“Ah! It’s the Commodore!!”
Finally smelling Bill’s scent through a broken nose, Adelle called out in her hybrid Honey Badger form and together with the rest of the Marines working outside of the wrecked Amigo Submarine rushed over to the spot his hand emerged from the ground.
Even though everything had happened so fast, the Marines realized that Bill had saved their lives and except for those either too hurt to move or those technically skilled enough to work on getting the reactors and [Iron Wardens] operational, they had prioritized digging Bill out from underneath the submarine.
However, without knowing exactly where he was, they had begun to dig on the wrong side of the wreckage.
This mistake on their part was probably a blessing though as these crucial minutes he had gotten, unburdened by other worries, had afforded him time enough to focus on mending his bruised bones and clearing his dazed mind before he finally decided to dig himself out.
Getting to the surface, seeing his people’s face was a welcome sight. Bill knew he didn’t get everyone, but after dropping from that height it could be called a miracle that any of them survived.
Pulling himself from the ground, he stood up, pulled off the tattered Amigo Pirate overcoat he had used as disguise, and then did a quick head count. ‘Eighteen, uh…’ he thought quickly to himself before turning to the girl he had saved from Gasparde over two years before.
“Ensign Bascud, what’s the situation?”
Adelle Bascud was the long-lost sister of Shuraiya Bascud, the Bounty Hunter who had brought the Dead End Race to Bill’s attention at a time when his Department was facing financial ruin.
For this information, and the help he would provide during the operation, he had demanded a percentage of the total profit gained from the venture.
At that time without any other great prospects to cover his operational costs, Bill had accepted the offer, but one thing had led to another where Bascud not only didn’t help the Marines – he had actively gone AWOL and ended up with a broken back for his trouble.
But despite being punished for his drive for vengeance, fate had seen the Bounty Hunter reunited with the sister he had thought was killed as a baby.
And for Bill, who had originally wanted to recruit the old mechanic who had custody of the girl, it was a blessing in the sense that then he was able to recruit both men into his service – albeit for different reasons.
Of course, nothing was ever free, and whereas before Bill would have directly denied the payment that Bascud originally demanded, in the end he relented in giving his sister one of the Devil Fruits he had confiscated under the terms that she would also join the Marines when she came of age.
This was how, the teenage girl standing in front of him, affectionately called ‘Badger’ by the old man who rescued her as a baby, came to eat the Weasel-Weasel Fruit, Model: Honey Badger.
The rest of her story was history. Adelle fit in with the rest of the younger generation in his Department like a fish fit in water and, for better or worse, it wasn’t long before the entire clique fell under the natural leadership of Yoko.
Answering him with a concise tone, the sixteen-year-old said: “Commodore, there’s no immediate signs of civilization, we’ve stabilized the injured, but decided digging you out took priority before erecting any barriers.
Akisu, Roule, and a handful of others are in the ship now attempting to get the power and [Iron Wardens] back online.”
Then, sniffling with her broken nose, Adelle finished by saying: “I can’t smell anything, but we haven’t noticed any activity, at least we have wa… ter.”
As if the beast had heard her words, the water inside the caldera lake swelled, interrupting the Honey Badger girl, and a giant toothy maw was seen protruding from a newly created waterfall.
For Bill, this was more than enough, leaping off the ground just slow enough to not break the sound barrier, he was at the beast before it could make another move, shouting: “Quake Kick!!”
Unlike the situation with Shiki, he would not miss now, and delivering a seemingly soft kick on the [Chomp Shark’s] snout, the monster stopped, confused, as a wave rolled through the length of its body.
As for Bill, without looked back he landed near the submarine and called out: “Get me an ETA on those [Iron Wardens]!”
Behind him, the [Chomp Shark] had exploded its guts through its rear end, and the Marines gulped.
At the same time that Bill’s hand burst out of the ground, on another floating island, Masterson and Toma led Carrot and Rapanui into a cave to get shelter from the billowing snowfall.
Having been disguised as Amigo Pirates, neither of the Instructors had come equipped to deal with the freezing temperatures and sought a place to get their bearings before making their plan to escape.
Shaking snow off his poncho, Toma looked at the others and said: “Mr. Masterson, did you see anything during the fall?”
Despite being similarly ranked, Toma always spoke respectably to whomever he addressed, and dusting off his own poncho, Masterson answered: “Only white as far as I could see, I reckon we landed on top of mountain, but where the bottom is…”
Before Toma could reply, Carrot suddenly braced herself and said: “Instructors, we’re not alone.”
Turning their head in the direction she was looking; the three men saw a shadow of a long-armed bear roll from its back to its belly. Having never seen such a creature, they waited a second too long, allowing the beast to stand upright.
The bear, however, did not return their ‘favor’ with any of its own and immediately seeing red it let out a roar that echoed painfully throughout the cave system and only then did Toma regain himself enough to move.
“Flash Draw!”
Sending his slice flying through the air it crashed against the animal, causing it to reel back, blood pouring down into puddles.
He had been called the ‘Light Speed Swordsmen’ in jest by his friends at the Marine Dojo he had trained in, but Toma did truly excel at the quickdraw and other single-cut movements.
But this strike that would have easily bisected a buffalo was matched against this mutated animal. Seeing that this [Terror Bear] was wounded but not dead, Masterson reached under his poncho and pulled out a black-corded lasso which he used to expertly hold the long-armed beast still while Toma gave the thing the final strike.
As for Carrot and Rapanui, both teenagers had been dumbfounded at the sight of the abnormal bear. Looking over his shoulder, Masterson didn’t blame them but quickly gave orders to start skinning the creature.
They were in an artic mountain range, a range whose size he was unsure about. Even if the prospect of wearing raw untreated hide was unappealing, Masterson was damn determined he’d survive his first deployment away from [New Haven].
Standing a good distance away from the two teenagers as they worked, Toma asked what he was thinking.
Gritting his teeth and spitting, Masterson looked at an unlit cigarette before putting it away and answering: “We’ll need to first fashion up some coats and gaiters. Good thing we have these ponchos to use for a coats lining, but it ain’t gonna be pretty.”
Nodding his head to this, Toma added: “That bear is big enough, we should be able to get Rapanui a few good javelins out of it.”
“Bone, huh.”
Not liking the idea of walking around like a group of savages, nevertheless Masterson did agree with this. The teenage boy was just strong enough to not hold them back, but he had an absolute gift for throwing weapons and no matter how it looked, getting him a sheath of three to five bone javelins could be the difference between survival and death.
Nodding his head to tell Toma that he agreed, he then said: “Well, we ought to go help those kids. I’m feeling that something just aint right around here.”
Getting agreement from the Swordsmen, the two Instructors started over to work on the animal.
“Remember” Masterson said to the teenagers, drawing a small sharp knife from his belt: “We aint got any salt, that means we’ll have to air dry it.”
Moving the knife down the bears arm, cutting it cleanly, he continued: “The problem is that this is a bear and bears have a lot of fat and there aint nothing we can do about it.”
As Masterson quickly started the process of skinning the beast, he used it as a teaching opportunity but also was aware that they needed to move quickly. While he did this, Toma stood guard, watching for movement from the tunnels that undoubtedly connected this cave to others in the mountain.
There were two in total, not counting the direction they came from.
Whether it was the roar or the smell of blood as they cleaned the Terror Bear, it didn’t take long until scratching sounds came from one of the tunnels.
“Mr. Masterson, we have company.” Said Toma, shifting sideways and holding onto his sheathed katana.
Giving an immediate: “Un.” Masterson handed the small knife to Rapanui, took out a bowie knife from the right leg of his jeans, and told the two teenagers to keep working.
Making his way to stand beside Toma, he saw steam before anything else.
Instinctively feeling for his revolver, Masterson thought better of it, and, lighting a cigarette he held his bowie knife in one hand, and a smoke in the other.
‘Would be, to find myself here without my hatchet.’ He thought to himself as more steam billowed out of the tunnel: “Stop watching, keep working!” was the last thing he said before a black mass crawled its way into view.
It was a spider like none of them had ever seen. Two pairs of eyes looked out of a flat head where sheets of iron seemed to have replaced the chitinous exoskeleton. Seeing this, the two Instructors didn’t need to communicate as Toma sent two quick slashes flying through the air and Masterson ran in closer.
Though he was a Sniper by training, Masterson knew how to fight up-close and personal, getting low to the ground he swept under the spider’s legs, but when he thought that he was going to deliver a killing move to its thorax, the body part spun around, and he was face to face with a blast of searing hot steam.
Shouting out from both pain and surprise, Masterson stumbled back, but Toma was there underneath the [Spider Tanks] head, and with one upward cut, cleaning decapitated the mutant.
Standing there holding his red face, Masterson didn’t have time for feelings such as embarrassment when more movement was heard coming from the other side of the cave.
Now mad, but not so mad as to draw his precious revolver, he spit out the cigarette and in one hand he held his lasso and in the other his bowie knife.
Quickly tying the two together, the poor [Terror Bear] that come from the other side didn’t even realize what had happened until the bowie knife landed in its eye socket. Letting out a short-lived roar, it was silenced when Masterson pulled back the knife and in one motion slit its throat.
Even if he couldn’t throw his slashes through the air like an experienced swordsmen, he showed the reason why he had survived as a Bounty Hunter and the skills that Bill valued.
Having discovered that most people in this world could not become incredibly powerful, no matter how many precious resources were used for them, resourceful subordinates were what Bill valued more than anything.
Not taking a single second to pause, Masterson spun the rope, cutting off another intruder’s paw in a blur of motion, and showed why Bill had trusted him to train his people.
As for Masterson himself though, stabbing through a mutant beast’s ear and into its brain, he only thought about one thing. No matter what, he and everyone with him was getting home.
He'd absolutely see to it, [Strong World] be damned.
UberNuber If you enjoy the fanfic, hit the heart icon and consider leaving a rating!
There was a lot of unexpected exposition in this one, but as I've said before, literally all named characters are doing things in the background whether or not I can fit them into the chapters!
What to look forward to - I'm planning perhaps 3 chapters on the islands, and maybe 3 more to set up the climax of this arc (the climax will be pretty awesome!).
By the end of this arc, the Summit War will be over, so expect there to be some months-long time skips.
Chomp Shark
Spoiler [collapse]Terror Bear
Spoiler [collapse]Spider Tank
Spoiler [collapse]
“Ah! It’s the Commodore!!”
Finally smelling Bill’s scent through a broken nose, Adelle called out in her hybrid Honey Badger form and together with the rest of the Marines working outside of the wrecked Amigo Submarine rushed over to the spot his hand emerged from the ground.
Even though everything had happened so fast, the Marines realized that Bill had saved their lives and except for those either too hurt to move or those technically skilled enough to work on getting the reactors and [Iron Wardens] operational, they had prioritized digging Bill out from underneath the submarine.
However, without knowing exactly where he was, they had begun to dig on the wrong side of the wreckage.
This mistake on their part was probably a blessing though as these crucial minutes he had gotten, unburdened by other worries, had afforded him time enough to focus on mending his bruised bones and clearing his dazed mind before he finally decided to dig himself out.
Getting to the surface, seeing his people’s face was a welcome sight. Bill knew he didn’t get everyone, but after dropping from that height it could be called a miracle that any of them survived.
Pulling himself from the ground, he stood up, pulled off the tattered Amigo Pirate overcoat he had used as disguise, and then did a quick head count. ‘Eighteen, uh…’ he thought quickly to himself before turning to the girl he had saved from Gasparde over two years before.
“Ensign Bascud, what’s the situation?”
Adelle Bascud was the long-lost sister of Shuraiya Bascud, the Bounty Hunter who had brought the Dead End Race to Bill’s attention at a time when his Department was facing financial ruin.
For this information, and the help he would provide during the operation, he had demanded a percentage of the total profit gained from the venture.
At that time without any other great prospects to cover his operational costs, Bill had accepted the offer, but one thing had led to another where Bascud not only didn’t help the Marines – he had actively gone AWOL and ended up with a broken back for his trouble.
But despite being punished for his drive for vengeance, fate had seen the Bounty Hunter reunited with the sister he had thought was killed as a baby.
And for Bill, who had originally wanted to recruit the old mechanic who had custody of the girl, it was a blessing in the sense that then he was able to recruit both men into his service – albeit for different reasons.
Of course, nothing was ever free, and whereas before Bill would have directly denied the payment that Bascud originally demanded, in the end he relented in giving his sister one of the Devil Fruits he had confiscated under the terms that she would also join the Marines when she came of age.
This was how, the teenage girl standing in front of him, affectionately called ‘Badger’ by the old man who rescued her as a baby, came to eat the Weasel-Weasel Fruit, Model: Honey Badger.
The rest of her story was history. Adelle fit in with the rest of the younger generation in his Department like a fish fit in water and, for better or worse, it wasn’t long before the entire clique fell under the natural leadership of Yoko.
Answering him with a concise tone, the sixteen-year-old said: “Commodore, there’s no immediate signs of civilization, we’ve stabilized the injured, but decided digging you out took priority before erecting any barriers.
Akisu, Roule, and a handful of others are in the ship now attempting to get the power and [Iron Wardens] back online.”
Then, sniffling with her broken nose, Adelle finished by saying: “I can’t smell anything, but we haven’t noticed any activity, at least we have wa… ter.”
As if the beast had heard her words, the water inside the caldera lake swelled, interrupting the Honey Badger girl, and a giant toothy maw was seen protruding from a newly created waterfall.
For Bill, this was more than enough, leaping off the ground just slow enough to not break the sound barrier, he was at the beast before it could make another move, shouting: “Quake Kick!!”
Unlike the situation with Shiki, he would not miss now, and delivering a seemingly soft kick on the [Chomp Shark’s] snout, the monster stopped, confused, as a wave rolled through the length of its body.
As for Bill, without looked back he landed near the submarine and called out: “Get me an ETA on those [Iron Wardens]!”
Behind him, the [Chomp Shark] had exploded its guts through its rear end, and the Marines gulped.
At the same time that Bill’s hand burst out of the ground, on another floating island, Masterson and Toma led Carrot and Rapanui into a cave to get shelter from the billowing snowfall.
Having been disguised as Amigo Pirates, neither of the Instructors had come equipped to deal with the freezing temperatures and sought a place to get their bearings before making their plan to escape.
Shaking snow off his poncho, Toma looked at the others and said: “Mr. Masterson, did you see anything during the fall?”
Despite being similarly ranked, Toma always spoke respectably to whomever he addressed, and dusting off his own poncho, Masterson answered: “Only white as far as I could see, I reckon we landed on top of mountain, but where the bottom is…”
Before Toma could reply, Carrot suddenly braced herself and said: “Instructors, we’re not alone.”
Turning their head in the direction she was looking; the three men saw a shadow of a long-armed bear roll from its back to its belly. Having never seen such a creature, they waited a second too long, allowing the beast to stand upright.
The bear, however, did not return their ‘favor’ with any of its own and immediately seeing red it let out a roar that echoed painfully throughout the cave system and only then did Toma regain himself enough to move.
“Flash Draw!”
Sending his slice flying through the air it crashed against the animal, causing it to reel back, blood pouring down into puddles.
He had been called the ‘Light Speed Swordsmen’ in jest by his friends at the Marine Dojo he had trained in, but Toma did truly excel at the quickdraw and other single-cut movements.
But this strike that would have easily bisected a buffalo was matched against this mutated animal. Seeing that this [Terror Bear] was wounded but not dead, Masterson reached under his poncho and pulled out a black-corded lasso which he used to expertly hold the long-armed beast still while Toma gave the thing the final strike.
As for Carrot and Rapanui, both teenagers had been dumbfounded at the sight of the abnormal bear. Looking over his shoulder, Masterson didn’t blame them but quickly gave orders to start skinning the creature.
They were in an artic mountain range, a range whose size he was unsure about. Even if the prospect of wearing raw untreated hide was unappealing, Masterson was damn determined he’d survive his first deployment away from [New Haven].
Standing a good distance away from the two teenagers as they worked, Toma asked what he was thinking.
Gritting his teeth and spitting, Masterson looked at an unlit cigarette before putting it away and answering: “We’ll need to first fashion up some coats and gaiters. Good thing we have these ponchos to use for a coats lining, but it ain’t gonna be pretty.”
Nodding his head to this, Toma added: “That bear is big enough, we should be able to get Rapanui a few good javelins out of it.”
“Bone, huh.”
Not liking the idea of walking around like a group of savages, nevertheless Masterson did agree with this. The teenage boy was just strong enough to not hold them back, but he had an absolute gift for throwing weapons and no matter how it looked, getting him a sheath of three to five bone javelins could be the difference between survival and death.
Nodding his head to tell Toma that he agreed, he then said: “Well, we ought to go help those kids. I’m feeling that something just aint right around here.”
Getting agreement from the Swordsmen, the two Instructors started over to work on the animal.
“Remember” Masterson said to the teenagers, drawing a small sharp knife from his belt: “We aint got any salt, that means we’ll have to air dry it.”
Moving the knife down the bears arm, cutting it cleanly, he continued: “The problem is that this is a bear and bears have a lot of fat and there aint nothing we can do about it.”
As Masterson quickly started the process of skinning the beast, he used it as a teaching opportunity but also was aware that they needed to move quickly. While he did this, Toma stood guard, watching for movement from the tunnels that undoubtedly connected this cave to others in the mountain.
There were two in total, not counting the direction they came from.
Whether it was the roar or the smell of blood as they cleaned the Terror Bear, it didn’t take long until scratching sounds came from one of the tunnels.
“Mr. Masterson, we have company.” Said Toma, shifting sideways and holding onto his sheathed katana.
Giving an immediate: “Un.” Masterson handed the small knife to Rapanui, took out a bowie knife from the right leg of his jeans, and told the two teenagers to keep working.
Making his way to stand beside Toma, he saw steam before anything else.
Instinctively feeling for his revolver, Masterson thought better of it, and, lighting a cigarette he held his bowie knife in one hand, and a smoke in the other.
‘Would be, to find myself here without my hatchet.’ He thought to himself as more steam billowed out of the tunnel: “Stop watching, keep working!” was the last thing he said before a black mass crawled its way into view.
It was a spider like none of them had ever seen. Two pairs of eyes looked out of a flat head where sheets of iron seemed to have replaced the chitinous exoskeleton. Seeing this, the two Instructors didn’t need to communicate as Toma sent two quick slashes flying through the air and Masterson ran in closer.
Though he was a Sniper by training, Masterson knew how to fight up-close and personal, getting low to the ground he swept under the spider’s legs, but when he thought that he was going to deliver a killing move to its thorax, the body part spun around, and he was face to face with a blast of searing hot steam.
Shouting out from both pain and surprise, Masterson stumbled back, but Toma was there underneath the [Spider Tanks] head, and with one upward cut, cleaning decapitated the mutant.
Standing there holding his red face, Masterson didn’t have time for feelings such as embarrassment when more movement was heard coming from the other side of the cave.
Now mad, but not so mad as to draw his precious revolver, he spit out the cigarette and in one hand he held his lasso and in the other his bowie knife.
Quickly tying the two together, the poor [Terror Bear] that come from the other side didn’t even realize what had happened until the bowie knife landed in its eye socket. Letting out a short-lived roar, it was silenced when Masterson pulled back the knife and in one motion slit its throat.
Even if he couldn’t throw his slashes through the air like an experienced swordsmen, he showed the reason why he had survived as a Bounty Hunter and the skills that Bill valued.
Having discovered that most people in this world could not become incredibly powerful, no matter how many precious resources were used for them, resourceful subordinates were what Bill valued more than anything.
Not taking a single second to pause, Masterson spun the rope, cutting off another intruder’s paw in a blur of motion, and showed why Bill had trusted him to train his people.
As for Masterson himself though, stabbing through a mutant beast’s ear and into its brain, he only thought about one thing. No matter what, he and everyone with him was getting home.
He'd absolutely see to it, [Strong World] be damned.
UberNuber If you enjoy the fanfic, hit the heart icon and consider leaving a rating!
There was a lot of unexpected exposition in this one, but as I've said before, literally all named characters are doing things in the background whether or not I can fit them into the chapters!
What to look forward to - I'm planning perhaps 3 chapters on the islands, and maybe 3 more to set up the climax of this arc (the climax will be pretty awesome!).
By the end of this arc, the Summit War will be over, so expect there to be some months-long time skips.
Chomp Shark
Spoiler [collapse]Terror Bear
Spoiler [collapse]Spider Tank
Spoiler [collapse]