Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece or Pokemon.
If it feels off and rushed in later parts, it's because it kind of is. But sometimes you have to force it out, even if it may not feel as good as you want it to be. Also, it's midnight and I just finished getting it over the 5000-word limit past me put in place.
Either way, I do hope you enjoy this chapter. I did have fun writing it, and actually calculating some damage outputs to get a rough idea for some parts. And the title for this chapter, those have often been fun. Thanks for reading this if you did.
The Aura Sphere breaks through a hastily constructed wax wall to connect with Mr 3. At the very least though, the wax wall did diminish the power of his attack. Its effortless reformation tells him it works like a Light Screen, a temporary defensive measure that reduces the power of special attacks by 50%.
A wave of wax rushed out to capture him but it was telegraphed far too much. Mr 3's thoughts are quite clear about his plans. He's an artist but he's precise. No gut instincts to interpret or unspecific thoughts to ponder about.
Darcy's finding out that fighting humans is nothing like fighting Pokémon. A Lucario's ability to sense aura is strong enough to read movements and thoughts. Pokémon don't tend to think in battle, so he's only ever been able to use this skill to read their movements and make sure his attacks hit.
'Darcy, use Work Up.' Aliahra says, and he gets it. ~Darcy hasn't been hurt yet, so Drain Punch is best left for a turn. Even if Drain Punch did full damage, it won't get the KO.~
And it wouldn't. Aura Sphere is a powerful move, but with the wax edition of Light Screen halving its damage, it dealt only a third of Mr 3's health. And that matters because even if you know it's coming, evading a giant wave of wax isn't easy. After using Work Up, a Wax Wave hits, reducing his speed as a secondary effect. That one hit leaves him in the red. There is no surviving a second hit.
Not Very Effective. Mr 3's 10-level advantage isn't kidding around. Darcy's Steel-typing must have resisted the wax's attack. So Mr 3's wax makes him a Steel-type with moves that are Steel as well. Good to know.
Suddenly, both of their health is restored a bit. 'The terrain!' Aliahra says.
How grass can just restore their health like that, Darcy had no idea. He blames Terra as the resident Grass-type Pokémon.
Grassy Terrain restores a sixteenth of all grounded combatants at the end of each turn. Giratina begins but unfortunately, now isn't the time so Darcy snaps at him to save it for later.
Mr. 3 goes to attack again, and Darcy knows that speed drop means he can't get a Drain Punch off in time. Detect has priority, so he could use it to evade this attack and let the field restore some more of his health but he can't use the move in succession without it failing. He can't restore enough health to keep fighting. It's just delaying the inevitable.
The wax descends, but Darcy isn't the one who gets hit.
"Oi, you told me to be ready," Zhaleh says as the wax washes over him. He gets out easily with only a speed drop and a large chunk of health lost. It's over half, he can't take another hit.
That Not Very Effective message confirms the attacks are Steel-type. The four types to resist Steel are Steel, Water, Electric, and Fire. As a former, well actually current again, Steel-type, Darcy remembers who his attacks could deal Super-Effective and Not Very Effective damage against. Although that Fairy-type they still don't know much about is something they're all going to have to figure out.
"Zhaleh, Surf! Darcy, do you still feel slow?" Aliahra asks, drawing his attention. ~Can they set up stat boosts here before a switch in?~
Darcy clenched a fist, it was slowed by the wax coating him, but it still had the power he had worked up earlier. He nods. Her thoughts fly by too fast for him to keep up with. He's going to have to work on that.
"Niran, tank the next hit." Aliahra asks. They had no other resistances against the steel-like wax. Niran wasn't as defensively bulky though, so Darcy couldn't help the pang of worry he felt.
The switch in forms and capabilities could not have been expected by Mr 3. The attack meant for Darcy that hit Zhaleh instead was his turn, but Zhaleh still got to move. Mr 3 could do nothing to protect himself from the sudden tsunami that appeared in the middle of an island.
Like within the forest, the Grass-type aligned surroundings had weakened the Surf's power. It dealt a little less than a fourth of Mr's overall health. He could feel how infuriated that made Zhaleh, but at least he listened to Aliahra while they were in a battle against a person.
Zhaleh appears and Darcy becomes soaked as the wax is washed off him. Somehow that works to fix his speed debuff. Battling has never worked like this before, it's so confusing. At least it made sense to Aliahra somehow.
Darcy's worry thankfully proved wrong. Niran went out and still in terror of facing someone able to control large amounts of water, Mr 3 decided to protect himself.
"Get us close, Niran, Flame Wheel!" The attack didn't connect with Mr 3. Expecting another wave of water, he had raised a sturdier dome of wax around himself to protect himself.
Seeing his opponent has changed again, Mr 3 reacts without much thought and tried another wave of wax to knock Niran out. Niran leaps at him, but it is a drain punch from Darcy that connects with the stupid-haired idiot. Zhaleh's clapping empowering the move.
Mr 3 had nothing to restrict the boosted, empowered, physical move's power. Darcy really enjoyed being at full health again, but he also really enjoyed the absolute confusion Mr 3 briefly had before being knocked out.
Zhaleh grew to Lv 16! Niran grew to Lv 17!
Darcy can't deny the fact that he didn't get to level up from that battle was annoying. The dude was over ten levels higher and he didn't get a single level out of it?!
You evolved! Let us have this much damnit. Niran said, cheering over the successful fight. Zhaleh also cheers, partially over no longer being the lower level in the party. Nico isn't voicing her displeasure over being the lowest level now, but Darcy knew they'd all be hearing it later.
'It's very close!' Aliahra tries to pacify. 'Any another battle and you'll be at lv 17 too.'
Darcy just flops on the grass and lets it restore his health. Still no clue as to how it is doing that but it's working. As his trainer used to say, take what you can get. Usopp, Luffy, and Karoo stumble into the clearing, taking in the scene.
~Oh thank goodness, the fight's already over! Oh, is that Darcy? He's a lot bigger now. Still short though.~ Usopp thinks.
~Oh man, the fight's already over! I wanted to punch someone. Huh, who's the big blue and black dog thing? Wait, is that Nico? Did she change her appearance again?!~ Luffy thinks.
"Ah'm Darcy! Ah don' look anythin' like Nico! Argh!" In his rush to clarify his identity, he stumbled over his words. Zhaleh starts laughing up a riot with Niran, and Terra accidentally lets a coo slip, though he tried to cover it up. Traitor.
~Ow. A bug bit me.~ A quick look revealed the "bug bite" didn't do as much damage as an actual Bug Bite would to a Dark Type like Nami. Darcy forces himself to go to sleep before he hears any more thoughts. It meant he got to ignore his siblings too, at least for a bit.
Luffy is getting the story of the fight from the Giant Niran missed the name of but is currently in the process of freeing. Since apparently, Usopp's an artist too, he's the one helping Nami, Zoro and Vivi out of the Candelabra base. Karoo is working as a supervisor for him.
To be fair, Usopp couldn't muster up the firepower Niran is capable of, and these bonds on the Giants really needed his expertise to break. Anything that restricts anyone's ability to run wild and free left a bad taste in Niran's mouth. He's glad to be getting rid of it while Darcy took a nap.
"Aww, I can't believe I missed it." Luffy bemoans while grinning, his arm stretches over and pats Niran's back. "You guys were awesome!"
Niran couldn't help but grin back. "We really were! Mostly Darcy really, but Zhaleh was pretty cool too. That Mr 3 guy was level 25, that's a whole ten levels above us! But we really kicked his butt."
"Wait, what's my level!" Luffy asks, unnecessarily pointing at himself.
The Giants are confused over the mention of levels but Niran doesn't feel like explaining so he doesn't.
"Ahh, you're 24." That got Luffy angry.
"He's stronger than me?!"
"Nope. Definitely weaker. His base stats wouldn't be as good as yours. Also, he's Steel-type so I think you would have been fine against him." Niran says, then cheers as he finally got one of the Giant's arms fully free.
Although he then didn't try to help free himself, so Niran marks him as a lazy bugger and continues to work. Traversing the lazy bugger is pretty easy, it's not like he's tall, lying on the ground as he is.
Luffy blinks in confusion over the term stats and Niran wonders if his memory was wrong about Stats being mentioned before. It wouldn't be the first time it was wrong. He shrugs his confusion away.
"Base Stats are numbers that represent things like Health, Physical Attack and Defence, Special Attack and Defence, and Speed. It's not the same for everyone and can only be improved through Evolution. If you wanna know more ask Aliahra. I don't actually know anything more about it."
Throwing the responsibility to others is a lot easier to do when the one most against it is asleep. The conversation ends there, and the lazy bugger finally starts helping to free himself.
Oh, and Sanji finally appears too. Well, he can explain himself again later, Zhaleh needs to nap on the magic healing grass.
Aliahra's hand itches as Gira finally gets to explain the Grassy Terrain. It keeps doing that every time Giratina is teaching her, it's weird. But nothing she tries helps the feeling so she just ignores it and uses her hand to pat an attentive Terra instead. He's the most curious among her Pokémon as to what was going on.
"If not for the way of this world with its brand of 'logic', there would have been only four Terrains. Grassy, Electric, Misty, and Psychic. The Tapu of Alola could summon these fields when they entered a battle, others can have moves that can generate the terrains. Not that any of you can learn the move required to create it." Giratina begins, and Terra immediately deflates in her lap. "Only one Field or Terrain may be able to influence battle at any time."
Aliahra, while also sad about Terra not being able to learn Grassy Terrain, was sad about it for a different reason. The ability to control the terrain and know how it would impact the battle would have been incredible. Especially when in a pickle and dealing with new, unknown terrains.
"But if Grassy Terrain and Misty Terrain existed where we were from, then you know how they work, don't you?" Nico asks.
Giratina proves themself a bit of an annoying bugger. "I understand how almost all terrains impact battle."
Aliahra gets up and tries to hit them. Damn their Ghost-typing being immune to her either normal or fighting attack.
"Are you ever going to tell us everything?" Terra asks, also irritated.
"Unfortunately, telling you things takes time. And we do not know when and where my knowledge will fail us." Gira says, their eyes narrowing. "I am running Aliahra through knowledge of everything she needs to know, not just knowledge on how to fight. I will not skimp out on that. Do you think she knew every word she uses when she woke up? No, she did not!"
Aliahra tries to punch Giratina again as the distorting pressure thing coming from him increases. It disappears.
"Besides, as Darcy had noted earlier, fighting is different in this world," Aliahra says, drawing all the attention to herself. "We work with doing it as similarly as you're all used to but finding new ways to fight is clearly the way to go. Giratina doesn't know how to be a trainer and lead you in battle, otherwise, they'd be doing it and not having me do it."
She doesn't voice the thoughts that maybe they did know how to be a trainer but one, they knew her Pokémon wouldn't listen to him, and two, without this, there was nothing she could do. Aliahra does not just want to sit and watch everything happen, damnit. Sure, she can't fight, but she can figure out other ways to help.
She just needs to learn how.
"Grassy Terrain is different here than it is back in our dimension," Giratina says. "I did not know that it would weaken moves such as Surf. Typically, it halves the damage of Earthquake, Magnitude, and Bulldoze while boosting the damage of Grass-type moves by grounded Pokémon."
The being shifts. "I do not like to admit it, but my knowledge is not complete. I do not want to tell you about it and have you believe that is everything to know about it."
Aliahra picks up Terra and uses him to nudge Giratina. Sure, as long as she isn't attacking them, she can touch them, but she needs one of her Pokémon to be involved as she says this.
"I think a baseline of what to expect could be useful. Even if it's not everything, knowing something can get us a better foundation to stand upon as we go into a fight."
Because like her, Giratina cannot fight. Their usefulness is on the knowledge they figure out and provide. Unlike her though, they're used to being able to fight alongside the others. This perceived lacking they had in their knowledge may exist but that didn't mean it and they aren't useful.
"I cannot generate time," Giratina says, sounding faintly amused. "My point about there not being enough time to tell you everything still stands."
Terra chirps, also in amusement. "Good thing the future has an infinite amount of it then."
"I'm not the only one that feels lost by all that, am I?" Niran stage whispers to Nico.
"You aren't. The issue isn't fixed!" She simply says back, not even trying to be quiet.
"Time heals all wounds?" Terra tries.
Giratina and Aliahra shake their heads at him. The plant turtle wilts. Luffy tries to pick up the lightly dozing Zhaleh and wilts due to the Vaporeon's cellular structure. Fully healed, Darcy switches over and jumps on Luffy's back.
Even though evolution has made him half a meter taller, he's still smaller than humans. He's also really young, which means piggyback rides are fun. Aliahra curses (mentally) her height as she feels jealous.
Somehow, the look Giratina gives her makes her think Darcy's not the only telepathic Pokemon around. Though they could just know her really well. Though considering Aliahra barely knows herself, she can't discard the former thought.
Vivi smiles at him, a faint reverence resonating from her. But that reverence is solely due to jackals, an animal that resembles him, being one of the sacred protectors of her home island. Although there is some gratefulness too.
That gratefulness feels nice.
"Thank you for saving us, Darcy." Vivi says, ~If not for him, we could have died then.~
That struck him. He remembers their feelings: Zoro's acceptance of death, Nami's fear and resulting anger of it, and the despair for her home if Vivi died there. He remembers his siblings' and Gira's despair and grief after their trainer got struck by lightning.
No one is experiencing that sickening, heavy emotion. Everyone's happy and they feel light because of it. And it is in part due to him.
He looks at his paws before grinning back at Vivi.
"No problem, I'd do it again if needed!" He says, "For anyone."
'Someone's got a dream~.' Nico sings, and though she is trying to tease him about it, Darcy can't feel any embarrassment.
'I want to save people.' Darcy thinks to his family. 'I want to be a hero, like Mum.'
The others are silent, but he can feel their support even if they can't speak after he mentioned her. Aliahra feels cold at the mention, unlike the others who feel warm. He's going to have to have a talk with his little sister when everyone else is asleep.
Sure, Gira will be there, but they probably need to hear it too. They aren't the same person, even if they have the same body and name.
They head back to the Going Merry, the giants accompanying them. What apparently happened while they went grinding and then healing on the Grassy Terrain (although Magic Healing Grass was more fun to say, even though it's longer), was this.
Luffy, Vivi, and Karoo went out adventuring and during this period they met the stouter giant Brogy. They shared food and stories. Usopp and Nami were left alone on the Going Merry when Zoro and Sanji went out on a hunting competition (they tied by the way, though Darcy could tell there would be a rematch later). They met the other giant, the taller one called Dorry. They shared booze and stories.
Although the Giants couldn't remember what the competition was that landed them in this situation, Giratina knew. The giant's story was actually familiar. They had a hunting competition and couldn't determine the winner. So they were left on Little Garden and for the past hundred years (Darcy's barely lived one, and they did that for a hundred of them?!) they fought to the death to find out who won. Except neither died, and they kept tying.
Darcy did not need Giratina to know the universe was trying to say something about that. Although the giants didn't seem receptive to his idea that maybe they had tied in the competition that started it all. No, there had to be a winner. If it were a hunting competition then they had caught different Sea Kings!
Two different creatures, even if they were of the same species, had to be different sizes. As a Pokémon, they all knew size differentiation amongst species was a human thing.
Giratina hummed, not saying anything but letting them all know that "fact" is actually wrong and the world they once knew isn't as they remembered it. Drat.
Either way, that attempt at stopping the purgatory of battles to the death against their best friend failed. No one else could figure out how to convince the prideful giants to accept the last hundred years of battle had been in vain because they had tied in the original competition.
Giratina sighs and he knows they're making a mental note on how to fix that later. Their mum would have asked them if it was possible and tried to do something. You don't fight an evil team without being a little forward with attempts to help out.
Now, while those meetings with the giants were going on, Sanji was out in the forest. Out there, he stumbled upon a wax house. As he was investigating the premises, Mr 0 aka Crocodile, called and Sanji told him they were all dead. Though he got ambushed during the call by Mr 13 and Miss Friday. They had the Eternal Log Pose to Alabasta they need.
Especially since it takes a year for a log pose to set and Alabasta doesn't have that kind of time.
Since the two giants were called by a volcano to battle, everyone was wandering the jungle and some got picked off and captured by Mr 3 and Miss Goldenweek. So that's how Zoro and Nami were captured.
Vivi on the other hand was captured by Mr 5 and Miss Valentine, which explains why Karoo was smelling like cooked meat. Luffy was temporarily trapped while this happened but got out. After some time, Usopp, Karoo, and Luffy stumbled upon each other.
Mr 5 and Miss Valentine attempted to stop them from getting to the clearing, but they really weren't a match for the Captain, Sniper, and Duck. The two had managed to delay them long enough that the Pokémon could beat Mr 3 and Miss Goldenweek though. Though Karoo says they were actually searching for the Pokémon, hence why they were out of the clearing.
Sanji then adds that apparently, Mr 0 wanted them captured, curious as he was about the flaming foal that could poison, breathe fire and turn into a bipedal jackal pup. Sanji had said they were killed, the resistance they put up negating the ability to catch them. He had alleged that his partner was poisoned by the horse.
Considering Betrayal Black thing she was capable of, it was a good call on Sanji's part. If it weren't for Darcy reading the wavelengths the paint emanated, things could have turned worse. It feels lucky, almost too lucky.
The Pokémon didn't get much time to think about it though. The story was still continuing and they weren't the only ones who needed to hear this.
The taller giant, his drink that he got from their ship was set to explode and did so in his stomach before the match. It was admirable how he still got up to fight, Nico was the most impressed. But due to this injury, he lost the battle. However, Mr 3 then revealed himself, came in and trapped the two. Apparently, they had bounties, so capturing them was a worthwhile endeavour.
Nami says that bounties can get docked if you bring in the person dead. So the numbers on the bounty posters are kind of a lie. Zoro confirms this information. Apparently, he used to be a bounty hunter. Capturing a person is a lot harder than killing one apparently. Then again, they didn't capture many other Pokémon. Terra and Zhaleh were actually gifts, and Darcy was traded but hatched from an egg.
Terra was there for the total of four catches Aliahra had done. Nico, one who was traded for Darcy, Niran, and Giratina. Sure, at that last point she had a Master Ball, but she was apparently saving it for the slim chance of a Shiny. Something about exploding Gravellers? Giratina had to tell them about that, but thankfully they were at the end of the story.
That's when they - Darcy and his family - showed up and then proceeded to kick ass and save the day!
… That feels like a lot. Darcy's head almost hurts.
'Just don't think about it. Your head hurts a lot less if you don't!' Niran suggests. Though Darcy can feel his thoughts, so he knows he's having them. Damn, they go by quickly.
'Well, that explains some things.' Nico adds, rolling her eyes. Aliahra jabs her with a finger, making her let out a squawk.
'Let's just get off this island. When we get back to fighting water-type Sea Kings then we can show Luffy, Karoo, and Sanji evolution. Usopp already saw Nico do it but he might not have been able to appreciate it since there was a fight going on.' Aliahra says as the Going Merry came into view.
So of course the next potential opponent had to be a giant goldfish Sea King. Though everyone just immediately calls it a Giant Seaking upon being given the fact that while the Pokémon Seaking is based on a Koi fish, it's pre-evolution is related to goldfish.
Giant Seaking, Lv 67 [Water]
To Darcy, the gig is definitely up. The game things that Mum used to perceive reality through back in Sinnoh and had continued through to the rest of them, even after her death, was due to Giratina. And it was anchored to them using the bits of her that made the Pokémon human in their thoughts.
The others were never going to acknowledge it, Giratina has made it that they can't, but there's more of Mum in them than there is of her in what was once her body.
Darcy also gets why and follows Niran's advice. Just don't think about it. It's harder when your thoughts are slow enough to linger, but it helps.
"I don't think I can take that on." Terra says in the real world.
Usopp and Nami, who had been looking at him in hope, falter. The giants, Brogy and Dorry, come to their rescue though.
Dorry, Lv 99. Brogy, Lv. 99.
Niran complains about Brogy's laziness again. Darcy, as a being in tune with emotions and mental states, just shoves the Ponyta. There are some emotions and some minds the Lucario does not want to feel or experience. What the red giant had been feeling in regard to his friend and his perceived end wasn't something that had vanished even after it had turned out the blue giant would be alright.
Even remembering it left him feeling a little sick. He looks at Giratina. The deity subtly gestures to a location where he can vomit if it comes to it. They do this while bemoaning what life has become for them.
As Zhaleh switches to the front to get them through the hole in the giant Seaking the giants created, Darcy forces his gratitude and a little affection into Giratina. The undead dragon blinks at him in shock. Darcy ignores them. Some tentative gratitude and a lot of affection are transmitted back.
The Lucario looks at Giratina. He smiles tentatively.
Terra has his chance to evolve pretty quickly after leaving the island. Little Garden truly is little when it's a dot on the horizon. A pack of sharks - or school, shoal, gam, shiver, nursery, as everyone else suggested, Gira's probably right but they said shiver – appears to attack the ship.
The shiver has a level average of ten, but there really is quite a lot. Razor-sharp leaves slice into flesh or water. Razor Leaf really is a great move, though the fifty-five base power of the attack isn't going to last when he'll be facing off against stronger opponents. Best to make full use of it now before he has to forget it.
He can't wait for Earthquake. One hundred base power, and it would have actually hit all dozen or so sharks. Razor Leaf's accuracy is another drawback of the move, but then at least he knows it now.
A pair of fast rubbery fists smash into the surviving sharks, but even though the experience is divided between two, it's still enough.
Terra grew to level 18. Terra is Evolving.
And so the deck is blinded for a moment, and the tiny turtle with a twig growing out of its head is replaced with a large turtle with a pair of hedges growing down its now yellow shell.
"I'm quite certain evolution doesn't work that way," Sanji says, a curly but disbelieving eyebrow raised.
Luffy and Karoo, the other people who hadn't yet seen an Evolution in person, do not share his stance on the matter. Or at least, they don't let logic remove the awe the event gave them. Their eyes sparkle, and the two get closer to inspect the differences.
"Ooh, ooh. Can you turn into a dragon?!" Luffy asks, poking and prodding Terra's shell before jumping atop the bald part.
"No. But at my next evolution, I'll be able to cause Earthquakes again!" The Grotle cheers.
Nami and Usopp seem taken aback by that, while Vivi looks at him with a vested interest. "Earthquakes, like Whitebeard, the Strongest Man Alive?"
Similar, yes.
"Uh, yes. Who's Whitebeard?" Luffy also seems confused by the mention of this man, but the title "Strongest Man Alive" has garnered his attention.
"One of the four Emperors of the Sea. Whitebeard was a rival of Gold Roger back in the day. He may be old now, but he still holds the title for a reason, and a part of that is his Devil Fruit."
The Straw Hat Pirates look at the Grotle who can one day wield quakes similar to Whitebeard. He can see it in their faces, it's apparently a little hard to see. It's not his fault that the second stage evolution in a three-stage evolution line is always kind of awkward. He's growing out of his cuteness and into his coolness.
When he becomes a Torterra, they're gonna see it then. Although that evolution is quite far away at level 32. At least he doesn't have to wait until level forty like Niran!
'And at least I look intimidating, powerful, and elegant. Unlike you.' Nico preens.
The jokes on her, he's closer to evolution than her. Level 34 is even further away. But he can't wait to see her reach that level. She'll truly be back to her striking old self again. Striking as in, hitting one physically, though striking in appearance applies too, he guesses.
Niran pulls him off the deck and into the reach of Nico's beak and talons long enough for her to get revenge for his thoughts. The Ponyta must be annoyed at the reminder of his high evolution level. Oh well, his increase in bulk after evolution means Nico's attacks don't hurt that much, though she clearly isn't actually trying to damage him.
Darcy sends a huff his way, and an emotion he knows to say he's being labelled a masochist for being happy Nico's attacking him. Terra's just glad the team is returning to how it used to be, at least in terms of appearance and soon strength.
The Lucario blushes and hides his face at the pride felt his way. Terra grins even wider, Nico seeing the expression at last. She stops her physical attacks to verbally call him out. He keeps grinning to annoy her. Her reaction is hilarious, and her fluffed-up feathers are adorable.
She caves and switches with Niran to get away from him. He laughs.
Up Next: Ocean Journies, Part 1.
Don't worry, the chapter after this one is Drum Island, I'm just calling all the chapters that happen exclusively between each island "Ocean Journies". These chapters are more slice-of-life-ish, I think. Technically, it's kind of filler to the One Piece adventure in a way, but I don't intend to waste anything in it. Travelling takes time, and that time has to be used somehow. Like bonding, training, etc.
Either way, what did you think of this chapter?