"Woo-hoo~!"
"The adventure in this magical world, here I come~!"
As soon as he set foot in the otherworld, Luffy immediately beamed, raised his arms high over his head, and cheered excitedly.
Then, following the agreement of "listen to Red's commands in this world," he quickly turned his gaze to Red.
"Red, can we go find that talking little cat from last time!?"
"That trio was just so funny, I want to see their performance again!"
"That's Team Rocket. They're an evil organization, not an entertainment troupe."
"Huh?" Luffy looked confused. "But they're hilarious!"
Red shot Luffy an exasperated look, then said:
"Enough chatter. Stay quiet for a while, I need to test some things"
As he spoke, Red's consciousness stirred, and a vivid interface appeared before his eyes, visible only to himself.
With a thought, a vibrant interface-visible only to him-materialized:
Red: [Pokédex]
Yellow: [Bag]
Green: [Pokémon]
Purple: [Save]
Four neatly arranged, colorful options.
The [Pokédex] function recorded detailed information about the Pokémon they'd encountered so far.
To Red, it wasn't very useful, at most, it served as a mildly handy database.
The [Bag] was the in-game backpack, used to store items they obtained in this world.
But since they'd only just begun exploring, the bag didn't hold anything particularly interesting yet.
As for [Save], in the game, it was used to save progress, but for Red, it was actually a way to manually exit the game world.
Even after entering the game world, Red and Luffy didn't entirely lose their senses of the real world.
Their current state was quite mysterious, somewhat like being deeply immersed in a game.
Although most of their consciousness was focused on the game, they could still notice any disturbance in the real world and then use the [Save] function to return to reality.
And the last one...
With a flicker of thought, the [Pokémon] icon flashed.
The next moment, a familiar yet unfamiliar interface appeared before Red.
There were still six neatly arranged Pokémon slots, except the last five were all grayed out, and only the first slot was occupied by a little cartoon figure of Luffy.
He tapped to view Luffy's information.
As a background voice declared, "I'm the man who's going to be King of the Pirates!", Red entered Luffy's Pokémon interface.
[Pokémon: Monkey D. Luffy]
[Level: 46]
[Gender: ♂]
[Nature: Bold (+Defense, -Attack)]
[Type: Normal, Fairy]
[Ability: Regenerator (rapidly recovers stamina and injuries when out of battle)]
[Moves: Empty, Empty, Empty, Empty]
[EXP: 693/6787]
[Base stats]
[HP: 194]
[Physical Attack: 141]
[Physical Defense: 156]
[Special Attack: 121]
[Special Defense: 135]
[Speed: 138]
That was Luffy's full stat page.
After opening it, Red's gaze immediately fixed on Luffy's EXP bar.
"693 points!? That's almost 200 more than when we left last time!"
A glimmer of light flashed in Red's dark eyes.
"So it seems EXP can be gained not just in the game world!"
"Training and battles in the real world counts too."
Having uncovered another system mechanic, Red's mouth curled upward in a "I understand it now" smile.
Seeing Luffy beside him, already itching to start a fight, Red smiled lightly.
"Alright, Luffy!"
"You've been idle all day, time to warm up a bit!"
"Hehe, I've been waiting for this!"
Luffy grinned.
He immediately locked his gaze on a small purple rat with two sharp front teeth emerging from the bushes.
It was none other than Rattata, the classic early-game Pokémon!
With a flicker, Luffy's body blurred like a shadow and, almost like teleportation, appeared right behind Rattata.
At the same time, a strange arena materialized, enveloping him and Rattata.
On the sidelines, Red was also surrounded by a freely controllable barrier.
This game world was both real and illusory.
Real, in the sense that even though Luffy hadn't learned any Pokémon moves yet, he could still fight freely.
Even the roadside Pokémon had fighting abilities matching their levels; they could run, jump, and dodge skillfully, completely different from the stiff animations in the games.
Illusory, in the sense that...
Whenever Luffy and Red prepared to battle a Pokémon, an isolated arena would appear.
Above the target Pokémon, in this case Rattata, an info bar floated, showing:
[LV: 5, HP: 21/21]
This showed Rattata's level and health.
Other than that, the world wasn't as lively as it seemed.
Although everyone they met along the way looked expressive, they only repeated fixed lines and couldn't hold real conversations.
But...
Who cared!
As long as this world could make them stronger, it was a good world!
"Gum-Gum...Pistol!!!"
Bang!!!
A lightning-fast punch shot out, ruthlessly smashing into Rattata.
Level 46 vs Level 5!
The outcome was already written.
"Eek~!"
Caught completely off guard, poor Rattata had no idea this powerhouse would even bother to ambush it!
With a pitiful cry, Rattata's eyes instantly spiraled into dizzy swirls.
This was another feature of the game world: Pokémon never died; they simply lost their ability to fight.
Once a Pokémon entered the dizzy-eye state, it meant Red could catch it with a Poké Ball.
Although they wouldn't gain a new Pokémon, caught Pokémon would convert into extra EXP and sometimes drop items.
Basically, it was like a double EXP bonus.
"Should I catch it, Red?"
Having easily defeated the Rattata, Luffy looked up to ask.
By now, he was fairly familiar with some of the game's mechanics.
But Red shook his head. "No need. A level 5 Rattata isn't worth wasting a 200¥ Poké Ball."
"Let's keep moving!"
With that, Red glanced at the info prompt that flashed as the arena disappeared:
[Monkey D. Luffy defeated Rattata, gained: +12 EXP.]
"Only 12 EXP? That's nowhere near enough to fill Luffy's massive EXP bar~"
"Looks like the next priority is pushing the main story and getting to a higher-level grinding area."
Red mused to himself.
"Luffy's types are Normal and Fairy. In theory, that should counter Bug, Ghost, Dragon, and Dark types..."
There were 18 Pokémon types, each with strengths and weaknesses.
To become a strong trainer, mastering type advantages was basic.
As for why Luffy had the Normal/Fairy dual type, Red had his own theories.
First, Luffy's fighting style, which does not use other energies and only uses his body to fight the most ordinary, primitive confrontations.
That clearly matched traits common to Normal-types.
So Luffy having the Normal type made sense.
The Fairy type, on the other hand, probably came from Luffy's Devil Fruit power.
Rubber in name, the Mythical Zoan Nika Fruit in truth - it wasn't surprising the game system classified such a mysterious, shape-shifting power as Fairy-type.
"But still..."
Red's thoughts paused slightly.
"Before his Nika awakening, Luffy's fighting style leans more toward Normal-type, and Normal has no type advantages, plus it can't even hit Ghost-types..."
"Even with Regenerator giving him such strong stamina recovery, we need to plan carefully."
"I really need to raise Luffy's level quickly."
"Only a powerful Luffy can help me clear stages faster and earn more rewards from the system!"
A strange light flickered in Red's eyes.
He didn't believe his cheat ability was limited to just strengthening those around him.
He was betting everything on a mechanism he hadn't yet accessed:
Clearing game stages or achievements would grant rewards matching the game's theme.
Red had a hunch his path to power was tied to these rewards!
And to get those rewards, his only "Pokémon" for now, Luffy, was his key!
He absolutely couldn't let this guy slack off!
Standing in the rear, watching as Luffy laughed and charged toward a Pidgey, Red's face slowly curved into a meaningful smile.
"Enjoy this world to the fullest, Luffy."
"I hope you'll never grow tired of it and keep charging forward!"
"For your dreams and goals, I'll be right behind you, pushing you onward without mercy!"
"When the time comes, don't get annoyed with your Trainer~"