January 19, 1502, Age of the Sea Circle
Orion and Scarlett traveled peacefully across the kingdom by carriage. The distance between the capital, where the royal palace was located, and Green Bit wasn't very large, although it still would have taken them several hours if they had gone there on foot.
When the carriage finally arrived at the great bridge that connected the main island with the territory of the Tontatta, Scarlett finally realized where Orion was heading. She had accompanied him thinking it would be another one of their usual strolls through the kingdom, just like they had been doing over the past week, but now that they were at the great bridge, it was obvious that he fully intended to make contact with the Tontatta.
The royal family of Dressrosa had a particular relationship with this mysterious race, known among common folk as "the fairies" who were said to steal people's belongings. Although the Riku family knew about the Tontatta's existence—and could even be said to have a friendly relationship with them—they never interacted with these mysterious individuals directly.
Even though peace existed between the two peoples, they maintained a careful and friendly distance. The Tontatta, who were experts in tending and cultivating plants, were responsible for keeping the kingdom's vegetation healthy, and in return, the royal family allowed them to move freely throughout the realm and take whatever they needed for their daily lives.
This symbiotic relationship between the two peoples had lasted for nearly a millennium, and no one had ever tried to establish explicit contact in all that time. After all, if something worked well as it was, why change it?
For that reason, when Scarlett saw that Orion was heading directly toward the Tontatta's territory, she didn't know quite how to react at first. Over the past week, they hadn't mentioned the Tontatta at all, so the fact that Orion knew their location was a surprise to her. Or perhaps… he was simply exploring the area out of curiosity, without realizing the Tontatta lived there?
Wishing to clear up her doubts, Scarlett gently squeezed Orion's hand and said,
"O-Orion, what are we doing in this place?"
Orion looked at the beautiful princess and immediately understood what she was thinking. After all, Scarlett was the type of person who couldn't lie at all, and all her emotions were displayed clearly on her face.
"Of course, if we came all the way here, it's to visit the Tontatta," Orion said straightforwardly with a smile.
Scarlett finally confirmed that her suspicions were correct, and opening her eyes wide in surprise, she asked,
"How did you know they were here?"
"I read it once in a book. I couldn't be sure if it was true, but I wanted to see it with my own eyes," Orion replied calmly.
He wasn't lying, since a few years ago, he had indeed read in a book—or rather, in a travel journal—that to the north of the island of Dressrosa lived a community of small dwarfs called Tontatta. He had learned this during one of his usual reading sessions with Robin in the kingdom's library, which he personally supplied with every book he could get his hands on.
He particularly remembered that detail because his master Roger had once told him about these peculiar individuals he had encountered during his travels.
Even so, the real reason Orion knew that the Tontatta lived there was because the system's map showed no fewer than twenty Named Character markers clustered in that area. It was clear that this was the heart of the Tontatta's territory, and he also knew it because he had observed some of them while they were stealing in the kingdom over the past week.
When Scarlett heard Orion's confirmation once more, she hesitated for a moment but finally asked what was on her mind.
"Why do you want to go to the Tontatta's territory, Orion? We normally try to keep our distance so as not to disturb their lives."
Orion didn't answer right away. Instead, he took a step forward and suddenly wrapped the delicate girl in his arms, catching her completely off guard, as she hadn't expected Orion to make such an intimate move right then.
"Do you trust me?" Orion whispered softly next to Scarlett's ear, making her feel her legs go weak.
"Of course I trust you!" Scarlett replied with certainty, though she still felt a little "excited" from the sudden embrace.
"Then come with me to meet the Tontatta. I'll need you to act as the royal family's representative on this occasion," Orion said as he released her from his embrace. Then, with a swift motion, he lifted her into his arms like a princess and added,
"Hold on tight, my beautiful princess. We're about to soar through the skies for a moment."
Scarlett blushed slightly but immediately wrapped her arms around Orion's neck and nestled against his chest, her eyes sparkling with stars and hearts. If there was something she truly enjoyed, it was when Orion behaved proactively like this. For her, who had been raised in a culture where women were taught they should be the ones to conquer men, the feeling was surprisingly refreshing.
Using Geppo, Orion soared into the air and, assisted by his Pocket Dimension, crossed the distance between Dressrosa's main island and Green Bit. Because of the presence of the bothersome and dangerous Fighting Fish, it wasn't advisable to try to cross the bridge directly, so Orion had opted for this method, which was much safer.
Although he wouldn't have had much trouble dealing with the Fighting Fish—at least enough to cross the bridge without incident—he didn't want to put Scarlett's safety at risk. Unlike him, she didn't possess superhuman strength and had an ordinary human body. Though… there was nothing ordinary about the size of her curves.
After a few minutes, Orion descended onto Green Bit, still carrying Scarlett in his arms. Once he confirmed the location of the Tontatta village on the system's map, he sped off in that direction, continuing to hold the beautiful princess in his arms.
After about half an hour, Orion arrived at the spot indicated by the map, but there was no trace of a Tontatta village anywhere in sight. Setting Scarlett down on the ground again, he began exploring the surroundings carefully, searching for some sort of hidden structure or anything similar. However, finding absolutely nothing, he reached the inevitable conclusion that the Tontatta village must be underground.
That was one of the main flaws of the system map: being two-dimensional, it didn't show the precise vertical position of the Named Characters displayed on it. Still, Orion knew there was a limit to how far above or below ground a location would be considered part of the "same place" by the system.
For example, if there were a Sky Island hovering over Dressrosa right now, ten thousand meters high, the system wouldn't register the Named Characters located there, since they would be outside the identification area.
Gazing at the ground with his Prism Eyes, Orion found several hidden entrances leading to the underground village, though most of them were far too narrow for him to pass through. It was one of those moments when he wished his beast companion Nibble were with him, though this time he had left him in the Pacific Kingdom, where the creature was helping with the kingdom's construction.
After searching unsuccessfully for an entrance for some time, Orion decided to try using his Space Door to cross the distance between the surface and the Tontatta's realm. If that failed, he would have no choice but to resort to more "drastic" methods—though he hoped it wouldn't come to that.
Placing his hand on the ground, Orion successfully created a door in the soil and leapt into the Pocket Dimension together with Scarlett. After traveling a considerable distance—almost at the limit of his Pocket Dimension's reach—Orion managed to arrive safely in the underground city, suddenly appearing in one of its central zones and startling all the Tontatta present.
A whistle blew sharply, and countless individuals appeared to confront the intruder. Despite their small size, the strength and speed of the Tontatta were not to be underestimated. In the blink of an eye, a large group of warriors armed with tiny spears rushed toward Orion and Scarlett with the intent of capturing them.
However, Orion had already activated his Observation Haki and was using his Prism Eyes, so he had no trouble at all following the quick movements of the little people attacking him.
He had come with the intention of establishing cooperation with the Tontatta, not to cause conflict, so even though he could easily incapacitate them with his superhuman abilities, he had no intention of doing so, since that would be counterproductive.
He simply coated his hands with Armament Haki and, with swift and precise movements, deflected all the Tontatta's attacks around him. The small warriors were completely astonished by Orion's skill and immediately began shouting for more reinforcements in a frantic uproar.
"Wait, I mean no harm! I just want to talk!" Orion said calmly, trying to start a conversation with the tiny people around him.
He didn't expect the Tontatta to actually stop attacking him just because of his words—and that's why his surprise was great when that's exactly what happened!
"Huh? You don't mean any harm? You should've said so earlier!" said one of the Tontatta with a friendly smile.
"Yeah, I thought you were an enemy, but you just wanted to talk," said another.
"Do you want some honey?" said a third, offering him a jar of honey with a cheerful grin.
Orion raised an eyebrow in surprise, recalling one of the main traits of the Tontatta that both his master Roger and the book he had read had mentioned: their innate naïveté!
He was aware of this racial trait, but… wasn't this a bit too much? How could these tiny, adorable creatures survive if they were this gullible?
Wanting to test just how serious the Tontatta's problem was, Orion subtly changed his expression and said,
"I was lying. I actually do have bad intentions."
"Ah! He really does have bad intentions!"
"Oh! I thought he wanted to talk, but he's actually an enemy!"
"You can't have this honey!"
The Tontatta reacted once again in a somewhat comical way, changing their impression of Orion yet again and trusting his words once more. Somewhat concerned for these little people, Orion said again,
"I was lying. I'm not an enemy. I just want to talk."
"Ah! So he wasn't an enemy after all, what a relief!"
"Oh! I thought I was talking to an enemy, but he only wanted… an enemy?"
"Do you want some honey?"
The Tontatta who had shown hostile expressions just a second ago returned to being friendly and smiling, though one of them looked visibly confused by his own words, as if he were having some kind of existential crisis.
Orion and Scarlett exchanged a brief glance, as if they couldn't believe how gullible these dwarfs were. This was Scarlett's first time interacting with them in this way, and she couldn't help feeling a bit sorry for the tiny beings who would make the perfect target for any swindler.
Orion was thinking something similar, though in addition to Scarlett's concern, he had already decided that he couldn't allow the Tontatta to come into direct contact with the outside world unsupervised. With their naturally trusting nature, they would undoubtedly end up enslaved almost immediately if they ventured out, so he was already devising plans for a possible future integration of the Tontatta into the rest of the world.
The reason Orion was thinking of a way to integrate them safely rather than letting them remain isolated here was because he didn't believe it was fair for any species to be restricted from exploring the world simply because of its innate characteristics.
If the Tontatta truly wished to stay away from the outside world in the future, Orion obviously wouldn't force them to emerge from their territory, but if they wanted to explore freely everything the world had to offer, he had to ensure they wouldn't suffer for it.
Still, those thoughts were fleeting, and after briefly considering several possibilities, Orion focused once more on his current task. He had come to see the Tontatta for a specific reason this time, and there would be plenty of time later to think about deeper matters like integrating this race with the rest of the world.
"I'd like to speak with your leader, if possible," Orion said with a kind smile as he tasted a bit of the honey one of the Tontatta had given him.
"Of course! I'll call him right away," said one of the present Tontatta, who seemed to be the leader of the armed group, and he ran off at full speed to fetch his king.
After only a short while, an elderly Tontatta with a long white beard approached Orion, accompanied by the warrior who had gone to call him.
"Greetings, human. What can I do for you?" said the king casually, not seeming at all bothered that Orion had invaded his territory without notice.
Orion tried not to dwell too much on how strange the situation was and decided it would be best to get straight to the point.
"It's an honor for me to be received by the king himself. I've come today to propose a cooperation between the Tontatta and the Kingdom of Dressrosa."
The old Tontatta king seemed far wiser than the rest of his subjects, and he appeared thoughtful at Orion's words. Finally, he simply said,
"Alright, we accept."
Orion felt a strong urge to smack his own forehead, thinking perhaps the king wasn't as wise as he appeared. Then, to avoid any misunderstanding, he decided to explain the situation in detail himself.
"The situation is as follows. This young lady beside me is Scarlett, the princess of Dressrosa. Her father is King Riku Doldo III. The cooperation I hope we can establish will be beneficial to both sides.
Currently, Dressrosa is in a very precarious economic state, so a continuous influx of capital is needed to improve the people's quality of life…"
Orion went on to explain the kingdom's economic situation and the many reasons behind it, while the Tontatta present listened attentively.
Scarlett was also listening closely to Orion's words, surprised that he had come to understand the kingdom's situation so deeply in just a week. It showed that he had been researching on his own, gathering extra information beyond what she had told him during their tours around the kingdom.
Even so, she felt no displeasure about it, since from Orion's words it was clear he was seeking ways to improve the living conditions of the people and solve the economic problems that had been a headache for the crown for generations—and that had become even more pronounced during her father's reign due to his pacifist efforts to aid surrounding kingdoms.
Although the Tontatta were very gullible, they were not stupid, and they could easily understand Dressrosa's situation after hearing the information Orion provided and combining it with their own observations over the years.
After Orion had explained the situation in detail, the time finally came to mention the specific cooperation in question.
"To solve the kingdom's economic problems, the best solution is to create a product with added value—something profitable and over which we can maintain a monopolistic exclusivity."
However, the Kingdom of Dressrosa currently lacks any product with such characteristics—at least for now."
Orion paused briefly, then took out the apothecary's notebook, which contained numerous extraordinary recipes. Handing it to Scarlett with a faint smile, he continued with his final words.
"In this notebook, I have the formulas to create medicines that don't exist on the market. However, producing these medicines requires a large number of herbs, some of which are quite difficult to obtain.
This is where you, the Tontatta, come in. My proposal is simple: your tribe will help cultivate these herbs, using your innate skills in botany, and in exchange, the royal family of Dressrosa will grant you half of the profits in resources of your choosing."
Orion glanced at the astonished Scarlett, who was clutching the notebook tightly against her chest, then at the Tontatta, who were also somewhat surprised at the mention of potentially obtaining great resources for their people, and he added,
"Moreover, if the Tontatta wish to venture out into the world and explore, I'm willing to offer you a safe way to do so."
This was Orion's final card—and indeed, he could make it happen. He could transport the little dwarves to the South Blue using his Space Gate and even assist them with the help of his personal forces if they wanted to establish new villages elsewhere.
After all, the desire for freedom resided in every being's heart. Once one knew there was a vast world waiting to be explored, it was only natural to wish to go out and see what that world had to offer.
…
While Orion was having his meeting with the Tontatta in Green Bit, Mihawk had arrived at the royal palace in search of him, after learning from the citizens of Dressrosa that Orion had been there.
However, when he attempted to enter the palace, he was stopped by Kyros and the rest of the royal army, who had confronted him aggressively.
Now, the red-eyed Warlord stood calmly at the palace entrance, surrounded by a large number of unconscious soldiers lying on the ground—fortunately, none of them mortally wounded.
Looking down at Kyros, who was also lying on the ground after being defeated by him, the swordsman spoke in his usual calm tone.
"I already told you—I only want to see Orion. Now then, where is he?"