"Past and future?"
Red chuckled softly, then admitted frankly,"More precisely, what I see are fragments of the past—along with futures that have already been altered."
"Huh…?" Zoro froze for a moment. After processing that for a few seconds, he muttered in a daze,"Th-That still sounds pretty damn amazing…"
Nami wore the same stunned expression when she heard that.
Seeing the future?
Was there really someone in this world capable of doing something like that?For some reason…
Even though she had only joined the Straw Hats a little over a day ago, her worldview had already collapsed again and again.
To the point where Nami was starting to wonder if the pressure she had endured under Arlong had finally crushed her mind and driven her into hallucinations.
On the entire deck, the only one still completely clueless was Luffy.
"Huh? What are you guys talking about?"
He tilted his head, feeling as though an invisible wall called "thinking" had suddenly separated him from his companions.
Zoro choked, immediately shifting his attention to Luffy, then looked at Red in disbelief as he asked,"So… everything you said to Buggy back then—does that mean those were things that will happen in the future!?"
"Luffy's future… will he really overthrow the World Government!?"
"As for the future," Red replied with an indifferent smile, "who can say for sure?""After all, the moment I observe the future, it has already begun to change."
"But there's one thing that won't change."
"As long as Luffy keeps growing, his future self will inevitably become a prime target for extermination by the World Government!"
"And all because he ate such a special Devil Fruit."
"What do you mean?" Zoro caught the key point immediately. "Is there something special about the fruit Luffy ate?"
At that moment, even Luffy turned his head, curiously looking at Red.
"Yeah, Red!""Didn't I just eat the Gum-Gum Fruit? What's so special about it?"
"Heh."
Red laughed lightly, reached out and tugged on Luffy's mouth, then explained to everyone,"The Gum-Gum Fruit? That's just a name the World Government fabricated to hide the truth of history!"
"The fruit you ate is actually called the Zoan-Type, Mythical Zoan… the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika!!!"
"Huh!?""Zoan?""Mythical?""Human?""Nika?!"
Listening to that string of incomprehensible terms, Luffy could only blink in shock.
For nearly ten years, he had been shouting 'Gum-Gum'—and now Red was suddenly telling him that his fruit wasn't even called that…
Worse yet, it wasn't even a Paramecia-type!?
Although Luffy still didn't quite understand what a "Mythical Zoan" was, just those two points alone were enough to leave him completely dizzy.
Compared to the person directly involved, however, Zoro and Nami were even more shaken.
"Wait!" Nami suddenly spoke up. "Why would the World Government do all this? What truth are they trying to hide!?"
At that moment, a chill ran down her spine.
She had only joined a fledgling pirate crew—how had things suddenly escalated to opposing the World Government itself?
Just recently, she had still been exploited by the Arlong Pirates!!!
Yet in the face of Nami's confusion, Red gave an even more shocking answer.
"I suspect… the reason the World Government fears this Devil Fruit so deeply is because their greatest enemy from eight hundred years ago—Joy Boy—was also a wielder of the Nika Fruit."
"And according to the legends passed down since ancient times…"
"Every awakened user of the Nika Fruit seems to become the World Government's greatest enemy."
"...""..."
As Red's words fell, the deck instantly fell into silence.
A long while later.
Luffy dug out a massive booger, flicked it away, and asked in confusion,"So… who's Joy Boy?"
"Hahahaha—" Red burst out laughing. "Honestly, I don't know who he is either."
"But who cares!"
He turned back to Zoro and Nami and said,"So then, my dear subordinates—do you still have any questions?"
"..."
Zoro and Nami exchanged glances.
After a brief pause, Nami spoke again,"So, Red… the reason you know us so well—is because you've seen fragments of our past?"
"That's right." Red's smile gradually softened."Because I've seen your pasts, I believe even more firmly…"
"That you're the most suitable people to become companions."
"Heh~" Zoro grinned confidently, arrogantly even."You've got a good eye for people."
"So—does my future self become the world's greatest swordsman?"
"As for that…" Red merely smiled, instead turning to Luffy."Luffy, do you want to know whether you become the Pirate King? I can tell you the answer right now."
"Nope!"
Luffy pouted and rejected him outright."I don't want to know the result in advance! What fun would that kind of adventure be!?"
"Mmm~" Red looked back at Zoro with a grin."So, Zoro—do you still want to hear the answer?"
"Interesting." Zoro flashed a grin, but didn't ask further.
Then, with a playful look, he added,"However…"
"If I don't become the world's greatest swordsman in the future, then that'll be your failure as a Trainer."
"That's true," Red replied, a glint flashing in his eyes.
Seeing that they had no more questions, he took the initiative to conclude,"Alright, it's getting late."
"There are new adventures waiting for us tomorrow~"
"Let's call it a day."
"You might still have a lot of doubts in your hearts, but trust me—over time, all of these questions will be answered in our future adventures."
"Luffy, get ready. I'll be taking you into the game world soon!"
"Ohhh!!! I'm ready!!!"
Luffy laughed loudly and dove straight into the cabin.
Red followed him inside right away.
In an instant, the atmosphere on the deck grew quiet and chilly.
Under the clear moonlight, Zoro leaned one hand on his sword's hilt. It was hard to tell whether he was speaking to Nami or to himself as he murmured softly,"Looks like we've boarded one hell of a ship."
With that, he stepped forward—but instead of heading for the cabin, he walked toward the deck's training area.
After a brief warm-up, he hoisted a massive dumbbell onto his shoulder and began training, rep after rep.
"Yeah… I guess so."
Seeing this, a gentle smile slowly curved on Nami's lips.
For some reason, after hearing all that talk about Joy Boy and the World Government, she no longer felt that the Arlong Pirates were an insurmountable obstacle at all.
The pressure weighing on her chest vanished in that very moment.
Perhaps even Red himself hadn't realized it—but his words had already untied every knot in Nami's heart ahead of time.
...
...
More than ten minutes later.
Inside the game world, at the exit of Mt. Moon's cave.
"Wahahahaha~ the Pokémon world…"
"I—Luffy—have returned again!!!"
(End of Chapter)