Night fell.
Under a star-filled sky, a strand of bright moonlight shone down upon the pitch-black sea, drawing every bit of attention to a small fishing boat drifting upon the waves.
"Okay, this should be just about right."
After finishing the sail adjustments with Luffy and confirming the course once more, Red nodded in satisfaction. He then turned his gaze toward Luffy beside him.
"Get ready, Luffy."
"No matter what, tonight we're getting out of Viridian Forest!"
"Woohoo~! Leave all the fighting to me!"
Knowing full well that Red wasn't suited for combat, Luffy let out a strange shout—yet somehow, it made him feel exceptionally reliable.
With a single leap, Luffy landed beside Red, his eyes sparkling with anticipation and excitement.
Even though this wasn't his first time traveling to another world with Red, the sheer wonder of the experience still made his adventurer's blood boil uncontrollably.
Seeing this, Red no longer hesitated. Smiling faintly, he closed his eyes and let his consciousness sink inward.
In an instant, a classic handheld game console with red-and-blue coloring appeared within his mind.
This was the unique "cheat ability" that had crossed over with Red alone—
A phantom game console that allowed him to enter game worlds!
The console existed only within Red's consciousness, granting him the confidence to continue roaming this vast sea.
However, despite its fantastical and powerful abilities, it had one glaring weakness—
Abysmal battery life!
Just powering it on had consumed a full two and a half years!
From the moment Red transmigrated to this world, the console had displayed only one message:
[Battery depleted. Unable to power on.]
If not for the small [Charging…] indicator and a numerical progress bar tucked away in the corner, Red might have genuinely believed he'd received a fake cheat.
Three nights ago, however, the battery finally reached the minimum required to power on.
As if some hidden mechanism had been triggered.
The moment it booted up, a vast amount of knowledge and memories regarding the console's usage flooded into Red's mind.
First—
He could enter the game worlds unlocked within the console. By completing certain achievements or stages in those worlds, he would receive rewards consistent with each game's mechanics.
Moreover, by consuming battery power, he could extract items from the game into the real world—with their effects intact.
Second—
After the first activation, the console could replenish its battery by absorbing Red's biological energy.
Without affecting his health, the daily charge was currently enough for Red to enter the game world for two hours. And because he'd been busy preparing for their voyage yesterday and hadn't entered the game, he'd already accumulated four hours of playtime.
The only thing Red found regrettable was that all the games within the console were ones he had already played before.
And worse—he could only unlock the next game after fully clearing the previous one.
"Man… if I'd known my cheat would work like this, why did I ever play Pokémon back then…"
"If only there were a Dragon Ball series game—this pirate world would be my personal backyard!"
"I'd go wherever I want!"
Staring at the game list after boot-up, Red couldn't help but sigh inwardly.
This was already the second thing he regretted—right after not having fully read the later parts of One Piece.
On the screen before him, a row of game icons stretched horizontally.
And under every single one of them were the same three characters—
[Pokémon].
Well, what could he say? Back then, once he got his scholarship, he'd gone all-in on rewarding himself with Pokémon games.
Let's Go, Pikachu/Eevee, Legends: Arceus, Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, Sword/Shield, Scarlet/Violet…
Perhaps due to the effects of transmigration, games that were originally released as paired versions were now merged into single unified titles on the console.
And after Scarlet/Violet, there was the system's built-in Shop icon.
Thanks to the knowledge he'd gained upon activation, Red knew that once he cleared the final built-in game—Scarlet/Violet—he would unlock Shop mode and gain access to entirely new games.
His dream of transforming into a Super Saiyan in the pirate world—
Was all riding on that!
With both versions merged into one, all limited items and Pokémon would coexist within a single game.
That said, the only things Red could truly look forward to were the special in-game items.
Because—
His cheat didn't provide him with the ability to catch Pokémon at all!!!
"Does anyone understand how it feels to pick Pikachu… only to throw a Poké Ball and have Luffy pop out instead?!"
Even now, Red couldn't forget the sight of a level 46 Luffy one-punching a powerful NPC Eevee into a K.O.
Yes.
Even though he entered a Pokémon game world—
Red couldn't use a single Pokémon there!
The system's starter Pikachu became Luffy. Any Pokémon caught with Poké Balls would dissolve into white light, turning into experience points and the occasional dropped item.
Within the game world, Red—utterly lacking in combat ability—could only rely on Luffy, that absolute headache of a guy.
He didn't know whether this was a bug with his cheat, and so far, he still hadn't figured out the strange rules governing it.
But now that things had come this far, acceptance was his only option.
After all, a level 46 Luffy was infinitely stronger than a level 5 Pikachu.
Thanks to this, and his familiarity with the game's flow, Red breezed through the early battles with ease.
Later, while testing other mechanics, he discovered that if the distance between himself and Luffy exceeded 100 meters, then upon entering the game again, he would be stuck endlessly waking up in his bed with the message:
[No Pokémon capable of battle]
From that moment on, Red understood—
Setting sail with Luffy was unavoidable!
Fortunately, his transmigration happened not long after Ace had gone to sea, when Luffy was still painfully lonely.
Through his "god's-eye view" knowledge of the pirate world, Red—once just an ordinary villager—unexpectedly formed a deep bond with Luffy.
When he first arrived, Red had actually considered training hard to become a powerhouse himself.
To that end, he even pulled out the universe's ultimate training method—
Saitama Training:
One hundred squats, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred push-ups, plus a 10-kilometer run every day!
Don't be fooled—this routine didn't even match the daily training of an average Marine Headquarters soldier.
But for a college student who loved staying in his dorm gaming?
It was absolute torture.
Thankfully, he persevered.
Yet somehow, something went very wrong.
Although Red could clearly feel his body growing stronger day by day, the direction of that growth became increasingly… twisted.
Over two and a half years, his physical strength improved dramatically. Even the strongest men in Windmill Village lost to him in arm-wrestling.
But when he threw a punch, it was no stronger than that of an ordinary child—soft and powerless, as if some mysterious rule was weakening his attack power.
In contrast, his vitality, toughness, and defense skyrocketed to absurd levels.
Spending time with Luffy made injuries inevitable.
Yet whether struck by lightning, burned by fire, or falling from great heights, all Red ever suffered were surface-level injuries—rarely even bleeding.
And those injuries healed completely in a very short time.
If he weren't afraid to test it, Red might've suspected the Saitama regimen had already granted him an [Immortal] trait!
In the end, he could only chalk it up to transmigrator privileges.
Even without Saitama's conceptual one-punch power, he still counted as a super rookie now.
At the very least, in the East Blue, he had enough strength to protect himself.
…
…
"Alright then…"
"Pokémon—launch!"
After swiftly recalling everything that had happened since his transmigration, Red focused his mind and transformed his consciousness into a pointer, tapping the Let's Go, Pikachu/Eevee icon.
In an instant, blinding white light swallowed the world whole.
When Red opened his eyes again, he and Luffy had already left the nighttime sea behind—
They now stood within a lush forest that felt not entirely real.
Fresh grass and earthy scents replaced the salty ocean air, and before them stretched a soft, vibrant cartoon-like world.
Waist-high grass swayed gently in the wind, as if welcoming their arrival.
From within the tall grass or deeper in the forest, the silhouettes of Pokémon could occasionally be seen—
Weedle, Caterpie, Oddish…
Creatures that once existed only in fantasy were now vividly alive before Red's eyes.
Yet these Pokémon seemed completely unaware of Red and Luffy's sudden appearance, moving along predetermined paths as if on rails.
Clearly, this was a unique Pokémon world.
And the location where Red now stood—
Was their last save point in the game world.
Viridian Forest!
(End of Chapter)