Spandam was at least the leader of the World Government's intelligence organization, so naturally he had heard some information about Naruto.
However, this guy's attention was only focused on the various serious crimes Naruto carried and what kind of merit he could gain from capturing him.
He completely ignored how strong someone who could commit so many crimes and still remain at large actually was.
After all, he didn't need to personally take action.
Spandam didn't believe the other party would dare run to Enies Lobby to attack him.
Originally, he had been somewhat depressed because he hadn't been able to get Pluton's blueprints from Iceberg.
For this mission, he had his four agents go undercover at Galley-La for a full five years.
Five years!
Who knew what he had been going through?
The merit was right there, but he just couldn't get his hands on it.
It was more painful than killing him.
But now it was good.
With this new merit opportunity called "Naruto Uzumaki," as long as he could capture him, his promotion would be smooth sailing.
"Huh? Are you sure about this, sir?"
"What about the plan to assassinate the Revolutionary Army branch leader?"
There were three other guys in front of Spandam.
They were Owl, who looked like a ball, Kumadori with his kabuki performer appearance, and Jabra, who had just spoken.
These three were also CP9 members, originally planning to conduct an assassination strike against the Revolutionary Army next.
It seemed their mission would have to change.
"None of that matters. Go support them in Water 7 first!"
Revolutionary Army branch leaders could be assassinated anytime, and even if they killed one, the other side would quickly have someone replace them.
It couldn't count as any great merit at all.
How could it compare to that elusive great criminal?
As for whether the mission might fail? Spandam hadn't considered it.
At worst, he'd just launch another Buster Call and force that guy out of Water 7.
Perhaps influenced by his father, Spandam had always had a mysterious confidence in the so-called "Buster Call."
"Yes, yes."
Seeing his superior's appearance of being completely blinded by merit, Jabra knew there was no point in continuing the conversation, so he prepared to take his two companions to board the sea train to Water 7.
On the other side, at a certain marketplace in Water 7.
"Hiss..." Naruto scratched his chin, looking somewhat incredulously at a peculiarly shaped fruit on the fruit stand in front of him.
It had to be a Devil Fruit.
But without an illustrated guide, Naruto couldn't immediately tell what kind of fruit this was.
Speaking of which, his luck was good.
While casually strolling the streets, he had spotted this Devil Fruit displayed openly.
The merchant was just an ordinary person who didn't seem to think of this thing as a Devil Fruit. He might not have even noticed that one of the fruits he was selling had suddenly transformed into a Devil Fruit at some point.
Yes.
This fruit had "transformed" from an ordinary fruit into its current peculiar appearance right before Naruto's eyes.
Pay money, buy it.
Naruto just held that Devil Fruit and examined it on the street, not caring at all whether others might target him.
It was entirely green and shaped somewhat like a curled-up caterpillar.
It should be a Zoan fruit.
Most likely some kind of bug... a Caterpillar Fruit ability?
This fruit came at just the right time. Not that Naruto planned to eat it, but he wanted to conduct a small experiment.
After returning to his hotel, Naruto took the fruit out of his package, then took out a blank scroll.
Poof!
After a puff of smoke cleared, the previous fruit had disappeared.
In its place, the character "insect" appeared on the scroll.
"Hmm?"
He picked up the scroll and examined it for a few moments, then input chakra.
Another puff of smoke, and that fruit reappeared exactly as it was.
Sealing scrolls have this kind of use too?
Naruto was somewhat amazed.
In the ninja world, many of these ninjutsu techniques were automatically generated based on their nature, and most of the characters on them weren't subjectively written by the user either.
For example, when Jiraiya uses Fuuka Houin (Fire Sealing Method), the scroll automatically displays fire-related characters like 火 (fire), 炎 (flame), or 熱 (heat) when sealing flames.
The characters on the sealing scrolls were also automatically generated, just like the "body" and "head" scrolls that had previously sealed Hidan's body parts.
Naruto didn't understand the principles and mechanisms behind this "automatic recognition" function.
But the fact that this function could somewhat replace Devil Fruit encyclopedias was something he had never considered before.
When sealing the Devil Fruit, the scroll had obviously recognized some kind of "attribute" of the item.
It was really remarkable how ordinary things from different worlds could create surprising sparks when they interacted.
As for who should get this fruit?
Honestly, Naruto hadn't decided yet.
He himself was unwilling to eat a Zoan fruit.
If it were confirmed to be a Mythical Zoan, Naruto might consider it.
Of course, his first choice would still be the Munch-Munch Fruit with its unlimited devouring ability. That fruit should have already respawned somewhere in a corner of the sea by now.
It would be best if he could encounter it.
As for his previous thoughts about bringing some fruits that could quickly boost strength for little guys like Sasuke or Karin.
Logia fruits would definitely take priority.
Don't look at how Naruto completely dominated Ace like beating up a child, but in the ninja world, a ninja who could elementalize would very likely be able to ignore most enemy attacks.
Without Haki, it was extremely difficult to affect Logia fruit users.
Perhaps genjutsu could work, but where were there so many genjutsu masters in the ninja world?
Naruto's flag was flying high when he suddenly noticed a sealing scroll marked with "snake."
Hmm...
Someone had said that eating two Devil Fruits would result in death, right?
But what if a ninja's clone and main body simultaneously ate two different fruits?
Far away in the ninja world, Orochimaru's main body suddenly shivered for no apparent reason.
Soon, the sky darkened again.
Naruto had just finished dinner at a restaurant built on a ship. Looking at the sky, he began searching for nearby bars.
While strolling and admiring Water 7's scenery, a bar suddenly entered Naruto's field of vision.
"Blueno's Bar"
Sensing those few obviously much stronger presences hidden among the many bar patrons inside, Naruto's face showed a kind smile.
First, let's have a drink.
There were quite a few people in the bar at this time.
There were island residents and shipwrights, as well as merchants and pirates who had come to this island for travel or business.
The bar owner was a long-faced man with horn-shaped hair. Naruto also sensed that he was different from ordinary people.
Obviously, this owner and several other guys that Naruto had previously noticed, who were now hiding in another concealed room observing him, were not ordinary people.
Pirates? Revolutionary Army? Navy?
Or...
This sneaky style reminded Naruto of a certain old acquaintance.
A certain old acquaintance he wasn't very willing to face directly right now.