December 10, 1500, Age of the Sea Circle
Baby 5 slept for nearly an entire day. During that time, Orion had already explored the island in its entirety and had found the village from which the little girl had been exiled.
The moment Orion saw the conditions in which these people lived, he could not help but feel pity for them. The settlement they had established on this island was not very large—only about thirty people—but even so, they were unable to produce enough food to subsist comfortably.
It was no exaggeration to say that the villagers' condition was similar to that of Baby 5, and some of them were even worse off, since they did not possess her naturally resilient body.
When Orion arrived at their village, he introduced himself openly, causing a great commotion. Since he had left Kuma inside the Pocket Dimension to look after Baby 5 in case she woke up, Orion was alone when he appeared in the middle of the settlement like a phantom.
The people had immediately either fled in terror or fallen to their knees begging for mercy, and Orion wondered what terrible experiences they must have endured in the past for that to be their first reaction upon seeing him arrive.
After all, it was true that appearing out of thin air could be somewhat intimidating, but even so, he had shown no hostility toward them that might justify such a reaction.
Fortunately for Orion, calming them was not too difficult. As soon as he brought out some provisions from his inventory, the natives rushed at him like an enraged mob and only stopped when they noticed Orion had frowned and was emanating a dangerous "aura."
Of course, Orion would never use his Conqueror's Haki on these people, as there was a very real chance more than one of those poor wretches would die of a heart attack. Still, he could emit his aura, which was like a lighter version of the Conqueror's Haki, commonly referred to as "bloodlust."
This type of aura was different from the mysterious Conqueror's Haki that so very few possessed, and anyone who trained enough could release it. Most mid-level pirates and above could produce this kind of aura, though in practice it was completely useless, serving only to frighten ordinary people—just as Orion had done to keep the villagers under control and prevent a stampede.
Once Orion had given them provisions and shown no malicious intent, the villagers calmed down somewhat, though they did not completely lower their guard. Even so, the situation became stable enough for Orion to ask the questions that most interested him.
Thus, Orion asked about their experiences and their lives on this desolate island. The villagers had nothing to hide on that front and immediately told him their story.
Apparently, these people had fled from a nearby kingdom after the king went mad and began a cult that practiced cannibalism. With hardly any resources, the terrified villagers had taken to the sea, boarding whatever boats they could find.
The result was a tragedy: the vast majority perished at sea, victims of the storms of that season. The few survivors who managed to escape washed ashore on this island after their vessels sank, leaving them stranded here.
At first, they had been quite content, for this island represented the chance to start over from zero. It seemed they had successfully escaped the hell they once lived in, and the future looked bright.
However, things clearly did not unfold as they had expected. This island they had arrived at was utterly unfit for human habitation. The soil was inexplicably impossible to cultivate, the inland terrain was barren and crawling with dangerous beasts, and on top of everything, the climate was harsh and constantly shifting.
Within the very first year, more than half of the survivors who had reached the island died. That, in a grim way, eased the food shortage and slightly improved their circumstances, but life still remained extremely harsh, and each day was a battle to survive.
Due to the food scarcity, strict laws were put in place to control the situation, among them a prohibition on having children. If a woman became pregnant regardless, the baby had to be discarded so as not to waste their meager resources.
It was not that these people were cruel or lacked empathy for the lives of those infants, but rather that there was simply no way they could survive if their numbers grew.
From time to time, one of the women refused to abandon her baby and tried to raise it by sharing her own ration of food. Yet those cases invariably ended with both mother and child dying, so over time the number of people willing to make that choice dwindled to almost none.
The last one who had tried had been Baby 5's mother. She had refused to abandon her little daughter and had raised her for four and a half years. Everyone in the small village considered it a miracle that the two of them had managed to survive, but in reality, the only reason they had been able to do so was because of Baby 5's privileged physique.
Any other baby would have died of weakness from the lack of food, but Baby 5 had managed to survive, which inevitably led the situation toward another kind of tragedy.
While the girl was still small, she did not consume too much food, but as she grew older, the amount her mother had to share with her increased beyond what she could provide. It had reached the point where Baby 5's mother could not feed her daughter without going hungry herself and risking her own life.
Even so, Baby 5's mother did not abandon her immediately. Instead, for two months she tried to find alternative solutions. To begin with, she started venturing outside the safe area in search of food, although most of the time she was forced to return empty-handed, barely escaping from the beasts that lived there. She also tried to get food from the other villagers by any means within her reach…
However, there simply was not enough food. Everyone was starving, and no matter how much she wanted to keep her daughter in the village, the time came when she had to choose between her own life and that of her child.
For some people, this decision would not have been difficult, and they would have immediately thrown themselves into the abyss so that their children might survive—or at least that is what most people in a comfortable position would think. However, when the threat of death truly loomed over your head like the sword of Damocles, the situation was different.
When the time came to decide between saving her daughter and saving her own life, Baby 5's mother chose to save herself. She, who had never given her daughter a name because she did not want to form too deep a bond in case she ever needed to make a tragic decision, finally heeded the advice of the other villagers and took the little girl to the mountains, abandoning her to her fate there.
That day, on the way back to the village, Baby 5's mother wept inconsolably, not only because she had had to abandon the daughter she had raised for almost five years, but also because of the way she had done it. To ensure she cut all ties with her daughter and prevent her from returning to the village—thus endangering her life by coming into contact with the villagers—she had been particularly cruel to Baby 5.
It was true that everyone in the village expected Baby 5 to die within a few days of being abandoned in the mountain, but there was one exception. It was precisely the girl's mother, the one who knew her best, who knew that Baby 5 was capable of surviving in the mountains with a bit of luck.
This was because her daughter was not a normal child. From a young age, she had been stronger than an ordinary human, which was probably due to the lineage of her father, that mysterious pirate who had visited the island years ago.
Perhaps Baby 5 could survive, but to do so, she had to stay away from the village, since food was so scarce that the people there had lost their minds and were capable of any terrible act if they saw her return.
Baby 5's mother allowed herself to cry only on the way back to the village, and then she swore never to think of her daughter again. After all, she was not fit to be a mother, and she had no intention of living hypocritically after the decision she had made.
Obviously, Baby 5's mother did not tell all of this to Orion, since to her he was a total stranger. Orion simply heard the story of how the village had been formed, as well as the prohibition against having children, and the villagers also mentioned the existence of Baby 5 as the last child who had been born, but who had been exiled to the mountains to die.
For them, there was nothing wrong with their actions, since desperate times required desperate measures.
Orion listened carefully to the words of the natives, not letting a single detail escape him. Once they finished recounting their struggles over the years, Orion looked at them intently, activating his Prism Eyes.
Finally, after observing them for a few moments, he deactivated his ability and let out a bitter sigh. Through his Prism Eyes, the morality of these people appeared in shades of gray, but there was also a faint trace of bright red, almost like a drop of blood gleaming vividly.
Orion understood the situation. These people were not inherently evil; rather, their morality was neutral. However, they had crossed certain boundaries that an ordinary person would not, and clearly that drop of red he had perceived through his ability indicated the presence of something more.
Orion suspected it was something akin to madness, although he could not be sure. Who knew what these people had been forced to do over the years to survive? Clearly, their hands were not clean, but the situation was not so simple.
Once again, Orion felt the vastness of the world. This was just a corner of it, yet situations like this were probably happening in countless other places at that very moment.
He rubbed the bridge of his nose and made a decision about the future of these people.
Now that he had come across them and heard the circumstances they were living in, Orion could not simply ignore them. After reflecting on it for a while, he decided to relocate them to his kingdom, though he would not allow them to join as ordinary inhabitants.
They would have to go through a trial period, under strict observation, to see if they were truly capable of living in society again. After all, after so many years surviving in the most brutal of ways, these people were clearly not entirely sound of mind.
That very day, when Orion encountered the villagers and listened to their story, he offered them the chance to emigrate to his kingdom, and they accepted without thinking too much about it.
Orion did not know whether it was because they were truly desperate or because they were simply so tired of living under their current conditions that they were willing to risk everything, but they did not hesitate for even a moment when he asked them to step through the Space Gate.
The last to cross the portal was Baby 5's mother, who, before being transported to Pacific Kingdom, paused briefly. Looking at Orion with a trace of hesitation, she said,
"The girl who was exiled to the mountains… She's probably still alive…"
Then, without waiting for any response from Orion, she walked through the portal without looking back. That would be the last time she ever thought about the little daughter she had abandoned.
Orion shook his head bitterly once more, and using the system's connection to Shyarly, he called the little mermaid, who was patrolling the waters around Pacific Kingdom.
During the time he had been away from home, he had never stopped his daily conversations with Shyarly, who was probably the person closest to him—or at least the one he was in the most frequent contact with every day.
After chatting for a while with the lively mermaid, Orion asked her to inform Giolla and his uncle Lolo about the people he had just sent, instructing them to keep a close eye on their behavior.
If these people turned out to be a problem for his kingdom and for those who lived there, Orion would have no qualms about expelling them.
Once Orion had finished his business in that desolate village, he entered the Pocket Dimension and told Kuma that his task here was over and that they could now move on to their next objective.
Orion's next target was another Named Character called Gladius, who was thirteen years old and not far from their current position. The marker indicating the presence of this Named Character had appeared as soon as they landed on this island.
For that reason, Orion, who had originally planned to return to the North Army's base with Kuma, changed his plans, intending to go see this person and find out whether he could recruit him.
Even so, Orion was in no hurry to seek out this new Named Character. He was more focused on finding ways to help Kuma overcome his traumas and spend time with him.
Kuma had already told Orion that he could not stay more than another week, since he had matters to attend to in the West Blue, so Orion was more concerned with how to use those last few days in the most effective way.
When Baby 5 finally awoke from her long sleep, night had already fallen, and Orion and Kuma were making their way through the forest back to where Reira and Garride were. Orion had turned down Kuma's offer to transport them there immediately with his Devil Fruit powers, since he wanted Reira to spend a little more time without his presence.
Besides, he also had the chance to be alone with Kuma for a while longer, to talk about all sorts of things, strengthen their bond, and try to help him with his traumas.
Orion had left a small eye next to the bed where Baby 5 was sleeping, one he had created using his special ability "Un Fleur," so the moment she woke up, he knew right away.
After signaling to Kuma, the two of them stopped their march and entered the Pocket Dimension.
As soon as Baby 5 saw Orion again, she did not react as strongly as she had before, and she looked much calmer. Orion was a little surprised, but he had no reason to complain, since if the girl calmed down it would be much easier for him to communicate with her.
He approached the bed with a smile and said,
"You've finally woken up. How do you feel?"
Baby 5 looked at Orion intently for a few seconds, then lowered her gaze and began feeling her body, as if checking the state of her muscles. Finally, she raised her head again and said,
"This is the first time in my life I've ever felt this good."
In the girl's voice there was not the slightest trace of falsehood; she was being completely sincere. Indeed, after eating until she was full, sleeping as much as she needed, and on top of that receiving Orion's medical treatment, her condition was truly much better than it had been the day before.
"That's good," Orion said, and after a moment of hesitation, he extended his hand and placed it on Baby 5's head, gently stroking her hair.
The girl did not know how to react to Orion's sudden movement, but she did not try to pull away from his hand, because she did not dislike the sensation of having someone pat her head.
Finally, Orion looked at her seriously and spoke the words that had been on his mind.
"I have a question for you."
Baby 5 lifted her gaze, meeting Orion's eyes, and waited for him to continue.
"I am the king of a faraway kingdom. Would you like to come back with me to my kingdom? I promise you will live well there."
Baby 5 did not answer immediately; she lowered her head again, remaining silent. Seeing her like that, Orion sighed, realizing he had no choice but to use his trump card.
"I need you to come with me. Could you do that for me?" Orion said.
Baby 5's body trembled slightly, and she lifted her gaze once more. Then, with a look full of hope and a smile, she asked,
"You need me?" Her childish voice made those words sound even sadder to Orion, who knew her situation and how she had been abandoned by her mother.
The reason Orion knew about this "trump card" was because he had used an Evaluation Card to learn more details about Baby 5. That was how he had discovered she had a serious problem: she could not refuse the requests of people who "needed her."
In a way, this situation was similar to the "ultimate slave" status the system had used to label Reira, though in Baby 5's case it was far sadder and more complex. Reira enjoyed her masochistic state and chose it willingly, whereas Baby 5 did so involuntarily; she did not enjoy complying with others' requests, but suffered from it.
The deep scar her mother's abandonment had left on her had turned into a defining trait of her personality, and one that was quite dangerous.
Orion had not received any mission from the system regarding this, but he had already decided to erase this trait from her, just as he was trying to erase Kuma's traumas.
For now, however, using that trait was the fastest way to recruit Baby 5 without too much trouble. Once she actively agreed to come with him, she would be registered by the system as a subordinate, and then he could use an Insight Card to obtain more detailed information about her and find out whether there were more hidden problems to address.
Orion nodded solemnly, answering Baby 5's question, and when she saw him admit that he needed her, she immediately showed a broad, radiant smile.
"If you need me, then I have no choice but to accept. I'll go with you to your kingdom!"
Orion stroked her hair once more, and as he looked at the smiling face of the girl, so happy to be needed by someone, he swore to himself that he would make sure she lived a happy life in the future.
Finally, Orion moved his hand away from Baby 5's hair, placed it on his own chin in a thoughtful pose, and said,
"Still, it's inconvenient that you don't have a name. What do you say we choose one that sounds good for you to use from now on?"
Baby 5 nodded firmly, her eyes shining, thinking that perhaps the future ahead would not be so bad after all.
...
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