August 22, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
"Understood. Don't worry, Yukimura, I'll be there in a couple of weeks," Orion said as he ended the call with his serious subordinate.
After leaving Jewel Island following his confrontation with Cipher Pol, he had begun his journey back to the West Blue, accompanied by the small clone left in his care by Vegapunk, Mitsu.
Orion had managed to eliminate the young talent Jabra, and had left Rob Lucci at death's door, although, unfortunately, it seemed that the young prodigy of CP9 had survived his encounter with Orion, since the system had not issued any notification indicating his death.
Before departing Jewel Island, Orion had visited the ship on which Spandine and Spandam were fleeing, knocking out everyone present with his Conqueror's Haki and abducting the leader of CP9.
Orion's intention was to take Spandine back to Pacific Kingdom, where he would be put on trial for the crimes he had committed—against Robin and Ohara—which would most likely result in his execution.
Even so, Orion had decided not to send the pathetic leader of CP9 directly to Pacific Kingdom through the Space Gate, as he feared that someone of his level might possess a Vivre Card, which could undoubtedly cause several problems if Cipher Pol were to follow the trail of that mysterious piece of paper that functioned like a GPS all the way to his kingdom.
For that reason, he had chosen to keep Spandine imprisoned within his Pocket Dimension, where the properties of Vivre Cards were rendered useless, since it was a dimension completely separate from the normal spatial plane.
Aside from Spandine, Orion had neither abducted nor eliminated anyone else on the escape ship in which father and son were traveling, nor had he made any move against Spandam.
The reason Orion had not acted against Spandam was simply because the system had classified him as talentless trash, and Orion considered that he posed no threat to him or to his future plans.
He was not a murderer who took pleasure in killing people, so he would not eliminate Spandam for no reason, or merely for being Spandine's son. What Orion did not know was that, although it was true that Spandam was utterly talentless trash, he had managed to become an important figure in the original timeline of this world.
If Orion had watched One Piece in his past life, it would have been impossible for him to let someone like Spandam walk away alive so easily, and it could only be said that perhaps it had been a mistake on his part to focus solely on Spandam's talent when determining his level of danger.
Even so, now that Spandam no longer had his influential father backing his career, his life was about to change completely compared to the original timeline, so it would be necessary to wait and see how things unfolded before passing judgment on Orion's decision to let him go free.
After a day of sailing through the waters of the New World alongside Mitsu, as they made their way back to the West Blue, Orion received a call from Yukimura, informing him of everything that had happened the previous afternoon with the invisible man who had attacked Victoria.
Orion listened to Yukimura's report with a certain degree of concern, and sighed in relief upon learning that everything was fine. Even though his serious subordinate was offering his own head as punishment for not properly fulfilling his role as a bodyguard, Orion simply smiled, somewhat amused by Yukimura's exaggerated personality, and ordered him to continue protecting Victoria for a little while longer, until his return.
After ending his call with Yukimura, Orion contacted Lucky Roux, who was also in the West Blue, enjoying a personal gastronomic tour, and instructed him to head immediately to Yukimura's location to assist him.
Even though everything had turned out well on this occasion, and Victoria had not been harmed, Orion had no intention of letting his guard down, so he decided to send one of his strongest subordinates to help with the protection of his beloved wife.
In any case, once Orion returned to the West Blue, they would be traveling almost immediately to Pacific Kingdom, so it was convenient for Lucky Roux to be alongside Yukimura when the time came.
Once Orion finished his call with Lucky Roux, he reviewed once more the notifications that had appeared on the system screen the day before.
*Mission 23 – Strategic Resource has been completed*
*You have obtained 100,000 SP*
*You have obtained 250,000 KP*
*You have obtained the construction blueprint for "Dyna Stone-Based Generator"*
*You have obtained 100 special Dyna Stone projectiles*
*You have eliminated the Named Character Jabra, producing a positive change in the world*
*You have obtained 20,000 SP*
*Your skills "Paper Arts (Kami-e) (Level 5)" and "Iron Body (Tekkai) (Level 6)" have increased by one (1) level*
Orion was quite satisfied with the rewards he had obtained on this occasion. Although at first glance the Dyna Stones mission did not seem to have yielded many gains for him, this was not the case at all.
To begin with, the special Dyna Stone projectiles were absolutely incredible, due to the tremendous destructive power they possessed. The main problem with Dyna Stones was that they were very difficult to handle without causing them to explode, so the existence of fully functional and safe projectiles was nothing short of a blessing.
Even though Orion had only obtained a total of 100 projectiles, the power of each one would likely be enough to destroy a small settlement. If he were to use these projectiles with the help of his companion serpent, Shesha, the result would be devastating for his enemies, allowing him to contend even with opponents of a higher level than his current one.
After all, even individuals at the admiral level were still only human, and if they were struck by these projectiles, they would not be able to avoid being injured. Even so, these projectiles were not designed to be used regularly during his battles, but rather to serve as a trump card at a decisive moment.
Orion was quite satisfied with these Dyna Stone projectiles, and he intended to entrust Suzanne and her team of scientists with the task of attempting to replicate this technology in the future. Even so, given the sophistication of their design, it would probably be difficult for them to reproduce it, although perhaps they could create a more rudimentary yet still useful version.
Perhaps only Vegapunk would be the only one capable in this world of perfectly reproducing the technology behind the projectiles granted to him by the system, but the relationship between Orion and the famed scientist was not good enough for him to ask for help with such a matter.
At the end of the day, Vegapunk was a scientist working under the command of his greatest enemies, so Orion had no intention of bringing him a new weapons technology for him to study and replicate.
The other reward Orion had obtained—setting aside the SP and KP—was the blueprint for the Dyna Stone–based generator. This reward seemed of lesser importance to Orion, as he was unable to grasp the magnitude of the changes such a machine could bring about.
In his mind, a generator was simply a means of producing energy, which was obviously very good for his kingdom, but it still ranked lower in importance compared to the Dyna Stone projectiles, which were essentially portable bombs.
In part, Orion was correct, since the Dyna Stone–based generator was indeed merely a way to produce large quantities of energy, but there was something far more important related to this generator, and that was the fact that its operating principles closely resembled the new form of energy that Vegapunk was currently researching.
In Orion's hands, the blueprint he had obtained from the system was not particularly significant, since development would end at that stage, but if Vegapunk were able to gain access to the same blueprint, he could advance his research on the Mother Flame by the equivalent of decades in an instant.
Although Suzanne was not a genius on the same level as Vegapunk, she was competent enough to understand the principles behind the energy produced by Dyna Stones, so she could gradually carry out her own research, rivaling the discoveries of the most famous scientist in this world.
In any case, that was a matter for the future, and Orion was not yet aware of it, so in his mind the Dyna Stone projectiles remained the best part of the reward.
On the other hand, by eliminating Jabra, he had obtained a considerable amount of SP, which demonstrated the importance of the young and talented agent, and he had also gained an improvement in two of his Rokushiki techniques.
At present, Orion's Rokushiki was at a very advanced level, and he estimated that he could reach perfection in these techniques within a few more years. If it were not for the fact that he had to focus on other techniques and could not devote as much time to them, these abilities would have already reached their maximum level, just as the genius Rob Lucci had done.
For that reason, Orion always welcomed with open arms this kind of enhancement to his combat abilities granted by the system, as it represented a saving of time that he could invest in his other skills.
"Orion, I'm hungry," Mitsu suddenly said, interrupting Orion's thoughts about his rewards.
"Didn't you just eat?" Orion asked with a hint of disbelief.
Despite being a rather petite girl, Mitsu could eat more food than he could, and Orion had no choice but to classify the small clone as an extreme glutton.
"That was breakfast, now it's time for my mid-morning snack," Mitsu said without blinking, maintaining her usual serious expression, though it was impossible not to find her adorable, since her facial features were very delicate, like those of a porcelain doll.
Moreover, she had stopped wearing her old Marine uniform that had been too big for her, and was instead wearing a white dress that made her look even more like a doll.
"Sigh, alright, let's go to the Pocket Dimension and I'll cook something for you," Orion said with a certain sense of resignation.
Even though Mitsu required quite a bit of effort to keep her satisfied and happy, Orion felt that it was worth it, since the small clone had begun to display her monstrous potential. Over the past month, she had been in Orion's company and had trained with him, which had caused her combat power to increase at a precipitous rate.
Orion had been somewhat worried about this, since Mitsu was part of Vegapunk's experimental program to create "perfect" warriors. Furthermore, she could be considered an outdated product, one that had already fulfilled its research purpose and been discarded by the World Government.
If Mitsu, who was the prototype for the perfect warriors Vegapunk was creating, possessed such monstrous potential, what would the final product of that research be like? Would they not be capable of creating a truly terrifying being?
Orion had been somewhat worried about the matter, but in the end he came to the conclusion that there was nothing he could do for the time being other than train and increase his own personal strength. Even so, he added a new objective to his mind: recruiting Vegapunk.
A person with such genius working for his enemy was not something he could allow, and if he was not able to recruit Vegapunk to his own side… then he would have to do everything possible to distance him from the World Government.
"Come on, what do you want to eat, Mitsu?" Orion said as he opened a door to his Pocket Dimension and disappeared inside it together with the small girl, while at the same time storing his sailboat in the system's inventory.
"I want to eat hot dogs!" Mitsu said cheerfully, as the Space Door closed behind them.
On the system screen, another point was added to Mitsu's favorability toward Orion, bringing the score to 70 points. Perhaps Orion did not know it, but Mitsu was greatly enjoying living with him, since for the first time she was not being treated as Gamma, Tsuru's clone, but simply as Mitsu, an eight-year-old gluttonous girl.
Although she had initially been reluctant to stay with Orion and follow his orders, she now believed that it had been a very good thing for Vegapunk to send her to serve as his subordinate. Every day there was delicious food, and Orion trained with her and told her interesting stories.
By comparison, Vegapunk's laboratory, where she had been practically ignored throughout her childhood, seemed so sad and gray. If possible, she hoped she could stay by Orion's side forever and keep eating for free until she was completely full.
Coincidentally, that was precisely what the famous scientist had intended when he sent her with Orion, since although he had noticed for quite some time that Mitsu's emotional development was not very good in his laboratory, there was not much he could do for her, as he was focused on more important matters and his time was limited.
Vegapunk was not a ruthless man, but neither was he a saint, and to him his scientific research was everything. Anything that stood in the way of his science was simply something to be eliminated. It was this line of thinking that had led him to join the World Government despite its atrocious acts.
Even so, if he could do something good without it interfering with his research, of course he would do it, since he was not an evil man, which was what had driven him to send Mitsu with Orion, hoping that she would live a better life.
It could only be said that the famous scientist was a complex person, difficult to neatly categorize under a single label. Whether he was good or bad depended greatly on the moment and on the person making the value judgment.
…
While Orion and Mitsu were on their way to the West Blue, Vegapunk was in his laboratory on Punk Hazard, focused on his research as usual. Suddenly, his stomach growled loudly, and Vegapunk frowned, completely irritated by the untimely interruption of his biological needs.
He was an extreme workaholic, and he wanted to spend every second of his life immersed in his research, but his human body was a limitation. He could not ignore his impulses and physical needs, and what was worse, those needs had been increasing ever since his brain had begun to grow in size. Little by little, Vegapunk was approaching a breaking point, and he was on the verge of designing a solution to this problem.
Just as Vegapunk was about to take a brief pause to eat something, one of the main Den Den Mushi in his laboratory began to ring, receiving a call. This line was used only by the World Government and by the heads of its two subordinate organizations: the Navy and Cipher Pol.
Taking a bite of some cold noodles that were sitting nearby, Vegapunk answered the call, and Laskey's image appeared on the screen.
"Dr. Vegapunk, it's a pleasure to greet you," Laskey said with a diplomatic smile.
Vegapunk looked somewhat surprised to see that the one calling him was Laskey, since this special line could only be used by high-ranking members of the World Government's main organizations, and Laskey clearly did not fall into that category.
"Laskey, it's interesting that you're the one calling me. Has Spandine finally died?" Vegapunk asked while eating the noodles with a look of disgust, due to their unpleasant taste.
With his exceptional mind, it was not difficult for Vegapunk to extrapolate the most logical conclusion from the information he had, arriving at the idea that Spandine had been eliminated, most likely by Orion.
"Spandine is currently missing in action. We don't have much information about it, but we suspect it may have been Vice Admiral Olga, who also attacked our agents on Jewel Island," Laskey said solemnly, although it was easy for Vegapunk to see that he was quite pleased with Spandine's disappearance.
After all, now that Spandine had vanished, he would be in charge of CP9, making a huge leap in his career and obtaining the authority he had long dreamed of.
On the other hand, Cipher Pol had discovered Orion's secret identity—his false rank as a vice admiral—after reporting what had happened to the World Government. Even so, once it became known that the Celestial Dragon Figarland Shanks was the one who had appointed him as a vice admiral, Cipher Pol had no choice but to take a step back and stop investigating the matter.
For the World Government, the existence of Spandine and the rest of Cipher Pol's agents was insignificant, and as long as Orion did not cause major damage, they would not be concerned enough to create trouble with the son of the leader of the God's Knights.
For that reason, Cipher Pol had fallen into a state of internal political turmoil, with many factions openly struggling from the moment Spandine disappeared, without caring in the slightest about the whereabouts of the pathetic former leader of CP9.
In the end, Laskey had taken over Spandine's former role, ushering in a new era within Cipher Pol and bringing about major changes in the world's political power hierarchy.
"Hm. Well, it doesn't really matter. Why did you call me? I don't think it was just to inform me of something so insignificant," Vegapunk said as he finished eating the plate of noodles in large mouthfuls, finally putting an end to the torture of consuming enough nutrients to function.
To Vegapunk, the movements within Cipher Pol were completely irrelevant, and it was obvious that Laskey had called him with a specific purpose in mind.
"Ahem. The situation is as follows, Dr. Vegapunk. Our most promising agent was gravely injured during his battle with Vice Admiral Olga, and he will not survive without specialized care…"
Laskey's intention was very clear, but Vegapunk had no time to waste on matters so unimportant, so he immediately prepared to reject the request of the new leader of CP9. However, Laskey's next words made him change his mind.
"Of course, we are not asking for your help in this matter for nothing. The World Government has given its authorization for you to use Rob Lucci as the first experimental subject of your new weapons project."
The words Vegapunk was about to speak caught in his throat, and his eyes lit up with intense interest. His new project was one that had only recently received authorization from the World Government: the Pacifista Project.
This project sought to complete the creation of a fully loyal and incredibly powerful android soldier, which would be one of the most important links in his research toward creating the perfect soldier. Until now, he had not had a test subject competent enough to develop the Pacifista, but perhaps the opportunity he had been waiting for had finally arrived.
"Very well. Send Rob Lucci to Punk Hazard. I will take care of healing him and turning him into the ultimate weapon."
Orion's actions, once again, had altered the course of history in this world, and this time they had induced the creation of a new monster within the ranks of his enemies.