May 26, 1504, Age of the Sea Circle
Three days after Orion and Shanks parted ways, on Gourde Island, a blond young man was using a tarot deck to perform divination regarding his future.
"Mm, no matter how many times I try, the result is always the same," Hawkins muttered as he placed the card depicting death on the table.
Over the past few days, he had attempted this divination countless times, yet the final result never changed: he had a 100% chance of dying within the next few days.
Hawkins could not understand the reason behind this sudden fate, because earlier that year he had performed a long-term divination—as he usually did at the beginning of every year—and had found no indication whatsoever that he would encounter trouble in the near future.
What he did not know was that there was an entity that did not originally belong to this world, and whose actions were capable of altering the normal course of this world's timeline, which in turn affected his tarot predictions to a certain extent.
Hawkins had learned the art of tarot divination from his grandmother, who was a well-known witch on Gourde Island, famous for her exquisite pumpkins and her strange special techniques, which were considered black magic throughout several of the kingdoms neighboring the island.
Hawkins' talent for divination was so extraordinary that by the age of nine he had already surpassed his grandmother, one of the most famous witches in the island's entire history. Now, he was about to turn fifteen, and it could be said with certainty that there was no one in the world who could compare to him when it came to predicting the future—although Orion might not have agreed with such a statement, since he had Shyarly as the perfect counterexample.
Even so, Shyarly's abilities and Hawkins' abilities were not the same. The mermaid was not currently capable of controlling her powers at will, and could only passively receive visions of the future, though it was true that she could attempt to force those visions through the use of her crystal ball.
Hawkins' predictions, on the other hand, were far more precise and far less vague than Shyarly's, though they were also much more limited to specific and nearby situations. If he attempted to predict a future more than a few days ahead, everything became incredibly blurred, and he could only grasp a general direction of events, as though he could sense whether the future would be good or bad without being able to perceive any real details.
"Let's try one more time. This time I'll use granny's method," the blond young man said, and after quickly shuffling the tarot deck, he began a new divination, this time using a method he had not employed in years, believing it inferior to the one he had developed himself.
The cards slowly took their respective places upon the small table before him, once again painting the same inevitable and tragic future he had predicted so many times over the past several days. However, just as Hawkins was about to resign himself to his fate, the final card fell onto the table, and his eyes widened abruptly.
"The Fool? How is this possible? This configuration... it's impossible to determine what will happen..."
Hawkins stared intensely at the Fool card, trying to process what was happening. Up until now, every divination he had performed had concluded with a 100% certainty of his own death within the coming days.
But now, using the method his grandmother had taught him years ago, he had encountered something that had never happened before: the impossibility of determining the future.
It was not that the probability of his death had changed to a different percentage, but rather that it was impossible to calculate any percentage at all. It could still be 100%, or it could be 0%; there was simply no way to know.
It was precisely because of the low accuracy of these readings that he had abandoned this method years ago, yet he had never imagined he could obtain a reading in which the future itself became completely unpredictable.
For someone who had spent his entire life predicting every future movement and acting accordingly, the uncertainty of a future that could not be known beforehand was both terrifying and fascinating. Even so, at this moment, that uncertainty represented hope for him, because it was the first time in days that his divinations had failed to predict his own death with absolute certainty.
Encouraged by the result, Hawkins shuffled the cards once more and performed another reading, only to discover, much to his surprise, that the outcome was exactly the same. Once again, the Fool card appeared, turning the future into something impossible to predict.
"Could this card... represent a person?" Hawkins murmured thoughtfully as he began yet another reading.
Several hours would pass before he obtained his final answer, all while a great tragedy quietly began unfolding upon the peaceful Gourde Island.
…
Meanwhile, several hours away from Gourde Island, Orion's sailboat advanced steadily across the waters of the North Blue. Orion himself, however, was not aboard the ship at the moment, having jumped into the sea to swim for a while together with Shyarly.
Splash!
The surface of the sea suddenly stirred, and Orion leapt from the depths of the water onto the deck of his ship, wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and displaying his sculpted body in all its glory before the attentive gaze of Monet, who had been waiting for his return.
Orion's self-proclaimed maid lowered her gaze somewhat shyly upon seeing his bare torso, but nevertheless quickly approached him, offering him a towel to dry himself off.
"Thank you, Monet," Orion said with a smile as he accepted the towel and quickly dried himself off while enjoying the morning sun. Unlike the weather in his kingdom during this time of year, the North Blue was currently in the middle of spring, almost summer, and the temperature was pleasant enough to enjoy a swim in the sea.
Furthermore, with Orion's physical capabilities, keeping pace with his sailboat was not much of a problem, so long as he did not do it for too long.
Splash!
The waters stirred once more, and this time Shyarly's figure emerged from the depths of the sea, landing on the deck beside Orion before energetically hugging him and soaking his body all over again just after he had finished drying himself.
"Orion, your swimming has improved a lot. Have you been practicing?" Shyarly asked while enjoying the scent of Orion's body mixed with the smell of sea salt, which gave her a feeling of peace, as though she had returned home.
She had already spent six years living together with Orion in Pacific Kingdom, and she truly felt happy whenever she could be by his side, because for an orphan like her, he was her only family.
Of course, Shyarly did have a biological older brother named Arlong, and she had even lived with him for a time after her father abandoned her, but she did not feel much affection toward that brother in name, nor did she consider him her true family, since they had barely interacted.
Even though Arlong had agreed to take care of Shyarly, all he really did was provide her with shelter and little else. During her days in the Fish-Man District, Shyarly had spent most of her time alone, and she had even needed to earn her own money to pay for food through her fortune-telling, which she usually performed in the busiest parts of Fish-Man Island.
Those had been the saddest and darkest years of her life, and now that Shyarly was living happily in Pacific Kingdom, she did not wish to remember them, choosing instead to selectively erase them from her memory, although it was true that at times she missed her homeland and the presence of other merfolk around her.
"Hehe, you noticed? Last time you beat me badly during our race around Pacific Island, so I trained a little," Orion said while affectionately caressing Shyarly's cheek and brushing aside her wet hair from her face to tuck it behind her ear.
At present, Orion's "Swimming" skill had reached Level 8, meaning he had already far surpassed the level at which a normal human could move underwater, though he still could not compare to the speed of a mermaid like Shyarly, who showed him mercy every time they competed in underwater races so as not to completely overwhelm him with her speed.
From the side, Monet watched the affectionate interaction between Orion and Shyarly and felt a bit jealous, though she immediately regained her composure, because she knew that a maid like her could not display such possessive feelings toward her young master.
Besides, she knew Shyarly had been part of Orion's life for years, and that the two of them shared an extremely close relationship, so there was no way her own bond could compare to that of a newcomer like herself.
Even so, this only strengthened the resolve of the self-proclaimed maid, whose eyes almost seemed to burst into flames as she swore that in the future she would become the most useful woman for her young master.
Orion looked at Monet's appearance, which almost seemed wrapped in an aura of energy, and wondered why she had suddenly become so motivated, though he did not pay it too much attention, assuming she was probably happy because they were close to finishing their journey through the North Blue and returning to Pacific Kingdom.
Over the past few days, Orion had been speaking to Monet about his kingdom in the distant South Blue, and she could hardly wait to arrive and see her new home, finally being able to put down roots somewhere and live happily together with her sister and her young master.
Lifting his gaze, Orion looked at the cheerful Shyarly before him, who despite being close to turning thirteen was already almost one and a half meters taller than him(10' 8"), which was quite impressive considering Orion stood at 2.01 meters (6'7") in his adult form.
Although in his previous life such a height would have placed him among the tallest people in the world, in this fantastical world he was relatively small, since there could be humans who were twice or even three times taller than him.
Fortunately, Orion possessed his Gigantification ability, which he could use together with his other ability, Distorted Future, allowing him to alter his appearance and reach the same size as his enemies if necessary—or the same size as his lovers as well, if necessary too, though for entirely different reasons.
"Shyarly, we're about to reach our destination. Do you want to come to the island with us?" Orion asked with a smile.
"No... it's better if I return to Pacific Kingdom. The fishermen must be waiting for me already, and I've been away for two days..." Shyarly said, avoiding Orion's eyes.
Even though she had grown accustomed to living among humans in Pacific Kingdom, she knew that mermaids could encounter all sorts of trouble if they carelessly appeared near human settlements on the surface.
After all, mermaids were luxury merchandise for every slave house in the world. Although she did not believe that all humans were evil, she knew that the world outside Pacific Kingdom was far from ideal, since both Orion and the rest of her new family had warned her countless times to be careful whenever she ventured beyond the waters controlled by the kingdom.
Shyarly had taken Orion's warnings, as well as everyone else's, very seriously, which was why she had never attempted to travel on her own to any of the islands neighboring Pacific Kingdom.
She knew Orion was trying to build a better world, one where mermaids like her could undoubtedly live freely alongside humans, but at present that dream was still a distant one.
Orion, of course, could easily read through Shyarly's expressions, and so he said in a calm yet imposing tone,
"You don't have to worry about anything, Shyarly. As long as I'm by your side, no one will be able to hurt you."
Shyarly felt her cheeks flush slightly at Orion's sudden declaration, but she still shook her head lightly and replied,
"I know you would definitely protect me, Orion, but I really do need to return to Pacific Kingdom. It's peak polar fish season right now, and the fishermen will surely need my help."
Shyarly did not want to cause Orion trouble, even if it would only be a minor inconvenience, but that was not the only reason she had decided to return home instead of accompanying him to Gourde Island, which was already visible on the horizon.
She held a rather important role within Pacific Kingdom's economy, helping local fishermen locate difficult prey and patrolling the waters surrounding Pacific Island.
Even though she usually did not show it—due to her somewhat introverted personality—Shyarly felt tremendous pride in her role within Orion's kingdom, believing that she was contributing to the growth of her new home, which was why she always carried out her duties diligently, even when no one pressured her to do so.
Orion saw that the mermaid had already made up her mind and did not continue insisting that she accompany him to Gourde Island. However, realizing that she was the only mermaid in the entire kingdom and had to handle a great number of tasks on her own by taking advantage of her innate racial traits, he decided it was finally time to travel to Fish-Man Island and attempt to recruit some people for his kingdom.
He had promised Shyarly that one day he would take her back to her homeland, but until now he had been unable to do so, mainly because he had been extremely busy lately, and before that because he had simply been too weak to recklessly venture into the Grand Line.
Now, however, he possessed enough power to sail across those dangerous seas with confidence, so perhaps the time had finally come to fulfill the promise he had made to Shyarly years ago.
Furthermore, Orion also wanted to try meeting Fisher Tiger, who had been operating in areas near Fish-Man Island, because he wished to have a serious conversation with him—without the limitations imposed by the environment, as had been the case in Mary Geoise—in order to discuss the possibility of the leader of the Sun Pirates joining the Revolutionary Army and becoming one of their allies in the struggle against the World Government.
Judging from the favorability displayed by the system, Orion believed there was a high chance Fisher Tiger would accept his alliance proposal, which was why he had been considering going to speak with him ever since the incident at Mary Geoise several months ago.
On the other hand, he also wanted to stop by Marineford to see his childhood friend and fiancée Gion, and perhaps bring her back with him to Pacific Kingdom, although the final decision would depend entirely on what she wanted to do.
After all, Gion had joined the Marines and left the South Blue in order to train and grow stronger, and Orion did not know whether she had already achieved everything she set out to accomplish or if she still needed more time.
In any case, he intended to visit both her and Doll, for whom he had even prepared several new Dials filled with rock music, so he could do that after visiting Fish-Man Island.
"Shyarly, I'm thinking of visiting Fish-Man Island soon. What do you say, do you want to come with me?" Orion asked, once again catching the teenage mermaid by surprise.
"R-Really?! Of course, take me with you, Orion! I want to show you how beautiful the coral forest I told you so much about is!"
Shyarly hugged Orion's head excitedly, practically bouncing in place from happiness at his proposal while imagining everything she would be able to show him once they arrived at the legendary underwater island.
After exchanging a few more words with her, Orion opened a Space Gate to send her back to Pacific Kingdom after spending two days together with her in the North Blue.
Orion and Shyarly shared a rather special connection that had been formed thanks to the system, one that Orion still did not fully understand. Nevertheless, this connection allowed them to speak with each other no matter where they were—almost like a video call, although for the mermaid it felt as though Orion's image appeared directly within her mind, while he saw her through the system's interface.
Furthermore, he could also "summon" the teenage mermaid to his side, just as he did with his companion beasts, with Shyarly being the only person who could be transported in such a way, since not even his wives possessed such a privilege from the system.
Orion generally used this special ability to bring Shyarly along during his travels to different corners of the world, allowing her to experience new horizons, even if only for short periods of time, before returning to the safety of Pacific Kingdom.
Finally, the Space Gate closed, and Shyarly returned home, though before leaving she shared some rather unsettling words with Orion.
Apparently, she had experienced a new vision of the future the previous day, and she had been uncertain about whether or not she should tell Orion about it. During the years she had lived with him, she had experienced several "minor" premonitions and had never once been wrong in predicting those future events, greatly helping Pacific Kingdom's development and preventing serious problems.
However, she had almost never received premonitions concerning Orion himself, and there had only been two such cases, although she was not even certain whether one of them had truly been a premonition or merely a dream.
As for the one she did consider a genuine premonition, she had told Orion about it years earlier—during his time in Sorbet, when he had met Kuma and Ginny—but in the end nothing had happened, which had caused the mermaid to become doubtful regarding premonitions related to Orion, though she had not experienced another one until now.
Even so, Shyarly was worried that Orion might suffer some kind of accident if she remained silent, so she ultimately decided to tell him about her vision, in which she saw him being consumed by an immense amount of darkness cascading down upon his body like a waterfall.
The vision had been brief, but intense, and it had left her deeply worried. Nevertheless, when she explained it to Orion, he showed her a reassuring smile and told her not to worry, because everything would be fine.
Shyarly departed for home feeling relieved, and only after the Space Gate closed did Orion's expression turn solemn as his mind tried to decipher Shyarly's premonition.
With the limited amount of information available to him, it was difficult to reach any definitive conclusion, but the moment he had heard the word "darkness" from the mermaid's mouth, his mind had immediately jumped to the memory of a man laughing like an idiot while eating cherry pie, whom he had encountered many years ago during his meeting with Whitebeard.
"Marshall D. Teach," Orion murmured thoughtfully, recalling the unsettling feeling the pirate had given him back then.
After that, he had never crossed paths with him again, though he was aware of some of his movements, since they had been rather shocking.
He knew Teach had betrayed his captain and abandoned the crew after killing one of his comrades in order to steal the Yami Yami no Mi. Furthermore, Shanks had mentioned that he had encountered Blackbeard several weeks earlier in the North Blue, and that they had fought for several days before Teach managed to escape at the last moment with the help of his crew.
"It would be best to finish my business here as soon as possible and leave the North Blue for now," Orion said, having absolutely no intention of testing whether Shyarly's prediction was accurate or not.
Looking toward Gourde Island in the distance, Orion decided to go directly to see Hawkins without wasting additional time on the island itself. At last, the Gourde Island incident was about to begin.