One Piece: Global improvement system

August 29, 1498, Age of the Sea Circle

It took about twelve hours for Orion's body to recover enough for him to move without issue.

In a forest on the same island where they'd fought Moria the day before, Orion and Robin sat beside a campfire, eating the breakfast Orion had just prepared.

Looking at the nearly charred bird in her hands, Robin couldn't help but stare at Orion with a suspicious look. This was the first time Orion had served her food that wasn't delicious, which made her even more suspicious of his current condition.

"Hey, Orion. Isn't this a bit burned?" Robin asked, holding out a completely blackened part of the game.

Orion's body tensed for an instant before he returned to normal and brushed it off.

"I couldn't control the fire properly because of my physical state."

He didn't continue speaking, fearing he'd reveal too much, and instead took a big bite of the roasted leg in his hand, enduring the terrible taste of his own cooking.

There was nothing else he could do. The system had locked itself as a consequence of using 'Berserk Mode' against Moria, and along with the system, his special skills had been sealed. While the Cooking skill wasn't categorized as a "special skill," so he still retained memories of it, the problem was that those skills were anchored in his adult mind — and now that his adult mind was dormant, he had limited access to them!

Other skills, like Swordsmanship — which he had actively used in his child form — weren't affected, since he had memories of them in his child's mind. However, he had barely used other skills while his younger self was in control, such as Cooking, and that was the reason breakfast had turned out so terribly.

Right now, his adult mind wasn't functioning normally. Usually, even when his child self took control, he could still access his skills without issue. But now, it was as if a massive blockage was preventing him from recalling his own abilities clearly.

He was trying not to expose his condition to Robin, because he didn't want to worry her, and also because he didn't want to ruin the image she had of him — which, without a doubt, was a very positive one. What he didn't know was that the little genius had already deduced almost everything— nearly 100% — thanks to the information she'd read in Orion's journal earlier.

She knew Orion had likely suffered some kind of damage and suspected that the person in front of her right now was his child personality. She had read about this personality in his journal, but it was the first time she saw it in person, since Orion could now spend the vast majority of the day with his adult mind active, making it unnecessary for his younger self to take over.

Thinking that Orion was the same age as her — eight years old — and that he was now acting accordingly, Robin couldn't help but find the situation interesting, and her curiosity began to flood in like a torrent.

"So, what are we going to do now, Orion? Are we still heading to the Medici base you mentioned earlier?"

"No. First we need to take care of something on this island. And I don't want to go into enemy territory until my condition stabilizes," Orion replied, trying to maintain a serious expression — which, in Robin's eyes, looked like a child pretending to be an adult, making her chuckle. She smiled softly, placing a hand on her cheek and looking at Orion with growing interest.

Orion didn't understand why Robin had suddenly started laughing, but when he turned to look at her, he met her intelligent, playful gaze and couldn't help but blush slightly.

"Don't look at me like that," Orion said, feeling a little shy from being observed so directly.

Little Orion's personality had also changed over the years — he was no longer as carefree or, as his adult self used to complain, "brainless" — so he felt a bit of embarrassment being the center of Robin's attention.

"Are you embarrassed? This is the first time I've seen you like this," Robin said with great interest. She was starting to enjoy the situation, and the fact that Orion, who had previously seemed almost omnipotent to her, was now looking so flustered amused her greatly.

Orion saw Robin looking at him with a playful smile, and immediately, his pride kicked in.

"Embarrassed? Maybe, yeah… It's just that when I'm looked at by such a beautiful girl, I can't help but get nervous!" Orion said, crossing his arms with an expression that seemed to say, "It's not my fault."

Robin immediately blushed and dropped her playful expression, glancing away shyly. Meanwhile, Orion grinned triumphantly, thinking his strategy had worked. Although his personality had changed a bit, he was still using the same tricks he had used many times when dealing with girls: the best way to win them over was with compliments!

That was something little Orion had learned in his earliest childhood, and it was burned into his memory even more clearly than any of his skills.

They finished eating the unpleasant breakfast in silence, and Orion stood up, still feeling a bit of fatigue in his muscles. He put out the campfire and buried the ashes. Then, looking at Robin, he said:

"We're going back to town. I need to find someone there."

"Find someone? Who are you looking for?" Robin asked curiously as they began walking slowly toward the town.

"I don't know," Orion said, not bothering too much, forgetting to put on the mysterious expression he thought his adult self always had.

Robin's mouth opened in surprise, wondering if this boy had started acting erratically, but she kept calm and continued questioning him.

"Then how are you going to find that person? And why are you looking for them?"

"I know her name's Perona and she's three years old. As for the reason I'm looking for her…" Orion paused, thinking he might have said too much. He didn't want to reveal his secrets — not knowing that Robin already knew most of them.

"The reason doesn't matter. What's important is that I'm going to find her," Orion concluded, too lazy to come up with an excuse.

Robin opened her mouth in surprise again, thinking how different the two versions of Orion really were!

"Hey, Orion, you're my age, right?" Robin asked, trying to make conversation.

"Yeah! I'm eight. My birthday's February 1st. What about yours?" Orion answered with enthusiasm, happy Robin wasn't asking difficult questions anymore.

"Mine's February 6th," Robin replied, but before she could say anything else, Orion took her hands and said joyfully:

"Really? Just a few days after mine! We should celebrate together from now on, don't you think? How about we throw a big party every year at Pacific Kingdom?"

Orion's eyes sparkled like tiny stars, and his face was just a centimeter away from Robin's, which made her blush again and try to pull her hands away, though she couldn't break free.

"By the way, I'm older, so from now on, you'll have to treat me with the respect I deserve," Orion continued with a teasing expression.

"Don't worry, your respect won't go to waste. I promise that in the future, I'll protect you from anyone who tries to hurt you — and I'll make you happy!" he finished with a bright smile.

Robin felt a strange mix of emotions hearing Orion's cheerful, carefree words, and her already blushing face turned even redder. Then, to Orion's surprise, two hands suddenly grew from his body and knocked him to the ground in an instant.

Flat on his back, Orion heard Robin say with a smile:

"Alright, Orion. Then it's a promise. Next year, I'll be waiting for that birthday party!"

Orion sat up and saw that Robin had already walked several steps ahead, so he quickly dusted off his clothes and followed her as they continued on to the village.

After walking for nearly an hour, they finally arrived at the village they'd been in the day before. There were still traces of destruction from the battle between Orion and Moria, which made little Orion feel somewhat guilty for the poor people who had had their homes destroyed.

He walked toward the town center, which they hadn't visited the previous day, looking around with curiosity. It was a medium-sized town, and the main streets were quite busy at this hour of the morning.

"Where are we going now, Orion?" came Robin's voice from behind him.

He turned to answer — and was immediately shocked by the girl's appearance.

"Huh? Robin? Why do you look like that?" Orion asked, noticing Robin's hair had suddenly grown and now covered most of her face.

"Shhh! Don't say my name out loud! I'm a fugitive. I shouldn't show my face, and don't call me by name in public. Now that your powers are sealed, we're in a much more vulnerable position!" Robin said as she stepped forward and covered Orion's mouth with her hand.

Orion, still with his mouth covered, nodded to signal that he understood. Only then did Robin release him.

"Then call me Kairos! I'm a fugitive too!" Orion said with a carefree smile, which made Robin put a hand on her forehead and sigh.

"Alright, Kairos… so where are we going?"

"I already told you, we're looking for someone named Perona. She's three."

"I know that, dummy! I'm asking where we're going to search! Don't tell me you're planning to go house to house asking for her?" There was a hint of frustration in Robin's voice.

"And how else are we supposed to find her?" Orion replied, raising his eyebrows as if stating the obvious.

Robin sighed again and raised both hands in defeat.

"Fine, I give up," the little genius said, and followed him to begin the search.

In fact, Orion had a lead on Perona's whereabouts, since before running into Moria he had checked her location on the map. The problem was that now, with his memories blocked, he didn't remember the location with complete certainty—though he had a general idea of the area where this Named Character was.

The two children walked through the town's central streets without drawing much attention, and eventually arrived at a section with a large number of commercial and artisan shops.

Orion entered the first of the shops and asked directly about Perona, saying that he was her distant relative and had come to visit her. The shopkeeper looked at him suspiciously and said he didn't know anything, so Orion had no choice but to leave the place disappointed.

They repeated the same process in the nearby shops, but made no progress. Finally, after asking at the last shop on the street, Orion brought a hand to his chin, trying to remember the location he had seen earlier on the map. He knew it had to be near their current position.

Suddenly, Robin tapped him on the shoulder and said:

"Orion, I think I found the girl you're looking for."

"Huh? You found her? Where is she?" Orion asked, looking around.

Robin pointed to a narrow alley between two shops, one that a fat person probably wouldn't fit through, and answered in a somber tone:

"Inside there."

She had been searching on her own while Orion went door to door. With the information that the three-year-old girl was in the area, she had decided to use her Devil Fruit powers to listen in on people's conversations and observe the surroundings carefully. Although her powers had an obvious disadvantage in combat, they were perfect for this kind of investigative task.

Orion and Robin entered the narrow alley without difficulty and walked for several minutes among the trash that had piled up there over the years, until they reached a wider area.

Looking around, the place resembled an interior courtyard, surrounded by the back windows of various houses and shops in the area. In the middle of this desolate yard stood a fort made of cardboard boxes, half destroyed by rain, and inside the fort sat an immobile little girl, staring ahead with a vacant expression.

Orion immediately stepped forward to examine her physical condition. The girl was in terrible shape—malnourished and dehydrated—and even her mental state didn't seem very good. One of her legs was swollen, and upon inspecting it, Orion realized it was broken and had gone untreated. If she remained in that condition, the girl likely wouldn't survive much longer.

Robin stepped closer and undid the power of her Devil Fruit, with which she had generated hair to cover her face, letting her hair return to its normal shape. On her now-visible face was a look of deep pity as she looked at the girl in front of her.

She herself had suffered a lot in recent months, so she knew what it was like to be in dire circumstances—but at least she had the ability to defend herself to some extent and fight for her survival, whereas the small girl they had just found could not.

Orion had no way of using his system to help her, so he couldn't give her Health Brownies, or even use the medicine he had created and stored in his inventory. Now that he didn't have access to the system, he realized just how much he relied on its functions in daily life. Even all his money was stored inside the Pocket Dimension!

"Hi, my name's Orion. What's your name?" Orion said with a kind smile, and for the first time since he had taken control of the body, he showed the same expression as his adult self—completely unconsciously.

Perona didn't respond. Her gaze was empty, as if she were unconscious with her eyes open.

Seeing that he likely wouldn't get an answer, Orion didn't try to keep talking, and simply knelt down and picked up the little three-year-old girl in his arms. Upon lifting her, he realized how little she weighed, and felt even more pity for her.

"Let's go, Robin. We'll look for an inn to eat and rest. I also need to buy medicine to treat her. I have a bit of money that should be enough for now," Orion said as he began walking toward the alley's entrance.

Robin looked at him in surprise. Over the last day, she had noticed the great difference between the two personalities of Orion. His eight-year-old self was clearly immature and far from the image she had of his radiant adult self. However, in this moment, she saw in the small Orion the silhouette of his adult self for the first time. It was a kind of dignity that couldn't be hidden, and it made her feel safe.

After all, both of Orion's personalities were the same person. It was obvious that, even if the younger Orion was still immature, he at least had the basic traits of his adult personality.

"Wait a moment, Orion," Robin said, snapping out of her thoughts.

She ran over to the fort made of wet boxes and reached deep inside, pulling out a large teddy bear covered in grime.

Not caring about its filthy state, she hugged the bear tightly and ran toward Orion to leave the place.

They walked in silence, leaving the alley without looking back. Orion had his mind set solely on treating Perona's injuries as soon as possible and feeding her. Meanwhile, Robin turned around very slowly, and just before leaving the alley, glanced out of the corner of her eye at one of the windows overlooking the inner courtyard.

It was a second-story window. There, hiding behind a white curtain, was a woman with a mean-looking face, staring at them fixedly. Robin could feel malice in the woman's gaze, which immediately set her hyperactive mind to work. She was used to that look—countless times, she had been looked at in the same way: with disdain, revulsion, and rejection.

The woman's gaze wasn't directed at them, but at the small girl in Orion's arms.

Orion found an inn and immediately paid for a room. Then he went out to buy the supplies he needed to treat Perona.

By the time evening came, Orion had finished treating her and had also managed to get her to eat some mush and fill her stomach. Now Perona was asleep—though even in her sleep, her expression was rather grim.

Orion hoped the little girl would recover over the next few days if she received proper care, and he didn't plan to leave this town until she was well. After all, now that he couldn't use his Pocket Dimension, setting sail with a three-year-old girl in poor health wasn't the wisest option.

Besides, he wanted to wait a bit to see if the system rebooted soon, which would make his journey much easier. Otherwise, Orion would have to find a way to get money and a ship to continue his journey—or they'd have to travel with other people, which wasn't ideal.

Orion looked out the window of his inn room and wished that no more problems would come on top of the ones he already had—unaware that, in the popular literature of his previous life, that behavior was called "raising a flag."

....

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