Despite all these warning signs, Bill tried to play devil's advocate. He told himself:
"I have visited dozens of islands, and except for the Island of Watches, I have never seen oppression."
"The nobles know that anyone they oppress can gain superhuman powers, and that holds them back."
"I've met several high-ranking Marines and they've all been good people."
The last argument was weak, and he knew it. And, realizing this, Bill refuted the rest of his arguments.
"I've never been to the kingdom; I've only been to marine bases and very small islands."
"What if only a very small percentage of people can reach the level of superhumans... then maybe the nobles don't even care."
"Marines are soldiers..." Then Bill sighed and told himself a universal truth: "Soldiers follow orders."
Bill looked up at the sky and watched several harriers. He told himself that all this thinking was pointless. He had never seen or heard of anything like this, which bothered him so much, except for the case of the pirate who had captured an entire island.
"He arranged for me to join the Marines," Bill interrupted his thoughts, remembering what Aramakki had told him when they met at Marineford.
"Damn..." Bill cursed, which was extremely uncharacteristic of him.
In his past life, he always knew what to do and where to be.
He was never a leader; he was never the one who had to lead.
He was always proud that he lived a simple, kind, and dignified life.
And then he was suddenly reborn and no longer knew what to do or where to be.
He thought it was supposed to be a test.
He told himself that there must be some meaning to the fact that this had happened to such an ordinary man, thinking that his wife would have been much better in his place.
He had never admitted it even to himself, but now, sitting on the roof of the warehouse in Loachtown, he could understand that it was this feeling that made him work so hard on himself.
Why didn't he agree to the quiet, decent life his father wanted for him.
Why did he join the Marines so easily?
Why did he try his best to fight against that devil or angel that was behind Revolutionary Dragon.
And as he sat there, Bill told himself over and over again that he couldn't make assumptions about the world.
He could only say this because, despite his beliefs telling him that nothing happens by chance, he knew it was dangerous to invent such grandiose destinies.
"Bill," he said to himself, "You are not the messiah. You are a man. You were not born into this world to lead an army and liberate the enslaved masses."
Although he could not get rid of his fantasies, he said to himself again: "There are no enslaved masses. Slavery was banned by the World Nobles themselves, whom you criticize."
Sitting on the roof, Bill continued to reproach himself until the sun broke through the morning sky.
He wasn't tired; Bill thought his body would never get tired again after he reforged it, but he still remained on the roof, wondering what to do next, until he heard people moving below.
Listening to the sounds of the old people, young women and children below him, Bill told himself that instead of chasing ghosts, he should be helping the people in front of him now.
Then, jumping from the roof, he entered the dining room, and everyone who saw him greeted him warmly.
At that moment he realized that he was right. These people were now his people.
He struck up a conversation with the elderly cook and laughed when she spoke as old women do, always trying to make someone happy.
After breakfast he returned to his office.
Not knowing what the future would bring, Bill returned to work.
Sitting in his office, Bill looked over the financial reports and realized that they had done well.
After talking with Sentomaru, Bill received precise information about what obligations he had to the Science Department.
There were only two financial conditions for maintaining his powers.
First, although he was not expected to make any income for the first two years of his work, he was required to pay 200 million beli annually thereafter, with the income being reviewed every five years.
It wasn't so bad, he thought, since in five months he and his crew had earned about 400 million beli, despite the fact that they only traveled to certain places. Even if you took away the huge profits he had made from the Bear King, he could still easily earn 100 million beli this year.
He didn't know what would happen in five years, but he was confident that he would last at least that long.
Even more interesting was the second condition.
In addition to the lump sum that was to be transferred to the Scientific Department, at the end of the year 20% of the total profit of his Department would be charged to them.
These profits were accounted for after all expenses were paid, and that was why Bill was surprised that business practices in this world were so much more modern than his government.