After taking a rough tour around the ruins, Red finally confirmed with some regret…
Aside from the things shown in the cover story, there truly was nothing else in these ruins worth paying special attention to.
In fact, even those stone murals could at most prove that the ancestors of the Sky Islanders may have come from the moon, and that they had once possessed extremely advanced technology.
Beyond that, however, they did not hold much value.
"No matter how you look at it, at least this confirms that aliens really do exist out in space!"
"But if those Space Pirates already found the moon, why didn't they go take a look at the Blue Planet nearby?"
"Or maybe they already went there, just without the people of the Blue Planet knowing?"
Standing on the surface of the moon, Red raised his eyes and looked out.
There, amid the pitch-black cosmos, a gigantic planet appeared before him. It shone as brilliantly as a gemstone, wrapped in flowing light and misty haze.
"To say the Space Pirates never discovered the native planet of the pirate world would be a little too self-deceptive."
"So most likely, they used some unknown method to investigate the Blue Planet, then actively withdrew after discovering that it contained a large number of powerful fighters?"
Red pondered silently.
At the same time, this was also the guess he felt was closest to the truth.
"Cosmic factions, huh? Now that really is something to look forward to."
Red muttered to himself.
Although the Space Pirates in the cover story were defeated by Enel with extreme ease, it was just like how the pirate world had small-time pirates hiding away in the East Blue to evade Marine pursuit, while also having Emperors of the Sea and the Pirate King who dominated entire regions and ruled supreme…
Red believed that within the vast universe, there were definitely powerful opponents even they would find difficult to resist.
"Here's hoping Machine Daddy's strength can actually pull its weight."
"If all it can do is let me dominate one pirate world, I'll be very disappointed!"
Red's eyes flickered. With a thought, the machine's interface appeared before him.
And directly above the machine, there was a string of notification messages that had yet to be closed.
[Congratulations, player, for successfully capturing Eternatus. Achievement unlocked: Dynamax.]
[Congratulations, player, for successfully challenging Leon and becoming the new Champion of Pokémon Sword/Shield. Achievement reward triggered: We Are the Champions.]
[Congratulations, player, for completing the first playthrough of Pokémon Sword/Shield. Achievement reward triggered: Clear King.]
That's right.
After clearing the first playthrough of Pokémon Sword/Shield, Red had naturally triggered the rewards for the achievements [We Are the Champions] and [Clear King] once again. And after capturing Eternatus, he had triggered an entirely new achievement.
First came two old friends.
[We Are the Champions] and [Clear King] were both achievement entries that already existed before.
It was just that after Red became Champion, the rewards had been triggered and issued again.
Among them, the reward for [We Are the Champions] was extremely generous.
Not only did it grant Red a massive all-around enhancement to his body's base attributes, it also allowed him, even in his normal state, to clash head-on with Marine Admiral-level martial powerhouses.
Although, at this point, Marine Admirals could no longer rank very high on the Straw Hat Pirates' list of opponents, this was still quite a significant improvement for Red.
After all, an all-around enhancement to physical ability did not merely make superficial things like his strength and speed more powerful. The energy within his body, his Haki, and even his control over energy and Haki had also been greatly strengthened.
After obtaining this achievement reward, Red directly managed to develop the Conqueror's Haki infusion he had never been able to train before.
And his proficiency with it was not low at all.
All that could be said was that grinding away blindly had no effect.
To truly become stronger, one still had to be like Red, advancing one step at a time, relying on his own effort and the machine's tiny little bit of help to become a top-class powerhouse in the world.
Red: I made it this far entirely through my own hard work.
Isn't that right, Machine Daddy?
Of course, aside from that, [We Are the Champions] had another reward that could not be ignored either.
After obtaining a second Champion trophy, the number of "Pokémon" Red could bring into the game world increased by one again.
In other words, he could now bring three companions into the Pokémon World at the same time.
With three companions entering the game world together, their leveling speed would definitely increase greatly.
Of course, for real leveling, they still had to go to the world of Pokémon Legends: Arceus.
Trying to raise levels by completing story content was completely unrealistic for the current Straw Hat crew, where no low-level members remained.
And this matter involved the content of the next achievement reward—[Clear King].
This achievement reward was very simple. It gave Red the right to unlock the next game world.
However, among the game worlds that had yet to be unlocked, there were only two. One was the remade port of a previous-generation title, Pokémon Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl…
There was nothing much to say about this game.
From the perspective of a game, it definitely counted as a good one. Otherwise, Nintendo would not have specially made a port version to keep raking in money.
But for the current Red…
Aside from allowing him to trigger the [We Are the Champions] achievement reward one more time and adding two not particularly powerful Legendary templates, that game world had no other use.
So after obtaining the qualification, Red chose the other game without hesitation: Pokémon Scarlet/Violet.
Like Pokémon Sword/Shield, this game also possessed a special evolution method unique to this version—Terastalization!
Unfortunately, at this point, letting his companions enter this kind of early-stage game world to explore from scratch would be a complete waste of their time.
Meanwhile, there was nothing in Wano Country worth cultivating on his side either.
So after unlocking Pokémon Scarlet/Violet, Red simply brought Kozuki Hiyori into the game world for a brief stroll and completed some early cutscenes.
Aside from that, he did not continue deeper, so he had yet to experience Terastalization, the unique feature of that game world.
However, compared with the still somewhat distant Terastalization, Red was currently holding another heavy weapon in his hands.
That was the achievement reward he had unexpectedly obtained after capturing Eternatus—[Dynamax]!
As the name suggested, the content of this achievement reward allowed Red to choose one Pokémon and use Dynamax on it at any time and any place.
It could be said that aside from the restriction of only "one," the actual effect of this achievement reward was extremely powerful.
He had already experienced the effects of Dynamax many times in the game world.
Compared with the game, where it only raised stats a little, the power increase brought by Dynamax in the real world was not just a small amount!
Especially for Laboon, whose body was already huge, and Luffy, who became gigantic in his Nika form…
After Dynamaxing, their increase in strength would not be as simple as onefold or twofold.
If he were not still worried that Imu was hiding some rule-level method, Red would have long since been unable to restrain himself from leading the Straw Hat Pirates to attack Mary Geoise and end the final lingering stage of the World Government's rule.
But it did not matter.
During this period in Wano Country, Red had finally found a perfect "scout" to go ahead and probe the path for them.
And this scout was none other than the Revolutionary Army, whose manpower and strength had both greatly increased after liberating several large nations in succession!
In other words, Luffy's cheap old man!
Some time ago, Sabo had called Luffy for a nostalgic chat.
After they finished talking, Sabo also specifically had Luffy hand the Den Den Mushi over to Red and explained that the Revolutionary Army had already begun making planned preparations to attack Mary Geoise and completely end the World Government's rule over the world.
Whether it was Dragon, Luffy's cheap old man, or Sabo, both were well aware that the Straw Hat crew had no intention of ruling the world.
But at the same time…
They also knew why Luffy and Red, despite already possessing power that was close to enough to dominate the world, had still refused to launch the final battle against the World Government.
In the end, once their forces had accumulated to a certain extent, the voices from the lower ranks within the organization had gradually begun to influence the decisions of the leadership. Many cadres could not help but waver internally.
Only then did Dragon have no other choice but to coordinate their strength and prepare for a decisive battle with the World Government.
After all, Mary Geoise had only recently been washed clean by the Straw Hat Pirates and already had very little fighting strength left.
On the Marine side, all of them were now obeying the Straw Hat crew's command.
In Dragon's heart, he also felt that if they kept waiting, it would become a little impolite.
They could not really let the Straw Hat Pirates help them settle every difficulty, and then swagger out afterward to announce that they had become the new rulers of the world, could they?
Even if Luffy was his son, he did not dare be that shameless.
The main point was that such a move would never convince the masses.
And so, Red temporarily lent the Avenger Alliance Corps, which had long wanted to clash with the World Government, to the Revolutionary Army.
It could be counted as a bit of support for them as pathfinders.
…
…
Though he had only glanced at the notification messages, countless thoughts flashed through Red's mind in an instant.
These thoughts were numerous, but they did not waste much time in the real world.
The moment Red's awareness moved and closed all the notification messages, he had already temporarily suppressed every thought and stepped forward.
However, just as he walked out of the ruins, an unexpected figure suddenly fell from the mouth of a pit not far away.
"Hm?"
Red was slightly stunned.
Immediately afterward, his figure flashed, and he appeared directly in front of that figure.
Looking at the short body before him and the dark-green military uniform, Red suddenly blurted out:
"Lieutenant Spacey!?"
Lieutenant Spacey. Place of birth: Karakuri Island. Creator: Dr. Tsukimi.
Just as stated above, Lieutenant Spacey was an artificial robot. At the same time, he was also an unimportant character who appeared on the moon alongside Enel in the cover story.
As for Dr. Tsukimi of Karakuri Island, whether he had developed the technology himself or received technological support from the moon people was unknown…
In his old age, he had single-handedly created four little robots with self-awareness. They stayed by his side and accompanied him through the rest of his life.
But the weather can change without warning.
On an ordinary day like any other, Dr. Tsukimi and his robot family were admiring the moon as usual.
However, the Space Pirates, who were excavating ancient ruins, created an unimaginably huge explosion on the moon.
The scale of that explosion was so great that even the pirate world could see it clearly.
And so, Dr. Tsukimi, who had been eating at the time, was startled so badly that he choked outright.
In the end, the rescue failed, and Dr. Tsukimi lost his life.
After that, in order to avenge Dr. Tsukimi, the little robots rode a special balloon device to the moon, leading to the series of events that followed.
"I really didn't expect to meet you all here."
Red's expression shifted slightly.
In fact, after establishing the Scientific Research Corps, he had once sent people to Karakuri Island to look for Dr. Tsukimi.
Unfortunately, the Straw Hat Pirates had risen too late. By that time, the grass on Dr. Tsukimi's grave was already taller than a person.
In the end, Red could only let the matter go.
He had never expected that he would encounter Lieutenant Spacey falling from the sky here.
Zzzzt!
A dazzling arc of electricity suddenly released from Red's fingertip and shot into the small figure before him.
In an instant, the previously battered and wounded figure abruptly twitched.
The next moment, the little automaton suddenly leapt up, grabbed the rifle on his back, and spun around rapidly. His face was full of anger and vigilance as he looked around.
Only after noticing Red's existence did his expression change ever so slightly.
Although Red had no idea how he judged that Red was not an enemy, tears suddenly flowed from Lieutenant Spacey's eyes at that moment.
Immediately after, he snapped into a military salute, then shouted sorrowfully:
"I'm sorry! I'm still alive!"
Perhaps Lieutenant Spacey's setting was that of a soldier who had gone far away to the battlefield. That was why, at this moment, after remembering that he alone had survived that battle in the end, he revealed such a grief-stricken expression.
However, Red did not feel too deeply about it.
Because his mental power had already located Lieutenant Spacey's other three companions.
Previously, Red had been focused solely on searching for the ruins. In addition, the little robots that had lost their energy had no signs of life whatsoever and were no different from ordinary rocks, which was why Red had not noticed them.
But after seeing Lieutenant Spacey, Red had immediately spread out his mental power and directly locked onto three figures that were different from the surrounding environment.
Right now, they were just like Lieutenant Spacey had been before, lying on the barren ground because the energy inside their bodies had been exhausted.
With only a tiny bit of mild electrotherapy, they could revive again, lively and vigorous.
Their bodies' strange repair ability was practically comparable to infinite regeneration.
And the only thing they needed was energy.
It could be said that these little robots were absolutely mechanical creations far beyond their era.
Vegapunk would definitely like them very much.
Red's eyes flashed. After thinking for a moment, he spoke to Lieutenant Spacey:
"Lieutenant Spacey, the war is over."
"You did very well. You did not disgrace the glory of a soldier."
"Now, you may put away your sorrow for the time being, because next, an even harsher battlefield is waiting for your support!!!"
(End of Chapter)