Spoilers for One Piece ch 1044 you have been warned.
"You sure you're all right," Suicune asked worriedly.
"Yes I'm fine now" Ash answered.
"Fine, though I'm surprised that Team Rocket has gotten their hands on a devil fruit" She huffed.
"I was too I saw him use it for the first time" Ash replied as he got his stuff ready for his first day as a trainer.
"Don't forget that I'll be right there if you should need me" She whispered as she approached him.
"Thank you, I consider you a second mother now actually" Ash rubbed his neck.
"I'm glad, you're the closest thing I have to a son" Suicune looked less worried.
"Did you tell everyone else then?" Ash wondered how the rest of the group took it.
"I did and they were not happy, to say the least," She frowned.
"I don't doubt it, considering the power some of them possess" Ash was also worried about Team Rocket having devil fruits in their possession.
"Just stay safe, I don't want to have to deal with an angry Umbreon that ate the Hito Hito no mi" Suicune smiled.
"If my mom was here right now I don't think she would be letting me leave right now" Ash could only imagine just how much convincing he would have to do for his mom to even consider letting him go on a journey. His mom, an Umbreon that ate the Hito Hito no mi, was fierce regarding her children. You threaten her personally all you want and do not get much of a reaction out of her. But go for any of her children, Ash especially and she would not hesitate to break every bone in your body. He remembered a story of when he was only 2 weeks old. Being cradled in his mother's arms, some dude approached her and tried to mug her. He even made the mistake of pointing a knife at infant Ash. He ended up in the hospital shortly afterward, she claimed that she was only protecting her baby.
"Well I suppose I better be going" Ash waved as he walked out of the forest with Pallet Town on the horizon.
"Ah, Ash great to see you again" Oak opened the door for him and Ash walked inside.
"Great to see you Professor" Ash nodded.
"Well let's go get your starter" Oak then led him to a large room with a table and a pokeball and pokedex laying on it.
"Now I want to say something else, this one is unique. Given your devil fruit you should have less trouble than a normal human" This caused Ash to freeze.
"Professor, how do you know about my devil fruit?" Ash asked.
"I have a security clearance of 0 you know" Oak smiled.
"Ah, sorry for not telling you sooner" Ash apologized.
"No need for apologies, you didn't know so I appreciate you for not telling me" Oak waved his hands.
"So did you know that one of the Team Rocket members who attacked had a devil fruit?" Ash asked.
"Yes," Oak growled.
"Well anyways let's see who my starter is" Ash opened the Pokeball and saw a Pikachu.
"Sweet a Pikachu hi there" Ash picked up Pikachu who tried to electrocute him though it did not affect Ash.
"Sorry Pikachu but your electric shocks won't work on Ash here," Oak said. This caused Pikachu to look at him confused.
"I ate the Gomu Gomu no mi so I'm immune to electricity" Ash grinned. This caused Pikachu to look at him very doubtful of the claim.
"You don't believe me well then how about I show after we leave Pallet Town" Ash said.
"Here's your Pokedex, this functions as your trainer ID. Plus it will give you information on Pokemon that you capture" Oak explained.
"Thanks" Ash took the Pokedex.
"Finally here are 6 Pokeballs to get you started on your journey, now good luck Ash" Oak waved.
"Thank you, Professor Oak" Ash walked but bumped into two young kids.
"Hey watch it loser" One of them yelled.
"Gary that's not nice" The other replied.
"As if I care, now stop following me" Gary yelled.
"I'm not following you are both going to the same place. Sorry about Gary" The unnamed kid apologized and then rushed off after Gary. Ash then quickly left with Pikachu in tow who seriously doubted the claims this kid made. If Ash were lying then Pikachu would put him 6 feet under for his blasphemy. The duo walked until Pallet Town had disappeared from view, after looking and not seeing a single person around Ash decided to show Pikachu what he was talking about back in the lab.
"All right now watch me as I punch that Pidgey from this spot" Ash then cocked his arm back while aiming at the Pidgey eating in the tall grass in front of them.
"Gum Gum Pistol" Ash's arm stretched until his fist punched Pidgey in the gut. Pikachu couldn't believe what he was seeing either. Meanwhile, the Pidgey didn't get back up and Ash quickly threw a pokeball at the Pidgey. It wobbled a few times before clicking indicating Ash had caught Pidgey.
"Alright my first capture" Ash yelled while walking to the Pokeball.
"So you are the inheritor of Nika's will," Pikachu said.
"Nika what's a Nika?" Ash asked.
"Not a what but a who" Pikachu corrected.
"So who's Nika?" Ash asked.
"The person who according to legend brought an end to the warring period 800 years ago. Wild Pokemon pass the legend of Nika down from generation to generation. To think my trainer is the next one to inherit Nika's will" Pikachu said in awe.
"My power comes from a devil fruit though" Ash pointed out.
"Yes, that's what I'm saying, those that eat the Hito Hito no mi model Nika are the ones to inherit his will" Pikachu answered.
"Listen, buddy, my devil fruit is the Gomu Gomu no mi, not the Hito Hito no mi model Nika" Ash replied.
"You're a dumbass" Pikachu shook his head in disappointment.
"Well you've eaten one too many overripe oran berries" Ash scoffed.
"I'll have you know that I am quite capable of determining if an oran berry is ripe or not" Pikachu shot back.
"Listen here pipsqueak, there is no way the Gomu Gomu no mi is some sort of zoan. There's a reason why everyone back home thinks it's one of the weakest devil fruits" Ash responded. The glare that Ash got from Pikachu made him wonder if Pikachu was going to murder him in his sleep.
"How about this, he asks a ghost type. They don't age and some of them have been around since the warring period" Pikachu said.
"Fine" Ash sighed.
"So how come you can understand me?" Pikachu asked.
"My mom is an Umbreon that ate the Hito Hito no mi" Ash answered.
"Ah," Pikachu understood.
"You don't seem too surprised by that" Ash noted.
"The legends of the devil fruits during the warring period speak of the terrifying power that they possess. The ability to create tsunamis, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions. The worst are the ones that give a person the power of a Pokemon" Pikachu recalled the stories he heard from his parents while still a Pichu.
"See that's why the Gomu Gomu no mi can't be whatever it is you claimed it to be" Ash cried. Pikachu decided that if he couldn't shock him then he would bite him instead. So he ran over to Ash and bit him on the leg.
"Ow, what was that for?" Ash asked.
"For being so disrespectful, others would kill you for less" Pikachu huffed. After that Ash decided that arguing about this so-called Nika with Pokemon would not be good for his health.
"So with the legends, having a devil fruit like that isn't out of the ordinary" Pikachu continued.
"Do you even know what the Hito Hito no mi does?" Ash asked.
"No, but I'm sure you will tell me" Pikachu smirked.
"Well it gives the user human powers" Ash explained. He even showed Pikachu a picture of his family. Shelving the argument for now, Ash and Pikachu decide to continue walking towards Viridian City.
—-
The travel itself took a day and they didn't come across much in terms of Pokemon. Heck, he didn't come across many trainers as well. So the travel from Pallet Town to Viridian City was pretty fast. Walking into the Viridian City Ash noticed a wanted poster of two people. One had short blue hair and the other had long curled purple hair. However, what stood out the most was the bright red R on the uniforms.
'Team Rocket' Ash's fists tightened at the thought of dealing with Team Rocket again. He just hoped that they didn't have any devil fruits the next time he came across them.
"Well at least we are in Viridian City so we have Giovanni to help us" Ash mumbled to himself. He then proceeded to walk towards the Pokemon Center with Pikachu sitting on his shoulder.
—-
"Welcome to the Pokemon Center how can I help you?" Nurse Joy asked with a radiant smile.
"Can you take a look at my Pokemon Center?" Ash asked.
"Certainly" Nurse Joy responded and as soon as Ash put Pidgey's Pokeball in the tray and sat Pikachu down on it, she left.
"Well I suppose I can talk to Professor Oak" Ash walked toward one of the computers with a phone and dialed Oak's number.
"Hello," Ash heard Oak's familiar voice.
"Hello Professor Oak this is Ash" Ash asked.
"Ah, Ash it's nice to hear from you. Where are you calling from?" Oak asked.
"Viridian City" Ash answered.
"I see well that sure didn't take very long did it" Oak responded.
"Well I didn't see much on the way here" Ash shrugged.
"So did you catch any Pokemon?" Oak asked.
"Yep, I caught a Pidgey" Ash confirmed.
"I see, well you will have your work cut out for you in the next gym" Oak mused.
"I'm going to have to come up with something to fight Brock's rock type" Ash muttered.
"So you already did your research. Let me tell you that 80% of rookies don't even do that" Oak seemed impressed.
"That's why so many fizzle out in their first year" To Ash researching our opponent was basic information.
"Indeed, so do you have a strategy to beat Brock?" Oak asked.
"I'm currently in the process of coming up with one. But I do need another Pokemon since the Pewter Gym does 3 on 3 battles" Ash said.
"Well good luck Ash" Oak replied.
"Thanks, Professor" With that the call ended. Ash got up and looked around the Pokemon center. His wandering eventually led him to a series of pictures. The top left looked like Ho-Oh and then next to it on the top right was an image that looked like Articuno. Finally, Zapdos on the bottom left and an Arcanine for some reason. From his understanding, the legendary and mythical Pokemon did have what some would consider human-like emotions. However, they were immortal in the fact they never aged and are damn near impossible to kill. But if Suicune was any indication they were also lonely, being the only ones of their respective species. They were compassionate since Suicune didn't leave Ash to die. But if the legends about them were true then they didn't adhere to human ethics and morals.
With the arrival of devil fruits though, more specifically the legendary and mythical zoans. Things changed and humans that ate those devil fruits could go toe to toe with a legendary. Granted they needed the right amount of training, but Ash could easily see a highly skilled person with the Tori Tori no mi model Articuno fighting the real one. A fun fact about those devil fruits is the user gained the typing of the Pokemon in question. Someone with the Tori Tori no mi model Articuno was an ice-type human and immune to the cold and ice-type attacks. It was this immunity that made the Tori Tori no mi model Articuno superior to the Hie Hie no mi. Anything someone with the Hie Hie no mi tried to do would be ineffective at best and completely worthless at worst.
This is the one reason why the mythical and legendary zoans were so damn expensive on the market. People paid an arm and a leg to acquire one and those that ate one were on the top of the list for devil fruit hunters. Now devil fruit hunters were a morally grey area, they hunted and killed people with powerful devil fruits before selling them on the open market. Most of the time they killed criminals and then sold any devil fruits they had. However, others were less noble and sometimes outright killed civilians or members of the government. To say the occupation was controversial was an understatement, but no one bothered with Ash. This was because everyone back home felt the Gomu Gomu no mi was the weakest and no one was willing to pay much for it. So it wasn't worth the hunter's time, they went after more substantial prey. His internal thoughts were brought to an abrupt end when smoke began filling the room.
"Hello everyone this is Team Rocket. Prepare to hand over all your Pokemon to us"