Struck in his upper thigh by another flaming kick, Bill huffed and said deeply: “Don’t say I didn’t warn you!” before coating his head in Armament Haki and smashing down on Sanji’s head for the second time.

The first time he headbutted Sanji, Bill had done it hard enough to make sure that it hurt, but this time, he added a bit more behind it.

With a busted open forehead that started dripping down blood, Sanji was dazed, and Bill took that second to yeet him as far away as he could without risking any collateral damage.

Then turning to the woman, he came for Bill saw her looking at him in part fear and part something else and started to talk softly: “I’m not here to hurt you, I only want to ask- “SKY WALK!!!”

Turning his head immediately towards the sky, Bill saw a ‘flaming meteor’ headed his way fast and at that point he had had it.

“DON’T RUN!!” he shouted to Viola, then covering his arms in Haki Bill took to the sky himself.

About a hundred feet in the air Bill’s fist met Sanji’s flaming leg and created a shockwave that finally caused the onlookers to flee in terror after they were pushed to the ground.

The impact forced the cook backward, who to his credit was bloodied but still fighting back hard, so deciding to go even harder himself, Bill moved with a speed that only an Admiral would be able to react to and planted his fist in Sanji’s gut with one hand and caught onto his legs before he was sent flying back with the other.

This move could have killed the pirate if Bill had wanted to, but despite the mad man’s actions, Bill could tell that Sanji hadn’t actually tried to kill him – so he returned the favor.

Holding Sanji upside down by his leg, Bill looked towards Viola and asked her if she knew where his ship was and after she pointed with a shaky hand, Bill spun around three times and threw Sanji hard in that direction – sending him over the proverbial horizon.

Landing back down with a soft thud, Bill brushed the dirt off his Coat of Justice and started to talk to Viola again, but she cut him off: “I know… I understand… but… but we can’t talk here, let’s go this way…”

Following the woman who was obviously walking on unsteady legs in a warehouse of some kind, Bill kept his senses heightened to a superhuman level and was mildly surprised that she hadn’t tried to lead him into a trap.

He expected her to do so…

But once they got between a few wooden crates, the dark-haired woman said: “We won’t have long before they find me, now tell me, what do you want, Marine?”

Of course, after reading Bill’s mind she knew what he wanted, but thinking it reckless to lead with ‘I read your mind’ was a bad idea, so Viola chose a different route.

Even more than that, Viola wanted to see if the man in front of her would help her without being threatened…

“I am looking for the family of the deposed King, you fit the description of Riku Viola, are you her?” Bill asked, unaware of anything going on in her head.

Nodding her head ‘yes’ Viola asked timidly, but not so much from fear: “I am, you said before that you’re hear as a friend of my father…  are you here to drive away that madman and correct the injustice done to us?”

Of course, Viola even knew the answer to this question.

She had seen Bill’s intent clearly from peeping into his mind, but after seeing so much else of what he had done she thought he would surely be moved to right a wrong.

But Bill had truly not come for that and already felt bitter for having been used by someone he thought was his friend, so answering her curtly he said: “I am not here to arrest Donquixote Doflamingo or attempt to restore your father to his royal throne, if that’s what you’re asking.

My ‘friend’ wanted to make sure the former King and his family was safe… so come along now, take me to your father and any other family you have. I guarantee to see you get out of the Kingdom and can even offer you refuge on a new island far away from Doflamingo’s reach.”

“What about Doffy?” she asked, but Bill just shook his head an answered: “What about him?”

In Bill’s mind, if the story about how her father was true, then who would ever want to be the King of Dressrosa Kingdom?

From his understanding, Dressrosa Kingdom was a nation which despite being situated in the most dangerous ocean in the world had not been subjected to a single war in 800 years.

King Riku Doldo II had been a beloved King for decades, widely acclaimed for his noble and fair rule.

And then after apparently losing his mind, in less than a week – in fact, in one single day – his entire army and population set out to depose him?

This was absolutely impossible in Bill’s head – all of it was. There was simply no parallel on Earth and in fact it seemed to go against human nature because surely there would have been a core of support for the Dynasty even if the King had gone crazy.

But those were the facts that he was dealing with, and so when Viola asked about Doflamingo, it truly never even occurred to him that King Riku would want to regain his throne.

“What are you planning to do about him and all the crimes he has committed? I can act as a witness!” Viola nearly shouted at Bill’s nonchalant remark.

Hearing footsteps in the distance, Bill realized that she hadn’t been wrong when she said that they would find her soon, but he still just shrugged and said: “I can’t do anything, as a Marine my commission doesn’t extend into the New World to start with. I’m not even supposed to be- “Would that stop you?!!” she yelled this time, which Bill found strange to a degree but answered: “It would stop me. I was planning to bring you back to settle on the island that I live on, but uhh, on our way back we can stop at New Marineford and there you can- “That’s not good enough!!!”

By now the footsteps were getting louder and Bill supposed there were about 40 individuals, but Viola either couldn’t hear them or didn’t care because she started raving about how her family had been mistreated and all the evil ‘Doffy’ had committed.

From selling illegal guns, to selling drugs, to stealing and smuggling Devil Fruits, to aiding rebels, and even to kidnapping children in the night, in less than the time it took to drink a cup of coffee Viola went down a laundry list of Doflamingo’s crimes – many of which Bill believed deserved the death penalty even in a civilized land.

So, he didn’t necessarily think she was lying, but for sure he wasn’t prepared to overthrow a Kingdom and reinstall a former ruler over what was basically rumors, and so could only shake his head and true to his intention began to reiterate that she and her father could appeal to New Marineford.

This response was not what Viola wanted, and because she saw Bill as a ‘different’ kind of man at first, her disappointment and anger was deep.

“This is unjust! You HAVE TO DO IT!!!” she yelled, but Bill shook his head no.

By now the footsteps were almost to them, but she continued: “You would have done it before… I…” she stumped over her words: “I… saw it all! Even if you are scared of Doffy, even if he makes you a coward to doesn’t care about right and wrong, you have no choice!!”

Raising his eyebrow, Bill looked down at the woman who was 2/3rds his height and as she shouted, he had an ominous feeling.

“Behold! I have the Glare-Glare Fruit, and I read your mind and saw it all!!! That’s right!! Even if you don’t want to help me!!! You will do so, or I’ll destroy your coward life!!!!”

By now dozens of men were pouring into the warehouse, and Bill’s eyes narrowed. Then Viola looked at him and shouted: “Vallipo, Clockwork, New Haven, and of course – HAHAHA! – GRAN TESOR-ugh!!”

Holding her by the throat, Bill’s mind was racing though outwardly he appeared calm.

He knew he should kill her.

For the safety of everyone he ever knew, he knew he should just snap her neck and leave Dressrosa.

He never enjoyed it but had killed a lot of people in this life… and he had killed them for comparably less.

But holding her neck in his hand, something which was in fact as soft and as delicate as paper, to him felt like squeezing lead.

He had to kill her to protect New Haven because he knew what the Celestial Dragons were, at least, until the Levely passed a resolution that would make everyone equal under the law, to make the Celestial Dragons your enemy was to make the World your enemy.

Bill understood this, and if it was just him then maybe he could be like Garp’s son… but he wasn’t alone… and his father was not the Marine Hero Monkey D. Garp.

If he rebelled without care and tried to change the world by outright force, then the people who would pay the price were those people around him.

New Haven would be gone, the Neo Marines would be gone, his friends would be gone, people who he interacted with would be investigated.

When he had killed Saint Camael, CP0 Rob Lucci, CP0 Spandam, and those others on Gran Tesoro that was a crime that the World Government would never let go without vast reprisals.

As for the Revolutionary Army… Bill had fought with Sabo on Gran Tesoro and while he never would doubt the power of Monkey D. Dragon, a man who, all those years ago, had almost casually beat him half to death, Sabo’s ability was simply not enough to gamble with.

He was not unaware of his own ability and knew that very few people could beat him if he got serious, but unless he stood shoulder-to-shoulder with the likes of Whitebeard or Kaidou then even protecting his people would be impossible.

And the fact was that even if he did stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them, changing the World Government by force would be impossible.

So, he knew he had to kill her…

Looking down at her while she looked up at him, Bill’s hand twitched and for the first time in a long time he spoke low and emotionally: “Don’t you understand what I’m offering you? I’m offering you a better life, I’m offering you peace! I’m offering to take you away from here no matter what anyone has to say about it!!

My home has things you could never even dream of! There you could be happy!!!”

Then shaking his head, he tried to steady his hand, and finally asked despite himself – because though he already knew what she was going to say – killing an unarmed woman was not something he could easily bring himself to do: “… what is it that you want?”

Letting go of her, Viola dropped to the ground wheezing and with tears in her eyes – and with dozens of gunmen just now surrounding them – she said something while looking up at Bill and crying.

She said something that he did not expect her to say… something that hit him hard.

While crying, she yelled:

“I WANT JUSTICE!!!”

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

Thirty minutes before Bill followed Viola into the warehouse, Green Bit was the sight of a battle between four superhumans.

Ignoring everything, Doflamingo madly lashed out at Zephyr and started a general melee where Fujitora moved to stop the fight between his senior Marine and Doffy, and where Zephyr’s Battle Smasher showed that it wasn’t window dressing.

Coated in a low purity seastone, the Battle Smasher had been upgraded since the time that Zephyr got it on Jail Island and taking Doflamingo by surprise, once Zephyr had the ‘Pirate King’ in his claw a giant piston shot out of the back.

With a ‘BANG!”, the piston slammed down at the same time that Zephyr slammed Doffy, creating a massive pit in the ground and causing Doffy to spit blood.

Hit with gravitational waves from his side, Fujitora intervened before Zephyr could strike again, causing Zephyr to attack him as well.

Law tried to escape with Caesar Clown, but not finding the Straw Hats who he had come with was indecisive for just long enough for Doflamingo to attack him and allow Caesar Clown to escape in the jungle.

Like that, all four men began to attack each other and with Yoko on the edge of the jungle, she quickly instructed her team to stay away from the fight.

“Did you see that creep run into the jungle?! I think we need him! Rap!! Cover the old man but don’t get too close!!!

I’ll go get the creep, Akisu will stay to support Rap, the rest of you go bring the ship around and be ready to sail!!!”

Yoko knew how strong Zephyr was, but with his age it was unlikely that he could last long enough to defeat any of the trio that he was fighting again.

Fighting between superhumans tended to last a while unless there was a huge gap in strength, and that’s why older superhumans lost to younger ones.

Getting a series of nods, Yoko bound away to chase Caesar, Carrot and the others ran towards the ship, and Akisu began making make-shift wooden javelins, telling Rapanui to ‘save his good ones’.

Jumping through the thicket, Yoko’s senses were ringing alarm bells, but she pressed on with a speed few could surpass in the jungle.

Then, stopping on a dime, she saw Caesar Clown lying unconscious on the ground and all around him were tiny people…

She looked at them, and they looked at her, and shouting at the same time they said:

“QUICK! WE’VE BEEN SEEN!!”

“FAIRIES?!!”