Dark blue skin, orange poison sacs on both cheeks—although it had the appearance of a frog, its slightly opened mouth revealed a row of neat, white teeth.
Bandage-like patterns wrapped around its body, and its overall posture looked a bit comical.
Croagunk, the Poison + Fighting-type Toxic Mouth Pokémon.
Its distinctive cry and somewhat comedic appearance made it very popular, especially among the fourteen- and fifteen-year-olds in Wano Country.
With no interest in studying, and just the thought of attending class giving them a headache, they frequently gather together to fantasize about accomplishing grand feats when they grow up. This group of people were known as "delinquent youths."
Normally, delinquents are a troublesome bunch of people, but with this world's environment and Wano Country's style of governance, they have instead become a kind of alternative path.
In the past in Wano Country, when the Chuunibyou stage ended, most delinquents would return to ordinary life, relying on physical labor to survive. Some, unwilling to settle down, might become street thugs, only to die in street fights sooner or later.
Those who managed to make a name for themselves and get recruited by yakuza were already considered "successful."
But now, the yakuza, being an unstable element, had been completely eliminated. Wano Country only needed one voice of authority.
Even Hyogoro had retired to work in maintaining public order. Rather than "eliminated," it was more accurate to say the disobedient ones were killed, while those willing to change were absorbed.
Since the source had changed, the future had naturally become different. The Beasts Pirates controlled all external information; to set sail, joining them was the only way. And so, delinquents found a new direction.
If they want to fight and show off their strength, they could do so against people of similar strength, or challenge stronger opponents. It was not prohibited.
Bullying the weak, however, was strictly forbidden. Anyone who wanted to bully others had to be prepared to be bullied in turn. Not only the elites who are in their prime, but even retired ones with injuries could toy with these kids.
Simple preaching might not work on delinquents, but fists and strength could make them follow. Battles on the sea had never disappeared, and in this era, delinquents had instead become reserve soldiers.
Rules existed everywhere. Unless you become the one who set the rules, all you did was exchange one set of shackles for another.
Croagunk's patterns were quite popular among delinquent youths. This "bandage style" was highly sought after, and they would sometimes even mimic Croagunk's behavior.
"Croak!"
A raised arm chopped down at the bricks in front without exerting strength or utilizing any techniques, yet the stack of bricks lying flat on the muddy ground still shattered instantly.
There was technique involved in brick-breaking; of course tricks like fake bricks don't count.
Place the brick on a hard surface so that one end touches the rigid ground while the other end is suspended. The longer the suspended portion, the easier it was to split.
With proper technique, a trained person could break ordinary bricks without much trouble; though often at a price, such as fractured hand bones.
If it were Kuzan, he could easily crush these bricks into powder. But the delinquent youths of Wano Country weren't the same; only a few could train their bodies to superhuman levels. The Pokémon Center often received patients with injured hands.
At this time, it was raining in Wano Country. The Croagunk were in a muddy sunken ground. Bricks laid flat on the ground would have much of the impact absorbed by the earth. Yet they still managed to break the stacks cleanly.
Kuzan squatted nearby, watching these strange frogs as the rain poured down on him.
Before long, the Croagunk stopped. Not because they were tired, but because there were no more bricks left.
Most houses in Wano Country are made of wood, and while reinforced concrete has started to be used as development progresses, the proportion of bricks is still small. The multi-island environment means that soil suitable for brick-making is rare.
If they solely relied on locally sourced materials, the land area of Wano Country would encounter an issue. Therefore, these bricks were sent from outside islands. Their purpose wasn't just for building houses; part of the shipment also included snacks for Rock-type Pokémon.
For those that fed on rocks and soil, bricks were nothing more than baked biscuits—just on the harder side.
These bricks would first be smashed by the Croagunk, then sent to the Udon mines to be put to further use.
Breaking bricks was also a peculiar hobby of this group of Croagunk, their goal being to spark the curiosity of the local residents.
Although they possessed the Fighting type, Croagunk were not like Pokémon such as Sirfetch'd, who revered duels. Their personalities were far more "despicable."
They rarely fought head-on. Ambushes and poisoning were Croagunk's ways of battle. Among their three fingers, the middle one was longer and shared the same color as the poison sacs on their cheeks.
That finger was their poison stinger. In battle, they would secretly inject toxins into their enemies, and at the same time inflate their poison sacs to let out strange gurgling cries, unnerving their opponents.
All of this was part of their survival tactics, including acting cute.
Pokémon had diverse temperaments: some disliked cohabiting with humans, while others preferred living with human assistance. Croagunk belonged to the latter type.
With just a few cries and some brick-breaking, humans would be willing to "worship" them, offering food and shelter. Then, why bother struggling? In this, they share the same mindset as Den Den Mushi.
The difference was that Croagunk has high combat strength. Underestimate them, and you will experience how threatening these adorable creatures are.
Take pandas, for example. They are not frail kittens but bears. They can munch bamboo with an adorable expression or slap you awake, showing what it means to be a nimble fatty. Their running speed in mountainous terrain is at odds with their appearance.
"Do you want to keep going?"
Perhaps thinking the Croagunk weren't done yet, Kuzan waved his hand and created a pile of ice bricks on the ground. Eskimos would probably welcome him. Thanks to this ability, they would never need to make ice blocks again to build igloos.
But the Croagunk reacted differently. Four or five of them squatted in a row, their poison sacs on both sides of their cheeks constantly puffing up, looking at Kuzan with a gaze full of pity for a fool.
"Croak? (Why would someone give us ice blocks?)"
"Croak. (No idea, maybe he likes eating ice?)"
Kuzan's bond with them wasn't deep enough, so he couldn't understand what they were saying. Otherwise, he would have realized he had misunderstood something.
Brick-breaking was indeed a pastime among Croagunk, but there was a reason for it.
At first, it was only training. Later, they discovered that this act drew the worshipping eyes of delinquent youths, who would then offer them "tributes." From then on, brick-breaking became not just training, but a kind of street performance.
In terms of raw strength, Croagunk couldn't even compare to Machoke, let alone Machamp. But by leveraging their unique appearance, they still managed to come out on top.
Besides, the Machamp family spent their time sweating it out in gyms or laboring hard on construction sites. Only Croagunk chose this method, which fit perfectly with the label of "delinquent."
If Camel had been here, Kuzan wouldn't have fallen into such a misunderstanding. But at this moment, Camel was gleefully playing in the rain. Born in the northern seas, it had never experienced rain before, only blizzards. For this penguin, rain was a brand-new experience.
It even looked carefully around to make sure no one was watching before finally allowing itself to relax.
Kuzan's silence was soon broken by someone else. The rain above his head suddenly vanished, replaced by the shelter of a flower-patterned umbrella.
"Uncle, going out in the rain without an umbrella, you'll get rheumatism when you're old."
A little girl, looking about eleven or twelve years old, held up her flower-patterned umbrella high and extended it over Kuzan's head. A height of over three meters was quite tall, and even with Kuzan half-crouching on the ground, it was still a challenge for the little girl.
"Don't worry. My body's in great shape. A drizzle like this won't affect me."
"My grandma was the same when she was young. Now she regrets it."
Weather forecasts might lie, but old injuries didn't. For those who had been hurt in their youth, every rainy, cloudy day in old age became another trial.
But the body always honestly reflected changes in the weather, and many elders used themselves as examples to warn the next generation.
"Ara, ara, thanks for your concern. I'll be more careful next time."
"But what about you? Why are you out here alone in this weather, and walking this way? It's not good to be near the river when it's raining."
"Grandma's back hurts, so I came to find medicine for her. You must be new here, right? Croagunk don't eat ice, bringing that stuff is useless. Here, hold the umbrella for me."
As she spoke, she pulled out a food box. Inside were a few rice balls with dried fish and an empty bottle, which she handed to the Croagunk.
Croagunk was already familiar with such transactions. After taking the food, it secreted a drop of poison into the bottle, then filled it with water.
In large enough amounts, its poison was a toxin that could paralyze the human body, but in the proper dose, it became a medicine.
The poison secreted from its fingertip, once diluted, could be made into medicine, an excellent remedy for easing back pain.
Croagunk used a special kind of water to dilute it, making the process irreversible. Even if someone tried to purify it, they couldn't recover the poison; only a cup of waste water. This prevented anyone from trying to use the poison for wrong purposes.
The water they secreted was in fact the most suitable substance for creating medicine. Their appearance here was also partly because of this. These special medicines also appeared on the Beasts Fruits sales platform, where they were extremely well received.
Whether decoctions or medicated plaster, they worked wonders and had already become an effective folk remedy in Wano Country for treating chronic issues like back pain.
Sure, Sacred Mountain was a better solution, but unless it was an irreversible injury that ordinary treatment couldn't cure, no one would climb there for minor ailments like headaches and slight fever. Climbing it was no small feat.
Once she had the medicine, the girl held the bottle close to her and immediately ran back the way she had come.
"Hey, your umbrella!"
"Keep it, my house is nearby. Don't keep standing in the rain, newcomer."
Before she got two steps away, Kuzan appeared in front of her, placed the flower-patterned umbrella back in her hand, and conjured an umbrella of ice in his own.
"I appreciate the kindness, but I already have an umbrella."
"Sorcerers really are weirdos. You can make umbrellas, but still choose to get wet in the rain!"
"Aren't you the same? What ordinary girl gives her umbrella to a complete stranger the moment they meet?"
"That's what my grandma said. Our current life wasn't easy to come by, so we have to take care of you newcomers."
She had mistaken Kuzan for a new member of the Beasts Pirates. Here, no one knew what a Marine Admiral was.
Her judgment wasn't wrong; it was just that Kuzan himself was an exception.
In Wano Country, there were basically no outsiders. Over the years, only one or two ships had arrived by accident, and after the Beasts Pirates took over, such incidents nearly vanished altogether.
Anyone dressed in unusual clothing was almost certainly from the Beasts Pirates. The locals saw how life had changed. Even if they couldn't do anything grand, they still tried to help in small ways.
Of course, this wasn't universal. No matter the group, there were always both elites and scum.
Even among the Celestial Dragons there were capable elites, and among the Revolutionary Army and Marines there were arrogant parasites. But it couldn't be denied that the education of the previous generation had a crucial influence on the next generation.
"All right, hurry home. Adult matters aren't for little kids like you to worry about."
"Don't look down on me! I'm already preparing to work at the Pokémon Center in the future. Maybe when you get hurt, I'll be the one treating you!"
"If I can help it, I'd rather not get hurt."
Kuzan's injured leg was hidden under his leather boot. Unless he took it off himself, outsiders couldn't tell that he was missing a leg.
Watching the girl turn into an alley, Kuzan also prepared to leave. The rain was getting heavier, and there were few people left on the streets.
But just as he turned around, he sensed something unusual.
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