In an absolutely bustling harbor, the small-sized Marine Frigate sailed by Galleon class cruise ships and Brigs that had flags representing various New World Kingdoms.

As usual, being a Marine vessel, the Frontier Run had an open place to dock at, but unlike at other ports, the reception Bill received was frosty at best.

Being told directly that the ‘Navy’ wasn’t welcomed in Dressrosa, the harbor officials who all wore black uniforms and sunglasses nevertheless did their jobs and stamped the approval for entry.

Like that, while Bill and Ain made their way up the plateau and into the Kingdom – which was really just one gigantic city with almost nothing else surrounding it on the island – Zephyr led the Frontier Run to cautiously sail towards the neighboring island of Green Bit.

Talking back and forth with Ain, Bill liked her but truthfully couldn’t call her his ‘friend’.

She was Zephyr’s protégé and disregarding her potential and rank had followed the old Instructor to the ‘Neo Marines’ – this was admirable in some ways to Bill, but in other ways, it seemed a little foolish.

After all, while Bill loved his parents, he firmly believed filial piety should not be confused with reckless self-sacrifice. As difficult as it was, even birds knew that they had to leave the nest.

Still, even though she wasn’t his friend she was a good colleague who he got along with and walking through a wide tunnel they got to the surface and main city entrance.

The city was as busy as the ports with crowds of people moving this way and that way, but what was most surprising to Bill and Ain were the toys that were mingling with the people.

That’s right, numbering almost as many as the people, there were toys that were both walking and talking!

They came in all shapes and sizes.

Some were puppets who had literal strings – and moved despite there being no puppeteer.

Some were toy animals – walking on all fours or even hopping in the case of a toy kangaroo.

Some were trains and wagons that had human-ish faces, others were dolls, and a few were even toy soldiers!

Standing still and looking around, Ain was captivated by the magical sight. Smiling and pointing at the toys and human dancers that danced in a central square, the entrance of the city was like a festival.

But for Bill… looking at the toys seemed ‘off’, but he couldn’t put his finger on why that was.

“Hey!” he called out to a man who was passing by and pulled him over by his shoulder.

The guy had a business suit on, but it was unbuttoned and looked like he had thrown up on himself at some point.

“WHADIYA?!” The man started to shout, but then looked up at who had pulled him – a 9-foot-tall Marine – he quickly changed his tone and said: “Uh, yes sir?”

“Sorry to disrupt you, but what is all this?” Bill asked, gesturing his hands to the toys and performances.

Looking around for a split second, and then at Bill, the man had enough sense to look at the insignia on Bill’s Coat of Justice, and then asked somewhat even more sober: “Do you really not know, uh Vice Admiral?”

Seeing Bill shake his head ‘no’, the man answered quickly: “This is Dressrosa…” then as if finding his footing, the man continued: “It’s the Country of Love, Passion, and Living Toys!!!”

As if to answer the man’s proclamation, suddenly shouts could be heard from a short distance away.

“Oh my god! There’s been a stabbing over here!!!”

Turning his head quickly to the commotion, the man grabbed at Bill’s arm – who moved away instinctually before getting touched – but instead of seeming to notice that the man shouted up at Bill: “That’s just the way here! Dressrosan women are so lovely and passionate that they fall in love quickly!! But if you break their heart, they’re ruthless, look, I’ve been stabbed here and here!!!”

Lifting up his buttoned shirt, the man sure enough had two stab wounds and several bruises, making Ain gasp is shock.

It made Bill furrow his eyebrows.

“Has it always been like that here?” He asked, but the man just shrugged and started walking away: “Who knows?! I’m here now and love it!! I’m headed to the Colosseum, gotta go now to get a good seat!!!”

Looking down at Ain, the woman looked troubled, but Bill could only remind her that they weren’t police.

Fundamentally Marines could not act on the soil of Allied Kingdoms unless it was against villains wanted by the World Government, and even then, there were risks involved due to the authority each kingdom or nation had over its own borders.

Answering that she ‘knew’, Bill then asked her if she thought they should stay together, but Ain replied that they needed to hurry and truthfully he agreed with her.

Something about Dressrosa just felt wrong to him, and though he was somewhat concerned about leaving Ain alone, he knew that her Devil Fruit ability was not a power to dismiss.

After all, with a mere touch Ain could reverse someone’s age by 12 years – and she could do that until she directly disappeared them from existence!

Learning about her ability was a turning point in Bill’s understanding of Devil Fruits.

Naturally he had read about a wide range of known Devil Fruits, and he had never looked down on the incredible powers offered by them ever since he was young and saw Fia transform from a starving little girl into a ‘Cannon Human’.

Still, reading and hypothesizing was one thing while seeing was another, and Ain’s ability pressed into Bill’s mind that Devil Fruits could come in far more dangerous aspects than what one could expect.

After all, despite being much weaker, Ain could hypothetically kill Bill with three touches.

And the only way to counteract that was either via Armament Haki – something Bill had used when he grabbed the man before – or ‘simply’ avoid being touched.

Because of this, when Bill separated from Ain, he walked down the street and avoided even touching shoulders with others.

When there was no other choice but to ‘rub elbows’, he coated that part of his body with Haki, and so in a way was continuously training his Armament Haki.

Walking around, he headed in the general direction of the massive Colosseum but hadn’t stopped to interrog- question anyone.

Fascinated by the living toys, he used his enhanced hearing and brain to listen to dozens of conversations.

"Don’t trust stairs! They’re always getting up to something!!"

…

“Don’t ask this jack-in-the-box for advice! I’ll just pop off!!”

…

“Darlin, I wasn’t warm to ya before, but now I can only give you the cold plastic shoulder!”

…

“Oh, no honey, you eat first, I’m not hungry… your teddy bear is already stuffed...”

…

Listening to these conversations made Bill furrow his eyebrows, but he found it hard to understand why these jokes and conversations made him feel… off?

Walking towards the Colosseum somewhat slowly, Bill suddenly heard something different, and that made him stop in his tracks.

“No, heavens no! You have got to remember me, my love!! For the children you have to remember!!!”

Looking over and focusing on the commotions, Bill moved through the crowd in a way that seemed impossible with his 9-foot-tall frame, and watching on he saw a polka dotted zebra toy standing on two legs trying to hold a woman who must have been in her late 20’s.

“I don’t know you!” cried the woman, who then swiped at the zebra toy with her purse, and someone in the crowd started shouting: “It’s got Humanitis! Humanitis!! Quick call the guards!!!”

Then, at a speed that almost beggared belief, a trio of black-clad men appeared and dragged away the crying and shouting toy.

Still not acting, Bill overheard some people claiming that the zebra would be fixed at the ‘Toys House’ – but when he determined that the onlookers didn’t have anything seemingly important to add, he disappeared with a small flash.

Relying on his Armament Haki, he didn’t have the luxury of erasing his presence with his powerful Observation Haki, so Bill had to rely on his pure physical speed and heightened senses as he stalked the trio of guards, and in the blink of an eye took the zebra toy from their hands.

At a speed that moved faster than the untrained eye could see, Bill was only careful not to destroy the toy, but otherwise he disappeared from the area and wound up on roof of a 4-floor tall building.

With arms covered in Armament Haki, he set the toy down, but before uncovering the zebra’s mouth, he said: “Calm down, I’m a Marine, I’m here to help you. You can talk to me.”

Getting a shaky nod, Bill removed his hands and through odd hiccups the zebra toy started talking: “I… hic… don’t know what happened… hic… I was on my way home last night… hic… I know it was past curfew but… hic… I was running late… the next thing I know… hic… was that I was in the Toy House…”

Then shaking its head ‘no’ the zebra continued hysterically: “I shouldn’t have been in the Toy House, I shouldn’t have been in the Toy House, I’m… hic… I’m a human!!”

Then, looking up at Bill, the zebra said in a whisper: “But… but humans don’t belong in the Toy House… why… why was I there?”

Asking the zebra toy what had happened was a lost cause.

Whatever had happened, it was apparent that it traumatized the thing to such an extent that it could barely hold any coherent thought.

When Bill asked about King Doldo III, asked about Doflamingo, asked about Dressrosa, asked about the ‘curfew’, or asked anything else, the zebra toy only answered curtly before immediately circling around to ask for his help.

Finally, he asked about the other toys, and this led to a fierce reaction.

Standing up, the toy zebra cursed loudly and answered: “How the hell should I know?! I am a stone mason!! I only do what I’m told!!!

How was I supposed to know that the Toy House was a place of such nightmares?!! How should I have known!?!”

Then, as if that outburst was all the energy it had, the zebra slumped back down to the ground.

Seeing that he wasn’t going to get much else, Bill at last asked if the zebra had known of any other strange toys… toys that may have experienced what the zebra was going through now.

And this caused the zebra’s head to tilt, as if imagining something horrible, then he weakly told Bill about a toy called the [Thunder Soldier] – a toy who was WANTED, Dead or Alive – a toy who was known to have been infected with ‘humanitis’.

Naturally the zebra didn’t know where the Thunder Soldier was, but he gave Bill a description of him and said that all he needed to do was look around and he would eventually find the WANTED poster.

 With this, Bill told the zebra that he should find somewhere to hide and under no circumstances should he try and contact his ‘wife’ again until he turned back human.

Bill didn’t know if the zebra was telling the truth, but as he jumped down from the roof and watched the dozens and dozens of toys who were all around he couldn’t shake the feeling that it was true.

‘Terrifying’

That was the first and last word in Bill’s mind.

If there was a way to not only turn a person into a toy, but to also erase the very memory of them, that would be terrifying.

It would in fact make Dressrosa Kingdom a candidate for a [Buster Call].

While Bill had been questioning the toy, Ain had been making her way through bars, and more and more people were flooding towards the Colosseum.

The first matches were about to start, and very easily Bill discovered that the grand prize for the tournament was the Fire Logia.

Deciding to head that way while keeping an eye out for the Thunder Soldier, as Bill walked the streets of Dressrosa the Frontier Run had slowly made its way to Green Bit.

Only thanks to the seastone hull, they eluded the school of Fighting Fish, and when they landed the crew immediately began to set up a camp.

Absolutely amazed by the lush island that had giant mushrooms and huge bell peppers growing from the ground, Yoko and a group of almost ten Marines from the Flying Nimbus went exploring inland.

Narrowing his eyes Zephyr stood tall on the beach.

Scanning the tree line for what seemed like a long time, he suddenly vanished from the spot.

Next seen on the Frontier Run, Zephyr inserted his prosthetic arm into a large weapon.

Still looking at Green Bit with narrowed eyes, Zephyr had attached his Battle Smasher.