Regarding being photographed, Naruto was actually aware that it had happened.
But when he caught that news bird with a listening device implanted in it, the Den Den Mushi it carried had already transmitted the footage.
It was too late to silence them by then.
Fortunately, Naruto had some connections with that news king, Morgans.
After he promised the Den Den Mushi that "I'll actively contact you when there's big news in the future," Morgans still gave him face by not boldly displaying his true identity and appearance.
Anyway, those who should know should be able to tell.
"Tsk..."
Naruto awkwardly tugged at the coat on his upper body. This was something he had grabbed from Golden Lion's palace during the island's fall.
A pitch-black suit coat that looked very impressive, but Naruto felt all kinds of awkward wearing it.
He should quickly find the next island and get a new outfit.
"Squawk!"
At this moment, a huge bird head suddenly drooped down in front of Naruto.
This thing opened its large mouth, about to bite down on Naruto.
Smack!
The bird's head was slapped back.
"Behave yourself."
This strange bird, whose head alone was larger than a person, was dazed by the slap. If not for another bird head beside it remaining conscious, it probably would have plummeted downward.
After Naruto defeated Golden Lion, the Float-Float Fruit lost its effect, and the floating islands began falling from the sky.
Those young and strong people who had been captured by Shiki to the palace all managed to escape back to their homes, bringing other villagers with them as they flew away from the falling islands.
The other beasts on the island also showed their abilities, each displaying their own unique powers.
Some flew away by flapping their wings like the villagers, others relied on their high mobility to jump from one island to another, trying to mitigate their falling momentum.
Some thick-skinned giant insects chose to jump directly into the ocean. Their heavy shells were sufficient to help them withstand the first wave of impact.
In any case, only Golden Lion's subordinates were left on the island to await death.
What Naruto was currently sitting on was a two-headed monster bird with a wingspan exceeding fifty meters.
When he discovered this monster bird, it was attacking villagers trying to fly away from the island.
Naruto timely saved those villagers but also chose not to kill this monster bird.
The reason was simple.
What could be more suitable as transportation than this kind of flying beast?
Naruto refused to believe that riding a monster bird this time could still encounter any storms!
Taking out his Eternal Pose, he calibrated the direction.
Then he grabbed the monster bird's feathers and pulled it toward the correct direction.
The conscious bird head seemed to have a gentler personality and obediently turned according to Naruto's guidance.
The other bird head, which had just regained consciousness, felt pain and tried to bend its long neck backward again, wanting to bite the hateful little thing on its back to death.
Its fate was predictable. It received another ten seconds of dizziness.
These beasts injected with SIQ had their fear responses greatly weakened, so the usually effective Conqueror's Haki was completely useless against them.
It wasn't that they could be immune, but for Naruto to intimidate them without directly knocking them unconscious was almost impossible.
This monster bird's speed was quite fast, far exceeding ordinary ships.
It was just a pity that it didn't have chakra in its body, or Naruto would have even planned to sign a summoning contract with this monster bird and make it his exclusive mount.
The next island... should still take some time.
Thinking this, Naruto simply took out a pair of round sunglasses from his sealing scroll, put them on, and began resting with his eyes closed.
Time passed bit by bit on the bird's back.
It would be even better if this monster bird could learn its lesson and not try to ambush him every so often.
On the sea surface, a creation resembling a giant iron ball was slowly surfacing from the seabed.
After completely revealing its form, it retracted and lowered the iron plates used to keep out seawater, exposing its appearance as an armored warship equipped with huge gears.
A pirate flag with "crown and skull" hung from this ship's mast, and a huge hippo head was mounted at the bow.
On deck, Wapol, the former king of "Drum Kingdom," was scolding his subordinates.
"Useless trash! It's been so many days, and you still haven't found the way back?"
The soldier being scolded could only nod tremblingly, not daring to disobey this brutal king who was eight feet tall and eight feet wide.
"Sorry, Your Majesty! We... we didn't find an Eternal Pose pointing to Drum Island on that merchant ship."
Unable to vent his anger, Wapol punched and kicked that soldier, while those around didn't dare step forward to intervene.
There was no choice. After all, His Majesty Wapol was a "Munch-Munch Fruit" ability user. If someone dared defy His Majesty, he might really "swallow" them alive.
Although they wouldn't die, it wouldn't be pleasant either.
"Damn Blackbeard! Damn weather! And damn merchant ship!"
After venting, Wapol leaned against the railing, chewing a large piece of roasted meat along with the knife and fork while grumbling.
A few months ago, that hateful pirate had come to his country and destroyed most of Wapol's armed forces in just a few days.
Fortunately, he had foresight and escaped in time with some soldiers, thus preserving vital strength for the Drum Kingdom.
As for whether those pirates would harm the citizens?
Wapol didn't care about the life and death of those lowly people. As long as he, the king, was fine.
Thinking this, Wapol felt hungry again.
He had clearly just finished eating.
"Hey! Get me more food!"
But His Majesty's order wasn't carried out.
"Wh... what is that?"
"Is it a bird?"
"Why does it have two heads?"
Following his soldiers' gazes, Wapol looked toward a certain direction in the sky.
It was a red bird that didn't look very large in their field of vision.
What surprised Wapol most was that this bird actually had two heads.
"Interesting, shoot it down for me! I want to taste this rare delicacy!"
Seeing this creature he'd never seen before, Wapol felt excited, and with his stomach hungry again, he simply ordered his soldiers to shoot at that monster bird.
But when the soldiers fired their guns into the air, the bullets' range couldn't reach the target at all.
It seemed this bird was much farther away than it appeared.
"A bunch of useless trash!"
Seeing his subordinates' incompetence, Wapol decided to take action himself.
He opened his mouth wide and swallowed several cannons from the ship into his stomach.
Then, these cannons merged with certain substances he had already swallowed under the Munch-Munch Fruit's ability.
An extended cannon barrel protruded from Wapol's mouth.
Using an alloy cannon that combined three to four cannons and large amounts of rare metals to hunt birds seemed like overkill, but the surrounding soldiers had no intention of speaking up to stop him.
Bang!
This cannonball, with its whistling tail sound, shot rapidly toward the distance.