“You’ve seen it too, Luffy is just an idiot. Why don’t you come with me instead? I can also give you delicious food.”
Watching Luffy getting beaten one-sidedly, Ace handed an apple to Heracross and tried to entice it.
Heracross’s response was straightforward: it took the apple, ate it, and then rejected Ace.
Most Pokémon are loyal to their owners and won’t abandon them. Even if they are abandoned, they will stubbornly wait for their owners to return until they die.
Except in some cases, Pokémon won’t choose a new owner while their original one is still alive. For instance, a certain Pidgeot has been waiting in the forest for many years.
However, not everyone can form such a bond. Those who treat Pokémon merely as tools and exchange them at will don’t deserve this bond.
Ace was just saying that; he already knew about the bond between Heracross and his brother.
“Heraaacross, Heraaacross.”
“You guys really are made for one another, both being such gluttons.”
The farce ended with another farce. Garp was educating Luffy with his so-called love, but during the beating, both the hitter and the one who was being hit fell asleep simultaneously. Ace also fell asleep while eating. Only Heracross was left, trying to clean up all the remaining food to avoid waste.
But not everyone likes Heracross. Some people have headaches just seeing Heracross.
Like in Cocoyasi Village. Seeing Heracross in the mikan grove, Belle-mère was about to pull out her gun.
“Get out! You beetles, stay away from my mikan trees!”
Because Tiger survived, Arlong’s hatred didn’t worsen further. Additionally, with Mandrell’s presence, his perspective gradually changed.
Most importantly, Tiger always kept Arlong by his side, so he had no chance to harm the people of Cocoyasi Village. Although there was still the mouse Captain who finds excuses to collect taxes, he ultimately still wears the Marine’s uniform and was somewhat restrained in his actions.
Most common people’s demands are not excessive: having enough to eat, staying warm, and being able to survive is enough. Apart from ambitious individuals, most people have no interest in rebellion, so the people of Cocoyasi lived relatively well.
However, Heracross was not a friendly creature to Belle-mère because they would suck the sap from the trees. Although mikan tree sap isn’t much, for some reason, those Heracross particularly liked the sap from her mikan trees.
Heracross spent most of their time in the deep mountains, sucking sap from giant trees, and mikan trees were like chewing on sugar cane to them.
But Heracross did have benefits; they could help Belle-mère eliminate pests in the mikan grove. If they only took a sip or two of sap, she wouldn’t mind. But once they started, they would get carried away.
She didn’t want these big beetles to destroy her mikan grove, so she had to drive them away when she found them approaching.
Just now, while tidying up the house, Belle-mère happened to see two Heracross flying in, so she came out to chase them away.
Due to Arceus’ order not to harm humans indiscriminately, they usually fled when driven away. But this time was different. Belle-mère’s warning shot into the sky didn’t scare them off as usual; instead, the two Heracross threw a stone at her.
Seeing the stone roll to her feet, Belle-mère felt a surge of unexplainable anger rising within her. These beetles were getting more and more outrageous.
“Ba*tards! Do you really think I’m easy to bully? I was a Marine before!”
She was happy that someone liked her mikans, but she couldn’t accept this way of liking them. She started loading her bullets again, but a voice stopped her.
“Wait!”
A man with a windmill on his head walked over. He was Genzo, the real-life Genzo. The windmill on his head was a toy he used to amuse Nami so she wouldn’t cry when she saw him. He was the sheriff of Cocoyasi Village. Similarly, because Arlong’s gang didn’t show up here, his body wasn’t covered in scars. [TN: I’m not sure what the author means by real-life Genzo here. The only guess I have is that Genzo and Takeru [Yamato’s sword] use the same characters for their name.]
He heard Belle-mère’s gunshots, so he came to check on the situation.
“What are you doing? These beetles have already destroyed many of my seedlings. Are you going to support my family?”
“Well, it’s not impossible… ahem, I mean, look at this stone.”
He handed the stone that had rolled over back to Belle-mère. After wiping off the dirt, a golden object was revealed underneath.
“Gold?!”
She scratched it with her fingernail, and seeing the mark left behind, Belle-mère showed a look of disbelief.
“It might be a gold nugget… but this is the first time I’ve seen such a big one. I heard stories from my grandfather about gold prospectors when I was young.”
“You… want to trade this for my mikan trees?!”
“Heraaacross.”
Heracross stopped its actions and nodded at Belle-mère, then pointed to several mikan trees beside it.
“Fine, you can have them. Eat as much as you want from these trees!”
Oranges can’t make as much money as gold. These beetles could do something like this. At this moment, in Belle-mère’s eyes, they were no longer pests, but premium customers.
Mikans are grown to be sold, and being bought along with the tree at a high price, she naturally wouldn’t object.
“Hey, Belle-mère…”
“I don’t have the money! Nami and Nojiko are growing up and I need money. This is still not enough. If you don’t mind, I can pay with my body~”
“I’m not talking about that! Such a big gold nugget means there might be a gold mine nearby….”
The two looked at Heracross again. At this moment, it was no longer a customer but a god of wealth.
That day, Belle-mère returned home very late, covered in mud. But Nami and Nojiko saw an unmistakable smile on her face. Dinner that night was unusually sumptuous. After retiring, Belle-mère lived a frugal life. When the mikan business was bad, she didn’t even eat, letting her adopted daughters eat while she ate mikans, telling them she was dieting and maintaining her skin with mikans.
Although Belle-mère never let them lack food and water, such a sumptuous meal was the first time, even making Nami and Nojiko feel a bit scared.
“Belle-mère, are you going to abandon us….”
“No, I don’t want to leave Belle-mère!”
“What nonsense are you spouting? How could I abandon you? It’s just that we have money now. We will never lack money again. Tomorrow we’ll go buy map materials for Nami. Nojiko, is there anything you want?”
Belle-mère didn’t explain why; she just told them not to worry about such things anymore.
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