Chapter 2: Go Monkey D. Luffy!

Nightfall.

In the starry night sky, a ray of bright moonlight shone above the dark sea, casting its glow on the small fishing boat.

"OK, that should be about it," Akane said, adjusting the sails with Luffy and confirming once again that there was no problem with their direction. He nodded with satisfaction and then turned to Luffy standing beside him.

"Get ready, Luffy."

"No matter what happens tonight, we must get out of the Viridian Forest!"

"Wuhu!~ Leave everything related to the battle to me!" Luffy, knowing that Akane was not good at fighting, let out a Battle cry.

Luffy jumped directly to Akane's side, his eyes flashing with anticipation and excitement. Although this was not the first time he went to another world with Akane, this magical experience truly excited his adventurous spirit.

Seeing this, Akane no longer hesitated. He smiled lightly, closed his eyes, and sank his consciousness.

Instantly, a handheld gaming console with a classic red and blue color scheme appeared in his mind. This was the golden finger that traveled through time with Akane; a virtual game console that allowed him to enter the gaming world!

This console only existed in Akane's consciousness and gave him the confidence to continue wandering in this oceanic world. However, although its capabilities were fantastic and powerful, it had an obvious disadvantage, its battery life was extremely poor!

Just to start up the console took Akane two and a half years! Ever since he crossed over to this world, the console had been displaying the words "Battery dead, cannot be turned on." If not for the [Charging...] message and a digital progress bar in the corner, Akane would have suspected that he had obtained a fake cheat.

Just three nights ago, the battery finally reached the level where it could be turned on. It seemed that some mechanism had been triggered. After turning it on, Akane's mind instantly gained a lot of knowledge and memories about using the golden finger.

First, he learned that he could use the console to enter the game world and obtain rewards by completing certain achievements or levels. He could also extract the items he owned in the game into the real world, consuming electricity, but the effects would not change!

Secondly, after being turned on for the first time, the console could replenish its power by absorbing the biological energy in Akane's body. Without affecting Akane, the amount replenished every day was enough for two hours of game time. Because he had to urgently prepare for going to sea yesterday, he didn't enter the game. Now, Akane had accumulated 4 hours of game time.

The only regret was that the games in this console were all the ones he had played before, and he could only unlock the second game after finishing the previous one.

"Oh, if I had known I would be getting such a cheat, why would I have played Pokémon at that time... If it were a Dragon Ball game, One Piece would be my backyard!"

Seeing the game list, Akane sighed. This was his second regret, besides not watching the subsequent plot of One Piece carefully.

The game list displayed a series of Pokémon games: "Let's Go! Pikachu/Eevee," "Arceus," "Diamond/Pearl," "Sword/Shield," and "Vermilion/Purple." It seemed that the time travel had merged the originally separate versions into single games on the handheld screen. After the game titles, there was a mall icon that came with the console.

Akane knew that after finishing the Pokemon games he could unlock the mall section and obtain new games. He placed his ambition of becoming a Super Saiyan in the Pirate World in that place!

When the two versions of a game were merged into one, all the limited items and Pokémon appeared in that single version. For Akane, the specific props in the game were what he looked forward to!

However, he had not gained the ability to catch Pokémon. Instead, choosing Pikachu would make Luffy appear when throwing a Poké Ball. Akane still couldn't forget when level 46 Luffy KOed a powerful NPC Eevee with one punch!

Even in the Pokémon game world, he couldn't use any Pokémon. Pikachu turned into Luffy, and captured Pokémon became experience points and occasionally dropped items. In the game world, Akane, who had no attack ability, relied on Luffy.

He hadn't figured out this strange mechanism but had no choice but to accept it. Fortunately, Luffy at level 46 was much stronger than Pikachu at level 5. This allowed Akane to quickly pass the first few small battles after becoming familiar with the game mechanics.

He also found that if the distance between him and Luffy exceeded 100 meters when entering the game, he would repeatedly wake up in his bed with the message "No Pokémon to fight." From then on, Akane knew he had to go out to sea with Luffy!

It was fortunate that when he traveled, it was not long after Ace went to sea, and Luffy was feeling lonely. With his understanding of the world of pirates, Akane, originally an ordinary villager, unexpectedly formed a deep bond with Luffy.

When he first came here, Akane thought about training to become strong. He even took out the One Punch universe training method—Saitama training: one hundred squats, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred push-ups every day, plus a 10KM run!

Though the intensity wasn't as high as the daily training of Navy soldiers, for a college student who liked staying in the dorm playing games, it was torture. Luckily, he persevered.

However, something went wrong. Although he felt his body getting stronger, his growth direction was crooked!

In two and a half years, his strength improved significantly. Even the famous strongest man in Windmill Village lost to him in arm wrestling. But his punches were weak as if a mysterious rule weakened his offensive ability.

In contrast, Akane's vitality, toughness, and defense improved ridiculously! It was difficult not to get hurt around Luffy. But no matter if Akane was struck by lightning, burned by fire, or fell from high altitudes, injuries were surface-level and healed quickly. (Pokemon physiology, lol)

If he dared to try, Akane would suspect he had acquired the [Immortality] attribute through Saitama's training!

In the end, he attributed it to the welfare of time travelers. Though he didn't have Saitama's punching power, he was now a super rookie! At least in the East Blue, he could protect himself.

"So..." Akane focused his attention, turning his consciousness into a pointer, and activated "Let's Go! Pikachu/Eevee."

In an instant, blinding white light filled the world. When Akane opened his eyes again, he and Luffy were in a lush forest that seemed unreal.

The fresh scent of grass and trees replaced the sea's salty smell, and a soft cartoon-style world appeared. The lush grass swayed as if welcoming them.

Occasionally, Pokémon like Heracross, Caterpie, and Oddish appeared from the tall grass or forest. These creatures once existed only in fantasy but now appeared vividly before Akane.

However, these Pokémon seemed unaware of Akane and Luffy, moving as if on a pre-determined trajectory. Clearly, this was the unique feature of the Pokémon game world.

The location where Akane and the others stood was the save point from their last game adventure: The Viridian Forest!