May 17, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
After leaving Daz Bonez behind, Orion sprinted across the battlefield at full speed using Soru until he finally reached his target. He had been speaking with the young mercenary, intending to recruit him, when he noticed from a distance that Kat was in trouble as she fought against the enemy soldiers.
This young mercenary, the daughter of Green Kamakiri's leader and a girl who dreamed of becoming the queen of the pirates, possessed considerable talent; however, her current combat level was far from impressive, and she was easily overwhelmed when facing a group of enemy soldiers, even if they lacked outstanding abilities.
Using Soru, Orion appeared beside the girl just in time to prevent her from being struck directly by an enemy soldier's saber. With a simple Shigan, he destroyed the man's weapon and knocked the unfortunate soldier out of the fight.
Then, firmly taking the beautiful girl by the waist, Orion pulled her into his arms, shielding her from any potential attacks while unleashing Tempest Kicks to eliminate the nearby enemies.
"Sigh… I still need to improve my Observation Haki" Orion thought as he dispatched his foes.
He felt slightly mentally exhausted after using the battlefield to train his Observation Haki, and therefore he could not deploy it as freely as he normally did. This time, he had managed to react just in time before Kat was hurt, and that was only because he had been paying close attention to her.
As for the reason he had been keeping track of the girl's movements, it was simply because she was already one of his subordinates.
During the past two weeks, in addition to persistently trying to recruit Daz Bonez, he had also recruited Kat, promising her the opportunity to fulfill her dream of becoming the queen of the pirates.
In truth, Orion's plan was simply to send her to Olive and her pirate crew, where Kat could learn from a real group of pirates. If she truly managed to become the pirate queen, Orion would have no objections, although considering her potential talent… it was almost impossible for such a thing to happen.
Unlike Daz Bonez, recruiting Kat had been simple, and he had only needed to invite her once before she cheerfully accepted. This was because Kat had been paying attention to Orion from the moment he arrived at Green Kamakiri and had developed a crush on him.
So, when Orion asked her to follow him back to his kingdom, Kat accepted without hesitation, convinced that her dream of sharing a bed with the most handsome man she had ever seen would finally come true.
Despite that, Orion had not invited her with such intentions, though if he knew what the girl was thinking, he would very likely not refuse her.
After all, Kat was a very beautiful girl, and Orion was probably the most lustful man in the world. As the system had indicated the moment it activated, Orion had never refused the possibility of establishing a relationship with the beautiful Named Characters he encountered, although it was true that he regularly rejected a large number of "normal" women.
This was because Orion did not want the number of his partners to grow too excessively—although some would undoubtedly argue that the current size of his harem was already far too excessive.
In any case, Kat had accepted Orion's offer to become his subordinate and had promised to follow him back to his home once he left the mercenary company.
As for the idea of remaining in the West Blue and inheriting her father's position as mercenary leader, it was something that had never crossed Kat's mind. She dreamed of becoming a pirate and living freely. The only reason she was still in the West Blue with her father's mercenaries was that she was still in her training phase.
She knew the world was filled with powerful pirates, so she used the mercenary company's missions to gain combat experience, as was the case now, participating in a large-scale civil war.
...
Orion, having eliminated the surrounding soldiers without any difficulty, suddenly heard a small voice beside him.
"Mmm… Mmmm… Orion… It's not that I don't want to do it with you, but couldn't we do it somewhere private?" Kat said, her cheeks flushed and her eyes glistening with a thin layer of tears.
Orion looked down and realized that, without noticing, his hand had slipped away from the girl's slender waist and landed on her impressive breasts. He was even squeezing one of them at that very moment, making the girl blush with an expression of desire.
"Ahem… sorry, that was a reflex," Orion said after clearing his throat, releasing Kat from his embrace.
The girl showed a faint hint of disappointment, but she immediately brightened when she remembered that Orion had invited her to return home with him and make her his lover. Obviously, that last part of the promise existed only in the lovestruck girl's imagination, although it would probably become reality if she behaved assertively.
"Hey Orion, here you are! I thought you had disappeared again!" Gloriosa said, rushing to his side at full speed.
At this point, the pink-haired girl's greatest fear was that Orion would vanish without a trace once more, leaving her behind. Perhaps that was why she had been far clingier than usual during the past month.
"I was just making sure Kat didn't get hurt," Orion said with a smile as he reached out and brushed a bit of dirt off Gloriosa's cheek, a smudge earned through her wild way of fighting.
Gloriosa closed her eyes happily, letting Orion pamper her, and once he withdrew his hand, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a light kiss on the lips.
Then, before Orion could say anything, she grabbed Kat's hand and said,
"I'll take care of keeping Kat safe—you go do your things."
Before the battle, Orion had told her about his plans, which essentially consisted of training his Observation Haki and recruiting Daz Bonez. Now, Gloriosa wanted to be useful to Orion and prove that she could behave like a competent wife, so she immediately decided to take charge of protecting their new subordinate, Kat.
After all, with Gloriosa's current power, keeping Kat safe on this battlefield was a fairly simple task.
Orion nodded with a smile, and after watching the two girls sprint toward another group of enemy soldiers, he released his Observation Haki once more, intending to continue his training a little longer.
However, only a few minutes later, he was forced to stop, because the leader of the noble faction they were working for, Chichilisia, was surrounded by enemies and in considerable danger.
Although Orion had no intention of seriously involving himself in this dispute between the noble factions of this kingdom, he had interacted with the Named Character Chichilisia during the previous weeks and the two had developed a friendship, so he couldn't simply let the man be struck down without doing anything to prevent it.
In truth, throughout the previous skirmishes between the two noble factions, Orion had prevented Chichilisia from suffering severe injuries on multiple occasions. This was because the reckless leader of one of the kingdom's largest fleets was not very cautious and enjoyed fighting on the front lines even though he lacked the necessary strength to do so without getting heavily injured.
The reason why the highest leader of one faction had formed a friendship with a nameless mercenary like Orion in the first place was precisely because of Orion's repeated interventions to save him in battle. Therefore, Orion had no intention of changing his approach now, especially not in the final battle.
"Come on, you bastards! Show me what you've got!" shouted the fleet commander, his body splattered with blood from several small wounds.
The enemy soldiers aimed their cannons at the burly man and fired without restraint, fully intending to take the enemy leader's life.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The cannons roared, and numerous projectiles rained toward Chichilisia's body. However, before any of them could strike him, Orion appeared in front of the fleet commander, and with a single sword attack he destroyed the projectiles, causing a chain of explosions in midair that took out several enemy soldiers.
Although Orion had decided not to reveal his true power and therefore refrained from openly using all his abilities, showing part of his power was not a problem. For a battle at this level, he needed nothing more than his sword and Rokushiki, which made his strength appear not so overwhelming compared to the other warriors present.
"Orion! You've saved me again! Once this war is over, I'll grant you a great reward!" Chichilisia said with a hearty laugh. He was used to fights at sea, so he was generally not in situations where enemies surrounded him on a battlefield, which often caused him to behave recklessly and without much caution.
Had Orion not been present during the last few weeks, this military leader would likely be bedridden right now, recovering from serious injuries.
Orion simply smiled at Chichilisia's words but made no comment. The reason he saved him was not for rewards but because, after inspecting the Named Character with his Prism Eyes, he had discovered that Chichilisia's morality was rather good. Orion believed that people with good morality in positions of power were necessary to keep the world as positive as possible, so he had taken it upon himself to protect him in the recent battles.
Even so, what for Orion had been a simple decision that required no effort to carry out, in the eyes of the fleet commander was an incredibly large favor. Considering Chichilisia's serious and formal personality, he had no intention whatsoever of disregarding this debt of gratitude he owed Orion.
Once Orion eliminated the enemy soldiers threatening the fleet commander's safety, he withdrew without leaving a trace, allowing Chichilisia's subordinates to take care of the rest.
Returning to a place slightly farther from the center of the battlefield, Orion continued training his Observation Haki with unwavering determination, while the sun in the sky quickly descended toward the horizon.
Finally, when night was about to fall, a trumpet echoed across the area, and the soldiers' cheers flooded the battlefield in a deafening wave.
Orion, who had been focusing on his Observation Haki, saw how the enemy soldiers surrendered or fled in terror after losing the battle, and he exhaled a long breath, feeling a deep mental fatigue wash over him.
Focusing his attention on the system screen, he read the notification that had appeared just moments earlier.
*Ding*
*Your skill "Observation Haki (Level 3)" has increased by one (1) Level*
With a broad smile, Orion stretched his arms as he loosened up, then made his way to the place where all the allied warriors who had participated in the battle were gathering.
Now that this great battle had finally come to an end, the civil war between the two noble factions of his kingdom was at last reaching its conclusion, and the involvement of the Green Kamakiri mercenary company would obviously end as well.
Looking at the first stars of the night, Orion wondered how much longer he would have to wait before receiving any news about the Ope Ope no Mi, the very reason he had come all the way to this corner of the world in the West Blue. Fortunately for him, the news they had all been eagerly awaiting would finally arrive very soon.
…
May 20, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
Three days after the great final battle between the two warring noble factions in the Kano Kingdom, the conflict had finally come to an end with the victory of the nobles under Chichilisia's command.
After a couple of days of mild instability across the territories of the defeated nobles, the victors had finally managed to fully control the situation, and a grand celebratory banquet was now taking place.
Green Kamakiri would remain in this kingdom for only one more day before departing the next, so the mercenaries now had the chance to enjoy the extravagant celebration, eating and drinking until they collapsed in satisfied unconsciousness.
In the hectic lives of these mercenaries, celebrations of this magnitude were not particularly common, so now that they had the opportunity to take part in one, they were naturally very excited.
As for Orion, he was now in a private room within the grand castle where the noble family of Chichilisia resided, which was also where the great banquet was being held.
Unlike the common mercenaries, Orion had been invited to the celebratory dinner attended by the most distinguished individuals of the victorious faction. Orion had brought Gloriosa and Daz Bonez—who had finally accepted his offer to become his subordinate—and aside from Chichilisia, who was hosting the event, the only two other people present whom Orion knew were the leader of Green Kamakiri, Kiko, and his daughter Kat—who was also already his subordinate, even though her father still had no idea.
In the lively room where the banquet was being held, Chichilisia raised his sake cup and spoke with an imposing voice.
"Attention! I want to make a toast!" announced the chief of one of the kingdom's largest naval fleets.
"On this occasion, I don't just want to toast to our glorious victory over our despicable enemies, but also to my guest of honor, Orion! Without him, I wouldn't have survived this war in one piece!"
Chichilisia ended his words with great intensity and then downed the sake in his cup in a single swig, feeling the burn of the strong liquor in his throat and stomach.
The other people in the room applauded enthusiastically and celebrated Chichilisia's gallant gesture, and several followed his example, raising their own cups and emptying them in one go.
In this nation, this was a fairly common custom among the people, who enjoyed offering toasts to those they appreciated, and as a way of demonstrating the sincerity of their regard, they would drink one or more cups of sake in succession, which sometimes led to rather troublesome situations where one or several individuals ended up completely drunk and vomiting everywhere.
Orion also raised his cup and drank the strong liquor with a smile, accepting the fleet leader's toast. However, Chichilisia had not yet finished expressing his gratitude toward Orion, because while everyone was cheerfully toasting, he lifted his hand to silence the room and gestured to one of the soldiers standing guard.
The soldier walked to the entrance door of the room where the banquet was being held, while the place once again fell silent. Everyone waited to see what the fleet leader had in mind, but a moment later, they received their answer.
With solemnity, the soldier opened the door and bowed, and a young woman stepped into the banquet hall, dressed in rather ridiculous clothing.
The moment Orion saw the appearance of this young woman, every hair on his body stood on end, and despite having the iron will with which he had forged his Conqueror's Haki over the years, he couldn't help but avert his gaze, unable to bring himself to look again in her direction.
It wasn't that Orion wished to be rude to the young woman who had just walked in, but she was without a doubt the ugliest woman he had ever seen in his life, and she stirred in him a kind of almost visceral rejection. For a moment, he wondered whether this might be the system's influence acting on him.
After all, the system affected the way he perceived the women around him due to the buffs that altered his libido and his general desire. Moreover, every time he encountered a beautiful woman or one with high compatibility with him, he would feel a desire—varying in intensity—to win her over.
However, the young woman who had just entered the room… only provoked in him a sense of disgust and rejection, which probably meant that her compatibility with him was extremely low, or perhaps even nonexistent.
"Daddy, you called me?" said the girl as she approached Chichilisia.
If Orion hadn't been so overwhelmed by the shock of the girl's appearance, he probably would have noticed that she was also a Named Character, and that her name was Uholisia.
"Uho, I called you here for something very important," said the fleet leader with a doting smile. His daughter was undoubtedly the weak point of this stern man who spent his days at sea, and his greatest treasure.
Suddenly, Chichilisia fixed his gaze on Orion while he flashed a smile, sending a chill down Orion's spine as a bad premonition crept over him. And in this world, ignoring premonitions was not advisable.
"Orion, this is my daughter Uholisia. How about we arrange a marriage engagement between the two of you? That way you can inherit my position as chief of the great fleet in the future!" said Chichilisia cheerfully, convinced there was no way Orion would reject his beloved daughter.
In truth, he valued Orion deeply, not only because Orion had saved him several times during the past two weeks, but also because of his appearance and his demeanor—and although the fleet chief didn't know it, his thoughts about Orion were also influenced by the system buffs that increased people's favorability toward him.
However, contrary to what the man expected, Orion did not react positively to the proposal. Instead, his expression darkened, and he said very seriously:
"I'm sorry, Chichilisia, but I can't accept such a proposal. I'm a married man!"
Gloriosa, who had been happily eating beside him, lifted her head, thinking Orion was speaking nonsense, since he was a polygamist and could take many wives. However, just as the girl was about to mention this, she noticed that Orion was staring at her with a terrifying expression, which frightened her and made her lower her head to continue eating without attempting to say anything.
Although Gloriosa was hyperactive, she wasn't stupid, and she knew that if she said anything now, Orion would likely punish her later. And although she had found the spanking session in Dressrosa somewhat pleasurable, she didn't want to provoke Orion now, because he looked truly, genuinely serious.
"Come on, Orion! Don't be like that, a real man should have many wives!" said Chichilisia with a smile, but a moment later, his eyes widened as he saw numerous veins appear on Orion's forehead and noticed that he was holding a small sphere of energy in his hand, one that looked as though it was about to explode like a bomb.
Without Orion needing to say another word, Chichilisia forced a smile while a thin sheen of cold sweat covered his back, and he immediately said:
"I–I was only joking! Of course marriage is something sacred! If you're already a married man, there's no chance of arranging a new engagement with my little daughter!"
"Perfect. I don't want to hear that joke ever again," said Orion as his expression returned to normal and the small ball of energy in his hand vanished without a trace.
Had Chichilisia taken even a moment longer to make his decision, Orion would have had no choice but to destroy the entire place, because he would never accept Uholisia as his wife.
Even so, seeing the tense expressions of everyone around him, Orion realized that he had gone too far with his reaction, though he hadn't been able to help it.
For that reason, he immediately cleared his throat and said:
"Ahem, while I cannot agree to an engagement with your daughter, I do have a promising young man who would undoubtedly make a perfect match for her. Even if we cannot become political in-laws, we can establish a lasting relationship through this method, don't you think?"
Chichilisia instantly slapped his knee in delight and accepted Orion's proposal, while Daz Bonez paled at the thought that Orion was referring to him when he mentioned a "promising young man."
Fortunately for the teenage mercenary, Orion had a completely different person in mind to throw into the fire… That is to say, to establish a political relationship with Chichilisia, the leader of one of the most powerful fleets in the Kano Kingdom.