Xin Mu had no idea whether anyone ended up falling for the Magikarp scam.
Anyone setting up a stall here must have had the shipowner's approval.
In theory, anyone who really knew about Pokémon wouldn't fall for this trick, but if money caught their eye for a moment and all they could think about was turning a profit,
they would most likely take the bait.
In a sense, pyramid schemes and scams started with a pitch that sounded incredibly stupid to normal people. That was precisely the point: filter out the sensible people first, and whoever remained was their target audience.
Aside from the man selling Magikarp, there were all sorts of merchants around. To them, this ship was a mobile marketplace.
But because they were on a ship, quite a few of them treated their business as a one-off deal. Shopping still called for caution.
The ship's banquet hall also offered a space for Pokémon enthusiasts to mingle. Many people were comparing their Pokémon here, and some would trade Pokémon after a brief chat.
Some people caught Pokémon with the express purpose of trading them for species unavailable in their own region. Others simply had personalities that clashed with their Pokémon.
Generally speaking, very few people would trade away a Pokémon they had raised for a long time. After all those days together, there were bound to be feelings involved.
The banquet hall even had a Pokémon battle area, where tourists from all over were battling.
There were no prizes or rankings, just battles for their own sake. Over by the battle area, Xin Mu also spotted Tang Zi slacking off.
"Out for a stroll too?"
"No, I wanted to have a battle, but I didn't bring any other Pokémon. Apart from Dugtrio, I sent all my Pokémon back