For people of average build, guns and pistols will always be the best weapons because they either work or they don't. And if regular Marines encounter an enemy that can't be stopped by bullets, at least they'll be at a distance enough to try to retreat.
Because his goals were far-reaching, Bill knew he needed an elite group.
He reasoned that Iron Body was a good fighting technique to learn because, even if it didn't have the instant utility and impressive speed of Shave, it strengthened a person's body, making them much stronger than they would be otherwise.
Bill shared this with Rance and had already begun developing training methods with Masterson, but he did not want to lure unsuspecting recruits into signing long-term contracts.
"Only those who can actually show progress in the Meditative Push-ups," were his criteria, although he knew that this plan was not flawless due to the existence of natural superhumans.
Rance nodded in agreement, and after that the two friends talked about the day Bill fought the Dragon, and Bill described his mastery of Haki.
As far as he knew, none of his friends could consciously use this ability, although Rance had trained to develop what he called Observation Haki—or what Bill would call Presence Sense.
When Rance left, Bill came back and sat down on one of the four sofas. He was mentally tired, and, closing his eyes, said to himself:
"Hang in there, buddy. This is just the beginning."
- What the...
Standing in the hold of a large warship, Bill looked in bewilderment at the nuclear reactor he had ordered.
The machine was in pieces, not broken, but it looked like it had been completely stripped down to the smallest parts. This was a problem because, although Bill had an engineering background, it clearly wasn't in power systems.
Behind him stood the vice admiral who had delivered the cargo. He had been inexplicably irritable since arriving at the port.
Bill wasn't sure if he was upset because he had to wait while Bill was in the tunnels when the gunship arrived, or for some other reason.
Whatever the case, Bill knew one thing: this Vice Admiral had a devil fruit, and the shadow behind him had been flickering ever since he arrived at the docks.
This wasn't normal; he'd been around Smoker and Fia long enough to know that such flashes between imaginary and real space only happened when an ability was about to be used.
Could this Vice Admiral really be thinking about attacking him because he had to wait? Incredible, Bill thought.
But, be that as it may, he was not going to ignore his inner instinct, and, passing by the containers and boxes with parts of the reactor and the processing machine, he kept an eye on where Vice Admiral Onigumo was.
Vice Admiral Onigumo: "Everything is here. What are you looking for, Captain?"
Bill looked over his shoulder and shrugged, answering,
— I'm just trying to get my head around the fact that they gave me a disassembled nuclear reactor.
First, Bill had never seen the reactor he needed, but the thing was so big that it would require a space the size of a school gymnasium to install it…
"If I can even put it together," he thought.
While he was thinking about this, Onigumo spoke in a threatening tone:
- Everything is here. Nothing was moved in or out of this hold. Everything remains as the Science Department left it. Do you doubt that, Captain?
Looking down at the Vice Admiral, who was tall but still half a foot shorter than he was, Bill felt annoyed but assumed he would leave soon.
Perhaps he wouldn't normally be irritated, but when the Vice Admiral spoke, the shadow behind him flickered faster, and it made Bill think that the man was threatening him for no reason.
"Well, I don't think you stole anything, if that's what you mean," he said in as friendly a voice as he could, but immediately regretted it when the man replied, "Fine, then get that junk off my ship. If you have any problems, talk to Vegapunk or his goon."
It is worth noting that, despite being the head of his own department, Bill spoke to Sentomaru at least once a month. He spoke to Sentomaru more often than he spoke to his own parents, and often received advice on his assignment.
"His name is Sentomaru, and he is a good man," Bill said, looking at the vice admiral, whose face was hidden by his helmet.
When he said this, the man grinned sinisterly and replied, "Heh, but you knew who I was talking about."
Hearing this, Bill simply informed the Vice Admiral that his men would now begin unloading the ship, and added that he could wait in his cabins.
As soon as he said that, Bill immediately regretted escalating the situation. He had just told the vice admiral to wait in the cabin, and Onigumo seemed to have picked up on that, saying with a grim smile, "No, no. I'll help you get started right now."
Leaning over the stack of packaged pipes, Bill saw the man's shadow become more and more real and noticed the sleeve of his uniform beginning to bulge.