December 9, 1500, Age of the Sea Circle
Orion and Kuma sped across the desolate steppe, reaching the mountainous region in less than an hour. Once they entered the mountains, they noticed that the conditions there were sowhat better than what they had encountered in the rest of the island.
At least here there were no powerful beasts constantly roaming the area as in the forest, and the place was not as barren as the steppe they had just crossed. In this setting, Orion considered the presence of humans much more likely, though he still thought it was a rather harsh environnt in which to establish a village.
With the sheer number of islands scattered across this world, settling in a place like this seed wasteful, though he knew there were tis when circumstances compelled people to make questionable decisions. Even so, Orion thought that depending on the kind of lifestyle the people here led, he might consider offering them relocation to his kingdom.
After all, he could not be sure whether the people living with Baby 5 were truly suffering through their lives on this harsh island, or if, on the contrary, they had managed to develop a particular way of life that allowed them to endure here.
During his years traveling through this world, Orion had co across all kinds of civilizations and cultures, so he would not find it strange if the people here were living full and happy lives. After all, he had even visited an underground city—whatever he might find here could hardly cause him the sa shock he had felt in his earliest journeys in this world.
However, Orion was mistaken, for he truly would be surprised by what he would discover this ti, though not in a positive way.
He and Kuma pressed deeper into the mountains, and Orion opened the system screen to check Baby 5's position on the map. Seeing that she was very close, Orion closed the map and spread his Observation Haki, trying to sense the girl's presence.
The system's map function was extrely useful to him, but if it had one weakness, it was that it struggled to pinpoint the exact location of Nad Characters.
If Orion was still far from the spot indicated by the marker, there was no problem. But the closer he got, the harder it beca to get precise information, and he could only know Baby 5's approximate position. Still, it was no issue to find her by his own ans, since the search area was not very large.
Suddenly, Kuma placed a hand on Orion's shoulder, forcing him to stop. Then, pointing toward a spot nearby, he said:
"Orion, I think there's soone there."
Orion focused his Observation Haki into his eyes and looked into the distance, spotting a small girl trembling inside the hollow trunk of a large tree, clearly frightened by the presence of two strange n.
Dissolving his ability, Orion nodded and said,
"That must be the one I'm looking for."
Then, he could not help but glance at Kuma with curiosity, realizing that the gentle revolutionary had managed to find Baby 5 before him, which ant his Observation Haki must have been more advanced. However… Orion rembered that years ago, when he had first t Kuma, the man hadn't even been able to use Observation Haki, which ant that in only a few short years, his ability had improved exponentially!
Orion sighed, thinking that Kuma truly was a Nad Character (VIP), and that his talent could not be compared to that of an ordinary person. During the ti he had been in charge of the West Blue branch of the Revolutionary Army, Kuma's abilities had grown remarkably.
Before, Orion had considered himself capable of facing Kuma without issue, since their power levels had been on the sa tier, but perhaps now the gentle revolutionary had taken a step forward, leaving him behind.
Even so, Orion was not troubled by this thought, because he knew that with the help of the system and enough effort, he would eventually reach the pinnacle of power in this world, even if he needed a bit more ti to get there.
Pushing aside his reflections on Kuma's growth, Orion used Soru and appeared next to the hollow tree where Baby 5 was hiding, with Kuma following behind silently. This ti, Kuma had co along simply because Orion had asked him to, without receiving much explanation as to what they had co here to do.
Baby 5, who had been watching Orion and Kuma from afar, covering her mouth with her small hands to keep from making a sound that might draw the attention of these two dangerous-looking n, suddenly saw Orion vanish, only for him to reappear the very next instant right in front of her.
Her eyes widened in shock, and her heart began to pound violently. Although she lived in the mountains, far from the coast, she knew about the existence of pirates, since her mother and the others in the village had spoken of them before.
Even so, with her childish understanding, her idea of pirates was very rudintary. In her mind, there was only one word tied to pirates, and that word was "danger." One could say that for little Baby 5, pirates were like the bogeyman, a mysterious and threatening entity she had to avoid at all costs.
She had been searching for nuts to eat, as she did every day, when she suddenly spotted two strangers coming up the hill toward where she was. That was why she had hidden at once, fearing that the strangers—who surely must be pirates—would hurt her.
In Baby 5's world, apart from the villagers who had abandoned her, only pirates existed—dangerous people who lived in so distant and unknown place. So when she saw Orion and Kuma, who clearly did not belong to the village, her first instinct had been to hide imdiately.
Still, her efforts had been in vain, since there was no way she could ever escape the monstrous perception of Orion and Kuma.
Baby 5 held her breath in fright and shut her eyes as Orion slowly approached her after appearing like a ghost nearby. She braced herself for the worst, but to her surprise, the pain of an enemy's attack never ca.
Trembling, she cracked her eyes open like a timid little animal and saw Orion standing before her, looking at her with an expression she had never seen before. For so reason, his gaze did not fill her with disgust but instead made her feel a strange warmth.
On the other hand, Orion was looking at Baby 5 with an expression weighed down by concern and a touch of sadness. The little girl before him, who according to the system's information was only four years old, was in a deplorable state.
She was not only malnourished and filthy, but her body was also covered with wounds of varying severity. The only positive thing was that her ntal state did not seem as damaged, since despite everything she was still capable of expressing emotions normally—unlike Perona, whom he had found completely collapsed ntally, shut away from any stimuli from the outside world.
"Hello, my na is Orion. What's your na?" Orion said with a gentle smile.
Upon hearing his voice, Baby 5 was terrified and imdiately closed her eyes again, covering her head with her hands and curling into a fetal position. Seeing her reaction, Orion did not push further with his introduction and simply let her take her ti to adjust to his presence.
At last, after nothing had happened for a long while, Baby 5 timidly lifted her gaze, peeking through half-closed eyes. Right away, Orion's warm, patient smile imprinted itself in her mind.
"Ah… Aaah…" Baby 5 tried to pronounce so words, but it had been so long since she had spoken that her vocal cords were in poor condition, making it very difficult for her to form words. Even so, after a few monts she managed to rasp out a sentence.
"I don't understand…"
Orion raised his eyebrows in slight surprise. Hearing the raspy sound of her voice, his high level of dical knowledge imdiately helped him form a preliminary diagnosis, which only deepened his doubts. The fact that he had found Baby 5 alone in a place like this was already strange, but her voice suggested she had not spoken in a very long ti. Could it be that she had truly been alone on this desolate mountain?
"You don't understand?" Orion asked, not quite sure what she ant, since he had only asked her na. Then, wanting to test the waters, he continued,
"I'm asking what your na is. For example, my na is Orion, and that big guy over there is Kuma."
Kuma, who was standing a little farther back so as not to scare the girl, showed his classic shy smile and waved cheerfully. Despite his imposing physique, far more intimidating than Orion's, his aura was much gentler because of his kind personality.
Baby 5's eyes lit up suddenly as she finally understood what Orion was asking her.
"Ah… Na… I don't have a na," she answered in her hoarse little voice.
Now that a few monts had passed without Orion doing anything to harm her, Baby 5's childish mind had already let go of the idea of danger, and she was beginning to feel more at ease speaking, even if so lingering wariness still clung to her.
"You don't have a na? How do the others call you? Who do you live with here?" Orion asked, frowning slightly at her words.
He had a sinking feeling he had stumbled onto a case he had hoped not to encounter—that this girl was completely alone here.
"M… Mama and the others… They called 'that kid,' or 'you,'" Baby 5 said, recalling the ti she had spent with her mother and the rest of the village before being abandoned here. A faint smile touched her face as she rembered her mother, whom she missed dearly.
Living alone in the mountains had been very hard for her, to the point that after just a couple of months she was on the brink of death. If it hadn't been for her naturally strong body, far sturdier than that of an ordinary person, she would never have survived this long and would already be dead.
When the people of the village had exiled her, they expected her to last only a few days, never imagining that months later she would still be alive in the mountains, struggling every day just to see another sunrise.
Hearing the girl's words and seeing her cheerful smile, Orion's fists clenched tightly, producing a sound that startled the little one and instantly pushed her back into the wary, defensive state she had only just begun to abandon.
Orion looked at Baby 5, who had once again curled up inside the hollow of the tree trunk, trembling in fear. He sighed and relaxed his fists, reminding himself there was no use in getting angry over sothing he could not change. The past was the past, and what truly mattered now was the future.
Orion's decision ca instantly, without the slightest doubt: from this day forward, Baby 5 would no longer live in solitude, because he would take her back with him to Pacific Kingdom!
Once he had resolved himself, Orion stepped forward and extended his arms, lifting Baby 5 into his embrace with no effort at all. The girl imdiately began to scream and thrash, terrified that Orion might hurt her.
Her fists and kicks rained down on him, but of course, he didn't even flinch, for with his body's resilience, such feeble attacks couldn't even tickle him. Yet, what caught his attention imdiately was the peculiarity of Baby 5's body. Despite being in such a deplorable state and being only a small child, her strength was shockingly abnormal!
If Orion had to compare, Baby 5 likely possessed the sa level of physical strength he himself had when his passive ability "Strong Body" was at level 4—which was astonishing.
Once more Orion could do nothing but sigh at the sheer talent of the Nad Characters of this world. It was clear that these individuals were special existences, yet he still couldn't help but marvel every ti he encountered a situation like the one now unfolding with Baby 5.
"Don't worry, I don't want to hurt you," Orion whispered, trying not to agitate her any further. Then he stretched out his hand and opened a door in the air, gestured to Kuma with his head, and together they stepped into the Pocket Dinsion.
Once inside, Orion carried Baby 5 straight to the bathtub and gave her a bath without delay. The little girl struggled the entire ti, but no matter what she did, she couldn't break free from Orion's iron grip. In the end, she had no choice but to surrender to the situation.
On the other hand, Orion regretted not having brought Reira along, as perhaps a female figure might have helped soothe Baby 5's fear more effectively. Nevertheless, he quickly finished bathing her, dressed her in clean clothes, and then examined her physical condition.
He gave her a few dicines that Baby 5 had no choice but to swallow reluctantly, tears streaming from her eyes as she felt Orion was mistreating her. Still, he didn't stop the process of examination and dical treatnt, knowing it was a necessary step to ensure her well-being.
At last, once this was done, Orion allowed Baby 5 to roam freely within the Pocket Dinsion, and she imdiately bolted, hiding behind a pile of chests stacked in a storage area.
Orion chose not to pay her any more attention, not wanting to overwhelm her further, and instead began preparing a al. Though he had food already stored in his inventory, he thought it would be better if Baby 5 saw him cooking with her own eyes, rather than handing her a plate of food that appeared out of nowhere.
It also gave the girl ti to calm her turbulent emotions. After all, this was the first ti in months she had interacted with people, and it was no easy thing for her to adapt. Even before her mother had abandoned her in the mountains, she had never had much connection with the villagers, so this interaction with Orion was an entirely new experience for her.
Half an hour passed slowly as Orion cooked while Kuma kept watch over Baby 5, unsure of how to act. Because of his gentle nature, he longed to do sothing for the little girl, yet feared frightening her even more with his appearance.
Once again, Kuma found himself cursing his own existence as a Buccaneer, which had given him such a fearso exterior. Still, he couldn't despise it completely, for his beloved father had been a Buccaneer. Kuma's feelings about his race had always been deeply complicated, and that was not sothing that would change in a short span of ti.
Finally, Orion finished cooking and called Kuma and Baby 5 to eat. Kuma sat at the table imdiately, but the girl refused to leave her hiding spot, watching from a distance as the two n ate.
Yet, as the minutes went by, the aroma of the delicious food Orion had prepared made her stomach rumble loudly. She was starving, and resisting the temptation of that enticing al was no easy battle.
For the past few months, she had survived on nothing but nuts and mushrooms, so now, as her eyes fell on the plate brimming with stew in the distance, her mouth filled with saliva.
At last, Baby 5 could resist no longer, and like a timid, frightened animal, she crept out of her hiding place and cautiously approached the table. Then, in a flash, she snatched up the plate of stew, ready to dash back to her refuge again—but Orion appeared behind her like a specter, placing his hands on her shoulders and saying,
"Don't run. Stay and eat with us."
Orion knew the girl was terrified, but he couldn't allow her to keep hiding as she had been doing, or else there would never be any progress.
Baby 5 fought an internal battle, and in the end her hunger won. She had no choice but to sit at the table and eat.
Orion nodded in satisfaction and returned to his seat to continue his own al. anwhile, Baby 5 lifted a spoonful of stew to her lips, and a whole new world opened up before her. An explosion of flavors and sensations she had never known before struck her all at once, and she was instantly captivated.
Her hand began moving so quickly it left afterimages, and the food on her plate vanished in a matter of monts.
Seeing that she had finished, Orion walked over with a smile and refilled her bowl with stew.
Thus, for the first ti in her life, Baby 5 ate until she was satisfied, devouring the food with such voracity that she nearly risked biting her own tongue in the process.
Once the girl had finished eating, Orion was ready to ask her about her situation in detail, and the reason she was alone in the mountains. But before he could speak, Baby 5 fell asleep right there, still sitting upright.
Although it couldn't compare to the great forest on the other side of the island, the mountains also held dangerous beasts, so she had always remained on guard. It was rare for her to enjoy true rest, as she was forced to sleep in a state of semi-consciousness, constantly alert. That was why, after eating her fill for the first ti in her life, she simply drifted into a deep, unrestrained slumber.
Orion sighed as he watched her sleep, smiling softly. He rose from his seat, scooped her into his arms, and carried her to the large bed so she could rest more comfortably.
"I suppose I'll have to wait until she wakes up to learn about her situation," Orion said as he looked at the slumbering Baby 5, then added in a murmur,
"Although, I could go investigate the rest of the island…"
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