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In the Kingdom of Alabasta
In fact, the speed at which the winds of change swept through the kingdom was beyond everyone's imagination!
This time, the Nefertari royal family had abandoned their traditionally gentle policy. By the afternoon following the conclusion of the lecture, new decrees spread throughout the towns and alleys of Alabasta like mushrooms after rain.
So many changes occurred that even local citizens found themselves surprised and confused. Beyond the closure of the Rainbase Casino, the transformation of gambling establishments across the country from private to public ownership, the desert oasis development and reconstruction plan, and the Pokémon Park project—all policies that ordinary citizens struggled to comprehend—what concerned people most was Princess Vivi's announcement that she would select elite warriors to form the Thirteen Division for the Defense of the Nation.
According to Princess Vivi's speech, she intended to create a powerful additional army under her direct command, separate from the Kingdom's military forces. Despite its name suggesting defensive purposes, the Thirteen Division was established primarily for punishment.
As Vivi had declared: "Those who violate the sovereignty of our kingdom will be punished, no matter how distant they may be!"
It was clear to anyone paying attention that this Thirteen Division was actually a unique department Vivi was preparing to establish under Red's guidance. The majority of its members would be recruited from the former Baroque Works organization.
Operatives like Mr. 1 had been directly incorporated into this team by Red, occupying the positions of captain and vice-captain across the first through fourth divisions. The position of overall captain naturally went to Vivi herself, who had consumed the Sand-Sand Fruit and awakened its tremendous power.
The captain of the first division was Mr. 1, Daz Bonez, with Miss Double-Finger Paula as vice-captain.
The captain of the second division was Mr. 2 Bon Clay, with the vice-captain position still vacant.
The third division's captain remained unfilled, with Miss Goldenweek Marianne serving as vice-captain.
The fourth division was led by Miss Merry Christmas Drophy as captain, with Mr. 4 Babe as vice-captain.
All remaining members were composed of former Baroque Works subordinates.
One shouldn't assume that Baroque's bounty hunters were merely weak soldiers easily defeated by the Straw Hat Pirates. Compared to the regular army of Alabasta, they possessed far superior strength, intelligence, and overall capability. Just two agents could easily infiltrate various parts of the kingdom and create all manner of chaos.
Though hostile one moment, they became loyal guardians the next, leaving many lower-ranking Baroque agents confused by the sudden change. But when Vivi, as their new captain, offered reasonable salaries and clear advancement opportunities—and with their superiors already having changed allegiance—these agents transformed instantly, vowing to sacrifice their lives for Alabasta's safety!
The main responsibility of divisions one through four was actually to protect security within the kingdom, with their core focus being the Pokémon Kingdom that Red was establishing. Essentially, Red and Vivi had formed a strategic partnership with Baroque Works and the Kingdom of Alabasta to safeguard the interests of both parties.
In this way, Red solved the problem of paying salaries to the agents, while Vivi gained an impressive group of subordinates. It was simply a perfect win-win situation.
A few days later, while the citizens of the desert kingdom remained shocked by the royal family's dramatic moves, the port where the Straw Hat Pirates had previously docked buzzed with activity.
"Vivi, we need more sand! Gather some more!"
"Oh, got it!"
"Ace, Sanji—control the flame temperature! Uneven heat will affect the glass wall's transparency!"
"Zoro, Mr. 1, these glass bricks need precision cutting—hurry over and help!"
"Luffy, keep going! After moving these, you can have lunch!!!"
"Smoker, if you're not busy, cool down the furnace's outer wall with the Kung Fu Dugongs!"
"What?! You don't know how to spray water?!"
"Tsk tsk tsk, you're completely useless!!!"
"By the way! Didn't Miss Merry Christmas go to dig for groundwater?! Why hasn't she returned yet?"
"Hurry up, everyone! Move faster!!!"
In the bustling desert, Red stood on a temporary platform, holding construction plans drawn by Usopp, issuing instructions to his companions and subordinates below. On this day, everyone finally experienced the fear of being commanded by a Pokémon Trainer!
The usually respected Marine Captain Smoker now worked at the furnace's flue, using his Devil Fruit powers to control the smoke produced by calcination, forcing it to rise quickly into the air and dissipate completely, preventing pollution of this world's atmosphere.
Turning his gaze, Smoker saw Ace, captain of the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division—a man deemed dangerous by the Marines—sweating profusely as he produced high-temperature flames and directed them into the furnace.
Unable to contain himself, Smoker asked: "Hey! Aren't you supposed to be rushing back to the New World?! Why are you letting yourself be ordered around here?!"
"Ah ha?" Hearing this, Ace smiled, the flames surrounding his body remaining steady as he maintained consistent heat output. "Don't worry! Red mentioned that Blackbeard's disappearance was suspicious and didn't rule out the possibility he might still be alive... So I plan to stay in the park for a while to see if any news about him surfaces. Besides..."
Ace's tone suddenly changed, and a complex emotion flashed in his eyes before he smiled at Smoker. "It's rare for my brother and me to reunite, and Luffy has such an interesting crew. It doesn't matter if I stay here a bit longer!"
While speaking, Ace's eyes unconsciously tracked Luffy, who was also working. Motivated by Red's promise of food, Luffy carried an enormous glass brick, nearly the size of a hill, as he ran toward the designated location.
"This kid's strength seems to have increased again!" Ace couldn't help thinking as he watched Luffy's retreating figure. During their last sparring match, he had nearly been defeated by Luffy's powerful fists! Although Ace didn't want to admit it, Luffy's mastery of Armament Haki was already superior to his own. It wouldn't be long before his younger brother surpassed him entirely!
"No! If Luffy surpasses me so easily, Marco and the others will never let me hear the end of it!"
In his mind, Ace suddenly imagined himself lying defeated on the Moby Dick's deck, surrounded by chibi versions of Marco and the other commanders, all laughing at him with their noses in the air!
As a brother, he was naturally happy that Luffy had grown stronger. But if Luffy became stronger than him... the essence of their relationship would change!
Having felt the warmth of family aboard the Moby Dick, Ace—who hadn't worried about his own strength for some time—now found himself compelled to compete with Luffy. At worst, he would take advantage of whatever time remained when he could still defeat his little brother to tease him mercilessly.
"Hmm?"
Looking at Ace, who had suddenly fallen silent and seemed lost in thought, Smoker made a puzzled sound. After spending time together, he had discovered that despite Ace's fearsome reputation as a senior commander among the Four Emperors Pirates, he was just as much of an idiot as that Straw Hat troublemaker!
Seeing that Ace was immersed in his own world, Smoker silently rose into the air and returned to his smoke-clearing duties.
Through everyone's concerted efforts, an area surrounded by massive crystal brick walls—comparable to a small town—miraculously appeared in the desolate desert. Under the scorching sun, the crystal wall tiles emitted colorful light waves, giving the area a dreamlike, otherworldly quality.
In the four cardinal directions of this circular area, four unobstructed gates had been constructed. Following Usopp's design, giant statues of Pikachu, Charizard, Venasaur, and Blastoise stood above the four entrances, displaying four expressions: cute, fierce, steady, and proud—all of which had earned Red's approval.
"Not bad!" Looking at the Pokémon Park taking shape, Red wore a satisfied smile. Though only the framework had been built, with the interior still mostly empty desert, Miss Merry Christmas—an underground expert—had already created numerous fountains and trickling streams throughout the area, bringing the source of life to this barren land.
Meanwhile, Usopp's research on rapidly growing tropical vegetation was nearing completion. All that remained was to cultivate numerous seeds and plant them throughout the park. With the insects under Usopp's control, this task—which should have consumed enormous resources and manpower—had become considerably easier.
Recently, Red had focused on training Usopp and Chopper, successfully raising them to levels 32 and 34 respectively. Soon, they would be able to use their grass-attribute energy to quickly transform this area into an environment suitable for living creatures.
As for why Red named this area Pokémon Park... naturally, it was because he intended to create actual Pokémon in this world!
"Aniu, this area will be your territory in the future. Would you prefer Usopp to redesign it for you, or should we create rock caves similar to your previous habitat?"
Inside Pokémon Park, near a beach that had been almost completely transformed, Red addressed a Kung Fu Dugong. This particular Dugong was a local resident that Red, Nami, and Usopp had encountered while planning road construction near the coast not long ago. It had led nearly a hundred of its kind to the park.
Kung Fu Dugongs were adorable creatures living around the Kingdom of Alabasta. Resembling a cross between turtles and seals, they loved combat and often challenged passing travelers. When defeated, a Kung Fu Dugong would immediately recognize that person as their master, humbly learning from them to become stronger.
Though innocent by nature, their intelligence far exceeded that of ordinary beasts. They could understand human speech and communicate normally with people.
Given these qualities, Red had long harbored the idea of cultivating a group of Kung Fu Dugongs in the Pokémon Park. After encountering this particular group, he naturally wouldn't let them go. Following several competitions, these Dugongs accepted Red as their master and officially joined his Pokémon roster!
[Pokémon: Aniu]
[Level: 16]
[Gender: ♂]
[Nature: Diligent]
[Types: Fighting, Water]
[Characteristic: Swift Swimmer (speed increases in rain)]
[Ability: None]
[Experience: 0/1021]
[HP: 63]
[Attack: 44]
[Defense: 44]
[Special Attack: 34]
[Special Defense: 41]
[Speed: 35]
The above displayed the attribute interface for the Kung Fu Dugong leader beside Red, whom he had named "Aniu."
Though Aniu's talent fell far short of the Straw Hat Pirates', according to Red's calculations, their racial values exceeded those of Mr. 4 and Miss Double-Finger from Baroque Works, almost comparable to Mr. 2 Bon Clay.
While Aniu represented the strongest individual in the group, he didn't represent all Kung Fu Dugongs. Even so, after Red's observations, the average racial value of the entire Dugong group was second only to Mr. 4, and certainly superior to Bell, Chaka, and other royal guards in Alabasta Palace.
It was difficult to imagine that those individuals were responsible for protecting the vast Alabasta Kingdom.
In exchange for independent rule over this territory, Red still provided Pokémon abilities for the Dugongs and some of King Cobra's personal guards. Unlike Vivi, who possessed a special bloodline, these warriors—born and raised in the desert—didn't even possess a Ground-type attribute, let alone other types.
Almost all were Normal/Fighting types. Not that this combination was poor, but it limited the variety of Pokémon moves they could effectively utilize. A move was a skill, not an innate power.
But that was the agreement, and Red wouldn't waste precious game time on these individuals—especially now, when through continuous lobbying by Red and Chopper, they had attracted many leaders of high-quality desert creatures who were preparing to lead their respective groups to Pokémon Park.
Now they just needed to wait for General Red to arrange the living areas as agreed, and then they could immediately complete the most fundamental and important part of building a Pokémon paradise—the Pokémon themselves!