One Piece: Global improvement system

August 14, 1498, Age of the Sea Circle

In a barely noticeable spot on the alley wall, a small eye was watching everything happening without missing a single detail. Robin, hidden beneath a mountain of garbage, looked on with great surprise as Orion suddenly appeared and asked about her.

The little girl felt no joy upon hearing her name spoken by the newly arrived stranger. The fact that he was looking for her meant he was either a bounty hunter or a government agent. Slowly, she tried to take advantage of the soldiers' attention shifting to Orion to escape silently.

However, her slight movements didn't go unnoticed by the soldiers' trained hounds, which immediately started barking in the direction where she was hiding. The soldiers quickly noticed the dogs' behavior and redirected their attention back to the garbage pile.

Or at least they tried, because a moment later, Orion slowly advanced into the alley, and the battle between both sides began abruptly.

Two soldiers approached Orion with swords, trying to strike him down by using their numerical advantage, but he had no problem confronting them both. With a single movement of his sword, both soldiers fell to the ground with a superficial cut across their torsos.

Orion had no intention of being completely ruthless with these soldiers and slaughtering them. Instead, he planned only to incapacitate them, rescue Robin, and leave. After all, these weren't pirates or atrocious criminals—although their actions might at times be questionable, in the end, they were just pawns following orders.

Orion wasn't naïve enough to believe that soldiers could refuse to carry out certain directives that went against their moral code. At least for this kind of foot soldier, that was completely impossible unless they wanted to end up court-martialed and executed.

That was why Orion didn't plan to kill this group of soldiers whose task was to capture Nico Robin. Of course, if it became absolutely necessary to eliminate them, he wouldn't hesitate for a second. That was just who he was—pragmatic by nature.

The soldiers in the alley were shocked to see that Orion had destroyed the swords of both soldiers, their armor, and even inflicted light wounds on them, all with a slight hand movement! Immediately, their alert level surged, and one of them pulled out a Den Den Mushi to report the situation.

"Tempest Kick!"

A visible wave of wind hit the soldier who had just taken out the Den Den Mushi, knocking him out cold before he could react.

"I've only come for Nico Robin. If you don't get in my way, you won't be harmed," said Orion, taking a step forward.

There were about 30 soldiers in the alley, but due to the narrowness of the space, they couldn't all attack at once. For Orion, it wasn't difficult to deal with these soldiers, who could only strike in small groups. Even if they all attacked him at once, they wouldn't be able to do much against him—perhaps land a few hits at most.

"Attack! Don't let him intimidate you! If we let him take the girl, we'll be punished for incompetence!" shouted one of the soldiers, throwing himself into the fight and inspiring his comrades to follow.

Orion shook his head slightly and thought that being a soldier in this world full of monsters must be truly harsh. Almost without realizing it, he had crossed that threshold and left behind the ranks of ordinary people to become the kind of monster others feared to face.

"When I get home, I'm going to increase the benefits for my soldiers," muttered Orion under his breath, thinking of his subjects.

The fight between Orion and the soldiers didn't last long. He simply moved among them using his mobility techniques and attacked with his sword, stripping away their defenses. In just two minutes, all thirty soldiers were lying on the ground, unconscious or wounded.

The small eye watching everything from the wall trembled visibly, and little Robin felt as if the god of death had come for her, making her body shake involuntarily.

Meanwhile, Orion focused his Observation Haki around him, and without the soldiers interrupting his senses, he detected Robin's life force hidden under the garbage pile. He quickly approached, and by placing a hand on the trash, made it vanish without a trace.

Obviously, he had stored it in his inventory, but to those watching his actions, the scene was completely fantastical. Both the soldiers and Robin were convinced that Orion had Devil Fruit powers—one of the most common explanations for strange occurrences like this.

Once the trash disappeared, only Robin remained in place. As a living being, she couldn't be stored in the system and was now fully exposed. Seeing the small girl curled up with her eyes shut and trembling slightly, Orion couldn't help but feel a pang in his heart.

What Robin was going through wasn't so uncommon in this world—on the contrary. Although the reason she found herself in such a precarious state wasn't typical, since she was the only person in the world pursued by the World Government for her ability to read Poneglyphs, the condition of being in constant danger and living poorly was all too common for children in this world.

Once again, Orion renewed his resolve to make the world a better place, and if the seed of Conqueror's Haki hadn't already been absorbed by him, it would have grown stronger in that moment.

"Robin, right? Don't be afraid. I'm not here to hurt you. I've come to help," said Orion with a smile, reaching out his hand to help her up.

Robin slowly opened her eyes and looked directly at Orion, who wore a kind smile and exuded a warm aura that gave her a sense of calm. It was hard to explain in words, but Orion's presence soothed her somehow, and she felt an innate urge to believe he wasn't a bad person.

However, her experiences over the past few months suppressed all other sensations with cold, logical facts. If she'd learned anything, it was that no matter how kind someone seemed, there were always malicious intentions behind their smiles. No one extended a helping hand selflessly—the world just didn't work that way.

Robin looked at the hand Orion was offering, then glanced at all the soldiers lying around nearby, and timidly extended her hand to grasp his.

Orion helped her to her feet and felt great joy that she hadn't tried to run away immediately. Maybe it wouldn't be so hard to earn her trust!

However, he hadn't even finished that thought when two small hands suddenly grew from his neck and attacked his eyes at high speed with the intent to blind him!

Orion simply closed one eye, taking the hit on his eyelid without injury, while grabbing the other small hand that had grown from his neck and stopping the attack.

Orion didn't know how Robin's powers worked and accidentally squeezed the soft hand he had caught a bit too hard, causing it to disappear. At the same time, Robin fell to her knees, clutching her left hand and grimacing in pain, tears in her eyes.

Seeing her reaction, Orion more or less figured out how her Devil Fruit worked and sighed at the thought that if each hand she produced could pass damage to her real body, this ability was simply unviable in large-scale battles! If she were hit simultaneously in many places, her main body would take all the damage.

Orion approached Robin, and before she could react, he picked her up in his arms and used Soru to dash away at full speed. Although he didn't fear a fight with the local army, there was no need to create extra trouble. It was better to leave before more people showed up.

Orion headed toward the coast, while Robin finally reacted in his arms and started kicking, trying to escape. But he ignored her and used Geppo to rise into the air, which made the girl finally calm down and stop struggling.

After about half an hour, they reached the coast, and Orion pulled a boat from his inventory and began sailing away from the island. He set Robin down on the deck and skillfully maneuvered the small sailboat, setting the course after checking the map on his system's screen.

Robin, now free from her captor's grasp, looked at him warily without coming any closer. There was nowhere to escape to now, as a Devil Fruit user, she couldn't swim. In the end, what she had feared most had come true: she had been captured by this strange man, and she had no way to escape. All she could do was try not to provoke him and wait until they reached land to attempt another escape.

Orion set the course and turned his attention back to Robin, who was staring at him with suspicion, still nursing her sore left hand. He sighed and approached her, taking her hand. Before Robin could protest, Orion began pressing on the muscles in her arm, causing her to feel great relief and relaxation. It was a therapeutic massage technique Orion had learned thanks to his medical skills.

After a few minutes, he finished, and Robin let out a breath, completely relaxed. However, she quickly realized her situation and backed away from Orion as much as possible, watching him from a distance with distrust.

Orion shook his head slowly but didn't try to approach her again. It would be counterproductive to try and gain her trust immediately; it was better to do it gradually. In any case, he didn't intend to let her go alone, since with the target the World Government had put on her back, only misery awaited if she had to survive on her own.

There would be time to earn her trust later. For now, he just had to give her space and avoid making her feel threatened.

Orion unsheathed his sword with the intention of training to pass the time. It was something he did involuntarily whenever he had free time, as Lucky Roux had pointed out many times—Orion was addicted to training.

That was because he had transmigrated from Earth to this strange, dangerous world full of magical things, and he constantly felt insecure. Training and growing stronger was the only way to ease that feeling. Over time, he had gained enough strength to earn his place in this world, but by then, his training habit was already deeply ingrained.

Still, Orion wasn't satisfied with his current power level, so he saw no harm in training whenever he could. However, this time, he didn't consider his current situation.

The moment he unsheathed his sword, Robin panicked and entered a combat stance, backing away to the edge of the boat—one step from falling into the calm waters of the West Blue.

Orion immediately reacted and quickly sheathed his sword. Then, scratching his head with a bit of embarrassment, he said,

"Sorry, Robin. I didn't mean to scare you. I have a habit of training during my travels, and I didn't think it might frighten you."

Orion's tone was sincere and his eyes clear, which made Robin hesitate for a moment about whether he was telling the truth. However, the cold logic born from her past experiences won out, and she stayed alert, standing at the edge of the small sailboat.

Orion shook his head in frustration when he saw that his explanation hadn't worked. To reinforce his words further, he placed his cutlass into his inventory. However, this also backfired—when Robin saw the sword at Orion's waist disappear suddenly, she thought it was one of his strange assassination techniques and that he was hiding his weapon to prevent her from reacting to an attack!

It must be said that little Robin's imagination was quite vivid; Orion wouldn't need such tricks if he really intended to eliminate her, and she knew that. Still, the tense situation she was in clouded her thoughts.

Orion observed Robin's tense expression and looked thoughtful for a moment. Then, as if a good idea occurred to him, he smiled brightly and pulled a large sack from his inventory, which fell onto the deck with a loud thud that startled Robin.

Orion opened the sack, reached in, and pulled out... a book!

Another one of Orion's habits was collecting books whenever he visited a new place. These books were later sent to Pacific Kingdom to be added to the great library being built at the public school.

This wasn't just a way to raise the cultural level of his people—it also allowed him to increase his own knowledge about this world. Books here were not a common commodity, and each usually contained some form of valuable information. Even those about stories or poetry were of the highest quality. Poor literature never reached a high enough status to be transcribed and remained in the realm of oral tradition.

Of course, there was another category of books that didn't quite meet these previous standards: propaganda books, usually distributed by the World Government or other powerful organizations.

These kinds of books were also fairly common, but even from them, useful information could be extracted—as long as the reader was careful not to be influenced by the subliminal messaging. For Orion, who had been a philosophy professor in his past life and had no difficulty applying critical thinking, those books posed no real threat. In fact, they helped him identify the motivations of the organizations that had written them.

Robin saw Orion suddenly pull a book out of the large sack, and her eyes seemed to sparkle for an instant. But she quickly suppressed her curiosity and continued in her defensive stance.

Of course, Orion noticed her subtle reaction and smiled as he said,

"Wanna read a little? It'll make the trip less boring."

Robin didn't "fall into Orion's trap" and remained still. Orion, on the other hand, simply immersed himself in the book he had picked, which discussed certain aspects of life in the West Blue. He had obtained it recently during his time working as a waiter.

A long time passed, and on the boat's deck, only the sound of the waves could be heard. Orion was completely focused on his book, paying no attention to Robin, who gradually grew tired of staying on high alert and began to relax a bit.

Seeing Orion reading with great interest, her curiosity started to bubble up. She had grown up surrounded by books in the great library of Ohara, and reading was what she enjoyed most. However, ever since she began fleeing from the World Government, she hadn't had the chance to touch a book again.

Robin slowly approached the large sack of books still lying on the deck, just as Orion had left it over an hour earlier. Her path to the sack wasn't a straight line. She stopped more than once, glancing at Orion with trepidation, as if expecting him to attack the moment she let her guard down.

But Orion kept ignoring her, fully absorbed in his reading. Finally, she reached the sack and timidly stretched out her hand to take one of the books inside. Then, without wasting a second, she ran back to the edge of the ship like a startled deer.

Once she was back in her original spot, as far from Orion as possible, she looked at him and saw that he was still reading, paying her no mind. She sighed with relief. Then she looked down at the book in her hands and read the title aloud:

"A Tale of Giants – The West Blue Elbaf"

Robin opened the book and began reading with great interest. It was written by an explorer who had visited an island of giants in the West Blue and referred to it as "the Elbaf of the West Blue," even though it had no actual connection to the mythical kingdom of giants.

Regardless, the explorer's tale immediately captured Robin's attention, and she forgot all about Orion's presence, absorbing the book's contents like a sponge, memorizing every important detail without the slightest effort.

Robin's mind was one of the most gifted in the world—and even the word "genius" wasn't enough to describe her. Perhaps she didn't have the maturity of an adult or their social experience, but when it came to absorbing knowledge, any adult or genius in the world would have to bow before her and admit defeat.

Orion finally looked up and glanced at Robin, who had her face buried in the book and was swinging her legs happily. He had been observing her with his Observation Haki and sighed in relief when she finally lowered her guard a little and began reading the book with genuine interest.

Afraid to disturb her and ruin the progress he'd made, Orion didn't get up and continued reading his own book, which was about beauty contests in the West Blue and the best kinds of bikinis—clearly, literature of the highest order!

....

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