November 2, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
Clank.
Orion ended the call with Dragon, and his gaze turned solemn. The revolutionary leader had contacted him to ask for his help in rescuing Luffy from Mary Geoise, and Orion had agreed without hesitation, although that did not mean the situation was not complicated.
Mary Geoise was, without a doubt, the most dangerous place in the world for him, as it was the home of his mortal enemies. Even so, Orion had already experienced being there in the past, managing to escape successfully even under the gaze of that terrifying red-eyed entity, and because of that he knew this was not a suicide mission.
This time, Orion wanted to take advantage of the operation led by Dragon to go to Rosward territory and search for his grandmother Bianca. Although he did not have much hope that she was still alive after so many years, he could not dismiss the possibility, however small it might be.
He had promised Scarlett that he would stay by her side until the day their child was born—at the beginning of January—but now he was no longer sure he would be able to keep that promise. Kuma was traveling from the West Blue to pick him up and take him to the vicinity of Mary Geoise, where they would regroup with Dragon for the operation, so he only had a few days left before the gentle revolutionary arrived to retrieve him.
Once in Mary Geoise, everything would depend on how the situation unfolded there. If he was lucky, he might return in time, but if some accident occurred… Orion did not want to think too much about it, choosing instead to maintain a positive attitude toward the imminent infiltration of the sacred land of the Celestial Dragons.
Still, at the moment he had other matters to focus on, as he was about to arrive at the territory of the Lavender family, where he would meet his maternal grandfather Francis, whom he had never seen before.
…
After nearly an hour traveling on Nibble's back through a subterranean tunnel created by the skilled beast with spatial attributes, Orion arrived at Lavender territory, coming face to face with a large army that was preparing to march toward the capital, where the royal castle of Koldara stood.
At this point, the conquest of the kingdom by Orion's forces had not yet been fully completed, as his armies were still suppressing the nobles of the royalist faction within their respective territories. The obese King Ulrich Klein had been defeated by Orion and taken prisoner, plunging the rest of the kingdom into absolute chaos, and that included the Lavender family as well.
Although Orion's maternal family was not close to King Klein, and could even be considered antagonistic toward him, that did not mean they were willing to sit idly by while the kingdom was being attacked by foreign forces, since that would inevitably affect them in a negative way.
No matter how terrible King Klein was, or how tense the relationship between the Lavender family and him might have been, they could not afford to side with unknown invaders who had arrived in Koldara with hostile intentions.
Naturally, the situation would have been different if Francis—who was now the head of the noble family—had known that it was his grandson Orion who had come to exact vengeance upon the enemies of his family, while annexing the kingdom's lands in the process.
Orion noticed the presence of the Lavender soldiers, who were preparing to march toward the capital, but he did not pay them much attention, merely instructing Nibble to surface, causing him to appear suddenly right in front of the Lavender troops.
At the head of those troops stood an elegant-looking man with neatly cut black hair, streaked with gray across half of his head, clearly showing his advanced age. His firm posture and solemn expression as he watched Orion suddenly emerge from the ground perfectly conveyed his long-held status as a leader.
A single glance was enough for Orion to recognize the identity of this elegant Koldaran noble, as his facial features were very similar to those of his mother Lira, though they possessed a severity and firmness that she did not have.
Unlike his paternal grandfather Mario Lysander—who had endured all manner of hardships after his exile, even becoming a slave for several years—Francis's circumstances had been far better. Although Orion had begun treating his grandfather Mario's health over the past few years, greatly rejuvenating his appearance, he was still a man who looked older than his actual age.
By contrast, his maternal grandfather Francis Lavender had maintained himself much better, with an appearance appropriate for his age, though it was true that his face bore more wrinkles than a normally well-off noble should have, since he had lived under immense stress for years, being considered a threat by Ulrich Klein, who sought to suppress him whenever he had the chance.
With one hand resting on the sword at his waist, Francis Lavender looked at the mysterious young man who had just appeared before him and felt a strange connection, a closeness that was difficult to explain and that, on the system screen, was translated as a sudden spike in favorability.
Orion leapt down from Nibble's back, landing gracefully on the ground, and began walking slowly toward his grandfather Francis, while the Lavender soldiers tensed involuntarily, aiming their rifles at him, ready to open fire at the slightest sudden movement.
With a calm smile, Orion stopped in front of Francis and, wearing a broad grin, said,
"Grandfather, it's a pleasure to finally meet you. My name is Orion Lysander, and I am the eldest son of Lira and Paul."
Tears flooded the eyes of the elegant noble, who had never imagined that he would ever find any trace of his little daughter, who had left with the Lysanders three decades earlier.
Orion was currently in his natural form—without using his Age Change ability—so his appearance was that of an adolescent unusually tall for his age, still retaining traces of childhood on a face that was steadily moving toward adulthood.
Francis could see the shadows of both the Lysanders and the Lavenders in him, as Orion had inherited the finest traits of both families—in truth, his appearance had been enhanced by the system's buffs, though in practice the result was the same—and so he did not doubt his words for even a moment.
Stepping forward, Francis placed a hand on Orion's shoulder, as if to confirm that he was not an illusion conjured by his mind, and once he confirmed that the figure before him was real, he took another step and embraced him with joy.
On this day, in early November of 1503, King Ulrich Klein of Koldara was overthrown by foreign forces, the nobles of his faction were eliminated, and the kingdom fell into the hands of the noble Orion Lysander, who had returned from exile to exact vengeance upon his enemies.
On this same day, the Lavender family also regained their connection to their daughter Lira, from whom they had received no news for decades, finally resolving one of the most painful knots in their recent history.
In the years that followed, the heroic return of Orion Lysander, the descendant of Koldara's famed ducal house, and his seizure of power would be recounted as one of the most important moments for the kingdom's inhabitants, and celebrated as a national holiday by the entire nation.
In a decisive move, and without sacrificing a single drop of blood from Koldara's innocent inhabitants, Orion took control of the kingdom, keeping enemy soldier casualties to a minimum.
Under his rule—and with the administration of his uncle Lolo and his Grandfather Francis—Koldara would enter an era of great prosperity, and as a result this historic day would be remembered with happiness by its citizens in the future.
…
November 6, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
Four days had passed since Orion and his troops invaded Koldara, and today a grand banquet was finally held to celebrate the annexation of the territory into Pacific Kingdom. From this point on, Koldara would become a province of Pacific Kingdom, which entailed a great deal of administrative work ahead.
A few hours earlier, in the royal castle of Koldara, Orion had received the oaths of all the nobles who had not been destroyed during the conquest of the kingdom—those who were not aligned with Klein—allowing them to retain their noble status and lands, though their rank had been reduced, as they were now merely provincial nobles.
The nobles who had survived and were present in Koldara Castle to swear loyalty to their new king were not necessarily opponents of Ulrich Klein like his grandfather Francis Lavender; even those who had maintained a neutral stance had avoided a tragic fate.
Orion could not immediately purge all of the kingdom's nobles, as doing so would plunge the situation into chaos and make it far more difficult to control in the short term, so he chose instead to keep a larger number of nobles and evaluate them in the future to determine whether it would be necessary to continue the "pruning" of weeds within the new province of Pacific Kingdom.
Furthermore, Orion could not focus on governing Koldara himself, and his uncle Lolo was far too busy managing his primary territory, so Orion appointed his grandfather Francis Lavender as the new administrator of the region, granting him the title of Governor General.
With the help of the Lavenders, a well-established noble family with a long history in the kingdom—despite having declined in recent decades due to Klein's pressure—Orion hoped to consolidate his power quickly in his new territory and guide Koldara into a period of growth and prosperity in the coming years.
After all, Klein had been an incompetent and corrupt king, and much of Koldara's potential had gone to waste under his rule. His uncle Lolo would remain in Koldara for a short time to set the territory's development on the right path, before returning to Pacific Island and leaving Francis to handle the rest.
"I'd like to propose a toast to my grandson, the glorious king of Pacific Kingdom!" Francis suddenly declared, raising his wine glass with a joyful expression to toast Orion.
The flushed face of Koldara's new Governor General revealed that he was somewhat drunk, but no one dared point it out, as the fate of all the nobles present now depended on the decisions made by the Lavender patriarch.
"Long live King Orion Lysander!"
"Long live the Lysanders!"
The nobles gathered in the banquet hall raised their cups with flattering smiles, trying to maintain a good appearance before their new king, though only some of them were sincere in their words, while the rest merely struggled to keep a submissive expression, trembling with apprehension.
Many of the nobles present had maintained good relations with the Lysanders before their tragic fall decades earlier, and they were the ones most pleased by Orion's arrival, since, to a greater or lesser extent, they too had been suppressed by the former king, Ulrich Klein.
On the other hand, those nobles who had clashed with Mario in the past, or who had simply been too close to the previous king, felt chills run through their bodies every time Orion's gaze settled on them, as though death itself might descend upon them at any moment.
Orion made no effort to ease the concerns of these neutral nobles, as he knew that the fear they felt was an effective way to keep them under control, preventing any bold ideas that might threaten his reign from taking root in their minds.
With an elegant smile, Orion—now in his usual adult form—raised his hand and accepted the toast of his new subordinates. He then adopted a gentle expression as he looked toward his maternal grandfather Francis, who was drinking cheerfully alongside the rest of the Lavender family.
After conquering Koldara, Orion had reunited with his maternal grandfather and brought him to Pacific Kingdom using his Space Gate, allowing him to reunite with Lira and see his good friend Mario—whom he had not seen since his exile.
Francis had wept with joy upon reuniting with his daughter, and although the situation had initially been somewhat awkward for both of them, they gradually grew accustomed to their father–daughter relationship. In addition, Francis happily met his other two grandchildren, Sofia and Dante, and even discovered, to his surprise, that he was a great-grandfather.
When Francis learned that Orion, who technically was not even fourteen years old yet, already had a child, was the king of a great realm, and possessed such incredible power, he could not help but think that his grandson was undoubtedly a genius rarely seen in history, and his pride multiplied many times over.
Besides Lira, he had other children and grandchildren, but Sam was currently his only great-grandchild, which gave him a special place in the heart of the jovial Governor General of Koldara.
In addition to reuniting with Lira, Francis was reunited with his old friend Mario Lysander, who had suffered greatly over the years and was almost completely unrecognizable.
Fortunately, Mario had been receiving Orion's medical treatment, which, thanks to his special abilities, was practically miraculous, and his appearance had improved greatly of late; otherwise, Francis would have wept in sorrow at the tragic state of his childhood friend.
In truth, Mario's current condition was very good. After Orion rescued him from his slavery on the massive Rum Wolf Bridge, he had been enjoying a peaceful life in Pacific Kingdom, where he held the elevated status of the king's grandfather, but without the responsibilities of a typical noble.
Orion had never imposed a direction for his grandfather's life, instead granting him complete freedom to choose whatever made him happy. If Mario had wanted to take part in the governance of Pacific Kingdom and return to his former life as a noble, Orion would have supported him fully, but his grandfather had no interest in doing so.
Unlike Lolo, who had always longed for the authority that had been denied to him by exile and the loss of his noble status, Mario greatly enjoyed a simple life.
He spent his days peacefully with his family and had all kinds of activities to entertain himself in the flourishing metropolis that was Pacific Kingdom's capital, leading a full and satisfying life. Much like Orion's parents, he had not changed his way of living after Orion became king; at most, only his status in the eyes of others had changed.
After the emotional reunion in Pacific Kingdom, Orion brought his entire family to Koldara for the celebrations at the royal palace, so both his parents, his siblings, and his grandfather Mario were now present at the banquet, celebrating alongside Francis and the rest of the Lavender family.
Orion had met his maternal uncles and his many cousins, though he had not yet had much time to interact with them, but he knew that in the future he could gradually deepen his relationship with these new relatives.
In the preceding days, Orion had also taken his entire family to the original Lysander territory, which had been burned on the orders of Hannibal Rosward many years earlier and later seized by a noble allied with Ulrich Klein.
Upon seeing the familiar landscape, now so different from before, each member of the Lysander family displayed a different expression. Paul had few memories of the place and simply showed interest in its current appearance, while Lolo gazed upon his lands with shining eyes and clenched fists.
Orion had decided to grant control of the former Lysander territory to his uncle Lolo, while simultaneously restoring his ducal title. In the future, Lolo's children would inherit the land, continuing the Lysander legacy on these grounds, something that filled Lolo with immense satisfaction, as it was a dream he had held since childhood.
Mario's expression, however, was the most complex of all, as for him this place represented nothing but the most painful moment of his life: the loss of his beloved wife Bianca, whom he missed to this very day.
Orion clearly noticed his grandfather's emotions, but he said nothing to comfort him, knowing that words alone could not free his grandfather from the chains of guilt he carried.
Perhaps seeing Bianca once more and knowing that she was well would be the only thing capable of dispelling the sorrow crowding his chest, but Orion could not make such a promise, even if he intended to do everything in his power to try to make it a reality.
In the banquet hall of Koldara's royal castle, Orion watched the people celebrating and opened the system screen, where new notifications had appeared after receiving the oaths of his new subjects and appointing Francis as Governor General.
*You have conquered a new territory, expanding the borders of your kingdom*
*You have obtained 600,000 KP*
*It is possible to establish a new anchor point (Space Gate)*
*Do you wish to establish a new anchor point in Koldara? Yes/No*
Orion lightly licked his lips as he selected the affirmative option. The conquest of Koldara had shown him something he had not known before: the number of anchor points for his Space Gate was determined by the size or composition of his kingdom.
Did that not mean, then, that the system was pushing him to conquer new territories and expand his power?
In the grand banquet hall of Koldara, while the nobles celebrated either joyfully or with trepidation, Orion was thinking about the future. Meanwhile, Kuma was traveling at full speed, using the powers of his Devil Fruit to head toward Pacific Kingdom, and it would not take long for him to arrive. A new mission in Mary Geoise was about to begin.