Fanfic / Platinum Pirate

"Looks like we're going to be partners from now on. Together, we'll see all this world has to offer."

—Lucas to his partner, Turtwig

For Lucas, becoming Pokémon Champion is a bittersweet affair. On one hand, he and his team have achieved their dreams after years of braving peril and hard work. On the other, he'll have to give up his days of adventure and wanderlust once he's handed the reins and responsibilities of the title in full.

So when he hears about a disturbance at the Solaceon Ruins, he jumps at the chance to investigate. He gets more than he bargained for when he's besieged by a swarm of Unown. Helpless before their immeasurable psychic power, he's soon plunged into the waters of the Grand Line. The floundering teenager is fished out of the sea by one Master Chief Petty Officer Tashigi and Captain Smoker, who are hot on the trail of Baroque Works, an organized crime syndicate and the only lead they have on finding Nefertari Vivi, the missing princess of Alabasta.

Although confused to be in a world that has never seen a single Pokémon, Lucas offers to help his rescuers take down Baroque Works and find the princess. Little does he know that this is just the beginning of the mark he'll leave on the Grand Line.

Platinum Pirate is a Pokémon Platinum/One Piece Crossover Fan Fiction by Your Teammate. It follows Lucas and his team as they adventure across the Grand Line, making friends and foes while searching for a way home.

It can be found on Spacebattles here and Fanfiction.net here.

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Tropes included in Platinum Pirate include:

A-M

• Absurd Cutting Power: With enough practice and a good sword, swordsmen on the Grand Line can learn to cut through steel. This is why Tashigi asks to spar with Lucario after learning that he's a Steel-type. She manages to leave a shallow wound after several spars, thus learning how to cut steel.
• Action Girl: Vice-Admiral Gion is one of the Marines's senior Vice-Admirals and the head of G-4. She's able to clash evenly with any of Lucas's Pokémon in a one-on-one fight and put severe pressure on them in a way no one other than Crocodile and Ace had before. When Rhode makes an enemy of Lucas, Gion is able to deflect six Hyper Beams at once with a single attack, albeit one that took enormous effort from her.
• Achilles' Heel: Given Torterra's Grass/Ground typing, he is extremely vulnerable to Ice-type attacks. Lucas has trained long and hard to respond well to them in order to battle with trainers like Candice. He reflects in hindsight that his experiences are the only thing that keep his team from being wiped out within a minute after he challenges Aokiji.
• Actually Pretty Funny: When Bentham turns into Spandam to distract his CP9 opponents, Kalifa takes great satisfaction in smacking him in the face. And then when he mimics her boss being sent to Impel Down wailing in terror, she can't hide her delight.
• Adaptational Badass:
  • The Straw Hats are well aware of how outclassed they are in comparison to Lucas and his team. After Lucas and his team get bounties, leaving the Straw Hats as some of the very, very few people left in the world he can rely on, they all decide to train themselves a lot more than they did in canon.
    • While everyone is getting better in their own ways, Luffy's improvement is some of the most noticeable. By the time of his captain's duel with Foxy, he has already worked out Gear Second, and his duel against Lucci at Enies Lobby sees him outlasting the assassin with plenty of strength to spare, a fight that in canon left him unable to move afterwards.
  • Pokémon in general have this going for them. With no sign of the four-move limit imposed by the games, each of Lucas's team are one-mon armies in their own right.
• Adaptation Deviation: The Davy Back Fight Arc goes a bit differently.
  • Lucas turns down Foxy's challenge on account of refusing to gamble with his teammates, and Luffy follows his example by refusing the challenge too. However, he does agree to a one-round Captain's Match against Foxy, with the loser owing the winner a favour.
  • Because the Straw Hats don't participate in the Davy Back Fight, a few lessons, like Chopper becoming more mature and Zoro and Sanji learning to work together, are moved over to their training session against Lucas's team.
  • Aokiji doesn't battle the Straw Hats for Robin; in fact, he leaves her alone once Lucas reveals he and the Straw Hats know of her past. He is here to offer Lucas a Warlord position.
• Adaptational Early Appearance: In One Piece Film: Z, Zephyr first meets the Straw Hats after the Time Skip. In this story, Zephyr is assigned by Sengoku to act as a parole officer and bodyguard to Lucas after the events of Water 7 and Enies Lobby.
• Adaptational Heroism: Zephyr defected from the Marines to create the Neo-Marines in One Piece Film: Z, which takes place after the two-year Time Skip. In this story, he's still on good terms with the Marines and Sengoku, implying that the inciting incident that made him leave hasn't occured yet. Zephyr is assigned to act as a parole officer and bodyguard to Lucas in Lucas's new role as The Inquisitor General rooting out corruption in the Marines.
• A God Am I: The World Nobles believe themselves to be divine beings compared to the "sub-humans" that make up the rest of mankind. Rhode sees nothing wrong with demanding Gardevoir become his Trophy Wife and takes umbrage when both Lucas and Gardevoir refuse him. Unfortunately, the World Nobles have godlike authority, meaning that the Marines are obligated to fulfill his wishes. Having met actual godlike figures in the creators of Sinnoh, Lucas scoffs at Rhode, steals Rhodes's ship, and paints Arceus's wheel over the ship's flag out of spite.
• The Alleged Boss: Literally nobody in Cipher Pol Nine cares about Spandam on a personal level. Blueno even notices at one point when he's in danger that the only reason he's bothering to save him is because he's (nominally) in charge, and because it would be far too much of a hassle to find a replacement.
• All for Nothing:
  • As it turns out, the Pluton blueprints Spandam obtained are fake, according to Franky, who made a fake set once he heard that Crocodile was after Pluton.
  • When Shanks comes to meet with Whitebeard about Marshall D. Teach, he grumbles that he spent all that time building up a speech about how Teach wasn't to be underestimated only to read in the news that Ace, the Straw Hat Pirates, and the new Warlord Lucas took him down, wasting all the time he could've instead spent partying.
• Almighty Janitor: Luffy is the only Straw Hat besides Robin to have a bounty at all (81,000,000 Beris, specifically) due to Crocodile escaping Alabasta, and since he agreed (under pressure from Sengoku) to say the Straw Hats are Lucas's allies/subordinates, both he and Robin had their bounties frozen as a result. Despite this, he's still an Adaptational Badass, and is probably the forerunner for being the most powerful rookie pirate in Paradise despite not having even broken into a nine-digit bounty yet.
• Almighty Mom: Johanna once cowed her husband's Spiritomb Vessa into submission because she let her malicious Pressure out around her young son. Nowadays, Vessa knows to keep her Pressure under control, and Johanna is now her favorite.
• Always a Bigger Fish: After eating the Dark-Dark Fruit, Blackbeard is absolutely confident in his ability to defeat Ace even with Sabo joining Ace's side. But Blackbeard's actions wind up provoking Giratina, who defeats Blackbeard in one headbutt for interrupting its battle with Lucas.
• Amusing Injuries:
  • Luffy kidnaps Lucas and flings him onto the deck of the Going Merry with a Gum-Gum Rocket. Lucas only stops when his face hits the wall. Although he has bruising on his face and potentially a cracked rib, Lucas's injuries are Played for Laughs.
  • Luffy later clocks Lucas and Gardevoir on the head, leaving comically oversized bumps when they're overthinking whether or not they can take on Giratina, telling them it doesn't matter if they think they can win or not if there's a chance of getting Lucas home to his friends and family.
• And Here He Comes Now: Lucas responds to a threat on his life by invoking the name of Giratina. Guess who shows up moments later?
• Androcles' Lion: Downplayed. Giratina is surprised to recognize Lucas's father from their meetings in the Hisui region, ages in the past, which interests the Legendary enough to hear him out.
• An Offer You Can't Refuse: The World Government is intrigued by Lucas's Pokémon and the medicines he carries in his bag. So when Rhode antagonizes Lucas, the Five Elders immediately begin conspiring to get Lucas back on their side by naming him a Warlord of the Sea and offering to freeze the bounty on his head. If that didn't work, they planned to sicc the likes of Admiral Aokiji on Lucas to coerce him into taking the offer. Aokiji later reports that any attempt at coercion would be useless, as Lucas's team is more than capable of taking on the Marines's best.
• Armor-Piercing Attack:
  • As it turns out, Ghost-type moves attack the soul directly, and can bypass a Logia's protection. Moreover, spars with Vice-Admiral Gion reveal that Observation Haki is more Psychic-leaning than Fighting, and thus Dark-type attacks can apparently interfere with it.
  • Aokiji is alarmed when Houndoom's Inferno leaves him with a burn even through his Logia defense.
• Armor-Piercing Question: When Franky shows up to find Robin in Chapter 16, he shouts that he won't let her reawaken the Ancient Weapons, which leads to a stressed-out Robin yelling that she just wants to learn the truth of the Void Century, and has no wish to reawaken the Weapons. When Franky is initially unsure whether or not to believe her, Zoro asks him something that cuts a lot deeper than he probably intended it to.
  "So the local crime lord believes that the World Government never attacked an innocent person just for knowing too much?”
  Robin noticed a flash of utter hatred pass over Franky’s face at Zoro’s dry question.
• Authority in Name Only: Lucas is named the boss of the Straw Hat Pirates in order to give them some Plausible Deniability to their actions via Lucas's status as a Warlord of the Sea. But it's clear to everyone that Lucas has no real intention of ordering them around and that this is purely a political move. Lucas also explains that while he's allied with them, he won't be fighting their battles for them, which is exactly how his "subordinates" want it to be.
• Awesome, but Impractical: The first time Lucario Mega-Evolves, his fighting instincts are turned up to the max and he gets powerful enough that Zephyr has to put some effort in blocking his attacks, but Ain can see that he has lost a lot of his control and is fighting almost entirely with Aura and savage physical blows instead of agility and elemental attacks. She acknowledges, though, that he'll eventually learn to handle and control his new instincts and power with enough training with Lucas.
• Awesomeness Is a Force: Pressure works very similarly to Conqueror's Haki, with Legendary Pokémon having it active to varying degrees at all times. Gardevoir even declares that being able to turn it off would be considered remarkable, to the utter shock of the Boa Sisters after she and Lucas's other female Pokémon prove immune to Hancock's attempt to subdue them with Conqueror's Haki.
• Asskicking Leads to Leadership: Lucas obtained the title of "Champion" by defeating his predecessor, Cynthia, in a Pokémon battle. Gion remarks on the similarities between the Pokémon League's and the Marines' chain of command, comparing the Elite Four and the Champion to the Admirals and Fleet Admiral.
• Badass Normal: Gion is neither an inherently strong race like the giants nor did she eat a Devil Fruit. She rose to her position as Vice-Admiral purely through her strength, Haki, and leadership skills.
• Badass Crew: Lucas's Pokémon have each been trained to be ranked among the strongest examples of their species. Individually, they're each capable of engaging a Vice-Admiral in single combat and have a solid chance of winning. But when they're fighting together, they can take on foes as powerful as the Admirals, with some speculating they can battle one of the Four Emperors and potentially come out on top.
• Batman Gambit: When Lucas and Lucario have Mr. 1 cornered and defeated, the assassin flees, using his Dice-Dice Fruit powers to cut apart all the nearby buildings as he goes, forcing Lucas to let him escape so he can focus on evacuating the terrified civilians.
• Beam Spam: Lucas and all six of his Pokémon do this as a final demonstration of their power and a message to "Saint" Rhode about who exactly he pissed off: a synchronized Hyper Beam barrage that Vice-Admiral Gion barely manages to deflect.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: It's implied that the Unown transported Lucas to the Grand Line to grant his wish for adventure before he's tied up in his obligations as Champion of the Sinnoh Pokémon League. He admits to Gardevoir that being in an entirely new world is everything he wanted, but he doesn't think it's worth being separated from almost everything he knows and loves.
  • He finally realizes this in Chapter 24, and decides to embrace this opportunity for grand adventure with both hands.
    Lucas: The Unown granted the wish to keep everyone safe. But standing here now, they also gave me what I had been wishing for: a chance for more adventure and exploring, without the opportunity for my responsibilities to force me away from it. [...] ...between the way back being something I can't control yet and how much of a difference I can make in this world, it feels like I've been given a chance to keep adventuring without feeling guilty about it. This is a new chance for me. And I'm going to savor every minute of it that I've got left.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Discussed; Lucas relates some wisdom he got from his father to Sengoku about how all Pokémon want the same thing from their human trainers and partners. Even Legendary Pokémon would feel this way about humans they've bonded with. Unbeknownst to Lucas, his father, Rei, has personal experience with how even Legendaries like Giratina, captured by a chosen one and given the chance to experience the unmirrored world for the first time, will dedicate itself to protecting the world at his behest, all the way to the present day. Rei's and Giratina's past friendship is what convinces Giratina to offer to bring Lucas home in exchange for being a Worthy Opponent.
  Lucas: All Pokémon long for two things above all else: to grow, and to be loved. If you give them that, they will give you everything they can in return. Gods have never been an exception to that rule.
• Beleaguered Boss: Sengoku is extremely tired of all the issues that have been caused by Lucas, directly or indirectly - damage to G-4, six reports from Vegapunk taller than his desk all filled with complaints, losing a Warlord and having to select a new one…
• Benevolent Conspiracy: After learning of Lucas's disappearance, the Pokémon League scrambles to keep his absence under wraps to prevent panic and confusion. Cynthia, the incumbent Champion, resumes her duties in the meantime while instructing the League to only reveal the news to the Elite Four, the Gym Leaders, and Lucas's closest friends and family.
• Berserk Button:
  • Crocodile calling Gardevoir a "concubine" prompts her to warp into his face send him flying with a point-blank Shadow Ball.
  • Pretty much everything about the Celestial Dragons rapidly becomes this for Lucas and his team after they meet one "Saint" Rhode at G-4.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Lucas and his Pokémon are perfectly friendly to everyone unless provoked, gladly working with both the Marines and the Straw Hats to capture Crocodile. But Lucas didn't become Champion by being a pushover, and he's more than willing to finish any fights picked with him. He also has no qualms with having Gardevoir psychically shutdown people's minds if they're dangerous, only failing against Crocodile due to his sand-based physiology.
• Bittersweet Ending: The end of the Alabasta arc is this. Good news: they expose Baroque Works and stop the civil war before the fighting can begin, and Crocodile is stripped of his Warlord title. Bad news: Crocodile outmaneuvers them and escapes with the Poneglyph and most of Baroque Works. And finally, the silver lining: they learn of Robin’s innocence, earning her the royal family’s forgiveness and letting her join the Straw Hats without hostility, and Bentham (Mr. 2) pulls a Heel–Face Turn and joins Smoker to apprehend Crocodile.
• Boxed Crook:
  • Bentham, after Operation Prometheus. While he hasn't attained a bounty yet, he was still willingly part of Baroque Works. Smoker notes that this part of his career can be stricken from his record if he and his crew works alongside the Marines to arrest Crocodile, which the former agent agrees to.
  • The Mr. 3, 4, and 5 pairs at Enies Lobby, after Gardevoir undoes Laffite's brainwashing. They're first promised that their sentences will be somewhere other than Impel Down, then later they get a promise of lightening their sentences by attacking the Marines and Agents on the Bridge of Hesitation that are impeding Smoker's attempt to stop the Buster Call.
• Break the Cutie: Tashigi is devastated when the orders of her bosses mean that she has to fight Lucas and his team, who she had come to view as close friends.
• Brilliant, but Lazy: Aokiji is one of the most powerful men in the world, but would really rather not expend more energy than he has to. He's somewhat annoyed when Lucas requests a spar with him before deciding on whether or not to become a Warlord and relieved when he's finished fulfilling that request.
• Bullying a Dragon:
  • Literally. Upon seeing Giratina, Blackbeard immediately thinks that he can capture it and use it as a living weapon. When his fight with Ace and Sabo disrupts Giratina's fight with Lucas, Giratina disabuses him of that notion, sending him flying straight into one of the Buster Call ships, resulting in the Marines capturing him.
  • Prior to this, Lucas introduces himself to the Franky Family as the newly crowned Warlord of the Sea. Franky's men laugh in Lucas's face and tell him that the World Government is losing its touch to send a kid like him before threatening to take him hostage if he doesn't keep out of their way. That's when Lucas drops the niceties and gives the go-ahead for Gardevoir to subdue them all with Confusion.
• Bury Me Not on the Lone Prairie: Non-lethal variation: while the Going Merry's keel is intact enough to be integrated into Franky's new ship, and some parts of her destroyed body are intact enough to be rebuilt into the Mini Merry paddleboat, Franky reveals to the crew that he's going to take all the unsalvageable parts, burn them to ashes, and spread them into the soil of what will be the new ship's lawn.
• The Bus Came Back: Miss Goldenweek returns in Chapter 17, when it's revealed she was how the Baroque Works/Blackbeard Pirates got Iceburg to talk, via Betrayal Black.
• Calling Me a Logarithm: Lucas, dazed from being slammed facefirst into the Going Merry, calls Chopper a "cute baby Stantler" before passing out from his injuries. Chopper isn't sure whether to be happy that to be called cute, angry that he was called a baby, or worried that Lucas called him a nonsense word because of a concussion.
• Casting a Shadow: As Lord of the Distortion Realm, Giratina is able to travel through darkness itself, using it to ambush its foes by jumping out of their shadows.
• Can't Kill You, Still Need You:
  • In Chapter 4, when Crocodile learns of Mr. 3's failure to kill Vivi and the Straw Hats after learning about the Marines' new ally who defeated Mr. 1, he is furious:
    Crocodile: Mr. 3. Your defeat and carelessness have introduced a significant threat to my plan. When coupled with this new development, it is more likely than not that the plan has been ruined beyond any chance of salvation. Under any other circumstances, I would kill you right now.
    [chokes and dehydrates Mr. 3 for several moments before throwing him against a chair]
    Crocodile: Words cannot express how lucky you are, then, that if I am to salvage anything, I cannot afford to lose any of my best agents. Let the pain you feel now serve as a warning for what will happen if you ever fail me again.
  • Later on, Blueno has to release Robin and Nami from his Air Door for this reason - Robin would never allow herself to be taken alive in the Air Door as long as she was in Enies Lobby, and if she and Nami were able to beat him, he couldn't arrest them. In other words, letting her escape back into the real world is the only way he has any chance of capturing her again, in the long run.
• Casual Danger Dialogue: When Gardevoir teleports Lucas, Smoker, and Tashigi into a crowd of armed rebels who all open fire on them, Lucas isn't scared so much as surprised that Gardevoir would make such an error. He even pokes fun at her for it, embarrassing her even while she's holding a barrier keeping him from being turned into Swiss cheese.
  Lucas: [deadpan amidst a hail of gunfire] Gardevoir, be honest: did we get hit by a Heart Swap or something? Because I want to say that this kind of blunder is more like something you should be lecturing me about.
• Catch-22 Dilemma: The problem that everyone trying to get Lucas back keeps running into: with no Pokémon besides Lucas's own team on the other side, they have no way to help set it up, so they'd need to get more Pokémon there…to bring Lucas back. Eventually, they have to go to Giratina for help.
• Combination Attack: Lucas's team has come up with many of these tactics, from Torterra and Houndoom's Blaze Maze to Luxray and Vaporeon's Heavenstrike.
• Commonality Connection: While in Skypiea, the Straw Hats take extra offense to hearing that their adversary is God, on account of how their friend Lucas gained his bounty by snubbing supposed "gods". At the end of the arc, after the Skypieans and Shandians hear the story, they offer what training, assistance, and resources they can to the crew, including the giant gold pillar that is initially mistaken for a cannon.
• Conflicting Loyalty: Tashigi is torn when Rhode orders Lucas's capture, as Lucas had proven a good friend and reliable ally to the Marines up to that point. Gion and Smoker are not pleased either, but follow their orders without hesitation (albeit with some deliberate underperformance).
• Contrived Coincidence: During the run-up to the Water 7 Arc, it's established that Crocodile and Baroque Works, Smoker and his Marines, Lucas and his team, the Straw Hats, the Blackbeard Pirates, Cipher Pol Nine, Ace, Sabo, and Sengoku all have their reasons to go to the city - and that they're all going to be there at roughly the same time…
• Cool Airship: In Chapter 23, Lucas is inspired by the Straw Hats' stories of Skypeia to commission a new ship styled after a Basculegion that is capable of flight. Rather than cola, Lucas plans to power it with Luxray's lightning bolts in a manner similar to Enel powering his ship.
• Could Say It, But...: When he tells Luffy about Gecko Moria being in the Florian Triangle - Luffy doesn't want to be his "subordinate", and Lucas only said he was his subordinate so that the Straw Hats wouldn't get arrested by Sengoku, so...
  Lucas: Officially, I shouldn't allow my subordinates to start an inter-Warlord conflict. So I will definitely not tell you that heading to the Florian Triangle to pick a fight with Gecko Moria is the most effective way to get dismissed from my protection.
• Crazy-Prepared:
  • Lucas mentions how glad he is to be a pack Rattata when thinking about his extensive supplies for what was ostensibly a simple recon mission that turned into a one-way jaunt to another world.
  • As it turns out, when Franky heard that Crocodile was after Pluton, he had a fake set of blueprints made, and that's all Spandam ends up getting, not that he enjoys it very long.
• Crush Blush: Gardevoir and Lucas have this for Lucian's Gallade (it's implied) and Dawn, respectively.
• Crystal Dragon Jesus: While Lucas doesn't actively worship Arceus, he still reveres it as the Top God of the Sinnoh creation myth and the creator of the entire Pokémon world. Lucas has Arceus's wheel painted onto the ship he stole from Rhode to snub the World Nobles who believe themselves gods.
• Culture Clash: Being from another world, Lucas's sensibilities clash with that of the Grand Line's. He doesn't think twice about defying the word of a World Noble and soon grows to despise the corrupt leadership of the World Government. At the same time, he lacks any inherent prejudices against the Marines or pirates, allowing him to work with both of them to achieve common goals. More humorously, his Spirited Competitor mindset befuddles others, especially when he challenges people as powerful as Admiral Aokiji and later Zephyr to spar purely for the sake of it.
• Curb-Stomp Battle:
  • After learning that Lucario is a Steel-type, Tashigi requests a spar so she can learn how to cut steel. The spar is less a contest of equals and more of a one-sided thrashing that leaves Tashigi unconscious even with Lucario holding back.
  • Blackbeard attempts to capture the likes of Giratina for himself. His opponent responds by ramming him so hard that Blackbeard is knocked unconscious, thrown through the Bridge of Hesitation, and lands on the deck of a Marine vessel to be taken into custody.
• Cuteness Overload: Koala lasts about 3 seconds before succumbing to Vaporeon's Baby-Doll Eyes, and it's stated that he gave Hack the same treatment upon seeing Fishman Karate for himself.
• Cutting Through Energy: Vice-Admiral Gion and her Haki-powered iaijutsu barely manages to deflect the combined force of six Hyper Beams at once.
• Deadly Dodging: This is a piece of advice that Lucas gives Luffy while training together; given the flexibility that the latter's rubber body gives him, he should be able to easily dodge most Death Or Glory Attacks like Hyper Beam or Frenzy Plant, allowing him to take advantage of the openings produced by the use of said attacks before his foes can recover. This lets him dodge Lucci's Six King Gun during their fight and pummel him before he can recover.
• Death or Glory Attack: Lampshaded by Lucas as why he doesn't use attacks like Hyper Beam or Frenzy Plant more often: they use so much energy that they leave his team briefly vulnerable, and while 90% of the time his opponents can't capitalize on it, there's always that last 10% chance. His advice to Luffy is that, given his insane flexibility, he should always be in that 10%, which the rubber man takes to heart, allowing him to dodge Lucci's Six King Gun and cripple him before he can recover.
• Deliberate Under-Performance: The Marines at G-4 really don't want to fight Lucas, but don't have a choice due to the order of a Celestial Dragon. As a result, they deliberately underperform to ensure that Lucas has a good chance of getting away, such as pointlessly spreading out to cover more ground even though no single Marine present can hope to challenge all six of Lucas's Pokémon at once. Smoker mutters that if it weren't for the circumstances, he would have advocated for having everyone who participated in the fight demoted for their performance.
• Designated Girl Fight: Justified due to Amazon Lily's no-men policy; Boa Hancock challenges the female Pokémon on Lucas's team (Gardevoir, Houndoom, Luxray and Togekiss) to a match against the Snake Sisters and Salome, to gauge their mettle without their male trainer commanding them.
• Didn't Think This Through: To tie up all the "loose ends" on the island, Spandam decides to trigger a Buster Call on Enies Lobby. But since there was a Golden Transponder Snail stolen from Marineford recently (and Lafitte is explicitly mentioned as the chief suspect by Sengoku), and none of the Admirals, or Sengoku, are on the island, it's going to be very hard to prove he wasn't connected to it. The only excuse is that it's heavily implied, if not outright said by Sengoku, that Spandam can get away with pretty much anything so long as the mission succeeds in the end.
• Dies Differently In The Adaptation: Despite being in somewhat better condition by the time she reaches Water 7, the Going Merry meets her end sooner than in canon, getting reduced to flotsam by Crocodile shortly after the Straw Hats arrive. Then it's subverted when her keel and Klabautermann manage to survive the attack, which soon leads to realizing that while they can't undo the "death," they can arrange a rebirth.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!:
  • When Luffy tells Lucci that he knows he can beat him with the training he's done and Zoro tells Kaku he's purposefully drawing out this sword fight for as long as possible, neither of the assassins take being looked down upon well.
  • During Lucas's battle with Giratina, he screams that he came for a fight and asks why his opponent is holding back. His opponent agrees and enters Origin Forme to bring its full power to bear against Lucas's team.
• Double Take:
  • While Franky is laying out his terms for fixing Merry, one is for Luffy to get a good shipwright on his crew. Luffy immediately agrees for Franky to join the crew, and Franky is shaking Luffy's hand before his brain catches up.
  • This exchange as Zephyr is telling Sengoku about the new Warlord's ship.
    Zephyr: Just, whenever we get back to Marineford, don't be too surprised when you see the ship fly in.
    Sengoku: Understood. Keep me posted, Commander. [Beat] Did you say fly?
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Lucas tries to flex his reputation as a Warlord of the Sea to avoid trouble with the Franky Family in Water 7. He instead gets laughed at, as Franky's men think Lucas hasn't done anything to deserve it.
• Eating the Eye Candy: Despite the tense situation of him being Trapped in Another World, Dawn can't help but briefly appreciate Lucas's newfound muscle from spending time on the Grand Line when she's shown an image of him by Tapu Fini. Barry catches this and does not hesitate to tease her about it later.
• Enemy Mine:
  • Smoker is developing a surprising tendency to team up with the Straw Hats he chased into the Grand Line. Of course, he can rationalize it as being the Lesser of Two Evils when they're up against Crocodile both times.
  • When Spandam's machinations come to his attention, Sengoku is willing to allow the Straw Hats and even Ace to assist Smoker and Lucas with the situation, as long as Ace is long gone afterward.
• Enraged by Idiocy:
  • Vegapunk was apparently looking forward to meeting Lucas and learning about the world he came from, and when hopes of that are dashed by the actions of a World Noble, Vegapunk hits the roof and sends Fleet Admiral Sengoku a long, long list of complaints about the man's stupidity.
  • Smoker ends up on the receiving end of one of Luffy's "can you poop" questions - while his lower half is stuck inside a Jet Dial. Smoker threatens to strangle Luffy if Franky can't get him out.
• "Eureka!" Moment: When mentioning the Ark Maxim to Franky, Nami tells him that it could only work because its owner had powerful Shock and Awe Devil Fruit powers...and then she starts to stare at Luxray.
• Experienced Protagonist: As the newly-minted Sinnoh Champion, Lucas and his team have been through a lot before getting transmigrated to the world of One Piece, and as such, use that experience to adapt to their new circumstances, especially when it comes to Devil Fruit abilities and Haki. He leverages the type-chart when facing Logias like Ace and Crocodile, compares Observation Haki with moves like Detect, draws upon his experience battling Candice when facing Aokiji, and can handle Conqueror's Haki due to having experienced the Pressure of other Legendaries before.
• Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!:
  • Due to Torterra being a completely Outside-Context Problem for him, an Earthquake to the foundation of Rain Dinners and Ace's brief appearance in Nanohana causes Crocodile to briefly (and erroneously) believe that Whitebeard has decided to pay him a visit.
    Something was wrong, and after a second, he realized what it was. The ground was trembling, very slightly but getting more and more severe by the second. The Warlord's mind raced, desperately seeking a reason behind the tremors. An earthquake? But Alabasta was a desert kingdom! He'd done his research, there hadn't been any seismic events here in decades, centuries even! The only thing it could be was—
    Unbidden, a spike of fear found its way into the Warlord's heart as he came to a single, terrifying conclusion, and he had just enough time to utter a curse before the ceiling of his hideout collapsed down on him.
  • In Chapter 17, while trying to figure out Crocodile's next move in Water 7, Lucas, Smoker, Tashigi, and Bentham go over the agents of Baroque Works that he could be employing at that moment. Bentham admits to the possibility that the officer agents that had been left on Little Garden might have rejoined him, and goes into detail about Miss Goldenweek's hypnotic painting abilities, saying that all she needs is a stationary target. A few seconds later, Bentham realizes that a stationary target would be present at a portrait sitting. Like the one that Mayor Iceburg is having done at that very moment. They arrive to find Iceburg unconscious and bleeding out, and it's only Gardevoir's powers that save his life.
• Failed a Spot Check: Even after Franky met Fire-Fist Ace, he didn't know the relationship between him and Luffy and only finds out when he comments that the Straw Hats will be making friends with an Emperor next.
• Failure Gambit: What Operation Prometheus turns out to be: after realizing that Lucas and his team are too powerful to defeat and that his plans have been exposed, Crocodile discards Operation Utopia, reorganizing all of his resources to find the Poneglyph, steal it, and escape the country. A key part of the plan is that he loses and gets arrested, causing everyone else to let their guard down long enough for Mr. 3 to pull a jailbreak while Mr. 2 poses as King Cobra, the real Cobra guiding Robin to the Poneglyph under threat of blowing up the palace. The Mr. 4 team then absconds with the stone through an underground tunnel while the Mr. 6 team commands an escape ship on the coast, where every Baroque Works agent that they can jailbreak congregates. If it weren't for Mr. 2 having an attack of conscience, he would have gotten away with it flawlessly.
• Failure Montage: One ensues when Franky tasks himself with refurbishing Nami's Waver into a flying machine with Usopp's help, as a prototyping proof-of-concept for Lucas's ship. It's Franky's skill at Ridiculously Fast Construction that allows all the prototyping to happen in a single night.
• Fighting Your Friend: Tashigi, Smoker, and Vice-Admiral Gion are forced into this against Lucas and his team following their encounter with "Saint" Rhode, though Gardevoir makes it clear to them that they understand why and won't begrudge the Marine trio for it.
• Fire-Forged Friends: Smoker grows to trust Lucas after fighting Baroque Works together in Nanohana and Alabasta. Despite the disastrous events of G-4, Lucas sees Smoker and Tashigi the same way and goes out of his way to help them when he can. Smoker is even willing to stand up to Onigumo, his superior, even when threatened with a court martial for getting in the way of Onigumo's attacks against Lucas.
• Fish out of Water: Invoked as a Literal Metaphor; Luffy suggests naming Lucas's new Cool Ship (based off of Enel's Ark Maxim) the Fish Out Of Water, on account of Lucas's Trapped in Another World circumstances and the fact that the ship is modeled after a Basculegion, and can also fly. Everyone hates how much sense Luffy makes, but can't deny that the name works.
• Fuzz Therapy: The friendliness of Lucas' Pokémon has a calming effect akin to petting a dog when they're resting. Even Marines as grizzled and cynical as Zephyr can't help but show them affection. Vaporeon also drapes himself over the necks of others on hot days to cool them off.
• Futureshadowing: A sidestory chapter has Tapu Fini, through a lingering connection between the Unown and the Rainbow Mist, show Dawn, Barry, and Lucas's Luxray and Togekiss a future scene of Lucas at Water 7, when Luxray and Togekiss have somehow already joined him. They later get a way to do so via Giratina.
• Gender-Equal Ensemble: Excluding Lucas himself, his main Pokémon team has four males (Torterra, Lucario, Crobat, Vaporeon) and four females (Gardevoir, Houndoom, Luxray, Togekiss).
• General Ripper: Onigumo continues to attack Lucas even after being informed that the Buster Call that summoned him was illegal. In his eyes, the operation is just a fine excuse to kill Lucas, who committed heresy by defying a World Noble, regardless of how many civilians and marines he'll kill by continuing the Buster Call.
• Generation Xerox: Just like his son, Lucas's father, in addition to looking rather alike and having similar taste in headwear, has experience of being stuck in another world.
• The Glomp: What Lucas's Luxray and Togekiss (who were left behind in Sinnoh) do to their trainer once they finally reunite.
• Gratuitous Japanese: Although the fic is written mostly in English, certain phrases such as "nakama" remain in Japanese. Sanji continues to call Robin and Nami "Robin-chan" and "Nami-schwan".
• Guest-Star Party Member: Rei is this to the Kalos Elite Four, standing in as a Ghost-type specialist temporarily after Malva abdicated her position when her ties to Team Flare are exposed.
• Head Desk: Sengoku does this when his endeavor to make Lucas a Warlord hits another snag: his suggested meeting place, Water 7, has an active undercover CP9 mission underway.
• Hero of Another Story: The side stories show Barry, Dawn, and Lucas's remaining team members, Luxray and Togekiss, trying to find a way to get Lucas back to their own world.
• Honorary Uncle: Lucas and Barry each call the other's father Uncle Palmer and Uncle Rei respectively. It started when Lucas met Palmer and told him that his son was like the hotheaded cousin he never had, and it went on from there.
• Hope Spot: For a moment, after a Soaked Giratina is blasted by eight Hyper Beams at once, Smoker thinks Lucas and his team did it and they've impressed Giratina enough for him to take them home. Then their opponent responds.
  Giratina: Impressive. Insufficient.
• I Am Not Left-Handed: After an initial round of back-and-forth, Lucas tells Giratina that he's grown stronger than the terrified kid he was the last time they clashed, and demands Giratina to stop holding back. Giratina agrees and transforms into Origin Forme.
• I Choose to Stay: Discussed. Vice-Admiral Gion is impressed by the strength of Lucas's team and their moral character, asking if he would be waiting to stay longer if it means righting injustices in the world. But Lucas explains that he has too many responsibilities back home to ignore for longer than he has to. While he'll help when he can, going home is and will remain his priority. Gion is disappointed but understands Lucas's decision.
• Ignored Expert: Admiral Aokiji, despite his rank, can't directly give orders to Cipher Pol Nine or Spandam. As a result, when he's telling Spandam to not go after Robin, since doing so risks ruining the Government's attempts to make Lucas a Warlord, he "advises" him that if anyone is found out to be responsible for ruining the Government's attempt to get Lucas and his team back on their side, they will have hell to pay for it. Spandam decides that I've Come Too Far, and contacts Blackbeard to kidnap Robin indirectly.
• Impossible Task: Big Mom unintentionally gives her crew one. After learning about Lucas and his team, she sent them out to find more Pokémon… but she doesn't know that Lucas and his team are Trapped in Another World, instead thinking that they're native to some unknown corner of the Grand Line.
• I Need a Freaking Drink: After arriving at Water 7 and learning of the situation, Sengoku arranges things with the heroes to give him Plausible Deniability and then goes to get drunk.
• Insistent Terminology: After Smoker's debriefing, Sengoku summarizes that the situation warrants leniency for allying with the Straw Hat Pirates, regardless of their official status as Warlord Lucas's subordinates. Luffy tries to object, but a flash of Conqueror's Haki kills his tongue, and Sengoku repeats his last statement, clearly expressing his willingness for Plausible Deniability as long as no one gives him reason otherwise. Luffy and Lucas quickly concede the point.
• In Spite of a Nail:
  • Robin still leaves Alabasta with the Straw Hats, but this time, it isn't as a stowaway.
  • Despite the vastly different circumstances, Robin and Franky are still kidnapped by Cipher Pol Nine on Spandam's orders, and a Buster Call is still summoned on Enies Lobby, albeit intentionally rather than accidentally.
• Intangibility: Ghost-type Pokémon are mentioned to be invulnerable to purely physical attacks like Normal-type and Fighting-type moves thanks to being able to simply pass through them. Lucas circumvents this when battling Giratina after lucking out when Togekiss gets Soak from Metronome, temporarily turning Giratina into a Water-type and leaving it vulnerable to eight simultaneous Hyper Beams.
• Intelligible Unintelligible: All Pokémon can understand human language perfectly and seem to possess human-level intellect. But it's difficult for them to learn how to speak the language. It's much easier for a Pokémon Trainer to simply pick up on their team's quirks and body language to understand what their Pokémon is trying to tell them, but it usually takes years of relationship building to reach that level of instinctive understanding.
• Irrevocable Order: Smoker mentions that nobody has the authority to cancel a Buster Call: besides evacuating civilians, Marines, and Government Agents, the island it's on is doomed. That doesn't stop Smoker from trying with Sengoku's authority behind him, and most of the Vice-Admirals present are willing to hear him out.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing:
  • Smoker, and a few other Marines, start off referring to Pokémon as "It" instead of "He" or "She". Smoker starts correcting himself after spending enough time with Lucas (and a minor telling-off), eventually correcting others himself.
  • When Lucas makes an enemy of the World Government by defying "Saint" Rhode, the Marines stop addressing Lucas by name, calling him "the target" in an effort to not feel as bad about fighting him. Even then, it's more of obligation than necessity, as Marines don't want to fight him and deliberately underperform to let Lucas escape.
• It's Personal:
  • Crocodile's beef with the Straw Hats hits a new high after he destroys Merry. Luffy even puts the possibility of killing him on the table.
  • Garp realizes that Sengoku had an ulterior motive when he tasked Lucas as the new Warlord to become The Inquisitor General and root out corruption inside the Marines and other Warlords, as given his new role, it would be inevitable that Lucas would come into conflict with Doflamingo, the man responsible for the death of Corazon, Sengoku's adopted son.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While a deeply unpleasant man, Onigumo is acknowledged as correct when he points out that there is no legal precedent for stopping a Buster Call, even if the Fleet Admiral himself says to stop. Sengoku settles for a slap on the wrist of two weeks probation.
• Just Following Orders: Sengoku interrogates Onigumo on why the vice-admiral continued with the Buster Call even after Akainu informed him that a Golden Transponder Snail had been stolen recently and Smoker, with Sengoku's authority, gave him explicit orders to stand down. Onigumo argues that Marine protocol indicates that a Buster Call cannot be called off until the island targeted is completely destroyed. While Sengoku finds Onigumo's conduct reprehensible, his actions are technically correct and legal, so he gets off with two weeks probation.
• Kansas City Shuffle: Crocodile pulls this off as part of his Failure Gambit: right after the war, a guard accidentally uses Vivi's Baroque Works code name in front of Lucas and Cobra and reveals himself as Mr. 2, whom the other guards carry off. It isn't until the victory feast that, overwhelmed by the sense of celebration, "Cobra" drops his Clone-Clone disguise and reveals himself to be the actual Mr. 2. And by that time, the rest of Baroque Works has already escaped the island.
• Karma Houdini:
  • Cyrus escaped into the Distortion World at the end of Platinum, and Cynthia and Lucas couldn't pursue him because Giratina was on a rampage.
  • Downplayed with Crocodile this at the end of the Alabasta arc: while he succeeds in stealing the Poneglyph and freeing most of his men, he lost most of his resources along the way: he only has one ship left to use, his Warlord title was revoked, and Robin, the only person capable of reading the Poneglyph, would not tell him what was on the Poneglyph. Then, when he finally makes her tell him, he can't do anything to get to Pluton without going through Kaido.
• The Key Is Behind the Lock: The problem that faces Crocodile. He wants Pluton so he can fight the Emperors and claim the title of Pirate King, but with Pluton being sealed in Wano Country, Kaido's home base, he would have to fight an Emperor without it to get it.
• Kid Hero All Grown-Up: Rei, protagonist of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, having returned to the present from the Hisui region in the past. He is now Sinnoh's ambassador to Kalos and Malva's temporary replacement in the Kalos Elite Four, as a Ghost-type specialist commanding Pokémon not seen for centuries. He first appears in the third sidestory, where we find out that he's Lucas's father and he helps petition Giratina to bring him back home.
• Knight Templar: Vice-Admiral Onigumo espouses the "Absolute Justice" philosophy of the World Government. To him, orders are absolute, and anyone opposing his enforcement of "justice", no matter the reason, is a heretic to be punished. When a Buster Call is called on Enies Lobby, Onigumo continues to attack Lucas and his team even after Smoker informs him that the Buster Call is illegal (and unlike Doberman who was assigned elsewhere at the time, he knew of the Golden Transponder Snail's theft before the Call was invoked). Later, at his court-martial, Onigumo maintains his stance that he was following the orders that Buster Calls are irrevocable, and that even if he was mistaken, any casualties would either be criminals or those who have agreed to die for justice.
• Know When to Fold 'Em:
  • After learning that Pluton is in Wano, Kaido's home base, even Blackbeard and Spandam decide (for now, at least...) to abandon any plans to obtain it, with Spandam noting that even with all the resources at his disposal together, doing what was needed to claim it would still be a fool's errand at best, and at worst, potentially cause The End of the World as We Know It if Kaido finds out that Pluton is in his territory.
  • Though he doesn't like the idea of the Pirate King having a boss one bit, Luffy eventually agrees to nominally declare the Straw Hat Pirates subordinate to the new Warlord Lucas to avoid giving him any more trouble from Sengoku. That said, he then decides to simply become so famous that everyone forgets he's technically someone's subordinate.
  • After the invasion of Enies Lobby is cut short by Spandam summoning the Buster Call to Leave No Witnesses, while all of the Galley-La foreman don't want to leave until they've "punched Kaku's nose in," they all agree it's too much of a risk to stay behind and run for it.
• Last Chance Hit Point: If not for this courtesy of Endure, Lucas would have won his fight against Giratina and earned his passage home.
• Leave No Witnesses: Once he gets Pluton's (fake, unknown to him) blueprints into his hands, Spandam decides to trigger the Buster Call to tie up any and all loose ends.
• Lightning Bruiser: Giratina is terrifyingly fast, powerful, and durable. The entirety of its battle with Lucas consists of it raining destruction upon the battlefield even while sustaining blows from all of Lucas's Pokémon at once. Even abilities like Trick Room fail to last very long against it, shattering it and ramming foes with enough power to send them through buildings.
• Literal Genie: The Unown read Lucas's memories and determine that he still wants to continue exploring and reaching new heights with his Pokémon before he settles into the role of being Sinnoh's Champion. So they grant his wish in the most literal sense possible: throwing him in an entirely new world to explore that's infinitely far away from his responsibilities.
• Little "No": When Vice-Admiral Onigumo tries to attack Lucas, Smoker gets in the way and rebukes Onigumo for wasting time attacking valuable allies. Onigumo orders Smoker to step aside and threatens to court martial him. Smoker responds with a low, defiant "No."
• Made of Iron: Lucas is surprised at just how durable the people in the world of One Piece are, showing concern when Ace is thrown through a dozen buildings but gets back up without so much as a scratch. He also asks if being fireproof is common when Sanji develops his Diable Jambe attack.
  Lucas: Geez, how tough are you? You just got sent flying through a dozen buildings, and you don’t even look winded.
  Ace: [dusting himself off] I went through worse than this when I was a kid.
  Lucas: That's… a little disturbing.
  Ace: Tell me about it.
• Meteor-Summoning Attack: Midway through its fight with Lucas, Giratina rains meteors on the battlefield that rock battleships even with a missed projectile.
• Mid-Season Upgrade: Enies Lobby serves as this for Lucas, when Giratina transports his last two team members Luxray and Togekiss from the Pokémon world to him, along with a replenishment of resources and new tools like Mega Stones.
• Mind Screw: Given their knowledge of heliocentrism, Lucas and his Pokémon are dumbstruck by the idea that the sun can just never set in places like Enies Lobby even when things operate normally in most other places.
  Lucas: [eye twitching from disbelief] But—how—but the sun—it—why—?
  Smoker: Like I said, the most common example of Grand Line geography. You wanna keep any sanity on these seas?
  Ace: Don’t ask questions. Just have fun.
• Mythology Gag:
  • When Lucas is warning off the Foxy Pirates, he says, "I suggest you surrender now or prepare to fight." This is a clear reference to Jessie's and James' favorite lines.
  • Lucario's example of humans doing the impossible when they don't know it's impossible is Riley's story of a boy in Johto carrying a (72 kg) Larvitar on his shoulder. This is something that Ash did in one episode of the anime.

N-Z

• Noodle Incident:
  • Lucas's comments on Gardevoir's early attempts at using long-range Teleports allude to one of these, which led to her being known as "Jungle Girl Kirlia" for a time.
  • Apparently, Lucario as a Riolu was a scrapper, picking fights with wild Onix and Steelix even newly hatched. Lucario grumbles that they don't need to talk about that, while Torterra snickers at the memories of "Riolu Watching Duty".
  • Luxray buries her head in her paws when Lucas relates a story of how she got into an eating contest with Barry's Snorlax and accidentally swallowed her Poké Ball whole in the process, which led to Lucas carrying her to the Pokémon Center to get her stomach pumped.
  • Upon seeing Hancock's fury first-hand, Lucas thinks that he hadn't seen anyone that angry since Crobat's Razor Wind tore Cynthia's clothes.
• No-Sell:
  • When fighting against Mr. 1, Lucario uses Iron Defense, causing the bounty hunter's blades to harmlessly scrape against Lucario's fur instead of cutting into his skin.
  • Crocodile eventually realizes that, as a Logia-user, he can just turn his brain to sand to prevent Gardevoir from targeting his mind. This forces her to take a different approach in dealing with him.
  • Gardevoir finds that those who are able to continually apply Armament Haki to their bodies can protect their brains from psychic attacks like Confusion, preventing her from simply instantly disabling tough opponents.
  • Hancock's Love-Love powers don't do anything to Lucas's Pokémon because they are not Pokémon who would find her features attractive. And later when she unleashes her Conqueror's Haki, they barely acknowledge it since they have faced foes with stronger Pressure before.
• "Not So Different" Remark: Robin's worries on how her own existence is a crime and how no-one can face the world and win are rebuffed by the Straw Hats, Ace, and Sabo sharing their own experiences with the subject.
• Not So Stoic:
  • Gardevoir and Vivi both break down in tears after Gardevoir uses her Psychic Powers to let them see Robin's Dark and Troubled Past.
  • Tashigi insists that any rumors of her boss grinning as he tested out the new flying upgrade on his Billower Bike are slanderous lies. Her own huge grin shows how sincere those statements are.
• Oh, Crap!:
  • Lucas, Smoker, and Tashigi have one of these moments after Smoker divulges the existence of CP9 and makes it clear he has no desire to see Pluton revived, regardless of who's giving the orders... just in time for Fleet Admiral Sengoku to make his presence known right behind them.
  • Lucas and his whole team have this reaction when Giratina appears. And seeing that they're afraid, everyone else is similarly scared.
• Olympus Mons:
  • When asked about his world, Lucas alludes to the existence of Legendary Pokémon. In Sinnoh alone, he mentions Arceus, the Top God of the setting, Dialga and Palkia, who have dominion over space and time, and Giratina, Lord of the Distortion World with the power to cross between dimensions. He explains that they're the closest his world has to "gods" and a "devil" to a pensive Sengoku. Lucas swears on their names, emphasizing how they're revered and feared as divine entities in the Sinnoh region, while painting Arceus' wheel over the emblem on the ship he stole from Rhode to make it clear who Lucas sees as a true god compared to the twits that make up the World Nobles.
  • Rei, The Chosen One of Pokémon Legends: Arceus defeated and captured Giratina in Turnback Cave, meaning that he had the Lord of the Distortion World as his companion. In the end, Giratina is said to have been released, choosing willingly to become the protector of the land the hero once saved. Rei uses his friendship with Giratina to petition the Lord of the Distortion World for aid in helping his son Lucas come home.
• Oh, My Gods!: Lucas and members of his team mutter Arceus's name the same way one would say, "Dear God!" in passing. He also swears on Mew's and Darkrai's names on occasion.
• Omniglot: Lucas and his Pokémon are dumbfounded when Luffy understands Crobat's Pokémon Speak after only a short while (likely due to the Voice of All Things), while it took years for Lucas to reach that level of instinctual understanding with his team.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: Lucas misplaced his Pokédex in the past while trying to help Dawn retrieve hers from Team Galactic. Gardevoir teases him relentlessly about it, spreading the story throughout the entirety of the Revolutionaries.
  Lucas: [grumbling after an exaggerated sigh] Misplace your Pokédex one time, and no one lets you forget it.
  Gardevoir: It doesn’t help that you did so in the process of helping Miss Dawn retrieve hers from Team Galactic.
  Lucas: You. Not helping.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • The Straw Hat Pirates are concerned when Luffy returns from beating up Bellamy and retrieving Cricket's gold more serious than when he left. They're rightfully concerned, as Luffy shows them Lucas's new bounty posters and exactly what he got them for.
  • When Gardevoir abruptly flees when Giratina arrives, Vice Admiral Doberman—despite his Knight Templar attitude towards Lucas's team and irritation at having just been dunked in the ocean—can't help but wonder what would terrify someone who fought evenly with Vice Admiral Gion and challenged Aokiji.
• Open Mouth, Insert Foot: Lucas's first face-to-face talk with Boa Hancock just leads to her getting angrier with every word he says, until he finally lets Gardevoir do the talking.
• Opportunistic Bastard: Deconstructed - Spandam has been trying to obtain the blueprints for Pluton for more than a decade, but after getting the opportunity to kidnap Robin, the only person who can read the Poneglyph that gives the location of the original Pluton, he decides to have her kidnapped - even though he could have just continued the mission to steal the blueprints and likely gotten away with it, instead of risking his career (and likely his life) by ignoring the advice of Admiral Aokiji that anyone who cost the Government their chance at making Lucas a Warlord would have "hell to pay" and hiring Blackbeard to kidnap Robin from under Lucas's nose when he's explicitly been made aware Lucas is fond of the Straw Hats. Basically, he decided to kidnap Robin despite the risk of enraging Lucas and ignored Aokiji's advice for not much more (if any more) reward.
• Outside-Context Problem:
  • Pokémon are this for the Grand Line. Beings capable of using powers like a Devil Fruit that aren't weak to water, capable of fighting off the Marines's strongest combatants, and the humans from said world have access to medicine and technologies that impress Vegapunk. So the Five Elders have CP 0 stalk Lucas and attempt to steal his belongings to give to Vegapunk. Failing that, they collect blood samples from Lucas's Pokémon in hopes of letting Vegapunk's Seraphim project use their powers.
  • The latter part is showcased by Lucas tossing Aokiji a Rawst Berry and some Moomoo Milk after their battle, which in seconds, heal burns and restore stamina that would've taken days to restore naturally.
• Overshadowed by Awesome:
  • Luffy and the Straw Hats realize quickly that they're this compared to Lucas's team, and it drives them to start training furiously after he's deemed an outlaw by the World Government.
  • When Laffitte infiltrates Mariejois to present his then-unknown Captain Teach as Crocodile's Warlord replacement, he isn't pleased when the room brushes him off to discuss a more cooperative and agreeable candidate in "Pokémon Champion" Lucas.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Giratina is revered and feared as one of the creator deities of Sinnoh, with only the foolish or insane refusing to respect its power. When it makes its appearance at Enies Lobby, its presence creates a constant feeling of Conqueror's Haki in the vicinity, it matches the full might of all eight of Lucas's Pokémon, and between the attacks they bring to bear—especially Draco Meteor—Nami worries that the battle between it and Lucas's team could sink the island. In the aftermath of the battle, onlookers compare Giratina's strength to one of the Four Emperors.
• Physical God: Legendaries seem to be this as a general rule of thumb. It's one of the reasons why Lucas is so offended by the World Nobles, who see themselves as gods but can't back up their arrogance.
  • Giratina was capable of fighting an entire team of Champion-level Pokémon (which seem to be, as a rule, roughly equal to the Warlords or senior Vice Admirals), and, to quote Word of God...
    Giratina is currently chilling in the Distortion World. When Lucas fought it during the Coronet Incident it was more along the lines of "calmed it down by letting it battle its rage out" and by fought I also lean more towards "survived after it fought Cynthia’s entire team."
    • After the Coronet Incident, Giratina suspects that Lucas and his team could provide a legitimate challenge eventually, and after Rei and his friends appeal to it, it declares it will only bring Lucas home once he reaches that point. In Chapter 21, they clash, Lucas and his full team of eight Champion-level Pokémon going up against it, and as close a battle as it is, Giratina ultimately wins, impressed by their growth but not yet impressed enough.
  • In one of the sidestories, Uxie was able to fight off Barry's entire team, plus Togekiss and Luxray (Lucas's last two teammates), without significant effort. Barry notes that to capture the Emotion-Knowledge-Willpower trio, Team Galactic had had to pump the air around them with Ghost-type energy and use small armies of Dark-types to disable them, or they wouldn't have had a chance of capturing one of them.
  • When talking to Sengoku after Giratina appears at Enies Lobby, Lucas outright calls Legendaries gods, or at least demigods, and gives him a summary of several of them.
• Plausible Deniability: Sengoku, after arriving in Water 7, knows that he has to ally with the Straw Hat Pirates to stop Spandam's plans, so he declares that the Straw Hats are the subordinates of the new Warlord Lucas, using Conqueror's Haki in order to stop Luffy from saying anything to the contrary, in order to give himself this.
  • Later, Lucas, knowing that Luffy isn't happy being being his "subordinate", even if only on paper, basically tells him that the best way to get out of it is to pick a fight with a different Warlord, namely Gecko Moria, in a way that gives him some deniability.
• Pose of Supplication: Barry, Dawn, Lucas's father Rei, and Cynthia, along with their Pokémon, bow to Giratina to beg him to give them a way of reaching Lucas. It works.
• Power Misidentification:
  • The moment Vivi sees rainclouds appear over Alabasta, she immediately tells Luffy to bring her whoever is responsible, since the only way of causing rain is through Dance Powder, which means the perpetrator is aligned with Baroque Works. Of course, nobody in the world knows about Water-type Pokémon, let alone the move Rain Dance.
  • Lucas brings down Crocodile's hideout by having Torterra use Earthquake. This sends Crocodile into a panic, as he mistook the attack for a blow from Whitebeard.
• Punched Across the Room: What Giratina does to Teach, if the "punch" was a headbutt and the "room" was across the sea near Enies Lobby, through the Bridge of Hesitation, and into a Buster Call battleship.
• Quizzical Tilt: When beseeching Giratina for help and initially explaining what's happened to Lucas, the massive Legendary does this in response. It would look comical on a Legendary like them, if not for the immense Pressure being exerted right then.
• Rank Up: For helping to defeat Crocodile in Alabasta, Smoker is promoted from Captain to Commodore. Meanwhile, Lucas goes from a criminal with a bounty of several hundred million to a Warlord of the Sea and the official boss of the Straw Hats.
• Reality Warper: The incalculable psychic powers of a swarm of Unown can bend reality as they see fit, which they try to use to grant the wishes of people they come in contact with. Lucas is sent to the Grand Line when they rifle through his memories and discover his desire to continue adventuring with his team.
• Realpolitik:
  • The Marines are so eager to get Lucas back on their side after the events of G-4 that they offer to hang Rhode out to dry if Lucas accepts a position as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. And despite his earlier declaration of war, Lucas needs the ability to travel freely without fear of the law to find a way home, so he accepts the offer.
  • Later on, Aokiji warns Spandam to make sure CP9 doesn't do anything to jeopardize the Marines's talks with Lucas, including targeting Robin or the Straw Hat Pirates when they reach Water 7.
• Reasonable Authority Figure:
  • Despite his gruff demeanor and desire to capture Luffy, Smoker allows the Straw Hats and Robin to leave Alabasta unhindered, as thanks for helping the Marines and Lucas stop Crocodile from taking over the country. He later declares as such to Sengoku.
    Smoker: I said it yesterday, and I’ll say it again: No matter who’s giving me orders, I have my own justice to follow. [...] Arresting criminals without hesitation or mercy. But more importantly, never allowing innocent people to get hurt when I can stop it.
  • Vice-Admiral Gion is also one. Not only does she serve as Miss Exposition for Lucas to learn about the power levels of this world, she also takes the time to spar and teach his team what they will be facing in the future... because she knows that as soon as "Saint" Rhode of the World Nobles arrives, any chance that Lucas will remain allied with them will drop to nil.
  • When Smoker calls the Buster Call ships approaching Enies Lobby that he is acting under the authority of Fleet Admiral Sengoku, that the Buster Call was activated under false pretenses, and that he's ordering them to stand down, Vice-Admirals Momonga, Yamakaji, and Strawberry are willing to stop and hear him out. Onigumo and Doberman, on the other hand...
• Recoil Boost: While fleeing the Marines of G-4 after defying "Saint" Rhode, Lucas has his entire team use Hyper Beam all at once, forcing Vice-Admiral Gion to intercept them. But she soon realizes that this was only a distraction, as the recoil from the attacks propelled the ship Lucas stole out to sea and out of reach.
• Red Baron: Lucas and his team get some after snubbing one of the Celestial Dragons, earning them the monikers of "Pokémon Champion" Lucas, "Lady Devil" Gardevoir, "Cobalt Jackal" Lucario, "Slicing Wings" Crobat, "Living Tsunami" Vaporeon, "Devil's Dog" Houndoom and "Island Tortoise" Torterra, all wanted alive and none with a starting bounty of below 360 million.
• Related in the Adaptation: In this story, Rei, the now-grown-up protagonist of Pokémon Legends: Arceus, is Lucas's father.
• The Reliable One: Although Torterra is Lucas's starter Pokémon, closest friend, and easily the strongest of his team in sheer physical power, Gardevoir's vast psychic abilities and willingness to call him out when he's being reckless means that she's often the first to respond when Lucas is in danger. She keeps him grounded and helps facilitate many of his plans with her telekinesis. In some ways, this makes her his Nami.
• Return to Shooter: When the Marines are forced to turn on Lucas by order of "Saint" Rhode, Gardevoir stops all the bullets fired at Lucas with her telekinesis before returning them to their shooters.
• Revealing Cover Up: How Sengoku works out that Lafitte was probably the one who stole one of the Golden Transponder Snails: there are only a few people who could have made it into Marineford undetected to steal one in the first place, and fewer people who would bother to do so, and all of the likely suspects in the place itself were cleared within 24 hours of the theft. And considering Lafitte was able to infiltrate Mariejois undetected, he's definitely sneaky enough to pull it off.
• Senseless Sacrifice: Discussed. When Baroque Works lays a bomb underneath the Alabasta royal palace, Pell gets ready to fly away with the bomb and sacrifice himself for the sake of the city. Gardevoir interrupts him and chastises him for not considering asking her for help. As a member of a species known for being willing to sacrifice themselves for their trainers, Gardevoir abhors the idea of unnecessary self-sacrifice. She then proceeds to effortlessly teleport the bomb miles above the city, allowing it to explode far away enough that not a single stone shifts in Alabasta.
• Scissors Cuts Rock: Although Vaporeon's Water-type attacks are Ace's elemental weakness, Ace's flames are hot enough to vaporize all of Vaporeon's attacks short of Hydro Pump. Even while under the effects of Rain Dance, Ace manages to fight Vaporeon and Smoker to a standstill before Luffy kidnaps Lucas.
• Screw the Rules, I'm Doing What's Right!: Smoker, despite having essentially captured Robin at the end of Operation Prometheus, lets her leave with the Straw Hats—and, by extension, lets the Straw Hats leave—after Gardevoir's powers convince him that she's innocent.
  • Also, Bentham (Mr. 2), after seeing everyone party after thinking they had defeated Crocodile and ended his plans, has a change of heart, willingly reveals himself and tells them what he knows about Operation Prometheus.
• "Shaggy Dog" Story: Crocodile has spent years trying to find Pluton, and finally learns in Chapter 17 after blackmailing Robin into telling him where it really is that it's in Wano, the home base of Kaido, one of the Four Emperors. Which is to say, it's locked behind one of the obstacles he was going to use it to defeat.
• Sherlock Scan: While serving ex-Admiral Zephyr wine, Sanji comes to the conclusion that his customer would enjoy a bottle of Jerez. Zephyr asks why Sanji didn't ask the others before selecting the bottle, to which Sanji replies that a world-class chef should be able to gauge the tastes of those they serve at a glance and accommodate them. Zephyr, though indignant to be told this by a pirate, admits that Jerez is indeed his favorite wine and compliments Sanji's expertise.
• Ship Tease: Lucas apparently has some with Dawn, given Gardevoir and Barry's respective remarks about their missing counterpart.
• Shout-Out: The first chapter is titled "Mankey's Paw", after the title of The Monkey's Paw. True to the famous short story, the plot begins when a swarm of Unown decide to grant Lucas's hidden desire to continue adventuring with his Pokémon, punching Lucas a one-way ticket to the Grand Line.
• Simple-Minded Wisdom: Luffy points out that Lucas is overthinking his loss to Giratina and any upcoming rematch, because now he has a guaranteed way back home that will come looking for him eventually. And when Lucas worries that he may only get one more chance, Luffy just tells him to get strong enough to win on that second chance.
• Speak Friend and Enter: Lucas doesn't know how to use the Griseous Orb that Giratina left him to open a portal into the Distortion World, until Sabo suggests asking it out loud.
• Spanner in the Works: Even without taking the Straw Hats into account, Lucas is this to the original story - having six Emperor-Commander level fighters popping into Paradise out of nowhere upends a lot of The Stations of the Canon for the first half of the story.
  • Crobat safeguarding the White Hound while Smoker's forces are in Nanohana prevents Mr. 11 from being killed, subsequently allowing all involved parties to get a head start on unraveling Crocodile's plans.
  • In Chapter 17, Spandam's plan to keep Lucas from realizing the Government was behind Robin's kidnapping goes down like an anchor thanks to Smoker's presence, as he recognizes Rob Lucci's name.
  • Due to Gardevoir restoring Sabo's memories, Ace doesn't face Blackbeard alone, foiling Blackbeard's goal of capturing Ace as a bargaining chip to be instated as one of the Warlords of the Sea. In addition, Lucas's presence fills the Warlord position that Blackbeard wanted and eventually summons Giratina, who sees Blackbeard as a pest and curb-stomps him, leaving Blackbeard at the mercy of the Marines.
  • Later on, during his discussion with Sengoku, Lucas points out that he is an individual with great autonomy, a straight moral compass, and power to match even the Emperors, and he is willing to follow his lead to promote Justice rather than the Government's whims. Sengoku decides to take the opportunity and effectively turn Lucas into The Inquisitor General, with the duty of inspecting the Marines and other Warlords for corruption.
• Spared by the Adaptation:
  • Mr. 11, who had previously been captured by the Marines and subsequently killed by several Billions agents, is here saved from his fate by Crobat.
  • Things go a bit differently here regarding the Going Merry being destroyed, so her keel and Klabautermann survive, she reveals herself to the Straw Hats because of Gardevoir, and there is a chance she can be rebuilt into a stronger body.
  • Nero, since he doesn't fight Franky on the Sea Train, isn't killed by Lucci for being too weak. He's still almost killed by Lucci, after he learns that Nero has only learned four of the Six Powers and "only" has a Power Level of 380, but he's stopped by Jyabura due to the latter wanting to fight Lucci.
  • Enies Lobby as a whole is spared the destruction of a Buster Call due to Smoker being able to talk three of the Vice-Admirals into standing down through Sengoku's authority. As for the other two Vice-Admirals, Gardevoir teleports one of them into the waters below, forcing him to focus on getting back to his ship, and the other is swatted unconscious by Giratina, who wants no distractions in its fight with Lucas.
• Spirited Competitor:
  • Lucas is one, given his homeworld's culture. He and his Pokémon are eager to spar and test themselves against everyone they meet, from Smoker and Tashigi to Vice-Admiral Gion, from the Revolutionaries to Admiral Aokiji. In fact, challenging Aokiji to a battle is one of his conditions to accepting the World Government's offer of a Warlord position, leaving everyone else amazed that he is challenging one of the world's strongest men for fun.
    Lucas: Where I come from, battling is as casual a greeting as shaking hands.
  • Similarly, Giratina's condition for returning Lucas home is to defeat it in a titanic fight. It goes to show that even a demigod of a Pokémon retains its desire for battle.
  • And later, when Sengoku is assigning Lucas a Marine handler, he wryly warns Commander Zephyr that Lucas might challenge him to a fight, to which Zephyr responds with eagerness.
• Spit Take: The Red-Haired Pirates are surprised at Lucky Roux choking on his food for the first time they can remember when the glutton reads the newspaper, but when Shanks reads the news about the new Warlord Lucas and his new subordinates the Straw Hat Pirates raiding Enies Lobby and capturing Blackbeard, he agrees that the news is spit-take worthy.
• Stealth Expert: Sabo is able to evade Sengoku's notice, even when the Fleet Admiral was able to notice Ace despite the pirate keeping his distance.
• Story-Breaker Power: Gardevoir's Psychic Powers do quite a bit in upending One Piece's story, from ferrying Lucas and his allies across Alabasta in the blink of an eye, to sharing Robin's Dark and Troubled Past to everyone including Vivi and Smoker, to restoring Sabo's memories of his brothers.
• Sunk Cost Fallacy: Aokiji tells Spandam to scrap the mission of CP9 on Water 7, or at least, to not send CP9 after Robin because of the risk that it could jeopardize the Government's attempts to make "Pokémon Champion" Lucas a Warlord if they targeted the Straw Hats. Spandam is frustrated, but decides to continue on regardless, saying he's put in too much to stop now. And since sending CP9 after Robin would tip off Aokiji and Sengoku that he disobeyed orders, Spandam decides to call Blackbeard, despite knowing he'd be sunk if the fact he did so became public knowledge.
• Supreme Chef: Lucas silently apologizes to his mother after taking a bite of Sanji's cooking, as it's the best food he's ever had. Sanji's expertise even goes so far as to be able to judge his customer's taste in drinks solely by their history, appearance, and mannerisms, offering Zephyr's favorite wine without even asking for his customer's preferences.
• Teleporters and Transporters: Provided that she knows where she's going, Gardevoir can teleport herself and large groups of people with her across large distances.
• That Came Out Wrong: When Kohza becomes aware of the Baroque Works moles in his ranks, he orders his men to root out everyone with the right tattoo, and to tear their clothes off if they have to. Then he realizes what he said, does a Verbal Backspace, and specifies the sleeves.
• Theme Naming: Each chapter title is named after a term from Pokémon, most commonly a move or ability, or adaptations of real-world phrases within the context of the Pokémon world. For instance, the first chapter is titled "Mankey's Paw", referencing Lucas's ill-fated wish to continue adventuring with his team, the Pokémon Mankey, and The Monkey's Paw.
• There's No Place Like Home: Lucas's driving motivation is to return home to his friends and family after being Trapped in Another World by a swarm of Unown. While he's happy to work with the Straw Hats and the Marines, he emphasizes that returning home is his first priority because of his responsibilities and obligations there.
• This Is Gonna Suck: After summarizing Vice-Admiral Gion's report that, due to the actions of one imbecilic World Noble, an ambassador/leader of a foreign nation with charisma to match, his supply of supernatural medicines and produce, and his retinue of loyal, otherworldly companions with powers that can match even the Marines's best, has now declared himself completely opposed to the World Government, the Government representative has to take a moment of composure before passing the report on. And when Tashigi realizes that the Admirals might be sent against Lucas for this slight, and that Lucas might actually win...
  Tashigi: This. Is. A disaster.
• To Be Lawful or Good: The Marines in G-4 are basically forced to make this decision in Chapter 10 - defy direct orders from a World Noble and be immediately charged with treason (Good), or go up against a friend to follow the orders of Saint Rhodes (Lawful). While Gion (accurately) assumed that Lucas and his team would be able to get away without serious problems, and every single Marine on base did their best to Be as Unhelpful as Possible to Rhode, it's very clear that none of the Marines involved were even remotely happy with what they did (Tashigi, in particular, despite knowing that Lucas got away and doesn't hold it against her, has a My God, What Have I Done? afterward).
• Too Dumb to Live: According to Sengoku's recollection, Spandam readily confessed to everything that happened on Enies Lobby, even triggering the Buster Call, because he thought that since he had successfully obtained Pluton's blueprints, he'd get off scot-free. That lasted until one of the Five Elder Stars examined the blueprints and declared them fake.
• Took a Level in Badass:
  • Upon hearing what happened to Lucas (being screwed over by a so-called God), the Straw Hat Pirates all vow to make themselves stronger, even spending a month in Skypeia to train. After sharing the story with the Skypieans, Luffy learns some new tricks from Gan Fall, Wiper, and the others, and becomes more adept at fighting with body parts besides his fists and feet, even learning Gear Second a few arcs early.
    • A second training session with Lucas and his Pokémon even teaches him how to look out for and counter Death or Glory Attacks like Hyper Beam and Frenzy Plant. Thus, when Lucci breaks out the Six King Gun, Luffy knows just how to make him overextend.
  • Tashigi also intensifies her training, both before and after the G-4 incident, partly to catch up to Zoro, and later to distract herself due to the orders of her bosses making her turn on Lucas. She advances quickly enough to cut steel (or rather, Lucario's Iron Defense) before arriving at G-4, and can fight Mr. 1, who previously subjected her to a Curb-Stomp Battle, in Water 7.
• Transformation Trinket: In Chapter 23, it’s implied Lucas received a Key Stone and Mega Stones for some of his Pokémon in one of his care packages.
• Trapped in Another World: Lucas is sent to the Grand Line by an encounter with a colony of Unown. He has a lot of adjusting to do from the Culture Clash of being the only Pokémon Trainer in a world full of superpowered sailors. His Pokémon are both wondrous and frightening to the people of the Grand Line, while Lucas himself becomes wrapped up in political intrigue because of his access to his world's technology and the destructive potential of his team. Unfortunately, he doesn't (at the moment) know of any way back. In fact, the first side story confirms that Lucas will need help to get back home:
  Uxie: He has no way to return on his own. Instead, an opening must be given.
• Trauma Button: Sanji gets his hackles up when he hears that Pokémon fight as newborns. Lucas reassures him that normally Pokémon are gentle when they are first hatched, and it's only the Fighting-types that seek to grow stronger at that fresh age.
• Twitchy Eye: Lucas's eye twitches while trying to wrap his head around how it's eternally noon in Enies Lobby, which goes against everything he knows about astronomy and the heliocentric model.
• Underestimating Badassery: Kalifa decides to take out the sniper Usopp who had been stymying their tactics, seeing him as an easy victim in close quarters. She learns about Usopp's Impact Dial the hard way.
• Undying Loyalty:
  • Lucas's Pokémon are deathly loyal to him. They followed him to the Distortion World and back and will challenge anyone if it means keeping him safe. Luffy acknowledges this and calls them Lucas's nakama as much as Luffy's crew is to him.
  • The Straw Hats are only beholden to Luffy himself and plan to follow him to the end of the Grand Line. They only take orders from others if it benefits them or Luffy.
  • Franky's men are equally loyal to their Big Bro to the point of being willing to go to war for Franky. Lucas remarks on this and finds it admirable, with Gardevoir comparing it to Lucas's mutual loyalty to his team.
• Unusually Uninteresting Sight: Although Lucas confuses and shocks people at first between his Pokémon and out-of-place clothing, by the time he reaches Water 7, he's treated by most people not in the know as Just a Kid. This is even after he's declared a Warlord of the Sea.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: An inversion - the World Noble "Saint" Rhode demanding Gardevoir be handed over to him pretty much killed any chance of Lucas ever completely trusting the World Government. Vice-Admiral Gion even tells Lucas that learning this is one of the reasons why she didn't tell him about Rhode's arrival beforehand:
  …Consider it the last lesson I can pass on to you: one person’s unexpected arrival can start or stop a war.
• Upper-Class Twit: The Celestial Dragons, as usual. The minute "Saint" Rhode arrives, he demands the "sub-human" Gardevoir become his Trophy Wife, instantly enraging Lucas and turning him against the Marines, much to Gion's, Tashigi's, and Smoker's chagrin. Rhode remains completely oblivious to the destruction and mayhem caused by his order while only getting madder that the "vermin polluted [his] head with his presence".
• Villainous Valor: Honesty - Mr. One reports his failure to kill Lucas to Crocodile, despite blatantly admitting that he knows the rules of Baroque Works mean he has to be killed for his failures.
• Villainous RRoD: Lucci demonstrates exactly why the Six King Gun is a Dangerous Forbidden Technique. He lands the first hit successfully, but his opponent dodges the second attempt and strikes him hard while he's recovering, so when he tries to use it a third time, his bones fracture under the strain.
• Voice of the Legion: Giratina usually communicates by exerting feelings and emotions. When the battle is done, Lucas suddenly hears a voice that leaves him chilled. Giratina finally speaks…
• Wax On, Wax Off: While visiting Monkey Island, Lucas kicks out the lemurs and monkeys trying to invade his boat's cabin with his new knowledge of Fishman Karate. He then gripes about how the Revolutionaries are passing off this chore to him under the guise of "training".
  Lucas: [to Sabo] I don’t want to hear another wisecrack about how this is helping with my training. If I have to kick one more primate off this boat myself, Ace can come find us on the open sea.
• We Need a Distraction: The Marines' plan to capture members of Baroque Works in Nanohana is to make a show of marching about to flush them out of hiding. Then Lucas can blindside them with his Pokémon, who have abilities unlike anything seen on the Grand Line.
• We Used to Be Friends: It's not clear how they knew each other, but Cynthia apparently knew Cyrus before he formed Team Galactic, and apparently took it badly enough when he revealed his true colors that Lucas compares it to Iceburg learning the truth about Rob Lucci (as well as Kaku and Kalifa).
• What the Hell, Hero?: Gardevoir gives Lucas a telepathic tirade for withdrawing her and letting himself be buried under the psychic force of the Unown, even though her psychic shield was cracking under the strain. She punctuates her frustration by slapping him until he's on the ground facefirst.
• Wham Line:
  • The Reveal of exactly who Sengoku has assigned to be Lucas's Marine minder:
    Sengoku: Commander Zephyr. Don’t be surprised if he challenges you to a fight.
  • In Chapter 23, the Five Elders are presented with blood samples from Lucas's Pokémon taken from the battle at Enies Lobby. These samples are sent to Vegapunk to use as part of the Seraphim project.
• Willfully Weak: As noted by Lucas, the gym leaders of the Pokémon League have a weaker team for battling challengers compared to their most powerful teams, lest new trainers be crushed by their much more experienced opponents. Lucas estimates Tashigi to be around the level of Gardenia's gym challenge team during her first bout with Lucario. Lucario's spars with Tashigi also involve him holding back, lest he knock her out of the fight immediately with blows comparable to a Vice-Admiral's.
• Wingding Eyes: Robin takes on a starry-eyed look when she first sees Giratina's Origin Forme, temporarily flabbergasting everyone present.
• The Worf Effect: The Vice-Admirals are established to be the Marines's strongest fighters short of the Admirals. Even Lucas's Pokémon would struggle to defeat a Vice-Admiral in one-on-one combat. And yet, Onigumo is taken out in a single hit by Giratina, emphasizing the attacker's overwhelming power as Lord of the Distortion World. It's especially noteworthy, since Onigumo is a Zoan.
• Worthy Opponent:
  • Gion considers Lucario an "exemplary" fighter and both sides are satisfied and happy with their spar at G-4. Although Tashigi only sees the tail end of the fight, Lucas is clearly excited and overjoyed by how tense the fight got.
  • Giratina sees Lucas as a potential worthy opponent and challenges him to battle in exchange for returning him to Sinnoh if he wins. Midway through the battle, Giratina offers to challenge the Whitebeard Pirates for fun later.
• You Are Better Than You Think You Are: As the scale of the threats his team faces grows, Lucas begins to feel insecure about putting his team in harm's way to defend himself when everyone around him has a Charles Atlas Superpower. When he admits this to Lucario, the jackal's response is to gather Lucas's entire team to help him train. And when Lucas still hesitates about taking them from their own training, Lucario speaks via Aura for the first time in his life, implicitly and explicitly emphasizing how much they care for him:
  Gardevoir: (telepathically) If you have reservations about your own ability to be helpful to us, then let us fix that. You made us all that we are through your knowledge and abilities. Now that a need has presented itself, it is only natural that we should return the favor.
  Lucas: I…I mean, but what about—?
  Lucario: (stilted) Worth it. You. Are. Worth it. Lucas.
• You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Spandam has no intentions to honor his so-called partnership with Blackbeard and his crew, who are too dangerous to let loose and a threat to Spandam's plans, and intends to have CP9 finish them off once they are weakened in their battle against Lucas and his Pokémon.
• Younger Than They Look: It's difficult for pirates and Marines to gauge the age of Lucas's Pokemon, given that their life cycles are entirely different from anything found on the Grand Line. Lucario, one of Lucas's primary frontline fighters, explains that he's a few months away from being four years old, surprising the Straw Hats and the Revolutionaries who are impressed by Lucario's fighting ability. Though Lucas explains that Lucario is a fully grown adult because of how evolution works for Pokémon.

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