During the banquet, the takeout Luffy had ordered from various islands was also delivered to the castle one after another.
Depending on the conditions of each island, the delivery personnel varied as well.
But any island qualified to be listed on the delivery platform naturally possessed high-speed mobility that could cross entire seas.
For example, there were delivery robots comparable to Iron Man, Pelipper that could travel unhindered through wind and rain, and Water Arbok that could move just as smoothly underwater.
Thanks to Big Mom's love of collecting all kinds of races and all sorts of wondrous creatures, the Pokémon Sea could now be called the greatest in the world when it came to biodiversity.
And unlike Big Mom's free-range style of management—
Any creature with economic value would be handed over to the Vinsmoke Family, who would research methods to accelerate its reproduction.
Now, with the addition of Vegapunk and the others, there was even less need to worry about shortages of these creatures or machines.
At the end of the banquet, with Red acting as the middleman, Whitebeard quickly reached a certain agreement with Sabo. In the days to come, they would work together to seek out those who wanted to accept the World Government's olive branch and make them understand one thing...
The times had changed!!!
…
…
"How is it, Doctor?"
"How's the progress on the virtual reality game!?"
It was another bright and sunny day.
Rarely having nothing to do, Red crossed through a Hyperspace Hole and arrived on the Technology Island, greeting Doctor Vegapunk, who was busy with something.
"Ah, Red!"
Vegapunk was not surprised by Red's sudden appearance. But after greeting him, he immediately refocused on the screen in front of him.
Guessing that Vegapunk might be at a crucial stage of the project, Red tactfully remained silent and waited obediently to the side.
A moment later, the progress bar on Vegapunk's screen finally reached the end—100%.
Crackle~
A faint arc of electricity suddenly rang out. A beam of azure light sped along the strange circuitry beneath Vegapunk's feet, racing toward the outer perimeter of the laboratory base.
At the same time, a tranquil and peaceful village scene abruptly appeared on the screen before him.
"This is!?"
The moment he saw the image, Red immediately stepped forward in excitement.
Because what appeared on the screen was none other than Pallet Town from the Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! / Let's Go, Eevee! world—a place he had only recently visited with Vegapunk.
Also known as—
"The town where beginnings and endings meet!"
Looking at the familiar scenery on the screen, Red's eyes filled with anticipation and excitement.
But Vegapunk, who was witnessing the same scene, showed little emotional reaction. Instead, his hands moved rapidly over the controls.
Several more azure beams of light flashed along the circuit paths, descending into the Pallet Town on the screen like rays from heaven, transforming into one NPC after another.
The NPC for player character creation—Aunt Delia.
The NPC friend's mother, who handed out beginner equipment.
NPC Professor Oak, who guided the main storyline and kept his eyes fixed on Aunt Delia the whole time.
And all kinds of passerby NPCs used to flesh out the town.
In the blink of an eye, a vivid and lifelike Pallet Town appeared before Red.
And because all of these NPCs were built using artificial intelligences created by Vegapunk, their realism was even higher than the game world created by Red's cheat.
The only flaw was that...
This was only an ordinary game world. It could not provide real power feedback the way Red's cheat-based game world could.
But even so, this was already more than enough.
As a ripple of light spread through the screen, the world within seemed as if it had been granted life by a god, suddenly becoming animated and alive.
A gentle breeze blew softly, and the leaves extending to the entrance of the laboratory swayed slowly.
Professor Oak, standing at the entrance of the lab, wore a warm smile, as though waiting for someone's arrival.
"It succeeded!!!"
Only at this moment did Vegapunk's awareness fully detach from the project in front of him.
He turned around excitedly and waved at Red beside him.
"Red! Come take a look!"
"The game world you asked me to build is complete!!!"
Whoosh!!!
Vegapunk pressed another button on the machine.
In an instant, dazzling currents of electricity enveloped the entire laboratory and shot rapidly outward.
And it was precisely because of that blinding light that Red finally saw the endpoint of all the radiance—
A mechanical brain created through cloning technology and Punk Records technology!!!
That's right!
The console for this game was a genuine living brain!
Moreover, based on the research results from their previous modifications of Franky and Laboon, Vegapunk had enhanced the brain's left and right hemispheres separately with the Lineage Factor of the Brain-Brain Fruit and the Lineage Factor of the Sing-Sing Fruit.
This way, as long as its energy supply remained sufficient, the device could use the power of the Sing-Sing Fruit to create an unceasing spirit world.
At the same time, all data generated by that spirit world would be stored within the semi-brain possessing the Brain-Brain Fruit ability, meaning it would never need to worry about storage overload, while also granting it tremendous computational power!
To some extent, this already counted as giving two Devil Fruit abilities to the same individual.
Unfortunately, while a technological construct could support this kind of result through all sorts of DIY modifications, the complex human body was far too difficult to replicate.
As the enormous mass of light entered the server, the world on the screen expanded rapidly outward from Pallet Town as its center.
In the blink of an eye, a vast Pokémon: Let's Go, Pikachu! / Let's Go, Eevee! world appeared before Red in bird's-eye view.
And along with it came NPCs distributed across every corner of the game world!!!
"Well? Want to try it out, Red!?"
Seeing the amazed look on Red's face, Vegapunk pointed with great interest to a handsome blue-and-white helmet beside him, inviting him to test it.
Red, who had long wanted to experience virtual reality gaming, naturally did not hold back and nodded with a smile.
"Of course!"
A short while later, with Vegapunk's help, Red lay on a recliner and successfully activated the virtual helmet.
In an instant, a deeply familiar sensation came over his consciousness.
It was exactly the feeling he used to have whenever he brought Luffy and the others into the game world!
The next moment, a barren wasteland suddenly appeared before his eyes, while his perspective rapidly rose higher and higher.
A cute pink kitten let out a soft cry and flashed across Red's vision.
Then, one Pokémon after another appeared before him.
Mew, Mewtwo, Lugia, the Legendary Birds, the Legendary Beasts, Celebi, Rayquaza, Kyogre, and the one that can't fly...
As these mighty and imposing Legendary Pokémon appeared one after another from the sea, the earth, the sky, and the cosmos, the opening narration of the game rang out by Red's ears:
"Pocket Monsters, or Pokémon for short, are truly mysterious creatures that inhabit this world. There are 100, 200, 300, 400 species... no one knows the exact number."
"Whether in the sea, deep in the mountains, or in towns and cities, Pokémon can be found in all kinds of places."
"Some live together with humans, while others live alone in the wild or in groups with their companions, existing in all sorts of ways."
"On mountaintops, in snowy fields, in forests, in magma—everywhere in this world, their presence can be seen."
"And so, humans and Pokémon have formed all kinds of bonds, living together in this world."
The scene shifted again, and one powerful Trainer after another appeared before Red's eyes.
Lorelei, Lance, Agatha, and Bruno each stood in a battlefield representing their own types, sending out their signature Pokémon to battle unknown powerful opponents.
Flames, ice, ghosts, raw power!!!
Everything in the scene washed over the viewer's heart, stirring an intense desire to explore this brand-new world.
At last, that clean male voice, like a narrator's, spoke in an excited tone:
"Welcome to the world of Pokémon!!!"
"Your legendary story begins at this very moment!!!"
Boom!!!
The screen flashed, and the Pokémon of the Elite Four suddenly appeared in the four corners of Red's vision, each unleashing dazzling energy attacks under their Trainers' command.
His field of view dissolved into nothingness amid a thick cloud of explosive smoke.
And when Red opened his eyes again, he found himself standing before a young married woman with a dangerous hairstyle but a sweet, lovely smile.
"Today is the day you become a Trainer!"
"Now loudly call out your name, and once more show your courage and awakening on this path full of thorns!!!"
"Red."
Faced with Delia's words, Red did not hesitate in the slightest and immediately spoke his real name.
Clearly, this was the segment used for players to create their in-game nickname.
Having participated in the game's design, Red naturally understood the tutorial flow like the back of his hand.
Considering that the people who would play this game could be men or women, old or young, Red had not directly copied the original game setup and made the player an NPC's child.
Instead, he designed the player as someone being looked after by Delia, someone who had decided on this day to set out on the path to becoming a Trainer.
Once the player's name was successfully registered, NPC Delia's role was essentially complete. But before Red left, she still reminded him not to forget to visit the neighbor next door and get some benefits from his friend's mother.
In truth, it was just a set of Trainer-style clothing items and a world map. Aside from making the player fit the art style of the world, they did not have much practical use.
After that, Red followed the process and went to stand before Professor Oak.
As expected, the professor first introduced Red to the basic information about Pokémon. Then, an interface suddenly popped up before him:
[Please Choose Your Starter Pokémon Attribute]
That's right—Red had modified this part a little too.
After all, even though this virtual game world was only a game for now, with the help of various miraculous Devil Fruit abilities and advanced technology in the future, it was not impossible for them to transfer the data consciousness from the game into real-world physical bodies.
If everyone ended up with too many of the same starter Pokémon, that would be far too boring.
So Red created a Pokémon blind box and put into it all non-Legendary Pokémon whose final evolved form had a base stat total between 450 and 550.
Of course, the higher the base stat total of the final form, the lower the chance of drawing it.
Still, there would always be one or two lucky people who could start right away with a Ralts or Riolu.
Now that would be interesting~
Looking at the attribute selection screen in front of him, Red nodded slightly, satisfaction glimmering in his eyes.
From the opening animation up to the current experience, the world Doctor Vegapunk had built was extremely complete, and the flow did not seem to have any major issues.
At the very least, the three current steps—naming yourself, receiving equipment, and receiving your Pokémon—all had certain restrictions. If you didn't complete the previous step, you couldn't proceed to the next one. And if you didn't complete all three, you couldn't even leave Pallet Town.
"Next, I should go test the strength of the Pokémon in this world~"
Red thought for a moment, then suddenly snapped his fingers.
In an instant, his consciousness entered the backstage system of the game world.
After all, as one of the creators of the game, Vegapunk had long since left him a GM operating system in the program.
With a tap of his finger, Red directly changed the randomly assigned Pokémon he had received into a level 100 Mew.
Then he casually clicked one of the attributes in front of Professor Oak.
Following the set flow, the professor handed a Pokédex and a Poké Ball to Red.
Looking at the Poké Ball in front of him, Red could not help but sigh with emotion.
"I never thought the Pokémon I couldn't play on a console would actually become reality under these circumstances!"
As his words fell, Red immediately released the Pokémon from the Poké Ball.
A red beam of light flashed, and an adorable pink little cat appeared before him.
It was none other than the very first Pokémon shown in the opening animation—the Mythical Pokémon said to possess the genes of all Pokémon: Mew.
"Hello there, Mew~"
"Mew~!"
The moment it appeared and saw Red, Mew let out an adorable cry. With its Affection already maxed out by Red, it excitedly leaped into his arms and rubbed its face against his in intimate affection.
"Haha~ I finally have my own Pokémon too!"
Looking at the adorable little cat in his arms, Red immediately made up his mind that one day, he absolutely had to find a way to manifest Pokémon into reality.
He wondered whether Luffy's Nika power and Little Nika's abilities might be able to help with something like turning the virtual into reality.
And besides...
"Pokémon's emotional system is incredibly rich~ Just as expected of Doctor Vegapunk!"
"Mew, want to go out and take a look around with me?"
A thought flashed through Red's mind as he made the suggestion to the little creature in his arms.
And Mew, who was completely obedient to Red, naturally agreed happily.
The next moment, Red flew straight up while holding Mew.
Ordinary players, of course, would not be able to bring their real-world powers into the Pokémon world unless they had a specific Pokémon that allowed it.
But who told Red to be an admin abuser?
Whoosh—
In the blink of an eye, Red and Mew appeared in the starter area—Viridian Forest—and began testing all the parameters and indicators of the game world.
In the end, after a full day and night of testing, Red came to one conclusion.
That was—
Effective immediately, they would begin full-scale preparations for the release and promotion of the virtual game Pokémon World, and they would make sure that more people across the world learned of Pokémon's existence.
The world of pirates was a very magical world.
When the wishes of living beings gathered to a sufficient degree, they would naturally condense into corresponding Devil Fruits.
Red was very much looking forward to whether, in the future, there might be a chance to see a Devil Fruit called the Zoan-Type, Mouse-Mouse Fruit, Pokémon Model: Pikachu.