Regarding this Devil Fruit that had inexplicably materialized out of nowhere, Pons found himself feeling rather hesitant and uncertain.
Was this fruit that had appeared so mysteriously truly a Devil Fruit?
Would there be any adverse consequences if he consumed it?
After a long period of deliberation and internal struggle, Pons ultimately made the decision to eat the fruit.
After all, this was the world of One Piece…
a world where lacking power meant being utterly helpless and at the mercy of others.
If this fruit truly was a Devil Fruit, then consuming it would at least grant him a certain degree of strength, would it not?
Furthermore, perhaps this fruit was some sort of transmigration bonus or perk?
How else could one explain the phenomenon of it suddenly manifesting on his table out of thin air?
With that in mind, Pons picked up the fruit before him and took a bite.
The taste was truly abominable…
the moment it entered his mouth, he felt an overwhelming urge to spit it out.
Yet Pons gritted his teeth and forced himself to endure the waves of nausea radiating from the very core of his being, suppressing the constantly rising urge to vomit, and forcibly swallowed the pulp down his throat.
After consuming the Devil Fruit, information regarding its nature flooded into Pons’s mind…
Pokémon Fruit: Gengar Form.
This revelation left Pons utterly dumbfounded… What in the world was a Pokémon Fruit supposed to be?
In his previous life, Pons had been a devoted fan of One Piece, and he had also played Pokémon games and watched the Pokémon anime.
But under no circumstances should a so-called Pokémon Fruit exist within the world of One Piece, right?
This discovery further reinforced Pons’s conjecture that this Devil Fruit was indeed some kind of transmigration bonus.
Otherwise, how could a Pokémon Fruit possibly appear in the world of One Piece?
But since it was a bonus, would it not have been far better if it had been something like “Pokémon Fruit: Mythical Zoan Model…
Arceus Form” or “Pokémon Fruit: Mythical Zoan Model…
Necrozma Form”?
Failing that, even a Pseudo-Legendary Pokémon fruit would have been acceptable.
Not that Gengar was weak…
quite the contrary, Pons had actually liked Gengar quite a bit in his previous life.
However, given that he now found himself in a world as chaotic and lawless as One Piece, he naturally wished to acquire as much power as possible.
Nevertheless, the fact that he had consumed the Gengar Fruit was already set in stone.
There was no point in indulging in fantasies about other possibilities.
He needed to stay grounded, focus on the abilities he had obtained, and then seek out methods to become stronger.
Through a process of self-exploration and experimentation, Pons gradually grasped the current state of his abilities.
He could transform into Gengar at will according to his own volition.
In his Gengar form, he could fly, phase through walls, and burrow through the ground.
The skills he currently possessed were Lick and Acid Spray.
He could not help but feel that this was rather lacking in terms of skills.
After all, he had skipped over the first two evolutionary stages of Gastly and Haunter entirely and had directly transformed into the final evolution form of Gengar.
Surely he should have more than just these two relatively basic skills, should he not?
But complaining about his circumstances would serve no purpose.
It seemed that the only path forward was to train diligently and do everything possible to enhance his strength.
The dense forest in the northern part of Riman Island was home to wild boars.
Their presence was one of the reasons the town had established its self-defense militia…
not only to guard against potential pirate incursions, but also to protect the town from boar attacks.
These wild boars could potentially serve as excellent training partners.
After all, even if he wanted to train, the only methods Pons could think of were basic exercises like push-ups and sit-ups, and he was not sure how much those would actually contribute to his combat ability.
If he wanted real combat experience, hunting boars might just be the way to go.
Of course, Pons remained quite cautious.
He was not certain whether his current level of strength would be sufficient to defeat a wild boar.
It was important to remember that the wildlife in the world of One Piece was likely far more formidable than that of his previous world.
If he were to be gored to death by a boar, that would be an absolutely pathetic way to go.
Fortunately, after conducting a series of tests, Pons discovered that he was indeed capable of dealing with those wild boars.
Their strength was not as fearsome as he had anticipated.
Moreover, as long as he remained floating in the air and rained Acid Sprays down upon the boars below, no matter how fiercely they charged and rampaged on the ground, they simply could not reach him.
Once the boars collapsed and died under the sustained assault of his acid attacks, he would have achieved victory.
As for the skill “Lick”…
there was absolutely no way he would ever use that.
It required extending his tongue to lick a wild boar, and who could possibly bring themselves to do something so utterly disgusting?
Pons was not sure whether killing boars would grant him so-called experience points, but after many such hunts, he did find that his proficiency in using “Acid Spray” and his floating and flight abilities had grown noticeably smoother and more refined.
The boars he killed could also be sold for money.
Although the dead boars had multiple areas corroded by acid, requiring rather troublesome processing before they could be taken to market, and their selling price would be significantly reduced, the income still far exceeded what he had earned from his odd jobs at the general store.
Each boar sold for only ten thousand Berry…
a relatively low price by any standard.
However, Pons did not complain, for in a place like Riman Town, no one was particularly wealthy.
Being able to sell them at all was already quite decent.
While the process of processing the boar carcasses and dragging them back to town was exceedingly laborious, the income from selling the boars allowed him to escape his previous life of poverty.
His three daily meals improved substantially, and he was able to purchase furniture that made his living conditions far more comfortable.
Thus, Pons quit his job at the general store and devoted himself wholeheartedly to the profession of boar hunting.
Two years passed in this manner, and Pons had become quite a famous boar hunter within the town.
During those two years, with no worries about food or shelter, Pons’s height grew to one meter and eighty centimeters, and his weight reached seventy kilograms.
In terms of combat ability, he had successively mastered three new skills: Smog, Confuse Ray, and Shadow Ball.
Along with his original Acid Spray and Lick, Pons now possessed a total of five skills.
In the Pokémon games, a single Pokémon could only have four moves equipped at any given time.
However, in this real-world setting, there was naturally no such restriction…
no matter how many skills he mastered, he could use all of them freely.
Although only Shadow Ball among the five could be considered a high-powered attack, the other skills each had their own useful applications, making his boar-hunting operations significantly easier and more efficient.
Nevertheless, the forest’s total area was limited, and the boar population living within it was only so large.
In recent months, the number of boars Pons had captured had declined markedly…
sometimes he would go over ten days without finding a single boar.
Moreover, after he had sold so many boars over time, the town’s demand for boar hides and meat had dropped sharply.
At the beginning, he could sell each boar for ten thousand Berry, but now he could only get a few thousand Berry per boar…
and sometimes, he could not even find a buyer.
Still, Pons had managed to save up a decent sum during his earlier successful hunting period.
He was not one to spend money carelessly, so he still had considerable savings.
Barring any unexpected events, those funds would be enough to cover his expenses for a long time to come.
However, in this chaotic world, danger would inevitably arrive.
Though the days had passed peacefully one after another, tonight the town had ultimately fallen victim to a pirate attack.
To make it more convenient for his boar hunting, Pons had moved his home to the northern part of the town, close to the forest, which was quite far from the town center.
Thanks to his track record as a boar hunter, the townsfolk were well aware of his exceptional abilities and had enlisted him in the militia’s ranks.
However, today happened to be his day off, so he had been resting and sleeping at home that evening.
Thus, by the time Pons learned that the pirates were pillaging and slaughtering throughout the town, considerable time had already passed.
Although he hurried over as quickly as he could afterward, many townsfolk had already been cruelly killed by the pirates, and a large number of homes had been reduced to ashes.
Over those two years, Pons had become quite familiar with many of the townspeople and had formed close friendships with several of them.
When he beheld this hellish, heart-wrenching scene, a surge of rage and murderous intent welled up from the depths of his heart and flooded through his entire body in an instant.
Prior to this, Pons had never killed anyone before.
Yet, driven by that overwhelming fury and bloodlust, he showed the pirates no mercy whatsoever and struck them down without hesitation.
Now, after having killed Zodyl, Pons’s anger and bloodlust subsided somewhat, and his emotions calmed down slightly.
In their wake, however, a wave of nausea and disgust washed over him, accompanied by a sense of dread stemming from the fact that he had taken human lives.
But with other pirates still lurking nearby, he could not afford to show any sign of that nausea or fear.
He had no choice but to forcibly suppress and endure those feelings.
Pons also noticed the Marine warship approaching from the distance.
He could not help but observe, however, that the warship looked extremely old and dilapidated, and there was only one of them.
If he had not been there, and the arriving Marines had to face these pirates head-on, it seemed unlikely they would have stood any chance of victory.
Of course, he could not rule out the possibility entirely…
perhaps the officer leading the troops was a formidable fighter… but Pons felt that such a scenario was quite improbable.
As the warship drew closer, Lieutenant Reg took a visual assessment and determined that Zodyl indeed appeared to be dead on the pirate ship’s deck.
The surrounding pirates had also lost all will to fight.
The only unusual sight was the young boy standing tall beside Zodyl’s corpse…
based on the scene before him, it seemed that this boy was the one who had killed Zodyl?
After confirming that there was no immediate danger, Reg leaped from his own warship onto the pirate ship’s deck.
Reg looked at Pons and asked: “Young man, were you the one who killed Zodyl?” Pons also took a moment to size up Reg.
The man appeared to be in his early thirties, stood about two meters tall, and had brown hair that was as messy as a bird’s nest, with unkempt stubble scattered across his chin.
Though his build was not as massive as Zodyl’s, he was still considerably tall compared to Pons.
Pons then pointed at Zodyl’s corpse and said to Reg: “If the Zodyl you are referring to is this fellow here, then yes, he was indeed killed by me.” A flicker of surprise crossed Reg’s face.
Zodyl was considered a formidable fighter in these waters.
For this young man to have killed him…
and judging by his condition, seemingly with relative ease…
was remarkable.
‘Since when had this tiny town of Riman produced such a powerful fighter?’ Reg said to Pons: “Zodyl has been a menace to these parts for a long time.
By eliminating him, young man, you have done a great service to the people… By the way, what is your name?” “My name is Pons.” “I am Lieutenant Reg of the Marine N-23 Branch.” Reg continued, “Zodyl has a bounty of twenty million Berry.
Since you were the one who took him down, that bounty naturally belongs to you.”