February 23, 1498, Age of the Sea Circle
"Today I went out to check the traps with the fishermen, and when we got back, Giolla cooked seafood!" said Shyarly with joy.
"Really? I wish I'd been there to join the feast," replied Orion with a smile.
He was speaking with Shyarly through their mysterious connection, as they had done for years. It was customary for them to talk at least a few minutes every day, and if they didn't, it felt like something was missing from their routines.
"How are things going over there?" Shyarly asked curiously.
Orion had arrived at Sorbet more than a week ago, and he had already told the little mermaid many things about what had happened during that time—his thoughts on the kingdom he was in and his impressions of the people he had met there.
"Everything is going well, Shyarly. We'll stay a few more days before heading to the island where I have to accompany Christina," Orion said thoughtfully, lost in his future plans.
Shyarly saw he had a complicated expression and asked:
"Are you having trouble with that man named Kuma you told me about?"
Orion smiled at the little one's sharp question, admiring her ability to see the situation clearly.
"He's turning out to be more complicated than I expected. He's truly a good person and wants to help the people here… but his methods… are a bit extreme. And he's quite stubborn; he refuses to change his ways," Orion said with a bitter sigh.
Over the past few days, he had gotten to know Kuma and Ginny's situation in detail.
They had become good friends after just a few days together, as Orion's and Kuma's personalities were quite compatible.
Kuma had told him his tragic story—how he and Ginny ended up living in that church in Sorbet for much of their lives.
Upon hearing they had been enslaved and hunted during the Celestial Dragons' Native Hunt competition, Orion couldn't help but clench his fists in anger.
He knew that the detestable Nobles of the World Government had the habit of ravaging islands every three years, slaughtering all the innocent people who lived on them.
Orion couldn't understand how those people had degenerated to the point of lacking all empathy and hunting humans for fun. He felt powerless knowing that such people ruled the world, and that everyone else was condemned to live in fear, potentially falling victim to their whims at any moment.
The existence of the Celestial Dragons and their vile acts were a continuous source of motivation for Orion, a constant reminder of his current weakness and the fuel for his personal growth and rise in power.
Whether through his own strength or that of the faction he was building, Orion knew he had to keep working hard to reach a level where he could confront the World Government.
For now, that goal was nothing more than a distant dream, but Orion knew that with enough time, he could achieve it. He marched confidently toward that goal, and had never once considered stopping.
Meanwhile, when Kuma and Ginny discovered that the Native Hunt was still being carried out, they felt immense sorrow and rage.
Orion, upon learning they had once been victims of that horrific competition, had told them how he had been involved in one himself—and how he had managed to save hundreds of people before escaping.
When Orion told the story, his intention was not to boast, and at no point did he feel proud of having saved hundreds of people; on the contrary, there was a continuous tone of self-reproach in his voice, for not having been able to save all the people he would have liked, having to leave thousands of people to suffer the most tragic fate.
But to Kuma and Ginny, Orion's actions were nothing short of heroic. Their view of him changed after that. Having experienced that tragedy as children, they couldn't help but feel moved knowing someone in the world was trying to fight back against the World Government, even if it was on a small scale.
That day, Ginny had hugged him and thanked him for his efforts, making Orion blush involuntarily like a teenager. Ginny's beauty was far more than he could handle, and he had to force himself to think of his kingdom's accounting books to avoid an embarrassing reaction.
As for the possibility that Orion was lying, it never even crossed their minds. The level of detail in his story was far too specific to be a fabricated tale.
After all, the Native Hunt was a secret competition that no one outside the highest ranks of the Marines and World Government knew about.
Of course, they didn't know that Orion was Gol D. Roger's disciple, and had heard the truth of God Valley from the Pirate King himself. Otherwise, they might have suspected something about the origin of his knowledge.
Shyarly listened to Orion's description of Kuma and smiled.
"Aren't you two the same kind of person? Both of you are super stubborn, hehe."
Orion nodded slightly and admitted she was right. That was perhaps the biggest problem: they were both too stubborn to abandon their convictions.
Even so, Orion didn't want Kuma to stop helping the people of the kingdom. He just didn't want him to suffer so much in the process. It broke his heart to see someone so kind endure such pain, absorbing the fatigue and suffering of countless people who came to him every week.
So far, Orion had witnessed two of Kuma's "miracle" sessions.
He performed his magical healings once a week, but he remained in pain constantly through the week, as his injuries didn't have time to heal completely between sessions.
Even with Orion's top-level medical treatment, Kuma hadn't recovered in time between the two. That gave Orion an idea of how terrible his usual condition must have been, without someone like Orion to help him treat his wounds.
It was no wonder Ginny hated the day of the week when Kuma helped the townspeople purge their pain, as it was the day of greatest suffering for the kind priest.
If Orion closed his eyes and focused, he could clearly picture the gentle giant placing his hands into the sphere made of the people's collective pain, and then suffering unimaginable torment, with blood gushing like a fountain from his many wounds.
Just twice had Orion seen the process, and it was enough for him to want to do everything in his power to make Kuma stop subjecting himself to such torture. But none of his words so far had shaken the priest's resolve. He wasn't going to stop.
That's why Orion had such a headache, trying to figure out how to get Kuma to stop this self-destructive behavior. He was frustrated enough to even share the dramatic situation with the little mermaid.
Orion and Shyarly talked for about half an hour, sharing various events from their respective locations, until Orion said goodbye to focus on matters in the Sorbet Kingdom.
But before Orion could end the call, Shyarly stopped him abruptly.
"O-Orion, wait a moment."
"Hmm? What's wrong, Shyarly? Why do you suddenly look so worried?" Orion asked, slightly frowning at her expression.
"I have something to tell you… something important." Shyarly looked hesitant, as if afraid to speak her mind.
Orion looked at her firmly but gently and said,
"Don't worry, Shyarly. Whatever it is, I'll be here for you—no matter what."
Orion thought she had run into some problem, and that's why she seemed so nervous. But in reality, Shyarly was worried about him.
"I had a premonition," said Shyarly, raising her gaze and meeting his eyes, mustering the courage to speak.
"In my vision, you were bleeding inside a burning church. A beautiful woman lay dead in your arms… and I think the man you mentioned was there too."
"The man—? Kuma?" Orion asked, realizing who she meant.
"Yes, but I'm not sure if it was him. His appearance matched your description, but his expression… it wasn't that of a kind priest. His expression scared me."
She had seen visions of the future since childhood, and they varied in clarity—some were more vivid, and some others were vague. But this was the first time a vision had frightened her this much. She had felt a trace of Kuma's emotions, and the hatred he radiated made her tremble in fear.
Orion knew that Shyarly's ability to see the future was real, even if she couldn't control it at will. He trusted her completely and didn't dare dismiss her vision.
That she had such a vision now, just as he met Kuma, meant the gears of fate were turning. Orion wasn't afraid of fate, because he believed it could always be changed, but he took every word she said seriously.
"Was there anything else in your vision?" Orion asked, watching her intently.
"Hmm… well, there was someone else, but their figure was hazy. I couldn't see them. It's the first time something like that's happened in my visions."
"I see… so we don't have any clues about that person," Orion said, slightly disappointed. But then Shyarly cried out softly.
"I think I remember something else. I think it was a woman… and… she had something like a flower in her hair…" Her voice grew strained as she tried to recall more, forcing her mind past the fog that obscured the figure.
Orion didn't interrupt, letting her concentrate, but suddenly, Shyarly's nose began to bleed, and her eyes looked close to bleeding as well.
Immediately, Orion shouted her name, trying to stop her from pushing herself further.
"Shyarly!! That's enough—don't push yourself anymore!"
His worried voice broke her trance, snapping her mind back to the present and sparing her body from further harm.
Shyarly collapsed on the floor, though she didn't lose consciousness. She was just exhausted and couldn't stand. It was the first time she'd experienced this kind of backlash from her precognitive powers—a sign she didn't yet understand or control them fully.
"Orion, I'm tired. I think I'm going to sleep for a while," said Shyarly, and the communication ended abruptly.
Orion felt his heart stop when the call cut off, and he immediately took out his Den Den Mushi to call Giolla and ask her to check on Shyarly.
Fortunately, the beautiful artist found the mermaid and confirmed that she wasn't in serious condition, though she had lost some blood and was unconscious.
Orion wanted to use his Space Gate ability to return to Pacific Kingdom and see for himself the situation, but Giolla dissuaded him, knowing he was busy with important matters.
She reassured him and took Shyarly to the kingdom's doctor, who had been recruited by Orion months ago and was one of the people who had assisted him during Rouge childbirth.
The doctor examined her and confirmed she was fine, though Orion remained uneasy. He instructed Giolla and the doctor to monitor her closely, and to contact him immediately if anything changed—even slightly—so he could return at once.
His duties in Sorbet and his promise to Christina were important, but the little mermaid who had stood by him unconditionally for years was far more important in his heart.
Luckily, Shyarly had no serious condition; she had simply pushed her mysterious powers too far, leaving her utterly drained.
She would sleep for several days before waking up with no issues, though in truth, there would be a negative consequence from the extreme exhaustion she had endured.
Shyarly hadn't just had one premonition recently. The vision she shared with Orion was the second since she arrived at Pacific Kingdom.
She hadn't told him about the first one because it was strange and it didn't resemble her usual visions.
In the first vision, she had seen Orion fighting a demon in a crimson forest, where countless corpses hung from terrifying tree branches.
The vision had followed Orion through battles against powerful enemies in that eerie place while he was trying to rescue someone named Olvia, until it ended with a massive wave submerging everything.
She had been terrified and hadn't dared tell him anything, fearing that by speaking the vision aloud, she might seal it into fate.
She didn't fully understand her powers. No one had taught her how to control her visions about the future. So when she saw a dark future for Orion, her first instinct was to deny it.
It might seem irrational—but to the little girl, it was a way to protect her most cherished friend.
When she had a second vision with a similar structure—this time involving Kuma—she realized she couldn't keep quiet anymore and decided to tell Orion.
Now, after overexerting herself, the first vision had vanished from her memory, and she would no longer be able to share it with Orion. Perhaps the universe itself was limiting her influence.
Neither of them knew, but the reason Shyarly had formed a bond with the Global Improvement System in the first place, was precisely because of her special ability to glimpse into the future, which resonated with one of the system's fundamental components.
After ending the call with Giolla and giving instructions for Shyarly's monitoring, Orion opened his system screen and checked the new mission he had received the day he met Kuma:
*Mission 16 – True Freedom
Description: The chains that bind us are not always visible.
Objective: Free the Named Character 'Kuma'
Reward: SP, Random Special Skill, Random Item Box *
This was the mission he had received regarding Kuma, and it was quite vague in its description.
Orion understood that the liberation the mission referred to shouldn't be taken literally, since Kuma wasn't currently a prisoner.
But in a broader sense, the prisons we built ourselves, or those imposed by others, were harder to identify.
How was he supposed to know what kind of prison Kuma bore? And was something like "true freedom" even possible?
Orion didn't have the answers, but this mission had appeared in response to his desire to help the noble priest, so he would do everything in his power to understand the situation and help him overcome whatever it was that was tying him up.
In the past few days, Orion had spent long hours talking with Kuma about his past, his dreams, or his admiration for the Freedom Fighters.
Through these conversations, Orion had begun to understand him better, and he believed he had some idea of the burden Kuma carried. He planned to work slowly toward completing the mission, as it wasn't something that could be solved overnight. The weight Kuma carried was deeply tied to his very identity, and facing the foundational traumas of a person's soul was never easy.
Just then, while Orion was lost in thought about the mission, someone knocked on his door.
He was staying in one of the rooms behind the church, where Kuma and Ginny also lived.
"Come in," said Orion, setting aside his thoughts.
Christina Kelly entered the room, walked up to him, and sat beside him on the bed.
"Kairos, I have the information you wanted about the kingdom's royal family," said the Marine captain with her usual seriousness.