Early morning.
A faint white glimmer appeared on the distant horizon over the sea and quickly grew brighter.
Within just a few minutes, the darkness of the night was driven away by that sliver of light.
The world gradually became bright.
"Ah~ That was a great sleep!"
Thanks to his Regenerator ability, Luffy had slept soundly all night, completely recovered from fatigue. He pushed open the cabin door with energy, a bright smile on his face.
Then he shouted toward the cabin again:
"Hey! Nami, isn't breakfast ready yet!?"
"I'm starving!!"
*Whoosh!*
A spatula suddenly flew out from the cabin, grazed Luffy's eyebrow, and stuck into the deck, buzzing from the impact.
"Nag nag nag! All you do is Nag!"
"If you keep yelling, you won't get breakfast today!!!"
From inside the cabin came Nami's furious roar.
"Yikes!!!"Hearing that there might be no breakfast, Luffy was instantly alarmed. He quickly grabbed his mouth with both hands and cautiously muttered:
"She's such a scary woman..."
"Hahaha~ Calm down, Nami."
At that moment, Red's laugh came from inside the cabin, trying to comfort her:
"Just hang in there a bit longer. I already have a candidate for the chef. Soon, you'll be free from this."
"Tch!" Nami grumbled while boiling eggs in a small pot. Since she wasn't very good at cooking, she could only make simple meals.
"I'm a navigator! Why do I have to do this kind of thing?!"
She complained in frustration, but her hands didn't stop moving.
Only when she was chopping potatoes was there an eerie aura about her, as if murderous intent was swirling around.
Even Zoro, who had just woken up, quietly slipped out of the cabin without saying a word.
Such was the warm and affectionate morning of the Straw Hat Pirates.
Meanwhile…
While Red and the others were enjoying life on the sea…
At Marine Headquarters in Marineford, located on the Grand Line, a group of Marines had urgently convened a meeting because of their recent actions.
"This is provocation! Blatant provocation!!!"
"Damn pirates! How dare they do something like this!"
A burly Marine Rear Admiral slammed a photo onto the table and roared angrily.
It was a photo of the four members of the Straw Hat crew taken in front of a Marine base!
Other Marine officers in the meeting room were also visibly enraged.
A pirate crew that had just set out had dared to attack a Marine base and defeat Marine officers...
What's worse...
They even took a group photo at the Marine base entrance as a memento!!!
Such an act was the greatest insult and challenge to the Marines!
"We absolutely cannot let these people roam free on the seas!!!"
The meeting's organizer, the Rear Admiral, stared furiously at the photo pinned to the board, flames of rage flickering in his eyes.
But just then, another Rear Admiral holding a report frowned and said:
"But..."
"With the East Blue Marine Branch's strength, they probably aren't a match for these people, right?"
"Did you all read the rest of the report?"
"This crew isn't just some rookie pirates!"
He looked troubled as he raised his head to glance at the others.
"The rest of the report!?"
Reminded by him, the others realized there was more content on the next pages.
They all flipped the page and immediately gasped in unison.
"Hiss~!"
"Is this for real?!"
"This can't be right!? They're just rookie pirates..."
"If what's reported here is true, then this is not a simple pirate provocation!"
"..."
"..."
The room erupted into intense discussion.
Even the previously furious organizer quieted down, his face turning grim as he carefully read the follow-up report.
On the second page, there was a photo taken from the rooftop, overlooking the 153rd Marine Base's open area.
The surrounding walls had collapsed, debris everywhere, with massive cracks covering the ground like after an earthquake.
And in the center of the photo...
A massive fist-shaped crater was deeply imprinted in the Earth!
Below the image was the summary report from the 153rd Marine Branch:
[Overhead view of the aftermath of a sparring session between Straw Hat Pirate Captain Monkey D. Luffy and new crew member Roronoa Zoro.]
Another photo showed the same area before the damage, for comparison.
The conference room fell into stunned silence.
Finally, the Rear Admiral pinched his temples and groaned:
"Damn it! Why does the East Blue always produce these troublesome guys!!!"
Then he suddenly looked up and declared firmly:
"We must immediately issue bounties for this crew! The world needs to realize how dangerous they are!"
"Also, notify Smoker in Loguetown. He must intercept the Straw Hat crew in East Blue. We cannot, absolutely cannot..."
"Let them enter the Grand Line!!! They must not become the next Fire Fist Ace!!!"
"Yes, sir!!!"
The Marines responded with firm resolve. With the word Justice on their backs, they feared no enemy.
"Eh? Zoro, you and Red went to the Pokémon world last night?"
"Unforgivable!"
"Why didn't you take me with you?!"
Back to the East Blue.
Thanks to Nami's frantic efforts, Red and the others had a decent breakfast.
During the meal, when Luffy heard that Red had taken Zoro on an adventure to the Pokémon world the previous night, he pouted like a jealous kid.
Red could only shrug helplessly.
"It couldn't be helped~"
"If I could, I'd take all of you with me on adventures..."
"But my ability can only support one person."
He said this while shaking his head regretfully.
After all, in Pokémon: Let's Go Pikachu/Eevee, the experience gained by Pokémon gets shared among all team members.
If he could bring multiple people into the game world and let them share experience, even if they just stayed in the backpack, it would still be awesome!
'Too bad… such a pity!'
Maybe in future versions of the game, with items like the EXP Share, if he could bring it into the real world, others might be able to share experience too.
But Luffy didn't care about Red's explanation. He immediately threw a tantrum, rolling on the floor.
"NO FAIR~! I want to go on adventures too! I want to GO!..."
Red put down his bowl, stepped on Luffy to stop his antics, and said:
"Alright, alright, you win!"
"I'll take you to the Pokémon world today!"
Originally, he hadn't planned to bring Luffy into the game world today.
After all, they were about to reach Cerulean City, which was the stronghold of Water-type Pokémon, not Luffy's specialty.
However...
Considering the Cerulean Gym might provide a lot of EXP, maybe it would be better to let Luffy absorb that experience and level up early.
With a level advantage, those Water-types wouldn't pose much threat anyway.
Actually, Red had a theory...
The reason Luffy hadn't awakened Armament Haki might be because his body or spirit hadn't reached the required threshold yet.
Sure, in the future story, some weaklings awakened Armament Haki after receiving expert training...
But there were tons of pirates in the New World who knew Haki. They couldn't all have been taught by masters.
So, Red made a bold hypothesis
When someone's physique or willpower reaches a certain level, the body might naturally awaken Armament Haki.
From a fantasy perspective, Armament Haki is just an application of life force or "vital energy."
When that energy is strong enough and visible, one might awaken Haki instinctively.
There was also Smoker, a Logia-type user, waiting for them in Loguetown.
Even though Red already had a plan to deal with Smoker...
If Luffy could awaken Armament Haki soon, it would save Red a lot of effort.
"Really?!"
"Awesome, Red!!!"
"Yatta~! Woohoo~!"
Hearing that Red agreed to take him, Luffy did multiple somersaults in excitement.
"You guy..."Red shook his head helplessly, but then shouted to Luffy:
"I'm warning you, this is a one-time thing!"
"From now on, who I take into the Pokémon world will be based strictly on my plans!"
"Hehe, no problem, Red!"Luffy did a flip and landed in front of Red, smiling brightly.
Then he turned to Zoro and said apologetically:
"Sorry, Zoro. I won't fight over it again in the future!"
"It's just… after our spar, I felt like I was really close to mastering that move!"
"So I wanted to test it out in the Pokémon world..."