May 3, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
"Teach! What the hell are you doing?!" Marco shouted angrily as he saw his crewmate Thatch lying lifeless on the ground.
"This Devil Fruit belongs to me! It's what I've been waiting for all these years, and I won't let anyone stand in my way!" Blackbeard declared as he consumed the Yami Yami no Mi.
The rest of the crew present on the scene couldn't react in time, allowing him to eat the Devil Fruit without any difficulties. Then, Blackbeard used his darkness powers to escape, creating massive confusion as he nearly sank the ship he and the other division members were traveling on.
Marco, who was in charge of this Whitebeard Pirates division, was too overwhelmed to stop Blackbeard, as he was far too busy rescuing his crewmates who had been attacked by the traitorous pirate.
Orion had no idea, but the moment he had eliminated the previous user of the Yami Yami no Mi, he had inadvertently set into motion Blackbeard's premature betrayal and escape. In the original timeline, Teach would have remained within Whitebeard's crew without drawing any attention for roughly fifteen more years, until he finally had the opportunity to get his hands on the Yami Yami no Mi.
How the world's history would change with this premature development was something only time would tell.
…
Meanwhile, in the West Blue, Orion was peacefully taking a nap on the deck of the Green Kamakiri mercenaries' ship, while Gloriosa slept curled up in his arms. Three days had passed since he had encountered Capone Bege, and after successfully recruiting him into his forces, Orion had refrained from participating in the siege alongside the rest of the mercenaries.
Bege had emerged victorious from the clash between mafia bosses without any difficulty, completely crushing his opponent—the plump mobster who had hired the mercenaries to attack Bege.
After his victory, Bege did not eliminate the mercenaries, nor did he wipe out the troops of the rival mafia leader. Instead, he limited himself to killing only the boss and his closest circle of subordinates, staying true to his own style of doing things.
For the Green Kamakiri mercenaries, there had been no real losses, since they had suffered only minor injuries during the battle and had been paid for the job. After all, they didn't get paid for victory but for participation—although it was true that there was a substantial bonus when a positive result was achieved.
In any case, the mission had been a moderate success for the humble mercenaries, who began their return to base in very high spirits.
Orion and Gloriosa also boarded with the rest of their companions, not worrying too much about Bege or his subsequent activities. Even though Orion had successfully recruited him, Bege held a somewhat particular status within his ranks.
Due to the mafia boss's ambiguous character and morality, Orion couldn't simply bring him to his kingdom, as that would create all sorts of new problems. Instead, Orion merely told him to continue handling his usual affairs, and that he would contact him when needed.
To begin with, the only reason Orion had decided to take Bege as a subordinate was because he needed someone with the right talent to run the future organization he planned to create to replace Umit Shipping, so Bege's true value would only become apparent once that organization was up and running.
For now, Orion was still in the planning stages of that project, so Bege's recruitment could be considered somewhat premature, having happened simply because Orion stumbled upon him during this mission with the mercenaries.
Even so, Orion had ordered Bege to limit his criminal activities to the bare minimum. Obviously, he was a mafia boss, so his hands would never be completely clean, but there were different levels of criminality even within the mafia itself.
Under Orion's orders, Bege would become something akin to a "security company" that operated within the gray areas, rather than a classic mafia family.
To ensure that the cunning mobster did not break the directives he had been given, Orion contacted Kuma and requested assistance from the Western Revolutionary Army to help keep the situation under surveillance.
If Bege ever decided to defy his orders and descend into a darker path than necessary, Orion would have no trouble returning to deal with him. At present, he had spared the man's life because his morality wasn't beyond saving and because Bege was extremely talented, capable of contributing significantly to Orion's future plans—but that did not mean Orion would tolerate a true villain operating within his ranks.
Obviously, the sharp-minded mobster had surrendered to Orion because he had no other way to survive at the moment, although he was probably already plotting ways to eliminate Orion and free himself from the sword of Damocles hanging over his head.
Even so, Orion felt no concern. Not because he underestimated Bege, but simply because he trusted in his own abilities. As long as he remained alert and didn't give the mafia boss an opportunity to act against him, the situation would remain under control.
Puru Puru Puru
Puru Puru Puru
The sound of the Den Den Mushi woke Orion from his nap. Still a bit drowsy, he gently freed his arm from where it was trapped between Gloriosa's breasts and picked up the small snail, answering the call.
"Orion, there are updates," Lucky Roux said bluntly, munching on some crispy fries that produced a rather annoying crunching noise.
"Tell me what happened. Are there any updates about the Ope Ope no Mi?" Orion asked hopefully.
"No, no news on that, but I did find a new shop that sells a delicious cheese, especially good for making pizzas."
Clank
Orion ended the conversation, slightly irritated, without continuing to listen to the gluttonous Roux ramble about pizzas. After all, the man could spend hours talking about food if you let him!
However, the Den Den Mushi rang again insistently, and Orion had no choice but to take the call, in case there was something truly important that didn't involve the quality of the cheese Roux used for his pizzas.
"Hey Orion, why did you hang up on me? I was about to give you the updates," Roux said, somewhat indignant.
"If you have something to say, just say it! I was taking a nap!" Orion replied, not wanting to get dragged again into a food-related conversation with his subordinate.
"Oh right, there's an important new mission that the company just received. The leader set sail along with all the remaining troops. Apparently, they're heading to a country called Kano to participate in an armed conflict as hired blades."
Orion grew thoughtful after hearing Roux's words, and after asking him a few more details about the matter, he ended the call. Then he opened the system map and looked at the location of the kingdom Roux had mentioned.
He had never been there, but he had flown over its skies when Kuma sent him to Ohara years ago. Considering his current position, he could probably arrive in a week if he pushed himself, just in time to meet up with the rest of the troops Green Kamakiri had dispatched.
Since the Ope Ope no Mi might appear there, Orion decided he couldn't let the opportunity to investigate slip by, so he immediately woke up Gloriosa, and after making her enter the Pocket Dimension, he vanished from the deck without a trace, and without alerting the other mercenaries who were traveling back to base.
…
May 11, 1503, Age of the Sea Circle
A week later, Orion arrived in the Kingdom of Kano, joining the forces of Green Kamakiri, who had also just reached the area. The rest of the mercenaries paid no attention to Orion and Gloriosa's sudden appearance, and only Kat (Kamakirigirl) noticed it.
The reason the girl who dreamed of becoming the Pirate Queen noticed Orion's presence was simply because, over the past weeks, she had developed a small crush on this new recruit who seemed so motivated to participate in every mission of the mercenary company.
However, even though Kat felt attracted to Orion, she had not attempted to approach him because she didn't want trouble with Gloriosa. The hyperactive girl frightened her greatly, since she had beaten up most of the company members, showing her overwhelming strength.
Kat believed that if she ever tried to get close to Orion, Gloriosa would definitely crush her with her powerful fists, and that was why she had been holding back. What the young mercenary didn't know was that after Orion explained polygamy to Gloriosa during the incident in Dressrosa, she no longer held any hostility toward women who wanted to approach Orion, so she would not try to stop Kat if she truly took a step forward and attempted to seduce him.
As long as she herself had a place in Orion's heart, she didn't care too much about what the other women did. The only reason she might show aggression toward Kat would be if she tried to seduce Orion during moments when Gloriosa was enjoying romantic time with him—which, due to Gloriosa's rather clingy nature, was almost always.
Upon arriving in this kingdom, Orion gathered information about the current situation. Apparently, there were two noble factions in conflict, and one of them possessed quite powerful armed forces, while the other had a large fleet at its disposal.
Since the battle was taking place on the island's own terrain, the faction with the imposing fleet was at a disadvantage despite having greater overall strength. For that reason, they had no option but to hire mercenaries to reinforce their forces, and that was why Green Kamakiri and other companies had been urgently summoned.
Several bloody clashes had already taken place between the two factions, and at any moment the conflict could ignite again, leaving Orion with little time to thoroughly investigate the situation.
Even so, Orion believed that this country was probably a moderately important place for the original One Piece storyline, since there were several Named Characters present here. Yet among them, there were two people in particular on whom he had focused his attention.
One of them was the commander of the great fleet they had come to support, a man named Chichilisia. This stern and imposing figure was the highest leader of the armed forces that Orion and the others had been summoned to assist, and although Orion could not determine this man's exact power level, at the very least the influence he commanded as fleet leader was quite significant.
The other person Orion had taken note of, however, was not an imposing leader or anything of the sort, but simply a young teenager, around Orion's natural age, who was standing among the ranks of another mercenary company present in the area.
This boy was named Daz Bonez, a serious and taciturn youth who, throughout the entire time Orion had been observing him, had remained apart from the rest of the mercenaries, sitting silently in a corner with his eyes closed, waiting for the moment he would be called into action.
The reason Orion was even more interested in this young mercenary than in the highest leader of the great fleet was because he had analyzed this Named Character with the system's help, and discovered that his talent was actually quite good!
Moreover, the boy's morality remained in a gray area, which immediately placed him within Orion's recruitment range, since he was always searching for new talent to strengthen his forces in preparation for a future confrontation against the World Government.
Orion did not know what kind of character Daz Bonez would be in the original One Piece story, but at least at this point in his life, he remained a neutral individual with great potential, and that was why Orion was considering recruiting him once their current mission was completed.
The ongoing battle between the two nobles of this kingdom was far more brutal than the factional mafia conflicts he had previously participated in alongside the mercenaries, and it could be described as a small-scale war.
Although it was not a large civil war that had thrown the entire kingdom into chaos, it was a conflict that certainly would not be resolved quickly, so Orion was prepared to remain in this country for a longer period of time. During that time, he would stay alert for any possible information related to the Ope Ope no Mi and would try to recruit the Named Character Daz Bonez.
Furthermore, if possible, he also wanted to investigate the other Named Characters present in this kingdom, who were located a bit farther from his current position, nearly at the edge of the system map's detection range.
…
Meanwhile, inside a dark dungeon within a gigantic fortress located on a deserted island, the leader of the Black Panther mercenary company was observing the miserable man in front of him with a sadistic smile.
This man had been personally captured by him more than a month ago, and after subjecting him to countless hours of torture, he had succeeded in completely breaking his mind, leaving behind nothing but an empty shell.
The reason he had gone so far with his torture was not only due to his sadistic and twisted impulses, but also because it was strictly necessary in order to avoid problems in the future.
In reality, this unfortunate man whose mind had been shattered through torture was the current user of the Ope Ope no Mi. He had eaten this fruit many years ago, believing that he would gain magical powers that would raise him to the top of the world, yet he had ended up with completely useless abilities.
Of course, it was not that the Ope Ope no Mi was useless, but simply that the man was unable to control its powers at all, making the fruit virtually worthless in his hands!
For years, he had tried to master the powers of this Devil Fruit, but had achieved very little. For that reason, he had decided to hide the fact that he was a Devil Fruit user, living a relatively peaceful life.
However, everything changed a few months ago, when during a drunken night he told the story of how he had eaten the mysterious Devil Fruit, boasting that he possessed magical powers. To make matters worse, he had used the only power he had ever mastered from the Ope Ope no Mi over the years: the ability to cut objects located nearby.
After that drunken night, the man woke up with a terrible hangover, unable to remember what had happened, and returned to his usual life as if nothing had occurred. However, his peaceful days would not last, since news of his magical powers reached the ears of the Black Panther mercenary company's leader.
As soon as he heard the anecdote about the cheerful drunk who could use his Devil Fruit powers to slice objects perfectly, the mercenary leader's eyes lit up, and he immediately set out to capture this man.
Considering the low combat level of the Ope Ope no Mi user, the mercenary leader had no trouble apprehending him, and the days of continuous torture began, until the pitiful man finally collapsed completely, leaving behind only a functioning body while his mind had shut down from the suffering and pain.
As for the reason why the mercenary chief had decided to do such a thing, it was because he was connected to the vast Underworld network that spread across the entire world, and he knew that one of the main figures moving within that underworld was specifically searching for the Ope Ope no Mi and was offering a huge reward for it.
Obviously, he did not have the Devil Fruit that the famous pirate was looking for, but he did have the next best thing: the fruit's user in the flesh!
For those who were deeply immersed in the Underworld, the fact that Devil Fruits transferred to the nearest compatible fruit upon the death of their user was no secret. Although ordinary people and low-level pirates were unaware of this information, someone like the leader of Black Panther, one of the most important mercenary companies in the West Blue, certainly knew it.
For that reason, the mercenary leader's plan was very simple: he would deliver the Ope Ope no Mi user directly to the interested buyer, thus amassing a fortune!
He could have opted to kill the user himself to obtain the Devil Fruit, but there was always the possibility that he would fail to acquire the Ope Ope no Mi if the fruits he prepared beforehand to "capture" the ability were not compatible.
In that case, he would lose a unique opportunity to earn a massive amount of money and increase the strength of his mercenary company, eventually making it the strongest in the entire West Blue. He was even fantasizing about the possibility of conquering a minor kingdom once he managed to reinforce his forces with the money from this lucrative deal.
In the end, the decision the mercenary leader had reached was simply to hand the Ope Ope no Mi user over to the pirate known as Doflamingo, and whether he could or could not obtain the Devil Fruit afterward would no longer be his problem.
Obviously, this mercenary leader did not understand the terror of being targeted by Doflamingo, for otherwise he would not have acted so carelessly.
Now, everything was ready for the transaction; he only needed to contact the buyer and transport the user to the exchange location. With his mind completely destroyed, there was no risk of escape, and he was simply a vessel to be crushed in order to extract the power of the Ope Ope no Mi when the moment came.
Suppressing the excited smile forming on his face, the mercenary leader grabbed a towel and wiped off his sweat. Then he tossed the towel over the head of the miserable man kneeling before him with empty eyes, without the latter making the slightest motion to avoid it.
"Prepare everything for the trip. We depart as soon as the buyer confirms the transaction," the mercenary leader said to the subordinates who had been waiting outside the dungeon.
"Yes, sir!" one of the subordinates replied hastily, before rushing off to carry out the leader's orders.
"Wait a moment!" the mercenary leader said suddenly, and after a brief pause, added:
"Also call Kiko, from Green Kamakiri. Tell him I've got a good opportunity for him to make easy money."