Chapter 95

Looking over the edge, he saw something difficult to describe with words.

The island was large, perhaps not as big as Marineford or the main island of Vallippo, but still quite sizable. It was bowl-shaped and seemed to have several natural levels, making it look like steps leading up from the beach.

The levels led to a village located at the bottom of the bowl — as far from the beach as possible — and each level contained a small forest.

The lower level of the island was engulfed in a massive blaze, while the buildings in the village burned chaotically.

Seeing this, Bill didn't panic; he had already anticipated something like this and had considered the possibility that the smoke might be from burning buildings during those hours.

He looked toward the beach through the smoke, where he saw one of the most magnificent natural harbors he had ever seen.

This harbor contained four ships. One was clearly a Marine vessel, although very small with a single mast, and Bill could barely make out the other three, which seemed to have flags depicting jolly Rogers.

Seeing the Marine ship, he realized he couldn't wait for reinforcements, and after Bill ran back to the other side of the plateau and fired a red flare signal, he rushed back to where he initially stood.

Without any telescope, it was impossible to discern anything more specific than an active gathering of people. So, spending less than a minute to get a sense of the landscape, he jumped off the cliff.

As he fell, the wind rushed against his face.

At this moment, Bill didn't even think about how it was possible that just two weeks ago, he had first successfully used the Moon Step, and now he was confident enough to leap from a three hundred-meter cliff without a second thought.

As Bill neared the tree line, there was no feeling of foreboding. The faster he fell, the more exhilarated he became.

And at the last moment, before crashing into the trees, Bill instinctively shouted:

"SKY BREAKTHROUGH!"

Using the speed of his fall, he propelled himself forward with astonishing speed. At that moment, there was no pain in his legs, no thoughts of the burning city or the tragedies of the past two weeks. There was only a man, freely soaring through the air, and for almost a minute the feeling of freedom completely consumed him.

In this brief instant, Bill felt only a state of calm as he watched the city approach. In this state, he saw what needed to be done, and in a near-miracle, even for someone capable of running through the air, Bill performed a backflip, halting his immense speed to land far enough from the city to remain unseen.

Landing easily, Bill felt his heart beating steadily and powerfully. For another brief moment, he felt invincible.

SIGH-SIGH

Taking a deep breath in and out, Bill momentarily forgot this feeling and moved forward with a steady pace.

From what he saw from the cliff, the village was very scattered, with unique buildings, each at some distance from the other. The most noticeable structure in the village, where there was the most activity, was a large mill located closer to the center of the area.

Running at a decent speed, Bill felt the handle of the hammer swinging at his hip and wondered whether he should remove his blue and white Marine uniform. Bill's uniform was standard for Marine recruits, although technically he was a lieutenant of the Scientific Division of the Marines. He hadn't bothered to change clothes, and the only thing that distinguished him from most others was the short sleeves on his white shirt.

With three ships in the harbor, there was a chance Bill could slip by unnoticed in the crowd, but likely due to his stubbornness, he decided not to change clothes.

Approaching a house on the edge of town, he kept his ears open and heard noise at some distance. Although Bill didn't stop, he wondered why someone had built a mansion only three meters wide.

As he went to the next house, Bill found it surrounded by an orange grove. From his viewpoint, Bill counted about two dozen orange trees being picked by half a dozen pirates. Watching from behind a tree, he saw six men laughing, one of them biting into an orange, chewing, and spitting out a whole handful of chewed-up orange peel. The one who ate the orange seemed to be the leader or, at the very least, talked more than the others, making him the obvious target.

Thinking that he needed to take one for interrogation, Bill considered his plan. This was the first time Bill was about to fight people with a real threat at stake. He didn't know how strong the pirates were on average, but he assumed their strength was likely on par with the average Marine or Hollandez pirate. Even if they were twice as strong, he could easily handle these six, and if they turned out to be stronger, he would simply ascend to the sky and escape.

Feeling the hammer at his belt, Bill decided not to use it here. He wasn't going to kill unless it was absolutely necessary, and judging by what he had seen in this world, there was no point in using all his strength without a good reason. After all, he could break through concrete walls, tear iron bars, and do much more. If he struck even a not very strong person with full strength, they would probably explode. So he decided not to use the hammer in combat until he understood how hard he could hit a person.

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