"Chopper, finish him off!"
"Use Sheer Cold!!!"
"Roger!!!"
Hiss—
A dense aura of frost suddenly surged out from the body of a gigantic reindeer monster, instantly dyeing the entire sky above the arena an icy blue.
In the next moment, countless ice particles began falling from the sky, crazily crashing toward the equally gigantic Machamp standing opposite Chopper.
That's right!
At this moment, Chopper wasn't using Monster Point. Instead, under the unique special energy of Pokémon Sword/Shield, he had entered a Dynamax state.
After Dynamaxing, a Pokémon's stats might not appear to change much on the surface, but under the pressure brought by its enormous size, its actual combat power rose significantly.
And another benefit of Dynamax was that all Pokémon moves would be enhanced by that special energy and transformed into Max Moves.
For example, the Sheer Cold Chopper had just unleashed was originally an extremely frigid blast aimed at a single target.
But under the influence of that special energy, Sheer Cold had transformed into Max Hailstorm.
Not only did it retain its original freezing power, it also spread that icy force across the entire battlefield, continuously dealing damage to Pokémon on the field.
It was just a pity... that this Max Hailstorm didn't have much room left to shine.
Under the endless barrage of ice particles, the already tottering Machamp let out a miserable cry. Its body suddenly shrank back down, reverting to its original size before collapsing weakly to the ground.
"It's over~"
The corners of Red's lips lifted slightly as he smiled calmly.
After all, winning a battle across a 20-level gap was only natural.
As expected, under the pitifully meager injection of experience, Chopper's EXP bar finally accumulated enough to reach the top.
Whoosh—
A bright white glow flashed across Chopper's body, and his level rose to 63, his strength increasing dramatically.
Level 63—by common level standards, that was already around the level of an elite Marine Vice Admiral.
But with all of Chopper's strange abilities stacked on top of that, his true combat level had already firmly planted itself at the level of a Yonko commander.
A few more steps upward, and he would reach Admiral level.
And he was also the first executor of Red's "All Admirals" plan.
"Red!"
As the effects of the battlefield move faded, Chopper's body also returned to normal.
Red smiled and gestured for him to wait a moment.
Then he strode toward the center of the battlefield.
Meanwhile, Bea, the Gym Leader of Stow-on-Side Stadium, walked up to Red with shock still written all over her face.
"Your Pokémon is truly a being like a demon god!"
It was hard to tell whether her AI consciousness still hadn't faded or whether this was simply her preset line after defeat, but after sighing, Bea suddenly cupped her fists toward Red in salute. After a short exchange, Red successfully obtained this game's Fighting Badge as he had wished.
Yet upon receiving the badge again, Red didn't look especially happy.
After all, the previous few badges hadn't given him particularly good abilities.
The Water-type Gym in Hulbury had given him the move Water Sport.
Its effect was to moisten the surrounding area with water, thereby reducing fire damage.
It could be said to be a move with absolutely no combat power whatsoever, but since it had been chosen by the Almighty Machine Daddy, it couldn't exactly be called useless.
What Water Sport brought Red wasn't a more flexible offensive method, but rather a tremendous enhancement to his control over Water-type energy.
After learning Water Sport, even the Surf he used became more flexible and versatile.
Likewise, the Fire-type Gym in Motostoke later gave Red a move called Fiery Dance.
The effect of that move was pretty similar to Water Sport—it let flames coil around his body, so that in close combat he could burn enemies with fire.
It was also a move with basically no direct combat value for Red.
However, after mastering Fiery Dance, Red once again gained even stronger control over Fire-type energy as usual.
The Sacred Fire he used could now even turn into little flame people and dance a full performance of Gokuraku Jodo.
It was precisely because the previous two rewards had been so underwhelming that after obtaining the Fighting Badge this time, Red didn't hold much hope. He directly summoned the system interface and chose to draw a reward.
The familiar roulette wheel. The familiar screen full of moves.
By now, when Red saw this scene again, he no longer felt even the slightest emotional stir.
Very quickly, the wheel came to a stop.
And when he looked at the move the pointer had landed on, Red didn't feel the slightest bit surprised!
[Move: Aura Sphere]
[Type: Fighting]
[Category: Special]
[Power: 80]
[Description: Gather the power of aura within your body and launch a long-range attack at the enemy.]
"As expected, Aura Sphere!?"
Feeling the Aura inside him suddenly become strangely active, Red revealed a smile that said, Just as I thought.
From Forest's Curse, Water Sport, Fiery Dance, and now Aura Sphere...
He seemed to have finally realized what the Machine was trying to do this time.
Machine Daddy seemed to be consciously helping him make his control over energy more precise and more efficient.
All along, Red's fighting style had either been to crush opponents with overwhelming raw power, or to toy with them using all kinds of unbelievable Pokémon moves.
On top of that, there were too many miscellaneous things going on around him, and he himself never liked training much, so his control over energy had always been terrible.
So terrible that even Machine Daddy apparently couldn't stand watching anymore.
"So... this is helping me go one step further~"
Silently feeling the changes brought by the Gym reward and Aura Sphere, Red also began to look forward to what kind of reward he would receive after fully clearing Pokémon Sword/Shield.
"I wonder if I'll be able to bring the method of Dynamaxing into the real world?"
That thought of anticipation flashed through his mind. After receiving the reward, Red turned around and gave little Chopper a light smile.
"All right~ next, let's continue our journey."
"Let's do our best to reach the next town before daybreak!"
"Okay~!"
Little Chopper swung his arm excitedly, filled with fighting spirit.
...
...
Under a night sky bright with moonlight and sparse stars,
a strange sailing ship sped forward at full speed beneath the moon's glow, moving at a velocity that completely did not belong to such a tranquil night.
Inside the cabins, Red and Chopper lay on soft beds in their own rooms, grinding levels in the Pokémon world.
On the lookout platform of the Going Merry, the ship spirit Little Merry and Little Nika, another special lifeform, were playing a version of Monopoly invented by Red.
As for the rest of the Straw Hat crew, all of them had entered the Room of Spirit and Time to train.
Though the outside world had already entered the deep of night, for everyone inside the Room of Spirit and Time, it was the perfect time to cultivate.
And the direction the Going Merry was now heading in was none other than the direction of Wano Country.
By now, the news of Kaido and the three All-Stars being defeated had already spread across the whole world like wildfire.
But according to intelligence passed along by the Akatsuki, the Beasts Pirates in Wano still firmly believed that Captain Kaido would return as normal.
Under the management of the Tobiroppo, they had yet to fall into total disarray.
But even so, if Kaido failed to return for too long, that state of affairs would not last much longer.
What was more, Wano Country was not without other problems now.
...
...
Pale moonlight scattered across the land, becoming the only source of light in this place.
At that very moment, a ripple of distortion suddenly spread through the calm void.
In the next instant, four figures abruptly appeared from within those ripples and fell to the ground.
"Mother!!!"
The moment they landed, one of the smaller figures let out a heart-rending cry, as though he had lost something of utmost importance.
"Lord Momonosuke!!!"
A man dressed in a samurai kimono suddenly stepped forward and stopped the figure who was about to run ahead. After looking around at their surroundings, he said in the same pained voice:
"Lord Momonosuke, we... should already have traveled twenty years into the future."
"Lady Toki, she... may already have..."