August 3, 1500, Age of the Sea Circle
A year and a half passed in the blink of an eye.
After returning with Olive from the Grand Line, Orion celebrated Robin's birthday for the very first ti, together with all his friends and subordinates, throwing a truly gigantic party.
That day, Robin cried tears of joy with a wide smile, thinking that Saul had been right, and that she had finally found people who loved and cared for her. Her wounded heart finally began to open once again and slowly heal, and during the following year and a half, Robin fully integrated into Pacific Kingdom, living a full and happy life.
On the other hand, Olive was officially recognized as one of Orion's wives, whose existence and status he openly announced to all his subjects. The sexy pirate had resisted at first, fearing that her pirate reputation might stain her beloved's na, but Orion remained firm, assuring her that there would be no problem.
With Orion's help, Olive ford a new pirate crew and began to sail freely across the waters of the South Blue. Her crew was affiliated with Pacific Kingdom, and it could be said that they functioned as a special unit of its army, although that was information unknown to the general population, known only to those within the governnt of the kingdom.
Ginrummy accompanied Olive, joining her crew, and Orion gave her the Zoan-model Wolf Devil Fruit. With her new powers, the young woman's strength suddenly increased, allowing her to beco Olive's vice-captain.
Even though Olive was constantly on the move with her pirate crew, she regularly returned to the kingdom to see Orion and enjoy ti in his company. Thanks to her Devil Fruit powers, traveling long distances was not so complicated, which allowed her to visit the kingdom frequently.
Pacific Kingdom experienced rapid growth under the leadership of Orion's uncle, Lolo. On the system screen, its ranking had risen from F to E, and developnt showed no sign of slowing down.
Overall, the people of the kingdom were happy with their current lives, maintaining high morale and expecting the future to be even brighter. The territory of the kingdom had expanded considerably, pushing further into the lands of the beasts, which Orion had begun to eradicate.
Moreover, Orion had not remained idle during the past year, but had worked hard to improve the kingdom. To begin with, he had recruited several specialists in different fields to help in its developnt, and he had also continued recruiting people from nearby areas, increasing the population by nearly 10,000.
With Shyarly's help, the fishing industry was thriving, able to secure enough catch to even export the surplus. Orion had established a trade code, but had not attempted to restrict the people's freedom to trade and develop the economy, knowing it was impossible to try and control every aspect of his kingdom too rigidly.
Still, he had established a council of rchants, which functioned as an official chamber of comrce. The person he put in charge of this institution was, curiously, Rouge's friend, Nayana. She had arrived one day at Pacific Town to apologize to Rouge for having told Garp her location years ago.
In truth, Bogard had convinced her that Rouge was in danger, and since Nayana did not know her situation well, she gave the information she had about Rouge's whereabouts, which allowed Garp to find her and eventually led to a battle with Orion.
Rouge held no grudge against her, since she understood that Nayana had no bad intentions and nothing harmful had happened. So Rouge simply expressed that she forgave her, just to ease Nayana's conscience. After that, the rchant decided to stay in the kingdom for a while to investigate a possible new market, but once she saw Pacific Kingdom's developnt, her rchant's instinct was awakened and she imdiately decided to establish her trade base here.
Thus, Nayana officially beca a citizen of the kingdom, and after months of continuous interaction, Orion judged her the right person to help regulate the rchants. One thing that greatly surprised Orion was that Nayana's little daughter, nad Yadoya, possessed an SS-level talent for trade, so Orion imdiately began to think of ways to recruit her into his core group of subordinates in the future.
Talents of that caliber were always welcod with open arms by Orion, who needed all the help he could gather to strengthen his kingdom, the necessary foundation for achieving his ambitious goals in the future.
Little Ace was already two and a half years old, and he loved to accompany Orion whenever he was about to engage in activities that involved great "movents." For example, the young boy adored when Orion took him into the forest to hunt dangerous beasts, or when Orion carried him on his shoulders and used Geppo to soar into the skies.
Orion suspected that Ace would probably enjoy watching him beat up pirates during his travels, though he had no intention whatsoever of bringing him along for that kind of situation. Still, it was obvious that little Ace had inherited his father's adventurous spirit and his mother's strong character, though Orion… would never dare say that in front of Rouge.
In addition to overseeing the progress of trade, Orion had also worked quite a lot in other areas, mainly in education and military training. For Orion, Pacific Kingdom was a place where people could be free and live fulfilling lives, but also the foundation of the forces with which he intended to face the World Governnt in the future.
That was why his efforts were always dual in nature. On one hand, he strove to make changes that improved people's lives, and on the other, changes that increased the power of his military forces.
At present, he commanded an army that could be considered "elite." At least compared to most of the ard forces of small kingdoms, his army was of much higher quality. Under Christina's command, the recruits had trained until their eyes bled, and had finally turned into fierce warriors—though still lacking in real experience.
For now, Orion had not mobilized his army outside the kingdom's territory, so their only combat experience had been against the beasts of the forest and the pirates who ca to attack the island.
As for the island's defenses, Orion still used the Mysterious Fog, though not continuously. Fortunately, the kingdom's defenses were now decent, with cannons, walls, and soldiers in sufficient numbers to serve as a deterrent against pirates and other criminals. Even so, there were always criminals eager to test their luck and see if they could erge victorious with a great loot, though all those who had co with that ntality had already left this world to enter the cycle of reincarnation.
His subordinates had also made significant progress over the past year and a half. Kalifa and Alpha, who had been reunited after being separated by their parents thanks to Orion's efforts, were now seven and six years old respectively, and both had begun training in the Six Techniques of Cipher Pol.
Alpha did not possess as much talent as Kalifa, who was truly a prodigy, but she still had far more talent than an ordinary person. The two girls' daily routine consisted of training their physical abilities and serving as secretaries in the kingdom's governing council. They continued living in the Lysander household and shared a room together.
Just as Lira, Orion's mother, had jokingly predicted so ti ago, the little Lysander house had ultimately been unable to accommodate all the people Orion brought to live with them, especially with the addition of Robin, Alpha, and Perona. Thus, the family had no choice but to expand their ho in order to house everyone.
The royal residence had already begun construction, and although it was not a grand palace, it would undoubtedly be able to house a fairly large number of people. The completion of this new residence was scheduled for the end of the year, and the whole family would move there when the ti ca.
Robin had taken charge of the kingdom's great library, together with several intellectuals Orion had recruited over the past year. In this cruel world, scholars did not have an easy life. Most of them could not earn enough money to feed themselves decently, and it was partly for this reason that so few dedicated their lives to knowledge.
Orion had been actively seeking out such people to enrich his kingdom's cultural foundation, and all the scholars and academics he had found had been delighted to co and work for him, greatly improving their lives in the process.
As for Lucky Roux, the boy had continued down his path of becoming a sphere, and he was rounder than ever. He spent his days cooking delicious food and rarely wanted to train, so Orion had to force him to do at least a minimum of daily training, fearing he might waste his enormous talent out of sheer laziness.
Lucky Roux had beco good friends with Gab, perhaps because their personalities complented each other well, and it was not unusual to see them together, eating so tasty dish prepared by Roux.
Gab's ntor, nad Raf, had asked Orion for permission to continue his religious practices in the kingdom, which Orion imdiately granted. He had no intention of restricting people's religious practices, unless they included dangerous doctrines such as cannibalism, human sacrifices, or similar things.
The community of shamans began to freely practice their beliefs, and so of the kingdom's people had started to approach them out of curiosity. The rest of the shamans and natives of Moai Island, where Gab was from, were still under the care of the Revolutionary Army on a remote island in the Grand Line, since Orion had not yet had ti to fetch them. The idea was to go together with Kuma before the end of the year, since for now the gentle Buccaneer was buried under work in the West Blue.
But aside from taking care of the kingdom's progress, Orion had not neglected his personal training. Over the last year, his power had increased trendously. His "Swordsmanship" and "Hand-to-Hand Combat" skills were now both at Level 4, having risen one level and two levels respectively.
In addition, he had also advanced in his Six Techniques (Rokushiki), even managing to raise his Rokuogan to Level 1 with considerable effort.
On the other hand, his Observation Haki had increased by one level, and he had finally been able to use Armant Haki, obtaining the skill "Armant Haki (Level 0)." Even though it was the most basic level of the ability, Orion was very pleased to have finally developed the capacity to use Armant Haki, since it was a skill that exponentially boosted his combat power, influencing the vast majority of his other combat techniques.
Over the past year and a half, Orion had focused on improving his own strength and that of his kingdom, and no major events or accidents had occurred. He thought humorously that if his current life were one of the novels he used to read in his past life, the last year and a half would have been a ti Skip.
One of the more interesting points to ntion was that Orion had gone looking for Yarisugi to beat him to death for trying to abuse Christina. However, the lucky bastard had been transferred to the Grand Line while Orion was traveling through the West Blue, and thus managed to escape a tragic end.
Still, Orion would not let him off so easily, and he had sworn to himself that he would make Yarisugi pay for all the suffering he had caused Christina. It was only a matter of ti before Orion found him again, and rather than having avoided a tragic fate, one could say Yarisugi had only delayed it.
On the other hand, Orion had not attempted to eliminate Yarisugi's uncle, Rear Admiral Nakamura, since no opportune chance had presented itself. However, he had made use of the Revolutionary Army's information network established over the last year to keep close watch on the corrupt Marine's movents, and the mont a chance to act arose, Orion would not waste it. Even so, Nakamura had been keeping a low profile, which had so far denied Orion any opportunity to act.
Finally, the only other noteworthy event was that Orion had found a new Nad Character in the South Blue during one of his recruitnt trips. The man in question was called "Foxy," a young boxer who lived in a relatively large city south of Pacific Kingdom.
However, Orion had made no move to recruit him, as after observing him for a while, he lost all interest in the individual.
Foxy was untalented, and his personality left much to be desired, to say the least. Frankly, Orion had to restrain the urge to beat him up every ti he heard him speak, and thus had no interest in recruiting him.
Beyond his incompetence and rather unpleasant personality, Foxy had little else to note. He had no special abilities, and after inspecting his information with an Insight Card, Orion confird that his talent was trash. His boxing career was not very impressive either, and he would probably never amount to much.
Honestly, Orion did not know how this individual could even be a Nad Character, and he conjectured that he was probably just an extra or one of those filler characters. For that reason, Orion left without even starting a conversation with Foxy, thinking that their paths would likely never cross again.
A year and a half had passed with Orion in this Ti Skip-like state, focused on his training and the developnt of his kingdom, but today, that would finally change, and the gears of fate would begin to turn once more.
Orion, who was lying in a hammock resting after his morning training session, heard the sound of a bell ringing in his mind. He opened the system screen without haste, but upon seeing the notifications that had appeared there, he was so startled that he involuntarily closed his fist, squeezing the soft surface he held in his hand.
"What are you doing, Orion? Don't play around like that, or they'll misunderstand us again!" said Ginny, her cheeks flushed as she lifted her head from Orion's chest, looking at him reproachfully after feeling his firm hand squeeze her butt.
"Ahem! Sorry, Ginny, I was just thinking about sothing and did it involuntarily…" Orion replied with so embarrassnt, opening his hand and ceasing to press the soft surface.
Then, he gently caressed the spot he had squeezed earlier, to ease any possible pain he might have caused Ginny with his abrupt action.
Ginny blushed even more as she felt his hand softly stroking the place he had pinched before, but she said nothing further, simply resting her head back on Orion's chest, listening to the strong beat of his heart and hiding her expression from him.
"...Just rember to be careful… or they'll misunderstand us…" Ginny whispered.
They had developed the habit of taking naps together almost every day. For 30 or 45 minutes, they would rest to recover from their morning activities. More than once, people had thought they were a couple, due to their closeness, and they had had to explain on many occasions that they were not in a romantic relationship, though not many people believed their words.
In any case, no one in the kingdom would dare question the words of the king, or of one of the leaders of the army, so everyone simply looked the other way and tried not to bother them.
Orion and Ginny had an ambiguous relationship, but they had never broken the paper window, and remained as friends. The most physical contact they had were these naps they shared daily, and sotis Orion had so "involuntary slip-ups," like the one just now, where he ended up pinching Ginny by accident. Though that didn't happen very often.
The people of the kingdom did not know Ginny's status in the Revolutionary Army, and only knew that she was soone important in the royal army, with an authority similar to Christina, another of the royal concubines.
Orion felt Ginny's soft body resting against him, but he had no ti to enjoy that wonderful sensation, since all his attention was focused on the system screen.
* Ding*
* A historical event is about to occur in Wano*
* As this event involves a Nad Character with compatibility over 95%, forced participation is possible*
* Analyzing distance between Wano and Host's current location*
* Analysis complete. 95,000 SP are required for forced teleportation*
* Do you wish to travel to Wano to participate in this historical event? Yes/No*
Orion's heart began to beat even faster, as mories of the last ti a ssage like this appeared surfaced in his mind. On that occasion, Ohara had been about to be destroyed by the World Governnt, and the system had issued similar notifications.
However, at that ti he had not had enough SP to travel to Ohara and participate in the event. If he had been able to, perhaps Robin's mother would not have died, and she wouldn't have had to suffer so much.
Orion clenched his fists once again, though this ti he didn't grip anything. He looked at his accumulated SP: 106,458. He had been saving them in case a situation like this ever happened again, and now, it finally had.
Orion closed his eyes and let out a deep breath. Then, he opened them again with a determined look. Wano was the country of Oden, one of his master Roger's good friends, and if sothing serious was happening there, Orion wanted to take a look. Even if he couldn't help much, he wanted to be present and try.
Orion sat up, looked at Ginny, and said with a smile,
"Ginny, do a favor. I want you to tell everyone that I'll be absent for a while."
Then, without wasting another mont, he selected the positive option in the system, and the vast majority of his SP were consud.
Ginny didn't even have ti to answer. Orion disappeared from the place without leaving a trace.
...
Thank you for reading! If you'd like access to extra chapters and want to support my work, you can visit my patreon.
P@treon/CrotoWN
Your support helps keep writing and sharing more chapters!
User Comments
0 comments from readers