September 2, 1498, Age of the Sea Circle
Orion reached the group of fishern and dropped the gigantic fish he had been carrying on his shoulders onto the ground. The fish landed with a thunderous thud, drawing surprised looks from the group. No matter how many tis they saw it, the scene never ceased to be impressive.
After treating Perona's injuries, Orion had decided to stay in the village until she recovered, before attempting to continue his journey toward the dici base. He was unsure whether to stick to his original plans or wait until the system and his adult mind were fully restored.
He feared that, without access to a large portion of his abilities, he might run into trouble if he carelessly went to the dici base. Robin agreed, and so the two of them had decided to temporarily postpone the trip.
Now, Orion was earning so money using his superhuman abilities to fish in the nearby waters and selling his catches to the local fishern, who were happy to pay a decent price for the enormous fish he managed to catch.
This type of fish wasn't easy to co by, so their at was considered a rare delicacy and could fetch a high price. Of course, the fishern didn't pay Orion too much—in fact, one could say they were swindling him—but Orion was happy to gather money that way, as catching such fish required little effort on his part.
Once again, Orion received his paynt and walked away, whistling a cheerful tune. He passed through the market and bought various ingredients, returning to the inn ready to cook sothing delicious. The inn served food, but Orion had been cooking on his own, intent on recovering his culinary skills; it had beco almost a matter of pride.
Over the past two days, his skill had greatly improved, and many of his cooking movents had beco natural and unconscious, as if his mind were accessing his skills passively, without his active control.
Orion reached the room they were renting and found Robin writing sothing in her journal. When she saw him enter suddenly, she stopped and closed the book with flushed cheeks.
Little Orion completely ignored her, not caring in the least about what she had been writing. Seeing his indifferent expression, Robin felt a little indignant at his lack of curiosity, and created a small hand on the floor, grabbing Orion's foot and making him trip.
"Hey, Robin! What are you doing? I almost fell!" Orion complained indignantly.
"It's to see if you're alert. If it had been an assassin, you'd have lost your leg!" Robin said, crossing her arms.
Orion started arguing with her, and for several minutes they had an intense back-and-forth, which as usual ended in the small genius's victory. There was no helping it—Orion's arguntative level couldn't compete with Robin's dialectic skills. As she triumphed once again, she looked at Orion's frustration and smiled happily.
Lately, she had greatly enjoyed her interactions with little Orion, which felt different from how they had been before. Prior to the fight with Moria, Orion had treated Robin like a little sister, with the affection of an adult toward a child, but now that he himself was in child form, the way he interacted with her was as soone on equal footing.
"How was Perona today?" Orion asked, changing the subject.
"She's still pretty much the sa," Robin answered, glancing at Perona, who sat on the bed completely expressionless.
The small girl they had found in a pitiful state not only had physical issues but clearly wasn't ntally well either. During the first day, her gaze had been empty and lost, and although over the next two days her expression had improved slightly, she still didn't respond when they tried to communicate with her.
Robin didn't know who this girl was or why Orion had been looking for her, but she didn't question his actions and did everything she could to help him care for the new addition to their small group. What she didn't know was that the only thing Orion knew about Perona was that she was a Nad Character.
However, that wasn't the only reason he had sought her out. After defeating Moria and forcing him to flee, the system had inford him that a change had occurred in Perona's future, aning she would have had so connection with Moria if Orion hadn't intervened. That's why he had proactively searched for this Nad Character and checked on her condition.
Orion started cooking with great interest, and after half an hour, he had prepared a delicious stew. He first served a plate to Robin, who thanked him with a big smile, and then brought another plate to Perona, feeding her slowly and patiently.
The girl chanically opened her mouth and ate everything Orion offered her, without changing her expression. When the plate was empty, Orion gently wiped Perona's mouth with a napkin and stood up to eat.
However, as soon as he stood, he noticed a change in Perona. Her pupils, which until now had remained fixed, finally moved to follow his movents. Orion imdiately sat back down and tried to talk to her, but got no further reaction.
Even so, he wasn't discouraged, because at least there had been a tiny sign of progress, proof that she wasn't completely broken.
Orion sat down to eat, while Robin took on the role of entertainer, trying to interact with Perona using the stuffed bear they had found with her. Orion had washed it, and it now looked clean and slled of lavender.
Suddenly, Robin closed her eyes, and when she opened them again, her expression had turned solemn.
"Orion, those people are spying on us again," she said, feeling a wave of negative emotions in her chest. If there was one thing she hated, it was being watched and pursued.
Orion tilted his bowl, finishing his stew in one gulp, and then extended his Observation Haki, spotting a woman beneath the window, watching their room intently. According to Robin, this woman had been watching them since the day they found Perona and had returned several tis over the days they stayed at the inn.
"Don't pay her any attention. As long as she doesn't try anything funny, there's no need to worry about her," Orion said, withdrawing his Observation Haki.
He knew that this woman was Perona's mother—or rather, her stepmother. After she had first appeared spying on them, Orion had investigated her with Robin's help. It hadn't been difficult, as she was well known in town.
Apparently, Perona's father was a local rchant who had married a young noblewoman, fulfilling the dream of many to rise into the upper class. However, his wife had died giving birth to Perona, dashing his hopes of social climbing.
The family of Perona's late mother was not united, and after her death, internal factions ensured Perona was excluded, which deeply embittered her father for losing his shot at rising in status.
That resentnt had turned into indifference toward his newborn daughter, now deed completely useless.
The man remarried—this ti to soone of his own status—and Perona's stepmother began abusing her, mistreating her at every opportunity.
Her father had no interest in her and allowed his new wife to abuse Perona without intervening, causing the girl to develop emotional problems.
As for why her stepmother treated her so badly, it was simply due to a stupid superstition. Perona had pink hair, inherited from her late mother, and according to the stepmother's religious beliefs, pink hair marked soone as demon-touched.
Ignorance is one of the world's greatest dangers, and when paired with malice, it leads to tragedy—like the state in which they found Perona. She had been abused for all three years of her short life, and lately the abuse had intensified.
Two days before Orion arrived on the island, the stepmother had beaten Perona and thrown her out a second-story window, intending to let her starve in the backyard.
Perona had been lucky to only break a leg and even luckier to find a "fort" made from cardboard boxes that so kids had built days earlier.
That little cardboard shelter saved her from freezing to death, allowing Orion to find her. If he had waited even a day more, the Nad Character called Perona would no longer exist in this world.
Orion didn't know it, but in the original tiline, Moria had found her one day earlier and, seeing her in such a pathetic state, felt a connection—rembering his own pitiful condition after being defeated by Kaido. He would have taken her in, and she would have grown up under the pirate's tutelage. But all that changed when Orion forced Moria to flee using his Shadow Exchange, preventing him from ever eting Perona.
Robin continued watching Perona's stepmother, who kept trying to peek inside until finally giving up and leaving—likely to return the next day.
Robin felt particular disgust toward her because she reminded her of her aunt—though by comparison, her aunt seed like a saint, which only showed how despicable this woman was.
When the woman left, Robin undid the surveillance eye she had placed outside and returned to her task of waving the teddy bear in front of Perona, hoping to draw a response.
Orion watched the two girls, thoughtful. At eight years old, his child self already had the habit of sinking deep into his thoughts—one of the defining traits of his adult self.
.........
September 3, 1498, Age of the Sea Circle
It was the middle of the night when Orion and Robin awoke abruptly to a trendous crash in their inn room. Opening their eyes in terror, they saw that the room was ablaze!
Apparently soone had thrown a burning bottle of alcohol through the window, igniting a fierce fire. Orion imdiately scooped up Robin and Perona in his arms and leapt from the second floor, landing safely in the street and carrying the two girls away from the raging flas.
Then he used Geppo to return to the room and retrieve their belongings before they were consud by the fire. He grabbed the money he had collected, their scant luggage, and Perona's teddy bear, which still lay on the bed.
He turned to exit again through the window, but in that mont, Robin's urgent voice called out:
"Orion! Co quickly!"
Orion imdiately activated Soru and reappeared beside the two girls at incredible speed.
As he materialized in the street in front of the inn window, he saw Robin and Perona surrounded by a group of figures wearing black robes. Using his Observation Haki, he scanned all of them—and recognized Perona's stepmother among the suspicious crowd!
He knew at once that the attack's true target had been the little girl, and his fists clenched with a loud crack that startled the robed n.
"Robin, watch over Perona—I'll handle these guys," Orion said, stepping forward in anger.
One of the n realized their plan was failing, drew a knife, and lunged at Orion—who simply extended a finger to shatter the blade and drive a pierced hole through the man's chest in a single motion!
He had obviously used Shigan—one of the techniques he could still perform from mory, even with the system offline. Seeing their comrade fall to a single strike from the strange boy before them, the robed n panicked—but rather than flee, they charged Orion, determined to eliminate him.
Orion planted one hand on the ground and spun in midair, unleashing several Tempest Kicks that struck the assailants squarely, knocking them out instantly. The luckier ones escaped with serious injuries; the less lucky had entered the cycle of reincarnation, leaving this world forever.
Only one person remained standing, visibly trembling even through the thick robe. Suddenly, this person threw back her hood, revealing her face—it was Perona's stepmother, who had been spying on them for days.
"My plan was to ignore you," Orion said, stalking toward her with an icy glare, "but now that's impossible."
"W-Wait! You don't understand—this child is cursed by a demon! If you keep her with you, all kinds of misfortune will befall you!" the woman shrieked, trying to justify her actions and dissuade Orion from ending her.
Perona, in Robin's arms, trembled at the sound of the woman's voice. It was the first ti she'd shown such a strong emotion since they found her—her fear at the re presence of that voice was unmistakable.
"Do you really believe that?" Orion asked, raising an eyebrow in surprise.
His Observation Haki was active, allowing him to "feel" the woman's state of mind—and he could tell she wasn't lying when she insisted Perona was demon-cursed.
"Of course! That child is a great danger to us all! You must get rid of her! She doesn't deserve to live!" Perona's stepmother ranted, completely unhinged.
Robin frowned in disgust, reflecting on her own life and the World Governnt's pursuit to eliminate her. From their perspective, she was soone unworthy of living—so the crazed woman's words struck a deeply personal chord. She hugged Perona tightly, who continued to tremble, and looked resolutely at Orion, who had approached the woman.
"Enough!" Orion roared, his voice so powerful it was hard to believe it ca from his relatively small body.
"'Demon-cursed'? 'Unworthy of life'? Who are you to decide that?! No one in this world can judge another person based solely on their innate condition! Even if the entire world ca to sentence her to death, they'd have to face first! As long as I'm here, no one can condemn my loved ones!" he thundered.
Robin, watching from a short distance, felt as though Orion were speaking directly to her, and her eyes lit up. Looking at his back, she realized that no matter what the future held, as long as that back stood before her, no one could harm her. That thought sprang unbidden into her mind.
Orion was truly furious and wouldn't allow this horrible woman—who had abused her stepdaughter—to continue speaking freely. He tensed his muscles and delivered a slap!
The woman, mid-rant, felt her jaw dislocate and was sent hurtling sideways at great speed, crashing into a wooden house and splintering part of it on impact. Several teeth flew into the air along with a spray of blood.
As soon as the woman's voice fell silent, Perona's continuous trembling ceased. The little girl, staring at her stepmother's mangled form against the wall, clutched her teddy bear tightly, and her eyes brightened slightly—as if a dam within her had broken, allowing so emotions to surface.
Orion surveyed the scene around him: robed figures scattered across the ground, so teetering between life and death. He imdiately cald the storm of emotions that had overtaken him and thought he might have gone too far!
After all, an incident of this magnitude couldn't be hidden.
He therefore activated Soru and appeared beside Robin, surprising her as he swept her into his arms along with little Perona.
"We have to leave, Robin. I don't want the authorities to co and find us here, or we'll be in all sorts of trouble!"
Robin nodded, and Orion used Soru again, speeding away toward the forest. It was ti to abandon the village.
...
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