"No way!? This can't be real!"
In the depths of Viridian Forest, as the green caterpillar let out a pitiful cry, the skirted girl standing across from Red immediately showed a look of disbelief on her face. Then she quickly pulled out a pile of rewards and stuffed them into Red's hands.
"As a reward for defeating me, this ₽80 is yours!"
"And here, have these three Poké Balls too~"
"What a generous young lady!"
Looking at the three Poké Balls in his hands, worth ₽600, Red's expression instantly turned into one like Nami's, his eyes practically shining with gold.
When he looked up again, the short-skirted girl he had just defeated had already returned to her usual expressionless, cold demeanor, standing coolly under a tree.
"Anyway, thanks for the Poké Balls!"
Having just escaped from a group of Bug Catchers but with no gain except money, Red sincerely thanked the short-skirted girl.
At this point, Luffy, who had just finished his battle, walked over. Glancing at the rewards in Red's hands, then at the short-skirted girl, he muttered with a strange expression:
"People in this world are so weird~ Their Pokémon suck, but they keep challenging us…"
"And after losing, they just hand us rewards directly. It's like we're robbers or something."
"What's the problem?" Red laughed as he stashed the rewards into his [Bag] and pointed ahead.
"Don't sweat the details! Other worlds always have some strange quirks."
"And victory is right before our eyes!"
"Don't forget, the next town has a Gym waiting for us to challenge!"
Red skillfully hyped up the situation for Luffy.
Luffy, naturally cooperative, immediately clenched his fists with excitement upon hearing the word "Gym," his attention easily diverted.
"A Gym, huh!? Hell yeah, I can't wait~"
By now, they had been in the game world for three hours.
With Luffy sweeping through everything, from Metapods to Weedles, from Bug Catchers to Youngsters…
All of them had been turned into tiny glimmers of experience, absorbed by Luffy.
Altogether, it added up to just over a thousand.
Not too much.
After all, the Pokémon levels in Viridian Forest were quite low.
Only battles against NPCs yielded slightly more experience; otherwise, it would have been even less.
But still…
That amount of experience gain already equaled about five or six days' worth of Luffy's regular training!
Even accounting for the time Red needed to recharge the game console, it still more than doubled the speed of Luffy's improvement!
And this was just the beginning.
Soon, the wild Pokémon would get stronger, and the experience from battles would multiply!
At this moment, Red could almost see their bright future!
…
…
"Looks like we're in luck! We're about to exit the forest!"
After defeating another Bug Catcher, Red suddenly noticed a patch of color ahead that didn't match the Viridian Forest palette.
As they moved forward, a tall building with a tan roof and white walls appeared before Red and Luffy.
Unlike the simple tunnels in the game, the scale and architecture in this world seemed to have been fleshed out considerably.
For example, the Viridian Forest they were in now was incredibly lush, far more expansive than the version that could be explored in just a few minutes in the game.
And the tunnel building marking the forest's exit was also much grander, standing out prominently amidst the vibrant green forest.
Of course, Red knew that beyond this building lay their goal for today, Pewter City!
Thinking of this, he instinctively licked his lips, his eyes filled with anticipation and excitement.
The game console's remaining battery could probably last them just under two more hours.
If they moved quickly, they might even manage to challenge the Pewter Gym and earn the first console reward today!
With this thought, Red immediately reminded:
"Forget the roadside Pokémon, Luffy, we don't have much time left."
"From here on, we need to speed-run the progress and hopefully finish the Gym challenge before game time runs out!"
After two years together, Luffy quickly understood Red's newer terms.
"Speed-run, huh!? Got it, eave it to me!"
He grinned, giving a confident pat to his chest.
Then, Luffy suddenly stretched out his arm like a nimble snake, wrapping it around Red's body, while his other hand pressed down on his straw hat.
"Well then… full speed ahead!"
"Don't hold back for me~ Unleash your power, Luffy!"
Seeing the arm wrapped around himself and knowing what was about to happen, Red's expression tensed slightly, but he closed his eyes and shouted determinedly.
And Luffy, of course, wasn't planning to hold back.
Before Red even finished his sentence, Luffy's feet were already stomping the ground at speeds invisible to the naked eye.
Then he excitedly murmured:
"Soru!"
Whoosh!!!
Accompanied by a sharp sonic boom, a streak of light shot forward like a lightning bolt, tearing through the dense forest toward the exit!
The sheer speed caused gusts of wind that made the surrounding flowers and trees rustle noisily.
Trailing behind the blur was none other than Red, dangling from Luffy's rubber arm like a ragdoll.
"Sigh~ When will I finally have some combat ability of my own?"
"Damn it, I really don't want to ride this broken 'car' ever again!"
Feeling the stinging wind on his face, Red groaned helplessly in his heart.
As for the movement technique Luffy was using, it was one of the moves Red had taught him over the past two and a half years.
Well, "taught" might be a stretch; Red had merely described what he knew from anime, word for word.
Who would've thought that just saying, "Rapidly stomp the ground dozens of times in an instant to generate explosive reactive force for high-speed movement"…
And a week later, he'd see Luffy already using Soruto sprint up and down mountains.
Besides that, he had also helped Luffy develop techniques like Gear Second and Gear Third with the current conditions.
Thanks to Red's presence, Luffy had already mastered his Devil Fruit powers early on.
And after learning about Haki, Luffy even trained himself to the point of awakening basic Observation Haki.
He might even be on the verge of grasping Armament Haki.
Of course, Red believed…
As Luffy's Trainer, the help he could offer Luffy would go far beyond just this!
Although Luffy, as a unique "Pokémon", didn't level up or awaken skills like regular Pokémon, that didn't mean he couldn't learn Pokémon moves!
Red was truly excited to see what kind of spectacular fusion would emerge when Pokémon-world powers met One Piece-world powers!
…
…
A few minutes later.
With the momentum still going, Red slammed into the white wall of the exit building with a thud.
"Godd Daaamn it! I knew it!!!"
Even though he had anticipated it, Red couldn't help cursing after sliding down from the wall.
Oh well, he had chosen this himself!
Rubbing his reddened nose, Red, thanks to his special body, quickly stood back up and glared at Luffy:
"How many times do I have to tell you!? Control your muscles when braking, stop flinging your passenger!"
"Opps Sorry, I forgot, hahaha~"
Luffy chuckled sheepishly, showing no sign of reflecting on his actions, making Red's teeth itch with frustration.
But time was short, and Red couldn't waste it lecturing Luffy.
I'll remember this grudge!
You'd better not get caught by me later, or I'll show you what "cruelty" really means!
Making a mental note, Red waved at Luffy and headed into the exit building.
Despite the building's grandeur, inside were just two NPCs standing far apart, doing nothing.
Ignoring the irrelevant NPCs, Red grabbed Luffy and quickly ran through the passage.
"Pewter Gym, here we come!"