"YEAAAARGHHH! MY BACK, OH GOODNESS MY BACK, OH HOW IT ACHES, OH THE AGONY, AAAAARGHHH! CURSE MY FEEBLE, ELDERLY BONES! WOE BE ME!"
As he stood there on the beach and watched the large, elderly man flail about on the sands with both hands reaching back to press against the small of his back, Zoro's eye twitched. He quietly returned his blade- Yubashiri- to its sheathe and slowly began to walk away from the man. Unfortunately, the movement seemed to snap the man out of the pained fit he was in, as in a flurry of movement the man hopped back up onto his feet and dashed over to intercept Zoro.
Now that he wasn't flailing about, Zoro was able to get a better look at him. At his full height, the man was roughly a whole foot taller than him, though his rounder, squishier physique was a far cry from the swordsman's chiseled one. He had on a pair of blue overalls worn over a white shirt along with grey rubber boots. His hair, which along with his wrinkled face were what denoted his age, was white, with a large bald spot at the center of his head and a bushy white beard that reached down just past his neck.
"Can it be?! Do my feeble, elderly eyes deceive me?!" The man exclaimed, leaning down and staring intensely at Zoro. Namely, at his hair.
"What happened to your back pain?" Zoro muttered, recoiling from the man.
"It must be! There's no other explanation!" The man continued, reaching out and cupping the sides of Zoro's head, "Yes, this is it! The legendary Pokemon Shaymin!"
"Get away from me, you old coot!" Zoro grumbled, brushing the man's hands away from him and taking a couple of steps back. The man blinked, his hands still outstretched in front of him, and he slowly tilted his head up and down as if to size Zoro up.
"YOU CAN TALK?!" He gasped, "Incredible! The Pokemon Shaymin is even more legendary than I thought! But wait… no. No, you're not Shaymin at all! You're just a man with green hair!"
"Took you long enough." Zoro said, going to step around the man and head inland.
"But there's nobody here on Iron Island with green hair." The man frowned, "And if you have green hair, that must mean you're a visitor! Can it be?! Does my feeble, elderly mind deceive me?!"
"Whatever." Zoro said, walking past him. Even as he tried to ignore the man, however, something about what he had said didn't sound right for some reason.
"Welcome to Iron Island, green-haired visitor!" The man said, reaching out to where Zoro had been standing before to shake his hand, only to just now notice that Zoro was no longer standing there.
"Wait a second, did you say, 'Iron Island'?" Zoro said, coming to a stop several steps away from the man as he whirled around to face him.
"Hm?" The man blinked and looked around for Zoro, before looking behind him and finally seeing him, "Oh, yes! Welcome to Iron Island! You're our first visitor in… well, in as long as my feeble, elderly mind can remember!"
'Something's not right.' Zoro thought to himself warily, his mind suddenly on high alert once again. First those bizarre monsters that had attacked them back on the ship, and now finding out they weren't even at the island they were supposed to be.
"I'm afraid there's not really much to see here, though." The man continued, completely ignorant of Zoro's concerns, "Still, since you've come all the way here, why don't I invite you back to my shack for a nice seafood lunch?"
-O-
"I see… so these creatures are called 'Pokemon', and you're their trainer?" Vivi said, glancing over at the Merry's figurehead, which Whiskers had begun to nuzzle affectionately, and then looking back over at the teen- Spruce, he had introduced himself as- and Ria as they sat next to each on the deck with their legs crossed.
"Yep!" Spruce nodded proudly, "These three are my best buds!"
"Riolu!" Ria nodded.
"Sorry that we attacked you like that." He continued, bowing his head, "I just got so mad when I saw you punch Whiskers. He's really a lot nicer than people assume whenever they see him at first."
"Uh, sure." Usopp said, standing with Nami across the deck from them with his eyes flicking back and forth between Spruce and Whiskers, "Why's he cuddling up to Merry like that?"
"He thinks the sheep is cute." Spruce answered, and then looked to Vivi, "And he liked the colour of your hair."
"Oh! Thank you…?" Vivi said uncertainly.
"Anyway, does that mean you guys don't have Pokemon where you come from?" Spruce said.
"I don't think so." Nami said.
"Huh. That's weird. Though since you're our first visitors in forever, I guess anyone different would seem weird." He shrugged.
"What did you just say?" Vivi said sharply.
"I said that anyone different would seem weird." He blinked.
"No, before that." Vivi said.
"Oh. That you're out first visitors in forever? First visitors as long as I can remember, at least. I guess we could have had people sail here before I was born, but I don't think anyone ever has." He said.
"But- but how can that…?" Vivi trailed off as she hurried over to Nami and Usopp and got into a huddle with them, while Luffy, Spruce and Ria all watched them blankly from a distance.
"What does he mean we're the first visitors here?" Nami whispered, "This is the second island on one of the Grand Line routes, they must have had pirates come here in the past."
"Admittedly, Baroque Works had been rather efficient in making sure that pirates don't make it past Cactus Island on that route." Vivi said grimly, "But the operation in Whiskey Peak is far from old enough to have stretched back that long."
"Maybe this guy's just an idiot." Usopp suggested. The three of them all turned their heads to look over at him and saw him staring right back at them. Beside him, Ria narrowed her eyes at them and punched her fist into her palm threateningly. Usopp gulped.
"Ria can hear everything you're saying, by the way." Spruce deadpanned, before looking over to Luffy, "Hey, what does being King of the Pirates mean?"
"It means being the freest person on the sea!" Luffy said eagerly.
"Do you get a crown?" Spruce said, with the question making Luffy briefly ponder it before answering.
"I dunno." He said, "There'll probably be a crown somewhere with the rest of all our treasure."
"That's cool. Whiskers used to have a crown before he grew up, kinda." Spruce said.
"GYARADOS!" Whiskers called out from in front of the ship.
"Hey, hold on a second." Nami said, breaking away from the huddle, "Haven't you heard of the King of the Pirates before? Gold Roger?"
"Not really." Spruce shrugged.
"What about the Marines? Or the World Government?" Nami pressed.
"Are those new things from where you're from? We don't get any news about what goes on in the rest of the world." He said, "That World Government thing sounds important, though."
"That's because it is!" Vivi exclaimed, "It's-!" She cut herself off and looked away, her brow furrowing.
"Shishishi!" Luffy snickered, "This place must be pretty great if you've never had Marines visit!"
"Well, even if we don't have Marines, there are plenty of water-types around." Spruce said.
"Water-types?" Usopp said, "What, like fish?"
"Oh!" Spruce blinked, "Right, without Pokemon, you wouldn't know. See, Pokemon all come in different types, and each type has its own strengths and weaknesses. Whiskers is a water-type Pokemon, and also a flying-type, though he doesn't know any flying attacks."
"Does that mean he can fly?" Luffy asked, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
"Kinda." Spruce said, "Not that well, though. He's much better at swimming."
"Was that bird of yours also a flying type?" Vivi inquired.
"Pex? Yeah, he's a normal and flying type." Spruce nodded, "And Ria here is a pure fighting type!" He patted Ria affectionately on the head as she hopped onto her feet and threw a few punches and kicks at the air in front of herself.
"Incredible… and are there more of these Pokemon on the island?" Vivi said.
"Loads!" Spruce said proudly, "If you want, I could take you on a tour of the grove and let you see them!"
"That sounds awesome!" Luffy responded.
"I see. If there's an entire island of creatures with abilities like these, then Miss All-Sunday wasn't lying about the danger." Vivi murmured.
"Eh? Danger?" Spruce raised an eyebrow, "What are you talking about?"
"Before we came here, a woman told us that this island was incredibly dangerous." Nami explained, "So much so that no one who ever steps foot on it leaves alive."
"Well that's just dumb." Spruce scoffed, "Dangerous? Pokemon aren't dangerous."
'Are you sure about that?' Nami, Usopp and Vivi all thought in unison as they looked from Spruce over to Whiskers, focusing in on his glimmering, razor-sharp fangs.
"Sure, they're not the friendliest to humans right now, but they're not dangerous." Spruce continued, "A wild Pokemon would never kill someone of its own volition, and normally their only reasons to get really aggressive are over territory, offspring or…" He paused, and his eyes trailed over every inch of the deck, before he let out a sigh, "Food. Where do you keep the food on the ship?"
"Huh? Why are you asking?" Usopp said.
"Because Pex is unaccounted for." Spruce said bluntly. As if cued by the realization that had just now been publicized, one of the windows on the ship burst apart as Pex came flying through it with bulging cheeks and a morsel of meat clutched tightly in his beak. As shards of glass rained down on the deck, Pex looked behind him, checking if anyone was following him, and it was in that moment that Spruce gave Ria a nod.
"RIOLU!" She exclaimed, leaping up towards the Merry's mast. Bracing her feet flat against the side of the mast, she pushed off of it and brought her fist crashing down onto the top of Pex's head, slamming him into the deck with a great THUD!
"Ravia…" Pex groaned through a mouth stuffed to the brim with food, his eyes seemingly turned to swirls as his beak's grip on the meat slackened and it fell onto the deck. His wings were stretched out, with the feathers all askew, and his body was limp. Ria let out a little huff and turned her nose up at the sight as she sat back down next to Spruce.
"Goodness!" Vivi gasped, "Don't you think that was a little harsh? It was just over food, after all."
"Only an angel as gracious and as beautiful as you could be so kind, Vivi-dearest!" Came Sanji's syrupy exclamation as he floated out of the ship's kitchen after Pex, fluttering over to her and kneeling down with hearts in his eyes, which melted into an irritated glare as he turned his head away from her and scowled at Pex.
"Also he's just faking it for sympathy." Spruce added flatly. Pex's head jerked up and his eyes returned to normal as he looked at Spruce with betrayal in his eyes, who merely reached over and grabbed him by the top of the head to lift him up.
"Staravia!" Pex said defiantly, voice muffled by the food stuffed into his cheeks, which he promptly choked down all in one gulp.
"Sorry about this one. He's a glutton who would rather die on a bloated stomach than live on a full one." Spruce said, levelling Pex with an unimpressed stare as he held him in front of his face for a few seconds longer, and then dropped him, allowing him to fly off and perch himself on the taffrail.
"I've put up with plenty of that kind of attitude since joining up with this crew." Sanji said. Standing back up, he retrieved a cigarette and a lighter from his pocket and took a drag, blowing out a small cloud of smoke as he grabbed the piece of meat that Pex had discarded before, "And since your bird's already contaminated it…" He tossed the meat into the air behind him, and Luffy instantly stretched his neck in order to snag it with his mouth and devour the entire thing in under a second.
"Oh. You have one too?" Spruce said, "You have my sympathies."
"I was planning on restocking here anyway." Sanji said as he pocketed his lighter, "And I'll track down wherever Mosshead got himself lost and bring him back while I'm at it."
"He's around the other end of the island, opposite from where we are now. If you're lucky, you should also be able to pick up some fresh fish there as well." Spruce said almost immediately, "Whiskers can give you a ride around if you want, otherwise it'll be a bit of a walk."
"I'll walk, if it's all the same to you." Sanji said after a pause, taking another drag of his cigarette.
-O-
Heading up the beach, the old man led Zoro in the direction of a small, wooden shack, built facing the ocean and in the proximity of a battered old pier. The shack itself wasn't much better off, either, with its painted-blue walls being chipped and faded, with distinctly shoddy repair work strewn about that stuck out like a sore thumb. Despite its weary condition, similar to the man who lived in it, it had a homely, welcoming aura to it, helped out some by the clothes that were hanging out to dry on one of the walls and the pair of deck chairs laid out in front of the house.
"I hope you can forgive my feeble, elderly shack. It's not the most lavish place to live, but it's home." The man said as he went over to one of the chairs and sat himself down in it.
'There's something confusing about this island. First the Log Pose, now finding out it's not called Little Garden. I'd better gather more information before meeting up with the rest of the crew.' Zoro thought to himself as he hesitantly sat down in the chair beside the old man, his brow furrowed.
"Now, Mister Swordsman, I hope you'll entertain this old man and his little assumptions," The old man said, "but steel-type, right?"
"Huh?" Zoro said, raising an eyebrow at him.
"Or, if not steel, then either fighting or dragon. I'm quite confident." The old man nodded.
"What are you talking about?" Zoro said.
"Oh, was I mistaken? Are you not a trainer at all?" The old man said.
"No, not… really." Zoro said, relaxing himself in his chair a little before adding, "It'll be a long way before I can start calling myself that."
"Ah, yes, I can understand that. I just assumed, with the swords and all… Are they for show, then?" The old man said.
"For show-?!" Zoro sat up in an instant, hopping off the chair and drawing both Yubashiri and Sandai Kitetsu as he made his way over to the sea, standing just close enough that the ebb and flow of the tide would lightly douse the tips of his shoes at its highest point.
"Oh my, did I say something rude?" The old man said, "I apologise for my feeble, elderly-"
"Two-Sword Style… HAWK WAVE!"
With a sword in each hand, Zoro swung them both in a powerful motion from left to right, rotating his upper body along with it, resulting in a powerful wind that blew over the sea in front of him and sent the water crashing back onto itself. The old man's jaw promptly dropped at the display of sheer power he had just witnessed.
"DO- DO MY FEEBLE, ELDERLY EYES DECEIVE ME, SIR? DID YOU- DID YOU JUST-?!" He gaped, unable to get the words out all the way.
"These swords aren't just for show." Zoro said smugly as he sheathed his blades and sat back down in the chair, "They're the swords that are going to be wielded by the greatest swordsman in the world."
"Goodness gracious! Well sir, however much my feeble, elderly opinion matters to you, I must say you look well on your way to such a title!" The man said. Behind him, the door to his shack flew open and a young girl in a yellow, floral dress came running out, followed by a small, blue and black feline creature with a yellow star on the end of its tail.
"Grandpa! I heard windy noises, is something exciting-" The girl began, but stopped short as she caught sight of Zoro. One hand flew to her mouth, while she pointed at his hair with the index finger of her other hand, "GRANDPA, IT'S THE MYTHICAL POKEMON SHAYMIN!"
"SHINX!" The feline exclaimed, falling back on its rear and extending a foreleg in Zoro's direction as well. The swordman's eye twitched.
"Now, Kiki, it's rude to point and yell." The man- Grandpa- admonished, "You need to respect people's privacy and be polite when in public."
'You weren't any better than her, geezer.' Zoro thought to himself.
"And this isn't the Mythical Pokemon Shaymin," Grandpa continued, "in fact, this right here is a person, like you and me! He's… er, uh…" He blinked, looking over at Zoro, "Goodness gracious, I never asked for your name! And I never gave you mine! Oh, please forgive my feeble, elderly manners."
"I'm Roronoa Zoro." Zoro said.
"A pleasure to meet you! I'm Walter, and this is my granddaughter Kiki." Grandpa Walter said.
"AND THIS IS MISTER CUDDLES!" Kiki yelled, picking up the feline and holding him in front of her to show off to Zoro.
"Shinx!" Mister Cuddles said.
"Named him yourself?" Zoro said wryly.
"Yep! Me and him are the BESTEST friends in the whole WORLD!" Kiki said, nodding her head up and down excitedly.
"Ah! And I just remembered that I brought you back here to eat!" Walter said with a hearty laugh, smacking a palm to his forehead and shifting himself off his chair, "These feeble, elderly legs of mine can always do with a bit of extra rest these days, though. Apologies, Mister Roronoa, I'll go make something- YEEEEEARRRRRGH!"
As Walter had been standing back up, a barely audible crick had sounded out from around his back, causing the elderly man to immediately fall face-first onto the sand and begin rolling around with his hands pressed around the offending area, just as he had done earlier when Zoro first encountered him.
"MY BACK, OH GOODNESS GRACIOUS MY BACK!" Walter howled, "OH THE AGONY, THE LOOMING DREAD OF MORTALITY, HOW IT ACHES AND PAINS ME! HOW I CAN HARDLY BEAR IT! YEAAAARGGGHHHH!"
"Oh, Grandpa…" Kiki sighed, patting Mister Cuddles on the head and setting him down, "Mister Cuddles, use TACKLE!"
"SHINX!" Mister Cuddles said, bounding forwards and leaping forwards to slam himself into Walter's spine. There was a slightly more audible crack, and Walter's howling and screeching died off in an instant. He stood back up and brushed himself clean of sand.
"Goodness gracious, thanks for that, Mister Cuddles." He said as he reached down to pet Mister Cuddles affectionately on the head, who pressed himself happily into the palm of his hand, "Being all feeble and elderly like this is quite a pain, oh yes it is…"
While Walter grumbled and groaned to himself about the inexorable passage of time and the havoc it wrought on the human body, Zoro narrowed his eyes ever so slightly at Mister Cuddles, who hopped up onto the vacant deck chair along with Kiki, who laid down and sprawled her limbs out across it, letting her feet hang off as she idly kicked around at the air.
'She ordered that creature to use an attack, just like what happened on the Merry.' Zoro thought to himself, 'And it didn't look like the normal way an animal would fight, either. This is a good chance to get more information to take back to Luffy and the others.'
"So, Kiki." Zoro said aloud, getting the girl's attention, "What kind of animal is Mister Cuddles?"
-O-
Back aboard the Merry, the ship was now a crew member down, with Sanji having set off onto the island both to pick up some supplies for whenever they would inevitably leave for the next island, as well as to go find wherever Zoro had wound up. The crew had dropped the anchor near shore, and were now just sitting around idly with their new associate and his three companions, with Spruce and Ria silently having begun some kind of game, while Whiskers went off for a swim and Pex preened his wings. Luffy, Usopp and Carue all watched together as the human and Pokemon periodically threw their right hands out, with Spruce throwing out either a closed fist, an open palm, or two extended fingers, while Ria's hand always remained the same.
"What are you doing?" Luffy asked.
"We're playing Rock-Paper-Scissors." Spruce explained as he threw a rock.
"Really? But your Pokemon keeps doing the same thing over and over again." Luffy pointed out.
"Psssh, shows what you know." Spruce scoffed, "Most humans might not be able to tell what kind of gesture she's making, but she and I have a mutual understanding, and she always tells me what one she chose. We play it whenever we get bored, and we've played seven-thousand and eighty-six games together so far."
"Really? How many have you won?" Usopp asked.
"Two." Spruce said proudly, leaning over to whisper to the long-nosed sniper, "Ria's really good at this game."
Ria turned her nose up at them smugly.
"Heh, well if you think that's impressive," Usopp said, "I was a Rock-Paper-Scissors champion when I was a kid. I faced the world's most powerful psychic at the game, and I beat him ten to one!"
"That's obviously a lie." Spruce deadpanned.
"Huh?! How did you see through it?!" Usopp said, recoiling in shock.
"Things must be really boring around here if you played it that many times." Luffy commented.
"Yeah, there's not much to do other than train." Spruce admitted, "Pokemon aren't great for conversation."
"RIO!" Ria exclaimed indignantly, leaping to her feet and slapping him upside the head.
"YOU KNOW IT'S TRUE!" Spruce retorted heatedly, "Can you imagine if I walked around and all I said was 'Spruce, Spruce. Magnus Spruce! Spruce, Magnus Spruce'? Get some variety!"
"Shishishi!" Luffy snickered, "You guys are funny!"
"Say…" Vivi piped up from where she was sitting, "Earlier, when you told us where exactly Zoro had ended up on the island, how were you able to tell? Is there a current of some sort that would have directed him there?"
"Actually, I was kinda wondering about that too." Usopp admitted, "But you said it with such certainty I just went with it."
"Oh, that?" Spruce said, "That's simple, I just felt where his Aura is."
Everyone blinked.
"That makes sense." Luffy nodded.
"NO IT DOESN'T!" Usopp yelled, and then quickly focused his attention back on Spruce, "What do you mean you felt his 'Aura'? What does that even mean?!"
"Felt his Aura…" Vivi murmured to herself, seemingly lost in thought.
"It's not that complicated." Spruce shrugged, "Every living being has an 'Aura', sort of like their life energy. And some Pokemon, like Ria here," he gestured to her, "have the ability to detect that Aura. By sensing Aura, you can find where people are from a distance, gauge how strong they are, predict their attacks, and even tell what emotions they're feeling! Like how you," he pointed to Luffy, "are hungry."
"Wow! I am hungry!" Luffy said, eyes widening, "That's impressive!"
'No it's not.' Nami and Usopp both thought in unison.
"You," Spruce continued, pointing at Usopp now, "are scared of Whiskers coming back and eating you if you try and leave the ship."
"N-No I'm not!" Usopp defended himself, "I just came down with a bad case of 'I-can't-visit-that-island-or-I'll-die-itis'!"
"And you," He pointed at Nami, who was leaning against the taffrail and staring out at the horizon, "are paranoid about me having my Pokemon steal your money while I lower your guards, so you're staying aboard and acting all disinterested while you actually keep an eye on me."
"If there's even a single beri missing when we leave, I will eviscerate you." Nami threatened him darkly, before looking back out to the horizon with a serene look on her face. Ria stared at her intently, and raised a single fist to shake at the navigator as her back was turned.
"Wow…" Usopp said, gulping from secondhand terror at Nami's threat, "You could tell all that just from this Aura thing?"
"Well, half Aura, half context clues." Spruce shrugged.
"And you can even use it to predict attacks?" Usopp continued.
"Well, uh… I can't." Spruce admitted, "Neither can Ria, just yet. But there was a Lucario that could, and he was super awesome!"
"Detecting presence… predicting attacks… Hold on!" Vivi piped up, rising to her feet suddenly, "I've heard of this before!"
"Huh? You know about this Aura thing, Vivi?" Usopp said.
"I don't know very much about it, but I have heard that members of the Marines are trained to use a special ability," Vivi explained, "using this ability, their senses are heightened, and they're able to contend with ability users. Apparently, every Marine with the rank of Vice Admiral possesses this ability."
"Really? I've never heard of water type Pokemon that could use Aura before." Spruce said.
"Not that type of Marine." Usopp said flatly.
"Every Marine Vice Admiral?" Luffy said curiously, tilting his head, "Oh, that means Gramps probably has it as well."
"'Gramps'?" Nami said sharply, looking over at Luffy, "Luffy, are you saying that your grandfather is a Marine Vice-"
"Luffy," Vivi cut Nami off quietly, with her voice firm enough to indicate who had the right to speak at that moment, "Is your grandfather Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp?"
"Yeah, that's gramps." Luffy said. And just like that, everyone else aboard who had the slightest knowledge about the outside world collapsed onto the deck in shock.
"Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god." Nami whispered to herself, slumped over the taffrail and staring dejectedly at the ocean surface.
"We're gonna dieeeeee…" Usopp wailed, curling up into a ball and rocking back and forth as tears streamed from his eyes.
"Luffy, please," Vivi said, rushing over to grab the captain by the shoulders and stare into his indifferent eyes, "is there any way you could contact your grandfather?"
"No. Why do you wanna talk to him anyway?" Luffy said bluntly, "He's boring, and he's mean! He keeps trying to make me a Marine!"
"Is this 'Garp' guy important?" Spruce said, and the question seemed to snap Usopp out of his despair.
"Important- is he important?!" Usopp said incredulously, "He's Garp the Fist! The most legendary Marine in the history of Marines! He's the Marine who captured Gold Roger!"
"That's that Pirate King guy, right?" Spruce said.
"That's the Pirate King!" Usopp said.
"Vice Admiral Garp is one of the single strongest men on the planet," Vivi said gravely, "he's spoken of in the same breath as pirates like Whitebeard. A Marine like that- if I could get in contact with him, even a Warlord like- EEP!" She slapped a hand to her mouth suddenly and stared at Spruce with wide eyes.
"Huh? Warlord? What?" He said.
"Some Warlord Croco-guy is trying to destroy Vivi's country." Luffy explained.
"And he's made it his mission to kill anyone who discovers he's the culprit." Nami ground out, "Which is why Vivi didn't want to say his name and put you in danger."
"Oh." Spruce blinked.
"Oops!" Luffy said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his neck, "It's fine, though! Those guys they sent after us before were super weak, and you and your Pokemon seem strong enough to handle them. Especially with that Aura thing."
"Is Warlord Croco-guy dangerous?" Spruce said, "His name sounds dumb."
"Should have expected that reaction…" Usopp muttered.
"It would be a waste of time to sit around and explain the balance of power of the rest of the world here and now," Vivi said, "so suffice to say that yes, Crocodile is very dangerous."
"Don't worry about Croco-guy, though." Luffy said, "Because as soon as we get to Alabasta, I'm gonna beat the crap outta him!"
"Riolu." Ria said with an approving nod to the sentiment.
"So Croco-guy won't be a threat to you," Luffy continued, "Since you're gonna join my crew!"
"Come again?" Vivi said in surprise.
"Here we go again." Nami and Usopp both muttered from their respective parts of the deck.
"I am?" Spruce said confusedly, tilting his head to the side slightly.
"Riolu?" Ria said, mirroring his head-tilt.
"Shishishi!" Luffy laughed, "Your Pokemon are super cool, and that Aura thing you can do is awesome too! If you use Aura to detect people and have your bird-guy fly over places to look for danger, that makes you the perfect scout!"
"Ravia?" Pex said, briefly pausing his preening at being mentioned.
"If he told you about any danger, you'd just go running right into it anyway." Usopp said under his breath.
"Huh?" Luffy said, glancing over at Usopp.
"Luffy, you wanna be the King of the Pirates, right?" Spruce said somberly, his gaze downcast, "Whatever that means, that would mean that if I join your crew, I have to leave this island, right?"
"Yeah." Luffy informed him bluntly, "If I'm gonna be Pirate King, that means searching all over the Grand Line to find the One Piece."
"Then in that case, I'm sorry." Spruce said, "It sounds like there are so many interesting things to learn about by becoming a pirate, but there's something that I have to do here first, and I can't leave until I've done it."
-O-
On Iron Island, there were two main hotspots where interested parties could seek out wild Pokemon, not counting the ocean that was home to water types, of course. One of these two sites was the Eterna Grove, a lush area of tranquility where the Pokemon there could live in harmony with each other and enjoy their separation from the humans. The other site was the Oreburgh Cave, a sprawling cave system that had once been a prosperous ore mine, but had long since been abandoned and fallen into disharmony. The Pokemon that dwelled within Oreburgh Cave were ferociously strong, having to be in order to survive, where it was a Pokemon-eat-Pokemon world within the cave's confines.
Only the strongest could survive, and the very strongest of all the wild Pokemon reigned supreme over them, unchallenged since he had defeated the former boss of Oreburgh Cave. This was 'Boss' Golem, a Pokemon whose body was primarily a spherical shell made up of stone plates, with a pair of clawed hands and clawed feet attached to pale brown limbs that protruded from the shell, with a flat-snouted head of the same colour and a pair of red eyes. Boss Golem had earned his title after defeating Boss Rhydon, which had been his one-hundred and fiftieth victory since he first started challenging the other Pokemon of Oreburgh Cave.
"Gol…. Em…" Boss Golem groaned weakly, his entire body sagging limply onto the extended palm of a bipedal, red and grey Pokemon with a pair of puffy, red pants. Golem's eyes were swirls, and as the Pokemon- a Medicham- pulled her hand back, he collapsed to the ground. Various spectators to the battle that had just transpired- wild Pokemon- all stood, gathered around the site, frozen in awe until the Medicham lowered her hand and stared coldly at them, snapping them back to their senses and sending them scurrying for safety.
"Tch. Useless." A woman sneered at the sorry sight, "Return, Medicham."
"Cham." Medicham said, just before her body was struck by a red light that overtook her and drew her back into the Pokeball that was in the hand of the woman who had just spoken. A woman with cold, brown eyes and a mouth that was perhaps permanently twisted into a vicious snarl, and luscious locks of vibrant red hair that cascaded down past her shoulders, the same shade as a person's blood. Her muscular form was shown off proudly by the simple white tank-top she wore, exposing strong arms decorated by a patchwork of scars. Tied around her waist was a sleek, black jacket, and she wore a pair of baggy black pants that were suspended by a belt with two Pokeballs affixed to it. Her belt buckle was a large, stylized 'S', cut out of scrap metal, and with dubious red stains around its edges.
Standing to the sides of the woman from behind, as if to frame her, were a pair of men. One was tall and lanky, with a pale, gaunt face and eyes that were masked behind opaque glasses. He wore a similar outfit as the woman, though his pants were tighter and he wore his jacket done up all the way to his neck. Like her, he carried a metal S-emblem, though his took the form of a badge pinned above his right breast.
The other man was quite a contrast, being a head shorter but with a powerful frame that was nearly a match for the woman. He wore his jacket over his shoulders, though left the sleeves empty in favour of crossing them over his bare, scar-ridden chest at all times, all in the pursuit of coolness. His S-emblem hung from a metal chain around his neck.
"Useless pieces of trash." Team Steel Leader Mercury scoffed as she placed Medicham's Pokeball back on her belt, "Worthless Pokemon not even worth the effort of training them for the grunts to use. I can't believe that old windbag used to tell us not to go chasing trouble here."
"It's to be expected." Team Steel Admin Copper said, pushing his glasses up his face, "You are the strongest trainer on Iron Island by far. It would be more concerning if there were a single wild Pokemon that could challenge you." He paused for several seconds, with the other two seemingly waiting for him to finish, "ACHOO!"
"Psssh, that Golem was a little wimp!" Team Steel Admin Brass said, "The Pokemon here are all garbage because we've caught the useful ones already! Good for us, though, means anyone who has a bone to pick with us only has trash left to catch!"
"Whatever." Mercury said with a scowl, taking off ahead and leading the two behind her in the direction of the cave's exit, "This training expedition has been nothing but a disappointment, and now I'm feeling unfulfilled and hungry. When we get back to the base, I need someone to cook me a nice, hearty meal."