November 9, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
Bang!
In the heart of the sacred land of the Celestial Dragons, Mary Geoise, great chaos was unfolding due to the actions of Fisher Tiger and Dragon.
While the revolutionary leader was focusing almost entirely on destroying everything in his path in order to draw the attention of the guards in the area, Fisher Tiger was far more focused on freeing the slaves, and he had already managed to liberate a considerable number of them while making his way toward the elevators, just as Orion had instructed him.
Meanwhile, Orion had just successfully rescued his grandmother Bianca, and he was now heading toward the location of the Named Character called Koala. However, he was not advancing at full speed, since he stopped at every mansion along his path to free the slaves who were imprisoned there.
The number of slaves present in the land of the gods was truly staggering, and Orion knew it would be impossible to free them all before being captured by his enemies. After all, if he created too much chaos, the mysterious red-eyed entity would surely appear to eliminate him.
Even so, Orion wanted to free as many slaves as possible during this visit, attempting to complete as thoroughly as possible the mission that the system had suddenly issued. What he did not know was that his mere presence in this place was already creating a major change in the history of the original timeline, where only Fisher Tiger had taken charge of freeing the slaves of Mary Geoise—with the help of Shanks.
The number of slaves who would be saved thanks to Orion's presence in the area would be more than double what Fisher Tiger would have achieved, since Orion's power was far greater than that of the brave Fish-man, and his special abilities were perfect for the situation.
After all, when it came to kidnapping people, there was no one in the world better than Orion!
With a strike of his cutlass, Orion shattered a large brick wall that opened into the interior of one of the Celestial Dragons' mansions, rushing toward the place where his Observation Haki sensed the presence of slaves.
If there was anything positive about the chaos they were creating, it was that the vast majority of the Celestial Dragons had already fled in search of shelter, leaving their slaves behind to die in the flames or at the hands of the enemy—the Celestial Dragons had no idea that the enemies had come precisely to free those worthless slaves.
Orion entered the mansion and, without wasting a single moment, found the slaves who were hiding in a corner in terror, tossing them into his Pocket Dimension without a word.
At the moment he simply did not have the time to calmly explain the situation to them, so they would have to endure a little more anxiety before discovering that they were being saved by this mysterious intruder.
Once Orion confirmed that no slaves remained in the area, he left the mansion he was in and moved on to the next one, repeating the same process once again.
Little by little, his Pocket Dimension was filling with rescued slaves, although he knew perfectly well that he did not have much time left to move freely within the Domain of the Gods.
Finally, after nearly fifteen minutes, Orion arrived at Koala's location, just in time to encounter the slaves who were leaving the mansion, trying to run toward their freedom.
On his path of liberation, Fisher Tiger had passed through a nearby area freeing several prisoners and briefly informing them of the situation, which had caused the news to begin spreading among the slaves in the vicinity. Taking advantage of the situation, they had begun running together in herds toward freedom.
At that moment, all the slaves in the area near the elevators were mobilizing on their own initiative, realizing that the possibility of escape had finally appeared before them.
Orion quickly spotted little Koala among the crowd, noticing that the girl—who was currently only six years old—was running with difficulty, trying not to be crushed by the adult slaves who were fleeing in terror like a stampede.
Using his Prism Eyes on her, Orion was able to perceive that Koala possessed great potential, and he immediately decided that he would recruit her into his forces.
With a swift movement, Orion appeared in front of the group of slaves where Koala was located, and without losing a second he opened a door in the air, throwing them all inside before they had any time to react. Only little Koala remained behind, and Orion picked her up in his arms, lifting her to the height of his eyes before saying with a smile,
"Don't worry, I've come to save you. I'll take you far away from this horrible place, but for now wait in there—you'll be safer."
Orion sent Koala into his Pocket Dimension and once again expanded his Observation Haki to its maximum range, trying to find the next victims of his advanced kidnapping techniques!
New information about the battlefield emerged in his mind thanks to his Observation Haki, and Orion frowned slightly, thinking that the situation had become a bit more complicated.
In one of the areas near the elevators, several Cipher Pol agents had appeared to block the escape of the slaves led by Fisher Tiger, and they had already managed to strike down a few of them.
Even so, the number of slaves escaping thanks to Fisher Tiger was quite large, and many of them had managed to evade the final guards and reach the elevators, thus gaining their freedom.
Seeing that the number of slaves being stopped by the CP0 agents was increasing more and more, Orion decided to take action, and using his Pocket Dimension he disappeared from the spot, only to emerge right behind the agents.
"Thirty-Six Styles, Roaring Dragon Sword!"
Orion launched a powerful attack with his cutlass, catching the agents by surprise and eliminating two of them immediately. Even so, the level of the agents varied considerably, and the more powerful ones were able to react in time to Orion's surprise attack, thus avoiding being injured.
"Tch, it couldn't be that easy. There are always elite soldiers to take command of the situation," Orion muttered as he blocked the agents' path, allowing the slaves to continue escaping toward the distant elevators.
"Don't stop! If you want to be free, run and don't look back!" Orion shouted to the group of slaves who had been left behind due to the intervention of the CP0 agents.
The slaves immediately regained their spirit when they saw that a powerful ally had arrived to help them, and thanking Orion in their hearts, they ran toward freedom without looking back, just as he had instructed.
"I suppose my role as a kidnapper has now changed to that of a defender," Orion said with an aggressive smile as he looked at the CP0 agents present in the area.
With these enemies present, it would be very difficult for Orion to continue placing people into his Pocket Dimension, so he had decided to change his approach. Now he would focus on distracting the agents who were trying to prevent the slaves from escaping, buying time for the evacuation that Fisher Tiger was leading.
"Who are you? Do you not know the punishment that awaits you for opposing the gods?!" said one of the agents present, who clearly could not comprehend how Orion dared to commit such blasphemous acts.
Because of the brainwashing he had received for years, the CP0 agent simply could not understand Orion's actions, and therefore, in his mind this mysterious intruder was nothing short of a lunatic.
Orion did not waste time attempting to converse with these agents and simply launched himself into the fight. If he managed to eliminate some of these elite CP0 agents, he would succeed in reducing the strength of his enemies, which was always a good thing.
While Orion was battling near the elevators, Fisher Tiger arrived with the last group of slaves he had managed to free, prepared to flee after a successful mission. Seeing that Orion was fighting several enemies at once and seemed to be at a disadvantage, he wanted to help him, but before he could act, a voice sounded beside him.
"Do not act impulsively. If you stop now, you will be captured, along with the rest of these slaves. Leave immediately."
Fisher Tiger's blood ran cold when he heard the warning, since he had not noticed that someone was standing beside him. If this unknown individual had wanted to eliminate him, he could have done so without any difficulty.
Fisher Tiger realized that the level of the individuals participating in this event was far higher than his own, and he decided not to tempt fate, leaving while he still could, together with the rest of the slaves he had rescued.
Orion noticed that Fisher Tiger had stopped in the distance to watch him during his battle with the CP0 agents, and understanding his feelings, he raised his thumb while showing a smile.
"Don't worry about me! We'll see each other later!" Orion said without ceasing to hold back the agents' advance, who had multiplied in number over the last few minutes.
Fisher Tiger lowered his head, feeling somewhat ashamed for abandoning his companion, but in the end he turned around and ran toward the elevators together with the slaves. If he stayed here, his presence would only complicate Orion's situation further.
Dragon, who had transformed himself into a gust of wind, saw that Fisher Tiger had listened to his words and breathed a sigh of relief. Then, casting one last glance at Orion in the distance, he disappeared from the place without leaving any trace. His mission of rescuing Luffy had been successfully completed, and at this moment his young son would already be in the hands of his father, Garp.
Now that he had helped the slaves escape successfully just as he had promised Orion, he had no reason to remain there any longer. As for Orion? Dragon did not doubt that he was perfectly capable of escaping Mary Geoise even without his help, so he did not hesitate for a moment to depart on his own.
In a certain sense, Dragon was right, since the CP0 agents present in the area were not powerful enough to kill Orion or prevent his escape.
However, what Dragon did not know was that there were individuals far more powerful hidden within this sacred land of the Celestial Dragons, and one of them had been alerted by all the chaos caused by the slaves during their escape: Saint Shepherd Sommers.
This man was one of the members of the God's Knights who had remained in Mary Geoise to oversee the security of the Celestial Dragons who had not gone to participate in the Native Hunting Competition in the North Blue.
Originally, he had wanted to go and take part in the competition so he could witness all kinds of thrilling tragedies, but Garling had ordered him to remain in Mary Geoise, and so Sommers had had no choice but to obey and stay behind to stand guard.
Even so, once his initial disappointment had faded, he had grown quite satisfied with the situation, enjoying sleeping carefreely without paying the slightest attention to the condition of Mary Geoise or its security. After all, who would dare come to the land of the gods to cause trouble?
Unfortunately for him, today a fool ignorant enough to attack Mary Geoise and create chaos had appeared, which had put him in a very foul mood. Sommers had risen from his twelve-hour nap in irritation, dressed himself without any hurry, and was now on his way to capture the rat scurrying about in his territory, intending to torture it to death.
However, just as Sommers arrived at the place where Orion was fighting the CP0 agents and was preparing to act, someone beat him to it.
"Sommers, there's no need for you to waste your time. Let me deal with the intruder," Shanks said as he appeared on the scene and attacked Orion with a movement of his sword.
Orion sensed Shanks's attack at the very last instant and blocked it with his cutlass with great difficulty, generating a massive explosion of energy.
Bang!
Orion could not withstand the intensity of the red-haired pirate's strike, and after a brief stalemate he was sent flying through the air while blood burst from his mouth.
Even though Shanks had restrained his attack, Orion had suffered moderate damage, which once again demonstrated the vast difference in power between their combat levels.
"Little rat, how dare you invade the land of the gods? It's time for you to learn your place in the world," Shanks said with a cold gaze and an arrogant tone befitting a proud Celestial Dragon.
Orion spotted Sommers in the distance and immediately realized that Shanks had acted in his role as a double agent to save him from the attack of a powerful enemy. Even so, Shanks was being rather harsh in his actions, because if he went too easy on Orion, his identity as a traitor would be discovered immediately.
"Kamusari!"
Orion used one of his most powerful attacks, but Shanks simply blocked it with his sword without much difficulty, since Orion's Kamusari was still the false version without Conqueror's Haki.
"What a distasteful technique," Shanks said, still maintaining his expression of superiority.
Then, moving at a speed Orion could not follow with his senses or Haki, he appeared in front of him and delivered a descending slash that cut Orion diagonally from shoulder to hip, sending a large amount of blood spraying through the air.
Orion immediately attempted to escape into his Pocket Dimension, but Shanks destroyed his Space Door with another strike of his sword, then appeared once again like a specter before him and kicked him hard in the face, breaking his nose.
However, just as Shanks's foot made contact with Orion's face, he activated his ability Age Change, turning the red-haired pirate into a small child who looked at him in surprise.
Orion knew there was no time to waste, so he immediately used Soru and fled toward one of the edges of Mary Geoise, leaping without hesitation into the void, just as he had done years earlier when he escaped this place for the first time.
For some reason he did not understand, his Space Gate did not function within Mary Geoise—probably because of some kind of seal that interfered with his long-distance spatial abilities—so he could only activate it once he escaped the zone of influence of the sacred land of the Celestial Dragons.
During his previous exchange with Shanks, they had communicated through their gazes, so both of them had been acting for their spectators, knowing well what they needed to do in order to resolve their current situation.
There was no way Shanks was truly going to eliminate Orion, because beyond their good relationship, the pirate had ambitious plans for the future and wanted to count on Orion's help when the right moment arrived.
Sommers, who had been observing Orion's fight with Shanks, narrowed his eyes with a suspicious look, but in the end he said nothing and simply turned around to return to his mansion and continue sleeping peacefully.
Meanwhile, Shanks returned to his normal form after only two seconds and began giving orders to the CP0 agents present in the area. Now that the chaos of the slaves' escape had ended, it was time to restore Mary Geoise to its normal state by extinguishing the fires and bringing back the Celestial Dragons who had fled earlier.
Shanks let out a relieved sigh, thinking that everything had gone relatively well, and he swore that in the future he would make Orion repay this favor handsomely. A smile appeared on his face as an idea formed in his mind—perhaps he could go visit Orion in the South Blue and pull a few pranks once he arrived there…
Meanwhile, Orion was falling from the heights of the Red Line toward the sea. After nearly a minute of free fall, Orion finally felt the force that had been restricting his abilities disappear, and without hesitation he activated his Space Gate, opening a portal back to Pacific Kingdom.
Although Orion was interested in forming a closer relationship with Fisher Tiger and recruiting him into his forces, his greatest concern at the moment was bringing his grandmother back home as soon as possible, because after three decades of captivity he did not want to make her wait any longer to reunite with her family.
As for a possible alliance with Fisher Tiger, there would be time later to meet him again and attempt to recruit him. After all, Orion planned to visit Marineford in the future to search for his fiancée and childhood friend Gion, so he could take the opportunity to visit the kingdom of the Fish-men as well.
Smiling at the success of a mission accomplished, Orion stepped through the Space Gate, entering the space-time tunnel and traveling back home.
With a grimace of pain, he touched the rather deep wound on his chest, complaining inwardly that Shanks had struck with far too much force this time, and swearing that the next time he saw him he would give him a beating… although he did not know whether he would be able to, considering their current levels of power.
Finally, after nearly a minute of traveling through the space-time tunnel, Orion emerged successfully in the central plaza of the capital of Pacific Kingdom, and a bell rang in his mind at the same moment that new notifications appeared on the system screen.
*Ding*
*You have completed Mission 24 — Slaves of Mary Geoise. Rating: 9/10*
*You have obtained 20000 SP*
*You have obtained the special ability Fishman Karate (Level 0)*
*Your favorability with all Fish-men has increased significantly*
*Due to the high final rating obtained, extra rewards will be distributed*
*You have obtained the item "Quincy's Crown"*
*You have obtained the recipe "Supreme Gelato"*
...
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