October 16, 1501, Age of the Sea Circle
From within his Pocket Dimension, Orion observed Dragon, who was standing in one of the inner courtyards of the Figarland mansion. This residence, like the rest of the Celestial Dragons' estates, was truly gigantic, spanning vast grounds used for gardens but also with a great amount of space occupied by buildings.
The noble families who resided in this place were not overly numerous—only nineteen in total—but after nearly a millennium, it was natural that their numbers had grown immensely, each family developing several branch lines that were subordinated to the main lineage.
The mansion where Figarland Vespasian lived, and which Dragon was now visiting, belonged to the main branch of the family. It was also the residence of the current head of the main branch, Garling. Although the legendary God Knight did not spend much time there, and during the short period Orion had been in the Domain of the Gods, he had not been present at all.
It was a stroke of fortune for Orion that monsters like Garling and Shamrock were not constantly present in the residence, and that only the pathetic drunkard Vespasian remained, for otherwise the task of protecting the Kuja sisters would have become far more difficult.
Even so, Orion knew the absence of these important figures was not permanent, and he was mentally prepared for a confrontation should the situation escalate too far. Of course, he did not believe himself powerful enough to compete with them directly, but perhaps he might still manage to escape with the three Kuja even in their presence, using all his special abilities.
At present, according to the limited information Orion had managed to gather, only one other person lived in the Figarland mansion aside from Vespasian: the younger sister of the family head, a woman named Figarland Celestia, who apparently had lived reclusively in her quarters for years.
Orion had not had the time to investigate this woman in detail, since the past few days had been consumed with the Kuja sisters, Fisher Tiger, and his exploration of the Domain of the Gods in search of possible escape routes.
He had not expected that his first encounter with this Celestial Dragon woman would come through the sudden presence of Dragon, the Revolutionary leader.
Inside the inner courtyard, there was no one else, and although Orion could not use his Observation Haki from within the Pocket Dimension to be absolutely certain, the place seemed completely deserted, with the exception of the people now sitting beneath a tree, conversing softly.
This was the first time Orion had ever seen the solemn expression Dragon wore permanently vanish, replaced instead by a tender smile. To witness him in that state was so rare for Orion that, for a moment, he doubted whether the man before him was truly the Revolutionary leader at all, or perhaps someone identical in appearance.
However, those thoughts quickly passed, for Orion knew that only one man in the world was capable of controlling the wind as Dragon did, thanks to the powers of his Devil Fruit.
From within the Pocket Dimension, Orion gazed at the pair he never could have imagined sharing a connection… and at the small baby cradled in the woman's arms.
Dragon had his arms wrapped around the woman's body, as she leaned against his chest with her eyes closed, speaking continuously while the Revolutionary leader listened intently, nodding from time to time.
Meanwhile, the small baby rested in the woman's lap, firmly held to prevent him from slipping in a careless moment. Although the child seemed to be less than a year old, he was clearly hyperactive, squirming and moving constantly, struggling to break free from his mother's embrace and eager to escape to explore his surroundings.
For a moment, watching the incredible scene unfold before his eyes, Orion remembered the fact that the protagonist of the story of One Piece was named Monkey D. Luffy, as revealed by the system's notifications after Orion had slain that sea beast in the East Blue a year earlier.
After that incident, Orion had almost definitively concluded that Dragon was most likely the father of Luffy, the story's protagonist, though he had had no further proof. Dragon was an austere man who never revealed much about his private life, and Orion did not have the kind of close relationship with him that would allow him to simply ask whether he had a son.
For that reason, over the past year Orion had wondered where Dragon's son might be, since he was not in Windmill Village—though it was true Orion had not searched the entire island, nor had he investigated the capital of the Goa Kingdom.
Now, gazing at the tender scene before him, Orion believed he had found an answer, though it was one entirely shocking and difficult to accept. What sort of drama was this? It was like a Shakespearean romance, where the leader of the most important rebel faction was in love with a woman belonging to the very corrupt government he sought to overthrow!
Even so, watching the hyperactive baby in the woman's arms, Orion had to admit that this kind of setting was not unusual for the protagonist of an epic story. It was common for the hero to come from a great lineage, and it seemed that Luffy not only carried the blood of the super-powerful Monkey family, but also the blood of the Celestial Dragons in his veins.
And on top of that, there was the "D." his master Roger had spoken to him about so many times… This was a true protagonist!
A long time passed without any change in the situation, Dragon simply holding his wife close while she spoke endlessly, as though she had a thousand things to tell him. Orion wasn't sure how to approach the matter, for if he suddenly revealed himself at that moment, the situation could quickly turn complicated.
At present, Orion could be said to be working undercover in Mary Geoise, trying to fulfill the special mission, while at the same time carrying out any positive actions he could. If Dragon were to learn of his presence in this place… Orion wasn't sure how the Revolutionary would react. Would conflict between them become inevitable?
Orion believed the answer to that question was a simple "no," but that would be under normal circumstances. Now that Dragon's family was involved in the matter, things might not be so simple. After all, this was a secret that could bring great problems if it were discovered.
He remained indecisive inside the Pocket Dimension for a long while, but at last he decided to leave without alerting the couple, so as to avoid unnecessary problems. There would be time enough to speak with Dragon about this in the future, if necessary.
However, just as Orion was about to use his Pocket Dimension to go see the three Kuja sisters, a melodious voice rang powerfully in his ears.
"Since you've come this far, why don't you stay and have some tea?"
Orion's eyes widened in shock, and his muscles tensed involuntarily. Inside his Pocket Dimension, no sound from the outside world could be heard, since it was a completely separate spatial plane.
For that reason, if Orion wanted to listen to what Dragon and the woman were saying, he had to open a small door to connect both planes, or use one of his appendages created with "Un Fleur," just as he had done earlier with the ear he had given Hancock.
Yet Orion had done none of that, because with Dragon's keen senses, the Revolutionary would have noticed his presence immediately if he tried.
Now, hearing the melodious feminine voice resonate strongly inside his Pocket Dimension, Orion could not help but be utterly shocked, realizing that someone capable of projecting her voice into this separate spatial plane could not be an ordinary person.
Orion turned and saw the woman with long, curly blond hair, staring directly in his direction, her penetrating yet calm gaze seeming to pierce the division between both dimensions.
For an instant, he hesitated about how to react, but at last he sighed, and with a thought opened a door in the air, stepping out of his Pocket Dimension and appearing before the couple.
Seeing Orion's unmistakable ability manifest so suddenly, Dragon was able to recognize him immediately, despite the fact that his current appearance was completely different from usual, since he had been using his "Distorted Future" ability to maintain the same look ever since he had arrived at Mary Geoise.
"Orion… what are you doing here?" Dragon asked, somewhat agitated, though to Orion's relief, he showed no hostility toward him for having discovered his secret. More than anything, he looked slightly worried.
"I've been infiltrating Mary Geoise for a few days now… I have certain things to do here…" Orion replied, without giving him too many details.
There was no way Orion could tell Dragon about the existence of the system or the special mission he had received, so he had no clear way to explain his presence here. At the moment, Orion hadn't even finished deciding his own plans for his stay in the sacred land of the Celestial Dragons, and all he knew was that he wanted to protect the three Kuja, and if possible, help Fisher Tiger and as many slaves as he could.
"Infiltrating?! Have you lost your mind, Orion? This isn't a place where you can—" Dragon began to scold him for his recklessness, but before finishing, he caught the look Orion gave him, which seemed to say, "aren't you infiltrating here as well?" and he could not continue his reproach.
Though Dragon was much stronger than Orion, it was still a great risk even for him to infiltrate the Domain of the Gods, and the only reason he dared to do so was because he had Celestia's help.
For instance, on this occasion, she had informed him of the absence of Garling and Shamrock, and that was the reason he had come at once to see his young son, whom he could rarely visit.
It had been nearly six months since the birth of his little boy, and during all that time Dragon had only been able to see him twice, counting this very moment, so it was understandable that he had dropped everything he was doing to come to his wife and son as soon as the opportunity arose.
Although he had never imagined he would encounter Orion in this place, it was somewhat bizarre that two of the four founding members of the Revolutionary Army now found themselves in the very heart of enemy territory.
"Is this child a friend of yours, dear?" Celestia asked with a faint, elegant smile. The impression she left on Orion was that of a perfectly calm lake, and strangely enough, her presence eased him a little.
"Ah! Yes, this is Orion, the one I told you about earlier, though his current appearance… is a bit unusual," Dragon replied, looking at Orion with an inquisitive gaze, as if wondering why he had chosen to disguise himself as such an ugly child.
"Ahem! A pleasure, my name is Orion," Orion said after clearing his throat, and his appearance began to shift until it returned to its natural state as he dispelled his ability Distorted Future.
Still, it was unusual for Orion to present himself to Dragon in his child form, since he usually preferred to remain in his adult form, which was far more comfortable for his adult mind. For that reason, it felt odd for Dragon to see him in his childish state, even though he knew it was Orion's true form.
"My name is Celestia, I am Dragon's wife, it's a pleasure," said the blonde woman, her smile never wavering.
However, the words that followed made Orion's hair stand on end.
"So then, Orion, what are your objectives in coming here? Should I take it as a declaration of hostility?"
The beautiful blonde woman was still smiling, yet the smile did not reach her eyes, which made her look rather terrifying. For a moment, Orion felt a heavy pressure and thought it natural that Dragon's wife would possess such a powerful and aggressive presence, since it was the only way to stand by the side of someone like the revolutionary.
It had been the same with Rouge and Roger; although Rouge did not have an aura as overwhelming as this woman before him, she could indeed be terrifying when she entered her "angry wife mode." Even the Pirate King had to kneel and beg forgiveness whenever he offended his beloved—yet fearsome—wife, and Celestia gave Orion a very similar impression.
With some relief, Orion thought that fortunately his own wives did not share this personality trait and were quite docile, and he wished for it to remain that way in the future, unaware that he was once again "raising flags."
"I have no hostile intentions at all. The fact that I ran into Dragon here is nothing but coincidence. I simply saw him as I passed and followed him out of curiosity," Orion explained, trying to calm the agitated woman, who was clutching her small baby tightly, fearing that Orion's presence here might not be as innocent as it seemed.
After hearing Orion's words, Celestia stared into his eyes for an instant, and at last her smile lost much of the earlier edge it carried. The tension in her body eased as relief washed over her, reassured by her use of Observation Haki that Orion was not lying. Losing strength in her legs, she collapsed down onto the floor.
Swish
Dragon moved like the wind, catching his wife in his arms before she could touch the ground. He then looked at her with worry, reproaching her softly.
"Why do you push yourself like this, you know your condition isn't the best…"
"Hehehe, are you worried? It's adorable to see you like that," Celestia replied with a wide smile, gazing at the man she loved, who was holding her with such strength and concern in his arms.
"There's no need to be so on guard with Orion… He's a bit strange, but he's trustworthy," Dragon said, trying to brush aside his wife's comment about his supposedly adorable expression.
For Dragon, Luffy represented his weakness, and if his secret had been discovered by anyone else, he probably would have eliminated them to ensure the information never left this mansion. However, Orion was not just anyone to the revolutionary leader.
Although for Orion, Dragon was not a friend in the traditional sense—since the way they related to each other was very different from that of ordinary friends, as it was, for example, with Kuma—for Dragon, Orion was without a doubt a reliable ally.
They did not have much contact on a regular basis, but after sharing the battlefield and the leadership of the Revolutionary Army, the trust Dragon had in Orion was far greater than normal. This was partly due to the effects of Orion's passive abilities, which enhanced his charisma and raised people's favorability toward him in general, but it also came from the fact that Dragon had very few true allies.
Besides Kuma and Ivankov, perhaps only Orion could be counted in that category, as the rest of the Revolutionary Army's members occupied a different place in his mind.
For that reason, Dragon had no intention of "silencing" Orion for discovering his secret, since he trusted him far more than Orion himself could have imagined. Even so, he still felt uneasy knowing that Orion had learned this truth, and about how he might react to it.
After all, it was indeed suspicious that the leader of the revolutionaries maintained a romantic relationship with a woman belonging to the enemy faction—one who happened to be the younger sister of one of his greatest enemies: Figarland Garling.
On the other hand, in Celestia's mind things were much simpler: Orion had suddenly appeared, and to her he was a threat to both herself and her baby. If she could not confirm that he bore no ill intentions, then the best course of action was to do everything possible to eliminate him.
That was why she had resorted to using her powerful Observation Haki, despite the fact that her physical condition made even a brief use of Haki cause great damage to her body.
Fortunately, Orion harbored no malicious intent, and since he seemed to know Dragon, there was likely no real danger. Once she reached that conclusion, the tension in her body dissipated, and her illness exacted its toll for the use of her powers.
Looking at Celestia, now pale as a sheet of paper, Orion frowned, and his skills as a physician began to stir unconsciously. "Medicine" was probably the non-combat skill into which he had invested the most time over the years, and it was not difficult for him to see that there were many things terribly wrong with the health of the beautiful blonde woman with curly hair.
"Allow me to examine her," Orion said, approaching the couple with determination, as his medical instinct would not allow him to stand idle in front of a patient.
Dragon nodded without thinking too much, since he knew of Orion's medical expertise, and Celestia was so weak that she did not even have the strength to inquire further into the matter.
Orion retrieved his medical bag from his Pocket Dimension and began to analyze Celestia's physical condition. However, as time went on, his expression grew increasingly grave.
Meanwhile, Dragon and Celestia remained expressionless, for they already knew the truth of the situation. Celestia's illness was nothing new, and it was so terrible that the woman was practically confined to bed most of the time.
Not only did she lack energy and suffer from constant, excruciating pain, but she was also unable to make use of her monstrous Haki or the superhuman power she had once wielded in her youth. She could not expose herself to the sun and had very little stamina, so she spent her days within her chambers, tending to her baby in complete solitude, without any contact with the outside world.
Beyond her illness, another reason for not leaving her quarters was her infant child, so fragile and vulnerable. She would not risk exposing her baby to her deranged relatives or to the other Celestial Dragons who lived in this so-called holy land. If it were not for her inability to travel under the sun, she would have tried to escape from this place together with her baby.
The thought of her little son growing up in such an environment and one day turning into a hateful man terrified her, for she had already seen the outside world and understood what it meant for a child to grow up in the Holy Land.
It was nearly impossible for her little Luffy to remain untainted while growing up in Mary Geoise, and that was why she was planning a way to take him away from there together with Dragon, though they were delaying it as much as possible so that Celestia would not be separated from her baby too soon.
"What do you think of my health? Pretty bad, isn't it?" Celestia said with a touch of sadness.
"This is the first time I've seen something like this," Orion replied as he put away his medical instruments. Celestia's condition was utterly abnormal, and her vital signs were extremely "strange."
From a logical perspective, her current state was inexplicable, almost magical, and with the way her vital signs registered, she should already be dead. Yet, though she was clearly very weak, she still remained among the living.
At once, Orion understood that with the current level of his "Medicine" skill, it was impossible to properly analyze Celestia's illness, since it lay outside the realm of normality, firmly within the magical world of One Piece.
"It's normal, after all, this is a disease of the Celestial Dragons," Celestia said bitterly, then lifted her blouse slightly, revealing her abdomen, where what appeared to be a large… crystal protruded.