March 27, 1502, Age of the Sea Circle
After eleven more days of travel, Orion finally arrived at Pacific Kingdom, accompanied by his wife Olive and her pirate crew, which also included two of his companions, Reira and Ginrummy.
Once they returned to the kingdom, Orion invited them to stay a few more days before going back to their usual pirate life, roaming freely through the waters of the South Blue. Olive, of course, had no reason to refuse her beloved's proposal, so she gladly agreed to remain in Pacific Kingdom for a while, heading straight to meet her good friend Giolla to stay with her.
Meanwhile, Orion returned home and reunited with his family, whom he had not seen in months, since after setting off to the Grand Line to look for Gloriosa, he had had no opportunity to come back due to a chain of events that had kept him busy.
Curiously, he had never managed to fulfill his original goal of finding the hyperactive young girl he had met in Guanhao, and his wish to visit the legendary island of women remained unfinished.
He was now thinking that, after spending some time at home and sorting out his affairs here, he might set out again in search of Gloriosa—and in the process, reunite with Boa Hancock and her sisters.
What he didn't know was that Gloriosa had already left Amazon Lily to look for him, and that she was now in Sabaody, about to sail across the Grand Line in search of Shanks.
After the girl had gone to Shakky's bar in an attempt to learn Orion's whereabouts, she had been fortunate enough to run into Rayleigh just a week later, as he was heading home after losing all his money in the archipelago's underground casinos.
Rayleigh had told her that he had no idea where Orion was, but that perhaps Shanks might know. For that reason, Gloriosa had immediately decided to go find the red-haired pirate, and after stocking up with a bit of help from Shakky, she was already prepared to embark on yet another adventure.
Orion, on the other hand, reached the royal residence, which was now his family's new home. After the original Lysander house had become too small to accommodate all the people Orion had brought to live with them over the years, the construction of this great royal residence had begun. And although it wasn't a gigantic palace, it was still a mansion of considerable size—befitting a true noble.
Orion's initial intention had been to build something more modest, but both his advisors and his uncle Lolo had insisted that it would not do for the royal family to live in a residence that lacked the grandeur fitting their status within the kingdom.
After all, even a benevolent king like Riku lived in a massive palace, and as the king of a nation, there were certain protocols Orion had to follow. Maintaining too low a profile was not always advantageous, and in the case of the royal family, an imposing residence was a symbol of both status and the kingdom's prosperity.
Moreover, seeing his nephew's romantic adventures—since Orion seemed determined to form a grand harem—his uncle Lolo had approved the construction of an especially spacious residence, one where there would be no problem accommodating numerous concubines and princes in the future.
Finally, after taking considerably longer than expected, the royal residence had been successfully completed a few months earlier, and it now served as the home of Orion's family—which, of course, included his companions.
Even so, Giolla had chosen to continue living in her usual house with Ina, as that was the place where she and Orion had fallen in love, back when Pacific Kingdom didn't even exist and the entire area was still a territory ruled by mountain beasts.
Still, the beautiful artist had her own private chamber in the royal residence, and in the future, when she became pregnant, she planned to move there so that her children could grow up alongside the rest of the royal family.
Orion walked through the grand corridors of his new home, and as he emerged into an inner courtyard of the mansion, he found his grandfather Mario sitting under the shade of a tree, drinking tea.
After the traumatic experience of being enslaved at the great bridge of Rum Wolf, he had never left Pacific Kingdom again and now lived peacefully in his grandson's realm, enjoying a sort of semi-retirement—although he couldn't help but assist with royal affairs whenever the opportunity arose.
At this point, Mario was sixty-two years old, and he looked rather aged for his years. Although Orion had given him countless medicines and even health brownies purchased from the system's store, his appearance had remained unchanged.
Even so, his health was as solid as a rock, and Orion examined him regularly without finding any issue, concluding that his grandfather still had many years left to live, even if he looked a bit older than most people his age.
When he saw Orion arrive suddenly, Mario's eyes lit up, and jumping to his feet, he walked toward his grandson and gave him a strong embrace.
"Orion! You finally came back! You were gone for so long this time! Undo your ability and let me see how much you've grown!" said Mario cheerfully, gazing at his treasured grandson with uncontainable pride.
Within the Lysander family, Orion was without a doubt the brightest star, and everyone was immensely proud of him—but no one felt that pride more deeply than his grandfather Mario. This was because Mario had once been exiled from his homeland after being stripped of his noble title.
When he had fled, leaving everything behind with only his two young sons and Orion's mother—whom he had taken with him during the escape to prevent her from being killed by his political enemies, since her own family, the Lavenders, had also been implicated in the Lysanders' downfall—he never could have imagined that he would live to see his bloodline rise to glory once again.
He had resigned himself to live hidden from the world as an ordinary man for the rest of his days, but Orion's sudden appearance and his later creation of Pacific Kingdom had restored a spark of the noble pride he had lost so many years before.
For a long time, the desire to return to his homeland and reclaim everything he had lost had reignited in his chest. Yet, as his grandson's kingdom continued to flourish, he had eventually abandoned those thoughts, deciding it would be better to focus on enjoying all that life had granted him in his remaining years.
What he didn't know was that his grandson Orion had no intention of leaving that matter unresolved. Although Mario had never brought it up, Orion had secretly investigated the events surrounding their exile and had already begun preparing for his grandfather's and uncle's triumphant return to their homeland—to take revenge on those who had unjustly driven them into ruin so many years ago.
Even the battle against the Nakamura had served as a test of the current strength of his armies, and Orion already had nearly everything prepared to deliver quite the surprise in the near future.
After everything his uncle Lolo had done for him throughout the years, Orion wanted to do something to repay him, and he knew that his uncle still harbored a deep resentment for what had happened in his youth, when the Lysanders had lost everything.
With a smile, Orion nodded, undoing the effects of his Age Change ability, which he now maintained almost constantly—except during certain hours of sleep, when his body needed to rest—returning to his natural form.
Now twelve years old biologically, Orion was a rather tall boy who had already gone through his first adolescent growth spurt. Even so, he stood around 170 cm tall (5'7"), still quite far from his adult height of two meters (6'7").
Mario, now only half a head taller than his grandson, sighed as he thought about how quickly the years had flown by. It seemed like only yesterday that his little grandson Orion barely reached his knee, begging him to tell all kinds of stories about the world beyond the small Pacific Town.
Yet, as he looked upon Orion's face—so similar to that of his father Paul, and to Mario's own face in his youth—he smiled happily, deepening the wrinkles on his already lined face.
"My, you've grown, boy! You have the bearing of a hero!" Mario said joyfully, patting Orion's shoulders as the boy stopped to sit and share some tea with his grandfather in the courtyard.
After nearly an hour of pleasant conversation, the jovial old man rose to his feet with a grin and said,
"All right, there's no need for you to keep this old man company. I'm sure you want to see the rest of the family!"
Orion stood up, trying to tell his grandfather that it was no trouble at all to spend more time with him, but before he could say a word, Mario stopped him with a smile and added cheerfully,
"I see that even though you're very mature, you still don't understand social etiquette! I was simply trying to sneak away to my carpentry group, but now you'll make me look like an ungrateful man who doesn't want to spend time with his grandson."
Orion immediately paused and, smiling, bid his grandfather farewell, realizing that he was just giving him the perfect excuse to go visit the rest of the family. What he didn't know was that his grandfather Mario truly was eager to get to his carpentry group—since a new and very attractive instructor had recently joined, with whom he had been talking quite a lot lately...
It could only be said that the Lysander genes carried some very distinctive personality traits!
After saying goodbye to his grandfather, Orion walked toward the center of the residence, where he finally met his parents and younger siblings.
His parents were now a couple in their thirties, still looking remarkably young. Orion even believed they were capable of adding a few more branches to the Lysander family tree, considering how young they still were—and how deeply in love they remained, just as always.
"Son!" Lira exclaimed, running toward him with her arms wide open and pulling Orion into a tight embrace. No matter how much time passed or how grown-up a child became, to a mother, her son would always be her little baby.
"Mom, I'm home," said Orion, hugging his mother back. After a few moments, she finally released him and began inspecting him to make sure he wasn't hurt.
Orion had a bad habit of coming home severely injured every time he went off on his adventures, something that had nearly given his worried mother a trauma. Fortunately, as the years passed and his power grew, the number of injuries he suffered steadily decreased, and he was confident that one day no one would be able to harm him—though that day was still far off.
Orion had lunch with his family, telling them a few stories about his latest journey—though, of course, omitting many details that weren't exactly suitable for all audiences—which made his family look at him with shining eyes, imagining how amazing it must have been to be there with him.
After the family meal, Orion spent some time with his two younger siblings, Sofia and Dante. They were now seven years old and had already begun to develop in completely opposite directions. Little Sofia loved art and especially enjoyed spending her days painting, which had made her very close to Giolla, who considered her an adorable little apprentice.
Dante, on the other hand… had an interest in the male physique. Not in a sexual way, of course, but simply because he admired muscular and sweaty men, wanting to become like that in the future.
Although Orion had forbidden him from training too intensely at such a young age to avoid affecting his growth, Dante had completely ignored his advice, secretly training whenever his brother wasn't home and partially following the exercises of the Royal Army soldiers.
Unfortunately, his little brother didn't have much talent for combat, and it was unlikely that he'd ever become a famous warrior. Still, Orion had no intention of letting him risk his life on a battlefield; he only wanted him to grow up happy.
It was his duty as the eldest brother to protect his younger siblings and family, and he would make sure they'd never have to worry about setting foot on a battlefield in their lives.
After spending some time with his family, Orion went straight to the pavilion where Rouge lived, to see how she and little Ace were doing. Ever since he had completed the mission to save her life years before, she hadn't experienced any more health problems, and it seemed that her destined death had completely disappeared.
Even so, Orion didn't let his guard down and had ordered that he be contacted immediately in case of any sudden changes. After all, he had promised his teacher Roger that he would take care of Rouge and Ace, even if the Pirate King hadn't taken him entirely seriously at the time.
When Orion arrived at Rouge's quarters, he found that she wasn't alone. Nayana, her close friend, was there as well, having brought her daughter Yadoya with her. The two women had been friends since their days in Baterilla, so now that they both lived in Pacific Kingdom, their relationship was quite close.
Nayana was the head of the kingdom's Chamber of Commerce and could be said to be the most prosperous merchant in Pacific Kingdom. She had established a cooperative partnership with the kingdom, which was generally managed by Orion's uncle Lolo, and together they had built a trade network that stretched across the islands near the kingdom—one they continuously worked to expand.
In the future, Orion planned to use Nibble's spatial abilities to create underground trade routes between his kingdom and other distant islands, which would undoubtedly be a tremendous economic advantage. For now, however, such a thing was impossible given the current limitations of his beast companion, who had not yet reached its adult stage.
Moreover, with the help of the kingdom's national guardian beast—the Emperor Mist Penguin—who could produce Mysterious Mist at will, Orion wasn't afraid that those tunnels might be used as a means to invade his realm, though he would still need to take the necessary precautions when the time came.
"Orion! You've finally come back, Ace missed you so much!" said Rouge with a smile as she stood up, then picked up the little boy who had been playing nearby and brought him before Orion with delight.
"Orion!" Ace cried out in his childish voice, stretching out his small hands impatiently for Orion to lift him up.
A wide smile spread across Orion's face; he was very fond of the adorable Ace and, whenever he had time, took him on completely inappropriate adventures for a child his age—he was now four—such as flying through the skies or hunting in the lands of wild beasts.
It was precisely because Orion took him on such adventures that he had become the little boy's favorite person, right after his mother, Rouge. One could say that Ace had inherited his father's adventurous spirit, or simply that he was a rather mischievous child.
Either way, Orion felt great affection for the boy, so he immediately picked him up in his arms and used Geppo to soar into the air, making Ace raise his arms in excitement as he joyfully celebrated the return of the man who was like his big brother.
After playing wildly with Ace for a while—even tossing him several meters into the air as the little boy cheered with delight—Ace eventually fell asleep from the sudden overstimulation, as he was still just a very young child.
Orion handed the sleeping Ace back to Rouge, and after chatting with her for a bit, he left her quarters and went to see "the people who had been left behind."
During the great battle against the Takamura, nearly all of his subordinates had wanted to take part. However, Orion had only brought those he considered ready for combat, which had undoubtedly caused great dissatisfaction among some of his most loyal followers, who felt they had been "left behind." These were the people Orion had to visit now, to calm them down a little.
After all, they weren't just subordinates—they were also people very close to him—and the only reason he hadn't let them participate was because he didn't want them to get hurt. These people included Kalifa, Alpha, Maria, Hatsume, Helsing, and others.
Once he visited and soothed these girls, he planned to go straight to see Ginny, since he needed to have a decisive conversation with her about her future. Just as he had promised Kuma, he would no longer hesitate, and he would do his best to make her happy.