In reality, the Meowth-shaped hot air balloon hadn't left the area—it had simply vanished from Joffrey's sight due to an illusion.
Joffrey's words actually reached Jessie's ears loud and clear within the transparent barrier.
Hearing this, Jessie immediately struck a triumphant pose, placing her hands on her hips, arching her slender waist back, and covering her mouth with one hand.
"Well, it seems that even in other worlds, my charm remains as potent as ever. Hahahaha!" Jessie laughed boastfully.
"..."
James and Meowth exchanged glances, speechless at their partner's sudden outburst, then sighed in unison and turned away, entirely uninterested.
But seeing these two male companions dismiss her allure, Jessie was instantly displeased.
"Hey!? What's with your attitude, you two?" She clenched her fists, glaring at the pair, making James hastily wave his hands in defense.
"No, no…"
Quickly changing the subject, James said, "By the way, this transaction is complete. We should contact Sir Leo right away…"
"That's right, Meow!" Meowth chimed in, backing James. "Sir Leo is waiting for us, nya!"
Neither wanted to face Jessie's wrath.
A punch that could leave a Pokémon bruised and battered was nothing to scoff at!
After a bit of flattery, Jessie let them off the hook, and James and Meowth quickly began preparing the hot air balloon for departure, heading towards the coast of the Kingdom of Coast.
"Hmph~ Those two…" Jessie muttered, dissatisfied, but knowing that business was more important, she used her psychic powers to speed up the balloon's movement.
...
The Meowth balloon swiftly left the Kingdom of Coast, descending gradually as it reached the middle of the sea.
Suddenly, beneath the rolling waves, a dark mass emerged, resembling a newly appeared island… but on closer inspection, it was the back of a Wailord, its massive dorsal fins visible.
At that moment, the balloon, as if responding to some unseen command, quickly landed on Wailord's back with magnetic precision.
"Sir Leo!"
The Team Rocket Trio eagerly jumped out as soon as they landed, sliding down Wailord's slick skin and dropping to one knee in perfect unison.
Jessie, reaching Leo first, proudly reported, "Sir Leo, we've succeeded!"
"Under my guidance, King Joffrey purchased a Pokémon with potential. I'll send him the follow-up skill set and energy cube plan shortly."
"I'm confident that in a few days, he won't be able to resist the allure of power and will convert all his remaining treasury funds into points!!!"
"Hey, hey, hey! I was the one who guided him to choose the lower-level Nidoking!" James protested, raising an eyebrow.
"That's right!" Meowth chimed in. "And Jessie, you tried to seduce that king, which goes against the core principles of dimensional trade!!!"
"You two idiots!"
A metallic gleam appeared on Jessie's fist, signaling trouble.
"Hey! Are you really going to cause a scene in front of Sir Leo!?" James skillfully dodged Jessie's iron fist with a quick head tilt, light blue waves shimmering in his eyes.
Not to be outdone, Meowth spread his arms, shaking his head. "Jessie is always so quick to anger."
Bang!
Meowth's words acted as a trigger, and a fist, radiating dark energy, suddenly landed on his head.
The trio erupted into a scuffle!
Without external enemies, they quickly became each other's biggest foes!
Jessie unleashed two massive energy waves at James's aura shield and Meowth's protect skill.
James and Meowth retaliated—one with a wave missile, the other with a shadow ball.
As the trio was about to engage in an all-out brawl before him, Leo snapped his fingers silently.
Snap!
An invisible force instantly immobilized the three, sealing off their powers.
"Alright, that's enough…" Leo said, smiling helplessly.
He didn't seem bothered by their antics. After all, this was expected.
He calmly brought the trio back to their senses.
"I saw your entire transaction…"
The trio immediately fell silent, listening intently.
Leo nodded approvingly, "Overall, you've completed this mission perfectly."
"With that, I can confidently leave the East Blue Sea in your hands."
"Sir Leo…"
Upon hearing these words, the trio looked at him with wide, teary eyes, unable to believe it.
In the Pokémon world, their previous boss, Giovanni, had never praised them so highly.
This unexpected trust was like a gentle breeze in early spring, quietly warming their hearts.
Tears welled up in their eyes.
"Waaaaah… Sir Leo, it's so wonderful to be appreciated by you, nya!"
Meowth suddenly covered his eyes with his paws, sobbing.
James and Jessie followed suit, their hands shielding their teary eyes.
"I was right—Sir Leo is the best boss in the world!!!"
"Nonsense! He's the best boss in the entire universe, across all dimensions!!! Waaaaah…"
Reflecting on how Leo not only saved them but also gave their lives new meaning…
The Team Rocket Trio seemed to gain a special strength, bursting into tears. Their sobs filled the air, as they wept openly and loudly.
All the while, they lamented their past lives.
"Forget the Pokémon world! As long as we have Sir Leo, nya!"
"Yeah, that terrible world should just be destroyed!"
"…Unable to capture Pokémon, no chance of promotion or pay raise… What a rotten world that was!"
"It wasn't us who were wrong, it was the world!!!"
"..."
"..."
The trio's rant grew more and more outrageous, transforming what should have been a congratulatory meeting into a critique of the Pokémon world...
A few stress lines appeared on Leo's forehead.
Was this a dimension thing? Why did he feel like he could never get through to them?
At that moment, Leo might have understood how Giovanni felt when dealing with this trio.
But, given that they had just completed a mission—and done it well—he couldn't bring himself to reprimand them.
He waved his hand, using his psychic power to halt their tears and quickly got to the point:
"Alright, now that you're familiar with the trade process, I can head to the Grand Line with peace of mind."
"Oh, by the way!" Leo suddenly remembered something.
"Don't forget the individuals I marked, especially one named Luffy…"
"If you get the chance, keep an eye on him. I'm placing all my hopes for bond evolution on him," Leo said with a note of caution.
Even now, he hadn't given up on the possibility of bond evolution.
The spread of Pokémon had become inevitable.
As dimensional merchants enter the sight of major forces, those people who Leo was optimistic about but have little power themselves and possess a large amount of resources were easily restrained by the world's local forces.
In this way, Leo will lose a lot of high-quality customers.
After all, most of the people who are willing to buy Pokémon are insecure people.
Therefore, a group of top powerful forces headed by the World Government will become a suspicious factor affecting Leo's transaction.
It was also to prevent the Team Rocket trio from being disturbed by these suspicious factors...
Leo also spent 10,000 points to exchange the power of wave guide and the use of Observation Haki for James, and exchanged super powers and armament haki for Jessie.
Originally, Leo planned to use waveguides and super powers to influence the emotions of these two people and change James's weakness and Jessie's irritability.
Unexpectedly, not only were these two people not affected emotionally, but they used the power of waveguide and superpowers to play even better than him!
James strengthened spiritual power, combined with the observation haki, actually had a vague tendency to listen to the voices of all things. Although it was only a little bit, it was enough to shock people.
After Jessie acquired superpowers, not only was her own emotions not wiped out, but she also had an unexpected increase in controlling the emotions of others.
This made Leo wonder for a while whether these two people had any special physiques.
As a result, now, among the Team Rockets trio, the most normal one is the inhuman Meowth!
Fortunately, Meowth's own combat effectiveness and talent are not weak, but because all his potential is used to become a human, his strength will no longer increase.
Leo directly exchanged 5,000 points of the Pokémon's Origin power for Meowth, believing that with its hard working spirit, it would not take long for it to grow into a strong pokemon who can stand alone.
It's just that...weirdos like them are still a minority after all, and there are not so many weird people in the pirate world.
Especially those wealthy businessmen and royal nobles.
Therefore, Leo urgently needs a bridge similar to bonding power. On the premise of consuming a small amount of points, he can build a power transmission channel between Pokémon and trainers... In this way, even people who have little power themselves can gain power after possessing Pokémon. After Aura Bonding, he can become powerful immediately...instead of just having one powerful subordinate.
"Bond evolution?"
The Team Rocket trio were suddenly startled.
Jessie showed a puzzled look and murmured:
"Isn't that the unique way of evolution of Ash and Koga Ninja?"
James asked one after another: "Sir Leo, are you saying that there is someone here who is very likely to be the same as Ash, who can bond and evolve with Pokémon?"
"Hmm..." Leo nodded gently, looked at the three of them and said,
"Bond evolution plays a very important role in my next plan. You can keep an eye on him from time to time..."
"As soon as you find signs of the evolution of the bond, notify me immediately."
"We understand, Sir Leo!"
The trio responded in unison.
Immediately, Leo was ready to explain some more things about the settings of the Transdimensional Chamber of Commerce.
Then he discovered that...these three guys had superb talents in deceiving and making big promises , even him, felt a little ashamed if compared to them.
In order to prevent the trio from doing anything that would make him doubt the operation of the dimensional wall again, Leo gave a few instructions, directly entered the body of the Wailord, and set off towards the Grandline.
On the contrary, the trio who took off in the hot air balloon kept looking thoughtful after Leo left.
Meowth suddenly said:
"Tell me, if we help Sir Leo guide the evolution of bonds, will we get more praise!?"
Meowth, who has tasted the sweetness, appears to be very active in things that Leo values. .
Jessie and James, who were also looking forward to praise and recognition, nodded immediately.
"But, how do we guide the evolution of bonds?" James asked puzzledly.
Jessie showed a look of reminiscence and murmured:
"I remember that the Pokémon of the kid called Luffy was just a Froakie..."
"If we want to help him evolve through bond, we must at least wait until his Pokémon becomes Greninja."
"Meow!"
Meow thought for a moment, then punched his palm with his fist, and suddenly had an epiphany:
"In this case, we can guide some non-trader forces to find trouble for that brat!"
"As long as they go through a few more hardships, I believe their strength will grow by leaps and bounds."
"Well..."
Jessie and James pondered, and then thought of the stupid things they had been tempering, and their eyes immediately lit up.
"This is a good idea! Just because there is no transaction application now, we can collect some intelligence and see which forces can be used!!!"
The two three hit it off immediately, while imagining that they would continue to receive Leo's praise while controlling the hot air balloon, ready to take action.
(End of this chapter)