Time passed like a white steed flashing by.
In the blink of an eye, a full week had gone by.
During this week, the entire waters of Totto Land seemed to have been thrown into a sandbox world with the fast-forward button pressed.
Every resident of Totto Land could clearly sense it…Everything around them was undergoing drastic change.
Describing it as "changing with each passing day" would honestly be far too conservative.
The ever-present Sugar Crumb drifting across the skies, the ultra-long-endurance reconnaissance insects and small drones flying by from time to time, and the emergency military bases and stationed troops deployed across every island…
All at once, the entire Totto Land sea region entered a state of high-intensity war preparedness.
A storm was clearly brewing.
And just at that moment, two separate forces quietly entered the waters of Totto Land—successfully triggering the warning system.
…
…
"Warning! Warning!"
Inside the castle on Cake Island, a sharp, urgent alarm suddenly rang out.
Red, who had been studying his latest system rewards, froze for a moment. He then raised one hand, removed the alarm module from the Den Den Mushi in front of him to cancel the alert, and pressed another button.
In an instant—
A massive screen descended from the corner of his private office.
And at the top of the screen, Buggy's red-nosed face abruptly appeared.
"Boss Red, this is bad!!!"
The moment the connection opened, Buggy nearly looked like he was about to crawl out of the screen, shouting in panic.
"What happened!?"Red frowned and asked immediately.
Buggy hurriedly grabbed a small auxiliary display covered in cables beside him and rapidly reported:
"It's intruders, Boss Red!"
"Just now, two fleets entered the waters of Totto Land almost at the exact same time!"
"According to footage transmitted back by the patrol drones, they're the Whitebeard Pirates and the Beasts Pirates!"
"Boss Red, it looks like we're being surrounded by two Yonko fleets!!!"
Even though the boss he followed—Luffy—had just defeated Big Mom not long ago and demonstrated overwhelming strength…
If the opponents were two Yonko crews, then no matter how much faith Buggy had in the Straw Hat Pirates, fear was unavoidable.
However, the panic Buggy imagined never appeared on Red's face.
On the contrary, Red revealed a playful smile.
"Oh? Both of them came to Totto Land at the same time?""That's quite the coincidence."
He smiled faintly.
Although the Beasts Pirates were stationed in the isolationist land of Wano and rarely interacted with the outside world—
Red, having already secured control over Stussy, naturally knew all too well about their recent movements.
So their appearance in Totto Land came as no surprise.
"The world's strongest creature?"
If spoken respectfully, he could be called Teacher Kaido.
But without that respect?At this point, he was nothing more than a jump rope for Luffy's workouts—no longer taken seriously by Red and the others.
That said…
Kaido appearing at this time might not necessarily mean he was an enemy.
Even enemy power could be used.
With a flicker of thought, Red suddenly smiled at Buggy on the screen and asked:
"By the way, Buggy—you stayed on Roger's ship before. You're not unfamiliar with Whitebeard and Kaido, right?"
"Huh?!"
Completely unable to follow Red's train of thought, Buggy froze for a moment before answering in confusion:
"We did clash with the Whitebeard Pirates a few times back then. I met Whitebeard more than once."
"But as for Kaido… when I was still with the captain, that guy was just a rookie who had barely formed his crew."
"We ran into him a few times, sure—but every time he saw our flag, he ran for his life. I never actually met him face to face."
"I see…"Red nodded in understanding. "Perfect, then. This will be a good chance for you to finally meet him."
He then issued an order:
"I've got some very important matters to deal with right now, so I'll leave the handling of those two Yonko fleets to you."
"Relax—Luffy just contacted Whitebeard recently, and you're already familiar with Ace, their Second Division Commander."
"They won't harm you."
"So that's how it is~"
Buggy suddenly realized, his expression lighting up with understanding.
So the Whitebeard Pirates were here to cooperate…
No wonder Boss Red was so calm.
Mm… gotta remember this, gotta remember this!
Next time I bluff, I'll use this expression too.
As Buggy's thoughts raced wildly, he suddenly remembered something and asked curiously:
"Boss Red… if Whitebeard is here to cooperate with us… then what about the Beasts Pirates?"
"You mean Kaido?"
Under Buggy's expectant gaze, Red's smile deepened—making Buggy even more uneasy.
"If the intelligence from Stussy and the Akatsuki is accurate,""then they're probably here to fight us over Cake Island and the Totto Land territory."
"Be careful. They're…""not here with good intentions."
"Alright, I've still got work to do. I'm hanging up!"
Click.
The bright screen instantly went dark.
Buggy stared blankly at his reflection on the blackened screen.
Wait…
You're letting me deal with Kaido!?
Buggy's mind went completely blank. As he looked at himself on the screen, he slowly forced out a smile uglier than crying.
"Boss Red… don't you think you're overestimating me a bit!?"
On the verge of tears, Buggy stared at the two massive fleets still sailing through the waters of Totto Land—only for his eyes to gradually sharpen with resolve.
…
…
Elsewhere, after ending the call, Red refocused his attention on the virtual screen before him.
He hadn't been deliberately making things difficult for Buggy.
The truth was—he genuinely had extremely important matters to deal with.
After handling Cake Island's affairs, the Straw Hat Pirates had all entered the Room of Spirit and Time to train. They wouldn't be coming out anytime soon.
That's right.
After Red led Luffy and the others to defeat Dialga—the final boss of Pokémon Legends: Arceus's first playthrough—the system rewarded him, just as expected, with a Time Seed, corresponding to the Space Seed.
And its effects were strikingly similar.
The Space Seed allowed Red to expand created space by supplying electricity.
The Time Seed, however, allowed him to designate a region and freely control its time flow by consuming electricity.
Without hesitation, Red applied the Time Seed to the same room previously expanded by the Space Seed.
Unlike the Space Seed, which created permanent space with a one-time energy input—
The Time Seed required a continuous supply of electricity to maintain its time acceleration.
The energy consumption depended on both the size of the selected area and the desired time ratio.
Thankfully, because the effect wasn't permanent, the energy cost was much lower.
With Red's current daily energy recovery, he could already sustain a 1:10 time ratio inside the Room of Spirit and Time.
One day in the real world equaled ten days inside the room.
Unfortunately, the Time Seed didn't allow bug abuse.
Even inside the accelerated space, Red's energy recovery still followed real-world time.
Because of this, Red had barely taken his companions into the Pokémon world to level up recently, instead funneling all his energy into the Room of Spirit and Time.
After all, Pokémon Legends: Arceus lacked the usual Champion achievement, meaning Red's Pokémon limit was still stuck at two.
While leveling in the Pokémon world might be faster—
Compared to enhancing the Straw Hat Pirates, the Avengers' commanders, and the countless insect troops within Usopp…
The Room of Spirit and Time was simply far more cost-effective.
And the real issue troubling Red right now came from his new achievement reward after clearing Arceus:
[Achievement: Lost Wanderer of Time and Space]
Effect:Select a region to connect it with a random Pokémon world.That region will follow all Pokémon game rules and will randomly spawn wild Pokémon of varying species and levels.
PS:Poké Balls and similar tools cannot be used in this region for rewards other than experience.
This reward was precisely what had been giving Red a headache.
Its function was straightforward—it allowed him to create a real-world Pokémon game zone within the One Piece world.
And as the owner of the reward, Red could clearly sense that the selectable region was huge.
If he wanted, he could even encompass all of Cake Island and part of the surrounding sea, transforming it entirely into a Pokémon zone.
And that was the problem.
Excluding Alabasta's Pokémon Paradise—which focused on experiments and revenue—Red currently had two viable choices.
One was the Room of Spirit and Time.
Thanks to the Space Seed, it was massive, and since it existed as the Going Merry's exclusive space, applying the achievement there would effectively create an independent world.
The advantage was obvious—Luffy and the others could directly defeat Pokémon and gain experience while training.
But the Pokémon types and levels would be completely unknown.
Red wasn't sure whether the efficiency would surpass their own cultivation.
The alternative…
Was selecting a region in the One Piece world.
That way, anyone who had ever been to the Pokémon world and loaded a Pokémon template could battle wild Pokémon there and grow stronger.
Comparatively, the latter option was far more cost-effective.
After all, they couldn't allow too many people into the Going Merry's inner space.
But that also meant Cake Island—or whichever region Red chose—would become the Straw Hat Pirates' true headquarters.
And if Vegapunk's future warning came true, and the world was swallowed by the sea…
Then this place would become a purely underwater Pokémon world.
With countless complications to follow.
Both options had pros and cons.
Red pondered for an entire morning.
Finally, he made his decision.
"Compared to turning the Room of Spirit and Time into a leveling zone… solving the leveling needs of more people is far more important."
With his mind settled, Red activated the achievement.
His consciousness soared upward, granting him a godlike view centered on himself.
He transformed his will into a pen stroke—drawing a precise circle centered on Cake Island.
In an instant…
The space belonging to Cake Island seemed to be enveloped by a mysterious force.
The already fantastical island became even more unreal.
Red casually flicked his arm, releasing a burst of force that slammed into the office door.
BOOM!!!
The door shattered completely—no debris left behind.
Red stood still, observing.
Time passed.
Half an hour later, the broken doorway suddenly became blurry, as if covered by a layer of reality-distorting mosaic.
Seconds later, the distortion faded.
The door stood perfectly restored.
"Just as I thought!"
Red grinned widely.
Now he truly understood how terrifying Pokémon game rules were.
From this moment on…
Cake Island had become a data-constructed world.
Aside from living beings from the One Piece world, everything else was data.
No true destruction.No true death.
Perhaps…
This place was even more deserving of the name—
Pokémon Paradise.
No—
A sudden thought struck Red.
In the future, this island's status might rival even the Holy Land · Mary Geoise atop the Red Line.
A—
Pokémon Holy Land!!!
(End of Chapter)