Pokémon Breeder In One Piece!

December 2nd.

Today, Kirito and Asuna's home was particularly lively.

The reason?

Last night, Sneasel revealed that the egg would hatch within just a day, so everyone naturally gathered here to witness the moment.

Fortunately, there weren't too many guests, so there was enough space for everyone to stay.

They even enjoyed a leisurely nap together.

At noon, just fifteen minutes into Asuna's sleep, she felt an itch on her cheek.

Half-asleep, she assumed it was Lisbeth's hair brushing against her face, as they were sharing the same bed. Without opening her eyes, she reached out and swatted at it.

"Meow~"

However, instead of hair, Asuna felt something else—something that had the texture of Sprigatito's tail.

But… wasn't it a little too small?

"Sprigatito, stop messing around."

Hearing the soft, mewling sound beside her, Asuna muttered drowsily without opening her eyes.

However, Sprigatito didn't seem to listen and continued flicking its tail against her cheek.

"Ah… wait? Sprigatito, did you shrink?"

Asuna finally opened her eyes and sat up, scooping up the tiny Sprigatito in her arms. The more she looked at it, the more she felt something was off.

Sprigatito wasn't her Pokémon, but they had been living together for half a month now, and more importantly, it had become part of the family. She could easily tell the difference.

"Wow, it really is smaller!"

Asuna flipped Sprigatito around in her hands, noticing that it had shrunk by two or three sizes—now barely larger than her palm.

Her first thought was that the game had updated some new content or that Sprigatito had eaten some strange item.

"Asuna, what are you doing…?"

Lisbeth, woken up by the commotion, turned her gaze toward Asuna. The moment she saw the tiny Sprigatito in Asuna's hands, she screamed.

"Ahhhhhh!"

Her shriek echoed throughout the entire house, prompting everyone to rush over.

"What's going on?!"

Kirito, gripping his sword tightly, kicked the door open and barged in. His gaze immediately locked onto the small creature in Asuna's hands.

"Meow~"

The baby Sprigatito lifted a tiny paw and scratched its ear, then shot a displeased look at Lisbeth.

She had startled it with her scream.

"Whoa! It's a baby Sprigatito!"

Shino, usually a mature and composed woman, couldn't contain her excitement upon seeing the tiny Sprigatito.

She stepped forward and carefully took it from Asuna's arms.

"Bulbasaur, look! It's even smaller than you!"

She placed the baby Sprigatito on the ground in front of her Bulbasaur.

Shino's Bulbasaur was already smaller than the average female Bulbasaur, yet it was still a size larger than the baby Sprigatito.

She had initially worried that her Bulbasaur was unhealthy due to its small size. However, after seeing her Pokémon single-handedly defeat a male Bulbasaur in battle, she no longer had any concerns. In fact, she began to appreciate its petite form—cute yet strong.

"Bulba!"

Perhaps because they were both Grass-type Pokémon, Bulbasaur immediately took a liking to Sprigatito and leaned in to nuzzle it affectionately.

At that moment, Sneasel and Sprigatito—the new parents—walked in.

The baby Sprigatito wagged its tail excitedly upon seeing its parents and ran over. Sprigatito gently licked its daughter's forehead, while Sneasel, keeping up his cool and aloof demeanor, merely nodded in acknowledgment.

"..."

Izuna watched the tiny Pokémon with a soft smile.

Reaching into his bag, he pulled out a cake-like treat. The Pokémon in the room immediately perked up, their mouths watering at the delicious aroma.

The baby Sprigatito, abandoning any pretense of restraint, eagerly pounced onto Izuna's leg, pawing at his pants.

Chuckling, Izuna generously took out a few more portions for the other Pokémon.

After all, this type of in-game food was easy to obtain—he could ask Dak or Kayaba Akihiko for as much as he wanted.

"Meow!"

The baby Sprigatito lunged forward, biting into the treat with gusto. Its face was soon covered in cream, yet it beamed with happiness, gazing up at Izuna with eyes full of admiration.

While the others were celebrating, Zach seemed unusually quiet.

He was thinking about his own Pokémon, Floatzel.

If Floatzel were still alive, maybe it would have found a mate and had a child of its own.

If that had happened, Zach might have spent half his time taking care of Floatzel's child.

If…

But there was no "if."

Zach glanced at the broken Poké Ball in his bag, clenching his fist tightly.

"Pokémon offspring work like this, huh…"

Kirito examined the baby Sprigatito's stats and discovered something interesting.

While the girls were fawning over the tiny Pokémon, the three men in the room—Kirito, Izuna, and Zach—remained more composed.

Sure, the baby was cute, and they wanted to hold it, but they weren't about to compete with the girls over it.

"What's up?"

Izuna walked over.

Like Dak, he wasn't particularly familiar with how Pokémon eggs worked in the game, as this was a system designed by Kayaba Akihiko himself.

[Sprigatito (Baby)]

[Level: Lv.0 (Fixed)]

[Abilities: None]

"This means Pokémon offspring can't be trained for battle."

Zach, having regained his composure, joined them.

Both he and Kirito immediately understood the implications of this system.

"It's probably to prevent trainers from forcing Pokémon to breed just to create stronger battle-ready offspring," Izuna mused.

Since he worked with Kayaba Akihiko in the daycare system, he had a rough idea of his thought process when designing the game mechanics.

If there was anyone in Pokémon Island who wanted to keep SAO's difficulty high, Kayaba was at the top of that list—perhaps the only one.

He would immediately approve any measures from Dak to make the game harder, but when it came to reducing difficulty, they had to negotiate for ages.

After all, SAO was Kayaba's life's work.

Even though he had moved on to other projects, he still wanted SAO to be a lasting memory for its players.

"Well, this is actually a good thing. We wouldn't want such a small child to fight anyway."

Asuna, having been nudged out of the baby-cuddling crowd, overheard their conversation.

"I'm sure Sneasel and Sprigatito wouldn't want their baby battling either, right?"

"..." x2

Sneasel and Sprigatito fell silent.

Of course, they wanted their daughter to gain battle experience.

After all, to them, this was just a virtual world. Since there was no real danger, they figured their daughter should train from a young age to gain an advantage.

But they didn't dare say that out loud, fearing their trainers would disapprove.

It was like human parents secretly encouraging their child to get into fights at kindergarten, only for the grandparents to scold them later.

The warm, celebratory atmosphere soon passed.

After all, most of the people present were key members of the front-line assault teams, including three guild leaders and three vice-leaders.

Sneasel and Heracross soon returned to their daily grind of leveling up, leaving their child in the care of "Grandpa" and Sprigatito's trainer.

Her trainer, a seasoned cat owner, was more than qualified to take care of a baby Pokémon.

Moreover, as a mid-tier player, she lived in a much safer area than the frontlines. Even when she went out to train, she could let the baby Sprigatito watch from a safe distance.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was the end of the month.

December 31st.

On Pokémon Island, preparations for the New Year's celebration were in full swing, bringing a lively and festive atmosphere.

Around Alliance City, the development of small villages had been completed, and the focus had now shifted to constructing mid-sized towns.

The Gym Challenge had entered its final sprint, with trainers across the vast ocean giving their all to earn their last one or two Gym Badges, preparing to showcase their skills in the upcoming Second Pokémon Tournament, scheduled for the Lunar New Year.

After another year of progress, trainers' overall strength had significantly increased. The number of experienced trainers at sea had grown exponentially, including many Pokémon trainers from the Shinobi World.

At the same time, the culture and spirit of Pokémon had become even more deeply ingrained in people's hearts. More and more trainers acknowledged and cherished Pokémon, and such trainers found it easier to earn the recognition of Gym Leaders.

For instance, many people remarked that obtaining the Electric Badge from Sabaody Gym was much easier this year than the last. However, this wasn't because Borsalino had gone easy on challengers, but because these trainers had truly grown stronger and earned his approval.

At this stage, over 800 trainers had obtained all eight Gym Badges—already surpassing the number of participants in the first Pokémon Battle Tournament. By the time the competition began, the number of qualified trainers might exceed a thousand.

Because of this, Dak felt it was time to open another Pokémon Battle Tournament Division.

For the next linked world, he planned to prioritize choosing one with a large enough scale, while factors such as population, power levels, and economy would take a back seat.

After all, those aspects could be improved over time with the help of Pokémon, and making such changes wouldn't be difficult—it would just take patience. However, the size of a world was something that could not be altered.

Meanwhile, the Grand Festival was scheduled for July of Alliance Year 3, giving half a year of preparation time.

So far, only 18 coordinators had gathered five Ribbons, and this was with Shinobi World also hosting lower-level Pokémon Contests.

The reason for this wasn't a lack of interest—on the contrary, far too many people had participated in Pokémon Contests.

Each lower-level Contest could only award one Ribbon to a single winner.

At this rate, the number of eligible participants in the Grand Festival might be capped at around 40 to 50 trainers.

(End of Chapter)

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