[Pokémon: Franky]
[Level: 44]
[Gender: ♂]
Nature: Relaxed (+Defense / −Sp. Def)]
[Type: Steel / Dark]
[Ability: Steel Will (Boosts the power of Steel-type moves for itself and allies)]
[Moves: None]
[EXP: 0 / 5895]
...
[HP: 156] [Attack: 120] [Defense: 156] [Sp. Atk: 138] [Sp. Def: 76] [Speed: 100] [Total: 746]
After the banquet ended, the first thing Red did was pull Franky into the Pokémon world, allowing this new companion to once again experience the sheer wonder of the Straw Hat Pirates.
And Franky's stat panel did not disappoint him in the slightest.
At Level 44, he already had nearly 750 total stats—clear proof that Franky was anything but ordinary.
Especially that Steel Will ability…
This was the first time Red had ever seen an ability that could directly grant bonuses to allies.
And right now, two of the Straw Hat Pirates' main combatants—Zoro and Merry—were both Steel-type users.
Franky + the Going Merry.
They were practically a match made in heaven.
...
...
"Clearly an important department of the World Government, yet you can reach it directly by following the Sea Train tracks."
"That really is a cushy job."
Staring at the island silhouette appearing on the horizon, Nami couldn't help but sigh in amazement.
This was probably the easiest voyage she had ever commanded.
But compared to Nami's relaxed mood, Franky's expression was rigid as steel. His gaze was deep and heavy as he stared at the faintly visible black iron gate in the distance.
Having once tried to save Tom, Franky knew better than anyone—
Beyond that barrier lay one of the World Government's three great strongholds on the Grand Line: Enies Lobby.
Not only was it the headquarters guarded by CP9, it was also the vital transport hub linking Impel Down and Marineford.
Every criminal captured by the Marines would ultimately be sent here—to a court that, in eight hundred years, had never once issued a verdict of "Not Guilty."
After crossing the Bridge of Hesitation, they would be delivered straight into the deep-sea prison.
The sheer number of troops stationed at Enies Lobby alone exceeded ten thousand.
Among them were Marines, as well as personnel from various World Government agencies.
And because not long ago Golden Lion and Blackbeard had teamed up to tear through Impel Down, releasing countless prisoners—combined with Marineford having just been destroyed and unable to house so many troops—
The defensive forces at Enies Lobby were now more than double their usual strength.
They stood ready at any moment to deploy toward the seas near Impel Down, hunting down pirates who had escaped but failed to catch the eye of Golden Lion or Blackbeard.
"I wonder if we'll run into any interesting opponents!"
As the island drew closer, excitement and anticipation instantly lit up Luffy's face.
Zoro and Sanji, on the other hand, wore grim expressions as their eyes locked firmly onto Usopp—whose legs were visibly shaking.
Under their stares, Usopp trembled as he spoke:
"H-Hey, Red… I think maybe we should just forget about this!"
"Making me fight an army of over ten thousand people by myself is way too insane, isn't it?!"
"I'm just a normal sniper!!!"
Thus spoke Usopp, the man whose body housed countless swarming insects.
Red, however, simply slapped a hand onto his shoulder.
"Don't sell yourself short, Usopp!"
"The moment you chose to eat the Storage-Storage Fruit, your path as a combatant was already set!"
"And just so happens—there's a force here today that's famous across the world."
"If you can defeat them on your own, trust me—your threat level in the eyes of the World Government will surpass even Zoro and Sanji!!!"
"Stop it, stop it already!!!"
Usopp puffed out his cheeks and whispered anxiously to Red, his face twisted in panic.
Because what he feared most…
Was exactly the future Red was describing!!!
Still, seeing the resolve in Red's eyes, Usopp knew—
There was no escaping this battle.
No wonder Red had been paying so much attention to him lately, constantly taking him into the Pokémon world to grind levels.
Turns out, all of fate's gifts had already been priced in advance.
Time slowly passed.
With the Going Merry traveling at full speed, the Straw Hats soon arrived at the gates of Enies Lobby.
"Huh?! A pirate flag?!"
At the same time, the Marines guarding the entrance immediately noticed the suspicious ship.
But before they could even react, two strange face-hugging insects dropped from the sky and pinned them to the ground.
High above, standing atop a massive Hercules beetle, Usopp let out a quiet sigh.
"Don't blame me…"
"This is all Red's idea!!!"
Swish!
With a stylish flick of his hand, Usopp reabsorbed the two face-huggers into his body.
The next instant, his entire form suddenly expanded like an evil monster.
Countless streams of pitch-black matter erupted from his body, rapidly transforming midair into an army of insects carrying bizarre equipment.
In an instant, they filled the skies above Enies Lobby.
A curtain of darkness descended, granting the city of eternal daylight its first night in history.
"What's going on?!"
"Why did it suddenly get dark?!"
"Look! Something's moving in the sky!!!"
...
...
Dark clouds pressed down upon the city, threatening its collapse.
The sudden change instantly put all of Enies Lobby on high alert as soldiers looked skyward.
But before they could grasp what was happening—
Their sky collapsed!!!
BOOOOOOM!!!
A deafening, thunderous hum roared through the air, crashing into everyone's ears like muffled lightning.
High above, Usopp stood gracefully atop his beetle like an elegant conductor.
With a single wave of his hand—
Bug-type energy carrying special command signals shot from his fingertips, flying straight toward the commanders within the swarm.
In truth, Usopp's insect sea tactics were not without flaws.
If someone identified the insect commanders—or realized that Usopp himself was the hive's core—then striking them would instantly throw the entire swarm into chaos.
But that was assuming…
They could break through the endless sea of insects below!!!
"AAAAAH!!!"
As the swarm descended, the first victims on Enies Lobby quickly appeared.
Before many Marines could even organize their weapons, bomb-carrying insects armed with miniature Usoppgy Bombs swarmed in—
Explosions erupted in waves, blasting a massive hole straight through the front gate of Enies Lobby!
Walls collapsed. The ground caved in.
Under merciless bombardment, the courtyard instantly became a complete vacuum zone.
Rampaging flames turned into a monstrous beast, devouring everything in their path—life included.
From this moment on, there was no longer any need to open the gate for the Going Merry.
Because from today onward—
Enies Lobby no longer had a front gate.
"That's… absolutely spectacular!!!"
On the deck of the Going Merry, Franky stared in shock, all gloom wiped from his face.
He never would have imagined—
That among the Straw Hats, the seemingly timid and low-profile Usopp would unleash such terrifying combat power the moment he acted.
But then Franky scratched the back of his head in confusion.
"Wait… didn't this guy introduce himself as a sniper?"
"How is any of this remotely sniper-like?!"
While Franky was baffled, Usopp—fully engaged in battle—dared not relax for even a second.
Observation Haki favored precision over breadth.
Even with his solid mastery of it, controlling such a massive swarm was still an enormous strain.
Fortunately, the sudden attack left Enies Lobby completely unprepared.
Seizing this opening, Usopp pushed forward, driving the insect army deeper into the island.
The bomb insects were only the vanguard.
When resources and numbers were thrown aside, the true strength of the swarm far exceeded imagination.
Under Usopp's guidance, the insects' evolutionary speed was downright terrifying.
With such massive numbers, rare mutations inevitably emerged—individuals with extraordinary traits, carefully preserved and developed by Usopp.
At the very edge of the swarm, a special insect unit emerged—
Insects with grotesquely enlarged brains clung to smaller beetles, emitting mysterious psychic waves toward the Marine formations below.
Every Marine struck by those waves clutched their heads in agony, then descended into madness—turning their weapons on their own comrades.
Anyone who had fought Red or Robin before would recognize it instantly.
That strange energy was none other than Psychic-type power.
That's right.
Through swarm reproduction, Usopp had created insects with inherited moves even faster than Pokémon Paradise itself.
These "brain insects" were descendants bred from insects capable of learning Psychic-type moves.
Though Red had spent an enormous amount of game time teaching moves to Usopp's insects—
The results proved it was worth it.
The strongest units in the swarm were almost all composed of insects carrying inherited Pokémon moves.
Flame insects that spewed searing fire, immune to heat.
Frost insects that unleashed icy storms, unafraid of extreme cold.
Thunder insects crackling with lightning.
Grass insects that spread parasitic seeds and drained enemies from afar…
These Pokémon-style insect units massively expanded Usopp's strategic arsenal, raising the swarm's power by several tiers.
The only pity was—
These special insects were still new and limited in number.
The true backbone of the swarm remained the "ordinary" insects.
But "ordinary" was only relative.
Any insect chosen and cultivated by Usopp possessed formidable combat power.
Under the swarm's overwhelming pressure, Enies Lobby's forces quickly collapsed.
Marines and World Government soldiers fled in utter defeat, hunted down without mercy.
A force that couldn't even stop the thugs of Franky House was never going to be truly strong.
Aside from numbers and equipment, they had little worth mentioning.
That, too, was simply the nature of Enies Lobby.
Many stationed here might go years without seeing real combat—weakness was inevitable.
The front gate region and more than half the outer island fell in rapid succession, the swarm advancing relentlessly inward.
...
...
Meanwhile.
Outside the barrier, Red smiled lightly at his companions.
"Alright. The battlefield has moved inside Enies Lobby."
"In that case, let's go in and have a look ourselves."
"Merry~"
Snap.
Red snapped his fingers.
An ethereal sound echoed in everyone's ears.
Waves of compressed wind rippled around the Going Merry, pushing seawater outward.
The next second—
The massive ship lifted straight off the ocean, soaring into the sky.
The Going Merry incorporated not only designs from Pluton, but also concepts from Enel's Ark Maxim.
That was the true reason the ship possessed flight capability.
And since it could fly, Red naturally loaded the only two Flying-type moves he had—Floaty Fall and Fly—onto Ship Form · Merry.
For Nami, these moves somewhat overlapped.
But for Merry—
Their combination created a miraculous synergy.
Under Floaty Fall, the ship's heavy body became light as a feather, rising as though gravity no longer applied.
Then Fly granted it explosive aerial mobility.
Together, they transformed the Going Merry into a swift warship that could roam the skies freely.
Merry could go wherever she pleased.
The only drawback was the strain of maintaining both moves at once.
But as her level increased, even that weakness would vanish.
One day, the Going Merry—armed with Pluton's systems—would become an unforgettable nightmare for the Straw Hats' enemies.
And so—
The ship hovered high above, following Usopp's advancing insect army into Enies Lobby.
Meanwhile, Buggy and Bartolomeo's crews filmed everything with Camera Den Den Mushi, awestruck.
These recordings would be delivered to Morgans in full.
Partly as repayment for his courage in broadcasting the execution of a Celestial Dragon.
And partly so Red could raise Usopp's fame.
It wasn't favoritism.
Rather, since obtaining the Storage-Storage Fruit, Usopp had begun relying too heavily on his swarm—neglecting his own physical training.
Red didn't think that was healthy.
So he intended to let the name [GOD·Usopp] spread early—
So that timid Usopp would understand…
If he didn't train himself, one day an enemy would pierce the swarm and take his head amid ten thousand soldiers.
Upon learning the truth, Buggy and Bartolomeo had only one thing to say:
"Red-sama is a natural-born bastard!"
"No one in this world understands how to be a vice-captain better than you!!!"
(End of Chapter)