This was also the reason Hiashi didn't directly mention Garp's name or identity.
The way he said it now, it seemed more like an ordinary family gathering between Hinata's two elders, without anything special.
But in reality, only Hyuga Hiashi himself knew what his true purpose was.
"Alright, I'll ask Grandpa tonight."
Hinata nodded obediently.
Beside her, Medicham looked utterly confused.
Medicham didn't know who Hiashi was, but those white eyes did indeed look quite similar to her partner, Hinata.
"Is this your Pokémon?"
Hiashi pointed at Medicham next to Hinata.
He didn't know much about Pokémon—in fact, he hadn't put much effort into learning about them at all.
However, he had secretly organized a group of non-ninja branch family members within the Hyuga clan to learn about Pokémon to serve the entire clan.
"Yes."
Hinata nodded and introduced, "She's Medicham. She just turned one month old, having just left her juvenile stage."
"What's her type?"
Hiashi was very interested in type.
To people who didn't have enough understanding of Pokémon, type was often the only basis to judge the strength of a Pokémon.
Types like Dragon, Ghost, Psychic, and Fairy sounded strange and impressive, and were often perceived as powerful.
On the other hand, types like Normal, Fighting, Flying, Water, Fire, and Electric seemed ordinary and were often considered weaker.
This perception was common in the Shinobi World, where they had knowledge of elemental techniques (Kekkei Genkai) that were often considered powerful.
In the Pirate World, there was another set of standards.
Large, powerful-looking Pokémon with abilities similar to Devil Fruit users were considered strong.
Smaller, cute-looking Pokémon were often considered weak.
"She is Fighting and Psychic type."
Hinata answered honestly.
She didn't have as many thoughts as Hiashi; she never considered the type of Medicham to be an important issue.
However, Hinata was initially happy that Medicham had the Fighting type.
Because Fighting was the tradition of the Monkey family, including her grandfather, who was the Fighting Dojo leader. The Hyuga clan's techniques were also similar to Fighting, so Hinata naturally leaned towards the Fighting type.
After that came the Fire type.
Though she didn't understand why, four of the Garp Mountain's seven brothers had Fire-type Pokémon, and even Ace, a human, had a strange ability to make the top of his metal staff burst into flames.
According to Garp, this was due to sparks generated from Armament Haki rubbing against the atmosphere.
Garp was surprised that Ace could already use Armament Haki at the age of twelve.
However, Ace didn't even have a concept of Armament Haki, only occasionally releasing it when he got lucky, which made Garp lose interest quickly.
Because of this, Hinata had a high affinity for the Fire type and was determined to find a Fire-type partner someday.
"A dual-type Pokémon? Good, good."
Hiashi's face initially fell upon hearing Fighting.
However, upon hearing Psychic, he immediately performed his specialty—the face-changing technique of Sichuan Opera. (Those are the people with mask were they move their head fast to instantly change the mask. Pretty cool.)
As he spoke, he seemed to be filled with a sense of pride, having already felt the envious gazes of others in the exchange team.
"Huh? People from Konoha?"
At that moment, Naruto, noticing that Hinata and Medicham had stopped chasing, ran back.
He was somewhat surprised to see the Konoha exchange team, but since he barely knew anyone in the group, he quickly lost interest.
Ever since he took a leave of absence from the Ninja Academy, Naruto's sense of belonging to both the Shinobi World and Konoha had gradually faded.
This was largely thanks to the meticulous care of Zephyr and the affection of the neighbors in Alliance City.
However, no matter what, Konoha still held special meaning for Naruto.
After all, it was where he was born, and his parents had once lived there.
But that was the extent of it.
Today, Naruto didn't have many ties to Konoha, except for a few friends from the academy, Iruka, and Hiruzen, who held some weight in his heart.
Even Sakura was becoming less important to Naruto, and it wasn't just because of Hinata. More so, it was because of Sasuke and Luffy.
Naruto's bond with Sasuke and Luffy was growing stronger.
The three often trained together.
Today, they'd be on the Moby Dick, tomorrow in Marineford, and the day after on the Mountain. They were so close that they were practically growing up in the same pants.
Recently, they'd also met two friends named Zoro and Sanji.
Although those two frequently argued, they were great guys, and Naruto liked them a lot.
For Sasuke, the Shinobi World and Konoha were even more unfamiliar—a place filled only with painful memories. He would eventually return to the Shinobi World to kill Uchiha Itachi, but his final home would be the Moby Dick.
If Naruto had come to Pokémon Island a bit later—say, at twelve years old.
If he had gotten to know people like Kakashi, Jiraiya, and Tsunade, his feelings towards Konoha wouldn't have become so indifferent as they were now.
This, in the end, was the fault of Hiruzen himself.
By hiding Naruto's true identity and treating him like an outcast in the village, how could Naruto ever feel a sense of belonging to Konoha?
The situation was the same with Sasuke. By standing by as the Uchiha clan was wiped out by Danzo, how could Sasuke ever feel attached to the village? But Hiruzen didn't really care about Sasuke anyway.
Given the circumstances, seeing the Konoha exchange team didn't cause much of a stir in Naruto's heart.
Especially since neither Hiruzen nor Iruka was among them, he was greatly disappointed, losing all interest.
Had Hinata not stopped here, Naruto probably would have left by now.
Naruto remembered that Hinata didn't feel comfortable staying with the Hyuga clan—something he'd heard from Luffy.
'Maybe these people are here to take Hinata away!'
Since Luffy wasn't here today, Naruto had to protect his good friend Luffy's little sister. Otherwise, he wouldn't have the face to see Luffy and the caring brothers from Garp Mountain.
With this thought, Naruto ran silently to stand in front of Hinata, shielding her from the group.
Vulpix didn't know what Naruto was thinking exactly, but it could sense his hostility towards the people in front of them.
Immediately, Vulpix stopped playing around and jumped beside Naruto, baring its teeth.
To this,
The Konoha group:
Hinata was completely overthinking things.
Rather than taking Hinata back, they were more interested in bringing Naruto, the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, back.
But Naruto had no idea he was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, nor did he know his status in Konoha, which led to this misunderstanding.
"Alright, Hinata, you and… Naruto, go play. We have some things to take care of, so we'll leave first."
"Yes, Father."
Hinata nodded.
Then the four of them watched as the Konoha exchange team departed.
As they continued on their journey, the Konoha exchange team encountered several important figures.
First, they met members of the Whitebeard Pirates.
With Alliance City open, it was only natural for every member of the Whitebeard Pirates to come in full force to cheer for their father and brothers.
However, the members present only included the 1,600 regulars from the Moby Dick, not the 43 affiliated groups under the Whitebeard Pirates.
In fact, there were no longer 43 affiliated groups under the Whitebeard Pirates.
Since the Pokémon era began, these 43 pirate groups gradually disbanded. Some returned to their hometowns to become farmers, while others who had committed crimes turned themselves in to avoid causing trouble for others.
In short, out of the 50,000 members in these 43 affiliated groups, fewer than 10,000 were still active on the seas today, and the number continued to decrease.
Whitebeard was fully aware of this, but he never said a word.
In the current era, there was no point in having so many people gathered together. Disbanding and pursuing their own desires might be a better path, so Whitebeard neither stopped them nor openly supported them.
When the Konoha exchange team saw the eccentric crew of the Whitebeard Pirates, they couldn't help but stop to watch.
The attention the Whitebeard Pirates attracted even surpassed that of the ninjas.
"Isn't that Sasuke?!"
Kurenai, sharp-eyed, saw Sasuke standing beside Whitebeard with a sullen face.
It seemed that someone in the Whitebeard Pirates had once again made Sasuke angry.
"Indeed."
"Did Uchiha Sasuke join that group?"
"This group looks extremely powerful."
"Of course they're powerful. Just look at the way people on the street are looking at them."
The Konoha exchange team members were surprised to see Sasuke, not expecting him to have joined such a powerful group.
However, it didn't really concern them. To be frank, they didn't care much about Sasuke.
Sasuke also noticed the Konoha exchange team.
But he merely gave them a few glances before withdrawing his gaze, showing no intention of greeting them.
"By the way, Sasuke, do those people have anything to do with you?"
Though Sasuke had no intention of greeting the Konoha exchange team, the Whitebeard Pirates had keenly noticed something off.
They remembered that Sasuke's attire and insignia had some similarities to those of the ninja-like group.
"No connection."
Sasuke shook his head.
The others dropped the topic. It was evident that Sasuke didn't want to dwell on it any further.
Whitebeard cast a few extra glances at the Konoha exchange team, understanding a bit of the situation and immediately feeling no goodwill.
Living in the same village, yet allowing the clan of a fellow villager to be massacred—regardless of the reasons and justifications, how could Whitebeard hold any respect for such people?
That, of course, was impossible.
(End of Chapter)
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