Chapter 85: Treasure

Behind the pirate captain stood a ferocious-looking Walrein. Its two sharp tusks gleamed with a cold edge, and a small bone of some unknown creature hung from its neck by a cord. Its bulky body was covered in mottled, hideous scars, lending it an even more menacing air.

The pirate captain narrowed his eyes as he sized up the people on the cruise ship across from him.

Several sailors in uniform, a few cleaners with mops in hand.

And among them, a little boy who seemed distinctly out of place.

He knew the sailors well enough. From their uniforms, it was obvious the cruise ship had come from the Hoenn region.

But they were no threat at all.

Their combat strength was, to put it kindly, almost nonexistent.

Life at sea was unbearably dull and lonely.

So to ease the loneliness, sailors would often bring along cute-looking Pokémon on their voyages, ones that could lift the mood and keep them company.

Pokémon like gentle, well-behaved Pikachu, Marill, Eevee, and the like.

But Pokémon like those, without careful training, had very little battle power.

As for that decent-looking boy, he was even less worth worrying about.

So the pirate captain bared his teeth in a cocky grin and said, "If you know what's good for you, hand over your money and valuables. Don't waste time struggling. If you do, I might even consider letting you live!"

At those words, the sailors controlled by the pirates all turned their eyes to Poplar.

"..." Poplar said nothing.

"Why are you looking at him?" the pirate captain said in surprise. "What, you think a little rookie trainer like that can save you?"

In his eyes, the children who set out on journeys once they turned ten were all amateurs. Letting them bring weak Pokémon to challenge gyms was no different from playing house.

"Actually..." Poplar finally could not help but speak. "I think you'd better let me go."

Otherwise, when Cramorant's protection mechanism kicked in, it would be too late to beg.

"Oh?" The pirate captain grew interested. He grinned, showing bright white teeth, and said wickedly, "Kid, the League's laws don't reach out here!"

Before he had even finished speaking, a shaft of white light flew out of Poplar's backpack and formed a foolish-looking Pokémon in midair.

It was over.

Poplar's eyes changed as he looked at them.

"Gah."

The pirate captain nearly laughed out loud at the sight. He jabbed a thumb at Cramorant and turned to the other pirates. "This? This is what he means to use against us? Do you see that, brothers? This kid wants to use a bird-brained Pokémon to deal with us! My god..."

The word never fully left his mouth.

The very bird he had just mocked opened its beak and spat out a blue beam.

The beam swallowed several pirates in an instant, and their bodies vanished within it.

The laughter stopped dead.

For a brief second, the pirate captain was stunned. Realizing something was wrong, he immediately ordered the Walrein at his side, "All of you, attack now! Walrein, use Ice Beam!"

"Gengar!" Poplar shouted.

The next second, the pirates on deck who had been about to move all felt a chill at their backs, then darkness rushed over their eyes, and every one of them lost consciousness.

From the Walrein's mouth burst a beam of frigid light.

Its target was Poplar, standing at the edge of the deck.

But before the beam could reach him, Cramorant blocked it.

Then the calm sea began to change.

The source of that disturbance... was below them.

Realizing something was wrong, and driven by pure survival instinct, the pirate captain abandoned ship and leapt into the sea.

Deep crimson magma-like energy gathered beneath the water. From below, a gigantic blade more than twenty meters tall thrust upward.

A moment later, the blade itself exploded, and a monstrous wave was sent surging across the surface.

The Dewgong was pushed backward by the force. Fortunately, it did not capsize.

The pirate captain surfaced from the sea and stared dumbly at the shattered ship, his heart filled with terror.

In an instant, the situation had been completely reversed.

At the sight, the sailors all flushed red with excitement.

The words pirate raid alone were enough to strike fear into every ship on the sea.

Pirates ran rampant on the water, beyond the reach of law. Countless sailors and vessels had gone to the bottom because of them, never to return to their homes.

Poplar did not share their excitement. He glanced at the man floating on the water and asked one of the sailors who had come to thank him, "Are pirates rich?"

Whenever pirates were mentioned, one could not help thinking of treasure maps, buried gold, and heaps of coins.

"Yes!" the young sailor was still too excited to calm down. "But they never carry it with them. They store all the plunder on the island where they hide out!"

And so, even when they grew old and died, they still would not bring their treasure out into the open.

That was why occupations like treasure hunter had come into being, people who ventured out onto the sea in search of hidden riches.

Hearing that, a bold idea suddenly took shape in Poplar's mind.

He had Roserade use Vine Whip to haul the man back up.

The pirate captain was soaked through and lay motionless on the deck, pretending to be dead.

"..." Poplar said.

"You have two choices," he said. "One, die here. Two, hand over every last bit of treasure you stole."

The pirate captain had just experienced a fear beyond death with his own skin.

If he had been even a moment slower, he would probably already have been turned to ash.

So when he heard those words, he immediately opened his eyes. Gone was the swagger from before. In a cowardly voice, he said, "I choose two, I choose two!"

You could always earn more money. But once you lost your life, you lost everything.

Poplar swallowed the words and then die, stood up, and said, "Lead the way."

How could the pirate captain dare say another word now? He immediately began leading the way obediently.

And when he looked at the boy in front of him again, his expression had completely changed.

No, this was no child. This was a monster.

After hearing what Poplar planned to do, the sailors on the Dewgong froze for a second, then all wore expressions of utter disbelief.

None of them had ever imagined that they would have such an opportunity in their lives.

But right after that came an even stronger surge of excitement.

Just think of it: robbing pirates back. What a glorious thing to boast about!

With the crisis resolved, everyone got busy again.

Poplar ignored the unconscious pirates and left them to the sailors to handle.

But perhaps because of everything he had done along the way, no one now dared to treat him like an ordinary ten-year-old child.

So when it came to dealing with the pirates, they sent the old sailor over to ask Poplar's opinion.

After thinking for a moment, Poplar asked, "How were you planning to handle them?"

The old sailor studied his expression and replied, "We were going to throw them into the sea."

Perhaps afraid that Poplar would think that too cruel, he added, "Their hands are stained with blood. Because of them, many sailors who worked the seas can never return to their hometowns again."

"I know," Poplar said with a nod. He was no saint. If someone wanted to kill him, there was no way he would still be thinking about sparing them.

After a brief silence, he said, "Then do it your way."

The old sailor's face lit up.

When he was young, he too had once been robbed by pirates during a voyage.

One by one, his companions had been thrown into the sea and swallowed by the depths.

Even his Pokémon had lost their lives then.

If not for a passing Lapras, friendly to humans, that had saved him, he would not be here now either.