Pain contemplated all of his Ninjutsu, trying to solve the troublesome problem in his thoughts, but no matter how much he thought, he found he still had no clue.
To find a solution, Pain believed that knowledge was very important, so he turned to Reno beside him and asked, "Devil Fruits disappear after the Ability Userdies; is it possible to capture the Fruit before it disappears?"
Regarding this question, Reno thought carefully for a moment and suddenly remembered what Blackbearddid to Whitebeard during the Marineford War.
It seemed he intercepted the Tremor-Tremor Fruitfrom Whitebeard's corpse. Although he didn't know how Blackbeard did it, Reno felt this information should be very important to Pain, so he replied, "Someone did it during the Marineford War. That person was Blackbeard. I'm not too sure how he did it."
"Someone did it?... If someone did it, it means the Fruit can be intercepted... If it can be intercepted, there must be a way..."
Pain pondered Reno's detailed explanation of the Devil Fruit, which made Pain realize that a Devil Fruit, while appearing to be a fruit, might actually be a container storing a special kind of energy.
Pain recalled what Reno had said, "Users are only affected when they take the first bite. Does that mean the user has already consumed all the Fruit's energy with the first bite?..."
"The rest of the Fruit is no different from an ordinary fruit?... Moreover, a person who has eaten one Fruit cannot eat a second one because the user cannot withstand the energy of two Fruits."
Given this, Pain could basically conclude that the Fruit contained an energy body. The original host of this energy body was the Devil Fruit, which then transferred to a new host with the user. Because the new host was a living body, various incredible abilities were produced.
If his judgment was correct, then Pain had basically found a way to solve this difficult problem.
Thinking of this, Pain no longer researched the problem. All that remained was to find Crocodile and conduct an experiment to basically prove it.
"Pain, we've arrived..."
Reno interrupted Pain's contemplation to remind him.
Pain looked up at the continent before him, where sand filled the sky, as the ship slowly approached the shore. Once the ship docked at the port, all he saw were busy crowds, each engrossed in their work. No one paid attention to the foreign ship that had suddenly docked, as Pain had long since thrown away the pirate flag. Looking at these busy figures, there were stevedores loading and unloading, and various merchants, but without exception, all had their heads wrapped in scarves or headscarves to prevent the sand from invading.
"You have two days to find Crocodile's whereabouts," Pain ordered Reno.
Reno didn't care if the time was sufficient. Since Painhad given the task as an order, it meant Pain believed in his ability to complete the task within two days. After responding with a "hmm," he disappeared.
After Reno left, Pain fell into contemplation again.
"Whether this Crocodile can be found is currently unknown..." If he is found, with only the Heavenly Dao's abilities currently, I wonder if I can deal with him?..."
"And it's been over two years since this Crocodile was defeated by the Straw Hat Pirates. Since the Straw Hat Pirates are improving, it's impossible for this guy not to improve... unless... he spent his time elsewhere..."
"Elsewhere?" Thinking of this, Pain felt that Crocodilelikely hadn't left Alabasta since being defeated by Straw Hat.
Crocodile might have been lurking in Alabasta all along, researching how to find the Ancient Weapon "Pluton." After all, as a former Shichibukai, he shouldn't have allowed himself to be defeated by an unknown rookie at the time and then endure humiliation.
The more Pain thought about it, the more he felt that his current speculation should be correct, especially considering that Crocodile is a Suna Suna no MiAbility User.
"Who else is more suited to stay in this sand-filled country than him?... This should be his natural battlefield, and to make others submit to his feet in this world full of powerhouses... besides his own strength... he must go out to sea and constantly challenge strong opponents."
"And to go out to sea..."
"Isn't the Ancient Weapon 'Pluton' the best tool for going out to sea?" Combining this with Reno's statement, Pain felt he was basically close to the answer he wanted.
According to Reno's explanation of the three major types of Fruits, Pain felt that the opponent belonged to the Logia Ability User. Since seawater restrains Fruit Ability Users, the first thing to consider was the issue of a suitable battlefield.
So, the next thing to consider was the tactics and, after killing Crocodile, which of the Six Paths should be created using his corpse. Pain felt that the choice of the first corpse's Six Paths ability was very important, as it concerned how much strength could be exerted in subsequent battles.
The Heavenly Dao's ability can currently be used, but the issue of Chakra quantity might lead to the power not reaching the ideal level. Because Pain felt that if he were to use "Super Shinra Tensei" or "Super Chibaku Tensei" with the current Chakra quantity, it would definitely be impossible.
The remaining five Paths are: Asura Path, Human Path, Animal Path, Preta Path, and Naraka Path. The Asura Path's ability is the "Bizarre Arm Rocket," which uses a special Summoning Ninjutsu of the Six Paths' power to summon various weapons onto oneself, thereby performing Taijutsu beyond human limits.
He can even summon artillery-type weapons that do not exist in this world, ranging from long-range to close-range weapons, sufficient to handle various combat situations.
Revisiting the Human Path, the Soul Absorption Jutsu is a very important ability. By extracting others' Souls from their heads to read their memories, these memories can be shared with oneself. People whose Souls are extracted will die, but it is unclear whether this will be effective against these Devil Fruit Ability Users.
Looking at the Animal Path, the Summoning Jutsu is also very useful. It is an Advanced Summoning Ninjutsu that can summon Summoned Beasts without needing to sign a blood contract. It can also control Summoned Beasts with ocular power, share vision with the main body, and possess some of the main body's abilities.
Pain recalled the Summoned Beasts summoned by the Animal Path in his previous life: crabs, lobsters, chameleons, splitting dogs, Yatagarasu, rhinoceroses, buffaloes, pandas, and centipedes. It could also summon other Paths and Konan.
But he didn't know if his Summoning Jutsu and Summoned Beasts in this world could be used normally. Thinking of Konan, Pain felt a surge of longing that lingered.
Pulling his thoughts back, Pain continued to sort through the Preta Path. The Preta Path can activate the Preta Path: Sealing Technique Absorption Seal, which can counter long-range attacks, reverse the Chakra circulation within the body, and absorb and nullify the opponent's Ninjutsu in front of him.
The absorbed Chakra dissipates within the body, as if falling into a bottomless swamp. Previously, only Chakra was absorbed. Coming to this world, what needs to be absorbed will certainly be the energy attacks of Devil Fruit Ability Users, and he doesn't know if there will be an impact.
(Irrelevant to Chakra's nature, as it is a Sealing Jutsu, Chakra absorbed by this method will not cause any positive or negative effects on the body, but in this book, it is changed to absorbing energy, and exceeding the Preta Path's tolerance point will cause the body to explode).
Pain's last Path was the Naraka Path.
It can resurrect others in Reincarnation, summon the King of Hell, and observe enemy situations using the "Rinnegan's shared vision" (the summoned King of Hell possesses the Rinnegan). It can also use the King of Hell to "judge" whether captured individuals are lying. If they lie, the King of Hell will immediately extract their Soul. Furthermore, damaged or deceased other Paths can be repaired by placing them within it, with the repair method resembling chewing.
After reviewing his Six Paths abilities, Pain felt that, given the current situation, the most useful for himself should be the Preta Path, after all, his current body is that of a living person, not the Heavenly Dao created from a corpse in his previous life, which could be repaired by the Naraka Path if damaged.
However, his current body's defense should be its greatest weakness. Although he couldn't yet confirm whether it could absorb the energy attacks of Devil Fruits in this world, it was worth a try.
Vaguely, Pain had already made a preliminary selection for the application of the first corpse...