Over the course of a single night, news of the virtual game Pokémon World swept across the globe like a locust plague, saturating every corner of the world with its publicity.
At first, people had no real understanding of what a "virtual game" even was. Even less could they understand why the Straw Hat Pirates would suddenly change course at such a critical moment and release something like this.
After all, during this period, the Whitebeard Pirates and the Revolutionary Army had been moving all over the world, constantly striking at the powerful interests trying to join the World Government.
Everyone had assumed the world was on the verge of a brand-new transformation, that the seas were about to enter an era of many rival powers standing against one another...
And yet, precisely at a time like this, the Straw Hats had suddenly produced some so-called game!?
For a moment, everyone felt their minds buzzing.
It was like seeing a top student get astonishing scores on the national college entrance exam, and just when everyone was speculating whether he would choose Tsinghua, Peking University, or go study abroad, he suddenly announced that he was going to vocational school instead!
To the public, the Straw Hat Pirates' move felt just that absurd.
But because of that very absurdity, discussions surrounding Pokémon World only exploded even further.
Everyone was curious. What exactly was this virtual game that had made the Straw Hat crew abruptly change direction like this?
And the deeper they looked into it, the heavier the world's curiosity toward Pokémon World became.
On top of that, the standard version of the virtual helmet wasn't priced all that high, so quite a few people were already preparing to save up and buy one in the first launch.
Finally, under the watchful eyes of the entire world, the first batch of virtual helmets and virtual game pods officially went on sale seven days before the game's launch.
At the same time, an officially verified announcement from the Straw Hat Pirates directly pushed the game's popularity to its peak.
Half a year later, the virtual game Pokémon World would launch a server-wide event—the Indigo Plateau Conference!
Once players collected eight Badges in the Kanto region of Pokémon World, they would qualify to participate in the Indigo Plateau Conference.
In the tournament, contestants who finished between 16th and 32nd place would receive tiered prize money ranging from 10 million to 20 million Beli.
Those who finished between 8th and 16th place would receive 50 million to 120 million Beli.
Those who placed between 4th and 8th would receive 200 million to 500 million Beli, as well as one random Zoan Devil Fruit ability.
As for the third-place winner of this Indigo Plateau Conference, not only would they receive 800 million Beli from the Straw Hat Pirates, they would also be allowed to choose any one Devil Fruit ability from the Straw Hat Pirates' Class C Devil Fruit list.
The runner-up, meanwhile, would receive 1.2 billion Beli in prize money, and be allowed to choose any one Devil Fruit ability from either the Class B or Class C lists.
And as for the champion of this Indigo Plateau Conference, not only would they receive a base prize of 2 billion Beli, they would also be allowed to choose one Devil Fruit ability from the Class A, B, or C lists, and would further receive a mysterious gift provided by the Straw Hat Pirates.
At the same time this announcement was released, Red had people directly reveal the full Devil Fruit lists for the three tiers: Class A, Class B, and Class C.
Generally speaking, the Class C list contained fairly ordinary Zoan Fruits and a small number of Paramecia Devil Fruits—fruits like the Whisper-Whisper Fruit, whose impact on direct combat strength wasn't particularly significant.
Within the Straw Hat Pirates, these fruits were basically the kind no one wanted, and most of them were used as material for cloning-fruit experiments.
But just because the Straw Hats didn't care didn't mean the outside world wouldn't care.
Even though they had been placed in the lowest tier, the Class C list still contained quite a few Devil Fruit abilities that made people's eyes light up.
As for the Class B list, it was the exact opposite of Class C.
This list contained a large number of Paramecia Fruits and a small number of Zoans.
Many Paramecia Devil Fruits that had once made famous names for themselves across the seas appeared on this list.
For example, the String-String Fruit, which had vanished after Doflamingo's death, was shockingly included among them.
And the Zoan abilities that qualified for the Class B list were naturally all extremely powerful and precious, the vast majority of them being rare Ancient Zoans.
Even the ordinary Zoans among them were still forms of powerful creatures from nature, things like tigers and lions.
A Class B Devil Fruit list like that alone was enough to make the strong all over the world flock to it like ducks to water.
Not to mention that above Class B, there was an even more horrifying Class A list!
To put it simply, Logia Fruits only counted as the minimum threshold for entering Class A.
The Class A list contained all sorts of different Logia Devil Fruit abilities, along with some exceptionally powerful Paramecias.
And beyond that, there was something even more insane—
Mythical Zoan fruits!!!
Once those three Devil Fruit lists were revealed, the entire world completely descended into madness.
Some of the people who had previously sneered at the so-called virtual game immediately placed orders for virtual gaming devices at the first possible moment.
And because it had been clearly stated at the point of sale that the game pod would offer more advantages than the game helmet, even the absurdly expensive game pods ended up selling in five-digit order numbers.
One unit cost 30 million Beli, and that wasn't even counting the nutritional solution required for the pods...
The profit from just a single game pod exceeded 30 million Beli!
And that figure was still continuing to rise!
And when added to the profits from the game helmets...
In just a matter of days, profits amounting to hundreds of billions of Beli flowed into the Straw Hat Pirates' accounts.
That enormous income was enough to make even Nami give up managing the businesses under her own name and devote herself wholeheartedly to helping Red handle the Pokémon World project properly.
…
…
"Red, you're a genius! A genius in every possible sense!!!"
Pokémon Sea, Technology Island.
Watching the endless stream of profits being transferred into his scientific research project fund according to the agreed percentage, Vegapunk—despite all his knowledge and his single-minded devotion to research—couldn't help but excitedly raise his wineglass and praise Red.
Though he himself had personally designed and completed the virtual game project, all of its theoretical foundations and structural framework had come entirely from Red's own inspiration.
Even the Pokémon game itself, along with all its related data, had been brought by Red.
It could be said that even without Vegapunk, if the project had been handed over to people like Caesar, Judge, or Queen, there was still a high probability it could have been completed successfully.
The only real difference might have been how long it would take.
And yet, through just such a wildly imaginative operation, the Straw Hat Pirates had accumulated an enormous economic foundation.
From this day forward, Pokémon World would become the Straw Hat Pirates' "Heavenly Tribute."
With this single source of income alone, the Straw Hat Pirates would have enough wealth and glory to enjoy for a lifetime.
"Haha, without the doctor's brilliance, Pokémon World could never have been completed with such sophistication."
Red, also holding his glass high, laughed as he replied.
Truthfully, even he hadn't expected the gaming devices to be this profitable.
At the beginning, he hadn't even planned to make money from the game at all. He had only wanted to rewrite the rules and structure of this world, break the existing deadlock, and create a world the Straw Hat Pirates could leave behind with peace of mind.
At the same time, he also wanted to see whether the Pirate World's method of condensing Devil Fruit abilities through the wishes of living beings could create real Pokémon for this world.
But unexpectedly, under a massive and well-developed industrial system, they were able to earn such staggering profits from the devices alone.
All one could say was—
Games really do make money!
After that, the two pragmatic men didn't continue exchanging compliments.
Instead, Red and Vegapunk simultaneously turned their eyes toward the giant screen in front of them.
Three minutes later, Pokémon World would officially go live.
At this moment, they were just like all the pre-players who had already put on their gaming devices and were preparing to enter the game—they were both looking forward to the arrival of this world.
And so, as the countdown of 3... 2... 1... came to an end...
A brand-new world, a brand-new ecosystem, vividly descended upon the Pirate World just like that, bringing a touch of Pokémon wonder to this world without violence or coercion~!
(End of Chapter)