Pokemon Trainer of the Strawhats

Usopp Interview

Trainers need to collect a certain number of Gym Badges in order to qualify for a region's Pokémon League. Young Trainers usually begin their initial Pokémon journey by traveling from city to city in order to collect them. Badges are small enough to fit easily between one's thumb and index finger and can be pinned to a shirt or kept in a Badge case like this. They are made of a special material that is considered very expensive, making them priceless." Yukiko said as she showed one of her Badge cases.

After the gym challenges, those that won all 8 badges can apply for the Pokemon League. The gym challenges are just preparation for the real battles for the Leagues. There are nine known regional Leagues under the Pokémon League: the Indigo League in Kanto, the Orange League in the Orange Archipelago, the Johto League in Johto, the Hoenn League in Hoenn, the Sinnoh League in Sinnoh, the Unova League in Unova, the Kalos League in Kalos, the Alola League in Alola and the Galar League in Galar. And recently the Paldea League in Paldea.

The general structure of most Pokémon Leagues is actually simple:
The tournament competition itself has an opening and closing ceremony. In some regions, there is a torch with the flame of Moltres or Ho-Oh that burns for the duration of the tournament, a reference to the Olympic Games.

The day after the ceremonial torch has been lit, in some of the regional Leagues the qualifying rounds begin so as to weed out Trainers who have gotten the required eight Badges, but are not yet skilled enough to continue, and those who survive move on to the preliminary rounds. In other regional Leagues, instead, the preliminary rounds will begin right away, and will continue for several days until the top sixteen Trainers have been decided. At this point, there is a short break in the competition so that the Trainers and their Pokémon may rest, followed by the start of the final rounds.

In the final sixteen rounds, most, if not all, battles are usually Full Battles. All battles are conducted in the main stadium, and Trainers move up the tournament tree in single-elimination style. The winning contestant matchups are shuffled between rounds, as opposed to using traditional ladder seeding. The final winning Trainer, upon defeating their opponent, is awarded a trophy and earns the right to officially challenge the Elite Four and Champion of that region.

The Elite Four and the Champion themselves are considered the cream of the crop of their respective region. Champions are like Region Bosses, so if something goes down they're like the only people who can handle it. Usually."

"What do you mean by that?" Usopp asked as the others listened in.

"Well, just as there are many Trainers with noble goals and lawful methods, there are also corrupt Trainers, including a number of villainous teams and poachers. These Trainers often use powerful Pokémon to take what they want and further their plans. I've met plenty of organizations like that. However it's actually the higher ups who plan these things and they keep the underlings in the dark of what their real goals are. They are basically paid to do a job without asking questions. And they keep giving the Leagues and the authorities the slip. Well, until I came along." Yukiko smiled remembering the whole thing.

She then went on to explain about Team Rocket and Giovanni who was the ex-Viridian City Gym Leader along with his crimes of Animal cruelty,
Blackmail, Pollution, Attempted ecocide, Terrorism, Kidnapping, Unlawful imprisonment, Brainwashing, Theft, Attempted world domination, Conspiracy, Unethical experimentation, Abuse, Torture, Usage of illegal operations, and Attempted murder. That he only views Pokémon as tools for conquest, but Yukiko took a stand and eventually overthrew him and he was sentenced to life without parole.

Then she explained his underlings attempt to rise up in Johto only for their next boss to be defeated, only he chose to truly disband Team Rocket when Giovanni betrayed him to gain Mewtwo.