The Marine

Following a safe distance behind the sinister-seeming person, it didn’t take long for them to end up in another building.

To enter this place, they had traveled down slopping alleyways. What had surprised Bill more than anything was just how far down they have gone. Wherever they were heading must be located far beneath the base, Bill thought to himself.

“In here! Hurry up recruit!”

Coming too close for comfort, Bill steeled himself and went inside the door.

If the other office had been a normal looking office with barely a clock in terms of technology, this place was positively cartoonish in its science equipment.

“Pick your jaw up, recruit, we still have a way to go to see the boss!”

Walking down a long stone hallway lined by pipes, Bill peeked in each room they walked behind.

At first the rooms seemed to be geared towards civilian things like cloth, shoes, and various types of miniature buildings, but as they went deeper and took more turns, the rooms stared to house electric generators, colorful liquids, and then obvious weapons.

After walking for what seemed like a long time the rooms started having computers, cybernetic limbs, and large tanks of clear liquids.

Bill had never been involved in scientific research during his life on Earth, but still he thought there was really strange going on.

‘Vallipo Island seemed like an 17^th Century port town… sure it was on a larger scale but that’s due to the super humans and giants walking around… but this…’

The level of technology on display here almost incomprehensible. No, Bill corrected himself. It was incomprehensible. These machines he was walking past could be anything, hell, a few rooms ago he saw an entire cybernetic skeleton figure standing on its own two feet!

Stopping in front of another rooms entrance, Bill saw what looked like a giant LCD screen with a double helix on display. There were various stations around the room containing glass containers holding lumps of meat.

“Hey what is all this?”

Speaking towards the clown, who by now was far ahead of him in the form of a half cloud, Bill heard an audible sigh before seeing the cloud quickly make its way back towards him.

In fact, it was moving to fast that Bill shifted his feet so that he could move if needed. Seeing this ‘man’ Bill went back on full alert.

As he concentrated on the moving mist, it slowed down before coming to a full stop about two arms reach away.

“What, this?" The clown said looking in the room.

As the clown, who now had taken mostly human form, asked this question he looked deeply at Bill. Still holding his smile, he said: “Say, recruit, where are you from?”

Seeing no need to hide his origins, but not wanting to divulge everything to this man, Bill answered casually.

“I was born on an island in the South Blue, my father was in the navy there and so… here I am.”

Hearing this, although the clown never stopped smiling, Bill heard venom when he spoke: “Great, just great!

You’re lucky it was me who came to collect you, status doesn’t matter here, only ingenuity!”

‘How dare they treat me as a go-fer… I’m one of the greatest minds in this place and they have me collecting some rural hick nobody!’

Ordinarily, if someone insulted him to his face, Bill would have responded back.

In this particular case though, the words he heard didn’t align with the lip movements of this clown. Besides when he said ‘Great, just great’.

After that, Bill was placed in a weird position where he heard the clown say one thing, but his mouth said something else.

Looking unsure and somewhat confused, Bill asked: “Uh, what was that?”

“I said, it’s great that you were picked up by me. I could show you the ropes when you get placed.”

‘Great, this rural fool can’t even take a hint. Hopefully he never comes to see me.’

Now Bill was sure that he heard something different then what this clown’s mouth had said.

And so, sapping back to reality, he forcefully asked: “Are you doing that on purpose?"

After Bill said this, Caesar looked startled and said with a feigned smile: “What?! I just want to help.”

Hearing nothing this time, Bill didn’t want to cause a problem as soon as he arrived, so he just ended it by saying: “Whatever, just lead the way.”

After Caesar turned to lead, Bill heard him say “Ungrateful” under his breath.

The two walked the rest of the way in silence, Bill wasn’t as curious as he had been so the trip went faster.

Like this, it didn’t take long until they came to the last room of the massive complex.

Standing roughly fifty meters away in front of a large incubator was the familiar old man. Dressed in his accustomed white lab coat, stripped shirt, and wearing golden exam gloves Bill watched as the old man studied a tablet held in his hands.

Even though he thought they should wait, Caesar had no such inclinations and before Bill could say anything the gas-human formed into a half-cloud and wafted over.

“I brought you the recruit. Now, can I go? I have important trials that need to be started.”

The old man, not looking up from his tablet just waved one hand and replied: “Ves Ves, zat ist fine.”

No sooner than he said this, Caesar gave a wide devilish smile, looked at Bill, then seemed to vanish as smoke.

Standing in wait for what seemed to be a long time, just as Bill was about to speak, the old man turned around first.

“Ves, vei remember. Zee Ox boy, korrekt?”

“Yes, I have my papers here for the cadet school.”

Saying this Bill began to reach in his backpack.

“Nien Nien, zat ist naut needet.”

Holding one hand out as he said this, the old scientist continued: “Ven I vas tolt your fazer diskovert vee forest devil fruit, I suspektet zat I vould zee you.”

Not expecting this, Bill asked the obvious question: “Why’d you think you’d see me?”

“Vis your mutter hurten, sie fazer vould never allow you to go far. Vis her being fully healet, vee couldn’t stopen you, but vould still sended you to a place he zoughten avay from harm.”

In his mind, Bill was thankful he didn’t have to do anything too extreme to leave Vallipo.

Seeing the boy not reply, the old scientist continued: “Nefer mint vat. Das ist here now. Vee vill sended you zis anen advizor. You must taken zee aptitude testen zen getten assigned.”

After the old man said this, he reached in his pocket and pulled out a small Communication Snail.

“Bonaduce, zee me inst sei laboratory.”

After he said this, he put the snail away and continued to speak to Bill. Nearly all of his questions were about Dina and her recovery.

As they spoke, Dr. Vegapunk wasn’t very forthcoming with information on the kinds of technology around the base, but it wasn’t a fruitless discussion as this was the first time Bill had heard he inherited his middle initial from his mother.

It wasn’t until nearly half an hour after the snail call did Bill hear light footsteps behind him.

Turning his head towards the entrance, Bill saw a man with short dark hair, and dressed in a black tuxedo walk in.

As he did so, the old man changed subject without skipping a beat.

“Vis ist sie studen instruktor, Bonaduce.”

Despite the man’s light steps, he took no time at all in reaching them.

Sending his greetings to Dr. Vegapunk, the man looked up at Bill: “So you’re the new recruit?”

Nodding his head in response, Bill replied back: “Yes, nice to meet you, my name is William Ox.”

At the mention of his last name, the man in the black suit glanced at Vegapunk, who in turn gave a slight nod before instructing him to see Bill’s lodging and to take the assessment test.

Once Bonaduce indicated he was ready to leave, Bill gave his thanks and goodbyes to the old scientist.

Following the man out the door, Bill asked about what kind of assessment they were talking about.

“It’s a series of written tests. They start off really broad but narrow down to pretty exact measurements. You’ll have the first one we’ve administered in a while, you know?

After all, most people who join the Science Division either come from other research institutions or those islands administered by it.”

Hearing this, Bill was curious. Technically, Vallipo Archipelago was administered by the South Blue Marines, but he never saw anything overtly pro-navy.

“What’s special about the islands ran by the Science Division?”

As they continued to walk, Bill noticed they were taking a different route than the one he came from. Still, they seemed to be heading upwards.

“Well, it’s the education.

Look, your father was a Vice Admiral, right?”

Shaking his head, Bill answered: “He’s a Commodore now, but yeah, he was supposedly one of the youngest people to be made Vice Admiral.”

“Right so either way. I’m assuming you’ve had a general education, right? Maybe focusing on one class more than others but generally it’s been varied.”

After Bill agreed that had been what his classes were like, the man in the black suit continued to speak.

“Well, it’s like that for kids in the schools ran by the Science Division, except we get to know their interests and usually by age ten they are placed in more specialized school.

Those specialized schools then get more and more specialized as the children grow up. Before long, they’re experts in the field.”

 Hearing this, Bill asked back: “So all kids do this?”

*Hmm* the man thought aloud before saying.

“Well, all the kids who are interested in science do. As for the others? They can naturally find their own jobs and such. Only kids going into their second specialization need to sign a Science Division contract.”

By now they had walked quite far. Bill was still asking questions about the branch, and Bonaduce was answering them relatively clearly.

For all these, the most enlightening answer was put to Bill when he asked about the difference in technologies found in this base and the wider world.

“There aren’t the resources to manufacture and fabricate most of this technology on mass. We do release what innovations we can, but even in those cases there aren’t enough skilled workers to keep the stuff working.

Do you know what the number one order is for the Science Division is?

Better cannons. Which seems easy right? Except those cannons have to be fired with black powder or some other simple propellant because it would be physically impossible for the World Government to distribute better powder to all the naval bases on a regular basis.”

This answer had cemented the thought Bill had when he first learned its shape. Which was, logistics would be a nightmare. More than just that though, when added with wild climatic swings and the fantasy-like plants and animals it would lead to vastly different levels of civilization.

While he thought of the implications of this, they entered a typical looking classroom. It still seemed deep in this underground laboratory. Making Bill wonder again what the actual size of this place actually was.

As they walked into the room, Bonaduce went to the desk in the head of the room and started talking more.

“Ok, we’ll do the first assessment here, then get you to a room to stay in. It should take about a week for you to finish, but firstly what interests do you have?”

After Bill asked what kind of research they did here, instead of answering, Bonaduce produced a booklet from the desk and handed it over.

“The first page is basic classes, then it shows the more advanced ones. Each basic class gives a credit, and that doubles after each specialization.

To graduate cadet school, you need at least twenty credits. It is recommended to stay in one branch of research.”

Looking over the pamphlet, Bill was awed by the range of topics.

Biology, Chemistry, Metallurgy, Atmospheric, Engineering, and Statists made up the basic courses. After that there was the more advanced classes that spread out like tree stems.

Biology specialized into Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Structural Biology. Then each of those had their own specializations. Ending up with wild names like Cybernetics, Organic Robotics, and Computational Neurology.

Looking up from the booklet, Bill said: “Out of these, Metallurgy and Engineering would probably be my favorite.”

In truth, Bill could have probably excelled in any of these fields. He may not have a photographic memory, but after mastering Life Return his memory had gotten really good. Furthermore, with an entire life behind him, he wasn’t prone to the same distractions a normal sixteen-year-old would be.

So, he chose Metallurgy due to his actual interest, and Engineering due to his own idea that it would be the most practical since it had the widest range of specializations.

“Ah, I see.” Bonaduce said and continued: “I thought for sure you’d be interested in joining the MSU.”

“The MSU?”

Nodding his head, he took the booklet from Bill and flipped to the last page and gave it back.

Looking over the page it read:

[Marine Science Unit]

The arms of the Science Division. Focused on procurement, detainment, and security. Two credits per year for Recruit, four credits for Lieutenant, six credits for Captains.

“How do you get promoted through to captain?”

With a laugh, Bonaduce’s eyes lit up with a red glow: “Those are more practical assessments.”

Not showing any intimidation from the mans now red glowing eyes, Bill said: “Yeah, lets do this one too, all three!”

Like that, Bill’s time in the Science Division got underway.