The Hoenn region was home to an astonishing variety of natural environments, from lush tropical rainforests to scorching deserts.
Yet its most striking feature was undoubtedly its vast expanse of water.
The sea surrounding Hoenn covered an area almost equal to the land itself, setting the region apart from most others.
Islands of every size dotted the waters around the mainland, many of them accessible only by boat.
In some places, people could even dive beneath the waves, while Hoenn’s rich vegetation and climate made it noticeably warmer than many other regions.
Unfortunately, those vast waters had also created the perfect environment for piracy to flourish—especially with criminal organizations such as Team Aqua operating throughout the region.
Even when the Pokémon League dispatched forces to suppress them, pursuing criminals across the open sea was far from easy.
In many cases, the League could do little more than watch those forces continue to grow.
And Team Aqua was hardly the only group roaming these waters.
Some people had been driven away by the darker, corrupt side of the League.
Others had abandoned life on land of their own accord.
Whatever their reasons, many eventually joined pirate crews and became pirates themselves.
The Great Shark was one such pirate ship.
“Kuroba, hurry up and get some sleep! Tomorrow marks one full year since we became pirates. We’ll finally get Pokémon of our own! I can barely wait!”
More than a dozen boys were crammed together inside a narrow, dark, damp cabin.
They chatted excitedly among themselves because tomorrow marked exactly one year since they had been sold onto this ship.
At first, they had been confused, frightened, and desperate.
Later came despair.
Eventually, they had simply accepted their circumstances.
By now, most of them had thoroughly adapted to life aboard a pirate ship.
Returning to the League and pretending to be ordinary, law-abiding citizens was practically impossible.
Among the excited boys, however, one black-haired youth sat quietly against the wall.
He had delicate features and an unusually composed expression.
His name was Kuroba.
He glanced at the noisy boys and curled his lips inward.
What a bunch of kids.
He had no interest in joining their childish excitement.
The salty scent of the ocean seeped into the cramped cabin, mixing unpleasantly with the sweat of more than a dozen teenage boys.
Kuroba frowned.
He had already been in this world for more than a year, yet moments like this still made him remember his former home—Earth.
In his previous life, he had simply been an ordinary young man of the twenty-first century.
He played games, watched anime, and tried to live a decent life.
Then one day, he opened his eyes and discovered that he had somehow transmigrated into the world of Pokémon.
Unfortunately, this world was nowhere near as wonderful as the anime had made it seem.
Not everyone could simply receive a starter Pokémon and a Pokédex before cheerfully setting off on a journey to challenge Gyms.
Here, anyone who wanted those privileges had to begin preparing from the age of six.
For ten consecutive years, they had to pay an annual deposit of two hundred thousand, provide the necessary documentation, and satisfy a long list of requirements.
Only then, upon turning sixteen and beginning their journey, could they receive a starter Pokémon and become officially affiliated with the League.
Kuroba sighed inwardly.
“This really is a hell-difficulty start. I don’t even have a legal identity, and now I’m a pirate on top of that.”
He almost felt ashamed compared with all those fictional transmigrators he had read about.
Other people arrived in the Pokémon world and somehow started with pseudo-Legendary Pokémon.
They beat Champion Lance with one hand, kicked Leon aside with the other, and eventually reached the peak of life with Cynthia on one arm and Diantha on the other.
Meanwhile, he was sleeping in a filthy pirate cabin.
With those ridiculous thoughts drifting through his mind, Kuroba gradually fell asleep.
* * *
The next morning, the sun slowly rose above the horizon.
Unlike the other boys, Kuroba woke early.
He bent low, carefully stepped over the bodies still sprawled across the cabin floor, and squeezed his way outside.
“Morning, Mitsui!”
“Morning, Furuta! Your Crawdaunt looks even stronger than before!”
Kuroba enthusiastically greeted the veteran pirates he passed.
Unlike the other inexperienced boys, he possessed memories from two lives.
He understood far better than they did how important connections could be.
Even on a relatively small pirate ship, relationships were complicated.
Kuroba had spent more than half a year figuring out who everyone was, which factions they belonged to, and how they were connected.
“Hahaha! Well, if it isn’t little Kuroba. Here to help again?” teased one sailor who was studying the waves and wind.
“Of course. Furuta, has the wind changed at all today?”
Kuroba jogged over and began helping the sailors with their work.
His willingness to lend a hand had gradually earned him the affection of many of the older crew members.
After all, who disliked a polite, handsome kid who knew how to flatter people and volunteered to help?
“Heh, don’t worry. The sea’s been calm these last few days,” Furuta said.
“Looks like we’ll have plenty of chances to catch Pokémon for a while. Once we sell them back on the mainland, we’ll make another fortune!”
The moment Pokémon trafficking was mentioned, excitement spread across the sailors’ faces.
As for League law?
They were pirates.
Why would pirates care about League law?
“Kuroba!” A deckhand hurried over, breathing heavily.
“Madam Meta is looking for you. You’d better go!”
“Sorry, Furuta. Looks like I won’t be able to help you today.”
Furuta waved him off generously.
“Don’t worry about it. If Madam Meta wants you, I’m guessing she needs help with the accounts again?”
“It’s nothing that important,” Kuroba replied modestly.
“I just run errands for her.”
None of the nearby sailors believed him.
Everyone aboard the Great Shark knew that Madam Meta was the captain’s wife.
Not only was she a powerful Trainer in her own right, she was also a rare and highly skilled Pokémon Breeder.
She normally remained inside her quarters on the highest deck and rarely met outsiders.
Kuroba was the exception.
He had been sold onto the ship only a year ago, yet he had already built surprisingly strong relationships with many of the crew.
His ability to read people and conduct himself appropriately certainly played a role, but the greatest reason was Madam Meta’s obvious favor toward him.
She frequently summoned him to the uppermost cabin to assist her.
Rumors had even begun spreading that Madam Meta intended to take Kuroba as an apprentice and personally train him as a Pokémon Breeder.
As Kuroba made his way through the ship toward the upper deck, he checked his surroundings.
Once he was certain no one was watching, the shy, harmless expression vanished from his face.
His features became emotionless, carrying a cold and faintly melancholic air.
“Good thing I spent so much time learning to read and write after coming here. On this ship, that practically makes me an intellectual.”
Most of the boys who had been sold alongside him were street thugs, petty delinquents, or homeless children.
A clean-looking boy who could read and write naturally stood out.
Kuroba had used a few carefully chosen tricks to attract Madam Meta’s attention and gradually earn her favor.
As for the rumors that she might take him as an apprentice?
Kuroba had started those himself.
Without that rumor protecting him, why would hardened pirates who treated outsiders like dirt bother being friendly to a powerless kid?
Because he helped them with chores every day?
What a joke.
There was no League law aboard this ship.
Strength ruled everything.
The weak existed to be exploited by the strong.
“At least I borrowed Madam Meta’s reputation to survive the hardest year. I didn’t get bullied nearly as badly as the other newcomers.”
And today, he would finally receive a Pokémon from the captain’s crew and officially take his first step toward becoming a real pirate.
The thought made Kuroba’s pulse quicken.
His pace unconsciously accelerated until he reached the door to Madam Meta’s quarters.
He knocked gently.
“Come in.”
A pleasant woman’s voice came from inside.
Kuroba carefully pushed open the door.
The difference between this room and the lower cabins was almost absurd.
Elegant furniture filled the spacious quarters, carrying the faint fragrance of sandalwood.
Fine works of art rested inside polished cabinets.
Behind a large desk sat a beautiful middle-aged woman.
Time had left faint wrinkles on her skin, and even makeup could not completely hide the crow’s-feet beside her eyes.
Yet her refined bearing, scholarly air, and dignified elegance made it easy to imagine how breathtakingly beautiful she must have been in her youth.
“Madam Meta.”
Kuroba lowered his head respectfully.
The four people with the highest status aboard the Great Shark were the captain, the two first mates, and Madam Meta.
The woman slowly closed the old book in her hands and looked at him calmly.
“Kuroba. I’ll have to trouble you again today.”
Her voice was gentle, almost kind.
Even so, Kuroba hurriedly waved his hands in denial.
He took out the shoe covers he had prepared beforehand, tidied his clothes, and only then sat on the stool beside the desk.
Even while seated, he barely allowed himself to rest his weight on it.
His posture remained perfectly straight.
He began organizing the ship’s recent accounts.
“Madam Meta, it seems the ship’s finances haven’t been doing very well lately,” Kuroba remarked casually.
He had no intention of simply burying his head in the work.
If he wanted to become closer to her, conversation was essential.
“Hmph. So you noticed too?” Madam Meta’s gentle expression disappeared, replaced by an icy stare.
“Someone aboard this ship has become rather restless. They even dared to hide part of the cargo from me.”
Cargo?
Kuroba immediately understood.
She was probably referring to Pokémon captured during their previous operation.
To outsiders, Madam Meta might appear to be nothing more than a gentle Breeder who adored Pokémon.
But after spending the last several months near her, Kuroba had gradually become something resembling a junior confidant.
He knew better.
Kuroba continued checking the ledgers.
Whenever he found suspicious figures, he marked them for her attention.
Thanks to the experience he had accumulated over the past several months, it did not take him long to finish sorting nearly a month’s worth of accounts.
“Madam Meta, I’ve finished. Please take a look.”
He handed the ledgers over with both hands.
Madam Meta flipped through several pages, occasionally nodding in approval.
By the time she finished, there was clear praise in her eyes.
“Kuroba, you’ve done well. If I remember correctly, today is the day your group of newcomers gets to choose Pokémon, isn’t it?”
She leaned back slightly, an amused look crossing her elegant face.
“Tell me. Do you miss your old life on land?”
Kuroba’s heart tightened.
A test.
He understood immediately.
If he answered correctly, he would finally be accepted as one of her people.
If he failed, everything he had worked for over the past half year could disappear.
Every newcomer in his group had either been trafficked or abducted onto the Great Shark.
At the beginning, all of them had hated the pirates.
But hatred faded beneath hunger, fear, and survival.
Over time, many had begun behaving exactly like the people who had enslaved them.
The ship had slowly transformed frightened children into pirates.
Kuroba immediately lowered his head, his expression becoming emotional.
“Madam Meta, I grew up as a street orphan in Sootopolis City. I don’t even know where my parents are. If the Great Shark hadn’t taken me in, I probably would’ve starved to death somewhere long ago.”
He spoke with tears in his eyes, putting on a performance of heartfelt loyalty.
Yet not everything he said was false.
In this world, ordinary people had very few ways to climb upward.
Simply becoming a Trainer was already a massive barrier.
The best resources were monopolized by the League and powerful families.
For many ordinary people, merely surviving was difficult enough.
“Good.” Madam Meta smiled.
“Kuroba, you really are worth cultivating.”
Then her eyes sharpened meaningfully.
“When you choose your Pokémon this afternoon, try to pick from the left side.”
Kuroba’s head snapped up, genuine delight flashing across his face.
“Thank you for looking after me, Madam!”
She waved a hand dismissively.
Kuroba understood that he had been excused.
He left quietly, carefully closing the door behind him.
The moment he stepped outside, the pressure on his shoulders seemed to vanish.
Ever since arriving in this world, he had first become a pirate and then endured bullying from veteran crew members.
His heart had long since hardened.
A man had to know when to bend and when to stand tall.
There was no shame in lowering his head while he was weak.
Refusing to do so would only invite humiliation from people stronger than him.
“At least I’ve finally taken the first real step toward becoming a Pokémon Trainer.”
Kuroba walked onto the deck and stared into the distance as the sea breeze struck his face.
* * *
By noon, the sun was high overhead.
Blazing sunlight poured across the deck.
Kuroba and the other newcomers stood in neat rows, enduring the oppressive heat.
Aside from the sailors needed to keep the ship running, most veteran pirates had gathered in the shade, pointing at the boys and laughing among themselves.
It was practically an annual tradition.
Life at sea was monotonous.
The veterans needed entertainment somehow, and tormenting newcomers had long since become a favorite pastime.
Piracy was anything but safe.
People died every year, which meant the crew constantly needed fresh recruits.
The Great Shark carried only a few hundred people, but every one of its original founders was already dead.
Even the current captain had joined later.
That alone showed how high the mortality rate among pirates truly was.
“Rookies!”
A tall, rugged man stood on a raised platform, glaring down at them.
“Today is the day you finally earn the right to stop being called rookies. Over the past year, you should have learned how to work as proper sailors.”
His voice suddenly hardened.
“But that isn’t enough! A sailor and a pirate are two different things. If you haven’t been baptized in blood, you have no right to call yourself a real pirate!”
The man was Nobu Nagata, one of the Great Shark’s two first mates.
“Now you’ve earned the right to choose a Pokémon. Consider it your reward for surviving this past year.”
The moment those words left his mouth, more than a dozen newcomers erupted into cheers.
Only they knew how difficult the last year had been.
Even Kuroba could not suppress his smile.
His breathing quickened.
A real Pokémon.
He had seen plenty belonging to other pirates, but owning one himself was completely different.
For the first time since arriving in this world, Kuroba felt as though the path ahead of him had truly opened.
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