November 2, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
A portal opened at Ginny's location, and Orion emerged from it alone. Wearing his official armor and with his handsome face, Orion looked imposing and elegant, and the large group of soldiers present could not help but feel admiration for their king.
At that moment, they were inside a gigantic tunnel that had been excavated by Nibble for this occasion, and the troops of Pacific Kingdom were waiting for the arrival of their king and commander to begin the attack on the Kingdom of Koldara.
The plan was to carry out a swift and devastating strike, and for that purpose they had thoroughly investigated their enemies before making their move. Under the command of Lolo and Christina—the leader of the royal army—the troops of Pacific Kingdom had uncovered all the necessary information.
After planning the attack in detail, they transported the army to one of the nearest deserted islands, from where Nibble dug a massive underwater tunnel to allow for a silent invasion of the Kingdom of Koldara.
Now everything was ready for the assault, and all that was missing was their leader's order for the first war of conquest in the history of Pacific Kingdom to begin.
"Orion, everything is ready for the attack," Christina said with her usual seriousness, though she showed a small smile upon seeing her man appear before her.
Christina was usually very busy with matters related to the royal army of Pacific Kingdom, so even when Orion was in the kingdom they did not see each other very often. Added to that was the fact that he frequently left on long journeys around the world, meaning that opportunities to meet and enjoy intimacy together were few.
Even so, that did not mean their bond was weak, since they compensated for the limited number of encounters by increasing the intensity of every moment of intimacy they shared. Christina was a woman deeply focused on her military career, so in her daily life she did not strongly feel the absence of her beloved, as she was usually immersed in her own affairs.
Still, whenever the opportunity arose, the two of them enjoyed romantic dates and heated intimate encounters that kept the couple's passion alive.
"Very well, then it's time to move forward. Just as we planned, the objective is to achieve a swift victory, without causing major damage and without affecting ordinary people," Orion replied, nodding with a smile.
Christina responded affirmatively and gave a brief salute, moving toward the front of the troops to lead the attack. Orion was preparing to follow her when, suddenly, he felt a soft sensation against his chest, and when he looked down he saw that Ginny had stealthily appeared beside him and was openly hugging him, completely unconcerned by the presence of all the soldiers around them.
"Orion, I missed you so much~" Ginny said as she rubbed her cheek against Orion.
Over the past month, Orion had spent most of his time in Dressrosa accompanying Scarlett during the final trimester of her pregnancy, and because of that he had not seen much of Ginny, who was now suffering from a lack of intimacy.
Like Christina, Ginny was very busy commanding the southern branch of the Revolutionary Army, so she also did not have much time to spend with her beloved. However, unlike the disciplined Christina, Ginny was far freer in her way of acting, and she missed Orion much more in her day-to-day life.
In general terms, it could be said that the two women's thresholds for needing attention were completely different, and for that reason Orion usually spent more time with Ginny than with Christina. However, during the past month they had barely seen each other, and the beautiful revolutionary was on the verge of collapsing from her desire to share a night of passion with her beloved husband.
Truth be told, Ginny was not only an incredibly sensual woman, but she also had a rather high libido—although it could not compare to Orion's—and for that reason their intimate encounters were usually quite intense and left Orion completely satisfied. Fortunately for them, the contraceptive created by Orion was infallible, because otherwise little Sam would already be expecting a younger brother or sister.
"I missed you too, Ginny. As soon as we're done with our business here, let's have a romantic date," Orion said as he placed his hand on the sensual waist of his beloved wife and gave a very gentle squeeze, causing the beautiful revolutionary's body to tense slightly while her cheeks flushed red.
"Mmm~" Ginny lowered her head a bit, shyly, accepting Orion's proposal with a soft sound, before stepping back and moving away from her beloved.
Orion felt the soft touch of Ginny's ample breasts withdraw and thought it was a shame, though he immediately cheered up at the thought that once they finished the conquest of Koldara, he would take his time to spend a night of passion with Ginny.
Looking at the beautiful breasts of the revolutionary leader, which had grown even more after having Sam, Orion could not help but lick his lips with his eyes shining, though he quickly regained his composure, and after clearing his throat he moved toward the front of the soldiers' formation, where all of his main subordinates were gathered.
"Are you ready for what's to come, uncle?" Orion said with a smile, looking at his uncle Lolo, who was dressed in traditional attire worn by the nobles of the Kingdom of Koldara.
At that moment, although he was still the prime minister of Pacific Kingdom, he was also the heir to the ducal House of Lysander, who had returned from exile to claim what was rightfully his.
"Of course, nephew. I've been dreaming of this moment for years—there's no one more prepared than I am in this place!" Lolo replied with a confident expression, while a surge of heat ran through his entire body.
In truth, for many long years he had dreamed of taking revenge against his enemies and returning triumphantly to his homeland. However, for a very long time that had been nothing more than an impossible dream, since he lacked the power necessary to make it a reality. Only with the help of his exceptional nephew Orion had he been able to obtain this long-awaited opportunity, which had caused Lolo's favorability toward his nephew to rise to its absolute peak.
At this point, if Orion were to order him to die without offering any explanation, Lolo would probably do so, trusting that his nephew would have his reasons for making such a request.
Placing absolute trust in another person could be a double-edged sword, but fortunately for Lolo, Orion would never do anything to harm him, and Lolo was not foolish enough to be deceived by someone impersonating Orion. As such, the chances that his loyalty to his nephew would ever hurt him were nearly nonexistent.
"Very well, then. Let's begin the attack!"
Orion said, waving his hand, and Nibble immediately pierced through the final layer of earth to the surface, opening a massive hole in the ground of enemy territory.
The place where the army of Pacific Kingdom emerged was the very heart of the enemy's land, catching the forces of the Kingdom of Koldara completely by surprise. Unable to react, they were crushed by Orion's troops, whose power was vastly superior.
The soldiers of Pacific Kingdom had been trained using special techniques that Orion had obtained from the system's shop—in exchange for KP—and as a result, their abilities were incomparable to those of ordinary soldiers. It could be said that although Pacific Kingdom's army was not the most numerous, every single one of its members was comparable to an elite warrior from other nations.
When this was combined with the presence of the Southern Revolutionary Army under Ginny's command, along with Orion's other principal subordinates such as Lucky Roux, Gab, and Gloriosa, the situation became utterly unbearable for the enemy.
Orion simply advanced alongside his troops, never personally attacking at any point, as he wanted to observe how his forces performed without his direct involvement to resolve matters. In the future, his army would be responsible for handling conflicts with other nations, and he needed to be certain that everything functioned properly so that he could focus on his own affairs without concern.
Together with his uncle Lolo, Orion advanced with the troops of Pacific Kingdom, their kingdom's banners waving as they crushed any enemy soldier that stood in their way.
Christina and Ginny had planned the attack meticulously over the course of several months, and as a result, the movements of both armies were fluid and orderly. Several squadrons spread throughout enemy territory to suppress the personal forces of the kingdom's most powerful nobles, while the main forces advanced toward the royal castle.
After only half an hour, Orion's troops had suppressed all resistance from King Klein and occupied the royal castle of Koldara. More than a war, it could be said that it had been an invasion carried out in the blink of an eye, and the vast majority of the kingdom's inhabitants did not even realize Orion had taken control until the royal family and their allies had already been subdued.
Once the royal castle was taken, the battle was effectively won, although it was still necessary to subdue the nobles of the royal faction, who were positioned in other parts of the kingdom and possessed only a limited number of forces with which to resist Pacific Kingdom's occupation.
Even so, Orion had no concerns whatsoever about what these nobles might attempt, as he had already thoroughly investigated the composition and capabilities of their troops.
Just as he had predicted, over the next four hours the entire kingdom fell under his control with almost no resistance at all, thus bringing the first armed conflict between Pacific Kingdom and another nation to an end. The result: an overwhelming and unquestionable victory.
…
While the troops under Christina's and Ginny's command were finishing the conquest of the kingdom, Orion entered the royal castle accompanied by his uncle Lolo, Giolla, and Galus.
Upon passing through the entrance, they encountered a large number of soldiers entrenched there, but given Giolla's and Galus's level of power, dealing with ordinary soldiers was an extremely simple task. After a few minutes, the group finally reached the most central part of the castle, where the throne room was located.
Orion kicked open the closed doors without any delicacy whatsoever, shattering them instantly and revealing the scene inside the grand chamber: King Ulrich Klein, now a fifty-year-old obese man, was hiding behind his luxurious throne, trembling with fear, while a large number of armed guards maintained a defensive formation in front of him.
"Attack them! I want them eliminated immediately!" shrieked the cowardly king, on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
The guards raised their swords and charged at the intruders, ready to sacrifice their lives for their king, but their brave efforts were not rewarded accordingly, as the enemies' level was simply incomparable to their own.
"Art Bullet"
"Mirage World"
Giolla raised her brush, unleashing a large number of her artistic paint bullets, which, upon striking the bodies of Koldara's warriors, began to alter their forms. Some were transformed into strange animals, while others were simply turned into peculiar objects.
The advantage of the beautiful artist's attack was that this effect was reversible if she so desired—although she was capable of leaving them that way permanently, depending on the victim's level of power—which made it possible to neutralize enemy soldiers without the need to kill them.
Even so, Giolla's attack had a tremendous psychological impact on its victims, who were forced to experience their bodies transforming into something alien in an instant, fearing they might never be able to return to human form again, which made Giolla a truly terrifying figure on the battlefield.
On the other hand, Galus's attack was just as powerful, though far less spectacular. With the powers of his Devil Fruit, the former pirate was capable of inducing illusions within the minds of his enemies, rendering them incapacitated without even lifting a finger.
Against an opponent with great mental resilience—or with very strong Haki—the effects of his Devil Fruit were not as effective, but against regular soldiers like those of Koldara, there was no issue at all, even to the point of being capable to completely destroying their minds after plunging them into absolute terror through his illusions.
Fortunately for those soldiers, Orion had ordered his subordinates to limit enemy casualties as much as possible, so Galus did not use a fatal attack against the king's guards.
Orion's plan was not to destroy the kingdom of Koldara, but to take control of it and annex its lands, and for that reason he had no intention of carrying out a great massacre that could turn the opinion of the kingdom's common inhabitants against him.
Orion had never considered defeating King Klein's forces to be a challenge, and he was already thinking about the future direction the kingdom would take under his command.
A large number of soldiers fell defeated by the attacks of Giolla and Galus, and King Ulrich turned pale with terror from his hiding place behind the great throne.
Orion stepped forward, and by releasing his Conqueror's Haki he knocked out the remaining soldiers still standing, leaving only the king conscious in the room.
"Y-You, you, you… who are you? What do you want from me?!" Klein screamed as a puddle of urine appeared beneath him.
The pathetic king was kneeling on the floor, unable to stand, with a terrified look and on the verge of collapsing from fear, and Orion could not help but sigh at the thought that such a pitiful man had been the cause of the greatest tragedy suffered by the Lysander family.
However, Orion understood very well that Ulrich Klein was nothing more than a dog who had taken advantage of the presence of the Celestial Dragons to carry out his schemes against the Lysanders. In this world, only the arrogant nobles of the World Government, who proclaimed themselves gods, were capable of destroying everything without facing any opposition.
Thinking of the words of his grandfather Mario, who had recently told him the entire story in detail, Orion clenched his fists tightly, thinking that the Celestial Dragons responsible for the tragedy his family had suffered would not go unpunished.
As soon as he was able, he would go to Mary Geoise to exact his revenge, and also to look for his grandmother Bianca, although he did not have much hope that she was still alive after so many years.
Orion let out a light sigh and set aside all thoughts of future events, since there was something he had to deal with right now, right in front of him.
"Who am I? My name is Orion Lysander. Does that name sound familiar to you?" Orion said with a smile, approaching Klein and lifting him by the neck as if he were a piece of garbage, despite the fact that the obese king's weight would have made it impossible for any man of normal strength to move him.
Ulrich Klein's eyes opened wide as his teeth began to chatter in fear. Terrified, he looked at Lolo, who was standing beside his nephew with his hands clasped behind his back in an elegant posture, gazing at him with mockery from behind his glasses.
Lolo had not only inherited the fine features of his mother Bianca, but also possessed an elegance befitting a noble by birth, since unlike Orion, he had grown up with the education of a true aristocrat.
Now that he held authority over all of Pacific Kingdom as Orion's representative, his natural nobility had merged with his bearing and his authority, sublimating his very presence and generating an aura of charisma around him that could never appear in an ordinary commoner.
In short, it could be said that Lolo currently carried the bearing of a king, and even his gestures were imbued with a silent yet unmistakable authority.
Despite the fact that more than thirty years had passed since the last time King Klein had seen Lolo, he recognized him immediately, since for many years he had feared the revenge of the former noble Lysander family and had developed a kind of paranoia.
On that occasion, he had not been able to eliminate all of the Lysanders because the Celestial Dragon had given the order to let them go—due to his arrangement with Bianca—and after that, no matter how much Klein searched for traces of the Lysanders, he had never been able to find any clues with his limited resources.
Now that the enemy leader had openly proclaimed himself a Lysander, and with Lolo himself having appeared on the scene, it was impossible for Klein not to understand what was happening, and for that very reason the terror gripping him only intensified.
"N-No, no! You can't do anything to me, I'm protected by the gods of this world! The Celestial Dragons won't stand idly by if you lay a hand on me! My kingdom is affiliated with the World Government! Ah!"
Ulrich Klein kept talking nonstop, trying to use the name of the Celestial Dragons to intimidate Orion, but he only achieved the opposite effect. To Orion, the Celestial Dragons were his greatest enemies, and he had already steeled himself to oppose them from the very beginning.
Applying a bit more strength to the hand holding Klein by the neck, Orion immediately cut off the king's irritating shrieks, choking him until his face turned purple.
Finally, just before he could pass out, Orion released him, allowing him to breathe once more.
"The Celestial Dragons don't care about the life of an insignificant ant like you. But even if they did, your fate would still be the same," Orion said with an imposing air, making Klein not dare to utter another word.
"Galus, I want you to interrogate him and extract any useful information from him. Once you're done, hand him over to Christina. She'll take care of his custody until the moment of execution."
Ulrich Klein felt his entire body go cold with fear upon hearing the plans Orion had for him, and with his eyes flooded with tears, he lifted his gaze to beg for mercy from his captors.
However, what he found when he looked up was Lolo's mocking expression, as he stared at him as if he were a worthless piece of trash.
"King Ulrich, I can't say it's a pleasure to see you again. Though it is certainly gratifying to see that you will finally receive the justice you deserve," Lolo said with a smile.
Despite the fact that he deeply hated Klein, his mind had broadened after leading Pacific Kingdom for years. Lolo knew that, compared to the events that awaited him in the future at his nephew Orion's side, a figure of Klein's status was not worthy of his attention.
Even so, it was impossible for Lolo to feel nothing when seeing his enemy kneeling before him, because he was neither a saint nor a robot. For that reason, he would also take part in the interrogation of the obese king alongside Galus—who was an expert in this area thanks to the powers of his Devil Fruit.
Once the interrogation was finished, he would take him back to Pacific Kingdom to execute him in front of his father Mario, thus bringing an end to the revenge against the man who had cast them into hell so many years ago.
Galus and Lolo seized the obese King Klein and withdrew into Orion's Pocket Dimension to "work" in private. Meanwhile, Orion took out a map of the kingdom that Lolo had previously given him and determined his next destination: the Lavender estate.
It was time to pay a visit to his maternal grandfather, Francis Lavender, since in the future he would need his help to stabilize the situation in the former kingdom of Koldara, which would now become part of his territory.
…
While Orion was carrying out the attack on Koldara, Kuma received a call from Dragon asking for his help. The two revolutionary leaders ended their conversation after agreeing on the details of the dangerous mission Dragon would attempt in Mary Geoise, and Dragon hesitated for a few moments before making a decision and placing another call.
If he was going to Mary Geoise to "kidnap" his son Luffy, then it was best to ask for help from an expert in kidnappings. In the kingdom of Koldara, a call interrupted Orion's thoughts as he was heading toward the Lavender territory in the company of Giolla.
...
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