Orion saw the new skill called "Strong Body" in his skill list and mentally selected it to see its description.
*Strong Body: Increases the body's natural ability. This passive skill increases the body's natural ability (strength, speed, stamina, etc.) by 100%*
Orion read the description, felt the overwhelming power coursing through his body, and his eyes lit up. Indeed, this was exactly the skill he needed right now!
Now that he could wield a much greater level of power than before, he would have a chance to fight the pirates. Even so, it would probably be impossible to defeat the entire crew, but he should be able to protect his parents and Gion.
He looked in the direction of the farms near the coast; his parents would be working there today. He began to run at a great speed that surprised even him. This strength and speed... It was on par with the power displayed by the little prodigy Gion!
On the way to the farms, he tried to calm his emotions while his mind adjusted to his body's newfound power. The change had been very abrupt, and he still struggled to control his body smoothly.
However, thinking he would soon have to face a group of ruthless pirates, Orion made a risky decision.
He had 100 system points he had left unused, just in case, and now they would come in handy. Along with the 10 points he had earned for defeating the club pirate, he had 110 points available.
His idea was simple: increase the level of the passive skill "Strong Body." With so many points, he should be able to increase the skill's level, right?
He selected the skill on the system screen and attempted to level it up. Immediately, 50 system points were deducted from his savings, and the skill increased to level 1.
He tried again to level it up, but the points he had weren't enough.
Level 1 of the skill granted him a 200% boost to his natural abilities. So now he was twice as strong as a normal four-year-old child of this world.
Orion knew that even so, that amount of power wouldn't be enough if he had to face a group of adults; he was still a child, after all. But if he was cautious and attacked his enemies by surprise, with his swordsmanship skills and reinforced body, he had a chance of success! Even if it was slim.
He sped through the streets of the small town and finally reached the farmland. His gaze turned grim when he saw some corpses scattered on the ground. The pirates had already passed this way!
Filled with impatience, he increased his speed to the limit of his potential. In the distance, he saw another scene that made his blood boil. On the ground, among the crops, a pirate with his pants down was lying on top of a woman, who was crying and screaming in great pain. The pirate was like a relentless beast, raping the poor woman who could do nothing but scream and curse fate.
Orion recognized the woman; she was a kind lady who lived not far from his house, though he didn't remember her name.
Seeing the pirate laughing with joy, excited by the woman's screams, Orion simply felt something in his mind snap. He gripped his wooden sword tightly and charged toward the pirate, who was completely unaware of his presence, so focused on his depraved activities.
Orion made a swift and precise attack with his sword, aiming directly for the back of the pirate's head. Only a dull sound of breaking bones resounded, and the pirate fell dead right there.
*Ding*
*You have killed a pirate, 13 system points earned*
Orion approached the confused woman, who looked at him in surprise and disbelief.
He picked up the pirate's body and, with great effort, managed to lift him slightly and remove him from her.
"Ma'am, you need to flee and get to safety. Don't go to the village, run toward the mountain. The pirates aren't many, and they won't carry out a long assault. If we can hold out even a little, they'll leave, and we'll be safe. Don't let them see you; they might try to capture you and take you on the ship."
The woman listened to the words of the little boy, who was familiar to her but seemed so strange at the moment, but she couldn't understand the meaning of his words. She was in shock from the rape she had suffered and her mind was not functioning well.
Orion repeated his instructions once more, and she finally reacted. She sat up, somewhat shakily, and looked in the direction of the mountain behind the village. After having gone through such a horrific situation, she just wanted to escape, and Orion's words gave her a certain sense of hope.
Before the woman left, Orion asked her if she had seen her parents. The woman showed a confused expression and shook her head. In her current state, her mind was so muddled that she probably couldn't remember even if she had seen his parents nearby.
Orion was about to say a few last words to the woman, but a loud bang sounded in the distance, interrupting his words.
Orion turned in the direction the sound had been heard, but nothing was visible. It was toward one of the village entrances to the farms, but that entrance was very close to the coast, where the pirates were attacking most heavily.
A bad feeling came over him, and without wasting any more time, he ran in the direction of the sound. Orion didn't want to admit it, but he knew it had been the sound of a gunshot.
The pirates had firearms. It was obvious; firearms were common among pirates. But for him, who had never seen the anime in his past life, and who now lived in a small town isolated from the rest of the world, it was the first time he knew there were guns in this world
Just thinking about a group of pirates armed with guns in front of him made his heart freeze. Compared to the power of firearms, his childlike body, twice as strong as a normal child's, or his swordsmanship skills, barely at the beginning of a professional level, were nothing more than a joke in comparison.
His fear of firearms was ingrained in his mind, a legacy of his knowledge from his previous life. Perhaps in this fictional One Piece world he now lived in, guns weren't as dangerous; perhaps they had design flaws, or some other problem, but he couldn't help but feel fear at the possibility that a shot could suddenly end his life.
Finally, in the distance, he saw a small group of pirates—three of them. No, four. One of them was raping a woman on the ground, just like the pirate he had eliminated earlier, while the other three were surrounding a couple sitting on the ground.
Seeing the couple, Orion's eyes narrowed, and a great rage filled his chest, completely replacing the fear he had previously felt at the sound of the gunshot.
At this moment, Orion had only one thought: to tear this group of damned pirates in front of him to pieces!
He accelerated using his maximum possible speed, approaching the group. As he got closer, he saw the wound on his father's leg, and his eyes clouded with anger for a brief moment. He had to force himself to remain calm so as not to lose control; if he let his emotions get the better of him, the situation could end very badly. After all, he was already at a disadvantage.
One of the pirates approached Lira with a lascivious smile and grabbed her arm. Seeing the young woman's beautiful figure, all the blood in his body concentrated in his cock, making it hard as steel. He couldn't wait to taste the body of the defenseless woman before him. One of his most morbid pleasures, which he enjoyed since becoming a pirate, was raping defenseless women in the villages and ships he attacked. Sometimes, he took them captive and subjected them to hell. Many of the women he had kidnapped had chosen death, some had died as a result of the daily rapes to which they were subjected, and only a few had survived to return to their villages, humiliated and with a child in their wombs.
The scruffy pirate exerted a little force, marking the delicate skin of Lira's arm with his fingers, and forcibly lifted her off the ground. He wanted to beat her a little before he began to rape her. However, before he could fulfill his depraved desires, he felt a breeze blow against his face, and the world plunged into absolute darkness.
*Ding*
*Pirate eliminated, 15 system points earned*
The other pirates saw their comrade collapse with his head in a completely unnatural position, and for a moment they were unable to react to the events before them.
Orion didn't stop his march; he had to use every second to his advantage. He pushed off the ground with force and shot towards another pirate, who stood there stunned.
However, this time his attack was ineffective. The element of surprise was gone.
The wooden sword grazed the pirate's head, but he managed to dodge it at the last moment. Then, enraged at having been attacked in such a way by a small child, the pirate took a saber that he had at his waist and attacked the child who had been destabilized after his attack failed.
Orion saw the saber approaching his body, and his mind reacted immediately. His level 1 swordsmanship was evident at that moment, and with a flick of his hand, he managed to deflect the fatal attack.
However, as a result of this exchange of blows, the wooden sword that had accompanied him since he began practicing his swordsmanship suffered irreparable damage.
The blade of the wooden sword warped, and splinters flew through the air. It was obvious that it wouldn't hold much longer, and probably wouldn't be able to stop the enemy's next attack.
The pirate saw that the little boy's weapon had been damaged and laughed out loud with joy. Now that he no longer had his weapon, this little boy, who had an unusually strong strength for his age, wouldn't stand a chance against him.
He stepped forward, ready to attack Orion, and Orion used all his speed to meet the pirate's new attack. The pirate, seeing the boy dodging his attacks, began to grow angry and attack with more vehemence. Finally, Orion stepped on the wrong foot, leaving himself open to the saber's attack.
However, before the saber could reach him, a familiar figure appeared in front of him and took him in her arms.
How many times had he been embraced by this warm embrace? Over the past four years of his life, she had been the closest person to him besides Gion.
It was, of course, his mother, Lira Lavender.
Lira wore a relieved expression, as if trying to comfort him and assure him that everything would be all right. She couldn't allow her son to be hurt before her eyes. At first, when she saw him arrive, she thought she was hallucinating out of panic and longing to see her little one, but when the pirate who had been trying to humiliate her fell dead to the ground, she realized that the Orion she saw in front of her was no illusion. It was truly her little son who had come to save her!
Tears welled up in her eyes when she saw him fighting at a disadvantage against the pirate wielding a sharp saber. And when she saw that her son was about to be hit by the pirate's attack, she didn't think twice and jumped in front of him.
In his mother's embrace, Orion saw blood gushing from her back and flooding the sky around him. His mother's warm embrace contrasted with the icy feeling that invaded him. He felt as if he had fallen into a freezer, with a chill running through his entire body, and then a great heat began to rise in his stomach. It was the heat produced by the rage that consumed him!
"AAAAAAArghhh!" Orion cried, sounding like a wounded beast.
"Tch, what a waste. Now that she has that wound, she probably won't last long. We'll have to hurry if we want to enjoy her body before we leave," the pirate said, completely ignoring the little boy's condition. To him, the lives of the people in this town were worthless, and as long as the little boy didn't pose a danger to him, he didn't care about his mental or physical state.
Right now, after exchanging a few blows with Orion, he didn't consider him a threat. He was one of the five most powerful pirates on the crew. Perhaps if Orion had attacked him by surprise like his unfortunate companion, he would have perished at the infant's hands, but now that that possibility was no longer a possibility, there was nothing to worry about.
Orion discarded his wooden sword and ran at full speed to the body of the pirate he had killed a moment before. At his waist was a cutlass.
Orion took the sword in his hands but didn't immediately confront the pirate with the saber. From their previous confrontation, he had discovered that he had no way of defeating him in combat; the difference in strength was too great to be compensated for by his swordsmanship, which was more advanced than the pirate's, who fought only with brute force.
Instead of attacking the pirate with the saber, Orion ran toward the other pirate present, who until then had been standing idly by, watching the whole sequence with a smile on his face.
The third pirate, seeing the boy attacking him, first felt great surprise, and then great anger. He felt the little boy was underestimating him, and that was a great insult to him.
He drew his battle axe and attacked Orion mercilessly. However, Orion had been waiting for his opponent to attack him to use his trump card. It was an attack he hadn't used so far in his battle with the pirate with the saber.
The main reason Orion hadn't used all his techniques was because of the weapon he was using. His wooden sword was not only dull, but it was also not strong enough to withstand some of his most powerful attacks. Now that he had a real sword, even if it was a poor quality sword, he could use his level 1 swordsmanship to its fullest.
Orion dodged the axe attack by a hair, then grabbed the short sword with both hands and shouted, "Thirty-six styles, rising dragon sword!"
This was one of the most powerful attacks he knew, and the ferocity of the attack surprised the unsuspecting pirate, who could only watch in resignation as the sword plunged into his throat at high speed, piercing his entire skull.
An instant kill.
*Ding*
*You have eliminated a pirate, 12 system points obtained*
Orion immediately turned around and continued attacking. Now the battle against the saber pirate was next!
The saber pirate saw that Orion was much more dangerous with a real sword in his hand, and he didn't dare take him lightly. He used all his strength to launch a powerful attack.
Orion saw the saber coming. His mind knew how to counter the attack, but his body wasn't strong enough to do so. In a confrontation with the saber pirate, his only option was to be defeated and die.
Or at least that had been the case a few moments ago.
Before the saber could reach him, Orion used the 100 points he had available to upgrade his "Strong Body" skill to level 2.
His body immediately exploded with energy, and he was able to dodge the attack before the saber pirate's surprised gaze.
Then, taking advantage of the enemy's exposure, Orion once again used one of his most powerful attacks: "Thirty-six Styles, Roaring Dragon Sword!"
The short sword in his hand seemed to come to life, extending straight forward in a deadly thrust that pierced the saber pirate's head without any resistance, killing him instantly.
*Ding*
*Pirate eliminated, 20 system points*
Orion stopped and looked into the distance. Only one of the four pirates in the area remained standing. It was the pirate who had been raping Celia moments before, who was now standing, holding a pistol in his hand. He looked at him with some fear, pointing his hand at him with a trembling hand. Of the four pirates present, he was the weakest. If the others hadn't been able to take care of the little boy, his only fate if he faced him would be death.
"Don't move, little devil. If you move a hair, I swear I'll burn a hole in you immediately."
Orion looked at him silently, still overcome with rage. Both of his parents had serious injuries and needed urgent medical help; he didn't have time to waste on these scum of the world!
In that moment, Orion lost his instinctive fear of firearms, which he inherited from his past life. With the short sword in his hand, he stepped forward, ready to finish off the last pirate.
The pirate saw that Orion was intent on fighting and fired, frightened.
The bullet grazed the little boy's cheek, leaving a trail of blood as proof of its existence.
Orion didn't flinch; he crouched slightly, lowering his center of gravity even further. He was about to use a powerful attack and quickly finish off the enemy.
However, at that moment, the sound of a bell began to ring from the shore. The pirate heard the sound, looked at the little boy in terror, and ran at full speed toward the beach.
The ringing of the bells was a signal from the pirates to signal their retreat. Evidently, their raid on the small village was over, probably because the villagers were gathering to resist the attack as a group, or perhaps it was simply common pirate practice. Certain small pirate crews tended to be very cautious in their attacks, as one mistake could mean the end of the entire crew.
Orion saw the pirate running and prepared to chase him down and finish him off. But before he started chasing him, he saw his parents, who were wounded and bleeding, and immediately put his priorities straight.
It didn't matter if the pirate escaped; the most important thing now was his parents' safety.
Orion approached and examined his wounds. His father had been shot in the leg, but the bullet had hit the fleshy part of his calf, and while he was bleeding quite a bit, it didn't appear to be a serious wound.
His mother, on the other hand, had a cut on her back, at the level of her shoulder blade. The cut didn't seem very deep, but the wound needed to be disinfected to avoid complications.
Seeing his parents' condition, Orion sighed with relief. This had been a close call. Both he and his parents had been on the brink of the abyss, one step away from the situation ending in irreparable tragedy.
His mother, Lira, had lost consciousness, but his father was still holding on, despite the great pain in his leg.
Orion approached him and explained that the pirates were retreating, and that he would rush to the village to get help.
Even with his passive ability "Strong Body," which increased his physical abilities threefold, it would be difficult for a child of his size to carry his injured parents. It was best to use his great speed to go to the village and ask for help from some adults. Now that the pirates were retreating, he wasn't worried that his parents might be in danger if he left them alone for a moment.
Orion ran at full speed toward the village and finally found people to call for help. The people of the small village all knew each other, and immediately came to his parents' aid upon hearing they had been injured.
He didn't follow them immediately; now that his parents were out of danger, he had to make sure Gion was safe!
He ran at full speed toward his house, and after a few minutes, he arrived. However, the image reflected in his eyes made his blood run cold once again. His house was intact as always, but his neighbors' house, the Harewoods, was completely destroyed and on fire!
Orion ran toward the burning house. If something had happened to Gion, he'd never be able to forgive himself!