"Doctor, this thing can't actually work, can it!?"
Aboard the Going rry, Red stared in astonishnt at the mysterious substance—or perhaps energy—being poured into a bizarre giant-flask-like container. His entire face was illuminated by dazzling, rainbow-colored divine light as he couldn't help but ask Vegapunk beside him in wonder.
Vegapunk's eyes were also flashing with seven-colored radiance. Even a man hailed as possessing the greatest brain in the world could not help looking sowhat dazed at this mont.
Only after a long while did he murmur softly:
"I didn't expect it either… for everything to go this smoothly."
"So this is the legendary stuff that can turn ordinary fruit into Devil Fruits?"
"According to your theory, Doctor, could this perhaps be called… 'wish power'?"
Red pointed blankly at the unknown substance or energy being poured into the special container overhead and asked Vegapunk again.
To explain how all this started, it went back to that press conference.
For so unknown reason, after the conference ended, when Vegapunk was clearing archived data, he was astonished to discover an extrely special information signal in the server—one that should not have existed at all.
Naturally, a curious man like Vegapunk would never dismiss such a phenonon as re data clutter. Instead, he extracted it and began studying it in detail.
What he discovered next was shocking.
These signals all originated from the ntal fluctuations produced inside the spirit world by the players who had participated in the first closed beta test while playing Pokémon World at the venue.
And even more absurd than that…
Those fluctuation signals had ford one vague outline after another in the blank regions of the spiritual space.
The signals were so weak that an ordinary scientist might never have been able to derive anything aningful from them.
But who was old Vegapunk?
A man with a scientific vision five hundred years ahead of the world, his exploratory spirit and hands-on ability were both nothing short of divine.
After all, soone capable of inventing sothing like the Mother Fla—an infinite energy source—could already be considered a god in so sense.
Thus, after a period of exploration and simulation, Vegapunk finally uncovered what these ntal fluctuation signals were pointing toward…
They were, unmistakably, the Legendary Pokémon that had flashed before the players' eyes in the opening animation of Pokémon World, leaving behind a powerful impression in that brief mont.
From Arceus, creator of all things, to the more mundane Legendary Birds and Legendary Beasts…
The accumulated ntal signals varied in quantity, but their direction was unmistakably clear.
According to Vegapunk's deductions, if these data were left alone and the spiritual space was not interfered with, then one day in the future…
When enough of these ntal fluctuations had piled up densely enough, the signals generated solely by the players' minds might be sufficient to create real Legendary Pokémon within the spiritual space.
And that idea, in turn, led the wildly imaginative Vegapunk to think of the origin of Devil Fruits in the world of pirates.
According to the conclusions he had reached through his research into Lineage Factor and Devil Fruits, Devil Fruits themselves were "unnatural" products born from the obsessions and wishes of humans and all living beings in the world toward "evolution."
That was why Devil Fruit users were rejected by the sea, the symbol of Mother Nature.
By the sa logic…
If Devil Fruits could appear in such a way, then could these ntal fluctuations also be harnessed and turned into a force that would make Pokémon truly exist?
By this point in the research, Vegapunk did not conceal anything. He imdiately summoned the upper ranks of the Scientific Research Corps—top scientists like Judge—and also Red, who was overseeing the corps on behalf of the Straw Hat side, then laid out his thoughts before them.
When Judge and the others heard his conjecture, their first reaction was that it was impossible.
But then they rembered this was sothing Vegapunk had researched, and they could not help but wonder…
Could this lunatic actually have figured out how to create artificial Devil Fruits?
And natural, pollution-free ones at that!?
So after the eting ended, Red imdiately approved another large allocation of resources and once again granted Vegapunk the highest level of access, ordering him to go all out and determine exactly what this thing born from ntal fluctuations really was.
Even if it could not truly create Pokémon, even if it could not produce Pokémon Devil Fruits, this project would absolutely not be a loss.
Even if all it could do was create Legendary Pokémon within the spiritual space, then at worst, they could simply clone corresponding bodies for them in the pirate world later, then transfer the information from the spiritual space and guide them into real physical vessels.
After that, Red could enter his own ga world through his machine and load them with so Pokémon moves.
At that point, what difference would there be between them and real Pokémon?
Of course, if these miraculous ntal products really could be used to create artificial Devil Fruits, then Red would be so happy he would not know north from south!
Because from that mont onward, that would be the true age of custom-made Devil Fruits!
Pokémon Fruits?
That was thinking far too small!
When the ti ca, he could casually stuff a few Ultran or Blue-Eyes White Dragons into Pokémon World, throw in so random lore, and wouldn't reality beco whatever he said it was?
And besides, if Pokémon had Aura and Viridian Power, then having magical power, chakra, or Shinigami power appear too should be perfectly normal, right?
If all else failed, he could just launch a few new virtual gas!
Reborn: Building My Fire Village, Urban Life with the Grim Reaper Girl Living in My Closet…
Anyway, building servers did not cost much.
Selling ga helts, gaming equipnt, and rchandise would not only recover the costs quickly—it could even turn a massive profit. Why not?
Only, that also ant the more stable the world beca, the more people there would be who could afford to enter the gas, and the more benefits he would reap.
And that even made Red feel the urge to move up his plans to eliminate the World Governnt.
Fortunately, in the end, he managed to resist those unhealthy temptations.
Back to the present.
As a large number of players poured into Pokémon World and watched the newly enhanced opening animation Red had personally refined, just as expected, vast amounts of ntal fluctuations imdiately surged in and were extracted by the program Vegapunk had designed, then loaded into the special container before them.
Unfortunately, when faced with Red's question of whether these things could be turned into Devil Fruits, Vegapunk shook his head without hesitation and explained:
"Impossible."
"At the root of it, people's concept of Pokémon is still too vague and unfamiliar. Because of that, the wish power produced is also affected—too mixed and too imprecise."
"And with only this amount of wish power, it doesn't even count as truly getting started yet. It doesn't even qualify for artificial Devil Fruit creation."
"I see~"
Hearing the explanation, Red's tone cald down, but he did not feel disappointed.
After all, this virtual ga he had created on a whim had already brought him far too many pleasant surprises.
He was actually looking forward to seeing what kind of world this would beco once the number of players grew large enough and the wish power absorbed reached the standard Vegapunk had described.
It really is exciting~
Red sighed inwardly, while also beginning to consider that since this ga was no longer a ga in the traditional sense, perhaps he should start putting more thought into settings involving divine beasts, Pokémon, and the like, adding much more detail to them.
Nintendo only needed to co up with a na and draw a skin.
But he had far more to consider!
"As expected, the first step is still to greatly increase the number of players entering the ga world."
"On the New World side, aside from Red-Haired Shanks's and Whitebeard's territories, nearly everything is already under the Straw Hat Pirates' control. And since Shanks and Whitebeard are old friends, developnt there shouldn't be too difficult."
"The first half of the Grand Line is currently being handled through the Alabasta Kingdom's proxy administration, so that shouldn't be an issue either. After all, the combat power of the Thirteen Guardian Squads is more than enough for the first half."
"It's just… the Grand Line is ultimately only one route attached to this planet. It's fine for adventure and unexpected encounters."
"But when it cos to where this world's population is truly concentrated, it's still the Four Seas—places without too many abnormal climates, and where aside from pirates, mafia groups, and the occasional sea beast, there are hardly any external threats at all!"
"Good! Then the next step of the plan is clear!"
Although he did not intend to cause trouble for the World Governnt before Luffy was fully ready to make his move, that did not an Red had no desire to accelerate the project.
After a mont's thought, Red suddenly opened his Personal Terminal, found one particular number, and dialed it.
Strangely enough, however, the call that would normally be answered quickly kept ringing for a very long ti.
Fortunately, Red's Personal Terminal was specially made, so there was no such thing as it hanging up automatically after waiting too long.
And so, only after five full minutes did the call finally connect.
But before Red could say anything, a lazy voice tinged with a bit of complaint ca from the other end of the Personal Terminal.
"Seriously, Lord Red, how can those ga pods you're selling automatically bind themselves to my Personal Terminal?"
"Ga pod?"
Red was montarily stunned, then laughed in surprise and asked:
"Fleet Admiral Kuzan, don't tell the reason you took so long to answer is because you were playing our Pokémon World?"
"What else!?" Aokiji sounded utterly unashad about getting caught slacking off on the job by playing gas. Instead, he spoke with righteous confidence:
"Since this is sothing developed by the head of the pirates, as the Fleet Admiral of the Marines, naturally I need to personally investigate it."
"And besides… what exactly do you want!?"
"Do you even know how crowded Route 1 is right now? How hard it is to even encounter a wild Pokémon!?"
"I finally managed to get a shot at a Pidgey, and before I could even catch it, your call ca through and kept ringing inside my ga pod the whole ti. It was so noisy that I gave the wrong command by accident and killed it."
"..."
Red fell silent for a mont, then said:
"Sorry. To prevent the ga pods from being shared, each pod binds to personal information on first use. You knew that already."
"It's possible that once your personal data entered the information database, your Personal Terminal just happened to be nearby, so it linked to your ga pod."
In truth, that function had mainly been designed for the Straw Hat Pirates. After all, across the sea, there still were not many people who could simultaneously own both a Personal Terminal and a ga pod.
Who would have thought Aokiji would end up as collateral damage?
Although losing a Pidgey was no big deal, considering how much Aokiji seed to enjoy Pokémon World—and given his trendous strength, aning he might contribute even more wish power…
After so thought, Red still gave him a reminder:
"There's actually no need for all of you to crowd into Route 1."
"The reason those dia workers kept failing against the Gym Leader of Viridian City during the beta test is because he was originally intended to be the strongest Gym Leader in the ga."
"Under normal circumstances, there's no need for you to challenge the Viridian Gym at all. You can just skip past it and head to the maps behind it."
"Pokémon World is very vast, and the Gym Leader in Pewter City later on is designed to take care of beginners, so he won't send out Pokémon that are too strong."
"What did you say!? Why didn't you tell that sooner!?" On the other end of the line, the usually calm and steady Aokiji suddenly let out a sharp screech like a startled bird.
The next mont, Red heard a bang through the Personal Terminal, as though Aokiji had thrown it onto a table.
Hearing this, Red quickly shouted:
"Wait! Wait!!!"
"You're not about to run back into the ga the instant I give you this secret tip, are you!?"
"What else would I do!?"
Aokiji's voice sounded distant from the other end, accompanied by the sound of a ga pod opening.
Realizing what was happening, Red's face darkened, and he imdiately threatened:
"Kuzan, get your ass back there and sit down properly! Otherwise I'll use admin privileges and block you from entering Pokémon World for an entire week."
Swish—
All movent noises ca to an abrupt stop in an instant.
One second later, Aokiji returned to the Personal Terminal and said in an upright, solemn manner:
"So… what was it you still wanted to talk about?"
"No shit! Why else would I call you, to chat out of boredom!?" Though Aokiji could not see him, Red still rolled his eyes before laying out his idea:
"The Marines have been a little too idle lately."
"And the Straw Hat Pirates' treasury is a little too full."
"To avoid inflation, I'm thinking of giving the Marines sothing to do."
"What kind of sothing?" Aokiji asked curiously.
Red replied calmly and directly:
"I've decided to sponsor you with 300 billion Beli as military funding. What you have to do is, over the next six months, completely wipe out the pirates and mountain bandits in the Four Seas who prey on civilians, including officials and Marines who abuse force to oppress the people, and even sea beasts and natural disasters."
"At the sa ti, you're to build more Marine bases throughout the Four Seas. The Marines and the Revolutionaries within the Marines will form two separate departnts to manage them respectively, doing everything possible to ensure that the people of the Four Seas live stable and peaceful lives."
"That's the plan. Do you understand?"
"..."
On the other end of the line, Aokiji fell silent, as though deep in thought.
Only after a long while did he finally speak, his voice calm but far from ordinary:
"Red… how about we just co clean with the World Governnt and tell them the Marines have already fully submitted to the rule of the Straw Hat Pirates?"
"Otherwise…"
"I really can't accept this 300 billion Beli in military funding with any peace of mind~"
(End of Chapter)
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