August 21, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
More than a month had already passed since Vegapunk's departure from Jewel Island, and Orion's plan was progressing without any issues. Through the use of the Mysterious Fog produced by Foggy, he had been able to restrict the marines' access to the Dyna Stones mine, thus managing to extract large quantities of the valuable mineral with the help of Nibble and Isaac.
Even so, they could not simply cut off the supply of Dyna Stones to the World Government entirely, since doing so would risk provoking the arrival of a new delegation of powerful marines to conduct a thorough investigation.
For that reason, Suzanne continued extracting Dyna Stones as usual, albeit at a much slower pace than before she had joined Orion in his plans. From the amount of Dyna Stones obtained by the scientist, a portion still had to be offered to the World Government as tribute, serving as a way to maintain peace until they could finish emptying the deposit completely.
While the extraction of Dyna Stones continued to advance steadily, Orion had begun investigating the Cipher Pol agents stationed on the island.
In addition to Rob Lucci and Jabra, who had infiltrated the group of scientists under different roles and identities, Laskey, Kamaya, Spandine, and his son Spandam were also present on the island. The latter group had not appeared in the capital city at all and seemed to be operating in a support and oversight role instead.
Orion had been tracking them discreetly, eventually discovering their exact location in the southern city.
Since Orion believed that a conflict might arise in the future between himself and Cipher Pol—and perhaps also the remaining marines on the island—he had decided to use his Space Gate to send the mercenaries to Pacific Kingdom, ensuring they would not be placed in danger.
He could continue his journey toward the West Blue on his own, so he did not need the mercenaries' assistance at all in this place. The best course of action was to send them to the South Blue, where not only would they be safe from any conflict that might break out on Jewel Island, but they could also begin working on the creation of the new mercenary company he had decided to establish.
After sending the mercenaries to Pacific Kingdom, Orion felt relieved and free to act against the Cipher Pol agents, though he did not make his move immediately, as he needed to wait until the mission of stealing the Dyna Stones was fully completed.
Over the past few days, he had limited himself to spying on Spandine and his subordinates, while also keeping a close watch on Lucci and Jabra, who represented a danger to the scientists should they decide to act in a hostile manner.
"Mr. Orion, I have a new report on the extraction of Dyna Stones," Rob Lucci said with a friendly smile, extending a brief report he had personally written.
Since Orion was Suzanne's official assistant, he was responsible for receiving and filtering the documents that reached the island's leader, so he was accustomed to this kind of situation. Over the past few weeks, he had interacted countless times with both Lucci and Jabra, as they pretended to be nothing more than novice employees.
For Orion, it was a rather strange sensation to have these two young men he had met during his time in Guanhao now standing in front of him many years later, playing the roles of diligent workers and honest administrative employees.
They were clearly enemies, yet Orion would never display even the slightest animosity toward them, as his ability to control his emotions and his actions was truly outstanding. For that reason, a peculiar situation unfolded daily on Jewel Island: enemies chatting cheerfully with false smiles while carrying out minor tasks.
Obviously, neither Lucci nor Jabra knew Orion's true identity, because otherwise they would not have been able to maintain their composure and would have attacked without hesitation. After all, Orion was a major enemy of the World Government, and although he was not taken as seriously as he deserved by the organization that ruled the world, he was infamous enough to warrant immediate capture or elimination by any Cipher Pol agent.
"Thank you, Lucci. I'll make sure to deliver the report to the leader as soon as possible," Orion said with an affable smile, resting a hand on Rob Lucci's shoulder.
The young spy's body tensed involuntarily when he felt Orion's touch on his shoulder, but he quickly returned to normal. After giving a slight nod, he thanked him for his work and withdrew.
In truth, the Cipher Pol agents present knew that there was something strange about Orion, even if they did not know his exact identity. They were not part of the marines and therefore were not in a position to know the details regarding his role as a vice admiral belonging to the special group Spear.
Even if they had been able to access the new files created about him in Marineford, they still would not have recognized him, since Orion was currently camouflaged through the use of his Distorted Future, though it was true that he was using his real name.
In any case, the name "Orion" was not particularly unusual in this world, and there must have been thousands—if not hundreds of thousands—of people with the same name, which was hardly sufficient proof to draw any conclusions.
The reason the Cipher Pol agents had begun to suspect Orion's identity and consider him a point of interest to investigate was due mainly to the presence of a very special person by his side: Mitsu.
Despite the fact that the small clone of Tsuru was not very well known within the organizations of the World Government—since her only value lay in serving as a link in an experiment aimed at creating perfect soldiers—the Cipher Pol agents who had arrived on Jewel Island alongside Vegapunk had seen her in the scientist's company and knew that the eccentric girl was Vegapunk's "bodyguard."
However, now that Vegapunk had withdrawn from the island, the strange girl had been left behind, and the excuse the famous scientist had given was that she would remain on Jewel Island to represent him during the mineral extraction process.
According to the official report, the clone known as Gamma was now under Suzanne's care, who had agreed to act as her "guardian." Even so, ever since Vegapunk's departure, the girl had always been with Orion, Suzanne's assistant, going so far as to live in his small personal apartment rather than moving into the island leader's mansion.
This had caused the Cipher Pol agents to grow suspicious of Orion and to begin paying him far more attention than he would have liked.
On the other hand, there was nothing Orion could really do about it, since Mitsu was a rather capricious girl who did not readily follow his orders, despite being technically under his command at the moment.
Mitsu was quite serious when it came to carrying out missions and orders, and she always tried to do her best to fulfill whatever had been entrusted to her, presenting herself as composed and mature—since she wanted to be seen as a competent adult, despite being only eight years old.
The problem was that she had not truly acknowledged Orion as her new superior, and therefore did not follow his orders unless she felt like it. As long as the original objective Vegapunk had given her was completed, nothing else really mattered.
She would comply with any order she deemed necessary to fulfill the objective of obtaining Dyna Stones for Vegapunk, but she had no intention of following just any order Orion gave her, even though Vegapunk had explicitly told her that she was now under his command.
After all, no matter how mature she tried to appear, she was still a child in the end—and a rather capricious one at that. Although she possessed great talent and was quite powerful even at such a young age, she had not received formal training as a marine or Cipher Pol agent, so she was essentially a bundle of raw talent without much control.
Orion had told Mitsu to stay at Suzanne's house precisely to avoid raising suspicion among the Cipher Pol agents on the island, but the girl had refused, and for a rather peculiar reason: she enjoyed Orion's cooking.
After the first night, when Orion had given her hot dogs—which were her favorite food—she had fallen in love with his culinary skills. This was because Orion's cooking ability was at Level 6, allowing him to make even very simple meals taste delicious.
Orion did not know it, but the moment Mitsu tasted his hot dogs, covered in various sauces and homemade toppings prepared by him, she had decided to stay by his side in the future. After all, the stomach was the quickest path to many people's hearts.
In Mitsu's case, her favorability toward Orion had jumped sharply after he had fed her all kinds of delicacies over the past few weeks, though it later stagnated at 60 points without increasing further.
That level of favorability was quite high, but not high enough for her to agree to follow all of Orion's orders—especially those that went against her personal interests, such as enjoying delicious meals on a daily basis.
…
Orion watched Rob Lucci walk away, and the friendly smile he had shown earlier vanished without a trace. Extending his Observation Haki, he confirmed that there was no one around, then entered the Pocket Dimension.
From there, he continued to observe the actions of Rob Lucci and Jabra without them noticing his presence. Orion had to admit that the two young Cipher Pol agents were very competent at their jobs, as at no point did they display anything that could be used to expose their true status.
If Orion had not known beforehand that they were Cipher Pol agents, he would probably have needed to torture them to uncover their true identities.
In the end, Orion confirmed that there was nothing unusual in the two spies' daily routine and headed straight for Suzanne's house, since today would finally be the day they would leave Jewel Island.
Originally, Orion had estimated that Nibble and Isaac would take about a month and a half to extract half of the Dyna Stones deposit using the crude extraction method based on Nibble's spatial abilities that they were employing.
However, as the days passed, they improved their technique, and the required time was significantly reduced. In just one month, they had reduced the Dyna Stones deposits on Jewel Island enough to allow him to use the system's ability to relocate the deposit to the territory of Pacific Kingdom.
Despite the fact that carrying out this transfer with the help of the system consumed an enormous amount of KP—his entire reserve—Orion had decided to move forward with his choice and use this method anyway. The main reason was that the presence of Cipher Pol on the island was dangerous, and at any moment his attempt to steal the mineral could be discovered, but another reason was that Orion wanted to see this system function in action, as he had never used it before.
Thanks to the Mysterious Fog produced by Foggy to block off part of the Dyna Stone mine, they had been able to conceal their extraction activities, but Orion could not afford the risk of being discovered simply to save KP.
"Suzanne, is everyone ready to leave?" Orion asked seriously, looking his girlfriend straight in the eyes.
They had successfully recruited a group of scientists, who would be transported to Pacific Kingdom along with Suzanne and her family.
"Yes, I've already informed them about the departure. They're just waiting for my signal," Suzanne replied confidently.
She had been the main person responsible for recruiting the scientists, though Orion had assisted her throughout the process. Now that the moment to put the plan into action had arrived, she felt a little nervous, but she carried herself with the assurance of a capable leader.
Orion nodded, and as he focused his attention on the system screen, he selected the Dyna Stones deposit—the only entry currently listed under the transportable resources—and spent all of his KP to carry out the transfer.
A new notification appeared on the system screen, indicating that the transfer had been successfully completed to Pacific Kingdom, and showing on the map the new location of the deposit on the main island of his kingdom in the South Blue.
Orion could not choose the exact place where the deposit would be transplanted; instead, the system itself determined the most suitable location within his territory. If there had been no place that met the necessary conditions, the transplant could not have been carried out.
Fortunately for Orion, the island where Pacific Kingdom was located was enormous and featured a wide variety of terrains, suitable for the production of all kinds of natural resources.
The Dyna Stones deposit had been placed within one of the small mountain ranges north of the capital city of Pacific Kingdom, and although it was technically within territory controlled by wild beasts, there would not be too many problems in establishing a mine there to extract the mineral in the future.
When he saw that the transfer of the Dyna Stones deposit had been completed successfully, Orion clenched his fists tightly, feeling a surge of excitement as new notifications indicating the completion of the mission appeared.
However, Orion did not have time to review his rewards at the moment, because the transfer of the Dyna Stones had not been a quiet event. A massive crater had been left behind where the mine had once stood, and both the marines and the Cipher Pol agents had been alerted by the situation.
Right now, he needed to act quickly to finish accomplishing all his remaining objectives as efficiently as possible, so he immediately opened a Space Gate on the spot, allowing Suzanne and her family to travel to Pacific Kingdom.
The beautiful scientist stepped forward and gently kissed Orion on the lips.
"I'll be waiting for you in your kingdom," Suzanne said with a smile, and taking her young daughter Jeanne by the hand, she entered the portal along with her two children.
Orion let out a relieved sigh when he saw that the family had managed to escape the island without any problems, and immediately entered his Pocket Dimension and went to look for the rest of the scientists, who had been gathered together with their families under the pretext of a family lunch.
Orion and Suzanne had used this method to carry out the scientists' transfer. If the system-managed relocation of the Dyna Stones deposit was completed successfully, Orion would simply go to the "family lunch" and transport them.
On the other hand, if for some reason the attempt to relocate the deposit failed, it would simply be a genuine family lunch, thus avoiding arousing the suspicions of the Cipher Pol agents.
…
In the southern city of Jewel Island, Spandine received an urgent report from Laskey, indicating that a major incident had occurred.
"We don't have precise data yet, but the Dyna Stones mine has disappeared, and only a gigantic crater remains at the site," Laskey said as he inspected the area alongside his companion Kamaya.
"What?!!! How is that even possible? I want an explanation immediately!" Spandine shouted, jumping to his feet and making impossible demands, as usual.
Even so, Laskey was accustomed to dealing with him, so he did not lose his composure in the slightest, merely responding in a formal tone.
"We are investigating what happened, but perhaps you should send all available agents to assist. You should also contact Lucci and Jabra so they keep a close eye on the scientists' movements."
Despite being in command of CP9, Spandine was a rather useless individual, and his subordinates were used to doing all the work while he took the credit. This was because Spandine's family was even more powerful than Laskey's, and their connections extended across the entire world.
Outside of the Celestial Dragons, Spandine's family was probably the most influential in the world, with its tentacles stretching into every possible area and organization. Spandine was the bastard son of the previous head of the family, and he had made the most of his status to climb his way up to his current position within Cipher Pol.
Despite being incompetent both as a spy and as a leader, it had to be admitted that he possessed a remarkable talent for intrigue and for taking advantage of opportunities.
"Alright, do that! I want you to report any new developments you find!" Spandine said with great authority, and then ended the call with Laskey without waiting for a reply.
Spandam, who was sitting to one side of the room feeding his pet elephant, noticed his father's agitation and spoke up.
"Daddy, what's going on? Is Laskey trying to be smarter than what's good for him again?"
Spandam had a very close relationship with his father, and having grown up listening to his stories about all the feats Spandine had accomplished, he idolized him as his greatest hero.
Spandine had the habit of complaining about Laskey, and about how that ambitious subordinate did not know his place, constantly trying to rebel against his absolute authority. Because of this, Spandam had a very poor opinion of Laskey, and believed him to be a lazy, useless man.
According to his father's anecdotes, it was always Spandine who solved every problem, while his subordinates were nothing more than a pile of useless trash who were only there thanks to their family connections.
Even now, Spandam believed his father to be all-powerful, and he looked at him with shining eyes every time Spandine told him about his missions and mentioned his ambitious plans for the future.
Curiously enough, Spandam had inherited his father's uselessness, and in his case this trait was even more pronounced, to the point where it was almost comical. It was not strange for Spandam to suffer all kinds of absurd accidents due to his incompetence, and despite everything, Spandine still wanted his son to reach a position of command within Cipher Pol, which was a rather difficult task even for someone with as much influence as him.
"Don't worry, the useless Laskey just made another mistake, but everything will be fine once I step in!" Spandine said, striking a heroic pose in front of his son.
Then, the leader of CP9 picked up the Den Den Mushi once again and called his star subordinate, Rob Lucci, following the instructions his own subordinate Laskey had given him. However, no matter how long he waited, Rob Lucci did not answer the call, and he would not be able to do so, as he had run into a serious problem: Orion's sudden attack!