The first Pokémon duel in the history of pirates

Some time had already passed since the Heracross release plan was put into action and Heracross had begun to enter other sea areas to start a new life.

It took Gyarados many years to find a plate in the vast ocean, so Arceus was not in a hurry. Instead, he allowed Heracross to grow their own tribe and expand the search team.

This particular Heracross appeared here for this reason. Most Heracross preferred peace and rarely engaged in battles.

However, they are not incapable of fighting; rather, within their bodies lies extremely terrifying power. Once they choose to fight, they will reveal combat strength vastly different from their appearance.

This Heracross was attracted by Uta's singing, which is why it acted this way.

Arceus was friendly towards humans, and the Pokémon he created were mostly the same. As long as others didn't attack them first, they wouldn't harm humans and would often protect them like this.

A normal wild boar was no match for Heracross; it vanished under its Horn Attack.

"Heraaacross."

After dealing with the wild boar, Heracross turned to Uta and extended its arm to help her up from the ground.

"Such a big beetle...You like listening to me sing?"

"Heraaacross! Heraaacross~ Heraaacross"

Heracross nodded and it even flexed its muscles.

"Are you saying... I should continue singing, and you'll protect me?"

Without the Power of Viridian, Uta couldn't understand the exact meaning Heracross wanted to convey, but she could grasp it through body language.

This was the wonder of Pokémon. Faced with someone they could connect with, they could express their intentions through that mysterious power.

"Heraaacross!"

Seeing that Uta understood what it wanted to convey, Heracross simply sat on the ground. Reality wasn't a game; each Heracross had a different size.

When it was standing, Uta reached just to the base of its horn, but as it sat down, Uta was level with the tip of Heracross' horn.

Seeing the audience ready, Uta began a new performance. She was a singer who cared deeply about her fans' emotions, so naturally, she paid attention to this new fan who had appeared.

She stopped looking for beetles; in her eyes, there couldn't be a bigger beetle than this.

After several songs, Uta began to "tempt" Heracross.

"Beetle, how about coming with me? I can sing for you every day."

Although she couldn't understand what the beetle said, Uta understood that this beetle could accurately understand human language.

"Heraaacross..."

After pondering for a moment, Heracross shook its head and then began gesturing.

"You're looking for something? That's even better. Come with me on Shanks' ship. Shanks can take us on all sorts of adventures to different places, so you can search for what you're looking for along the way."

"Heraaacross?"

Hearing that, Heracross seemed to think it was a good deal and ultimately accepted Uta's invitation.

"Then we're friends now. Let's go, help me win the 183rd match first!"

After saying that, she grabbed Heracross' hand and ran towards the gathering place. However, Heracross seemed impatient with Uta's slow speed, so it used its horn to lift her onto its back and then flapped its insect wings, flying in the direction Uta pointed out.

---

On the other side, Luffy's encounter was quite different from Uta's. While Uta and Heracross waited at the agreed-upon location, Luffy was holding many wild fruits, trying to lure something.

"Please, all these are for you. Just come with me."

Surprisingly, before him stood another Heracross. Since the Heracross were released in batches, one appearing here meant there was already a group of Heracross nearby. So, Luffy encountered one as well.

However, unlike Uta's Heracross, which accepted her because it was attracted by her singing, the Heracross before Luffy was clearly a foodie. It only reluctantly accepted this "servant" after Luffy "offered" it a large amount of fruit.

These Heracrosses had different personalities. Uta's Heracross liked music and was easygoing, while the one Luffy encountered was a somewhat arrogant glutton.

As for why Luffy used food to lure it, in his eyes, beetles were a special existence that could be equated with the Pirate King. Having such a beetle was simply his biggest dream.

Under Luffy's persistent pleading and the temptation of food, this Heracross reluctantly agreed to his request; it was just like finding a fixed Breeder for it.

Its actions didn't exactly go against Arceus' instructions. After all, Arceus' order was to settle in one place first, and having a stable Breeder was also a good choice.

Due to different reasons, the Heracross released in different batches unexpectedly met.

"Heraaacross?"

"Heraaacross!"

They communicated in their own language, sparking a new round of argument between Uta and Luffy.

"My beetle is bigger! Even its horn is longer!"

"Clearly mine is bigger, its head is taller than your beetle!"

Neither Uta nor Luffy backed down. Seeing the sky darkening, they decided to go back and have Shanks act as the judge for them.

...

"Seriously, where did you find two beetles this big?"

Watching Luffy and Uta argue, Shanks scratched his head helplessly. He rarely intervened in the children's competitions; once adults got involved, the results would be tainted, so the final decision was always theirs to make.

"In the mountains back there. Shanks, I promised to bring it on the ship, so let's adventure together with it in the future."

"Alright, consider it your new friend then."

"Huh?! Why? I want to come with you too! Shanks, take me with you!"

Shanks agreeing to let Heracross on ship excited Luffy. He hugged Shanks' leg, expressing his desire to join, but in the end, Shanks didn't agree. A boy and a beetle had completely different implications.

After all the arguing and commotion, they eventually came back to the question of whose beetle was bigger.

"I heard some beetles determine their status through duels. They should be of the same species, right?"

Yasopp suggested from the side, and both Luffy and Uta looked at their respective Heracross.

"Heraaacross."

"Heraaacross."

Neither Heracross opposed the idea; in fact, they seemed interested in a showdown. Although Heracross were easygoing, they also had fights among their own kind. Moreover, they had respectively made a promise to Luffy and Uta to help each other win.

So, they assumed their stances and began their duel, a battle with epoch-making significance in the one piece world.

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