Time passed slowly.
In the blink of an eye, the Straw Hat Pirates and the Straw Hat Grand Fleet had already stayed in the Sea Forest of Fish-Man Island for three full days.
Becoming the crew with the world's highest combined bounties did not make the Straw Hats arrogant.
After the initial celebration banquet, everyone immediately threw themselves into their respective training without a moment's delay.
After all, even though they were people whom not even the Five Elders dared to confront at Mary Geoise, it still felt embarrassing to call themselves true powerhouses.
And during these three days, Red was anything but idle.
He directly brought his partners into the game world of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, going on an absolute rampage—speedrunning the story while rapidly leveling up his companions.
Because of the era in which it was set, the storyline of this game world was very different from the traditional gym-challenge-and-badge-collection format.
While Arceus greatly increased freedom, it also introduced an entirely new gameplay system—
Pokédex Research Tasks!!!
After completing the initial storyline, Red successfully joined the Galaxy Team, an organization dedicated to researching Pokémon ecology, and became one of its surveyors.
In this game world, his main objective was to encounter Pokémon, then capture them, defeat them, or complete specific research tasks to earn research points.
Once his research points reached a certain threshold, he could apply to the Galaxy Team's leader for a star rank promotion.
After finishing a series of story-related missions, his star rank would increase.
In just three days of gameplay, relying on his incredible mobility and the overwhelming strength of his high-level partners, Red had already advanced to a five-star surveyor.
Unfortunately…
Perhaps because the star rank progression was too straightforward, Red had yet to trigger any special achievement rewards in the Arceus world.
All he gained were the system's standard functions—minor physical stat boosts granted after completing each stage of the game world.
Based on Red's own assessment, his current body might already surpass even Luffy and the others in base stats, reaching the equivalent of a Pokémon above level 70.
However, since the rewards were evenly distributed across his entire body, none of his attributes stood out excessively.
…
…
"Storm · Tornado Weather!!!"
Whoooosh—
In the Arceus world, within the crevice of a certain mountain peak.
Raging winds appeared out of nowhere, surging forward like a gigantic fist charging through the canyon. In an instant, several Geodude around level 25 were blown violently backward.
Dull, heavy collision sounds followed one after another, like billiard balls smashing into each other—chaotic and brutal.
"Danaa—!!! ..."
Below the canyon, Graveler that had been living peacefully were swept up by the sudden storm, their faces contorted in pain as waves of wails echoed out.
Unfortunately…
The creator of the storm showed not the slightest mercy.
Seeing the Graveler's suffering, she even increased the storm's output, lifting the bulky Pokémon high into the air and smashing them into the canyon walls on both sides.
A dozen seconds later, only two or three lucky Graveler remained standing.
All the others had been battered unconscious by the storm, their eyes spinning into mosquito-coil spirals.
Whooo—
With a flick of her hand, the overwhelming wind pressure vanished as if it had never existed.
At that moment, Nami let out a soft sigh.
"The power is still… too weak."
"It's not even comparable to Luffy and the others' attacks."
"Hey, hey~"
Looking at the canyon walls that had been forcibly widened as if struck by some colossal force, Red immediately complained about Nami's absurdly high standards.
"There's a twenty-level gap between you and Luffy, you know~"
"I told you to aim high, but there's no need to start yourself off on hell difficulty, right?"
"Hehe~"
The Nami who had just been resolute while activating her Devil Fruit power and the Pokémon move Gust stuck out her tongue and replied playfully.
"If I don't set my goals high, how could I live up to Vice Captain-sama's careful guidance all this time!?"
"Besides, I finally found a Devil Fruit that suits me so well. Of course I want to adapt to it quickly and develop combat-ready techniques…"
"Looks like I don't need to worry about you slacking off in training~"
Red smacked his lips in satisfaction and smiled.
"Then I'll look forward to the day when you awaken the Disaster Fruit and stand above the heavens."
"There are still plenty of Graveler in this canyon. Their levels are just right for your current strength… you can grind levels here."
"I'll go check on Robin."
"Okay~"
Nami clenched her fist and gave Red an encouraging gesture to show her determination.
Red smiled and nodded back, then performed a midair backstep, falling directly into a Hyperspace Hole and vanishing from above the canyon.
Leaving Nami alone to continue leveling.
In the blink of an eye, an hour passed.
Transformed into the Queen of the Sky, Nami continuously unleashed various natural disasters—
Lightning, torrential rain, hail, raging winds…
With her Flying-type aerial advantage, the Pokémon in the canyon couldn't touch her at all.
Under this violent baptism, one Pokémon above level 30 after another rolled their eyes back, becoming nourishment for Nami's growth.
Whoaa—
Streams of holy light representing experience points formed a multicolored ribbon, pouring endlessly into Nami's body.
Another wave of leveling light flashed.
With the infusion of experience, Nami successfully leveled up, reaching level 46. Her overall strength also rose significantly thanks to increased base stats.
"I leveled up!"
Feeling the sudden changes in her body, even without seeing a status panel, Nami instantly sensed the difference.
According to what Red had told her earlier…
She should now be level 46.
And it had only been two days since she reached level 45.
There was no denying it—once Red had ample game time, the Straw Hat Pirates' leveling speed increased dramatically.
At least before the level 50 threshold, gaining one level every day or two was entirely possible.
Combined with the short early-game experience bars and the support Red could provide…
That speed could increase severalfold!
The open-world design of Arceus allowed Red to perfectly act as a professional power-leveler, helping companions—or other "Pokémon"—gain experience rapidly.
With this game world, Red was confident he could raise a level-50 "Pokémon" in under half a month!
Level 50—even with mediocre potential—was equivalent to Marine Vice Admiral–level combat power.
Although such strength was no longer impressive in the eyes of the Straw Hat Pirates, across the seas it was still the pinnacle of power.
Even within a Yonko crew, it would be enough to secure a squad leader position.
Unfortunately, even though Red could now let his companions spend long periods leveling in the game world, he still couldn't afford to waste that time recklessly on unworthy targets.
…
…
"Body Bloom · Psychic Impact!!!"
On a stretch of plains not far from Nami's location, countless petals danced through the air as a gigantic, voluptuous Robin manifestation appeared out of thin air.
Although her vital areas were shrouded in holy light, her sacred form was still breathtaking—
If one ignored the enormous fist wrapped in Psychic energy.
Rumble—!!!
A godlike giant fist descended from the sky, crashing down toward a heavily wounded Alpha Rapidash below.
Alpha Pokémon were a unique feature of the Arceus world.
Compared to ordinary Pokémon, they merely had higher stats and larger bodies—but once materialized by the system…
Their combat strength far surpassed that of normal Pokémon!
Even so…
Under Robin's giant fist, the Alpha Rapidash could only display sheer terror, fleeing desperately yet unable to escape the shadow of the descending blow.
Boom!!!
The ground seemed to cry out in agony as it shook violently.
The entire plain was cowed by Robin's strike—no Pokémon dared emerge from the surrounding grass.
Moments later, the massive Robin manifestation dissolved into countless pink petals, slowly dispersing into the air.
Only Robin herself remained, panting, half-kneeling on the ground with one hand braced against the earth.
"Well done!"
Suddenly, a figure appeared beside her, praising her with delight.
"Red…"
"Huff… huff…"
After the battle, Robin weakly accepted the Super Potion Red handed her and tilted her head back to drink it.
In the blink of an eye, the Robin who had been gasping for breath instantly recovered.
Aside from a faint flush on her cheeks, there was no sign she had just gone through an intense fight.
"Looks like you've finally mastered this move."
"If I'd known earlier, I should've let you take that Fighting-type seed back then."
"Please spare me, Vice Captain Red."
Knowing Red was joking, Robin smiled warmly, then reflected on the technique she had just used.
"Following your advice, I can now fully use the body-duplication technique…"
"But maintaining a giant-form clone puts too much strain on my stamina. With my current condition, I can only sustain it for about three minutes."
"Three minutes?" Red pondered.
In most battles, three minutes was already enough to decide many outcomes.
Judging from Robin's fight against that level-50 Alpha Rapidash, the giant clone was more than sufficient as a trump card to turn the tide at a critical moment.
And combined with the near-zero stamina cost of her Psychic-type moves…
In the future, Robin could treat Psychic power as an alternative form of Armament Haki, engaging enemies in close-quarters combat that struck straight into their souls.
With that thought, Red smiled in satisfaction.
"Three minutes may not be long, but this is only the beginning."
"Keep it up—I believe in you!"
"..."
Robin's lips twitched.
Knowing this was Red's usual encouragement style toward the Straw Hats, she said nothing more, simply returning a graceful, polite smile.
"I'll keep working hard, Red."
With that, Robin shifted gears and flew back into the sky above the plains, searching for suitable Pokémon to battle.
Unlike Nami, Red hadn't assigned Robin the primary goal of leveling up.
First, Robin was already level 50—leveling further required massive experience, with little short-term payoff.
Second, Red had one core requirement for every Straw Hat—
Everyone must have a signature technique they could truly rely on!
Whether Devil Fruit abilities, physical prowess, or special moves—
In short, every Straw Hat had to become a specialist with a unique edge.
Levels alone were just the foundation.
Without properly combining them with other powers, the end result would be no different from an ordinary Pokémon.
Back when they first set sail, Red might not have cared much.
But recently, seeing Zoro and others repeatedly fuse the powers of the pirate world and the Pokémon world to unleash miraculous strength…
Red realized this was the system's true purpose!
Raw stats alone had no future!
Thus, helping each partner find their own path to merging the powers of both worlds became Red's current goal.
Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji—the crew's three main combatants—were already far beyond expectations in mastering Pokémon power.
Usopp needed no mention either; achieving his current level of strength with stats under level 50 was itself a miracle.
Chopper had developed countless variable human forms using his Pixilate-like trait.
As long as Franky continued strengthening himself after gaining the Fighting type, he would eventually reach dazzling heights.
And Nami, with the Disaster Fruit—
Her disaster-summoning abilities were a perfect match for Pokémon weather moves.
Those weather techniques would also help her train and develop her Devil Fruit, perhaps even allowing her to awaken it someday.
As for Laboon and Merry, they had little autonomy and could be set aside for now.
Among the Straw Hats, only Robin and Brook were still relying on a single system—either Devil Fruit abilities or Pokémon moves.
Brook was a special case; Red was confident he would find his own path eventually.
That left only Robin—who meditated daily, whose mental power kept growing, yet whose combat strength improved slowly.
"It's time to seek power from the outside~"
A sharp glint flashed in Red's eyes as he thought to himself.
(End of Chapter)