One Piece: Global improvement system

August 23, 1497, Age of the Sea Circle

Orion closed his Space Gate, having transported all the people he had recruited in this village.

For the past two days, the rebels had taken control of the Roux kingdom, and Orion had simply withdrawn from the main scene, leaving them to handle matters.

He had no plans to annex this territory, as he lacked the capacity to do so at the moment, so he had simply decided to conclude his participation in the overthrow of the Vascos.

The rebels had triumphed, and after eliminating the last royalist forces that had not yet surrendered, they would hold a vote to elect their leader, adopting a new system of government.

On the other hand, Orion had been touring the Roux villages with Lucky Roux, recruiting all those willing to follow him back to his kingdom.

With the help of his Space Gate ability, it was easy to transport new recruits, and in the past two days, he had increased his kingdom's population by over 500 people.

"Roux, let's return to the capital and finish our business in this kingdom," Orion said, looking at the scrawny boy beside him, who was eating roasted meat with great enthusiasm.

Since freeing himself from the scourge of slavery, Lucky Roux had changed some of his personality traits. He was no longer as serious as before, and instead liked to smile cheerfully and make bad jokes whenever he could. He had also developed a great passion for food, and it seemed his appetite was insatiable, always having a snack on hand.

Lucky Roux didn't answer him and continued eating as if he hadn't heard him, so Orion had no choice but to stand in front of him and wave his hand to get his attention.

"Hello! Lucky Roux, are you listening to me?"

"Ah! Sorry, Orion, I still can't get used to that name," the boy said, suddenly startled and almost choking on a piece of meat.

Orion shook his head slightly, thinking, "Who else could he be talking to if we're the only two people present?"

However, he didn't reproach him for his inattention, since he knew it was true that Lucky Roux still couldn't associate his new name with himself.

It had happened after defeating the Vascos and freeing the slaves. Lucky Roux, who had finally freed himself from his slave status, found himself without a name. For this reason, he asked Orion to give him a name.

However, to the boy's surprise, Orion flatly refused to do it.

It wasn't that he didn't want to, but simply that he considered a name to be too personal to leave in someone else's hands.

Normally, a person's name was chosen by their parents, but in the case of Lucky Roux, who was born a slave, neither he nor his parents had names and had never considered the need for one.

However, now that his slave status had been revoked, Roux longed to obtain everything he had previously been denied, and a name was first on the list.

After Orion refused to give him one, arguing that he had to do it himself, just as he had killed the king with his own hands. The boy racked his brains looking for a good name but his level of education wasn't very high; eager to settle the matter quickly so he could have a good dinner, he opted for the simple name 'Lucky Roux'.

When Orion asked him why he had chosen that particular name, he told him it was because he was fortunate to have been born into this world, and so he felt he was a Lucky Roux. Since the inhabitants of this kingdom were called 'Roux'.

His name was incredibly simple, but if that had been his decision, Orion would respect it.

Still, he couldn't help but wonder how Lucky Roux had chosen the same name the system had given him from the start.

He pondered whether it was merely a coincidence, or if there was a predetermined fate for certain events that would happen in the future.

If he had decided to give Lucky Roux a different name, as he had been asked to do, would that have introduced a change in the timeline? Or would something have happened that would have led to Lucky Roux having his original name?

Orion had many doubts about this, but he put them aside for the moment. Now, he just wanted to return to the capital, where he would formally bid farewell to the rebels, who were now in charge of the kingdom; and then return to Pacific Town with Roux and his family, who had not yet been transported and were also in the capital.

"Come on, Roux, if we hurry, we can reach the capital before nightfall," said Orion, taking a step forward. But before he could use Soru to begin the journey to the capital, Lucky Roux grabbed his head and screamed.

Orion turned around and saw him kneeling on the ground, clutching his head.

Worried, he approached him and placed his hands on his shoulders, trying to calm him down.

"No, no, no, no!" said Roux, completely terrified.

"What's wrong, Roux?!" Orion exclaimed, deeply concerned, seeing the boy's condition.

"A monster! A monster is coming!" Lucky Roux shouted, his voice thick with fear, then shot to his feet, grabbing Orion by the sleeves of his shirt.

"Orion, we have to get out of here! We have to go now! We don't have much time!"

Orion nodded solemnly, and the two began moving as fast as possible toward the capital.

.................

On a large Marine ship, a large group of people dressed in strange white suits and bubble-shaped helmets on their heads were talking excitedly about the competition that was about to take place soon.

"This time I will definitely be the champion! I ordered a modified weapon especially for this occasion," said one of the men, who looked stupid.

"Impossible, impossible! My weapon is much better, look," said another of the unpleasant men, pointing a rifle at one of his slaves, who was kneeling beside him.

The man fired his weapon, and a net was launched instead of a projectile. The net fell on the slave, then suddenly closed, embedding itself in his flesh and causing severe injuries.

"That's all? My modified weapon is much better!" said the man who had been boasting in the first place.

"Don't be so quick to judge, my friend. Look closely," said the man who had fired the net, a big smile on his face.

The other men looked closely at the slave, who had bled to death, and noticed something odd about his wounds.

"What's that?" one of them asked.

"It's my new secret weapon, a special kind of poison I got at the last auction! With this poison covering my weapons, there's no chance these inferior beings can survive! And with my nets, I can capture multiple people at once, hahaha."

The man laughed joyfully while the other men present looked at him with envy.

The marines standing nearby, ensuring the safety of these World Nobles, lowered their heads, not daring to look at them directly. Although the Marines' status was noble in the eyes of the common people, to these people who had no regard for human life, these Marines who were here to protect them were nothing more than insects.

Perhaps only those who held the rank of Vice Admiral or higher could avoid being massacred by the Nobles just for fun. The rest of the marines present had to be cautious and try not to let their existence be noticed by these degenerate individuals.

Figarland Shamrock and his twin brother Eldric stood a little further away, watching the horizon.

On this occasion, they had been sent to reinforce security, and their only task was to act as reinforcements in case a formidable enemy appeared that the Marines present couldn't handle.

"Eldric, this is the first time you'll be participating in a Native Hunt. Aren't you excited?" Shamrock asked, with a somewhat grim smile on his face.

"We won't participate. Our only mission is to make sure these stupid nobles don't die," Eldric replied emotionlessly.

"Oh? It's a peculiar way of referring to the most perfect beings in this world, although it's obvious that someone who lived among the filth for so long couldn't possibly understand such a basic fact."

Eldric didn't respond to his brother's provocations and simply remained silent, observing the horizon.

With his powerful Observation Haki, he had already begun to inspect the island where Roux's kingdom was located, which was still several hundred kilometers away.

Shamrock saw that his brother, whom he despised, hadn't reacted at all, and immediately lost interest. His mind returned to the native hunt that was about to take place, and he said with a smile.

"In any case, I don't plan on just being a babysitter during this competition. I'm a noble, and as such, I have the right to participate! This time, I'll eliminate all the big preys in this tiny kingdom."

Eldric ignored his stupid twin brother's words and continued scanning the Roux Kingdom. As the minutes passed, his confusion grew. Clearly, something big had happened in Roux just before they arrived!

Suddenly, Eldric felt someone watching him, and he focused his Observation Haki in the direction he felt the gaze.

Immediately, he saw a scrawny boy wearing dark glasses eating a large piece of meat.

For the first time, his expression changed slightly, and he raised his eyebrows in surprise at discovering someone with such a high level of Observation Haki on this small island in the South Blue.

However, he immediately realized the unfavorable situation and tried to distract his brother so he wouldn't notice the child prodigy's presence on the island.

But it was too late. Shamrock had stopped laughing like an idiot and celebrating his future participation in the Native Hunt, and now his gaze was focused on the horizon; his Observation Haki had captured the presence of the boy who had been casually watching them a moment before.

A large vein appeared on Shamrock's forehead, and he said in a very low voice:

"There's an insect that doesn't know its place. I'd better go teach it a lesson, wouldn't I?"

The fact that a person living in this filthy lower world had dared to spy on him without his permission was an affront he couldn't ignore.

Unlike his brother Eldric, Shamrock didn't care at all about the boy's great talent, as to him he was still just another insect.

Before Eldric could stop him, Shamrock leaped into the air and sped off toward the horizon, leaving only a few words behind.

"You stay and watch over the Nobles. I'll go ahead to the playing field."

Eldric hesitated for a moment, but ultimately didn't follow his brother and stayed put, fulfilling the responsibility assigned to him.

He gripped the handle of his sword tightly and said to himself, almost as if hypnotized,

"Calm down, Shanks, it's not time to act yet."

.................

Orion and Roux ran at full speed toward the capital.

On the way, Orion checked the system screen and saw that two new Named Character markers had appeared nearby:

Figarland Shamrock (16), Shanks (16).

As soon as he saw the second name, he was quite surprised, as this was a name he'd heard countless times in his master Roger's stories!

Shanks had practically been a son to Roger, and had even inherited one of the Pirate King's most prized possessions: his straw hat.

Technically, Orion and Shanks could be considered inherently 'on the same side,' as Roger had been a mentor to both of them, though Orion couldn't be sure what the dynamics of their relationship would be once they finally met.

Regardless, the reason Roux was so scared right now was likely related to the appearance of these two Named Characters, though Orion didn't believe it was them. After all, how terrifying could 16-year-olds be?

Orion continued to focus on the system screen, observing the notifications that had appeared when he completed the mission to overthrow the Vasco.

*You have completed Mission 12 - A Small Flame*

*You have obtained 1,000 SP*

*You have obtained the Random Kingdom Building Box*

*You have obtained 1 'Character Improving Card'*

He was quite satisfied with these rewards. SP was always welcome, and his reserve was currently just over 5,000.

The Random Kingdom Building Box was a great help in developing his kingdom, which was still in its early stages of growth and required a large amount of resources to maintain itself. Especially now that he had recruited another large group of people and the population had grown sharply again.

Finally, the Character Improving Card was a spectacular reward, as it served to enhance the skills of any Named Character on his list of subordinates. He planned to use this item on his beloved Giolla, since the beautiful artist needed to be her best if she was going to act as his spokesperson in the future, taking charge of running the kingdom when he wasn't present.

If there was one thing that worried him, however, it was that Lucky Roux's name hadn't been registered as a subordinate by the system, nor had he gained SP after freeing him from his slave status, which was extremely rare.

When a major change occurred in the lives of Named Characters, causing a deviation from their futures, it was common for the system to issue a notification and grant a certain amount of SP, the number of which depended on the Named Character's importance and the depth of the change.

The system's silence regarding Lucky Roux made him a little nervous, and the appearance of the new Named Characters made him even more uneasy.

He had the feeling that something would happen at any moment.

Lucky Roux stopped suddenly and turned to look east.

"It's too late, it's already here. It's already here!" the boy's voice was thick with panic.

Before Orion could say anything, his Observation Haki reacted violently, and he felt as if he were being watched by a sinister beast. A beast with crimson-red eyes.

The sensation lasted only a second, but Orion felt cold sweat flood his back. Once the feeling of being watched by a monstrous figure disappeared, what replaced it was the perception that someone was approaching and about to reach his position.

And while the sensation of the approaching person was incomparable to the monstrous presence he had just perceived, it was still a significant threat, enough to give him a major headache

*Ding*

A bell rang in his mind, and a new notification appeared on the system screen.

* The 'Native Hunt' will take place in the Roux Kingdom. If you wish to participate, please arrive at the location before the six-hour time limit. *

"The Native Hunt," Orion muttered.

This was the third time since he had arrived in this world that the system had issued a notification indicating that this competition would be held.

During the first two, he had no idea what this competition meant, as his knowledge of this world had been too limited.

But now, having heard countless stories from his teacher, Roger, he knew very well what it meant for such a competition to be held in this kingdom: the utter annihilation of the people who lived here.

Orion clenched his fists tightly and took a deep breath, trying to calm the emotions building in his chest. He knew he didn't have enough power to take on the World Government right now, but he still didn't plan on sitting idly by. At the very least, he had to save as many people as possible before tragedy struck.

The system's information would undoubtedly be accurate, so he only had six hours before the 'Competition' began.

Orion groaned inwardly, remembering that the last time, the system had given him a full day's notice.

Either way, there was no point in thinking too much about it right now; the most important thing was to act decisively and save as many people as possible.

Orion placed his hand on Lucky Roux's shoulder, who stood beside him, completely overwhelmed by the sensations his Monstrous Observation Haki was giving him.

"Roux, don't worry, I'll keep your family safe," Orion said with a smile, and before the boy could react, he opened a large portal behind him and threw him through it without warning.

A notification echoed in his mind, but Orion didn't check it, because there was an urgent matter that needed his full attention.

A red-haired young man with an aggressive expression suddenly appeared in front of him.

"Oh? One of the insects disappeared, and it was the most interesting one," Shamrock said, seeing that he couldn't sense Lucky Roux's presence anywhere.

"Well, I guess I'll have to settle for this one, even though it's inferior to the other," the young man added, his tone somewhat disappointed.

Shamrock didn't even look at Orion, because in his opinion, such an insignificant being didn't deserve so much attention. He would simply capture him and leave him ready to be hunted during the competition.

However, while Shamrock was still off guard, Orion threw three small rocks, which rapidly grew into massive boulders, falling against him with great violence.

"What a crude attack," the young nobleman said, and simply destroyed the massive rocks with his sword, shattering them into pieces.

However, Orion had taken the opportunity to escape into his Pocket Dimension, leaving no trace.

Shamrock looked around but couldn't sense anyone nearby. He focused all his attention on using his Observation Haki, which was almost as formidable as Shanks's and far more powerful than Lucky Roux's, but he still couldn't perceive Orion's whereabouts.

"Interesting," the red-haired young man finally said, narrowing his eyes with a grim smile. Perhaps the insects in this place weren't so boring after all. That made him happy, as a hunt was much more interesting when there were some minor difficulties, even if the final outcome was already set in stone.