Bill was worried, but according to his father: "They ran into some troublemakers on Centaur; those bandits didn't know who they were dealing with, and Captain Zima quickly apprehended them. Unfortunately for the captain, the prisons on Centaur were in terrible condition, so he decided to wait for a ship with Marines to transport the prisoners."
As soon as he heard this, Bill asked the obvious question—how could a Marines base just two islands away from the local Headquarters be in such poor condition that it couldn't hold "ruffians"?
His father gave him an eye-opening answer: "Son, the Marines can only allocate the necessary minimum resources where they are needed. It often happens that small Marines bases simply cannot get all the required materials, so they have to choose what to cut back on.
The captain on Centaur chose to prioritize the docks, staffing, and armaments. Piracy is punishable by execution, and that's exactly what happened to them."
Thinking about the consequences of such a policy, primarily about who would surrender knowing they'd be executed immediately, Bill asked a more technical question: "If that base already had such a policy, how was Captain Zima able to keep those people in custody?"
Slightly tilting his head, Aramaki replied, "If Captain Tail had given the order, those ruffians would have been executed. I suspect he valued Zima's presence more than he cared about the food those prisoners would consume."
Reflecting on this logic and what Bill had learned during his visits to Headquarters, he found that the Marines gave their commanders a lot of executive freedom. It was similar to the Imperial Japanese army.
However, while the Imperial Japanese command committed extremes in the name of "the nation," the Marines' command acted in the name of "justice." The concept of justice in the Marines was an interesting topic, but it would have to be discussed another time.
Getting up from the bed, Bill turned the hourglass for ten minutes and assumed a plank position.
This was a gift to Bill from Captain Trapan after he completed his six-month training.
The stocky captain was genuinely impressed by Bill's dedication. He mentioned that although Bill was allowed to use the gym facilities by agreement, he wouldn't have mentioned it to the Commodore if Bill hadn't shown improvement by using the equipment. But then, before leaving, the captain said that if Bill truly wanted to gain real strength, he could tell him what needed to be done.
Even though his last instructions could be considered quite basic, Bill couldn't deny the results and immediately agreed. It was the first time Bill heard the term "meditative push-ups." If he were still on Earth, he would have thought this stocky captain was talking nonsense, because according to Captain Trapan, the path to "real strength" lay in doing a single push-up over the course of ten minutes.
Despite his initial skepticism, five months later, Bill began to follow what he had been told that day.
Trapan: "Now listen, kid, when you get into the plank position, I want you to slowly tense your abdominal muscles while focusing on what's happening inside you. Try to feel your muscles slowly tightening, try to sense the blood moving from your heart to your abdomen.
When your abs are tensed, shift your body weight onto the outer sides of your arms. Feel how the weight of your body moves from your wrists to the edges of your palms. Once again, focus intently on the sensations inside your body.
Keep your hips and torso straight. When you feel confident in this motion, realize how your body is connected. When you're ready, slowly lower yourself and feel how your abs, chest, thighs, and wrists make small adjustments to what you're doing.
Do this slowly and focus entirely on yourself, on every part of yourself. When you can do this, you will gain real strength."
After giving this lesson, the captain pulled out a mechanical ten-minute hourglass that made a ringing sound when the sand ran out. He told Bill to return when he no longer needed the hourglass.
Bill didn't know why he would ever not need the hourglass, since the ten-minute mark didn't seem like an arbitrary figure. It took about ten minutes before his body would start shaking, forcing him to stop to prevent injury.
As he slowly lowered himself, Bill continued to try to sense the internal processes of his body. The process of descending was more informative than rising. At least it was easier to feel how the relaxed muscles gradually tensed than to sense anything other than fatigue after a few minutes in the plank position.
Despite doing only two ten-minute meditative push-ups a day for several months, Bill gained a much better understanding of his body. Although he couldn't feel the movement of blood, if that was even possible, he clearly sensed the interconnection of his muscles and bones.