A bell rang out through the quiet morning, it’s heavy low tone call familiar to all those stationed at the base. Renero looked up from his book, which had the title “The Expeditions to the four Blues: A study of the ever expanding islands.” embossed in a gold archaic font; on a plain blue cover and looked across, were his clothes were folded neatly, and most importantly; his . coat; freshly ironed; hanging Time really flies in the quiet hours of the morning. The mild annoyance that he would have to end his bath and reading was plainly written on his face as he laid the book to the side; using the bound blue silk bookmark to mark his progress and silently finished his bath. It was a quaint half-cut barrel bath but for the likes of him, having a bath every morning was both relaxing ritual that helped him get the day started; It didn’t matter if he took it in the Fleet Admiral’s Golden Bath or in a lake, as long as he could relax in cool water and read, he was set. He rinsed himself one last time to wash off any remaining soapy residue before he got up and dried himself with a course white towel. He slowly got dressed in the usual white short-sleeved shirt; blue neckerchief and dark blue trousers. He set himself in front of the mirror and quickly gave his ruff a quick comb. He finally slipped into a pair of boots; before stopping in front of his hanging coat; a look of pride beaming on his face. He reached for it gingerly; as if afraid that he would tarnish it with a mere touch, before gently resting it upon his shoulders, before he made his way out of his dormitory with a relaxed pace, the coat fluttering with each step.

The sun was scorching hot, the winds carrying warmth on their edge, a sign that they were approaching the land of Alabasta. Renero wasn’t too keen on visiting such a sweltering land, seeing as his fur made it all the worse for him; yet duty called and that was all the reason he needed. Saluting the Officer on duty, although he barely got a glance of recognition in return, before he set himself in line, standing at attention. It was his first time standing with the Ensigns. The rest of the crew joined and soon after, the same ball rang once more; signaling the beginning of their brief, as the man in front, a rugged man; long white sideburns and a look that could split a cannonball, picked up a receiver off the large den-den that lay next to him. “Men, as you already know; we have finally reached our destination. This should be a mostly quiet stay, but don’t let your guard down. There are those who still seek to plant the seeds of discord, especially in the seat of power” He stopped, letting his words echo over the den den speaker. “By the next hour, be packed and ready to disembark. Dismissed men.” He finished plainly, resting the receiver on the table that stood next to him as the men below saluted.

Although not so fond of the weather, sweat already matting his fur, he could not deny he looked forward to finally serving his first tour at a Marine Base. Since he graduated from a cadet, he had been on ship after ship, rarely staying on land for more than a few days before departing in the wild blue sea, patrolling against the growing menace of pirate scum. Well, Renero did more cleaning and training then actual patrolling, although he did get the occasional overwatch duty at night and he always secretly wished that some low life would show their flag yet no such luck, although it was to be excepted in the most well patrolled routes. He set off once more to his room to pack what little belongings he had. Although he had spent most of his life serving, only after he got promoted to Petty Officer did he start getting a monthly paycheck and even then, it was not that large; yet he had saved it all for this occasion; His promotion to Ensign. Although he could still wear his old uniform, he kept that only to use when training; He now could wear anything he desired and as soon as he settled in the base, he would go look for a proper outfit.

Renero spent rest the next hour training, lifting leading weights on the deck as the other marines conducted their training regiments; stabbing cloth sacks with swords and sparring. He would have preferred the latter, yet few found interest in sparring with a “beast man” two times their size. The heat made the dumbbells weight a thousand kilos more, yet he bit through it; This was going to be the condition of work for the coming time, which may be years before he might find himself stationed someplace else. Sweat dripped of his ruff as he did the last training set before dropping them with a cracking thud, yet thankfully the noise was lost among the shouts of vigor and training of the rest of the marines. As he undid his blue handkerchief and whipped the sweat off his brow, he felt eyes starting on him. It was no unusual, he was the only Minkman on board after all. He had yet to meet on in service, although he knew there were others. There had to be, right?  He turned his attention to his side to see the person who had their stare fixed on him, a shaking young chore boy, clutching a typed brief as if his life depended on it.

“That’s for me?” Renero husked; though the boy remained silent, his face laced with sweat, an unflinching stare. Seeing no response, he took the brief from the boy’s hand, who seemed to melt as he touched him, running off as fast as his two little legs could carry him. It had only a few lines, but they conveyed their message clearly. Very clearly. Yet, he read it twice. Then thrice, just to be sure, Among the sweat, a few tears fell upon his ruff. A squad; He was going to be assigned to a squad. G-6. He never heard of it, but he didn’t need to. The fact he was chosen was more than enough. Getting up, he hurried off to his room, wanted to celebrate with another cool bath.


It took him a while, as the task of making clothes for such an abnormal frame proved too bothersome for many, especially without a high payment a marine paycheck could not support but finally, Renero found a tailor that could cater to his tastes. He didn’t seem too keen but he took the order, whilst grumbling about the lack of work recently. The store had only one textile enough in stock to make his shirt; black with green floral imprints. Although he was worried it might leave a bad impression on his new team mates and commander, time was of the essence and deep down, he thought it didn’t look too bad. It cost him practically most of his savings and he could not afford to pay for a tie, so it had to make due. The Tailor, an angular and small balding man with a bushy beard; worked like his life depended on it; taking measurement after measurement; grumbling about “Nanohana” whilst his spindly assistant cut and sewed in silence and Renero read about faraway lands, from the infamous Loguetown to small towns.

A few hours later, he walked out in the streets, his white cape flowing in the wind.  It was “rushed” work according to the Tailor, yet Renero found complained, loose and comfortable; it felt good on him. The man declined the meagre tip Renero offered him, which suited him fine; Although he would now be getting a bigger paycheck, that was still a month away and he had to survive on the remaining savings he had.

The hustle and bustle of the tight-packed streets made every step take a minute and even though his larger frame and white cape of justice afforded him a bit of space that kept people from bumping into him, he still had to make haste as to not arrive late at the meeting, even though the station was in view from where he stood, although a lot of things were in view thanks to his size. With a quick gait, he made his way, eying the crowd behind his darkened spectacles, looking out for any handsy fellows; beggars and vagrants lined the streets, yet, his walk to the meeting point was uneventful to say the least. Looking up at the giant clock that lay on top of the entrance gate, he saw that he was just a few minutes early. Renero re-read the letter to make sure he got the place right, although it was more of habit than anything else, as each word has been ingrained in his times from the two dozen times he had read it before. It was strange to note that he was addressed as Renero D. Wajima; When registered into the cadet academy and then promoted to Marine, the D has always been present, yet he did not know what it stood for; When he asked, all he got was strange looks and shrugs. Maybe it was just an error that error that had stuck with him. Unlikely, but he wouldn’t have thought it was likely he would be drafted into active duty with a Branch Unit.

He looked around, searching for any sign of a Marine Official, yet he could see no one that struck him as such. Maybe his commander was stuck in the crowd; maybe they got caught up dispensing justice; It was not for Renero to judge. Finding an empty and quiet seat, curling his tail to his waist before sitting. Resting his back, he stared at the horizon  The sun had begun to dip and for the first time in a long time, he felt a drum in his heart, a drum of eagerness, hope, fear and excitement. He tried to calm himself by continuing to read, yet the words were not making sense, finding himself unable to focus with all these emotions beating in his mind, deafening everything else that went around him. He just stared onwards through the black tinted shades, hands clasped together as his tail passively beating against his gut in excitement.

David's large form lurched with each step he took towards the town of Nanohana, which he would arrive at in the next few minutes due to his immense size. David's day after returning to the Marines were filled with disciplinary action, being forced to help the locals with repairs something David was a great boon, forced exercise, and other such things. Though David did give a full report of what he did during his time being AWOL, the commodore he talked to didn't seem to care about it and instead possessively gave it to his superior. Who that was, David didn't know nor question. But it was only a day after returning to the marines that David was given an order to leave for Nanohana and report to Commodore Lu Dahn for instruction and induction into the G-6 squad. Leading to David's current situation, walking from Alubarna to Nanohana. Normally a few days journey reduced to a measly 10 hour walk, as being among the taller giants in the world, David could cover quite the distance when he wished to.

David was quickly coming upon the port city of Nanohana, the city he oh so unceremoniously rammed a Brigantine sized ship into the City's port. David still winced at the memory. David had set out just before dawn when he was told his orders, and had made haste to reach Nanohana. First in part was to meet his superior, second was to help repair the cities port. With that port repaired Alubarna could recover all the quicker, and speed along the entire countries healing. Heaven knows the country needed it.

With heavy thudding steps, David entered Nanohana and began making his way to the sea train station where he was supposively meeting his commanding officer. Why the train station, David didn't know though as he looked over the buildings with ease he could see how some major activity was happening around the station. Repairs seeming to be done? Perhaps his commanding officer was in charge? David didn't know, so instead he went over hoping to find him.

Avoiding people as he walked was both easy and hard. East since most people saw him coming and moved, hard because David had to walk slow to avoid people and always watch his step, which he did. David entered the plaza outside the sea train station and moved over the side to stand. He couldn't see any marine officers of commodore rank, so he could only assume the man was not here yet. Making sure he wouldn't sit on anything, David placed himself out of the way of the flow of people going to and fro and instead pulled out his carving knife and a spherical piece of wood that was soon to be carved to a small statue. As David started to carve, he wondered what kind of man his new superior was.

The town seemed to be doing well at least. David would note as he glanced around while his knife dug into the block of wood with slow meticulous care. The town was practically abuzz with activity, as people chatted back and both excitedly. Everyone was doing something to contribute, even the few marine hands that could be spared are helping in the repairs of the docks. Though it shouldn't be all that surprising. The people are reinvigorated after the marine fleet arrived to offer protection, and the hard workers of Alabasta were working themselves into a sweat with the repairs of various buildings and port. Though far from done, the repairs were going along at a decent pace. David wondered if he could request permission to help them...

David's attention was drawn out of his thinking upon noticing quite a tall mink, for their race anyway. Not many things can be called 'Tall' when compared to the giants. With the now approaching, which David only realized it was coming towards him, David looked to the right of said minkmen and realized there was a man adamantly chatting with the Minkmen. David, when it was clear they were coming to him, would set his sphere of wood aside and his knife and look at the two approaching him with his hands in his lap. The smaller of the two men introduced as David's commanding officer, he would raise his left hand and salute the man, however not immediately respond to the man as he mulled over his words. After about a minute, David would return his attention to the man and speak. "Greetings Commodore Sir. David Sinh reporting for duty. What will my orders be?" David asked politely and with actual sincerity in his voice.

As he fumbled around in his new suit, patting the inside and outside pockets, trying to find his assignment letter. He heard someone calling him; Name and Rank. He turned stiff as a board and slowly turned around towards the cold voice. Did they change their mind and were going to call him back to HQ? Had he misread the time and came late and lost his only opportunity to advance his career.  The source of the voice seemed to be a smartly dressed, blue-haired man with a briefcase. He did not look like a marine, seeing as he lacked the flowing coat of justice. He was unsure if to bow or not but seeing as he knew who he was both by name and rank, he was definitely under the employ of the World Government, if not with the Marines directly. Pulling his hand out of the folds of his jacket, he fidgeted for a second trying to get it out but at the same time not ripping into the fabric, his mind racing as he lay there unsure if to go for a salute or a handshake but ending up doing neither in the confusion.

“Aye.” Renero husked as politely as he could as the man waved with a beaming smile.

The man did not have an impressive fatigue nor seem to carry any weapons; he looked like nothing more than a pencil pusher. Yet, in that single moment, he locked eyes with him; he saw beyond the small smiling man. Instead of the familiar disdain, he saw something that shook Renero to the core.

His eyes were that of a dangerous being, a man with an aura of command and power he never felt before; so much so that the hair on the back of his neck stood upright, a primal instinct of danger, a chill running all throughout his being. The man said no more to him, just signalling to follow, still smiling before he turned and walked on. He stood there, still upright and saluting, all his instincts telling him to run, run far away from this man; yet he found his feet moving from under him, as if under some kind of spell.

Although Renero could barely believe it, he found himself afraid, a cold confusing type of fear; as he never felt before. He always was worried that one day, a higher up would see him as an unnecessary component, not fit to represent justice and hold the title of a Marine, let alone a commissioned officer. Sometimes, even Renero found himself unsure if he was fit to be one; he never fit in, no matter how much he tried. Although it took longer than other, he always found himself moving from one rank to the other; staying defiant to the jeers of others; always doing his best to serve with his utmost. Yet he knew that for some that was never enough, and they made that clear with their cold looks and threating remarks, so much so that most if not all, nights he slept uneasily, thinking that might be his last one.
Yet, if he was ever sure that a day that marked his death, it was this day, by the hand of that man.

Dismissal or Death; They both were the same to Renero.

The man exchanged pleasantries as he walked deeper into the station, never looking back at him. Renero did his best to shake away his fear and thoughts as he found himself with a tied tongue for a moment. “It is a good day.” He managed to stutter through. He wanted to say more, ask who this man was, yet he found himself still entrapped in unnatural fear. He tried to reason with himself; This man was nothing more than a human; even if he had a gun or knife hidden on him, he could easily fight him; Renero was no hardened Veteran, yet if the training spars were to be taken as a reference; few had managed to best him and even fewer still in a sheer test of strength. Yet, his instincts were not to be ignored either; they had saved his hide more then he could count, spotting out danger just in the nick of time and let him live an other day, be it a beating as he bathed or a sucker punch from behind. Maybe he was being led into an Ambush?

He gave a sidelong gaze around, his height giving him a good view of the parting crowd. A hustle and bustle of a busy sea train station; no one stood out from the crowd. Most eyes seemed to be on him, even if just for a nervous glance but that was nothing out of the ordinary. He spotted the occasional shady face in the crowd, a beggar or a vagabond begging, yet most gave him no more than a glance while others did their best not to look at him.

As he was lost in these thoughts that the man stopped slowly; Renero luckily stopping himself before he bumped into him.

He finally turned towards him, those dangerous eyes locking into Renero’s once more. “This is it.” he thought to himself.

Renero stood with his hands behind his back, standing at attention; the ends of his claws slowly expanding, as if he was afraid that someone might hear him. If he was going to go down, he would go down with a fight benefiting that of a Marine. The words that came of the man’s mouth confused him for a moment before he looked upwards. He had been called a giant, but this was one in flesh and bone, so big that he somehow blended with the huge architecture. And this man wanted him to call to his attention. Was this the trap? He didn’t have much choice but to play along for now.

Cupping his hands, he quickly let the claws slide back in as he took a deep breath before speaking as loudly as he could yet not shout. “Oi Mate, this man needs to talk to you.” As the literal giant looked down.

The man introduced then himself. The man he had not called sir, not saluted and just called him simply as “man”.

Maybe getting ambushed and dying fighting off racist marines wasn’t such a bad outcome after all.

Commodore Ricchi stood silently unmoving, the same as the Giant in front of him, seemingly frozen in a salute. He slowly paced backwards, the chilling silence making it seem like his loose suit was now three sizes too small; yet the sweat that broke on his brow was cold as it could ever be. The single minute seemed to last an eternity, the bustle of the people around simply a blur as his heart beat as fast as it ever did. He fumbled with his hands, trying to look as cool as cucumber, but he looked agitated at best; his tail swinging for side to side as if trying to beat off an invisible swarm of flies.

Finally, the booming voice of the Giant, whose name seemed to be David; finally responded. The words his Commander responded with seemed to be coming from far off, mostly overtaken by the loud thumping of his heart that seemed to fill his head; that was; until the Commodore turned towards him a file. Time snapped back at once, a deafening silence filling Renero; as if the past moments were nothing more than a frozen second, now catching up all to him. “Thank you, Commodore, Sir.” Renero answered as confidently as he could, with a salute, before carefully taking the file from his superior’s hands.

Before he had the chance to look into the file, already worrying that this was his dismissal, the absurdity of such a situation seemingly escaping him in his panic, the Commodore began once more talking to him; now fully facing him, Renero once more finding himself locking eyes with him, seemingly unable to avoid doing so, as if he was under some kind of spell. The words that followed gave him a respite of sorts, temporarily as it might be. It seemed that maybe his transgressions of protocol had been pushed aside, maybe only for now; till the two embarked on their journey to Water 7. “That is a great honour, thank you; Commodore, Sir.” He said, unsure if to laugh too or not. Renero added a small grin in the end, although it was obvious he wasn’t really a man who smiled a lot.

As the two walked off towards their stage, Renero realized that he was going to Water 7. The Shipbuilding capital of the World. Back in his Chore boy days, when he was tasked with helping one of the Engineers with some maintenance to the Hull, the man had spoken fondly of the island and from what little Renero had read about it, he wasn’t lying when he called it “The Shipbuilding Capital of the Grand Line.”

And most importantly, he will have to suffer no more searing heat.

David reached up and scratched the side of his helmet when the commodore complimented his skills, though not unjustified David was hardly as strong or as capable with his hands as he was fifty years ago. His current skill level might put normal people to shame sure, but it was poultry compared to his younger self. "Thank you for the compliments Commodore, but I'm hardly worthy of note. If you looked at my work from fifty years ago you would clearly see I would put myself to shame. As for my physicality, again, fifty years ago and I could more then likely lift the biggest ship the marines have at their power. Shame time has claimed so much from me." David said with a sight and a bit of longingly to the commodore before him. All of it was true, fifty years ago he crafted such create monuments of structural beauty that most people would flock to see them. Even his bow skills were better, having only used his bow sparingly over the last fifty years has obviously deteriorated
his skill. He would have to fix that at some point.

David startled himself when he realized he had drawn back into his mind, and forcefully returned his mind to the here and now. Reaching down, David would grab the pieces of paper with his index finger and thumb and bring it close to his right eye, where he would further lean down and cock his head to the right so he can see it even closer. David could read the text somewhat, enough to get the gist of what he was supposed to be doing in the G-6 unit. The fine print was a bit harder to read but it would be fine. David once more drawn out of his musings, though this time by the commodore, asking if David had anything else he required. David turned his attention back to the commodore as he once more thought for a bit longer then a minute before responding. "No Sir. I shall be fine. I hope to greet you in Nanohana when the repairs have finished." David nodded as he finished and held up a salute to the commodore once more with his leavings.

White plumes of smoke drifted down from the halted train, slowly rocking to and fro as it came to a stop at the station. It was a revolutionary piece of engineering; having united territories which otherwise would have been only reachable by ship and kickstarting a new age of trade; allowing the transport of goods from merchants who could not afford to rent the space of a highly sought-after trade vessel. It was an enjoyable read, a step towards uniting divided seas. Yet, Pirate Scum found ways to abuse it; Be it outright robbing it to gaining a cut from all revenue of a route, as to “protect” it against undesirable accidents that might occur in transit. His commander had stood silently next to him, for better or worse Renero could not decide, yet the threat of imminent dismissal seemed to be no more than paranoia from his side; Hopefully, it would still be that by the end of the day.

With the ring of a heavy bell; the boarding of the train begun. Renero and The Commodore were first, as benefitted someone of their status, in a strangely orderly line. Or it simply could have been because no one wanted to skip the line and anger the large minkman heading it.

As he made his way through the cabin, squeezing in between the rows of seats, he looked back, both literally and figuratively towards the sand blown land that was Alabasta; he knew he would not miss it, yet he could not hate it either. The Sand got in his fur, things were expensive to buy, and vagabonds seem to roam at every corner, but the Giant David seemed to be tasked with protecting these lands, and albeit a handful, he had the hands of a giant after all.

Yet, most importantly, it was the land where he was given the news of his transfer, the greatest moment of his life, yet it still did not overshadow what came before. The Medical Checkup he underwent whilst staying in the base had shown a rather troublesome issue. It was unclear what the source was, yet the symptoms were known. Minkman weren’t normally this big and tall; and the fact that his parentage is dubious at best, it was possible that there is an underlying medical condition to be blamed for his size. The results were inconclusive and further testing on a sample he had left with the Doctors would hopefully give the answer, yet one thing was made very clear to him. There wasn’t going to be good news; either bad or worse.

[EXIT]

David saluted the Commodore as he left, before returning his attention back to his papers. While small, David could still see and read them with only a little difficulty. With a sigh, David stood up from his position and started heading towards the docks. He had work to do.

[EXIT]

Story Topic: Young unit dispatching on the waves to change the world. I love the internal dialogues and exchanges.

Bloo: 8,500,000 Beli
David: 5,000,000 Beli | + 2 Prestige (Welcome to a unit)
Renero: 18,500,000 | + 2 Prestige (Welcome to a unit)