"Such a troublesome opponent!"
Boom!
A streak of light that seemed to tear through the void suddenly flashed across the chaotic cavern, as if splitting space itself in two. Surrounding Mega Mewtwo X was a thick psychic barrier, tightly clinging to its body like a suit of armor.
"Why?!"
Transforming into a beam of light, Mewtwo slammed a fist straight into Luffy's abdomen.
In the next instant, its body passed cleanly through him, leaving behind a startling, perfectly round hole straight through Luffy's torso.
At that moment, Luffy abruptly bent forward. His body softened like liquid, unbelievably flexible, his upper body flipping upside down as he stared at the spot where he'd been hit.
Seeing the massive hole in his own body, his expression changed sharply. He hurriedly straightened up, then brushed his hands back and forth over the "wound."
In the blink of an eye, the hole piercing his body was smoothed away as if it had never existed.
Luffy immediately let out a relieved sigh.
"Phew~!That was close… I thought I was a goner there~"
As soon as he finished speaking, Luffy spun around. His originally thick arm suddenly thinned and stretched.
With a few deft movements of his other hand, he shaped his own arm into the elastic band of a slingshot—and then plopped himself down right onto it.
"Next… it's my turn!!!"
Whoosh!!!
The arm, stretched thinner and thinner, suddenly snapped tight, launching Luffy's body forward like a cannonball.
At the same time, the arm that had been tied into a knot seemed to be abandoned, left hanging behind.
As Luffy flew farther and farther away, that arm suddenly appeared to gain a will of its own. In an absurdly comical way, it untied itself and went chasing after Luffy's body.
Boom!!!
Unaware of what was coming, Mewtwo had just stabilized its posture when a terrifying impact crashed into it from behind.
Compared to Mewtwo's size, Luffy's giant fist was like a massive mountain ridge slamming down, driving it straight toward the depths of the cavern.
"What ridiculous power…"
Watching from afar, Red took in Luffy's strength and let out a sigh of amazement.
Honestly…
When a gag-manga character's setting is dropped into a serious battle series, it's nothing short of dimensional suppression!
Luffy hadn't displayed anything overtly overwhelming, yet in front of him, Mega Mewtwo X—whose strength rivaled that of a Yonko—could do nothing but take the beating. Even the thought of actually injuring Luffy felt like pure delusion.
That said…
Luffy's Nika form being absurdly powerful didn't mean he was currently invincible.
First, the Nika Fruit placed an enormous burden on Luffy's body.
Although he no longer needed to fuse with the will of Nika, allowing him to freely control the output and duration of the form—rather than draining himself dry like in the anime…
Using Nika form to defeat a Yonko other than Big Mom was still quite a challenge for Luffy as he was now.
Second…
The power of Nika didn't only affect Luffy and the environment—it also subtly assimilated his opponents.
That meant some attacks that looked utterly terrifying on a realistic level might not deal much actual damage to those fighting Luffy.
Just like the battle between Luffy and Mewtwo right now…
The shock and psychological damage Luffy inflicted on Mewtwo might even far exceed the physical injuries it sustained.
"Still…" Red watched as Mewtwo burst out of the crater, a trace of fear flashing in its eyes, and the corner of his mouth curled into a faint smile."At the very least, this fight is already decided."
Mewtwo versus Luffy was the same as Kaido versus Luffy in the original timeline.
Back when Luffy was in Gear Fourth, even with the boost of Pokémon power, he would've been instantly crushed by a single blow from a Mega-Evolved Mewtwo.
But once he broke past the limits of his Devil Fruit and awakened the Nika form…
The Mega Mewtwo X before him was like a pink ping-pong ball in Luffy's hands, tossed around at will.
No matter how terrifying Mewtwo's aura and power were, in front of a gag character like Luffy, they were all useless—always getting dismantled in the strangest, most nonsensical ways!
And so, the battle between Luffy and Mewtwo dragged on for a full half hour…
At the final moment, as Luffy swung a fist so massive it could prop up the entire cavern ceiling toward the utterly exhausted Mewtwo, a system notification suddenly popped up before Red's eyes:
[Congratulations! You have successfully defeated the Legendary Pokémon · Mewtwo. Achievement unlocked: "Legendary Conqueror!"][Reward: Mewtwo Template.]
[Pokémon: Mewtwo][Level: 70][Gender: ♂][Nature: Bold (+Defense / −Attack)][Type: Psychic][Ability: Pressure][Moves: Disable, Life Dew, Psycho Cut, Safeguard, Amnesia, Future Sight…][Base Stat Total: 1200][Special Ability: Mega Evolution X / Y]
...
[Pokémon: Mega Mewtwo X][Ability: Steadfast (When facing an opponent far stronger than itself, Speed greatly increases)][Type: Psychic / Fighting][Base Stat Total: 1500]
...
[Pokémon: Mega Mewtwo Y][Trait: Insomnia (Overwhelming psychic power allows this Pokémon to forego sleep and prevents it from falling asleep or unconscious due to any move, attack, or effect.)][Type: Psychic][Base Stat Total: 1500]
...
[PS: Using the template's special ability forms consumes power at twice the normal rate!]
...
...
"To think even Mewtwo's Mega Evolutions carried over!?"
"This time… I've really struck it rich!"
Staring at the information displayed on the system screen, a flash of delight lit up Red's eyes.
Though the system presented a huge amount of data at once, Red's powerful mental acuity let him process everything in an instant.
First came the standard Mewtwo template. A Level 70 Pokémon with a base stat total of 1200 meant that once Red loaded the template, he'd achieve a true one plus one greater than two effect.
By Red's estimation, after loading Mewtwo's power, even if his overall strength didn't quite reach the level of a Marine Admiral, it wouldn't be far off.
Combined with the bizarre powers of the Pokémon world, even facing admirals like Akainu or Aokiji, he wouldn't be without a chance.
And after Mega Evolution, his power would leap even further. While he might not completely crush Akainu or Aokiji, defeating them would be no issue at all.
The only real limitation for Red now…
Was the power consumption of the Legendary template.
"I don't know how much more Mewtwo consumes compared to the Legendary Birds, but it probably won't be pretty…""Especially with Mega Evolution doubling the drain…"
Free power was certainly exciting.
But the power-anxiety he'd finally escaped came flooding back, dampening much of his joy.
Countless thoughts flashed through his mind, yet none of them slowed his actions.
The instant Mewtwo was defeated—before the battle domain even fully dissipated—Red hurled a pure white Commemorative Ball.
Unlike ordinary Poké Balls, Commemorative Balls purchased from the shop didn't grant extra experience when capturing Pokémon.
Instead, their effect guaranteed the drop of one additional item upon capture.
In other words…
This was a special Poké Ball that always forced an item drop.
If the Pokémon already dropped an item, using a Commemorative Ball would make it drop two.
However, the rarity of the extra item scaled with the Pokémon's level. That was why Red hadn't used one when defeating the Legendary Birds.
Wild Pokémon above Level 50 were rare—but not unheard of.
Many of the TMs in Red's inventory had come from using Commemorative Balls on Champion Road.
But now was different!
Mewtwo was Level 70—one of the absolute ceilings of the Pokémon game world.
Red was certain that the bonus reward it dropped would be astonishing.
Compared to that, the extra experience from other Poké Balls—even if it pushed Luffy straight to Level 70—was nothing more than something you'd eventually get by grinding time.
As a transparent red beam flashed, Mewtwo's body was pulled into the Commemorative Ball.
The ball shook symbolically a few times on the ground before the button flashed, signaling a successful capture.
Immediately, three more system notifications appeared before Red's eyes:
[Congratulations! You have successfully captured Mewtwo. Reward obtained: TM · Future Sight.][Congratulations! You have successfully captured Mewtwo. Reward obtained: Z-Crystal (Psychic).][Congratulations! You used a Commemorative Ball to capture Mewtwo. Extra reward obtained: Gene Wedge.]
"Three items at once?!"
Red had expected two precious items at most. Now his face lit up with sheer delight.
He tossed Luffy two Super Potions to recover his stamina, then opened his inventory to inspect the three items.
The first thing he saw was an old friend—the TM.
[Move: Future Sight][Type: Psychic][Category: Special][Power: 120][Description: Uses psychic power to predict the opponent's future position, storing an attack that strikes later.]
Future Sight—a devastating move with 120 base power and a predictive effect reminiscent of Observation Haki taken to its extreme!
While its foresight only applied in combat, unlike Observation Haki's everyday utility, that did nothing to diminish its strength.
Under normal circumstances, Red would've studied this move in depth and built a combat strategy around it.
But now, he merely glanced at it before shifting his attention to the other two items.
[Item: Z-Crystal (Psychic)][Category: Held Item][Effect: When the holder uses a Psychic-type move through this Z-Crystal, it upgrades into a Z-Move infused with Z-Power.]
...
[Item: Gene Wedge][Category: One-time Item][Effect: Select one Pokémon as the primary Pokémon, and another Pokémon of the same origin as the auxiliary Pokémon.After use, the auxiliary Pokémon disappears, transforming into special energy to help the primary Pokémon evolve.PS: After using the Gene Wedge, the auxiliary Pokémon will cease to exist on both the mental and physical levels. The primary Pokémon's consciousness remains unchanged.]
"This is…"
Without the slightest excitement over Z-Moves, what surged across Red's face instead was an uncontrollable grin.
The moment he finished reading the Gene Wedge's description, the first image that popped into his mind was Luffy—and little Nika.
After all, in Red's view, the only ones that truly fit the "same origin" requirement were Luffy and little Nika.
Little Nika had been born from Luffy's own body.
And although not much time had passed, after the banquet, the Straw Hat crew had already accepted little Nika as a companion.
Even someone as pragmatic as Red couldn't possibly sacrifice a friend just to make Luffy stronger.
But just as that thought faded, a spark of inspiration flashed through Red's mind!
That's right!
Even if Luffy and little Nika couldn't use the Gene Wedge, that didn't mean no one in the Straw Hat Pirates needed it.
After all, Luffy wasn't the only one with a Zoan-type Devil Fruit.
The other perfect candidate was someone Red had just advised earlier that day—
Chopper.
Chopper's biggest problem had always been this:
If he didn't want his soul to fuse with the fruit's will, then he couldn't freely use the Devil Fruit's ultimate awakened power like Luffy could.
But now…
With the Gene Wedge, that problem vanished entirely!
As long as Red could repeat the process—get his hands on another Master Ball, seize the fruit's will during Chopper's awakening like he did with Luffy, and turn it into a Pokémon…
Then, using the Gene Wedge to fuse Chopper with the will of the Human-Human Fruit.
That way, Chopper's soul wouldn't be corrupted by the fruit's will, yet he'd still be able to unleash the Devil Fruit's true power through its inherent attributes!
"So… this is the system's true purpose?!"
A brilliant light flashed in Red's eyes.
Before Luffy could even savor the joy of defeating a powerful foe, Red flashed away with him, returning directly to the pirate world.
Thinking of the regret in Chopper's eyes that afternoon, Red couldn't help feeling a pang of sympathy.
At this very moment, he couldn't wait to share the good news.
Chopper—
Your illness… can be cured!!!
(End of Chapter)