Chapter 7: Achievement - Badge Collector

Not surprisingly...

Akane, determined not to underestimate his enemy, ordered Luffy to go all out.

Under Luffy's level 46 strength, the level 15 Onix didn't stand a chance to evade the attack. It was knocked to the ground by Luffy's immense force, its eyes spinning as it lost the will to fight.

"As expected, getting a command rating above 'average' at this stage is still out of reach," Akane thought, watching the prompt fade along with the battle arena.

However, he quickly refocused his attention on Brock, who stood opposite him.

But his focus quickly shifted to Brock, who stood across from him. Despite being overwhelmed by Luffy's power, Brock's shocked expression softened into an appreciative smile as he walked over to Akane.

"What a great game!"

"I seem to have underestimated you. As a reward, I'll give you these 2,000 coins"

Gold coins exploded into the air!!!

As Brock reached out, Akane noticed his deposit had increased by another 2,000 coins, surpassing the 6,000 mark. This generosity exceeded that of trainers in the wild.

"What a good man! You really are a good man!" Akane said with joy.

But Brock's rewards weren't over yet.

"To prove that you have defeated me, I will give you this Pewter Badge certified by the Pokémon League!"

"And this..."

Brock waved his hands in the air again, and two items materialized in his grasp. One was a badge carved from rock in the shape of a diamond top, and the other was a CD.

After handing the two items to Akane, Brock explained, "This is a TM for the move 'Headbutt.' With this, you can teach your Pokémon the Normal-type move 'Headbutt' if they meet the conditions."

"Okay, okay!!!" Without questioning why a Rock-type Gym would offer a Normal-type move learning device, Akane quickly took the two items from Brock's hands.

Instantly, the machine inside him displayed a series of messages:

[Congratulations to the player for obtaining the first badge. The achievement has been unlocked: Badge Collector.]

[Badge Collector: Every time a player obtains a badge, their physical strength gains an amplification effect corresponding to the badge's attributes.]

[Congratulations to the player for obtaining the Pewter Badge. Reward: Get a random Rock-type Pokémon move.]

[Do you want to extract Pokémon moves now?]

[Yes] [No]

Several prompt messages appeared on the machine's screen, indicating that these rewards were unique to the machine and external to the game.

After skimming through the information, Akane felt ecstatic and extremely excited.

"As expected! I knew the machine would never abandon me and would grant all the benefits to Luffy!"

"Achievement reward? Badge reward?"

"My road to becoming stronger has finally begun!"

Although eager to study the machine's rewards immediately, Akane considered the limited battery power and decided to focus his consciousness back on the game world. The machine was within him and wouldn't run away anyway. He chose to handle the matters in the game world first!

Back in the game world, Akane looked up to see Luffy running toward him with an excited expression. Luffy glanced left and right at the badge and move learning device in Akane's hands but couldn't quite grasp their significance. After a moment, he looked at Akane with disappointment

"What? Akane, didn't you say we'd get rich rewards by defeating the gym? Why are there only these two weird things?"

"What's the use of it if you can't eat it?"

"Eat!? You only know how to eat!" Akane glanced at Luffy unhappily.

"Don't underestimate these things! These are all priceless treasures!"

Though he hadn't studied them in detail yet, the moment Akane obtained the Pewter Badge, a mysterious power surged through his body, strengthening his entire being. He guessed this was the benefit from the [Badge Collector] achievement.

"Priceless treasure!?" Luffy tilted his head in confusion but still couldn't see the value in a small badge and a round plate with eyes.

Seeing this, Akane didn't keep Luffy in suspense. He directly picked up the Headbutt move learning device and shook it before Luffy's eyes.

"You can't see the value just by looking; you need to experience it for yourself!"

As soon as he finished speaking, he threw the Pewter Badge and the move learning device into the backpack behind him.

As Akane's consciousness shifted, the game interface of this world suddenly appeared before his eyes. He opened the [TM Case] option in [Bag], and a new [Headbutt] move appeared. Clicking to view, a piece of information popped up immediately.

[Move: Headbutt]

[Type: Normal]

[Category: Physical]

[Power: 70]

[Description: The user sticks its head out and attacks by charging straight into the target. This may also make the target flinch.]

Below was a [Use] button.

"Power 70?" Akane pondered internally. "In the game, power represents the strength of a move's damage. A Headbutt with only 70 power isn't very strong. I wonder what effects Pokémon moves have in the real world."

"But... No matter what, it should make Luffy's head stronger, right!?"

The wisdom route was obviously hopeless, but perhaps the hardness could be considered!

With that thought, Akane instantly pressed the use button. The only Pokémon he could choose at this time was naturally Luffy! Seeing the words [Learnable] below Luffy's character icon, a gleam of anticipation flashed in Akane's eyes as he continued to click.

[Monkey D. Luffy has learned Headbutt.]

"Huh? That's it!?" Staring at the brief prompt message before him, Akane was slightly stunned. There were no fancy special effects or complicated steps.

"It always feels like there's no sense of ceremony."

After closing the game interface, Akane turned his gaze toward Luffy. He noticed that Luffy was staring blankly with wide eyes, his face full of confusion.

"Akane, my head itches; it seems like... something is going to grow on it!?"

Luffy scratched his head, unable to understand why there were suddenly strange sensations in his head.

In response, Akane smiled softly, "Don't be nervous, Luffy. Have you forgotten what I told you? This world can make us stronger quickly!"

Pointing to a rocky hill in the distance, Akane didn't hesitate to issue his next command:

"Luffy! Use Headbutt on that place!!!"

"Huh? Headbutt!? What is that!?" Luffy's expression remained confused upon hearing Akane's order.

But at that moment, a surge of energy inexplicably surged through his body and gathered around his head. Luffy's gaze fixed on the pile of rocks, his neck suddenly stretched, and his head rushed straight toward the rocks.

Bang!

A violent tremor echoed through the gym, and a cloud of dust instantly enveloped the rock pile.

With a whoosh! Luffy's head flew out of the smoke and dust, bouncing back to where it was supposed to be.

After a few seconds, the agitated smoke and dust slowly dissipated, revealing that the once tall rock pile was now a pile of rubble, in ruins!

"What... what is going on? My head has turned into stone!?" Luffy's eyes widened as he touched his forehead in disbelief.

Luffy had used his head as a weapon before, and the effects were impressive. But this time, after smashing the hard rock with all his strength, his head didn't hurt as much as he had imagined! It felt as if a mysterious force was protecting his head. Moreover, the force of the impact was far beyond his normal level.

Suddenly, Luffy seemed to realize something and turned around to ask Akane in surprise:

"Could this be the Armament Haki you mentioned, Akane?!"

Armament Haki—the standard of the strong! Over the past two and a half years, he had lost count of how many times Akane had mentioned it. However, without professional guidance, Luffy still didn't know how to cultivate Armament Haki. The power that surged just now was indeed very similar to the Armament Haki Akane had described.

But to Luffy's surprise, Akane had to pour a bucket of cold water on it "It would be great if it were really that easy to practice Armament Haki."

He continued to explain, "What you just used was not Armament Haki, but a power belonging to Pokémon!"

"The power of Pokémon?" Luffy repeated in confusion.

Akane elaborated, "Just like the Rollout used by Geodude and the Rock Throw used by Onix, they are all applications of Pokémon Energy!"

"And you, Luffy, are now just like them. You have also learned how to use Pokémon Energy."

"This is one of the benefits that challenging the gym brings to you and me!"