Night had fallen.
Under the star-studded night sky, a beam of bright moonlight shone over the pitch-black sea, casting all focus onto a small fishing boat.
"OK, that should about do it."
After securing the sails with Luffy and double-checking their course, Akagami nodded in satisfaction before turning to his rubbery companion.
"Get ready, Luffy."
"No matter what, tonight we're making it out of the Viridian Forest!"
"Woo ~hoo~ Anything to do with fighting, just leave it all to me!"
Knowing that Red wasn't good at fighting, Luffy let out a strange shout — yet it somehow felt surprisingly reassuring.
With a single bounce, he landed beside Red, eyes gleaming with excitement and anticipation.
Even though this wasn't his first time traveling to another world with Red, the magical experience was something that fired up his adventurous spirit every time.
Seeing this, Akagami didn't hesitate any longer.
He closed his eyes, letting his consciousness sink inward—
And there, in the depths of his mind, materialized a classic red-and-blue handheld console.
This was the cheat that had crossed over with Red, his very own golden finger.
A game console that allowed him to enter the worlds of the games inside it!
This game console existed only within Red's consciousness and gave him the confidence to keep roaming this vast ocean.
But although the game console was incredible and powerful, it had one major flaw…
Its battery life was absolute garbage!
Just powering it on had taken Red two and a half full years!
Ever since arriving in this world, the game console has always displayed
[Low Battery. Unable to Boot.]
If not for the tiny [Charging…] progress bar in the corner, he'd seriously wondered if he'd been handed a fake cheat.
But three nights ago, the game console's battery had finally reached the level needed to power on.
As if triggering some hidden mechanism, once the console turned on, Red's mind was instantly filled with knowledge and memories about how to use it.
First…
He could enter the unlocked game worlds in the console and earn rewards with game-specific properties by completing achievements or levels.
He could also spend battery power to bring items from the game world into the real world, and their effects would remain unchanged!
Second…
After the first boot-up, the console could recharge itself by absorbing bioenergy from Red's body.
Without affecting his health, the current daily energy gain was enough for him to stay inside the game world for two hours. And because he hadn't entered the game yesterday due to last-minute preparations for going to sea, Red now had four hours of game time stored up.
The only downside?
The console's game library was limited to titles Red had played in his past life, and new games only unlocked after he cleared the previous one.
"Sigh… if I'd known this would be my cheat, I wouldn't have wasted time on Pokémon…"
"Imagine if I had a Dragon Ball game instead! The One Piece world would basically be my backyard!"
"I could go wherever I wanted!"
Looking at the game list after powering on, Red couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
This was his second biggest regret, besides not keeping up with One Piece's later story.
On the screen, a row of game icons lined up horizontally.
And under all their names were the words: [Pokémon].
No helping it — back then, he had been hooked on Pokémon, and after winning a scholarship, he had splurged and rewarded himself with a bunch of games!
Let's Go! Pikachu/Eevee, Legends: Arceus, Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, Sword/Shield, Scarlet/Violet…
As if affected by the crossover, the paired games (like Sword/Shield) were now merged into single versions on the console.
And after Scarlet/Violet came the console's built-in store icon.
From the knowledge he'd gained, Red knew that after beating the final built-in game, Scarlet/Violet, he would unlock the store feature to get new games.
Red was pinning his hope of transforming into a Super Saiyan in the One Piece world on that!
With the versions fused, all limited items and Pokémon were now present in one game.
But for Red, what he could realistically look forward to were only the specific in-game items.
Because…
His cheat had one catastrophic flaw.
It didn't let him catch any Pokémon!!
"Who could understand the pain of selecting Pikachu, throwing a Pokéball, and getting Luffy instead!?"
Even now, Red couldn't forget the scene where his level-46 Luffy one-punched the rival's poor little Eevee!
That's right!
Even though he was inside a Pokémon game world, he couldn't use a single Pokémon.
The system's Pikachu was replaced by Luffy, and any Pokémon he caught with Pokéballs would just turn into white light, converting into experience points and the occasional dropped item.
In the game world, the powerless Red could only rely on the absurd Luffy!
He didn't know if this was a bug in his cheat, but so far, he hadn't figured out its weird mechanics.
But at this point, he had no choice but to accept it.
Besides, a level-46 Luffy was way stronger than a level-5 Pikachu.
Thanks to that, Red had quickly cleared the early battles, since he was familiar with the game flow.
He also tested various mechanics and found that if his distance from Luffy exceeded 100 meters, the next time he entered the game, he would get a [No battle-capable Pokémon] message and wake up in an endless loop on his in-game bed.
From then on, Red realized he had no choice but to go to sea with Luffy!
Thankfully, he had arrived just after Ace left home, during Luffy's lonely days.
With a god's-eye view and his knowledge of the One Piece world, Red, an ordinary villager, had unexpectedly formed a deep friendship and bond with Luffy.
In fact, when he first arrived, Red had wanted to train hard to become a powerhouse.
He even pulled out the ultimate workout plan — the Saitama Training Regimen:
100 squats, 100 sit-ups, 100 push-ups, plus a 10 km run every day!
Don't be fooled by how this was less intense than a Marine soldier's daily training for a college gamer who loved staying in his dorm, it was brutal.
But he actually managed to stick with it.
Yet something went wrong.
Even though Red could feel himself getting stronger by the day, his progress went in a bizarre direction!
After two and a half years, his strength had clearly increased; even the famous strongmen of Windmill Village lost to him in arm wrestling.
But when he threw a punch, it was as soft as a child's, weak and feeble, as if some mysterious rule was nerfing his attack power.
On the flip side, Red's vitality, toughness, and defense had skyrocketed absurdly!
Living around Luffy made it almost impossible to avoid injuries.
Yet no matter if he was struck by lightning, burned by fire, or dropped from a great height, his injuries always stayed at the surface, and he rarely bled.
And those wounds would heal completely within a short time.
If he weren't too scared to test it, Red would have suspected he had gained an "immortality" trait from Saitama's workout!
In the end, he could only chalk it up to a time traveler's bonus.
Even though he didn't get Saitama's god-tier one-punch power, he was now basically a super rookie!
At least in the East Blue, he figured he could protect himself.
…
…
"Well then…"
"Pokémon, start!"
After briefly recalling everything since his arrival, Red focused his mind and moved his consciousness like a pointer onto the Let's Go! Pikachu/Eevee icon.
In an instant, blinding white light filled his world.
When Red opened his eyes again, he and Luffy had left the night sea and arrived in a lush, somewhat unreal forest.
The fresh scent of grass and trees replaced the salty sea air, and before his eyes stretched a soft, vibrant cartoonish world.
Tall grass swayed in the wind as if welcoming their arrival.
From behind the tall grass or deeper in the woods, the occasional glimpse of Pokémon could be seen…
Weedle, Caterpie, Oddish…
These creatures that once existed only in fantasy now appeared vividly before Red.
However, the Pokémon didn't seem to notice the sudden appearance of Red and Luffy, continuing to move about as if following a set script.
Clearly, this was a unique Pokémon world.
And the spot where Red and Luffy were standing…
Was the save point from their last game session the Viridian Forest!