"Are you kidding me? This is impossible!"
The Bug Catcher's Caterpie collapsed with a pitiful cry, its small green body curling into a defensive ball as spiral-eyed unconsciousness claimed it. Standing across from Akira, the young trainer in shorts stared at the scene with pure disbelief written across his face. His confident smirk had vanished, replaced by the stunned expression of someone who'd just watched their "sure thing" crumble to dust.
"As a reward for defeating me, I'll give you these 80 Pokédollars!" he said mechanically, his voice carrying the hollow tone of a programmed NPC as he stuffed coins into Akira's waiting hands. "In addition, there are these three Poké Balls!"
"What a generous fellow," Akira muttered, accepting the three pristine Poké Balls worth 600 Pokédollars total. His expression suddenly shifted, and for a moment, he looked remarkably like Nami from his old world—golden light practically flashing in his eyes as he calculated their growing wealth. The sight of free resources never failed to trigger his most mercenary instincts.
When he looked up again, the Bug Catcher had already returned to his original position beneath a towering oak tree, standing motionless with the blank, expressionless stare that marked him as another game world NPC reset to his default state.
"Anyway, thanks for the Poké Balls," Akira said with genuine appreciation, despite knowing the trainer could no longer hear him.
Having just escaped a gauntlet of Bug Catchers and Youngsters who'd yielded nothing but money, he truly valued this unexpected windfall of actual capture devices. Every Poké Ball represented potential experience points and item drops, making them far more valuable than their monetary cost suggested.
Luffy bounded over from where he'd been stretching after the brief battle, his rubber limbs snapping back to normal proportions with characteristic pop sounds. He glanced at the rewards in Akira's hands, then at the motionless Bug Catcher, his expression growing thoughtful in that peculiar way that meant he was about to voice one of his more insightful observations.
"The people in this world are so weird," he said, tilting his head as he studied the frozen trainer. "The Pokémon they use are so weak, but they still come over and force us to fight. Then they give us rewards directly after we defeat them, making us look like robbers."
"What does it matter?" Akira smiled, storing the rewards in his [Bag] interface with practiced efficiency. He pointed toward a distant structure barely visible through the forest's green canopy. "Don't worry about those details! There are always strange customs in other worlds."
The logic of game mechanics rarely translated to real-world sensibilities, but questioning the fundamental nature of their virtual reality would only lead to headaches. Better to accept the system's quirks and exploit them for maximum benefit.
"Besides, our victory is right ahead of us!" He gestured more emphatically, his voice taking on the enthusiastic tone he used when he needed to redirect Luffy's attention. "Don't forget—there's a gym waiting for us to challenge in the next town!"
The promise of stronger opponents and greater challenges was always the most reliable way to capture Luffy's interest. Like dangling meat in front of a hungry tiger, the mention of a gym battle never failed to ignite his fighting spirit.
Sure enough, Luffy's eyes immediately brightened, and he began rubbing his hands together with barely contained excitement. "A gym? I can't wait to see what kind of strong opponents they have!"
Akira nodded with satisfaction. Three hours had passed since they'd entered this digital realm, and the steady accumulation of experience had been more than worth their time investment. As Luffy had swept through the forest like a rubber-powered hurricane, every obstacle in their path had fallen.
Metapod, Kakuna, Weedle, Caterpie, Bug Catchers, Youngsters in shorts—all had transformed into precious experience points flowing into Luffy's steadily growing power reserves. The variety of defeated foes created a satisfying mental tally that added up to roughly a thousand experience points in total.
Not bad for a beginner area, though the generally low levels of Viridian Forest's inhabitants did limit their gains. Wild Pokémon here rarely exceeded level 5, with most trainers fielding teams in the 6-9 range. The real experience bonus came from defeating human trainers rather than wild encounters—NPCs provided significantly better rewards than random Pokémon battles.
However, even accounting for the modest numbers, this single gaming session had provided experience equivalent to five or six days of real-world training. When Akira factored in the charging time required for their next virtual adventure, they were still more than doubling the rate at which Luffy grew stronger.
And this is just the beginning, Akira thought with growing excitement. As we progress deeper into the game, wild Pokémon levels will increase exponentially. The experience gains from later areas will dwarf what we're earning now.
His mind was already calculating the possibilities—Cerulean Cave's level 50+ encounters, Victory Road's elite trainers, the legendary Pokémon that would eventually become available for capture attempts. The potential for power growth seemed limitless.
"It looks like we're getting close to the exit!" Akira announced, pointing toward a distinctive change in the forest's scenery ahead.
After defeating yet another insect trainer, he'd spotted colors that didn't match Viridian Forest's predominantly green palette. As they moved forward, a tall building with a yellowish-brown roof and pristine white walls emerged from behind the treeline, standing in stark contrast to the natural surroundings.
Unlike the simple passage depicted in the original games, this world's architecture had been substantially expanded and enhanced. The Viridian Forest they'd been exploring was genuinely vast and lush, far beyond what could be experienced in a few minutes of game time. Similarly, the passage building serving as the forest's exit appeared much more impressive than its pixelated predecessor—a magnificent structure that stood out like a lighthouse beacon against the emerald wilderness.
Akira knew that beyond this building lay their true destination: Pewter City, home to the first gym leader and his Rock-type Pokémon team.
The thought made him unconsciously lick his lips with anticipation. According to his internal calculations, the game console had enough power remaining for nearly two more hours of exploration. If they maintained their current pace, they might actually complete the gym challenge before their session ended—an ambitious goal that would net them the rewards for clearing the first major story milestone.
"Don't waste time on the roadside Pokémon anymore, Luffy," he said, his voice taking on the focused intensity he reserved for serious strategy discussions. "We're running short on time, so we need to speed up our progress. It would be ideal if we could complete the gym challenge before our game session ends."
After two years of partnership, Luffy had learned to recognize the meaning behind many of Akira's gaming terms. The rubber-powered pirate grinned and patted his chest with confident enthusiasm.
"Speed run? I understand completely! Leave everything to me!"
Without further preamble, Luffy stretched out his arm like an elastic band and wrapped it securely around Akira's torso. His other hand pressed down firmly on his signature straw hat, ensuring it wouldn't fly off during their upcoming high-speed journey.
"Then I'll go at full speed!" he declared with obvious relish.
"Don't hold back for my sake—unleash your full strength, Luffy!" Akira called out, his voice carrying resolve despite knowing exactly what was about to happen.
His body had grown remarkably durable over the past two and a half years, developing an almost supernatural resistance to damage that made Luffy's more extreme transportation methods theoretically survivable. That didn't mean the experience was pleasant, but it was undeniably effective.
Luffy clearly had no intention of showing mercy. Before Akira's shout had fully faded, his feet had already begun moving at a speed that rendered individual steps invisible to the naked eye.
"Soru!" he whispered with excitement, using the technique Akira had taught him from his incomplete knowledge of One Piece's power systems.
Whoosh!
A brilliant streak of motion exploded through the forest like a lightning bolt, accompanied by the sharp whistle of displaced air. The sudden acceleration created powerful wind gusts that set every tree and bush in their wake rustling violently, as if a small tornado had just passed through the area.
Behind this meteoric blur, Akira found himself being dragged along by Luffy's rubber arm, his body subjected to forces that would probably liquify a normal person. The wind pressure felt like invisible knives slicing at his face, and the rapid changes in direction as Luffy navigated between trees created a sensation remarkably similar to being a rag doll in a washing machine.
When will I ever be able to fight on my own? he groaned internally, his thoughts somehow maintaining coherence despite the physics-defying abuse his inner ear was enduring. I'm so tired of being cargo in this broken transportation system!
The speed technique Luffy was employing—Soru, one of the Rokushiki martial arts from the One Piece universe—was something Akira had taught him using his fragmented knowledge of the series. The principle was simple enough to explain: step on the ground dozens of times in an instant to generate explosive reaction force for high-speed movement.
What he hadn't expected was for Luffy to master the technique in just one week of practice.
In addition to Soru, Akira had also shared information about Luffy's Gear Second and Gear Third transformations, helping his captain develop his Devil Fruit abilities far earlier than in the original timeline. Thanks to these lessons, Luffy had also begun cultivating basic Observation Haki and was making solid progress toward developing Armament Haki.
Of course, Akira believed his contributions as Luffy's "trainer" were only just beginning. While Luffy's unique classification as a "Pokémon" meant he couldn't learn traditional moves through leveling up, there was no reason he couldn't acquire Pokémon techniques through training and practice.
The fusion of One Piece combat abilities with Pokémon move mechanics represented an unexplored frontier of possibilities. What would happen when Luffy learned to combine Gear Second with Agility? Could he master Armament Haki alongside Iron Defense? The potential combinations were mind-boggling.
Several minutes later, Akira's rapid transportation came to an abrupt end as momentum carried him directly into the white wall of the exit passage.
SLAM!
"Damn it! I knew this would happen!" he swore as he peeled himself off the wall and slid to the ground.
His enhanced durability meant the impact was merely painful rather than fatal, but that didn't make the experience any more dignified. This exact scenario had played out dozens of times during their training sessions, yet Luffy never seemed to improve his landing technique.
Rubbing his red nose while leveraging his supernatural resilience to spring back to his feet, Akira turned to fix Luffy with an accusatory glare.
"How many times have I told you? When you're braking, you need to control your muscles and not throw your passenger around!"
"Sorry, sorry! I forgot again, hahaha!" Luffy laughed with completely unrepentant innocence, showing not even a trace of genuine remorse.
The sight made Akira's teeth grind with frustration, but their limited time prevented him from launching into a proper lecture about passenger safety and basic consideration for others.
I'll remember this grudge, he thought darkly, adding another mark to his mental scoreboard. One of these days, you're going to experience exactly what it feels like to be on the receiving end of this treatment.
Then we'll see how funny you think it is.
Swallowing his complaints for the sake of efficiency, Akira gestured toward the building's entrance. Despite its impressive exterior, the passage's interior contained only two widely-spaced NPCs standing at attention like palace guards.
Ignoring these inconsequential background characters, Akira grabbed Luffy's arm and pulled him toward the exit at a brisk pace.
"Pewter Gym, here we come!"