November 30, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
*You have used a Character Improvement Card on the Named Character (VIP) Nico Robin*
*Nico Robin has obtained the passive ability "Strong Body (Level 5)"*
*Nico Robin's abilities "Haki Talent" and "Hand-to-Hand Combat Talent" have increased by three levels*
*Nico Robin has obtained the passive ability "Soft Skin (Level 8)"*
Orion reviewed the information displayed in the notifications that had appeared on the system screen, and he smiled in satisfaction upon seeing that the improvements Robin had received this time were truly excellent.
Not only had she obtained the Strong Body ability, which made her naturally several times stronger than an average person, but her talent in Haki and hand-to-hand combat had also been strengthened—two areas where she had previously struggled quite a bit.
After all, the reason Robin had decided to leave with Stussy, abandoning the safety and protection Orion provided, had been precisely to accelerate her development, as the pace at which she had been progressing was not fast enough to satisfy her—due specifically to her lower talent in those areas.
Now, with this boost to her talent, the training she would undergo under the command of the beautiful spy would likely yield far better results, something Orion was more than pleased to see.
Robin would probably be greatly surprised when she realized that she was now capable of improving her abilities at twice the speed with half the effort, and Orion was already looking forward to the day they would meet again, so he could see just how much she had progressed.
Even so, Orion had no intention of remaining separated from Robin for too long, as he knew he would begin to miss her relatively soon, and he would not be able to resist going to visit her to ensure she was doing well in her new environment.
Finally, Orion reviewed the last of the rewards Robin had obtained through the Character Improvement Card, and upon reading the description of the passive ability "Soft Skin," he raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Just as its name suggested, this was an ability that improved the natural condition of Robin's skin, consequently making her appear far more beautiful. Although Orion could not fully understand it, the system clearly indicated that the aesthetic effects of this ability caused a significant increase in the user's beauty, which meant that in the future, Robin would become far more beautiful than her original self from the story of One Piece.
If Orion had known the story of this marvelous world and Robin's place within it, he would undoubtedly have been surprised that she was destined to become an even more beautiful woman—since in the original work she was already among the most beautiful women in the world—but lacking that knowledge, he simply felt a faint anticipation for how Robin's appearance would evolve in the future thanks to the support of this passive ability.
In truth, the "Soft Skin" ability was a slightly weaker version of the Sube Sube no Mi—the Devil Fruit consumed by Alvida in the original story—so its effects were quite dramatic.
Watching the ship carrying Robin and the others disappear over the horizon, Orion stood up with a hint of reluctance and walked back toward Samba Castle, where he would spend one more night before departing for Pacific Kingdom.
…
December 1, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
The following day, Orion said his farewells to King Moqueca and began his journey back to Pacific Kingdom. Unlike his trip there, the only member of his core group of subordinates present was Lucky Roux, though they had added one unexpected companion: the princess of Samba, Maiara.
Before beginning the return journey, Orion had gone to speak with King Moqueca to propose a diplomatic exchange between their two kingdoms, suggesting that the princess be sent as an honored guest to the lands of Pacific Kingdom.
King Moqueca had gladly accepted Orion's proposal, as his intention had been to establish a political alliance with him precisely through a marriage between Orion and Princess Maiara. For that reason, the king openly celebrated the idea before ordering his capricious daughter to accompany Orion back to Pacific Kingdom.
Of course, Orion had no intention whatsoever of forming a romantic relationship with Maiara, because although she was an attractive woman, her personality did not appeal to him—in fact, she reminded him somewhat of Charlotte Smoothie, with whom he had had several conflicts in the past.
The reason Orion had made this proposal was mainly because he had discovered that Galus had an ambiguous relationship with this princess, and he wanted to see how the former pirate would react upon seeing her arrive at Pacific Kingdom alongside him.
From what Orion had been able to observe, Galus seemed somewhat afraid of returning to his homeland, Samba, and he speculated that this was due to the presence of the capricious Princess Maiara in that place.
Now that Maiara was being taken to Pacific Kingdom, Orion found himself eagerly anticipating the look on his subordinate's face, not realizing that he was behaving very similarly to the way Shanks used to act with him when pulling one of his classic—and sometimes exasperating—pranks.
However, not everything was going smoothly with Orion's plan to play a trick on Galus, because just a few hours after departing from the port of Samba, he regretted his decision to bring Princess Maiara along with him!
"Hey, you, pretty boy, I want more ice cream! Don't you have any manners? How do you expect to build diplomatic relations with that attitude?!"
Maiara's voice echoed across the deck of the ship they were traveling on, and Orion could not help but let out a heavy sigh.
Over the past few hours, the capricious blue-haired princess had behaved in an utterly insufferable manner, to the point that Orion had completely lost interest in seeing Galus's reaction when she arrived at Pacific Kingdom, and now only wished for some peace without being constantly pestered by her.
"Talk to Roux, he's the one in charge of the ship's kitchen…" Orion said, deliberately avoiding looking in Maiara's direction so that she would not feel inclined to continue speaking to him and making all sorts of selfish demands.
"Hmpf! I refuse to speak with a servant! Is this the hospitality of your kingdom? I suppose I'll have to tell my father that it's not worth maintaining friendly relations with such barbarians!" Maiara declared, crossing her arms and lifting her chin without even looking at Orion.
Truth be told, Maiara was a terrible ambassador, and if it were not for the fact that Orion had wanted to play a prank on Galus, he would have likely sent her back home immediately.
Had Maiara been sent as an ambassador to any other kingdom, she would surely have caused a diplomatic conflict almost at once, although Orion was far more tolerant of her rude behavior than a king with a higher "pedigree" would have been.
In the end, Orion could no longer endure the blue-haired princess's complaints, and after giving Lucky Roux instructions to take care of Maiara's safety, he used his Space Gate and vanished from the ship without leaving a trace.
…
December 5, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
In the flower fields of Flower Hill, in Dressrosa, Orion was enjoying a moment of tranquility alongside his wife Scarlett. Now that the small diplomatic mission to Samba had concluded, he had returned to her side to accompany her during the final month of her pregnancy, although he continued to travel regularly to Pacific Kingdom to attend to matters that arose there.
Orion had postponed making any major moves until his child was born in early January, but he was already planning his trip to the North Blue for the following month.
The reason Orion wanted to travel to the North Blue as soon as possible was to prevent Doflamingo from recruiting some of his most important subordinates—whom Orion had encountered during his mission in the Time Dungeon—and also to take a closer look at the situation in a place called Flevance.
Orion had asked the Northern Revolutionary Army, under Karasu's command, to investigate Doflamingo's movements in that Blue, but due to the limitations of the Revolutionary Army's information network, he had not been able to obtain much useful intelligence.
Now that his spy organization was finally operational, under Stussy's current leadership, he had tasked the beautiful spy with focusing on locating the whereabouts of Doflamingo's subordinates whom the pirate had not yet recruited, and it was noteworthy that Stussy had already been able to obtain results after working on it for only a few days, although it was true that this was largely due to her access to Cipher Pol's information.
Once his child was born, Orion planned to go to the North Blue and determine whether it was worthwhile to recruit the subordinates Doflamingo had yet to find—and if they were not… he would eliminate them to avoid future complications.
In addition, Karasu had informed him of the situation in Flevance, where a severe epidemic was spreading, causing concern among neighboring nations, which had already taken action to completely isolate Flevance in order to prevent the disease from spreading further.
The reason Orion had paid special attention to this matter was because years earlier he had received, as a reward from the system, a cure for amber lead poisoning, which appeared to be the very illness spreading throughout Flevance.
Orion was convinced that the system would not have provided such a specific reward without reason, and thus he intended to go and investigate the situation personally.
"My love, what shall we name our baby?" Scarlett suddenly asked, as she lay on Orion's chest with a serene smile.
"Mmm, I've never been very good with names. Do you have any in mind?" Orion replied, appearing thoughtful.
"I was thinking that if it were a girl, we could name her Rebecca, but now it would be too confusing to use that name, since my older sister already used it before me," Scarlett said, lifting her head from Orion's chest and gazing into the distance, where Rebecca and her mother—the older Scarlett—were happily picking flowers.
Ever since Orion had brought the older Scarlett from the other timeline—the Time Dungeon—she had integrated into this world as part of the royal family of Dressrosa, although she did not have a publicly recognized status.
However, within the Riku royal family, she was regarded as the king's daughter, and the older sister of Scarlett and Viola. Although the situation had been quite confusing at first, they had gradually grown accustomed to it, to the point that Scarlett now referred to her older sister as if she had always been a part of her life.
Orion followed his beloved wife's gaze and could not help but let his eyes settle on the imposing and sensual breasts of the older Scarlett, which could be clearly seen through the thin fabric of her white dress due to the sunlight falling over her.
Swallowing lightly, Orion tried to avert his gaze without much success, while thinking that it would be better not to complicate the situation any further for the moment, even though it was inevitable that certain fantasies involving both Scarletts at the same time surfaced in his mind.
Just as Orion was intently watching the delicate movements of the older Scarlett, she suddenly lifted her gaze, and their eyes met. The cheeks of the beautiful princess from another timeline flushed slightly, though only for a fleeting instant, as she almost immediately covered her cleavage with both hands and, looking at her "brother-in-law," said in a sharp tone
"Have you seen enough? You're like an animal in heat!"
Although Scarlett had tried to sound as aggressive as possible, her words ended up sounding more like an ambiguous flirtation, something that did not go unnoticed by those present.
"Ahem! Scarlett and I were discussing what might be a good name for our baby," Orion said, trying to steer the conversation toward safer ground.
Upon hearing Orion's words, the eyes of the older Scarlett and Rebecca lit up, and they began to propose names enthusiastically, offering all kinds of suggestions in an effort to contribute.
Orion sighed in relief when he saw that the ambiguous atmosphere had finally dissipated, and he thought that in the future he would have to be more careful not to stare too much at his sister-in-law, although considering his lustful nature, that would probably be difficult.
Just as Orion was focused on the conversation about the name of his second child, a notification appeared on the system screen, and his expression turned slightly somber.
*A Native Hunting is taking place on Mango Island, in the North Blue. Participation is possible. You have 24 hours to reach the location of the event*
Even though Orion already knew that the Celestial Dragons were about to carry out a Native Hunting, and that this was why the defenses of Mary Geoise had been low enough for the great slave escape to succeed, he could not help but feel a heaviness in his chest upon seeing the system notification.
While he was enjoying a moment of peace and happiness with his family, thousands of people were being massacred by the rulers of this world, simply as a form of entertainment.
"What's wrong, Orion?" Scarlett said, squeezing her husband's hand with concern on her face.
Orion did not want to worry Scarlett with matters over which they had no control, especially now that she was in her final month of pregnancy. He did not want her to receive any negative stimulation, so he simply forced a smile and said
"It's nothing, I was just thinking about some boring tasks I'll have to take care of when I return to Pacific Kingdom."
Scarlett looked at her husband carefully and knew that he was not being truthful, but she did not press the matter, as she knew that if it were truly important, Orion would not hide it from her. She was aware that her husband carried many responsibilities and concerns, and at times she felt a little saddened by her inability to help him more.
For that reason, she always tried to appear cheerful whenever Orion was by her side, offering him at least a place where he could rest from all his worries. Today, once again, the couple was enjoying their time together, and Orion was truly being mentally healed by these kinds of moments with his loved ones.
For now, Orion was still unable to prevent the tragedy of the Native Hunting taking place on the other side of the world, but as he embraced his pregnant wife, he swore that he would do everything in his power to make this a better world in the future, so that he would no longer have to feel the helplessness of being unable to help the innocent.
…
December 6, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
A day after Orion received the system notification about the beginning of the Native Hunting, he was already back in Pacific Kingdom, as there was an event he could not miss: the execution of the former king of Koldara, Ulrich Klein.
On the large execution platform where Spandine had perished some time ago, the stout former king of Koldara was kneeling, chains binding his hands and a resigned expression on his face.
After Orion conquered Koldara, Klein had been captured and brought to Pacific Kingdom, where he had been interrogated by Orion's spies in search of any relevant information, with the help of Galus and Gloriosa's abilities.
Despite having ruled as a corrupt king for decades, he was a rather mediocre man and had not been able to provide Orion with particularly valuable information, although it had been discovered that Klein had been sponsoring a high-ranking Marine in the South Blue to assist him in carrying out certain special tasks that helped maintain his firm control over Koldara.
This information was not especially useful to Orion at the moment, but it had nevertheless been recorded by his spy organization and archived for future use.
Now, the time for Ulrich's execution had arrived, and all the Lysanders were present—except for Orion's two younger siblings, who were too young to witness a public execution.
From a corner of the crowd, Mario and Bianca watched the man who had cast them into hell many years ago now displaying a grimace of despair in his final moments. Bianca tightly gripped the hand of her husband, with whom she had been reunited after many years, and without looking away for even an instant, they watched as the executioner's axe fell mercilessly upon the former monarch's neck.
It all happened in an instant. The axe came down with force, decapitating Klein, and both Bianca and Mario felt their eyes redden and their bodies tremble slightly. For so many years they had dreamed of this kind of justice that now, as it was finally happening, they could not prevent their emotions from overwhelming them.
From his place in one of the balconies overlooking the execution platform, Orion activated his Prism Eyes and observed the expressions of his grandparents, his uncle Lolo, and his parents Paul and Lira.
At last, Orion let out a soft sigh, thinking that although decades had passed since the incident that had nearly destroyed the Lysander family, they had finally found the justice they had long sought.
Orion did not feel as much resentment toward Klein, as he understood that the world was full of cases like this, but he felt very happy to have been able to give his family a sense of satisfaction by restoring their former glory and eliminating their enemies.
Even so, he was still not satisfied, as the main culprit behind his family's suffering had yet to be punished: Rosward.
Hannibal Rosward had died many years ago, making it impossible for Orion to punish him, but his son, Rosward Rosward, had continued to torment his grandmother Bianca over the years, and Orion had no intention of letting him go free.
He did not know exactly when, but Orion swore that Rosward Rosward would pay for harming his family.
Once Klein's execution was over, Orion returned to the royal palace, intending to train for a while as part of his daily routine, but before he could reach his training area, he was intercepted by a beautiful woman dressed in a kimono.
"Orion, I would like to speak with you for a moment," Toki said, her firm gaze making her appear even more beautiful than usual.
"Alright, come with me to my room, we'll have privacy there," Orion replied, nodding as he walked ahead of Toki deeper into the royal palace.
…
Meanwhile, at the great bridge of Rum Wolf, a lone man arrived in a small boat without anyone noticing his presence. With his gaze fixed upon the towering structure above, the man spoke with eyes lit by a strange light
"So this is the place where my father and my brother were brought by those bastards of Umit Shipping. I hope they are well, because otherwise Umit will have to endure my wrath."
Within the mist at the base of the bridge, the man made a solemn vow as he prepared to climb toward the top and search for his lost family.