"Y—you've gotta be kidding!? That's impossible!"
In the depths of Viridian Forest, a Caterpie let out a final cry as it fainted, and the skirt-clad girl standing opposite Arelon stared in disbelief. Then she hurriedly pulled out a handful of items and shoved them into his hands.
"As the reward for defeating me, these 80 Poké Dollars are yours!"
"And also—these three Poké Balls~"
"What a generous big sister!"
Looking at the three Poké Balls worth a total of 600, Arelon's expression instantly turned into full-on Nami mode, golden light practically sparkling in his eyes.
But when he lifted his head again, the defeated girl had already reset to her default NPC expression—cold, blank-faced—standing stiffly under a tree.
"Anyway… thanks for the Poké Balls!"
Having just escaped a swarm of Bug Catchers—with nothing but money to show for it—Arelon genuinely thanked her.
Luffy walked over, glancing at the rewards in Arelon's hand, then at the girl, and commented with a weird look on his face:
"People in this world are so strange~ Their Pokémon are super weak, but they still run over and force us to battle them…"
"And after losing, they straight-up hand us rewards. Makes us look like robbers."
"What's the problem?"
Arelon happily stowed the loot into his Bag, then pointed forward.
"Don't sweat the details! Other worlds are always a little weird."
"And our victory is just ahead!"
"Don't forget, the next town has a Gym waiting for us to challenge it!"
Arelon dangled the bait skillfully.
Luffy took it immediately. At the word Gym, he was already cracking his knuckles, attention successfully diverted.
"A Gym, huh!? I can't wait~!"
It had been three hours since they entered the game world.
Along Luffy's path of absolute destruction—Metapod, Weedle, Bug Catchers, Youngsters…
all turned into little bursts of EXP drifting into Luffy's body.
All together, they amounted to just over a thousand points.
Not much.
After all, the wild Pokémon in Viridian Forest were way too low-level.
NPC battles gave more EXP, or it would've been even less.
Still…
This EXP gain was equivalent to five or six days of Luffy's real-world training!
Even counting the hours Arelon needed to recharge the console, this still more than doubled Luffy's growth speed.
And this was only the beginning.
Later areas had higher-level Pokémon, and the EXP they yielded would multiply dramatically.
At this moment, Arelon could already see a brilliant future unfolding before them.
"Looks like our luck's good! We're almost out of the forest!"
After defeating yet another Bug Catcher, Arelon suddenly spotted a color that didn't match the endless greens of Viridian Forest.
As they approached, a tall building with sandy-yellow roof tiles and white walls came into view.
Unlike the simple tunnel from the game, this world's structures were far more fleshed out.
Viridian Forest itself had become vast and lush—absolutely nothing like the quick two-minute stroll in the original game.
And the building marking the forest's exit was grand and imposing, standing out vividly among the greenery.
Arelon, of course, knew:
Beyond this building lay today's destination—Pewter City!
He licked his lips subconsciously, eyes gleaming with anticipation.
The console's remaining power would probably let them play for just under two more hours.
If they hurried, they might even finish the Pewter Gym challenge today and earn their first game reward!
At that thought, Arelon immediately warned:
"Don't worry about the wild Pokémon now, Luffy. We're low on time."
"We have to rush the story—best if we beat the Gym before our game time runs out!"
Two years together meant Luffy quickly understood Arelon's new vocabulary.
"Speedrun, huh!? Got it—leave it to me!"
He pounded his chest confidently.
Then Luffy suddenly stretched out one rubbery arm, curling it around Arelon like a snake, while his other hand pressed down his straw hat.
"Then I'll go… FULL SPEED AHEAD!"
"Don't worry about me—go all out, Luffy!"
Feeling the arm wrapping around him and knowing exactly what would happen next, Arelon's expression twitched slightly, but he shut his eyes and shouted bravely.
Luffy didn't plan to be gentle.
Before Arelon's words even faded, Luffy's legs stamped the ground with a series of rapid-fire steps too fast to follow.
Then, in an excited whisper—
"Soru!"
Whoosh!!!
With a shrill crack of air, a lightning-like blur streaked through the forest, tearing straight toward the exit.
The wind pressure alone sent leaves and branches rustling violently.
Behind the blur—
Arelon dangled helplessly, suspended by Luffy's rubber arm.
Sigh… when will I get some combat ability myself?
I swear, I never want to ride this damned vehicle again…
Face stinging from the wind, Arelon groaned internally.
The technique Luffy used was something Arelon had "taught" him during the past two and a half years.
Though in reality, Arelon had simply repeated what he knew from the anime:
"In a single instant, stomp the ground dozens of times to create explosive reactive force and move at high speed."
One week later, he saw Luffy using Soru to run up and down mountains.
Besides Soru, Arelon had taught him everything he could with his current knowledge—
Gear Second, Gear Third…
Thanks to Arelon's influence, Luffy developed his Fruit powers far earlier.
And after learning the concept of Haki, Luffy—through absurd intuition and talent—managed to awaken basic Observation Haki.
Armament Haki seemed to be within reach as well.
Of course, Arelon was certain of one thing—
As Luffy's trainer, this was far from the limit of what he could provide.
Even if Luffy couldn't learn moves by leveling up, it didn't mean he couldn't learn Pokémon moves at all.
Arelon was extremely eager to see—
What kind of sparks would fly when Pokémon abilities merged with One Piece combat!?
A few minutes later—
Due to inertia, Arelon slammed into the white wall of the exit building.
Thud!
"Damn it! I knew it!!!"
Even though he'd expected it, Arelon couldn't help cursing as he slid down the wall.
He had no one to blame but himself—he knew exactly what would happen every time.
Rubbing his reddened nose, Arelon got up (his bizarrely resilient body recovering instantly) and snapped at Luffy:
"How many times have I told you!? Control your muscles when stopping—don't fling your passenger!"
"Sorry, I forgot! Hahaha~"
Luffy scratched his head sheepishly, showing absolutely zero remorse, making Arelon's teeth itch.
But time was short—he couldn't waste a second lecturing this idiot.
Fine. I'll remember this.
You'd better pray I don't catch you slipping later…
Or I will show you the true meaning of the word 'cruel.'
Marking a mental tally on his revenge notebook, Arelon waved for Luffy to follow and entered the tunnel.
Despite how grand the building looked outside, the interior held only two NPCs standing far apart, blank-faced.
Ignoring the irrelevant décor, Arelon grabbed Luffy and rushed straight toward the exit.
"Pewter Gym—here I come!"