lady continued: “Show him we mean business, boys!” and with that the scores of rough looking men behind her started waving their weapons.

Axes, sabers, picks, and even a few muskets were waved as the men were all shouting threats.

As for the Marines behind Bill, having long ago taken their places on the ships ratlines, covering behind the railings, and perched on the Crows Nest, all thirty Marines held their rifles.

And they didn’t say a thing.

Evidently having hyped themselves up enough, the Rolling-Human was the first to act.

Turning his legs into wheels, the man pulled out 2 drills from his barrel and spinning them at high speeds yelled a train-like sound: “CHU! CHU!”

With that he sped towards Bill, the pirates with muskets raised their weapons, and the others charged together.

The next scene happened in barely 10 seconds.

BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!

The musket men were the first to die, even before the rolling pirate Aveyron had reached Bill, already 10 pirates lay dead.

Moving with the sound of the gunshots, Bill didn’t ‘rush’ but still moved fast enough to grab the 2 drills with his bare hands, crush them under his grip, and deliver a sternum-crushing kick to Aveyron.

The gangster lady was a bit better, moving fast, she appeared beside Bill just after he delivered his kick and swung a pipe directly at the tall Marines chin.

But how could Bill, a man who had defeated the Golden Lion, possibly get hit by an 18-year-old girls attack?

Moving his head back just a few inches, he then flicked the pipe hard enough to shatter it and fracture the pirate ladies hands which were holding it.

In the background another series of BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! sounded, and the pirates which numbered something like 55, were down to under 15 – and those 15 would turn into 9.

Those 9 individual pirates who were smart enough to have immediately dropped their weapons after the first salvo of Marine gunfire.

From start to finish, only a few breaths had been taken and the onlookers could hardly believe what they had just witnessed.

As for the gangster looking lady, having fallen on her knees she held her shaking broken hands in front of her, and it took her a few more seconds to comprehend what had just happened.

“W…who are you?!” she stammered out; face red, she no longer had a cold façade.

Bill’s height probably made him look like the villain as he looked down on the girl, but nevertheless, he answered her: “I am Commodore William Ox, and you are under arrest for assaulting a Marine officer and jeopardizing the lives of his crew.

Do not resist and you will not be harmed further.”

Saying his name loud enough for the surrounding to hear, Bill looked at the girl but focused on the crowds actions.

‘5, uh?’ he thought to himself, noticing the people who pulled down hoods or immediately started to move away.

Ignoring the girls wails of ‘you monster, you’ve.. you've killed us!’ Bill directly cut her off and said: “What is your name, and where is your boss at?”

Speaking in a tone that didn’t broker argument, the girl looked over and saw that almost a dozen Marines, now armed with black clubs and handcuffs, began to walk off the ship.

These were naturally the Marines who would arrest the surrendered pirates – the clubs would naturally be used to brain any pirate who fought back.

It was a rough business, but that’s military life.

And understanding what those soldiers were going to do, the girl started crying and said: “My… name is Desire… my… boss… is…” hearing Desire speak, Bill didn’t think that she was going to tell him, when suddenly he heard another couple of explosions originating far in the distance.

Turning his head and adjusting his eyes, Bill saw the form of a tall lanky fellow who had a pair of cannons strapped to his back.

Catching the cannons out of the air, as easily as someone would catch a slowly pitched baseball, Bill threw them into the water before they could explode.

“What… was… that?” asked the girl and shaking his head Bill just answered truthfully: “You think I have killed you all, but it seems to me, that you were sent here to die.”

This was not Bill trying to manipulate the pirate girl, for him it was completely nonsensical for a people like these to fight someone like himself.

It was like he thought before, they were rabbits attacking a bear.

And hearing him say this, the girl first seemed to want to deny, but then swooned and directly passed out.

With the attackers subdued, those 5 individuals who Bill had thought were strange turned and left in a hurry.

He had wanted to track down the lanky man with the cannons, but there was something about one of those observers… something he just quite couldn’t put his finger on.

Ordering his men to clean up, Bill burst off into the direction that familiar person went in.

He wasn’t worried about the ship, because unless that man was equivalent to a Marine Admiral, Bill was bound to catch him quickly.

**********************************************

Across [Gran Tesoro] Marines from the Science Division had spread out.

Fully armed, the squads moved like fingers on a hand as they questioned one person after another.

Those fingers never moved too far from each other, always ready to form a fist.

Coordinating his teams around one of the top casinos, Borodo looked sharp eyed as he organized the information coming in over the mini-Transponder Snail in his hand.

With roughly drawn images of Foxy, Hamberg, and Porche, the Marines hoped to identify potential leads quickly by asking if anyone recognized those 3.

Surprisingly to the former thief, who knew well the boisterous personality of the trio in question, they hadn’t turned up any leads.

Moving from one person to the next, not a single person took the initiative to speak to them, besides one little girl who was selling a flower.

“How much?” Borodo had asked, not barely looking down, but also not so preoccupied that he would treat a small child harshly.

“10,000 Beli… Sir…” responded the small girl meekly, and these caused Borodo to finally look down and say almost dismissively: “So much? Listen, I don’t think you’re going to sell any of those flowers for that price, and you should probably sell them around the dock.

Get the people who first come off the ships, they’d be more likely to buy, now go, it’s not safe around here.”

Speaking to the child more than Foxy did, Borodo nevertheless didn’t pay her no mind when she almost cried saying: “oh… ok…”

After all, he had more important things to do, and after moving from one major casino to the next, he finally moved to an outrageously luxurious establishment called ‘Tops’.

It had been several hours at this point, but besides some tangential rumors about a ‘major force’ inside the city, not a single hard lead on Foxy’s whereabouts was gained.

This was really strange, Borodo thought, because while it was possible that none of the patrons had remembered the trio, how could none of the staff remember?

A major part of working in a casino was to remember faces, and this put Borodo ill at ease.

Thinking about what to do if no one came forward, he was wondered if he should attempt to get in contact with [Carina] again or even go straight to [Gild Tesoro] himself, when suddenly his path was cut off by a partially masked man in a white overcoat.

“What the hell do you think you’re doin? Gran Tesoro is a demilitarized zone and you and the idiots around you are running around with guns, interrogating people!

Now I’m ordering you to stand down before I sentence you fools!”

Seeing that Borodo just looked at him, the masked man shouted even louder: “Are you rebelling against authority, rebelling against the World Government, no less?!”

Naturally, Borodo had no idea who this man was, and he had his orders directly from Bill.

So, looking evenly at the masked man, Borodo motioned his hands and from seemingly out of nowhere two Marines appeared on either side of the man, seizing him roughly by the shoulders and arms.

“Ghu! Gah! Gee!” shouted the man as he struggled, and seeing that this was an ordinary person, Borodo finally spoke: “You’re interfering with a Marine operation, don’t struggle, you’re now under arrest.

If you have any information, you’d do well to offer it willingly.”

Still struggling, the man no longer man strange noises but demanded that Borodo check inside his coat.

And when he did, Borodo pulled out an emblem, and his face froze, and the man, still being held by the arms said sinisterly: “Now you know who you’re dealing with. Release me now before this goes beyond what you tiny Marine can comprehend!

I’ll have you know; my Masters are here!”

Thinking about the rumors that he had heard before, Borodo couldn’t help but to swallow and think two words…

Celestial Dragon!

**********************************************

Running around the dock and shopping areas with the old merchant Hollandaise, Miyagi found out a lot more, a lot sooner, than Borodo had.

As a Mink, Miyagi had naturally heard much about the sadistic nobility which stood at the top of the [World Government].

He had naturally experienced the brutality of humans, too, all those years ago in the [South Blue].

It was only after he had met Bill and those other young Marines, when Miyagi finally understood that just as there were good and bad Minks, there were also good and bad Humans.

And as a matter of fact, during the last 7 years, as Miyagi had been with Bill, he had been around so many good people that he had almost forgotten the darkness which he was warned about before traveling across the world.

But now, he had heard the rumors and believed them.

He knew that a group of Marines had been stripped and whipped in the middle of the street.

He recognized those people by their descriptions and at first, only for a moment, he couldn’t believe it.

Then it had all come back to him.

It came back to him in a way they made him bleat with anger.

Reaching inside his doctors coat, Miyagi looked at his lunar watch and thought to himself: ‘Another 3 days…’ It would take 3 full days until the next full moon, before he could use his Sulong form.

Though he was not primarily a warrior, Miyagi was not weak, after all, all pure-blooded Minks could fight good – and those Minks who had mastered their Sulong form were even more capable.

In comparison to Foxy and Borodo, Miyagi was the most well-rounded fighter that Bill had with him. Both the other men excelled in certain areas, but Miyagi could do just about everything.

Thinking quickly about what to do, the Goat Mink only had one option in his mind.

Although Bill had not actually saved him from the [Forker Pirates] all those years ago, in Miyagi’s proud mind, he owed his friend a debt for all that he had been given.

Given the young Marines actions, Miyagi believed Bill to be a true friend of the Mink Tribe, and he wasn’t alone in that assessment.

And so, for that debt to be repaid, he ordered Hollandaise and the others to relay a message to Bill.

He ordered them to tell Bill all that they had learned, and to add one additional message.

The message was written down on two pieces of paper.

The first message told Bill his plans, that was, if going against the World Nobles was too much for Bill, he would move himself in 3 days. He would bring their people back no matter the cost.

The second message was much shorter and much more concise.

It was his letter of resignation from the Marines.