The items in Ron's hand instantly attracted the attention of Leo and the parrot.
"For me?"
"For me? For me?" the parrot repeated.
Seeing Ron nod, before Leo could decide whether or not to accept Ron's gift, the parrot pounced on his hand and snatched up the golden walnut in its beak.
With a series of crisp crunches, the parrot turned its head and chattered at Leo.
The caution on Leo's face melted away like butter on a hot pan, and his little hand quickly snatched the Sitrus Berry from Ron's hand.
Then, he took a bite.
"You're a good person." Leo concluded as he chewed quickly.
—
Meanwhile, on the other side, Sailor.
As Pelican Town's perennial explorer, it was naturally part of the team searching for Golden Walnuts.
After just lifting its snout to sniff around a few times, it pointed the surrounding Rattata in a few different directions.
It then headed from the beach towards the farm on the west side.
Sniffing and groping its way along, after finding all the Golden Walnuts buried in the sand, Sailor made its way to the front of a cave.
There seemed to be a sheet of cloth in front of the cave, decorated with several golden walnuts, just like the ones on its paw.
"Rattata?" Sailor leaned in to sniff. It felt like the inside was filled with a scent similar to the walnuts on its paw.
So, it cautiously poked its head through the cloth archway.
"This place only permits those who have found one hundred Golden Walnuts—" a blue-skinned figure was standing there, with its back to it. After saying a few words, it suddenly turned its head to look at Sailor, who was staring at it.
"—" Mr. Qi silently watched the Sailor, who was clutching a few Golden Walnuts. After a long moment, he let out a long sigh. "Oh, forget it— I'll make an exception if it's a Pokémon."
With that, he beckoned to Sailor. "You might not believe this, but I've been keeping an eye on you."
"Rattata?" Sailor pointed at itself.
"Want something to eat?" Mr. Qi asked next.
Something to eat?
Sailor immediately stood up on its hind legs and nodded vigorously at Mr. Qi.
Mr. Qi smiled, took out a bottle of strangely colored milk from the side, and offered it to Sailor's paw.
Sailor, while repeatedly thanking him, brought the bottle to its lips.
Just as it was about to gratefully drink the human's offering in one gulp, a strange smell wafted into its nose.
Before Sailor could react, its body instinctively started to heave.
"Rattata? Rattata?"
Sailor moved the cup in its hand further away, heaving and staring at the bottle in disbelief.
After spending over half a year in Pelican Town, no human had ever given it anything that tasted bad.
Therefore, in Sailor's mind, things given by humans were mostly safe to eat.
"Rattata—"
Could it be that something was wrong with its nose?
Or, was this the kind of thing that existed only in legend, which smelled awful but tasted delicious?
Thinking this, Sailor took a deep breath, held it, and downed the drink in one go.
"Rattata?!!!!!!!"
Watching Sailor darting around the room, Mr. Qi broke into a hearty laugh once more.
"Rattata, rattata, rattata!"
"Don't be angry, don't be angry. This stuff is good for you," Mr. Qi continued. "Want something delicious to eat? I'll make it for you."
With that, he generously opened his chest, took out a special seasoning, and prepared a simple meal for Sailor.
Sailor, who was still sulking because its taste buds had been assaulted by an unknown substance, was immediately drawn in by the Sashimi emitting a rich aroma.
Hanging around with Willy, Sailor had eaten its fair share of sashimi.
To be honest, even if it were a fish just caught from the sea and sliced up the next second, the taste couldn't compare to a dish made by Ron.
But obviously, the plate before it was on a completely different level from the sashimi Willy made.
Although the fish was still just ordinary sea fish, and the meat was just freshly sliced from the fish's body, it had an alluring, indescribable flavor.
"Give it a try," Mr. Qi said, handing the plate of sashimi to Sailor.
"Rattata!"
Meanwhile, Ron.
After successfully building a good rapport with Leo using a few berries, Ron left Leo's treehouse.
He took out his Pokédex to check the map of Ginger Island. Just as he was about to close it, Ron suddenly noticed that Sailor's HP bar had, for some unknown reason, suddenly grown significantly longer.
It was a bit embarrassing, but because Sailor's work didn't involve fighting, Ron had basically never allocated any potential points to it. Seeing this value suddenly increase, Ron couldn't help but frown.
"—Did it accidentally run into some kind of monster?"
As soon as this thought appeared, seeing that Sailor's level hadn't changed, Ron dismissed the guess.
"Never mind, I'll have Indeedee ask it later."
Thinking this, Ron looked at the map and started to wander around Ginger Island.
Before he had walked far, a cry for help came from a cave in the distance, accompanied by the rhythmic, light thud of stones hitting a wall, instantly capturing Ron's attention.
He walked a few steps to the boulder and heard the cries for help from inside become more urgent.
"Quick, help me, help me!!"
This was a cave blocked by a giant boulder.
Ron immediately remembered who was trapped inside this cave.
It was another NPC from Ginger Island, Professor Snail, who would give a few Golden Walnuts for answering questions or submitting fossils found on the island.
"Alright, wait a moment and step back. I have a bomb."
Ron shouted towards the cave, then took out a bomb from his backpack.
Just as Ron was about to light the bomb, he happened to glance over at Professor Snail's tent.
He saw a Rattata, under his very gaze, dragging a few Golden Walnuts out of the tent."
Ron silently lit the bomb, then walked a distance away.
A loud boom followed, and the boulder blocking the cave entrance was blown apart.
The next second, a gaunt old man emerged from inside.
"Thank goodness, someone finally came to rescue me." The old man coughed as he thanked Ron. "I came to this island on a scientific expedition a while ago— but while studying this cave, I experienced a sudden cave-in."
He then sniffed himself and wrinkled his nose. "I'm going to go change my clothes first. If you're free later, you can come meet me at that tent. Oh, by the way, I found some golden nuts on this island a while ago. If you want them, you can also trade me for things found on the island."
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