"What!?"
"You're saying that even after learning we're holding such a priceless treasure, the World Government didn't choose to keep turtling up in Mary Geoise, but instead plans to mobilize all its forces to attack the Pokémon Sea!?"
"There's actually such a wonderful thing in this world!!?"
Pokémon Sea.
Red, who had been woken from the game world by the ringing of his phone, stared in surprise at Aokiji's virtual projection from the Personal Terminal before him and let out an astonished exclamation.
Compared to the outside world, which was now in an uproar over the Straw Hat Pirates becoming the Pirate King's crew and the truth of history being revealed, the Straw Hat Pirates—the very ones who had done all of this—were terrifyingly quiet.
Even the members of the Grand Fleet, who had made such a huge showing before the world earlier, had all gradually settled down and thrown themselves into their own training, aside from a small number who needed fame to generate profits.
This was not because they could endure loneliness or had suddenly become well-behaved. Rather, after returning from Laugh Tale, Red had directly issued an order to everyone in the Grand Fleet, forcing them to level up as quickly as possible.
In the near future, the Straw Hat Pirates would establish their first extraterrestrial base on the moon. When the time came, outstanding candidates from the Straw Hat Grand Fleet would be selected to serve as managers of that base.
They called them "base managers," but at present, the only force capable of freely traveling through the starry sky by using abilities was the Straw Hat Pirates!
If someone could become the manager of an extraterrestrial base, didn't that mean they would practically be managing an entire planet!?
As for the moon lacking personnel? Lacking resources?
What kind of joke was that!?
In the pirate world, the one thing it lacked least was unfortunate people who wanted to escape their current circumstances because of all kinds of oppression and danger!!!
The slaves of Mary Geoise might have been liberated, but across the entire world, there were still countless people treated as slaves—or even worse than slaves.
Right now, the Revolutionary Army was still worrying over how to deal with those poor souls!
As long as the Straw Hats gave the order, who knew how many people would be willing to follow the Straw Hat Pirates to live on the moon?
Although the environment there certainly would not be much better in the early stages, everything would start from zero. Everything would be distributed according to labor. It would be fair and just, and everyone would have a chance...
For those poor people, that alone was already an extravagant dream they could hardly hope to obtain!
And establishing an extraterrestrial base on the moon was not some random decision Red and the others had made on a whim.
Ever since they learned from history that such a treasure as the Solar Crystal could be born in the universe, Red and the others immediately cast aside their previous contempt for outer space.
Clearly, the mysteries of the universe were boundless. They might even far surpass the fantasies Red had seen in all kinds of literary works.
But likewise, the universe also had room for the weak to survive.
Red had a very clear understanding of himself and categorized them, who were only just entering the starry sky, as among the "weak."
Although Luffy had been rather dissatisfied when Red said that in the meeting room at the time, everyone in the Straw Hats knew that Red was not wrong.
If one Solar Crystal could appear in the universe, then a second one could appear as well!
If one failed Imu could appear, then a successful one could appear too!
Everything on the Blue Planet now seemed like small-scale squabbling in their eyes. The urgent priority now was to establish a firm foothold among the stars.
And continuously searching for planets suitable for human habitation while building extraterrestrial bases to provide supplies was a very good method.
After ending the call with Aokiji, Red immediately fell into thought.
Imu's decision to stake everything on one last gamble had indeed exceeded his expectations somewhat.
However, from Red's point of view, this was not a bad thing.
Previously, he had still been worried about whether Mary Geoise might contain some hidden trump card of Imu's, which was why he had never dared to begin the final battle against the World Government.
Although the Poneglyphs had not explicitly stated it, Red had already guessed that the "national treasure" Doflamingo mentioned in the anime was likely the so-called Solar Crystal.
It was just that he could not rule out the possibility that Imu still had other contingencies.
After all, an undying old monster who had lived from eight hundred years ago until now might very well possess some special methods.
But to say the Straw Hat Pirates would be afraid of Imu because of that was going too far.
After all, Imu and the others' impression of the Straw Hat Pirates was still stuck at the time of their last attack on Mary Geoise.
Yet after several months of leveling day and night without rest, the Straw Hat Pirates' basic levels had already reached an absurd degree.
With a thought from Red, a Pokémon information interface immediately appeared before him.
At the top of it, several chibi icons belonging to the Straw Hat Pirates had been specially marked out by Red.
Monkey D. Luffy, Level 93;
Roronoa Zoro, Level 89;
Vinsmoke Sanji, Level 89;
Nami, Level 72;
Usopp, Level 70;
Nico Robin, Level 75;
Tony Tony Chopper, Level 77;
Franky, Level 72;
Brook, Level 76;
Jinbe, Level 82;
Uta, Level 65;
Baloric Redfield, Level 91;
Laboon, Level 80;
Merry, Level 78.
The above was the Straw Hat Pirates' current level information.
To be honest, even Red had not expected that with him going all out, his companions' levels would grow by leaps and bounds to such an extent.
As everyone's basic levels rose one after another, the Straw Hat Pirates' overall combat power had increased by who knew how many times.
The number of people whose combat strength had reached the level of a Marine Admiral or above alone had already reached double digits!
And that was not even mentioning Level 93 Luffy, Level 91 Redfield, Level 89 Zoro and Sanji, plus Red himself, who had cleared three games, obtained countless boosts, and could switch between various Legendary Pokémon forms at any time...
If a lineup like this still could not beat Imu, then Red truly could not imagine what possibility Luffy and the others from the original plot would have of winning.
Of course, levels did not represent everything.
Take Usopp, for example, whose level was only 70 because he had contributed a large amount of game time.
If he were placed in a suitable environment, the combat power he could unleash would not be any weaker than that of an Emperor of the Sea.
Aside from him, there was Franky, who could fuse infinitely; Chopper, who had multiple transformations; Brook, who manipulated souls; Nami, who could summon wind and rain; and Merry, who could destroy a nation with a single cannon shot...
If any one of them were taken out alone, their combat strength would not be any weaker than Moria and the others who had been broadcast live before the world earlier.
In fact, because the Straw Hats were too close to Red and could always enjoy the best benefits, the Pokémon powers they displayed and mastered even surpassed those of Moria and the others.
At present, among the entire Straw Hat Pirates, only Uta's combat strength could still be considered lacking.
They said "lacking," but Uta, who had already reached Level 65, possessed a physique comparable to that of an elite Marine Vice Admiral even without considering her Devil Fruit ability.
If her still rather unskilled Pokémon-ization and the power of the Sing-Sing Fruit were added, then no matter how one looked at it, she should be considered at the level of an Emperor's deputy.
The only pity was that...
As a world-class diva, Uta's talent in combat really was not very outstanding. At most, she was on par with Nami.
She was much stronger than ordinary people, but compared to top-tier powerhouses, she was basically equal to zero.
Moreover, Uta's Sing-Sing Fruit was unlike Nami's Disaster-Disaster Fruit and Clima-Tact, which could provide her with combat strength in a straightforward way.
So Red's next plan was to make up for the Straw Hat Pirates' final shortcoming!
Although he said out loud that he did not care about Uta's actual combat ability, as a Trainer, how could he just watch his companion fall behind the team?
What was more, it was not as though Uta had no possibility of becoming stronger!
Do not forget—
The Demon of Song sealed in the Kingdom of Elegia was still obediently sealed within the ruins of the kingdom.
Red's original plan had been to help Uta find a way to obtain that Demon of Song as combat strength before the final battle against the World Government.
Since the World Government could not wait any longer, he would simply move things forward a little.
Otherwise, when the great battle began and all his companions were slaughtering enemies at the front lines while only Uta stayed in the rear clearing small fry, that would look rather unsightly.
Even if Uta's ability to clear small fry was comparable to Usopp's.
As the saying went, people did not worry about scarcity, but about unfair distribution.
Among the Straw Hat Pirates, it was already difficult to find a weakling below the level of an Emperor's deputy anymore~
Snap!
Having thought this far, Red abruptly snapped his fingers.
In an instant, a graceful figure appeared out of thin air before Red.
"Merry, help me call Uta over~"
"No problem~"
Little Merry, who had already grown used to her identity as a butler, gave a charming laugh before her figure disappeared once again.
A short while later, someone suddenly knocked on Red's door.
After Red gave permission, Uta, with her red-and-white twin-tails, stepped inside.
"Red, you were looking for me?" Uta asked, her face full of confusion.
Red smiled slightly.
"Uta, do you still remember the score for Tot Musica!?"
"Tot Musica!?" Uta was slightly taken aback, but because of the trust she had developed in Red over this period, despite her confusion, she immediately answered,
"I remember!"
"Wasn't it you, Red, who had Gordon hand that score over to me?"
"Very good~"
Red nodded happily, then said directly,
"In that case, there's no time to lose. Let's set off immediately!"
"Set off!? Where are we going?"
Uta blinked her large, puzzled eyes and looked at the Hyperspace Hole Red had already summoned into the room.
In the next instant, her body suddenly floated into the air, her feet leaving the floor as she rushed straight toward the Hyperspace Hole.
Knowing that this was Red using Psychic power to control her, Uta did not struggle.
As Hyperspace Hole and Teleport alternated again and again, the world in Uta's vision seemed to turn into a swirling tunnel, sometimes bright and sometimes dim.
This phenomenon continued for several whole minutes before Uta's vision finally returned to normal.
She blinked hard, trying to let her slightly dizzy brain recover as quickly as possible from the shaking.
There was no helping it. Even though Red, who never had to level up, was far stronger now than Uta, who was only at the level of an elite Vice Admiral.
This kind of high-intensity space-time transfer was still a little difficult for Uta to adapt to.
That said, it would not cause her any harm.
After a dozen or so seconds, Uta finally came back to herself. She looked down at the land below, and her eyes suddenly contracted.
"This... this is... Elegia!?"
Uta looked at Red in confusion.
Although the current Elegia had already been left in ruins by the previous great battle between Luffy and the others and the God's Knights, filled with craters and scars everywhere,
and although the ice in some places had still not completely melted even now,
Uta, who had once lived and grown up here, recognized it immediately.
Then she thought of how Red had asked her about Tot Musica earlier...
"Red, you want me to summon Tot Musica here?"
Although she was not exactly clear on what Tot Musica really was, both Gordon and Red had given it extremely high evaluations.
On top of that, it seemed that only she, as the user of the Sing-Sing Fruit, could summon that thing...
To say Uta was not curious would be impossible.
It was just that she knew Tot Musica was not anything good, so she had obediently refrained from actively investigating it.
"That's right!"
Red answered without the slightest hesitation, then gave a soft laugh.
"Uta, your fighting ability isn't strong, and your mastery of Pokémon power isn't as skillful as everyone else's..."
"So in order to rapidly increase your combat strength, I specially picked out a new combat path for you..."
"A summoning style!"
"A summoning style?"
A trace of light flashed in Uta's eye, the only one visible beneath her bangs. As if immediately realizing something, she said,
"Red, you mean... you want me to be like Usopp and turn Tot Musica into a battle assistant I can carry around with me!?"
After having joined the Straw Hat Pirates for so long, Uta, like everyone else, had become able to quickly adapt to the occasional fresh term that popped out of Red's mouth.
And with Usopp as a precedent, the clever Uta immediately figured everything out.
Red smiled without saying anything, but he gave Uta an affirming look.
"But..." Uta lowered her head worriedly and looked down at the wreckage of the Kingdom of Elegia, which had been destroyed because of her.
"But Red, with my current mental power, I probably can't control a monster that powerful, right!?"
The current Uta was no longer some naive girl who knew nothing.
From Gordon's words, she knew that Tot Musica was a monster even Shanks had to go all out to defeat.
And that had still been because she was too young at the time, with only average control over her Devil Fruit ability. As a result, the strength of the Tot Musica she summoned had also been somewhat limited.
But now, she already possessed a fairly powerful body, and the mental power she was best at had reached a level she would not even have dared imagine in the past.
Even so, asking Uta to control a special monster at least on the level of an Emperor of the Sea left her with no confidence at all.
However...
"Don't worry~"
Just as Uta expected, since Red had brought her here, that meant Red already had enough means in hand to help her achieve this goal.
"You know me. I never fight an unprepared battle."
As Red revealed a calm and composed smile, he raised one hand.
A purple-and-white Poké Ball instantly appeared in his palm.
It was none other than the Master Ball Red had previously obtained in Pokémon Sword/Shield!
He said confidently,
"With this thing here, even Tot Musica, which only exists in the world of song, can be materialized by me into a real form!"
"When the time comes, whether it obeys or not won't be up to it!!!"
(End of Chapter)