What Damian had stated was, in fact, all true—Kukui acknowledged that much.
But he still couldn't accept it. In his eyes, it was all just sophistry.
Everything Damian was saying now was nothing more than twisting logic and swapping cause and effect.
The results might look like that, sure—but what about the original intent?
Team Rocket's intentions had always been purely for their own interests.
That was the difference.
"Mr. Damian, is that all you came here to say?"
Kukui's tone was very calm.
"Oh?"
Damian looked at him with a half‑smile, waiting for him to continue.
"That's just your side of the story.Snatching random Trainers' Pokémon, using Pokémon in gene experiments, forcibly taking over civilian businesses, secretly taking contracts that violate the law…"
Kukui listed off Team Rocket's crimes one by one.
He didn't even need to verify them personally.
These were exactly the reasons Kanto's Team Rocket had been officially wanted by the Indigo League.
"Just last month, Team Rocket hijacked the S.S. Anne, using a Trainer event as a lure to get Trainers onboard, then tried to steal their Pokémon."
Kukui stared hard at Damian, tossing out a fresh example.
"Mr. Damian, still want to keep arguing?"
There was no need to refute the things Damian had just boasted about.
Team Rocket had committed enough crimes as it was.
"I won't deny it. But what's that got to do with me?"
Damian admitted it without the slightest hesitation.
As for the S.S. Anne incident, that had indeed happened. Damian had asked Giovanni about it and learned it had been a plan cooked up by Archer.
Supposedly it had all been for the sake of a very rare Pokémon.
In the end, though, the plan failed because two ridiculously strong kid Trainers wiped out every Team Rocket member on the S.S. Anne.
"?"
Kukui froze.
"Professor Kukui, that was Kanto's Team Rocket.
What's it got to do with my Alola Team Rocket?"
Damian's tone was perfectly matter‑of‑fact as he cut a clean line between them.
Kukui fell silent.
"Snatching random people's Pokémon is extremely stupid and barely profitable.
Gene‑splicing experiments are outright monstrous.
As for seizing other people's companies? Our own corporations can grow into world‑class juggernauts on their own.
Why would we need to squat in someone else's nest?"
Damian countered each of the charges Kukui had listed off.
"You're saying your Team Rocket is different from Kanto's Team Rocket?"
Kukui finally understood what Damian was getting at.
"Isn't it obvious?"
Damian smiled back at him.
Kukui frowned, thinking hard, all sorts of possibilities flashing through his mind as he recalled everything that had happened since Team Rocket showed up in Alola.
After a long while, he gave the wicked‑aura boy in front of him a long, heavy look.
He'd more or less guessed Damian's true aim.
This guy hadn't joined Team Rocket to simply "help it grow stronger."
No—more accurately, it wasn't just about strengthening Team Rocket.
What he wanted was a Team Rocket that belonged to him.
Otherwise, why emphasize the difference between Alola's Team Rocket and Kanto's Team Rocket?
"What are you really trying to say?"
"Legitimization. I want Team Rocket to be legalized here in Alola."
"Impossible."
Kukui rejected him on the spot without even thinking.
"Mr. Damian, have you even considered what the consequences of that would be?"
Legalize Team Rocket in Alola?
That was basically a death wish for the entire region.
Even if Alola's Team Rocket hadn't yet done anything truly heinous locally, Kanto's Team Rocket was still an evil organization officially wanted by the Indigo League.
If Alola legalized its own branch of Team Rocket, wouldn't that be openly defying the Indigo League?
How was that any different from Alola declaring war on Kanto?
"Don't get so worked up, Professor Kukui."
Damian obviously knew it was an impossible ask.
He smiled as he went on.
"Since you're unwilling, I won't push it.
What I am saying is: you gain nothing from butting heads to the bitter end with us Alola Team Rocket, do you?"
"The stronger the Alola Region becomes, the more it benefits me. There's no downside for me at all."
Damian carefully chose his words, doing his best to avoid stepping on Kukui's sore spots.
He could tell Kukui's heart was slowly starting to waver.
"To be blunt, what harm does it actually do Alola to have Team Rocket lying low in the shadows?"
"There are plenty of things you don't have the means or methods to handle quickly, right?
But when it comes to those, Team Rocket is very, very professional."
"Organizations like Team Skull, and the parasitic hunter syndicates—we absolutely will not allow them to operate."
"And for things like Ultra Beasts, the moment they appear, our organization will move out immediately to protect innocent civilians from harm."
Damian outlined, point by point, the "benefits" Team Rocket brought to Alola.
"All we want is to coexist peacefully on this land with your side. Nothing more."
Direct conflict and constant friction with Kukui's camp would be extremely bad for the development of Alola's Team Rocket.
Especially since Damian couldn't stay in the Alola Region forever.
Once he left, if Kukui—a Champion‑tier Trainer—teamed up with the Island Kahunas and launched a full offensive against Alola's Team Rocket, it would unquestionably affect their profits.
Even with Lusamine as a hidden piece on the board, it wouldn't be enough to fully prevent that.
"…I need to discuss this with Senior Hala and the others. This isn't something I can decide on my own."
Kukui finally spoke in a low voice.
"Of course.
But I do hope that you and the others can look at us Alola Team Rocket rationally, Professor Kukui.
I can assure you—everyone in Alola's Team Rocket is a good, law‑abiding citizen."
Damian smiled lightly.
The fact that Kukui hadn't shut him down outright was already a very good sign.
Kukui: "..."
Good citizens?
Ha. Ha. Ha.
Naturally, he didn't believe that.
Alola's Team Rocket under Damian's command was indeed nothing like the vicious, brutal Kanto branch—but calling them "good citizens"?
That was complete nonsense.
In Kukui's view, the real danger of Alola's Team Rocket lay precisely in that "harmless" facade.
They'd shed the flamboyant, attention‑grabbing crimes that had made Kanto's Team Rocket enemies on all sides.
Instead, Alola's Team Rocket focused on low‑profile development, like a venomous snake coiled patiently in the shadows, waiting for the perfect moment to strike.
And their ambition… was in no way smaller than Kanto's Team Rocket.
Damian might look harmless on the surface, but after seeing his "evil" side, Kukui knew this boy was absolutely ruthless, ambitious, and anything but kind.
His mood grew heavier and heavier.
His thoughts were a mess.
Agree to coexist with Alola's Team Rocket and let them operate freely in the underground of Alola?
That was unquestionably raising a tiger in one's backyard—handing them the perfect opportunity to slowly devour the region from within.
But going all‑out and fighting Alola's Team Rocket to the bitter end?
Putting aside whether they could even eliminate them completely right now—was this really the right timing to tear everything open and go to war?
Sure, they could always call in backup from the Indigo League…
But Alola's Team Rocket could just turtle up and hide for a while.
And if they did that, they'd be even harder to deal with later.
Damn!!
Kukui's head was pounding.
Damn Team Rocket!
Why did they have to come to Alola of all places?!
~~~
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