One Piece: Global improvement system

January 17, 1498, Age of the Sea Circle

"Self Bowling!"

Lucky Roux contorted his flexible body into a ball, launching himself at the pirate with the Usagi Usagi no Mi, spinning at an incredible speed.

The pirate was caught off guard by the boy's bizarre attack and took the full blow to the stomach, flying backwards from the impact and crashing into a nearby wooden fence.

Lucky Roux didn't stop, continuing to spin wildly, striking everything in his path.This was a new technique he had been practicing over the last few days, aiming to take advantage of both his body's flexibility and his newly bulky physique.

However, it was the first time he used it in an actual battle, and he still lacked control over it. He couldn't steer properly, and even stopping became difficult once he started spinning.

"Goddammit, Jerry! Get up!" shouted the pirate with the Bane Bane no Mi, seeing his comrade knocked to the ground and unable to move.

The pirate called Jerry got up with difficulty, wiping the blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, and glared at the boy spinning uncontrollably, who was destroying everything around him.

His gaze was filled with hatred and humiliation. Since gaining the powers of his Devil Fruit, no one had dared stand up to him, and he had enjoyed the fearful and respectful glances of those around him.

"Aaargh!" the pirate shifted from his human form into a full beast, transforming into a two-meter-tall rabbit.

"Don't back off, you trash! Restrain his movements!" barked the spring-man at the rest of the pirates, who were being devastated by Lucky Roux's spherical form.

The pirates had no choice but to follow their superior's orders and immediately tried to block Lucky Roux's path with their own bodies.

The tremendous momentum Lucky Roux carried was finally slowed by the pile of pirates in his path, though most ended up with shattered bones in the process.

Jerry took advantage of the slowdown and lunged at Roux, sinking his large teeth into the boy's flesh.

"Shit! That fucking hurts!" shouted Lucky Roux as the sharp bite pierced his arm.He immediately broke out of his spherical state and returned to normal, clutching the wound near his shoulder, which was bleeding profusely.

"Finally stopped, you fat bastard!" said the spring-man, who had already appeared behind him to launch a surprise attack.

"Release Punch! One Ton!"

He used his most powerful attack, releasing all the pressure stored in the springs of his arms to punch with incredible force, but the blow missed, as Lucky Roux used his monstrous Observation Haki and great speed to dodge it just in time.

After dodging, Roux drew both pistols and fired, intending to eliminate the spring-man on the spot. Despite his inexperience with firearms—having only recently begun using them—his aim was surprisingly accurate.

The two bullets shot forward and pierced the spring-man's forehead and chest. However, the scene of the pirate collapsing lifelessly never came.

The bullets had literally passed through his body without causing any harm, as he had transformed into springs, preventing the bullets from embedding themselves in him.

Lucky Roux was genuinely surprised. He hadn't considered the possibility that his enemy could turn others parts of his body into springs beyond just his arms and legs.

"This is a bad match-up for me," Roux muttered in frustration.

His main weapons were pistols, but against an opponent like this, it was truly difficult to deal damage. If he used a sword like Orion, he could easily slice the spring-man in two—even if his body was made of springs—but a pistol had a very limited impact area.

The rabbit-man once again appeared and kicked him hard before Lucky Roux could dodge. Although his Observation Haki had warned him, the Zoan user's speed was terrifying.

Even Lucky Roux, who was quite fast, couldn't compete with the pirate's sheer speed. Fortunately, his Observation Haki helped him balance the fight.

Still, minute by minute, Lucky Roux's position became more passive, and his body was covered in small wounds that continued to accumulate.

Around him, at least a hundred pirates had been eliminated, but these two Devil Fruit users were proving extremely hard to beat at the same time.

"Thousand-ton kick!"

The spring-man's attack came once again, catching Lucky Roux off guard—however, just before the kick could land, a figure stepped between them.

Bang!The powerful kick slammed into Christina's fist, and the impact echoed like thunder.The Marine captain didn't take a single step back and stared coldly at the pirate before her.

It was true that she had been captured by this group of pirates, but it hadn't happened after a deadly fight; instead, she had surrendered after being threatened with the lives of her subordinates.

She couldn't bear the thought of her men being massacred because of her, so when the pirates threatened to kill the Marines unless she surrendered, she complied without much resistance.

Her plan had been to wait for Orion's support, and if that didn't come, to attempt a final desperate act before her end.Luckily, Orion had come to her aid as promised, and she hadn't had to throw herself into a desperate deathmatch.

"Marines, suppress the enemy!" Christina commanded loudly, and her subordinates answered the call, raising their weapons and charging into the pirates in the area.

The battlefield immediately turned chaotic, and the pirates, unprepared for the sudden attack by this group of Marines, began panicking and making mistakes.

"You did great holding off so many enemies. Now, let me help you," Christina said with her usual serious expression.

Lucky Roux nodded and pulled out a piece of roasted meat from his clothes.

"Alright, I'll handle the rabbit," he said, munching the meat with delight.

The two Devil Fruit users attacked again, and the battle resumed.

"Hey gorgeous, you better go back to your cell and behave if you don't wanna get hurt," said the spring-man with a mocking smile and lecherous look, launching himself at Christina with all four limbs turned into springs, trying to embrace her.

He had wanted to get his hands on this woman from the start and had only been restrained by his fear of Vice Captain Maro. Now that she was back in front of him, he at least wanted to grope her under the guise of battle.

Christina used Soru and vanished without a trace, to the pirate's shock. Then she appeared in the air above his head, drawing her twin curved sabers, which were her favorite weapons.

"Tornado Slash!"

Christina Kelly descended from the sky like a tornado, and the pirate had to put all his effort into dodging the fierce strike. Using the spring power in his legs, he barely moved fast enough to avoid a fatal blow, though he still sustained damage.

One of his arms fell to the ground as he glared at Christina from afar.

"Next time, it'll be your head," Christina said emotionlessly, unfazed by the brutal mutilation.

"You damn bitch! Once I catch you, I'll rape—Agh!"

The pirate began his threat, but before he could finish, Christina's whip wrapped around his neck. Her icy glare conveyed that, in her mind, this pirate had already been sentenced to death.

With a strong pull, Christina dragged the pirate toward her while raising her curved sword to deliver her best attack.

"Silent Slash."

Christina's body seemed to vanish from sight due to the sheer speed of her movement, and in an instant, she covered a large distance.

The pirate, still tumbling through the air after being yanked, had no way to defend himself.

To onlookers, the Marine captain had disappeared and reappeared in the distance, while the flying spring-man had suddenly exploded midair, sending blood and guts spraying everywhere. The sheer speed of her attack was almost impossible to defend against without the use of Observation Haki.

Christina didn't look back at the pirate's dismembered body, which fell to the ground in pieces. She simply turned and helped her subordinates battle the remaining pirates. Her attack had been silent, elegant, and deadly.

Meanwhile, Lucky Roux was once again being bitten by the giant rabbit.

His opponent's speed made it hard to take him down, and the fight had dragged on longer than he would had liked.

Finally, he had a good idea to end it quickly. During the last attack, he had ignored his Observation Haki's warning and deliberately allowed the disgusting rabbit to bite his shoulder again.

Then, gritting his teeth against the pain, he flexed all his muscles and trapped the pirate's head with one of his arms.

"Now I understand why Orion keeps telling me to train my Armament Haki," Lucky Roux muttered, feeling the blood gushing from his shoulder.

Lately, Orion had him training with Giolla to master Armament Haki, and only now did he realize how much easier this fight would've been if he could use it.

At least the damned rabbit's bites wouldn't have hurt so much.

Lucky Roux drew a pistol from his belt and pressed it against the rabbit-man's temple. The pirate began to panic, realizing he couldn't escape the boy's grip.

Bang!

The shot rang out, though barely heard amidst the ongoing battle.The rabbit-man's body fell to the ground with a gaping hole in his head, blood and brain matter splattering everywhere.

Lucky Roux took a deep breath and clutched the large wound in his shoulder, which continued to bleed. Then he looked around and dove back into the fight alongside Christina and her subordinates. There was still work to do.

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the base, Orion was fighting the pirate crew's vice captain, Maro.

They had been battling for several minutes, and the pirate was already in bad shape.

Though he could use Armament Haki in a rudimentary way, Orion's varied abilities had put him on the defensive, and now he was on the brink of defeat.

Looking at the countless corpses littering the ground, Maro felt a chill run down his spine.This mysterious man who had appeared from nowhere had begun wiping out his subordinates like flies, and now only he and the useless captain, who was planted by Nakamura to spy on them, were still standing.

"I don't know who you are, but we don't have an irreconcilable grudge, right? If you stop now, I can give you all my treasure," said Maro, trying to reason with the man who seemed like a god of death hounding him.

"The moment you chose to live a life tormenting others, we became irreconcilable enemies," Orion said without stopping his attacks.

This time, he wanted to train his hand-to-hand combat a bit, so he hadn't used his cutlass; otherwise, Maro would've been dead long ago.

Seeing that he couldn't reason with Orion, the vice captain quickly pulled a small sphere from his pocket and threw it to the ground, creating a burst of smoke to cover his retreat.

Orion wasn't too concerned. He quickly pinpointed the pirate's location with his Observation Haki; then, standing on his hands, he spun rapidly and launched four Tempest Kicks at his opponent.

Since Maro couldn't use Observation Haki, his own smokescreen worked against him. The Tempest Kicks rained down on his back as he fled, and he didn't have time to reinforce his defenses with Armament Haki, and took severe damage.

The pirate crashed to the ground in pain, coughing blood, as Orion emerged like a phantom from the smoke and landed on him, striking hard with his Kairoseki gloves.

Though the pirate wasn't a Devil Fruit user and wasn't weakened by the gloves, their incredible hardness still boosted Orion's punches.

The pirate's teeth shattered and scattered across the ground as his eyes rolled back and he lost consciousness.The fight hadn't lasted long, but it had been intense. Once again, Orion confirmed how far he'd come after years of training and battles. It was nice being able to feel his own growth.

At this point, there were probably only a few people in the South Blue who could face him one-on-one.

Seeing Maro unconscious, Orion stopped pounding his face. After all, he had to keep the body recognizable to claim the bounty.

He drew his cutlass and ended the life of the powerful pirate who had terrorized countless people in the South Blue, gaining 100 SP in the process.

Every time he eliminated pirate crews, he earned a decent amount of SP—though lately, his main source of points was his kingdom.By improving it and raising the quality of life for his subjects, he had accumulated a huge number of SP in recent months.

After storing the pirate's head in his inventory, Orion turned and walked toward the pirate crew's captain.

When the man saw him coming, he peed himself and began begging for his life through tears.

"Please, don't kill me! I'm just a poor bastard—a worthless puppet! I can give you information…"

Slap!

Orion struck the pirate hard across the face, almost knocking him out.He truly was cannon fodder, the weakest member of this pirate crew. He stood no chance against Orion.

"I want all your treasure. Maybe then I'll let you live," Orion said coldly, making the man tremble in fear.

"Of course, of course! There's a big treasure here—I can take—"

Slap!

Another slap landed on the pirate's other cheek. Now both sides of his face were swollen.

"I don't have time to listen. Take me to the treasure," Orion ordered.

The pirate nodded quickly and stood up with great effort, falling twice and crawling on all fours in panic as Orion silently followed.

The captain led him through the building's empty hallways until they reached a desolate courtyard.The man pointed nervously to the ground.

"R-Right there… It's buried there for safekeeping."

Orion didn't bother responding. He opened a Door in the air, and a small ball of fur cheerfully emerged, perching atop his head.

It was his little pet Nibbles, who had grown to the size of a melon.

Orion scratched the creature's chin, and it closed its eyes happily.

"Nibbles, dig a hole here," Orion instructed.

The small animal joyfully obeyed, leaping to the ground and vanishing, leaving only a hole behind.

Orion had discovered that this reward beast from the system was incredibly gifted at digging, almost as if it were its only talent.

At first, Orion had tried training it to fight, but the little creature wasn't powerful at all, which was a huge disappointment. After that, he had assumed Nibbles would end up as nothing more than a cute pet.

But one day, while digging water wells in Pacific Kingdom, Nibbles's talent came to light.He could move through the earth like a fish in water. He wasn't just good at digging; he seemed to be one with the soil, burrowing at insane speeds.

Orion hadn't used Nibbles talents much yet, but he planned to enlist his help for several future projects in his kingdom.

In this world, where technology was scarce and mostly inaccessible to common folk, having a natural excavator like Nibbles was a huge advantage for the kingdom—especially since he was still an infant and developing!

Soon, the ground began to rumble, and a large hole suddenly opened.Nibbles leapt into Orion's arms, and he placed the creature on his shoulder, where it nuzzled him affectionately like a kitten.

Orion jumped into the pit and saw a large pile of chests at the bottom. He stored them all in his Pocket Dimension without bothering to check the contents.

It wasn't that he didn't care, he just didn't want to stay on the island any longer, becausea marker had appeared on the system's map, and it was moving fast towards his position. The Named Character who was coming, was none other than Yarisugi!

Orion remembered their previous encounter and Christina's words earlier about how she had ended up in such a precarious situation.

Yarisugi's arrival wasn't good news. The teenager likely wasn't coming alone to retrieve the "package" he had entrusted to these pirates.

He was probably bringing a bunch of corrupt Marines from his uncle Rear Admiral Nakamura's faction, and Orion didn't want to confront the Marines here.Just thinking about it gave him a headache.

He looked at the terrified pirate captain and grabbed him by the neck.

"No! You said you'd let me go if I told you where the treasure was!" the man howled.

"I never said that. Be grateful I don't kill you right here," Orion replied, using Soru to race back toward Lucky Roux and Christina.

The only reason he hadn't killed the captain was that the pathetic man had more value alive. After all, he was the puppet the corrupt Marines had installed to indirectly control this dangerous pirate crew.

Orion intended to hand him over to Christina, hoping the stern captain could use this chance to strike back at those who had nearly pushed her over the edge.

He didn't want to get too involved in Marine affairs, but if Christina could come out on top in this internal conflict, that would be a good thing.Besides, he had a high opinion of her and wanted to help her a bit more, if possible.