Watching them launch their boats, Bill waited for the traders to reach the shore. At first they were surprised to see that he was a Marine, but they were even more amazed by the literal mountains of iron he had created.
In fact, Bill didn't have to exaggerate, and when they paid their 500,000 belli, he calculated that it was the easiest 6 million he had ever made.
Moreover, he had made useful connections in East Blue that he knew would stay with him for the rest of his life.
Looking over the documents in his hands, Bill boarded the Blue Bird with Yoko and the others.
The return of Rance and the others took longer than planned because they were unable to use the Victory as temporary housing. Before the massive ship left Little East Blue Island, enough buildings had to be built to prevent the people from sleeping in the open.
Because of this, Bill spent four and a half months on the ruined island, recycling more iron than he had planned to use.
Through this work, his Department will earn around 300 million Beli and obtain enough raw materials to transform Little Eastern Blue Island into something much grander than originally planned.
Looking back at the island as they sailed away, Bill reflected that his trip to find the engineers had turned into a year of struggle.
But it was worth it!
First, the money they earned was critical to building his lab. Even though he was captain of the Science Division, he still needed to buy equipment he couldn't make himself. The two largest of these devices were a high-energy purifier that could, among other things, convert seawater into hydrogen difluoride, and a fusion reactor that would be the backbone of the island's power grid.
It was expensive, especially now that Dr. Vegapunk had moved his main lab to an island in the New World he called "Egghead Island."
Bill considered renaming the Little Eastern Blue, but put it off until later, worried about how much it would cost to transport the reactor and its fuel.
Since he couldn't get the equipment himself, the transportation costs would be very high. Eventually, at the very least, a rear admiral would have to lead a convoy carrying such technology.
But there was nothing he could do about it. It had taken Vegapunk almost a year to create his second cyborg, Pythagoras, but now that he had two versions of himself, creating more cyborgs would go much faster.
Due to this success, the brilliant scientist stated that he needed more space for the large-scale experiments he was planning to conduct in the near future, such as the recently launched Pacifista program.
Bill didn't know the details of this new program, but was wary when he learned from Sentomaru that it involved Bartholomew Kuma.
He was wary of anything to do with the so-called Sea Lords, because no matter what it was, an independent military force within a government was always a bad idea.
But despite this being a worrying sign, Bill trusted Vegapunk's judgment and decided to do his best to stay informed.
Standing on the deck of the Blue Bird, escorting the merchant fleet past the whirlpools, Masterson approached him and began asking Bill about the technique of "Shaving".
It was impressive that in just six months the former bounty hunter could already use it.
"Once I master that, I'll probably move on to Moon Step and then Iron Body," Masterson said, waiting for Bill's opinion.
Hearing this, Bill shook his head and suggested leaving Iron Body second to last, first mastering the techniques related to the legs.
"Once you've mastered Shaving and Moon Step, Stormbringer will be just a small step. After that, I'd consider the Paper Art technique, since Finger Strike and Iron Body work on opposite principles. But the truth is, once you have the strength to use one of the techniques, the others come faster."
This fact was well known and obvious.
This is why the Marine Corps allowed even common sailors to sign contracts to learn one of the Six Forces, believing that if a person could master one, he could master the rest.
Of course, this did not mean that everyone could master all Six Powers, only true superhumans with combat talent could achieve this.
Before Masterson could respond, Nelson spoke from his car.
- And don't listen when someone starts telling you that you can master the Iron Body faster if you pump up.
Bill nodded in agreement, but sighed inwardly.
Over the past month and a half, Bill has learned that Nelson's extended contract has given him the right to study the Iron Body technique.
He never asked why Nelson chose this technique, since most people preferred to master the Shave and the Moon Step. But Bill came to the conclusion that it was Nelson's attempts to master the Iron Body that led to his eating disorder.