Seeing the foot coming straight for his face Bill moved to the right, grabbed the Cipher Pol agent’s ankle, and threw him to the ground by pulling upward at a speed too fast for the agent to match.
He had expected the move to be effortless, but Bill looked down at the masked agent in mild surprise…
It had taken him a small bit of effort to catch the man’s leg!
In fact, Bill quickly guessed that this agent was stronger than the Straw Hat’s cook which he dealt with an hour prior!!
“YOU DARE REBEL, MARINE?!”
Hearing shouts from his side, Bill quickly let go of the agent’s ankle and blocked two Finger Gun’s aimed at his side by grabbing one man’s wrist and kicking another man’s elbow as softly as he could manage.
“What is this!” he shouted at the trio of Cipher Pol agents, all of whom either took his kindness for weakness or else simply didn’t care for their own health; jumping back to attack him again without saying a word!
This time, attacked from three different directions, necessity required Bill to react faster, and thereby more harshly than before.
Grabbing one of the huge agent’s legs, Bill hit the man in the inner thigh hard enough for it to hurt badly and then spun around to dodge the shorter agent – the one who initially attacked him – who attacked him with a Haki-infused chop.
As the chop missed, and it carved a trench in the ground akin to a flying sword ssh, Bill headbutted the rgest Cipher Pol agent in the chest, before dropping the man who he held by the leg and finally finishing off the original attacker with a much harder kick to his side which he angled downwards.
That kick was so the shortest of the agents didn’t go flying off, instead, he was kicked into the ground – breaking several stone stairs in the process – but causing minimal colteral damage considering Bill had kicked with enough force to destroy a building.
“Are you done?!” he asked sternly to the trio of Cipher Pol agents, all of which were now standing back up at various speeds.
“Rebel!” one of the agents stammered again, causing Bill to raise his brow and then frown, asking harshly: “I am a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral in the middle of my duty, and was attacked for no apparent reason, and I am the rebel?!”
By this point, Fujitora and Zephyr had caught up, even though barely a minute had passed, and seeing this, the shortest agent stood up and holding his side said: “Admiral Fujitora, arrest this criminal for attempting to murder three agents of the World Governments, NOW!”
“Nonsense!” shouted Zephyr, who’s face looked worse than Bill’s at this moment and continued: “Do you know who this Vice Admiral is? You don’t have the authority to order his arrest, Cipher Pol or not!!”
Hearing this, the short agent didn’t protest but instead reached into his coat pocket and withdrew a badge.
CP0!
As an organization, Cipher Pol had various levels of authority.
True enough, a normal CP agent could not arrest or order the arrest of a Marine Vice Admiral without prior approval.
From units 1 – 9 they were granted authority in whatever theater they were working in, and while this authority was generally expansive, it wasn’t as if their words were Law.
But those members of CP0 were not normal secret police...
They worked directly under the Celestial Dragons! Depending on the situation, they spoke with the weight of the World Nobles, meaning they really did speak for the Law that ruled the entire world!
And, as if to confirm this, as Bill stood motionless but breathing somewhat heavily out of frustration, Fujitora pced a hand on his shoulder and began to speak.
*******************************************************************
“And stay put!”
“Yeah, or we’ll put you on the elevator again!!”
Sneering as they said this, a half dozen Monkey Mink Marines ughed as they threw Trafalgar Law and Caesar Clown in a couple of seastone holding cells.
Down in the bowels of the Frontier Run, there was virtually no hope of escape even if the Marines hadn’t put their prisoners on an ‘elevator’.
Or in others, they had beaten the prisoners as badly as possible without breaking bones, rupturing organs, or cutting skin.
This sort of treatment of criminals was common by most w enforcement agencies. Even though Bill had stopped his people from outright torture, it was too much to ask them to treat serial killers as if they were merely children needing reprimands.
Faced with some of the criminals they had apprehended – individuals who were little more than humanoid predators – even he had been much more rough than strictly necessary.
And as for the groans of pain coming from Law and Caesar Clown, hunched over as they were after having their chests and ribcages beaten in, that was practically music to the Marines’ ears.
Walking through the artificially lit hallways of the ship, the Marines spoke to each other.
They talked about the Vice Admiral, about Yoko, about Zunesha, and generally about how unlucky they were for being made to guard the ship.
Little did they know, their luck was about to get a lot worse….
*******************************************************************
Landing lightly on the deck of the [Thousand Sunny], Nico Robin’s wings dematerialized and watched silently for a moment as Chopper tended a Sanji whose face had been wrapped like a mummy.
But her presence was noticed quickly, and in a heartbeat, she was bombarded by questions by the others and a massive hug from Momonosuke.
“Robin!”
“Yo-ho-ho?! Have my eyes deceived me?! … oh wait, I don’t have any eyes!!”
“What happened here?” She asked back, her eyes furrowed and wondering how Sanji – one of the ‘Monster Trio’ – could be busted up barely a few hours after the crew nded at Dressrosa Kingdom.
The one to answer her was Nami, who was practically the crews co-captain aside from when fighting was about to break out and was generally deferred to by the rest of the crew – including Luffy in many cases: “He ran into Marines, Bckstone Bill is on the isnd…”
Hearing the name, Robin’s eyebrows furrowed.
Bill wasn’t well known among pirates. Those who he ran in to rarely escape and having only just left the Science Division, he had never participated in any major Marine HQ actions and thus never drew major attention by the World Economy News Paper.
Even the raids on Hannabal and Foodvalten, where one case resulted in the arrests of hundreds of pirates – including two giants and notorious Marine traitor – and in the other case saw Bill fight off several of Whitebeards commanders and finally capture a traitorous Marine Vice Admiral – both went unknown due to interference by Dofmingo.
But to the Straw Hats?
They had known Bill from almost 9 years before when he met them on Clockwork Isnd.
In that case, Nami had been kidnapped by the Trump Pirates and after a lot of misunderstanding the case was ‘resolved’ when Luffy accidently destroyed the isnd by being careless.
To Nami herself, she knew Bill as one of the few ‘good’ Marines that she had ever met, and the only one in their age group who could fight evenly against her Captain.
Luffy was jovial in nature, but Nami was under no illusions about how strong her Captain actually was.
So, hearing Nami mention Bill’s name, Robin’s expression couldn’t help but tighten.
“Bckstone Bill? If he’s here, then it’s worse than we imagined…”
After saying this, Robin told the group her story.
About how Dofmingo tricked the World Economy News Paper by faking to leave the Warlords of the Sea, about how she and Usopp had been kidnapped by the Tontatta’s, about how and how she knew the Marines had captured Caesar and Law.
“On Green Bit, Law encountered not only Dofmingo… but also two Marine Admirals!!”
“WHAT?!”
Sitting up fast, Sanji stopped acting so hurt – Nami wasn’t pampering him anymore, anyway – and immediately turned serious.
Not just him, either, but Brook and Choppers’ demeanors changed.
If Dressrosa had two Admirals, and Bckstone Bill, then not even Luffy could easily walk away from that!
“I don’t believe that Bill would work with Dofmingo…” Nami cut in, with an expression simir to the others, and continued: “…not until I see it with my own eyes… whatever they’re here for… we need to rescue Law first.”
Her belief in Bill was because of the fact that after they had met on Clockwork Isnd, the corrupt Marine Captain had been jailed for his actions in covering up Arlong’s many crimes.
This had been something Bill had done, and something Nami would never forget.
Nodding her head, as if she had thought the same thing, Robin finally got around to saying what she meant to say from the beginning: “I agree, He’s being kept on a small Marine Frigate. It’s lightly guarded with only a few dozen Marines, once we rescue him, we’ll have more options…”
Robin didn’t say this, but in her mind – a mind that could never trust a Marine no matter what Nami said – she knew that only with Law would they have a better chance of rescuing the others still on the isnd.
*******************************************************************
At the exact same time as the Straw Hats were preparing to attack the Frontier Run, and as Bill was fighting off the masked CP0 agents, Yoko was riding a beetle and doing her best to show Leo, the Green Fairy, that it was she and not the long-nosed ‘Usond’ that was an actual hero.
For Leo though, while nothing would convince him that Usond wasn’t a hero, he could believe that Yoko was a hero too, and so openly shared information with her.
Speaking with a face of a man about to go to war, Leo told Yoko: “Swince da old human Kwing was wemoved morer than five-hundrwed Tontatta were kidnwapped to be swaves…
Dey eat our fwoods…
Our Prinshesh is foorshed to cry…”
Hearing Leo name off a list of grievances, Yoko couldn’t believe her ears!
‘What were the Marines around here doing?!’ she thought to herself.
Despite not being a child anymore, Yoko was a true believer in Justice.
She believed that a person should get what they deserved. Criminals should be punished, and good people should be free to live their lives how they see fit.
In her mind, though she knew ‘corruption’ existed, she believed that the Marines’ actual responsibility was to secure the seas and enforce the w that protected everyone.
Things like titles and status meant very very little to her. Respect was earned, and it was that simple.
She would give more respect to a good janitor than she would to a rotten King!
So, hearing Leo speak at more length, about what had happened to them and about their pns for the day, Yoko resolved herself more and more to bring Justice to the Kingdom of Dressrosa.
*******************************************************************
With a big hand on his shoulder, and with Princess Vio in his ears urging him to hurry, Bill stood still and closed his eyes, ignoring the Admiral’s words.
Entering the realm of Chaos, a pce he didn’t like to go, Bill stood on a crystal cloud that was cast over an ocean as far as the eye could see.
He looked upon his two souls.
Despite how long it had been, they were still not banced. The only thing keeping one from devouring the other was the fact that they were occupied.
In that instant, one that seemed to st a very long time, he had a vague notion of something... something that he couldn’t put his hand on.
He didn’t know how long it would take the two souls to become equally powerful and thus banced... one could make sure he never forgot what he saw, it could see things that were invisible, it could make him invisible, it could literally alter the flow of his own time.
As for the other side of himself, it grew. It grew every day.
It made him stronger, not just physically, but also spiritually… but it didn’t grow nearly enough.
With a single urge the souls switched positions.
In Chaos there was no flow of time, it all happened in an instant.
Opening his eyes open to reality, they were pitch bck for a split second.
Then he blinked and they returned to normal.
Vio was still in his ear, apparently her father had been beaten and was now being dragged under the Colosseum.
Admiral Fujitora was defending Bill, but the Cipher Pol agents weren’t having any of it.
They wanted Bill arrested, or else, even the Marines with them could be implicated as rebels.
And though they didn’t say it outright, that was a death sentence.
“Ok… alright…” he said calmly raising his hands slightly: “The Admiral will escort me to New Marineford, there we will report to the Fleet Admiral and to whoever the World Government sends. They will determine the facts of the case.”
His compliance shocked the shortest CP0 agent – a motion that Bill could see but apparently the others missed – but it was taken as him falling in line by the other two.
It was something that they didn’t doubt would happen when they brought up the crews turning into rebels.
This threat was very routine for Cipher Pol agents when they dealt with Marines, after all.
With Bill’s compliance, not even Zephyr could continue to argue, and even though he didn’t take his hand off his shoulder, even Fujitora seemed to be one part resigned and one part relieved.
For Bill’s part, he didn’t hate Fujitora for immediately ‘apprehending’ him… but he knew that no matter what happened in the future Fujitora would never gain his confidence.
He didn’t need it, anyway, Bill thought. Not angry, just matter-of-factly.
Walking back towards Green Bit, Bill knew that Vio must be watching, because she had stopped talking.
He couldn’t expin it, but that hurt him…
Still, doing what he pnned to do, he walked with long strides back out towards the gates, and the very moment he determined that they were fair enough away, he acted.
UberNuber
