"This is…"
Seeing the jet-black sheen on Luffy's fist—like sparks igniting from a single star—Red was startled. He shot upright in bed.
"Armament Haki!!!"
"Luffy, you finally awakened Armament Haki!!!"
Two whole years!
Two years had passed since Red told Luffy about the existence of Armament Haki…
And now, at dawn on the third—or perhaps the fourth—day after setting sail, Luffy had finally grasped the doorway to Armament Haki.
Although the Armament Haki clinging to Luffy's fist was still thin to the point of near collapse, as long as he had taken that first step, Red firmly believed that Luffy's training in Armament Haki would surge forward in a straight, brilliant ascent, full of surprises.
After all…
He was a Pokémon with the pure power of the Normal type—raw physical prowess incarnate!!!
Yet what confused Red was this:
When they left the Gym earlier, Luffy had told him he still couldn't feel Armament Haki at all.
So how was it that the moment they exited the game world, he mastered it immediately!?
A thoughtful glint flashed through Red's eyes.
If there had been any special change during that time…
It was probably that Red had taken Luffy to the Pokémon Center, restored him to peak condition, and then exited the game world directly.
"Was it Luffy at full condition awakening the latent potential of his body? Or did the healing process at the Pokémon Center infuse some kind of energy capable of triggering Armament Haki?"
In the game, no matter how badly a Pokémon was injured—even on the brink of death—as long as it lay on the Pokémon Center's equipment for a few seconds, all stamina would be fully restored.
In the game, this was nothing more than a mechanic—just data and programming…
But since Pokémon energy itself truly existed, it wasn't impossible that Pokémon Center treatment carried some special effect as well.
"Later, I can have Zoro test it."
Red noted the thought quietly to himself.
But soon, he put those speculations aside and smiled sincerely at Luffy.
"Congratulations, Luffy!"
"Looks like I don't need to worry about the Marines in Loguetown anymore."
"Hahaha~!" Luffy laughed heartily. "No matter what kind of enemy it is, I'll knock them flying without hesitation!!!"
Freshly awakened to Armament Haki, Luffy was brimming with confidence, his eyes shining like a brilliant star-filled sky.
...
...
After celebrating together for a while, Luffy—overcome by drowsiness—returned to his room to sleep.
Only then did Red finally get some time to review his own gains.
The Badge skill he had been looking forward to was interrupted by Luffy's sudden breakthrough in Armament Haki, and he'd had no chance to check it earlier.
He opened the device's interface and, before entering the game, checked Luffy's attributes in the selection system.
[Pokémon: Monkey D. Luffy][Level: 47][Experience: 278 / 7057]
[HP: 198 (+4)][Attack: 144 (+3)][Defense: 156 (+3)][Sp. Atk: 124 (+3)][Sp. Def: 138 (+3)][Speed: 141 (+3)]
...
After defeating Gym Leader Misty's two Pokémon, Luffy earned 552 experience points, leaping straight to Level 47.
After leveling up, aside from HP increasing by 4 points, all of Luffy's other stats rose by 3 points each.
With no reference standard, Red couldn't say how strong this growth really was.
But compared to ordinary Pokémon in the game, Luffy's base stats had absolutely reached the level of a Legendary Pokémon!
And not just any Legendary, either!
Of course, that made sense…
After all, he was Luffy.
After looking for a bit, Red closed Luffy's status panel and shifted his focus back to himself.
First came the reward from the Badge Collector achievement…
In stark contrast to the steady, grounded feeling he gained from the Boulder Badge—
After acquiring the Cascade Badge, a peculiar lightness instantly surged through Red's body.
Internally, he constantly felt a moist, comfortable sensation, as if his entire body were bathed in flowing water.
If the Boulder Badge granted Red defensive power…
Then what the Cascade Badge gave him was—
A profound sense of physical and mental ease, along with recovery capabilities far beyond imagination!
Especially considering that Red already possessed a super Pallet Town physique, this terrifying recovery ability seemed to push him even further along the path of becoming "unkillable."
Most importantly…
This recovery didn't only apply to physical injuries—it also restored stamina and mental energy!
This meant Red's endurance and sustainability would skyrocket.
"Nice! I was just envying how Luffy could use the Pokémon Center to recover. With this ability, I'm basically a perpetual motion machine now!"
After praising himself internally, Red once again turned his attention to the device's interface.
The "pending draw" notification still lingered in the corner of the screen.
With a nudge of his consciousness, a roulette wheel containing all Water-type moves appeared before his eyes.
"Well then… time for another thrilling gamble with fate!"
Rubbing his hands together, Red pressed the [Start] button.
Unwilling to endure the torment of watching the roulette spin, he directly cut off his attention from the device, choosing not to look at the result.
Instead, he closed his eyes and waited in the darkness.
After about half a minute, feeling the timing was right, Red refocused his consciousness on the device.
In an instant, a notification leapt into his vision:
[Congratulations! You have obtained the move — Surf!]
Huff—
A surge of unfamiliar memories and energy flooded into Red's body like divine enlightenment.
Deep blue waves shimmered endlessly in his eyes, as though an entire ocean were contained within them.
Moments later, Red looked joyfully at his hands.
Even though Surf didn't need to be activated through his palms, the sensation of suddenly controlling such power was utterly intoxicating.
"Surf, huh? That's quite the pleasant surprise!"
Red opened the move details.
[Move: Surf][Type: Water][Category: Special][Power: 90]
[Description: A Pokémon move with special effects. It condenses Water-type energy into massive waves to deal damage to enemies, and can also manipulate nearby water sources to form surging seas. Additionally, after learning this move, the user can move freely across water surfaces while consuming only minimal energy.]
"Another move with fully-loaded effects?!"
After reading the description, a satisfied smile spread across Red's face.
Even though it was already late at night, the exhaustion he'd accumulated had largely recovered thanks to the Cascade Badge's achievement reward.
Red stepped straight out onto the deck.
The night was quiet, the sky filled with countless stars.
Standing beneath the starlit heavens, Red slowly extended his palm toward the distant sea.
"Surf!"
In an instant—
Deep blue waves flowed through his eyes.
The next moment, a small tsunami over ten meters long and more than five meters tall surged violently from the calm sea, crashing forward across the ocean's surface!
Crash—!!!
With the roaring sound of turbulent currents, the wave Red formed merged back into the endless sea, scattering vast splashes across the once-peaceful waters.
"Not bad at all."
Red nodded in satisfaction.
Don't be fooled by how little impact it had on the ocean itself—that was only because the target of the attack had been the sea as a whole!
If this move were used on land, rapidly forming such a massive tsunami against an enemy—especially Devil Fruit users—
It would be an absolutely lethal strike!!!
Of course, with power on this scale, the move naturally wasn't without drawbacks.
And Surf's drawback was…
"The energy consumption is pretty high."
Feeling the hollowing drain inside his body, Red murmured thoughtfully.
"With my body empowered by the Cascade Badge reward, I can probably only use Surf about five times in a short span."
"And the startup time isn't particularly fast either. Against high-alert, agile targets, it'd be easy for them to escape the attack range."
To say nothing else—if the enemy had mastered Shave, Red would never use this move right in front of them.
But still…
"How could any move be perfect?"
After firmly committing Surf's performance to memory, Red no longer nitpicked over the flaws and instead turned to test Surf's other effect.
"Control nearby water sources to form waves, huh?"
"I think I've got a pretty good idea!"
(End of Chapter)