September 8, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
A week had passed since Orion had his duel with Galus at Whitey Bay's pirate base, and in Pacific Kingdom, life continued to move forward smoothly for the inhabitants of the realm.
The kingdom's population had been growing steadily, since almost every month new groups of refugees and people seeking a better future arrived.
For this region of the South Blue, Pacific Kingdom had become the promised land for those searching for a new life, having earned an impeccable reputation among the general public of the area.
Even though Pacific Kingdom was not a kingdom affiliated with the World Government, its level of development and the quality of life of its inhabitants were remarkably high, and the council in charge of ruling in the name of its absent king constantly had to keep expanding the size of the settlements within the kingdom.
Originally, there had only been a single city in the kingdom, which was the capital, but at present there was a large number of small settlements scattered across the areas of the island that had been reclaimed from the dangerous wild beasts that once inhabited them.
With the help of the royal army and Orion's powerful subordinates, it had been possible to considerably increase the overall size of the kingdom, also boosting agricultural and livestock production, which had now become one of the pillars of the local economy.
Amid this explosive growth of the kingdom, the gigantic royal residence of the Lysanders was full of life, occupied by a group of people with very diverse personalities.
One of the most peculiar people in the place was little Carla (Baby 5), who had been rescued from the mountains of a deserted island in the North Blue by Orion three years earlier. The young girl was now seven years old, and her appearance was completely different from when Orion had first found her.
Carla had allowed her hair to grow out, and it now reached all the way down to her waist, while she wore an adorable deep red bow in it that made her look a bit more delicate. In addition, she was well fed, so her body was no longer as thin as it had been back in the North Blue, finally allowing her to have a normal build for a girl her age.
Even so, the greatest change in her was the wide smile that adorned her face day after day, a perfect demonstration of the happiness she felt with her new life in Pacific Kingdom.
Orion had settled her in the royal residence, under the care of his family and surrounded by the people he loved, and as a result Carla had developed an extroverted and cheerful personality.
However, not everything was perfect, since there was still a major problem with her personality: her tendency to agree to other people's requests without thinking about her own well-being.
After she had been abandoned by her mother in the mountains—who told her that she was of no use and therefore could not remain with her in the village, since there was no food to spare for someone like Carla who could not contribute in the slightest—Carla had developed a deep trauma that had driven her to feel a compulsion to prove herself useful to others.
Fortunately for her, Orion had found her quickly enough to prevent this problem from becoming even more deeply rooted, which resulted in her current personality being much less "intense" than in the original timeline.
In this world's original story, Carla was a woman who could not refuse other people's requests at all, even if that request was something utterly absurd, such as her own death. For the current Carla, however, this was no longer the case.
Carla did feel the desire to prove her usefulness and often accepted requests that turned out to be harmful to her, yet she now possessed a certain limit she was not willing to cross. It could be said that her great problem from the original timeline was still present, but in a far milder form.
Even so, Carla took every opportunity she could to help people with whatever they needed, and more than once she had to be scolded by Lira—Orion's mother—who had caught her cleaning the royal residence on her own in the middle of the night.
To everyone in the palace, Carla was another member of the family, which was why they did not want to see her lowering herself to perform all the arduous household chores as if she were a servant. They felt uncomfortable when she asked them with a big smile whether she was being useful to them, since they all knew about her tragic past.
As the years went by, Carla's situation had improved slightly thanks to her new family's repeated efforts to give her the life of a normal girl, yet some traumatic behaviors were hard to completely erase.
"Phew, phew — there, all clean!" said Carla with a big smile as she wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand.
She had been secretly cleaning since very early, before dawn broke and the people in the great mansion that served as the royal residence woke up and dissuaded her from doing so.
Carla believed she had succeeded in her little morning venture without anyone finding out, but before she could escape the scene of the crime, a voice echoed behind her.
"Carla? What are you doing here?"
Carla turned around almost mechanically upon being caught in the middle of her "crime," and she saw Kalifa, who was looking at her with a scrutinizing gaze while adjusting her glasses with one hand.
Kalifa was currently ten years old and, although she still had an adorable appearance, she had grown into a serious young girl. At present, she worked as an assistant in the kingdom's government, in addition to teaching children at the public school.
She also trained arduously in her combat techniques, intending to one day become Orion's right hand, and that was the reason why she was awake at such an early hour of the morning, since she was about to begin her morning Rokushiki training.
"K-K-Kalifa… I was just doing a little exercise… hehehe," Carla tried to play it off, yet the dirt stains on her clothes and the cleaning tools scattered around her made it impossible for her to fool the young genius of Pacific Kingdom.
"You were secretly cleaning again? I'm going to tell Lira," Kalifa said bluntly, alarming little Carla.
It was not that she wanted to make her feel bad, but she simply could not allow Carla to continue engaging in obsessive behaviors that were unhealthy for her. That was something everyone in the large royal family had agreed upon, and whenever they caught her acting in an excessively servile manner, they had to intervene and put a stop to that behavior at its root.
"Nooo! Don't do it, Kalifa, I promise I won't do it again," said Carla with teary eyes, even though she had said the same thing many times before.
Kalifa simply sighed with a hint of resignation and said,
"Alright, alright, I won't say anything this time — but don't do it again. Otherwise, I won't cover for you anymore."
"Kyah! You're the best! Mwah!" Carla hugged Kalifa affectionately and kissed her cheek with great enthusiasm. Then she grabbed her cleaning supplies and ran off at full speed, vanishing without leaving a trace and leaving only the little prodigy behind.
"Sigh… I see her problem isn't improving. I'm going to call Orion and give him a detailed report! Hehehe," said Kalifa, adjusting her glasses as she laughed triumphantly.
She did not have an entirely normal personality either, just like most of the people close to Orion.
…
Carla ran back to her room at full speed and, after confirming that Kalifa had not followed her, she sighed in relief, thinking she had avoided yet another intervention from the family.
She knew, on a conscious level, that they would not reject her even if she did not do the household chores of the mansion, yet she simply could not help doing them anyway — it was something stronger than her.
And since she felt satisfied when she could improve, even a little, the lives of her loved ones around her, she did not feel that her personality being that way was a problem.
Whistling cheerfully, Carla took a hot bath and dressed in some clothes Rouge had bought for her a week earlier. Then she took a large basket and sprinted toward the port. At that hour of the morning there was a market of small artisan merchants, where one could find fresh, good-quality ingredients.
The palace had its own supply chain for such ingredients, but Carla enjoyed going to the market in person and buying things on her own, just as Lira still insisted on cooking for her family instead of letting the castle cooks handle it.
In high spirits, Carla ran between the vendors' stalls, filling her basket with all kinds of ingredients to bring back home. Meanwhile, in a distant corner, a woman was watching her with an indecisive expression.
She was Carla's biological mother, whom Orion had also rescued along with the rest of her village in the North Blue. Ever since she had arrived in Pacific Kingdom, her life had also changed completely, and now she was a completely different woman.
When she had not even had enough food to survive, the situation had been extremely complicated, and there had been no time to think about anything other than surviving one more day however possible. Now, however, not only did she have a roof and a job, but she could eat until she was full every single day.
Obviously, once her basic biological needs were satisfied, she began to contemplate matters that previously seemed meaningless — such as the purpose of her life, her ambitions for the future, her dreams, and, above all else, her family.
Carla's biological mother had had five children, and four of them had died before reaching the age of one, with only Carla surviving thanks to her exceptional physique. Carla was stronger than a normal human, and she had been that way since the day she was born, which allowed her to survive the harsh early years of life in the poor village where her mother lived.
After they arrived in Pacific Kingdom, her mother had never again made contact with Carla, and it had only been six months earlier that she had seen her once more by chance, while the girl was shopping at the morning market.
Upon seeing her only daughter in this world living her life to the fullest, the woman had felt a lump in her throat while joy washed over her. Truth be told, she was not a good mother — and she knew that — but that did not mean she was a heartless monster without feelings.
It was true that she had committed the worst sin a mother could commit — leaving her daughter alone to die in the mountains — but it was also true that she had cared for her for four years before deciding to abandon her.
It was easy to judge someone's choices from a privileged position, to criticize the decisions they made in their most desperate moments, but perhaps only those who had gone through such a situation could truly understand how dehumanizing certain moments could become.
Obviously, this was not an excuse for Carla's mother's actions, which had undoubtedly been wrong in abandoning her little daughter — and no one was more aware of that than she was.
Even though Orion and the people in the royal family had not forbidden her from approaching Carla, she had never tried to do so, limiting herself instead to watching her from a safe distance every morning, merely to satisfy her own capricious personal desires, without any intention of appearing in her daughter's life and ruining her happiness.
As a mother, she was not qualified to be part of her daughter's life, and she simply wished to see her whenever the opportunity presented itself. Knowing that she was well gave her a sense of freedom, almost as if the sins she had committed years ago were being forgiven.
Finally, after about half an hour, Carla finished shopping at the market and ran back toward the royal residence to reunite with her true family, while her mother continued watching her from afar in silence.
Once Carla disappeared from her sight, the woman picked up her hoe and rested it on her shoulder, ready for a new day of work in the farmland outside the capital city.
…
"(...) and that woman was watching her again at the market," said Kalifa, reaching the end of her report about Carla.
She had called Orion to inform him about the girl's situation — her secret early-morning cleaning routine, and the fact that she was being watched by an unknown woman.
"Understood. Thank you for your hard work, Kalifa," said Orion with a smile.
"Heheh~ If you want to thank me, you can take me along on your next adventure! I've been training hard, and I can already use my Rokushiki at a pretty good level," replied the lively girl.
Orion considered the possibility for a moment and finally agreed to Kalifa's request before ending the call. Even though Kalifa was not as talented as Rob Lucci, she was still a prodigy, and at ten years old she had achieved a moderate degree of success in her mastery of Rokushiki.
With her current level, she still could not qualify as an official CP9 agent, but Orion believed it was enough for her to be able to protect herself if she were to find herself in a dangerous situation, so there would not be too much of a problem in taking her along on his next trip — as long as their destination was not some outrageous place like Mary Geoise or something like that.
Kalifa had spent almost her entire life in Pacific Kingdom, without the opportunity to see the outside world, and she had only been able to experience a different culture when Orion had taken her to Dressrosa, using the new Space Gate anchor point attached to his Main Wife, Scarlett.
Thinking of his beloved wife Scarlett, Orion could not help but recall the call he had received from her two days earlier, in which she had given him great news: she was pregnant.
Apparently, she had found out about her pregnancy some time ago, but she had not wanted to tell Orion because she did not want to worry him while he was focused on his important affairs in the Grand Line.
Orion maintained continuous contact with his wives, so Scarlett was well aware of how busy he had been lately, and for that reason she had waited until Orion returned to the West Blue to inform him of her pregnancy.
Of course, Orion reacted positively to the news and was now looking forward to the birth of his second child, which was expected during the first week of January.
Although he wanted to go see Scarlett immediately, he could not do so, since otherwise he would once again have to postpone his arrival to the kingdom where his wife Victoria was waiting for him. For that reason, Orion planned to first return to Pacific Kingdom with Victoria, and then head straight to Dressrosa to accompany Scarlett during her pregnancy.
Fortunately, with his Space Gate ability, he was able to travel between Pacific Kingdom and Dressrosa almost instantly, so there would be no problems in the future when moving between the two places to care for his pregnant wife and handle the kingdom's affairs respectively.
Now, Orion was once again in the West Blue, after traveling for a week through the Calm Belt and a small part of the New World.
After his duel with Galus a week earlier, Orion had spent one more day in the company of the beautiful Ice Witch, and had finally said goodbye to her, promising to come back for her again in a few years to make her completely his.
The beautiful blue-haired pirate had simply smiled upon hearing his words and, after giving him a brief kiss, let him go, longing for their next meeting.
Although on this occasion Orion had not spent much time with Whitey Bay, he had managed to make great progress in his relationship with her — something that put him in a good mood every time he thought about the sensual curves of the beautiful pirate.
"Orion, I'm hungry," Mitsu suddenly said, tugging at the sleeve of Orion's shirt with a pitiful expression as she placed one hand over her stomach.
Orion raised his eyebrows, thinking that not even an hour had passed since the girl had last eaten, yet he did not say anything about it; instead, he merely shook his head and took out a large piece of roasted meat from his inventory.
Over the past month, Orion had witnessed the little clone's gluttony time and time again, so he had already grown somewhat used to it. Although her appetite was a bit excessive for a girl her size, it was still far below that of his most gluttonous subordinate, Lucky Roux.
"So, where are we going now?" said Galus, who was sitting off to the side of the small sailboat's deck, his torso completely bandaged to cover the wounds caused by Orion's attack during their duel a week earlier.
"First we need to make a stop on a nearby island, and then we'll head to the South Blue, where my kingdom is," Orion replied while opening the system screen to check the map.
"South Blue?" Galus murmured, somewhat surprised that Orion came from that Blue.
The famous rookie pirate did not know much about Orion to begin with, and he had decided to become his subordinate only to keep his word, so this was the first time he was hearing where they were heading. He had asked Orion about it earlier, but Orion had simply told him that they were traveling back to the West Blue, without giving too many additional details.
Orion noticed Galus's slightly surprised expression and asked,
"You know the South Blue?"
"Do I know the South Blue? I grew up there! I'm the most feared thug in the kingdom of Samba!" Galus replied, placing a hand on his chest while lifting his chin in a somewhat arrogant manner, trying to boast about his glorious past in that corner of the world.
"Really? What a coincidence — we're actually about to establish a trade route between my kingdom and Samba Kingdom, so you'll be able to join in and help when the time comes. You must surely know a lot about that kingdom, don't you?" Orion asked.
Galus began sweating profusely as he remembered certain things he wanted to forget, and for a moment he felt the urge to slap himself for talking too much. However, now that he had already boasted about it, he had no choice but to continue backing up his previous words.
Wearing a forced smile that was rather awful to look at, Galus answered bravely, saying "of course," and then struck his chest with his fist — unintentionally causing his still-unhealed wounds to hurt tremendously.
Watching the pirate hold back tears from the pain in his chest while trying to maintain a confident and valiant posture, Orion had to make an effort not to laugh out loud, and he thought that perhaps Galus was much more comical than he had initially imagined.
Orion had noticed his new subordinate's strange behavior, which was evidently related to the kingdom of Samba, and he now had a great interest in the day they would travel to that kingdom, to see what secret the famous rookie pirate was hiding.
The small sailboat on which Orion and his two companions were traveling continued advancing at full speed back toward the location of Victoria Cindry; however, along the way, a new marker indicating the presence of a Named Character appeared on the system map.