Chapter 79

Walking to the cabin, now that the corridor was slightly lit, Bill could see everything clearly. Reaching the cabin door was easy, aside from the four dead marines lying nearby.

The difficulty lay in the fact that the room, being on the opposite side of the dining hall, was now facing the earth, shrouded in total darkness.

Kneeling at the entrance and shouting loudly, Bill was forced to recoil. The air was stale, and the room smelled of excrement.

In response to his shout, worried muffled sounds came from several places, but due to the darkness, he could only yell back, "Hold on, I'll bring some light!"

Aside from the captain's quarters and the medical section, candles weren't often used on wooden ships. The corridors had one or two weak lights that served as beacons at night. Training rooms were completely dark after sunset, and the brig and storage rooms remained dark unless unloaded at the port.

Nevertheless, the dining hall had candles on the walls, and after a couple of minutes, Bill returned with a handful of wax candles, one of which was lit.

Carefully, so as not to extinguish the flame, Bill held the candle as close to his chest as possible with one hand while using the other to climb down.

Using the Moonwalk Technique in such tight conditions could have led to an accident.

Descending in just a few seconds, Bill touched the uneven floor, which usually served as a wall. Then, using the lit candle, he ignited the rest.

The room was still very dark due to its size, but now, with seven lit candles, something was finally visible.

The entire time he was climbing down, Bill heard muffled cries, and now he could see that at least a dozen people were tangled in their hammocks.

They were trapped, but perhaps this had saved them from injury or worse.

He also noticed several marines who were breathing but not moving. Of the roughly fifty people remaining on board, he counted about twenty-five here — nearly the whole night shift.

Getting to work, Bill first freed the people tangled in their hammocks and sent them to distribute candles around the room while simultaneously checking on the injured.

Of the marines present there, eight were dead — killed by the sea chests.

The number was dreadful, but with twelve unharmed and five with minor injuries, the night shift could be thankful for this outcome.

After Bill gathered the seventeen survivors and helped the first one up, half of the metallic fence lowered down.

Looking up, he faintly made out long hair before hearing a familiar voice: "Get them up, Hina will handle the rest. Great work, lieutenant."

Without needing further instructions, the people quickly got to work, and using her Devil Fruit power, the captain lifted them one by one.

While the people were being lifted, Bill collected the candles and extinguished them.

After the last person was lifted, instead of being raised with the captain's ability, Bill opted to jump up on his own.

Hearing footsteps in the long corridor, Bill asked the captain, "What about the Scientific Division recruits?"

Walking in the dark, the captain was not hurried, and neither was he.

"Four dead, two seriously injured. Hina saved everyone on the lower decks."

Clenching his teeth, Bill fell silent for a moment. Of the fifteen members of the Scientific Division who had gone with them, five were dead, and three were injured.

"What are Hina's subordinates' losses?"

Responding more sharply than he intended, Bill said, "At least thirty-five dead, probably twice as many injured. Some definitely won't survive without proper medical care."

Hina gave no reply to his words. When they reached the stairs, Bill saw only the people from the cabin. After the captain lowered them all down, he stood at the edge, looking at what was happening below.

It seemed Hina had also visited the storage, as those things hadn't been on the beach before.

Tents were already being set up, and by his rough estimate, out of the entire crew of 195, including the members of the Scientific Division, barely 150 were left.

Of those 150, more than half appeared injured or still in shock. About forty people lay on improvised cots, not moving at all.

Bill hoped the ones in shock would soon recover, because at that moment, barely thirty-five marines were functioning normally.

The thought that this crew could have been nearly wiped out in less than two hours hit Bill hard as he jumped off the ship and headed toward Marron and the others.

Waking up in a hammock barely long enough for his height, Bill rubbed his face and got up.

It was now the third day after the shipwreck, and despite his fatigue, Bill felt more optimistic, finally having gotten some sleep.

The first night after the shipwreck had been the hardest.

After Bill saved those he could, there wasn't a moment's rest.

The captain had assigned tasks to everyone, and as Bill noted, she never showed panic or anything other than resilience and composure.

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