As the head of the World Government's intelligence organization, Spandam had naturally heard some information about Naruto.
However, this guy's attention was solely focused on the various major crimes Naruto had committed and the kind of merit he could gain by capturing him.
He completely ignored the fact that someone who could commit so many crimes and still remain at large must possess considerable strength.
After all, he didn't need to take action personally.
Spandam refused to believe that Naruto would dare to come after him on Enies Lobby.
Originally, he had been frustrated because he still hadn't managed to obtain the blueprints for Pluton from Iceburg.
For this mission, he had even sent four of his agents to infiltrate Galley-La Company… for five years.
Five whole years!
Who knew how much he had suffered during that time?
The merit was right there, yet he just couldn't claim it.
It was almost worse than killing him.
But now, things were looking up.
With the new target, Uzumaki Naruto, as a potential source of merit, as long as he could capture him, his promotion would be smooth sailing.
"Huh? Boss, are you sure about this?"
"What about the plan to assassinate the Revolutionary Army's branch leader?"
Standing in front of Spandam were three individuals.
The round, ball-like Fukuro, the flamboyantly made-up Kumadori, and the one who had just spoken, Jabra.
These three were also members of CP9 and had originally been preparing for an assassination mission targeting the Revolutionary Army.
Now, it seemed their mission was about to change.
"That's not important! Head to Water 7 to support the others first!"
'A Revolutionary Army's branch leader could be assassinated anytime, and even if one was killed, the enemy would quickly replace them.'
'It wasn't a significant merit at all.'
'How could it compare to capturing that elusive criminal?'
As for whether the mission might fail, Spandam didn't even consider it.
At worst, he could just activate a Buster Call and force Naruto out of Water 7.
Perhaps influenced by his father, Spandam had an almost delusional level of confidence in the so-called [Buster Call].
"Yeah, yeah."
Seeing his superior so blinded by the prospect of merit, Jabra knew there was no point in arguing further. So, he took his two comrades and prepared to board the Sea Train to Water 7.
On the other side, in a market somewhere in Water 7…
"Hiss..." Naruto scratched his chin, staring in disbelief at the strangely shaped fruit on a vendor's stall.
It was undoubtedly a Devil Fruit.
But without the reference book, Naruto couldn't immediately tell what kind of fruit it was.
Honestly, it was pure luck.
While casually strolling down the street, he had spotted this conspicuously displayed Devil Fruit.
The vendor was just an ordinary person and didn't seem to recognize it as a Devil Fruit. In fact, he might not have even noticed that one of the fruits he was selling had suddenly transformed into a Devil Fruit right before his eyes.
Yes.
In Naruto's sight, this fruit had 'transformed' from an ordinary piece of fruit into its current bizarre shape.
He paid for it and bought it on the spot.
Now, Naruto stood on the street, examining the Devil Fruit without a care for whether he might attract unwanted attention.
The fruit was entirely green, with a shape somewhat resembling a curled-up caterpillar.
'It's probably an Zoan-type fruit.'
'Most likely some kind of insect... Mushi Mushi no Mi, perhaps?' (T/N: Mushi means insect.)
This fruit had come at the perfect time… not that Naruto planned to eat it. He just wanted to conduct a small experiment.
After returning to the inn where he was staying, Naruto took out the fruit from his bag and then retrieved a blank scroll.
Poof!
A puff of smoke dispersed, and the fruit vanished.
In its place, the character for [Insect] now appeared on the scroll.
"Hmm?"
He picked up the scroll and examined it for a moment, then channeled Chakra into it.
Another puff of smoke, and the fruit reappeared completely unchanged.
'So, sealing scrolls could be used like this too?'
Naruto was genuinely surprised.
In the Ninja World, many Ninjutsu's formulas were automatically generated based on their inherent properties, and the characters inscribed on them were rarely written by the user's own will.
For example, when Hashirama used his 'Head-Pat of Doom' move, the character for [Seat] would automatically appear.
Similarly, the characters on sealing scrolls were also generated automatically, just like the body and head scrolls that had once sealed Hidan's remains.
Naruto didn't fully understand the principles or mechanisms behind this 'automatic identification' function.
But the fact that it could, to some extent, serve as a substitute for a Devil Fruit Encyclopedia was something he had never considered before.
When sealing the Devil Fruit, the scroll had clearly recognized some kind of 'attribute' of the object.
It was fascinating… ordinary things from different worlds could collide and produce such unexpected sparks.
As for who should this fruit be given to?
Honestly, Naruto hadn't decided yet.
He himself wasn't willing to eat a Zoan-type fruit.
If it were confirmed to be a Mythical Zoan, Naruto might have considered it.
Of course, his first choice would still be the Baku Baku no Mi, with its infinite devouring ability. He figured that by now, that fruit had probably already reappeared somewhere in the vast ocean.
'If I could come across it, that would be ideal.'
As for his earlier idea of bringing back fruits that could quickly boost the strength of kids like Sasuke or Karin-
Well, Logia-type fruits would definitely take priority.
Even though Naruto had just beaten Ace like he was a helpless child, but in the Ninja World, a Ninja capable of elemental intangibility would likely be able to ignore most enemy attacks.
Without Haki, dealing with a Logia user would be extremely difficult.
Maybe Genjutsu could work, but how many Genjutsu masters were there in the Ninja World anyway?
Just as Naruto was mentally raising all these flags, his gaze happened to land on a sealing scroll marked with the character [Snake].
"Hmm…"
'If I recalled correctly, someone had once said that eating two Devil Fruits would result in death.'
'But what if a Ninja's clone and their real body each ate a different fruit?'
Somewhere far away in the Ninja World, Orochimaru's main body suddenly shuddered for no apparent reason.
Soon, night fell again.
Naruto had just finished dinner at a floating restaurant built on a ship. Glancing at the darkening sky, he began searching for nearby bars.
As he strolled, admiring the scenery of Water 7, a particular bar suddenly came into view.
[Blueno's Bar]
Sensing the presence of several unusually powerful auras hidden among the patrons inside, Naruto's face broke into a friendly smile.
'Let's have a drink first.'
The bar was quite crowded at the moment.
There were island residents, shipwrights, merchants here for business or travel, and even a few pirates.
The bartender was a long-faced man with bullhorn-like hair, and Naruto could tell that he was also different from the rest.
Clearly, this bartender, along with a few others Naruto had noticed earlier, now watching him from a hidden room, was no ordinary person.
'Pirates? Revolutionaries? Marines?'
'Or perhaps…'
This sneaky, covert style of operation reminded Naruto of a certain old acquaintance.
An old acquaintance he wasn't exactly eager to face right now.